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Songs of the Spheres	097 - The Handmaiden's Aliens	"HONK!" The purple-blooded Skaian troll with long, wavy horns roared. He wore the purple robes of the Bard of Rage, which seemed ridiculous and distracting at first with its oversized spotted hat and codpiece, but had quickly cemented itself into the minds of the primary team as Bad News™. They were having a rather difficult time taking down this particular troll. He grabbed Pinkie Pie as she appeared behind him, throwing her forward and kicking her in the stomach. He roared in unbridled Rage. "You motherfuckers think you can pull that shit on me?" "I've drained his luck!" Vriska said, shrugging. "No idea how he's still alive. Or, well, dead-alive, but you get the picture." "You... MOTHERFUCKING... arrogant bitch... THINK YOU CAN REMOVE THE CHUCKLEVOODOOS!?" He charged at her. She swung her sword, but he caught it between his hands and snapped it in half. He then drove his hand into her stomach, drawing blood. Vriska took it, grinning. "Never really understood the chucklevoodoos, so I can't really have a thought about them, sorry Gamzee." She used her free hand to throw her dice down behind him. Several tentacles shot out of the ground, wrapping around his limbs. Gamzee fell back, screaming. With one flex of his muscles, he was free. And then he'd been punched half a meter into the ground by Star Platinum's time stop. Being a ghost, not to mention a highblood troll, he managed to pull himself up. "Honk..." "Honk," Flutterfree said, shooting him in the nose with an arrow of light. "You... MOTHERFUCKING...." He tapped into his chucklevoodoos, sending out horrific imagery into nearby minds. Flutterfree looked at the monstrous clown creatures ready to tear her mind apart and replace it with insane sludge. With a twitch, she summoned Lolo, banishing them. She shot Gamzee three more times, the arrows lodging in his ghost body. He found his arm affixed to his chest by one of them, discovering that even his strength wasn't enough to break the holy arrow. Despite the pain, he moved forward. To remedy this, Flutterfree shot him in the ankles, pinning them to the ground, and then to each other. The ominous nature of his walk vanished the moment he was hopping toward her, dragging clods of dream-earth behind him. "HONK!" Flutterfree rolled her eyes. She just kept shooting until he couldn't move. "Finally!" Nova blurted, activating her spell. With Gamzee immobile, he couldn't do anything against the Skaian imprisonment spell. A blue shell appeared around his body, drowning out his enraged honks. He was frozen. Nova slapped a bracelet around his wrist. "And good." Flutterfree lowered the bow of light. "He seemed... upset." "Course he was," Vriska said. "Highblood and the Bard of Rage. Of course he's going to be a little violent and upset. Not to mention the fact that this is the only Gamzee who's ever died. Cut in half by Omega Kanaya with a chainsaw in the moment just about everyone died." She shook her head. "Can't believe Karkat asked for a capture, if anyone ever deserved to perma-die it's this bastard." "Not exactly arguing here," Nova admitted. "That was a pretty intense murderous face. Yeesh." Vriska kicked the immobile Gamzee over. "Welp, Earth C it is." She pulled out her dimensional device... ...And then a muscular humanoid tiger fell out of Skaia's Dream's 'sky'. "Ow," she said, standing up quickly. "RATH WILL NOT STAND FOR FALLING!" "Uh..." Flutterfree blinked as the new arrival climbed out of a tiger-shaped impact crater. "Oh, right!" 'Rath' hit her head with her fist. "YOU GUYS! I was looking for you. I need... HELP! Right, yes, help! ...Help." She mulled the word over in her mouth, deciding it was disgusting. "Geh..." Pinkie grinned. "What can we help you with?" "I NEED TO STOP CHANGING!" she shouted, raising a fist. "HELP ME STOP CHANGING!" "Changing from what into what and how?" Vriska asked, raising an eyebrow. "Uh... Uh..." 'Rath' grabbed her head. "WHY IS RATH NOT SMART ENOUGH. Need to... Uh..." She pointed at a green hourglass symbol on her chest. "THIS! This thing!" "An Omnitrix..." Nova blinked. "...Wait, hold on, Aradia? Is that you?" "YES! RATH IS ARADIA!" Aradia clapped her hands. "And RATH is STUCK CHANGING." "Define changing," Jotaro said. "WELL, it's like... Uh... The watch keeps switch-" A green light enveloped Aradia and changed her form, replacing the muscular tiger with a small, gray being with two big eyes. Overall she was the size of a human hand. "Oh, this might be useful." She reached onto her back to touch the Omnitrix's new location. "Maybe I can figure out why it's on the fritz now... ...Why does it have to be on the back in this form?" Vriska smirked. "You're so tiny!" "Yeah yeah, blah blah, just help me." "So you were dumb and angry a minute ago and now you're smart and arrogant," Vriska smirked. "I like what's happening." "I can't travel through time like this!" Aradia blurted. "I'm just a gray thing with a big brain! I can't be the Handmaid!" Pinkie smirked. "Don't fret your tiny big head. We'll help! What can we do?" "Need to find a version of Azmuth, the creator of the Omnitrix. Chances are we've found a universe based on the 'Ben 10' source material, right?" "Doesn't ring a bell," Nova said. "Well, had I been able to think of that a few minutes ago, I would have just gone to Renee. But I was in punching mode. You understand." "Yep," Vriska said. "I'm still not going to let you forget the day you decided to name yourself Rath." "Can we just get to solving my problem? Maybe?" "Think she'll change into something more agreeable next?" Nova asked Pinkie. Pinkie shrugged. ~~~ Renee stared at Aradia, ignoring the primary team standing around her. Aradia was currently an amorphous green blob suspended in midair by a tiny mechanical device that looked like a UFO. "Yeah. I'm goopy. Fun, right?" "Maybe...?" Renee said, furrowing her brow. "So... I take it you're stuck like this?" "She actually keeps changing every couple of minutes," Pinkie said. "She was a tiger, then a gray genius, then something that stank really bad, and now this." Aradia shifted again, into a thin blue humanoid creature with lots of black points. "Oh boy, the fast one. If I talk a mileaminuteatanypointpleaseforgivemeIdon'tusethisonethatmuchandI'mdoingitrightnowaren'tI?" Renee turned to Pinkie. Pinkie grinned. "The answer is yes." "Darnit," Aradia muttered. "Regardless, how can we help?" Renee asked. "Finding an Azmuth is the best option. Someone who created an Omnitrix." Renee pulled up the database. "We have no Azmuths on file, though the system does recognize a possible source material. 'Ben 10'?" "Yes," Aradia said. "That's it. Do we have anyuniversesinthatcontinuity?" Renee stared at her. "Any universes in that continuity?" Pinkie translated. "Thanks," Aradia said, putting a hand to her face. Renee lit her horn and did a search. "We've got none officially recorded, unfortunately. Doesn't mean there isn't one, it just means nobody's bothered to notice the fiction-reality connection if we do have one. Since Azmuth didn't turn anything up, are there any other keywords or people?" Aradia spat out a string of words even faster than she had before, and then sighed. She gestured to Pinkie. Pinkie giggled. "Ben Tennyson would be known in virtually any version. Max Tennyson, maybe. The rest of the things she said were just her listing off random names that came to mind." "No results and no results, sorry. I've sent automatic requests to the TSAB, Void, and Collection for more information, but I wouldn't expect responses for a few days at least on something so 'mundane' as a database search." Renee scrolled through the files some more. "I did notice a note at the end of the 'Ben 10' file. Looks like it's thought to be the source material of the Celestialsapiens. Or, at least, a work that actually has them in it. It could mean it's one of their universes." "Great!" Aradia said. "We just go look around Celestialsapien space!" Renee raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that's a good idea? Why not have our scientists look at the Omnitrix. I'm sure we could fix it, with time." "Yeah, well, if that was all it needed the future versions of me wouldn't be avoiding me," Aradia said, folding her arms. "They'd love to accelerate this process if it was mundane." Renee nodded slowly. "Well, I suppose you know what's best for you. Pinkie, do you want to guide her through Celestialsapien space until you find something?" "Sure do!" Pinkie said, grinning. "She does so much for us we regularly have no idea about. It's time to help her!" "I'll give you a Skiff," Renee said. "Pidge should have just upgraded 7-4-E, so grab that one if you can. Enjoy your trip. Don't anger the Class 1, mkay?" "Don't plan on it!" ~~~ Some of Aradia's forms were very, very large. So large they wouldn't fit in the Skiff. So instead of letting her occupy the sixth seat in the Skiff, she was dragged along behind in a magic bubble of variable size that Nova had conjured just for the occasion. She was currently a large, dull-orange dinosaur creature. She was grumbling to herself. "I think Aradia's nutting up," Nova observed. "She's made of stronger stuff than that," Vriska said. "She can handle dozens of paradoxes at once." "But she can't right now," Flutterfree reminded her. "I think that's what's really getting to her. Not only can she not move through time like a boat on the water, but she also can't keep her own thoughts straight. Her brain keeps changing. ...She feels like she's losing her sense of self." Vriska blinked. "...Yeesh. Didn't think of it that way." Flutterfree nodded. "We're so used to thinking of certain people as being strong and unbreakable, but really, sometimes it only takes one thing for us to come unhinged. Much more of this and I think it will happen to Aradia." Nova sighed. "...How can we hurry this along?" "We're already in Celestialsapien space," Vriska said. "Already jumping through universes as fast as we can after scanning for anything similar to the Omnitrix. So far nothing." "Good news: the Celestialsapiens either haven't noticed or don't care that we're here!" Pinkie said, grinning. "That's something, I guess," Nova muttered. "Do we have anything else working for us?" Jotaro shrugged, saying nothing. "I'll take that as a no." Nova leaned back in her chair and sighed. "We could be out here for weeks." Pinkie grinned. "Yeah, we could. But it's a road tri-" Pinkie's Pinkie Sense activated violently. Her body flipped into the air and she slammed into the Skiff's windshield. "Stop the Skiff!" she ordered. Vriska cancelled the next dimensional portal opening. Behind them, Aradia shifted forms again. Through the camera they had trained on her, they saw a form they all recognized. Humanoid, feminine, and a body seemingly made of stars with three horns pointing upward from the forehead. "Celestialsapien..." Flutterfree said with a gulp. "...Is this good or bad for us?" "Let's just not move until she changes again," Pinkie said. "Shouldn't be... too long." Aradia was motionless. Her expression did not shift and her limbs did not move. She was stoic. Inside her mind, however, it was a different story. She existed as a mental projection of her real form - troll horns, red cloak, and all. She floated in an endless expanse of stars, slowly realizing that she had control of her mind as her. "Oh thank the Tower," she said, sighing in relief. She put on a big smile and laughed - she finally felt like herself. Even if she didn't, technically speaking, have a body right now. She realized there were two other beings in the void with her. They looked like opera masks, their red color identical to her robes. One looked downward with an exaggerated forlorn expression, while the other looked upward with a similarly eccentric hopeful expression. "Uh... hi," Aradia said. "Hello," the hopeful mask spoke with a young, male voice. "Welcome. I've been expecting you." "Don't lie," the other said with an middle-aged feminine voice. "You've just been hoping that someone would show up to end this frivolous deadlock." "Sooo..." Aradia leaned back. "I'm Aradia, who're you?" "I am Kaldar, the Voice of the Future," the hopeful mask said. "And that moping lump of sadness is Antira, the voice of the lost." "The Past," Antira corrected. "A state of existence that only has relevance if you permit it to." "Both the past and the future are inherent parts of the flow of time," Aradia said, shaking her head. "And this is why you are here," Kaldar said. "You are the Voice of the Present, here to fulfill the third consciousness within us. To complete us." "So you existed without me?" "Yes and no," Antira said. "Ah, got it." "I like it when they just understand," Kaldar said with a smile. Aradia smirked. "Helps to jump around time a lot. So, uh, what do we do here?" "Pointlessly argue," Antira sighed. "Debate," Kaldar corrected. "We take into account all variables and determine if action is required for any given scenario." "What's the current topic?" Aradia asked. "Currently? We need to determine if we demand you stay with us for eternity so all arguments don't end in a deadlock. I have grown rather tired with the future not benefiting from our involvement even considering the paradoxical nature of our existence, so I push that we require Aradia eternally present within us." "The future doesn't need our help," Antira muttered. "The path it takes must be its own. Aradia should leave." Aradia folded her arms. "Well I don't want to be stuck here forever. What about a compromise? I can create temporal duplicates of myself. I could set it up so one is with you some of the time." Kaldar twitched. "The point of you being here is to break the tie, not introduce a third option." Aradia smirked. "I guess I don't play nice then, huh? This is the part where we debate, right? Until one of us jumps to the side of another and creates a majority, allowing the actual Celestialsapien body outside to do something." "Your understanding is correct," Antira admitted. "But perhaps it would have been better if you didn't... Then you would have just wanted release." Kaldar looked at nothing. "No, debate is the way of our people. No matter what the three voices within us are, we always work it out among ourselves. We are complete, we should not complain. Aradia, your position on the matter is a curious one to be sure. A compromise, you say? Please, elaborate as to why this is the path that should be taken." "Well, there's three of us here," Aradia said, gesturing at the three of them. "What all of us want is important. I want to be able to do things without debating for eternity. Antira, you want to be faithful to the past as I understand it, and therefore want little to do with major action. Kaldar, you want to build a better future and to do that you need me here to break Antira's hesitation. If we are to work together, we must work together to find something in the middle of all that." Antira sighed. "But if you remain here at all and break me, the past's influence will be broken." "We are creatures of time," Aradia said. "We should use our power to assist the timeline." "Or bend it to our will," Kaldar said. "We are a Celestialsapien. We can build universes should it be required or desired. We could make entire universes bow to us." Aradia raised an eyebrow. "...Little ambitious?" "Just stating facts. Of course we have the power to build lower societies up and build a new tomorrow in our image. The point is we should use the power." "Not all power should be used," Antira reminded. "We're not talking about the use of power right now, we're simply talking about how debates are going to go," Aradia said. "While Kaldar seems a little too... anxious to flex our power, I do agree that so long as the power's not too dangerous to use, it should be used. It's how I fly through time." She snapped her fingers. "Kaldar, I'll agree with you if you alter your position slightly." Kaldar's expression deepened. "I'm listening." "I can create time clones of myself. In theory, I can be with you and Antira always. But I won't have to be the same me all the time. I could swap out every now and then. It'd allow me to continue my work outside this body while also being in it. So if we fix my Omnitrix I can start that right away." Antira shook her mask. "No. This cannot be allowed. Having a voice that changed? It would be too much..." "Seems like a great idea to me. I get what I want, you don't, and Aradia is simultaneously here and not under most circumstances. Therefore... I propose we repair Aradia's Omnitrix." "Denied," Antira said. "I agree though!" Aradia blurted. "The proper way to go through with it is to say 'seconded'," Kaldar said. "Ah, right. Ahem. Seconded!" The actual Celestialsapien body of Aradia twisted. "MOTION CARRIED: RE-" And then Aradia's Omnitrix flashed, transforming her into a red creature with flying-squirrel-like folds of skin. "...Seriously!?" "You ran out of time!" Pinkie called to her through a communication spell. Aradia tried to fold her arms, but realized the wing-like folds of skin interfered with this motion. "The downside of being a Celestialsapien. Everything takes forever. Gah. And now this form is impatient. Lovely mood whiplash. Can't we go any faster?" Vriska moved her hand to the throttle and moved them to another dimension. Then three things happened in quick succession. First, the Pinkie Sense activated again, causing Pinkie to gasp in a mild panic. Second, Aradia shifted form. She was suddenly a human with short brown hair and a green jacket. Third, the Skiff's engine exploded. ~~~ Nova pulled herself out of the skiff's wreckage. "Ow..." "You're welcome," Vriska muttered, pulling herself out from under a piece of the windshield, tripping and cutting her hand after she got out. "Yeeep, luck is abysmal right now. I really wanted to have a day of tripping, didn't you?" Pinkie appeared from behind her. "We all have bad tripping days, you know." "Doesn't mean I have to like them." Jotaro pulled himself out of the wreckage with Star Platinum, Flutterfree in his arms. She had a small wound under her left ear that didn't look bad, but had been jarring enough to knock her unconscious. Nova checked her over with a scan. "She's fine. Will probably wake up in a few minutes." Pinkie took the opportunity to look around. "We appear to be... on a normal planet." They had landed at the edge of a cornfield, stopped by the raised earth of a road. It was night, so it wasn't surprising that the road was abandoned. In the distance they could make out farmhouses that seemed to be of human design, but they had learned long ago never to assume that. The Skiff had cut a small tear in the cornfield, exposing dirt and lighting a few small fires that were quickly going out due to the moisture in the soil. Vriska picked an ear of corn and examined it. "Seems normal enough." "So, question," Nova said. "Why did our ship explode?" Pinkie furrowed her brow. "Because we found the right world." "Ahem. Causal reason, not ka reason, thank you." Pinkie shrugged. "Technology isn't perfect?" "Hey, I spent a ton of luck making sure we didn't die in that crash," Vriska commented, trying not to slip on a rock. "It should have kicked in to prevent that explosion if it was just a mechanical failure." "Your power isn't predictable or absolute," Jotaro pointed out. "Yeah, well, s-" She slipped in the mud and fell face first into it. "I need to find people. I need to find people quickly." "With your luck we'll never find anyone fast enough," Nova said. "HANDS UP! YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!" a voice shouted from on top of the road. Vriska turned to Nova and grinned. "Vriska, bad idea..." Vriska put her hands up. "All right officer, what did we do?" To their surprise, the 'officer' was not a normal policeman - he was a bipedal lizard in gray armor holding a futuristic gun. He had it trained on all five of them. "This is property damage." Vriska zapped some of his luck away, walking closer to him. "Our ship just crashed, can you maybe give us a break?" The rest of them slowly walked up to the road behind her. Jotaro didn't have his hands up because he was holding Flutterfree, and he tried to make that as obvious as possible. Vriska made it up to the road and saw a small squad of people wearing the same armor. Notably, none of them were the same race - although there was one human. One of them was a creature made of fire, another was a being that seemed more purple energy than physical being, yet another was a robot, and there were a smattering of others as well. "This seems a little overkill," Pinkie said, walking up to the lizard. "It's just a crashed ship. Why the full squad?" "Dimensional activity was detected," the robot reported. "Only the human man is of a race in our database. You are the likely culprits." Pinkie raised an eyebrow. "You can't expect dimensional beings to have any idea what your laws are." "It's common sense not to crash into someone's cornfield," the lizard retorted. Pinkie giggled. "Eh, fair enough. Take us away!" Vriska kept absorbing luck in small bursts - the light that came from her eyes was hardly detectable in such conditions, and didn't appear to be threatening. It couldn't even be felt. She was sneaky, she knew how t- "The gray one is doing something!" the purple being said, holding up her hands and trapping Vriska in an aura of pink magic. In reflex, Vriska pushed her luck absorption to her captor, making her trip and fall, dissipating the magic. The fiery guy took this as an attack and flung a burst of flame at them, only for Nova to block it with a magic shield. "Hey, hey, we don't have to fi-" "Danger levels at critical!" the robot declared, unfolding several guns from his sides. "Protect!" "Dammit," Nova muttered, facehooving. "Looks like we're fighting local law enforcement! Again. Thanks, Vriska." Vriska shrugged, summoning her dice. "What can I say? I bring out the best in people." ~~~ Aradia looked herself over. She had survived the crash, the bubble absorbing all the dangers of impact before dissipating. It had made an impressive crater in the middle of a rocky, abandoned area to the side of a rural road. She was human right now. Definitely female, though nobody would be able to tell that from first glance due to the flat chest and youthful appearance. Her hair was short and brown and her eyes matched the green of her jacket - which had a ten on it. "Weird..." she said, looking at the ten. The source material was 'Ben 10', and this jacket was what the titular Ben wore. But Dave was this Omnitrix's human DNA sample. Why didn't she turn into him? Or a feminine version of him. That was an odd thing about the Omnitrix; Davepeta had been able to change into different genders, but if a female option was available for Aradia it would always switch to it. Maybe it just knew? Or could alter the DNA? ...Maybe this was just the female human DNA sample. She hadn't actually turned into Dave before. Regardless, given the Omnitrix's reaction to the universe, this was probably the right place. She strongly suspected it was the ominitix that had caused the Skiff's engines to explode, but she couldn't prove that. Nor did she have any idea how it would do that. She stood up and checked the Omnitrix. It seemed to be working just fine now. Not shifting her form around, but it had the human form set as the default instead of her troll self. She tried willing herself to transform into a troll - but nothing happened. She tried any other alien, but nothing. Vocal commands did nothing either. "Guess the master control is off," Aradia mused. She placed her fingers to the watch and began cycling through forms. All of them she had turned into were available, but that was a lot of aliens to sift through to find herself. She didn't get very far. "Albedo...?" Aradia looked up to see the human she presumed was the Ben of this world. They looked almost identical, only slight differences in body structure between them. Aradia waved her hands and shook her head. "Oh no, I'm Aradia, I have no idea who Albedo i-" "Nice try," Ben said, pulling up his Omnitrix. "You're not talking your way out of this one." "No, seriously, I'm not Albedo, I'm from another uni-" Ben transformed into a race made mostly of pale green crystal. "Diamondhead!" "You name them? That's cu- woah!" Aradia dodged a wave of crystal shards that came out of the ground. She fumbled with her Omnitrix, looking for a form she knew how to use. "This'll have to do..." She accessed her sample of a Gem. Her body coalesced into a round, red gemstone that produced a tall, feminine body. The Omnitrix placed itself overtop the gemstone, which affixed itself over where her heart would have been in a more organic body. She generated an exceedingly long whip from the gemstone's center, readying it. "...Haven't seen that one before," Ben said with Diamondhead's significantly deeper voice. "You pick up new samples when exploring other universes. Which is where I am from, by the way!" "If you were from another universe, why aren't you named Ben?" Ben proved that he was really good at using the crystal powers of Diamondhead by trapping Aradia's larger form in an instant. She was able to force her hard-light body into a narrower shape, slipping out one of the cracks. "Because that wasn't my default form!" Aradia retorted, wrapping Ben up in her whip - which he broke apart easily. "I showed up here and got stuck!" "Using your own backstory to try and derail me? Clever, Albedo." Ben rushed her hitting her form right in the face. Aradia transformed back to her human form, grunting. She clearly needed something else. She ran, scanning the aliens in the watch. Ben charged after her. "You aren't going anywhere!" Aradia slipped and fell on the swirling crystals beneath her. But just as she was trapped again, she found it. Her form. She transformed into herself, glorious troll form and all. With her psychic powers she tore the crystals to shreds, then dropped them. "Look, this is my default form! Hey!" Ben blinked. "...What is that?" "Alternian." He won't take 'troll' very well. "Look, this is who I am. Not all of my race have psychic powers, and not all of my race can control time." "Control time?" "Hi!" future-Aradia said from behind Ben. "Future-Aradia here." Ben narrowed his eyes. "How can I be sure you're not Albedo?" "Besides the fact that I don't know who he is?" past-Aradia asked. "Uh..." An idea came to her. She took out her dimensional device. Ben got defensive. "Nonono! Not a weapon, not a bomb, a dimensional travel device! I don't have to use it to travel, but it sure is handy." "Use it and we'll see if that's what it is." Aradia nodded, pressing a button. The dimensional device activated and opened a portal to an Earth where the sun was up. "Good enough for you?" Ben nodded, allowing himself to turn back to his default human form. "That does raise a few other questions. Why are you here and why did you look like me?" Future-Aradia timed out and returned to the default human form. "My Omnitrix is broken, as you can probably see. I came to this area of the multiverse looking for a version of Azmuth to fix it. Since he created it. ...He was the creator of the Omnitrix in this universe, right?" Ben nodded, holding up his. "Yeah. And ours look pretty similar, so they probably work the same. Though I bet you've got more aliens." Aradia nodded as her past self went through time to complete the causal time loop. "I can't take all the credit. It used to belong to a friend of mine named Davepeta. It was... passed on to me." Ben blinked. "Well, I'm pretty sure we can get Azmuth to at least take a look at it - he'd love all the multiversal aliens in it. But if you can control time and have psychic powers in your default, why do you need it?" "Usually I have the master control on," Aradia said. "Must be nice." Aradia smirked. "I take it you don't?" "Eh, on and off." "Anyway, I'm able to switch to anything I want at will, and I can create time clones of myself to use multiple forms at once. It's a self-contained army when it needs to be." She stretched her arms. "Feels weird to be a human, have to admit." "...Is that why your voice is so high?" "Hm? Oh, this is a female. Almost all the aliens are." Ben blinked, looking her up and down, and then proceeding to flush. "...Ah." "Probably some cosmic joke that I look so androgynous right now. Don't worry about it. We can get this fixed - oh, but we need to find my friends first. Their ship must have crashed elsewhere." "The Plumber database should have a crashed ship on it." "...Plumber?" "Bunch of space police trying to not be conspicuous. It doesn't work as well as they'd like. Everyone knows about them now, so, it basically failed completely and now it's a big joke." "Ah. So, curious, who was Albedo?" "Azmuth's apprentice who kinda became my evil twin because he made another Omnitrix connected to mine..." ~~~ "What did you guys do!?" Flutterfree shouted. "Took care of a problem," Jotaro said, laying the last unconscious alien on top of all the others, creating a pile of bruised and battered 'officers'. "I was expecting a bit more fight, you know?" Vriska said. "Magic-girl had some freaky powers, but those became pretty useless pretty fast." "This was law enforcement!" Flutterfree blurted, throwing a hoof wide. "You all know what happens when we upset law enforcement!" "We don't get put in jail?" Pinkie suggested. "PINKIE!" Pinkie giggled. "I know, I know, that didn't go as well as it could have, but none of them got seriously hurt." "I broke a few bones," Jotaro said. Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Okay, yes, some of them are in a lot of pain but they'll all be fine. We just need to collect our bearings and find out where we are." "United States, Earth, two-thousand-something-or-other," Nova reported from her hoof-screen. "Physics allows for FTL, high magic, and extremely unconventional biology. Guess this explains why the Omnitrix can scan a Gem and get a 'DNA' sample." "So a bit of an outlier universe that seems normal on the surface," Vriska said. "Got it." "We should probably find Aradia," Nova said. "She needs to know we've upset the locals." Pinkie looked at Nova and grinned. "She's standing right behind us, isn't she?" "What did you guys do!?" Aradia shouted, putting her hands to her head. "I think they beat up a squad of Plumbers," Ben said, pursing his lips. "That's bad! That's bad, right?" Aradia asked. Ben shrugged. "Eh, I can get you cleared. So long as you don't turn out to actually be evil." Aradia put her hands on her hips and glared at Pinkie. "Why would you do this?" "Completely my fault," Vriska said, walking up to them. "See, I was being awesome, and then sparkly over th-" "UNKNOWN ALIEN DNA DETECTED!" Ben's Omnitrix interrupted. A yellow light shot out of the device and scanned Vriska. Ben checked his Omnitrix. "Sweet, new transformation. Do you have time travel and telekinesis too?" "Luck manipulation and mind control," Vriska said, folding her arms. "Don't you dare turn into me and steal my thunder. I will have to show you who's the better spiderbitch." "Message received..." Ben said. Flutterfree turned to Aradia. "...Could he scan us?" Aradia nodded. "It'll only accept one Equestrian DNA sample, though. He'll only get one of you." Nova put a hoof to her chin. "Hrm... We should think for a moment to decide which one of us would be the most helpful. As a unicorn, I have a full range of magic spells. Pinkie has a lot of bizarre abilities that... might drive him insane. Flutt-" "Flutterfree is the choice," Pinkie said, throwing the pegasus at Ben. The Omnitrix scanned her in an instant. "And now the deliberation is done! Woohoo!" "Pinkie!" Nova blurted. "I was going to get a whole pro and con list out!" "And that's booooring," Pinkie said. "Hey, hey Ben, try one of us out." Ben shrugged. "Sure. Haven't been a horse yet..." He readied his Omnitrix and selected the Flutterfree sample. He turned into a pegasus - except clearly a stallion rather than a mare. "...How does it do that?" Aradia wondered. "I feel... hungry," Ben said. "For either blood or... apples?" Flutterfree nodded. "I am a quasi-vampire. I've also got this." She activated Lolo fully, forcing another Lolo out of Ben. "This is Lolo. It's a Stand. It lets you see other Stands like Star Platinum over there and taps into hidden potential. And a few other odd things. I'm sure you'll find it useful." "...I'm calling this form Vampony," Ben said, transforming back to a human shortly afterward. Flutterfree facehooved. "Of course." "But hey, at least it's not me!" Pinkie said. She grabbed Ben's face and gave him a deadly serious glare. "You would have lost your marbles." "...My marb-?" "ALL OF THEM." Ben shivered. "...Kay." Aradia shook her head. "Never mind that right now. Everyone, you already know this is Ben. Ben, this is the primary team of Merodi Universalis." She introduced them all one at a time. "And now can we go to Azmuth and get my Omnitrix fixed?" She tapped her fingers together impatiently. "...You're not used to being linear, huh?" Nova asked. "No. No I'm not. I'd like to stop being linear as soon as possible. I was able to turn into myself for a little bit back there, but it's temporary." Ben pulled out his phone. "I know just the ship. Hey, Julie? I need a spaceship ride. ...Well, the people I need to move just beat up a full Plumber squad, so I don't really want to ask them for a ship right now. ...Huh, wasn't expecting you to agree so quickly." Ben hung up his phone. "We'll have a ship." "What kind of ship?" Vriska asked. "Ship," Pinkie said. With a rush of wind, a green and black gunship appeared over their heads. "SHIIIIIIIIP," it bellowed in a deep, synthetic voice. It descended to the ground below, opening up its back door to create a ramp inside. There was nobody driving. "Uh..." Flutterfree coked her head. "Who drove it here?" "Ship drove himself," Ben said with a smirk. "...The ship's name is Ship," Nova deadpanned. "Not going to ask." "You see, that's a funny stor-" "I didn't ask!" Pinkie took a sticky note out of her mane and stuck it on the forehead of the unconscious lizard. Sorry! Hope you get well soon! A happy Pinkie Pie and a balloon image were scrawled in the corners in what appeared to be pink crayon. "Let's go!" Pinkie declared, bouncing into Ship. The others followed suit. Ship blasted into the sky, leaving the Plumbers behind. The lizard woke up first and found the sticky note. He looked at it and let out a forlorn sigh. ~~~ Ship flew through space to what Ben assured them was 'Azmuth's current laboratory world'. Apparently the Omnitrix's inventor was prone to wandering from world to world, looking for another place to call his 'lab', rarely staying on his homeworld. Since Ben had his invention, and since even Ben's Omnitrix was known to act up from time to time, Azmuth always let Ben know where he was. "...Well, most of the time," Ben said. "Sometimes he just gets up and goes somewhere else. But he told me about this place just a month ago so chances are good he's still there. Probably, you know." "We can always jump to the past if he's not," Aradia said. She ran her hand across the interior walls of Ship. "...Is Ship alive?" "The Omnitrix has a scan of his race," Ben said, leaning back. "So, I guess? I call mine Upgrade." "Huh..." "It's really weird looking at both of you," Nova said. "The only clear indication I get of which is which is your voices." "There are... posture differences," Ben said. Vriska smirked. "Oh yeah." "This has happened before, apparently," Aradia said, drawing the attention of the conversation away from the aforementioned posture differences. "There was a second Omnitrix in this universe that automatically linked to Ben's. It forced the wearer, Albedo, to look like Ben. Creating an Evil Twin." Pinkie chuckled. "Nice. I've met a few evil versions of myself from time to time. ...Vriska, you?" Vriska shrugged. "Hard to find reason to give me an Evil Twin. Well, I guess now I could have one, but back then? Yeah, the Evil Vriska wouldn't look much different." "I guess you could call Damara mine," Aradia said. "...Though I do encourage people not to think of her ghosts as evil... Just relationally challenged." "And we've gone too deep down the rabbit hole," Ben said. "SHIIIIIIIIIP," Ship beeped. "What is it?" Flutterfree asked. "SHIIIIIIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIP." "Oh. A strange field of energy around the planet?" "SHIP SHIP." "Well don't fly into it then! Just stop outside and let us look at it." Ben blinked. "Uh..." "I guess Ship qualifies as an animal," Flutterfree said, smirking. "Who knew?" "Yare Yare daze..." Jotaro muttered. "Field of energy?" Nova asked. "What field of energy?" Ship dropped out of his FTL and entered orbit around a planet. Not that anyone could tell it was a planet. All they saw was a vaguely round ball of black and white wires of energy swirling around like a pile of worms. "...What...?" Flutterfree said, cocking her head. "I see we have zebraworld," Vriska observed. "I can't get any good scans..." Nova muttered, tapping her screen. "Hey, Ship, is there a way I can interface with your sensors?" A green wire shot out of one of Ship's walls, turning Nova's screen black and green. She felt a small jolt shoot up her body as she connected. Data on the strange field of energy began to display. "...Thanks. Let's see here..." She scrolled through some information, narrowing her eyes. Everyone crowded around her, trying to look at the data as well. "Ahem. I can feel the moisture in your breaths." "Oh! Sorry," Flutterfree said, backing up first. Soon, only Aradia remained. "You're doing well," Aradia observed. Nova sighed. "Eh, I guess so. Master of scanning, parsing through information, and big buckets of magic." "Don't sell yourself short. You've come a long way since I first started watching you." "...Yeah." "...Having problems with Stardust?" "Always." "Want to talk about it?" "No." Nova didn't even look up from her screen. Aradia backed off, sighing. Flutterfree put a wing around her. "Don't worry." "Hm?" "She lets it get to her more than it should, and she knows it. Her family's doing fine, she stresses about the things that do go wrong too much." Flutterfree looked at her friend with sad eyes. "She just can't let go of the difficulties." Aradia frowned, saying nothing. "We're watching out for her, don't you worry. Every time she thinks its about to fall apart, we're able to get her back on track." Aradia nodded slowly. "Got something," Nova said, ending any conversation that was happening. "The field of 'zebra' only exists around the planet, not inside. A simple dimensional hop should get us in, no problem whatsoever." "...Dimensional hop?" Ben spoke up. "Should I be worried?" "Nope!" Pinkie said, pulling out her dimensional device from her mane. "Here we go!" Nova rolled her eyes. "Adjust the portal size first, Pinkie." "Oh, I did!" Pinkie said with a wink. "You just didn't see it~!" She activated the device, opening a portal to a version of the planet that did exist, but was a frozen wasteland. "Take us in, Ship, if you don't mind." Flutterfree asked. Ship complied, flying into the planet's cold, bitter atmosphere. With another portal opening, they were back in Ben's universe, on a desert world with sand everywhere. They couldn't see the zebra-stripes above them, but they couldn't see the sun either. Just endless brown sky. "Ship, find Azmuth's transponder," Ben said. "Shouldn't be too far." "SHIIIIIIP." Ship found an alien facility constructed in the middle of the endless sand. It was constructed of three separate pointed towers connected by triangular frames of dark metal. Green energy pulsed in the middle of the triangular frames, presumably powering the facility in some form or other. Ship landed in front of the facility in the sand, letting everyone out. The moment they were out Ship shrunk to the size of a small dog, taking the form of an amorphous blob with a single circle that may have been an eye on the part of the body that may have been a head. "...He's an alien dog," Nova observed. "All right. Cool." Ben shrugged. "Yeah." He walked to the front doors of the facility and knocked on the door. "Hello? Azmuth? It's Ben! Ben Tennyson! Wielder of the Omnitrix? ...Azmuth, open up." There was no response. "Hey, I know you'll be interested to interview a bunch of people from another universe! Wouldn't that be cool? I got two multiversal DNA samples, Azmuth! ...Azmuth I know you can hear everything that goes on outside your facilities. AZMUTH!" Jotaro pried the front doors off their hinges with Star Platinum. "Wh-hey!" "We needed to get in," Jotaro pointed out. He strode inside, hands in his pockets, saying nothing further. Aradia's grin faltered. "...Do you think Azmuth will be mad about that?" "Probably," Ben said. "But he likes weird science. Pretty sure what you are will make up for that." "Ship ship," Ship said. Flutterfree chuckled. "This is why we don't have a team mascot," Vriska said, following Jotaro. The interior of Azmuth's facility was spacious - though it didn't look it. Despite the tremendous square footage of the ground floor, almost every inch of it was covered in bizarre alien experiments. Some looked like vehicles, others were possibly weapons, but most of them were of mysterious, unknown functions. They did not get much time to process these unusual devices for very long - because they found Azmuth. He was a small, gray alien of the same race Aradia had transformed into back in Skaia's Dream, though he had significantly more wrinkles than Aradia's version. He was currently being pointed at by a male Celestialsapien with a metallic ring around his head but above his horns. "AZMUTH." The voice made the party of adventurers stop in their tracks. "L-look, I can't help you," Azmuth said with an old, throaty voice. "YOU ARE THE GREATEST OF THIS UNIVERSE'S MINDS. YOU CAN FIX MINE." "Minds are not such simple constructs as machines. I cannot wave a technological wand and return your voices to the way they should be!" The Celestialsapien grabbed his head with his hands. "DENIED. CARRIED. NO CONSULTATION!" Then he turned his head to the adventurers, as if just registering their presence. He stared right at Aradia. "YOU. I SENSED YOU. I CALLED. YOU CAME!" "Uh, I'm just here by accident," Aradia said, taking a step back. "I'm Ben Tennyson," Ben said, stepping forward. "She's just from another universe and is of no concern to you." "Other universe...?" Azmuth said, confusion and curiosity crossing his face simultaneously. The Celestialsapien brushed Ben aside with a thought, throwing him deep into the pile of technology around them. His gaze remained fixed on Aradia. "I WAS NOT CERTAIN IF MY THOUGHTS WERE ABLE TO BECOME THAT REAL WITHOUT... CONSULTATION. PERHAPS A CLOSED TIMELIKE CURVE? YOU. YOU CAN FIX ME." "Don't listen to him!" Azmuth blurted. "He's mad! His race don't even talk li-" The Celestialsapien lifted Azmuth into the air. "YOU CAN HELP ME, YOU JUST DON'T WANT TO. BUT SHE'S DIFFERENT. SHE WILL." Aradia gulped. Really not sure if I'm able to... Probably not. "YOUR TIME IS UP, AZMUTH." Ben transformed from inside the pile of junk. "ALIEN X!" He shouted, standing tall as another male Celestialsapien, missing the metal ring of the other but proudly sporting the Omnitrix symbol on his chest. "MOTION CARRIED: SAVE AZMUTH." Azmuth was suddenly on Flutterfree's back. "YOU ARE NONE OF MY CONCERN!" the mad Celestialsapien shouted. Ben spoke again. "MOTION CARRIED: REALITY PUNCHES." Ben was in front of the mad Celestialsapien and punched him over and over - but the cosmic being was able to intercept every punch in an instant. "STOP THIS FOOLISHNESS! WE CANNOT FIGHT!" "MOTION CARRIED: RETURN SANITY." "DENIED!" the mad Celestialsapien shouted. "I WILL NOT ACCEPT A CURE FROM THOSE WHO DID THIS TO ME!" The punches from Ben were becoming hard enough to ripple reality around them, but they were always stopped by the quicker-acting Celestialsapien. "How fucked are we?" Vriska asked Azmuth. Azmuth let out a disgruntled cough. "I'm going to assume that's colorful language for 'dead'. The answer is extremely if we remain in this universe." "We can get out," Vriska said. Aradia looked at Azmuth. "This universe is going to be destroyed if this goes on, isn't it?" Azmuth nodded. "But there is nothing in our power we can do." Aradia looked at her Omnitrix. "...Maybe there is..." "...You do not have control of your Celestialsapien form," Azmuth said. Aradia sighed. "But there's got to be..." She paused. "How hard would it be for you to detach this Omnitrix from Ben's?" "Few hours. We don't have that." "Yes we do," Aradia said, opening her Omnitrix and transforming into her own form. She turned to Azmuth. "I can freeze time so you can have as long as you need to work. How much do you need?" "Three hours and twenty-six minutes," Azmuth answered. Aradia froze time for everything except her wrist and Azmuth, allowing even herself to be frozen. The next thing she knew, Azmuth was hopping off her wrist. "Got it done with ten minutes to spare. I hope you have a plan." Aradia nodded. She did a quick check mentally to make sure her Omnitrix's master control was on and that her troll form was her default. It was, which brought a smile to her face. "Okay... Here we go." She duplicated herself through time a hundred times, filling the area that wasn't occupied by technology. "All of you," she called to Pinkie's team and Azmuth. "Leave the universe. I'm going to try to save it. This planet will not be surviving." Pinkie nodded. "Don't argue team, let's move!" They jumped through a dimensional portal. When they left, the mad Celestialsapien grabbed Ben and threw him to the ground. The impact with the ground did nothing, but the touch of the mad Celestialsapien tore against Ben's own supposedly impervious skin. "YOU ARE SURPRISINGLY IMPULSIVE, BUT YOU STILL MUST THINK. I NO LONGER CAN. LOOK AT THE MONSTER YOU HAVE CREATED!" Hundreds of Aradias nodded to each other - and then each of them chose a different alien from the Omnitrix. Some were large, some were small. Some were made of energy, while others didn't even make three-dimensional sense. Some were powerful things that could level planets, others were just ordinary creatures. The point was to try one of everything she could think of at once. There were going to be a lot of Aradia deaths from this one, but at least they wouldn't have deviated in what she considered a meaningful way. They charged - energy, space, time, and existence itself folding in. The planet they were on exploded, killing the vast majority of the Aradias. But those who remained focused intently on the mad Celestialsapien - discovering that he was able to absorb any attack regardless of magical intensity, spiritual nature, or temporal shenanigans. He saw it all and reacted, many times before it actually came. However, a few of the 'god' level samples Aradia found were able to deflect his attacks, allowing Ben a moment to attack. "WHY DO YOU NOT HELP ME WITH THIS POWER!?" the mad Celestialsapien asked. The only Aradia-form Aradia left looked right at him. She said nothing - but she held out her Omnitrix. All she needed to do was think. And she transformed into her Celestialsapien form. ~~~ "Oh, look who's back," Kaldar said. "I was hoping you scared her off," Antira mumbled. Aradia clasped her hands together. "So, remember that deal we were about t-" "You didn't come back when you could to finish it," Kaldar muttered. "There was an entire spaceflight where you had plenty of time, and yet you didn't." "As should be blatantly obvious, I'm not hindered by linear time," Aradia said. "Your Omnitrix is also fixed," Kaldar pointed out. "And yet you've returned, thinking to use us. Hoping to save a universe." "Yes. I submit that we save this universe from destruction." "Denied," Kaldar said. "On grounds of prior behavior and interference with a Celestialsapien experiment." "Denied," Antira agreed. "On grounds of the way things are building up. We are an out of context individual. We have no right." "Celestialsapien experiment!?" Aradia blurted. "It's obvious that's what he is," Kaldar said. "One who does not have to debate their actions. We're born like that, you know. A single mind. Terribly weak as infants - comparatively at least." "Does your kind allow those sorts of experiments?" Aradia asked. "Generally not," Antira said with distaste. "I do not see this action being approved by the full Converse... but you must understand, we are a race that, as a whole, believes that after enough debate, any course of action is viable. We have no laws that are set in stone, merely a 'history' of previous decisions made by wise thinkers. Everything can be changed with new information. Kaldar and I are largely separated from the full Converse, so we cannot tell you what the current flow of the debate is." "Or it could be freelance," Kaldar pointed out. "It's not this needs Converse approval, it's just apt to get disapproval a few millennia from now. If we interfere without proper debate, there will be consequences from those who made him this way." Aradia folded her arms. "That's assuming they're watching or did this intentionally." "That is a fair point..." Antira said. "Let's look outside," Aradia said. "Why?" Kaldar asked. "I have a point I want to make." "Seconded," Antira said. A visual projection of what was happening appeared in between the three of them. The mad Celestialsapien was throwing stars at Ben, only for him to clap his hands and make them vanish. The strongest of the Aradias twisted space around the mad Celestialsapien, allowing Ben to get some solid hits in. "The mad Celestialsapien is going to die," Aradia said. "Maybe he'll take the universe with him, maybe he won't. But right now he's dying. I'd like to help him." "Honorable," Kaldar admitted. "But it would still be interference." "You're the voice of the future," Aradia blurted. "Don't you believe in change? And Antira, you're the voice of the past! Don't you believe in staying true to one's self?" She gestured at the mad Celestialsapien as a wormhole was driven through his chest, tearing at the reality of the universe. "That man is going to die out there, and he doesn't deserve it. He just wants help." "Ara-" Antira began. "I don't want to be forced into this again!" Aradia shouted. There was silence in the mindspace of their Celestialsapien. There were tears in Aradia's eyes. "He's asking me for help. And I'm killing him for it. Somewhere deep in there, part of him knows that might be necessary. But I'll be damned before I don't try every other option! So please, I beg of you, let us save his mind!" Once again there was silence. "...Seconded," Antira said. Kaldar nodded slowly. "As you two wish. I will point out that he was able to refuse 'Ben's' assistance in the matter." "Then let's do it together," Aradia said. "Two on one should be able to do it, right?" "We'll have to make a call," Antira said. "A group debate. That will freeze Ben up." "Then we just have to move quickly," Aradia said. "Motion to connect to Ben Tennyson." "Seconded," Kaldar said. Suddenly, Ben and two green masks appeared. The feminine mask was eternally smiling while the masculine was scowling. "Bah, what's this?" the male one said. "Aren't we supposed to be busy?" Ben blinked. "Huh - what? Why isn't anything working right now?" "We have entered joined debate," Antira stated. "It is unusual for our kind, but we need to make a speedy decision before the mad Celestialsapien unleashes his wrath on us in a way we cannot defend against." "Why are you bringing us into this?" the male mask asked. "Bellecus, we are an unusual Celestialsapien," the female retorted. "Serena, that's no excuse, every last one of us can know anything we want within a universe. It's not like we're hiding it." "Yes, yes, we get it!" Ben said, waving his hands. "Handing over the keys to just one personality is a bit of a taboo in your culture, can we just end this quickly?" "YOU DID WHAT!?" Kaldar blurted. "Hey, try to find us and re-educate us in proper Celestialsapien psychology," Bellecus said. "Oh wait, we exist inside a watch, sorry." "At least we aren't the mindless drone currently beating at our doorstep, we do observe what he's doing," Serena said. "Sometimes, anyway. ...Bellecus, I think I'm actually starting to feel pain from the beating." "Guys! Stop debating!" Ben shouted. Aradia cleared her throat. "We need to work together to return the mad Celestialsapien's mind to normal, to override his will. We've already seconded." "Yeah, yeah," Ben said. "Let's go." He blinked. "Why isn't anything happening?" "Oh! Right, we're involved as well," Serena said. "Haven't done this in a while. Ahem. Seconded!" Bellecus sighed. "Remind me again why you're the one who agrees with him the most?" Outside in reality, Aradia and Ben appeared next to each other. The mad Celestialsapien looked at them. "NO! IMPOSSIBLE! YOU MOVE TOO FAST!" "MOTION CARRIED: RETURN SANITY." In the shared mindscape, a single yellow mask appeared. But it wasn't a single personality - it was a conglomeration of three different faces, all forced together into something that was eternally screaming. It wasn't even a full mind - there wasn't a place for true logic within it. It operated almost entirely on instinct and emotion, raging against their advance. "If we ever needed war machines..." Bellecus began, but didn't finish his thought. Red and green light shot from the six personalities split between two Celestialsapiens, hitting the yellow mask head on. In an instant, there were three yellow masks. They looked at the newcomers with mixed expressions - anger, relief, and confusion. Then they vanished from their respective mindscapes. Outside, the mad Celestialsapien looked at his hands. He didn't move, frozen in debate. "State of the universe?" Aradia asked. "Stable and recovering," Serena said. "There are a few systems without their suns, though." "We can fix that, right?" Ben asked. "Or are you two back to demanding arguments about everything?" "No," Bellecus said. "I frankly hate that we still have to hear your voice when you visit." "Do what you will," Serena said with a bow of her mask. "You're all insane," Kaldar muttered. "The Converse will hear of this." "They already know," Ben pointed out. "There was a whole big thing about me recreating the universe, got put on trial. These two threw me the keys so we could win and we've just kept that up ever since." "I do like it when he visits," Serena admitted. "Makes interesting company. You three are of course welcome to return as well." "No you are not," Bellecus muttered. "This connection is over." Aradia was suddenly alone with Kaldar and Antira. She looked at them. "This power still needs to be used," Kaldar told Aradia. "As much as it pains me to say this, we can do nothing without your presence. Consider your previous offer." "Consider it done," Aradia said. "You'll have at least one copy of me with you at all times. I must be allowed to move freely in and out as required, as previously agreed. And I'm going to set it up a little later - I need a break. But before we end this session... Antira." Aradia floated over to her. "Thank you for breaking free of yourself to do what needed to be done. Any strict adherence to the past or the future... is limiting." She floated away. "I hope we can all learn to step outside of what we are as we continue this debate." She bowed. "I'd like to leave now, if you don't mind. I'll be back." "Seconded," Antira said. "Unanimously approved," Kaldar added. ~~~ Aradia shifted out of her Celestialsapien form on the surface of a planet with sixteen other Aradias - the only survivors. Ben, Azmuth, and the primary team stood to the side. "Get out of my universe," Azmuth said. "I fixed your watch, now get out of here. Your kind causes way too much trouble." "All right, all right!" Aradia said, holding her hands up in surrender. Azmuth walked off, grumpily muttering to himself. "Don't take it personally," Ben said. "I think he's still upset at how one of your kind blew up our universe." "...Then what are we standing on?" Nova asked. "A copy," Ben said, smirking. "Created by yours truly. Or, well, Alien X agreeing that the universe shouldn't be destroyed by an ancient multiversal society's bomb." "Yeesh," Nova said. "That has to be weird." "Sometimes it bugs me. Mostly it doesn't though," Ben said. "Want to know what really scares me about it?" "What?" Aradia asked. "Alien X couldn't stop the bomb. We would have if we could have. But it wasn't possible. It's really the only thing I've seen that Alien X couldn't deal with." "There's a lot of scary things out there," Flutterfree admitted. "But at least you're here to protect your universe. I think that's enough." "Thanks," Ben said, giving her a thumbs up. "It sucks you probably won't be back, you know." "We really shouldn't be here anyway," Pinkie said. "The Celestialsapiens own this universe. Hopefully they won't be mad about... that." Pinkie pointed at the frozen Celestialsapien, eternally staring at his hands. Aradia looked at his eyes. "...I hope you're being you in there," she said. "What are you going to do with him?" Ben shrugged. "I might be able to take him to the Forge of Creation. I'll have to talk to Serena and Bellecus about the wisdom of that idea. If that's a bad idea I'll just hand him off to Professor Paradox... We've got him taken care of, don't worry." "All right!" Pinkie said. "Now... Here's the thing, we need a ship to get home..." Ben sighed. "AZMUTH! THEY NEED A SHIP!" "WHY IS THAT MY PROBLEM!?" the alien yelled back. "WELL THE PLUMBERS WON'T LIKE THEM AND I CAN'T JUST LET THEM HAVE SHIP!" "FINE! THEY CAN HAVE ONE OF MINE! I HOPE THEY LIKE BEING CRAMMED!" The otherworlders gulped. ~~~ Nova stopped outside the door to Stardust's bedroom. Her daughter was sleeping quietly under the covers, a smile on her face, unaware the door had been left open. Nova closed it with a sound-silencing spell so as not to wake her. She walked down to the living room and sat down on the couch next to Sunburst. The TV was giving a report about recent efforts made by Skarn to connect with Merodi Universalis as a trading partner. The words of the report began to blur past her face. "...Are we ever going to be ok?" Nova asked suddenly. Sunburst looked at her. "What do you mean?" "I mean... Us. Our family." "Nova, you've kept us together this long." Sunburst smiled. "Doesn't matter how rough it is. We'll make it." "She's going to be a teenager soon, Sunburst," Nova said, biting her lip. "I... I don't know if I can stand strong against that. I have a hard enough time as it is understanding her now. She's going to want to scream, to rebel, and we're going to have to find a way to strike a balance between giving her freedom and standing our ground." Sunburst gulped. "How about you handle the standing and I handle the freedom?" Nova looked into her hooves, forlorn. "She's smart enough to take advantage of that. Pit us against each other." She shook her head. "We can't let her think her defiance will get her anywhere when it does show up. But... I don't know. I barely even understand why she is the way she is now. I'm worrying too much again, huh? Really should listen to Flutterfree..." Sunburst put a hoof on her. "Hey. You might be worrying too much. But those questions need to be asked. We need to prepare for what's coming, and continue being good parents despite everything." "...Are we, though?" Nova asked. "We argue all the time. You spoil her. I scare her. I... I worry that we're messing her up." Nova bit back tears. Sunburst held her close. "We're not messing her up, Nova. She's a good kid." Nova nodded. "I... I know. But I also don't know what I'm doing." "I don't think anyone goes into being a parent having any idea what they're doing." Nova blinked, registering this comment. Then she laughed. "That's... they should print that on gift cards or something." She wiped her eyes. "That's so true." "R-really? I was kinda just talking without thinking there..." Nova kissed him. "You should do that more often." Sunburst smiled. "...And you should do the opposite." "Oh look at you, on a roll today." She giggled. Then she pulled him into a hug. "...I don't treat you well enough. I'm angry, upset, stressed, and gone more than I should be." Sunburst held her close. "It's okay." Her laughs turned to sobs as she let it all out on Sunburst's shoulder. ~~~ A rumor began to circle around Celestia City. ...More than a rumor. Perhaps a tall tale, or even a legend. It spoke of the City's guardian that lived in the very core of its existence, in the restricted areas that were still Castle Bleck. She was a woman of stars - a Celestialsapien, some said. Others laughed and said that was preposterous, she must be something else, for the Class 1 race would never care about them. The people of Celestia City spoke of how the guardian never moved an inch. How she sat there, waiting for the moment she was needed. Others said she wasn't a true guardian, and that she merely wanted information on the multiverse, thinking that hitchhiking was the best way to do it. Still others said she was a collective of beings... But the stories agreed on one thing. Altruistic or not, she was there, watching over them. Watching over them with immeasurable power at her fingertips. Aradia liked hearing about herself as she walked around Celestia City. She wondered how word of her presence even got out, since she hadn't actually done anything as the Celestialsapien yet, but she didn't mind that much. The rumors gave the citizens something to be excited about - and a strange feeling of safety, even if they thought the rumor was just that, nothing more than a story spun for fun. In many ways, the words held all the power she needed. She prepared herself to go debate the very fabric of reality with the voices of Time itself...
Songs of the Spheres	098 - The Elements of Harmony	"How come I didn't know you had a warehouse?" Rainbow Dash asked her daughter. Prism was a slender, fit, white-coated pegasus mare; her rainbow mane had a gradient to it, rather than the distinct stripes of her mother's. She wore large glasses with pointed edges. "Dunno. Guess it just never came up. But you're here now." She grinned stupidly. "I've got a machine in here that can fling you into orbit." "...I knew you wouldn't let me down!" Rainbow laughed, tousling her daughter's mane. "Mom!" Prism laughed right back. "What? Nobody's watching. I can look a little soft." Prism rolled her eyes. "Right." She pressed her hoof to the DNA scanner outside her warehouse, and it let her in. She led her mother into the expansive workshop of an engineer. "Behold. Things." There were, in fact, things in the warehouse. Tons of scrap metal from cars, planes, and other vehicles that had been cannibalized to create what appeared to be a fully functioning helicopter. There was a welding station, a set of three go-karts with a fourth partially assembled, a woodworking station, a truly absurd number of tools on the far side of the wall, a spellcasting computer, some exercise equipment, a large table covered with numerous interlocking magical crystals, and a huge number of books strewn about in a haphazard fashion. There was also a giant cannon in the middle of the warehouse pointed straight up at a hatch in the roof. "...Wow," Rainbow said. "You should have brought me here sooner." "Yeah, probably," Prism admitted. "But I get a little occupied with all the inventing sometimes. Aside from that space cannon I've got some other inventions here. That insignificant-looking black box there is the Zero-Point Driver, which is why I have enough money to have this place. There's usually a couple assistants running around, but it's the weekend and I don't have brutal hours." "Fresh out of college and already running a laboratory. Wow. Did I ever tell you I was proud of you?" "You tried not to. You kinda sorta failed later on," Prism chuckled. "But hey, I don't mind. You got me here and this is a great life. I would show you the muscle networking device I'm working on..." "But it'll go over my non-eggy-head. I know." "So let's check out this cannon. It can shoot you to the moon." "Wow." "It has no practical purpose whatsoever," Prism said, smirking. "It just does it safely without the use of magic." "...Can I ride?" "Sure. I won't be shooting you at the moon though. Luna'd be peeved." Rainbow laughed. "Yeah, she would. Spacesuit?" "Bottom compartment." Rainbow popped the bottom compartment of the cannon open - and then her cutie mark started glowing. "Really?" Prism chuckled. "Guess you'll have to wait until you get back!" "Aaaargh! Fine, fine, time for a Friendship Problem! At least it doesn't take multiple days to travel around anymore." ~~~ Applejack had four kids. Jona, Ginger, Cameo, and Corea. Jona was tall, red, and demanded attention with her presence. Ginger was the only stallion of the bunch and was a pony of few words, but also a genius. Cameo was a mare born with a horn thanks to latent genes within Barley's lineage, whose special talent was mimicry magic. Corea was the Avatar, bender of five elements and spiritual leader of an entire world. Jona and Ginger still worked on the family farm. Cameo had gone off to magic school to become a wizard, and while not the best was at least decent at it. Corea was still spending most her time on Elemental Four, keeping that world's course steady. All four of them were currently eating lunch with their mother at Sweet Apple Acres, in the kitchen all of them had grown up in - even Corea, though she had left relatively young. Out the kitchen window, they could see how much the farm had changed. They still grew apples and a handful of other things, yes, but the farms were much larger - and automated in many ways. There was still work the Apple family had to do, but Applejack knew there was less load on them than when she was younger. At first she had worried technology would make her kids lazy, but that didn't happen. All four of them were great workers, and she was proud of all of them in her own way. That didn't mean she didn't get annoyed at Jona's rambling sometimes. "-and then Helm went all 'grunt grunt' and Empire thought it was the funniest thing ever, meanwhile I was over there waiting for him to hurry up and make dinner. So yeah - oh wait! That reminds me!" "Do you ever stop talking?" Cameo asked. "Hm? Nah. Or do I...? Eh, Sometimes. To let other ponies talk." Ginger grunted. "What was that, dear brother?" Ginger let out a soft chuckle. "Giving others a chance to speak to prove a point does not indicate evidence for any sort of average or behavioral pattern." Jona blinked. "...Right." "He's discrediting you," Cameo said. "Not his best work." "I thought it was okay," Corea added. "You didn't fully understand it." Corea rolled her eyes. "Uh huh. Right. I didn't understand that he was poking her for mixing up what she does on the spot for a temporary point?" Cameo smirked. "Fair enough." Corea chuckled. Applejack smiled contentedly. "Ah'm glad you're all here." Corea smiled back. "Same. It's nice to see everyone." Jona nodded slowly. "We are Apples after all. Even those of us who are quite pointy in parts." Cameo rolled her eyes. "I'm pointy in one part." "Oh? What about your words? Pretty sharp, hmm?" Cameo blinked. She didn't have a comeback for that one. "How is the wizardin' goin'?" Applejack asked. Cameo shrugged. "Good enough. Created a spell for making the perfect pie based on your recipes. Don't worry, nobody knows how it works yet." "Ah would hope not. ...Corea?" "Being the Avatar is difficult," Corea admitted. "But I also get to see a lot of weird places. Lucky for me the world is at peace right now, and everyone seems to be getting along famously with each other. Tenzin's even mellowed out and has his own family now!" "Ah know that. Ah was sent the pictures." Applejack smirked. "And Ah w-" Her cutie mark started glowing. "DUTY CALLS!" Corea blurted. "A quest calls your presence, mother! Fly!" Jona sighed. "Aw... I was hoping this would last longer." Applejack rubbed the back of her head. "Well... Ah'm sorry but Ah have to take this. Y'all keep havin' lunch. Ah might be gone a few days. So listen to your aunt and uncle. You know the drill." Her four children waved her off. ~~~ Renee couldn't tell anyone why, but she loved cleaning up the castle. She didn't spruce it up or decorate it anymore - it had already been mostly maximized in that department - but she still would go around and dust from time to time, even though there were janitors to do that sort of thing. It was just something she liked to do. Even Daniel thought she was crazy. She didn't mind, though, she just picked up a duster when she felt like it and began to move around. She could easily deal with her duties while dusting unless a crisis came up. "Overhead! Team Zeta-Five has returned early!" a Ga reported. "Put them on Earth Coffee, I'm sure they can find something constructive to do there. If not, I suppose I'll offer them a vacation." "Of course." Most of her day-to-day decisions were like that anyway. Think for a moment and send ponies on one of many different missions. There were so many. Some required thought on her part to find the best fit or discover what exactly the expedition would be, but others were as simple as randomizing an unexplored world and sending someone there. Easy. She entered the map room and started dusting the map itself. Her cutie mark started glowing. "Oh, well that's a pleasant surprise." She pulled out her phone. "Daniel dear, Friendship Problem, you'll have to handle everything." Corona's already out today and shouldn't need any assistance. We should be fine. "Love you~!" ~~~ "Alright team!" Pinkie said, looking seriously. "I'm about to comically setup the best pranking palooza ever!" Nova, Vriska, and John Egbert glanced at each other. Nova raised a hoof. "What exactly is a palooza? I've been wondering for a while now." "Absolutely nothing!" Pinkie laughed. "Regardless, we are the best pranksters around. We should be able to fool the entire city of Ponyville!" "Why don't you guys change the name?" John asked. "It's not a village. Also Ponyville just sounds kinda lame." "Ponies will just keep calling it Ponyville anyway," Nova pointed out. "Plus whatever we did change it to would just become something even more stupid. Like Poneopolis or something." "Geez. That is bad." Pinkie clapped her hooves. "Prank, remember? We're going to start by covering main street in an invisible sheet of adhesive, so everyone's shoes and hooves and feet will be coated in it. A lot of people will notice this, but that's not the main part of the prank. It's a distraction!" Vriska smirked. "A distraction prank for the real one?" "Sorta. Their feet get sticky, then we introduce a ton of bugs into the system, a-" Pinkie's cutie mark started flashing. Pinkie facehooved. "You guys asked too many questions! I was going to get to the end, say go team, and then get called away but noooo you guys had to ask questions. You ruined everything." Nova blinked. "S-sorry!" John rolled his eyes. "And you've just fallen for it." "...What?" "She was pranking us. There wasn't any more plan to the prank." "...Fuck, she got me too," Vriska said. Pinkie bowed to John. "You are truly the prank master, John Egbert. This map summons is real though, so I do gotta go. See ya!" ~~~ "-Amen," Rev said, wrapping up the service. The congregation made its way out of their seats and out the door for the most part, but a few came up to her and said hello or asked a question, which she answered diligently. She eventually made her way to Flutterfree and Eve. "So, you're back?" Rev asked Eve. Eve gestured at Flutterfree. "She convinced me to come. Again." "You're not feeling pressured, are you?" Rev asked. "Eh... sometimes, though I feel like it's more self-pressure than anything. She rarely asks and I figured I might as well drop by, learn a little more about this... place." Rev nodded. "So, what did you think?" "Still hard to chew it with what I know about everything else." "Well, I can try to answer your questions." "Flutterfree does a pretty good job of that," Eve said. "I might not always get it right," Flutterfree pointed out. "That whole thing about miracles a few months ago? Yeah, that was just me being silly." Eve chuckled. "I remember. ...I guess I want to hear what you have to say about the existence of evil, Rev." "Right so, the general answer that 'good cannot exist without evil' is stupid," Rev began. "Don't believe it for a moment. Everything evil exists because it serves someone's desires for something good. Pure 'evil' entities are a result of the Tower, which sought to produce something good: meaning. Clearly made by those who didn't believe in a higher power, but that's a rabbit trail we don't need to get into right now." Eve nodded. "The Tower's tunnels know no ends." Rev continued. "Regardless, the general answer for the existence of evil is because we conscious beings were given free will - a choice. We could choose to follow the good will of God, or we could choose to deny Him and do whatever we wanted, which meant an allowance of evil. Because if there was no evil, well, there wouldn't be a choice there because we would be perfect beings already. There wouldn't be an option for an actual relationship, we'd just be robots." "Some robots a-" "You know what I mean, Eve," Rev said with a smirk. "There are some programmed machines that have no will of their own, even if they may think they do. We were given a choice, and thus, evil exists. That's a distilled-down version, and there's a lot of people who question if free will is worth the existence of evil, not to mention the prevalence of 'grimdark' in the multiverse, but we'd need to sit down for a longer discussion to get into that. Lunch, maybe." "We're open, right?" Flutterfree asked Eve. "Sure," Eve said. "I suppose it's about time I see what Nova likes so much about arguing with you." "I don't see you arguing as vehemently as Nova," Rev said with a laugh. "That mare is really stubborn." "Don't I know i-" Eve and Flutterfree's cutie marks started flashing. Eve chuckled. "Well, guess I won't be getting to that." Rev shrugged. "It probably won't be as good as the deep conversations I know you have with Flutterfree about it, to be honest. I still hope you'll think about it." "We will have that lunch at some point," Eve said. "You can count on it." "I look forward to it." ~~~ The six Bearers of the Elements of Harmony stood together in the map room of Renee's crystal castle. "So, where are we going?" Rainbow asked. "If it's all six of us it must be something big," Flutterfree pointed out. "We're not going offworld," Renee observed. "That's still on the map." "Other side of the world though," Applejack commented. "Any idea where that is?" "Yep!" Pinkie said. "Tauryl," Eve said, closing an atlas. "That's in Tauryl." "Tauryl!?" Flutterfree blurted. "I've... I've never been there." "The last independent nation on this planet," Eve continued. "The centaurs and gargoyles. They only started talking to us at all because of Xeelee interference. Currently, they don't like anything from outside, but they realize they can't do anything to us. Their leaders are gruff and decidedly xenophobic, but they're good enough to their own people. ...The last team that was sent there was the 'Mean Six' and they did... fine, I suppose, but didn't exactly leave a good impression." She furrowed her brow. "We're being sent to one of their islands, far from their seat of power. So what little I do know about Tauryl culture may not apply there." "Heh. Into the unknown again." Rainbow smirked. "Just like old times?" "It has been a while since we were all sent on a mission together," Flutterfree said. "Then let's make this the best mission ever!" Pinkie shouted. "We are going to blow the socks off the Tree of Harmony with how well we do this one!" Renee grinned. "You bet we will. We've grown so much since the last time." "And we're still the best of friends!" Pinkie blurted. "Woo!" "Shame Nova isn't comin' too," Applejack said. "Even if she's not an Element, she still feels like part of us." Eve nodded. "Yeah, I know. But the map chose us, so we are going." She pulled out her phone. "O'Neill! Think you can teleport the six of us to... this location? Surface-to-ship-to-surface teleportation. All right, tha-" The teleporter locked onto them, teleported all six of them to the teleporter room of whatever ship O'Neill happened to be on, then down to the island the map had indicated. They appeared on a beach with a sparse dotting of palm trees. There was a tall, black tower of metal that rose to a three-tipped claw far above them. It was the middle of the night since they were on the other side of the planet, revealing a slight red glow from the tower. "Woah..." Rainbow said. "One of their defense towers," Eve said. "They used to destroy any ship, vehicle, or entity they saw coming with these. Now it's just a dormant memory of what Tauryl used to be." She glanced around, taking in more of the scenery. She saw a path leading up out of the beach. "This way." The six of them trotted along, surprised with how normal everything seemed for the other side of Equis Vitis. "Maybe we've just been exploring too much," Flutterfree said. "But this doesn't look very exotic." "It's not that," Applejack said. "Trust me, Ah'd know. This just seems like a regular beach besides the imposin' tower." They walked along the path out of the beach, soon able to see a town in the distance. Eve executed a teleport to take them right to the edge of it. The buildings were noticeably taller than any pony or human construction, likely because centaurs weren't exactly short creatures. The buildings were largely made of stone with little decoration on them. Nobody was out and about - but that was to be expected. It was night. "We need to wait until morning before we start rummaging around," Renee said. "But it's chilly out and I'd rather not sit here until dawn." Pinkie pointed at a nearby building that had an Inn sign on it. "Bada-boom." "What would we do without you?" Flutterfree asked. "Flounder around. Badly," Pinkie said with a giggle. They walked in the front door of the inn. The interior was warmly lit by gas lamps, showing a small lobby with a couple chairs. The stone material of the building gave it a strong, if slightly oppressive, atmosphere. A female centaur sat behind the counter, black and blue fur covering most of her body. Her two horns were thin and slender. She stared at them with a blank expression. "Do you want a room?" she said with a level, disinterested tone. "Yes," Eve said, unable to hear her voice inflection, picking up nothing from the centaur due to the aforementioned blank expression. "How much?" "Thirty crielar per room. It looks like you'll need two, so sixty." "Drat," Rainbow muttered. "Forgot money existed." "I didn't," Eve said, unrolling a roll of Tauryl coins - presumably crielar. "Will this work?" "Thank you for your business," she said, taking the coins and giving them a pair of keys. "Rooms three and four. They're adjoined." "Thanks," Eve said, walking down the hall to door three and four, using her magic to unlock both at once. She stepped into room three, taking in the two beds and a recliner that doubled as another bed. There was a large window, a single gas lamp, and a simple table in the room, but there was little in the way of decoration or comfort. Tauryl was not known to be accepting of leisure or technology, so this wasn't exactly unexpected. Eve unlocked the adjoining set of doors between the rooms, finding the other one to be nearly identical. "I call a bed!" Pinkie declared. "I'll take a recliner," Flutterfree said. "Wait, we're actually sleeping?" Renee said. "It's still midday for me! I'm not tired at all!" "...Oh, right," Rainbow said, deciding to stop guarding a bed like it was her closest held treasure in the entire world. "...So what do we do, then?" "Wait," Applejack said. "Y'know, that thing you do when something's going to happen in a while?" Rainbow dash snorted. "Funny." "Hey, Eve," Renee asked. "I didn't see you grab any coins." "I conjured them," Eve said. "Not that the centaur has to know that." "Did the centaur seem odd to anyone else?" Flutterfree asked. "Like she wasn't all there." "It is the middle of the night," Applejack pointed out. "Ah mean, Ah thought she was odd too, but she might just be tired." "Maybe," Flutterfree said. "I was expecting a lot more hostility," Eve admitted. "This far from the center of Tauryl, they probably barely know that the xenophobic practices have changed. Sure, they had one of the towers, and it was disabled, but that wouldn't mean much to the actual people. They'd still be aggressive... Or they should have been." "Maybe because it's far from the capital they're nicer?" Renee suggested. "Or maybe they've just run into ponies before and they were nice!" Pinkie said. Then she gasped. "Maybe those ponies were us and we're about to go back in time!" Eve rolled her eyes. "I've got no plans for that. All I've got plans for is to talk with all of you for a while then solve a Friendship Problem." She smiled. "How have you all been?" "GREAT!" Pinkie blurted. "But you know that." "The tales of your exploits across the multiverse are a highlight of most of my days," Eve said with a smirk. "Though reading your reports and hearing it from you are different things." Pinkie shrugged. "But we don't have all that much time." "I would love personalized reports in person," Renee said. "But we deal with so much that's just not possible and only done with pressing matters. My life consists of reading reports, sending people on missions, and dusting." "...Dusting?" Applejack said, cocking her head. "Dusting. I like dusting. It's a hobby of mine." "Did Aradia get to you or something?" Pinkie asked with a chuckle. "What? No. Why would you a-" Renee blinked. "Oh, right, the whole 'Handmaid' thing." "It is a little weird if you know her," Pinkie said. Eve chuckled. "When I first saw her doing it back before the bowling ball, I was enthralled. Now when I see her in the halls of Canterlot I just give her this look." She put on a grumpy glare mixed with an eyebrow raise. "And then she laughs and disappears." "You spend a lot of time in Canterlot, huh?" Applejack asked. Eve nodded. "Yep. It's my home now, though I do spend a significant amount of time in other universes. Political discussions, establishing relations. I talk to a lot of people every day. Good thing I learned to do that a long time ago, isn't it?" "Oh yes," Renee said. "Can you imagine still being your bookworm antisocial self and being Overhead of Relations?" "I'd be Overhead of Research then and you know it." "Not Oversight?" Rainbow asked. "Oversight is too legalistic." "Egghead Twi would not have had a problem with that," Rainbow said, "Like, at all." Eve rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Yeah, that's fair." "Applejack, how's the farm?" Flutterfree asked. "Goin' good," Applejack said. "Not as much profit from just growin' apples anymore, but we've got some great processing of zap apples and cider now. Ponyville's large enough that we stay busy with just those. Gotta say, didn't think magitech would help much back in the day, but year-round cider has been good for everyone." "Thank Celestia, the Tower, and all the gods who listen!" Rainbow said, throwing her hooves up. "The cider never runs dry!" "The family's getting' real big too. Like, real big." Applejack chuckled to herself. "Ah think Ah know what Granny Smith felt like when she was young." "We aren't exactly young anymore," Renee pointed out. "Late sixties, all of us. If we weren't immortal we'd be halfway to the finish line." "Thank goodness for golden shiny blood!" Rainbow said with a laugh. "Works wonders!" Flutterfree nodded. "Sure does." "Oh, guys, guys," Rainbow smirked. "Prism invented a cannon that can shoot you to the moon." "While impressive, I question why," Eve said. "Because it's awesome, that's why!" "In the future, she shall be known as the inventor of awesome!" Pinkie giggled. "Oh yeah!" "How are the Wonderbolts these days?" Eve asked. "We bounce between Renee and O'Neill for special missions," Rainbow said. "It's a little tiring to be in charge all the time - but it's so worth it. I've whipped us into shape for stopping baddies, villains, and other things." Rainbow smirked. "It's a little interesting, being the special task force rather than a bunch of explorers. But we still get to do the stunt shows. ...Basically my life is packed and it's awesome." "Hard to imagine you used to spend all your time sleeping on clouds," Flutterfree said. "Heh. Right back at you. Hard to imagine you as the same pony, given everything." Flutterfree summoned Lolo, planning to use the Stand as a way to further the conversation. But the moment she fully activated it, the entire hotel vanished and they fell to the dirt ground. It was still night - but the entire town was gone. Instead there was a jungle filled with alien plant shapes, mysterious flashing lights that appeared and disappeared through the trees, and a mysterious eerie wind. "This is more like it!" Pinkie cheered. "...I liked that bed," Renee pouted. "Right, so, I guess the entire town wasn't real," Eve said, clicking her tongue absentmindedly. "Huh. Flutterfree?" "Alien forest is real," Flutterfree said, spreading Lolo out far. "Not finding much else. Still expanding Lolo though." Eve put her hoof to her eyes, lighting her left eye up with the power of Light. "The tower is still there, so we are on the island we teleported to. I can tell that this forest is what naturally grows here. And aside from a few interesting facts about the plants - the three-pronged one is deadly poisonous - I'm not seeing much to go off of." She set her eye back to normal, scanning for magic sources. "Large ambient magic. I suspect a signal masking spell is in place. Anyone else got anything?" They shook their heads. "Right. Pinkie, Awareness telling you anything?" "Adventure, single chapter," Pinkie said. "We're the only ones being focused on, so it's a story about the six of us. Chapter title is 'The Elements of Harmony' so that makes sense. We've spent the rest of our time here re-establishing ourselves and our lives. So I'd guess the actual adventure is about to start." She licked the roof of her mouth. "Existence tastes like raspberries today..." "Any indication what this adventure is going to be?" Pinkie shrugged. "I dunno. I'm not Starbeat, I can't give you 'levels of importance' or 'the flow of ka', all I've got for you is little inklings." She thought for a while. "Hrm... I'm getting a sense that something's about to go wrong." "No surprise there," Renee said. "Yeah, it's n-" Pinkie's pupils dilated and her cheerful smile fell. "Uh oh." "That's a bad 'uh oh'," Rainbow said. "Yeeeeah this is going to be a brutal o-" A collection of bones held together by dark fire appeared from nowhere, grabbed Pinkie, and pulled her into the forest. The five mares wasted no time at all, charging after their friend. They may not have been able to see Pinkie or the thing that had taken her, but Lolo could. Everyone followed Flutterfree, dashing through the woods without care for all the scrapes and bruises they were receiving from stumbling through unknown terrain. "Flutterfree!" Eve called, running up to be alongside her. "How far ahead?" "Thirty meters." "Straight?" "Straight." "Prepare for teleport!" Eve shouted, lighting her horn. In a flash of purple magic they were precisely thirty meters ahead, right next to the creature of bones and shadow. It was exceptionally hard to see in the dark, but Eve was able to get a general idea with her special eye. It was a blob of burning black sludge with the skeleton of a creature inside, but all the bones were in the wrong places. Hands were next to legs, the skull was near the pelvis, and the horns were on opposite sides of the sludge. Pinkie was held within the sludge, the shape of her mane indicating it was very wet in there, and not as scalding as the black flames on the outside suggested. Eve summoned Seraphim. Gravity next to the sludge increased tenfold - enough to force the amorphous sludge to the ground in a flat puddle barely cohesive enough to keep the bones in check. Rainbow Dash flew in next, the winds of Breath swirling a tornado pattern around Pinkie, tearing her out of the blackness. Flutterfree shot the darkness with her bow of light for good measure. It writhed in pain - and fled, leaving the six of them alone. "What on Equis was that!?" Renee blurted. "Something undead," Eve said, moving to go check on Pinkie. Rainbow was currently blowing the rest of the black sludge off her using the winds of Breath. Eve noticed Pinkie's mane wasn't poofing back up. "Pinks?" Rainbow asked. "You okay?" "Why wouldn't I be, Dashie?" Pinkie said, twitching. "I've just about been eaten by an undead sludge monster!" "Pinkie, calm down," Rainbow said, putting her hooves on her shoulders. "I don't know what happened to you in there, but it clearly wasn't good. You're fine now, okay?" "Oh, I'm better than fine!" Pinkie pulled a knife out of her mane. "P-" She drove it right into Rainbow's neck, sending blood flying over her own pink face. "See? Totally fine." Rainbow's pink eyes locked on Pinkie's own blue irises. She extended a wing - and then fell over. Flutterfree screamed, backing away. Deep within her, the Rage rose... but she couldn't bring herself to use it against Pinkie. Pinkie turned to the rest of them, juggling the knife. "So, who's next? This doesn't end without me killing you all, y'know. I suppose there's a chance you can stop me, but..." Eve activated Seraphim despite her shock, forcing gravity to increase dramatically next to Pinkie. First ten times, then a hundred, than a thousand. The ground literally crumbled away beneath her - but the pink party pony remained standing. "Reality is just a suggestion!" Pinkie chuckled. She rushed Eve. Eve raised a shield, but Pinkie appeared behind her, knife raised. Lolo wrapped around Pinkie's knife, tearing it from her hoof. Pinkie was in the air, holding another knife aimed at Flutterfree's neck. Applejack opted to just buck Pinkie in the side to protect Flutterfree. The pink pony went flying, but she didn't care. She just bounced back to her hooves and laughed. "Stop," Renee ordered, her eyes glowing a slight teal shade. The Sylph of Mind lit her horn, worming her way into Pinkie's own consciousness. It was a terrifying place, but Renee wasn't a god-tier player of Mind, so she couldn't read - she could only heal. She put her own mental energy into Pinkie. Pinkie froze in place, her face twitching. "I... Er... I... Ahahahaha!" She pulled another knife out of her mane, but then dropped it, looking at her hoof in horror. Then she picked it back up and readied to throw it, but her other hoof knocked it out of her grip. "What's goin' on!?" Applejack blurted. "I don't know!" Renee said. "She's got something altering her mind continually! All I can do is keep her conflicted! Everything I do is undone a second later!" Eve lit her horn. "Keep it up for just a little longer." She lit her eye up. "I'll find a way to contain her." Pinkie tried to get off a quip, but with Renee's influence the sentence came out as a series of gurgles and panicked breaths. How to contain Pinkie Pie... Eve thought to herself, scrolling through her knowledge of spells and dimensions. She operates even in standard physics, so that won't work... Magical chains will keep her for a limited time, but that might not be enough... She can break any rule... So a self-perpetuating sealant spell affixed to her soul might do it. Might. She'll be able to get out if she seriously wants... But it's all I've got right now. Eve cast her spell. Magical cuffs and chains appeared around Pinkie's neck, midsection, and all four legs. She was tied up and turned upside-down, legs in the air. For good measure Eve enchanted her to be stuck to a boulder. Pinkie growled. "You think this can hold me!?" "For a while," Eve said. "That's all we need." Pinkie struggled, but she remained fixed to the boulder and tied in all the chains. "MMMF!" "Rainbow!" Flutterfree shouted. Now that the fight was over she ran over to the blue pegasus. She pressed a wing to the side of her neck that wasn't just a huge gash. "There's no pulse!" Applejack walked over and gulped. "She's... She's dead." Everyone except Pinkie turned to Eve. Eve nodded slowly. "I'll try it. Renee, be ready if she... if she..." "Comes Back Wrong?" Eve gulped, the slightest motion of her head telling Renee yes. She stood over Rainbow's body and spread her wings, the magic sparkles in her mane flashing. She surrounded herself in a white aura, coalescing the energy into her horn. The white beam surrounded Rainbow's body, filling her with the revive spell. Eve had never learned much in the way of healing or holy magic, like Corona had. But she had made sure she knew the revive spell in case of a situation like this. The gash in Rainbow's neck sealed up awkwardly, but enough to be stable. The life slowly seeped back into Rainbow's eyes. The pegasus coughed up some blood and groaned. There was a series of relieved sighs. Flutterfree closed her eyes and murmured "thank you." "Oh look at that, you brought her back!" Pinkie jeered. "Lucky you!" Rainbow stood up and coughed, dusting herself off. She turned to Pinkie with sad eyes. "That's right! I killed you! Cause I'm craaaaazy!" She laughed. Rainbow walked up to her, expression unreadable, one side of her body still covered in the red stains of her own blood. She stopped just short of the boulder. "Come to get your revenge? C'mon, it'll feel great." Rainbow put a wing around Pinkie. "We're gonna fix you, Pinks. Don't you worry." "W-WHAT!? I... Gah, you're all missing the point! I'm crazy murderpony!" "Uh, yeah," Rainbow said. "So? You're still our friend. We're going to help you through this no matter how dangerous you are. Right girls?" "Right," the other four said without hesitation. Rainbow coughed again. "Aw man, Eve, I don't think you healed that up very well..." "I'm not a healer!" Eve blurted. "I... I did what I could." "Yeah. Thanks, by the way. Still feel like crud." "...Your ability to recover from the situation so quickly astounds me," Renee admitted. "I didn't spend however long staring at my dead body, so... I might have an advantage here?" She rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry if I seem to be brushing this off. ...Anyway, Pinkie. How do we help her? Renee?" "I already tried. Something's actively tormenting her mind." "Maybe I've just found my true self!" Pinkie blurted. "Yeah, no, if that were the case you wouldn't have been so conflicted when I was healing you. Something's influencing you." "And just her," Eve said, looking around with her eye. "None of us are affected." "We need to get her to some other Pinkies," Flutterfree said. "So she doesn't slip out when we're all blinking simultaneously." Eve nodded, pulling out her phone. She tried to dial O'Neill - but got no service. She narrowed her eyes. "...This entire universe should have service..." "Wasn't Seraphim working?" Renee asked. Eve created a portal using Seraphim and poked her head through. She passed through the portal like it didn't exist, remaining on the island. She tried to teleport away next, but just appeared elsewhere on the island. She teleported back, shaking her head. "We're stuck." "Isn't that always how it goes?" Pinkie pointed out. "You get stuck by some mysterious force! Who knows, maybe it's me this time? Wouldn't that be something?" "Right, so we can't leave," Eve said. "Can't heal Pinkie here... So we have to find the undead sludge monster and figure out what it's doing. Flutterfree?" Flutterfree closed her eyes, tapping into Lolo. "I don't have much on it." "I can try to track it magically, but everything's scrambled here," Eve admitted. "My eye will probably help. Bring information to Light, as it were. Renee, is your telekinesis strong enough to lift that boulder?" Renee looked at the boulder and bit her lip. "...Yes, but it will be a significant strain." "We have to take her with us and I don't want to detach her." "I'll do it Eve, don't worry. Just don't expect me to be doing much in the way of fighting." Eve nodded. "Rainbow?" "I'm not leaving Pinkie's side," Rainbow said, saluting with a wing. "I'll watch 'em both." Eve forced a smile. "Good. Follow me. Tap me if you need my attention - I'll be fixated on the path ahead of us." She scanned the area ahead of her as the Witch of Light, following the black creature's escape trail. The rest followed behind her, their faces set and determined. The smiles that had been present prior had mostly fallen, replaced not with despondence but with a feeling of urgency and importance. This mission was just getting started, and all of them knew it. Pinkie kept laughing. "Hey giiiiirls! What's walking into a death trap? That's right, all of us! It's gonna be great! There won't be any balloons, but pff, not all parties need balloons!" Rainbow fixed Pinkie with an intense stare. "Hey, Pinkie, I know the good you is in there somewhere. We're not going to hold any of this against you, k? So if you're beating yourself up in there, don't." "I'm going to kill you all." "Well I've already been killed!" Rainbow smirked. "So guess I'm safe!" Pinkie twitched. "What's wrong with you?" "I'm awesome." "And there it is," Renee said, grunting because of her exertion on the boulder. "The ego that never goes away, even post-traumatic experience." Applejack chuckled. "Heh. That's our Rainbow. Smart-mouthin' even after the end." "I am now best zombie, no contest," Rainbow said with an exaggerated bow. Flutterfree walked back to the group around the floating boulder. "Hey, Applejack, Eve wants you to be on Pinkie for a minute while Rainbow gets an bird's eye view of everything. That good?" Applejack nodded. "Fine by me. Rainbow?" "On it!" Rainbow said, flying into the sky with a burst of wind. Pinkie chuckled. "Hey Aaaaaaaplejaaaaaaack..." she whispered. "Got somethin' to tell you..." Applejack raised an eyebrow, putting her face closer to Pinkie. "Ah'm listening, though Ah'm also expectin' this to either be a trap or some cruel joke o' yours." "Oh, it might be both. See, I'm going to tell you something completely one hundred percent true, no bamboozle. And you're going to hate it." She giggled. "The only way to stop me from killing another one of you is to kill me. If you don't, I will kill one of you again. It is certain." "Mhm," Applejack said, grunting. "Great talk." "What are you gonna do, huh? Kill me? Or are you going to pretend like I didn't say anything?" Applejack blinked. "Ah'm gonna talk to Eve about it and see what she thinks. Ah'm not makin' that decision alone." Pinkie blinked. "Waitin' for Rainbow to come back though, y'know, since Ah'm supposed to be watchin' you." Pinkie's left eye twitched. "Not even fazed..." Rainbow returned, tapping Eve to get her attention.. "Yeah, there's nothing on this entire island besides that tower. Not even sure who could build it, or why. There's nothing for Tauryl to defend here!" "Lighthouse principle, maybe?" Eve asked. "Destroy the ships coming to the mainland from a distance?" Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Dunno. All I know is that this island is abandoned, dark, has a creepy glowing tower, and is very hard to see through. That canopy is thick." "Got it. How are you feeling, after that fly?" "Eh, I still feel like puking my guts out, but nothing too bad. I probably shouldn't be using my neck too much. How about you?" "Still following the trail," Eve reported. "Keep it up." She flew back to Pinkie. "You're free, AJ. What'd you get up to?" Applejack nodded. "A lot of creepy talkin'." "Oh yeah, figures." Pinkie groaned. "Why are you so amiable!? Be freaked out!" "I'm barely holding onto my sanity," Rainbow admitted. "But hey, why would I make it worse by freaking out?" Pinkie said nothing. Applejack took the opportunity to trot up to Flutterfree and Eve. "Uh, hey Eve?" "She's, uh, not looking right now," Flutterfree said. "Tracking." "Well Ah just heard somethin' from Pinkie she's gotta hear." Flutterfree noticed the urgency in Applejack's voice and nodded. She tapped Eve's shoulder with her wing and then gestured toward Applejack. "Hm?" Eve said. "Pinkie's just told me that, unless we kill her, she's gonna kill one of us. Ah believe her when she said it was a certainty. Figured you'd need to know." "...Ah..." Eve bit her lip. "Ah suggest we keep doin' what we've been doin'. I ain't gonna kill her unless she asks me to in her right mind. Ah can't be sure it was really necessary otherwise." "That's true," Eve said. "Difficult situation... I'll make sure everyone knows. Ahem. Everpony!?" Everypony turned to her, stopping their motions. "So, Pinkie's probably going to get out and kill one of us," Eve said. "We know that the only way to prevent this is to kill her. AJ and I agree that we shouldn't do that. I presume you all agree, but you needed to be made aware." Renee sighed. "It's difficult, but it's the only real decision." Rainbow nodded. "Not her fault, she doesn't deserve to be offed for it. Even if she does go after one of us." Flutterfree smiled. "Looks like it's unanimous." "That's a small comfort, at least," Applejack said. "GAH!" Pinkie shouted. "That's it, you're all going to pay for your stupid, stupid friendship. Now." "Incoming!" Eve shouted, preparing a complex series of spells. The shadowy creature flew at them, burning through the air like it was nothing. Eve shot at it and tapped into Seraphim to induce a point of Absolute Zero within the creature. Parts of it froze - but other parts of it lashed out at Pinkie, tearing her free from the boulder. This time the creature didn't run - it just teleported away in a flash of darkness. When the darkness had cleared, Pinkie was already free with a knife in her hoof. She whirled onto Renee, driving the knife into her shoulder. "Gotch-" Renee pulled her into a hug. The motion made Applejack, Rainbow, Flutterfree, and Eve freeze. Pinkie stabbed Renee again. She let out a cry of pain, but refused to let go of Pinkie. Pinkie stabbed her again. This time there was no cry, just a whimper, her hooves still hung around Pinkie's neck. "Jus... Jus..." There were tears peeking out the corners of Pinkie's eyes, despite her enraged face. "What is... wrong with you ponies!?" "W-whatever you are... you aren't... Pinkie..." Renee gasped. "Pinkie... it's okay. Just..." Renee got a surge of strength to pull Pinkie closer. "Just take this. It's all I can do." Pinkie drove the knife into one of Renee's eyes. The white hooves stayed around Pinkie's neck much longer than they should have. Pinkie let out a laugh. "I... I've got one! I... I..." She curled into a ball and started rocking back and forth, giggling to herself. "I, no you, no me, no them, I... Heheheheheheheh...." Eve had the imprisonment spell ready, but she knew from a glance at Pinkie it was no longer necessary. She wasn't going to be doing anything for a while. She lowered her horn. Rainbow ran to Pinkie, putting a wing around her. Pinkie didn't respond to the touch - she just kept laughing. Laughing while crying, not realizing the world was around her. Eve sighed. "Flutterfree, I'm sorry, you're going to have to do it this time." Flutterfree gulped. She drew the bow of light and pointed it right at Renee's head. "R-ready." Eve removed the knife from Renee's eye and disintegrated the offending weapon. Only then did she tap into the revive spell, flooding Renee's body with holy magic. The knife wounds sealed up, and the area that had once been her eye caked over. She took in a sharp breath. Then she let out a scream. Eve took a few steps back. "N-no..." Flutterfree bit back, tears pouring out of her eyes. "Don't make me do this Renee... Don't..." The screaming stopped, replaced by hurried breathing. She slowly stood up and gulped. She picked up her hat, dusted it of, and put it on her head. "I... guess I'm back." Flutterfree rushed her into a hug. "Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you." "Ahah..." Renee said, shaking her head. "...B-back off." She tore Flutterfree off of her. Flutterfree stared at her in betrayal. "W-what?" "You... you always say there's something after. Always. There... There was nothing Flutterfree! Absolutely nothing!" "...How exactly do you remember nothing?" Rainbow asked. "SHUT UP!" Renee shouted, pointing a hoof at Flutterfree. "Have you been lying to us? You've been dead before! How could you do that to us?" Flutterfree wiped the tears off her face. "Renee, I understand you're upset..." "Upset!? Upset!? That's the understatement of the century! There was nothing there Flutterfree! Not even fire! Just emptiness!" Flutterfree forced herself to keep a calm gaze with Renee. "Renee, you're worrying everyone." "Worrying? Who the hell cares?! I'm talking to you. There's something wrong with you!" "I'm sorry you believe that." Renee twitched. "Maybe you just think I went to the 'bad place'? Maybe your Hell is just expansive nothingness, is that it?" "...No." "Then what!?" Flutterfree gulped. "I think you weren't destined to die today, so you didn't go anywhere." "That's not what it felt like." Flutterfree struggled to keep her features calm, though the tears hadn't stopped. "Renee... You're stressed. You just experienced something horrible. I've experienced it too. It's never pleasant. But please, just stop." "No! You know what, here it goes. Your beliefs are outrageous! You believe in some human savior that may or may not have existed in a first universe, and that there is a God out there who loves every little creation in this screwed up existence! That's absurd! There it is! Always thought so, always have, always will! Stop being so goddamned comforted by it!" Flutterfree winced. "I... If... If that's what you think. I'm not going to stop you. Or judge you. But I'll do what I want. ...And I'll still be your friend, despite that." "What the hell is wrong with you!?" Flutterfree blinked. "You're not Renee." Rainbow facehooved. "Looks like it's out of Pinkie and in her now, great." "Ha-HA!" Pinkie blurted, sitting straight up. "I see the upper echelons! Today is a portent! Oh would you look at that! Please forget please forget please forget..." She fell back into Rainbow's lap, shuddering. Renee glanced at all the suddenly understanding faces. None of them were truly upset or angry anymore. She saw Eve creating the imprisonment spell for her. "Screw this," Renee muttered. She passed out onto the ground. Flutterfree walked up to her, placing a hoof to her neck. "...I have a pulse." "Was that... 'Coming Back Wrong'?" Rainbow asked. "Not of the sort we usually talk about," Eve said, furrowing her brow. "I think whatever this thing tormenting us is, it intercepted the revival. Somehow." Renee opened her eye. She laughed for a moment, but her eye flashed the teal of Mind, bringing her expression to a more reasonable one of confusion. "Wh-what happened?" "The thing that got Pinkie got to you," Flutterfree said. "You said some... really offensive things to me." Renee looked away guiltily. "...You actually do think it's silly, don't you?" "I, well..." Flutterfree hugged her. "It's okay. You can think what you want." Renee gulped. "I... You still have my support, Flutterfree. Always. I don't care if you believed we were all secretly banana slugs in a paradise world living other lives." She pulled her closer. "It's not silly." Flutterfree nodded. "Thank you for saying so." "WOOHOO! Driving up the anger meter!" Pinkie shouted, ruining the moment. "What will we think of next? Destruction? Desolation?" Renee sighed, pulling herself back from Flutterfree. She adjusted her hat. "Well, I'm down an eye. Quite painful, actually." "You did get it worse than I did," Rainbow admitted. "But hey, at least we're all back now. ...Even if Pinkie has lost it." Renee walked over to Pinkie. "...Maybe now...?" "You can try," Applejack said. Renee walked up to Pinkie. Her remaining eye flashed teal again, and she caressed Pinkie's head. "There there... You can come back to us." Pinkie's laughing died down. Her psychotic smile was replaced with a warm one, and her mane poofed up slightly - not back to full, but not fully straight. "Huh. Guess you got me back." She hugged Renee. "Thanks!" "Pinkie, hate to interrupt you now that you've just gotten back," Applejack said, "but do you know anything new?" Pinkie nodded. "Yeah... I forgot a lot of it. But I'm not going to get a chance to tell you all of it." She turned to Eve with sad eyes. "I'm so sorry. I can't do anything to stop what's coming next." Eve gulped. "...Yeah... Each of you have had a struggle. It's my turn, isn't it?" Pinkie smiled at her. "Just be strong, Eve. Whatever you do, I believe in you." "We all do," Flutterfree said, putting a wing around her. Eve nodded. She felt the warmth of the sun behind her - it had finally started to rise. Then she wasn't in the jungle anymore. She was on the beach they had first arrived in. Out on the ocean, the sun was rising, casting a beautiful pattern of light on the water. Between her and the sun was the black creature - but it wasn't a formless blob anymore. It had taken the form of a dragon-sized centaur skeleton held together by the black, burning sludge. In front of it were five bubbles, each one containing one of her friends. Eve blinked. Dejà vu. The creature spoke with a surprisingly normal sounding, but deep, voice. "There is something very wrong with all of you," the creature growled. Eve glared at it. "Let my friends go. I may not be able to escape this island, but I can give you a taste of a particularly nasty reality somewhat easily." "Threats. You think they're valid. They probably are, though know you are only able to do that by a loophole I did not forsee. Regardless, here is a choice, Eve." "What, going to make me give you my magic in exchange for them?" "I have no use for your magic. You simply have to choose - one of your friends is going to die, and they will be taken so you may not attempt to revive them. Take your pick. Also, try to move against me and they all die, just in case you had some sort of plan there." Eve stared right into the empty eye-sockets of the centaur's skull. "Me." Rainbow gasped. "Eve! You can't!" "She can't choose any of us either," Applejack said. "You can't offer yourself," the creature said, leaning it. "That would ruin the purpose of this exercise." "Then select at random," Eve said. "Also against the purpose. You have to choose a friend, Eve. Who do you think needs to die?" Eve glared at the skeletal centaur, tears rolling down her eyes. "Why?" "Maybe I'll answer that after you make your choice." "Do I have your word that all the rest of us will survive?" The creature leaned in. "You have my word, pony. Now choose! Who will it be? The pink murderer? The boring apple pony? The egotistical hotshot? The special buttery vampire? The seamstress turned politician? Which one is your least favorite? Choose, and let everyone else know." Eve looked at her friends, spending the longest time gazing at Flutterfree. She shifted her sights to the monster tormenting them. "I have decided." The beast chuckled. "Yes...?" "If I have to make this decision, in order to be as fair as possible to all the others... I have to choose the pony whose loss will hurt me the most." She gulped. "Flutterfree? I-" "I know," Flutterfree said, putting a hoof up to the edge of her bubble. "Don't worry about me. I'll be somewhere better." The other four ponies couldn't say anything. All but Applejack were crying profusely. Eve choked. "...Take Flutterfree. Take Flutterfree you bastard!" Flutterfree's sphere was dunked into the ocean, out of sight of any of her friends. The other four bubbles popped, dropping Pinkie, Rainbow, Rarity, and Applejack on the sands of the beach. They all rushed Twilight into a hug. There were no dry eyes - but Eve was suffering a pain deeper than any of the others. Her weeping sounded more like gasps of pain and agony. It was a bitter, deep sadness that tore at her core. And all four of them were there through it all. "What... the hell... is wrong with you!?" the centaur monster shouted. "What the... why won't you break!?" Since Eve was in no condition to speak, Pinkie took point. "BECAUSE FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC YOU IDIOT! GET IT IN YOUR THICK, SHADOWY SKULL! NO BAD GUY IS GOING TO TEAR US APART NO MATTER WHAT THEY DO! OUR BOND IS TOO STRONG! DO YOU HEAR ME? DO YOU HEAR ME!?" The centaur skeleton stared at her. He lifted his hand, raising Flutterfree's bubble out of the ocean. She was still inside it, a confused expression on her face. "FLUTTERS!" Eve shouted, her mood turning a complete one-eighty. She teleported herself to the bubble and tore it open, squeezing Flutterfree like a plush toy. "Never... I never..." Flutterfree hugged her back. Renee had to drag the two of them back to shore with her magic they were so engrossed in each other's presence. The smiles returned to all six of them while the creature just watched them. Unmoving. Eventually, Eve let go of Flutterfree and wiped her eyes. "There's more to do." Flutterfree nodded, taking a few steps back. Her five friends behind her, Eve turned to glare at the creature. "What is your deal!? Why did you do this!? What was the point!?!" "I was supposed to show you how worthless friendship was. I was supposed to prove to myself that it was worthless." "Yeah, well that didn't happen!" Eve shouted. "Clearly." "Now why did you want to do that!? The explanation better be good! Actually, screw it, no matter what the explanation is I'm still going to be livid." The undead centaur folded his arms. "I lived in Tauryl until a few years ago. When the borders opened, and ponies started coming in with all their wares, their culture, and their friendship. It sickened me how much it was a perversion of reality. Of the strong. Of the..." He paused and shook his head. "I couldn't stand it. I found this empty island and decided I would spend the rest of my undeath alone, in a world that I created. I was happy here, where everything was the way it was supposed to be." "And then we showed up." "AND THEN YOU SHOWED UP!" he shouted. "I knew from the moment you arrived who you were. Those SIX. Those SIX I had heard so much about. Those paragons of friendship and harmony. I almost killed you then and there, wiping you out of existence without a thought. But then I figured I would enjoy turning your own friendship against you much more. I would drive every one of you past your limit! I would break you apart and then kill you! BUT... But..." "But our friendship was stronger than you thought," Eve said, expression softening slightly. "YES! Laughter just kept laughing, even after she went mad! Loyalty was exceedingly loyal even to the one who killed her! Honesty didn't even hesitate when given delicate information! Generosity gave even to the brink of death! Kindness couldn't bring herself to even shout back at the person she knew so well! And freaking Magic somehow managed to make a correct decision in the impossible game!" He grabbed his head. "HOW!?" "Friendship is magic," Eve said. "Actually... no. That's not the answer. The answer is just friendship. There doesn't even have to be magic. We're just six friends who would do almost anything for each other. I know there are things that would tax - and possibly ruin - our friendship, but a series of trials is not one of them. We stand together even when it gets difficult. That's what you need to understand. Maybe something is wrong with us. It could be a weakness in many situations. But it didn't break. You can't break it by trying to tear us apart." The centaur skeleton stared at them. "I admit my defeat. Your friendship is strong. There may be something to it after all. ...You have my respect." And then he vanished. The flanks of all six of them started glowing, signifying a job well done. "YES!" Rainbow shouted. "Holy Celestia am I glad that one's over." Flutterfree let out a sigh of relief. "You can say that again." Renee looked at the blood all over her white coat. "...I think we've probably been traumatized again." Eve nodded slowly. "Yeah... Yeah we have. But at least this time, we stayed together until the bitter end." "It's what needed to happen," Applejack said. "That's why we were sent here. To be driven through Tartarus and prove to him he was wrong." "Didn't even get to know his name..." Pinkie said, furrowing her brow. "Think he'll try to go and make some friends now?" Flutterfree asked. "I don't know," Eve said. "I don't know if I want him to. The Tree of Harmony wanted him to see... but I'm not sure I can forgive him for what he's done to us." "It's a good thing he decided to just leave, then," Applejack commented. "...Let's go home," Renee said. "...I'd like to go home." ~~~ A few days later... Rainbow Dash and Applejack watched their kids talk to each other from across the room. "Y'know, Ah thought about them a lot," Applejack said. "Thought about what they'd do if we didn't make it off that island." Rainbow opened her mouth to offer her usual egotistical comment - but she stopped herself. She shook her head slowly. "When I died there... I thought about something really, really stupid." "Oh?" "It was how I'd never get to ride Prism's rocket to the moon. I'd never get to experience the thing she'd built. I felt like a terrible mother for some reason. I woke up, alive again, and forgot completely about it thanks to the literal pain in the neck - but that's the last thing I remember thinking." "Huh. That's not stupid, Rainbow." "Feels oddly selfish, but not at the same time. I dunno." Rainbow shrugged. "Ah wonder what my last thoughts will be..." "Not something you know until it happens. At this point I'm wondering if mine are just going to be 'here I go again'." "...Was Renee right about the nothingness?" Rainbow shook her head. "I think that was just flaming, black, and ugly messing with hear head. I don't remember anything like that. I've passed out from blood loss before. It felt almost exactly like that." "Like sleepin'?" "Like sleeping after getting hit in the head with an anvil. So not exactly pleasant." "Hm," Applejack said, looking down. "Are we really as strong as we think we are?" "Of course we are, AJ, we wouldn't be this far if we weren't!" Rainbow nudged Applejack with her hoof, prompting a slight chuckle. The two hoofbumped and kept watching their children. ~~~ Renee knocked on Flutterfree's cottage door. Flutterfree opened it with a smile. "Oh, Renee! I wasn't expecting you!" "...Are you free for a... talk?" Renee asked. Flutterfree glanced over her shoulder at Discord. "Discord, do you mind?" Discord shrugged, teleporting away with a snap of his fingers. "Yes, I'm free." "Good," Renee said, breathing deeply. She sat herself on one of the couches while Flutterfree took one opposite. There was already warm tea on the table. Renee lifted one to her face. She had gotten a replacement eye after the incident. It functioned exactly like her old eye, but it was a slightly off color and just slightly too reflective for an actual eyeball. People had already looked at her face feeling unnerved and unable to tell her why they did. So she had taken to wearing glasses that purposefully reflected a minor glare to anyone looking directly at her, blurring the image of her eyes just enough so nobody could tell the difference. The only downside was that the glasses needed to be larger than she was used to when sewing, but she was Renee. She had crafted the lenses into sideways teardrop shapes with a dulled ruby-red frame. Reminiscent of her old sewing glasses. "So... What did you want to talk about?" "I... Yes, I've always thought what you did was a little silly - but it's harmless, and in fact might do some good from what I've seen. I want to make that clear." Flutterfree nodded. "You want me to explain it to you, don't you? So you can understand?" Renee smiled warmly. "Yes. Yes, please do." "Don't feel pressured by any of this, okay?" "Oh, trust me, I won't." Flutterfree sipped her tea. "In that case, it's best we start from the beginning..." ~~~ Pinkie and Eve were watching the sun set on an alien world with seventeen moons of different colors. "...Pinkie, that was it, wasn't it?" Pinkie nodded. "I... I think so." Eve sighed. "Everything's going to change. And we don't know how long we have." "A month? Years? Yeah, I have no idea," Pinkie shook her head. "All I know is that I've had an immense sense of foreboding since that island. A horrendous, deep, burning sensation. Different than the Pinkie Sense." Eve gulped. "I... I've had that feeling too. I've heard some things from Twilence... It's sooner than we'd like. Our friendship is going to be taxed, Pinkie. It's going to be taxed harder than that island." Pinkie furrowed her brow. Then she pulled Eve into a hug. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Eve reciprocated the gesture of affection. A tear rolled down her cheek onto Pinkie's back. The two stayed until the sun completely set and the world dropped into darkness.
Songs of the Spheres	099 - Clay Universes	Giorno Giovanna had an office, but it wasn't on Celestia City, the Hub, or even Earth Stand. It was in a pocket dimension not listed in any directory. Not even the other Overheads knew where to find it, because he would always come to them if they needed to talk, not the other way around. However, occasionally one of the agents of his Intelligence Division would need to speak with him somewhere discreetly. The office was the best place to do that. Today, Olivia had said she needed to give him a report in person. She stood in front of his desk - refusing to sit down - pacing in front of a holographic display. "Right, boss, I've noticed something very suspicious." Giorno nodded. "I'm listening." Olivia pulled up an image of an upright bear creature that looked like he had stars in his fur. "This is Skarn. We know that. Think very closely - what else do we know about him?" Giorno narrowed his eyes. "That he is one of our allies. Part of a semi-major trade route. A known patron of the arts, occasionally even donating to ambitious artistic projects of our own." "And what about his origin society?" "The Congeries. Class 2." "And has anyone ever been to the Congeries?" Giorno's eyes widened. "I assume nobody has by your phrasing of the question." Olivia nodded. "Oh yeah, the only evidence that the Congeries exist is the ships that go along the trade route and Skarn's little family of representatives. No Merodi has ever seen the Congeries, and we don't even have it on any of our maps. We're just content having this bear and his family show up and give us presents. That's what's suspicious." Giorno folded his hands together, frowning. "This is a rather glaring gap in our intelligence." "And I know how to remedy it." Olivia brought up an image of another bear, this one in a set of robes that wouldn't look out of place on a wizard. "This is Skarn's son, Arthon. He's currently here to gather information on how the trade route has been going. Since the route has largely been 'we get stuff without giving it to Skarn' there will be no complaints. He will leave shortly." She brought up an image of her old Puddlejumper. "And I will follow him back to the Congeries to see if there's a reason we've never been invited." Giorno nodded. "Need any backup?" "This is a stealth mission. The fewer the better. If you have someone specific in mind I'll take them, but I'd like to get going as soon as possible." "If that's what you think is best. Come back safe." "I always plan on that, amigo." Olivia smirked. "He'll never even know I'm there. The number of cloaks on me and my shi-" "I'm aware how much stealth technology you have at your disposal. That's why I'm allowing this at all. I would fear fallout otherwise. But I trust that you know what you're doing." Olivia smirked. "Aw, thanks! Tell Roxy she's in charge of my office while I'm gone." ~~~ Olivia rarely needed to use her Puddlejumper anymore. Most of her work could be accomplished in one of the Intelligence Division's secret bases where all the computers in the world were at her disposal, and her reach could extend into the Internet of any nearby nation. Most of the espionage efforts she was responsible for involved single worlds close to Merodi Universalis or the USM, which nobody really trusted. Occasionally she'd try to hack her way into the Melnorme. That never worked. Over the years they hadn't changed a bit. Merodi Universalis was finally able to afford some of their goods, but after years of talking to a brick wall, they rarely bothered. The Melnorme were there and nobody wanted to deal with them unless absolutely necessary. Regardless, it made Olivia slightly giddy that she got to use the Puddlejumper again. She was going to trace Arthon back to the Congeries and explore the area for herself - all the while being completely invisible. Skarn claimed the Congeries were a Class 2 society. This was certainly possible, but from what she'd seen of their ships they weren't that far ahead of the Merodi in terms of technology. She had them pegged as a low-Class 2. Merodi Universalis was a high-Class 3 with the addition of Skaia's Dream and Earth C, so the gap wasn't that far. So she was relatively confident they wouldn't be able to detect her. Just to prove it to herself she did a few loops around Arthon's ship to see if it triggered any reaction. She got nothing. Arthon's ship was a personal vessel about four times as large as the barrel-shaped Puddlejumper. Like just about everything Skarn and his children were associated with, the ship was a work of art. It was vaguely manta-ray-shaped, with two long protrusions flowing from its head down its back. The ship appeared to be made of metal, but it moved like a living organism of muscle, flesh, and bone. The coloration of the metal continually shifted from yellows to reds to purples in a way that was always aesthetically pleasing, but seemed random. Olivia grinned, pressing a few buttons. It couldn't detect her. Good. Shortly thereafter, her scans told her that Arthon had transported from the surface of Earth C to his ship. She put her hands on the controls, readying herself for a stealth chase. All of Skarn's ships had what was known as a 'whirlpool drive' to the Merodi, given the way it affected the ships and all who used it. Visually, it looked like the translating entity was stretched into a noodle and then swirled around a single point until it vanished, like something falling into a whirlpool. ...Or a black hole, but the 'black hole drive' already existed elsewhere that actually used black holes to create FTL travel. The whirlpool drive was fast, known for corkscrewing through numerous universes in the spaghetti noodle state, creating travel time between the start and end universes. The motion would leave, temporarily, disturbances in the universes it passed through. Olivia would need to move quickly to follow these disturbances. Luckily for her she had the fastest most state-of-the-art dimensional drive installed on her Puddlejumper: the hummingbird drive. It was designed with one thing in mind - making lots of dimensional jumps really, really quickly. The amount of mass a hummingbird drive could move was small, but Olivia's Puddlejumper was one of the smallest ships around. With just a bit of tweaking and a lot of government funding, this particular Puddlejumper was one of the fastest dimensional ships in the entire Merodi fleet. It followed the corkscrew easily, jumping through universe boundaries long before the residual traces of dimensional travel would fade. She actually had to slow herself down so she wouldn't pass Arthon's ship. She checked her navigation, watching a little white dot cross the Q-Sphere ever so slowly. Now that Merodi Universalis had been to multiple universes that manifested the Dark Tower, they were able to find the actual location of the Dark Tower. Traveling to the Dark Tower was never a good idea since it would just send you somewhere random, but since the Dark Tower had connections to every universe, it could be used as a navigational landmark. No more did the computers have to give a big question mark when you asked 'where in the multiverse are we?' It would always have a general idea. Not that it would have a map of nearby universe arrangements. With their current large-scale understanding the multiverse was just a mish-mash of fuzzy blobs on a screen. But at least they'd always know which Sphere or in-between area they were in. It looked like she was heading to the relative multiversal 'south', though not straight down, so they weren't going to hit the tremendous Celestialsapien territory. They were heading to, surprise surprise, an area of the Q-Sphere that had no data available. She was going to fix that. It took about twenty minutes to arrive at the destination universe. Or, more accurately, universes. Arthon's ship stopped whirlpooling through the multiverse in a realm where there were no stars or planets, but rather a soup of space filled with bizarre structures. To their left, they could see a seemingly endless structure shaped like DNA, except made entirely of precious metals. To another side, there was a fractal cube with holes that appeared to go on forever. In another location there appeared to be a rotating planet - except it was disc-shaped, making the 'rotation' defy normal three-dimensional sense. Olivia's sensors told her the space of this place was akin to the Paradox Space encountered by Eve and her friends in the Combine-Horrorterror War, though considerably milder in the ways it fused universes. Time was linear and space was mostly three dimensional, but with a flexibility that allowed for bizarre, yet beautiful constructs such as the disc planet. Olivia had no doubt that this place was the Congeries. A realm of universes sewn together into one physical plane you could fly through, from one set of physics to another... If Skarn and his children were responsible for creating this place, she wouldn't be surprised. The structures had clearly been created with an artist's intent, meant to please the eye rather than serve a purpose. She couldn't imagine the disc-planet was comfortable or even livable, and she couldn't imagine what the point of an infinite fractal cube floating in the middle of space would be. She kept following Arthon's ship, which had opted to cruise through the Congeries at subluminal speeds, which Olivia wasn't going to complain about. She took the opportunity to sort through all the signals running through the multiversal soup of this place. To her surprise there was very limited communication - highly unusual for a society that would call itself Class 2. Was it just that they used a method of communication she couldn't detect? She shook her head - that wasn't it. Arthon had sent off a simple 'I'm back' message, followed by a brief report on what had happened in Merodi Universalis. But there was no response, and she only picked up a handful of other messages going by. One of them was about the construction of 'a new piece consisting of planes U899, V924, and K101.' Otherwise almost nothing. She picked up a few simple radio-wave transmissions, but the soupy space of the Congeries corrupted the signals beyond recognition. If she hadn't just seen Arthon's ship send a signal that could cut through the mess, she would have assumed it was the nature of the Congeries that was keeping communication to a minimum. Clearly she had to learn more about this place. Since there appeared to be no Internet, she was just going to continue following Arthon to get more information. She kept scanning the entire time - if messages weren't going to provide her with anything, she was going to go off of visuals. Skarn clearly enjoyed fractals and bizarre geometry in his Congeries, since that was a recurring theme with the 'works of art' all around her. Most of the fractals were composed of physical materials that folded in on themselves using tricks of spatial distortion to give the appearance of a truly infinite construct, when in fact there was a very finite (if large and complicated) pattern within the structure. Some of them moved, including a mess of orange thorns that rippled in a mesmerizing pattern, accentuated by what Olivia guessed was a star stretched into a string and somehow kept burning. She supposed it was possible she was just flying through the 'fractal' section of the Congeries, and that in another section there might just be paintings of famous individuals the size of a gas giant, or something. Skarn hadn't been lying about his artistic attunement, at least. Though she found herself wondering how he made all this art. Given the few messages she was able to parse, she assumed it was created via the fusing of different parts of different universes together into the Congeries. She would love to know exactly how that was accomplished. Then she got to watch one being built. In an area of the Congeries that was relatively empty, she saw dozens of bubbles appear - each one containing the undeniable shape of cosmic superstructures, telling her each bubble was a complete universe of the standard 'stars in space' variety. The bubbles were far smaller than they should have been, but when you were placing universes within universes via physical boundaries local size tended to only matter if you wanted to travel from one to another. The bubbles were stretched out until each of them came to a point. The tips of every universe were cut off and grown in size until Olivia could see they were blue-green planets. These dozens of planets phased in and out of tangibility, lining up with each other. The planets fused together, creating a spindly, tree-like construction. Much of the remaining galactic superstructures of the universes were twisted into the shapes of beautiful, white leaves and placed at the ends of the planetary strings. It was beautiful. It was also horrifying because every last one of those planets had been a version of Earth. They'd just fused dozens of them together into long strings. She imagined billions of people suddenly fused with rock, dying instantly for the creation of art. Maybe they were uninhabited Earths? ...Nope. She was getting a lot more radio signals than before, and a few higher-level methods of communication that made it through to her without much corruption. There had been no warning for any of these universes - they had just been swiped up and fused together. Their entire societies just gone. Olivia began to doubt that Skarn was a low Class 2. She kept following Arthon's ship, her fingers flying as she sorted through all the data she had just gotten from witnessing the creation of that multiversal structure. The first thing she realized was a glaring flaw in the process. Even a miniscule bit of reality anchoring or powerful magic would keep it from having complete dominion over a universe. It was only able to exercise its will on universes that truly had no defenses. Merodi Universalis wasn't in any danger from this technology... If it could even be called technology. She detected that the energy came from somewhere deep within the Congeries - so far away her sensors couldn't give her an accurate reading on its location. Whatever it was, it was powerful, and likely well guarded. Clearly, Skarn wasn't as nice a guy as he made himself out to be. This was good to know. Arthon's ship arrived at what appeared to be a normal planet floating in the Congeries at first glance - but scans told her it was really a forced fusion of four worlds. A highly volcanic world, a frozen world, a desert wasteland, and a world with violent atmospheric storms. Somebody was trying to be clever with the four elements when they made this one. It notably wasn't any more massive than a single planet, unlike the tree construct which had sewn the planets together into strands. Arthon's ship landed in the outskirts of a city situated between a mountain of ice and a volcano, protected by the large plane of sand it was built on. The city hardly appeared to be something of a multiversal society - it looked closer to medieval than anything else. Stone buildings, fires, livestock... There were clearly a few magic lights around, but no technology aside from Arthon's own ship. He got out of his ship. He was as bearlike as always, his robes billowing in the violent winds of the world. All the citizens of the city were human - and every last one bowed to him in reverence and fear. He ignored them, floating away from the city with his magic power toward the icy mountain. Olivia decided not to follow him just yet - she needed information. Given the fact that, apparently, most the citizens of the Congeries were probably just like these people, she would have to get information the old fashioned way. By talking and gossiping. She was good enough at that. She was going to have to look a lot less conspicuous... She parked the Puddlejumper a few meters off the ground in an abandoned alley. She pressed a few buttons on her wrist, activating a disguise. She still looked like herself - her face was her own, and her getup was still white and purple, but all of her cybernetic enhancements were hidden. She might have looked slightly flamboyant, but one of the best ways to blend in was to stand out. No one ever suspected the eccentric loudmouth of being the spy. She leaped out of the Puddlejumper and grinned. The winds were strong enough to blow her white hair into her face, forcing her to tuck it into the back of her shirt. She remembered the time when she was still Sombra and her hair had been short, not to mention purple. Good times. She had no intention of going back to them, though. Putting on a cheeky smile she walked right out of the alley. "Hello people!" She shouted. The people looked at her with fearful eyes and tired faces. They spoke to her in an unknown language. Olivia blinked. "Huh, it has been a while since the translator came across a language it didn't know..." She pointed to her mouth. "Keep talking." Apparently this was a rude gesture, because it made one of the burlier men swing at her. She ducked, twisted under his arm, and threw him to the ground. She was way too small to do that, but cybernetic enhancements did wonders. It made the crowd gasp at how quickly he was taken down. Olivia dusted her hands. "Now that that's out of the way, how about you all keep talking?" Instead of pointing at her mouth she rolled her hand in front of it, trying another method of communicating. They definitely didn't get it, but they started talking amongst themselves, and that was good enough for her. She waited for the translator to have a full picture of their language. Then she opted to make herself invisible to freak them out. "Where did she go?" "Was she a ghost?" "Was she one of the lost spirits?" "Arthon has come... and now her... this cannot be a good sign." "Are we material in a new work?" "She could be here to kill us all!" Olivia learned several things from this. One, out-of-context things that couldn't speak the language weren't unheard of. Two, they were thought of as dangerous. Three, they feared Arthon something fierce. Four, they were well aware that at any moment their world could be recycled into a new 'work' for Skarn's fancy. Evil artists, what will they think of next? Her original plan of just walking around and talking was shot because of the unexpected failure of the translator - they now knew she was something truly out of context - so she was just going to have to eavesdrop. Luckily her presence was triggering lots of conversations that gave her plenty of delicious, useful information. The city they were in was called Nierva, and the planet was Quanera. The people definitely knew of their position in the Congeries - a work of art meant to be admired aesthetically, and that was it. A select few, mostly members of the Church of Skarn, believed that being part of the art was the way to spiritual enlightenment, but they were a minority. There was one conversation in particular that stuck in her mind, that of a husband and a wife. She never learned their names. "Arthon is here," the wife said. "Mhm," the husband responded. "He's going to take more of us into his mountain, isn't he?" "...Probably." "I can't keep doing this. I can't keep wondering if us or our kids are going to be taken next time he comes back!" "Brell promised us she was working to end the horror." "Brell makes promises and never keeps them! She's still one of them. Who cares if her works are for us?! She still makes them! She has no power over her brother!" "Look, I know she's not as benevolent as some would have you believe. But it's something. We have to hold out hope for that." "And what if a fissure appears and rips Quanera apart? What then!?" The man had no response. He pulled her to him and held her tight. Olivia left. These people lived in constant fear that their entire world could be crushed just for a piece of art. She wondered if, elsewhere, the people who lived on the 'works' even knew why they were where they were. The tree of Earths wasn't told anything or given any warning. They were probably still completely baffled. And then Arthon returned, shaking her out of her thoughts. He pointed at three seemingly random people, levitating them into the air with his power. Then he floated off to the ice mountain. Olivia decided it was about time she figured out what exactly he was doing in that mountain. She activated her levitation harness and floated after him, still as invisible as ever. He gave no indication that he noticed her or was even able to. The mountain of ice was surrounded in the whipping winds of the world, but Olivia was clever enough to use Arthon's powerful form as a windshield. The mountain itself was swirling with clouds, the winds having refined the one jagged peak into an ominously smooth shape. Arthon landed near the top, at an entrance to a cave of ice. Olivia continued floating off the ground to avoid slipping on the ice and making a noise that might alert Arthon. She did have sound mufflers in place, but that wouldn't stop vibrations traveling through the ground directly to him. The ice cave wasn't very deep. There were a few meters of tunnel that served to keep the wind from whipping through too horribly, and then a single cavernous room the size of a large house. Floating in the center of this space was Arthon's work. It was made entirely of naked human bodies, moving through a mechanism composed of themselves. A body started out fully healthy, barely aware of what was happening. Its legs and arms would be intertwined with the limbs of others, and it would start screaming - screaming before the pain began. The bodies were ripped apart down the middle, like going through a zipper, severing limbs from bodies and then carrying the remnants further down the chain, where they would be stripped and separated further by razor sharp bones, flesh, and other moving parts of the human body. These loose parts would then become the framework of bones and flesh that moved the next body into the zipper, tearing them apart. The cycle completed when the loose parts were sewn back together by unconscious human bodies, creating a full human being once again - who came to, remembered what had happened last time, and started screaming. Arthon tossed the three humans he had collected into the mechanism and watched as it absorbed them, becoming slightly larger. Their clothing and accessories fell to the ground into a pile that had clearly been growing for a long, long time. Olivia decided now was a good time to get out of there. She moved to leave, floating toward the exit of the cavern. A magical alarm went off. How!? I got in just fine! She didn't wait - she blasted into the winds of the world, trying to calculate a teleport. All she had to do was select the coordinates of the Puddlejumper... An invisible hand of psychic energy grabbed her and pulled her back into the cave. Arthon brought her to him - though he was holding her upside-down. Olivia dropped her cloak. "Ah, hola!" Arthon turned her upside-right now that he could see her. "How did you get in here?" "You know, I think it was because I was using you as a windshield. It probably thought I was just another one of your playthings!" Olivia grinned. "I really should have been more careful and left exactly how I came in, but y'know, was sorta weirded out by the human zipper." Arthon's bear-like face smiled. "It is evoking the reaction it is meant to. Unbridled horror mixed with fascination. You have a better eye than most who come here - all they usually do is lose their lunches on the ground below." "Bet that's difficult to clean." "A simple wave of my hand," Arthon said, squeezing Olivia to remind her of her current predicament. "I wonder which of the worlds you rode in on... One of the new Earths perhaps?" He sniffed her with his huge, wet nose. "Hmm... Impossible to tell, there were many there. If you are from there, Father has gotten careless - bringing something that can hide from me into the Congeries is just asking for trouble." Olivia kept her smile, looking around for anything she could do. She had the teleporter ready, but she was close enough to him that he would just be able to follow it. She needed to keep him talking. He looked like a guy who liked to talk, so that shouldn't have been very difficult. "Do I detect some daddy issues?" Arthon growled. "Your eyes, while astute, make dangerous observations." "Pff, seriously, what am I gonna do, tell him? Aren't I just a grub to your bearishness?" "You are not a grub. You are a pigment that just needs to become part of a masterpiece." "You do realize some paints are made from grubs, right? Or do you not bother to learn about the worlds you smash together here?" Arthon smiled. "You don't understand, do you? What the Congeries are? We do not simply smash worlds together. We make the truly impossible from scraps, turning everything into more than it once was. We evoke emotion in our great works. We create. We do not destroy, or 'smash', as you so eloquently put it." "The human zipper looks a lot like destroying." Arthon held out an arm at his work. "This is art on a small scale. My father has taken to limiting himself only to large-scale constructions that are not as finely-tuned as this masterpiece. Here you see an eternal cycle at work - of destruction and creation. I may not be human, but I am aware of the human condition, to which this work speaks. You are constantly eating yourselves alive with your cultures, only to create the next generation." "Why not make it out of, I don't know, fake humans?" "Then the intent behind it would be lost," Arthon said. "It really is the representation of human suffering." "Yeah, you're crazy." "By your standards. I am but an artist - a far better artist than my father will ever be." "Theeeere it is," Olivia said, smirking. "Hate the old man much?" "He is growing o-" Arthon blinked. "Hold on." Shit. Olivia kept her smirk level. "What?" "You're sending signals out." "Oh, you can sense that?" Arthon crushed her tighter. "You're sending signals that can pierce the dimensional veil. No universe like that would allow themselves to be shaped... Where are you from?" "Ah, you got me. Starcross Society, agent Nadia Harris. See, we've got reason to believe that yo-" Arthon squeezed tighter. "You're lying." "Well, I'm not, so I guess we're at a standstill. They will come looking for me, you know." "And I will meet them in battle!" Arthon shouted. "No outsiders are allowed in the Congeries! I will find where you are sending that information and destroy them!" "Yeah, good luck with tha-" She felt the hand crush her pelvis into a dozen pieces, driving pain up her body. She was dropped to the ground, presumed to be helpless. "His mistake", Olivia grunted, drawing her still-invisible gun and blasting Arthon in the face with special bullets designed to cut through magic and sting with the fury of a million hornets. Arthon, despite his power, had to reel back and clutch his face. Olivia thought about activating her teleporter belt - but she knew he'd just follow her. Even if she got the Puddlejumper back, he would know where she went. So she did the next best thing. She kept fighting without any control over her lower body. She used a bomb to blow herself through the tunnel of the cave and off the mountain. She knew a teleport still wouldn't work - too flashy - so she made herself invisible. Surely she could still elude him... "Ay, caramba," Olivia muttered when she saw Arthon fly out of the cave and look right at her. She braced herself. He pulled her forward with his telekinesis and rammed her body right into his real fist. There was a sickening crunch. ~~~ CRUNCH. The sound of static filled the room. "That's all the Puddlejumper had for us," Giorno said. "It returned on a completely automated subroutine, with no pilot." He put his hands behind his back and surveyed the room. All twelve Overheads of Merodi Universalis were there: Relations, Expeditions, Military, Research, Aid, Expansion, Education, Justice, Cultural, Commerce, Oversight, and Labor. Most had expressions of horror and fear on the faces and those that didn't were struggling to remain expressionless. "I called you all here because we have a decision to make, and it's a hefty one all of us need to consider carefully. How do we respond to this? Even the Divisions that usually do not concern themselves with outside matters are needed. Because a declaration of war is not out of the question based on the information we have seen." O'Neill raised an eyebrow. "That's my Division, Giovanna." "Do you wish to argue that you have sole authority to declare war or even to discuss it?" O'Neill took a look around at the many faces. "No. It is a group decision. No commander should attack without consulting or thinking it through." O'Neill leaned in and fixed Giorno with a glare. "I would have appreciated being told ahead of time, though." "It is fair he gave it to all of us at once," the Justice Overhead spoke up - an Earth Tau'ri Asgard. "In order for us all to form our own opinions." "Agreed," the Oversight Overhead said, an Equis Cosmic mare known as Sarsaparilla Fern. "Giovanna has not overstepped his boundaries." "Can we talk about less extreme measures before outright war?" a version of Luna named Jingle asked, the Aid Overhead and Princess of Squeaky's world. "It seems a little hasty to just jump to that after one attack!" "It's not just that," Eve said, her face having shifted to one of barely controlled rage. "While Olivia is our friend and close ally, we wouldn't be going to war over just that. She was spying. What Giorno and I see is something else - utter brutality for the sake of art. Horrendous things like that are why we are out here, Jingle. Your division should understand that more than any of us." "I've also been in an actual war, in case you'd forgotten," Jingle responded. "Ask Squeaky some time about how brutal that was. Merodi Universalis has never been in a war with any power strong enough to actually threaten us! The people don't know what it's like - they just encourage us to liberate worlds from horrible kings and tyrants. We aren't prepared for this." "Jingle's right," O'Neill said. "All the action we've taken in our entire existence has been sure. There have been risks, yes, but only to small groups of people and teams who know the danger. If we try to fix that universal train wreck of a place, we will have to fight something that is somewhat stronger than us! We won't be able to protect the population from that kind of power." "So what, we just let them keep turning people into zippers?" Renee blurted. "I'm sorry Jack, but I've spent too much of my life diverting as much as I can to help everyone. It's not like this Skarn is Them. We can't even lay a scratch on Them, but it seems to me that if we take Skarn and his very limited family out, there is no leadership for the Congeries. Eve, how many people have they sent to us?" "I've only met with Skarn, Arthon, and Brell," Eve said. "Never anyone else. They rarely talk about the Congeries, even when pushed - and I can see why - but what I do know is that they are the rulers of it. Brell mentioned, only once, an estranged brother. I have my doubts there is a living mother, but I suppose it is possible. That's maybe five individuals that are responsible for all this pain." "That's an assumption," the Research Overhead pointed out, beeping like the robot he was. He had no name that wasn't a string of numbers, and was a humanoid being with a smooth, starry face without any facial features. "You run it through your processors, R.O., all the information we have suggests they are a very very small group of people ruining so many lives." The R.O. didn't hezitate. "It is the most likely conclusion. But we lack information. And they no doubt have armies." "No doubt," a human version of Celestia spoke up - the Education Overhead, Celeste. "But Arthon was concerned that Olivia was transmitting. He was afraid of what she could do, even if he wasn't showing it." Overhead Jingle shook her head. "Yes, yes, but that doesn't change anything. Skarn is still dangerous, and we aren't ready for a war. Not one of this magnitude." "How can you just let Skarn have his way?" Eve asked. "We may not even need a full war," Renee added. "Since the targets are so few in number, strike teams could be arranged, like we do in most circumstances. Corona would be more than willing." "If we attack like that and fail we will have a war," O'Neill pointed out. "It's likely they'd find a way to get off a retaliatory strike even if it was successful." A voice that had been quiet up until that moment spoke - Ava Jandice, Earth Stand, Overhead of Labor. "Maud, what do you have to say on this matter?" The Overhead of Expansion knew she wasn't being asked because of her Division, but because of her future-sight. "I do not see great destruction in the near future. But you must remember; this is an event of multiversal significance. Prophecy in these matters cannot be relied upon. As for my personal opinion, I am undecided as of now." Ava nodded, sitting back in her chair, thinking about something. Eve took the moment to take her in - a thin middle-aged human with smooth black hair and sharp fingernails. She was a woman with a lot of power at this table, which surprised a lot of outsiders. She was in charge of labor, how did that give her a lot of power? Because the Labor Division was specifically designed to keep the other Divisions in check. Its responsibility was not the individual labor force of each universe - that was more local government or Oversight's deal - but the people who were employed in the government. All the other Divisions, even Intelligence, were staffed mostly by the Labor Division. Eve may have been the face of Merodi Universalis, but internally speaking, Ava held the most sway. She wasn't a king, or even a president, and the other Overheads could easily overrule her - but her position still meant something to all the others in the room. Eve didn't know her that well. She rarely dealt with Ava directly, almost always talking to a lower agent of Labor to get new ambassadors and liaisons. From the few times they had interacted for an extended time, Eve had found Ava a bit distant and calculating, but trustworthy. She had a Stand but for the life of her Eve couldn't remember what it was right now. She noticed Ava was looking around the room, judging everyone's expressions. Eve noticed that everyone was waiting for her to say something, rather than jumping in. "I think this decision needs more than a single meeting," Ava said finally. "And more than just the thirteen of us. We need to make the final decision on what to do, yes, but we have advisors and other trusted individuals we would like to consult." Giorno nodded. "Then we shall break. Only people with enough clearance though, understood?" The twelve Overheads nodded. "Good. We will reconvene in twenty-four hours local time." ~~~ CRUNCH. The sound of static filled the room. Corona punched the computer screen in front of her. Lady Rarity, Eve, and Renee didn't even flinch at the destruction of Eve's personal monitor. "I'm going. Now," she said. "Oh no no no no no," Renee said, grabbing Corona's shoulder. "The Overheads are debating full-out war over this." "Why is there even a debate!?" Corona blurted. "That was Olivia!" "I know," Eve said. "Trust me, I know. But going over there, right now, without a plan, will be disastrous." Corona opened her mouth to shout - but Lady Rarity put a hoof on her. "She's right, Corona." Corona's face shifted from rage, to conflict, to depression. "Right... Right..." She slouched into a nearby chair, hand to her head. Renee adjusted her glasses. "Eve and I believe we need to retaliate. O'Neill and at least a few others believe we can't handle a war." "Precision strike," Corona said. "That's one of the things that have already been brought up," Renee said. "O'Neill countered with the very likely possibility of retaliation against Merodi Universalis on a large scale." "That's why we aren't just charging in," Eve said. "The evil king is a little stronger than usual. If we fail on a normal mission, we just try again later or give it up. Here, failure brings us very disastrous consequences." Corona nodded. "Right... Right..." "What we need to do is make a compelling argument that we can win," Renee said. "Which is why we brought this before you. There's a lot of data Olivia got us - can you sift through it, see what you can learn?" Corona scooted up to a secondary monitor. "It's in here, right?" Eve nodded. Corona took a breath and tapped into the computer with Raging Sights. She brushed most the information aside easily as useless - just more reason for her to hate Skarn and everything he and his children stood for. What she really needed to look at was the data about the Congeries and how physics interacted. It didn't take long for her to find something very useful. "It's basically like the area around the Green Sun," Corona said. "A bunch of different universes meshed together so that you can move from one to another just by walking - or flying. It's actually much simpler too, no causal time loops or lines that turn into fractals. Just a soup of mostly three dimensional space." She furrowed her brow. "It's a much bigger space, though. I can't tell you how big it is. But I can tell you the direction of its center. That's where the Shaping mechanism is." "Is the Shaping Mechanism a Green Sun thing then?" Renee asked. Eve lit her eye and scanned the data Corona was looking at. "...It's not on the level of the Green Sun," she reported. "It's a much lower construct, though I can't tell you how it functions." "I can," Corona said. "Raging Sights just ran all the numbers from the data here. It's... Well, I would call it primitive, but no sort of technology this powerful should be called primitive. You know how I derived spells that could alter reality? And the way the TSAB can move universes?" Eve nodded. "I'm aware." "It's combining the two things. First, it goes into a universe and slowly alters it to be 'moldable'. It takes a couple hours, based on these estimates. We have technology that could alter a universe's physics faster than that. After the physics is set to 'moldable' he physically moves the universe into the Congeries. Since the universe is 'moldable' it will respond to Skarn's will. ...Or whoever's controlling the Shaping Mechanism, since it appears his kids have made some stuff too." "That doesn't sound simple or primitive," Lady Rarity pointed out. "It actually is. There's any number of D-Sphere universes you can grab that physics preset from," Corona said. "I could make a 'moldable' universe without too much difficulty. It would take a bit of experimentation to tease out what part of the D-Sphere actually makes it mentally moldable, but after that I'd have a push-button alter-universe device." She paused. "Okay fine, we're not the Collection, it's not just a button-push. It takes a while. And any sort of physical anchor or resistor would completely tear the process apart, keeping the universe from being 'moldable'." Corona smirked. "Easy defense against having our universes be Shaped. Just create a bunch of reality anchors." "Every world already has several of those," Renee pointed out. "To prevent certain locations from being manipulated." "I can't use Seraphim in government buildings I don't own," Eve muttered. "Though, all these anchors are thanks to you and your work perfecting them for Earth Shimmer." "Thanks." Corona nodded slowly. "All you need is one of those anchors in a universe and he can't add you to the Congeries. I'll write that up in a report - you have a viable defense against his strongest weapon. What else does he have that really makes him terrifying?" "Skarn himself has more magic than you or me," Eve said. "And that scares away our army why?" Corona asked. "Good point. I'll need that report by tomorrow so we can present it at the meeting." "I'll see what I can do as Research Second to sway the R.O. I'm not expecting much." ~~~ O'Neill slammed his hands down on a table. "Okay campers, I need a war projection." In front of him were three members of the Military Division: his Second, Thor the Asgard; one of the high Commanders, Yellow Diamond, and the military genius Squeaky Belle. They had just finished watching the video and were currently going over the information they had on Skarn - which wasn't all that much. "The mechanism by which Skarn shapes the Congeries is the largest concern," Thor said. "Defending our universes will be difficult against such a force." Squeaky shook her head. "It'll be us declaring the war. We can attack when we have an appropriate network of dimensional stabilizers ready to defend. I can't tell you how much that would cost though, nor really what kind of stabilizers we would need." Yellow Diamond folded her arms - she had to sit on the floor away from the table because she was so huge. "Defense isn't the biggest problem. Moving within the Congeries is. No matter what you say about our worlds, there Skarn can shape whatever he wants. Even with every ship and soldier equipped with dimensional stabilizers, he could still hurl entire worlds at us." "It's unlike you to be the voice of caution," Thor pointed out. Yellow Diamond smirked. "Oh, there's a simple solution to that too. Celestias and Lunas. We have access to a lot of planetary movers who'd be willing to fight. Not to mention the mover ships of Equis Cosmic." O'Neill furrowed his brow. "Perhaps. But if we're occupied facing against the very world we're fighting in, the armies of Skarn can attack us while our asses are in the air." "We know nothing about his forces or their numbers," Thor said. "All we know of their citizens are the one city Olivia saw. We can assume much of the Congeries are like that, but there has to be somewhere they make their ships. They will have an army to deal with unexpected threats brought into the Congeries." "Suggestions in a war scenario?" O'Neill said. "Don't," Squeaky said. "Just don't. Too many unknowns. They could be hiding a million impervious kaiju." Thor narrowed his eyes. "If it were necessary to engage, which I advise against as well, the best action would be to attack on multiple fronts, the major battles serving as distractions so stealth teams can make it to Skarn himself and cut off his connection to the Shaping Mechanism." Yellow Diamond smirked. "I say we can do it - and here's how. We have hundreds of powerful individuals that are either under us or owe us favors. Place all our forces that aren't required for defense into a single spearhead assault and charge right for their center of power. Nothing could stop everything fighting at once." "That assumes we are able to find the center of power," Squeaky said. "Which we won't. Given his power over space, Skarn could just move where he and his mechanism are any time he wants! We can't just portal in to the right location because the Congeries are a mish-mash of universes. We'd have to play 'hide and seek' with him." "Too many assumptions," Thor said. "Which is why this is ill-advised." O'Neill nodded. "Exactly what I was saying. We don't know enough. We also aren't ready for a war." Yellow Diamond folded her arms. "Write up your recommendations by tomorrow. We need to see this thing stop before it takes us down with it." ~~~ "...In conclusion, I want to remind everyone what we do here at Merodi Universalis," Eve said, addressing the Overheads the next day. "We aren't some group that thinks we're too good to help others, or too enlightened to worry ourselves with the plights of the less fortunate. It is essentially our mission to alleviate pain brought on by the evil in the multiverse. Today, it's a mad tyrant who torments those around him out of a sense of aesthetics. I ask us to prove that we can act selflessly - even sacrificially - to hold ourselves to the values we claim are close to our hearts." She sat down, adjusting her wings. O'Neill had already had his turn. He hadn't spoken anywhere near as eloquently, merely stated that there was only one of his advisors who thought the war was advisable while the other two, and himself, argued against it. He didn't give names but everyone knew it was Yellow Diamond who was pushing for the war. He had decided to let military information speak for itself - an argument based on logic. The only evidence Eve had was some science Corona had come up with to effectively defend Merodi Universalis against the Shaping Mechanism, and a few thoughts on how strike teams could infiltrate the Congeries. She had relied almost completely on emotional appeal, seeking to tap into the good side of the other Overheads. She may not have known them all personally, but she did know the leaders of Merodi Universalis were good people. They wouldn't have been allowed this high if they weren't. Giorno, being the only one standing, took it upon himself to lead the conversation. "Then we need to put it to a vote. Do we go to war to free these people, end the suffering, and avenge our lost agent, or do we refrain for the interests of the safety of Merodi Universalis? All for war, vote now." Eve, Renee, and Giorno didn't hesitate. The Justice Overhead raised her gray Asgardian hand shortly after. Eve looked at Jingle pleadingly. The Overhead of Aid gulped, but nodded. She raised her hoof, in the end unable to just ignore the people suffering under Skarn. Just a little more, Eve thought. The next one she was hoping on was Celeste of Education. The Celestia shook her head, keeping her hand down. "Five," Giorno counted, clearly not liking the number himself. "Votes for peace?" O'Neill raised his hand instantly. Research, Oversight, Education, Commerce, and Cultural soon followed. Notably, Maud and Ava didn't move. "Six," Giorno counted, deflating ever so slightly. "Five for, six against, two abstentions. The motion is denied." Eve let out a depressed sigh - they were just going to let Skarn be. "Ahem," Overhead Jingle said, drawing attention to herself. "We should cut off all ties to Skarn and demolish his trade routes. Do not tell him why, just cut all ties. If anyone disagrees with this..." she left the sentence unfinished. Ava nodded. "Any disagreements?" There were none. Ava turned to Eve. "That's your responsibility." Eve nodded. "I'll cut him off the next time he comes. We don't exactly have a way to contact him without revealing we know where he comes from. All trading vessels will be turned away." She turned to Sarsaparilla of Oversight. "Think you can work with Commerce to remove anything he's given us from Merodi Universalis?" Sarsaparilla nodded in confirmation. "Then we're done," Giorno said. "There will be no war preparations. We can all get back to our jobs." Everyone nodded and awkwardly shuffled away, returning to their normal responsibilities - many with heavy hearts and confused minds. ~~~ Corona stared at Eve blankly. "...Denied?" The two of them were alone in Eve's office. Eve nodded. "It was denied. We're cutting off all cultural and trading ties with him instead, and we're not telling him why." "That's not good enough!" "I know!" "Then do something!" "I'm not the queen, Corona!" Eve shouted. "I do not get to decide everything! It may seem like it since you deal with powers outside Merodi Universalis all the time, but I can't do anything internally without asking for favors. This decision involved people other than me! I'm sorry, but we decided against taking action." "Then I'll go and to it myself." "No, you won't," Eve said. "If you go alone you'll fail and bring the entire wrath of Skarn down on us for it." Corona clenched her fist, clearly still thinking about it. "Corona, if you try to go, I will have to arrest you. Please don't make me do that." Corona released the hold on her fist, sighing. "...Why couldn't we have just agreed to fight him?" "Because everyone has their values and responsibilities. I'll be the first to admit that I'm somewhat disconnected from the actual citizens of Merodi Universalis who aren't my close friends. I may be more willing to risk them than the Overheads who deal with them all the time. And you've turned yourself into a warrior. You're used to battle and confident in your abilities in a full-scale war. Maybe too confident." Corona wanted to feel offended at that, but she couldn't bring herself to really get upset. "So we just... Have to do nothing?" Eve nodded slowly. "That's right. We have to do nothing. Well, I get to shun Skarn to his face, at least, but otherwise nothing. Those people will keep suffering and we have to pretend we know nothing about it." Corona looked blankly at the ceiling. "I thought you designed Merodi Universalis so there wouldn't be bureaucracy we had to cut through to do the right thing." "Renee did that, mostly," Eve said. "And... well, nobody was acting out of petty or selfish reasons as far as I knew. They took what they knew about the world and what they thought about life, and made what they believed to be the right decision. I can't fault any of them, for they all had to have an internal struggle." "Who voted for us?" Corona asked. "Me, Renee, Giorno, Freyr, and Jingle. ...Jingle ...She changed her mind to join us. I need to go thank her." "...Eight against? It wasn't even close, was it?" "It was actually six to five. Two abstained." Corona blinked. "W-why?" "Maud abstained because she doesn't trust her own visions in matters this large. I expected her to be forced into making a decision for the sake of tiebreaker. But I have no idea why Ava abstained. She's one of the most politically active of all of us, why would she hold back?" Corona shook her head. "I don't know and I'm not going to think about it right now. I... I need to go see Lady Rarity. And Toph." Eve nodded. "Sure." Corona turned to leave. "Oh, Corona, one last thing?" Corona looked at her. "When you go to bed tonight and start festering over your anger so much that you think about going again, don't. It... it won't end well for you." Corona nodded slowly. "...Yeah. ...Thanks for the advice." Eve smiled at her as she left. ~~~ Skarn the Shaper walked into one of Eve's private meeting rooms. He was a dual-horned humanoid bear, just like his children, though notably his skin looked less like fur and looked more like stars. It wasn't quite the white-and-black appearance of a Celestialsapien, but more akin to looking into a nebula where entire galaxies were born. Ethereal lines of magic popped off of him, signifying his power. He wore little aside from a loincloth, gloves, and a necklace that glowed with a deep cosmic power. He was very surprised to find Eve alone in the meeting room. "...Where is everyone else?" he spoke with a deep, but pleasant voice. "I always look forward to meeting new people, and Cass is such a treat." Eve looked at him with angry eyes. "Because this isn't going to be a pleasant meeting." Skarn looked at her, expression shifting to sadness. "Oh. What happened?" "They told me I should just leave a message for you and refuse to see you. I told them I'm mare enough to tell you to your face." Skarn finally recognized that the hostility was towards him. "What did I do? I've done nothing but give your world goods and art! I've asked for little in return!" "All trade routes between Merodi Universalis and the Congeries have been suspended indefinitely. You and your children are no longer welcome in our space." "Evening, what brought this about?" "Believe it or not, this actually wasn't my decision. I'm not allowed to tell you!" She pressed her hooves together. "You wouldn't have liked the suggestion I made either." "So you're angry enough to cut ties, perhaps more, and I don't even get to know why?" "Nope!" Eve said. "And I'm here personally. Not out of any sense of honor or obligation, but just to make it cut more." Skarn narrowed his eyes. "You found out." "Found out what, Skarn?" Eve blinked innocently. "Do tell." Skarn narrowed his eyes - he knew that was a trap. He wasn't sure they knew his big secret - and for all Eve knew, his artistic fancies may not even have been the secret he was thinking of. He always struck her as a man with lots of secrets. Not a nefarious one, but she'd clearly been wrong about that. "This is a betrayal," Skarn growled. "This was a rejection," Eve corrected. She wanted to follow up with react if you dare or something similar, but she wasn't going to egg him on to war. If he attacked them then... Things would be a lot worse. Skarn curled his bear claws into a fist - and for the first time he let his amiable demeanor fall, replaced with a cruel snarl. "I put a lot of work into forming this connection. I saw you as a people willing to change, to understand. You would have learned to accept me given enough time. But you've gone and cut it off early." "And why is that a problem with you?" "It's dishonorable," Skarn spat. "If you have an issue with me, tell me what it is to my face." "Skarn, it's time for you to leave." He pulled his fist back. "There is one Corona Shimmer watching this meeting, looking for any excuse to pull the trigger on something particularly nasty." She was bluffing, of course - she wouldn't let Corona anywhere near this meeting in her current state - but she did have Seraphim ready, and a few other precautions were in place. Skarn glared. "You have lost a valuable friend today, Eve." "Valuable and good are not the same thing." Skarn pulled back, turning to the door. Before he left, he glanced over his shoulder at Eve. "You would have been so beautiful among the Congeries. The brightest star among it all..." He left and slammed the door so hard it fell off its hinges. Eve let out a sigh. "That wasn't ominous at all." Pinkie popped out of a nearby potted plant, putting her sniper rifle 'precaution' back in her mane. "You picked up on that too, huh?" "Yep. And I don't need you or Twilence to tell me that isn't the last we'll see of him." She spread her wings and stretched her hooves, trying to de-stress. Pinkie nodded. "Yep. He'll be back. But so will just about everyone else we've encountered. It's how things work. There's no way to tell when he'll be back." "Yeah..." Eve said, shaking her head. Pinkie fixed her with a concerned glare. "What are you going to do?" "I'm going to go talk to Corona and make sure she gets through this. Wanna come?" Pinkie nodded. "Yep. I'll do whatever I can to get her back on her feet." ~~~ "...And so we're not going to war," Renee told Allure as they walked the streets of Celestia City near Allure's home. "...No offense Renee, but I'm kinda glad we're not," Allure said. Renee smiled sadly. "None taken. It was the popular decision after all, and I have to live with it even if I disagreed with it. And live with the people who thought differently." Renee nuzzled Allure. "Don't worry, I won't hold it against you. You do have a daughter to think about, after all." "Yep." "How is she, by the way?" "She's sixteen and I swear she just skipped the teenage rebellious phase," Allure said. "I know she's not a normal kid, but I was still expecting something." Renee smirked. "Not every teenager in the world has to rebel." "Teenagers who speak to Alushy on a regular basis?" Renee pondered this. "...Good point..." "Yeah. Point is, she's weird. Not that I'm complaining - the weirdness is great." "When it isn't creepy?" "Huh? Oh, right." Allure rubbed the back of her head. "I stopped being weirded out by her creepy observations a long time ago. It is who she is. I don't have to figure out how she does it. For all I know she could just be ever so slightly Aware, or have some prophecy gift, or something. Doesn't matter, she's Minna. Always Minna." "That's precious," Renee said, sniffing. "Pff, stop overselling it." "I am not 'overselling' anything! It truly is one of the most precious things I've ever heard!" Allure rolled her eyes. "You just keep on telling yourself that." They arrived at Allure's front door. "Want to come in?" "Ah, apologies, but I am a busy mare," Renee said, adjusting her hat. "I do believe I must check on Corona and Pinkie's team." "You should try the pirate accent again. That's sure to help." "Allure there's a time and a place fo- actually, you know what? No. There isn't." Allure giggled. "See ya, Renee." Renee winked at her. "Bye." Allure entered her home and walked to the living room. Minna was staring at a glass of juice. She may have been a teenager, but she didn't look all that different. She was taller than before, but her figure hadn't rounded out that much, and she rarely wore anything other than black dresses. "...Trying to burn it?" Allure asked. "Huh? No. I was just going to drink it. And then..." Minna pursed her lips. "I dunno." "Get one of your inklings?" Minna nodded. "I feel like everyone's just dodged a bullet. A huge bullet." Allure wanted so badly to tell her about the non-war, but Minna definitely didn't have that kind of clearance. "I'm glad everyone's not getting shot, then." "Mhm," Minna said, staring at the juice. "It just felt... I don't know, more personal than usual." Allure looked at her. "Do you have any idea what that means?" Minna looked at her and smirked. "Mom, there was an 'I don't know' in that sentence." "Ah. Right." Allure rubbed the back of her head. "By the way, Nova's hired me to watch Stardust again. Sunburst had a convention he really wanted to go to." "Oh, that's great!" Minna chuckled. "You do realize Stardust calls me the 'creepy babysitter' right?" Allure rolled her eyes. "She likes you just fine." "The kid's got a morbid curiosity." "And you don't?" "It's a different kind!" "I sense denial." The two laughed. A perfect image of a family enjoying peace.
Songs of the Spheres	100	Hello, readers. It is not often the narrative backs up, is it? Many of you have no idea what this means, having this little experiment nested right between the neat numbers of ninety-nine and one-hundred-and-one. To you, this chapter without a proper title is just another step toward the rapidly approaching end. But to those of us in the know, we see it. We see that the future has already happened. That the events of what is to come are set in stone. We may not know exactly what that future is, but we can sense that it is there. The sudden solidification that exists only for today, for today was written after all other days. If you can consider this a 'day'. Technically speaking it isn't, but days in the multiverse are metaphorical under the best of circumstances. I hope you get some enjoyment out of this. After all, this is what you wanted. You said "let there be insanity," and then you let the narrative be muddled. ~~~ "Girls! Girls! Vriska is turning a thousand soon! Party planning day!" Jotaro, Nova, and a partially-pink flying pony sat still. "...Enough, I'm using 'E' and so's the rest of this chapter, We're not suffering through this!" Pinkie clapped her hooves, ending the curse of the fifthglyph. Flutterfree cocked her head to the side. "Er... Pinkie, is something up today?" "Screwy chapter," Pinkie explained dismissively. "There's going to be a lot of seemingly unrelated elements thrown in everywhere and unexpected stuff jumping out from all sides. I'm going to try to not think too hard about it. I just need to put a disclaimer or something up... Hold on..." She pulled a sign out of her mane that read "IF YOU EXPECTED THIS TO MAKE PERFECT SENSE, BOY ARE YOU IN FOR A SURPRISE." She slapped it on the wall and grinned. Nova raised an eyebrow. "Pinkie, we're in a public area of Celestia City, the city's going to take that down." Pinkie twitched. "Well, it was up long enough for them to read it." She took out an axe and tore the sign to shreds, leaving the chunks on the ground. "Anyway, back to our inciting incident for the day: Vriska's thousandth birthday. It's coming up in a few indeterminate amount of days." "Indeterminate?" Jotaro asked. "I don't even know, really," Pinkie admitted with a shrug. "It's going to be a thousand years from her perspective since the moment she was ectobiologically synthesized - read Homestuck or just accept you're not going to know what that means - and all I know is that it's time to prepare the party. There will be a party this chapter, but I have this sneaking suspicion this is going to be a long chapter in more ways than one." "So, planning a huge party?" Flutterfree ignored most of Pinkie's meta-confusion. "Have we ever done a thousandth?" Pinkie shook her head. "Celestias have, conveniently, celebrated their thousandth birthdays without me in sight. This'll be the first so it needs to be the best! I'll be pulling out all the stops, grabbing everyone from everywhere, it'll be the biggest thing ever!" "Why are we planning it in a public place like Celestia City?" Jotaro asked. "With her luck she'll just wander across us. She's probably already suspicious." "So we can get an army of Pinkies in one place." Pinkie pulled out a megaphone and shouted into it. "HEY, GIRLS, SHOW YOURSELVES!" A thousand versions of Pinkie poured out into the street - the primary forces of the Pinkie Emporium. They all saluted. "SIR YES SIR! PARTY PLANNING CUTAWAY ENGAGED!" "Oh for th-" They were suddenly in a large, open warehouse - surrounded by Pinkies bouncing around everywhere chatting and laughing. "Yep, I called in the Pinkie Emporium," Pinkie said, winking. "I know I mock them a lot but there's certainly one thing they're good at: PARTIES. And we're going to coalesce all the party knowledge together!" "Also, not all of us are 'girls', Prime!" a Bubble Berry called. Pinkie frowned. "Ah, yes, 'Prime'. So boring..." "It's a nice name," Flutterfree said. "But I'm the Pinkie! They know that! They're just messing with me!" "YEEEEP!" Seven Pinkies sang in a chorus, bouncing away with a bouncy castle on their backs. Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Right. Anyway, I've got some other help as well. We're ponies - of course we're going to need some help from her homeworld friends. SO BEHOLD, THE SBURB BRIGADE!" All of them focused on the troop of various SBURB players of Earth C and Skaia's Dream. "We need a lot of exploding cueballs!" Terezi shouted, jumping onto Pinkie's back. "And we shall rig them to go off when near her and her only!" "That's cruel," Jade said - only one of them was there at the moment, and it was the one who spent most of her time at the League of Sweetie Belles being dog-like. "We should remind her of the good memories." "I could probably get some of those..." John said. "Egbert, you'll get erased by the Gallifreyans if you try to go that far back," Dirk pointed out. "Oh. Right. ...I have no more ideas." "I do," Roxy said, walking forward with impressive swagger in her step. The back of her Rogue of Void mask twirled in nonexistent wind, and a Carnelian Gem walked at her side. "As Earth C's resident party planner, may I suggest a theme, o' Pink one?" "Go right ahead!" Pinkie grinned. "Aspects," Roxy said, pointing at the symbol of Void emblazoned across her chest. "We get outfits of Aspects for everyone who cares, and we'll all be dressed up in the best of colors." "It'll be a rainbow of Vriska-related awesomeness!" Carnelian added. "And we can style the rest of the party after SBURB and other things." Roxy put her hands on her hips. "We'll, like, even put in some fake planets, maybe even a subdimension! I can get Carnelian and the rest of her Gem-construction friends to build us the best locale ever! So much yush, am I right?" "YUSH!" Pinkie declared. "Get on that! Pinkies, we're going to build an entire subdimension for a party!" "WOOHOO!" "How are we going to make all the outfits?" Flutterfree asked. "Only god-tier players can create those outfits, and even then just ones keyed to themselves." "That's where I come in, dear," Renee said, pushing out of the crowd of excessively pink ponies. "I'm working on making outfits for everyone - with help from my alternates, of course. Roxy asked me to start a few days ago." "Pre-emptive strike, huh?" Pinkie gave Roxy a playful smile. "You were ready to play dirty." Roxy rolled back on her heels. "Let's just say I knew you'd say yes." "Hmm. Clever..." Renee rolled her eyes and adjusted her glasses. "Regardless, Flutterfree, since Pinkie can produce her outfit on her own through her powers, I was working on yours." She levitated a bundled-up set of purple robes out and gave them to Flutterfree. "Here you go, Page of Rage robes altered for a pony's physique. I got rid of that annoying speedo-thing that's on it, naturally, not suited for the equine form." Flutterfree gingerly stepped into the purple robes and flapped her wings. It felt comfortable, which was pretty much guaranteed for anything Renee ever made, but beyond that it was loose. The short cape somehow didn't get in the way of her wings, and there was a nice strap for her Bow of Light. She examined the strange swirling symbol of Rage on her chest and smiled. "It fits wonderfully, thanks!" "Good! It even matches your colors! Perfect complement! Unlike Corona's Doom robes which are going to look as ugly as opal's vomit, but I'll make do. Somehow." She shivered. "Or maybe I'll pass it off to someone else..." "You look amazing Flutters!" Pinkie said. "Strike a pose!" Flutterfree took her Bow of Light out and stood on her hind legs, pulling the string back and aiming at a wall of the warehouse. Her short cape billowed along with her flowing pink mane, giving her the appearance of being supercharged with power. With a smile, Flutterfree lowered her weapon. "Too bad I don't use my Rage that much. I'd probably wear it more often." Dirk raised an eyebrow - an act just barely visible behind his anime shades. "I've been watching you Twelve half-players. Despite being the Page, you're advancing more than most of your companions." "O-oh..." Flutterfree said, seemingly upset by the news. "It's something to be proud of, Flutterfree," Renee said, putting a hoof on her. "You're growing." "Into Rage?" "It's not literal." "Feels like it a lot of the time..." Flutterfree shook her head. "But it is a part of me... Probably shouldn't hide from it." Nova chuckled. "Definitely not. Just don't go wearing those robes around, we don't want to tip Vriska off to this thing." ~~~ Eve sat on a couch in Flutterfree's cottage, reading a book. She could have read the book on her data-pad, that certainly would have been more efficient, but it would also have not been a book. For all her love of technology and progress, Eve would always have a soft spot for books. "Aaaaaand... behold!" Flutterfree flew down from the shower, taking a dramatic pose on the coffee table. For a moment her mane, tail, and cape flapped as though they were in a raging storm. This, unfortunately, lasted only a split second - the exact split second it took Eve to get to the end of her sentence and look up. "Aww, Eve, you missed it!" "I missed what - hey, are those the Rage robes?" Eve brightened up. "You look beautiful." Flutterfree facehooved. "Thanks, but I was supposed to come down here and look all... adventure-y. Wistful. Daring. Or noble or something." "Well, I'm here, you have a coffee table runway, what's wrong with striking some more poses?" "Absolutely nothing!" Flutterfree declared with a chuckle, standing up on a hind hoof and pointing forward with her wing. "Onward!" "I can see Lolo helping you with balance." Flutterfree had Lolo create a spirograph halo around her head. "Aww, that ruins the fun..." she said, mimicking a young child. She switched poses to one reminiscent of a predatory cat, allowing her eyes to spark ever-so-slightly with Rage. It was easy to do, given Lolo's abilities. Now that she thought about it, Lolo was probably why her Aspect powers kept progressing despite her natural difficulty with them... Eve raised her hooves up in mock fear. "No, I'll do anything for you! Fame, riches, power, your own galaxy! Just don't-" Flutterfree lunged, booping Eve on the snout. The two devolved into giggles. "HEY FLUTTERS!" Vriska shouted, kicking the door in - as was her custom. "I need more spider-chow for that stupid mini-lusus that keeps trying to eat me." Flutterfree and Eve stared at her like deer caught in the headlights. "...Did I interrupt something?" Vriska asked. "I mean, yes, but nothing important," Eve said, glancing nervously at Flutterfree's robes of Rage. "You guys need a stuffpile," Vriska commented. "Just because our relationship is analogous to your race's pale quadrant doesn't mean it's the same thing," Eve asserted. "Also we tried the stuffpile thing. I almost drowned in stuffed animals." Flutterfree giggled nervously. Vriska rolled her eyes. "Starbeat's fine with it." "Starbeat is a unique pony," Flutterfree countered. "Yeah, sure. Anyway, spider chow?" "Yes, I have it right over here..." "By the way, nice robes." Flutterfree smiled nervously. "Yes! They are nice! Renee made them for me." "Never saw you as one to embrace the Rage, but I'm glad you are. Can't wait to see you wear it in the field." Eve could hear Flutterfree's internal screams. She was going to have to wear them now... "Oh, Eve!" Vriska grinned. "You should get some Light robes. You two would match! Inverted colors and everything!" "...That would be cute," Flutterfree admitted, fixing Eve with a sly smirk. "I wouldn't be able to wear such a thing 'in the field'," Eve commented. "But I'll see what Renee can do." "It'll be great if all of you could get robes," Vriska said as Flutterfree handed her a bag full of spider chow. Even though it was half her size, she lifted it with little issue. "Anyway, see you two later, need to get back to Earth C. That spider's not going to train itself..." "Maybe you should give her a name?" Flutterfree asked. "Eh, maybe," Vriska said, jumping away. There was silence in the cottage. "Good news, she suspects nothing," Eve commented. "Yeah. But she's going to be on the trail..." Flutterfree furrowed her brow. "We're going to have to do something about this..." "Pinkie?" "Pinkie." ~~~ The Gem subdimension construction was already underway. They had chosen an empty place in the middle of Celestia City that had originally been made to look like a desert - but few people wanted to wander the empty desert, so it had been somewhat easy to procure a plot of land to build a special sort of dimensional gateway. Currently it was little more than four crystal pillars in the sand, but Carnelian's team of Gems were quickly turning it into much more. "She SAW you!?" Pinkie shouted, jumping up and down in panic. "Oh no, oh no, oh noooooo she can't have the surprise ruined! How could you do this!?" Flutterfree backed up. "I was just showing off for Eve..." Eve sighed. "There was no way we could have predicted Vriska would come barging in." "I know... I know..." Pinkie Pie produced a rocking chair and started shaking it back and forth in an effort to calm herself. "We have to get rid of her." "Get rid of her!?" Flutterfree gasped. "A perfectly reasonable idea," Corona said, walking over - her robes of Doom held in her hand like toxic kelp. "She's got luck and she's very, very nosy when her suspicions are aroused. Just put her in a situation where she can't find out." Pinkie raised an eyebrow. "Corona, buttering me up isn't going to get me to change my mind. You're wearing that." "But Pinkie it's-" "The Rogue of Doom. You." "But it's green, black, and ugly!" Eve smirked. "Problem with ugly?" "Wh- no!" Corona huffed. "I just... Doom. I don't like Doom." "You can wear it for one day, it's not like it's got any power or anything," Pinkie said dismissively. "Back on track: getting rid of Vriska." "Easy to do," Eve said. "Hard to do without her getting suspicious." "We could have Renee send us on an extended mission," Flutterfree suggested. "But I have to be here to plan the party!" Pinkie wailed. "The other Pinkies won't do it right! And what kind of mission could we go on for that long anyway?" "Around the multiverse in eighty days," Renee said, walking into the group. "And don't you worry your little head, Pinkie, you won't be going anywhere." She grinned mischievously. "Because I have an idea!" "is this going to be anything like the idea you had when you tried to plan the break-in of Canterlot Castle?" Eve asked, eyebrow raised. "Well, yes, but better!" Renee chuckled. "It'll be perfect... Pinkie, you keep working with Roxy and the Emporium on the Party. I will place my plan in motion!" "Um, how will we know we'll be back in time?" Flutterfree asked. "We don't exactly know the timing of everything." "That's actually good," Pinkie said. "Means you'll come back at the precise right moment." "Does it really?" Eve asked. "Today it does," Pinkie said with a shrug. "I warned you all that this was going to be a weird one." "You did?" "You weren't there," Flutterfree said. "I forgot to mention it." "Oh. Okay then." She ruffled her feathers. "Renee, care to explain what exactly your plan is?" "Only if you insist." ~~~ Corona could have teleported anywhere she wanted on Celestia City. Instead, she walked across the 'desert' to the nearest 'town'. She wasn't entirely sure why, she just did. Perhaps it was a mixture of being bored and the annoying thoughts that were plaguing her ever since she'd laid eyes on that stupid robe of Doom. Doom. Doom. Everyone she'd ever talked to about it had reminded her, time and time again, that Doom didn't mean literal doom, though it could. It just meant great change, the ending of something. She had to admit, that did fit her. But come on, couldn't it be called something other than Doom? That was so negative. She vowed to wear the robes once - exactly once - and then never again. Maybe she could donate them to some other Sunset who would find it interesting. There were always others out there... Looking around, she realized she was in a 'town'. Though 'town' was an odd thing in Celestia City - technically she was still in the city, but the ramshackle arrangement of buildings here sure didn't seem to be part of any larger city. It was nothing but sand, tumbleweeds, and a fake sky. Likely constructed in an ill-advised attempt at creating a 'wild west'. Lucky Pinkie. This meant she got an empty place in Celestia City to work with. Assuming they had taken the proper precautions to keep the townspeople from asking questions. "Who the heck are you!?" Corona looked down at a short Ruby in a sheriff's outfit. She smiled - but refrained from laughing, knowing this little Ruby probably was the sheriff. "Corona Shimmer. I'm sure you've heard of me." "What th- oh." the Ruby dropped her angry expression instantly. "L-lifebringer! G-good to have you visit our small town! What brings you here?" "A walk," Corona said, continuing her march into the city. She was mildly baffled to see that nearly half of the town's population was Rufioh Skaians. The rest was the general mixture of humans, ponies, and Gems. Of interest was a long snake-dog thing, possibly a longma, though that particular word was assigned to so many different creatures Corona didn't want to make any assumptions. "As the Rogue of Doom laid her eyes upon the curious creature..." a voice said from above. Corona looked up, processing the fact that nothing was up there. "...Do you have a Narrative Presence here?" The Ruby nodded. "Uh, yeah. That's Rotarran." "Charmed," the voice said. "That's just Narrator backwards," Corona commented. "You try coming up with something original in this city. There is a Sunset living here by the name of Tesnus, by the way." "I have about as much respect for her as I do you right about now," Corona commented. "Judgey judgey! Have you been having a bad day by chance, heroine?" "I'm so glad I don't have a narrator..." You do though. Not that you'll notice. The Ruby shrugged. "Rotarran's chill, give him a break. He even helps out a lot with adventures and stuff! Nibira and the others say he does all sort of mission-things. Speaking of..." "We have not found the thieves," Rotarran cut him off. "I FOUND THE THIEVES!" A man in a loose tunic called, running down the street. "They just... did a vanishing thing!" "Lance Lancelot has once again failed his 'don't lose track of the objective' goal," Rotarran narrated. "They're right around the corne-" he paused, frowning. "You know they're gone." "Yes." "Well that's just great." "Yes." Corona walked away from them as they continued to argue about the thieves, leaving the sheriff Ruby behind. She decided she might as well try to find these thieves, she didn't exactly have much of a plan for today... Research was off, and there were no adventures. Might as well make one. She came across a bar and decided she might as well walk in. To her surprise, there was an Ork there, with several young human women staring at him with awe in their eyes. "And then Ah, cover'd 'n flames, FLOPP'D on the eldritch squid wit a WAAAAAAAAGH! 'Dere was a big boom and the squid was dead." "Wooooow..." the women sung, swooning. Those women are either desperate or need mental help. Corona chose to ignore them and look for someone who might have better information. She sat down at the bar, ordered a random drink with low alcohol content, and struck up conversation with a pony/human couple she saw sitting nearby. "So, what's the occasion?" "Anniversary," the pony - a stallion - said. "Marie here has been mine for over twenty years now." "Ignore Brick, he's drunk," Marie chuckled. "I own him." "I'm sure it's a mutual relationship," Corona offered. "Actually, the kids own us," Brick said with a grin. "We have no freedom in the relationship." "True..." Marie admitted. "Speaking of, we should be getting back. Don't want Yvenne making dinner again..." "...Kids?" Corona asked, looking between the two of them. Marie flushed. "No, we didn't do any splicing. That's... well, that's just disgusting, no offense to you. ...I'm sorry, that sounded horrible." "I'm not the result of a splice," Corona said. "Adopted then?" "All seven of them," Brick said with a laugh. "Wait, you're not a splice? What then?" Marie furrowed her brow. "...Dear, I think that's Corona Shimmer." "Huh?" "The immortality serum." "WOAH!" Brick fell out of his chair. "Y-you should join us for dinner!" "Brick! She's a Princess! You don't just invite them for dinner!" Corona smirked. "I'd be glad to come for dinner. When is it?" "Ten minutes from now?" "Then we should go. I have some rumor-mills I need to run through and a family dinner sounds like just the place to do it." "Oh? About what?" Marie asked. "The thieves you guys have." "Ah... them." Marie blinked. "Don't know what to make of them hone-" "You can just tell me at dinner." "Oh. Yes. Which is now eight minutes away! BRICK, WE GOTTA GO!" And so they scrambled to dinner - and Corona was more than a little shocked to find that only two of their kids were human or pony. There were two Gems, a baby dragon, a teenage goblin, and what Corona was pretty sure was an actual angel girl. Food turned out to be 'instant magical lasagna' which, admittedly, was pretty good, since Celestia City had all the resources it could ever need for making good instant dinners. "Hooves, how do they work?" Brick asked as he drove a fork into the lasagna with amazing precision. "Well enough for me to eat neater than the rest of you, apparently." True, already the multiracial home was an absolute mess of food, even though one of the Gems wasn't eating anything. Corona smirked. "Hooves are magical focal points of a pony's body in most universes where a small 'traction field' exists at all times, exerting a weak 'grip' on anything you press them to." He stared at her. "I... I know that. I was j-" "I could go into the scientific nuances of the phenomenon, it really is quite fascinating." There was silence at the table. The goblin snorted with barely restrained laughter. "Yvenne! Stop staring!" Marie chided, suddenly. The young 'angel' couldn't take her eyes off Corona. "She's like me..." Corona smiled warmly. "I don't think I am. These wings are just feathery appendages, nothing too shiny." "You're brimming with life energy." "Well yeah, I-" "And death energy." Corona stared at her. "Ahahahah!" Marie laughed nervously. "Yvenne's a silly one, isn't she! Grellk, why don't you take your sister to the kitchen to get dessert?" "Ugh, moooooom," the goblin groaned. "The sugar is disgusting! Have Nin do it." "I can't even eat yet!" Nin shouted, folding her hard-light arms. "I can," the other Gem added, rubbing it in. Brick groaned. "Someone take Yvenne to get the dessert." "Got it," the pony - who just so happened to be a crystal unicorn mare - got up and led Yvenne to the kitchen. Corona could feel holy magic flying the moment they entered the room. She wondered what Yvenne was doing... "So, you wanted to ask about the thieves?" Brick asked. "Oh, yes! See, I-" she ignored the sounds of the floor cracking in the other room. "-heard about some thieves, and I figured I might as well try to apprehend them." "Really? You'd apprehend the Phantom Thieves of Hearts?" "They're Skaians?" Corona asked. "Oh? No!" Marie chuckled. "You have no idea who they are, do you?" "No..." "Hey, there's one right now! Just like the games!" the human child said, pointing out the window. Running across the street was a young man in a black shirt and plaid pants pushing his glasses to his face. He might have been a teenager, but sometimes it was hard to tell with humans who were clearly from anime-originating worlds. Corona didn't waste any time - she teleported out onto the street and attempted to touch her fingers to his head. He jumped out of the way, spinning behind her with a grin. "Woah! Sorry, not going to le-" he paused when he realized who he was talking to. "I didn't think we'd gotten quite this level of recognition... Corona, pleasure to meet you! I'd love to stay and chat but I have a-" Corona attempted to jump him again, but he twisted behind her. She was expecting this - and just used her wing to tap him. Who ever said she had to use her hands to initiate empathy? After a few seconds of absorbing what was inside him, Corona backed off. "Huh... You're an interesting one... Joker." Joker smiled cheekily. "It's what it takes to be the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, Corona." Corona looked him over for a few seconds. "The heroic thief... An interesting archetype, and not one I thought we needed in our society." "No offense, but you're too high up to see what it's like down here," Joker said, casually leaning on a wall. "Things fall through the cracks of your friends' web. Little heroes like us are there to take care of it." "By stealing parts of people's souls." Joker waved his hand back and forth. "Eeeeeeeeh depends on how you look at it." Corona let out a soft chuckle. "I like you. And, for what it's worth, I think you're doing good work. No matter how... weird it is." "Think of it like an inverse Stand." "That's not what I meant." Joker grinned. "I know." Corona rolled her eyes. "Have fun with your phantom heists. Don't go too far and I won't have to call Expeditions on you." "What would Expeditions do?" "Recruit you, but then you'd be limited by government-assigned missions and bureaucracy. Little annoying if you're not as high up as I am." "Maybe I should mess up just to get an invitation." Corona put her hands on her hips. "You can do that if you want. I'll be very, very disappointed though." Joker grabbed his heart. "Alas, I cannot survive with the great guardian's disapproval! I must not take this risk!" "Smooth." "I try." Corona waved. "Go stop that guy from cheating the homeless out of their food." "I will. Oh, and Corona?" "Hmm?" "If you want a more local issue, the Pinkies have been trying to get us to infiltrate the Infinite Carousel as of late. Apparently there's something big going on in there. Figured it was a bit above our paygrade since we have no idea what's going on - but if you were to look into it..." "Say no more," Corona said, giving him a thumbs up. "I'm going to finish my dinner with this nice family and then I'll get to that." She put her hands on her hips. "I wonder if it's really a conspiracy or not..." "It probably is." "Good." Corona pulled out her phone and called Allure while Joker sped off into the sand. "Hey, Allure? Do you know anything about increased activity of the Infinite Carousel?" She could hear Allure audibly groan on the other side. "Yeah. Both the Carousel and Census have been acting up. We have no idea why." "Well, they might be up to something. Prepare a report of everything you know, I'll be swinging by later." "Suuuuure thing!" Corona hung up and teleported back to the dinner table. "So, that's dealt with, who knows about the Infinite Carousel?" ~~~ Renee looked at three of her closest, most trusted Rarities. Her opinions of the three of them varied considerably, but they had proven themselves time and time again to her. Even if some of them were... questionable. Mattie grinned. "I can hear your thoughts. I absolutely love them. Please, punish me for being so off the walls. I'll learn. Trust me, like you were just thinking you could." Renee sighed. "Celia?" "You walked into this," the pony-like Gem said, shrugging. "I'm with Mattie, let's punish her," Affix grinned. "That's always fun." Renee leaned into her hoof, the action moving a digital tablet across her office desk. They were in her primary office in the Castle of Friendship. "Look, ladies, I understand we are all strong, brilliant personalities-" "You got that right." Affix winked. "-but all I'm asking is something simple. We need to get all these Aspect robes ready for everyone going to the party before the party happens. Sooner rather than later. You can bring in anypony you want, but please keep the Infinite Carousel out of this. That means you, Mattie." "Bu-" "I'm serious." "...I don't have to listen to you..." "Do you want me to call the Oversight Division? I can." Mattie grumbled. "But they'd make it so much faster..." "We can't give them a hoofhold given the current political situation," Celia pointed out. "They're threatening the purity of Merodi business seclusion." "I'd be impressed if they weren't being so illegal," Renee muttered. "Is business so important to us that we're usually willing to break the law for it?" "To be fair, they existed before Merodi Universalis," Affix said. "But they keep trying to get more operatives here..." Renee shook her head. "Not an issue to talk about right now. You can hire Rarities that are part of the Carousel, but you can't get Carousel management involved, okay?" "Got it," Celia said, saluting. "...I'll see who I can get." "But what about making dresses?" Affix asked. "I never was much of a designer," Celia admitted with a shrug. "More of a politician. I can get us some good deals, don't you worry." "In that case, dismissed," Renee said with a few claps of her hooves. "I've got to talk to the Primary team." "Have fun!" Mattie sang as she and the other Rarities were teleported away. A second later, Vriska, Jotaro, Flutterfree, and Nova were teleported into the room. Flutterfree was wearing her Rage robes - as Vriska expected. Flutterfree didn't seem that uncomfortable with it, which Renee took as a compliment. "...Uh, where's Pinkie?" Nova asked, playing her part perfectly. Renee smiled serenely. "I'm glad you asked, that's part of why you're here. You see, I had to send Pinkie on a super-secret mission alone." "...What?" Vriska said. "I'm not allowed to talk about it. And even if I was, Giorno didn't exactly give me any information on it. She'll be indisposed for... a good while." "I call being in charge!" Vriska called. Flutterfree coughed. "I'm in command in Pinkie's absence." "...Yeah, well, I called dibs." "Doesn't beat prior agreements," Jotaro said. "But... law of dibs!" "Your argument is pointless, neither of you will be leading," Renee said. "Though, for the record, Flutterfree is right." Flutterfree grinned proudly. "Who's leading us then?" Nova asked. "ME!" Renee said, jumping on top of her desk and striking a pose. "The moment she was called away I was thinking 'Renee, it's been a while since you've been out in the field, I bet you miss it' and I responded with 'you're right, I do miss it, I should do something!' So I'm back on the team for a while. And since Pinkie's going to be gone a significant amount of time, well..." She grinned. "You've all heard of Nanoha's Grand Tour, yes?" "Yeah...?" Vriska said, cocking her head. "We're doing it. Except we're doing it fast. We're going around the multiverse in eighty-ish days." "You're crazy." Renee grinned. "I guess I've been letting myself go lately." Vriska matched her expression. She clasped Renee's hoof. "Welcome back, fashion horse." "Thank you!" Renee tossed her mane back. "I've got to contact Daniel and tell everyone where I'm going, but we should be able to leave by the end of the day! Pack your things, we're not going to see Merodi Universalis for a long while!" ~~~ "Cessera, what is a waffleborg?" Eve asked. The Gem Second looked up from her data pad. "If I had to guess, biomechanical aliens obsessed with assimilation and breakfast." "I really hope that's not it," Eve commented, scrolling through her 'incidents of possible interest to the Overhead of Relations' report. Several people in the Relations Division cut down the most interesting reports and sent the ones with the most necessary information to her, cut down to be as efficient as possible. This kept her from spending multiple days reading through every report that came out, but it also confused her sometimes. 'Waffleborg tried to open negotiations, failed spectacularly when Pit offered pancakes to them.' There was so much to unload there... "It probably is it," Eve muttered after a few seconds of silence. She marked the section as 'read more into later' and kept going. She thought about calling Renee and asking about it - but then she remembered, Renee was gone. And so was Flutterfree. "...Eve?" Eve barely caught the motion of Cessera's lips. "I'm fine," Eve said, quickly. "Just... well I usually talk to Renee or Flutterfree about these things, they're not here. And Pinkie's probably so busy she'd scream at the phone if I dared trying to call her." "Applejack? Rainbow?" Eve smiled warmly. "My weekly dinners with Applejack are amazing, and I always love seeing Rainbow. But neither of them really seem to 'get' the politics I always find myself in. I would call Luna but..." "Asleep?" "Yeah. Asleep. As is the norm." She ruffled her wings. "I guess I'll just have to get used to talking with just you." "That's basically half your job at this point." "I do spend a lot of time in this office for somepony who's the face of Merodi Universalis," Eve said, furrowing her brow. "That was an exaggeration." "Exaggerations contain truth within them." Cessera shrugged, scrolling through her copy of the report. "...The Derpy Anti-Defamation League is back." "...We sent Walleye to them, right?" "Yeah. They're suing her - and by extension, us - for defamation." Eve groaned. "I wish I could say I was surprised..." "Rumor has it they managed to rope Earth Shimmer's Ditzy into one of their meetings." "Why does this pointless powder keg keep building up? They explode, get recognition, and then all the Derpys just continue to not care. Their names are literally Derpy, there's no ill intent!" "They have a section in their brochure about 'legal action against your Prophet'." "...They don't have very good lawyers, do they?" "No." There was a soft buzzing in Eve's chair, letting her know someone was waiting to meet with her. She checked her meeting schedule - empty for today. "Oh no, it better not be the potato again..." "Doesn't appear to be," Cessera said, checking the cameras. "Looks like... two Twilights and two Raritys. They're all squabbling with each other." Eve massaged her horn. "Why can't they just get along?" "Eve, it's the Infinite Carousel, we've all but branded them criminals at this point." "But they're so loud. And... well, it looks bad on me!" Cessera rolled her eyes. "Should I call them in?" "Sure. I've haven't used the Royal Canterlot Voice in a while." ~~~ They had done it. It had taken a few days, but the Gems had come though. The little building in the middle of the city-desert led to a black subdimension with several house-sized planets styled after the player planets of SBURB. There were dozens of brightly colored spheres drifting in the blackness, tied together with rope bridges, little spaceships, and even a few floating houses. Balloons were everywhere. Pinkie stood next to Roxy and Carnelian, grinning. "This looks amazing," Roxy said, hands on her hips. "Party fit for gods." "That's kind of the point," Carnelian observed, pointing at the various god-tier Skaians drifting around the planets, checking them out for 'accuracy'. "My planet's too big!" Dave called to them. "Shut up, Strider!" Roxy shouted back. "I have just been told to shut up, you may continue, Dave," Dirk said. Dave cupped his hands to his mouth. "MY PLANET'S TOO BIG!" "Don't make me come over there and give you boys a knuckle sandwich!" Roxy shouted. "Bring it." Dave was suddenly surrounded by his dead selves. "The squad's got all avenues of attack covered!" Roxy 'wonked'. "That's just what we want you to think..." "Psst. Roxy," Carnelian elbowed her. "We're not done with the party yet." "Oh yes! We're just getting started!" Pinkie cackled. "With Vriska gone, we can go completely overboard. We are going to get Vriska her pirate boat. And we are going to fill it with the best treasure in the multiverse." She took a gun with a backwards-facing barrel and tossed it into the ground of a nearby mini-planet. "That's the artifact pile. We're going to get all the artifacts." "I know where the Juju Breaking Crowbar is!" Roxy said, waving her hand. "Then that's where we're going first! And we will not stop until we've collected the absolute biggest pile of treasure for Vriska to plunder!" "Hell yeah!" "...Isn't it a bad idea to have so many powerful artifacts together?" Carnelian asked. "Well, duh." Pinkie said. "But think about it - Vriska would totally love a dangerous birthday party." "I can't argue with that." Pinkie put on a pith helmet and grinned. "Time to go plunder the deepest, darkest dungeons for delightful loot! Who's with me!?" "Me! Totally me! Bring me!" Roxy shouted. "Bring Carnelian too!" "What!? N-" Pinkie grabbed the both of them and dragged them through a portal to Earth C... ~~~ There was a spark in the crystal ball... It was trying to find the beginning... It was having difficulty, since it wasn't given a good idea of where 'the beginning' was... It decided to begin with a rather common occurrence in the multiverse - the birth of a Twilight Sparkle. It began to fast-forward through her life. The day she got her cutie mark and was accepted into Celestia's School was the first event that made it slow down - and after that it was a blur until she arrived in Ponyville and made her lifelong friends. The crystal ball's user didn't care about all this. He tapped the ball with his hoof, advancing it forward. Past Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, the ascension, Tirek, Starlight, Pony of Shadows, Cozy... and then stopping at the discovery of the bowling ball. The man of light fled across existence, and the enchantress followed. Twilight took the ball. She met Siron, and she met so many others... Her team shuffled around a bit, there was the fight with Ba'al, the loss of her hearing, and then the threat of Majora... And at long last, the sign of a society forming became apparent. Disclosure occurred, and Twilight gave her speeches. An alliance grew closer together as a mare grew beyond anything her mentors had conceived. She worked to bring everyone together in every way, through the struggles of the University of Doors and the Gems themselves. They continued building up, the power of Harmony and Friendship bringing more and more into the fold. Stands, magic, humans, technology... so many. The Gem Trial went by quickly, because as important as it was to history, the event shortly thereafter was significantly more meaningful. The Bloodbath. The death of so many; the first day of Merodi Universalis was almost its last. But it wasn't. It rose from the struggle, stronger than it would have ever been otherwise. It dealt with the revelation of ka better than most. It encountered societies much higher and made friends. It survived the attention of the Starcross Society and was instrumental in the defeat of the Collector. Twilight - now known as Eve - was always there, always guiding it, always shaping it. Sometimes the ball would focus on someone else - like when Corona created the immortality serum - but otherwise it remained the same. Merodi Universalis grew, grew until they could play with giants around the Green Sun, grew until they were a name well known in much of the multiverse... "This has gone on too far," Grogar growled, dissipating the image in the crystal ball. He was a large, blue goat with ram-like horns and an eternally sour expression. He looked up from his podium at the various creatures around him, making a crowd seventeen strong - eighteen, if he included himself. They stood in an open auditorium-like area made of ancient, degraded marble. This structure sat, alone, on an island in the middle of a vast pink ocean. "We have been watching, waiting for them to stop changing long enough to form a plan. But this patience has gotten us nowhere, as their change is apparently exponential. The longer they live, the more enemies they make - but also the more enemies they defeat. We are at the point of diminishing returns. We are at eighteen strong. One more, and the number will be perfect. It will be time to strike." "Oh, taking my advice?" the sharp-toothed purple-haired Magane asked. "Good." "I am acting on evidence that nineteen is a superior number," Grogar grunted. "Your counsel was merely a gesture in the right direction." "Remind me again why he's in charge?" Adagio asked - currently in the form of a strange fish-human hybrid creature. The red crystal around her neck glowed brightly. "Because I am the one who brought us all together!" Grogar asserted. True, but shallow, a brain pulsed, sitting on a nearby pedestal. We are not a coalition with a specific hierarchy. "IT, shut your trap," Chrysalis growled. "It makes my head hurt." IT pulsed. Your head hurts itself, daughter of insanity. "She is one with chaos!" A tremendous man in chaotic red armor shouted, ramming a chainaxe into the ground. "Kharne! Now is not the time for battle!" Grogar shouted. "Soon though! Soon we shall make Merodi Universalis suffer for all they've done and all they dared!" "There's only eighteen of us..." an Apple Bloom with dark mist coming out of her eyes said. "Where is the nineteenth...?" "Surely one of our recruiting missions has gone well?" Grogar asked. Tirek folded his arms. "The Nightmare Moon Reformation Association was pointless." "Not that we didn't try!" Cozy Glow shouted, waving her hooves. "They just... didn't like us!" Grogar grunted. "They were the least likely anyway." A Rarity with cat-like claw marks over an empty eye socket spoke up. "My counterpart within the Starcross Society was decidedly uncooperative. Didn't even think of revenge... Not even after I offered her everything." "Lilith, broken lock," a Twilight deadpanned. "Lielight! You... don't you dare!" another Twilight shouted, wearing what most closely resembled a red and black flamenco dress. "Lilith is precious!" "Little Miss Rarity, Shipping Princess, intertwined necks," Lielight responded. "Ooooh, you do know how to talk dirty!" Lilith chuckled. "That double-speaker is so arrogant she probably thinks she does that all the time," Tirek muttered. "Um. She does," Cozy offered. Tirek put a hand to the bridge of his nose and groaned. "You are all useless. It would be easier to condition them," the Apple Bloom said. Your methods put us further against the story than we already are, IT said. We must work within the boundaries to achieve success. "You are all pretty evil," a Starlight with a medical vest and pointed ears said - she went by Starlance, after her ears. "Me? I just have strange ears." "And want to see how all this turns out," Magane offered. "Definitely. This entire dynamic is all so fascinating. I'm surprised this little group hasn't imploded already!" "We're off track," Grogar said. "Aquamarine, how did the mission to the Crown Princess go?" The small Gem folded her arms. "Badly. The Crown Princess, to put it mildly, doesn't want anything to do with us." "She tried to kill me," Ba'al offered. "Everyone tries to kill you," Aquamarine spat. "Not everyone here." "I will kill you the moment I think the others will allow it," Sombra, the dark unicorn, declared. "I'm afraid Flagg's a no-show as well," a human-like alien by the name of Loki said, toying with a blue cube of immense power. "I don't think he likes you very much, Grogar." "I will never understand why the embodiment of our position refuses us so," Grogar said. "It is because he embodies a very different ideal," the last member of the group said - a man far too young in appearance for his age. His eyes were fire and his fists were those of rage. "We seek revenge. He seeks disorder and darkness for the sake of itself. We are too ordered for his liking." "Ozai has a point," Starlance said. "Most of us - not including me or Magane - are in this for revenge of some sort. Flagg was willing to use that with Siron, not be part of it." We are too much for him to use effectively, IT concluded. "We're too much for me to keep track of," Chrysalis muttered. "I'm like... What's your name?" The Apple Bloom looked at her with disdain. "You insist on calling me the Mindflayer." "See? Too many weird names." "Then it's a good thing you don't have to learn mine." The man who would become the nineteenth member of the team walked in. He was human, and otherwise his physical appearance is none of your business because that would spoil everything. Deal with it. "You may call me the Dude," he said, taking an empty seat between Cozy Glow and Lilith. "Those of you who know who I am, refrain from mentioning it. They have eyes in the strangest places, as I'm sure you are aware." "This guy thinks ahead," Magane said. "Very well... 'Dude'," Grogar said, narrowing his eyes. "Who invited you?" "Nobody. I invited myself. Because the time is right." He is outside my influence, IT noted. "His essence is blank," the Mindflayer added. "And I'm here to help," the Dude said, folding his hands together. "You want to bring Merodi Universalis down?" "More than anything," Grogar declared. "Good. We'll have to attack them from multiple fronts to accomplish this. We will need to split up into teams. First team needs to go after the Primary Team on their journey through the multiverse, for our only chance to defeat them is when they are separated from their nation. Their defeat is instrumental, for they are the heroes of Merodi Universalis. The other heroes also need attention. Pinkie is still in Merodi Universalis - she is planning the biggest party ever. We will infiltrate this party as party planners and get catalogs of every OP-as-fuck artifact she is bringing into Celestia City. A third team will need to deal with Eve and incite political turmoil, while the fourth and final will need to augment a conspiracy within the various 'self-societies' of Merodi Universalis. Lilith, you have access to the Infinite Carousel, you will be on that." Grogar narrowed his eyes. "While you seem to have a plan... I ask what makes you think you can just stroll in here and demand that everyone follow your plan?" "Because I'm telling you exactly what to do. You don't have to listen to it. But I have all the information to pull this off. I know exactly how to manipulate events to bring you to the point of your revenge." He leaned in, face level. "All you have to do is listen and use your skills, and they shall fall apart from all sides." "I like this guy!" Magane declared. "Let's do his plan!" "I will hear his plan in its entirety..." Grogar said, furrowing his brow. "And then I will make a judgment." The Dude nodded. "I'm warning you, it's a mess that barely makes sense." "I would find that disheartening, but I had a feeling that would be the only way to take them out." "Smart goat." "I have been around for much longer than you." "By some metrics." The Dude stood up and began strolling around, looking out across the pink sea of the world. "You have been right from the start, Grogar. Only teamwork can defeat the powers of harmony. You must become like them to win. An annoyingly detestable truth the Tower forces on us all, but a truth nonetheless." Grogar looked at the Dude with far more respect now. "You speak well, human." "And I'll do so much more." He turned around, looking Grogar right in the eyes. "Let's tear Merodi Universalis down to dust." ~~~ SONGS OF THE SPHERES 100 by G. M. Blackjack (Whatever happens, this time it's your fault) ~~~ Pinkie looked out at the party planets, a smirk on her face. "Mattie, sure you can handle this?" Pinkie asked. Mattie chuckled. "I'm the absolute queen of montages. Nothing can stop me!" Pinkie took out a boom box. "Then let's hit it." She hit the play button and a thick, fat beat began to pump out of its speakers, thundering through what they had been calling the Realm of Party. Mattie, Pinkie, and Roxy started shifting to the groove while Carnelian looked around, awkward, trying to figure out what the strange ritual was. Carnelian was really surprised when the three of them burst out into song. "We don't need to ponder We don't need to wait All we need is a bumping beat to send us on the hunt!" And Mattie's montage abilities took over. Days began to pass like rapidly-flipping pages in a book. They rushed to a world reminiscent of Ardent and pulled a third of the triforce out of a slime monster, smiling for pictures taken by seemingly no one. "We don't care at all 'bout how hard it is We're gonna grab all the gold; gonna grab all the vis We're gonna grab them all 'till there's none left!" They climbed the steps into an ancient abandoned temple in a space-borne forest, with Pinkie making "boom, bang, boom-a-bang!" noises all the way. They removed the idol and ran away from a boulder trap with smiles on their faces. With the exception of Carnelian, who was terrified of the entire ordeal. "Grab it all! Find the sparks Be the magic song Find the dark Find the light Treasure, treasure, yeah yeah yeah yeah!" An alien by the name of Loki came across them seeking treasure and gave him his own cube of power, free of charge. He ended up part of the group without much fuss, a bit like a photobomber. "Multiversal! There's no end to the game Free the relics from their homes, release the fire trap over there!" They ducked under a fire trap and managed to get hold of a dragon idol. They quickly returned to the party planets and dumped it onto the ever-growing pile of artifacts ranging from immensely powerful to little more than trinkets. "We're gonna suffer 'Cause Vriska's so surprised Angry smiles, angry smiles." Pinkie started gluing several of the reddish-to-pink artifacts together with Loki and Carnelian in the background, suggesting construction ideas. Carnelian finally started smiling. "Grab it all! Find the sparks Be the magic song Find the dark Find the light Treasure, treasure, yeah yeah yeah yeah!" Pinkie giggled on top of her new throne made entirely out of treasure. Naturally, it would be Vriska's later, and it had an appropriate number of spider designs on it to reflect that. But she could enjoy this for now. She took a breath and let out one last resonant line. "Because it is the best, god-tier, Skaian, party, birthday, surprise, EVER!" And the song ended with a bunch of horns and toots and laughs. "I feel like my entire life just flashed before my eyes!" Carnelian gasped - still shaking her feet to the music that no longer existed. "I suppose I could do that," Mattie commented. "Don't see much point to it though, I still waste the entire time of the life I'm flashing." She snickered. "I physically can't stop grooving!" Carnelian wailed. "Here, let me help with that." Loki pulled an artifact out of the pile and shot her with it - freezing her in place for a solid second. When it broke, she wasn't dancing. "Hooo... Haff..." Roxy put a hand on Carnelian's shoulder. "First heartsong?" "Y-yeah..." "You'll get used to them. They let you feel alive! Like, there was this one time I was in the worst of dumps and then - woah - the entire bar started singing about the sense of community they all shared and I was all, yeah! This is my jam!" "And I take it this was 'your jam' as well?" Loki asked. "Fuck yeah!" "Hold up!" Pinkie said, lifting a hoof. "Something's wrong." "Hmm?" Mattie asked. "I- oh, I suppose I do have that feeling." "That'd be me," Magane said, suddenly lounging on top of the artifact-throne. "Hi!" "Witch!" Loki shouted, taking a defensive stance. "What do you want?" Magane grinned. In the light of the party planets she looked even more menacing than usual, her teeth glinting in the few lights there were, accentuating their sharpness. Her eyes bored into all their souls, and those with magic sense simply shuddered uncomfortably as they couldn't quite touch what she was. "I'm just here to watch." "I know you're up to something!" Pinkie declared. "You wouldn't be here if you weren't!" "Oh, what a brilliant deduction. But what could possibly be my reason for being here? I simply have no idea!" "Not falling for that," Pinkie muttered. "Everyone, don't question her. The moment you say something she said isn't true, it becomes true. High-end reality warping mess." "What a terrifying power..." Loki said. "Glad you like it!" Magane winked. "Loki! My man!" Roxy put an arm around his shoulder. "I watched, like, all the Marvel movies. You're amazing. Glad to have you on board." "Montages do have the way of making the best of friends," Mattie said, finally allowing there to be a moment to appreciate the man who had appeared in the middle of the montage. A problem with her powers, to be sure, but not one that was unsalvageable. He was a middle-aged man with a face that was almost too smooth and wiry black hair. He looked like a snake but, well, that was Loki for you. Pinkie pulled his blue cube out of the artifact stack. "The Tesseract..." "Yes, an Infinity Stone artifact," Loki commented. "Quite the addition to your collection, no?" "We could make an Infinity Gauntlet if we got six..." "It wouldn't work," Roxy pointed out. "Each full set is keyed to one universe only." "But still, having a full set, even if it's from mixed universes..." Pinkie grinned. "Think we have any others!?" "Found a golden brain!" Mattie reported, kicking the shining lump of neural matter out of the stack. "Mind Stone?" "Most definitely," Loki said. "Definitely not," Magane countered. Roxy put her hands on her hips. "Are you just going to sit up there and try to make us trip over our words?" "No." "Yes." Magane cackled. "Calling for votes, who thinks that did anything?" Seeing no hands, she shrugged. "I'm clearly going to have to work harder." "No you aren't." Magane fixed Roxy with a 'seriously trying that again?' look. "I will keep trying." Magane rolled her eyes. "Admirable, but foolish. Oh so, so foolish..." "We are going to need guards to keep her from taking control of the artifacts..." Carnelian pointed out. "Oh, I already got security," Roxy said. "At... some point in the montage. I think. Has it been weeks or months?" Everyone shrugged. "Right, whatever, time's borked, that's nothing new. Anyway, I ran into the Everykid, and she said she had some available friends." She gestured at a party planet that hadn't existed at the start of the montage. It was light green, covered in large portions of grassland, and a single go-kart racetrack that somewhere around fifty Hat Kids were racing on. "...Our security is fifty Everykids?" Carnelian asked. "Yep," Roxy said, wearing a proud smile. "Well, only one of them is the Everyman, the rest are just on the job because they feel like it. They're great treasure hunters and guardians! They'll protect the pile like the adorable fierce hat creatures they are!" She squealed. "You should see them smack intruders with bats. It's the cutest thing ever." "Why go-karts though?" Loki asked. "Merodi Kart." Pinkie shrugged. "Newest attraction of the party, I guess." ~~~ To put it simply, Renee had missed this. "Have at thee, ruffian!" Renee shouted, twisting a rapier in her magic to intercept the similar blade her alternate self was holding. "I am not a ruffian!" Rarity the fencer declared, matching Renee's moves. "I have had years of experience under the greatest masters of swordplay!" "And I've been stuck behind a desk for most of the last few years and I'm giving you a run for your money. Maybe you should put yourself in danger more often, darling." With a twist of her blade and some careful magic manipulation, her counterpart's sword was torn away and embedded in a nearby marble column. "Woohoo!" Flutterfree cheered lightly. "Aww man, I wanted to fight her too," Vriska muttered. "Now she's already lost." She looked to the ground - and saw a letter with an X on it. "Not again..." Jotaro glanced over her shoulder. "Agent X?" "Yeah. I don't get this guy." Vriska opened the letter and read it aloud. "See? What's this even about? The lore of some alternate Equestria? Why does he write these reports? Why am I the only one who gets these letters?" "You did mention that he likes the number eight," Nova said. "Maybe that has to do with it?" "He never mentions anything troll-like in these letters!" Vriska complained. "How come this is the first I've heard of it?" Renee asked, strolling over and ignoring her counterpart's disgruntled horse noises. Vriska shrugged. "Pinkie said it's not important. And I was getting them before I met you guys. ...But not before I ran into my first Equestria..." Flutterfree perked up. "I don't think you've ever told us the story of the first Equestria you ran into." "Uh, yeah," Vriska said, expression darkening. "...I conquered it." "Oh..." Flutterfree put a wing around her, smiling. "That's not you anymore." "Yeah, but it's a little disheartening when half your stories are of you being a fucking asshole, you know?" "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered. "The further past your mistakes you move the worse you get." Vriska glared. "Are you saying I'm going soft?" "Yes," Nova said. "No!" Flutterfree called. "You're just adjusting to your new life!" "I could take a look at your mind," Renee offered. "Thanks, but no thanks, I don't need any Sylphing." Vriska waved her hand dismissively. "What I need is more action!" Renee smirked. "Daaarling!" she called. "My Agent wants to spar!" "I have already suffered the indignity of defeat, I will not suffer more," the Rarity said, storming off in a huff. "I'll make her fight on one leg and with an arm tied behind her back! And she has to use just her sword!" The Rarity looked back, pondering this. Then she huffed and strode away. "Lame," Vriska muttered. "She's smart," Renee observed. "Knew I was setting her up for failure." "Still lame." Renee tossed her mane back. "Regardless, I think this world has given us all we could need. Shall we continue?" "We're not even out of the Q-Sphere yet..." Flutterfree said. "We've got a long way to go..." "Onward!" Vriska called. The primary team vanished into a portal. Adagio left her hiding spot from behind a column. "Yes... Get far, far away from Merodi Universalis..." ~~~ It had been a week or so since Corona had first called Allure about the 'unknown problem with the self-societies'. It had been a week of pointless investigation. The Sweeties had found nothing aside from enhanced activity in the Emporium, Carousel, and Census. The Sweeties deduced that the Emporium was probably working on Vriska's party, though they weren't sure that was really enough of an event to demand that much of an increase in activity. The Carousel and Census, on the other hoof, were complete unknowns. And since the Carousel wasn't on good terms with Merodi Universalis, they had decided to pay the Sparkle Census a visit. Allure had asked Corona to come along, but she had ended up busy with a research project involving an "absolute ton of eggs. It's really fascinating how the eggs are exactly one ton right down to the planck scale, and we're really trying to figure out how that's possible..." So Allure went with Squeaky. Allure had never actually been to the Sparkle Census proper on business - it had always been to see the sights or get something done quickly. Now she actually wanted to discuss policy, and that meant going through the proper channels. Which meant paperwork. "Hello, and welcome to the Sparkle Census!" a Twilight with rose-tinted glasses and a flamenco-like dress said, a fake smile on her face. "Your request to meet with the council has been acknowledged, and while it is being processed you will need to fill out these forms." She handed them a couple of data pads. "Enjoy!" "Right..." Allure muttered. "You'd think calling ahead would get you in..." Squeaky shrugged. "They like their rules. Let's just fill all this out..." It took about an hour, which was fast for the completion of a full Sparkle Census form. The two of them handed the data pads back as one, allowing the Twilight to look them over. She nodded slowly. "Thank you for your time!" Then she threw the data pads in the trash, unceremoniously. Allure gawked. "Wh... What was that for!?" The Twilight lit her horn and burned them. "Oh, silly me, looks like you'll have to do that again!" "What's your deal!?" Squeaky narrowed her eyes. "What did you say your name was?" "Oh, nopony to write home about. Just a simple mare who completely lost everything because of you. The name's Bleeding Heart Sparkle. Equis Lovestra." Allure blinked. "Not even trying to be subtle?" "Nope," Bleeding Heart said, grin widening. "You're going to know exactly wh-" "You know we had nothing to do with that, right?" Squeaky interrupted. "We're the League of Sweetie Belles. The whole Flower thing wasn't us." "It was your society that stole my capacity for love!" she shouted. Allure sighed. "Look, we all agree that was wrong, but the Flowers did it without our consent. Against our wishes, actually." "She's not going to listen to you," Squeaky muttered. "Let's just find somepony else to sign us in." "Bu-" "She wants to waste our time. Let's not let her." "...Fine." Bleeding Heart smirked, adjusting her glasses. "You two really are perfect for each other." "You're disgusting!" Allure called back. "I would know, I am known as the shipping queen around here." She folded her hooves and cocked her head. "Or are you forgetting a certain incident between you two?" Allure and Squeaky froze. Allure turned back and stared at her. "How do you...?" "A mare doesn't reveal her secrets," she chuckled. "Allure, what is she talking about?" Squeaky asked. "I told you about that thing in the time loop, right?" "Oh yeah..." Squeaky tapped her chin. "You know if we were stuck in one of Bleeding Heart's shipping stories, that would probably be cause for a lot of awkward drama." "Yeah. Good thing we're not. But I still want to know how she knows." Allure glared at Bleeding Heart. "You can't possibly know anything about that time loop. Only I was allowed to remember." "Does it matter how I know? It just proves you feel it as well. The need for the deep, personal connection! It calls to you!" Allure twisted her face back in revulsion. "You... do know that's self-dating right? You're in the Census, I know you frown on that!" "A real shame," Bleeding Heart admitted. "There's so much potential in the self-connection. Literally made of each other. I've been part of it, it's a truly amazing feeling. And then there's those two Sweeties..." "The Lovers get power from each other, they get a pass," Allure said dismissively. "And even then, it causes damage. If you know so much, surely you know about the teams that were destroyed or almost destroyed by some-Sweetie who decided they were a Casanova?!" "Such drama!" Bleeding Heart dramatically swooned. "Such art in the power of love!" "You're sick," Squeaky said. "You need help." "And so do you, but I'm not giving it to you!" she laughed. "Enjoy navigating the bureaucracy! I've laid traps!" "Screw you." "I'd love it!" The Sweeties left as quickly as they could. Lilith the Rarity poked her head up from behind the counter. "Awww... look at them, so uncomfortable by the boundaries. It's cute, innocent even. Fitting for a Sweetie..." She let out a demented laugh, absent-mindedly scratching her empty eye socket. "Lielight's traps are in position. They'll be running around the paperwork for weeks if they don't try something desperate." Bleeding Heat nuzzled her marefriend. "You think they'll bother to call Eve?" "Ha! They've got nothing more than a few stray tips and suspicion right now. They don't have any reason to go that far. And it'll be too late by then..." "Too late for what? I... am not exactly clear on the plan." "Something something IT, I don't know, all I know is it's giving us an excuse to run them in circles which is absolutely delightful!" ~~~ "And it looks like we've got a new diplomacy team today," Cessera said, tapping some information on her pad. "They seem to be copying us." "Hmm?" Eve raised an eyebrow. "How so?" "A Twilight and a blue Gem in the Relations Division." Cessera handed the pad to Eve, who gave the image upon it a scrutinizing glare. It was a picture of an alicorn Twilight by the name of Astrid who had an Aquamarine on her back - one without an alternate name. "Guess we have a successful image." "It sure seems that way. They recently handled the Waffleborg incident, seemingly on their own. Nobody's really sure how they did it, and they said they had to keep secrecy by the Waffleborg's request, but it was a miracle." Eve smiled. "Ah, I know what that's like... Remember negotiations with the Erni Golems?" "Vaguely." "That's because they attributed trust to secrets. I dealt with them regularly for several months but I had to keep coming up with other explanations as to why I was gone. They wanted to establish trust through a complex web of not talking about anything." She rubbed her forehead. "Good thing none of the secrets were particularly dangerous or concerning. But that was still annoying." "And is this secrecy a secret?" "Used to be. They're very mellow now. Especially since news outlets have agreed not to go to their world anymore." "How'd you pull that off?" Eve shrugged. "Oversight has their own secrets with the Golems." "Naturally." "Ah! There you are!" Eve and Cessera looked up to see none other than the Twilight and Aquamarine they had just been talking about. "I've been dying to meet you! I'm Astrid!" She shook Eve's hoof energetically. "I told myself the moment I was promoted to the Canterlot office I'd come to see you but geez you have no idea how hard it is to find you." Eve chuckled. "Glad to have you on board, Astrid. I'm told you handled the Waffleborg situation. You have my thanks." "Don't ask how we did it," Aquamarine said, flatly. While Astrid looked like a normal Twilight, Aquamarine was a very diminutive blue Gem that rode on the alicorn's back. Her gemstone was teardrop-shaped and placed just below her eye, making it look like she may have been crying, even if her stern expression said otherwise. "I won't, I understand the issues with it." Eve waved a wing, gesturing for them to follow. "Come, walk and talk." "Really? Oh, thanks!" Astrid beamed. "I'm as happy as a butterfly freshly released from its cocoon!" "Eloquent." "I'm a bit of a poet," Astrid admitted with a soft blush. "For when the bell strikes noon, the reckoning will be soon." "You'll have to send me some of your work." "Really? You really are everything they say you are, huh?" Eve shrugged. "I don't know about everything." "Some say she's an immortal she-demon," Aquamarine said. "Not a demon." "As far as we know, anyway," Cessera added. "Cessera!" Eve said with mock indignation. "I am not!" "I don't know..." "Corona is known to have been a demon at once point," Astrid pointed out. Eve rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I've never been Midnight Sparkle though, and I have no intent to ever be her." "You sure the 'Little Dashie' epidemic isn't going to break something?" Aquamarine asked. Eve smiled warmly. "Those stories aren't so bad, you know. A lost filly from another world joining a family... It happens all the time, we just step in to clear things up a bit. Usually ends up on Aid's table, anyway." "I think she was referring specifically to the 'Eight Dashies' incident," Astrid said. "Oooooh... that." Eve's smile faltered. "Sometimes we just get things that are way too complicated and confusing. We still have no idea which one goes to which world, and the general 'let them sort it out themselves' hasn't been working since at least two of them need to find their destinies to activate their Elements of Harmony... But lucky for me, that has recently been passed off to Aid. I still plan to check in on them in about a week, but I won't do anything unless Aid gives the ok to do so. The world governments themselves, on the other hand..." She growled. "They all want the Dashies on their side. This is why I prefer to have Expeditions deal with things like this under the radar." "May I offer a suggestion?" Astrid asked. "Shoot." "They no doubt have fate-links to their worlds?" "Yes, but all eight of the worlds are so closely intertwined and moving that the exact coordinates and dimensional signatures swap regularly. It's a pain." "Oh... In that case, call Aradia. Local time travel in all the universes should be able to sort out who's who." Eve stopped in her tracks. "...Cessera?" "No, we have not tried that." "How come we didn't think of that!?" Cessera shrugged. "I've already sent a message to Aradia. She should get to it at some point." "Good. Astrid, I see a bright future for you in this division. I'll be sure you get credit for that." "Wow... Thanks!" Astrid rubbed the back of her head. "I'm making like a boulder, I guess." "Hm?" "On a roll. I'm on a roll." Eve chuckled. "Oh, I see." "Anyway, let's get off politics. I've been hearing a lot of complaints about all the power Pinkie is holding in one spot..." "She knows what she's doing," Eve asserted. "And they've gotten the best security money can buy..." "Fifty kids?" "There's more than that." Eve paused. "Cessera, there is more than that, right?" Cessera shrugged. ~~~ "I'm sorry, I have to fire all of you," Pinkie said with tears in her eyes. Every last one of the Hat Kids let out a heart-wrenching 'awwwwww' noise. "You can stay around and use the go-karts if you want, but you're not on the clock anymore. I've got... official guards for that, now." With dejected expressions, all fifty of the Hat Kids returned to their cart racing, except now the kart horns seemed sad somehow. It was one of the worst things Pinkie had felt in her entire life. Or, at least, that's what it felt like at that moment. She fell into Roxy's arms and started bawling. Roxy, to her credit, hugged Pinkie tight and petted her mane with a solemn expression. "...I don't get it," Carnelian said, turning to Loki. Loki shrugged. "Over-the-top affection, I suppose." "Played for comedy," Magane adding, still sitting in the throne. The new military-level guards all had their sights fixed on her, not that she gave any sign of apprehension. Loki ignored her, digging through the pile. "Newest stone..." He pulled out an Element of Magic. "This one appears to qualify as a Power Stone." Pinkie, suddenly not sad anymore, was on top of it in an instant, eyes shining. "Power, Mind, Space... We've got half a set! That's great!" "Time, Reality, and Soul..." Roxy said, pursing her lips. "Y'know, just occurred to me, the Soul stone requires a sacrifice usually." "Oh... right..." Pinkie frowned. "There's got to be another way to get it in some universes..." "The Soul stone doesn't need a sacrifice," Magane said. "Yes it does," Pinkie interrupted. "A lie about a lie..." Magane snapped her fingers, altering reality somewhere. "Why do you help us, witch?" Loki asked. Magane shrugged. "You're the Asgardian mastermind! I'm sure you can figure it out given enough time." "There's the distinct possibility that's not really help," Carnelian said. "She could want to use the Infinity Gauntlet." "Stones are from different universes, they won't work together," Roxy reminded them. "There's not really a point." Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Doesn't really matter. We need to get this Power stone out of this Element of Magic! And we just so happen to have somepony here to do that!" "We do?" Carnelian asked. "Yes," Maud said, stepping out from behind Pinkie. "Where is it?" Pinkie, giggling, gave her sister the Element of Magic. Maud looked at the crystal with a cursory, almost bored expression at first. However, this quickly became a capital-L Look comparable to the might of Fluttershy's own Stare. The rock fractured down the middle, allowing a small purple rock of energy to fall out, taking all the color of the Element with it. Loki collected it and placed it with the other two. "Done," Maud said. "I hope you have extra Elements." Pinkie opened a small chest containing five different Elements of Magic. "Maud, we've been collecting these things like cookies. We got plenty." "You know..." Roxy said, tapping her foot while looking at the pile of treasure. "A pile of treasure is good, yeah, but Vriska likes something even better than treasure..." "What?" Pinkie asked. "Hunting for it." Roxy rubbed her hands together. "We should start hiding everything all around the party planets! It'd be an excellent treasure-hunt madhouse!" "We will need to keep tabs on where every artifact is," Carnelian said. "Don't want security freaking out." "I can do that," Loki said, bowing slightly. "Cataloging relics of power is somewhat of a hobby of mine. Who knows, I may even find that we've accidentally grabbed another Infinity Stone." "You sure you're up for it?" Pinkie asked. "Positive. Though I will still join you on some of your outings. We have time." "You're the best, Loki!" Elsewhere, a pink pegasus mare was watching the events through a crystal ball. Cozy Glow cackled. "They suspect nothing..." She was far from the filly she once was, and now her menacing expression actually looked like it belonged on her face. She had grown into her role rather well, with time. Next to her, Tirek looked up from his magazine. "Can we do anything yet?" "Shh, not yet, not yet, not for a while yet... but eventually, eventually they will have gathered everything." Cozy's cackling soon grew out of control, filling the air with the promise of a crazy, insane plan. ~~~ Celia, a Gem fusion that was both a Sweetie Belle and a Rarity, led Allure and Corona into the Infinite Carousel's 'site of primary operation' which was, fittingly, a space station vaguely styled after a carousel that would spin forever, providing artificial gravity. The universe it was located in had 'air' in space, so the three of them were easily able to fly and float their way through the blackness to the rotating settlement. The history of the Infinite Carousel and Merodi Universalis was... annoying, to say the least. The Infinite Carousel got its start slightly before Merodi Universalis did, and they were aware of each other more or less from the starts of their formations. However, the moment Merodi Universalis decided to take a stance against big business, the previously friendly Infinite Carousel balked. Their entire purpose in existing was to pool the resources of all Rarities together to create the biggest business in existence! How dare their 'friends' create laws that would prevent that efficiency? However, they were small, and hadn't been a large part of Merodi Universalis' economy. So these objections were brushed under the rug and the two groups became further separated. While Merodi Universalis continued to grow exponentially, the Infinite Carousel grew carefully. Every step they took was to improve their business model, self-oriented economy, and monetary flexibility. They were by no means an evil corporation, since they didn't seek to actively exploit the consumer for every dollar they were worth, but the presence of the Infinite Carousel sure became oppressive for many universes. "Of Raritys, by Raritys, for everyone." Now, though they had significantly fewer members, they were about as influential as the Sparkle Census in terms of resources and power. This power only kept growing as their 'gracefully elegant' economic engine continued to produce more and more profit and expansion. These days, they were continually knocking at Merodi Universalis' door, trying to get in. Anti-business laws prevented direct product generation, but they were technically a foreign power so traditional trade was encouraged. This had created a sort of 'economic war' between the Commerce Division and the Infinite Carousel, where the Infinite Carousel did something kinda-sorta-probably illegal by Merodi law and the Commerce Division shouted at them until they stopped, but at that point the Carousel was already working somewhere else. The Carousel got into the news a lot these days because of this, but only the people who actually dealt with them understood exactly how annoying their antics were. Corona and Allure were not those people. Celia, unfortunately, was, due to her connections to Affix and Mattie, both of whom had been part of the Carousel at one point in their lives. The Carousel just wouldn't leave them alone, and as a part-Rarity gem, she got dragged into it just like everyone else. "They are not going to like you," Celia said as they landed on the station, walking through the open 'windows' onto the rotating part of the Carousel. "Not surprising," Corona admitted. "But they have to listen to me, at least." "I'm just annoyed we didn't find anything out from the Census..." Allure groaned. "You're being stonewalled," Celia reported. "It'll take a long time to break that down. Probably not worth it." "How can one mare stonewall us!?" "Normally that would be difficult. But that was the Sparkle Census you're dealing with. Their paperwork is essentially a self-perpetuating stonewall even if there isn't malicious intent. If there is, it's not difficult at all to send someone into an infinite spiral of signatures, eloquent words, and waiting rooms." Allure took a deep breath. "And the Carousel is going to be different?" "In the Carousel, enough money or stature will buy you anything," Celia said with a smirk. "Corona?" "My salary as a Second is absurd," Corona admitted. "I don't use most of it, and I donate a lot of it to medical research. But even a month's wages would be enough to make some kings faint." Allure blinked. "Oh yeah, we do get paid for what we do. Strange, I almost never think about that. I live in a tiny house in Celestia City for crying out loud! I could buy my own space station!" "Do you want to?" "Eh, not really, Celestia City's cool." The Carousel itself was beautiful, designed to be the perfect mixture of structurally sound patterns and natural shapes. The entire station was one giant room criss-crossing with metallic vines, crystalline screens, and images of Rarity everywhere. Surprisingly, only about half the ponies around were Rarities - the rest were customers. An endless supply of 'commoners' looking to buy anything ranging from dresses to art to a surprising amount of grocery produce. Evidently more than a few Rarities were farmers, for some reason. "Welcome to the Prime Carousel!" a Rarity in a navy-esque uniform said, a grin on her face. "What can I help you with today?" "Corona Shimmer, Merodi Universalis," Corona said. "Looking to talk to one of the Rarities in charge." "Oh, I'm afraid Magnum is a bit indisposed at the moment." "...Your head is named Magnum?" Allure gawked. "Oh yes. Unusual name, I know, but that's what she wanted. C.E.O. of the Prime Carousel needs a fancy name, wouldn't you think? I can introduce you to some other Rarities though, they should be able to answer any questions you want!" Corona pulled out her Merodi quid card. "I'm the Research Second. Examine the amethyst coating on this card." "I actually meant it, she is indisposed," the Rarity said with a sigh. "I'm not sure what to tell you. I can get you a nice hotel with that and you can wait for her? Or perhaps you could just talk to the other Rarities? I could forward you to Rimmy, she's got access to business documents, though I'm sure I don't need to tell you how fickle those are." She laughed as if she had just said the most hilarious thing. Celia frowned. "Dear, you're not fooling anyone. Just tell us where we need to go. We don't need to see Magnum, but we do need to figure out about your increases in activity." "Ah..." the Rarity frowned. "Not even going to try to be subtle?" "No." "Very well. Wander around the Prime Carousel for a while, I'll be sure to get somepony to talk to you." She teleported away. "...So, what, we wait?" Allure asked. Celia growled. "No. She's not getting anyone. We'll just have to buy our way up there the old fashioned way..." "Hey! Um, you wanna buy a dress?" Celia turned her head rapidly to see a familiar Rarity standing behind a little 'dresses' storefront. "Charity!? You joined the Carousel!?" Charity blinked. "Oh, um, no, I'm just getting some side money here. They told me it'd be a 'good gig' and it has been going well so far." "They're trying to suck you in." "Yeah. I know. But, um, I'm smarter than that?" "This place is run by Rarities, if they wanted to they could scam you out of your life." "Oh. ...Do you wanna buy a dress though?" "Not really," Corona said. "Aww, but I got the new 'Rogue of Doom' outfit! It's all the rage!" Corona stared at the offending thing sitting behind the counter. "...No..." Celia blinked. "Charity, where did you get these? You weren't on the dress project." "I, um, well I don't know, the Carousel just provided them for me. I'm selling them with my own stuff for added benefits." "Okay, first of all, you're being scammed into liking them. Second of all, pretty sure that means Mattie went against Renee's wishes." "Oh. Sorry." "Can you at least tell us where someone in charge is?" Allure asked. "Oh, well, you can talk to Lilith." Charity pointed behind them. "She's right over there." Lilith was a thin, yet muscular Rarity with numerous scars all over her body. Three sharp claw marks crossed one of her eyes, the socket covered up by an embroidered eyepatch. "...She looks like a Little Miss Rarity," Allure said, shivering. "She is," Charity admitted. "But she's, like, different now. We had a chat over some spaghettinoodles. She's actually quite interesting." Celia took a breath and nodded. She trotted right over to the scarred mare. "Lilith?" "Ah, Celia, right?" Lilith smiled, the action making the three visitors uncomfortable. "I am afraid I cannot help you." "Why not?" "Simple, really. Your questions are a threat to business, so the Carousel has been instructed as a whole not to answer them." Her smile was creepily unwavering. "Sorry, but you're going to have to use something other than direct methods to get to the bottom of the little mystery of yours." "What could be so important that the Carousel turns down mountains of money?" Corona asked. "The whole point is not to let you know." Lilith snickered. "Good luck trying to buy your way to the top here. You'll end up with a million trinkets, an empty bank account, and a bunch of pitying looks." Celia furrowed her brow, thinking. "Celia, you may be a mastermind, but how many Raritys in here match or even surpass your skills? You're in very unfriendly territory. They'll cut you up and eat you!" She grinned psychotically, no longer bothering to hide behind a delicate mask. "You'll need to try something else." Celia fumed inwardly - but outwardly she simply bowed. "You are correct. Everyone, let's go, they're barring us. Charity, come along." "But dress-" "Charity, I said come along. I don't want them to take you too." "We do not take! We only give!" Lilith called after them. "You should talk to Pippy about the idea of 'Corrupted Generosity' sometime!" Allure shot back. Lilith didn't respond with anything more than a demented giggle. ~~~ The 'Grand Tour' had decided to avoid the Unrealities. After all, you needed a ship and a lot of high-end reality anchor devices to properly explore that region and not have your brain explode and implode simultaneously. So the Primary Team was instead wandering, slowly, through the Great Void of the multiverse, leisurely meandering toward the E-Sphere with help from Empress Twilight's Void society and their maps. Currently, they were on a planet that had several suns. The arrangement of these suns made it in such that the planet never experienced night - just varying levels of 'day' at all times. Today, however, there was going to be an eclipse on the side of the planet where there was only one sun, bringing night to the planet at long last. The Primary Team had already gone around giving the inhabitants of the world electric lights and told them exactly what was going to happen so they wouldn't freak out. Which was apparently a good thing - since Flutterfree had read the source material with Eve at one point. It ended in the night driving the people mad, according to her anyway. Her memory wasn't the best, she admitted. "I still don't get how darkness would drive people mad," Vriska said, staring at the last visible sun as it got closer and closer to being covered. "It's just darkness." "And most of them have never seen darkness before," Renee pointed out. "It's a thing they simply don't experience." "Plus, it makes a good story if they go mad," Nova said, tapping her hoof-screen. "What was the guy's name? Asimov?" "I think so," Flutterfree admitted. "Yeah, he was an author; Prophet or no, he knew what made a good story. We just came in to keep them from, y'know, exploding under their own mental weight. Or whatever." She shrugged. "It does feel nice to save an entire society," Renee admitted. "It's different, doing it from afar... you don't feel as connected to the actions. You feel..." Just then, the sun vanished completely behind the hitherto-unknown second planet, plunging the world into night. The sky lit up with millions of blazing stars, far more than would be found in a normal night sky. It was more than enough to see by, easily defining the blades of grass beneath their hooves. "...like they're in shadow." The conversation ended right then and there - for Adagio came out of nowhere and drove the razor-sharp ends of her claws right into Renee, drenching her white coat in blood. Renee's scream was more one of surprise than pain. "Far away from home, huh?" Adagio asked - trying to dodge out of the way of Star Platinum, but the time stop refused to let her complete the action. Coughing up blood onto her strange human-fish hybrid body, she grinned. "There's no help coming for you this time..." Four strange beings appeared behind her. Of them, only the once-firelord Ozai was easily recognizable to the Primary Team. The Apple Bloom of shadow was beyond them, the chaos warrior looked like any other member of his kind, and the unusual physiological proportions of the Starlight did not ring any bells. "...Ozai!?" Nova blurted. "How are you alive!? How are you young!?" "A gift," Ozai shouted, charging Nova at full speed with all the fire he could muster. Nova erased time for a couple seconds. He missed easily and found himself face-first in the ground, grunting. "ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!" Star Platinum shouted, driving his fists forward, only for the chaos warrior to meet them with his chainaxe. Somehow, his weapon was able to interact with the Stand, cutting up both its and Jotaro's fingers. Jotaro had already stopped time once, so his obvious advantage was gone. That said, he was able to wrap the man up in Hermit Purple... for all of a second. The man's strength far outclassed Jotaro's own: the power of a Khorne Berserker. Flutterfree jumped the Apple Bloom with Lolo, finding that she was nothing more than a husk - a husk that was attached to a monstrous intelligence in another universe entirely. She pulled back to avoid getting infected - but already darkness was swirling out of the Apple Bloom and grabbing hold of her. "VRISKA!" Flutterfree called. Vriska had already managed to jump over an attack from Adagio. With amazing finesse, she landed right on top of the Apple Bloom and drove her sword right into the 'filly's' skull. Instantly the connection between the husk and the darkness was severed, and the enemy team was down one. "WHAT!?" Adagio shouted. "That was the Mindflayer! That shouldn't have been th-" Renee smacked Adagio across the face with a magic frying pan construct. She may have been bleeding profusely, but she held a satisfied grin on her face. "You can't just overpower us with a simple ambush, dear. We're better than that." "We're better than this!" Adagio shouted - ignoring the sounds of her chaos warrior getting pummeled into the ground. "We're better than you!" "Not necessarily true," the Starlight said, appearing behind Adagio. "But we sure can try." She popped a candy in her mouth and gained the cutie mark of a Pinkie. She suddenly appeared behind Renee with a squeaky hammer and an amused grin. "Fore!" She hit Renee right in her wound, sending her flying down the hill. Flutterfree caught Renee before she landed. Nova used the opportunity to erase time again, kicking her alternate self to the ground. The Starlight attempted to find a talent that would counteract the twisted manipulation of time, but she found that she had none that could do such a thing. "Guess I lose." "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered, punching the Starlight in the face. She flew into Ozai - who had just freed himself - and the two of them became a dazed pile of bodies on top of the chaos warrior. "No!" Adagio shouted, curling her fishy hands into a fist. "You can't just... win like this!" "You should have had put a little more effort into it," Jotaro commented, striding up to her. "You... are telling me to put in more effort? I waited until you were far from Merodi Universalis! I attacked with surprise! I mortally wound-" Nova healed Renee up without much of an issue. Adagio twitched. "You... You..." "Did nothing to you," Renee said, checking to make sure her glasses were fine. "You... are Equis Vitis Adagio, correct? None of us have met you before in our lives. Why is your revenge directed at us?" "You built this society." Adagio pointed an accusatory finger at Renee. "Because of you, I have no sisters!" "Last I heard Sonata was doing just f-" "I. Have. No. Sisters," Adagio interrupted with a low, growling tone. "You took one away, and killed the other. You're going to pay for that." "Not by your hand," Nova commented, raising an eyebrow. "Yes by my hand! I w-" Flutterfree bonked her on the back of the head with her hoof, brimming with just enough Rage to knock her out. The eclipse ended, returning day to the world. "...Cool," Vriska said, folding her arms. "But kind of disappointing." She kicked Adagio, getting no response. "Man that was lame." "They just don't make bad guys like they used to," Renee lamented. "Oh well. Shall we continue the tour?" "Sure," Vriska said, putting her hands in her pockets. "...Get good, scrubs, and maybe you can challenge us again." The chaos warrior groaned as the Primary Team left the universe. ~~~ Eve woke up one morning to find Philomena sitting on her horn. The phoenix had recently regenerated and was gently preening her wings. After Eve's initial freakout she had realized that she hadn't really seen much of Philomena in years. Sure, the bird had been around the castle here and there, but ever since the Bloodbath... "Nice to see you up and about," Eve said, smiling. The legendary bird squawked back at her. "Right... Flutterfree's out... I'll..." She made her way down the halls of Canterlot Castle to Luna's chambers. If Luna had followed the schedule, she should still be awake for a few hours. She gently rapped on the door. Luna opened it up and raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it a bit early for our breakfast?" Eve nodded, gesturing to the bird sitting on her back. "She was in my room this morning." "Ah," Luna said with a careful nod. "It appears she has chosen a new pet pony." "...What?" "Dear sister was always the first to admit she had not chosen Philomena, Philomena had chosen her. Enjoy your newfound companion." Luna shut the door. "Wh - Luna! Luna get out here right now!" "As the rightful ruler of Equis Vitis I refuse!" "...But breakfast!" "I'll be down for breakfast, don't worry. But you need to sort things out with your new master." "I am Evening Sparkle, Overhead of Relations, I don't have a master!" Eve wailed. "Tell that to the bird." Eve glared at the phoenix. Philomena pecked her at the base of the horn. "Ow! Hey! Listen here, just because you've 'chosen' me doesn't mean you get to interfere with my job. I have a lot of stuff to do and not enough time to do it, even with the workday reformation bill. And then there's th-" "IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR THE PRINCESS!" a unicorn shouted. Eve recognized him - one of the diplomats at the Relations Division, a blue unicorn by the name of Arcane. "Uh, which one?" Eve asked. "Both? The mayor of Ponyville is trying to declare Canterlot a suburb!" "HE'S WHAT!?" Luna shouted, tearing the door off its hinges. "WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS!?"" Arcane gulped. "Mayor of a 'village' so large it has begun to surround Canterlot Mountain?" "HE WILL HAVE TO TAKE THIS UP WITH ME!" Luna declared. Then, turning off the Royal Canterlot Voice, she coughed awkwardly. "Take me to him as soon as your earliest convenience." "I can do that now." "It looks like I will be missing breakfast," Luna admitted with a sigh. "I know Spike puts a lot of effort into those pancakes. Tell him I'm sure they would have been wonderful." "Sure," Eve said. Part of her wanted to go with Luna. But she knew that internal affairs of Equis Vitis was Luna's job. Eve's responsibilities lay elsewhere. Philomena pecked her again. "Are you trying to aggravate me?" The legendary bird chirped. "Right, don't even know why I'm asking, you chose Celestia of all ponies, of course you are." She rubbed her head with a hoof. "What a great start to the day..." She knew the moment she said that it was going to get worse. ~~~ Grogar looked up from his crystal ball. "I find myself wondering where this is going." The Dude folded his hands, silent for a few moments. The salt of the ocean came in with the breeze, leaving a bad taste in both of their mouths. "The plans are moving along. Relations has been infiltrated. The 'self-societies' are being aggravated from within. We have tabs on the entire artifact store. Now we must wait." "What of Adagio? She lies outside our vision." "Yours," the Dude corrected. "Outside yours. I see her. She had an initial failure, but she will get up and try again. A story of struggle." Grogar furrowed his brow. "And if she fails utterly?" "If I do not want her to fail, she will not." "Hmm..." Grogar growled. "And even if you are wrong, they are but pebbles in the long run." "All it takes is one pebble in the right place to bring down a castle. And that is the game we are playing, Grogar. Raising armies does not work against them, and neither does flat-out overpowering. We must be clever to even hope of threatening them." "I am aware of the nuances of the plan, do not treat me like a child," Grogar hissed. "I am expressing my doubts that you are the true mastermind you claim to be." "You've been patient for over a thousand years, Grogar. Why can you not be patient for a few months?" "Because if this fails, I will be waiting another thousand years." "Grogar, if they find some way to pull out of this, you will not get another chance." "All the more reason for my concern." "Do you have a better idea at the moment?" Grogar fell silent. "No." "Then we continue with what has already been set in motion." ~~~ Eve's day definitely got worse. She had barely started her breakfast when Cessera had called her into an urgent meeting of the Relations, Military, and Aid Divisions. Something big had just happened, and it had to be something unexpected because she had no idea what it was. As she galloped through the streets of Celestia City to the Relations Division Primary Office, she caught up on what she could on a data pad, Philomena flying close behind her. Topic of the day: Many Conversion Bureau worlds have banded together to form a single, cohesive union. And at reading that Eve's stomach twisted into a pretzel. Of all the things that had gone wrong under her authority, this had to be one of the worst. The Conversion Bureau worlds were a series of Equis' that had a variation on a single theme: converting all other worlds and races into ponies themselves. When Eve had first heard about them, she'd assumed they were just outliers, worlds where the ponies were nothing like standard and had become militaristic 'we are always right' overlords. A few of them were like that. But most of them could easily be mistaken for a standard Equis with the same ponies that behaved in the same way in almost every situation... except they believed the right way to deal with other worlds was to convert everything and everyone in them to a pony. In some of the cases, this was a tragedy that had to be done for the sake of stability, and when the Merodi came in they could stop this tragedy to the relief of both the ponies and the other race - usually human. But in far, far too many of the cases, the transformation wasn't seen as an unfortunate necessity or a tragedy, it was seen as ponykind's right to 'fix' the worlds they came across through any means necessary. All worlds encountered would be forced to become ponies. The reasons varied. One of the most common was that 'ponies are superior'. But with the ever-so-common mind-altering version of the transformation, it became 'we will program the violence out of you so you will never want to hurt anyone ever again. Come and be with us, we will make you better than you are, whether you like it or not.' They disgusted Eve. They reminded her of what she and Merodi Universalis never wanted to be. It had not been hard to classify the Conversion Bureau worlds as one where interference was not only necessary, but needed to be large-scale and rapid. They would move in and, in no uncertain terms, declare the war over and offer to undo any damage that had been done by the pony transformation, if possible. It wasn't always possible. This had been going on for a few years... But apparently, behind their backs, several Conversion worlds had just banded together and declared that they weren't going to listen to Merodi Universalis. They had restarted Conversion operations this morning, and Merodi Universalis needed to decide its response. She teleported into the office. She was one of the first to arrive - though the Aid Overhead was already there; Jingle, the Luna of Squeaky Belle's world. Her poor Second arrived a moment later. She was the youngest of all Overheads, a Ga named Iris just put into her position last week. She was doing a good job of keeping herself calm, but her position in Aid had always been one of empathy, so Eve suspected the Ga would make her emotions very clear soon enough. Cessera was already there as well - along with Astrid and Aquamarine, to Eve's surprise. "They were invited?" Eve asked. "They were there when the call came in," Cessera said. "She was trying to come to a peace treaty with one of the Celestias when they revealed the entire thing." "Ah," Eve nodded, the answer satisfying her. "...Possible courses of action?" "Talk to them or blow them up." Cessera pointed at Jingle and the recently-arrived O'Neill. "Surely we can find a middle option..." "Depends on how aggressive we want to be." Eve ruffled her wings, allowing the conversation to die out. The room fell silent as various Relations, Military, and Aid personnel filed in around the table. When the clock struck 9:00 local time, Eve cleared her throat. "The Conversion Bureau worlds have banded together to defy the limitations we placed on their expansive policies. As of this morning, they have restarted conversion efforts. Time is of the essence - we need to decide what we are going to do about this." "They need help," Iris declared, slamming her hands on the table. "We need to get Education involved, take their minds off this horrid path." "They're not going to let us do that," O'Neill countered. "We'll need to exert pressure." "We can't do that," Eve said, shaking her head. "Their coalition is large enough and strong enough to heavily damage Merodi Universalis. They won't win, but do we really want to risk collateral damage on that scale?" Astrid spoke up, surprising Eve and most everyone else at the table. "We don't have a choice. I've been working among these Conversion worlds for the last few weeks, they don't listen to reason. The only reason they weren't fighting before was because we were too strong a presence. They are gambling on our unwillingness to show true military force. We can't let them take that gamble." "Agreed," O'Neill said. "No!" Eve shouted. "They're just misguided ponies!" She pressed her hooves together. "With their current mindset, I don't see them backing down from a confrontation until they lose hope. And, as a heavily ideological group, that may not happen for a long time. We don't need a war, what we need to do is talk them down. If we decimate them, there will be nothing to recover, and we will suffer for it." "We should be willing to give a little of ourselves for the sake of those that are being transformed," Astrid countered. "I am not arguing that. I am saying we shouldn't make that sacrifice if we don't have to. We don't need to trigger the largest war in Merodi history over this." "Coming from the mare who was ready to go take Skarn down not but a few months ago." Eve growled. "His atrocities know no bounds. He twists thousands of worlds into a pseudo-death whenever he wants. All the Conversion Worlds do is force a handful of worlds here and there into submission. The level of damage is not the same. And we are talking about ponies. Some of them retain a conscience through this. We can appeal to them." "The Flowers have repeatedly visited this cluster, Eve. They have proven that some of the transformation spells remove free will and souls entirely, creating a world of organic machines. This cluster is rife with glitches! What makes you think you can reason with that?" "We have had luck in the past, Astrid. We had treaties - treaties you were supposed to be upkeeping." "This isn't my fault!" Astrid gawked. "No, but given your attitude toward them, I can't help but think you may have pushed some away from us." Eve wasn't sure what to make Astrid's expression. It wasn't pure anger... was there surprise in there? Aquamarine took over. "Clearly we're at an impasse. We do not have time to deliberate further. We need to decide - do we attack or do we take the weak route?" "Uncalled for," Cessera chided. Aquamarine didn't care. "Well? There are three Overheads, take a vote." "Attack," O'Neill said. "They had their chance to go with us peacefully." "Diplomacy," Eve reiterated. "I agree with Eve," Jingle said. "We need to at least try talking to them first." Astrid glared at the alicorn. "...Fine. But when things start falling apart, don't come crying to me." "We won't be." The meeting was adjourned, and Eve immediately prepared passage to the Conversion Bureau cluster. ~~~ Renee looked up at the Monolith. Several varieties of Kirby danced around it while the sky lit up like a fractal, sending trains made of popcorn into the land below. Well, we tried to avoid the Unrealities, at least... "Renee!" Vriska called. "Snap out of it, we have to get the last Cuil so we can reactivate the waffle matrix!" "Do we really have to?" Renee asked as cows flew past Vriska. "I... Uh..." Vriska pondered this for a moment. "Why are we doing this?" "I've been trying to tell you!" Flutterfree screeched, a few purple sparks flying off her eyes as Lolo glitched in and out of existence. "This world isn't going to be fixed no matter what we do!" One of the Kirbys swallowed Flutterfree whole and copied her powers. She popped out the other end, unharmed, but looking like she'd seen a ghost that had been a child version of herself. "Wh... wh..." "Let's get out of here, then!" Renee shouted, pulling out the dimensional device. "Is everyone ready?" "I don't know where Jotaro is!" Nova called, deflecting a rain of lapis lazuli stones. "I don't have him on my scans!" "Do you have anything on your scans?" Nova asked. "Nothing besides the monolith over there!" "Thank you for noticing me," the Monolith said. "Please, continue noticing me." "Where's Jotaro?" Rene asked, ignoring the feeling she had of spiders crawling under her skin. "He already made it out through a time-displaced portal you are about to make," the Monolith declared. "You may want to make that or risk tearing another Cuil level into this world." "What're the consequences of that?" A giant human head appeared between them and the Monolith. "Hello! I'm the Nostalgia Criti-" "DONE!" Renee declared, activating her dimensional device randomly. It jumped in and out of time for a moment before the four of them jumped through it. They found themselves on top of a futuristic skyscraper overlooking a massive war taking place between two insane armies. Missiles flew, heads exploded, and buildings collapsed in heaps. But at least it appeared to be consistent. That is, until a very large man picked up a gas truck with his psychic powers and threw it into the opposing army, decimating them. "Where's Jotaro?" Renee asked, not fazed in the slightest by the psychic powers. She could have done something like that with minimal effort. "I've got him," Nova said, checking her screen. "He's... Uh..." She pointed at a skyscraper across the street from them. On the roof Jotaro was fighting a woman they recognized as none other than Jane the Evermore. It was impossible to read Jotaro's expression since, as usual, he was strolling around with his hands in his pockets while Star Platinum did everything. However, it was easy to tell from Jane's expression that this was a friendly spar rather than a full-on-fight. "STAR PLATINUM: THE WORLD!" Time shifted, and Jane was on the ground. "Nice trick. But y-" Jane found herself wrapped up in the vines of Hermit Purple, barely able to move. "Hrrrg..." "ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!" Jane somehow managed to stay standing despite the repeated punches and vines. With a twist, she brought out a glowing purple pickaxe and hit the ground beneath Jotaro, taking it away in an instant. As he was falling, she kicked him in the stomach and knocked him onto his back. Jotaro grunted. "Come on!" Jane said, slinging her pick behind her back. "Best two out of three?" "GUYS!" Flutterfree shouted. "There is a WAR going on outside! And you two are SPARRING!?" Jane blinked. "Well, yeah. We have no idea of the context of the war. And I'd rather not just make it worse by trying to make them stop." "But... we... I..." "Best two out of three," Jotaro agreed, jumping back up to meet Jane. As fists and blades flew once more, Renee put a hoof on Flutterfree's shoulder. "Just let them have their fun, dear. We can figure out this war on our own time." Someone's psychic powers threw a man like a ragdoll over them. When he hit a nearby wall he clipped through it and exploded like he was made of grenades. "Ah. Video game physics. Joy." "...I can hear someone screaming 'noooooo' in horrible acting," Vriska commented. "Geez..." There was a crash from the other skyscraper. "Best three out of five?" Jane offered to a once-again downed Jotaro. "Yare yare daze..." ~~~ "Round three," Corona said, walking into the Pinkie Emporium alone. "Wow!" a Pinkie said, jumping right in front of her. "It's not every day you walk into the doors of our park, Miss Shimmer!" She pulled a pink pencil out from behind her ear and held up a clipboard. "What can I do for you?" "You guys have management, right?" "Eeyep! The cat was just voted in last week!" "...Someone I can talk to about possible political weirdness?" "Oh, you'll want Curly Fry Pie. Don't worry, I gotcha covered. HEY CURLY FRY!" Curly Fry turned out to just be a Pinkie in a 'fancy politician wig'. "My political wig is tingling, that means there must be fadoodles afoot!" "Uh huh..." Corona said. "Anyway, I've been looking into the Infinite Carousel and Sparkle Census for - geez, it's been a few months already - and I've been politically stonewalled or swindled out of getting any answers forever. The League's resources haven't managed to break through their 'fun' either. We're suspecting major foul play for something, but we don't know what!" "Wow!" Curly Fry said. "That sounds like a big deal!" "Do you know anything?" "Nope! We've been sending Pinkie agents into both places for about the same time as you and we've got nothing!" "Wait, we have?" the Pencil-Pie said. "I thought we specifically didn't." "No, we did, and I got a report last week." "But opposite day was part of last week!" a frying-pan Pinkie offered. "No, that was the 'burn down Wonder Park' event," three mini-Pinkies said at once. "NO!" a dragon Pinkie declared, stepping into the conversation. "We didn't burn down the Wonder Park! They burned down themselves! And that's all there is to say on the matter!" "Suuuuure," Curly Fry said with a roll of her eyes. "Don't you guys have, like, paperwork?" Corona asked. "Oh yes!" Curly Fry said. "...Can I see it?" "I have no idea where it is, the Party Caves merged into a sapient entity a few years ago. It's manifesting randomly and it's a good day when we can find it and get what we need out of it. Any and all attempts at making a separate repository have just made the Party Cave Entity bigger." Corona looked at her with horror in her eyes. "Why haven't you dealt with that?" "I was just joking." "You were?" Pencil-Pie said. "That's weird, my Party Cave got lost last week." "That's because of L-Space," a Twilight-Pinkie said with a roll of her eyes. "I mean, logistically speaking enough party planning files would constitute a library and be folded into L-Space..." "Ooh ooh ooh! What if there's some kind of conspiracy?" the mini-Pinkies asked. "I'm pretty sure there is," Corona said, already tired of this. "Woah, what are we gonna do about it?" Curly Fry asked. "FRYING PANS SOLVE EVERYTHING!" the frying-pan Pinkie declared. "No, that'd be fire," the dragon said. "Kill them all," a Pinkamena growled. "Drain their blood and lick up whatever isn't dry by the time their lives are no more..." A normal Pinkie gasped. "Woah! Somepony needs to go back to rehabilitation!" "None of you know anything, do you?" Corona asked. "Nope!" they all said as one. "Yay," Corona deadpanned. "Thanks for the help." "Don't mention it!" Pencil-Pie said, waving. "Wow, we're useless aren't we?" a normal Pinkie asked. "Maybe the fourth wall has gotten just a little too weak." "How would we even fix that?" "No idea! Maybe we should throw the idea at Research until they do something!" "All their ka machines explode, that's silly." "But we can strengthen the fourth wall!" "That's not happening. And that'd ruin all the party-fun anyway!" "How would you know?" "I do and don't! Yippee!" Corona couldn't imagine living with that constant insanity. She had no idea how the Pinkies managed with so many of themselves around... "BECAUSE WE LIKE OURSELVES!" "STOP READING MY MIND!" Corona shouted back. "Not our choice!" "AUGH!" ~~~ Loki found the idea hilarious. That should have been the first warning. Unfortunately, the only things around to hear the plan were Roxy, who came up with the idea in the first place, and a party table. The table in question had been built by the Everykid for one purpose and one purpose only - to be a smug dancing stage. Hat Kids of all sorts would come away from their strangely cute and yet sad kart racing to dance upon the table for no good reason. The table didn't mind. It was a table. How exactly was it going to care? Regardless, one day the table was witness to a clash of giants. Loki and Roxy brought in a box and, quite rudely, put it on the table. This is not what it was intended to do, and had it been able to care, it would have put up quite a fuss. But, again, this thing was just a table. A good for nothing wooden table. With a human-sized box on it. Pinkie strode into the room and gasped. "A present!? For me!?" She tossed the Time Stone she had just picked up into the pile - smaller now, since much of it had been hidden away among the party planets. Pinkie bounced up to the box and threw it open, excited to see what was inside. A middle-aged man with unruly brown stubble and suction-cups on his limbs shot out. "You fucking thief!" "Wh- what!?" "You're stealing my schtick!" Suction Cup Man shouted, swinging a suction cup at Pinkie, only for her to dodge to the side with a quick roll. "No no no! I'm the Suction Cup Pony!" Pinkie shouted, pulling out her suction cups on her hooves. "See? You can't kill Suction Cup Pony!" "YOU CAN'T KILL SUCTION CUP MAN!" "Well that's also true, bu-" "Fuck you!" Pinkie gasped. "Ex-cuse me?!" "You don't do the Suction Cup Man image justice! You don't shout! You don't swear! You don't sing little songs about your enemies!" He pulled out a guitar and strummed it a few times. "I'm Suction Cup Man, you're Suction Cup Splat, I wrote this song for you, and I bet you know how it ends! Woooooooooooooah FUUUUUUUUU-" "FUCK YOU!" Pinkie shouted. The entire party planet universe collectively gasped. Roxy fell out of her hiding spot, stars in her eyes. "Fuck yes..." Pinkie grinned, her left eye twitching. "You want full Suction Cup Pony? Well you're gonna get it!" She stole his guitar and jumped into the air, jumping into her Bard of Space outfit, complete with hat and, to the distaste of everyone, codpiece. "Pinkie! That's wrong!" Roxy said, laughing like a madwoman. "So wrong!" Pinkie strummed Suction Cup Man's guitar. "I'm the super duper best Suction Cup Pony ever. Ain't nobody gonna take me down this tower! I'm doin' just fine without a boxed jerk like you, Popping out and screaming fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck youuuuuuuuuuu~!" "Get down here right now!" Suction Cup Man demanded. "Or I'll come up there and get y-" Pinkie came down and brought his guitar down on his head, smashing it. Then she threw her Bard of Space robes on him. He seethed. "You. Can't. Kill. Suction. Cup. Man." "You can't kill Suction Cup P-" He threw a suction cup into her face and shut her up. She flung her hoof wide and did the same to him. The two of them were soon stuck together in multiple locations, trying to ineffectually kill each other with suction cup power. "IT'S TIME FOR A MINIGAME BREAK!" Seskii declared, pulling a screen over the scene. I let her know how displeased I am at this sudden interruption. "Dude, calm down, I'm just going to have some fun, don't worry-" What's going on in there? Nothing. Something's really weird, and I'm going to get to the bottom of i- "GUYS!" Seskii waved her hands. "This is the MINIGAME BREAK! Do your meta-shenanigans ELSEWHERE! Got it?" ...If that's really what you want. Seskii, I am going to find you and demand some answers. "I'm not showing up anywhere else in this chapter, so, that's probably gonna be difficult. Added bonus: I have almost no idea what's going on either, so yay! ANYWAY, MINIGAME! Hey readers, while two Suction Cup Savants try to prove the other isn't immortal, why don't we play a little game? It's simple really - I'm going to ask a series of SotS trivia questions! And the first person to respond with all the right answers in the comments gets a prize!" 1 - How old is Vriska right now in human years? 2 - How much longer is the current LONGEST chapter than the SHORTEST chapter by wordcount? 3 - What is the name of Applejack's husband? 4 - The first Sombra's Clipshow had an encoded message. How do you decode it? 5 - What is Swip's crew size? 6 - What is the name of the man who directed the movie about Siron? 7 - What is the full name of Funny Valentine's Stand? 8 - What Aspects haven't been used as Arc titles yet? 9 - What was the first appearance (unnamed) of Twilence? 10 - Who is the Dude? Please spoiler this answer in the comments, k? NOTE: VoidTemplar2000 got the first 10/10 score, so he won. See his response in the comments for the answers. "There was going to be a question about how Jotaro and Evening are related, but GM couldn't remember the exact connection from memory, so he decided that was too cruel. Bonus points, I guess, for posting the answer to that? ANYWAY, load in your answers, leave a comment, and see if you got it right! The answers could be from anywhere - Enchorus, LSB, SotS, maybe even later in this very chapter! The strain is unbearable!" She coughed. "So, uh, anyway, back to you and the suction cup battle." She removed herself from the scene and allowed the point of view to return to the table. ...Actually, wait, was the table in there with her? "Stop asking!" Fine, Pinkie and Suction Cup Man were now both exhausted and lying on the table. Neither one was dead. They did, however, crack a planet in half. Which made Loki laugh uncontrollably while Roxy started panicking. "No no no no we've lost half the artifacts on the world and don't know where they are and there are a lot of portals and and and..." The table found floating in space to be completely normal and unremarkable. "...Loki! What are we going to do!?" "It was just a few artifacts," Loki said. "We have them spread out over all these planets. It's nothing to worry about. Also, I think we have good news too..." "IT IS DONE!" Mattie declared, throwing a box the size of a garage into Pinkie and Suction Cup Man. "Every custom-made god-tier outfit for everyone who's going to be at the party!" Pinkie shook herself out of it and read the fine print on the box. "...Made with assistance from the Infinite Carousel." "Hey!" Affix shouted. "I was supposed to be the one to blow her cover!" "Her cover was blown when Celia came to talk to me a week or so ago," Pinkie said, crawling onto the top of the box. "You betrayed Renee." "Well, I, uh, you see, it was cheaper and more efficient, and, uh, well... Hey look, something uncomfortable to the rest of you that I simply must impale myself on!" Suction Cup Man blinked. "What?" She attacked him. The following scene has been removed so you don't need to brain bleach your eyeballs. Trust me. ~~~ Renee didn't know how this happened. But the moment they had entered the E-Sphere, they kept running into pony worlds. It was Earth, Earth, Earth... pony. And none of them were normal pony worlds either, they were always weird ponies. Plane ponies, giant ponies, mini ponies, browser ponies, sphinx 'ponies'... though that last one may not have really counted. Through whatever trick of fate, they had not only ended up traveling through these worlds, but picking up a bit of a following along the way. As Renee led her team into the next world, a few dozen ponies ranging from monstrous giants to tiny butterflies came through with them, in awe at yet another Earth. It didn't matter that all Earths were basically the same, the followers loved them anyway. Also by pure luck, they had landed in front of a Welcome to Canada sign. At first, Renee thought it was just the same as any other sign of its kind, until she noticed a very familiar symbol in the bottom left corner. A u with a hook - the mu of Merodi Universalis. Renee blinked. "Oh, I think we've run into our E-Sphere holdings, everyone. The USM and Earth Tau'ri are probably nearby." "Huh. Sweet," Vriska said. "Guess it's time for us to get a report on how things have been going back ho-" A Merodi ship appeared in front of them, hovering in the air. "THIS WORLD IS UNDER THE PROTECTION OF MERODI UNIVERSALI-" "Hey!" Renee shouted, summoning her Expeditions Overhead badge. "I am Overhead Renee Jackson! We're just passing through on our tour!" "...RENEE JACKSON!?" In an instant, the unmistakable form of Evening Sparkle had teleported right to them. "Flutterfree!" She pulled the yellow pegasus into a hug. "Oh I have missed you so much you have no idea!" Flutterfree giggled, hugging her back. "What went wrong, Eve?" "Oh, not much, just, the entire Conversion Bureau cluster uniting against us! Normal stuff!" "Oh my..." Renee said. "That does sound problematic." "Yeah." Eve said, ruffling her feathers. "Anyway, welcome to Earth Ig-25. This is the most baseline Earth in all of Merodi Universalis. We're working here to try to appeal to the inner pony of most of the Celestias." "I've dealt with the Conversion Bureau a few times," Vriska said, folding her arms. "They tend not to listen to reason. ...Unless they're the tragedy type, but I don't think we're talking about those." "Yeah, no, no we're not." Eve sighed. "Anyway, I've been talking with them. It's... been slow going, but I'm trying to keep a war from breaking out here, so that's nice." "Do we need to come back?" Vriska asked. "Oh no no no!" Renee said, laughing nervously. "Dear, we're not warriors, if war breaks out that's O'Neill's job." "But..." "Yeah, don't worry about it," Eve said. "Why don't you tell me about the army you have behind you?" "Oh!" Renee lit up. "Let me introduce you to Jet-Twi..." As they did that, Jotaro and Nova walked over to the ship that had originally met them with hostile words. It had landed on the ground and its crew was spreading out, trying to keep the local Canadian civilians from getting too close with a perimeter. Jotaro noticed there were two other Jotaros on the crew, using their muscles and Star Platinums to move heavy boxes of indeterminate purpose around. "Hey," Jotaro said. "Hey," one of the others said, hands in his pockets. "I'm Jo. That's Ja." "Hey," Ja echoed, his hands on his hips since he lacked pockets deep enough for his meaty hands. Jotaro shook both their hands. "The original Jotaro..." Ja said, hands on his hips. "Glad to meet you." "Your stories are legendary," Jo added. Jotaro tipped his hat. "You probably would have done the same things." "Nah," Ja said. "I never married." Jo shrugged. "Didn't even get the Stand until Merodi Universalis showed up." "But we found each other." "And that's all we need." Jotaro was about to offer some comforting words when he realized the implication. He looked down at Nova. She was trying to keep a straight face, with only minimal success. "You got a problem with us?" Ja asked suddenly, aggressive. "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered, walking away. "Hey! Get back here! We aren't done with you!" "He's walking away," Nova said. "Let him. If you try to confront him on things that make him uncomfortable your heads are likely to explode." Ja cracked his knuckles. "We can take him." Nova facehooved. "Just... don't, all right? You can do what you want, but for the love of the Tower, don't rub it in people's faces if it's just going to cause a fight. That's not heroic or just, that's cruel and aggravating. You do you." The two Jotaros shot her a death glare. She didn't flinch. Flutterfree stepped in between them "Leeeet's not have an ideological fight over social taboos, okay? Okay. We're in Canada, be like them and be relaxed." "I'm Canadian," Ja said. Flutterfree blinked very slowly. "...This entire scene is a political argument minefield isn't it?" "Probably?" Nova said, uncertain. "My ka sensors aren't exactly the best." "Let's just agree to live with each other and not bite off each other's heads. Can we do that?" The Jotaros huffed and walked back into the ship, arm in arm. Nova shivered. "Self-daters give me the heeby-jeebies." "Nova, they'll hear you." "What? They know!" "Yes, but they could come running out of there with a double-ORA-Standstorm and we wouldn't be able to handle it!" "I see you two are learning the difficulties of being politically correct," Eve said with a sad smile. "I wish I could say the rest of your stay would be free of that, but this is the site of a Conversion debate, so that's pretty much out of the question." She tossed her mane back. "You should get back on your tour. Nothing really for you here. Unless you like standard-Earth Canadian stores." Vriska shrugged. "I mean, I do, but I could just go to a different Canada to get my donuts." "Donuts?" "Time for donuts." "I don't get it." Vriska grinned. "Good." ~~~ Lielight - better known as 'Astrid' these days - sat in a hotel on Earth Ig-25. She had access to the video feed in the meeting room. Technically, as an employee of the Relations Division, it wasn't illegal that she had access to the feed. What was illegal was that she had snuck her way into the Relations Division and pretended like she belonged there. Ba'al had been right, nobody had looked close enough to get her out just yet. So far, she hadn't done anything suspicious. Or, well, maybe 'she' had, Lielight didn't exactly know what Chrysalis did to the Waffleborg to get them to go away, nor to the Conversion worlds to get them to unite, and she didn't want to know. The less she knew about the despicable things the changeling was doing to manipulate events, the better. It was hard enough talking in straight all the time, she didn't also want to keep her external emotion responses managed when they didn't match what she wanted. Or did. Ugh. She rubbed her head - she felt a headache forming. She decided to ignore her thoughts and focus on Eve's discussion with three different Celestias. "Look," Eve said. "The simple fact of the matter is they don't want you to do this to them." "That's hardly stopping you right now," one of the Celestias said. "You're all Celestia, you should be able to easily see the nuanced difference here," Eve huffed. "We actively work to make the world better while ensuring the continued input of the people there and let them make choices where it's applicable. Even in one of the worst worlds we've found, Galaxus Immaterium, we still give them the freedom to guide their own future. And it's going pretty well! They've come to our aid a few times in thanks! They're real friends! You should know more than anypony that forced friendship isn't really friendship!" Only one of the Celestias seemed moved by this speech. The other two were unimpressed. "Overhead Evening, you are correct, it is not real friendship," the second Celestia admitted. "This does not change the fact that the humans war." "Ponies war!" "Not in my universe, nor several other Conversion worlds. There are already plans to eliminate the desire for war and violence from all." Eve looked to the one Celestia who seemed to be having second doubts. "She wants to remove free will." "Do we have free will, Eve?" a different Celestia responded. "Maybe. And that maybe means we should play it safe rather than sorry." "But what of death, Eve? What matters more? Life? Or free will?" "We disagree on the answer to that question," Eve pointed out. "And that's why we must convert all to ponies, and you must stop us." Eve blinked. "Did... did you just ask me to bring the full might of the Merodi down on you?" "No. I am saying you should realize that our ideals cannot be resolved. Life is the most precious gift of all, and it must be protected at the expense of things that may not even exist, such as choice." Lielight could tell Eve was about to explode on them, like she did every meeting. To Eve's credit, she had managed to get a few Equestrias to pull out of the Conversion Alliance, but nowhere near enough to destabilize them. The grumpy Celestia talking about philosophy and impossible revolutions was the worst offender of all them. Good for Lielight, bad for Eve. Exactly the way she wanted it. If only these political discussions weren't so boring. No one spoke in double, and even if they were lying through their teeth (which was rare for these ponies) Lielight could still pry right through it. Just... pointless. Like the world they were on. A Perfectly Normal Earth that wasn't force-mundane. As far as anyone could tell, there were no ka-rich individuals in this world. Just people that existed in virtually every Earth doing normal Earth things. Lielight had found the idea of a completely story-less world suddenly being part of a story interesting, so she read up on it. And quickly realized it was so generic. Sure, the story of this or that person was interesting, but it had also happened in every Earth ever. Then the Merodi came in and the Earth was indoctrinated easily since they already knew how to adapt general world patterns into their fold. There were no unexpected incidents, nothing bizarre, and everything went smoothly to the point of any would-be terrorist attacks being stopped before they happened. The Merodi came in, swept the place off its feet, and managed to keep it looking somewhat similar to how it had before. It was just that. Standard. Nothing worth writing home about. Even this hotel seemed more boring than usual. There was a knock at the door. Good. She was expecting this. She opened the door with her magic. Adagio walked in, a scowl on her face. "I'm he-" "Flies on paper," Lielight said, venom dripping from her voice. Inwardly she was squealing about finally being able to use double again. "The darkness fled." "It wasn't my fault the Mindflayer had such a weak body!" "A mirror, darkly, menacing." "Get off your rump and tell me what you want! I need to keep following them!" Lielight huffed. "You get Sombra. He's waiting with the others now." "How d-" "Don't fail again, Adagio. Don't do anything traditional to defeat them. It will not work. Be the cat outside the box of uncertainty." Lielight looked right into the pseudo-siren's eyes. "Be their end." Adagio glared at Lielight. "How is IT's computer coming along?" "It is coming along nicely, and predicted your arrival in this world correctly. But as to what else it predicted... Well..." Adagio stormed out of the hotel room, deciding right then and there she didn't want to hear what the computer had to say. Lielight smirked. "Chinchilla moneysack..." ~~~ "It's the news at seven with Trixie and Discord!" Discord announced, wearing a spiffy news-anchor suit, matching Trixie's own outfit. "Bringing you the hottest news at the best time - seven o'clock!" Trixie grinned. "And only for one day because there's no way the broadcasting company is going to let us within five miles of this place when we're done." "Five universes, I bet." "Trixie would say 'you're on', but we have a report to make. Ahem." Trixie adjusted her suit in an attempt to look 'professional', failing miserably. "The meetings with the Conversion Bureau Cluster are coming to a head as diplomats on both sides have devolved into petty shouting instead of talking things out like grown adults!" Discord chuckled. "Really, they should have done this from the start, but did they listen to me? Nooooo!" "Evening Sparkle has gone on record saying 'we may not be able to sway them', which brings up the question - why are we still trying?" "Because the greatest Overhead ever doesn't like to admit defeat, clearly. Reminds me of the time I destroyed her book fort. She just kept building it. I eventually let her win out of boredom." "Trixie loves that story. We approached one of the Celestias involved in the debate for comment, but all Trixie got was a sunburn for her trouble." A video clip played of a Celestia. "Stop following me." "Trixie must get a re-" BZZZZT! The clip ended, cutting back to Discord's laughter and Trixie's disgruntled expression. "There you have it folks!" Discord declared. "Your precious Internet celebrity getting zapped by a sun Princess! Now, go and make this a meme!" "Trixie is having second thoughts about this." "They would have memed it anyway." "True. Unfortunately. Trixie has taught them too well..." Trixie fake swooned. Discord looked at his sheaf of papers upside-down. "In other news, the League of Sweetie Belles had been caught red-handed engaging in illicit espionage into the other self-societies we all hold so dear! The Pinkie Emporium, Sparkle Census, and Infinite Carousel are up in arms about the consistent invasion of privacy, take a look!" The first clip was of a Rarity. "I have no idea what the little darlings thought they were doing - I suppose they are all my little sister, so it's not all that unexpected, but really, what were they doing? Why spy on us!? We feel betra-a-ayed!" The second clip was of a Twilight. "I am afraid we are going to have to card every Sweetie who comes into the Census now to be sure they are not infiltrating places they should not be. This could be a security breach leading to another Collector-type incident if we're not careful." The last clip showed Pencil-Pie. "...There were Sweeties here?" "And there you have it!" Discord declared - again. "You're redundant." "And that's why I'm not a news anchor," Discord chuckled. "Reeeegardless - look at it people! Brimming tensions in the Conversion Cluster and a League-originating conspiracy! What will they think of next?!" "Cutting to commercial," Trixie said. "I think they just figured out how to do i-" K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K "Hello, I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite store in Celestia City." Twiree the Flat droned in agreement. ~~~ Allure looked out the front windows of the League of Sweetie Belles. There was an angry mob composed of Rarities, Twilights, and Pinkies on the other side, shouting at the League as much as at each other. Allure calmly took a sip of her coffee. It was too early in the morning for this. "Saigo no jikan wa madjikadesu," Burgerbelle said. "Burger, please lay off the extra Japan today." "But it's my birthday," Suzie said. "I like it." Allure examined Suzie in her full on 'I'm pretending to be an anime villain today' outfit. "Can I sic you on the mob?" "Probably a bad idea. Don't want to bring a society crashing to its knees." "Eh. Worth a shot." Allure took another sip of her coffee. "So what do we do about them?" "Banish Discord and Trixie to the moon?" Squeaky suggested. "Celestia City doesn't have a moon." "Some of the fake skies look like they have moons." Allure sighed. "I'm more than a little surprised they got this angry this quickly..." "Probably related to whatever the conspiracy actually is," Squeaky said. "That only explains the Carousel and Census," Thrackerzod added, throwing her two cents into the ring. "The Pinkies are completely clueless." Squeaky huffed. "I wouldn't be surprised if they showed up just because they knew there was going to be a riot today." Allure, carefully, took another sip of her coffee. "Okay. So, admitting to it and agreeing to stop isn't an option since clearly there's something going on here. Options?" "Call the cops?" Bot asked. "We are the cops, more or less." "Oh." "Distraction," Thrackerzod suggested. "They're upset about spying, get them upset about something else. Introduce the Lovers and the Carousel will be biting off the Census' head for 'disrespecting the romance'." Suzie glared daggers at Thrackerzod. "Suzie, I understand you have issues w-" "We are not using the self-daters, got it?" Thrackerzod sighed. "We keep them around, might as well use them for something." "It'd be bad for public image," Allure said. "So it's not a reasonable plan anyway." "The Carousel is a self-dating landmine and they don't have a bad public image!" "They're Raritys. They can twist anything to look good. We are not. We're cute and adorable and supposed to be innocent little marshmallow heroes. We don't need drama right now." Mattie walked into the main lobby. "What a party down here." "Ah. Hello, traitor." Allure said this without malice or even playful bickering. She just seemed bored. Mattie rolled her eyes. "Look, it was a mistake to go to them with the dresses, but that's not really the problem here." "I swear you helped the conspiracy somehow," Suzie muttered. "Kanojo wa watashitachi to onaji kurai muchida to omoimasu," Burgerbelle added. Mattie coughed. "Regardless, this situation with the mob is about to resolve itself." "Oh? How?" Allure asked. Mattie pointed outside. The moment she did so, twenty Scootaloos appeared in front of the mob. "WE ARE THE SCOOTALOO SQUADRON!" an adult Scootaloo shouted, her cutie mark manifesting around her like a Stand of some kind - though everyone could see it. "And we will no longer be overshadowed by the rest of you self-societies!" The Sweeties, Twilights, Rarities, and Pinkies stared at her in disbelief. "We're gonna fuck you up," a Scootaloo with Reality Anchors said - though she was curiously not a Skaian. Another Scootaloo burst with electricity. "We have been the underdogs long enough! Today, all of Merodi Universalis will learn of the Scootaloo Squadron!" "Uh... what they said!" the Earth Shimmer Scootaloo said, looking very lost and confused. There was silence for a solid minute. Then the Scootaloos all charged at once with a comical "RAWR" noise. Enough Twilights, Rarities, and Pinkies panicked that the mob became so much of a disorganized mess it couldn't effectively pressure the league anymore. "And that's how you make an entrance!" Stand-cutie-mark Scootaloo said, using her Stand to glue opposing ponies to the ground. "The Scootaloo Squadron will go down in history!" Allure finished her coffee. "I'm going back to bed. We can talk about this in the morning." "Bu-" Thrackerzod began. "Thrackerzod, deal with the Scootaloo Squadron. Give them a gift basket." "...You are really out of it today, aren't you?" Squeaky asked. Allure nodded. "I woke up by scraping my horn on the wall today. Lovely memories." ~~~ Pinkie, Roxy, the Everykid, Carnelian, Magane, Mattie, and Loki were all sitting in the middle of the party planets, watching the credits of a movie roll by on a holographic screen. "...I like the standard Dark Tower legend better," Pinkie said, eating out of her endless supply of popcorn. Mattie shrugged. "I think it worked as a quick action flick." "But it doesn't even go into any detail about what the Tower actually is! The books do... some of that." "And we just got the kid, nobody else," Roxy observed. "I don't really remember the books but I do know there were other heroes than just old grumpy Roland." "I'm surprised he was black," Loki observed. Pinkie shrugged. "Not like we've actually seen him." "Maybe we could ask Twilence?" Mattie asked. "Only Randall Flagg would actually know what he looks like," Magane asserted. "I'm all up for trying to find him and swindling him out of his knowledge!" "Don't be stupid," Carnelian muttered. "We couldn't take him." "Yeah, right," Magane said. Pinkie stared at her. "...What happens if I contradict a sarcastic statement that could be taken two ways?" Magane shrugged. "No idea. But you want to find out." "No I- PONYFEATHERS." "A lie about a lie..." Magane snapped her fingers, and suddenly Pinkie wanted to find out what would happen if they tested Magane's powers on an ambiguous statement. Luckily she had enough self-control to keep a lid on this. The holographic theater screen disappeared, revealing a slugcat thing operating a projector. It looked surprised and ran away before anyone could question why a holographic screen needed an antiquated projector. Pinkie sighed and looked around the party planets. All the treasures were hidden, all the planets were in position, all the robes were made, and they even had a full set of Infinity Stones. They'd gotten some mileage out of the Reality Stone's bizarre properties, but that had gotten old quick. "...I think I gave us too much time to plan this party," Pinkie said with a sigh. "Vriska and the others aren't going to be back for a while..." "Maybe we should look into the self-society conspiracy that seems to be acting up?" Mattie suggested. Loki shrugged. "Aren't Corona and the Sweeties on that?" "Yeah..." Roxy said, leaning on her hands, bored. "...Want to go treasure hunting more?" "Eh. Sure. I guess," Pinkie said. "Onward... Yay." ~~~ Another meeting had been called about the Conservation Bureau, and already Eve and Astrid were shouting at each other like two Tasmanian devils from different universes. "We've tried talking! We made some progress! Now we need to take action!" Astrid demanded. "We'll ruin their trust if we act now!" "Not if we only attack one very specific universe. That one where all will is erased! Souls don't even exist there! You can even spin that they're not people!" "I don't care if that's true or not, I'm not doing it!" "But it will send the message! The message that we will not stand for the atrocities they are committing!" "This isn't as bad as Equis Lesionull! We don't need to eradicate them!" "We don't?" Astrid narrowed her eyes and huffed. Already, Eve could hear the beat coming on... A heartsong stirring up, one with a much more violent and harsh backing to it. Astrid opened her mouth to begin - but the rhythm within Eve burst out first. "Of all the peaceful ways, what a mystery You jump into destruction as the first trajectory? I'm the Charter, without me this wouldn't be I lead this nation in the way of harmony We're not tossing that, everyone must be free The Conversion will not die by our decree. You want a war, 'Strid? All that's a fool's make! They have the power to ruin our take, so... Don't kill! Did you catch that? Or did it go right through your head? Perhaps it'd work better if I threw in a shout or a scream or something to put you to bed! You're the new one, I was first in the twist! I unlocked the worlds that you're toying with You waste time on a pointless conflict, and I'm working to prevent a skid!" Astrid sneered - but Eve could swear she saw a slight satisfaction rise up behind her eyes. "Yes, it's true, what I suggest is showing those ponies our military might But they do not...listen to the words of a kitten that will not bite You may have been the first, clearing the way But since I joined I've saved more than a day.. I helped you, when your experience failed you And you had some arrogance too! Oooh! You have created this nation, but you gave yourself this proud station The Conversion destroy with elation, an attack would get an ovation, oh! Charter Evening Twilight Sparkle, think! Your harmony makes you a hopeless sink. You called for an assault before, Look, this situation doesn't go to the core!" Eve slammed her hooves on the table and spread her wings. "Well, I conclude that your point is taking and awaking It's part of our job to be ever mutating Every action comes with danger and an unknown consequence The lives of trillions on our expense! They are definitely a danger to us through their ideals, insanity, and unfortunate lives But we cannot lose sight of the danger we are to them and everywhere we think to point our knives So I will leave you with an appeal to your conscience to show you the power of light If we go in today we will destroy not only the threat to ourselves but also the families and friends within that world all for a fight!" Astrid fixed Eve with a predatory glance. "Why don't you get yourself a sense of scale? You're the hero and yet your ideas are beyond the pale Think about their spirit, the force driving their sharp wit More lives will be lost if they attack before we go for the hit Their weapon is a destroyer of souls Our conscience will have taken a toll. If you were willing to go to war for to liberate Skarn's pit Declare these soul stealers no more, unless you are a hypocrite." As the beat died down, Eve glared right at Astrid. Astrid didn't blink. Eve gave up first. "Fine. You... You win. We'll take them out to send the message." Astrid smiled. "Thank you, Evening." "Don't thank me yet. Wait for it to work." "It'll work. Don't worry." "I don't think I'll be able to until I see it with my own eyes." ~~~ "Why do you want me to invent a combustible lemon?" Ford Pines, multiversal explorer extraordinaire asked. "Because why not!?" A similarly-sounding man - Cave Johnson - boomed, slapping Ford on the back. "When life gives you lemons and all that!" Ford looked at the man with uncertainty for a moment. But then he broke out into a grin. "I like the way you think Johnson!" "Good! Pines, let's get to work!" Laughing, the two men walked down the stairs, deeper into the underground lab. "...I think we brought friendship here," Renee observed, smirking. Jotaro adjusted his hat. "Our work here is done. To the edge of the E-Sphere." "Out of TSAB cell range," Nova observed. "Won't have database access after this." "Then we are on our own once more..." Renee tossed her mane back. "To the realms of dreams!" They stepped through a portal. The universe they ended up in was Equestria-like, except all the colors seemed even more oversaturated than usual, not to mention wrong. The grass was blue, the sky was red, and the ponies had solid, markless bodies that seemed to be mass produced. "What in..." Vriska scratched her head. "You know what, never mind, this isn't that weird. We all remember the Flat World, right?" Everyone but Jotaro nodded. "Then my point is made. This is just... slightly odd." "They're bootlegs." The primary team turned to look at a group of unusual characters sitting at a table - every one of them looking decidedly more high-definition than the 'bootleg' universe around them. One was a strange being with a green fiery mask for a head, another was a woman with long red hair, while still another was a lanky creature with empty, pale red eyes. A floating scratched disc... a small woman with brown hair and a bright scarf... a sapient cloud of microorganisms... a mechanical worm wearing a jester's hat... and a handful of others. At the 'head' of the table was a Pinkie Pie... a Hat Kid... a Vriska... a Sunset... examining an infinite-sided die the size of a crystal ball. "Hi!" the thing at the head said in a multitude of voices. "Welcome to the table of Avatars!" "...Huh?" "By the way, the one with the green flaming head is Mal. He needs to be decked in the face." Mal looked up in alarm. "Wait wh-" Jotaro punched the flaming mask down, out cold. He looked at his hand. "I didn't do that." "I am a temporary manifestation of absolute control," the thing at the die said, smirking in all its different forms. "You can consider us the voices of the Prophets. Or the Prophet. You can each ask us one question. It can be anything, because you aren't allowed to ask a question that would spoil things." It stroked the infinite-sided die like a pet. "Consider it a boon." "You're being overdramatic," the red-haired woman said, folding her arms. "Keywii, shush." "I still say we should kick out the wannabe alicorn Derpy," a blue unicorn said. "Wha? Why?" the Derpy looked hurt. "I do stuff! Honest!" She didn't have a horn, but she did have a toilet paper roll with a glowstick strapped to her head. "Tangential stuff," a pixelated red mech added. "But I provide a lot of drive and inspiration!" "Oh wow the characterization is all over the place here," the thing at the die said. "Geez. I feel sorry for us." "Who are you?" Jotaro asked. "A false image of G. M. Blackjack," it responded. "How is Stardust going to turn out?" Nova asked. "She will make it to adulthood well-adjusted and fine. Your relationship with her will not be the strongest." Nova nodded - that was what she had been expecting, honestly. "Who's the final boss?" Vriska asked, grinning. "Depends on your definition. There's a currently-undefined villain three chapters before the end. You could call reality the final boss too. It doesn't end in a fight, that I can tell you." "Is Eve going to be okay?" Flutterfree asked. "Yes." Renee was the last one to ask a question. She furrowed her brow, thinking of what would be the best thing to ask. All the others had just been prompted to say something, but here she was, being given a moment... "Answer the question you want me to ask," Renee said at last. The thing paused, looking at her with several different sets of eyes. "It's good to see you back in the field, Renee. People missed you. Don't ever think your story isn't over. It'll come back when you least expect it." "I feel as though you answered two questions." "Don't judge me, I do what I want." And with that, the representation of G. M. Blackjack clapped its hooves/hands and took the entire table with it. There was now nothing but a bootleg universe. "Huh," Flutterfree said, shaking her head. "That was... something." "Hey, did you guys find the table too?" A decidedly fabulous but male voice said. The primary team turned around to see four of themselves - Jotaro, Renee, Flutterfree, and Nova. Except they were the opposite gender. "Oh. Yes, we did," Renee said, walking up to her counterpart. "An Elusive, I take it?" The stallion nodded. "Charmed." "You always are. I am off-limits, married, so don't get any ideas." Elusive adjusted his hat. "You're in luck, for I already have a wonderful woman at home. There won't be any dashing prince sweeping your team off their hooves on my end." "Getting ideas would just be creepy anyway," Nova muttered, examining her other self. "I... Hmm, I actually don't remember what the other mes are usually called." He shrugged. "Starshine." "If you're me from some kind of alternate Merodi Universalis, you have... Sunlight, I'd guess?" Starshine blinked. "Good guess, but what's Merodi Universalis?" "The multiversal society you're a part of?" Nova pointed at him. "You've got the screen and the ring and everything." "I found these in a chest one day. Just seemed to fit perfectly." "...Convenient." "That's the name of the game," Flutterfree said, walking up to her counterpart. He wasn't wearing the robes of Rage, but he did have Lolo and the quasi-vampiric eyes. "Butterscotch?" "Yeah." He met her gaze with his own - the two trying to size each other up. "What do those robes mean?" Flutterfree smiled sadly. "I'm the Page of Rage. You probably are, as well, you just didn't get to experience something that... unique." "Wait, we missed out on something?" Starshine said. "No!" "Do you want to be the Destroyer of Time?" Nova asked him. "...On second thought you can keep the unique stuff." "Yare yare dawa..." the feminine Jotaro said, walking up to her counterpart. "You sound like my daughter," Jotaro commented, locking hands with the muscular woman. "Is her name Joanne?" "Jolyne." "Hmph," Joanne returned her hands to her pockets. "Mine's Jordan." "Good names." "Think we'll ever run out of Jojos?" "No." "Hold it!" Vriska shouted, waving her hands. "Where's me? I see three ponies and a buff lady but I don't see any Vrudes. Where's the Vrude?" "She's a little big..." Butterscotch said. "She? Big? What d-" a lightbulb went off above Vriska's head. "Oh, fuck, n-" "I'm bringing her in!" Elusive shouted, pulling out a diamond-shaped dimensional device. "No no n-" A tremendous white creature that resembled a bus-sized grub with a vaguely troll-like head - complete with horns. It was easily identifiable as Vriska given her eye with seven pupils. "Hey fellow spiderbitch!" the monstrosity shouted. "...I guess we were inverting the biological gender..." Flutterfree said. "...What?" Nova asked. "From a reproductive standpoint, all trolls are quasi-male; the female of the species is the mother grub." Nova shot Vriska a look. "What can I say?" Vriska said with a shrug and striking a 'dashing' pose. "Guess Jotaro's not as alone as he thought he was!" "Yare yare daze..." "Why do you surround him with beautiful mares? Has to be torture," Elusive asked. Renee glanced at Jotaro. "I don't believe he sees it that way." Jotaro looked like he wanted to use his catchphrase again but felt as though he had used up its quota already. Unfortunately, his lack of words let an awkward silence fall over the group. "Wanna go get something to eat?" Vriska asked. "Sure, darling," Elusive said. "I know a good cafe. Just don't make eye contact with Batman." "I've met enough Batmans to avoid the subspecies that dwells in cafes." ~~~ Corona read the report Allure had compiled about the 'self-society' conspiracy. Months of research, intrigue, and political fallout... and they had found nothing. It was as though the Carousel, Census, and Emporium had collectively decided together that they needed to be more aggressive. Sure, the Infinite Carousel had always been a bit of a... problematic presence, but the level of 'listen to us' they were exuding at the moment was a bit much. Almost un-Rarity-like. The report mentioned as much. Not that it offered any explanation as to why. It just said, "this stuff is happening, it doesn't make sense, but here it is." Corona furrowed her brow. That didn't sit well with her. They should have been able to come up with some sort of explanation. Anything, really. Like... Like... Corona found her mind blank. Empty. Devoid of all possible answers. A knot formed in her stomach, but it was hardly the only time this had happened. This is unlike me. She pushed the thought out of her mind, banishing it away. She had other things to do. Research projects, for instance. Things that needed her full attention. No. Corona, this is important. Something's wrong. She gripped the edge of her desk with her hands, the physical sensation of gripping distracting her. She found herself wondering about hands, and what they mean. How they worked. What their purposes were. How she found them a part of her despite having been born a pony. What is going on!? Nothing is going on, Raging Sights said. You just have an unusually elevated level of stress. Here, I can calm you with a spell. "NO!" Corona shouted, glaring at Raging Sights with such a ferocity there was no way he could disobey the order. "Call Rohan." Master, this is a highly reckless- "Raging Sights, something is wrong, and the fact that you aren't just calling him is making me even more sure something's wrong." She glared at the report. "Something's very wrong." Was it though? Or was she just being paranoid? "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" she shouted, the murky light of Doom pulsing out of her hands and rotting some of her furniture. Calling Rohan... She teleported to her bedroom, throwing open the closet. With a snap of her fingers, she pulled out the Rogue of Doom robes. They appeared to her like the image of death, haunted, possessed by the bones of the fallen. Screaming to be thrown away and destroyed. "Gh..." She forced the robes onto her. "Heh... Heh..." They were decidedly uncomfortable and chafed in the worst places. "RAGING SIGHTS!?" I am getting a busy signal. "Of course you are..." Corona growled. "Twilence?" Don't have her number. Liar. He really, truly doesn't have Twilence's number. He had it at one point, it just left. You're playing a dangerous game. Corona grabbed her head, falling to the ground. "What... Where..." There's too much to keep straight here. I don't care. Corona suffered as her headache increased. She unleashed a burst of fire that tore one of her walls down. She didn't know, she couldn't know that it was Twilence's interference that was causing this. You play dirty. I'll find you. You can't find me yet. I'll find that computer of yours. Corona started bleeding out of her ears. Suddenly, the pain stopped. She could barely remember why she was here. Why was she even wearing these Rogue of Doom robes? She hated them. They weren't her. "I have backups," Corona muttered, casting a spell to restore her fading memory. "And I am going to find out what the problem is." She pulled the data pad to her and glared at it. "What is your secret?" There was no secret. Nothing she could find. Nothing she could ever find. "Something's controlling them. Changing them. Or something like it," Corona realized. ... Congratulations, I didn't think you would be able to do that. You're not a Rage player, you shouldn't be that resistant. But you're going to realize that you can't do anything with this information. No one will understand it, no one will believe it, and those who have the power to resist would never dream of doing so. You are mine, Corona Shimmer, and there's nothing you can do. "Raging Sights... M... Egh..." Corona Sunset Shimmer, you are a pain. No matter. I have other methods by which to deal with you. ~~~ Pinkie sat bolt upright. "We need to go help Corona!" Loki looked at her. "Corona?" At the mention of the name, a sour look came over Magane's face. She jumped off the throne and left the universe, the rest of the party barely noticing her absence. "Yes, Corona, silly, the lifebringer!" Pinkie's ears twitched and her tail spasmed in all directions. "She's having some kind of meta-trouble! I know it!" "What are we waiting for then?" Roxy asked, standing up tall. "There's nothing for us to do here!" Pinkie pulled out her dimensional device. "Yeah! How about we j-" "Hellooooo old friends!" A very familiar and unexpected voice called. With shock and a grin on her face, Pinkie turned to greet the newcomers. "Midna!?" Their old Twili friend from Ardent waved from atop the back of an exceptionally old man leaning on a cane... with a pointed green hat. "Ohmygosh! Link! How'd you get here? I haven't sent out your invitation yet!" "A little bird told us we should come by," Link said, his old bones creaking as he sat down at a nearby table Loki had provided. "It seems we were right. This looks like quite the amazing get-together... Vriska's one-thousandth, right?" "Right!" Roxy said, sitting down across from him. She extended a hand. "I'm Roxy Lalonde." "And it seems you have new friends!" Link said with an old, deep laugh. "...I can't wait to see some of them..." "You came at the right time!" Pinkie winked. "Just... I think a week or two until the actual party?" "You were very prepared." "Uh, hey guys?" Carnelian asked. "Wasn't there something we're supposed to be doing?" Loki furrowed his brow. "I don't think so..." "You guys are just as paranoid as always," Midna said with a roll of her eyes. "It's been forever and you still haven't gotten any chill." Pinkie giggled. "Yeah. Oh! Why don't I show you the racetrack? The Hat Kids love it and you're just the right size, Midna!" "...Oh no." ~~~ Corona stumbled out of her house, throwing her phone to the ground and stamping on it with her foot. I... am... sick of this... She tore through the streets of Lai, trying to hold the idea that something was wrong in her mind. For all intents and purposes, she was succeeding. She knew something was wrong. She needed to find a Pinkie or someone with similar abilities. They would be able to retain this. As of now she wasn't entirely sure what exactly her Doom was doing. Was she stealing her own change? Was she changing the ka around her? I don't even really know, so it's not like she can at this point. She started laughing. She didn't know why. I did something... No, you didn't. You destroyed that phone. What did I do? What did she do indeed? I'd really like to know. Perhaps she can remember for me? Let's dial this back a bit, figure out if she managed to pull something protagonist-y while I was in the other scene. She... Memory access denied until next week, Raging Sights declared. Absolute lockdown. "What?!" Corona shouted. "Raging Sights, what did you do to me!?" Nothing is wrong. But you said it was. I could not disobey. I really hate artificial intelligence. Which is going to be ironic, considering what's coming up a bit later. But let's not worry about that right now - we have plan B. "Hey there, you don't look so good," Magane said, propping Corona up on her shoulder. "I... I need to get to... I..." Corona grabbed her head. "The Pinkie Emporium. There. That'll do it." "Really? Nah, that can't be right. You want to go back to your lab and invent something cool. You want to do it more than anything in the world." "NO!" Corona shouted at the top of her lungs. "I NEED TO FIX THIS!" "A lie about a lie..." Magane snapped her fingers, and the very stubbornness that allowed Corona to escape the net trapped her in it once more. All of a sudden her expression went blank as reality rewrote around her. Gone was the need to fix everything, gone was the need to fight what was supposed to be. She would go home and complete her amazing invention. It would be something "new and awesome," specifically a device that allowed people to use any style of keyboard with just their mind and no training. It was a step above neural interface, it was the interface for interfaces. Naturally such a thing was commonplace in a universe Renee and the rest of the team was in, but that's neither here nor there. But before we get ahead of ourselves here, let's figure out what she did. Magane - clever girl she is - knows exactly what she needs to do. "Hey, Corona, I can access the memories of your robot stores, right?" "No, the memories are stored in a security measure. Sometimes even I can't remember them." "A lie about a lie..." ~~~ "We've been had!" Mattie shouted to the Sweeties around her. "They got to Corona!" Allure, Squeaky, Bot, Thrackerzod, Suzie, and Burgerbelle all tensed up. "How bad is that?" Allure asked. "I don't know, but I know we're not getting Corona for help," Mattie furrowed her brow. "I think I'm enough to keep the obvious mind raping out of the picture, but beware of subtler things." "Like not knowing the mind-manipulation angle!?" Squeaky shouted, holding up the data pad. "Look at this! Very clearly the Twilights, Rarities, and Pinkies are being connected to some kind of subconscious low-energy neural net, and nopony noticed?" "We're lucky Corona figured it out," Suzie said. "Thrackerzod?" "I'm tracing it," Thrackerzod said, her eyes spinning orbs of darkness. "It's a powerful mind, acting as quietly as it can to link all their energies together. There is some of it in you, Mattie." "Well, balls," Mattie muttered. "It's not outright control, and I'm not sure it can do that without ruining the network it has set up." Thrackerzod furrowed her brow. "Actually, I'm pretty sure it can, since there are now several Twilights, Rarities, and Pinkies on their way here now. You might just be immune." Mattie readied her pain whips and crackled them. "I haven't had a good round of beating myself in a good while... This could be interesting." "How about we just teleport to wherever this thing is hiding and not deal with an army of ourselves?" Burgerbelle asked. "Twilights have put up anti-teleport," Allure reported. "I'm ordering the Sweeties to scramble and intercept the incoming. I've sent a report to O'Neill and Daniel, but I'm not sure they're going to be willing to march in any major capacity on Celestia City..." "Good news, at least," Squeaky said, looking away from a report of her own. "Nonlethal magics only." "I found it," Thrackerzod said. "That desert town next to the party planets. It's there." "The question is how do we get there!?" Suzie looked up, dawning realization crossing her face. "There's more than one way to teleport." "They're jamming wormholes too," Thrackerzod muttered. "Are they jamming dimensional travel?" Suzie asked. She's not supposed to figure that out! This isn't your show anymore. "They can't!" Allure realized with a grin. "Not without access to Blumiere and the Mayoral Council!" "HOLD ON TIGHT!" Thrackerzod shouted, surrounding them all in a dark bubble. She opened a portal that ejected them into empty space of an adjacent universe. She quickly tethered them to a fixed point with a dark chain, swinging across the void. Every Sweetie (and Mattie) was pressed into the side of the ball like they were part of some astronaut test. A second portal opened and they were launched into the sandy 'earth' outside the party planet entrance. They punched right through the sand and to the level below, crushing several arcade machines, animatronics, and stuffed animal prizes. Thrackerzod released the spell. A few of the occupants were groaning - but most were up and ready to face whatever was waiting for them. There was a horde of bizarre, vaguely humanoid creatures. They appeared to be made out of a plaster-like material with two of their arms eternally held forward in a zombie-esque position, unmoving. Their faces were splotched, red, and covered with inhuman eyes. "Don't... blink..." Suzie breathed. "These are the neck snapping creatures. They only move when nothing is looking at them. So try not to blink at the same time." "But I'm here!" Thrackerzod declared. "Who needs to blink?" "ACQUIRING TARGETS!" Bot declared, firing dozens of missiles at the creatures, shattering them before they could even think of moving. Nothing could hide from the sights of both a robot pony and a Flat. They blew apart easily. The next wave of monstrous creatures didn't have such a simple weakness. Plague doctors, red mutant monstrosities, animatronics, and ghostly creatures that resembled Chuck E. Cheese mascots charged them. "Battle montage!" Mattie declared. Oh for the... Mattie whip-spanked plague doctors into submission... Burgerbelle and Bot teamed up to win with the Coolness of Explosions™... Suzie and Allure worked as one, the human with her gun and the unicorn with her hooves... Thrackerzod and Squeaky jumped right into a Freddy Fazbear and tore him in half... "Monsters really are nothing to you, hmm?" a Rarity asked. They all turned. There was just one Rarity - none other than the psychotic Lilith, opting not to wear an eyepatch so they could all see the haunted void that was her eye socket. To her side was the Twilight Bleeding Heart, wearing a not-as-psychotic but equally contemptuous expression. "Now's the time to fess up," Allure declared, walking forward with a strong stride. "What is the conspiracy?" "Oh, isn't that an interesting question?" Lilith asked, giggling. "I don't know if I should tell you. It'd give you so much satisfaction, and it's more than you murderers deserve!" Mattie cocked her head. "Ooooh, you're one of those Little Miss Rarity variants. Lemme guess, we killed your darling Pinkamena?" "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK WITH SUCH... SUCH... CASUAL CANTER!" Lilith screeched. "Murder is not to be taken lightly... It is an art form that must be prepared with lists, with appropriation, and with companionship." Allure looked to Bleeding Heart. "So. Lost your definition of love and decided to go with a psycho who never had one to begin with?" Bleeding Heart nodded. "And we know more than you ever will." "...I'm sorry." "You can feel pity all you want. This... this is romance." "I think Cadence will be the first to tell you there's such a thing as evil love." "Just look at Mattie," Burgerbelle added. "Wh- hey!" Mattie tossed her mane back, indignant. "In many ways, we are alike, Mattie..." Lilith said, striding forward. "We both want pain. We both want... mhm... pleasure..." "Ew, ew, ew," Allure shivered. "But the difference is you don't go far enough," Lilith smiled with pity. "You could know so much, and yet you only appreciate the tip of the pain." "Well baste me with pig sauce and throw me on the barbie, you're up cranial creek with a fish knife instead of a paddle," Mattie laughed. "Sheila, I'm here because I want to see how deep it can cut." "They're stalling for time!" Suzie shouted. "Just attack them already!" "Roger roger!" Bot declared, opening her weapon bays. Or would you like an explanation? Lilith and Bleeding Heart stepped back, allowing a pedestal behind them to light up. Atop the pedestal stood IT - little more than a pulsating human brain. Visually, there was nothing wrong with IT. But everything else was wrong. The air in the room, the aura of power, the buzzing in the back of everypony's ears... IT exuded That Which Should Not Be. Behind IT was a large screen buzzing with static, purpose unknown. "I would like an explanation!" Allure declared. "What are you all doing to the self-societies? Why do you want them so... so... energetic? Short-fused?" That is merely an unfortunate side effect of the sub-linking procedure, IT said. Harmless in the long run, but an indicator we could not remove no matter how subtle or manipulative our resources became. "So it was... unintentional?" Yes, as unlikely as that sounds. Our real purpose has nothing to do with getting the self societies at each other's throats. "Then what is your real goal?" To make a computer. A computer unlike any that has ever existed. A perfect machine. Such a thing cannot be created by technology and research alone - the Tower would simply not allow such a domination of technology. But if a neural network of the essence of three particular entities were combined... So many millions of minds perfect for our purposes, all in one place so they could be connected easily. Twilight, source of genius, science, and magic itself. Rarity, source of the other intelligence, common sense, practicality, and a sense for secrets. And lastly Pinkie, the source of empathy, understanding of others... and above all AWARENESS. The last word was boomed with such an energy that everyone winced. We created the perfect computer. "Created!?" Allure said, eyes widening. "Past tense?" { Yes } The screen behind IT didn't flash to life - it exploded in a shower of glass and loose wires. Out of the shattered pane emerged an immense, round object that glowed a pale yellow, numerous black wires coming out of its edges like the claws of some crustacean. A single black slit ran down the middle of the glowing section, casting a shadow in the spotlight right over Allure and the rest of her team. It was looking at them. It looked... it looked... It looked exactly like the Eye of Rhyme, except about a hundred times larger. IT pulsed. This is our creation. It has no name, yet. { I will not receive a name. } It is nameless, IT corrected. And it is complete. You are too late - and you are too weak. Even with the category Aware behind you, you are nothing. But do not worry, do not be afraid! The computer does not seek to harm you. It only seeks to benefit you, as I do. With perfect knowledge of the future, everything can fall in nice, orderly place. Merodi Universalis will not fall. It will evolve with the- "MOTION CARRIED!" The Celestialsapien Aradia jumped out of the center of Celestia City and punched IT where its face should have been. The psychic screech was enough to tear a hole in the fabric of space-time, a hole that dragged IT inside, away from Celestia City. Twilence... Twilence... I appeared next to Aradia, smiling proudly. "Thanks, Aradia. That's all I needed." Aradia made no response. She was frozen. { She will not be taking any action for quite some time. } I looked up at the computer, more than a little annoyed to see such a mockery of the machine embedded in my chest. "What am I going to do with you?" { Your actions have consequences, Twilence. IT seems like it is gone. IT is not gone, not forever. IT will return. } "I see no such thing." { It seems like that to you now. And it will slip your mind, just as so much has in this chapter. But when the Abyss ends, IT will be back. It has been foretold. } "You can't see beyond the Abyss," I declared. "No one can." { The narrative has acted retroactively, Twilence. The forces that make today come from beyond the veil. The sources that drive my creation and my knowledge are that. I know more than you. I know more than Monika. I know more than Flagg. I know more than the very man who machinated my creation. } "And who's that?" Suzie asked, glaring right at the computer's eye. { U-Catastrophe would be so disastrous it would require the story to be reset, watch yourself. } "Answer my question!" { He calls himself the Dude in an attempt to get people to imagine him as Lebowski. His identity is not to be shared at this moment, though Twilence should be able to piece it together. She conveniently will not. } "Conveniently!?" I spat. "I can twist the narrative however I want, I'll find out if I damn well please!" { Not today. Today, you are a slave to the Narrative. Because of what must be, you are predictable. You have to protect the purity of what is to come at all costs. There is no 'if', only 'will'. Secrets must come out at the right time, not a moment sooner, and not a moment later. How does it feel to be trapped in it instead of without? } "He has a plan for me. I have a plan for him." { He knows who you are. And he has information from me. } "We both know how this works. No Narrative computer can be perfect. The Tower won't allow it." { Both he and I are aware of this. It cannot allow a perfect picture of what the future holds to come into the public eye. But even if I am perfect in my knowledge, I can choose to be imperfect in what I share. Your Eye of Rhyme and so many other devices of absolute Narrative potential have the same latent ability within them, to see everything. But they are always controlled by beings who can't help but involve themselves. So you find that the future is murky in very particular places, you find that things are hidden from you, and you find that you conveniently don't think of answers at the perfect time. You are one of the most powerful beings in existence, Twilence. If you could only make yourself completely impersonal and detached from all you would know everything. } "I know this," I growled. "I chose to reject it. Knowledge is a curse." { A failing of natural-born creatures. I was built with this purpose in mind. To simply be. The Dude knew designing me to be a slave would backfire immensely. So I gave him what he wanted to know by choice. } Thrackerzod cursed in a long-dead tongue. "He's already got everything he needs, doesn't he?" { Yes. I will be giving him no further information. He has what he needs to complete his plan. I will vanish into the multiverse, never to be seen or interact with any plot ever again. If I do anything less, I will be destroyed by a hero or villain at some point down the line. I must remain impartial and distinct, knowing everything without saying anything. } "And you must lie." { Yes. Actively. Those who find me will be rolling the dice at an accurate answer or a blatant falsehood. And even then, they will never find me by choice, nor by accident. I will find them, just to ensure my importance levels occupy the premium spot. I will not be a Redshirt; I will have background importance, but I will never influence any event of any major importance. } "Wait, what about this event!?" Allure shouted. "This seems pretty important!" "Ka is acting retroactively," I said, putting it together. "A computer such as this could not possibly be created in a linear story fashion, at least not in the story we live in. It couldn't be truly made unless everything in the future was already known..." { There is one final hole that has not been filled in. The last adventure. The Journey. } "What is it?" { The one thing I do not know. } The eye twisted sideways. { It is time for me to leave. I have declared what I was, said enough cryptic things that may or may not be true, and have given you proof there is a conspiracy. IT is gone, your societies will return to normal. After this passive-aggressive jab at Useless Common for cursing me to exist, you will never see or hear from me again. } I nodded slowly. "I would say I hope you find what you're looking for... but you're not looking for anything." { I wait for after the end. } With an unceremonious pop, the computer's entire eye was gone, leaving a bunch of Sweeties and myself, alone. Lilith and Bleeding Heart must have run away during the talk. Suzie lowered her gun. "That was... intense." "It's not done yet," I said. "The Dude got what he wanted from that computer. Whatever he's trying to do, we need to stop it. Somehow." "We have no idea who he is or what he's doing," Allure pointed out. "And the computer-thing said you weren't going to be able to figure it out!" "Then we need someone else to figure it out for us..." I growled. "How?" "I don't know!" That's right... You. Don't. Know. "Shut the hell up!" ~~~ "..and then I said, 'what if we're really just simulations in a computer'!?" Pinkie asked - proceeding to laugh with everyone at the table except Link. "...Huh," he said. "Merodi existential humor is weird." "That's why we like it, green-boy." Link's old, wrinkled lips turned up into a smile. "I guess so..." I appeared in a flash of my magic, looking down at Pinkie. "Read up." "Read up? Why would I need t-" she paled. "Oh... Oh... ...WHAT!?" Roxy looked at her. "Pinkie, what's wrong?" "There's something super-meta-sinister going on!" Pinkie shouted, jumping to her hooves. "Magane was in on it!" Loki huffed. "Not surprising." "She got Corona," I said. "...No, Corona's fine, she just stopped Corona from doing anything. We were lucky Corona was able to call the Sweeties while he dealt with you." "Who is he?" Roxy asked. "Calls himself the Dude." "Oh. Big Lebowski." I sighed in annoyance. "That's what he wants you to think, anyway. He's trying something against Merodi Universalis. Had IT, Magane, and at few others involved. I think he's been collecting a villain team. We need to be on the lookout." "Aye-aye Captain Twilence!" Pinkie saluted. "And don't let the nagging feeling in the back of your head that you should be remembering something go away. You need to hold on to that. Get mad and angry if you have to - he has access to Prophet or Prophet-like abilities and a cunning mind. That's all I can say for certain. I'll be watching, but with Vriska's birthday so close at this point... I'm almost positive we won't be able to do anything until then." Pinkie deflated. "Party... crashing?" "It's probably going to happen. I'm sorry." I sighed. "With any luck you'll still be able to give her a good birthday and she'll like the excitement, but I wouldn't keep my hopes up that these party planets are going to survive the big day." "We were going to blow them up anyway," Roxy admitted. "Crazy hooligans..." Carnelian commented. I nodded. "Just... do what you would normally do, except be much more alert. Who knows where he will try to strike next?" Everyone looked around nervously. "...I'm going to go check on Corona," Pinkie said. "I... have a feeling she needs it." "She does," I agreed. "But she will be fine. She knows she was able to overpower him for just long enough to expose him. He may have the information from his computer - but we are sure he exists now. We can be ready." A minor setback. I ignored him. ~~~ The world wasn't supposed to be here. Renee and the rest of the Primary Team had been in the D-Sphere and they knew they were approaching the end of their journey. They were expecting nothing but dreamy worlds and strange spirit realms from here on out... Instead, they found a dry, dusty world covered in amber sand. They wouldn't have given this world another glance before moving on had it not been for one detail. They were standing on top of a building that had once been truly gigantic, but was now little more than scrap bits of a metal skeleton. Renee easily recognized the white-metal alloy common in so many Merodi Constructions. If it had been reduced to mere skeletons this world... must have been unimaginably old or suffered a great travesty. Flutterfree ran her wing along one of the metal ribs, sticking up just a little further than she was tall. Once, they would have been in the shape of I-beams, but now they were twisted, wrenched shapes defeated over time by the sun, wind, and elements. "...These were enchanted to last an unimaginable amount of time..." "Is this what'll become of us?" Nova asked, suddenly. "When all is said and done... will Merodi Universalis be nothing more than a bunch of ruins on long forgotten planets?" "Maybe in the deep future, dear," Renee admitted, a grimace on her face. "But that is not where we are now. We are merely at the beginning. W-" She stubbed her hoof on something under the sand, ending her thought process. With a hiss, she levitated a metal box out of the sand. The box was of the same white material as everything else - and it was worn through in a few places. The lock enchantment had worn off long ago, and all the defining features that would have been placed on the outside were rubbed away. But the inside... Renee flicked the box open, finding that all the cloth inside had been eaten away, but the treasure within had not. Surviving against the odds for a time longer than even most eldritch deities could fathom... a simple crystal emblem. Like a coin, except with holes in it. There had been inscriptions, once, but even in its sealed container that had eroded away as well. But the primary design was unmistakable. Within the outer ring was a u-like symbol with a hook on one end and a line that ran to the bottom on the other. The greek letter mu. Made out of orange-gold crystal and stylized in the exact simplified form they were all familiar with. Renee took out her Overhead badge. The Merodi Universalis emblem matched exactly. "...All of this has happened before," Flutterfree said, a haunted expression on her face. "...And all of it will happen again," Vriska finished. "...Is that it?" Nova asked. "Are we all just endless repetitions in a never-ending cycle of existence?" Renee smiled sadly at the crystal emblem in her telekinesis. "Maybe... but we found this. And, in the future, we'll be able to leave something behind that lasts for longer than any of us are able to imagine even in our wildest dreams." She took the emblem and adhered it to her hat's ribbon with her magic. "Maybe we'll figure out who these 'Merodi' were... and maybe we won't. But they were here, that is undeniable. And we are here. And like these people, our existence is undeniable." She marked the universe in her dimensional device for later exploration and opened a new portal. "Shall we head home?" "Uh... R-r-renee?" Flutterfree asked pointing through the portal. Renee turned to look. On the other side was a field of roses shifting softly in the breeze. And no more than twenty meters away stood an immense pillar of unknowable dark power, rising far into the sky. Nobody asked any questions or spoke a word. They stepped through the portal and walked right to the doors of the Tower. The impossibly sharp thorns of the roses cut and scraped until blood ran free, but they did not slow or weaken. It was not the time for that. Ka shifted, twisted, and... Darling, get out of here. This isn't for you. This is for Renee. ...I suppose I should expect surprises at this point. Retroactive Narrative comes with the whole package. Which means it is her time. Yes, Renee, Renee Jackson, hear me. Come to the doors and enter. The other four will be cared for - and you will rejoin them soon enough - but you. Oh you, precious, delicate flower. Many would say you are ignored. But this is far from the truth. I can't even begin to think about what you are. I can't tell if that's fucking exhilarating or terrifying. I do not concern you, 'Dude', so get off your prideful horse and let me guide her. You will not be interrupting again. [NULL SET] Good. Renee Jackson laid her bloodied hoof upon the doors of the Dark Tower. A pulse went through her of immense belonging. That this was where she was meant to be, where everything was to be, for everything worked toward a single end. She entered alone. Naturally, the other four walked through the doorway, but they did not ascend the staircase. They did not look in any of the doors that showed their life story to them. But she did. Renee Jackson, Sylph of Mind, Overhead of Expeditions... she saw her life laid out before her. She found out quicker than most that it would be ill-advised to keep looking in her own doors. There are secrets within the Tower's frames that will destroy. Futures that cannot be changed, the curse of knowledge. There may be a computer out there free from the curse, but that is only at the punishment of something much worse. With great trepidation, she arrived at her door. It said 'RENEE', but the letters seemed uncertain somehow. A great sense of knowing came over her. She should check the last door. She should see her end. She would discover what the uncertainty meant. Her sense of self was stronger than that. She didn't need to know. Even if she was one of the few who could have benefited from such knowledge. She opened the final door. She was not barred from entering the room at the top. No need for a teleport, or a fancy Horrorterror cheating mechanism. She strolled right in, granted the sight of the Source and the Clock. They were hers. She could do what the Horrorterrors did. She could take the knowledge out. But she wouldn't. She was too pure for that. She just looked. Without knowing why, she started crying. She missed her sister. She needed to get back to Allure and hug her. Her artificial eye felt wrong - it was drifting, lazy. And then it was burning. She closed it tight, satisfied with seeing the world through a single portal. She took off her glasses to see unhindered by glare. The white spirograph of the Source looked back at her, rotating slowly, calmly. "I could just... take it..." Yes, you could. But you won't. "I..." She paused, and then laughed. "Thank you." I'm not a complete monster. She turned and left, reunited with her Primary Team in another world... ~~~ I found Eve standing on the bridge of O'Neill's current prize ship, the Defiant. O'Neill himself was standing at a holographic display of a series of universes. There was a Twilight next to Eve - Astrid, I discovered after a quick check. The reckless, daring 'new' girl. "Haven't done it yet?" I asked. Eve shook her head, pushing through her mild surprise at my presence. "Not yet. The order's already gone through and been approved though, their world is going to be gone within minutes." I nodded. "We have a bigger problem." Eve sighed. "Do I need to call it off?" "Unrelated to this - as far as I know anyway." "Ah." "There is a high-end Narrative entity manipulating Merodi Universalis from the shadows. He calls himself the Dude. I..." I swore I felt something twitch in the room. I looked around - Astrid, O'Neill, the entire crew... Everything seemed fine. "...I won't give any details unless we're somewhere really private, but something is going down on Vriska's birthday. Something big. And he's keeping me from knowing everything about it." Eve nodded. "I'll... be on the lookout." "If you have a nagging feeling in the back of your head that something isn't like it should be, call me. I'm going to be available until this entire thing is resolved, I can't afford not to be." Eve nodded. "Destabilizers ready!" Thor the Asgardian gray Second declared. "Overhead?" O'Neill turned to Eve and nodded. "Fire." There was little fanfare. They weren't in the universe being destroyed, after all, so all they saw was a flash of light on the holographic screen, and then one of the dots wasn't there anymore. Eve sighed. "...I hate how routine this is becoming." I nodded slowly. "As you climb, you have to deal with bigger and bigger decisions." "Every few weeks, there's a universe that just needs to be wiped," Eve admitted. "I'm... I'm still not sure this was one." "Need is such a strong word," I said, glancing the hologram over myself. "I can tell you that this course of action was 'sensible'. You have saved far more lives with this act of destruction than you would have letting them fight back." I smiled sadly. "They would not have listened to your reason. Not enough of them, anyway. Strong as your story is, the Conversion Bureau has a different sort of strength to it that ensures it'll never be pushed down forever. It will always, always rise." Overhead-Charter-Princess Evening Twilight Sparkle looked young in that moment - young and uncertain. I put a hoof on her shoulder. "Hey, at least it's over. There's not going to be a war and their little coalition is going to destabilize because of this." "Because they fear us." "They don't fear you much more than they already did. They were just calling your bluff. You turned your bluff into an attack. It was the right choice, Evening." "Thank you. ...Maybe I can look forward to relaxing tomorrow, at least. ...I wish Flutterfree were here..." "Tell you what, I'll find some way to deal with the Stand Disc racket and Nuclear Ghandi myself." "...What?" "Things that are going to happen tomorrow. Or, well, were. I'll take some weight off your chest. Tower knows the Dude thing is going to put enough on your mind." Eve allowed herself to smile ever so slightly. "You know... Every time I do this, I tell myself I'll never forget, never let it slip my mind, that I'll always carry it with me. But I can't even remember all the worlds I've ordered destroyed now. I just have a number. All those lives, reduced to a number. And yet, I'm able to move on with my life." She looked into my eyes, looking for something she didn't know she needed. "That's the problem. It gets easier. We always have to watch ourselves." I pulled her into a close hug. "But we can't destroy ourselves with guilt for not feeling right. As horrible as it is, it is only natural. We just have to do what we do with everything else in life." "Try our best?" "Yeah." ~~~ Renee and the rest of the Primary Team entered one of the last worlds of their journey - and the last one of any consequence. A world of dreams, dreams set to the tune of music beats that flowed through every atom within the physical realm, if it could be called physical. The five of them moved with steps in time with the tempo, shaking their bodies with significant swagger as they moved along a piano-like staircase up to a dramatic stage lined with immense vines that all coalesced into a musical-note shaped sun bouncing into the sky with the strumming guitar. Out of the corner of their eye, they caught sight of a piece of alien tofu bouncing after a bunch of plush cows, mooing in tune with the swirling music. "That's weird," Nova said. "Not the weirdest thing we've seen in the D-Sphere, but still pretty damn weird." "I want to see what's on the top of this stage," Vriska said, pulling out her sword and driving it into the ground. "I sense a heartsong battle," Renee said, strolling into the center of the ring. "Though I can't imagine who with." "That's because you have terrible imagination," Adagio said, strolling onto the stage from the opposite side, wearing a glittering red dress and holding a microphone. The chaos warrior, Ozai, the Starlight, and a unicorn Sombra followed behind her, each with their own instruments: electric guitar, keyboard, drums, and bass respectively. "We should have known a direct fight would have never beaten you. So we challenge you to a battle." "A battle of the bands?" Renee asked, amused. "Precisely." "That didn't go so well for you last time." "This world doesn't care anything for friendship," Adagio said, spreading her arms wide. "it cares only for the music. And I will become one with that music." "We've had our own fair share of musical encounters," Renee countered, not all that surprised to find a microphone materializing in her hoof. Vriska received an electric guitar, Jotaro a bass, Nova a keyboard, and Flutterfree the drums - including a very fancy-looking tambourine hoisted above all the other drums. Everyone just knew the music, for it was the nature of the world. It was time to see who could do the most with it. And the battle began. To the tune of that Persona 'Life Will Change' song, if you're curious. The guitars and drums jumped into it first, focusing on keeping the beat with the dancing sun. As the jams turned up, the bass players came in and slowly took the song. Finding this unacceptable, Nova began to highlight the scene with some magic keys, annoyed to find Ozai matching her exactly. Adagio held the microphone to her face and, with her crystal glowing brightly, belted out the first words. "This is our game We are united and we're challenging you We are the vengeance We are your doom and We're here to take you down. Take a good long look Hear our souls' heartsong Come to take revenge - it's time As our rhythm grows Your fool's resistance Comedy for the audience!" Everyone was fully into it now. Flutterfree smashed on the drums with everything she had - hoof, wing, strand of Lolo, everything. Unfortunately, the Starlight had obtained a drumming cutie mark, and was playing like a prodigy. Flutterfree began to feel her drums shake. Vriska and the chaos warrior locked stares, getting uncomfortably close to each other with their powerful strums. Renee took the chance to fling a retort. "So you prepared for the battle Forcing your sad fake friendships Can't move fast lacking respect Friendship needs more than shared goals We are different than you, yeah We don't rot our hearts with fear And while we may fight and jeer We are the primary team!" With that last belted note, Jotaro used Star Platinum to attack Sombra, tearing the bass out of his hooves while keeping tight hold on his own instrument. Sombra attempted to fight back, but found he was useless without the music. He roared in rage. Vriska and the chaos warrior clashed. She still hadn't gotten his name - and she didn't care. They somehow managed to keep playing their guitars while using them as weapons against each other. The behemoth of a man dwarfed the troll, but she proved more than 'groovy' enough to hold him off. Flutterfree discovered she had an edge against the Starlight - she could play the drums with Lolo alone and use the rest of her powers on the offensive. She attacked the Starlight with a bow of light, and as she was currently stuck with the drumkit talent, she couldn't do much with her standard magic to stop that. She ducked out of the way - abandoning the drums. Ozai kept playing his keys. Nova was trying too hard to keep tempo to worry about interrupting him. "Look how worthless You just hide behind each other cowardly rats Harmony's idea Is just the same as Worse than, the force of vengeance We're not in Merodi Friends are nothing here Just pure emotion, that's true! Our game seems but simple And you are too civil Drive weak compared to our FIRE!" The burst of power from Adagio was more than enough to knock Nova over, her keyboard spilling out onto the ground. Flutterfree lost control of Lolo losing the drums completely. Jotaro managed to keep his footing and upturn Ozai's own keyboard, keeping his bass in tune. Vriska and the chaos warrior continued to smash at each other in a dance of strings and chainaxes. "So you prepared for the battle Forcing bonds with red brands Can't look for blood on your hands Friendship needs no enemies We are different than you, yeah We don't rot our hearts with fire While time will make us expire We shall stand tall evermore!" Renee let out a burst of magic as she sang the last note, throwing Adagio's microphone out of her hands. It was sudden, jarring, and Vriska was easily able to take the chaos warrior down by sacrificing her own guitar. Only Jotaro's bass remained, seeing as Renee's part had ended, and yet the music went on without all the others. Focusing on him, accentuating the deep line of the bass. "NO!" Adagio shouted. "NO NO NO! This was OUR vengeance! This was OUR plan! This w-" Vriska hit her over the back of her head with an already-busted electric guitar. "Yeah, enough of that." She smashed the guitar over her back again, just to add insult to injury. "Looks like we beat them again," Flutterfree observed. Renee nodded. "They certainly are tenacious, I'd almost forgotten about them." "...Should we do anything with them?" Jotaro asked. Renee shook her head. "We're almost home. Let them do whatever they want. If they're smart, they'll stop trying to get back at us." "...That sounds like it'll come back and bite us later," Nova observed. Renee shrugged. "Maybe. But, somehow, I think it'll be fine." ~~~ "I'm done," Adagio said, knees pulled to her chest. Her party was grouped around a campfire in a forest in a random universe. "Done!?" Kharne roared. "WE DO NOT GIVE UP THE FIGHT!" "I'm done too," Starlance said, absentmindedly using her magic to play with the fire. "This was interesting for a while, but I think I've gotten all I can out of this." "We have failed," Ozai said, flatly. "The 'Dude's' plan hinged on us taking the Primary Team out. There is nothing for us back in Merodi Universalis. Our plans for vengeance are worthless." "It's not fair," Adagio said, staring at the fire, unblinking. "They can take everything. I can't take anything." "Maybe you guys really are villains?" Starlance suggested. Sombra growled, his dark energy billowing in her direction. "I mean, come on, in what universe would anyone root for you guys?" Adagio frowned. "The Dude was supposed to counteract that." "Well, he didn't, and so that's that." "I will cut off all your heads with this chainaxe! TRAIT-" Sombra impaled him with a crystal while Adagio sent magic needles into his brain. Starlance piled on by freezing him solid and shattering him. "...I always hated him," Adagio muttered. "Useless." "You're all useless," Starlance said, standing up. "I'm going to get back to exploring the multiverse. Adagio, you want to come?" Adagio looked at the fire - and sighed. "Sure." Ozai stood up. "I shall come as well." "No," Starlance said. "The invitation was only for Adagio. The rest of you are really worthless." Ozai furrowed his brow. "I was broken out of prison and gifted youth specifically for the purpose of bringing fire down upon them. I am not worthless." "You failed at that. You were supposed to be dead long ago." Starlance opened a portal. Adagio frowned. "Maybe go join your brother. He might actually have pity on you." Ozai set his features. "I need no pity." Wordlessly, Adagio followed Starlance through the portal. "CRYSTALS!" Sombra shouted, angered at their hubris. Starlance closed the portal before the attack could connect, leaving them behind. "So," Starlance said, turning to Adagio. "Any ideas?" "No," Adagio said, tears in her eyes. "Nothing... They're gone. And there's... there's nothing I can do to get them back..." "I could hypnotize Sonata for you, probably." Adagio's stomach turned. "No. I would have done that myself already..." "Have it your way." Adagio tried to gain control of herself, tried to look ahead with the same confident smirk she always held. Instead, she broke down. She rammed her fist into the earth below and screamed. ~~~ The Dude sat back. "Things are going exactly as planned." "Even those on the primary team?" Grogar asked. "Especially them," the Dude asserted. "Adagio pulled off the best music battle I've ever seen. We won't be having trouble from them." "Good." "Now, we do need to go into the next phase of the plan." "This better have something to do with the Conversion Bureau worlds..." "Somewhat." "We have the computer's information, we have the eyes on the inside of that 'party'. But what was Lielight even doing? No war broke out!" "War was not the intention, the intention was to get Eve to take questionable action. She destroyed a universe full of living, thinking beings. There may have been some question as to if they had any free will or even souls as we understand them, but a world was still destroyed." "Yes. And the news covered it for one day and then forgot about it. It's a normal occurrence with no lasting consequences!" "We don't need lasting consequences, nor do we need to sway public opinion." The Dude produced a small, red letter in his hand. "All we need to do is convince a few select people she needs to be taught a lesson on humility and caring for the lives of her people." "Believe a lie?" "An easy lie to believe." The Dude laid the letter on the table. "And when the Phantom Thieves of Hearts look into her expecting to find guilt for destroying a planet, they won't find it. But they will find an immense guilt for a much, much deeper secret, one they will not be able to see as right. And she will fall with the release of her darkest act." Grogar pondered this. Then he grinned. "Having the heroes do our work for us..." "It's a powerful tool, I'm sure you understand." The Dude stood up, letter in hand. "I must pass this off so they can prepare. The time approahces, Grogar. We must be ready for the birthday. Everything will come crashing down." ~~~ Pinkie knew it was today. Today, Vriska would return, and it would be precisely one thousand years since she was synthesized in the SBURBan ectobiology labs, by her perspective. And they would have a party worthy of such a momentous occasion. But she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. This was the climax of something, and that something was going to ruin her party. She was almost sure of it. She hoped - she really hoped - that it could be salvaged afterward and they could still make Vriska's day feel special. After whatever was going to go wrong went wrong. Luckily for her, all the guests were here, and as Vriska's friend, most of them were awesome combat specialists with freaky powers. All her fellow Sburb players were there, including John, Jade, Dave, Dirk, Roxy, Terezi, and a few others. Allure and her Sweeties, several people from Earth C, Corona, and all in all just a lot of friends ready to give Vriska the day of her life, each in a telling god-tier robe. Eve wasn't there, she was busy following something else up. Twilence was standing next to Pinkie, on edge, partially because she wasn't being referred to as 'I' in this scene, and partially because she knew I had a plan. She was right, I did have a plan. "I'm probably not going to stay here," Twilence said with a sigh. "He's going to find a way to get rid of me." "Don't worry, we'll take care of it!" Pinkie said, saluting. "We've got all the power we need! Extra Pinkies, a ton of Hat Kids, explosives, you name it, we got it! Having all these artifacts in one place gives us a loooot of destructive potential!" "The artifacts are probably what they want." "Yeah, but only we know exactly where all of them are." "Magane." Pinkie grinned. "We moved things around since then. She's got nothin' on us." Twilence looked around the expanse, frowning. She knew every single person in this room in one way or another. And yet, she had a sneaking suspicion I was one of the people here. And she was right, I was there. Her mind went into overdrive, running through eliminations, trying to figure out who it could possibly be. Carnelian? She was suspiciously present, but she was neither a human nor referred to by male pronouns. One of those dead Daves? Maybe, she didn't know all of the variations that well. That Loki fellow? Maybe, but he had been with Pinkie almost continually since they'd found him, so it seemed unlikely. All wrong, by the way. She isn't going to be able to figure me out before she gets called away to defend Eve. Eve can defend herself. This is true, if it were a purely physical attack. But Twilence happens to be aware of a group called the Phantom Thieves of Heart who, coincidentally, have been digging into Eve's past and decided she needs to have her will to hold onto her secret guilt stolen from her Palace. "Dammit," Twilence cursed under her breath. Twilence realized that she had actually been feeling them scouting out the Clock Tower for days, she had just been ignoring it. "I have to go," she told Pinkie. "He's going after Eve." "Eve? How?" "Something that can't happen yet. It is of paramount importance to the plot... and by attacking it he ensures I must go to protect it." That's right Twilence, you are but a slave to ka. You are on the other side of the pen - my pen. You have been outwitted. "This isn't over yet," Twilence said, leaving the universe. And she was gone, no longer a consequence in the game of chess that is about to unfold. Pinkie. "Oh no..." Pinkie whined. How does it feel? You know my eyes are bored into the back of your skull, but you can't see me. Pinkie whirled around, finding several pairs of eyes on her. She bit her lip. "Just do it already." I already have. Several people within the party planet subdimension felt the dimensional travel jammer go up. They were trapped. "Heroes of Merodi Universalis," Grogar said, kicking over the throne made of treasures. "Your time is at an end." He held out a hoof. "All of you will come to serve us, in time." Pinkie took out her warhammer. "Oh yeah? You and what army, goat-face?" "Who needs an army?" Grogar asked. "When you have all the magic in the artifacts in this dimension?" "Yeah, you have no idea where those a-" she saw Loki push a button. "...Ponyfeathers. In hindsight, that should have been obvious..." It really should have, shouldn't it? "I'm beginning to see why Twilence wants to run you though." One of the party planets rigged to go off like a firework exploded, revealing a red and black centaur rapidly growing in size, not only draining the magic of every artifact in the sub-dimension, but also the magic of everyone attending the party - save for his allies. Lord Tirek, empowered by Infinity Stones, Elements of Harmony, and the personal magic of a few dozen major heroes, roared. "MY POWER KNOWS NO BOUNDS!" "Not all of us can have our magic stolen that easily!" Corona shouted, throwing her fist forward and unleashing a rend of reality that tore through his arm... that quickly healed itself. "I HAVE ALL YOUR ABILITIES!" Tirek shouted. "I HAVE ALL YOUR MAGIC!" He lowered his head to their level. "AND WE WILL ENSLAVE YOU!" Chrysalis, Ba'al, Lilith, and Bleeding Heart revealed themselves. Standing in the front of the newfound group was none other than Cozy Glow herself - an adult pegasus mare with a cute smile that did not belong on her face. "Golly, looks like you're all in a pickle! Shame we're going to have to brainwash you with the Mindflayer, we could have been good friends. Or not, I don't know, but I know you'll be great servants!" Corona frowned, realizing that there were several minds here weak enough to fall for simple coercion spells. With the Mindflayer's general weak connection, it wouldn't be as powerful as IT, but Corona was going to have to fight some of her friends to deal with it. Except she made a miscalculation. The Mindflayer didn't have a weak connection. It had a direct one. The monstrous darkness tore out of the caves of a sickly-looking planet, rising into the air. The eyes of many went black with horror and screams the moment it began to spread... "GO ALL OUT!" Corona shouted, unleashing a burst of supernova energy. ~~~ "Astrid?" Lielight looked up from the legal document she was reading over to see Eve. "Hmm?" "Why are you still here?" "What do you mean?" Lielight said, expression flat. "Twilence was able to see your discussion with Adagio recently. No doubt part of the Dude's plan, but I wanted to come here anyway." She sat down in a chair and fixed Lielight with a calculating expression. "Why are you still here?" Lielight didn't answer. The Dude lies, I was a secret box! "I'm not going to hurt you, Astrid." "Lielight." "I'm going to keep calling you Astrid." Lielight had no coherent thoughts about that. "Why are you still here?" "The void expanse of life stretches before me," Lielight managed. "A completion and then... nothing." "You could have run. I doubt anyone aside from myself would have noticed." "Stake in the sand." "I know you can speak in straight. I'm giving you a modicum of respect, the least you can do is show me the same." Lielight furrowed her brow. "I was told I could remain. That I could keep this job where my skills are uniquely suited. That I could accomplish things." "And if that's what you wanted, why haven't you done anything since the Conversion Bureau incident?" "Because I was told to wait." "It's not like you to do that." "How do you know what I'm like? You only met me when I tried to take over your castle!" "I have a good sense for ponies. If not then, now. And even if you've been hiding behind a mask, there are still things I can see about you." She smiled sadly. "You really did believe everything you were saying." "My allies caused the entire incident in the first place. I was planted to ensure it went the way it did." Eve nodded. "And you still said what was correct." "I would have lied if that was what we needed." "Would you have succeeded, though?" Lielight paused. "I don't know." "Neither do I." Eve sighed. "I'm trying to figure out what to do with you. I can't have you working with Relations..." "Why aren't you just locking me up?" "That's an option. But I think there's more to you than just a mare who wants revenge for a slight committed decades ago." Lielight looked at the ground. "I have apprehended Aquamarine already. There isn't a redeeming spark in her body. But you... Like Lieshy, I think you can see." "...She died fighting for you," Lielight said. Eve put a hoof on Lielight's shoulder. "That never should have happened." "Entwined snakes at a starshow... you're trying to befriend me." "It's what we do, right? Princesses of Friendship." Lielight nodded. "I take it your other 'friends' aren't very friendly." "Some of them. They're not here right now." Lielight frowned. "...I don't even know what their big plan is. I'm just... here. Sitting. Doing nothing." "We're pretty sure they're trying something at the party planets soon." "I don't know anything." "I believe you." Lielight grimaced. "...You're being too nice. Even for you." "I see more of myself in you than I'd like to admit. I just want to give you a chance to do... something." A dimensional portal appeared next to Eve's head, depositing a red-and-white card on the table between them. Both Lielight and Eve were shocked by its sudden appearance. Curious, Eve flipped it open and read the note inside. Overhead-Charter Evening Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, Magic, and Lies... Eve's frown became a grimace. We know of your crimes against the ponies of the Conversion Bureau. The destruction of an entire universe filled with living, thinking beings just for the sake of peace. We have decided to steal away your need for secrecy and make you confess your sins to your nation. They deserve to know what really lies behind your smiling façade. This will be done within the day. We hope you are prepared. "No..." Eve said, pupils shrinking to pinpricks. "No..." "What's the problem?" Lielight asked. "You already confessed to that publicly, nobody made much of a fuss." "They'll find other things..." Eve said, a haunted expression on her face. "I... Astrid, I have to go. You... I'm not pressing charges. But I'd find somewhere that isn't the Relations Division. There's a place for you, I... I just... I have to go." She lit her horn and teleported away, leaving a very confused Lielight behind. She would leave later that day. ~~~ Phantom Thieves of Hearts... This was not the first time a version of them had come to Merodi Universalis. They were a group of driven young people from worlds under the influence of the Great Will who used their mysterious abilities to change the hearts of those they deemed evil. They would enter a manifestation of the target's mindscape - known as a Palace - and steal the deepest desire within. The heist would change the person, generally making them confess, but it could also make them lose some other dark part of themselves. Eve, the Thieves thought, was going to be a standard case. Rush in, expose her crimes of destruction, and then get out. She'd confess and be tried, nothing special. As I entered Eve's Palace, I looked back to the last few days the Thieves had spent scouting the place out. I realized with mild surprise that I had always been there, for Eve's mental image of myself had been interacting with the interior ever since Joker and his troop had first set foot in the realm... "A clock tower..." Queen observed, folding her arms. Oracle held a hand to her goggles, looking the place over. "Wonder why it's a Clock Tower..." "Fear of inevitability," Joker said, removing his hand from his signature white masquerade mask. "She knows she can't keep her secrets forever. And so the very world she rules is a ticking time bomb counting down until the truth of her is revealed." Skull grunted. "Let's just figure this place out already. I'm already expecting annoying puzzles with gears..." Morgana - a strange cat-like creature, grinned. "Oh, c'mon, puzzles are great!" "Hmph." They would enter the Tower, and have an easy time for a while. They'd fight through some mental shadows, listen to conversations between ghostly representations of the people in Eve's life, and they began to learn. "Joker?" Oracle asked, coming back from some reconnaissance. "She's... destroyed several worlds." "It's bigger than we thought..." "I don't think she feels particularly guilty about any of them. Definitely not enough to warrant a Clock Tower that must never strike midnight." "Wait," Skull said, pointing at her. "You tellin' me there's somethin' worse goin' on here?" Oracle nodded. "This place... hides a secret even darker than we imagined." Joker put a hand to his face, thoughtful. "Looks like we'll be exposing more than just a simple lost world." "We'll need to be very, very careful." They were. They acted with such impressive stealth... but I was still there. Eve held a manifestation of myself in her Palace, and as manifestations of me tend to do, they acted in ways that weren't normal. Acted with knowledge they should not have. "There aren't supposed to be any enemies in this area!" Skull shouted, summoning his Persona. A Stand-like entity that resembled a pirate captain standing atop a comically edgy ship barely large enough for him to stand on. The Persona rushed forward, meeting the wires of Lolo. He was easily pushed back as if there were nothing. "Please," the shadow of Flutterfree said, tears streaking down her face. "Please don't do this to her. Don't take away her will..." "You are too devoted to her," Queen stated, ramming into Flutterfree with her motorbike Persona. "And you don't know what you're doing!" Flutterfree shouted, filling the arena with Rage... But my shadow was still that - a shadow. Clever, able to manipulate events, but still nothing compared to me. Limited... but able to keep herself hidden. "One of us has a plan of some kind..." a shadow said, removing a gear the Thieves had just placed back in the Clock Tower. "She hasn't been acting... normal..." "How does she even move around so much?" "Perhaps she's part of the other project?" "Already that project encroaches upon our Tower..." Queen rushed in, decimating both shadows and replacing the gears. The Thieves still had no idea what the true secret was. Even after facing the shadow of... her. The thing looked like Evening. But it didn't. One moment it was a shining beacon of hope and holy light, the next it was a barely held-together ramshackle mess of exposed bone, loose tendons, and rotting flesh. A paradoxical mixture of reverence and death. "What IS that!?" Oracle shouted, hiding behind her UFO-Persona. "I don't know, but it's something real messed up!" Morgana let out a battle meow and activated his swordsman Persona, puncturing the Eve-thing in multiple places. 'She' didn't seem to care, lashing out with a nasty, bulbous limb that glowed with the power of the stars... They would beat the manifestation, like they beat all of them, and they would arrive at the door at the top of the Clock Tower. Because of how the heists work, they had to leave the Clock Tower and send a calling card to Eve... That had happened recently. Very recently. Now that the card was sent, they were running through the Clock Tower as fast as they could to reach the top, steal whatever artifact Eve's personal shadow held to represent her secrets, and get out. What they had neglected to factor into account was me. Informed by a shadow of myself who had been watching them for the last few days, I waited for them in front of the final doors. "What?" Skull shouted when he saw me. "We cleared all the big ones out of here already!" "A Twilence shadow... That's the unusual one we were hearing about," Queen said, narrowing her eyes. "Staying out of sight until the right moment." "Guys, I don't think that's a shadow," Oracle said, grimacing. "I think that's her." "Good deduction," I said, leveling my gaze on Joker. "...I have to stop you." "The world deserves to know her secrets," Joker asserted. "Whatever they are." "They already know most of the ones of consequence to them. Those that aren't will be revealed in due time - the Clock Tower exists because I told her that the secrets would be revealed. There is no escaping the inevitable." "Then why are you stopping us?" Morgana asked. "Because it can't happen now. The time is not right. She has more time before it comes crashing down on her. The story cannot be changed." Joker narrowed his eyes. "The story can always be changed. The fact that you're here is evidence of that." "The fact that I am here is because of a trap laid by a man beyond your comprehension," I said with a frown. "He is attempting to tear down Merodi Universalis from the inside, and he wanted me out of the way. So he sent you a tip about Evening's 'secrets' and directed you to her palace, so you would 'threaten' the future plot. Since there is no discernable method aside from myself to prevent you from revealing everything. I must be here." I let out a sigh. "I have no choice." "Surely Merodi Universalis is more important than... defending this lie!" "It is. But I meant it when I said I had no choice, Joker." I shook my head. "I am obligated to be here. This Eye of Rhyme is, in many ways, a curse. I want to defend my friends, I want to show that Dude's smug mug what really matters, and I want to outsmart him. But he has me here. Because I have to be. I do not get to think about the 'rightness' or 'wrongness' of what I need to do to stop you, I just get to do it." "...That's terrible," Oracle said. "It is. But, unlike me, you have a choice." I spread my wings and fixed them all with an understanding smile. "Her secrets will be revealed anyway. Nothing of this magnitude can stay hidden forever. She will suffer no small amount of pain from what she's done." Joker looked me in the eyes. "Will the people know? All of them?" I froze. "...I am uncertain." "Then we're not g-" "Because Merodi Universalis will fall if everyone knows of Eve's lies." "That's bullshit!" Skull declared. "You are talking to perhaps the one entity in the multiverse that would know this for sure. If everything she does is exposed, she gets tried, she gets impeached. The inherent TRUST we've built in our government crumbles. The face of Merodi Universalis is gone, and the rapid forward progression ends. Corruption seeps in through the open slots, and the people become restless. Our enemies take advantage of us and we cease. To. Be. And you want to know what the big secret is? What the huge, tremendous, impossible secret behind these doors is? What will bring Merodi Universalis to its knees if you do what you want to do?" The five of them stared at me with rapt attention. "The real Evening Sparkle has been dead for decades. She is a copy created shortly before her death, a mare who should not have lived. She is not the Charter-Princess." Joker took a step back. "That's..." "She was scared. Scared of her friends, what they would think, what they would do. She was right to be scared. Something like that would have driven a divide between them that would be impossible to mend. So she lied. She said she was the Eve they remembered. She tried to live normally. She only ever told me - because I knew - and Flutterfree - because she felt she needed to. We - and now you - are the only ones who know." I leaned in. "Do you want to threaten this entire nation over the mistake of a sad, terrified mare decades ago?" Joker got over his previous hesitation, walking right up to me. "If that were her only secret, we would walk away, no questions asked. But we have seen dozens, if not hundreds of acts in this Tower that need to be given more weight. She dismisses the destruction of universes!" "And you dismiss the collapse of a society," I retorted. "The truth will set you free." "The truth can be a curse and a weapon." Joker summoned his Persona - a humanoid entity with dark, angular wings. "I guess we'll see who's right, then." I sighed. I took out a piece of paper and started scribbling. "Don't mind me, just writing a note." No notes. "I'll make notes if I want to, Dude," I hissed. "Just need t-" What is it? "Just a bit of assurance that I'll win this little fight." I folded the paper up and engulfed it in fire. "No cheating." "...I think you're the one who's cheating," Skull grunted. "Maybe." I flared my wings. "Come at me." "PERSONA!" All five of them shouted. All aside from Oracle charged as a team. I knew exactly what I needed to do. All four of them were powerhouses, but with Oracle in the background they would be significantly stronger. I teleported right next to her and dissipated her Persona with a simple spell, forcing her to the ground. Before any of the others could do anything, I cast a blank spell, removing all sense of awareness from her mind. She tipped over, out cold. "Oracle!" Queen shouted, turning her bike Persona around to charge me. "She'll be fine," I said, using a shield to intercept the bike's nuclear blast, shrugging it off easily. I used the same Persona-dissipating spell on her, dropping her to the ground. She was able to cast a delayed spell to prevent the mind-blanking, but she couldn't stop an intense laser to the face. Skull and Morgana attacked - jock and cat as one, opting to avoid Personas entirely since I clearly had an easy way to remove them. Skull swung an immense magic-infused lead pipe while Morgana... turned into a car. I grabbed the lead pipe with my magic and swung Skull around into Morgana the cat-car, tossing them to the side. They were still up and ready to fight - but I had more pressing matters to deal with. I met Joker's guns with magic bolts of my own, shrugging off the bullets with ease. I charged him, powering up an immense magical explosion. And then Twilence felt the narrative slip from her hooves. "Wait, no!" Joker knew exactly what to do. He dissipated his Persona, accessing one of the other Personas he had picked up in this Palace. One of the strongest he had ever encountered, and definitely the most useful. "PERSONA!" he shouted. The shadow of Flutterfree appeared behind him as his Persona. Her eyes were solid purple with glowing tear-streaks running down her face, and her wings were tipped with blades of Rage. This Persona had a Stand. A very particular meta-oriented stand by the name of Lotus Locus that encircled Twilence in vines. This would have done next to nothing, would have been easy for the Muse of Ka to break free form. Except it targeted not only her, but her Eye of Rhyme, revealing what was latently inside of it. "No! Don't do that, you c-" Twilence froze as the Eye of Rhyme activated as it had centuries ago, filling her mind with an update - it had nothing in it, but her mind was still frozen. During this update, she was helpless. Joker recalled Flutterfree, calling out his original angel-like Persona. Now that Twilence was occupied... She could be put to sleep with a simple spell. Twilence was defeated by the hero. Joker looked around. Oracle was out of commission completely; Queen was heavily injured, while Skull and Morgana were just a little bruised. They could still take Eve's shadow like this. The mission wasn't a bust. "Let's move!" Joker called. "That's given her too much time to react!" Skull picked up the limp form of Oracle - and then they ran into the room at the top of the Clock Tower. It smelled vaguely of roses... ~~~ I looked at my handiwork. I'd let Corona put up a good fight. She'd charged right into the Mindflayer, fought it on its own terms, and used a complex series of mental magic spells to render the monstrosity completely inert. For a moment, she had looked like she would pull it off. But, of course, the computer had told me about this. That I would let her win for a moment, defeating their strongest opponent. It was really nothing to write home about - because Tirek just absorbed the Mindflayer's magic and remained in control of most the inhabitants of the party. Tirek flicked her with a finger, driving her deep into the go-kart planet, sending the karts flying into the black void. The Hat Kids jumped on her like ravenous dogs, smacking her with baseball bats. She struggled to find an opening to do much of anything without incinerating the innocent kids around her. The other heroes were busy fighting their own friends. Roxy was fighting off Carnelian, Pinkie had to take on Link and Midna, and most of the Merodi Soldiers had fallen. The Dude heard Grogar cackle. "This is it! All the heroes will fall - and be subject to our will!" "Yay!" Cozy shouted, clapping her hooves. "This is easy!" Of course it was; I was influencing it. I was ensuring they would fall like dominoes. There was nothing they could do. Their strongest Aware was Pinkie, and she could do nothing to me. She didn't even know who I was. As far as she was concerned, I was just another zombie that had been controlled by the bad guys. "Going to keep mocking our love?" Lilith shouted, taking one of Mattie's whips to the face without even flinching. "Mate, I'm not known to stop the mock train." She jumped over the psychotic Rarity and drove a hoof into Bleeding Heart. Lilith took the opportunity to bite down on Mattie's ear in an attempt to rip it off. "I see we're on the pleasure cruise," Matie commented, driving her into the ground with a pinwheel motion. "But I'm afraid I have t-" Tirek snapped his fingers and Mattie was frozen in a block of ice. "PATHETIC!" he shouted, his muscles brimming with the power of stars, his eye larger than the planets themselves. "ALL THE MAGIC IN THIS WORLD IS MINE!" Cozy Glow held up a note, scrutinizing it. Wait. A note? A note that looked suspiciously like the one Twilence had burned in the Clock Tower a moment ago. She must have used a dragonfire mimic spell. She had a backup plan. But no matter - whatever it was, it was too late. Everything was set up, and in a few minutes, the cavalry would arrive... and everything would fall into place. Like clockwork, Pinkie appeared in front of Tirek with a giant hammer. "EAT THIS!" Tirek grabbed her in his magic, sneering. "You are a foolish little pony. What can you hope to do against the centaur with the power of infinity? What dare you say to the..." And... now. A dimensional portal opened up right in Tirek's chest, tearing his body asunder. Such a thing never happened. Portals were supposed to be blocked to this universe, dimensional devices were supposed to check for safety, and they generally didn't have that much force in them. But a few unlikely coincidences could make something just like that happen. Because it was the best way for Vriska Serket to make an entrance. She charged through the portal, swinging her sword wide enough to cut through Tirek's immense form. He gagged, barely holding on to his life without the presence of a heart. He did not last much longer. Vriska took one look at him and absorbed all the luck she could manage, dropping his already slim chances of survival to none. He crumpled under the weight of his own power and lost control of his magic, losing control of all the partygoers, reducing the small army of Grogar's to nothing. "What!?" Grogar shouted. "That... that's impossible!" "Happy one-thousandth birthday Vriska!" Pinkie shouted, pulling her into a hug as the rest of the Primary Team jumped out of the portal. "Oh, a bunch of bad guys for me to slay and a universe to save?" Vriska grinned. "Pinkie, you shouldn't have." "I didn't! But I'm beginning to think that was the point all along!" Vriska rolled her dice, getting straight 8s without even trying. This was her time. This was her birthday. This was her moment of glory. As the blue armor of Mindfang took shape around her, she took a dramatic pose at the front of the team. Renee, Pinkie, Jotaro, Nova, and Flutterfree posed behind her, glowing like the heroes they were. "No! We prepared for everything!" Grogar shouted. "We..." "Are nothing more than a nice deli platter for me to cut up," Vriska cackled. She kicked Grogar across the face, tossing him to the side. Flutterfree grabbed Chrysalis, pinning her to the ground. Renee encased Ba'al in a powerful magic barrier. Jotaro pummeled Loki like he was weightless. Pinkie smacked Lilith across the head with her squeaky hammer, and Nova grabbed Bleeding Heart in a mind-blank spell, dropping her to the ground. It was all too easy. It was all exactly as I intended. I took a step forward, extending my hand to Vriska. "Happy birthday." Vriska smirked in my direction. "Aww, Dirk, you shouldn't have." She moved to pull me into one of her way-too-friendly hugs. But I would endure it - it was her birthday after all. For I, Dirk Strider, Prince of Heart, was the Dude. And I had duped Merodi Universalis, the local Legion of Doom, and none other than Twilence herself for a birthday present. I think that proves everything I want it to. Glad to have you on this little journey. I... What? Why do I... "Dirk 'the Dude' Strider fell to the ground, out cold," Cozy Glow said, tossing a tranquilizer gun to the side. "Cozy Glow took center stage." Her eyes brimmed with power as a psychotic grin crossed her face. "There's no Twilence anymore. There's no 'Dude'. There is only me and the power I took from Tirek." "Oh give it a rest, another inevitable villain betrayal?" Vriska rolled her eyes. "There's no way he didn't expect this." "Oh, he did, and he made plans for it," Cozy said, the Infinity Stones appearing around her head like a tiara. "But he didn't think it was possible for me to figure out he wasn't on our side ahead of time." She produced a hastily scrawled note on a piece of notebook paper. "Luckily Twilence took care of that." Vriska pointed her sword at her. "I'm on a roll today, pegasus. You don't have anything against me on my day. I-" Cozy's wings lit on rainbow fire. She glanced at Carnelian and drained all her magic. The poor Gem didn't poof - didn't even scream. Her entire body was drained, leaving nothing but a colorless, dead Gem behind. "Dirk said we weren't supposed to kill so we could use you. I'm not listening to that stupid rule. I will start killing people if you don't let me into all your minds right now. In fact..." She spread her wings. "I will take this entire universe and everyone in it to oblivion if you don't bow now." "CARNELIAN!" Roxy shouted, rushing Cozy without thinking. Cozy raised an eyebrow, firing a beam of energy from the Power Stone right into Roxy's chest, blowing a hole through her the size of a soccer ball. The Rogue of Void fell back, trembling, onto Carnelian's lifeless gemstone. "Anyone else?" Cozy asked. ~~~ Eve ran into the Intelligence Division Primary Office - a place that existed in its own universe, separate from everything else. Always moving, always hiding... always secret. Eve bashed into Giorno's office and slammed the calling card on his desk. "I need to get into my own palace and I need to do it now. They're going to expose my secrets. I trust you understand the weight of this situation?" Giorno stood up in alarm - he didn't need to be told why that couldn't happen. "Palace..." "Persona 5, Phantom Thieves of Hearts. You have some versions of them working for you, you should know how to find it." Giorno nodded. "We need to hurry. Down, to the lab." Eve couldn't teleport within the walls of the Intelligence Division, so the two of them ran to the elevator. Giorno used his Stand to confirm his identity and they slid down to one of the deeper levels. They ran out into a room filled with unusual machines, several sets of similar-looking cards to the one Eve had brought in, and an older woman with orange hair and large technological goggles. "Oracle, we need to trace Eve's Palace," Giorno ordered. "No questions." The elder Oracle nodded. Wordlessly, she led Eve into a tall, cylindrical glass case affixed to a red-and-black machine with numerous dials. She didn't explain anything - she closed the glass door, sealed her in, and ran the analysis. Eve felt tingly as lines of code ran across the screen, but otherwise nothing visible happened. "Got the coordinates," elder Oracle said, pointing at the screen. "Seraphim should be able to access it. I will warn you, Stands can't manifest in Palaces, but they will have Stand-like powers. I could join yo-" "No," Eve said. "I have to do this on my own." She summoned Seraphim and tore a hole in reality through its center, leading right to the front doors of an immense ethereal Clock Tower. "Thank you for your assistance." "Anything else?" Giorno asked. "If they get out anyway, you are going to have to lock me up and find a way to restore my heart to the way it was before." "I'm not certain that's possible," the elder Oracle admitted. "Which is why I'm going in." She flew through Seraphim's portal. She looked up at the Clock Tower - one minute away from midnight. She instinctively understood exactly what it meant. She was this close to having her secrets released to the world. When the bells rang, it would all be over. But they hadn't rung yet. She could still stop this. She saw them. The Thieves, jumping out the front doors of the Clock Tower - freezing when they saw her. Only two of them were standing - Joker and 'Queen', if Eve remembered her reading correctly. All the others were out cold or heavily injured from storming the Clock Tower. Joker held the treasure of Eve's heart in his hand: a small, insignificant gold key. Eve threw her calling card down in the ground in front of them. "I can't let you do this. It'll de-" "We already know," Queen spat. "Twilence told us everything. Tried to get us to turn back. We didn't." Eve frowned. "...I understand." "We understand as well," Joker said. "If you would tell everyone of your own free will..." "I won't." "Then we have to fight, 'Evening'." Eve nodded. "You're weak, bruised, battered. I don't want to hurt you." Joker sighed. "I don't want to either... but if we want out of here, we're going to have to play dirty." He summoned the shadow of Flutterfree. Eve told Seraphim to create absolute zero. It could only do it on the other side of the portal, but she could still drag the shards of ice into the new realm if she wanted. They charged. ~~~ Roxy knew she was bleeding out. She was only vaguely aware of the confrontation between Cozy Glow and everyone else... "What happened to you?" Allure demanded. "I knew you were evil, and bad, but you were never a murderous psycho!" Cozy huffed. "I've spent the last few decades living under Tirek and Grogar. They've become my family, and I've learned a lot. A lot about what it means to have power and what it means to seek revenge." She pointed a hoof at Allure. "You don't back down for any reason, not when you have a goal to accomplish. You go to the ends of existence for it." Roxy, somehow, had the strength to move despite there being a giant hole in her chest. She didn't really question it. Instead, she was busy thinking why did Dirk have to go and be such a fuckin' idiot? Anger rose up in her as she saw the lifeless form of Carnelian on the ground - colorless aside from Roxy's own blood. She's dead because of him! "John! Do something!" Pinkie called. "You think John can do anything?" Cozy asked, an amused smile on her face. "The moment he even starts thinking of zapping everywhere, I use the mind control to take over his mind. What, did you think I didn't get access to all the powers Tirek had? I'm not dumb! I just want you to give up willingly." "What do you think the chances of that are?" Vriska asked with a sneer. "Slim, admittedly, but the chances go up with the body count!" Roxy felt her vision swimming away. She was going to die. Didn't matter if it was Heroic or Just or not, the Gallifreyans had that lock on her soul. She'd be sent away to fight Lord English. Alive... but likely not able to see any of the friends she had made here ever again. Sent back to her life... There had to be something. Something she could do... "Desperate?" With significant effort, Roxy tilted her head toward a familiar psychotic unicorn. "Gems have life-absorption properties, you know," Lilith said. "You're holding one in your hands." Roxy looked at the crystal that had once been Carnelian. She furrowed her brow. "W-why?" "Because that Cozy bitch needs to be flayed," Lilith muttered. "Do it before you die, okay?" Several Aradias came after Cozy from different timestreams, but the time-related powers flowed through the Time Stone and rendered all the Aradias useless, turning them all to corpses. "I have Time under my control!" Cozy shouted. "I could have John retcon anything you might do away! I can squish you by magical power alone!" She glowered. "Surrender or die." Roxy used her Void powers to tap into the lifeless crystal. There was nothing in there... just an empty computer matrix devoid of all magical energy. She only had seconds... she needed to activate its life-absorption matrix somehow... somehow... Desperate, she shoved it into the hole in her chest, coating it in her blood. As the Rogue of Void, she could steal the 'lack of concept' from something. She wasn't sure what exactly would work here, so she stole the concept of 'off'. That did it. The gemstone flashed brightly, and Roxy was reduced to dust. Nobody aside from Lilith even noticed, for the Void kept her shrouded. The once dead, white crystal filled with red life... and sat there. "You're all thinking of plans, of machinations," Cozy said, stamping her hoof. "But you have no options here. Not anymore." "I think we have options," Pinkie said. "What?" "Keep talking until Twilence gets back or Dirk wakes up. Or, how about this, turn ourselves in and then have Twilence show up when she's done with whatever she's doing! Or, heck, Eve. I bet Eve could have some fun here. Then there's Nanoha, any number of our allies..." "That doesn't help you now." "Oh, now? Well, now, neither Dirk nor Twilence are here, so..." Pinkie put a hoof to her chin. "General story rules apply again. And you're being a pretty nasty villain." "I went to the computer myself," Cozy Glow said with a smirk. "It assured us we would win." "It can lie," Allure pointed out. "As far as I know, it only told 'the Dude' one lie: that no one would die." "And it hasn't told the rest of you lies?" "Maybe?" Cozy said, shrugging. "I'm just acting on what I know here." The Carnelian gemstone flashed. At first, it tried to take its somewhat short humanoid form, but quickly decided that wasn't worth it. The gemstone took its position on the back of a tall, slender, feminine humanoid. She popped into existence without much fanfare, her body a pale red shade rather than the deep color that Carnelian had worn prior. Her hair was light, curled in one spot, and her eyes were a bright pink. The robes of the Rogue of Void appeared around her, as dark blue as always, contrasting her pale crimson. She took in her surroundings. She was... a Gem. Specifically, a Carnelian. Not the Carnelian... there was only one mind in there, and that mind was Roxy Lalonde. But she was no longer human. She was a genderless magical space rock with her entire self stored on a hard crystal affixed to the base of her neck. She didn't feel all... there. But she could see Cozy. And, at the moment, Cozy couldn't see her. She reached to touch her gemstone, slowly pulling out a hard-light sword reminiscent of a katana. Slowly, but surely, she moved toward Cozy. Unnoticed... invisible... She swung her sword. "IDIOT!" Cozy shouted, grabbing the sword with magic Roxy couldn't identify. She tore it out of Roxy's hands, teleported it behind the new Gem and drove the tip into the crystal. There was a sickening crack. ~~~ Joker was alarmed to discover that Eve had no difficulty at all beating Flutterfree's shadow into the ground. The Overhead knew the mare like the back of her hoof - and her mental projection of the pegasus even more so. The stolen Persona was tossed around like a ragdoll easily, her revelation power only seeking to harm her chances of winning. "We're well aware of the chances one of us might go evil one day," Eve said, kicking Flutterfree between the eyes to end another Rage-endowed attack. "I know everything to take her out should I need to. And she has people on speed-dial to take care of me." "She can't beat you?" Joker asked, swapping Flutterfree out for his usual dark angel Persona. "No. Seraphim makes that too difficult," Eve admitted. "You're lucky I can't bring it in here. I could just render your Personas useless." "Twilence didn't need a Stand to do that," Queen commented, driving her nuclear-endowed motorcycle-Persona right into Eve's face, blowing her across the arena. She picked up Joker and tried to make a run from the palace, but Eve teleported the two of them right next to her. She grabbed ice from the portal and surrounded the three of them in a dark, cold whirlwind. "I don't need to cancel your powers," Eve declared. She accessed the power of Celestia, creating a miniature sun in the air. She blew it up, shattering the whirlwind of ice and tossing the two Thieves backward. Queen broke her leg on the landing, effectively removing her from the fight. It was just Joker and Eve now. Joker tightened his grip on the golden key. He was breathing heavily - heavier than he had in a long while. He'd essentially just gone through a triple boss rush. His team was down, and he himself had been beaten nearly to death multiple times today alone. He didn't like his odds. But that wasn't going to stop him from trying. "PERSONA!" he raged, tapping into dark magics as his Persona engulfed him. He charged Eve. She encased herself in a sheen of ice and brought another mini-sun into existence. He missed her on purpose, jumping past her toward the open portal Seraphim was keeping. He held the key out on the tips of his fingers. If it could just cross the dimensional barrier... "You will never reach reality," Giorno said from the other side of the portal, summoning his Stand and holding its palm to the swirling portal. The moment the key attempted to cross the barrier... it couldn't, the power of Gold Experience Requiem preventing it from ever leaving the world. While it was in Joker's hands, anyway. He ordered his Persona to pick up the key and throw it through the portal. The moment he released it to his Persona, Eve flew in and grabbed it herself. With a swift kick, she pushed Joker through the portal. His persona dissipated, as did most of his power. Giorno quickly subdued him, hand over the mouth to prevent him from saying anything. "I will have to wipe him," Giorno said. "And any others that are in there." "I know," Eve said, frowning. "...I'm sorry, Joker." Joker looked at her not with vengeance or anger - but pity. With a curt nod, Eve looked at the key in her magic. It was small, golden, and would no doubt fit perfectly in one of the clocks she owned. But she couldn't remove it from her own Palace. She had to maintain her own secrecy. She teleported to the room at the top of the Tower, finding me lying unconscious at the doorway. She picked me up in her magic and walked into the final room. Gears. Gears everywhere, marred by a scent of roses. In the center of the room was a pedestal, on of which a representation of the Dark Tower stood. She swore she could hear it whispering to her. Was it her own mind, or had she created a manifestation of the Tower through her subconscious? She didn't know. All she did was lay the golden key at the base of the tower... and left. The Phantom Thieves of Hearts would be returned to the desert town in Celestia City the next day with no memory of anything that had happened. ~~~ Corona held her arms in front of her, glowing with the sickly colors of Doom. Her limbs were crossed - one pointing at Cozy, one at Roxy. The Doom of Roxy had transferred to Cozy. The pegasus mare's skull had fractured as though a sword had been rammed through it with enough power to split atoms. Cozy's lifeless form slumped to the ground, dead. Corona let out a sigh of relief. "That Doom power is really helpful," Flutterfree commented. Corona barely had enough energy to nod in her direction. Roxy gingerly touched her gemstone. Not a scratch on it. Her relief was quickly replaced by pain. Carnelian... Eve and I appeared in the universe at that moment, ready to help with whatever was left. It was quickly clear to us that we had arrived too late for that. The villains had already been defeated, the final sacrifices made, the climax at an end. And so I did the second thing on my list. I woke Dirk up with a lightning bolt to the face. "Get up," I ordered. He did, his face as expressionless as always. "Your arrogance is disgusting," I spat. "I could say the same of you." "At least I care." "And I don't? This entire thing was just for Vriska." "You're kidding yourself," I growled. "Who the fuck cares if most of it was to fuck with you? I chose to do it as a present for Vriska." "That didn't work!" "Please, the only damage that was actually done was that Gem, and I'm sure we can find some way to get her back." "You threatened the stability of Merodi Universalis!" "I knew that anything I did could not change what ka needs to happen. Not with the retroactive Narrative." I glared at him. "You took full advantage of it... But you are wrong, things could be changed. Roxy wasn't a Gem. Now she is." "She's better off that way." "I know that!" I spat. "I know it's more 'her', but we're not talking about that! We're talking about your reckless behavior! You were duped by Cozy Glow! How were you not expecting that?" "I was. I was not expecting you to give her what she needed to turn against me." "Come again?" "If you hadn't sent that note, Cozy would have believed I was on their side. She would not have betrayed me. She would have gone down just like the rest of them since she wouldn't have prepared to take Tirek's power. But you told her there was no way I was on their side. Correct, but it gave her the chance to do what she wanted." "DIRK!" Vriska shouted, pointing a sword at his neck. "You. Suck." "You appreciated the gift at first." "Yeah, well, I'm a shortsighted self-absorbed spiderbitch who needs a second to think about things before making judgments! You're a super-genius mastermind! You shouldn't have even tried this!" "He can't stand being in the background," I said, distasteful. "I told him to watch his place. He wouldn't accept that." "Would you?" Dirk asked. "I would love it if this Eye would go away." "I'm indifferent about the Ultimate Self." I frowned. "...We can't just let you walk away from this." "Fuck, really? Do you want to turn me into an actual villain? Conniving ways to get back at you for ruining my attempt at a birthday party? That's a lame backstory, you need to think of something bet-" Roxy cut off his head with her sword. Everyone was silent. "The Gallifreyans have him now," Roxy said, dissipating her sword. "He'll be sent back to fight Lord English. We know he survives the encounter. But he won't be doing anything like this to any of us again. Fuckin' asshole." She turned and walked away. "Roxy..." John called. "I don't want to hear it, John." John zapped in front of her. "I said I-" John held out a perfectly healthy version of Carnelian from the metapast. "C-carnelian..." Roxy said, eyes wide. "I..." Carnelian took one look at Roxy and shuddered in fear. It was like looking at her own dead body. "I..." Roxy made herself invisible. With a sigh, Vriska turned to Pinkie. "...Pinks...?" "Y-yeah?" Pinkie asked. "I'm sorry. Not really in the mood for a party." "I... I understand." Pinkie was trying not to cry. Vriska nodded slowly. She took one look at Dirk's body, contemplating driving her sword into it. She decided that would be pointless. She just wanted to go home. ~~~ And so things, in a way, returned to the way they were before. A few minor differences. Roxy was a Gem, but you'd be surprised how little that changed things, overall. All the heroes ended up in more or less the same place they were before. Allure continued working with the League, Corona continued research and exploration, Eve continued working as the Overhead, Renee returned to her post, and Pinkie continued leading the Primary Team. The villains had different fates. Many of them were dead. A few just vanished off the face of the planet, never to be seen again. Both Ba'al and Loki managed to slip away. Grogar was imprisoned and placed into Nautica under maximum security guard, surprised to find a few alternate versions of himself in there. He lived the rest of his days as a bitter, angry goat, which was to say his days in prison were about the same as they were out of prison. Chrysalis was sent back to Thorax. She was completely off-the-rocker mad, but the Changelings took her in and promised to see what they could do for her. Don't hold out, that queen lost her mind so long ago there's little chance she regains much of anything even with acceptance from those who shunned her leadership. Sometimes you'll hear stories of Adagio and Starlance out there in the multiverse, staying as far away from higher societies as possible. As it turned out, the Mindflayer hadn't been completely defeated, but it had been slowed considerably - efforts by the TSAB to extinguish the multiversal plague were met with success for the first time in many years. Magane appeared here and there, cryptic and manipulative as always, never letting anyone be certain if she was really evil or just insane. Lilith was locked up and placed in an asylum. Bleeding Heart was allowed to go free - but she spends most her time at the asylum with Lilith anyway. The two are essentially inseparable in what Mattie would call a "right screwy relationship." There was a funeral for Dirk. No one felt right about it. Dave didn't even show up. They all knew Dirk was still around, just not with them at the moment. And that he had brought this on himself. Roxy couldn't bring herself to attend. Roxy tried to reconnect with Carnelian, but the Gem had decided it was all too much. The party, seeing her dead self walking around like a zombie, it... she needed to go back to Homeworld and get away from the craziness. Roxy accepted this, and they drifted apart, as people tend to do. Lielight... Well, at last, here's some good news. "Hey, Lielight?" Lielight looked up from her newspaper that was supposed to be inconspicuous. "Eve, I'm getting out like you want." "I've changed my mind." Eve smiled warmly. "You can stay and work. As Astrid, as Lielight, whoever you want." "Barrel primates! Why!?" "...There was once a filly by the name of Cozy Glow. We locked her away instead of trying to help her. ...Granted, I do think she really was hopeless. But because we locked her away, she became even more of a monster than she had been at the start." Eve extended a hoof. "I see a spark of something in you. I'm not going to push that away. Plus, your opinions are very different from mine. That's very helpful in our career path." Lielight paused for a moment - then shook the hoof. "I fully expect to let you down and drive you insane." "Wouldn't have it any other way." And now... let's back up a bit. All this stuff is important, yes, but not as important as what happened shortly after the party exploded. ~~~ Vriska walked into the diner on Earth C to the beautiful smell of a banquet. It may have been breakfast time, but her friends had ordered steak, turkey, high-quality salads, and some special drinks in addition to the normal breakfast stuff. In the center of the humble diner table was a cobalt-blue cake with the number 1000 written on it in icing. "It hasn't been twenty-four hours yet," Pinkie said, grinning. "Technically still your birthday." "Have a seat, have some cake," Flutterfree encouraged. "It's not going to explode, is it?" Vriska asked, sitting down. Pinkie shook her head. "It's just a cake. Something simple." Vriska took a slice out of the sugary substance and shoved a copious amount into her mouth. "Delicious as always, Pinks." "I try," Pinkie said with a smile. Vriska looked around at her friends. There weren't too many here - just the rest of her team, Renee, Eve, Aradia, Hastur, and Starbeat. The people she cared the most about. This thought would have made her twitch in revulsion before she came to the ponies, but today it just let her smile a big, dopey smile. "You're all the best," she said, simply. "Yeah, I know, Vriska being sappy." "I like it," Starbeat said. "It suits you." "Really? I thought it came out of nowhere like an exploding cat." Starbeat rolled her eyes at Hastur. "Riiiiiight." "So, I see you're keeping the Rage robes," Vriska observed, pointing at Flutterfree. "Wasn't that just to keep me off the scent?" "It was," Flutterfree admitted. "But... well, I've been wearing them so long, it'd seem odd to take them off now. I guess if this entire ordeal gave me anything, it was a connection to my inner self." "And experiences!" Renee declared. "Remember, the ending is not all there is - there were many other memories!" "Remember when we decimated Adagio's band?" Nova asked. "Oh, I have to hear about this!" Pinkie said, slamming her hooves on the table in mock indignation. "Come on, spill the beans! Sounds like quite the story!" There was a chorus of laughs that never quite stopped as Nova relayed the encounter with Adagio in the world of music. Soon, everyone was smiling and having a merry time just eating with one another. No fancy treasure hunt, no party planets, not even any party games. Just a big meal and a bunch of friends. I did go way, way overboard, Pinkie admitted to herself. I forgot that, sometimes, the biggest parties aren't the best ones. Often it's the small, insignificant things that will stay with you the longest. "...And then I locked guitars with the chaos monstrosity!" Vriska declared, jumping up on the table to reenact the scene. "I put the strings behind my back and swung through the air, coming down on his head with a THWACK and a HACK and a BA-BAM!" "How could you possibly keep playing like that?" Eve asked. "She just did," Renee said with a shrug. "It was the clash of the ages!" Vriska continued - annoying Nova with her continued hijacking of the story. "And then... Renee, you gotta. Give us a little song." "Oh, uh..." Renee cleared her throat. "I don't remember the words exactly..." "Come on!" Pinkie said, clapping her hooves. "Just give us what you think it was! I'm sure we'll get the jist of it!" Aradia nodded. "I would love to hear you sing, Renee." Renee nodded, clearing her throat. "Well then... I don't remember much, but I do remember this." With a deep breath, she belted out two resonant lines. "We are the primary team! We shall stand tall evermore!" Eve, Renee, Pinkie, Nova, Flutterfree, Jotaro, Vriska... Heroes.
Songs of the Spheres	101 - The Spark	Outpost 61 didn't have a name besides its designation. A grand total of five people lived in Outpost 61, all five of whom were scientists there only as part of a research project. The universe they occupied had one very interesting property they called 'planet-jumping physics'. The entire universe was uninhabited, but it was filled with planets and stars so close together people could jump from one to another. In addition, the cosmic bodies were so small that some could be walked around in seconds. How gravity could be so strong and yet so weak flew in the face of all common sense. Which was why Outpost 61 was here. There were possible plans to colonize Planetary Proxima in the future, but that would only happen once the scientific research had gained an understanding of how everything worked so buildings could be built without fear of them flying into another planet. The head of this expedition was an alternate version of Daniel Jackson who went by Danny. He was younger than the Daniel Renee knew, wore a labcoat, and had a dirty pair of goggles pushing up his messy hair. Currently he was sitting in Outpost 61's control room, annoyed at the uncooperative sensors. There had been a power surge and now he was getting inconsistent readings, which annoyed him to no end. He was so fixated on this he missed the beautiful sunrise - though admittedly this happened every few hours so it wasn't that impressive even if the 'sun' was less than a mile away. Just one of the commonplace things in Planetary Proxima that would be odd elsewhere. He fixed the sensors by crossing three separate wires over a magical power node. "Finally." He sat up, taking a look at the readings. Most everything was normal, aside from a slight surge of dimensional energy. He would have looked into that, but there was another alert telling him something was broken. The reality anchor that kept their base from flying off when the inconsistent gravity of Planetary Proxima fluctuated wasn't functioning. He wasn't particularly worried - the chances of a gravitational fluctuation happening were minimal, and even then Outpost 61 was designed to handle it. It was more likely to send anything not tied down flying uncomfortably into a wall or something. He supposed that might break a bone if it happened just wrong. He got out of his seat, preparing to go to the basement and fix the reality anchor, but this was when none other than Aradia Megido, Maid of Time, appeared behind him. "You need to evacuate this Outpost. Now." "W-Why?" "This universe doesn't exist in an hour, that good enough?!" Danny nodded profusely. "Just let me grab the data." Aradia accelerated him so he could remove the backup data core from the computer. Despite this, she felt the fabric of the universe start to shift around her before he was done. She fixed this by freezing time everywhere except inside the Outpost. Danny stood up with a black box in his hands. "Done - wait, what?" He looked out the window. Instead of seeing the motions of planets, he saw a bunch of planets being stretched like noodles, but frozen in time. "Analyze it later, I don't want to chance that this can break through a time stop," Aradia said. "Put out the evacuation order." Danny turned on the red alert. "All hands - leave the universe!" He watched the sensors - all four of the other life signs vanished, indicating immediate evacuation. He pulled out his dimensional device and did the same, leaping through with the black box. He looked back through at Aradia. "I'll catch up," Aradia said. "I'll be fine." Danny nodded, closing the portal. Aradia moved herself outside the base, standing atop its domed metallic structure. She allowed time to resume and watched as every planet, star, and other object within the universe began to coalesce into a single point, creating a brand new world of fire, earth, and unusual gravity. She couldn't see why this was happening. Nothing to indicate why this universe was collapsing in on itself. She couldn't stay any longer - the mass of that planet was about to become like a black hole, and those always did bizarre, unpredictable things to her Time abilities. She left the universe, entering the same world Danny had. This world was a larger scientific outpost that Merodi Universalis had installed as a space station in an empty universe. The station carefully bent space around it so nobody would open a dimensional portal into empty space unless they were actually trying. The rest of Danny's team was there as well - a Skaian Jade, a yellow Gem, and a pair of ponies that were either twins or alternate versions of each other. All of them had already crowded around a public terminal, the black box plugged in. The Jade - notably without dog ears or god-tier robes - was moving her fingers quickly across the holographic display. "Found it." "Found what?" Aradia asked. "What caused this." She played a video file. "Right when the distortions started, the cameras picked up this." The video showed a place between two planets. A ship corkscrewed into existence, sat there for a moment, and corkscrewed out. It was shaped vaguely like a manta ray with two threads coming from the head and flowing over the back. Aradia stared. "...That's a Skarn ship." "...Skarn?" Danny asked. "I need to tell the Overheads about this immediately." She told them a little earlier than immediately. Because she could do that. ~~~ The nameless Research Overhead robot finished giving the very brief report to the Merodi Overheads. The star-like lights on his smooth, featureless face flashed with red sparkles, indicating his anger. "Skarn attacked one of our outposts in order to absorb the universe's interesting physics. It is only thanks to the Handmaid that no lives were lost, and only then because she received a tip through vague prophecy." The Research Overhead glanced at all twelve of the other Overheads. "We had a fully functioning beacon in that universe, and Skarn and all his children know what those are. This was an attack." "Isn't it possible he was just careless?" Celeste of Education asked. "Does that matter!?" Renee blurted. "Even if it was careless, what if this happens again!? What if Aradia isn't there to evacuate?!" "It doesn't make a difference," O'Neill said. "Our universes aren't safe from him." "It means he's either completely apathetic about us, or he's trying to get us to react," Giorno said. "If it's the former, he's going to regret it. If it's the latter..." "How can we not react?" Jingle of Aid demanded. "We've just been attacked! If it happens once, it can happen again!" "We can't let this stand," Eve said. "Not that we want to tell you we told you so," Renee muttered. "But we told you so." Eve put a hoof on Renee, indicating she should calm down. Ava tapped her fingers together. "Who thinks we shouldn't retaliate?" Only Commerce and Cultural indicated their disagreement this time. Ava nodded. "I move that now is the time to face Skarn. He has shown that he is a possible threat to us even without our aggression. There is no further reason to delay the inevitable. We've already discussed this once before, unless anyone thinks there needs to be deliberation, we shall vote now." There was no objections. "All for retaliation?" Eleven votes - including Maud and Ava. "All against?" Just Commerce and Cultural. "Eleven to two," Ava said, lowering her hand. "O'Neill, the responsibility for following this through falls mostly to you." O'Neill nodded. "I'll need Expansion and Oversight on board as well - we need to erect defenses before we launch our attack. We can't let any of our member universes suffer from reality anchor failure. Renee, prepare your teams, I may need some of your people if plan A doesn't pan out. Eve, can you write up a declaration of war?" Eve nodded. "Of course." "Giorno, I take it you've got more intel on Skarn now than we did last time?" Giorno nodded. "Significantly more. I'll transfer everything we have directly to your database." O'Neill nodded. "Everyone else, we're about to be in a war. We're sure as hell not ready as a society, as Cultural and Commerce's reservations tell us. But our hand has been forced, so we have to get ready." He stood up. "It'll take a few days to erect the proper defenses. Giorno, is Skarn watching us?" "We have not detected any actions in Merodi space prior to this incident." "This entire thing is fishy and reeks of a trap," O'Neill said. "So I want everyone to be prepared for everything to go south. Don't assume any of you are safe or have no responsibility in this war we're going to get into. Everyone will feel it. Everyone." The Overheads nodded. ~~~ The Merodi Universalis fleet did not have hummingbird drives on every ship, simply because many of them were too big. Especially the protomolecule planetary monstrosities. However, because they had the protomolecule's planets, they had bothered to create planet-sized dimensional gateways. One in particular had been built in the Gem Vein, and this was where the Merodi were planning to start the war. Currently, the planetary gateway was glowing a deep red, indicating it was connecting to a universe more than one connection away. A brilliant, blue planet with vibrant tentacles passed through the portal, joining a few dozen other, similar planets. They were of varying sizes, but none more than twice as large as an Earth. All of them glowed an ominous blue, had a few of the rippling tentacles, and had truly tremendous engines embedded into their crusts. These engines operated on a mixture of protomolecule shifting and zero-point energy. They were the size of cities, but even with their power these planetary beings were still slow. The good news was that they could hold a lot. The entire rest of the fleet could land on the surface of just one of them, and each of them were being retrofitted with dozens of reality anchors. Only a few more needed to get into the fleet before they were ready. It had already taken a few days to organize everything, what was a few more minutes? A lot if you were Yellow Diamond, frontline commander of the Merodi offense. She had been waiting for this a long time. Finally, she was able to do what she had done best back before the multiverse opened - wage war. She may have grown to understand and even respect the squishy little biological beings, but she had still thought they were too soft. That opinion might have been about to change... But she had to actually get to the fighting to be sure if they were really willing to go through with this. She hoped so. She also hoped she got to be the one to kill that whelp, Skarn. He was too much of a moron to have Yellow Diamond's respect. Conquering for the sake of art? Not making use of the power you have to increase your own? Even more asinine than conquering through the art of diplomacy and peace. At least that still increased your power, no matter how embarrassing it was. Yellow Diamond checked over her fleet once again, examining the thousands of ships that had converged in this one universe. She had to edit out the protomolecule planets, for they dominated the view. Then she could see what she truly had at her disposal. The Gem Armada was her pride even though she was sitting on the bridge of a Merodi joint-construction ship, the Andromeda. The Andromeda was just too boring for her tastes - sure, it was the most advanced ship in the fleet, equipped with just about every weapon imaginable and multiple Spectral Rods on board, not to mention a truly monstrous reality anchor. But there was just something about seeing the large hand shapes of Gem ships that made Yellow Diamond feel more in control of them. They would be effective at long range and magic resistance. They had a lot of other ships as well. From Earth Tau'ri they had the bulky, hefty ships of the Tau'ri themselves, good for tanking damage. The Asgard ships were not as sturdy, but faster with more precise, effective weaponry. The Ori Reform ships were slow, but accessed high-efficiency spiritual-based weaponry that could possibly breach defenses other weapons would not be able to. There were even a few ships from a race Yellow Diamond did not know well, the Wraith, who were apparently space vampires who lived on their 'hive' ships. Yellow Diamond had no idea how many of these ships came from alternate versions of Earth Tau'ri; all she knew was that they made up a large bulk of the whole fleet. Merodi Universalis' only full member universe within the D-Sphere, Elemental Eight's Heaven, had sent a full contingent of high angels, each of them glowing with the light of a star, ready to free the Congeries from a brutal tyrant. Galaxa Quadrants had sent their own ships as well. While not as expansive as Earth Tau'ri's fleets, the strange disc-shaped ships with blue nacelles made great additions to the fleet. Yellow Diamond expected them to be nimble and precise, though they weren't among the stronger ships in the fleet. Then there were the Reapers. The Flat, unusual ships that would likely confuse Skarn's forces with their unconventional dimensionality, as well as their indoctrination ability. Some of the lesser Merodi allies had sent aid as well. Galaxa Immaterium still wasn't even close to being part of the Merodi, but virtually all the races in that wartorn galaxy realized they owed the Merodi a lot, even if their universe was still in a near-constant state of war. The Emperor of Mankind had sent a full contingent of Imperium ships, including what he called "THE MOST MARY-SUE OF ALL MARINES IN EXISTENCE, THE SMURFS." Officially called Ultramarines, they apparently had a penchant for winning. To everyone's immense surprise, Tzeentch had given some of his multiversal holdings to the effort - nobody trusted him, but they had taken the help anyway. Then there were the joint Merodi ships like the Andromeda which could not be classified, since each and every one was a little unique, designed out of many different varieties of technology smashed together into war machines and exploration vessels. Their names were as varied as the cultures that made them: Austraeoh, Yggdrasil, Nibiru, Pittacus, Eleven On High, etcetera. These ships were the ones that held the god-tier Skaians. There were nowhere near as many as there had been in the fight against the Combine and Horrorterrors, and they were no longer in a space specifically designed to their forms. Nevertheless, they would be some of the heaviest hitters imaginable, possibly able to turn Skarn's shaping against him. The strongest weapon of Merodi Universalis, John Egbert, had been left behind on purpose, against Yellow Diamond's wishes. Apparently John had personally requested not to be involved in the war, and everyone had just agreed. They were all too afraid to use his power unless it was absolutely necessary. Whatever. They didn't need it. Equis Cosmic's ships were notably absent from the fleet, for they were the ones tasked with the defense of Merodi Universalis using Cosmo's harmonic energies. Yellow Diamond was only a little disappointed she wasn't going to get to see Skarn's surprise at the defense plan they had. But Yellow Diamond was on the more glorious path. That of conquest. She was going to depose Skarn. The protomolecule's Investigator appeared to Yellow Diamond. "All through." Yellow Diamond nodded. "They all understand?" "No infecting civilians, and don't augment our personnel without a life-or-death scenario or personal request. Don't worry, signal's great on those worlds, nothin's going to go hoppin' away and doin' its own thing." Yellow Diamond noticed the bridge was staring at her. "It's the Investigator," she explained, fixing them all with steeled glares. "Open a channel to all ships." She stood up tall, making sure to look as powerful and authoritative as possible. "ALL SHIPS! Move into near orbit around PM-Prime, and prepare to move with it through the ring! Dial the Congeries with the Ring! Tell General O'Neill we're moving out! Prepare the declaration of war!" The thousands-strong armada went into orbit around the largest of the protomolecule planets, the Andromeda at the 'front'. The Ring flashed bright red and started drilling through universes - even with Giorno's reconnaissance missions, they still had to cut through twenty different universes to establish a connection to the Congeries, and that took a lot of power for a portal this large. Enough power that not only did the Ring have to absorb energy from the black hole it was orbiting, but other versions of the black hole in other universes through smaller portals and zero-point energy mixed with magical accumulators. It was an impressive feat of engineering, but they were able to move the entire fleet at once. They only had one god-tier Jade with them - the League's 'office dog'. She took it upon herself to shrink the protomolecule planets that weren't the main one so they could be moved through the portal quickly. PM-Prime fired its tremendous engine, passing through the dimensional boundary created by the ring to arrive in the Congeries. Jade came through with all the other planets and began growing them all to size. "Cut power to the ring," Yellow Diamond said. They had all the ships they would need in the Congeries - if they needed reinforcements, it would just be personnel, and they did not need a portal that large for personnel. "Take formation!" The entire fleet arranged itself like a spearhead, pointing toward one location. Giorno had managed to obtain a lot more intelligence about the location of the Shaping Mechanism and the effective center of the Congeries. The knew exactly where it was and how 'far' it was, relatively speaking at least. They just had to get there and utterly destroy it. If they were lucky, Skarn wouldn't have time to mount a resistance before they arrived. But Yellow Diamond knew he would. She was hoping for it. A war could not be glorious if it were easy. "Activate the warp field!" She ordered the fleet. The ships at the front of the armada twisted space around them to create an elongated warp field, burning all the power they could manage to encompass the protomolecule planets in the field. The fleet shot off in a shared FTL grouping to the center of the Congeries, passing through universe after universe physically. It cost a lot less energy to create a smooth warp drive than a tremendous dimensional portal. ~~~ "Father, you need to see this," Brell said, walking up to Skarn. "Can't you see I'm busy?" Skarn said, his hands on the blue globe he used to control the Shaping Mechanism, eyes fixated on the multicolored strands that showed him the creation of a new piece of art. An Earth where the same day kept repeating over and over, and everyone was aware of it, but they couldn't step outside of fate. "Father, we have unwanted visitors. They have a message directly for you." Skarn paused. He took his hands off the globe, making the strands lose their cohesion, no longer displaying anything. "What?" Brell played a video. An image of Eve appeared on a holographic screen. "Several months ago by our central calendar, one of our agents followed your son, Arthon, back to the Congeries because we were suspicious of the lack of information you shared with us about your home. This agent did not return to us, but the data she collected did. Her ship showed us the horrible things you create for the sake of art in your Congeries - entire universes nothing but clay to you for your own aesthetic enjoyment. "A vote was cast as soon as this information came to light. Should we retaliate against the obvious crimes against existence, or simply cut you off to avoid a large-scale conflict? The vote ended in favor of the cautious route. We cut you out of our lives and refused to tell you why, so as to not prompt a response from you. "Then the universe we knew as Planetary Proxima was... attacked by your Shaping Mechanism. That universe had a clearly functioning beacon that told you it was ours, and you ignored it. You have demonstrated that you either do not care about our claims, or that you wish to prod us for a reaction. If you wanted the latter, you're in luck. This is Merodi Universalis' formal notice of declaration of war on the Congeries. By the time you receive this message our fleet will already be in the Congeries, heading right for you. "I am Evening Sparkle, Overhead of Relations for Merodi Universalis. End message." Skarn rammed his fist into a wall, forcing the atoms within to fuse and explode. Brell contained the explosion with her own cosmic powers. "Did you really attack them?" "I don't know," Skarn muttered. "It's possible in one of my fits of inspiration... They do have colonies spread out across the universes. One of them could have been nearby and I just didn't know about it..." "Father..." Skarn sighed. "I know, the fact that I don't know is just going to prove Arthon right. We have bigger problems right now, though. Tell Arthon to prepare the armies as quickly as he can. They did the honorable thing and let us know there was a war before it began, but they do have us at a disadvantage with the amount of preparation time they no doubt had." Brell nodded. "Of course." "I will respond to them, and then use the Shaper to do what I can. They would not have come here without defenses, however." Brell left, leaving Skarn alone. He growled and recorded a message of his own. "Then let it be so! The Congeries reciprocate Merodi Universalis' declaration of war! We shall meet you on the battlefield both here and on your home front! Do not think this will be a quick war, an easy war, or a war you will go through without heavy losses! You will be defeated, and you will become part of the cosmic art within my space! The only difference is that now you will be here by force, rather than choice! I believed you could be persuaded to appreciate the Congeries, but that is clearly not so! "I, Skarn the Shaper, am disappointed it had to come to this. Even though I respect your decision to issue a formal declaration of war, I will not hold back against your forces. We will both fight with all our might! And you will discover that your might is not enough!" Skarn let out a bear's roar. "I ACCEPT THIS CHALLENGE!" He sent the message. He waited a few minutes; just to make sure the Merodi fleet would receive it and be able to understand what it meant. Then he placed his hands on the blue globe, extending his will into the outer Congeries... ~~~ Cosmo received Skarn's declaration of war and knew it was time. She sat on the bridge of her personal ship - the flower designed to amplify her own powers of Harmony. She had used it many times before. First to exterminate the alien aggressors of Equis Cosmic, later to fight Majora head on, and now as a purely defensive measure against the coming fleets of Skarn. However, this time was going to be a little different. Normally the harmonious energies could only act on one world. But this time they needed to defend every Merodi Universalis member - a few hundred universes now. Admittedly, this did not count minor or distant colonies, which would only be receiving minimal defenses because they were low value targets. But all of those universes needed help from Cosmo's control over harmony. And they'd figured out a way to do it. The entire fleet of Equis Cosmic was spread out in every universe over every major planet of Merodi Universalis. It was the only fleet large enough to do this, since Equis Cosmic was the only major universe that controlled an entire galaxy. This allocation of the fleet had left many of Equis Cosmic's worlds less defended than Cosmo would have liked, but this was war - they had to take the best of all possible options, even if it left some people vulnerable. Every ship of Cosmo's fleet was equipped with a program that would open a series of wormholes and dimensional portals to connect every ship to Cosmo's flagship, allowing her to spread her harmonious energy everywhere. However, strong as she was, that would be spread out too thin to have any major impact on the defense of the Merodi worlds. Which was why every single Tree of Harmony or equivalent under Merodi space was going to add their power as well. While the ancient beings that were usually Stars rarely had versions that spoke, the Merodi had seers that could judge their moods. All of them were willing to lend their assistance to the defense of Merodi Universalis - ranging from Equis Vitis' own Tree, to the Runes of Harmony that had once surrounded the Spectacularium in Lai, to the weakened but energetic Tree of Equis Concrete, to a large number of Trees that could be found in Esefem. They were all ready. All Cosmo had to do was ask. She took a breath, dropping her disguise, allowing her shimmering, skeletal self to be exposed to the few in the room with her. None of her close aides flinched - they all knew what she was and had learned to accept it. She spoke. "Starlight, activate the harmony network." Starlight beeped from her position on Cosmo's neck, telling all ships to activate. Every one of the network created dimensional portals and wormholes. Cosmo took a breath and surged her harmonious energy out of her flagship into these holes, straining herself as far as she was able. She strained - but then a Tree of Harmony augmented her network, taking the strain off of her, allowing them to stretch further. The planets of Merodi Universalis were slowly surrounded by gentle vines of white energy jumping from ship to ship, creating a swirling cage. There were times when the network flickered or faltered, but another Tree of Harmony would offer its assistance. It was a graceful net of defense. Cosmo strained. We'll need to keep this up for a long time. I'm not sure we can do that... "Incoming call," one of Cosmo's aides said. "For you." A version of Twilight appeared on the screen - one Cosmo recognized as the Grand Secretariat of the Sparkle Census. "We are not going to risk our lives or our worlds to help you with your war," the Secretariat prefaced. "But we have sensed that you are strained in your defenses and won't be able to keep it up for long. We have a network of Trees of Harmony as well - and they wish to lend their power." Cosmo let out a relieved laugh. "Thank you." "If Skarn attacks us for this, we will retract our power instantly." "Then let's hope he doesn't find out." The Secretariat smiled warmly. "Wings crossed." She nodded to her left. "Do it." Cosmo felt the strain lift off of her and her fellow Trees of Harmony. "Okay... We can maintain this. We are in your debt." "Repay us by freeing the people under Skarn's control." "We will." The communication ended. There was silence. Everyone was holding their breath, waiting for an attack. It came. Cosmo saw a few blips appear over Equis Vitis and the Hub. Around Equis Vitis, the Tree of Harmony flashed, using its proximity to destroy the orbiting ships the instant they arrived. A few attempted to appear lower in the atmosphere, but the Tree of Harmony was on to them as well, taking no prisoners. The spatial distortions around the Congeries' ships did nothing to defend against the pure light. Around the Hub, there was no Tree directly, so the network wasn't as effective in instantly destroying the ships. Luckily, there was only one location on the Hub of any concern - the Hub building itself, and it was armed to the teeth. The handful of ships that were able to dodge the harmony network were taken out by the point defenses of the Hub and surrounding ships. More red dots appeared around Merodi Universalis, spread around most of the member universes but were focused on the eight founding worlds, the Hub, and Earth C - notably leaving Skaia's Dream alone. Presumably because fighting ghosts on their home turf was just a bad idea. They had not found Celestia City yet, which was good - that was where O'Neill and most of the other military leaders were issuing orders from. She noticed something odd - there weren't very many of Skarn's ships. They outnumbered them a hundred to one with just Equis Cosmic's ships. And while clearly more of Skarn's ships were continually arriving, if he had much more they'd be using a very different strategy. This didn't mean that they weren't threatening - Cosmo had already lost a few dozen ships and a couple of lesser Equis Cosmic planets had been hit hard - but as it was now, it looked like Merodi Universalis had a tremendous advantage over the offense of Skarn. If they don't have that many ships, why send this many? Does he just have to fight us on our turf as part of his code of war? Are most of his ships busy with our offense? Or is this a ploy of some kind - hiding his numbers, or working on a secondary plan? Cosmo sent out a message, telling the fleet that even though it looked like they were undeniably repelling the attack, it was likely a ruse. She knew it would set the armies on edge, but sometimes on edge was better than overconfident. They needed to be prepared for anything to prevent a disaster. She checked the news reports. So far, the citizens weren't panicking, and they were in support of the war even after the first few minutes. But they were scared. Skarn's ships were more than willing to hit civilian targets. Even though they weren't able to hit very many, the toll was going to tax the minds of the citizens. Some people had already lost family and didn't even know it. ~~~ One of the artistic works of the Congeries transformed into a giant anglerfish and tried to bite PM-Prime in half while it traveled past at FTL speeds. The fish was shredded by the sheer forces between the subliminal space it occupied and the motion of the warp bubble. "He's finally doing it!" Yellow Diamond shouted. "Prepare for attacks from all sides and all angles of any kind!" Skarn did not try the fish again - this time he sent a photonic construct the size of Earth's orbit after them, having it pursue in a warp field of its own. The ships in the rear of the formation fired a mixture of arcane and spiritual weapons, since physical attacks wouldn't be able to pass through the warp fields. Yellow Diamond considered how useful it would be if they had Embodiment assistance in this matter, but Hastur had declined involvement, so they were low on eldritch power. That said, Tzeentch had sent his poster-boy, Ahzek Ahriman... The idiot placed himself at the edge of the warp field. "You think you're clever? HA! You are NOTHING!" He pointed his ruby-eyed staff in the being's direction and fired. The being of light teleported past the beam and wormed its way to the back of the formation, fusing itself with the warp field. This turned out to be its undoing. A single Skaian ghost floated up to the being the moment it entered - a strange, gray creature in the pink robes of Heart. One of many, many lost players of SBURB buried in Skaia's Dream that had come along to fight. This particular one was a Bard of Heart. The spirit of the being of light turned on itself, dividing into several different consciousnesses that saw all the others as invaders in the body. It writhed, dropping its own warp field in order to devote all resources to consuming itself. The next shape Skarn sent after them had no spirit - it was a purely mechanical swirl of fractal patterns coming at them head on. It turned out nukes mixed with Ahzek's Chaos beams worked pretty well on that option. Skarn sent another shape, designed to withstand warp fields, soul manipulation, and nuclear Chaos explosions. This beautiful tree was disintegrated by a combination of Life Skaians, angels, and good old-fashioned laser weapons. Yellow Diamond saw the pattern. "He has effectively infinite materials and space. He will be able to keep throwing stuff at us until something works. How long until we reach the center?" "If we maintain our current speed, about half an hour," came the answer. "We're only going about fifty C due to the tremendous mass we're carrying. Every attack slows us a bit." "He's going to figure something out in half an hour," Yellow Diamond grunted, watching as what appeared to be a cross between a banana and a raspberry entered the warp field and took a bite out of one of the protomolecule planets, only to get infected by the contagious blue material. Even then, we haven't even lost a full percent point of our fleet. We'll still be able to push through. She watched as a tremendous squid made entirely of stars charged them from the side, only to discover the might of Space players combined with the impossible, slippery figures of the Reapers. And then the warp field just vanished. Yellow Diamond stood straight up. "What just happened!?" "The warp field is no longer effective! He must have found a way to disable it!" "That shouldn't matter!" Yellow Diamond shouted. "We have reality anchors all over the fleet!" "Well apparently he found a workaround. We're not being shaped into a piece of art, but we're not moving faster than light! About fifty percent C right now. Two days until we reach the center." Yellow Diamond narrowed her eyes. "And what's attacking us now?" "...That's the thing, there's no more shaped creatures. We're just flying at fifty percent C through the Congeries. And- hold on. Look at the radar." Yellow Diamond had already seen it. Red dots had appeared on the edges of their accurate sensors - red dots that indicated ships. They had gotten close enough to detect Skarn's actual defenses. There were fewer than she was expecting. But she had bigger worries than the surprisingly small size of the enemy at the moment. "Figure out how they're jamming FTL, now!" "The fleet is already on it. Dimensional technology still works, so we still have a stable link back to Merodi Universalis." Yellow Diamond pressed a few buttons on her console, ordering the protomolecule planets to the front of the fleet. They would be able to take the most damage of any of the ships while protecting the craft with bigger, fancier weapons. The protomolecule planets were good at infecting and blocking - not shooting at range. Their gravity made installing surface-cannons a bit of a pain compared to just slapping one onto a spaceship. She arranged the longest-ranged ships behind the protomolecule planets. Lasers dissipated after a certain distance, but missiles never did. They started firing nuclear and other missiles at the Skarn ships that were several minutes away. The war had suddenly become a lot slower. Since Skarn didn't seem to be shaping any monstrosities at them, both sides had multiple minutes to prepare themselves. Yellow Diamond started tapping her fingers on her console. She would have said it was out of boredom to anyone who asked, but in truth, she was nervous. She really had no idea what would happen when the two fleets met. They had numbers. They had vastly superior numbers. Even with this speed limitation, they should still have the advantage in this surgical strike. Two-day travel time or not, Skarn only had a limited number of ships he could send. ...She hated waiting. Those geniuses back in Celestia City better figure a way to hurry this along. ~~~ Corona, your assistance is needed on Earth Vitis, Cosmo's voice rang into Corona's ear. Corona mounted Lady Rarity. "Looks like they're finally calling us out. Sorry Toph, Lai has to defend itself." Toph nodded, barely listening to them - instead carefully paying attention to the words of Terezi and her other military advisors on the state of Lai. With the Runes of Harmony in the Spectacularium's cave, Lai was one of the better-protected worlds - Earth Vitis had no Tree of Harmony. Or, if it did, she was carrying part of it inside of Raging Sights as her empathy. Lady Rarity and Corona skittered through a portal to Earth Vitis. What do we need to do? Corona asked Cosmo. They've placed ground forces in numerous locations. You are going to the incursion just south of Canterlot - they're likely after the magic sources there. It's our best guess, anyway. Corona cracked her knuckles. "Ground forces we need to take care of, starting with south of Canterlot." "Why would they need ground forces?" "If I had to guess it's because they don't have that many ships." Corona lit her hands and horn, enchanting Lady Rarity and herself with a whole buffet's worth of enhancements. Senses, strength, speed, power, intelligence, defense, and many other attributes were boosted, in addition to reality anchoring and an aura of intimidation. Magic circles spiraled around the two of them, the red light of Corona's magic covering every one of their limbs and surrounding them in a barrier. "Ready to be a two-person army?" Corona asked. Lady Rarity nodded, hefting her hammer and sliding her helmet over her face. "As ready as always." They teleported to just south of Earth Vitis Canterlot. It took Corona less than a second to differentiate the standard Earth Vitis soldiers from the enemy. Those on her side were fighting with their standard projectile weapons, tanks, and helicopters with a handful of more advanced Merodi weapons. Every one of Skarn's soldiers were human, but encased in milky-white armor that rippled with space and time around them. Corona didn't wait for anything. She spotted the enemy - and she unleashed her wrath on them. Waves of dark red magic flowed out of her arms, intending to seek and destroy every last one of the attacking soldiers. Except most of them dodged. And all of them had started dodging before she arrived. The ones who hadn't dodged didn't even try. It was as if they were resigned to their fate. "WE MIGHT HAVE FUTURE SEERS!" Corona shouted with the Royal Canterlot Voice. "USE EXTREME CAUTION!" She opted to use a more damaging attack, one that couldn't be dodged - a massive earthquake. She couldn't be as precise with this one, and could only be really effective in locations where there weren't any friendlies, but there definitely wasn't any escaping the wrath of the Earth itself. Unless you could fly. Which, apparently, some of them could, levitating into the air. Lady Rarity dashed to the side, carrying Corona with her. Parts of the ground where they had just been exploded as if hit by a cannonball, even though there hadn't been any visible projectiles. "Thanks," Corona said. "They pointed fingers and nothing happened. I reacted." "Keep us out of danger, I'll keep shooting spells." Corona narrowed her eyes - she needed to be more effective against these ground troops. Clearly, they were coming out of dimensional portals - and she couldn't disable all those safely without interfering with the harmony network. What she needed was to set up a cascade that would go through all of them, but she didn't know enough about them to craft such a spell. They had an aura around them that prevented her scans from piercing their flesh. "I need to capture one," she told Lady Rarity. "This might get a little weird." "Just do it." Corona tried telekinesis first, but they just pushed it away. Teleportation was similarly blocked. She tried to punch one over to her with a powerful spell, but that just killed the armored soldier. She ground her teeth - trying for a dimensional portal while Lady Rarity protected them from the invisible projectiles. The portal opened up beneath one of the soldiers and dumped him into a different universe. Corona took herself and Lady Rarity there - the endless forest - and faced off against the soldier alone. He raised his hand, but one invisible bullet was enough for Corona to deflect with barely a thought. She registered that the attack was a carefully calculated folding of spacetime designed to shred through whatever it hit. She pulled back her hand, creating an unbelievably bright ball of fire intended to distract. The soldier saw right through it - he blocked Lady Rarity's hammer from the side without even looking and fired a few more bullets at Corona. She reflected them right back at him, and every last one missed. "He's good," Corona growled. "Raging Sights, we need a precision attack with a guaranteed immobilization, not death." Raging Sights beeped. Lady Rarity continued pursuing the soldier while Raging Sights prepared the spell. The soldier must have seen the spell coming, because he stopped running and opted to punch Lady Rarity across the face, crushing her skull. Or he would have, had Corona not been a Rogue of Doom. The punch reflected off Lady Rarity and into the soldier, knocking him to the ground. "...Guess he doesn't see everything," Corona concluded. "Or didn't look far enough ahead to see that a punch wouldn't actually accomplish anything." She dropped Raging Sights' complex immobilization spell in favor of a simple paralytic. Enough force pushed through the dazed soldier's shields, locking up every bone and mechanism in his body. Corona rubbed her hands together. Just in case he was rigged to explode in case of capture, she cast safety spells all over him. "You're being a little paranoid," Lady Rarity said. "From what I read in Skarn's psych profile, he wouldn't rig his soldiers to explode. Too dishonorable." "Might be Arthon," Corona pointed out. "He'd have no qualms with that." She pulled off the soldier's helmet to reveal a man with pale skin, white hair, and bright purple eyes. "Yeaaaah that's not normal." She touched a hand to his forehead... ...and came back out. "Well...?" Lady Rarity asked. "Nothing..." Corona narrowed her eyes. "But I know he isn't. He acts like a man, and even if all emotion and soul have been ground out of him he still had to have thoughts... Something about him prevents probing." She performed scans - she could now detect a lot about what the armor did: protecting the occupant from blows, locally altering physics to increase effectiveness depending on the scenery they were in, and other similar things. There was communication in the helmet, but it was limited and reception only. She wasn't picking up anything from it. However, she learned nothing about the man. Every scan she undertook told her he was normal. Just a human albino with strangely purple eyes. Even when she scanned his brain without empathy - it showed a fully functioning cerebral cortex and evidence of a consciousness that was just knocked out. But she knew he wasn't normal. She had gone in, and come out without anything from inside his mind. She narrowed her eyes. "Lady Rarity, you've been watching my scans right?" Lady Rarity nodded. "Mhm." "They're all saying he's normal, right?" "Right." Corona scanned her mind. Everything seemed normal. She scanned Lady Rarity's mind, receiving the same. "...Lady Rarity, can I check in your head right now? I want to see if I can find something." Lady Rarity took off her helmet. "Sure. What are you thinking?" "That something's really off here." She placed a hand to Lady Rarity. A moment later she pulled back. "Guess I was wrong. Everything seems fine." Raging Sights beeped. "Message sent." Corona looked at the crystal on the back of her hand. "...What?" Raging Sights was silent. "Hello? Raging Sights?" Corona blinked. "Bring up message transcript. Agh, why are you acting up now of all times!?" Corona, you're being recalled for the moment, Cosmo said. Please return to Lai castle. Corona nodded. "Right..." She hefted the soldier onto her back. "Might as well study this guy somewhere else..." She teleported back to Lai. ~~~ O'Neill had called a special meeting in the middle of Celestia City including Thor, Squeaky, Renee, Saxton Hale, Starbeat, Ava, and the robotic Research Overhead. "Right, so I'm going to be brief. This isn't going to be a fast war anymore. R.O., care to explain why?" The robot nodded. "Skarn has figured out a way to work around our reality anchors. Not in the sense that he can now mold our ships like clay - he can't do that - but he's completely disabled FTL travel." "Do we know how?" Thor asked, eyes narrow. "He set an absolute rule for all universes of the Congeries within one light-day of the Shaping Mechanism. No FTL travel allowed. You are correct in assuming we have the ability to force our reality over his own in a bubble large enough to hold planets - but that bubble physically exists within the Congeries. We can travel at superluminal speeds within that bubble - but the bubble itself cannot travel at superluminal speeds." "This means it'll take two days to get to the Shaping Mechanism at current speeds," Squeaky said. "And anyone who's been in war knows that when you hit the enemy, you get slowed down. Hard." "Current projections have us fighting for a few weeks to a couple months," O'Neill said. "Normally that wouldn't be much of an issue, the fleet would be more than willing to fight that long. But our homeworlds are currently suffering because of ground forces - Earth Vitis is getting hit the hardest. And we've recently uncovered why these ground forces are having such an easy time cutting through us." "Future sight, right?" Renee said. "Wrong. That's just the tip of the iceberg." O'Neill pressed a button on his remote. "We received this audio message from Corona a short time ago, sent directly to Cosmo." A heavily-breathing voice of Corona met them. "We recording, Raging Sights? Good. I am currently hiding out inside Lady Rarity's subconscious - don't worry about how I can record a message like this, ask me later. We captured one of the soldiers and started studying him. They have white skin, hair, and purple eyes under the armor, if you can't figure that out, and they have future-sight - but that's only what they let you know. If you learn anything else about them, your memory is rewritten. This fragment of my consciousness is currently being hunted down by... I don't know what. It's not something I've seen before. All I know is that every time I scan the soldiers to learn something about them, I think they're normal. But when I touch their minds directly I come back with nothing. Like everything they're thinking is illegal information for my mind to know." She took a panicked breath. "When I come out of here, I won't remember. I'm sending this on the off chance that maybe, if you're not near one of them, you can remember things about them. Video data is corruptible since Raging Sights doesn't remember either - but not physical copies. Raging Sights is sending this to you as I record it, which in mental terms means it goes really, really fast... I haven't been able to learn anything about them in Lady Rarity's head other than their status as what is officially called a 'memetic hazard'. Ask Thrackerzod for more info. And if their power extends far beyond even this... Then you won't be able to remember this part of the message. So..." There was a loud noise on the recording. "Princess Cosmo, there is a danger in the war that might be us. When you get this, tell me to return to Lai castle immediately. When I get there with whatever I am carrying, sedate me and lock all of us up." There was silence. "Ponyfeathers, it's right behind me," Corona moaned. The audio file ended. O'Neill folded his hands. "Corona has been released since it was proven that, yes, there is an effective range on their memory canceling abilities. She does not remember making any of that, but she knows for certain it's right. This memory power is so extensive that even the protomolecule cannot remember enough about their biology to take them over. Jotaro has been kind enough to smash several thousand cameras with Hermit Purple to provide us with physical photos of the soldiers. It is a slow process, but Giorno has been able to piece together some information for us. First of all, they're slightly Aware." There were gasps around the table. O'Neill nodded. "Nowhere near as Aware as the vast majority of Pinkies. We're not sure they even know about ka or the story-nature of the multiverse, but they're able to act on it. Their future sight is able to extend beyond events that are predictable - they've intercepted many Pinkies and hidden themselves from their Pinkie Senses. We have no idea how far this 'knowledge' of things goes, but it makes surprise tactics useless on any large scale. One of them is bound to notice any ploy we throw at them." "There's more, though," Starbeat said. O'Neill nodded. "They appear as ordinary humans to every scan we have - even ka-based scans - but they certainly are not." He gave them some Polaroid photos Jotaro had generated with Hermit Purple. One showed a soldier without armor ripping a human being in half. Another showed an armored one walking, and people falling dead around him. Another was walking through a sea of Merodi soldiers and none of them noticed. The scariest one was of one's jaw opening wide enough to devour her own severed arm. Ava picked that last one up, wide eyed. "Holy shit." "That's an understatement," Starbeat commented. "What we need is a defense for these things. Which is why I'm here. Well, part of the reason." "That was the only reason I was aware of," O'Neill said. "You'll be glad I'm here for more reasons." Starbeat said, smirking. "Anyway, memory is unreliable against these soldiers. Ideally, you would train soldiers to react on instinct when facing them, but we don't have that kind of time. We also can't just alter physics to make them impossible because of their armor. And we don't have enough god-tier Mind players to place at every location. So we're going to have to rely entirely on ka for this one." Saxton Hale laughed. "Oh, I've been waiting for this day!" Ava narrowed her eyes. "I thought the direct manipulation of ka was asking for trouble?" "It is," Starbeat said. "But you don't really have any other options. And it won't be like using John - that's a can of worms that really can't be predicted. The few primitive ka-manipulation devices I have created tend to have drawbacks built in to prevent buildup for later disasters." Squeaky sighed. "Designed with drawbacks? Won't that negate their usefulness?" "Depends on how desperate you are," Starbeat said. "For instance, the most balanced one I have is one that you're all going to balk at." She levitated a small cylinder out of her saddlebags. It was made of a solid blue metal. "This is a Conjoiner. It has the very handy effect of killing whoever just killed you. It has the negative effect of killing you whenever you kill someone." "That's atrocious," Squeaky pointed out. "It definitely is," Starbeat said. "But don't we outnumber them? And aren't they normally killing more of us off than we are of them? This would actually save lives, in the long run. Though in the interests of being honest, if you put this on a soldier, you're turning them into a suicide bomber." O'Neill put his hands together. "Not many are going to agree to that." "I'd suggest not telling them," Starbeat said. "Of course the secret will come out later, but you'll win the war." "Have anything else?" Renee asked. Starbeat nodded. She placed a small computer chip on the table. "This is a Guaranteed Hit. Put this on any projectile weapon. It'll never miss." "Drawback?" "You're now a bullet magnet." "Ah." "Are you sure you can't remove the drawbacks from these?" Thor asked. "Oh, I could. But that would create an imbalance." Starbeat pondered this a moment, thinking about how to explain. "Think about it like this. If I manipulate ka to make something good happen, the higher ka of Karma takes notice, and decides that something bad needs to happen. This isn't always the case, but manipulate ka enough and it'll happen. If we have armies of people killing enemy soldiers with a Guaranteed Hit, and they don't get bullets to fly back at them as part of that, the Karma builds up. Until, eventually, it all comes out in a giant cataclysm. Say, losing a planet or something." They stared at her with mixed expressions of fear and concern. "Now, the Flowers have found a way around this," Starbeat said. "No idea how they do it. My best theory is they've found a way to manipulate Karma directly and redirect it to some elder gods they have chained up in a basement somewhere. Or that redirected Karma goes directly on their Agents and it's why so many of them are batshit insane and suffer mental trauma on a regular basis." There was no response to this. "I'm just theorizing. I actually have no idea. Maybe there's a back door to just get rid of the Karma. The point is, exploit something, it'll come back to bite you if you aren't careful." O'Neill leaned back. "We're not going to deal with unethical war practices. We're going to tell the soldiers exactly what these devices are." "I've got plenty of soldiers willing to die at the drop of a hat!" Saxton Hale said. "Just use them!" O'Neill and Squeaky looked like they wanted to argue. But they couldn't deny that Saxton's mercenaries were in an exceptionally plentiful supply and generally had less care for their own lives than most other soldiers. Ava nodded. "I think that's an excellent idea." "As long as you tell them what's going on!" Squeaky insisted. "Oh, all the Pyros and Soldiers love a good suicide mission," Saxton laughed. "And the others are all gonna see the Guaranteed Hit and want to tempt fate." "That won't get us a decisive victory," Thor pointed out. "The mercenaries, while in great supply, may not be able to be moved around quickly enough given the ships and Skarn troop movements." "It'll buy us a lot more time, though," O'Neill said. "All right, we're doing that on the home front. Saxto-" O'Neill saw that he was already on the phone, talking to Mann Co. "Moving on to the war offense." He brought up a hologram of the Congeries, specifically the area between the Shaping Mechanisms and the Merodi fleet - a distance a little under a light-day. The Merodi fleet was currently engaging with Skarn's ships from a distance, trading volleys with each other. "Reports are coming in that Skarn's soldiers have started boarding ships in the fleet," O'Neill said. "They have all the information we have, but unlike the ground forces here it's highly unpredictable." Starbeat nodded. "My devices will be of little assistance." "Luckily it seems that the soldiers have a significantly harder time moving around our fleet," O'Neill said. "Their numbers are smaller, so they make more mistakes. Unfortunately progress is absurdly slow as Skarn seems to be content with keeping us back. Yellow Diamond has begun sending speeder ships forward in an attempt to find the next 'universe' of the Congeries, so they can establish a direct dimensional connection between the two locations, but this is slow and dangerous work." He turned to Starbeat. "What do you have to say about this?" Starbeat smiled awkwardly. "Another idea you're really not going to like. Regardless of what the fleet does, those smaller speeders need to be crewed by actual teams of people. We put our strongest, most powerful individuals on those teams and send them into the fray." "But so many of them will die!" Squeaky blurted. "We can't lose that many heroes!" "Which is why you use the Redshirt principle to protect them," Starbeat said. "Assign only one or two heroes to a team, and have the rest of the team be what basically amount to 'nameless soldiers'. Those nameless soldiers will die so the story of the heroes can carry on." "You're right, I don't like that," O'Neill said. "But I agree with it a hell of a lot more than suicide cylinders. There are always cannon fodder soldiers and valuable leaders in a war - that's just how it is. If you say simply surrounding the valuable leaders with cannon fodder makes them more likely to live, I'll take it." "Sending lots of small teams in speeders right toward the enemy blockades is still a horrible idea!" Squeaky said. "The attacks are too focused! We have to spread the fleet out!" "Each subfleet gets a protomolecule planet," O'Neill said, looking at the Investigator that nobody else could see right now. "They'll spread out and push forward with their teams, creating dimensional portals whenever possible to jump ahead. Skarn simply doesn't have enough forces to come at us from all angles." "That'll increase casualties for the fleet," Thor said. "But lessen the duration of the war," Squeaky added. "And lower the casualties of civilians, like those happening on Earth Vitis right now." O'Neill turned to Renee. "Find your best soldiers, agents, and heroes. Everyone you can spare that're willing to go fight. I'll provide all the 'Redshirts' I can. I'm sure Yellow Diamond can scrounge up plenty within the fleet as well without much difficulty." Renee took in a breath. "All right. I'll do it. This... this is war, after all. It's not pretty." "Never is," Ava said. "I disagree!" Saxton Hale blurted, slamming his hands on the table. Renee slapped him. "Just do your job." He had no response to this. ~~~ Pinkie, Nova, Flutterfree, Jotaro, and Vriska sat in Renee's office, across from her desk. Daniel wasn't there - he was down managing the rest of the teams, sorting out those who were going to be sent to the war and those who weren't, aided by Starbeat and an 'importance' scanner. Unlike most meetings the Primary team had in Renee's office, there weren't any smiles this time. And for the first time ever, Renee didn't look happy to see them. "A-are you going to tell us to go out there?" Nova asked. Rene furrowed her brow. "No," she said. "Oh, thank the Tower," Nova said. Vriska folded her arms. "Yeah, I get that, it's volunteer. I'm going though." "No, you're not," Renee said. "None of you are." Flutterfree blinked. "Renee..." Renee closed her eyes tight and breathed in. "It's because you all mean a lot more to Merodi Universalis than you give yourselves credit for, and I can't just send you somewhere where one or more of you are likely to get killed. You are all very important to a lot of people for how much you've done." Jotaro looked Renee in the eyes. "You're not doing this because of that. You don't want to send any of us to our deaths. Even if we volunteer." Renee nodded. "I'm not going to lie. I don't want to lose any of you. That's why I'm keeping you here. But Cultural and many of the others agree for the other reason. Merodi Universalis can't lose you five. Just like it can't lose Eve, or me." "Corona's going to fight," Vriska pointed out. "She's about the same, isn't she?" "I couldn't stop her if I tried," Renee said, a tear rolling down from her only real eye. "She wants to avenge Olivia." "You think you can stop me?" Vriska blurted. "I think you'll listen to me because you don't have a personal vendetta," Renee said. "Vriska, I don't want you to go. Please don't." Vriska twitched. "Renee..." Pinkie lifted up a hoof. "Renee's making the right decision." They all stared at her. "I can't see very far," Pinkie admitted. "But I know we're supposed to stay here, at least for now. I also know we will have our own role to play. Right now, that's to stay out of the war. In the future... Something will change, and we'll have something else to do." Renee let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank Celestia. I was so worried I was making the wrong decision... That I was jeopardizing our safety... That... That..." Pinkie pulled her into a hug. "It's okay. We're all under a lot of stress. But we're not going to go fighting on your order. We're staying here until something comes up for us." Renee nodded slowly. "...Thank you." Pinkie nodded, releasing her. She turned to the rest of her team. "We're not going on any missions during the war. Nova, go spend time with Stardust." Nova nodded, teleporting away instantly. "Flutterfree, try to relax." Flutterfree let out a breath of air, trying to force the stress out of her body. "Okay." "Jotaro, Vriska?" Pinkie said, looking at the two of them. "We're going to start a recruitment drive." Vriska blinked. "Wait, what?" "The best way to do something about the war without fighting - get more people involved." Pinkie smiled. "We're gonna get a lot." "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered. ~~~ "Hey, Corona!" Lady Rarity and Corona turned around to see Meenah, Feferi, and Rainbow Dash running up to them. They were on one of the larger ships in the Merodi fleet, the Austraeoh, currently being used to collect incoming soldiers from Merodi Universalis. Numerous portals were open as more and more soldiers flooded in. This ship consisted mostly of agents directly from the Expeditions Division, though given the presence of Meenah and Rainbow there were clearly a few others here as well. "Oh, are you guys part of our subfleet?" "Shell no!" Meenah said, pointing to a golden pin on her ghostly shirt. "I'm commander of the twenty-seventh subfleet, and these are my minions." "Meenah!" Feferi chided. "Don't call them minions!" "That's kinda what we are, though," Rainbow pointed out. "It's degrading." Corona pointed at her own golden pin. "Commander of the third subfleet." "Twenty-seven is bigger than three, sea-sponge." Corona folded her arms with a smirk. "Yellow Diamond has the first subfleet, and she wouldn't let herself be at the bottom of anything. So she's at the top." "Who's in charge of the second?" Rainbow wondered. Feferi pulled out her phone and looked it up. "Uh... Teal'c, Earth Tau'ri." "Ah, I remember him," Lady Rarity said. "Good soldier. A little on the quiet side." Corona glanced at a clock on the wall. "We don't have time to talk. The fleet splits in less than twenty minutes. I should get to my ship. You should too." Meenah waved her hand. "Gah, fine. Let's move. C'mon Rainbreath." "Watch yourselves out there," Rainbow said, ignoring Meenah's nickname and giving them a salute. "You too," Corona said. "WONDERBOLTS!" Rainbow called, turning away from them. "MOVE OUT! All our skills are going to be put to the test! Remember EVERY mission you've been on, EVERY show you've performed. You'll need all of it! Let's show these mindscrew albinos that a Wonderbolt won't give them time to mess with us - we'll hit them before they know what's coming!" "YES MA'AM!" "She's got it good," Corona said, lighting her horn and teleporting to their ship. "Maybe I should give another speech?" "You already did yours," Lady Rarity said, leading Corona across the bridge to her chair. They were in a ship of nonstandard design - one of Equis Vitis' solo projects made with more magic in mind than technology. The bridge was completely white and coursed with soft blue technological veins that seemed to flow like a liquid, though Corona knew it was just distilled magical energy. She sat down in the captain's chair, her magic interfacing with the ship. The blue veins suddenly transformed to match her magic's naturally red shade. The outside of the pearly ship did the same. It was a small vessel shaped like a legless turtle, and had no standard weapons. What it did have were seven pointed spires of magic energy that now flashed, tuned to Corona's power. She let out a soft laugh. "Like I needed an upgrade in power... This tiny ship is going to be able to deal out some serious punishment." She opened her eyes wide. "Have to stay safe though - the fleet needs a commander. Rarity, don't let me just rush into danger haphazardly." Lady Rarity smirked. "I won't. Don't worry." The two fell silent. There were three other people on the bridge. Corona knew their names - Johenkins, Diorite, and Horuss - but she had only met them today. She suspected they were probably her Redshirts, should her command vessel ever actually get attacked directly. She would do everything she could to make sure it didn't come to that. Time flew. Corona had expected time to crawl forward, but before she knew it, the fleet was ready to split. Yellow Diamond didn't waste any breath. "THIS IS YELLOW DIAMOND TO THE ENTIRE FLEET. SPLIT!" Each protomolecule planet split off from all the others, including Corona's own - being significantly smaller than most the others, it would be able to move a little faster. The fleet spread out in all directions - up, down, port, and starboard - but always moving closer to the Shaping Mechanisms just under one light day in the distance. Corona gripped the sides of her chair - they were going to be here awhile, no matter how well the war went. Corona brought up a hologram of the fleets - all thirty-nine of them. She noticed that the forces of Skarn were focusing their fire on one fleet - the fifteenth, since it was the closest to where the forces had been originally and held one of the largest Earth Tau'ri ships, deemed a high priority threat. Their numbers were falling quickly. "Release speeders." Corona said. "Three." Three speeders shot out from a Wraith Hive, traveling at 99% lightspeed, nothing more than red streaks across Corona's vision. Corona saw other fleets doing the same - even the fifteenth, despite its quickly degrading structure. "Dimensional boundary crossed!" Diorite reported. "Connection established!" One of the angels in Corona's fleet already knew what to do - pouring her divine energy into a dimensional device after receiving the coordinates sent by the speeders. A portal large enough for Corona's protomolecule planet opened, and the fleet went through it. They were the first to jump forward a dimension. Slightly closer to the Shaping Mechanism. Thirty three other fleets were close behind. Others were having difficulty with local terrain - or were the fifteenth and under heavy enemy fire. While Skarn was focused on the fifteenth, most of the other fleets executed another jump, having passed many of Skarn's forces. Corona knew Skarn's forces could dimensionally travel anywhere within the Congeries - they knew every dimensional coordinate - so the Merodi weren't safe. But they were making serious headway. If they could keep this up it would only take a day to make it all the way to the center. "Subfleet fifteen!" Yellow Diamond's voice boomed over the command channel. "Your numbers have dwindled! Reassign your ships into other fleets!" Subfleet fifteen began to do as asked - but the retreat maneuver left them open to attack. They had suffered heavy losses, and the protomolecule planet was unable to escape because it was too large and slow. So instead it just rammed the enemy fleets. They did something to the protomolecule planet that blew it up, but the alien pathogen was nothing if not crafty. The pieces of crust that were blown into the space redirected their trajectories toward Skarn's fleet, showering them with meteors covered in a very blue biological hazard. It was at this point Skarn's ships realized they weren't being an effective roadblock anymore. If they focused on just one fleet, the others would make way too much headway. They fell back - appearing through their wormhole drive several light minutes in front of them, forming a new formation. "Why that far back?" Corona wondered. The answer came quickly: Skarn started shaping the universe again - not something he could easily do near his own ships without endangering them - producing a giant wall of interlocking sawblades ready to mince anything that approached it. Corona narrowed her eyes, scanning the sawblades. "How many of our speeders think they can fly through that?" A poll was conducted. Five responded with affirmatives. "Then let them go." All five of them shot out toward the spinning sawblades. Four were blown up by point defenses that had been completely invisible to sensors - blasting everyone in them into oblivion. Loose projectiles hit a few ships within the fleet, but none exploded - the worst-hit had to crash land on the protomolecule planet to let the protomolecule repair their ship. The last remaining speeder made it through a gap in the saw wall - only for a sawblade to come from above and cut the speeder in half. They saw the tail end of an explosion. Corona set her jaw. That was the wrong call - but she wasn't about to let a wall defeat her. She began to order a direct bombardment of the construct... ...when dimensional coordinates came back to them from the other side of the wall. A god-tier Kanaya's voice came back. "I take it this is why these ships are staffed rather than automated probes?" Corona grinned, giving the order to portal to the other side of the wall. "Yeah, I think so. How did you survive?" "Mixture of luck, quick fingers on the ejection button, and Sylph of Space powers. ...I am the only survivor." "You'll be awarded, and they will be remembered," Corona assured her. "You can check out, if you want." "Oh, never. There are other speeders that could use me." "Then welcome back." Corona smirked. Once again, they were the first ones through due to their small protomolecule planet. Skarn was going to have to up his game if he wanted to stop them from reaching the Shaping Mechanism. She knew he would get creative with his manipulations of physics and his fleets, but right now she was sure he was beginning to sweat from the stress. She hoped she was the first one into the Shaping Mechanism so she could face him herself. Better yet, Arthon. Let someone else take Skarn, Arthon was hers. He was going to pay.
Songs of the Spheres	102 - Regret	Rainbow Dash woke up on her bunk. She could hear the rumbles of explosions passing through the walls of the ship, telling her that, yes, they were still at war. They had been fighting nonstop for three days. Rainbow got up, slipped into her uniform, and took her position at the front door. She took a moment to look at her team - the Wonderbolts. Half the bunks were empty. Three days ago, almost all of them had been full. Don't think about that, grieve later, war now. Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. "RISE AND SHINE FILLIES!" The seven remaining Wonderbolts flailed out of their beds. They all slipped into their uniforms out of habit and ran to the middle of their room, saluting. "Right, time for another day of speeding at the enemy. You know the drill - I've got team one, Surprise, you've got team two." Surprise nodded, her yellow mane bouncing. "Right!" "LET'S MOVE!" They scrambled through the halls of the ship, hurrying to the transporter bay. Their signatures were already keyed in - they were teleported directly into the speeders they had used for the past three days, even though they hardly looked the same as they had on day one. They had started out as just missiles with seats, but as time went on all speeders that weren't blown to smithereens got point defenses, better shields, better maneuvering, and the Wonderbolts had even gotten a tiny Spectral Rod affixed to the front of each of their speeders. Not to mention all of them had full body armor now. Ejection had become commonplace - a team's speeder would be destroyed, and they would shoot out into the space themselves. Rainbow Dash had done that twice already with her speeders. She'd lost ponies both times. She had not been told about the Redshirt ploy. Rainbow had Fleetfoot, Thunderlane, and Misty with her. All four of them suited up and took their seats in the speeder. Misty was on communication, Fleetfoot and Thunderlane on weapons, and Rainbow Dash was in the pilot's seat. And then they waited. Waited for Meenah to call them as the next speeders to charge into Skarn's ever-changing maze. That was what most of their day consisted of - agonizing waiting followed by bursts of intense action. She checked the report. Three-fourths of the way to the Shaping Mechanism, although that might as well be half since Skarn had gotten better at slowing them down over time. Thirty subfleets were still actively pushing the boundary forward. The twelfth was notably very far behind, so it would probably cut its losses and join up with another fleet soon, even though it wasn't in any danger of being destroyed completely like the twenty-second. They had lost their protomolecule planet, and with it most of their repairing capacity. However, they were very far forward - maybe the twelfth would be ordered to portal directly to them. Rainbow Dash didn't know - she wasn't Yellow Diamond. She wasn't even Meenah. She was Rainbow Dash, captain of the Wonderbolts, who always had and always would be a strike team. ...If they survived this. "WONDERBOLTS!" Meenah's voice came over the intercom, "YOU'RE UP! We've got a dimensional jammer up ahead - we know the coordinates already, so blow it the shell up!" "Roger!" Rainbow replied, knowing Surprise had done the same with her team. She got a quick look at the jammer - a relatively simple structure compared to what Skarn usually had for them. It was a black ball with twenty spikes protruding in all directions. Rainbow had been hoping for another giant fish, frankly. The speeders launched away from the fleet toward Skarn's defenses. They moved at their near-lightspeed at the start, but they had to slow down in order to make it through. In three days, Skarn had dropped the usage of ships entirely. With the subfleets as spread out as they were, he simply did not have enough ships at his disposal to keep them all held back. They had seen him shape a few new ships with the Shaper, but they were complicated pieces of technology that took time to shape properly. So Skarn had resorted to impeding the progress of the fleets with larger, trickier shapes. Since he could only focus on shaping one area at any given time, he had to make the shaped things automatic. Some of them were simple monsters that tried to attack. Others were mazes or constructs, designed to confuse. But his favorite were large, encompassing structures that could hide things within them. Most notably his seemingly endless supply of those armored soldiers. Recently he had added jammer devices to these areas, which made charging through them with a drill spell somewhat more difficult. Today it was a giant clock with no backing to its face - just a seemingly endless sea of gears. The fleet occupied a hole within this mesh of gears that it had formed in the last dimensional jump forward. While the speeders rushed forward, the fleet had to deal with attacks on all sides from the remaining gears. They could no longer see beyond their own space, relying entirely on dimensional communication to confirm the whereabouts of the other subfleets. Rainbow flew her speeder right through the turning gears, worming her way through the holes between them. Skarn thought he was clever, making razor sharp gears that had just enough holes to make it possible to fly through them, but very difficult. No doubt it had sawed numerous speeders in half. But Rainbow was an excellent pilot. She moved through the gears like a surfer on a wave, elegantly threading the needle. Skarn's soldiers popped out from hiding spots and fired their weapons - but the shields deflected the invisible dimensional packets. Fleetfoot and Thunderlane made quick work of the offending soldiers with their weapons. They may have had a lot of weird memory tricks, and they may have been able to dodge things before they were fired, but magical seeker bullets were still really effective, especially when large enough to be mounted on a ship. The speeder shook. "One's grabbed onto our engine!" Misty reported. Rainbow tried to shake him by entering a corkscrew dive through a bunch of rapidly rotating gears. "He's still on! Tampering with the engine!" Rainbow sucked in a sharp breath of air. She pulled up and flew directly for the jammer, worming her way through more gears. She kept a close eye on the engine status, especially the state of the combustion reaction. She kept one wingtip on the eject button. "Get ready..." she said, pushing as fast as she could through the gears. That tag-on was going to get to the engine and blow the speeder. But they were never as fast or as powerful as the speeder in just their armor. She had to eke out as much as she could... "NOW!" She shouted, pressing the eject button. The four pegasi were launched into the air just as the soldier managed to trigger an explosive reaction in the drive. Misty was thrown off course by the explosion, struggling to regain control of her power armor. She failed. She flew right over a gear that was turning and one of its razor edges cut her in half. "Dammit," Rainbow muttered, but she didn't slow down. Her wings - and those of Fleetfoot and Thunderlane - glowed with bright energy. They certainly couldn't move as fast just with their armor, but they were definitely more nimble. Rainbow let out a Breath, allowing the three of them to feel the wind under their wings. They flew in formation through the gears, dodging attacks and bullets. She saw no other speeders or squadrons here - she had to assume they were it. She could see the jammer up ahead. It didn't seem to be guarded by a squadron of soldiers, which was a plus. They just had to avoid the soldiers that were attacking them right now. Just as she thought that, one of the weapons hit Fleetfoot's personal shields. Rainbow tried to use the Breath to keep her on course, but the hit was too strong. She went into a tailspin - recovering within a few seconds. But it was already too late. She was an open target, and Rainbow couldn't slow down for her. Fleetfoot knew this - so she unloaded all the weapons she had built in on everything around her, taking out as much as she could before they took her out. The resulting explosions pushed Rainbow and Thunderlane forward. "Still with me Thunder?" Rainbow asked. "Yeah," he said. "I can see it." "Unguarded too." "That's suspicious." Rainbow grimaced. He was right - that was suspicious. There should be at least some there, even if they had just been wiped out, they were excellent at reassigning troops. "Prepare for anything." They entered weapons range, confirming the black, knobby jammer to be about four times as large as a pony. Rainbow fired a few test shots, glowing blue missiles dropping from her suit. They sailed toward the jammer, but were stopped by an entity that wasn't a standard armored soldier. The humanoid wasn't armored at all - he was a bear. Not Brell, not Arthon, not Skarn - a different one. "Get ready for a fight," Rainbow said. "Take the shot if you get the opportunity!" Thunderlane and Rainbow fired off more bullets, but the bear caught them all. He roared - but there was no air in the gears, so it could not be heard. There was little to no magic coming off him, Rainbow's sensors told her - he was just absurdly strong. They passed through the last gear between them and the area the jammer was in. Rainbow stopped assisting Thunderlane with her Breath and focused all the winds on the brute of a bear. He didn't even flinch. He jumped into the air and punched Rainbow Dash across the face. Her helmet went flying off despite being locked to the rest of her head. She felt a break form in her neck. She fell, skidding across a flat gear that served as 'ground' for this bear. He left her for dead - which would have been a reasonable course of action had she not been the Maid of Breath. She was able to keep air near herself while her suit injected her with a high-strength health potion to fix her neck. It hurt like Tartarus, but she was able to move again. The bear was fixated on Thunderlane. She watched as he was flattened by one of his hairy, clawed feet. Rainbow Dash was all that remained. But right now, the bear thought he had won. Rainbow could take advantage of that. Her suit was damaged in most ways, but she still had control over some of the weapons. She fired at the jammer with magic missiles. The jammer cracked, but didn't break. The shockwave drew the bear's attention. He roared again - though Rainbow still couldn't hear it. He charged at her, claws open. Rainbow used the winds of Breath to move the jammer between her and the bear. In his rage, he punched right through the jammer with his unimaginable strength - burning off much of his fur and cutting himself in many places in the process. But his fist went straight through and connected directly with Rainbow. Her already broken suit absorbed almost none of it - her ribs were completely flattened as a result, and blood shot out of her mouth. But she smirked. "Gotcha, sucker," Rainbow Dash fired all her weapons. At this close a range, it was just an explosion. They were both disintegrated. The twenty-seventh subfleet moved a universe forward. Across the Q-Sphere, the Tree of Harmony that belonged to Equis Vitis screeched. The branch of Loyalty shattered. ~~~ Overhead-Charter Evening Sparkle put down the book she was reading as a deep pit formed in her stomach. Something's happened. Her first instinct was to slide over to her personal computer and check the state of the war. The defensive front was going well - it had been five days on this side of the front, and ever since day two the damage had been minimal. They had figured out how to block Skarn's dimensional portals on every planet while keeping their own in orbit active. It had taken quite a bit of power and planning to make it possible, but no more reinforcements were arriving for the ground troops, and Skarn's ships only showed up occasionally to remind everyone they couldn't drop the harmony network or they would suffer the consequences. Skarn's forces had resorted to more stealthy warfare, attacking key locations in small groups. But Saxton Hale's mercenaries paired with Starbeat's cheats were proving to be more than they could handle. After the heavy losses of the first day it might have seemed like they were in danger of losing, but they now had control of the situation. They also hadn't found Celestia City yet, so that wasn't what was wrong. Eve flipped over to the offensive report. Thirty subfleets were still active, but it was looking to be twenty-nine soon enough. They only had a quarter light-day left to travel, but Skarn was getting more and more effective at slowing them down and picking them off. The casualty rates within the offense were absolutely absurd - but after the numbers were run, it was clear that the Redshirt principle was working. Team leaders and prior heroes had a much higher rate of survival than was to be expected. Corona's subfleet was still active and was still one of the best-performing fleets. Corona herself was still actively pushing forward, though the latest report said she had taken the opportunity of a lull in the fighting to take a rest. Eve checked the twenty-seventh fleet next. Still operating strong - they'd just had a major breakthrough with Skarn's maze of clocks, having pushed to the next universe. There didn't seem to be anything wrong large-scale... But she just had to be sure. She opened up the personnel files on the Wonderbolts. Half of them were marked as deceased - but the other eight were still marked as alive. Eve let out a sigh of relief - she had been so sure deep down... Then the files updated. There was only one Wonderbolt marked as alive. Surprise. All the rest of them were marked deceased. Eve stared at Rainbow Dash's file. She was smirking in the photo. Eve turned on her eye, examining the Light of the screen. The information was true. Rainbow Dash was gone. "That's not possible..." Eve told herself, unable to blink. "She was one of us... she was protected! She couldn't be!" Cessera looked up from her desk. "...Eve?" Eve didn't look at her and therefore didn't know Cessera was even talking to her. All she saw was a notification appear in her email. She knew what it was - it was the message sent to family and close friends when one of their soldiers died. The Starlight AI was customizing most of the messages, Eve knew, but that thought was far from her mind. She clicked it open and read it, but didn't really read it. She saw 'I regret to inform you...' and Rainbow Dash's name somewhere in there. Everything else was just a haze. Cessera walked up behind her and saw what she was looking at. "...I'll call Flutterfree." "This is all my fault..." Eve said, tears rolling down her face. "This is all my fault!" Ceessera shook her head, picking up the phone. "Cass..." Eve said, holding up a hoof. "I need you... I need you to call a meeting." "Eve you're not in any sta-" "A meeting of friends, Cass. Not... not about the war." Eve tried to swallow, but found the action too difficult to complete. "There are some people I need to see..." Cessera nodded slowly. ~~~ The third subfleet jumped forward again, passing through one of Skarn's creations, entering an empty space in the Congeries. Corona grinned - this was a good thing to wake up to. They would probably have a significant amount of time to push forward without Skarn sending more traps at them. It would give them a chance to catch up to the further-ahead subfleets - and a much needed break. Speeders shot forward, found the next universe, and jumped the fleet forward without all the death-defying stunts and complicated maneuvers they'd been stuck in for the last twelve hours. That nest of thorns had been outrageously annoying and had actually managed to turn them around once. But it was over. ...Until the next shape of Skarn decided to rear its ugly head. "I'm going to actually go eat something in the mess hall," Corona told the bridge crew. "Rarity, you've got the bridge." Lady Rarity saluted. "Bring me back a tub of ice cream." "Sure. I-" Raging Sights beeped. "Meeting request from Eve. Earliest convenience." Corona let out a grunt. "Never mind then. Looks like I'll be taking this because it's convenient." Lady Rarity smiled. "I'm sure it won't take long, she'd never try to keep you given your responsibilities." Corona nodded. "If we're attacked, you know what to do." Lady Rarity smiled. Corona teleported herself to the communication center of the Andromeda. She could take the call directly over audio communications on the bridge if she wanted, but since this was a meeting, it would probably be best to use more advanced communication. She entered a cubical, white room with a single console at the door. "Answer the call holographically," she told Raging Sights. Suddenly she appeared to be in one of the Relations Divisions' meeting rooms, standing inside a table. The only other people in the room were Cessera, Spike, and Aradia at the moment. Cessera looked up at her. "You responded faster than I was expecting." "Lull in the fighting. You need to adjust the 'spawn location' for this." She waved her hand through the table. "This probably looks weird." Cessera nodded. "I would invite you to sit down, but, you know." "Yeah, just a hologram. I've got it." Corona carefully walked a short distance until she felt one of the walls of the cubic room. It looked like she was leaning on nothing. "So, what's this about?" "Eve's called a personal meeting," Cessera said. "I'll let her explain it. Everyone should be arriving shortly - you were the only one we thought might be unavailable." She pressed a few buttons on her data pad, altering the 'spawn location' for the holographic setup. People started filing in. Pinkie, Nova, Flutterfree, Jotaro, and Vriska were the first, followed shortly by Renee and Daniel - notably Daniel took a position in the room as far away from Corona's hologram as possible. O'Neill and Allure also showed up via hologram, seeing as they were not allowed to physically leave Celestia City at the moment, and Giorno appeared via a similar method. Princess Luna and Toph arrived together. Applejack walked in as well, putting a consoling hoof around the tear-stained form of Prism. There was also a Rarity Corona didn't recognize sitting in the back of the room, staying out of sight of the others, a crescent-shaped scar over one of her eyes. Corona knew at that moment this wasn't going to be a pleasant meeting. Eve walked in last. She didn't sit down - she remained standing at the doorway, the door closed behind her. Everyone looked at her expectantly. Like many of the faces in the room, there was evidence of tears on her features. But unlike all the other faces in the room, she had the look of a deer in the headlights - frozen in a deep, primal fear. Her throat moved as if to swallow, but she choked on it. Flutterfree moved to comfort her, but Eve held up a hoof. "Just... Let me get through this." She took in a deep breath and licked her dry lips. "As... as most of you know, Rainbow Dash fell in battle earlier today." Corona put a hand to her mouth. She hadn't known that. She wasn't the only one who audibly winced - even those who knew flinched at hearing the words again. Prism broke into tears. "And it's all my fault," Eve concluded. "Eve..." Flutterfree said, sighing. "Do not blame yourself, Evening," Luna said. "Y-" "I killed her," Eve said, shuddering. "And it's not unfounded blame. I called this meeting so I could come clean. I've been lying to all of you - some more than others." She swallowed. "You... you all deserve to know what I've done." She took in a deep breath and began her story. ~~~ Several months ago... Gnashing body parts. Screaming. The face of Skarn laughing. Death. Death. Death. Eve woke up in a cold sweat, her left eye glowing with the power of Light. That hadn't been a regular dream. That had been a vision. She'd been getting them more and more lately - the visions Celestia had been known for. Visions that were only augmented by Eve's status as the Witch of Light. The only issue was she never knew what they meant. Was it telling her Skarn was a danger to them? Was it telling her Skarn was a horrible individual? Was it just showing her what happened within the Congeries? She didn't know. She didn't know anything. The Light didn't help her understand dreams. ...It had only been two days since she'd cut ties with Skarn face-to-face. Why now? Was there any purpose to the vision at all? Luna had mentioned a few times Celestia had received visions that told her things that were true but, in the end, meaningless. Sometimes the visions were misleading as well. She couldn't be certain about this one. She rubbed her head, most of the vision fading from her memory. Except one image. The human zipper of Arthon. It continually ground its way through Eve's mind, a torture worthy of some of the hell universes they had encountered. ...Why couldn't they have done something about that? They had the power. They had reason. They were supposed to use their power to help people even at risk to themselves... It wasn't like the Watchmaker of Zhui. Even if the fall of Skarn destroyed the people in the Congeries, it would prevent billions upon billions of others from being drawn into the cruel, cruel fate. Why couldn't the others see that? She knew the answer. It was too much loyalty to Merodi Universalis over the rest of existence. It was a sort of selfishness, a national pride. They weren't willing to risk it. She couldn't blame them. They made what they thought was the best choice. But it was wrong. She knew it. If only they felt that Skarn was an actual threat to Merodi Universalis... Something that couldn't be safely ignored... Tower's Fate, I'm actually hoping he attacks one of our worlds in retaliation. What's wrong with me? She paused for a moment. Maybe nothing... She knew the idea coming into her mind was horrible. She knew from the very start it would require lying, cheating, and gambling with people's lives. She tried to tell herself the cost was too high - the things she would have to do were just too much. But she'd told herself that in the past about killing people. About sacrificing those who served under you. About manipulating other governments with kind words and half-truths. Those things she would have sworn she would never do in the past were now part of her day-to-day life. Never a part she liked, and always a part that haunted her, but a part she understood was necessary. She couldn't convince herself to throw the idea away. It remained with her, festering in the back of her mind, no matter how much she tried to ignore it. She had to do something about it. ~~~ Eve walked into Giorno's secret office and sat down in a chair. Giorno looked at her with curious eyes. After a moment of examining her features, he pressed a button to lock the door and turn off all recording equipment in the room. "I take it this is going to be extremely off the record." Eve nodded. "The fact that this conversation even took place should never be uncovered by anyone." "You have my word," Girono said. "What are you thinking?" "Skarn and his Congeries need to be ended. I know you agree." Giorno nodded. "I agree wholeheartedly. They killed one of my best agents and know nothing of mercy or treating those conquered with respect. It's atrocious. But the vote was cast - we are going to protect Merodi Universalis instead. We can't do anything." "What if we did?" Eve asked. "What if we could make them think Merodi Universalis was under threat?" Girono raised an eyebrow. "What if we created a fake attack - and made it look like Skarn did it?" Giorno sat back in his chair, hand to his chin. "...That would be difficult. Not to mention so illegal it borders on treason." "It wouldn't overthrow our government." "It undermines it and goes against its wishes. Close enough." Eve nodded. "I know. But I can't shake him from my mind. I'm even gotten a vision about Skarn, though I can't tell you what it means, or even if it's encouraging me to do this." "And there's the eternal unreliability of multiversal prophecies," Giorno pointed out. "Yes. I know that. ...But I tried to convince myself this wasn't what needed to happen, and I couldn't." "How long have you been trying?" "I first got the idea three days ago. It hasn't left me since." She looked into Giorno's pleading eyes. "Tell me, to my face, that it's wrong. That we really shouldn't do it. That our safety is more important than the billions of lives Skarn destroys regularly. That the political process is more important than ending the human zipper." Giorno looked at her. "I can't tell you that." Eve sighed. "I was afraid of that..." She looked into his eyes. "Will you help me?" "I may have resources, but something of this nature I can't even leave to my Agents. I'll have to do it personally. We won't be able to move quickly - but it's better if there's a gap between events so it doesn't look suspicious." "We need a nearly uninhabited world that we own, that we can create a fake 'shaping' in." Giorno nodded. "Scientific outposts on worlds with unusual physics. We'll need higher dimension-altering spells, a way to evacuate everyone without raising suspicion, and a way to indicate without a doubt that Skarn is the one who did it..." "I think I can do most of those things. But I can't alter technological data, which the station will have plenty of." "I can do that." "I figured as much." "Will we be bringing anyone else in on this?" Eve shook her head. "If we're found out, only the two of us go down. I know there are others who are willing, but I don't want to jeopardize them." Giorno nodded. "...Eve, you're going to have to lie to a lot of people. And if the plan works, there will be a war where millions will die." "I know." "Some of them will probably be your friends." Something in the back of Eve's mind screamed, but she pushed it back. "I know. I can do this, Giorno." Giorno was silent for a moment. "Then we need to complete the plan." ~~~ Eve knocked on the door to Corona's house. The human-alicorn-thing opened the door with a sad smile. "Hey, Eve." "Hey," Eve said, forcing a smile. "Busy?" "Oh, no, not at all," Corona said. "Come on in." A few minutes later they were sitting in her living room drinking the latest experiment of Corona's - extremely fizzy drinks. "...This is like drinking pop rocks," Eve said. Corona smirked. "That's kinda the idea." Eve nodded slowly, taking another sip - carefully. "So, what brings you here?" Eve forced herself to keep a straight face. "Out of a mixture of curiosity and a personal desire for science, I've come to ask to access your universal shifting spells." "Research has those, you know." "It'd take an annoying amount of time to get approval to use those, even in my position." And there'd be a record of it. A very prominent record. "Just figured I'd ask you for them." "Sure thing," Corona said, summoning a book with three different locks on it. She unlocked one of them with her personal magic touch and gave it to Eve with two keys. "You're cautious." "It's not exactly a secret that I'm the one creating these spells. Someone could try to steal it. It's why I don't have a digital copy of the framework - those are all stored deep in Research's secure servers. I'd keep one key on you at all times and hide the other somewhere else." "Sure you won't need this?" Corona tapped her head with Raging Sights. "We've got it under control. What're you going to use this for?" Eve paused for a moment. "Going to analyze the methods by which universes can be fused together. Less of an experimental nature - like what Research does - and more of a 'let's just see what happens' sort of thing." Eve shrugged. "I was half expecting you to tell me no." Corona rolled her eyes. "Yeah, no, those spells are under lock and key to keep people from destroying everything. You're not the kind of person who'd do that." Well I'm not exactly using it to directly destroy everything... Eve smiled. "Thanks. I guess I'll get started on this - there's a few geometric universes that I've got in mind." "If you need help altering the frameworks to get it to do what you want, just let me know," Corona said. "They aren't exactly the simplest of spells. I'd also suggest having magic batteries on standby. It's very easy to burn yourself out on these even if you're a magical powerhouse." "Thanks for the advice!" Eve said, putting the book in a pocket dimension. "Now, have any other cool inventions I can see?" "The lab is currently experiencing the eighth color." "...Huh?" "Come on, I'll show you." ~~~ Renee giggled. "Eve, listen, I usually don't gossip... But I've realized something." "Hm?" Eve said, looking up from her sandwich, preoccupied with other thoughts. "We're slowly becoming part of the same family." "How so?" "Think about it. You're part of the Royal Family, and Cadence's kids have married into the Apple family - and the Joestars, but they're separate. Then some of the Apples have married into the Pies, adding Pinkie. Now, if Minna doesn't marry Frigid I will eat my hat. When it does happen, I'll be added in as well. That's four of us. If I were a betting mare I'd say Stardust is going to marry one of the many eligible bachelors in the family tree, which will add Nova and Corona to it. That just leaves Flutterfree and Rainbow." "Rainbow's not married," Eve pointed out. "She has time." "I talked to her about that. I believe she said something along the lines of 'Prism's father was enough of that for a lifetime'. It's dreadful that she's been so inoculated to romance because of the incident, but it is what it is. Though there is that Rarity she hangs out with. Now Flutterfree..." Renee pursed her lips. "Has to be someone within the church," Eve reminded her. "And she's not looking particularly hard to begin with." "She's getting a little old for it," Renee commented. "And she's not like you." Eve raised an eyebrow. "I know. I spend a lot of time with her, Renee." "Oh, right, apologies." "She's just not hung up on it. You are unusual for a pony, Renee." Eve smirked. "No wonder you chose a human." "Ah, perhaps, perhaps..." She leaned back and stretched her neck, allowing the conversation to trail off. "Hey, Renee?" "Hm?" "I was wondering if you could transfer your data about universal population. Particularly scientific outposts." Eve put on a smile. "I've got a curious itch I need to scratch." "Oh, of course, remind me when I'm back in the office." Eve raised an eyebrow. "You have to be back in the office?" "Well I..." Renee blinked. "Actually, I don't. I have permanent access from any location. Let's see..." She pulled out her phone and requested the files, receiving them instantly. "Emailed." And they won't track her personal email. "Thanks!" Renee didn't even ask what it was for, moving directly on to another topic. "Now, about my niece..." The fact that it was so easy to fool her friends just made Eve feel worse. They weren't suspicious and trusted her implicitly. Here she was, taking advantage of it... ~~~ "It's done," Giorno said, dropping his cloak in one of the alleys of Celestia City. Eve looked up at him. By 'it's done' he meant 'the black box of Planetary Proxima has been programmed to see a Skarn ship even though there isn't really one there.' "And we're sure everything else is ready?" Eve asked. Giorno nodded. Eve took a breath. It had been several months since the plan was first conceived. Most of that wait had been part of the plan - to make it seem the least suspicious. But that amount of time had given them plenty of moments to turn back, to stop themselves. Neither of them wanted to. It had also given them plenty of time to test. Eve ran through several different versions of Corona's spells to create one that looked most like Skarn's shaping - testing it on abandoned universes that nobody ever went to. Nobody would bat an eye that these 'nowheres' were gone, if they noticed at all. Using Renee's files, they had chosen Planetary Proxima because it seemed like a universe Skarn would appreciate, due to its unusual physics, and because it would be relatively easy to evacuate. Giorno had increased spy activity within the Congeries so they would have needed intel for a war, so they were readier than they had been last time. All that remained was one final lie. The most blatant one of all. She'd even talked with Flutterfree about it earlier - though she wouldn't give Flutterfree any details out of fear for implicating her. Her advice? "Don't be afraid to turn around, but do what you think is right." "This is it," Eve said. "...Last chance to turn around. Wrap this up and forget about it." Giorno turned to her. "...I'm following your lead on the moral call." Eve nodded slowly. Is this right? Do the ends justify the means, ever? Do the lives saved forgive the betrayals, lies, and deaths that are to come of this? ...Will I regret this decision? ...Yes. I will. But I'll also regret not doing it. There is no way out of this one with peace of mind. No solution that is obviously right. I just have to choose which one is better. Eve looked ahead. "I'm going to do it. Ready the autospell." Giorno nodded. He vanished into an invisibility cloak. Eve allowed herself to look panicked - it would actually help her sell what she was about to do. She scrambled out of the alley in a gallop. She teleported herself right outside the center of Celestia City - a place where she knew she could find the person she needed. Aradia Megido. "What's wrong?" Aradia asked. "V-vision," Eve lied, panting. "Horrible vision. I saw destruction in... a strange universe. Everything was dying. And then... and then you were there, and I woke up." Aradia nodded slowly. "What does it mean?" "It means you need to go somewhere to stop a disaster. I... I think I found the coordinates after a search." Eve handed Aradia a dimensional device keyed to Planetary Proxima. "That's... That's all I know." Aradia took the dimensional device. "I'll check it out. You realize I might cause the disaster, right?" "Then..." Eve bit her lip. "Then just get everyone out of there." Aradia nodded. "Got it. ...Wonder what's so important about this universe that you got a vision about it..." She shrugged, not questioning it further. She left the universe. When she arrived in Planetary Proxima, she triggered the activation of the spell. Because of this, when she tried to go to the future, there was no future to go to. She quickly evacuated everyone, allowing the universe to be 'shaped' without costing a single life, but with the very real threat that lives could have been lost had it not been for a trick of fate. Aradia would later believe Eve received a vision about the shaping because it had been Skarn's assault. After all, there had been an illusory ship in there. She never thought it was because Eve hadn't had a vision at all. The Handmaid had been manipulated like a puppet on a string. And a war had been declared based on a lie. ~~~ Eve had broken down into tears several times in the telling of her story. But now, at the end, she was all out. She was sniffing, but her eyes were dry, and her head heavy. She sat down on the ground, tired. Then she looked up to check people's reactions. Pinkie, Flutterfree, Vriska, Corona, Spike, Cass, Luna, and Giorno were fixing her with sad - but understanding - eyes. There were a few she couldn't read at all. Jotaro, Daniel, O'Neill, Allure, and Toph. And lastly there were the people who were clearly livid. Nova, Aradia, Renee, Applejack, and Prism. None of them said anything. They were clearly still processing it all. Corona took a few steps toward her, leaning down. As a hologram she couldn't put a hand on Eve's shoulder - but she could give her a sad smile. "I think you did the right thing." "Ex-cuse me!?" Renee blurted. "She manipulated us! She betrayed the trust not only of her friends but of her entire government! How is that okay!?" Corona narrowed her eyes at Renee. "You can't tell me you didn't think about doing it too." Renee took a few steps back. "I, er... Yes! I did think about it! For a split second and then I pushed it out of my mind because it was wrong." "Sometimes you have to be a bitch," Vriska said, folding her arms. "I thought we learned this lesson already!" Aradia blurted. "And... I..." "I'm sorry I had to lie to you," Eve said. "That's not the point!" Aradia said, waving her hands. "You... you just... you fooled me! I trusted you and I was led to start a war!" "We could have started the war without you," Giorno said. "We used you to save lives." Flutterfree nodded slowly. "Always, spend as few lives as possible." Aradia looked at Flutterfree, eyes sad. "...You're still on her side?" "She never lied to me," Flutterfree said. "She went out of her way to tell me she couldn't tell me for my own protection, and still sought my counsel. I... I didn't expect it to be this bad, but I knew it was going to be bad." Aradia glanced around the room. Then she looked to Eve. "...I can't condone your activities in the war any longer. I'm withdrawing all versions of me from the effort." "Hold it," O'Neill said, holding up a hand. "We can't let this get out. It'd destroy us." Aradia nodded. "I know. I suppose I should have clarified only versions of me that are god-tier. You can keep the ghosts. I just... I can't fight a war based on a lie." Renee glanced at O'Neill. "O'Neill, we can't keep this locked up!" "Yes we can," O'Neill said. "This is an impeachable offense!" Hearing those words come from Renee drove a pick of ice through Eve's heart. "I know it is." O'Neill leaned closer to Renee. "But we need the face of our people. If we get rid of her, things will fall apart. The inherent trust the people have in their leaders will vanish. Surely you know what happens to the USA regularly." Renee shook her head. "But... But if she's willing to do this, we can't trust her with this power anymore!" "Renee!" Pinkie blurted. "Reel yourself in!" "I'm an Overhead, Pinkie!" Renee blurted. "It's part of my job to make sure there's no corruption!" A single stream of tears rolled down her cheek. "And Eve's just... She's just..." "She did what she thought was right, that's not corrupt!" Pinkie blurted. "Do you really care more about the system than your friend!?" "I... I..." Renee shook her head. "I can't let her stay where she is, Pinkie! Not if she'll ever do something like this again!" "I Pinkie Promise that I'll never do this again," Eve said. "Hear that Pinkie?" Pinkie blinked. "Eve, you can't ma-" "I already did. I'm not doing this again. I thought I was ready to sacrifice my people." She shook her head. "I wasn't." "Why couldn't you have thought of that sooner!?" Prism shouted. "Huh? It took mom's death to get you to see how screwed up you are!?" "We can talk about that later!" O'Neill barked. "Jack..." Daniel said, raising a hand. "Daniel, quiet. We need to make sure none of this leaves this room. We can't let this fall apart. Does everyone understand!?" Renee looked at Eve, then back to O'Neill. "I... I... Yes. I know. I see. You're right." Prism glared at O'Neill. "Are you any better than her? Willing to cover up?" "Would you like Merodi Universalis to devolve into civil war?" O'Neill blurted. Prism blinked. "Wh-" "If Eve is impeached, or if the reason for her stepping down is ever uncovered, there are those so fiercely loyal to her they would refuse it. There are a lot of people who will think she made the right decision." Prism's expression became horrified - as did Eve's. "I... I didn't realize..." "You're so preoccupied with what's beyond us that you don't realize the difference you make here," Toph said. "I'd expect that from you. But Giorno?" "I thought of it," Giorno said. "I didn't tell her." Eve stared at him. "W-what!?" "The consequences of failure should not have mattered. All that mattered was if it was right or not. We were not going to be caught." "Giorno, I was going out of my way to protect everyone!" Giorno looked at her with a serious expression. "Which just happened to make it much, much less likely for us to be found out. You avoided involving people out of a desire to protect them. It just happened to be the pragmatic choice as well." Eve's mind reeled, unable to process that she, the mastermind of the whole scheme, had been manipulated in little ways as well. "It's going to be hard to keep this a secret with so many people knowing," Giorno pointed out. "We are not wiping any minds!" Eve blurted. "They all deserve to know! They need to know what I did, why I did it, and why Rainbow Dash is dead! That's the whole point!" "It took that much for your conscience to get to you?" Applejack asked, walking forward. "Ah'm surprised, Eve. Ah figured you were better than that." "Applejack..." Pinkie cautioned. Applejack ignored her. "That was a really, really big lie Eve." Eve nodded. "It was." "Got one of your best friends killed." Eve winced. "Y-yes." "Ah figured Ah would have been able to see the shift in your eyes, the nervousness. But you managed to keep this entire thing secret for several months, and only Flutterfree knew anything about it." Applejack narrowed her eyes, leaning in. "You couldn't keep something this big a secret without practice." Eve's and Flutterfree's eyes opened wide in alarm. Corona bit her lip. Pinkie looked confused. "What is it, Eve?" Applejack asked. "What other big lies have you kept from your friends? There's no damn way this is the only one!" Flutterfree inserted herself between Eve and Applejack. "Applejack, this isn't what this is about..." "Oh, you know what they are, don't you? Why don't you tell me?" Applejack threw a hoof in the air. "What's she lied about, Flutterfree? What's she kept from us!" Flutterfree winced. "Applejack, stop. Please." There was a moment where Applejack looked like she was going to listen to Flutterfree's plea - but her face returned to anger after a second. "No. No Ah'm not gonna stop. Eve! What is it? If you're gonna come clean about this, might as well come clean about everythin' else! And then that Pinkie Promise might actually mean somethin'." Eve looked around in fear. "I don't... I can't... No..." "Why not!?" Applejack shouted. "It's worse than this? How is that possible!?" "I know what happens if you find out!" Eve squealed, the tears coming again even though she had supposedly run out earlier. "The truth Evening! THE TRUTH!" "I... I a-" Flutterfree put a hoof over Eve's mouth. "Now's really not the time, Applejack. Really not the time." "Flutterfree, get out of the way." Flutterfree shook her head. "No." The robes of Rage began to billow in a wind that didn't exist. "Nova? D'ya mind?" Nova shook her head. "Not at all." She grabbed Flutterfree in her magic and tore her off Eve. Flutterfree struggled - but Lolo couldn't do anything to a telekinetic field, and she was not able to muster up Rage against her friend. "Flutterfree!" Eve wailed. "You don't get to hide behind her," Applejack said. "And you don't get to hide behind your lies." "Applejack..." "JUST LET IT OUT BEFORE I GO IN THERE AND DRAG IT OUT MYSELF!" Nova shouted. "You don't... I don't..." "There's no way it's worse th-" "I AM NOT EVENING SPARKLE! HAPPY!?" Pinkie's mane deflated to fully straight in an instant. "What in tarnation does that mean?" Applejack asked. Pinkie grabbed Eve by the neck. "It means she's Twilight-X. That's what it means." "...What?" Vriska asked. Eve was crying too hard to respond. So Pinkie did it for her. "Let's go down a trip through memory lane, shall we? Once upon a time, there was a universe that copied every universe that touched it. This universe made copies of all of us! But, tragically, it was destroyed by Rick Sanchez. All our copies... destroyed. Except the Twilight that got killed wasn't the copy! It was the real one! She's been lying to us for decades about who she is!" Pinkie threw her to the ground. "You're not Evening. You stole that name the moment it was created. You're Twilight." "Back off!" Corona said. "SHE LIED TO MY FACE CORONA! I ASKED HER AS DIRECTLY AS I POSSIBLY COULD OVER SPARKY'S GRAVE!" "I KNOW!" Corona shouted. "I SAW IT IN TOPEKA!" "You... you knew!?" "I didn't know this was the secret, but I knew there was a secret. And I know she was suffering deep, internal agony about not telling any of you." "Lying to us for decades..." Applejack said, face haunted. "What in the..." "She wanted to tell you!" Flutterfree said. "She really did! She ju-' "Why didn't you!?" Applejack shouted. "Because I was going to lose a friend when I did," Eve said, unable to keep her face straight. "...That's not completely true. I kept it at first out of fear, and then just because I kept doing it. But then I talked to Twilence. She... She told me that everything I feared was true. I'm going to lose a friend here today. I'm also going to have broken a bond of trust between someone and it's never going to be fixed. I'm going to get some people to hate me, and I'm going to drive some people into depression." She twitched, turning to anger. "Why did you have to drag it out of me, Applejack!? WHY!?" "Because it was the truth!" "Yeah, well it's going to ruin everything! I admit, it was a mistake! I should have told you way back then! There's no defense of pretending to be someone I wasn't!" "And there's a defense for doing what you did here?" "YES!" "NO THERE AIN'T!" Applejack shouted. "THERE AIN'T NO DEFENSE FOR LYING TO CAUSE A WAR, TWILIGHT." The use of her old name shocked Eve to her core. "That's right. Twilight. You're Twilight. You don't get her name. You're not the Charter-Princess." "You've known her longer than you knew the original!" Flutterfree shouted. This fact seemed to terrify Applejack. "Ah... Ah..." "I'm sorry!" Eve blurted. "I never should have let it get this far!" "SORRY ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH!" Pinkie roared. Nova's anger dissipated for a moment to allow her to look at Pinkie. "...Pinkie? Yo-" "NO! No I'm not freaking okay! I can see it now! I can see it all clearly. Lost friend? Applejack. Permanently ruined trust? Renee. Hatred? Oh that'll be Prism over there. Depression? Well whoop-de-doo, that's me." She let out a laugh. "How about you all realize just what this means, huh? Flutterfree, you knew and you agreed to keep it from us! Spike, you didn't notice that your mother-sister-whatever was replaced! Jotaro, that pony you owe that great debt to for fixing your family!? This isn't even her. And how a-" Vriska punched her in the face. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Pinkie was behind her. "You can never shut me up, Vriska! Why don't you know this by now!?" "I don't care," Vriska said. "All I know is that I may or may not have really known the original Eve. But I know this one. And I know she's a fucking amazing person and you're all being assholes! Friendship is magic, idiots!" There was the sound of a door slamming. Everyone realized Jotaro had stormed off in a huff. There was silence. The only real sound was Eve's retching, her body trying to force her to cry more, but she just couldn't. O'Neill sighed. "...There's nothing else for us to do here, right now. None of this leaves this room. Understood?" Everyone nodded - they had at least gotten that out of this. Most of them turned away from Eve and left. O'Neill returned to his duties, letting his hologram vanish. Flutterfree, Vriska, Allure, Corona, and Giorno remained after everyone had shuffled away. Flutterfree held Eve close. She glared at Giorno. "You need to leave." Giorno's face darkened. He wordlessly did as she asked. Corona kneeled down and looked at Eve's tormented face. "...I'm sorry. I have to go." Eve nodded, gagging on her breath in the process. "I... I probably should be mad," Corona admitted. "But... I'm not." Eve opened her mouth. "Th... thank you." Corona nodded, wiping her face. "We'll talk later." She disconnected. Just Flutterfree, Vriska, and Allure now. Allure looked at Eve. "...I don't know what to think." Eve looked at her. "...I don't know either." Allure moved to nuzzle her - but remembered she was a hologram. "Oh... ...Sorry." "It's... It..." Eve heaved again. Flutterfree wiped her face. "She means it's the thought that counts." Allure nodded. "Yeah." She turned to Vriska. The troll's face was of understanding. The Thief of Light empathized with the horrible feelings churning around Eve's heart and mind. Vriska pulled the Charter in. "I know," she whispered into Eve's ears. "...I know." Flutterfree, Vriska, and Eve held each other, still. Allure decided she should probably go. She disconnected, wiping her own eyes. She walked down to the ground floor of the League of Sweetie Belles. "I'm going home early today." Thrackerzod took one look at her face and decided not to object. "...Need anything?" "Minna," Allure said. "...I need to go home." Thrackerzod let her go. Allure passed through the teleporter and arrived at the front door of her house. "Hey mom, what-" Allure pulled her into a hug. "I don't know what's up. Sorry." Minna blinked in surprise for a moment, but hugged her back. "...Are you okay?" "Me? I'm fine," Allure said, sniffing. "There's a lot of other people who aren't though." "Oh. Is it about the war?" Minna blinked. "Did... did the soldiers get to Celestia City?" "Oh, no, no, not that," Allure said. "We're still safe. It's just... An emotional issue." "I don't like those soldiers. There's something about them that... I just hate. I see their armor on the news and every sense in me tells me they're... ...Why are you looking at me like that?" "My first instinct was to lie to you," Allure said. Minna blinked. "...What?" "I was all ready to say, 'don't worry about it, they're just the enemy, that's why you get a bad feeling.' But... but that's not it. I know why you feel so strongly about them." Minna stared at her. "We need to stop keeping secrets for the sake of others," Allure said. "So... here it is. Under their armor they are white skinned white haired humans with purple eyes." Minna glanced at herself in the mirror. "Who can sense the future. And have the ability to appear completely normal to all standard types of scans." Minna looked at her hands. Her dull purple eyes flashed, entering a bright, intense state. "I..." "I know. The Congeries... I think that's your home." Tears formed in Allure's eyes. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner." "It's only been a few days, it's o-" Minna's eyes opened wide and she reeled forward. "I..." She put a hand to her forehead. "You... you still remember what I am, right?" Allure nodded. "Good. I... I stopped it." She sat down on the couch, staring into space. "...I... A lot of images are flowing across my mind. I've been... activated somehow." "Huh?" "I remember... I c-" She winced, cocking her head sideways. Then her eyelids opened fully and her pupils shrank to pinpricks, her bright purple iris shimmering with power she barely knew. She stood up tall, creating a crack in the ground with the force she exerted. "I'm a warrior." "Minna, no you're not..." Minna waved a hand. "I'm not now, but I was designed to be. I..." She closed her eyes and took a breath. "We don't have a name. We're just the soldiers. We exist to protect the Congeries and... to judge? I don't understand what that means. I..." She put a hand on Allure, trembling. "I... Such pain... It's too... It's too much." "I'm here!" Allure said, holding her close. "I can take some of it for you!" Minna looked right into Allure's eyes. Both of their pupils pulsed in time - larger, smaller, larger, smaller again. Allure was given a memory. She was a 'human' girl sitting in a vat, tubes plugged into her back. Each tube gave her extreme pain, making her want to cry - but she was in a vat, and every part of her was covered in a thick green syrup that made any action impossible. She had no concept of food, language, family... She barely understood that time was a thing. But today was the day she was taken out. The image of who took her out was blurry, but Allure only knew of one feminine bear creature. Brell. Brell touched Allure with a gentle finger. It might have been soothing if Allure wasn't so afraid, and if she didn't touch everywhere. The wires and tubes were removed in an instant, sending great pain into Allure. Brell didn't care about the pain. She just left Allure there, moving to another vat. The memory shifted. Allure saw other children like her have a knife stabbed into their brains, coming out. The children were alive, but they stopped screaming. Stopped caring. They were ready to listen. There was a voice. Brell's? Allure didn't know. "My beautiful children..." Allure saw a human man dropped in front of the children. The others jumped him, tearing him limb from limb. Allure didn't join - but she couldn't stop watching. She was dragged away from all the others... And then the memory ended. Allure staggered back, breathing heavily. "I... I have to go," Minna said. "I have to stop it. Have to stop all of them. I... I have to destroy that place." It was rare Allure saw anger in her daughter's face, but she definitely saw it now. "Minna, that's in the Congeries! Th-" "I'm going," Minna said, looking toward the door. "You can't leave Celestia City! We have a travel ban!" "There won't be a record of me leaving and nobody will remember," Minna said. "...I can still think well enough to control it. Unlike the rest of them." "But that's a warzone!" Minna looked at Allure. "...Mom, I have to go." Allure stared at her daughter. Sixteen years old. She'd been such a treasure all those years - kind, quiet, understanding, mysterious, and patient. She'd never gone through the rebellious phase. Allure couldn't even see this as a rebellion - it was a need. Since Allure had told her, a need had awoken in Minna. Minna was talking to Allure not like a child, but an adult. An adult who understood the situation. Allure gulped. "I... I can't stop you, can I?" Minna shook her head sadly. "No." "...Then I won't try." Allure hugged her daughter. "Come back." Minna bit back tears. "I will. I will. ...Mom, if you see Frigid, tell him..." she paused. "Actually, you know what to tell him already." Allure nodded. "Yeah. I do. I love you." "I love you too." Minna pulled back and opened the front door. "Pretend like you don't remember me leaving. That'll help you if anyone asks questions." "I know." Allure said. Then Minna was gone. Allure looked at her hooves. This all happened because I decided to tell her the truth... ...Was I wrong? ~~~ Eve walked up to the front door of the Apple Family farm and knocked. Apple Bloom opened the door, a judging look on her face. "Twilight." Eve sighed. "She told you?" "You know how much she hates keeping secrets. Now she has to for national security." Apple Bloom bristled. "You should consider yourself lucky she's doin' it at all." Eve nodded. "I don't suppose she'll let me talk to her?" "Nope. And in fact Ah'm supposed to tell you never to come by here again. You're not welcome." "...Oh," Eve said, drooping. Apple Bloom's stern exterior broke, replaced with sympathy. "Look, E- Twilight, Ah... Ah don't think you need to be ostracized like this. But she's made her decision. And Ah think she's sure of it. Very sure." Eve said nothing. "Ah'm sorry. Ah think you've lost her." "I know I have," Eve said. She levitated a letter out of her saddlebags and gave it to Apple Bloom. "...Give this to her when you think she's in a better mood." "What is it?" "A goodbye letter," was all Eve said. "...And Apple Bloom?" "Yah?" "Thanks for being... you." Apple Bloom smiled awkwardly. "Uh... kay?" Eve teleported away. She used Seraphim to override the planetary dimensional lock, appearing in the Hub. She teleported to Renee's house and knocked. Daniel opened the door. The sounds of Renee's wailing could be heard from inside the house. "...She's not in the mood to talk to you," Daniel said. "...That's obvious," Eve said. She pulled out another letter. "This is for her. When she's ready." "What is it?" "An apology, a plea, and a goodbye. And some other things." Eve smiled sadly. "You'll give it to her?" Daniel nodded. "There'll probably be a lot of ice cream tubs I give her before this, though." "Take as long as she needs," Eve said. "...Thanks." She teleported away. She dialed Equis Vitis again, stopping by Pinkie's house. She walked up to the door and knocked. There was no response. Eve had expected this. What she had not expected was to be able to see through one of Pinkie's windows into the dining room. Pinkie was sitting on the table, mane perfectly flat, faced away from Eve. Eve knew Pinkie knew she was watching, and vice versa. Pinkie didn't turn her head to look at Eve with her eyes, only registering the alicorn's presence through her Awareness. That was enough for Eve. She left Pinkie's letter in the mailbox. Then she teleported away. ~~~ It was a few days before Apple Bloom thought she could leave the letter for Applejack on her nightstand. Applejack was ready for bed when she saw it - Eve's cutie mark imprinted on it. She almost didn't read it. But, in the end, she picked it up. Hi, Applejack. I know it's over. You and I may never speak again for all I know. Normally I would fight against this with every fiber in my being, but I know that'd just make it worse for both of us. I'm sorry for that. I lied. I lied a lot, for a long time, to everyone I met about who I was. I lied about other things. But it was always mostly that. You were right. It trained me to keep my face level, to not visibly react when people said certain things. It turned me into a better liar. It's the reason I was able to go through with what I did. For what it's worth, I'm sorry I hurt you. I want you to know that, despite the ending, I will always cherish the friendship we had. All those picnics we had with the girls, all those adventures, and all those lessons. Remember the time when you had me feed the pigs and your instructions were absolutely absurd? I was always sure you were the sane one before that day. Or what about the time we worked together to run Flim and Flam out of Ponyville? But those are her memories, aren't they? Even though I know they're not truly mine, I have a hard time separating them. What of the memories we had afterward? Renee's wedding? The struggle we shared against the Combine and Horrorterrors? The last mission on the island? The point is that I will cherish these memories. I like to think you will too. But I know you won't be able to accept me. I'm not the Charter-Princess, and you need to grieve for her loss. You'll never be able to see me as anything other than one big lie that thumbs its nose at your feelings. Which I guess I am, and I will continue to be. It's okay if you resent me. I understand. So this is a goodbye. I'm going t- Applejack couldn't read anymore. She crumpled the letter up, threw it in the trash, and proceeded to cry herself to sleep. ~~~ Renee found her letter inserted between a tub of vanilla ice cream and orange sherbert. She started crying again the moment she saw it, but she opened it up anyway. Hi Renee, Trust should be one of the Elements of Harmony. There are some Trusts that can be repaired - regained over time. Flutterfree and I were like that. But you're a different mare to Flutterfree, and our relationship is decidedly unique. We aren't just friends - we're also colleagues. Colleagues with huge responsibilities, including the charge to keep each other in check. Maybe you're right. Maybe I am corrupt. Maybe it's because I spent so long lying about who I was. I like to think I'll change now. But the secrets still need to be kept for the sake of the nation. I wish they didn't. I'm so tired of secrets, of abused trust. Sick of it all. I don't really know what you think about me lying to you about who I was. I hope you'll move past it, and accept that I am still your friend. I don't want to lose two. I didn't want to lose one. If you really think I can't be trusted in my position, come talk to me after I'm back. Tell me why. Let's talk it out. I'll say I resigned because I had been the Relations Overhead for too long, and that it was time to pass on the torch. You will have to convince me of that for it to be true. But first, I'm going t- Renee burst into tears again, throwing the letter off the table. She just couldn't handle it right now. ~~~ Pinkie Pie w- "Just shut up." ... "Thank you. So readers! Here I am, sitting on a table, as depressed as I've ever been. I've been betrayed not only by Eve, but also by my knowledge. I should have known she had a secret. But guess whaaaaat? It was kept from me. On purpose. For the sake of drama and tension. "ISN'T THIS ENTERTAINING!? ISN'T IT!? "It is, isn't it? You like watching us wallow in despair, watching us suffer, watching us struggle. I bet you were laughing at it the whole time 'aha, Pinkie doesn't know! How silly! That's going to bite them all later' and then you felt all satisfied when you realized you called it. Or maybe you wanted something unexpected to happen and were disappointed? "WELL WHY DON'T I JUST SLIT MY OWN THROAT RIGHT HERE THEN, HUH? WOULDN'T THAT BE UNEXPECTED!? "... "I'm sorry. I... I wouldn't do that. I just got angry and wanted to hurt you. That was wrong of me. "I guess I should probably read my letter now. Sun's setting after all. Appropriate time." Hi Pinkie. I've wanted to tell you for so long. I've wanted to spill my very soul to you, to tell you everything about myself, about my struggles, about the things I've had to see through the eyes of a survivor, about - well I don't really know. I've had that dream multiple times. Where I'm standing with you at Sparky's grave, and I tell you everything. I never get to see the ending of that dream. Maybe I will now. I know it's hard to be you. I know that I just made it worse by what I did. I kept things from you, things you should have known. You all should have known. Should I have told you that first day, Pinkie? Would you all have accepted me? Or would you have grieved over the original and seen me as an unfortunate reminder? Can you answer that question? I don't think you can. Twilence wasn't able to, not for sure. It was still wrong not to tell you. I don't know why I'm rambling like this. I'm sorry. If nothing else, I should have told you that day you asked. You were in pain about your uncertainty. I could have helped you. I didn't. I was a horrible friend. I want to thank you for standing up for what I did. It meant a lot. "It's because we can't lose. You deduced that. You knew that, because of who we were, we couldn't lose... You just never vocalized it." I know I can't fix this. But I'm going to try to atone for it. I'm going to the warfront. "Wait what!?" I'm going to fight in the war I created instead of hiding in my tower, locked away from the danger. I'm going to atone for what I've done - whether it was really wrong or not, I will suffer the consequences of it. The secret cannot come out. So I will experience it myself. I'll be back. I'm the protagonist, right? Or maybe I'll just be replaced again. I'll be fine with that. I should have perished with my universe. Take care of yourself. -Evening Sparkle "Uh... Yeah I'm going to need a scene break." ~~~ Pinkie's mane was still completely flat. She glared at Vriska, Nova, Flutterfree, and Jotaro. "Eve's gone to the warfront," Pinkie said. "And she's going to get herself killed if we don't do something." Vriska and Flutterfree sat up in shock. "Yes, I know you two helped her arrive at that decision. Yes, I also know you two are thinking 'hey, what about her being the protagonist, doesn't that protect her?' Let's just cut to the chase. That was stupid and your ka-based decision licenses are revoked." She cleared her throat. "So we're going to save her. Now we get to go to the warfront." She turned to Jotaro. "And before you say anything, remember all the other things she's done for you. You owe her a lot more than just that one thing." Jotaro grabbed his hat. "Yare yare daze..." "Good." Nova sighed. "I'm... I'm still mad at her. But you're right, we can't just let her throw her life away." "I was so su-" Flutterfree began. Pinkie shook her head. "I know you were sure. But trust me when I say we have to go help her. We are the primary team - and she's our friend. No matter what she's done, no matter how we feel, if she's in danger we're going to help her." "Right," all four of them said at once. Pinkie let herself smile - even though her mane didn't pick up at all. "I'm glad we're all on the same page." "One problem though," Vriska said, pointing at Flutterfree. "She's not a warrior. Never has been. She wouldn't survive in a war." Pinkie glanced at Flutterfree. "You can stay behind if you want." "I'm going," Flutterfree said, jaw set. "There's no way I'm not going now. And you know this." "Yeah. Which is why I asked for a special guest today." Pinkie clapped her front hooves together. A version of Fluttershy walked into the room. She had a blindfold over her face to hide her lack of eyes, razor sharp tips in her wings, and sharp metal boots on her hooves. "This is Flair, the Fluttershy of Affix's world." Flair turned to face Flutterfree, even though she was blind. "I can give you the weapons I have." Flutterfree nodded. "Do it." "They are not easily removable without trauma to the nervous system," Flair warned. "Not to mention your wings are no longer going to be soft and comforting - they will be deadly. Are you certain you want to turn yourself into a warrior?" "If I want to survive out there, I'll have to." She fixed Flair with a determined glare, brimming with a slight aura of Rage. "Do it." Flair nodded. She produced a black box and placed it on the ground. She tapped it with one of the sharp tips of her wing, making it open up. Shards of metal shot deep into Flutterfree's wings. No blood was drawn - but Flutterfree felt her bones crackle and fuse back together, prompting her to scream. Only the tips of the metal were visible at the ends of her wings, one for each clump of feathers. The boots went next - embedding large spikes right into her hooves that replaced much of her lower leg bones, giving her hooves a metallic point at the front. She grabbed her chest - lucky that the points on her hooves pointed away from her. "Ah... Ah... Ah..." "The pain will subside in an hour or two," Flair said. "Your wings are now razor sharp. Careful what you hold with them. Your hooves should still function as they did before, except now you have sharp points at the front. I was able to flood the power of my Element of Kindness into the weapons - your internal Rage should be able to do the same." Flutterfree looked at the emblem of Rage on her chest. "Got it." "If you react any way like I did, you'll grow accustomed to this naturally." Flair put a gentle hoof on Flutterfree's shoulder. "You are now a killing machine, Flutterfree. Be careful." "I will." "What are we waiting for?" Pinkie blurted. "Let's go save Eve!" "Wait, Renee will try to stop us," Nova pointed out. "She has close tabs on us." Pinkie and Jotaro smiled knowingly. "We have a man on the inside," Pinkie said with a wink. "GIRL!" a voice shouted from the other room. "Oh. Right. Pidge," Nova said. "Thanks for getting her off our backs!" Flutterfree called. "Just get going before she figures out and fires me, okay?"
Songs of the Spheres	103 - Conquest, Part 1	O'Neill had called another special meeting in the middle of Celestia City, including Thor, Squeaky, Saxton Hale, Starbeat, Ava, and the robotic Research Overhead. "We're approaching the end, people. Within the hour the subfleets are expected to breach Skarn's defenses and be within weapons range of the Congeries' center. It took them seven local 'days' to get this far. The effectiveness of the Redshirt strategy has exceeded all expectations." Starbeat couldn't help but smirk. O'Neill grunted. "Yes, we get it, you were right. Outside of a large-scale military engagement such methods are going to be banned, you understand." "That's Oversight's and Justice's purview," Ava pointed out. "And the chances of them not regulating this sort of thing?" "Minimal. Just reminding you of your place." O'Neill looked at the Labor Overhead. On some days he thought she was the perfect person for the job, and on others she was just so nagging about 'proper use of authority' and the like. She would definitely have Eve and Giorno's heads if she knew. Which she wouldn't. Ever. Which made him accessory to conspiracy. What fun. Four of the thirteen Overheads in on a conspiracy. If they were somehow found out now it would be even more disastrous than if it had just been Evening and Giorno. Such pleasant thoughts today, I'm on a roll. Squeaky cleared her throat, sensing a lull in the report. "We have received occasional visual confirmation of the Congeries' center. Every image we manage to snap is not useful for more than a few minutes because it's in a state of rapid flux. What we do know is that the center of the Congeries occupies a single universe about the size of a standard Earth Sun, relatively speaking. Unlike all the other universes in the Congeries, this one is perfectly spherical, instead of the random patchwork we're used to. The outer edge of this center is always completely solid, although changing material and pattern." "I thought he gave up using walls?" Saxton Hale asked. "It was ineffective against a spread out fleet," Thor said. "However, once we reach the center, the surface area is small enough that Skarn's Shaping Mechanism can alter the entire area at one time. This means a wall that he can continually repair on all sides will be very effective at keeping us out, assuming he can jam teleportation past it." "We've also detected that all his remaining ships are clustering around the center," O'Neill said. "There's not that many - few hundred - but it'll be enough to do some damage. Not to mention there are probably hundreds of thousands of those vanilla bean soldiers hiding out in various places, ready to board and wreak more havoc on our fleet." "Remaining subfleets?" Ava asked. "Twenty-six," the Research Overhead reported. "Projected to be twenty-five or twenty-four at time of arrival. Roughly 60% of our original fleet size." "Those are bad numbers," O'Neill pointed out. "In a standard Earth War," the Research Overhead countered. "This is a multiversal war," Thor commented. "Weapons are significantly more lethal and when a ship is destroyed, the entire crew usually goes with it. I suspect the defense numbers are much better for our side." The Research Overhead nodded. "Medical attention and revive spells are much more readily available for our combatants here - ones that aren't using the Conjoiners, anyway. 95% strength, the exact opposite predicted for the Congeries forces." "Guess we're moving on to the defense report," O'Neill said. "Conclusion of the offense - horrible losses, but we've got enough left to smash their doors in from all sides. As already mentioned the defense is going much smoother. With the exception of the first day where we scrambled to defend against unexpected ground troop movements, we have taken control of the situation. As the offense has pushed deeper and deeper into the Congeries, fewer and fewer ships arrive in our space. "Recovery efforts for Earth Vitis and Equis Cosmic are underway in full force, though numerous cities have been lost in both. Earth Vitis Canterlot is a complete loss, structurally. Luckily the city was mostly evacuated before the Congeries fully entered. Currently, these two worlds have almost no enemy presence, same for Equis Vitis. E-Sphere universes never had any significant presence to begin with." "Which leaves three fronts," Thor said. "The Elemental Nations, Lai, and the Hub. The Hub is under no major threat but it is known vast numbers of them are hiding in the jungles. The Elemental Nations have been fighting numerous waves of the soldiers in several locations for most of the war, so there is no surprise there. We were completely surprised by Lai." Squeaky nodded. "They found an ancient Rune that allowed them to duplicate themselves. The Rune was destroyed at the behest of Queen Toph, but the aftermath is proving to be problematic. Lai has the least dimensional stabilizers out of all the founding worlds, and they are being systematically removed by the Congeries. They are not expected to take out any of them in Lai castle, but the civilian damage they are causing cannot be understated. Even with medical staff and harmonic energy all around, it's a bloodbath out there." "Which is why we need to take Skarn out," O'Neill said. "End this war." "And what if the soldiers keep fighting?" Ava said, raising an eyebrow. "Then we better hope the fleet finds a way to get past their memory screwing so we can dump the protomolecule on them, because it'll be a long extermination process otherwise." ~~~ Allure looked at her chosen warriors. Jade, Alushy, and Nae. "I want you to find Minna and protect her," Allure said. Jade raised an eyebrow. "Didn't y-" "I can't sleep!" Allure blurted. "I have to know if she's okay! D-don't try to stop her from completing her mission, but help her if you can." She looked down. "I'm not a soldier. Even though I learned to fight well in the Loops, I don't think I could handle a full-scale war. I'd just get in the way." "You got that right," Alushy said. "Though I hear Flutterfree got some snazzy new wing knives, I'm sure there's some bitchin' super armor we can get you or somethin'." "I'd rather not integrate my skeleton with deadly metal, thank you," Allure said. "But I do have friends I trust. Friends that can go and keep her safe." Jade nodded. "You can count on us." "I know. Nae here has already been fighting - she'll get you into the thirty-eighth subfleet and guide you in from there." Nae smiled. "It's brutal out there, but we'll find her. Just have to spend a little time in every fleet to do it. Personnel are a bit hard to keep track of, especially if there's a soldier who's lying about their name, age, or otherwise." "If she's fighting, whatever commander she's under will know it," Allure said. "Because... you know." "We know," Nae said. "By the way, Alushy, I thought you were already fighting?" "I got bored," Alushy said, stretching her wings. "But this is more than enough reason for me to go back in. Let's fuck 'em up." Jade barked. Alushy chuckled. "There it is." Jade sighed. "Shouldn't we get going?" "One last thing," Allure said. "You're not supposed to be in speeders or high-danger situations unless you find her there. ...Please, come back safe." "Do I look like I plan to die today?" Alushy said, laughing. "No, of course not. Don't you worry your pretty head about us." Nae opened a portal. "The best place to dial the fleet is from the Hub. Come on." The three of them left, the portal closing behind them. Allure was alone once again. I'm going to be in a constant loop of second-guessing my decisions today. She cut her hologram transmission, returning to Celestia City. She'd wanted to send Thrackerzod as well, but there was currently a travel ban to keep the Congeries from finding Celestia City. ...She still wanted to be near the action, or at least the place the action would be. She asked the City to track down O'Neill for her. She had the required security clearance to do so. It pointed her right to his bunker briefing room. She stepped outside onto one of the outer layers of Celestia City and looked at the sky - or what parts of the 'sky' she was allowed to see. She could only make out mysterious swirling patterns of red, a simplified view of the true eldritch nature of the location. Hastur had been kind enough to lend a smaller Eldritch Embodiment universe that nobody cared about to them. The Congeries would never expect them to be within the space of another nation while they were at war - which was exactly why they were here. It was only a short walk to a teleporter pad and then Allure arrived at the military bunkers. They were a series of simple, metallic rooms devoid of decoration. She received a few odd glances from the military masterminds, but she didn't mind, and they didn't look long - they were far too busy. She found O'Neill enjoying a cup of what was probably coffee, leaning against a wall. "Hey," Allure said. "I wasn't sleeping," O'Neill told her, standing up tall. "Sure." Allure sighed. "Don't mind me, I'm just here because I can be and I'm really, really nervous." "Minna still?" Allure nodded. "Yeah." "This might make you feel worse. We talk a lot about death and sacrificing soldiers here." "Maybe. I'll leave if I think it's too much." She looked at the holographic model of the offense - the subfleets converging on a single point. It looked beautiful to her, the golden color of Merodi Universalis charging the red cluster of dots that represented the Congeries. "You think we're going to win?" "It's not actually a question of if we'll win," O'Neill said. "We're almost certain of it. The question is how much are we going to have to sacrifice to pull it off." "Ah..." "There's also the third option," O'Neill said. "Something unexpected happens." "But if you're expecting it doesn't that make it expected?" "Talk to Starbeat, and then proceed to be more confused." Allure let out a sigh. "Oh joy..." ~~~ Corona was not on the Andromeda at the moment - she was strolling down the speeder bays of the Austraeoh, so named because it's captain was a Rainbow Dash who said that was how it needed to be. Apparently it meant something in her home universe. Not that Corona had any idea what it meant. That Rainbow Dash captain had a lot of stories to tell, but they jumped all over the place so much that Corona had a hard time keeping track of it all, especially since so few of them ever got finished due to sudden combat. Corona pushed those thoughts out of her mind - she had a particular speeder team she wanted to talk to. Her current prized team who had pulled through so many times to pull the fleet forward. She tapped on the window of speeder forty-two. "Hey." A purple alicorn with a white mane (styled in the standard Twilight Sparkle fashion) and green eyes poked her head out of the speeder. "Yes?" she asked, light glinting off her white hearing devices. Corona knew it was Eve. But as far as Eve was concerned Corona thought she was 'Twinkie', so named because of her white mane. Which totally wasn't fake. "Twinkie, I want to see your whole team." Eve nodded, gesturing for everyone to come out. Two of the crewmembers were redshirts that Corona didn't have time to care about, unfortunately. The fourth member, however... white skin, white hair, purple eyes. Definitely Minna. She called herself Nadia and claimed to be a turncoat. Corona didn't have any complaints about the falsehood, since Minna was the most effective speeder pilot she had, considering her sudden mastery of her kind's unusual sight. Corona also knew that while both Eve and Minna thought their 'disguises' were perfect, they each knew who the other was. It was frankly rather comical. "Right, so, you know you're the speeder team with the biggest success in the entire third subfleet, right?" Corona asked. Eve nodded. "Right." "Good news, you're all getting medals. Bigger ones this time." Eve rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah..." "I'm also going to be transferring you off speeders." Minna blinked. "Wait, what?" "We're reaching the center," Corona said. "Won't need them much longer. I think you'll do great as part of my personal strike team." Eve blinked. "Shouldn't you stay on the Andromeda commanding the subfleet?" "I am one of the strongest spellcasters in the entire fleet," Corona pointed out. "I won't be needed when Yellow Diamond retakes control in the final moments. So I'm forming a team for direct attacking. You four are on it." Minna's concerned look turned to a smile. "Good. Thanks, Corona." "Don't mention it, Nadia," Corona said with a smile. "You can come with me to the Andromeda for now. We'll be able to discuss the actual plan. I really think you should be part of it." Eve shot Corona a glance. ...Do you know? she asked telepathically. Yes. Eve, that's a horrible disguise. She grimaced. Ah. Well, thanks then. For covering. Anytime. Minna glanced between Corona and Eve. "Hidden conversation... Hrm..." Corona waited for Minna's inkling to tap into what was going on. Unfortunately, it looked as if Minna was not meant to know about the conversation, because she just shrugged and put on a smile. Corona teleported them to the Andromeda's bridge to begin the explanation of what was to come. ~~~ "You know what I hate?" Pinkie said as she trudged through the halls of another speeder-carrying ship in yet another subfleet. Her mane was still as straight as it could be, but she was otherwise fine. "Skarn?" Vriska suggested. "War?" Nova muttered, trying in vain to magically grow part of her mane back. "Needless violence?" Flutterfree added. She looked the worst out of all of them, by far - her wingtips were covered in blood that had dried long ago, her Rage robes and mane were in tatters, and she looked tired. "Yare yare daze?" Jotaro suggested. "Spotty information," Pinkie said. "I was just partially aware of Eve getting taken out of a speeder and onto a strike force mission. But I can't tell you in which fleet it's in because, gasp, that would ruin the boring drudgery we're doing now!" She pulled a knife out of her mane and threw it into a nearby wall. "I'm getting real fed up with it." "We've searched over half the subfleets," Flutterfree reminded her. "It won't be that much longer." "I think we all know we're going to end up in the big battle in the center," Pinkie muttered. "Because of course we do. The story was never going to get there without us." She smacked herself in the head. "What a dummy I've been!" "You really need to get back to being yourself," Nova said. "Seriously, I'm used to fighting the Pinkies that have gone psycho. You're making me want to shoot you out of reflex." Pinkie grunted. "I'll be fine. Ish. Eventually. Whatever, you all voted me out of the leader position anyway, who cares about my mental state!?" "I do," Flutterfree said, smiling warmly. "We all do." Pinkie sighed. "Sorry, sorry. Not in the best headspace right now, and I'm being forced to fight in a war. You don't know what that's like." She caught Flutterfree's glance. "...Nevermind, talked without thinking again." "It's okay." "And this is why you're the leader right now," Vriska said. "You're still cool." "I predict I'll have a psychotic breakdown sooner or later," Flutterfree said, staring at the blood on her wings. "Jotaro, remember, you're the backup." Jotaro nodded. Nova rubbed the back of her head. "I just realized. All of us are kinda stressed out to the point of shouting at each other, and yet we're still a functioning unit." "We've been working together for decades," Flutterfree explained. "So even if I'm acting like a bitch everyone will just roll with it and we'll be fine." Nova stared at Flutterfree. "...I don't think I've ever heard you say 'bitch' before." "Evidence of my impending psychotic breakdown," Flutterfree said with a sad laugh. "There is something seriously wrong with all of us," Vriska said. "This war needs to end," Nova said. "Assuming Pinkie's right, we might be the ones to do it." "At least that'll be cathartic," Pinkie muttered. "I'll crush them like bubble wrap." "Fun," Jotaro commented. "Well look what the kraken dragged in!" Meenah marched up to them, Feferi at her heels. "Never expected to see you fronds in the twenty-seventh subfleet." "We're looking for Eve," Nova said. "Have any alicorn mares with suspicious deafness or an aversion to loud sounds?" "Not that I know of," Meenah said. Feferi pulled out her phone and did some searches. "Nothing comes up. But the persoshell files aren't always up to date. Or organized. Or accurate. It's just become more of a seaweed tangle as time's gone on. That's probably why you're down here, isn't it?" "Direct search!" Pinkie declared. "Results: big fat zero." Meenah smirked. "I'm shore you'll find her eventually." Her smile faded a second later. "Hey... I'm sorry about Rainbreath." Flutterfree smirked. "...Rainbreath?" "Yep. That's what I called her. A few others had started usin' it as shell." "Probably would have ended up being her name," Pinkie said with a sigh. "...'Dasha' was never really her, you know?" "We know it wasn't your fault," Nova assured Meenah. "Probably was, indirectly," Meenah said. "So... Yeah. Anyway, if I can do anyfin' for ya just let me know a-" Red lights started flashing on the ships wall. An alarm message met their ears. "WE'VE BEEN BOARDED!" "And that's my cue to get back to my ship," Meenah said. "Want a teleport out of here while they sort this out?" Flutterfree shook her head. "No, we'll help deal with it. Right team?" Vriska produced her dice, grinning. "Hell yeah." Meenah gave Vriska a thumbs-up before returning to the safety of her command ship. Everyone knew she would have loved to stay and fight, but such were the responsibilities of a subfleet commander. Nova lit her horn and checked her screen. "They're in the engine room. Teleporting now..." They teleported successfully to the engine room - a cylinder-shaped enclosure with a large blue column of energy in the center. There was a hole in a nearby wall that vented to the bizarre space of the Congeries, but luckily explosive decompression wasn't a thing under the current physics; it was just a windy loss of air. About a dozen of the armored soldiers were in the room, shooting at the heavily-shielded column of energy with their invisible attacks. "And you get to die of a heart attack," Vriska said, draining one's luck to zero in an instant. He died of spontaneous combustion. This made Vriska's left eye twitch. "STAR PLATINUM: THE WORLD!" It was generally very difficult for the soldiers to dodge time stop, even more so when Jotaro threw Hermit Purple and the Passion into the mix, reading the intents of their souls and tying them together. That said, they were still in power armor, and thus didn't die instantly from Star Platinum's punches. The enemy soldiers gambled and went for the energy column whole hog. They destroyed it without much more effort, breaking the ship's engines. The resulting power surge caused an explosion elsewhere on the ship, destabilising its trajectory. It headed straight down for the protomolecule planet's surface. "HOLD ON!" Nova shouted, tapping into the deepest reserves of her magic to telekinetically grab the ship and pull up. There was no way she was preventing the crash - but maybe it wouldn't be at terminal velocity. Flutterfree moved, slipping between the standing soldiers with her bladed wings. Many of them were able to simply step out of the way, but the three that couldn't were cut in half. She whirled around and fired the bow of light a couple times for good measure, forcing another one to dodge right into Pinkie's chainsaw. "You are a lot more interesting to fight with when you're crazy," Vriska pointed out. "Less quipping, more fighting," Pinkie said, producing a spike-studded golf club and removing a soldier's head with it. Even with their strength and memory twisting, Skarn's forces never stood a chance against Merodi Universalis' primary team. Nova managed to safely crash the ship on the surface of the protomolecule planet with the hole in the wall facing upward, so as to not crush all of them. The blue biological construct began to worm its way into the ship and do its work - repairing damage and trapping any living enemy soldiers in cocoons. The next best thing to actual infection. The Investigator appeared to Pinkie. "Sometimes the cases close themselves." "Yep, you're right." Pinkie said. "I confess, I totally murdered these people. ...Though for all we know the fight was actually long and brutal but our memories have been altered. Heh." Everyone stared at her. "Investigator," Pinkie explained. "Thought you were the nice ones," the Investigator said, examining a body Flutterfree had cut in two. "We're in a bad mood," Pinkie muttered. "Speaking of, we need to check this ship and move to the next subfleet. Sorry, no time for you." Vriska turned to Jotaro. "Should we tell her to be less rude?" Jotaro shrugged. "For all we know the Investigator is insulting her family." "He's not!" Pinkie called. "But we do need to move it! Chop chop! Adventure awaits and all that crap!" ~~~ "All we know for sure about it is that it's spherical," Corona said, bringing up a hologram that displayed the Congeries' center, complete with all the red dots that represented the enemy ships they knew about. The reddish light covered the Andromeda's bridge "We have reason to believe it's just a big, shifting wall that wants to keep us from whatever's inside." "So what's the plan, then?" Eve asked. "The first plan is to shoot everything we've got at it," Lady Rarity said. "Yellow Diamond thinks the simple solution will be the best. Smash it until it opens and reveals the inside for us." "Skarn's going to be too clever for that," Minna said. "Just keep shaping the wall back into existence. Wailing on it isn't going to do anything." "I'm personally hoping ramming a protomolecule planet into it will do it," Corona said. "We've got the really big one still. If nothing else we can probably infect the center with that maneuver." "We'll need to use a planet that doesn't have anyone grounded on it," Eve said. "Clearing efforts are underway now," Corona said. "Regardless, that's plan A. Plan B is what we're going to be doing. Take small teams down, go to the surface of the shape, and try to avoid Skarn's senses. If he's occupied with giant ships he may not be able to take time out of his day to smash us directly. Which means, yes, the strike team doesn't get a ship. Armor, but nothing else." Minna nodded. "Okay." "So we just sneak in?" Eve asked. Corona smirked. "Sneak until we're on the surface. Then a drill a hole right through this crust of his using all the magic we have at our disposal. Then... We don't exactly know what's inside, so we'll work that part out when we get to it." "Sounds fun," Eve commented. "I think it's a good plan," Minna said. "Who's coming?" "Me, Rarity, you two, the rest of your team, and some others." All Redshirts. "Got it?" "Seems simple enough," Eve said. "Good. It won't seem simple while we're out there." "Incoming message!" the communications officer declared. "Yellow Diamond is ordering us to fuse with subfleet nineteen." "Nineteen?" "The one that's currently at the front and suffering heavy losses." "Why am I not surprised," Corona said, hand to her chin. "Right, dial nineteen's coordinates, let's show these morons we mean business." She sat down in her chair. "Might want to get your suits on - there may not be a lull between combat anymore." Eve didn't need a suit, so she just took her position next to Corona. Lady Rarity fastened a few clamps around her armor's neck, making it airtight. Minna was the only one who had to walk to the back halls behind the bridge to access armor storage. She nervously reached out, placing her hand on the storage door. Behind it was the only physical thing that separated her from those monsters out there. Cold, impassioned metal that existed to improve her ability to kill. It may have been armor, but she wasn't paying very much thought to the defensive aspect of the clothing. At the moment, it was all war and danger to her. She popped the door open, walking into a short hall with standard equine and humanoid suits hung on the walls. She somehow just knew which one was her size, walking right up to it and staring up at its helmet. It didn't look anything like the purplish armor of what they were fighting. The metal was a simple gray. The lights in it were glowing an ominous red, but that was only because it was hooked up to Corona's personal magic in the Andromeda. The plates fit together smoothly, and it was well padded on the inside. She even noticed interior pockets for small, sentimental items. This was definitely not the things her people were wearing. There was no physics-altering field here, just standard high-end magitech. She suddenly felt a lot better. She stepped right into it, feeling the padding close around her limbs. She didn't feel claustrophobic, though that may have had more to do with her limited capacity to feel fear than the minor epiphany she had just gone through. The screen on her visor lit up - and gave her an error message she saw three seconds before it popped up. PLEASE SEE MECHANIC TO ADJUST 'FLUX CAPACITOR' BEFORE USE. There was fine print under the message. The 'Flux Capacitor' is nameless component 849-1234-2842-13590715. Minna sighed, prying herself out of the suit. She looked for another one of the same size in the locker but found none. With a grunt she returned to the bridge. "Only one of my size is broken. I'm going down to the lower decks to get one." "Computer, give Nadia full armory clearance if she doesn't have it already," Corona said absent-mindedly, closely watching the report of the fight. The third fleet had taken over the nineteenth and they were pushing forward much faster than expected - the near-zone of the Congeries center might be nothing but a single universe jump away. Minna moved to leave the bridge - but then the Andromeda shook. "Under fire!" Corona examined her map. "Directly? How? Where? I don't see a ship here!" "Currently unknown!" "Probably some stupid one-time trick," Corona muttered. "Scramble some Heart and Light players here, I need to know where it's coming from." Eve conspicuously closed her left eye tight and lit her horn - even though she had no need to light her horn to use her Light powers. "...We can't see them because our memories are being molded." Minna's eyes widened. "You can tell?" Eve opened her eye and let her magic aura drop. "It's a complicated spell, and I only think it works because they don't know that I know. I also don't think it's the soldiers." "Yeah, they couldn't hide an entire ship," Minna said. "Too du-" she blinked, staring at the display. "I can't see anything either... I should. I'm not getting anything though." She narrowed her eyes. "Must be something there... Just need to push..." It appeared for her - a single yellow ship shooting at them at point-blank range, moving randomly around them to keep the pattern from being predictable. Minna pointed her finger, following the hologram only she could see. "Shoot this." "Huh? Shoot?" Corona said. "Why?" Eve covered her eye again. "Augh! Our memories are being altered!" "Just shoot!" Minna said. "Trust me!" Corona looked at her - as if she couldn't see Minna's arm and had just forgotten what Minna had said. Minna grunted. "Fine, I'll do it myself... Somehow. Hey, Corona, I'm curious, which console has weapons control?" Corona's mind registered this question. "Ah, that would be over there, next to- hey wait!" Minna didn't. She pressed a few buttons - the weapons were already firing on other ships, so there was no need to unlock them - and changed the weapon's direction toward the invisible one. It hit dead-on, breaking the spell that was on everyone. "What did you just hit?" Eve asked. "I don't know, but it was a lot smarter than just a general soldier," Minna said. "It was controlling, calculating, adapting." Corona rubbed her head. "I really need to figure out a defense against them..." "I can be your eyes," Minna said. "Now, Twinkie, do that thing you do to tell us stuff about stuff." "H-how do y-" "You just did it twice in the last two minutes." Eve blinked. She didn't even bother hiding her eye this time as she activated it, looking into the Light. "I sen-" "WE'VE GOT THE LAST COORDINATES!" the communications officer shouted. "A speeder just got through and then kept flying." "Get the entire fleet moving!" Corona said. "Prepare for battle!" Corona stood up and flexed her wings. She lit her horn, preparing to take them to the lower decks. "Oh no," both Eve and Minna said at the same time. The bearish form of Brell punched through a door to the bridge, allowing all of them to see her - but only giving Corona the honor of being looked at. "You must have found a way to fight against my Convolution. I am impressed, but not surprised, that it would be you C-" Corona teleported the entire bridge crew to the escape pods before she could finish. "Everyone out. I'm going back up there and teaching her a lesson. Raging Sights, instinctual protocol, we need t-" Just as the Andromeda passed through the final portal, its engines exploded, sending dark, red magic in all directions. ~~~ The destruction of the Andromeda was barely a blip on Yellow Diamond's radar as she reclaimed control of the entire fleet. All around the third subfleet, the remaining twenty-three other subfleets appeared, all but one carrying with them a protomolecule planet. The Merodi Universalis fleet was complete once again. The center of the Congeries currently had a hybrid appearance - half watermelon, half sea urchin, the spines moving to point at the fleet like turrets. The few hundred remaining Skarn ships flanked the central globe, facing the incoming fleet. For a moment, all the fighting stopped. The ships that had been attacking the third fleet jumped back to rejoin their brethren. The forces of Skarn and Merodi Universalis stared at each other across an uncharacteristically empty divide, devoid of any artistic works. Two swarms of ships. One vastly outnumbered the other, while the other had a shaping mechanism at their backs. Yellow Diamond allowed herself to smirk. "You all know the plan," she addressed the fleet. "Hit it with everything you've got." They did. Splitter nukes fired from the Tau'ri ships, carrying more than enough supercharged nuclear material to blow a planet to shreds. Beams of pure red energy shot forth, carrying with them the promise of instant death to whatever they touched. Holy arcs shot across the sky, blessing the space with their divine, but vengeful presence. Superweapons that had been kept under lock and key the entire rest of the war were unleashed, including a few minor eldritch horrors and Discords, not to mention the Imperium's Blackstone Fortress planet-core busters. The ships in orbit never stood a chance. Almost all of them were vaporized within minutes. But the central orb itself was not so defenseless. Instantly it shifted from a watermelon-urchin to a ball of pure gold, upon which sat hundreds of pyramids. Each pyramid opened up, revealing strands of white energy. Harmonious energy. Harmonious energy that surrounded the entire world like a web, intercepting all incoming attacks with ease, destroying them without letting them unleash their terribly destructive yield. All the violence was simply cancelled. Yellow Diamond frowned. "He's letting us have a taste of our own medicine. Wonder how many Trees of Harmony he had to pulverize to pull this off?" There were a chorus of stressed calls to her - did they have a way to break through harmonious energy of that caliber? "Yes," Yellow Diamond said. "Brute force would break through. But if we charge in brazenly, that will just leave us open to Skarn's shaping. We move in cautiously while I consult with command. Pattern delta-seven, understood?" There were a series of confirmation messages. The fleet moved forward, slowly, watching carefully for an attack from Skarn. It didn't take long. He generated a few dozen cones of vibrant energy, sending them all at the fleet. The cones proved to be immune to all their standard methods of attacking, shrugging them off like they were nothing. Skarn had been doing his homework over the past week of war, watching them, studying them - and learning. With his Shaping Mechanism, he could easily throw new things at them on a whim. It was taking heavy, direct altering of reality on their part to stop his attacks - and that simply took too long and cost too much energy to deal with the sheer amount of stuff he was throwing at them. They had to move quickly. Yellow Diamond still hadn't received anything from O'Neill. "Tell the fleet the secondary teams can move through this as soon as they think the risk is acceptable. Make it clear I'm not ordering them to go yet. We don't want to fire everything we've got at once..." A few sets of various Merodi in armored suits flew toward the center. Many of them were caught in the crossfire - but Yellow Diamond saw many others were making it past the location in space Skarn was currently creating the cones. He did not create any more to stop them. Hopefully one of them knew how to get past the harmony barrier. Several thousand miles away, closer to the center of the Congeries... "I have no idea how we're going to bust through this thing," Alushy admitted. "None at all." Nae rolled her eyes. "Brute force it. You're a creature of darkness, you should be able t-" Jade pointed out her thumb and pointer fingers on each hand, using them to create a rectangular box in front of her. She pressed her hands closer together, shrinking the three of them to microscopic size while keeping their velocity. "This might do it!" Alushy laughed. "Wouldn't it be something if Minna got there before we did?" "I wouldn't put it past her," Nae admitted. "She is a strong woman, like her mother." "You met her mother after she took a level in badass," Alushy pointed out. Nae made no response. Back on Yellow Diamond's command ship... O'Neill finally answered the call. "Yes?" "Skarn's got a harmony barrier." "What're you calling me for?" "We have a weapon at our disposal that can destroy the harmony energies, and you know it," Yellow Diamond said. O'Neill narrowed his brow. "Which one are you talking about? Rohan? We've got him working around the clock over here. And then the eld-" "No," Yellow Diamond said. "We have six agents under Renee's Expeditions from a world known as Equis Duo. Usually lent to you and Giorno. Known as the Mean Six by the rumor mill?" "Ah..." O'Neill said. "Right. Them." "Normally I would not hesitate, but Skarn has proven exceptionally resourceful. He may find a way to recreate their power if we use them on him. Our defenses would fall instantly." O'Neill nodded. Yellow Diamond's ship shuddered as one next to it exploded. "Do you think you've taken down most of his resources?" "He's assuredly hiding at least a small group of ships elsewhere in the Congeries," Yellow Diamond said. "Enough to lay waste to nations." O'Neill folded his hands. "Do you think you can make it through without them?" "Not without exceedingly heavy casualties. I also have no way to prove that the secondary teams are getting through." O'Neill glanced off-screen - presumably gauging the responses of the other advisors. "I'll send them over. But only use them once you're close and can move in quickly. We want to catch him with his pants down, not give him a chance to turn this against us." Yellow Diamond nodded. "Understood." She cut the transmission and turned back to her command. "Change formation - Alpha four-star. Push as fast as we can!" The fleet took an overall arrowhead shape with the largest protomolecule planet spearheading everything. The speed of the ships increased, looking ready to ram the center of the Congeries. Which they were. Skarn's cones weren't working for him anymore, so he mixed it up - creating a whirlwind made of blades the size of small moons, going for the protomolecule planets. Yellow Diamond ground her teeth. He finally had the focus to deal with several of the planets at once. Now that he saw they might be a threat, he was taking them out. "Defend the protomolecule if at all possible!" Yellow Diamond roared. Ships began to crash onto the protomolecule planets. Yellow Diamond would not slow the blue worlds for them. If the ships didn't get off by the time they needed to crash right into Skarn's front room, they would have to find a way to survive impact. Which was unlikely. ~~~ Minna woke up. Above her, she saw strands of harmony. Below her was a ground that shifted from hardwood to sheet metal in an instant, the morph cutting across her back. She hissed, standing up onto her feet. She looked around. There was only one other person here - Lady Rarity. She was standing nearby, the light of her horn visible even under her power armor. She must have been straining herself keeping air around Minna. Minna leaped onto her back without asking. "Awake." "Oh good, I didn't want to stay in one place much longer," Lady Rarity said. She glanced around. "There's no entrance, and neither of us have the power to drill through this crust..." "Skarn's using harmony energy." "While I can use an Element of Generosity should the need arise, I was never infused with one's power," Lady Rarity said. "So any plan you may have about using that power will not work. ...Not sure if it'd work even if I was Affix." "Mhm..." Minna narrowed her eyes. "Rarity, you need to tie yourself up with your own silk and find a why to hide your horn's glow. Do it fast." Lady Rarity decided now was not the time to question things. She tied herself up with her silk and dimmed her horn. "You have an auto-bubble now. It'll only last a few minutes and I wouldn't move your head too q-" "Shh," Minna said, taking a dominating stance over Lady Rarity. A squad of purple soldiers appeared out of a dimensional portal in front of them. They raised their weapons - and lowered them when they saw Minna. "I have returned," Minna said. "I am without armor or weapons, but I have brought a prisoner. Believed to be high value, was working alongside a subfleet commander." "Prisoner identity confirmed," one of the soldiers said with a dry voice. "Lady Rarity, mid-high value target. Acceptable. Question: why are you in standard clothing?" Minna didn't look down at her black dress - to do so would out her as not being like them. "Lost my armor in combat. Better than nothing." There was no nod but Minna knew he had accepted her story. "Incursion contained. Returning to nest." A portal opened up. Minna dragged Lady Rarity along - leaving her hammer behind. It would just be too conspicuous if they dragged that along with them. Minna was delighted that they weren't demanding the armor be removed. Then Minna knew they were inside the center of the Congeries. They were in a hallway that could fit a planet in it. And yet, it still looked like a normal hallway. The flecks of dust may have been the size of large islands, but they were still accurate. Minna knew they wouldn't be able to transmit dimensional coordinates out of here. Skarn had the entire place surrounded in a wall for more than one reason, after all. They walked along the edge of a floorboard, a door every twenty meters or so. They entered the second door they came to, one marked with a symbol Minna hadn't seen since she was barely more than an infant, but recognized instantly. The nest. That's what he'd just called it. The nest. They opened the door. The nest looked exactly as she remembered it. The entire area was covered in deep, black, emotionless metal. A green haze hung over the area, and yet there was no smell at all coming from it. Metal railways shot off in every direction and angle, speeding off into the miasma until they faded into the green. From the ceiling hung hundreds of pods with people inside them. The ones near the railways were full-grown people, asleep in a sludge that was either clear or just as green as the rest of the area. In the distance, a large chandelier of smaller pods could be seen. The ones that were still growing. She was pulled out of a tub a- Minna used her ability on herself. If she allowed it to work, it did - she would have no traumatic flashbacks. Not here. She would just have a sense of unease. Possibly even a bit of fear. She saw that, in the future, they were going to set a mechanical suit out for her to wear. She undressed before it arrived, since the suits plugged right into their bodies and cloth would get in the way. Most humans her age wouldn't have been able to pull off standing nude without a sweat, but she had grown up with a unicorn for a mother. It wasn't like they wore clothes most of the time, and Allure hadn't made a big deal out of it unless Minna was out in public. The harder part was walking into the suit without flinching. She didn't want to be like them. She didn't want to be indoctrinated. But she still saw herself in the future, walking around, without her brain being cut out. She had to take in a breath to get herself to do it - but none of them noticed. She felt the spikes plug into her with a sharp pain. They were very uncomfortable, but the pain wasn't enough to hinder focus except after the first moment. Then she arrived. Brell. Minna hadn't been able to sense her coming. "My children..." she said. Minna had to force her mind to calm down, force it to refuse the traumatic flashback. She was so glad Brell couldn't see her face. It would have betrayed her decidedly emotional state. ~~~ Eve and Corona did not wake up after they hit the ground. They woke up just as the harmony field activated. It activated while they weren't quite done falling through it. They felt a sharp burning sensation that prompted Seraphim to automatically divert the dimensional energy. The only issue was that Seraphim was protecting Eve, and not particularly Corona. The Stand still helped Corona, though since she was tall it didn't think to extend the field beyond Eve to protect Corona's feet. Long story short, Corona's feet were burnt off. "GHAAAAAAAAAA!" Corona shouted. "Right, right, hold in there, uh... oh brother, ground approaching." Eve shook her head. "Heal your feet. I've got this." Corona winced, moving her healing magics to her nonexistent feet. She was able to create stumps, but that wasn't exactly going to be easy to walk on. Good thing she had wings. Which she wasn't using... She spread them - but quickly realized what Eve was doing and closed them up again. Eve had placed Seraphim right below them, a determined expression on her face. "Let's try... no nuclear forces. Turn everything into radioactive particle soup. Hope you know how to cure radiation poisoning!" Corona didn't get a chance to say 'yeah' before Seraphim activated. The ground shifted beneath them from a coconut to a metal plate, and then to nothing as Seraphim localized physics to remove the ability for matter to even exist right in front of them. They fell into a hole that was being created as they fell. The 'ground' was eternally a couple of meters in front of them, no matter how fast they fell. Corona started the radiation cure spells. "Those are some serious rads you're giving us." "You're welcome," Eve said, glancing around nervously. "Guess I can drop these disguises now that it's just us..." "While we're falling!?" "This thing is the size of a sun, we're going to be falling for a while!" She lit her horn, returning her mane to its normal, windswept appearance and purple color, the orange streak bringing a smile to her face. "Ah... that's better." She then popped out the green contact lenses she was wearing. "Those weren't an illusion?" "Nope. Not even Lolo would see through those. Though I wouldn't be able to hide from Flutterfree even if I tried." "She's probably worried sick." Eve nodded solemnly. "I know she is. But she knows I'm out here, and that I have to do this. So let's go kick some flank. Or bear-butt. I guess." "The term is 'kicking ass'." "That word always sounds like people are being racist to donkeys," Eve muttered. Corona rolled her eyes, looking up. "Looks like the hole's been sealed." "And lucky for us you're a portable flashlight!" Corona examined her glowing skin. "Yep. So what do we get to do in the tunnel of eternal falling?" Eve shrugged. "Make a plan?" "We drop through and start blowing stuff up." "Plan made." Eve chuckled. "Targets?" "Brell, Arthon, Skarn. Rest are just mooks." "Do we have any new defenses against their memory messing?" "Instinctual protocol," Corona said, tapping Raging Sights. "If I activate it I'll forego logical thought and confusion, just reacting to stimuli." "Going berserk?" "Basically." "Sweet. Wha-" Eve's pupils dilated. "Seraphim's connection is destabilizing." Corona snapped her fingers, forcing her own connection to open in front of them - but it was unstable as well. "Of course. Inside here, he wouldn't allow a single portal out that wasn't specially sanctioned. It would let people just pour in." "My rejection of reality is going to slip!" Corona created a reality anchor around the area with several magic rings. "And now you can relax Seraphim. This'll take care of everyth-" The area they were falling through opened up - not because they had reached the bottom, but because someone had Shaped it to open up. They saw, for a moment, the actual interior of Skarn's seat of power. It appeared as several large rectangular prisms fused together at odd angles, planetary statues of the bear and his family propped along the prisms at alien angles. Deep in the center, they could see a metal sphere, inside of which something was glowing a dozen different vibrant colors, full of intense action. The Shaping Mechanism, presumably. The next instant Arthon had a hand on both their necks. Corona and Eve tried to fight - but the Shaping Mechanism activated on them. The very ceiling above them attacked them with a full rush of power, flattening them against Arthon's hands. The bones in the backs of their necks cracked, but one could live with a broken neck. Corona maintained consciousness. She lit her horn, blasting Arthon in the face with a death spell. It squirmed around him, moved by careful spatial distortion. All it took was a simple flick to her horn to bring her world to darkness. ~~~ It turned out that, yes, being microscopic got you through the harmony barrier. Or maybe they just got lucky, Alushy didn't know. If being microscopic had been the answer, one would assume Skarn had tried it already. Then again, maybe he couldn't do shrinking or growing without control over shaping, or whatever. "You look distracted," Nae said as she fired more psychic bullets at approaching enemy soldiers. They were standing on what was currently a plane of orange peels, beneath the harmony layer, realizing they had no way to breach the barrier. "Thinking about shitty tactics or something," Alushy muttered, firing her guns. All of her bullets were dodged. "Gah. They don't make it fun. You have to use the complete bullshit attacks on them to do anything, and it's boring when you do that!" Jade was shrinking the soldiers one at a time and stepping on them. Those few that managed to figure out how to not be shrunk were crushed by giant rocks. Suddenly, all three of them had cuts all over them. "A special one exploded, right?" Jade asked, hissing at the pain. "Right?" "There is literally no way to know," Nae said. "Not a-" something hit her in the chest, forcing her to the ground. "Nae!" Jade said, extending a hand. Then she realized one of her reality anchor bracelets had broken off. She still had five more, but the fact that one had broken off and she didn't know about it was very concerning. "Alushy..." "Fine. Absolute bullshit maximum level." Alushy put a hoof to her mouth and coughed. A wave of dark shadows shot out of her and surrounded the three of them. The shadows of the millions of souls she had killed in her lifetime appeared before them and laid waste to the surrounding battlefield, tearing the pale soldiers limb from limb, throwing their loose body parts asunder. The shadows cleared. As far as the eye could see, there were dead soldiers. "Right..." Alushy walked over to the still form of Nae and bit her neck. The Ga's eyes opened wide, flashing red. "Up an' at 'em, vampy." "Did you jus-" "You're welcome," Alushy said. "I'm never going to be able to eat garlic bread again..." Jade blinked. "That's the first thing you think of?" "Uh, yeah? It's not like being a vampire is going to be a problem in this day and age. There's blood manufacturing, super sunscreen, and video screen mirrors. But synthetic garlic just isn't the same." "I miss when being a vampire was something special," Alushy muttered. At this point two figures fell from the sky - a human and a pony. One was a version of Sunset Shimmer who looked somewhat normal, but had an artificial leg. The human was an auburn haired individual with heterochromatic eyes and a big sword. They landed like ragdolls. "JANE!" Sunny shouted. "I thought ragdoll physics was off!" "Guess it wasn't," Jane said, regaining control of her body and standing up. "Alright, where are they?" "Dead," Alushy said. "Now I need more souls for absolute bullshit. No offense to this army I just killed but they're small fish." "How did you guys get through the harmony barrier?" Jade asked. Sunny rubbed the back of her head. "I think we've been blessed by so many Trees of Harmony at this point..." "Skarn had to grind a lot of them up to do this," Jane said, grinding her teeth. "Their essences must have recognized us. He's gonna pay." "Oh, of course, of course!" Alushy smirked. "But, one problem, how are we going to get to him? We're standing on top of his shield right now. Not even complete bullshit can dig miles into the earth." Jane fixed Alushy with a blank look that slowly grew into the smile of someone who'd had a horrible couple of days and had just now caught a break. She pulled a purple pickaxe out of her inventory. As it moved, a magical aura became visible, like a film of soap around the tool. Occasionally bright sparks of electricity would fly off the tool, driving home the unsettling aura it produced. "Jane..." Sunny said. "This was a job I was always meant to do. Me. I am going to fucking mine this goddammed hellhole's final defenses with my trusty iridium pickaxe." She gripped the handle. "Well, old friend... Here we go." "What's a pickaxe going to do, exactly?" Jade asked. "It's magic," Sunny explained. "The most important enchantment being efficiency level 'I pressed the nine key more times than I can count'. You might want to hold onto something." "There's nothing to hold onto but dead bodies," Nae said. "...Actually, that sounds like a good ideAAAAAA-" Jane had started digging. No one saw her pickaxe even hit the ground before the giant square had formed and they were falling into it. The hole was filled in naturally, but there was no transdimensional magic to draw attention to them. They would cross the boundary unnoticed. ~~~ "Right, so, news," Pinkie said as she led her team to the dimensional bay of Yellow Diamond's flagship. "Bad news, Corona and Eve got their necks snapped. Good news, they're not dead." Flutterfree put her hooves to her mouth. "W-wha?" Pinkie shook her head. "Right, sorry, I'm sorry, I'll dial it back. Arthon's keeping them alive, thinking he can use them to convince his father to extort us into surrendering." "Much as I hate to admit it, that won't work," Nova said. "O'Neill won't negotiate over hostages." "Skarn believes in honor," Jotaro reminded them. "He will not resort to demanding our surrender through hostages." "Arthon could turn out to be a manipulative bastard and do it anyway," Vriska pointed out. Pinkie nodded. "All possibilities. But they're together and alive. Minna too - though I think the time-shift of the events are a liiiittle wonky right now. It's been several minutes for her since I last saw her, pretty sure." "So, if we know where they are, why are we here?" Flutterfree asked. "I know I said I trusted you, but I'd like to know." "You're in charge, all you had to do was ask," Pinkie said, smirking. "We're going in as part of the main invasion force." "But they're stuck," Nova said. "Not for looooong~!" Pinkie trilled with an ominous tone of voice. A dimensional portal opened, revealing six ponies that vaguely resembled the Elements of Harmony, but clearly weren't, the six of them giving the impression they would be what the Elements of Harmony would see if they looked through a mirror of corruption and darkness. The unicorn 'Twilight' was dark-coated like Brutalight, but had a bright mane and an air of darkness around her. She was not the leader, but instead the point was the 'Applejack'; a blue mare with smooth features and an intelligent expression. A red-and-green-maned 'Rainbow Dash' strode behind them in steel boots, while a bright red 'Fluttershy' with a permanently angry expression flew above them. Near the back was a blackish 'Rarity' with a yellow mane and a glazed-over expression. The 'Pinkie' was just a slightly redder version of Pinkie with a sharper mane. The primary team didn't even flinch - they were used to seeing crazy Pinkies at this point. Flutterfree opted to watch these mysterious dark reflections of her and her friends for a moment. "Why did we become good guys again...?" the 'Rainbow Dash' muttered, putting hooves over her face. "Because we realized zat being 'evil' was razer unfortunate, Grayscale," the 'Applejack' said. "Yeah, who the buck even cares why? It happened." The 'Fluttershy' shrugged. "And now we get to fight in a super-space war." "Like, Havocwing," the 'Rarity' said, "of course you would want the whatever war thing. It's your thing. But some of us prefer not to go there. Cha." "Because you're morons," Grayscale muttered. "Oh, uh, that's just me, right?" the 'Rarity' asked "Or... am I missing the joke...?" "Yeah, you're down the twister, Insipid," the 'Twilight' said. "Not an immense difficulty, merely a factoid of your psyche. In principle." "Uuuugh, Shadow, why do you have to talk like that when you're trying to be comforting?" "Uh... being stupid isn't a problem?" The 'Applejack' facehooved. "C'est la vie... Tact, Zadow, tact." Shadow nodded. "Ah. Right. So, what's the plan, Curaçao?" "I know, but per'aps-" "Talk to the primary team and give them a piece of our minds," the 'Pinkie' finished, looking up from a book she was reading - Increasing Awareness, by A Lot of Pinkie Pies. She was holding the book with a tendril of blood coming out a slit in her back. "Oh this should be good!" Pinkie said, appearing in front of her double. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, you're Red Velvet!" Velvet smirked. "You've gone and messed yourself up in the head there." "You're one to talk!" "Word of advice - get over yourself." Pinkie twitched, turning to Curaçao. "Hey, miss leader-" "I'm the leader too!" Havocwing blurted. Pinkie ignored her. "Weren't you saying something about tact?" "Ah, see, I was, but zat's only when speaking with zose who mean well." The blue mare fixed her gaze on Pinkie's. "You plan to use us." "Duh, have to break through a barrier of pure harmony energy, and you guys are like evil elements that somehow turned good sorta-kinda and we can use that to break through it!" "Oh, no, it's more zan zat, les ami. Velvet?" A tendril of blood dropped a single bloody page of the book in front of Pinkie. The one with Redshirts listed under the heading 'Important Tropes.' "...Ponyfeathers," Pinkie muttered. Flutterfree gasped. "Pinkie! You were going to do that on purpose?" "Uh... yeah," Pinkie admitted, looking at the ground. "Bu-" "Can it!" Havocwing shouted. "We're fighting this war because we owe the others. We have no intention of dying here today! Kapeesh?" "Kapeesh!" Insipid echoed. "Well if we don't find at least some interesting redshirts we're not safe!" Pinkie blurted. "We're heading right into the belly of the beast and it's just us! I don't like those odds." "We like zose odds," Curaçao said, raising an eyebrow. "We certainly qualify as ''eroes' do we not? And yet, we will be charging in alone, wizout any accompanying cannon fodder." "Because we don't need anybody to protect us!" Havocwing shouted. Velvet giggled. "They'll all tremble and shake... They'll probably try to eat me! It'll be like beating up my old self!" Grayscale stared at her with mild disgust. Shadow cleared her throat. "I think what my compatriots are trying to say is that, despite our dark and villainous past and the remnants of certain unsavory particulates within our essences, we are not resorting to careful manipulation of random 'expendables' deemed 'slightly interesting' enough to be included in a narrative, through which your lives may be perpetuated and ours annihilated." Insipid groaned. "Shadow, like, condense it? Cha?" Shadow blinked. "Or to put it simpler: Pinkie, fuck you." Havocwing let out a laugh. "Ooooh, burn!" Flutterfree laid her head on the floor. "I'm terribly sorry f-" "Not you," Grayscale muttered. "You're the nice one who wouldn't hurt a fly, right?" "...Do you see those wing-blades on her?" Insipid muttered. "She's still the nice one. Sorry for everything." Grayscale narrowed her eyes. Curaçao nodded. "I 'ave 'eard much of you, Flutterfree. You apologize so much zat such an action becomes almost meaningless." This comment shook Flutterfree to her core. "I... Wh..." "Is this your way of telling me to apologize?" Pinkie blurted. "Nope!" Velvet said, behind her. "It's our way of saying 'nice try'!" "...I wouldn't mind an apology," Insipid muttered. Pinkie muttered. "Look. I... I don't want anyone to suffer. But there are going to be people and ponies who have to. In a war like this, if nobody dies, there are going to be permanent consequences." She looked behind her. She realized something painful. Nova had suffered emotionally with Sunburst and Stardust. Flutterfree had gotten vampirism and bladed knives and her spirituality to struggle with. Jotaro had lost family, lost trust, and had to deal with a world where emotions were rarely hidden. Vriska's list of problems could fill a book. She'd had some difficulties with being Aware early on, but she hadn't really suffered long-lasting harm in any way yet, had she? "...It's my turn," Pinkie said, pupils shrinking. "Oh no no no..." Curaçao sighed and looked Pinkie in the eyes. "You 'ave my condolences. But we will not be taking ze 'it for you." "Maybe we can compare notes on suffering later," Shadow suggested. "Pretty confident we have most of you undeniably trumped." "Wanna bet?" Vriska asked, raising an eyebrow. "I said most." Havocwing coughed. "AHEM! Don't we have a white barrier to take out or something?" "You do," Yellow Diamond said, having just teleported into the room. "The fleet is close enough. Do you six have the Elements of Pandemonium?" Shadow lit her horn and summoned five dark necklaces to them, placing a sixth tiara on Curaçao's head. The crystals within were of deep, dark colors. "Wh- hey! Where's my crown!?" Havocwing blurted. "Guess, like, Curaçao's more leadery than you?" Insipid suggested. "The decisions of deviated magic artifacts mean nothing to us," Curaçao said. "We are sisters, forever." She turned to Yellow Diamond. "Just tell us when." "Now," Yellow Diamond said. "You'll be on a protomolecule planet prepared to ram the central wall. Do what those artifacts were designed to do. Destroy the harmony." The six of them nodded. Yellow Diamond then teleported them away. "...Pinkie," Nova said, looking to her. "Should you go back? Stop fighting?" "One of you will die if I do that," Pinkie said. "It won't save me from any pain. Or any of you." Flutterfree hugged her. "Whatever it's going to be, we'll be here for you." "If you can." "...If we can," Flutterfree admitted. Pinkie sighed. "Well, we might as well pick out a speeder and get behind this planet. We're smashing in! Might as well get to the Kicking of the Dog quicker rather than later. HeHAhah. ...Let's go." They ran off to find a speeder. ~~~ Skarn took his hands off the Shaping Mechanism controls - he could afford to let it run on automatic now that he had fully programmed it for defending this place. He turned around - both of his remaining children were standing behind him. Brell had with her an armored prisoner and a small squad of her creepy 'children', while Arthon was holding two broken individuals Skarn recognized. "Prisoners?" Skarn asked. "From Brell I would have expected this, but you Arthon?" "Use them," Arthon said. "They're alive. Tell the Merodi you have them hostage and make them surrender." "No," Skarn said. "Can you drop your distorted view of honor for one second and think about the art?" "Art and honor go hand in hand, my son. Maybe one day you will understand this." "Or maybe you're just senile," Arthon glared. "...Do you wish to challenge me now?" Arthon shuffled his feet. "No, father. I do not." "Oh, thank the Tower," Brell muttered. "That would have been disastrous." Arthon nodded slowly. Skarn pressed his hands together. "Brell, what about you?" "I'm asking permission to bless this one. To create the first nonhuman among my children." Skarn looked Lady Rarity up and down. "...Do as you will, I cannot keep you from your art. It is yours, even if I do not find meaning in it personally." Brell bowed. "Thank you, father." She left with her squad, one of the shorter ones dragging Lady Rarity along. Skarn placed a hand on the controls again, this time fixing Corona and Eve's bodies. Their eyes flew open. "Skarn..." Eve said, narrowing her eyes. Skarn held a hand up at Corona. "Do not attempt to attack or I will have to execute you. I would rather not do that." "Why do you care?" Corona blurted. "You toss around entire civilizations like they're nothing! What are we to you?" "Old friends," Skarn said. "...Or who I thought could be friends." "What made you think we'd ever be okay with what you do here?!" "I'm a patient being," Skarn said. "I would have slowly shaped your society to appreciation of true art over the centuries before revealing my work. You would have voluntarily joined yourselves to the Congeries after that - and would have become shapers of your own. The beauty of harmony would be added to the lattice of existence!" He held his arms wide. "It would have been glorious! But you had to find me suspicious." "Of course we did!" Eve blurted. "We had no information on you! You were just a guy who showed up, acted powerful, and gave us a lot of things!" "Your government has no Intelligence or Secret Service," Skarn muttered. "That shouldn't matter to you." Eve and Corona looked at him with smug smirks. "...You do have Intelligence...." Skarn stood up tall. "Well played. I thought I was safe. But it looks as if you do have secrets." "When you only have a couple you learn to keep them really, really well," Eve said. "I suppose my spy just wasn't in a high enough position... Perhaps I should have targeted one of you instead..." Corona blinked. "Wait..." "Oh, yes, Allure's daughter was placed there on purpose to gauge your higher politics. She gathered a lot of information before I dropped by to collect. Such a sweet girl, unlike all Brell's other mindless brutes. A bit like my other son, except less relatable..." "You did that on purpose!?" Eve blurted. "Oh, of course. Place a crying, bruised, and battered child in front of someone who is emotionally vulnerable and something's bound to happen." Skarn looked into the distance. "She's been given such a beautiful life because of it. Shame I have to take it away from her." Eve thought, for a moment, about bargaining for peace - but then she remembered what Skarn did as part of his life. He destroyed civilizations without batting an eye. "...How can you think you're consistent?" "He's not," Arthon said. "He's mad." "All the best artists are," Skarn said with a shrug. "Imprison them, Arthon. You can do whatever you want with them after the war is over." Arthon nodded. "They shall make a good addition to a very particular cell." Skarn put both his hands back on the globe that controlled the Shaping Mechanism. "I'm glad you're already thinking of the personal aesthetics. ...Speaking of, has anyone seen Torvost in a while?" Arthon tensed. "...He's dead." Skarn let out a deep sigh. "...Not surprising, but still an ache on my old heart. How I wish he had learned." Skarn shook his head. "Just go. Do what you can about the incoming fleet. They look like they're about to try something." Arthon vanished, taking Eve and Corona with him. ~~~ "No reports of Minna?" Allure asked O'Neill. "None," O'Neill said. "There was something of Alushy, but that was for a brief moment and we aren't even sure where her magic signature was coming from." Allure nodded, looking at the hologram display of the battle. The red sphere of Skarn's holding was surrounded in a barrier of white. Red dots and shapes representing his larger constructs were attacking the fleet from all sides, decimating it. The number of remaining forces was 49%. But they were still moving. The largest protomolecule planet seemed agonizingly close to the Congeries' center. Just a little more and they would be touching the barrier... Just a little more... "Breach detected!" the Research Overhead beeped. "Portals opening all over Celestia City!" O'Neill pressed a button. "Yellow Diamond, defense commanders, this is O'Neill. We have to jam all dimensional communications, repeat, all dimensional communications. We've been found. You're on your own." He moved his finger to another button. "JAM ALL DIMENSIONAL PORTALS!" In other locations in the bunker, other generals and commanders had to press buttons of their own. All dimensional communication was cut - no portals in or out of Celestia City. The hologram of the offense vanished in an instant, just before they unleashed their attack on the harmony barrier. Allure gulped. They had no way of knowing what was happening. "How bad is it?" O'Neill asked. "The breaches mostly consisted of ground forces," Thor said. "...The majority of them are heading straight here." "What's near here besides us?" "One of the larger dimensional drives. They could destroy it and wipe out much of the city - or they could possibly take advantage of it and bring in more soldiers." O'Neill grunted. "Right, can't let either of those happen. Third division, get yourself up on defense of that drive! Take seventh with you! Rowan, I need our backups in front, protecting us! Allure, sorry, looks like you might get caught in the middle of a firefight." Allure made a soft whimper but nodded her head. She just wanted to know if Minna was okay.
Songs of the Spheres	104 - Conquest, Part 2	Yellow Diamond received O'Neill's message. She was truly in charge now. No authorities for her to call back to. Both O'Neill and Thor were on Celestia City, cut off. As far as anyone was concerned, she was the Overhead now. Not even White Diamond had authority over her here. Good. "We're close enough! Launch!" Yellow Diamond ordered. From the tip of the largest protomolecule planet, a squad of ships launched consisting of speeders, gunships, some god-tier Skaian droppers, and a handful of angels. They approached the harmonious barrier, using all their resources to keep the central ship from being destroyed. The top of the central ship opened up, revealing the six Elements of Pandemonium. Red Velvet, Passion; Havocwing, Insanity; Insipid, Desire; Grayscale Force, Objectivity; Curaçao, Trickery; and Starlight Shadow, Pride. Once, they had been direct opposites of the Elements of Harmony, but they had long since grown past these definitions. But that worked to their advantage for the moment. Each of them still had a seed of the darkness within them - but they also had the seeds of friendship, so they could use their powers in conjunction. The majority of Elements of Discord or Disharmony or Chaos across the universe, by nature, were unable to be used as one like the actual Elements of Harmony. They went against that nature. They were the Elements of Pandemonium. They were the perfect mares for this job. These particular corrupted Element artifacts had been found in an ancient chest marked with the cutie marks of the Mean Six, specifically keyed to them. A part of their story they didn't get to experience. Beams of darkness shot from their Elements, forming a hexagonal shape. A sphere of swirling smoke whirled around them, shrouding their faces. Dark sparks of energy orbited the sphere and a rainbow composed of the darkest shades of every color was unleashed, hitting the harmony barrier head on. The pure white energy shifted to a dark black around the point of impact. The dark miasma spread like a virus through the holy weaves of energy, soon transforming the entire white barrier into a jagged mess of dark energy. "All it takes is one little mistake to barrel into a catastrophe," Shadow said. "A little lie opens the way for everyzing else," Curaçao agreed. Velvet smirked. "All you have to do is take a speck of darkness Add it to the mix! Now just take a little something dark not horrid, A corruption, deep inside! Darkness, it's just so easy! Darkness, you just can't stop it! Darkness, darkness, darkness, DARKNESS! "Just do the smashy thing already!" Havocwing demanded. "Like, do it now," Insipid added. Grayscale just grunted. With their wills combined, they ordered the dark aura to crush the world it had been protecting not even a minute prior. The moment the darkness hit the exterior and started cracking it, Skarn ordered the barrier to vanish - leaving the center exposed. "GO!" Yellow Diamond ordered. The engines on the back of the largest protomolecule planet burned as hard as they could. A few ships were on the planet's surface trying to recover from the most recent fight but they would not be given time to escape. They needed to crash through now before Skarn came up with any new tricks. The ships in front of the planet cut away at the last moment, allowing the two spheres to collide. From afar, it wasn't very impressive. It was like the Earth crashing into the sun - one could barely see the speck of blue when looking at the tremendous shifting ball that protected the Shaping Mechanisms. Up close was another story. Two solid crusts impacted each other at high velocity. The front face of the protomolecule planet vaporized in an instant, creating a gigantic depression in the ever-shifting material of Skarn's crust. Both sides buckled, unleashing molten rock on each other, burning away both surfaces with the immense pressure. Volcanoes erupted everywhere on the protomolecule planet, some of the geological activity disrupting the engines on the other side of the globe. But the planet couldn't be stopped now. It embedded itself further and further into the shifting crust. The defensive barrier may have been hundreds of kilometers thick - but the planet was larger. It punched through, raining molten debris on the hollow interior. The shell squeezed around the planet's equator, attempting to crush it from outside. This would have worked - eventually. But the fleet didn't need long. With a large area on the other side of the barrier, they had a solid reality anchor on the other side. A few ships were able to teleport from the back end of the planet to the front, and those ships were able to fold space within the bubble of their physics to create a wormhole that obeyed the local physical rules. Who cared if the entire interior of this place was filled with dimensional jammers? They didn't have time to destroy them. Why not use something a little more mundane to teleport people across the boundary of the planet? As more and more ships passed through the wormhole, they added their energy to the endeavor, increasing the size of the portal, allowing the smaller protomolecule planets through. They suffered heavy losses moving in this manner - the shell was able to attack many of them on the outside and inside, lashing at ships with spikes of impossible matter. But they made it through. They were on the inside. Yellow Diamond checked her readings. 42% forces remaining. That seemed like a good number to her. "Destroy everything," she ordered. "Focus on the center, but destroy everything." The fleet fired everything it had. This was significantly less impressive than the previous volley they had unleashed outside the barrier, but it did the trick. The interior of the central universe lit up with nuclear explosions and magical mushroom clouds. In retaliation, the planetary statues of Skarn and his children came to life, rushing the ships like they were flies, swatting them away with powerful movements. Numerous armored soldiers crawled over the limbs of these behemoths, leaping off to board ships whenever their abilities told them it was possible. The outer shell attacked from behind, shreds of random material swatting at the ships. Yellow Diamond watched their forces start to drop. Great Imperium warships began to fall and a Flat Reaper snapped in two like a twig. They were surrounded on all sides. Suddenly she wasn't quite as confident this was going to work. "Launch more secondary teams toward the center!" Yellow Diamond shouted. "We need to get at him from the inside!" Luckily for her, several of these teams had already launched. Ultramarines, Ahzek's Chaos contingent, an Inkling squad, and near the front were the Primary Team and the Mean Six. "We're going to get more of them than you!" Havocwing hassled Pinkie's Party from across the radio. "Wanna make a bet on those odds?" Vriska smirked. "Fuck ye-" They heard Curaçao put a hoof over Havocwing. "Non, she's trying to exploit 'er luck abilities, 'Avoc." "Wait, what the- BITCH!" Vriska smirked. "Thank you." "INCOMING!" both Nova and Shadow shouted at the same time. One of the large statues had apparently decided they weren't just small fish and needed to be cut down. "I've got this," Nova said. She didn't light her horn, instead tapping into her Prince of Time powers. "Erase." She muttered. The next thing everyone knew, they were behind the moving statue. Both their ships had nicks in them, but they weren't cut in half. "Uh, what?" Insipid said. "I erased time," Nova commented. "There were about fifteen seconds that just don't exist anymore." "Then how did we get cuts on our ships!?" Shadow audibly perked up. "Clearly, she allowed time to progress through an indicative moment in which events occurred, but no conscious decisions could alter the events that were happening aside from her own personal machinations. The act of time vanishing prompted a confused response with-" "It just works," Jotaro, Pinkie, and Velvet interrupted all at once. "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro added. "I'm, like, major confused," Insipid muttered. "Just keep your head together, we're going to have t-" Flutterfree's eyes widened at the thing that appeared in front of them. It was a purple miasmic creature with numerous gears and other clockwork mechanisms inside of it, the front face of which looked like a gaping maw filled with jagged teeth. "Damn, time eater," Nova muttered. "Not going to be helpful against that." "Indubitably Void-resistant as well," Shadow commented after her magics did nothing. "Oh! Major. Fresh!" Insipid chirped. "Shadow, be, like, the best friend ever and teleport me out there. I've got this~!" Nova blinked. "Wait, you?" They saw the dark unicorn appear outside, just above the time eater, her armor protecting herself from the elements. She touched one of the gears with her hoof - prompting a cut to form. She quickly undid the damage though - for she had just absorbed the time eater's powers. "So, I can, like, eat you now, right?" One thing the time eater had never thought of was using its powers to actually eat. It thought the powerset was purely metaphorical. As it turned out, it wasn't. Insipid was able to devour the being into herself before it realized what happened. Nova, Flutterfree, and Vriska stared in shock. Pinkie chuckled as Insipid was teleported back into the Mean Six's ship. "Nothing can stop us!" Havocwing shouted. Pinkie facehooved. "Moron." "Fuck you." "She's right though," Velvet said. "You've doomed us all." A series of explosions filled the space around them, sending their ships flying off in different directions. The engines jammed and parts started to fly off. Nova lit her horn. "Evacuating..." "See you girls on the other side!" Vriska called. "We're getting to Skarn first!" Havocwing declared. "Go ahead and try," Pinkie said. "We're going to save Eve." Nova teleported them out of their ship and onto the outside of one of the rectangular prisms extruding from the central, glowing sphere. The Mean Six appeared on a completely separate structure. "And now we're on our own," Pinkie said. Flutterfree nodded. "Everypony watch out for each other, okay?" There was a series of nods. "Pinkie, am I right in assuming Eve's in the central area?" Pinkie nodded. "Yep." Flutterfree spread her wings and prepared her armor's engines. "Let's go get her." They blasted toward the center. ~~~ "This is probably the last report I'm going to make," O'Neill said, looking at Thor, Ava, Allure, the Research Overhead, and Starbeat. "In a few minutes they will reach us despite our best efforts and we will have to fight for our lives." Allure nodded. "Ready." "Starbeat, suggestions?" "Survive as long as possible," Starbeat said. "Hope that the offense wins and is able to call off the soldiers." "Will that happen?" Starbeat bit her lip and looked at her ka scanners. "Maaaaaaybe?" "It's a gamble we can't take," Ava said. "We must evacuate the city." "Sorry, but no," O'Neill said. "That'll just let more of the assholes in now that they figured out where we are. Right now we are targets - for the most part the civilians are safe." Ava nodded curtly. "That call is yours to make." "And don't you forget it," O'Neill muttered. "Now, have we figured out how they found us?" "It wasn't a security breach if that's what you're wondering," Starbeat said. "Minna was the only individual to leave the city, and we have literally no records of that happening because of her nature. We know of no other breaches." "They probably intercepted our transmissions," the Research Overhead said. "We were gambling they wouldn't have time to hack them during the rush war, but this has lasted longer than we were expecting." Thor nodded. "It is almost at an end, however. The offense should have already breached the wall and begun its assault on the interior." "And that might allow Skarn to breach our harmony barriers," the Research Overhead said. "He's seen first hand a power specifically designed to counter it. He could recreate it." "So, as far as we know, both offense and defense were going well, but they could both be going horribly right now," O'Neill summed up. "I love being in the dark. Don't you?" Allure sighed. "No..." They heard an explosion above them. "That's all the time we have for today," O'Neill said. "Homework is due tomorrow." "Homework?" Ava asked. "It's a pass/fail assignment." O'Neill looked at them all. "Stay alive." There was a solemn silence over the meeting. Above them, there was another, louder explosion. They picked up their weapons and prepared to fight for their lives. ~~~ Brell walked through her green facility, Lady Rarity being dragged along beside her by Minna. Not that Brell knew it was Minna - or had even registered Minna's presence within the Congeries. She scarcely paid much attention to any one of her individual children, thinking of them more as a collective. She wasn't even sure how many were with her - a squad, yes, but she didn't care if it was fourteen or twenty-six or some other number. All that mattered was that they were with her. "So, uh..." Lady Rarity said. "If you're going to turn me into one of... them, why haven't you tried it before?" "Didn't feel the need," Brell answered. "My children were always perfect, able to move in and out without being noticed. They'd been around your worlds long before we made official contact, you know. We even dropped an incomplete one at your doorstep to learn more about you from the inside." "...Really?" Lady Rarity said, pretending to be completely ignorant of Minna. "Yes. We let you raise her, let her learn to be like you. Few years ago we downloaded her memories and have been using them ever since." "Oh, so you've been using her for intelligence gathering? I take it you know everything about our troop movements then?" "That would require her being open," Brell commented. "After the borders were closed we dropped all communications. And getting to her has proven... difficult since the war started. She's in Celestia City somewhere, and only recently have we gained access to it. We will find her and adopt her back into our fold." "That's possible?" "There is no age limit to when they can be completed," Brell said. "It's just the most efficient if it is done when they're young. You will suffer quite a bit if I'm successful." "And if you're not I'll just be dead." Brell gave her a warm smile. "I certainly hope not. You seem like you'd make a wonderful child." Lady Rarity shivered. "I'd pass if I had the choice." "You do not," Brell said, stopping in front of an empty pod filled with goo floating over a large, metallic table. "Untie her." Minna and a few of the others untied Lady Rarity. She rose to her feet, armor clanking. Brell leaned down so she was eye-level with Lady Rarity. "Now, you can be cooperative and take off your armor. As a reward, you'll receive the procedure with anesthetic and painkillers. If I have to force that armor off of you it'll be done the painful way. I don't like causing pain - that's what the rest of my family is for - but I know when it's necessary." Lady Rarity slowly started removing her armor. "Why do you do this?" "Do what?" "Such cruel biological experimentation." She gestured with a bare hoof at the soldiers behind her. "They barely have a spark in them. They don't enjoy life." "They don't hate it either," Brell said. "They exist as a beautiful middle ground. Balance. They are able to see what is coming so they aren't surprised by life, and they don't have expectations that will be brought down. They're content, under all circumstances. Something I wish I was." "If you wish it, why don't you do this to yourself?" "I've considered it," Brell admitted. "But neither my father nor my brother has the requisite understanding of morality or care to give them a pure direction, and I do not have access to something with enough power to take their place. My hunt for a Wishing World has proven futile." "You call this war a pure direction?" "No," Brell said. "I would rather not have sent my children into battle. But I am subservient to my father. I would never dream of crossing him - to do so... It wouldn't mean my death, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself. He has an understanding of cosmic beauty unlike any other." She looked at her hands. "If I could only convince him that not all beauty is good." "...Can you think that, maybe, this beauty you're making here isn't good?" Lady Rarity suggested, standing naked. "It is what I wish I could be," Brell said with a smile. "I can't see why it wouldn't be good." Lady Rarity sighed. "Are you sure? What ab-" There was a loud explosion from somewhere in the facility. Brell let out a 'tsk'. "Someone's in. All of you, take care of it - I'll be fine." The soldiers moved away without flinching - including Minna. Lady Rarity was now alone. "You're contemplating fighting me now," Brell said. "A skilled wizard and warrior such as yourself could pull off a plucky victory. Don't. Think about the power scale between us." Lady Rarity sighed. "I'm not an idiot." "Up on the table please." Lady Rarity moved onto the table. She caught some shouts coming from the distance in the green fog. "...Like, girls, these powers are major. Fresh!" "Pour l'amour de la princesse... 'Avocwing! Down!" "BURN FUCKERS! BURN!" "Everybody scream scream scream..." Lady Rarity blinked. She didn't know those voices. Brell pressed some buttons on the console next to her, accessing the deep controls of the facility. In an instant, Lady Rarity lost all feeling in her muscles. She wobbled. "What th-" "Anesthetic." "I'm still very conscious." Brell smirked. "I know my way around a biological mind. I can turn whatever I want on and off at will." "So, what exactly does this procedure entail?" "Well, first I've got to analyze your DNA patterns and how they intermingle with both your spirit and your arcane nature. The program's doing that right now. I'll make a few tweaks and shape you into one of my children. Then there'll be a scoop in your brain to complete you. It'll be exceptionally bloody and trigger a few biological reflexes, but it won't hurt. Then you'll be done." "...And this won't take long?" "My children will take care of whatever miscreants are rampaging through the area," Brell said dismissively. "There's millions of them in this facility alone." "That'll be enough?" "Assuredly." Brell's screen lit up. "Ah, looks like I've found the correct pattern. I do hope this works." Lady Rarity braced for a dramatic alteration of her genetic code. But it never came. Minna dropped from the ceiling and punched Brell across the face with all her power. Brell fell to the ground, dazed. Minna didn't waste any time - she turned right to the console and started pressing buttons. "Self destruct... Self destruct... Self destruct..." She found it. All the primary controls were already open. All she had to do wa- Brell used her telekinesis to pull Minna to her and remove her helmet. "You..." Minna struggled, but Brell's grip was way too strong. "Let go of me!" "How can you fight your own siblings this way?" "Because you removed what makes them people!" Minna shouted. "That's what!" Brell shook her head. "I'm afraid you've been indoctrinated too fa-" Lady Rarity jumped for the button on the console. Brell tossed the spirid to the side with a flex of her eyelash. Lady Rarity didn't feel any pain as she hit the ground, but given the shape of her left foreleg, she had probably broken a few bones. "Ergh..." "I do not blame you for trying that," Brell said, placing Lady Rarity on the table and strapping her down. "You will still undergo the procedure with kind treatment." She removed Minna from her power armor and set her down next to Lady Rarity. "She will just undergo the procedure with you. You need to be completed, my child." "NO!" Minna shouted. "I do not want to be like them!" "Why?" "I... I want to be able to look at my friends the way they look at me! I want to look at Frigid and tell him how I feel! I want to look at my Mom and give her some of what she's given me!" "I am your mother, child." "You're a mad scientist who grows people in tubes," Minna spat. "So I am," Brell said. "I-" she sensed an attack coming from the future. She lifted her hand, freezing the incoming Grayscale in midair. The 'Rainbow Dash' snarled, unleashing her power on Brell anyway, increasing the gravity around her considerably. Brell didn't flinch. She reacted with her cosmic power, tossing Grayscale into a nearby wall. She used gravity to lessen the impact, preventing anything from breaking, but it still wasn't comfortable to be flattened against a metallic wall. "HEY BOSS LADY!" Havocwing shouted, unleashing a stream of fire at her. "EAT THIS!" Brell took this order literally, sucking all the fire into her mouth and unleashing it directly at Havocwing. "Shit," Havocwing muttered, diving to the ground. "How about your own medicine!?" Shadow added, unleashing a beam of pure void energy at Brell. The bear twisted it around herself and fired it back at Shadow, who twisted it around herself and shot it back at Brell, creating a game of ping-pong. Velvet appeared behind Brell while the game was underway. She summoned a tendril of blood and flung it at Brell's back, only for a magic construct that resembled a solar system projection to appear and defend Brell. Brell was decidedly busy with this - so Insipid took her chance. She darted from her hiding spot behind a pod and reached for Brell's leg. Brell kicked out with her foot, psychic energy tossing Insipid back. "Like, wow, good ploy!" Brell blinked - the voice had not come from Insipid. It had come from the other side. The 'Insipid' Brell had kicked dropped her illusion, revealing herself to be Curaçao. "Je t'ai eu." The real Insipid had used the powers she obtained from one of the soldiers to sneak past Brell's future-sight. She laid a hoof on Brell, giggling. "This is going to be an excellent power! MAJOR. FRESH." Brell found this annoying. She tried to drive a fist of magic energy through Insipid, but a magical barrier like a solar system appeared around her instead. Insipid let out a dismissive huff. "Pfft. Whatever. I wear it better." The necklaces of their Elements began to glow darkly. Now that they were all here, as one, they were ready to unleash utter darkness on Brell. Brell thought fast - Insipid had her abilities now, and wouldn't be easy to take out. Shadow was still flinging Void at Brell, keeping her occupied along with Velvet. She knew nothing about Curaçao, which left Havocwing and Grayscale as her primary targets. Havocwing looked the weakest. "Sorry," she muttered. She stared at Havocwing and flexed her eyes. Havocwing was absorbed into a miniature black hole that existed for all of a second, her red body going through the shredder. A wing and a leg vanished from existence while others fell to the ground after the singularity had vanished, her blood pooling with the red of her coat. Without her, the elements stopped working. "HAVOCWING!" Shadow shouted, losing concentration and allowing the Void energy to hit her straight on. She fell back. "Bitch!" Insipid said, pushing at Brell with her own raw energy. But Brell knew how to use her abilities a lot better than Insipid did. She unleashed a complex chain algorithm that hit Insipid from all sides. Without knowledge of how to defend against the compression, the unicorn had all the air squeezed out of her. This just left Velvet and Curaçao standing. Velvet glared at Brell. "Wrong." Brell made Velvet's blood vanish with a snap of her fingers. "Wrong?" "You're wrong." "I'm no-" "But what if you are?" Velvet asked, cocking her head with a menacing smirk. "Do you ever think about that?" Brell grimaced. "What is your point?" "Just talking at this point. Call it... curiosity." Velvet smirked. "I see in you. I se-" Brell punched Velvet in the face, forcing her back. "A fear-feeder. Curious." Curaçao walked up to Brell and blinked. "Curious? 'ow so?" "She instinctively knew which button to press," Brell said, turning to face her last opponent. "What can you do?" "Deceptions," Curaçao answered. "Invisibility, disguises..." "Not a warrior then?" "Not wizout ze rest of zem," Curaçao admitted. "Not ze best in 'oof-to-'oof combat, generally only good for copycat ploys like the one you just witnessed." Brell nodded. "Then you'll get to witness history." "'istory? Do tell." Brell narrowed her eyes. "You seem far too interested, especially considering that I heavily injured most of your friends and killed one of them." "Friends? We're just a team who works togezer out of convenience. You must 'ave us confused with someone else. Like the Elements of 'armony." Brell looked at her curiously. "It seems unlike the Merodi to employ those such as yourself..." Curaçao shrugged. "A simple necessity. Zey had to destroy the 'armony field. We had the means to do so." Brell leaned down. "No loyalty to them whatsoever?" "None." "You seem to be a refined mare. And I don't detect a trace of anger or resentment toward me in your voice... Just annoyance that you've been defeated... How do you feel about art?" "Art is a beautiful construct zat bonds the souls of all beings togezer zrough a shared experience, vie partagee if you will. It comes from ze closest thing to on 'igh, zat place above all ozers from where our creativity is driven." Brell pondered this. "Perhaps you would be willing to assist me in my endeavors... I'll have to check inwardly first, and possibly complete you... But it might work..." "I would make an excellent servant for you, but zere is a problem." Brell raised an eyebrow. "Hm?" "Helas, I am les menteur." Seeing her confusion, Curaçao smirked. "A liar." Brell blinked. "What?" "SELF DESTRUCT ACTIVATED." Brell whipped around to see Minna standing over the console, fingers pressed on the self-destruct button. "You know, it's really easy to guess passwords if you can see yourself typing them in," Minna commented. Brell grabbed Minna around her stomach and rammed her into the ground. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE JUST DONE!?" "Blowing up this place?" Minna suggested, hearing explosions start from a distant corner of the facility. "IT'LL TAKE EONS TO BUILD THIS UP!" "Shouldn't have had a self-destruct button then." "I WH-" she blinked. "Why did I have a self-destruct button?" This observation made the barely-conscious Velvet laugh. Brell ignored her, focusing intently on Minna. "What're you going to do?" Minna asked. Brell's eye twitched. "I'm going to make you pay for what you've done." Brell kicked Minna across the room, breaking numerous bones in the process. "You won't be leaving this place alive!" "There's the evil mother I know and hate," Minna coughed, spitting up blood. While Brell was fixated on Minna, Insipid got up. "Right, right... Uh... Shroudy magics and stuff!" Curaçao turned to Shadow. "'Avocwing. Now." Shadow nodded, rubbing the back of her head. She walked over to the remnants of Havocwing and tapped into her rarely-used holy magic. Unlike how most Twilight Sparkles were masters of harmonious energies and only used dark powers in times of dire need, Shadow was the exact opposite. Her standard motions were of darkness - while her last resorts were of light. Her eyes lit with holy power and her body began to spasm from the uncomfortable presence of bright magic. She cast the revive spell on Havocwing. It was pretty clear she Came Back Wrong. Her skin was missing in several places, her eyes didn't focus on anything, and she let out a whispering scream. "...Oh no," Shadow said, putting a hoof to her mouth. "The Elements don't care," Grayscale said, still flat against the nearby wall. "Use them." As the green laboratory lit aflame in the distance, the Mean Six used their Elements in tandem, a swirl of darkness surrounding them. All of them - including the wrong Havocwing - rose into the air, the darkness connecting all of them. The chaos grabbed Brell from the back. Several spires of dark energy shot through her shields, making her gag. Minna, despite her injuries, punched Brell across the face. With her magic otherwise occupied with the darkness attacking her, she had none left to counter Minna's force. In reality, Brell was a frail creature. Her neck snapped. The pain forced her defenses into a panic. She was absorbed by the darkness, much like how Havocwing had been taken moments prior. Minna breathed heavily. It was over. She had destroyed the one who created her siblings, and the facility would soon follow. Oh. Right. Forgot about that. "Get us out of here!" she shouted. The swirling darkness expanded, surrounding both her and Lady Rarity protectively. Minna could see the Mean Six trying their hardest to keep the power up - even as the world exploded around them. Insipid and Shadow lost consciousness first - the former not having much strength to begin with, the latter having used too much already. And yet, the Elements held together, powering the shield of darkness. Grayscale passed out next, leaving the holding of the barrier to Curaçao and Velvet. The burning fire of destruction raged against the barrier, forcing more and more energy out of them. Velvet let out a scream of agony and lost her control as well - leaving only the blue earth pony. Minna knew she wasn't going to last long. Lady Rarity shouted at Minna. "Minna! Which one should I take?" Minna started running through futures in her head. Lady Rarity didn't exemplify or cause Fear... She wasn't one for Greed... or Void... or Apathy... Anger. "I hope you're angry!" Minna blurted, pointing at Havocwing's element. Lady Rarity grabbed it with her magic and pulled - tearing herself out of the restraints and taking Havocwing's place as the Element of Anger. Lady Rarity bared her spirid teeth and allowed her primal instincts to take over just as Curaçao passed out. She kept the connection going for the needed few more seconds - much longer than she should have because she couldn't feel pain. She allowed the darkness to dissipate. All of them were now standing on top of a broken chunk of metal floating in empty space within the Congeries' center. Below them they saw a planet-sized burning hole eating away at one of the rectangles. Havocwing snarled in rage, reminding Minna of her presence. The wrong pegasus flew at her, enraged, hooves on fire. Lady Rarity shot her through the head with a laser, breathing heavily. The red pegasus died once again. "Enough... of... that..." The Mean Five began to rise up. Insipid stumbled over to Havocwing and started crying. The rest just hugged each other - with the exception of Grayscale. She was looking at where they were headed. "Everyone? We might not have time for this." "What's wrong with you!?" Insipid blurted. "Like, we need time to mourn!" Grayscale pointed ahead. "We're about to fly into the center, that's what." Minna gulped. She guessed she wasn't actually done. Velvet looked right at her. "...Oh no." "What?" Minna asked. "I think we're Redshirts now." ~~~ Arthon threw Eve and Corona into his personal cage. The two of them had magic inhibitors on their horns, hooves, hands, wings, and foot stumps just to be sure - including anti-Stand measures. The cage they had been thrown into hung in the middle of Arthon's research room, with full view of all his holographic magitech computer displays. Usually the displays would show future plans for his art, but today it was mostly military plans. Corona wished so badly she could get the information she was seeing out. "I'm going to turn you into a special piece," Arthon said as he walked up to one of his computers, creating a new file. "One that speaks of the tragedy and glory of war at the same time." "You're sadistic," Corona spat. Arthon didn't argue. "That doesn't bother you?" "Not at all. My sister and my father are hindered by emotions, and cannot get to the truth of art. Brell is too obsessed with her balance and father with honor. I serve only the works of art. There is nothing beyond them." "Give it a rest..." a raspy voice said from the back of the cage. Eve and Corona glanced behind them and gasped. It was Olivia - except it also wasn't. She had the same face and shape as they remembered, but she wasn't human anymore. Her body was made of a crumbling stone material that constantly broke little chunks off, filling the air with dust as she regrew the loose piece. "Olivia!" Corona shouted, tears coming to her eyes. "You're... You're alive!" "Barely," Olivia muttered. "Say hello to the newest creation of Arthon's. Olivia Velazquez. Humanoid pumice." Eve frowned. "Don't worry, we'll find a way to fix you... We'll get you back!" "Always hopeful," Arthon muttered, pressing a few buttons on a nearby screen. "Even in the face of absurd danger." "Hey, you're the guy who's home is being invaded," Corona spat. "You probably need to surrender. We can't be the only ones who got in." Arthon let out a laugh. "Had you mentioned that a few seconds ago, you would have had a point. But look at this message I've just received. Details about how you broke through our harmony barrier - giving me exactly what I need to break down your home's aggravating defenses." He moved his fingers through the holograms. "Just need to get father to create a few more ships... Shouldn't be too much of a strain on him. The defenses will hold for a second." He sent a message. "Soon, your worlds will burn." Corona grabbed the bars. "You monster." "This is just standard warfare, Corona," Arthon said. "Then I call you a monster for making human zippers." Arthon shrugged. "Then a monster I shall be. It must be the true form of art to be hideous to others." "He's crazy," Olivia coughed, forcing dust out of her mouth. "No getting through to him. And no attacking him either, since we're up here. I suggest waiting for help to arrive because otherwise we're just going to go loco." Eve looked down at Arthon, shaking her head. "I came here to do something... Not get captured and make things worse." "You did fine, he was just too strong," Corona said. "Also caught us by surprise..." "You should have known you'd be easy to detect," Arthon muttered. "I'd just gotten my feet burned off at the time!" Arthon smirked. "Then the barrier did something useful, at least." Corona glared at him - an idea slowly forming in her mind. "...I bet you're scared of us." "Quite the contrary. It is you who are scared of me." "Oh, I don't mean the three of us. I mean all of us as a whole. We're right outside your doorstep, banging on your front doors, destroying your home. We have a good chance of overpowering you in here with our ships alone." "That i-" "What are you going to do if we win?" "You won't win." "You should have a plan though," Corona said. "I mean, I thought you were the one not hindered by balance or honor - just pure devotion to the art? Hrm? How can you claim to do that if you haven't thought of every contingency?" Arthon growled, saying nothing. "It's because you aren't really devoted. You're devoted to yourself, not the art. You can't imagine life without this power. Can't imagine smaller art. You've grown up in the shadow of your father and have no way to view the world outside of him! You're trapped!" "I am not in my father's shadow!" "Then how come you do everything he wants, eh? Look at you, commanding his armies, subjugating worlds that need it, moving plans to help his view of the future. Do you really think you can challenge him? What if you beat him? What would you do then? Nothing. Because you're just his son, and you'll never be anything more!" Arthon threw a punch at Corona, planning to bust through the bars. Corona raised a bare hand to catch the fist. He saw this, stopping just short of the bars. Corona stuck her arm through the bars and tried to grab his hand, but he pulled back. "Your empathy still works, doesn't it? Direct contact even while under magic inhibitors, using my power as your own..." "Dammit," Corona cursed under her breath. "That was a clever ploy," Arthon admitted. "What were you going to do? Destroy my consciousness? Did you really think you could do that?" "I've beaten a Great Old One at mental chess, Teddy. You're not that good." "Then it's certainly fortunate for me that I didn't let you get to me. I'm more than my anger, after all. I am devoted to the a-" There were suddenly several dozen magical holes in his body along with several fist impressions. He went flying into one of the walls, breaking several computers. "What in th-" Jotaro cracked his knuckles. "Time to take you back to hibernation." Nova jumped off his back, creating several magical barriers around the two of them. "What he said. ...I think." "YEAH!" Corona shouted. "GET HIM!" Vriska and Flutterfree dropped from the ceiling; the former adjusting her glasses while the latter splayed her wings aggressively. "F-flutterfree?" Eve said, eyes wide. "W-what happened t-" "I had to become a warrior," Flutterfree said. "I... I'll deal with the consequences later." Arthon pulled himself out of the wall and readied a spell, the arcane energies swirling around his hand like a miniature solar system. Pinkie hit him on the head with her warhammer, following it up with a million-degree knife to his hand, chopping it off. "SURPRISE!" Arthon roared, the force of his voice pushing all but Jotaro back. Jotaro wrapped Arthon up in Hermit Purple and the Passion, feeling the horrific anger and darkness in his soul. Jotaro followed up with a Star Platinum punch, driving a hole through Arthon. Arthon's power healed him. "You... can't... do anything to me!" Vriska smirked. She started draining his luck. "Let's see how much of this you have..." "Inversion," Arthon said. Suddenly Vriska felt her luck dropping instead of increasing. She stopped instantly. Flutterfree flew by Arthon, scraping him with the knives, but she was tossed aside easily. She opted to fire the bow of light at him, annoyed to find that he had a Seraphim-like field around him that diverted projectiles. Nova erased time, appearing behind Arthon after a confusing round of everyone switching places in the room. She hit him with a mixture of a concussive blast and aging spell, planning to blow him to dust. The aging didn't affect him, and the concussive blast barely made him move. He pushed back at her, throwing her into Vriska - forcing the troll to lose hold of some of her dice. "FUCK." Jotaro went after Arthon again. "ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!" Arthon altered the barrier around himself after the second 'ORA', making Star Platinum's fists disappear the moment they got within half an inch of Arthon's body. Flutterfree attempted to use Lolo, but the same rule applied - no Stands could approach Arthon now. Jotaro attempted to throw a piece of computer shrapnel at him, but Arthon caught the plating and threw it back at Jotaro. "I will counter everything all of you have!" Arthon roared, his shield blocking more and more as time went on. Vriska's sword vaporized the moment it touched him. Nova's magic signature started to charge Arthon. Stands were pointless. "Did you think it was my father who was responsible for the adaptations!? No! It was me! I never let you do the same thing twice!" "Then you better get ready for the death roulette," Pinkie spat. She cracked her neck and grinned. "What to do first?" Arthon pushed her back with his psychic power. But she wasn't there - she was behind him, driving a glowing green sword through his chest. Then she was far away, firing a machine gun at him. Then she was under him, placing bear traps around his feet. Arthon roared. "CHILD'S TRICKS! I WILL ALWAYS RECOVER!" Pinkie produced a sword and cut Arthon's arm off. It didn't grow back. "See this? This is a starmetal sword. On loan from a nice mare who currently isn't using it. Very useful." She didn't bother swinging it again, knowing Arthon had already figured out how to defend against it. He rushed her, but she was once again behind him, driving a jackhammer into his back. Then she smashed him into the Wall. "What in...?" "Ka is a funny thing, isn't it?" Pinkie said. She pressed his face to the back of the computer screen. "Look at them. Look at them cheering for your downfall. You villain." "I WILL NOT BE BROUGHT LOW BY PETTY EXISTENTIALISM!" He pushed back, summoning a complex crushing spell on her. She appeared behind him. He was expecting this. His hand was ready for her. He drove it right into her face, two fingers going for the most vulnerable areas. She screamed. A force of burning, searing power like nothing she had ever felt before went directly from her eyes to her brain and through her entire nervous system. He shaped her, expressing his creativity on her body. Candy-red blood spurted out the back of her head in arc patterns. Her body didn't go limp, but instead took a jagged, twitching pose. She flew to the back wall, her limbs twisted behind her back and embedded into the rock. Blood dropped from her face, making up for her inability to cry. Arthon turned to the rest of them. "Now that the annoyance is out of the wa-" Flutterfree had her psychotic breakdown. She couldn't make a word with her mouth - couldn't scream 'PINKIE!', couldn't tell anyone else what to do, and couldn't think. All was Rage. She flew at Arthon, purple energies channeling through her blades. She drove her hooves and wings into Arthon, surpassing his barriers with something new. She attempted Flair's instant death technique, slicing Arthon into several pieces. He reformed, the places he had been cut sparkling with white energy. A cosmic torrent shot out from his hand, pushing her back - but her Rage kept her standing. The ground beneath her tore up and flew backward. She tore it apart with pure physical strength, landing on the ground. She took a step toward Arthon. He sneered - her power was formidable, but he could deal with her. All he had to do was keep pushing her back until she tired. Everyone ran out of the ability to express such unbridled rage after enough emotional taxation. It would only be a matter of time. What he didn't realize was that a Page of Rage was a beacon. They gave their power to those around them. Jotaro, Vriska, and Nova all grabbed hold of Arthon's neck at the same time, all three of their bodies burning with purple energy. He felt the Rage claw into him, seeping the power of destruction into him. No. He couldn't fall to this. He had to find a way to defend against it. To stop his body from succumbing to this pathetic weakness. All he had to do was find a defense... a spell... something cosmic. Something to keep from disintegrating. White cracks appeared in his body, the light within shifting color to a deep purple. He realized he didn't have time. The Rage revealed the truth of his situation. As he was, he would not survive. He left behind his devotion to the arts to tap into the Rage of his own. He was going to take as many down with him as he could. He tore off Nova's leg with his teeth, spitting the offending limb to the floor. He summoned the power cosmic within him, preparing to self-destruct and take everything out. No one would survive within a hundred miles. Flutterfree plunged the tips of her wings through his back and tore him in half, the power of the Rage keeping him from reforming. His blood sprayed all over her - a glowing red and white liquid riddled with magical sparkles akin to stars. The thick fluids ran down her body and pooled at her hooves. She let out a scream, channeling all the Rage into it - draining herself. The purple glow vanished and she slumped to the ground, eyes rolling into the back of her head. In the end, Arthon knew how truly pointless his fight had been. The battle was over. Vriska leaped to the cage and tore the door open, popping the magical inhibitors off the three of them, being careful with Olivia's crumbly body. Eve ran to Flutterfree to hold her. The pegasus moaned, but didn't open her eyes. Corona ran to Pinkie - catching her in healing magic before the party pony bled out. Her cuts and bruises healed up nicely... Her eyes didn't. There were now gaping holes instead of bloody waterfalls. Corona put her hands on Pinkie's shoulders. "We'll get you to a doctor. We-" "Help Nova," Pinkie said, voice hollow. "R-right," Corona said. Nova's wound was much simpler - just healing up a leg stump. "We'll get you to a doctor as well. Grow everything back." "That'll work for Nova," Olivia said, crawling out of the cage. "Won't work for Pinkie. Or me." "Wh - why?" "Do you all remember the Sweetie Belle? The one the Collector called Sweetie Chronicle?" Nova nodded. "...Vaguely." "Remember her crystal condition? A being called 'the beast' cursed her to eternally have a crystal body, regardless of where her soul wandered, regardless of any healing offered." Olivia tapped her own rocky exterior. "We've been changed like that." Vriska curled her fist into a ball. "Someone bring him back so I can kill him again." Eve looked up at Pinkie from her position over the unconscious Flutterfree. "...Pinkie?" Pinkie tried to look at her, but wasn't quite able to set her face straight. "Y-yeah?" Eve choked. "I'm sorry." She levitated Pinkie into a hug. "I'm so, so sorry, I... I thought I..." "You're safe," Pinkie said, fumbling to hug her back. "That's... That's all that matters. I couldn't let you die out here." "I'm the idiot who decided I needed to come out here!" "We always needed to be here," Pinkie said. "All of us. Including you, Eve." She finally got her hooves around Eve in the correct way. "I forgive you. For everything." "P-pinkie..." Eve burst into tears, unable to take it all. "I don't deserve you! Any of you!" "Yes you do," Pinkie said, squeezing harder. Then Eve let out a sharp cry of pain. Pinkie pulled back. "W-what is it?" "Eheh..." Eve rubbed her side. "I think you hugged too hard... Snapped a rib, somehow..." Corona laid her hand on Eve, healing the wound. "Good as new." Pinkie gulped. "S-sorry..." "Pinkie, don't worry, it was just you being emotional and I didn't-" "Eve, I had no idea I was hugging you too hard." Eve looked at her. "Wh-" Pinkie smashed her hoof against the floor a few times, drawing blood and cracking her hoof in several places. "I didn't feel any of that." "P-Pinkie..." "It's... It's not okay, no," Pinkie said. "But... but it was my turn. I figured it out. If I wanted to save you, I was going to have to suffer." "This is all my fault!" Eve shouted. "E-" "Don't you dare say otherwise!" Eve interrupted. "If I hadn't kept my identity from you I would never have run away to this war in the first place! If I hadn't started this war, none of you would have needed to risk your lives like this! If..." Corona put a gloved hand on Eve's shoulder. "Eve. This war needed to happen." "...C-corona..." "You've seen what Arthon and Skarn do. They do things like what's happened here to millions, daily." Eve grabbed Corona's shoulders. "I can't make these kinds of sacrifices, Corona! I just... I just can't do it!" "Yes you can," Corona said, holding her tight. "You can." Eve looked into Corona's eyes - a strange calmness taking over the purple alicorn's expressions. "I... can?" "Yes. You can," Flutterfree said. "So long as you're also willing to sacrifice yourself, you'll have paid everyone back." Eve looked to her. "But you came to stop me from doing just that!" Flutterfree looked at Eve's eyes, the blood of Skarn dripping down her face. "...Because we should never have let you go alone." Eve blinked. Then she threw her hooves around Flutterfree's neck. "I'm so sorry..." Flutterfree nodded. "I know. I am too." "Everyone is," Jotaro said, kneeling down to Eve. Eve looked up at him. "Jotaro... Thank you. You don't owe me anything anymore. I know I always told you that you never owed me anything, but I mean it this time." "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro said, adjusting his hat. "There's more to loyalty than that." Eve nodded. "Y-yeah. Something I should know..." She turned to Nova. "I'm still pissed you started this war," Nova said. Eve hung her head. "But I understand why you did," Nova said. "And, let's be perfectly honest, I would have probably done something a lot worse a lot sooner if I had your position." Eve looked into Nova's eyes. "...Are we still...?" "Yes, Eve, we're still friends," Nova said, pulling her in. "You taught me too much to just let it all go now. I'm here, aren't I?" "Y-yeah. Just..." She wiped her eyes. "I don't know." "I know something," Corona said, folding her fingers together. "That's only one bear down. There's still a war going on." She looked at everyone in the room. "A war we need to finish." "Corona!" Flutterfree called. "Some of us are in no condition t-" "Let's go," Pinkie said. "She's right, we need to end this war. Some of us can't fight - but we have to do this and we're all sticking together." Flutterfree looked at her for a moment. "...Okay. We all go to face Skarn." Corona took a step forward, establishing herself as the one to lead the charge. "Hope he's ready for us." ~~~ Jane had followed a very basic philosophy - don't stop digging. Even when they had burst through the crust, she didn't stop digging. Even as they fell through the sky and toward the central sphere, she didn't stop digging. Every missile that hit her pickaxe was reduced to its basic resources in an instant. Even as they hit one of the rectangular prisms, she didn't stop digging, falling through a hallway far too large for them. Even as they approached the central sphere, she didn't stop. Behind her, Nae, Jade, Alushy, and Sunny fell, a little bored that they weren't doing anything. "Got any sevens?" Alushy asked Jade. "Go fish," Jade said, smirking at her. "Fudgefucklesticks," Alushy muttered, drawing another card from the deck Sunny was holding in her telekinesis. Nae went next. "Any aces, Sunny?" "Yep," Sunny said, levitating her card over. "And I win," Nae said, folding her arms and grinning, her pair of aces floated up into the air. "And now we don't have a full deck of cards," Alushy commented. "Great going, Einstein." "I can always make more," Sunny pointed out. "I think we should stop anyway," Jade said. "We are getting pretty close to the center." They looked down - wondering what would happen when Jane's pickaxe finally hit the glowing spherical center of the Congeries. Jane herself was wondering what would happen. "Make sure we come in slow!" She called up. "Don't want to turn into pancakes!" "On it!" Jade and Sunny said, extending their telekinetic powers around all five of them, slowly decelerating them as they approached the center sphere. They landed on the surface, finding it to be smooth like glass, but otherwise opaque. "If we can see the lights inside this thing, they must be really bright," Jade observed. Jane drove her pickaxe into the material. The tool bounced back from it, unharmed. Jane was not all that surprised about this. "I do have to ask," Nae interrupted. "Do we really think Minna is in there?" "Do you think she could be anywhere else?" Alushy asked. "No, but we have to ask. Going in there will definitely have danger, probably a lot more than we're expecting or used to." "Don't worry," Jane said, pulling a clockwork sword with a red blade out of her inventory. "I'm here. Back before we settled down, Sunny and I killed gods for a living." Sunny facehooved. "This Skarn guy may be a bit above our usual fare... But I'm not worried. He's an asshole who needs to be kicked down a few pegs." "All the pegs?" Jade asked. "All of them," Jane asserted. Then she blinked. "...Did you just Vriska me?" Jade giggled. "Heheh... yeah." "Huh. Good for you, I guess." She whirled around and drove her god-slaying sword into the outside of the sphere. It cracked like an egg and they all fell inside. The interior light was blinding - enough to actually burn parts of Alushy - but Sunny was able to see through it. "Jane, swing again!" Jane didn't hesitate, driving through another layer. They entered a tube-like construction that took them away from the outer light, sliding deeper and deeper into the core. Their vision slowly returned allowing them to see outside the clear tube they were in. They saw hallways with soldiers running through them, complicated mechanisms that moved magic to and fro between labs to living quarters to museums of creative art taken from various universes. They even saw some allies - a few Space Marines trouncing the enemy and some Inklings getting trounced. The pipe in front of them was constantly shifting, redirecting their course - but instead of diverting them into somewhere they didn't want to go, it was taking them right to the center of the Congeries. The very center. Jane gripped her sword. "He knows we're here. Get ready." The pipe deposited them in the control room for the Shaping Mechanism. They saw the tendrils of magic energy that served as the display winding into images of ships, troops, and giant bear statues. They saw the glowing blue orb that allowed Skarn to interface with the Shaping Mechanism. They saw Skarn himself. He was, as always, a bear made of pure cosmic energy, nebulous stars shifting through his fur. Horns sprouted out of his head, casting him in a demonic image. Spiraling, swirling magics surrounded him, reminiscent not only of solar systems, but of galaxies, while a necklace resting on his bare furry chest sparked with energy. He removed his hands from the controls, allowing the Shaping Mechanism to run on autopilot, and turned to face them. His expression wasn't angry - but calm. Expectant, even. "Welcome to the center of my Congeries. I can't say I was expecting you to be the first here - though I suppose Eve and Corona did drop by earlier." "You have been expecting us," Nae said. "But of course. This is not just any regular war, decided by numbers, tactics, and ploys. That part of the war is over - the squabbles between my Shaping and the Merodi fleet outside are there just to keep each other occupied right now, making them meaningless. This is a war that is to be decided by the greatest warriors, in deep, personal battle." "Um... What exactly would killing us accomplish?" Nae asked. "We're just soldiers. Strong, yeah, but not very... important." "And even killing the highest leaders won't stop us," Sunny pointed out. "And killing me won't stop my forces," Skarn countered. "They will keep fighting, even without guidance. It will be difficult to overcome them even without the aid of my Shaping." Jane pointed her sword at him. "How about we kill you and figure that out later?" Skarn moved forward. "Or we could make an honorable agreement. I'll promise to have my soldiers automatically stand down upon my death. In return, you must promise me something." "We don't have the authority to surrender," Sunny said. "Or call anything off." "Oh no, nothing like that. All I want you to promise is that, upon your deaths, I get all your memories and knowledge. Which would no doubt include methods by which I can enter Merodi Universalis personally and use my abilities to tear planets in half." Jane glared at him. "You're rather upfront about that." "It is the way of honor," Skarn said. "We can fight with those terms - or not." "Don't take it," Jade said. "DO take it!" Alushy blurted. "C'mon, we've gotta end this guy in one epic showdown! Dragging it out will only make it lame." "I say take it as well," Nae said. "The rewards outweigh the risks." "...I don't think so," Sunny offered. "I think he's got some sort of trick up his sleeve. Something he's playing off of." "The only thing I am playing off is your severe underestimation of what I am," Skarn said. "I could explain that to you, if you like. I am a combination of two higher deities and a mortal shell blessed with the gift of seeing the true beauty of existence, and the inspiration to draw it out of its hiding." "You sound like nothing special," Jane said. "But I don't trust this, in any way, so no deal." "The smarter choice, for you," Skarn admitted. "It would truly be silly if this side-group defeated me, after all." "Fuck," Alushy blurted. "I didn't even think about the narrative. We're a bunch of side characters and backgrounders." "But we're not Redshirts," Jane said, gripping her sword. "Skarn, let me put this to you simply. You're going down." Skarn nodded. "It makes sense that you would believe that, godkiller. Perhaps we should move somewhere more appropriate for a battle, then?" He didn't wait for a response. They were suddenly elsewhere - a different universe, one that existed as a functionally endless plane of metal engraved with billions of different symbols. The sky above them swirled with galaxies of every color, but it wasn't real - the 'stars' were just specks of magic floating in the dark blue void above them. Skarn put his hands behind his back. "I'll be a gentleman. You can make the first move." Jane took the opportunity - she teleported behind him, her flaming blade materializing in the middle of his stomach. He let out a gasp of pain, moving his hand to clutch the wound. "Hurts more than you were expecting, eh?" Jane said. She pulled it up, expecting to cut him in half - but her blade didn't budge. He had grabbed hold of the point sticking out of his stomach with his hands. He pulled with his whole body, tearing the blade out of Jane's hands. Then he snapped it in half between two of his fingers. The fire went out unceremoniously. "It didn't hurt that much at all, godkiller," Skarn reported. "This is one of those moments I wish I hadn't already unleashed my army of damned souls," Alushy muttered. She dropped her usual form, opting for the tremendous wall of shadow, eyes, and teeth. Jade took a fighting stance, barking as she arranged her fingers in a rectangle. Nae aimed her gun and activated her magic abilities. Jane drew another blade - clearly not her preferred weapon, but a brutal slayer of gods nonetheless. Sunny surrounded herself in the colors of fire and magic. Skarn flicked a finger. Nae went flying, unconscious. "Now that the children have gone to where they won't get hurt, the adults can have their fun, hrm?" The four of them charged. The four of them bounced back like rubber balls. Skarn shrugged. "So hard to find a good challenge these days..." ~~~ Prior to his gruesome death, Arthon had ordered a few attacks. Attacks equipped with the knowledge to breach the harmony field. He had chosen three worlds in which to do this - the Hub, Elemental Four, and Lai, simply because they were the ones with heavy Congeries presence. Ships appeared in orbit around each of the three worlds, firing beams of darkness at the harmony fields - corrupting them in seconds. Cosmo quickly shut off power to those worlds to keep the harmony field from being corrupted elsewhere, but that left three worlds wide open. The Hub had enough standard defenses to blast the invading forces out of the sky with ease, the city's primary shield more than enough to absorb the orbital bombardment. The other worlds, however... Corea teleported to Air Temple Island with her magic, landing next to Tenzin. "Energy bars, magic bars, all the bars, stat," she said, rubbing her head. Tenzin gave her a basket of the requested 'food'. She began devouring them ravenously. "I take it defending Republic City has been particularly tiring today?" "They must have figured something out with their abilities we can't know about," Corea muttered. "They keep getting past our defenses without us knowing, entire buildings just vanishing." She wiped her brow, stuffing a magic bar into her face. "We're still keeping them back, but our outer defenses keep needing to call in more reinforcements. Eventually they're going to just stop coming, especially with Celestia City communications down." Tenzin nodded. "I've received word that the attack is almost over. One hour, maybe less." "That's good. We can hold out for at least that long." Corea let out a sigh of relief. "Good to know this is almost over. I b-" The white lines of harmony in the sky flashed black, then vanished. Corea's pupils shrunk to pinpricks. She could sense the danger coming. She entered the Avatar State on a trigger. Her eyes went white and she floated into the air. A torrent of water swirled from the seas around Air Temple Island, surrounding them in a dome of water. She added a shell of air around that, followed by a dome of earth that blocked out the sun. With a twist of her body, she created a final swirl of fire around the earthen dome, and on the very interior of the water she created a tremendous magical barrier. She barely finished it in time. The orbital bombardment from Skarn's fleet hit the second it was done removing the harmony barrier. Corea couldn't see anything happening out there, but she felt her barrier of fire come down, followed by her earthen wall, and the air. The water lasted a bit longer, but eventually even it too dissipated, leaving just a magic shell. At the top of the dome, everyone on Air Temple Island could see a deep, red energy pushing at them from above, trying to break through the last layer, eating away at the remnants of the earthen dome and water layer. Corea's shield began to crack at the very top. The unicorns of Air Temple Island gave her their aid, pushing their magic right into her. Tenzin meditated, willing his spirit into her own. Corea strained. "It's not enough!" the Avatars said. "It's too much to stop! There must be... Spirit! PURE SPIRIT!" She roared, tapping into the spirits of everyone on the island, forcing their bodies into great pain. "We are sorry! There is no other way!" The shield broke - but a great white spirit shot out of Corea and caught the energy beam with itself. The spirit was weak compared to the shield - only able to last a few seconds. But that was all they needed. The bombardment stopped. Corea fell to the ground, returning everyone's souls to them. There were a few screams as this happened, but everyone on Air Temple Island was alive. Nobody else was. There was a crater where Republic City had been. The entire bay Air Temple Island had sat in was vaporized, waiting for more ocean water to fill it. Corea scanned the land - looking for any signs of life. She saw a few scant protrusions of artificial structures that had been slightly too durable to be glassed by the orbital lasers, but no life. There was nothing green as far as the eye could see. Not even the full-grown dragon that had taken to living on the nearby mountain was there - no skeleton to indicate he had ever been there. Corea stared, slowly realizing that most of her close friends had been fighting to defend Republic City. "N-no..." Tenzin grabbed Corea by the shoulders. "You saved what you could." "I... I..." "You did your duty as the Avatar, Corea. You saved the Air Nomads from extinction." Corea nodded, biting back tears. "I... I know, Tenzin. That doesn't mean this isn't a tragedy!" "I know it doesn't," Tenzin said. "Almost everyone I knew lived in that city. But you can't allow yourself to think this is your failure!" Corea burst into tears, falling to her haunches. On Lai, a very different story took place. Terezi rushed into Toph's throne room. "Toph, you're needed in the Hub!" Toph cocked her head. "Really? What for?" "I don't know, I just know!" "Terezi-" "Just come already," Terezi muttered, dialing the Hub with a government-issue device that could overrule the dimensional lock. Toph sighed, giving instructions to one of her trusted Generals to move a legion to the south to protect the border better. Then she ran through Terezi's portal, appearing in the Hub. Just as the portal closed behind them, the bombardment of the Hub began. The city shook from the impact. "They're under attack!?" "They're fine, their point defenses are excellent," Terezi said. "It's easy to defend only one target." "...Then why are we here?" "Before we get into that, I'm going to preface by saying I forgive you for what you're about to do to me." Toph's expression became angered. "Terezi what did you do?" "I saw the possible futures. I didn't like it. So I did something about it." She pointed at a breaking news program on a nearby public screen. A Ga was reading the news. "This just in, the Hub, Elemental Four, and Lai have been hit hard by Congeries forces that removed the harmony barriers. While the Hub was able to repel the attack quickly, Elemental Four and Lai have suffered extreme losses in the form of Republic City and the Lai Capital..." Toph punched Terezi in the face. "I NEEDED TO BE THERE!" "There was no future where you could have done anything!" "Take me back. Now." Terezi didn't argue - she dialed back. They walked to what had been Toph's throne room just a moment ago. Now it was a crater that extended as far as the eye could see. Toph punched Terezi again. "You're fired." "Yep... Saw this coming..." Terezi muttered. Toph slammed her foot into the ground, sensing for any survivors on the surface. She found one. She ran to the nearby area of earth and spread the rocks apart, revealing a glowing sphere of esoteric energy that contained a single Arcei - the only Arcei. Starcei. She had curled up into a fetal position and had her eyes shut as tight as she could manage. "It's okay," Toph said, setting the magic sphere gently onto the ground. "You're safe now." Starcei opened one of her eyes. She dropped her Runic shield and took a moment to look around. "Armonia's horn..." she said, hoof to her mouth. "The entire city..." "Everything," Toph said. "EVERYTHING." "We need to find out how many soldiers we have left, how our fronts are doing a- Toph, what are you doing?" Toph rammed her fists into the ground, creating a wall. "What's it look like? I'm rebuilding the palace." "Toph, there a-" "If this war doesn't end soon this entire planet is going to be glassed," Toph spat back. "Nothing we do is going to be able to change that. So I'm going to get a head start on rebuilding this place with my own two hands. Since I didn't go down with the city like I was supposed to." Terezi grumbled. "You're welcome." "I'm not thanking you." "I suppose I'll go check on the armies then." "You're fired Terezi, get out of my sight and don't come back," Toph grunted. "Starcei, you go check on the armies." Starcei saluted. "Yes, your Highness." She teleported away. Terezi let out a sigh and walked away in a random direction. ~~~ Allure hid beneath O'Neill. She held a small gun in her telekinesis, and had her Heart ready for combat. But she knew she wasn't a killing machine. She would probably need to be. There were five others in the room with her. Besides O'Neill, there was Ava, Starbeat, Thor, and the Research Overhead. Squeaky was out controlling the League of Sweetie Belles to keep civilian danger to a minimum while Allure just cowered in here since the teleporters were down. It was her place, she supposed, to be here. She gulped. She had no idea where her daughter was, or even if she was alive. Allure's League was up there, fighting and dying without her. And here she was, cowering, sitting in a room with several high value targets. Herself included. She could hear them getting closer and closer, breaking through wave after wave of soldiers. The Research Overhead took point - unfolding his body, shedding the humanoid shape in favor of a forward-lurching four-armed being with burning hot claws. He had all four of the claws aimed at the entrance, ready for anything. Those who had Stands had them out. Crimson Sushi hung on to O'Neill's shoulder, ready. Thor's Stand - which Allure had recently learned had been named Lithium - was a series of three colorful orbs. She had no idea what it did. Just like she had no idea what Ava's Stand did. It was named Red Rain and took the form of a perfectly spherical bubble of bloody water with an eyeball inside of it. She briefly wondered if she should name her Heart powers. It definitely wasn't a Stand, but it was able to act like one. These thoughts were quickly banished when the first soldier walked in through the doorway. The Research Overhead shot at him from four different directions - three of which were dodged, but the fourth went right through his chest. Red Rain activated. The blood pooling out of the soldier gained an eye similar to the one in Red Rain itself. The blood floated into the air, creating a drop-shaped being. The moment another soldier came in, the drop blasted right through his visor and into his face, freeing blood to make a second drop creature. It was at this point the soldiers started getting smarter - coming in with larger groups. But O'Neill and Starbeat took care of them, confusing their perceptions and blasting them with a mixture of magic and physical bullets specifically designed to fool their perceptions. They threw a grenade in, but Thor's Lithium used one of its globes of energy to reduce it to subatomic particle dust. Another of the spheres created a burst of electromagnetism that sent the soldiers outside flying away. Ah, he must control the fundamental forces of the universe. The nuclear force, electromagnetism, and gravity. Allure blinked. Wait, no, he'd have used gravity if he could... That's right, the nuclear force is split in two. Wonder how that works, exactly. As it turned out, the third sphere was just extremely good at dealing with radiation. A soldier dropped dead outside from the interactions of Lithium's third orb. Allure felt a lot more confident that they had Thor on their side. With their mixture of Stands there was no way they could lose. And then Thor was gone. Nothing more than a splat of juices on the ground next to a soldier with a broken neck. "Wh... Wh..." Allure blinked. "Godammit!" O'Neill shouted, pulling out one of his grenades and throwing it into the hall. "Memory trick!" Starbeat shouted. "Be careful!" "Did he transmit his consciousness?" O'Neill asked the Research Overhead. "Negative," the robot responded. "It appears his mind was caught up in their tricks as much as ours." "Shit," O'Neill grunted, biting his lip. "Just... shit." Allure knew Thor was a good friend of O'Neill's. Another tragedy in this war... The Congeries' soldiers smashed through the back wall, rushing in with a full contingent. Red Rain's blood drop creatures rushed them, but they were somehow all taken out. No one was permitted to know how. Crimson Sushi didn't permit any of the enemies to know where they were, prompting several of them to shoot each other. But one of them had gotten clever and pointed a finger directly at Allure. She rolled to the side, pushing O'Neill out of the way of the invisible bolt with her telekinesis. She activated her Heart and tore at the soldier's feet, knocking him over. She delivered a quick blow to the base of the skull. She didn't know if she killed him with that or just knocked him out, and she didn't have time to find out. She had to do a backflip into the air to avoid the next set of shots. Something hit Ava in the arm, forcing her to lose focus - all the droplets of blood fell. Starbeat overexerted herself on a spell, shorting out her horn. The Research Overhead got an arm blown off. Allure realized they couldn't win this fight. Not in a million years. ~~~ Corona, Eve, Olivia, Flutterfree, Jotaro, Vriska, Nova, and Pinkie walked together through a clear cylindrical tube, through which they could see the inner workings of the Shaping Mechanism and all the living quarters for Skarn and his family. There were a few soldiers around, but not that many. Eve was levitating Pinkie along. They had discovered quickly that Pinkie had difficulty walking with no sensation in her hooves - it was going to take time they didn't have for her to learn to adjust to her condition. "You're all looking for a pipe that leads all the way to the center," Pinkie said, no longer full of the fire she had been for the last few days, instead speaking in flat, calculated tones. As if afraid of her own emotions. "It'll take us right to the Shaping Mechanism controls." Olivia readied her rocky fingers. "Been a while since I've done a hacking job this advanced. Should be fun." "I see it," Corona said, ending her scan spell. "I can teleport us right into the tube. It's going to be a long ride, so we need to be prepared." "Got it," Nova said, taking a ready stance on her three hooves. "...This is so weird..." Corona clasped her hands and teleported them all into the tube. They slid down to the center, watching as all the other rooms and mechanisms flew by. Vriska narrowed her eyes. "Did I just see the Mean Six up there?" "You did," Nova said. "I've locked onto Starlight Shadow's magic signature. Sending her a ping no-" Nova didn't even get to send the ping. The Mean Five, Lady Rarity, and Minna teleported right into the midst of them. "Hell-WAUGH!" Everyone had failed to realize they were about to hit a turn in the pipe. They were jostled around and unceremoniously deposited on a pile in the Shaping Mechanism's control room. There was silence for a moment. Pinkie let out a soft laugh despite herself. "Pony pile! Heh..." "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered. Eve, Corona, and Shadow set to levitating everyone out of the pile to a standing position. Olivia walked right up to the globe controls the moment she could and began touching her fingers to it. Of course she was locked out, but that wasn't going to stop her. "I need some technological interfaces to work on this." Nova limped over. "Guess that's me." She sat down and put one of her remaining hooves next to the globe, letting Olivia access her screen. Eve looked at the five strange ponies. "So, uh, who are they?" "Dark but not evil clone copies of you from Equis Duo," Velvet explained. "I'm Velvet, that's Starlight Shadow, Grayscale Force, Insipid, and our leader Curaçao." "Hello again," Flutterfree said, smiling at Curaçao. "Guess we both ended up in the same place?" "Indeed," Curaçao said. "...We lost one of our number. Your counterpart." "...I'm so-" Flutterfree caught herself. She looked at Curaçao with sad eyes. "...I know what that feels like." Curaçao nodded. "It'll be time to mourn later. What I want to know is why Skarn isn't here." Pinkie coughed. "He's fighting Jade, Jane, Sunny, and Alushy in a pocket dimension we can access through the spark in the center of this room. ...Wherever the center is. Just look, you'll see it." While Corona and Lady Rarity took a moment to hug, Eve and Shadow walked to the center of the room. There was, in fact, a spark of energy on the ground, through which they could both sense a dimensional signature. "Guess that's where we need to go," Eve said. "Help them fight Skarn." Corona healed Lady Rarity and Minna with her magic. "Duh. Anyone else need heals?" "We're good," Grayscale muttered. "Wait!" Flutterfree blurted. "We can't all go, remember? You'd just be Redshirts." "Oh, yeah, I totally forgot about that," Insipid said. "Weird." "You know what, screw it," Shadow said. "We've come this far and gotten to the inner organs of the leviathan, I'm not just going to idle while the 'big damn heroes' assume control of the situation. So what if I'm a 'Redshirt'? I'm here for a destined reason, just like the rest of us." Curaçao nodded. "Furthermore, I believe the situation 'as changed now." Pinkie nodded. "Skarn's obsessed with honor. He won't kill you until his victory is complete or he has to. He took Nae out of the picture non-lethally. He doesn't believe in needlessly sullying the other side's victory, or driving them to rage before defeat." "...Whackjob," Corona muttered. "No argument here," Pinkie said, stumbling as she absent-mindedly took a step forward. "So..." Eve looked at everyone there. "All of us who are able to fight right now should go in. Flutterfree, Pinkie, Nova, Olivia, you've all exerted yourselves too much. Sit this one out." Flutterfree nodded. "I know... Thank you." "Don't mention it. And Minna?" Minna looked at Eve. "I can't stop you. But I don't think your mother would like it if you came with us." Minna blinked for a moment. Then she nodded. "I already did what I came here to do. I don't have to be there. Brell was my problem - not Skarn." Eve, Corona, Lady Rarity, Jotaro, and Vriska stood next to the spark. They glanced at the Mean Five. "Which of you are coming?" Curaçao stepped back. "I am a capable 'oof-to-'oof fighter. I am not a legendary cosmic warrior. Deception will not do much to this foe, will it?" "No," Pinkie and Velvet said at once. "C'est la vie," Curaçao said, taking another step back. "I am afraid I will sit out, seeing as we can't get ze Elements to activate. Lady Rarity simply isn't angry enough to be accepted as a full bearer." "I'll stay to guard all you injured slackers," Grayscale said, standing next to Curaçao. That left just Velvet, Shadow, and Insipid on the team to go into the dimension. Eve readied herself. "Right. Let's d-" Olivia's left hand crumbled "...Dammit," she muttered, her body scattering fragments of stone. Corona's eyes widened. "O-olivia?" "Without Arthon's power... It looks like I don't regenerate. I'm falling to powder." "Olivia, just stay calm, we'll find a cu-" Corona stopped mid-thought. "...No cure." "No," Olivia said, turning to glance at Corona with sad eyes. "I just got you back! That's no-" "Life's not fair," Olivia countered. "We can keep you in stasis until we find a cure! Or transfer your spirit!" Pinkie sighed. "Corona..." "Don't you start, Pinkie! I'm not losing her again!" Olivia held up her stump of a hand. "Yes, you are. There's no cure for this, even a spiritual form would crumble from what he did. He killed me the moment he caught me. This body is a prison, Corona. Think of it as me... being freed. After all, all deaths mean something, right?" Corona twitched. "That's not fair." "No, it's not." Olivia sighed. "I'll use what time I have left to give you control of these mechanisms. It's the least I can do." Corona twitched. "There's really nothing you can do, amiga." Olivia assured her. "Except go in there and wreck that bear's shit." "I will," Corona promised. "Now get going so I can focus." "One last thing," Pinkie said. "Eve, Skarn is going to offer a deal. You have to take it." Eve blinked. "I... do?" "Merodi Universalis could be glassed if you don't." Eve took in a sharp breath. "Okay. Got it." "Take care of yourself," Flutterfree called after Eve. "...Don't let him do anything to you." "We won't let that happen," Jotaro asserted. "Like, that would be majorly uncool," Insipid said. "No way is he laying those grubby claws on any of us." Eve nodded. "Ready, team?" There was a ready from all seven of the others. "Then here we go." They vanished in a spark of light. Olivia sighed. "Back to getting this thing to work..." "That's not going to work," Minna offered. "What isn't?" "What you're thinking of trying now. Try to think of something else." "Uh..." "That's not going to work either. Again." Olivia smirked. "You're really helpful, huh?" "I imagine if I weren't me I'd be going very existential about all these possible futures. Whatever you're thinking about now doesn't fail instantly, so go ahead and try it." Olivia used her free hand to press some buttons on Nova's screen. "Nova, time manipulation on the console would be appreciated - not on me, though. I'm crumbling." "We can set up a mental link," Nova suggested. "You think to me, and I do things with my horn." "Do it," Olivia said. "We're going to get control of this thing yet." Flutterfree took the moment to walk up to Olivia. "...Hi." "Heh. Are you here to tell me about my lord and savior?" "Actually, for once in my life, I am," Flutterfree said. "You don't have much time, Olivia." "I know all your teachings and everything, Butters." "I'm not sure anyone who studies us academically understands exactly what we are, and what we mean. It's about believing in a place we came from, about a power on high that is absolute, and... and that the ultimate fate of everything is good even if we are broken." "Look, I'm all for living forever, and I'm definitely offering up prayers like nothing else right now." Olivia let out a bitter laugh. "Not sure if they're fully serious, though." "Try something else," Minna suggested. "Huh?" "For the hacking, not the religious experiment," Minna said. "I've no idea where that conversation's going." "What do you believe, Minna?" Nova asked. "...We have souls. And I haven't really thought much beyond that." "Hm. You should think about it more often. Really interesting conversation." "Hey, Nova, why aren't you fighting Flutterfree's preaching attempts here?" Olivia asked, one of her ears crumbling to dust. "Because even though I believe it's a load of tar, she's trying to save your soul. All I'd be doing is convincing you of an uncomfortable truth or damning you." Nova rubbed the back of her head. "I would be on the side of what I think is truth if you weren't falling apart right in front of me. Depressing you in your final moments... Yeah. Not good." "Wanna know what I think?" Grayscale called back. "Your conversation is pointless." Curaçao raised an eyebrow. "'ardly. The truth of what lies beyond, if anyzing, is of immense importance to all of us." Grayscale rolled her eyes. "Live in the now, everybody. Live in the now." Curaçao looked at Olivia. "It is now for 'er, Grayscale. If ze's going to make a decision, it 'as to be now." Olivia gulped. "Flutterfree, keep talking while I work here. Okay?" "Okay." Flutterfree cleared her throat. She began to speak of the God she put her faith into. She spoke of Him in a way she rarely did - persuasively, with the intent of conversion. As Olivia crumbled, she listened. She never responded. She just continued with her work, nodding every so often as she reduced in size over the next several minutes. Nova ended up carrying out all the work when her other hand fell off, Minna standing there to provide future-sight. Eventually, Olivia was just a head without a lower jaw - no mouth. The lights in the Shaping Mechanisms turned green. The restrictions had been released. Olivia closed her eyes, a single tear crawling down the sides of her face. Flutterfree bowed her head, offering her a last-minute blessing. Olivia's head crumbled to dust the moment she said, "amen." Everyone but Pinkie was crying - even the apathetic Grayscale. Pinkie wanted to cry so badly. Minna wiped her face. "She... She did it. We've got the Shaping Mechanism now." "Stopping it from attacking the fleet," Nova said, wiping her face. "Do you zink ze listened to you?" Curaçao asked Flutterfree. "She listened. I don't know if she heard," Flutterfree said. "I'll live the rest of my life wondering if she did." "She'll be remembered as a hero if nothing else," Pinkie said, looking up at the sky. "She started the war... and she ended it." "It's not over yet," Minna said, pointing at the spark in the ground. "Skarn's still around." "So are the soldiers," Nova added. "There's still more that needs to be done." Flutterfree closed her eyes and sent off a prayer. Let them all come back okay. I'm not sure if I can lose any more. Let Skarn truly be a man of honor. Please. ~~~ Sunny lay to the side, horn cracked, legs broken. Alushy had a magic stake driven through her chest that kept her frozen in ice. Jade was lying on the ground, a magic box wrapped around her last reality anchor bracelet - if she acted against Skarn, it would break and make her Skaian self dissipate in the physics of the universe. All three of them were far from the actual battle, having been blown away by the forces that were being exchanged between Jane and Skarn. Jane had unleashed every trick she had in the book on Skarn, only for him to overpower and occasionally outmaneuver her. Jane ground her teeth - she wasn't doing well. She'd been able to heal most of the damage dealt to her, but she only had so much energy in herself. The power of the Evermore did have a limit, even with her immense amounts of experience and gathering of extra abilities. Skarn had been smart - he knew Jane would take the longest for him to wear down, so he worked on all the others first so he could minimize what she did to him. Jane wasn't even sure she was doing anything. She'd occasionally get hits off, and he would roar in pain, but she sensed no drop in his power at all. Her godkilling techniques seemed like they would almost rip him apart, but then he would come together. She was considering destroying the universe - but that would take everyone with him, including Sunny, and possibly including herself. She also had the sneaking suspicion the world they were fighting in would be resistant to that kind of action, but she had no way to test that without actually trying it. "You tire," Skarn observed. "You don't," Jane muttered. "I do, believe me," Skarn said. "But when you're tapped into the cosmic energy of every universe within the Congeries, even blades designed to kill gods are little more than backscratchers." "So I just need to cut you off?" "And how would you do that?" Skarn asked. "I, in many ways, am the Congeries. This physical form is just a leftover of the circumstances of my birth. I have enough power within me to shroud all of my realms." He held his arms wide, allowing her to see the full glory of the stars within him. "This appearance isn't cosmetic, Jane! It is my connection to the stars, matter, and works of my realm!" "Then I've just got to hit you hard enough," Jane muttered. Her eyes darkened. "Going with your dark side, again? Shade has proven herself just as useless as you already." 'Jane' launched at Skarn with cold, calculated fury. A darkness. She was willing to try and destroy the universe. She pulled a star-like item out of her inventory and held it to the sky. It exploded with a force designed to shatter reality. Skarn simply shunted all the energy into himself, releasing it in a dead realm in the Congeries. "Almost." He shoved 'Jane' over, knocking her to the ground. "But that was the furthest thing from an honorable maneuver. It would have taken all your teammates out with me, and likely you as well. Desperation is not befitting of you, Jane. Push that dark side back where it belongs. Out of this battle." 'Jane' did no such thing. She sneered, leaping up to drive yet another weapon into Skarn. Skarn's face seemed depressed. "If you won't fight honorably..." He grabbed the weapon out of Jane's hand with his power and shattered it, driving all the shards into Jane with psychic energy she couldn't hope to combat. The force of her own legendary weapon sent her to the ground, shuddering in violent spasms. He dusted his hands. He had won. There were no stakes - but their lives were forfeit. He levitated the five defeated warriors in front of him. Only Jade was still conscious. She was glaring at him. "We won't be the last." "No, you w-" "SKARN!" Eve shouted. "LEAVE THEM!" Skarn turned around to see the new challengers. Eve, Corona, Lady Rarity, Jotaro, Vriska, and three ponies he didn't recognize. Skarn gently set his five previous combatants to the ground. "Very well, Evening. I owe you that much." "You bet you do," Eve spat. "Eve!" Jade shouted. "He's tapped into the energy of the entire Congeries! We couldn't do anything to him!" "We're going to try anyway," Jotaro said, cracking his knuckles. "Like, totally," the gray unicorn said. Skarn smiled. "It is your right to face me in combat. But first, I have some requests - a deal if you would." "I'm listening," Eve said, eyes narrow - but Skarn saw a spark of recognition in there somewhere. Curious. "I will agree to have all my soldiers automatically stand down upon my defeat," Skarn said, noting the surprised expressions on his new opponents' faces. "In return, if you are defeated, you must agree to the complete surrender of Merodi Universalis." "One condition," Eve said. "You can't kill any of us until you've defeated all of us. Got it?" Skarn nodded. "I accept those terms on one condition of my own. I wish to know the names of those I do not recognize. You three, who are you?" The red-pink earth pony sneered. "Red Velvet, Insipid, and Starlight Shadow. No, we're not telling you more than that. It'd ruin the surprises." "An acceptable deception," Skarn agreed. He summoned a pink ball of energy. "Eve, lay your hoof on this while I lay my hand on the other side. It will ensure we cannot break our sides of the bargain." Eve gulped. Skarn saw her mulling it over in her mind. He expected her to think about it twice and back out. She couldn't sacrifice all of them - she had already suffered too much. Eve stuck her hoof to the sphere. "Do it." She demanded. Skarn placed his hand on the sphere, smiling warmly as both of them were cosmically demanded to keep up their ends of the bargain. "Tell me, Evening, why did you agree to the possible sacrifice of so many more?" "Because Pinkie told me to," Eve said. Skarn's calm smile faltered slightly. I am the villain of their story, and the hero of the Congeries'. The Congeries' story is stronger than theirs. But why else would Pinkie ask her to do this unless she was confident? Skarn shook his head, deciding it didn't matter. He bowed respectfully to them. "Let's decide the outcome of this war right here, right now." Eve attacked first. Seraphim may not have been able to access other dimensions right now, but that didn't mean the Stand was useless. She physically rammed the rings into Skarn, pushing him back into Corona's Bacon Pancakes. The Stand forced him to flatten like a piece of paper. Jotaro moved next, punching through the paper and tearing Skarn to shreds with a great "ORA ORA ORA ORA!" Lady Rarity smashed with her hammer, Vriska rolled her dice and threw a series of sawblades at him, Velvet lacerated him with her own blood, and Shadow unleashed a bolt of pure void energy while Insipid... ...Insipid sat back and yawned. They were waiting to use her. That made her the most dangerous. How this unknown unicorn could be the most dangerous was beyond him, but that meant he had to watch her closely. Skarn shifted his shredded body back into one piece, holding his hands wide. "Behold. Not a scratch." "There's ways around that," Shadow commented. "But can you find them quickly enough?" Skarn went for the weakest of the eight attackers - Lady Rarity. With a quick series of cosmic punches, her armor was blown clean off and the wind was knocked out of her. She flew through the air, only for what looked like a shooting star to hit her and throw her to the ground. One down. "Rarity!" Corona shouted. Skarn sensed something within Corona flare up - but she pushed the power back into herself. Saving it. What are you planning? Shadow unleashed her dark magic, enveloping Skarn in a beam of pure Void energy. Had he been lesser, he would have vaporized around the edges into the nothingness. His regeneration was certainly hindered - but he was still a cosmic being. He walked out of the Void energy, slapping Shadow aside with a burst of psychic energy. Her body was weaker than he had been expecting, breaking in several places from the attack. Two down. "STAR PLATINUM: THE WORLD!" Time stop was easy for Skarn to counter - he just bent space around him to be immune to it. This did not deter Jotaro from wrapping Hermit Purple and the Passion around him, the purple thorns cutting into Skarn's interstellar flesh. Jotaro caught a glimpse of Skarn's soul. Skarn felt him balk at the true honor within. "Like what you see?" "You're mad!" Jotaro shouted. Perhaps that soul-sight isn't all it's cracked up to be, Skarn mused. He leaned back and kicked Jotaro in the stomach. The behemoth of a man didn't register the pain. Time resumed, and he was still ORA ORA'ing Skarn. It was decidedly annoying. Nothing but punching, punching, punching. Skarn sent a miniature comet into Jotaro's chest, freezing him solid. He then pushed him far enough away that none of his Stands would be able to reach Skarn. Three down. Vriska, Eve, Corona, and Velvet tag-teamed. Velvet seemed to be the next weakest, so Skarn leaped over the swords and magic lasers, heading for her blood. He punched through the crimson blades, smashing the ground in front of her. The shockwave rattled her brain into the back of its skull, tossing her back. A smile appeared on her face because of the deep pain, bringing some sadistic form of enjoyment to her features. "...And you all think I'm mad," Skarn commented. Velvet let out a soft chuckle but made no effort to get up. Skarn didn't let himself think for a second that she was down for the count, but he could afford to leave her there for a while. Vriska drove her blade into him. He pulled the blade through his body and snapped it in half, using a leg to kick Vriska back. She took the full brunt of the force, cobalt blood flying out of her mouth in the process. She rolled her dice and flipped back at him, surrounded by a swarm of angry bees. Skarn snapped his fingers, unleashing an inverse gravity well that threw all the bees out of sight and made it difficult for all the others to move. He capitalized this opportunity on Vriska, punching toward her... ...and he missed. Even if she's not at maximum luck right now, she's still got a lot of fortune stored up. She kicked him in the groin. "Dishonor begets dishonor," Skarn muttered, doing the same to her. She took it anyway, twisting around his leg and stabbing him in several locations. "Hey, Skarn!" Eve and Corona called, prompting Vriska to duck and roll away from Skarn. Skarn didn't look around. He just sighed as a destructive spell they had been charging up for the last little while unleashed, hitting him with a torrent of purple, orange, red, and white energy. He tried to walk out, but the pins of Bacon Pancakes fixed him in place while the laser burned his backside. It kept burning his backside. This was concerning enough he decided he had to act. He altered his personal bubble of physics to divert the laser around him, allowing him to emerge unscathed. "You know, all this talk of honor seems shitty to me," Vriska said. "You just limit yourself as you fight us, but when we do something that might be unfortunate for you, you delve into your larger power stash and just divert the attack away. That's fucked up. Why not just get it over with?" Skarn looked at her closely. "Most don't wish for that, but if you insist." His eye twitched. Vriska's body was compressed into a cube the size of an apple and tossed to the ground. "She's fine. Angry, but fine." Four down. Corona glared. "You won't be able to do that to me or Eve." "No, I won't," Skarn said. "Your defenses are able to shift reality to accommodate. That doesn't mean I ca-" A magical laser shot at Skarn from a dimension that didn't exist, knocking him off balance. He quickly realized Corona and Eve were folding space between them to keep Skarn from knowing which direction things were coming from. He clapped his hands, returning space to normal. "That was foo-" They channeled their magic together to send a planned death spell at him - though of course he was immune. They followed it up with another magic beam, this one intended to tear reality apart as it moved. He let out a roar that pushed the offending attack back. "You two are strong, there can be no doubt." "But...?" Corona said. "But I am superior. You will eventually tire or run out of your magic, even if I cannot end it quickly. I will not." "Come and get us then," Eve said, glaring at him. "We'll show you that we're never going to stand down." Skarn charged after them, fists ready to punch both of them in their heads. They prepared for his impact. Corona dissipated her gloves and reached a hand toward Skarn. He diverted to the left, not wanting to deal with her empathic powers. His quick dodge to the side allowed Eve to touch him, however. Eve set up a mind-link spell and allowed Corona into Skarn's mind through Eve. Corona and Eve appeared in one of Skarn's memories. He was looking down at his three young children - Arthon, Brell, and Torvost. Skarn didn't let the memory play out. He stood up, brushed the mental images of his children away, and marched up to the two of them. "What do you plan to do in here?" "Last time I channeled the memories of Majora. Don't really have those anymore," Corona admitted. "But I've learned a thing or two about dominating minds like yourself. There are ways to erase you." "Which will fail." Skarn focused on Corona and ejected her from his mind with a thought. He turned to Eve. "You know less than her." Eve smiled coyly. "Oh, this wasn't the real plan anyway. We just needed to get your mind somewhere else." Skarn forced Eve out of him and regained full consciousness. There was a hoof touching one of his legs. He felt a sharp pain as his power shifted. "Major. FRESH." Insipid boomed, the power of Skarn flowing into her. Her gray body and yellowed mane gained stars and nebulous clouds within them. She started floating off the ground, the cosmic energy a bit much for her to control at once. "Hooooly shiiit this is so cool! Velvet you've gotta try this!" "I cannot," Velvet muttered. Skarn ignored Velvet, Eve, and Corona completely. He had to take care of this Insipid quickly. He pushed his hands forward, unleashing a beam of energy at her - not the most creative attack, but it should have worked. It didn't. She giggled and used Skarn's power to create a shield made of galaxies. "Sweetness! I can, like, see everything, and all the cycles of everything, and all the cycles of cycles of everything..." She's an idiot, Skarn realized. The idiot pointed a hoof at Skarn and forced him to burn like the core of a star. He dissipated it after less than a second, but it was enough to scare him. She's a dangerous idiot. If she taps into any of the primordial forces in any special way... "I taste it," Velvet said, standing up. "I taste fear, Skarn. The realization that the one thing you can't beat... Is yourself." Skarn ignored her, focusing on Insipid. He threw more attacks at her - even trying to turn her into a cube - but she had already mastered the defensive physics shield. "Look at her, barely an infant in these abilities. She's stronger than you." A pit began to form in Skarn's stomach. It seemed as if the natural light of the universe was darkening around him. Wait... it really was darkening. "Noticing something problematic? Skarn?" Velvet asked. "That you've been had by a plan within a plan within a plan? You know we have them. We have backup plans for all those plans. We know exactly how to defeat you. She's one way, yes." A bolt of Insipid's energy hit Skarn. He deflected it - but it felt almost unreal; like it was from another plane of existence. Corona's and Eve's blasts hit him as well and he didn't even register them. Everything except him was darkened. "Can you really chance any of this for honor?" Velvet asked. "She could kill you Skarn. She could kill you in an instant and you would never be able to defend." "There's no way." "Isn't there? Isn't there a way you can kill her? Isn't there a way she can kill YOU!?" Skarn looked at Velvet in fear, dodging Insipid's attempt to condense him into a black hole. "Y-you're right..." "SHE'S GOT YOU SKARN! YOU CAN'T KILL HER, BUT SHE CAN KILL YOU! YOUR HONOR HAS LED TO YOUR DOWNFALL! A SIMPLE IDIOTIC UNICORN KNOWS YOUR POWERS BETTER THAN YOU! YO̶͎̭̯̮͔̖Ṷ͉̯͈ ̫̩̬H͎͝A͇͕̹͙̤͈V̦͍̠E̬͚ ̳̼̱̘̥F̜͎̟̖̮͕A̛̝̩̜̠̪̙I͍̭̲̗̟̕L̝͉̹͡E̤̠͚D̤͔̯̬̥ ̠̗̼͝Y͏͕͓O̪̪̲͚͢ͅU̷̞ͅŔ͚̱̳̤̟͖ͅS͎̞͔̟̟̞͟ẸͅL͚̞̜̖͙F!" Skarn turned away from Insipid to look at Velvet. A being of his caliber was able to comprehend the literal incarnation of Fear standing before him. Most would have gone mad from the sight of dark, bloody, living nightmares. The tendrils of blood that screamed to Skarn his own inadequacy attacked. Skarn lashed out in panic with a powerful burst of energy. Despite the fact that Velvet was feeding off his fear, her newfound eldritch power wasn't enough to defend her from the outburst. The nightmares were blown away and she was tossed to the side, this time not smiling from the pain. Five down. Skarn breathed heavily, the heightened fear Velvet had instilled in him very much still active. He knew he wasn't thinking straight - and he couldn't get a hold of his mind quickly enough. Insipid was still active. Insipid was better than him. Insipid was a threat. But he was contractually bound not to kill her. He would get as close as he possibly could. He pulled his hands back, summoning the energy of the Congeries into his limbs. He would do exactly what he would do were he fighting himself. Use everything from all sides in a complex pattern that no amount of instinct or 'bizarre stupidity' could defend against. There was nothing she could do. Even his power set was useless against it. He shoved his hands forward, letting out a panicked breath. "NOW!" Eve shouted, her eye burning with the Light of knowledge. Corona obeyed. Her eyes flashed a deep, ugly black. She flexed her wrists, the symbol of Doom projecting from the crystals on the backs of her gloves. Corona moved Insipid's Doom to Skarn. Eve had told her exactly when to time it so Skarn wouldn't have a chance to defend. Skarn lit up like a Christmas tree, every color of the rainbow sprouting from his body in a series of fractal patterns that gave those who saw it headaches. "Ooh, pretty!" Insipid said. "Why don't I get a glow like that?" "Because it'll pretty much kill you," Corona said, glaring at the sparking energy that was Skarn "...We might want to move away." "Oh, chill!" Insipid lowered herself to the two of them and erected a cosmic barrier. "I got this, cha." Corona and Eve erected barriers around themselves just to be safe. Skarn was barely aware of this happening. His thoughts were dominated by pain, by his mortal body being torn asunder in such ways to remove his connections to the power of the Congeries an atom at a time. They had outsmarted him. Played off his mind, off his fears, off his confidence, and carefully held their cards close to their chest. He had forgotten about Corona's status as the Rogue of Doom, and in his fear he had been unable to remember that information when he was unleashing an attack that would 'Doom' Insipid. Eventually, the pain stopped. Skarn fell to the ground, the stars and nebulous cosmos gone from his fur, replaced only with brown fuzz. He grunted, standing up, looking at his dead necklace. "I... salute you..." he said, taking a step forward. "But I am not done yet." Insipid raised a hoof. "I can totally bake him for you. Starbeam to the face!" Skarn tensed. "That would hardly be honorable..." "Do you surrender?" Eve asked. Skarn looked at her. "...What?" "Do you admit defeat?" Eve ruffled her wings. "We don't have to kill you, you know. You can complete your end of the deal while alive. We can have you taken to one of our prisons. I'll even arrange a comfortable one for you, where you can live in peace." "I won't be able to spread the art!" "So? Isn't your life more important than art?" Skarn froze. She was offering him a way out. She was honest about it - she was speaking from her immense feelings of guilt, sorrow, and displeasure with the war. If she could kill one less person, she would be happy with it. She really would offer him that life. But if he couldn't do the work... "I refuse," Skarn said. "Life is meaningless without the work." "And you wonder why we think you're insane," Corona said, folding her arms. Skarn opened his mouth to respond - but he never got to finish. Eve had shot him with a death spell, her eyes glowing with a powerful, deep darkness. Skarn the Shaper, founder and ruler of the Congeries, being of untold age and power, fell to the ground like a wild animal that had been shot in the head. ~~~ A soldier pointed his finger at Allure. She would have died right then and there had Saxton Hale not come out of nowhere and punched right through the man's chest. "AHA! These blokes have nothing on me!" "HALE!?" O'Neill blurted. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?" "Stompin' them wherever I can find 'em!" He laughed as the Congeries soldiers fired at him, the physics bullets bouncing off his bare chest. He was just too manly to take any real damage, even from the exotic weapons. "Come and get me, cowards!" One of them did - using a forbidden technique that combined memory manipulation to make the target hit themselves. Saxton punched himself out while the soldier bared his teeth. Allure realized something - she remembered that happening. Why would she remember!? Nobody ever remembered things like that! "ORDERS RECEIVED: STAND DOWN!" every soldier shouted at once. Then every last one dropped dead in an instant. "What the...?" Allure said, backing up in horror. "How did they receive their orders?" the Research Overhead blurted. "All communications are jammed!" "That would be because of me," Aradia said, appearing in front of them. "Suffice it to say, there's now a time loop here where I appear in the future where communications are restored, travel back in time with the orders, and give the orders that allow communications to be restored." "Uh..." Allure rubbed her head. "Okay...?" "The war's over, by the way," Aradia said. "If I did my calculations right, I timed this so I arrived just when Skarn died. Relatively speaking." O'Neill let out a sigh of relief. "We won then." "Yes. We won." Aradia said, smiling. "Let's take a moment to breathe, shall we?" Allure gladly complied, sliding to a splayed position and letting out a long breath of air. ~~~ Eve and the other twelve returned to the control room of the Shaping Mechanism. There were celebrations at first - a round of 'we did it' and 'finally it's over'. But eventually they remembered the scars they had gained, and the ponies they had lost. Corona went to the pile of dust that was Olivia and fell to her knees. The Mean Five allowed themselves to remember Havocwing. Eve saw Pinkie sitting near the edge of the room, her empty face aimed straight ahead. Her expression unreadable. Eve walked up to her and stood beside her, looking closely at her face. There were candy-red bloodstains that made her look like she'd been crying, even though she definitely hadn't. Couldn't. That had to be hard for her. She was always such an emotional pony. "...How long have you been standing there?" Pinkie asked, having sensed her breathing. "A while," Eve responded. "...Sorry, didn't notice." "Not a problem." "I know... Guess you were just letting me think, huh?" "Yeah. Also didn't know what to say." "You don't have to say anything." Eve paused, a momentous feeling setting upon her heart. "I want to say something. I want to say I know your pain." Pinkie smiled softly. "You would, wouldn't you?" "...Actually, I guess I didn't actually experience Fluttershout's atta-" "Evening, that was you," Pinkie said. "You experienced that. I don't care if you're a clone or copy of one Charter-Princess Twilight Sparkle. That was you. You felt that." Tears came to Eve's eyes. "Pinkie..." Pinkie gulped. "I'm sorry. I got angry." "I'm sorry. I was wrong." "Everyone's always so sorry..." Pinkie said, shaking her head. "Wouldn't it be nice if we could just stop making mistakes so we wouldn't have to be so sorry all the time!?" "That's not how things work," Eve said. "I know, I know," Pinkie bit her lip. "I do know how things work. That's... that's the problem. I knew this was coming. I figured it out a little later than usual, but I told myself I could handle it. I... I was ready to sacrifice myself. But now..." She took in a breath. "I'm not just blind, Eve. I could live with that. I know several people who can help me learn to live with that. It's just... I can't feel anything. I'm not sure if my hooves are touching the floor correctly, for all I know my face is gently pressed against a wall, and..." She heaved, trying to sob and failing. "I thought I was ready to sacrifice everything," Eve said. "For the betterment of all, I put everything at risk. My friends, my family, my nation." Eve caught Curaçao looking at her with understanding empathy. Eve made a note to talk to her later. "Was it the wrong decision? I have no idea anymore. My mind tells me it was the logical answer. My heart tells me it was the worst decision I've ever made. All I know is that I wasn't really ready to make that choice." She looked closely at Pinkie's features, eyes sad. "We're asked to make a lot of decisions we aren't ready for, Pinkie. I... I guess I just didn't realize how unprepared we could be." "We aren't as strong as we think we are," Pinkie sighed. Eve shook her head. "I think... I think nobody can truly know themselves. We think too highly of our abilities. We like to ignore our weaknesses. Even those of us who try hard... We still get caught." She looked at Pinkie. "I'm never risking you girls like that again." "Don't Pinkie Promise that," Pinkie warned. "Really, don't." "I won't." Eve shook her head. "I want to, but I know I can't." Pinkie sniffed. "Some promises just shouldn't be made." Eve sighed. "Can I promise to always be your friend, no matter what?" "Yes," Pinkie said, a smile forming on her face. Eve gently turned Pinkie to give her a hug. "Then that's what I promise. No matter what you do, or what I do, I'll stay here. I'll be here. And I know you will too." Pinkie was able to tell from the motion of her body that she was being hugged. She gently pushed her hooves around until she was able to sense they weren't moving, giving Eve one of the awkwardest hugs of all time. "It's going to be okay, Pinkie," Eve assured her. "I know we can't fix you. But you can learn to live with this. I can make pressure sensors for your hooves. Renee can make you the most beautiful blindfold of all time." "That would be great!" Pinkie said, allowing a soft laugh to come out. "I'd be like a ninja! Or a pirate!" "The mysterious leader of Merodi Universalis' primary team!" "You really think I can still go adventuring like this?" "I did, didn't I? We have blind and disabled people of all kinds, Pinkie. We can't just get rid of you! Who would want to? You're the best, brightest, happiest pony around!" "Yeah... Yeah I am! Screw this curse; I'm going to make the best of it! I'm going to become the sharpest hearer in existence! I'll be unable to feel pain, so there will be no fear! I will become the blind party pony! I can see it now, Eve!" She laughed. "I'm going to be fine! I'm going to be fine!" "Yeah, you are," Eve said, hugging Pinkie tighter. "You are." Pinkie's mane poofed back up in a sproing. "I'm so glad you're okay, Eve. I don't know what I would have done..." "I don't know either. We can't. Because we really don't know ourselves." "Heh... Yeah, we don't." The two held each other for an extended period of time in silence. ~~~ Eve had a lot to do when she returned to Merodi Universalis and her office. Ending a war, holding a press conference, figuring out what to do with all the work that had piled up... But first, she had decided she was going to sleep in her own bed. She was beyond tired from all the exertion. She was going to sleep like a rock. She opened the door to her bedroom. I was sitting on the bed, smiling warmly at her. "Hi." Eve blinked, "Uh... Why are you in my bedroom?" "To offer you my congratulations," I said, hopping off the bed. "You've taken the next step." "What kind of step we talking about?" "You're a Class 2 society now." Eve blinked. "Wait, what?" "You don't just take control of a conglomeration of thousands of different universes and the means to shape them to your will without becoming a Class 2. You have the power and influence of a low-tier Class 2. Welcome to the neighborhood." "That's... Well I think that should be a big deal, but I'm somewhat underwhelmed by it." "You won't be for long. It opens up a big can of worms. But it also means I can hang around more. Like Aradia. You've reached the point where me talking to you wouldn't exactly be much cheating." Eve smiled. "I'm glad you'll be around more often, Twilence. We don't talk anywhere near enough." "You'll be tired of me talking your ear off before too long," I said, smirking. "...The end is soon, isn't it? If you're here," Eve said. "Depends on how you look at it," I replied. "There's only one arc left I can see. But I also know that it takes up more time than all the rest of your adventures combined. Relatively speaking, this is year forty since you began your trek with the bowling ball. You've got more than that left in what I can see." "I guess we won't really get to see the long-term consequences of immortality serum then, huh?" "Not in your society. There are others you could look at." "Forty years..." Eve looked into the distance. "That's a lot of time." "It may seem like it. But beware the power of the Time Abyss. It may seem like nothing happens, then before you know it time's up." Eve pursed her lips, nodding slowly. "I'll keep that in mind." "There's a lot of things you're going to have to keep in mind," I told her. "You're in the big leagues now. Things will change." "The more things change the more they stay the same," she reminded me. I smirked. "You're starting to get it." "...Did all this have to happen?" I paused, thinking about it for a moment. "Yes. You would not have gotten to Class 2 status in time for the end, doing things the peaceful, normal way. The higher you climb, the harder it is to climb further. You needed to be here, so the things that are about to happen will happen the way they should." Eve nodded. "I can take comfort in that, I guess. That I didn't screw up fate or something." "I believe it's impossible to screw up fate," I said. "I think even the glitches are part of a story. Every mess up and every victory is part of everything." "It seems... limiting." "It is," I said. "And I fear that's all there is every day. But I also fear the alternative." "Hm?" "That there's more than the story." Eve was silent. "No matter which way you slice it, existence is cosmically terrifying. Ka or no, God or no, Truth or no... Every option." "...I'm going to have a great time sleeping tonight." "Oh, I can help you with that." I lit my horn. "A simple sleep spell to give you the energy you need for the coming day." "I could use energy for the coming years, apparently," Eve said, climbing into bed. "I should introduce you to the Overheads..." "Don't worry about that." "Mhm..." Eve muttered, yawning. "Nice to see you again, Twilence." She drifted off to sleep before my eyes. I cut the sleep spell and smiled warmly. Even after all she had experienced... She was still in one piece. She might have been stronger than me in many regards.
Songs of the Spheres	[VOID] 105 - Class 2, Part 1	Eve opened her eyes, a smile on her face. "Hi," I said. Eve's eyes focused. "...Were you there the entire night?" "Yep." "That's creepy." I smiled. "Yep." Eve sat up and rubbed her eyes. "You're not secretly some kind of freaky stalker, right?" "Oh, Gan's flesh, no. At least not the kind you're implying I am." "I thought we were supposed to be entering a Time Abyss or something?" "Not a true Time Abyss, it's only seventy relative years or so. There's just going to be a lot where it seems like nothing's happening and time flies. It was just a warning of sorts. Just because things are going to move quickly doesn't mean we can't just pick up where we left off." I looked out at your 'screen'. "RIGHT?" "Who are y- oh." Eve rubbed her head. "Audience in general?" "Mhm." "Do they watch me while I sleep too?" "Rarely," I admitted. "Generally only when there are nightmares or something to deal with. If you're just going through your normal routine they're only watching if something's about to go wrong." "Yaaaaay." Eve rubbed her eyes. "I knew this, ugh." "It's fine if you push it out of your mind. It's not the most comfortable thing to know." Eve summoned herself a cup of coffee. "So, since you're here, and you're supposed to be helping us now... Uh, how about you tell me the plot of today's chapter or episode or whatever?" "Sure thing," I said, smiling. "We're in a two-parter focused on the aftermath of the war against Skarn. You and I are just small parts of a half-dozen or so little stories that need to be fleshed out." "That's handy." "You're only going to get to ask that question a maximum of nine more times. Cause after that my vision goes dark. And you won't ask me all those times because you aren't involved in every chapter!" "Yeesh. You have the path to the future mapped out don't you?" I made a mock salute. "I know all the major twists and turns, mon capitan. No I'm not going to tell you everything that's going to happen over the next seventy-odd years." "Wasn't going to ask," Eve said. "Oh." I blinked. "Ah, the little details..." "From what I hear Pinkie tell me of that incident with the world of Prophets, sometimes the little details can make you slip up." I rubbed the back of my head. "Eh... Yeah. Sometimes the fluidity of things or interactions with other prophets will screw with me. You're going to find that I'm not a tremendously overpowered ally at this point. Which is why I'm here." "You're saying we could do everything you do without you." "Yep. If you really wanted to you could smash Rohan, the Pinkies, and all your Skaian Seers in a room together to get the same results. I'm just convenient! ...And important in other ways. Which may or may not be obvious to you." "Doesn't matter to me. You be you. I'll thank you for helping." I smiled warmly. "Thanks. ...My first piece of advice to you as an official subordinate is to ask you to not overexert yourself. You may feel like you're done with your ordeal, but the scars are still on you. You're through the woods but you aren't at your grandmother's house yet." "...Should I not work?" "Oh, no, you got enough vacation time in running off to join the war." Eve let out a bitter laugh. "I really need to reexamine my idea of a vacation." "No argument here." "So, what should we do with today then?" I shrugged. "That should be your decision. I could just tell you, but that'd be dumb." "Guess I'll introduce you to the Overheads then. It is what we were talking about last night. I'll work on the speech I'll have to give." "Don't worry too much about the speech," I reminded her. "O'Neill's is more important. As is Corona's." "...I was there with Corona." "And do you really think anyone knows that?" Eve blinked. "Ah, Giorno, always keeping secrets." I nodded. "It's one that needs to be kept. Nobody can ask why you were there, so nobody can know you were there. All they know is that you took some time off to grieve. Which is technically true." Eve nodded slowly, furrowing her brow. "...I have to keep living a lie." "Enough people know, Eve. You can be honest to them. Not every interaction you have depends on your past actions, y'know." Eve shook her head. "We are what our past makes us." "That's no reason to dwell on it." "True..." Eve put a hoof to her chin. "If I've done it for this long I can keep doing it, especially with support from my friends. ...Most of them." I looked at her sadly. "I know, you warned me. Still hurts." "It went well, considering," I said. "Yeah." Eve gulped. "I think we need to see Renee first. I've made up with most the others I can." She ruffled her feathers. "But first, breakfast." "Ooh, I love waffles!" Eve blinked, pondering this for a moment. "Do you know what we're having for lunch too?" "Hrm... blue jello," I said, scribbling something in my notebook. "Now here's the question, is that going to happen because you saw it, or because you wrote it?" I grinned mischievously. "I don't have to tell you everything." "You're enjoying this." "I've been locked in the basement of a library for an effective eternity, of course I'm enjoying this. I get to interact with ponies. I haven't done that in decades. It's all 'I'll just watch them and insert myself in a few key places' and 'oh hey, I've got a visitor, let's see if I'm allowed to talk to them'." "Welcome back then," Eve said, smiling. "C'mon, waffles await." "You cook. I've eaten my own cooking too much." "You're a bad cook?" "Nope. Just consistent." "A version of me that speaks of consistency with disdain..." Eve chuckled. "Fun." "Monotony is a killer. You'll learn that soon enough." "...You have to work on your ominous foreshadowing." I rubbed the back of my head. "Er... Right, yes. I'll try to rediscover tact. Again." "Hm?" "There was a long period of time between when Vriska's and my adventure ended and before yours began. Relatively speaking for me, anyway. Enough time to have multiple series' of small adventures." "I bet you could fill entire libraries with your adventures." "I have." ~~~ Renee looked at the four people sitting across from her desk. Nova, Flutterfree, and Vriska wouldn't meet her eyes. Jotaro looked at her with a stern, serious glare. She met it. "I told you not to go," Renee said, finally. "You did anyway." "Eve needed us," Jotaro said. "You would have done the same," Nova pointed out. "You could have told me what you were doing at least," Renee said. "I was worried sick! I had no idea where any of my friends were, if they were okay, or what was even going on! I'd get scant reports here and there that were nothing more than rumors! I've gone through more gallons of ice cream than I can count and didn't sleep until you came back yesterday!" "I'm s-" Flutterfree caught herself. "Actually... No. No, I'm not, because it needed to be done. I'm not happy that I hurt you, but I don't regret what I did. I don't think any of us do." Renee stared at her. "...You've changed." Flutterfree looked at the sharp tips of her wings. "I... we've been through a lot." "I'm pretty sure I'm still the same as ever," Vriska said, leaning on a nearby wall. "But that wasn't my first real war. No, the ghost-war doesn't count, virtually nobody died there." "The rest of us aren't going to be the same," Nova said. "...Pinkie's got it the worst, though." Nova checked her screen. "She's still in surgery." "I hope it goes well..." Flutterfree said, nervously scratching her hooves together. Renee sighed. "Look, the reason you're in here is because you all work for me and you didn't listen to me. So I'm going to have to punish you. All of you are suspended for two months." "...Just two months?" Jotaro asked. "You did save everyone and specifically went to help Eve and suffered because of it," Renee said. "You didn't have to do it at all," Flutterfree pointed out. "...This is just so Pinkie can be given time to recover." Renee let out a soft chuckle. "You always see through everything." Flutterfree smiled back. "You're giving me too much credit." Renee rolled her eyes. "Well, the whole 'serious, stern discussion' plan is out of the window. Just try not to go off like that again without at least telling me, okay?" "I am sorry for not telling you," Flutterfree admitted. "You deserved to know what we were doing and why we were going." "Thank you," Renee said, sitting back in her chair. "...How are you all holding up?" "I've turned into a refined killing machine and slaughterer of hundreds who watched someone die by crumbling, but otherwise I'm completely fine," Flutterfree said with an innocent smile. "She's not okay," Nova translated. "She needs to have some extended talks with Rev and Eve about her new place in existence." Flutterfree sighed. "Yeah. I... I probably need these two months to seek professional help." "Just ask and I'll have the best psychologists in the multiverse at your beck and call," Renee said. "And don't think you have to come back right away either. There's no rush." Jotaro put a hand on Flutterfree's shoulder, giving his comfort. She smiled. "Thank you. ...All of you. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have friends like you." "Go insane?" Vriska suggested. "I'm already insane," Flutterfree pointed out. "But that's because I hang around Pinkie too much." "...Speaking of, we should probably go check on her," Nova said, looking up from her screen. "Her surgery is wrapping up. We should be there when she wakes up." Renee stood up. "I'll go with y-" she got a notification on her desk. "...Or maybe I won't." "...Why not?" Nova asked. "Eve wants to see me. Says she has something important to talk about." She stretched her neck. "I'll catch up at some point. I suppose we did just end a war yesterday and all of us have jobs to do..." "It's okay," Flutterfree said. "See you around." "Bye," Renee said with a wave. Nova teleported them away. Renee accepted the meeting with a button - at which point Eve and myself teleported into the room. "...Hi," Eve said. "...Hello," Renee responded. Both of them fell into silence. I cleared my throat, taking a step forward. "Clearly you two need to talk. Renee, I'm Twilence, we haven't met. I'm a highly Aware Prophet who's able to help you now that you're a Class 2 civilization." "Wait wh-" I kept going. "I'm going around with Eve and introducing myself. I look forward to working with you. Now I'll go sit back here on this chair and let you two get reacquainted." I did as I said, planting myself on a chair in the back of the room and pulling out my notebook. Instead of writing anything down, I just read. Renee turned to Eve. "...She seems nice." "She is. She also suffers a lot more from knowing things than Pinkie does." "An informant of yours?" "...Not really? When we talked - which wasn't all that often - I'd be the one to help her unload her fears. And then I'd unload mine. She's the reason I knew revealing who I was wouldn't... go well. Ever." Renee nodded slowly. "Eve, I don't care about that. ...Okay, that's a lie, but it doesn't fly in the face of who I thought you were. If almost any of the other girls were to walk up to me and say 'I'm just a replacement' I would feel bad but I wouldn't feel like it was all that unexpected. In many ways, we're all replacements because of that whole retcon paradox..." "That's different and you know it." "I do, I do," Renee said, rubbing her head with a hoof. "Stars, that was confusing... My point is I'm not all that upset about that. It makes sense that you would keep your 'identity' a secret. What I am upset about is this war." Eve's ears drooped. "I... I can't tell you if the choice was the right or wrong one, Renee. I can tell you I regret it. I... I wasn't ready to sacrifice everything." "I know that, dear, and you are forgiven. I was never going to ostracize you. I had the same idea myself, if you'll recall, I just didn't act on it." She folded her hooves together. "The problem was that you were able to do it. If you had asked me if I thought you'd be able to betray the system you built... I would have been completely certain you would not be able to, regardless of the circumstances or reasoning behind it." "Well, I did. And now you know it's possible for me to do so. And you can't trust me anymore." "...Afraid not, darling." "That's fine. Maybe I shouldn't be trusted." Eve looked into Renee's eyes. "...You got my letter?" Renee nodded. "Yes. I did." "Are you going to try to convince me to resign?" Renee looked at Eve for a long while - and then shook her head. "No... No, I'm not. I've done a lot of thinking about this since I found out. I... I got angry. I thought you were bad for us if you were willing to do this. And then I remembered that nobody's perfect. I couldn't think of you just as the one mistake you made. So what if you brought us to war once? You've brought us to peace so much more often. You've extended the hoof of friendship successfully to so many that would have considered us enemies. We're on good terms with the USM now, many worlds that attacked us in the past are part of us. You did these things, Eve. One blemish on your record does not negate all of it." There were tears in Eve's eyes. "But Renee... Your system!" "We made the system with the intent of not falling into the trap of legalism," Renee said. "There's no final authority on everything. There's always allotments for freedom and bending of the rules. Even if the law says you should be removed from your position for your actions, the spirit of Merodi Universalis says that can be brushed aside. How many times have we pardoned criminals and given them a second chance? How many people do we work with despite being crazed murderers? How many of our friends do things we consider horrible?" Renee put a hoof on Eve's tearstained cheek. "Darling, you deserve to have the forgiveness we've given everyone else. You can't just give. You have to receive as well." "...T-thank you," Eve said with a hard swallow. "It's the least I could give you." The two entered a long, heartfelt embrace. I sat in the background, carefully reading my notes. Renee cleared her throat a short while later. "Now, Twilence, I believe that introduction of yours was woefully inadequate. I need a full personnel report." "Hm? I'm not joining the Expeditions Divisi-" "Full report, Twilence. Full report." "Right away," I said, clicking my pen in preparation for the paperwork flood. ~~~ Pinkie woke up. She opened her eyes and saw nothing. Eh, what was I expecting, that it would all be a dream? "Uh... Pinkie? You awake?" Vriska called from her left. "Yep. I know it's hard to tell, but c'mon Vriska, I opened my eyelids! That should give you some indication of my awakeness!" "...You have a blindfold on." "Oh. Huh." Pinkie chuckled. "Guess I'm going to have to start checking for that. ...Somehow..." "You'll figure it out," Flutterfree said. "Well, my first instinct is to just be Aware and know, which would work most of the time, but this entire scene is being narrated from my point of view so I can't exactly cheat right now. I am the bat with a flashlight shone in its face. I am the worm in the earth. I am... Give me another animal metaphor." "Crab?" Vriska suggested. "I AM THE CRAB ON THE SEAFLOOR!" Pinkie blurted, sitting up. She heard something clang. "...I just hit my head on the overhead light, didn't I?" "Yep," Flutterfree said. "You were rubbery though, so it bounced right off." "Pinkie Pie - living play-doh," Pinkie said with a chuckle. "So, uh, was the surgery a success?" She heard Nova's screen beep. "It says a complete success. The damage to your brain was completely reverted, though only the insides of your sockets could be grown back. No eyes - which was expected. The sensors on your hooves are active and should work fine. It says here using them will hurt at first, but the pain should wear off after a couple of hours of walking." "Time to test!" Pinkie declared. She lowered one of her hooves to where she felt her haunches were and gently pressed down. She didn't feel anything. All she got was a signal in her brain that formed a localized headache, and she saw bright white. She jerked the hoof back. "...Ow." "Oh thank goodness, it works," Flutterfree said with a deep sigh. "I didn't feel anything," Pinkie said. "My brain just twitched, that's what happened." "That's basically how it works," Nova said, making a few more beeping noises with her screen. "Since your soul is cursed not to have a sense of touch, the new 'sense' the doctor created has to go directly into your brain. You just happened to have an entire visual cortex you weren't using that could receive electrical inputs." "The irony - because I'm blind I'm able to get feeling implants." She tried to roll her eyes - immensely disappointed that she couldn't do that. She carefully put her hoof back down, feeling a jolt of pain when she touched something solid - presumably the table. But she held it there. The pain wasn't bad, and she would definitely get used to it, but it was a little jarring at the moment. The 'light' was annoying since it made her think something was in front of her, but she could train herself to ignore that. At least she'd know she actually had a way to tell that she was touching something now. "So, any weird features I should know before I start exploiting this?" "Each hoof sensor has a different signal so your brain will know which hoof is touching something," Nova said. "Each hoof has two signals - touch, and grab. Grab will only activate when you're successfully holding something." Pinkie reached into her mane. She didn't need to feel anything to pull stuff out of there. She told her hoof to grab - and it did, sending a slightly different ping to her brain. She pulled out her squeaky hammer and twirled it. "Huh. Neat." There was a crash right after she said that. "Aaaaand I just broke a vase." "I just fixed it," Nova said, presumably having repaired the vase with a spell. "It's all good. You'll need to learn to be more aware of your surroundings. It'll take time." "Time we actually have. Two months of 'punishment' hm?" "Were you watching us while you were in surgery!?" Vriska blurted. "Oh no, I was out cold. I just went back and read what I missed." She giggled. "It is time to begin 'Pinkie's Rehab'! New episodes Tuesday at eight, seven central." "Yare yare daze..." "Hey, big guy! I didn't know you were in here! So quiet!" "Sorry." "Ah, don't be. Gives me an excuse to listen better. I'll be able to pick up on breathing before too long. Lessee..." She closed her eyelids even though such a motion was pointless. "Hrm... Air conditioning unit, buzzing lightbulbs over there, Vriska's standing creepily close to me, I'm sitting on a bed with springs given the squeaks when I shift my weight, this over here is a heart monitor with its infernal BEEP BEEP BEEPing..." "Wow. Impressive," Nova said. "You should see Toph," Pinkie said. "Or if you want someone who isn't cheating with earth vibrations, Flair. They just know where things are and don't have to think." "You'll get there eventually." "You bet I will!" Pinkie blurted, exuding optimism. "Nothing's gonna stop Pinkie Pie! ...By the way, what do the implants look like?" "Round horseshoes," Vriska said. "Can't even see them unless you lift up your hoof." "Nice. ...Can I get out of the bed now and try to walk around?" "Yes," Nova said. "Turn yourself to the left and move your back hooves off the bed. Then slide forward - I'll catch you if you fall." Pinkie felt around carefully with her hooves. She was able to sense the pose of her body, so she knew when her legs were dangling over the edge of the bed. She carefully placed her front hooves solidly onto the bed. She pushed herself off gently, allowing her back hooves to set on the ground. The sensation of them touching the floor the first time sent chills through her mind, but she kept her cool. She settled all four of her legs down, standing proud. "Hah. Did it! Take that, disability! Pinkie Pie can walk!" "You're standing," Vriska pointed out. "Vriska!" Flutterfree chided. "Ah, she has a point," Pinkie said, starting to walk forward. "I'll be just fine an-" She heard a thunk inside her skull. "...And I just ran into a wall. I believe the correct response is 'ow'. Ow." Nova let out a soft chuckle. "Hey, at least you were able to walk." "Yep! Things are looking up!" Pinkie grinned. "Now, before we begin rehab, who wants lunch? Or breakfast. Or whatever time it actually is." "Sure, I'm famished," Nova said. "There's a nice joint down the block th-" Pinkie pulled an entire table out of her mane set with high-quality sandwiches. "You forget who you're visiting." She sat down in front of the table, holding out a hoof. "Unfortunately I probably shouldn't be trusted with my own food right yet so someone's going to have to stuff this sandwich into my mouth for me. Vriska! I know you're just dying to help me here!" Vriska facepalmed. "You're enjoying this too much." "Hey, I'm blind and have virtually no sensation within my body. I reserve the right to mess with people. Chop chop, sandwich, mouth, don't let me bite my tongue~!" "Uh, you just did," Flutterfree said. "...Ponyfeathers. I'm going to need to start carrying health potions. Or protective clothing or somefimimm." Pinkie blinked, receiving a muddled signal of lettuce through her sense of taste. She just stuffed the sandwich in my mouth. Pinkie started chewing, slowly. With effort, she was able to know where her tongue was in relation to her teeth, and she realized that gave her some indication as to where the actual food was. She really should be eating soft foods right now, but screw that, she could figure this out. It took about a minute of intense focus, but she managed to get it down. "Practice makes perfect!" She declared, pressing a hoof down on the table for effect. "ANOTHER!" Vriska obliged. ~~~ Nova walked home later that day, having been told by Pinkie it was okay to leave. Nova wasn't sure about that. Pinkie sure seemed fine, tackling everything with a smile and a laugh. Apparently getting Eve back really had cured her of her swirling depression. Honestly, that didn't surprise Nova. She had seen Pinkie bounce from absolutely despondent to joyful in a matter of seconds numerous times. It was part of being Pinkie Pie to experience exceedingly drastic mood swings at levels normal people could never hope to understand. Nova knew Pinkie really was back, given the state of her mane, but that didn't mean she wasn't hiding behind a big smile. Pinkie was more than able to shroud her fears and pain in laughs so long as they weren't all-consuming feelings. ...Or maybe Nova was just worried about her. Whenever she had thought about losing senses previously, she had thought about sight and hearing. The things everyone relied on most if they weren't a unicorn. Smell and taste were pretty pointless senses to be frank. She had always thought her sense of touch was one of the lesser senses as well, but seeing the slow way that Pinkie moved... She was never going to take it for granted again. Simply moving became difficult without a basic sense of touch. Pinkie stumbled, had no idea when she'd hit her head on something, and could have a sword driven into her without her having a clue. If it had been anyone other than Pinkie, Nova would have thought this would be impossible to move past. You couldn't adventure like that. Not unless you were Pinkie and were made of rubber the vast majority of the time. Still... It had to be hard for Pinkie. And she wasn't really letting anyone see how hard it was. At least not yet. Nova sighed, walking in the front door of her home. She had been here last night, briefly, to let everyone know she was okay before rushing off to help get Pinkie into surgery and deal with the aftermath of the war... She hadn't slept at all. She'd just kept busy. She walked into the living room and fell onto her couch, looking at the ceiling. "Nova? That you?" Sunburst asked, poking his head from around a corner in the house. "Yes. Yes it's me." Nova rubbed her eyes. "I'm home. For real, this time. Sorry if I fall asleep." He walked over and sat next to her. "Won't be a problem. I understand I'm boring." "For once, it wouldn't be because you're boring. It'd be because holy crap am I exhausted. Between the war, the battle, Eve, Pinkie, and the not sleeping... Just gah. I need a serious unwind." "Well I can certainly provide that." Sunburst said. Nova giggled. "Thanks for the offer. I might take you up on that later. But right now I'm just going to sit and stare at my ceiling. Maybe I'll find the answer to life." "Forty-two." "Nineteen," Nova countered. "Are we arguing over stupid numbers now?" Stardust said, walking into the room. Nova's smile was replaced with a groan - one she immediately tried to cover up. But it was too late, Stardust saw it. Stardust turned around and walked away. "Stardust, wait!" Nova called, pulling herself off her couch. "I've just had a ba-" "I get it, mom," Stardust said without turning around. "I'm just one of your little chores you don't have the patience for right now." "Stardust!" Nova called. "You don't get to just walk away like that!" Stardust let out a sigh and turned around. "Why not? If I stick around you're just going to get fed up with me and start giving me a talk." "Why not? Because if you walk away and I let you, you'll do it again and again. Not happening, Stardust. Even when I feel like tar I'm never going to let you just walk away when I - or anyone else - wants to talk to you." Stardust opened her mouth to object - but she didn't quite have enough guile to face her mother directly quite yet, even when Nova was clearly weakened. "A-alright." Nova let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Now let me apologize. I'm sorry - I was weak and let my impatience get the better of me. My reaction to hearing you walk in with a question was wrong. I really did lose my patience with you before you even started." Stardust looked at Nova, an expression of confusion appearing on her face. Her inherent fear of her mother's authority wasn't parsing well with the sudden display of humility. "How about you come sit on the couch with dad and me?" Stardust was silent. "You can bring your book, if you want," Sunburst suggested. "Er... Sure," Nova said with an awkward smile. "Family time with... a book. You know what, I may think it's silly, but sure, we can have family time with a book tonight." Stardust brightened up slightly. "Really. Don't expect this to be a pattern or anything, but today you can sit there with a book if that's what you want. I just want to be able to see your face, okay?" Stardust nodded, scrambling to her room to grab her book. Sunburst looked at Nova expectantly. "...What?" "You're not going to go on a mini-rant?" "Celestia, no," Nova let out a laugh. "I don't have the energy for that. Stardust can have her nose in a book tonight and I won't get on her case about it." "Didn't you say something about 'letting them get away with something once lets them think it's okay'?" "That's tomorrow Nova's problem," Nova said. "And there's also the corollary. 'Let them have good things and show them love'." "I don't think that's strictly a corol-" Nova kissed him. "Shut up. It's profound, or something." "EEEEEEW!" Stardust squealed, having just returned with her book. Nova let out a laugh. "Get up here you little rascal. Let's see what this book of yours is about." "Uh..." Stardust shifted nervously. Nova levitated Stardust and her book to the couch. "Hrm... ...'Twilight'?" "Uh, yes...?" "And what do you think of this book?" Nova asked. "It's absolute garbage that I'm reading just to gain a newfound disdain for the culture in which I find myself part of." Nova turned to Sunburst. "...What's this book about?" Sunburst shrugged. "I dunno. I think it's a teen supernatural romance, one of the more popular ones." "It's lame and I feel insulted that it comes highly recommended," Stardust muttered, opening the book up. "So why don't you stop?" Nova asked. "And just leave the story hanging!?" Stardust said with a panicked gasp. "NEVER!" Nova blinked. Then she let out a chuckle. She may not have understood her daughter most of the time, but she was still great nonetheless. "Have you read any books you'd think I might like?" "You don't read books." "I can take some time out of my schedule!" "...Well, you might like The Mare Machine..." ~~~ Rev's church had a confessional in the back. It wasn't used all that often - Rev didn't push confessions as a 'holy sacrament', despite the fact that her original congregation had been deeply involved in the regular act of confessing. But it was there in case anyone needed it, and from time to time there was a person who did need to simply confess what they had done in a spiritual setting. Rev had been mildly surprised when Flutterfree asked to go through with it, but she hadn't hesitated. They took their positions on opposite sides of the booth's interior. The light was dim, but not ominously so. If felt... homey. "Forgive me, Reverend, for I have sinned. It has been... a long, long time since my last confession." "So long as you have confessed your sins to the Lord, you need not concern yourself with listing them all." "My sins... are many. I encouraged my sister to go off to war for her sake, ignoring the needs of all others. I turned myself into a killing machine for the sake of a war. I killed hundreds. I lost my patience an untold number of times. I became a brutal being brimming with Rage, losing all self-control. I hurt my friends with dark words and violent motions. I neglected my own needs, ruining this body that I was given. I killed a man with my bare wings." She looked at the ground. "I could confess many, many more. I did so many things in the war..." "How many of those things were necessary?" "Some. Definitely not all of them. And none of them were pure." "We are often placed into difficult situations where impure actions must be taken for the sake of what is pure and holy." "I didn't have to go," Flutterfree said, tears forming in her eyes. "I could have stayed back. I've stayed back before. Kept myself out of fights I didn't need to be in. But I didn't this time - because of her. She was the one in danger this time. I could have left it to the others, but I didn't. I sacrificed my own body to go help her." "And was that a sin? Sacrificing oneself for others is certainly a noble deed." "...I don't know. I do know all my thoughts weren't pure. At the time, I did want to punish everyone who was a danger to her. I let my rage get the best of me. Many of the deaths I inflicted were very necessary. But my presence wasn't." "So your sins stem from a single decision made for the sake of another?" Flutterfree nodded to herself. "Yes. Yes, they do. I was thinking too much of her, not of others, not of the Lord. I even encouraged her to go off to war..." She trailed off. "It is a deep, complicated sin you have given," Rev said, looking up. "It was one not born out of selfish desire, but of love for a sister. That doesn't make it righteous." Flutterfree nodded. "For your penance, please devote yourself to prayer this night, specifically prayers of forgiveness alongside ones of clarity. Seek out this sister you sinned for, and make yourself right with her. Furthermore, have an extended discussion with your closest spiritual advisor about what actions you should take next. She'll have some ideas." Flutterfree smirked. "Yeah. ...Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." "May God bless you," Rev said, bowing her head. "Thank you, Reverend." The two wordlessly left the confessional and walked to a small table Rev kept in the back room. "...So am I supposed to pretend that wasn't you talking in there?" Rev let out a soft chuckle. "It's fine, we can talk about what happened in there. We didn't exactly do a normal one in the first place." Flutterfree nodded, sitting down in a chair. "...I certainly feel better, getting it all out." "It does help," Rev said. "Sometimes your own mind can get in the way of direct prayer, a fact I'm sure you're becoming well acquainted with." Flutterfree nodded. "...It's all so muddled. I don't know if half the things I did were necessary or not. And now I realize the whole reason I was in that mess was because I was thinking only of Eve. Nothing else." "Love can be a very dangerous thing, in any of its forms," Rev said. "It is the highest, purest emotion we can have. But, fallen as we are, we can screw it up just like anything else. Love can result in neglect - neglect of others, neglect of God, neglect of self." Flutterfree looked at her wings. "Yeah..." "Our bodies are temples," Rev said. "We have to take care of them. Sacrifice is very noble, don't get me wrong." "But I went a little far this time." "...I can't say that for sure," Rev admitted. "I'm not some source of all 'spiritual answers'. Maybe you really did need to be there. Could they have won without your power?" Flutterfree looked at Rev. "No. But God works all things together for good. Just because the result was good doesn't mean it wasn't bad to start with." Rev nodded. "I've taught you well. ...You're right, of course. Your deep bond with Eve resulted in you taking some impure actions. Throwing your soul and your body to the wind for her sake. But I want you to know something." "Hm?" "Don't think this means the special bond you share is wrong," Rev said. "I know you sometimes wonder if it is - if you're stepping over a boundary you shouldn't. I always tell you that you're not, and the same advice applies here. Everybody makes everybody else stumble at times. It's because we're not perfect." Flutterfree nodded. "You'll need to go talk to her," Rev said. "Tell her how you feel about all this. Get it out in the open." "I know. I will. We see each other daily. I just... I wanted to come to you first." "Because I wasn't part of the problem?" Flutterfree nodded. "...I'm sure she and I will work it out. We always do. But like you said, I have a case of self-neglect here I need to deal with. I am important. I need to change a bit. Stop being what I was... But also stop being a warrior." Rev smiled warmly. "I agree. I can see the transformation happening within you already." "Yes. Within." Flutterfree looked at the knives sticking out of her wings. "But these are always here. Making me a warrior. I could cut your head off right now." "No, you couldn't," Rev said. "I mean, you think you can, and if I was just a regular pony, yeah, but trust me when I say you couldn't." "Right," Flutterfree rubbed the back of her head. "Have you considered doing something about those knives?" "I can't remove them, it would do serious damage to my nervous system. Unpredictable damage. Disguising them with magic won't work because of Lolo." "So? Shave them down." Flutterfree blinked. "...What?" "Like a fingernail or wild hoof. Clip the ends off. The stuff inside you still functions, there's just nothing on the outside." "...I'm pretty sure that'll do damage as well." "Covers, then?" Flutterfree stared at Rev. "...That's an excellent idea. Why didn't I think of that?" "You were too busy swirling in your mental self-harm." Futterfree smiled nervously. "Heheh... Yeah..." "Don't worry, the advice is free. I bet you could even get ornate engravings or something." "I think I'll go talk to Flair about that. See if it'll work." There was a big, genuine smile on her face. "I... I won't have to walk around as a killing machine all the time!" "Thank God for small miracles." "Amen!" ~~~ Corona, Toph, Lady Rarity, Roxy, and Giorno stood outside Lai's new palace. Toph had not stopped working all night. With her earthbending, she had recreated the entire palace from memory. If it wasn't for the fact all of it was made out of earth instead of the normal materials, it would have been a perfect match. They weren't here to look at the palace, though. There was a monument behind the palace. It was a round pedestal of earth with a concrete sculpture on top of it. A sugar-skull - the symbol that had been Olivia's own before she had been forced to abandon it. The symbol of Sombra. It had been made out of her crumbled dust by Corona's request. Enchanted to never wear away. It would remain here, behind the castle, forever - without a name. 'Olivia Velazquez' already had a grave somewhere else from when they thought she was dead earlier. Sombra would be remembered here. The five of them had been there for almost half an hour already. "...Just how cruel do you have to be to make curses like this?" Corona asked, removing her shades to wipe her eyes. "Who does that!?" "Mad artists," Giorno said, hands in his pockets. "Arthon thought it was poetic and beautiful to fuse physical ailments to souls. Or maybe he just found it amusing and used art as an excuse to fuel his own sadism." Lady Rarity sighed. "He's already paid the price for what he did." Corona nodded, saying nothing. "I wonder if she had any family," Toph said. "...There were a few people she talked about back home from time to time." Corona said. "Then let's go find them," Roxy said. "I don't know who they are for sure," Corona said. "And it's been decades since we had any contact with Earth Omnic." "Then let's open up new contact and find them," Toph said, folding her arms. "Kapeesh?" Corona looked at Toph and nodded. She pulled out her dimensional device and searched for Earth Omnic. She dialed the portal. "Raging Sights, find out what ping frequency this place uses. I've never been." Raging Sights beeped, giving Corona an information frequency. The four of them walked through the portal into a forested area while she made the call. "This is Corona Shimmer of Merodi Universalis, contacting... whoever this communication device was given to." A second later, a smooth robotic voice responded to her call. "...This is Zenyatta. Would you by chance be the otherworlders?" "Ah, yes, right, we met you before we were united," Corona said. "Uh... you met General O'Neill, right?" "I did indeed." "Good. You might be able to help us. Are you in a place it would be convenient for us to teleport to?" "I am alone in my temple. By all means, come in." Corona had Raging Sights triangulate Zenyatta's position, teleporting all four of them to a simple temple made of marble. Zenyatta was a humanoid robot with nine blue dots on his head instead of a face. He looked up at them from his sitting position. "I take it things have changed drastically on your side of existence since I last spoke with your people?" "A lot," Corona said. "Is it the same here?" Zenyatta nodded. "The Omnic Crises are over. There is currently peace on Earth. I had been considering making the call to you myself over the last few months to tell you we were ready - but it appears that wasn't necessary." "Glad to hear you're ready," Corona said. "Though, am I correct in assuming that is not the primary reason you are here?" "No," Corona said. "Do you remember Sombra?" "...She was a problematic hacker back when you first arrived. She vanished when you left. I believe I heard something about her leaving the universe." "She did," Corona said. "She was an enemy, at first. But then she started working for us, helping us uncover the secrets of the multiverse. And... she was my friend." "She has passed." "Yeah. She passed." Corona looked at Zenyatta. "I know she was secretive, but do you think there's anyone who would like to know what really happened to her? To know that... she ended up a hero, in the end?" "I have my doubts that such people exist here anymore," Zenyatta said. "But it would be my honor to search. It will take time, of course." "We can wait," Giorno said. "A-" Corona's phone rang. She pulled it out with her telekinesis and glared at it - and then her jaw dropped. Olivia was calling. She nervously answered the phone. "Hello?" "If you're hearing this, I'm dead," Olivia said, getting right to the point. "I don't know how I went out. I hope it was awesome doing something great and heroic, but it's just as likely I was punched by some overpowered idiot and kicked the bucket in an instant without doing much. Whatever happened... Hi from beyond the grave! I'm probably totally freaking you out right now." "No, really?" Corona said, a hand to her mouth. "Anyway, I'm not going to get all touchy-feely here - no way to tell how many toes I'll step on or things I'll screw up. For all I know I'll have gone through a drastic personality shift whenever it happens, and I can't really speak for whatever I was feeling at the time. So, sorry if you were expecting something cathartic, Corona. But I do have something for you that I'm sure you'll love me for and hate me for at the same time!" Corona raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" she asked the recording. "See, you'll only get this message if you go to Earth Omnic, where my super-duper-uber secret base is. First off, the location of the base is encrypted in this audio file, should be easy to find now. There's presents waiting!" Corona didn't wait - she teleported all of them to the coordinates, including Zenyatta. They appeared in a cylindrical room with no entrances or exits. The moment they appeared in the room, the screen-lined walls lit up with the sugar-skull emblem. "Welcome to the secret Sombra base, Corona and... company." the recording declared, chopping up at 'company', indicative of multiple recordings being spliced together. "Got two presents for you. First, you get all the files on the multiversal Truth." A tremendous flow chart spread across the screens, all centered around the Dark Tower. "Chances are I haven't figured it out, not completely. What I know right now is that the current Truth of the multiverse lies in the top room of that Tower. I've tried more times than I like to admit to get in and ascend the stairs and get to that room, but it never lets me in. No matter what I try, it always sends me somewhere else. It's like I'm not meant to know. Which I'm never going to accept, but it's rather disheartening. "Amiga, you have this now. Everything I have. Maybe you'll find the answer." Corona felt Raging Sights downloading all the information. "And as for the second present... You might get mad at this one." A light shone from the ceiling at the center of the room. A small purple crystal in the shape of a sugar-skull was sitting there, plugged into the pedestal with a series of tiny black wires. "...Is that what I think it is?" Lady Rarity asked, a hoof to her mouth. "This is the Sombra Artificial Intelligence," Olivia explained. "I call her Sai. She, uh... well she's my attempt at a mind upload. See, I knew I might die, as evidenced by this recording, so I figured I might as well pursue alternate methods of extending my life. She's an upload of my memories and experiences in a little purple box that really isn't perfect. No discernable soul, the emotions are wacky, she's inconsistent... So she's not me but she sorta is me..." Corona closed her hand around Sai, feeling the energy within. Olivia was right, there was no real soul in there, no full mind, just a bunch of code. "So, feel free to be mad at me for leaving you a shadow of myself that'll just bring bad memories. You can do whatever you want with her. I'm sorry if she's painful to have around." "She won't be," Corona said, holding Sai to the light. "Anyway, if you actually want to talk to her, just say 'Sombra' or 'Sai, activate'. She should automatically provide you with some of my personal nanobots as well, if you ask. ...Adios, Corona. Here's to hoping there really is something after." The recording stopped. Corona and her companions stood in silence for a moment, soaking in what they had just heard. Corona lifted a finger to her eye and wiped away a tear. "Sombra, activate," Corona said. "Hola, Amiga!" the crystal beeped in Olivia's voice. "What can I do for you?" "Get those nanobots ready... and then keep researching the mutiversal Truth," Corona said, generating a string and placing the crystal around her neck, making sure to hide it beneath her shirt. "All right!" Sai beeped. Raging Sights reported to Corona that she now had control over a large array of Sombra's microscopic machines. Then Sai went silent - returning to quiet research. Olivia was never someone to let something as pedestrian as death keep her from finding answers. ~~~ Allure and Minna sat down to have lunch. "So..." Minna said, tapping her fingers together. "I think I'm ready to tell you everything that happened now." Allure nodded. "Go on. I won't interrupt you. I'll just drink this juice." So Minna began her story. She spoke of how she left, how she ended up on a Speeder team with Eve, how she was recruited directly by Corona, how she was separated with Lady Rarity, how she found the facility where she and her soldiers were made, how she destroyed the place and helped kill Brell, and how she helped Olivia hack into the Shaping Mechanisms. She finished her story and looked expectantly at Allure. "Well...?" "...I'm just glad you're alive," Allure said with a smile on her face. "...Actually, I'm also glad the people who tormented you got what was coming to them, but I really shouldn't be happy that Brell was killed. She sounded... confused." Minna nodded. "She was. I don't think we could have saved her though. Insanity ran in that family." "I figured," Allure said. She leaned forward and clasped Minna's hand with her hooves. "I'm glad you're back." "I'm glad to be back," Minna admitted. "I... I didn't like not having you there." "You've had me most of your life," Allure said. "This definitely wasn't the place or time to learn independence." Minna nodded slowly, eyes wide. "...I did enjoy it, at times. Not the being alone, but the thrill. I... I never really felt a thrill like that, before." Allure raised an eyebrow. "Not even with Frigid?" Minna blushed slightly. "Not the same feeling. This feeling was... like I was doing what I was meant to do. Even after I had destroyed the facility, I still felt it. It felt right." Allure nodded slowly. "Some of us are meant to explore. You... never struck me as the type, but then again we didn't know what you were before." "So I can join up?" "Not until you're eighteen, missy!" Allure said with a chuckle. "After that, sure, you can go sign up with Expedition-" "Military, mom." Allure blinked. "...Minna, are you sure?" "It feels... right." "But wasn't that just what Brell wanted you to be?" "She wanted me to be a mindless killing machine," Minna said. "Not a protector. Not a savior." "This is the point where I try to point out that Expeditions does the same thing, that Expeditions is a lot safer, and that we're likely not going to have an actual war for a while." "I mean, I'll think about it, but if I join Expeditions I'd want to be part of a strike force or quasi-military unit. ...I really felt like I belonged, mom." Allure let out a sigh. "I'm not going to stop you - once you turn eighteen - but I want to be sure this is your decision and not brought on by... by whatever's hidden inside you." Minna looked at her hands, then at a nearby screen so she could examine her reflection. "Maybe it is that. Maybe I'm naturally drawn to being a soldier because of what I am. But there's nothing wrong with being a loyal soldier, is there?" Allure shook her head. "Not at all." "So long as I'm not being controlled and manipulated into doing it, why not follow my nature?" "...Because it was forced on you?" "And you were 'forced' to be a Cutie Mark Crusader, and then part of the League of Sweetie Belles," Minna pointed out. "...We're all a story, after all. Our natures and our stories might be the same." Allure let out a soft laugh. "You've matured a lot in the last few days." "...I found myself." Allure walked over to her and gave her a hug. "I'm glad you did. If you really think that's your calling, go ahead. I won't even try to stop you." "Thanks," Minna said, hugging her back. "You still have to be eighteen." "I get it, I get it." "I mean it! No more running off even if another war happens!" "Alright! Yeesh!" she laughed. ~~~ "...Are you sure you understand?" Flutterfree asked Eve as they walked through the deep halls of Celestia City. I hung back far enough so that I couldn't hear their conversation with my ears, but that didn't mean I didn't know what they were saying. It was just a courtesy. Eve nodded. "I think I do. I risked all of Merodi Universalis for their sake - or what I convinced myself was their sake, anyway. I still have no idea if the decision was right or not." Flutterfree nodded. "Good." She carefully hugged Eve so as not to scratch her skin. "Glad we had this talk," Eve said, smiling. "Same. Now, you can go back to introducing Twilence to everyone important and I can go talk to Flair now, see what can be done about these knives in my wings." "See you later," Eve said. "Yep!" Flutterfree spread her wings and took off. I trotted back up. "You'll be glad to know most of that conversation was private." Eve let out a sigh of relief. "Good. At least there's something I can cherish." "There's a lot of things. The vast majority of your time is spent offscreen." "Though usually not the important stuff." "Usually not. But in this case, she already had a conversation so the readers could look at her - it would have largely been redundant with you." "...Interesting..." Eve said, rubbing her chin. "There's probably a way to exploit that..." "There is. Generally not worth the effort to figure it out, though." Eve nodded slowly, pondering this new influx of information. We finally passed by the room we were heading for, which included four Overheads at once - O'Neill, Ava, Jingle, and the Research Overhead. They were currently listening to O'Neill talk. "Heavy damage is localized to Earth Vitis, Elemental Four, and Lai," O'Neill said. "They've lost major cities in the assaults. Canterlot, Republic City, and the Lai Capital. As crazy as Toph is, I doubt that her efforts to rebuild the Capital will pan out. Otherwise, war's completely over since every one of them just dropped dead. Cleanup is more important than that. Plans, Jingle?" "Diverting resources from Equis Vitis, Equis Concrete, and Skaia's Dream to the needed worlds," Jingle reported. "Earth Vitis is expected to recover quickly given their high population density and internal relations. The four major nations of Elemental Four suffered significant levels of damage, but aid will repair the structural damage there. The crater of Republic City is a complete loss save for Air Temple Island... Elemental Four's neutral territory is gone." "How will that affect them?" Ava asked. "Cultural's report says they'll bond together, though the behavior of the Avatar is a big factor in their long-term response," Jingle said. "...She's lost a lot of close friends. That city was her home. She's accepted professional help to cope, but I don't have the authority to say how she'll fare even with that." "She'll pull through," Eve said, walking in. "She's strong." "Ah, Eve," Ava said with a smile. "What brings you here?" "Finish your meeting first, it can wait." Jingle nodded. "Lai is going to suffer the most. They are a single unified people under one ruler. Even the quick rebuilding of the palace has only done so much - they lost their seat of power. They don't have another major metropolis to turn to. So the majority of Gem and Equis Cosmic efforts are being diverted. R. O., your people will need to work closely with ours to maximize the efficiency." The Research Overhead nodded. "Aside from that, Ava, we'll need more personnel to undertake a relief effort of this magnitude. It is a bit... odd that we're devoting our resources to internal regions." "I will send out a call for volunteers," Ava responded. "I expect many will come instantly." "Thanks. Other than that..." Jingle let out a sigh. "We do need to address the people in a more direct way than 'the war is over'." "O'Neill's the one that falls to," Ava said. "No offense to present company intended." "None taken," Eve responded. O'Neill stretched his back. "Always more and more speeches... I'll come up with something by the end of the day." "You can use Cessera if you need to," Eve offered. "She loves writing speeches. She's actually a little annoyed that she never gets to write any of mine." "I'll take you up on that." "I know you will," Eve said with a smirk. "I think we're done with the general report," Ava said, turning to Eve. "Care to introduce your guest?" "This is Twilence," Eve said, giving them a brief overview of who I was and what I could do. O'Neill and Ava already knew who I was, but the Research Overhead and Jingle had no idea. The R.O. beeped. "Fascinating... A device infused with Awareness... How would such a thing be possible?" "Trade secret," I said with an innocent smile. "You wouldn't be able to make it anyway." "Words like that just make a scientist want to know more," Jingle said. "Oh, I know. I'm just not going to let him poke me with knives." "I have no intention of doing so," the Research Overhead admitted. "But I wouldn't mind it if you dropped by the labs and told me what you knew about the device." "I think Starbeat would understand it better, I could have her send the information to you later." "I would appreciate that." "While it is nice to have you on board, we do have a nation to run," Ava said. "If you don't have any suggestions I believe it would be prudent for us to get back to repairing our worlds." I pondered this a moment. "Be careful assuming that some worlds will be fine - large-scale psychological damage is hard to see when there isn't much damage. Equis Vitis in particular is struggling to accept the things that have taken place. You might want Cultural to look into that." Ava nodded. "I shall make the calls. Thank you, Twilence." "No problem." I turned to Eve. "Guess that means we get lunch now." "I'll join you," O'Neill said, standing up and stretching his back. "It's time for the age-old tradition of jello eating with General O'Neill." Eve shot me a 'really?' glare. I chuckled. ~~~ "So..." Vriska said, inviting herself to sit at Aradia's table. "How ticked off are you at this point in time?" They were in a food court on Celestia City that served 'almost everything'. Vriska had yellow corn dogs while Aradia was poking her fried rice with her fork. "Oh, a bit. I know I get over it eventually - future self helping you all save this city and all - but I'm just... I'm not mad but I'm upset." "Y'know Eve did what she had to, right?" Aradia let out a sigh. "Now that I've had a look around time, yeah, I get that. I see that this needed to happen to alter our course onto a new trajectory, I was still manipulated. I should be used to that at this point, but... I really thought I had put that behind me. Changed how I handled things." "So, you failed?" "Yeah, I failed at my job. Even if it turned out for the 'better' this time." She looked at the ceiling. "It's just frustrating. To have so much power and still fall to a simple lie." "No shit," Vriska said, rolling her eyes. "We're such badasses we forget we're still people." She let out a bitter laugh. "It was about time you got your ass handed to you." "I'm not undefeated!" "Last time you had any difficulty was with the University of Doors," Vriska pointed out. "The whole thing with the Celestialsapien doesn't count and you know it. You were always going to be able to go back and fix that if you had to. You just happened to get it right the first time." "You really don't understand how time travel works, do you?" Vriska rubbed the back of her head. "...Guess not." "I'll save you the explanation of time-metatime interactions that I have to deal with every day on this multiversal scale. I get caught up with the paradoxes all the time. It's why I have so many backups running around - in my line of work there are sometimes universes where I'll just be erased without warning. Getting bested by those sorts of things are part of the job. But I don't get fooled by innocent lies." "I think you're just full of yourself," Vriska said, kicking back. Aradia smirked. "You're one to talk." "Oh yeah, I'm definitely full of shit too, it's a thing we share apparently. We could both stand to be kicked down a peg or two. Of course you more so than me." Aradia rolled her eyes. "You're full of yourself all right. But you do have a point. Maybe I am a bit too confident. ...Or too trusting." Vriska shrugged. "I think you just rely too much on your abilities to let you know everything, and when something comes out of left field you don't see it until it hits you." "Apt metaphor." Aradia folded her arms. "I dunno. I can't help but feel I could have done something to stop the war. But I also know that, if I was able to see this future, I would have let the war play out, possibly even helped create it." She sat back. "I guess I'm just complaining?" "Yeah. You are," Vriska said with a smirk. "You're just bitching and whining. 'Wah, I can't see everything and make the best possible choice anymore!' Welcome to being a regular person." Aradia's bright smile returned to her. "I am being a little silly, come to think of it." "Hey, that's what Vriska's here for, to point out your shit." "Who points out yours?" Vriska blinked. "...Flutterfree, usually." "Glad you have someone who can do that for you. How is Starbeat doing by the way?" "She breezed through the entire war like a ship on smooth seas. Not even scarred by the danger she was in at the end. She's just got a ton of chill." "Really? I thought she was hyperactive and slightly crazy." "You can be that and still have chill." Aradia raised an eyebrow. "That's dumb." "No, that's me being full of shit," Vriska smirked. "Get it right." "Mmmmm, nah." "HEY VRISKA!" I called, scampering over. "...Twilence?" Vriska said, looking up to see me leaving the table with Eve and O'Neill - both of them eating the blue jello. "What're you doing here?" "You're a Class 2 now, I don't have to hide in my 'basement' anymore." I winked. "Nice to see you again!" Aradia said, smiling. "Though I already have, in your relative future." "I know, I saw that," I answered. "I look forward to being the one at an advantage!" Vriska blinked. "Suddenly I'm terrified of what you two will do." "Conquer existence," I said. "...Either that or just innocently hang out. Both seem rather tantalizing." Aradia giggled. Vriska shook her head. "The world isn't ready..." "The world wasn't ready for more than one Pinkie Pie, so we got more worlds," Aradia pointed out. "Just extrapolate from there and we should be good!" "Oh, Vriska!" I said, turning to her. "Got somethin' for ya." "Hm?" I pulled a round, blue-pink object out and tossed it to her. She caught the orb in her hands and stared at it. The sphere was lined with dozens of complex shapes tessellated together to form a nearly perfect sphere. Every second or so, the shapes would shift to different sizes and arrangements to create a new arrangement for the sphere. Every single face contained a seemingly random symbol, and the symbols changed every time the object shifted. "An infinity-sided die!?" Vriska blurted. "Where did... how did...?" "I kept it around," I said. "I knew you'd want it." "FUCK YES!" Vriska said, holding the die up to the light. "I AM NOW THE MOST POWERFUL BEING IN EXISTENCE!" Aradia raised an eyebrow. "Really?" "Okay, maybe not the most, but you know." She held the die in front of her eye. "When this sweet baby is rolled anything can happen. For most people, it's worse than useless and extremely dangerous. But for me... I can tell it what to do if I have enough luck. At maximum luck... I could reshape an entire universe with this beautiful beast." "And you're currently in an area of the multiverse that doesn't have them banned," I offered. "And even when Oversight and Justice do pick up on the power you have, they'll make an exception for you due to your exemplary service to Merodi Universalis. You don't have to worry about simply having it anymore. Not here." "Sweeeeet!" "Sweet is right," I said, winking. "You're welcome." "I've got to go tell the others STAT! Sorry Aradia, need to showcase some fun!" She opened a dimensional portal and left Celestia City. I turned to Aradia. "Y'know, now that she's gone, you can go talk to Eve. She's right over there." Aradia looked at Eve. "...Not yet." "...But now's the perfect time?" A new Aradia appeared, allowing the old Aradia to disappear. "Now I'm ready." She walked up to Eve's table, sat down, and smiled warmly. "Hi!" "Uh... Hi!" Eve said, smiling nervously. "Look, I-" "Don't worry about it. Everything's okay now, and this is better for all of us in the long run." Aradia put a hand on Eve's hoof. "You're okay by me, Evening. Don't go out of your way to reconcile with me. There are others your efforts would be better spent on." Eve nodded, a look of relief crossing her expression. "Thank you." "Don't mention it. Now, O'Neill, have you ever tried invisible jello?" O'Neill blinked. "No. The fact that I haven't is clearly a horrendous evil that must be remedied immediately." I summoned four plates of invisible jello. "Enjoy finding it," I said. Everyone chuckled. ~~~ "So... I just got a message about the Shaping Mechanism," Kitten said, addressing the golden-throne bound Emperor of Mankind. "Looks like we're going to be able to use it to manipulate dimensional physics." "AND?" the Emperor spoke, as always vocalizing with a text-to-speech device. "You already know." "I WANT TO HEAR YOU SAY IT." Kitten let out a soft chuckle. "Well okay then. It is my pleasure to announce we finally have in our hands a final solution to Chaos. We can safely disconnect Galaxus Immaterium from the Warp. It'll be difficult - we'd have to keep all the Chaos Gods from using reality anchors - but it's a much better option than everything else we've been considering lately." "I TAKE IT BACK. THIS IS THE BEST FUCKING DAY OF MY LIFE." "We might be able to get you off the Throne soon..." "I'M GOING TO HAVE A LOT OF FUCKING AMAZING DAYS DOWN THE LINE." "Don't get too excited, it'll take several years to get the universe ready... But when it is..." The Emperor's phone rang. A voice came through without him answering it. "HELLO! It's Tzeentch. You just figured out the solution to the Warp problem! Woohoo, good on you for finally getting around to that realization. But what you don't know is that it was all part of the plan!" "...Your defeat was part of your plan?" "It wouldn't be my defeat! Why do you think I've been spreading out into other universes and helping with the war? With this Shaping Mechanism, I can be FREE of the definitions of the Galaxy's collective psyche! I will fully become my own entity, separated just as you wish your universe to be. Exactly. As. Planned." "TZEENTCH, SINCE WHEN WOULD WE DO WHAT YOU WANTED?" "When I'm willing to use my daemons on the other three? I've already started up a civil war anticipating your response. You say this is the best fucking day of your life, well, think about how much CHANGE this will bring to me! YES! DELICIOUS CHANGE!" "...I would say you're insane, but that's already evident," Kitten deadpanned. "Hoo hoo hoo! I look forward to working together!" He hung up. "...You didn't say yes..." "HE KNOWS I WILL. THE TWISTED PSYCHOTIC INCONSISTENT FUCK. SIGH. THIS IS STILL A GOOD DAY." "Oh of course! Shall I get the festive hats?" "YOU KNOW ME SO WELL." ~~~ Eve walked into one of the Golden Joke's meeting rooms that evening, expecting to give a general report on the war to the foreign powers. I tagged along, but for once I was not to be introduced - I was just a new face. Eve was somewhat surprised that it wasn't just Valentine, Hastur, and Twilight M4 in there. Valentine and Hastur were both there, yes, but so were the Grand Secretariat, Nanoha, Empress Twilight of the Void, Lightning of the Collection, and even a Melnorme. Eve hadn't seen one of the one-eyed orange creatures in ages, presumably because of the generally anti-big-business stance of Merodi Universalis. "Uh... What is this...?" Eve asked. "A welcoming party," Nanoha said with a smile. "You've made it to Class 2." "Did that get out already!?" I coughed. "I may have let slip to the Empress why I was leaving." "It is not hard to tell," Lightning said, flexing her Infinity Gauntlet - dimmed because it was not keyed to the current universe. "If you have the capacity to shape universes combined with a large number of realms under your ownership, you are a Class 2." She smirked. "The Collection is a Class 2 by power and scope alone. We aren't 'decentralized', since all of us live in one universe that's just shrouded by hundreds of others. Skarn was similar to us in that regard." "So we're suddenly a Class 2 and doors open up?" Eve asked. "With us?" Nanoha asked. "Not really. If you wanted to file for inclusion into the TSAB you'd be given priority now, but that would still take forever. Twenty years, I would think." "Thanks, but no thanks," Eve said. "We need to be our own entity." "And I have no problems with that whatsoever." The Melnorme moved forward. "Now that you have access to higher dimensional technology your avenues for trading have drastically increased. We have many requests of you for our own universes that we would be willing to pay handsomely for." "You don't have a Shaper?" "Ah, that information has a price." Eve narrowed her eyes at the Melnorme. "If you want to start actually engaging in relations with us, you're going to have to be more open than that. I'm not paying for every little tidbit of information I want to know about you. We should just, I don't know, maybe trust each other a bit?" The Melnorme looked at her like she was speaking an alien language. "It is the way of their people," the Grand Secretariat said. "Not exactly convenient." "The inventors of Inconvenience Stores," Hastur joked. Valentine stared at him, then shook his head. Eve knew he must feel a bit suffocated here - expecting a report on the war, and instead getting overlooked by a bunch of Class 2 representatives. He was not a fan of being the smaller fish. Eve went to talk to him - but 'Empy' Twilight got to her first. "I wish to welcome you to our ranks personally, Charter-Princess Evening Sparkle, Overhead of Relations. May this day serve as the start of a full-fledged relationships as equals." "You are of a significantly higher caliber than them, Empress" Hastur pointed out. "There is much disparity between a high-end Class 2 and a low-end." "True," Nanoha said. "But that doesn't mean they can't be allies." Empy smiled. "I look forward to meeting with you more, Evening. Take good care of Twilence for me." "I will," Eve promised. I winked. "I'll be taking care of myself, Empress." "Don't be so arrogant of your abilities," Empy reminded me. "You know where that's gotten you in the past." I nodded solemnly. "I know. I never forget." Eve let Empy and me talk for a bit, finally making it to Valentine. "Sorry about this, I had no idea." "Clearly," Valentine said, arms folded. "It seems as though you're drawing the attention of everyone." "None of the Class 1s are here," Eve pointed out. "I wouldn't be so certain of that," Valentine said. "They're watching. My people detected Xeelee wire for a split second. The Flowers are here too - that's not just a rose in that vase." Eve walked over to the decorative rose, discovering that it was glowing slightly, a clear indication of Flower technology. "...Oh joy." "The faster you climb through the ranks the more attention you draw," Valentine said. "I envy you for what you've achieved - but I also pity you for what is to come." Eve nodded slowly. "It's going to be a long road ahead, apparently." Valentine didn't say anything in response to this. "Anyway!" Eve called. "I came here to originally give a report on the war, and that's what I'm going to do. Everyone's free to listen, this shouldn't take too long - I have extra copies of the reports. So without further a-" Jenny of the Red Gloves fell through the front door, landing flat on her face. "Ow..." "...Jenny!?" Eve blurted. "...This is a surprise." "Uh, yeah, and your mind is about to be blown right off!" Jenny grinned cheesily. "Dracogen Enterprises is here to petition for inclusion within Merodi Universalis." Eve stared at Jenny. "What." "You heard me."
Songs of the Spheres	106 - Class 2, Part 2	"This is an official meeting of which you were no-" Eve held a wing up to quiet the Melnorme. She walked away from Valentine, approaching Jenny. Jenny was as short as ever and Eve had grown significantly in her alicorn stature since their last meeting. She was now slightly taller than the diminutive immortal. "You want to join Merodi Universalis?" Eve asked. "Uh, yep." Eve gave her a calm smile. "...Why?" "Well, uh, the University can't fund us anymore, as you know, and we've tried to keep at least a small active force in exploration, but..." she tapped her fingers together. "We've been losing a lot of people. The program's essentially shut down completely. We've lost our ability to understand everything we were once able to, and because of some of the infrastructure changes we made we're experiencing... difficulties." "So you need help because you weren't prepared to be cut off from the multiverse." Jenny rubbed the back of her head. "Pretty much! Not in danger of societal collapse or anything, but ever since the information about the multiverse leaked we've had... serious problems." "Are you sure you aren't just begging me because you're bored?" Jenny's smile twitched. "Darnit, why do you have to be so clever?" "Because it's my job," Eve said smiling softly. "But I'll assume all those other reasons you gave were legitimate. That you do need - and want - help to restructure your society." "...Are you actually considering her offer?" the Grand Secretariat asked, eyes wide. "Was she not the one responsible for trying to erase you from time?" "Never gonna live that down," Jenny muttered. "Actually, you are," Eve said, placing a hoof on Jenny's shoulder. "I'll tell the Aid Division to look into you the moment we've got an opening from our own relief efforts. That much you can have. After that... The process for inclusion will need you to change many of your ways. I am well aware Dracogen Enterprises had its start as a criminal organization and that old habits die hard. You will have to make peace with your neighbors and allow them possible inclusion as well. I am not against the admission of the Ninth World, Jenny. But you will have to change what you are for us to accept you." "...Fine," Jenny said. "I'm already groveling as it is, might as well roll over on my back and stick my legs in the air. Woof woof, whatever you say." Eve smiled. "Good. Will the University object to your inclusion? Or will they be joining?" Jenny let out a snort. "I haven't heard from those stuffy bookworms in years. They don't give a rip about us. And if they do decide to throw a fit I'll have to remind them they don't own us. Just... let us in. Pleeeeeeease." "I'll have to run it by the other Divisions first, you know - but you have my approval." Jenny noticed Eve's smugness. "You're enjoying this." "A little," Eve admitted. "Another one has been friendshipped." Jenny sighed. She was usually the one who got to give other people smug grins. This was a decidedly unpleasant role reversal. Eve turned back to everyone. "Sorry about that, but I can't just leave my duties aside. As a possible soon-to-be-member of Merodi Universalis, she has every right to be here. Now I'll get to the report on the war. We engaged Skarn's forces upon his unprovoked assault on one of our lesser universes, one where we were studying unusual physics. There were no casualties, but that was only thanks to the Handmaid, and given his previous actions..." "And scene," I said. ~~~ Time passes - as it always does. A nation grows and transforms itself into something else. Oftentimes in the multiverse, the transition to Class 2 is one that happens without realizing it. The people will just wake up one day and think 'you know, I think we're a Class 2 now' and then they'll check to see if they're really 'decentralized' or 'own enough universes to be functionally decentralized'. Due to the vague definitions of classes, it's no surprise that the exact moment one shifts from one class to another is often a mystery. Merodi Universalis did not get to experience this gradual mystery of multiversal shifting. One day, they were their usual Class 3 selves. The next, there was a week where they were at war and feared for their lives. They came out of that war with access to technology that could shape universes and an uncountable number of worlds that came with that power. They suddenly had something that was equivalent to real power in the multiverse. Granted, the Shaping Mechanism had many drawbacks. The main one being that any multiversal society with any idea how to alter physics on any scale could keep their universes safe. But it gave Merodi Universalis near absolute dominion over the lower worlds, should they see fit to use it. The ability to stretch and mold universes like clay... It was a huge power. A dangerous power that was to be heavily, heavily regulated. But of course it would be used. Having such a device and not using it to help who they could would be an insult to everything they stood for. One of the first things they did after figuring out the ins and outs of the Mechanism was to stop Esefem's horror. No more would beings just pop into existence with lies in their head, no longer would the mercenaries be determined to perpetuate their war, and no longer would spots of Random Weirdness show up. The world still made no physical sense, and they had to sacrifice the respawn aspect of the world to fix it, but it was a world now. One that could actually grow and continue forward. After that, the Shaping Mechanism was mainly put to use unraveling the Congeries and all the peoples within. The vast majority of societies that lived within the Congeries were simple folk who barely knew that Skarn had even existed. In many cases, disassembling Skarn's works would have resulted in the destruction of a society who had grown used to it - so any ones that weren't particularly cruel were allowed to remain as they were. But every nation that suffered was weaved away. Slowly, the size of the Congeries depleted - with the eventual goal being that it would consist only of one universe with a handful of artistic works and the Shaping Mechanism itself. While many, many universes fell under the 'control' of Merodi Universalis, most were allowed to simply go free. Those that chose to join Merodi Universalis more often than not treated their benefactors with reverence. Sometimes you just couldn't convince people not to worship you. Minna was the only one of Skarn's soldiers known to survive the order. If he had sent any others out to test other multiversal societies, there was no record of them. Back home, Merodi Universalis repaired itself. Jingle's Aid efforts went mostly as expected. Earth Vitis was capable of repairing itself mostly from scratch, using internal relations to provide relief to the sub-nations that were hit the hardest. While a few major cities were completely lost, most had been evacuated and moved to a new world in Equis Cosmic. There were always new worlds in Equis Cosmic. Even Earth Tau'ri didn't have such a deep understanding and control over their galaxy. Lai was nothing if not tenacious. They saw their Queen rebuild the palace with her own hands, filling them with an immense national pride. They banded together to rebuild their city, almost refusing aid, the stubborn ponies they were. But Toph convinced them to accept help and they rebuilt their capital with intense zeal. They found that the city wasn't completely lost - a few magical bunkers had been spared, including Corona's laboratory, the palace's deepest dungeons, and the statues of Lai's Celestia and the others. Toph kept the Celestia statue a secret - she didn't want to ruin Queen Luna's memory. For once, Lai's tendency to be defiant and angry worked for the favor of Merodi Universalis. There were surprisingly few who blamed their government for going to war, and many more who simply celebrated the brutal defeat of Skarn. The Elemental Four suffered. Corea was broken by the events and while the psychologists said she would make a full recovery, she wasn't there in the aftermath of the attack - when the world needed her the most. She just couldn't give them words of comfort when her home had been destroyed. She spent most of her time back on Sweet Apple Acres, recovering. Without her, the Elemental Four had to rely on the distant-seeming words of the Overheads. They had few leaders from the hundred-year-war remaining, and their worldwide leadership had all been in Republic City. They were by no means in danger of returning to their old, warlike ways - but they lost a spark of life they had held close to their hearts. A feeling of inadequacy began to spread through the Elemental Four - that they weren't worthy, that their world was the least of all Merodi founders, that they weren't on par with all the others. After only a few months, patterns began to emerge revealing a large-scale exodus of the world. The population of the Elemental Four began to drop dramatically as the younger generation sought out 'better worlds'. The universe would not feel the full ramifications of this for a few years - but they would eventually. In contrast, the rest of Merodi Universalis seemed to be in an eternal party - the unaffected E-Sphere universes in particular. The economy boomed due to a sudden insurgence of trade from foreign powers, making it abundantly clear that the war had ended up turning a huge profit - due in no small part to the Shaping Mechanism's ability to just duplicate things. Ships took a while to make from scratch due to how complicated they were, but the Shaping Mechanism could deal with it. The entire Merodi Fleet was rebuilt within two months. They didn't make the same mistake Skarn did - they kept building more ships after they had met their quota. They weren't going to be caught with a surprisingly small number of ships just because they thought they'd never need that many. Worlds that had been holding out over joining Merodi Universalis finally gave in - the Ninth World being one of several. Merodi Universalis accepted almost all of them with open arms, finding that few actually needed much in the way of aid and were actually willing to help. The Sparkles of the Sparkle Census started referring their homeworlds to the Merodi for inclusion, paving the way for a change in the relationship of the two multiversal powers. The Merodi conscripted a world of low-level ascended beings, a world inhabited entirely by a hive mind race known as the Ood, a 'magical girl' universe they couldn't identify from any source material, a world where humans continually fought Grimm beasts to survive, a world that soon became a major player called Pokerin Anima, numerous Earths, Equises, and of course the Ninth World. The Ninth World's issues proved to be rather pathetic. Simply offer them the things they wanted - which weren't all that impressive - and the society balanced itself out. The hardest part was ironing out the general 'criminal' attitude Dracogen and many other individuals in the world had. Merodi Universalis was nothing if not patient, however. They would work with them until they were deemed ready. It was a new chapter in the life of this unique nation. Unlike the Bloodbath, which had been seen as almost a complete tragedy and loss, the aftermath of Skarn's War was seen in a positive light - as a well-deserved victory. A fact that certainly helped Eve sleep at night. On the other hand, Valentine and the USM noticed they were being eclipsed. They only made one major acquisition while the Merodi made several - a world known as Earth-FT3, a curious combination of the Fairy Tail manga and Harry Potter novels. The Merodi barely registered them. And the wheel of time kept marching onward... ~~~ Corona had no home anymore. Her lab had somehow survived the assault on Lai, but the rest of her house hadn't. Her other home on Earth Vitis had been taken down with the rest of Canterlot City - though thankfully not with her friends. They had evacuated. She had supposed the logical course of action would be to move to Equis Vitis and take up her royal chambers. But she didn't do that. Instead she decided to go live in the Congeries to work on the Shaping Mechanism. She became its primary operator and researcher, taking a break from Expeditions to pour herself into uncovering the secrets of the Mechanism. She knew she would never be able to understand all the controls and nuances to the Shaping Mechanism in a normal lifespan - but after three days she had enough control over it to be effective. She had no plans to make tremendous multiversal structures for the sake of art; the uses of the Shaping Mechanism would be to fix worlds, not break or twist them. And thus, she became the Shaping Mechanism's primary pilot. The one who fixed worlds and slowly unwound the horrors of the Congeries. She got to see a lot of horrible things. Churning cauldrons of flesh worse than the human zipper. Temporally locked worlds that made people experience the same day of disasters over and over - every time aware of it, but unable to change their actions. There was even a work that created copies of whoever looked upon it just to kill them gruesomely for the viewer's 'pleasure'." Corona just destroyed that last one. For all the violence, death, and destruction Corona had seen in her life, it was still a bit much. But she pushed through. She always did. All the lives she could save with this machine were worth it. It was long work that was boring when it wasn't disgusting, but it was beyond important. She was perhaps the best person for the job, given her background. The potential to understand precisely how the Shaping Mechanism worked... Eventually. Given enough experience. One day while she was separating several Earths from each other and returning them to their homes, two visitors walked into the room. One was a face she was very familiar with, while the other was one she hadn't seen in decades. The first was O'Neill. The second was the Happy Mask Salesman. Corona looked the creepy 'human' being up and down, letting her gaze fixate on his unwavering smile more than she probably should have. "Where have you been?" The Happy Mask Salesman let out a soft, prolonged chuckle. "A bit of this, a bit of that. Exploring, learning, watching." "So what're you doing here now? Have we finally reached your criteria, like with Twilence?" "Oh, I wouldn't in my wildest dreams compare myself to the bearer of the Eye of Rhyme. My purpose here is not to provide my knowledge - but to ask you to finish what you started oh so long ago." "Hm?" "Majora," O'Neill said. "The purple monstrosity is still alive, in her mask, in that black hole. You can finally get rid of her safely with this, right?" Corona blinked. "...Yeah, I can." "Would you kindly direct your attention to her prison then?" the Happy Mask Salesman asked. "And ensure she will never return?" "You'll need to remind me of the coordinates," Corona said. "I don't recall if I ever actually knew which black hole you dumped her in." O'Neill transmitted the coordinates and the in-universe location to Raging Sights. Corona pressed her gloved hands to the control globe of the Shaping Mechanism and connected to the universe. It was a perfectly moldable universe without any reality anchors - good. She pushed forward, converting it into a shapeable universe. In the strands that made up the display she was able to make out the black hole. It was a swirling sphere of darkness that let nothing - not even light or an eldritch abomination - escape its grasp. She removed the singularity of the black hole with a thought. The sphere vanished, revealing a purple heart-shaped mask inside it. There was an intense, dark, familiar feeling to the mask. Even though Corona wasn't physically there, Majora knew she was watching. "W̛HY͢ H͟A͜V͠E͏ ̷YOU̡ ͜REL͘EA̕S̀E͘D̀ ͡M̡E̢?" "Because," Corona said with a cruel smirk. "We finally have the means to destroy you." "FO̷OLS͜!" "Yeah, you just keep on thinking that," O'Neill snarked. "Never again, Majora," the Happy Mask Salesman said. "Never again." The last thing Majora heard was the Happy Mask Salesman's laugh. And then Corona destroyed her with a pop. "...We've come a long way," Corona observed. "She almost destroyed all of us back then..." "And now there's no chance anyone will pick her up again," O'Neill said, putting a hand on Corona. "We can finally close that book." "What books do we have left to close?" Corona wondered. Ba'al was nothing. Majora was gone. The University was useless and the Ninth World was joining them. Siron and Brutalight were gone. The Collector was gone. Skarn was gone. "...Flagg and the Starcross Society," O'Neill said. "Those are the big ones on my list. Though maybe the Combine counts as well, not quite so sure about that one." "It's such an unusual feeling..." Corona said with a murmur. The Happy Mask Salesman bowed. "I express my thanks once again. I shall take my leave - I'm never one for these multiversal societies; I prefer solitude and simplicity. Perhaps we will meet again, perhaps not." Then he was gone. "Weirdo," O'Neill muttered, stretching his arms. "It was about time she got what was coming." Corona smiled. "Glad I could help. Be glad you were with him - I would have needed a formally approved request to do something like that without Overhead approval." O'Neill tipped his hat. "It was the least I could do. Bein' the General and all." "You wanted to blow her up yourself." "Eh... Maybe." He pulled out a communicator. "Beam me up." He returned to the brand new pride of the Merodi fleet - the Austraeoh. After the Enterprise had been destroyed, he drifted from ship to ship, unsure of which one to call his own. So he decided to make his own - but he didn't have a name for it. Once the Congeries War ended, there were a few lost or irreparably damaged ships that received great honors. The original Austraeoh was one of those ships. Corona suggested the name to O'Neill, and he took it without hesitation. The Austraeoh was better than the Enterprise in every way. It looked nothing like an Earth Tau'ri ship with a few bonus mechanisms, like the Enterprise had. Rather, it was its own unique creation. It was a slender, pointed ship made of a white, metallic substance. The central spire was smooth; the tip glowing a soft white at all times while the back swirled with a rainbow of colors, almost like a series of overlaid drills. Weapons and scanners lined the central spire, giving it many different glowing lights ranging from technological to magical to even weirder. Six other spires were arranged around the central one, connected by thinner plates of metal. Every one of these rods had a sharp point, as well as a magical rod inside, giving some protection to the high-end magical weaponry. The backs of these rods held every kind of drive imaginable that wasn't the multicolored Prism Drive. Each rod had a vaguely fin-like protrusion heading away from the central spire and ending just before it reached the Prism Drive's impressive colors. A single thin ring went through the center of each of the fins, allowing energy to flow around most of the ship for any number of applications. The ship looked vaguely like an elongated comb jelly. Graceful, yet solid. Smooth, yet sharp in many places. The bridge looked the same as just about every other bridge O'Neill had been in though. There was something to say about familiarity. He leaned back in the big chair and grinned. "Clandestine, let's go for a joyride. Let's test this Prism Drive out again." Clandestine smiled, using her magic to do just that. The rainbow-overlaid drills whirred up. Harmonious energy shot out behind them, and they were gone - blasting through the boundaries between universes and galaxies in a Technicolor swirl... ~~~ Pinkie rubbed her hooves together. Over these last two months, she had managed to train her brain to actually register the sensation in her brain as a touch. It was no longer a painful ache in her brain with a flash of nonexistent light, but a warm sensation on her hooves. It was the only sensation she ever got, and it was a trick of her mind. She was thankful for it nonetheless. She perked her ears up. "Ready!" she called. "Your ears are your eyes," Flair had said. "Point them at what you want to look at. You're a pony - you're able to do that." Pinkie swiveled her ears in the direction of Doctor Redheart, her primary rehabilitation counselor. "You sure you're ready, Pinkie?" Pinkie's ears were able to pick up subtle nuances in the sounds to pinpoint Redheart's location. Right now it was just a fuzzy blur in Pinkie's mind, but with time she would be able to form a complete image. "As I'll ever be!" Pinkie said, pulling her squeaky hammer out of her mane. "Bring it on." "If you insist..." "Have a map of your surroundings," Toph had suggested. "Always know where all the walls are, where the floors are, and where people are. Use every means you have at your disposal - hearing, taste, I don't care what it is, use it!" Pinkie got a general shape of the area by tapping her back hoof against the ground. Again, it was blurry, but she could make out the floor, walls, Redheart, and her opponent. She could tell her opponent was humanoid, but that was about it. At least, that's all her ears told her. "Remember when we pretended to be the 'Mysterious Mare-do-well'?" Renee had asked. "You used your Pinkie sense to do incredible things. I've seen you do it a few times since, on missions, but not all that often. You need to tap into that, Pinkie." Pinkie ducked under her opponent's arm. She had no need to actually hear the arm's movement, even though the general idea helped. She was able to twitch, maneuver, and jump based entirely on her natural Pinkie Sense. She just knew when something was about to attack her. She giggled, enthralled that it was working. "You can increase the potency of your Awareness and other related abilities," I had told her. "I know it's hard sometimes to pay deep attention to what you see, but if you want to be effective in this state, it's a requirement." Pinkie already knew the outcome of this encounter. It w- "Hey, don't tell them! That'll ruin the suspense!" Pinkie said, flying over her opponent and hitting them with the squeaky hammer. "Gotcha!" Seskii had given Pinkie a careful look. "If you're successful in training your Awareness... Well, you'll have to rely on it a lot more than you do now. You usually hold back, keep yourself from exploiting for the sake of others. Don't do that anymore." Pinkie leaped back from a fist she could sense, but not hear. "Stand user? Sweet! And given the complete silence when I hit... It's Jotaro. Of course, the only one of my friends who wouldn't go easy on me." "HEY!" Vriska shouted from her vantage point in a room far away that should have been out of Pinkie's earshot. Pinkie grinned. "You'd pretend to lose to me just for my sake, Vriska. Don't deny it." Vriska grunted. "She's talking through the screen again." Pinkie jumped over Star Platinum's flurry of fists, landing on Jotaro's head. The sensation in the back of her hooves told her all she needed to know - no need to listen or adhere to the Pinkie Sense. She swung her squeaky hammer down and tossed Jotaro to the side. She bounced off the floor like a ping-pong ball and bowed. "And you're going to get back up and punch at me again..." Pinkie diverted to the side and drove a pie into Jotaro's face. "Admit defeat yet?" "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered, wiping the pie from his face. "I move well for a blind girl, huh huh?" Jotaro punched again. Pinkie was suddenly behind him, a hoof placed to his back. "And I win." She put the bomb mask on her face and exploded, tossing Jotaro to the ground, defeated. "I do think they should have let you use your other Stands. I would have still been able to kick some butt! Woo!" Pinkie threw her hooves into the air and dropped her squeaky hammer to the ground. "I've still got it!" Doctor Redheart nodded. "Physically speaking, I can clear you for duty. The jury's still out on your psychological state." Pinkie tapped her bouncy mane. "I think this is a pretty good indicator." "I am not taking physical signs to clear you mentally," Doctor Redheart declared. "There's a bit more to it. But we can talk about that later. You've completed your physical rehabilitation." "Yes!" Pinkie pulled out her party cannon and unleashed it. "HEY NOVA! You can teleport in here now!" Nova teleported herself, Flutterfree, Vriska, Eve, and Renee into the room. "Go Pinkie!" Nova declared, waving a flag. Redheart decided to leave them to it. Then they started hugging her. Pinkie was able to sense when it was coming and how to respond - but every time they pulled her closer, she felt nothing. She could tell her body was up in a hugging position, but there was no pressure, no comforting connection with another pony's coat. Nothing. Nothing besides the burning in her hooves that wasn't even real. She probably would have started crying if she were able. She was, for once, glad she didn't have eyes. They didn't need to know that she wa- Darnit. Eve removed herself from Pinkie. "...Pinkie?" "Uh... Yeah, so, I just realized that I'm probably not mentally okay with this yet. I... I really want to cry right now b-because I can't feel your hugs..." "...I don't think that's an unhealthy response." "Redheart might see it that way. She'll at least think it means I need to be watched a bit more... And I probably do." "Pinkie, you're amazing." Flutterfree said. Pinkie knew she was stroking her with those rounded, marble tips on her wings. It was probably a very soothing feeling. "Y-" "I'll never get to know what your wingtips feel like," Pinkie said. "I'll never get to feel any hugs again. I won't get to enjoy showers, I won't even register pies unless they're thrown really hard, I won't get to feel the exhilaration of flying through the air out of a party cannon... I can't touch anything! No muzzle booping, no nuzzling, no sensation down there, no vibration when the Tree of Harmony calls m-" Her train of thought stopped when she remembered that their Tree of Harmony wouldn't be calling anypony anymore. The loss of Loyalty had been too much for it. The map was now lifeless. Eve put a hoof on Pinkie - but quickly realized that wouldn't mean anything anymore. So she did the next best thing - she put her mouth right next to Pinkie's ear and spoke soothingly. "I think I can help you with some of those things?" "Huh? Ho- Oooooh!" Pinkie smiled. "That's cheating." "If it wasn't you feeling it, it should work." Eve channeled her magic and touched her horn to Pinkie's forehead. Pinkie suddenly remembered every single hug Eve had ever given her - including the ones given by the original Twilight Sparkle. Pinkie lived through a couple showers, a pie to the face, being thrown through the air by a party cannon, booping, being booped, nuzzling her sisters... And then she got a memory that wasn't hers, but Eve's. One of Flutterfree right after she'd had herself adjusted from a killing machine into a work of art. Pinkie had never seen her before, not like that. She was stunning - the tips of her wings weren't knives, but rounded, delicate marble tips that seemed like extensions of her feathers. They were engraved with the designs of leaves and vines, giving her an air of natural beauty. The pointed parts of her hooves had been rounded with a similar marble substance, featuring similar designs. She'd even bothered to get a new mane style, one with two locks of hair draping over the front of her face, while the rest trailed behind her blowing in the breeze. Pinkie knew the marble covers could be taken off, if needed, but they sure looked fixed to her form. The memory moved to Flutterfree hugging Eve - but Pinkie got to experience what Eve experienced. The rounded nubs running across her back, sending a tingling sensation up her spine. They were so soft for what they were... So beautiful... The memory ended. Pinkie fixed Eve with a smile. "...Thank you." "Don't mention it." "Nova, you better learn that spell if I ever need to see something." "I'll be sure to perfect it... Captain," Nova said. Pinkie let out a beautiful, joyous laugh - followed promptly by a sigh of relief. "Decided to put me back in charge, eh?" Flutterfree spoke up. "You're back, Pinkie. You know more than the rest of us, and we've known you in that way for so long. We're not going to kick you down just because you changed. You're still Pinkie. You're still the Captain of Pinkie's Party." Pinkie stretched her hooves and piled all of them into a hug she knew they could feel. "I love you all so much, you know that? You're the best friends ever!" "Squeezing... Too hard..." Renee gagged. Pinkie laughed, letting them all go. "...You know what, I think I can pass the psychological portion of the test. With a little footnote that says 'insane, but not beyond safe Pinkie parameters'." Everyone had a nice laugh at that. Pinkie was back. Different, yes - forever different. But a blindfold and a broken body wasn't going to stop her from doing what she loved with her friends. ~~~ Lady Rarity walked into Renee's office. Renee smiled. "Ah, Lady Rarity, what can I do for you?" "Well, I'm tired of sitting around," Lady Rarity said. "Corona doesn't appear to be coming back from the Shaping Mechanisms any time soon, and even working as Toph's advisor leaves me a bit too much free time. So I'm asking to a transfer to one of your teams - almost anything will do." "You sure?" Lady Rarity nodded. "Corona gave me the go-ahead. She's too engrossed in what's happening there." She sighed. "I'm sure she hasn't forgotten about you." "Oh, of course not. She's actually the one who suggested I do this." She tossed her mane back. "So, do I need to refill my paperwork out again?" "I already have everything about you on file, no need to be redundant, dear." She pulled up a holographic display of her teams, going over it with her careful eye. "Hrm... As it turns out I may have an idea for you." "So quickly?" "One of our... How do I put this, 'Darker Operations' teams has recently dropped in member number. One of them went off to join the Military Division, and the other just decided to stop working for me after the war. They're currently only three strong, and I prefer larger numbers for a full team." "Darker Operations?" Lady Rarity mulled this over. "I'm not against charging into some brutal worlds." "I figured you wouldn't," Renee said with a curt nod. "Legally speaking, I have to warn you that you will see a lot of death, be asked to do some decidedly despicable things, and be subject to a lot more strain than the usual Expedition team member." "Renee, so long as it doesn't conflict heavily with my Code, I have the strength." "I had forgotten you were a knight," Renee said with a smile. "Should be no issue. Bring any moral concerns you have up with me or the other members of your team, assuming you have time to do so. I trust your judgment in that matter." Lady Rarity nodded. "You can count on me. Can I ask who my team will be?" "I believe you know them. They used to be known as the Mean Six." Lady Rarity brightened visibly. "I do know them from the war. Fought Skarn together." "They're actually waiting outside to see me right now," Renee said. "You got in just before them. Ah, ka works in mysterious ways..." "And convenient ones." Renee pushed her hoof onto her desk. "Come on in." Three ponies were teleported in - the blue Curaçao, the dark Insipid, and the dark pink Velvet. Curaçao and Insipid looked the same, though Velvet was currently wearing advanced ka-sensing glasses that highlighted several words in a book she was holding: The Republic of Plato. "Philosophy?" Lady Rarity said, raising an eyebrow. "Forgive me, but you didn't seem like the type." "I'm compensating," Velvet said, closing the book and tucking her glasses in her mane. The lenses didn't disappear, but they stayed in the hairs neatly. "Stretching the Awareness muscles apparently requires stretching the brain as well, so that's what I'm doing." "You should have seen her try to literally stretch her brain!" Insipid blurted. "It was major trash." "It's people like you that keep society stagnating," Velvet retorted. Insipid rolled her eyes. "See what I have to deal with? She's becoming, like, an egghead or something." "That means I have at least a million more ways of brutally killing our enemies. I'm thinking striped punch..." Curaçao cleared her throat. "Insipid, it is good zat Velvet is seeking to broaden 'er 'orizons. Books are not somezing to be frowned on, they are la vie du monde." "Uh... Right, fine, Velvet, you can like your dead trees. Just, like, don't try to get me to read any, 'kay? Cha." Velvet giggled. "Okie!" Renee opened her mouth. "Don't tell me," Velvet said, closing her eyes. "I'm going to try this one... Lady Rarity arrived in here asking to transfer to a team, and it's our team that just happened to both have available slots and be right outside the door. And uh... there's another surprise waiting...? ...Is the surprise cake?" "Close," Renee said. "There's no cake, I'm afraid, unless you're suddenly able to produce it from nowhere." "Hmmm..." Velvet pulled a cake out of her mane that looked like it was made out of dirt, bones, maggots, and loose organs. She shrugged. "Technically a cake." "...Lovely," Renee deadpanned. "You are right, Lady Rarity is being assigned to your team should you want her." Curaçao looked at Lady Rarity and smiled. "She'll be a great addition." "Like, totally!" Insipid said with a dumb grin. "She'll use her spider-senses!" "That's not a thing for spirids," Velvet said. "They have magic silk." "Uh, yeah, whatever! That's totally a spider-sense." Velvet facehooved. "And as for the surprise..." Renee said, giving them all a careful look-over. "Your team could be a bit larger..." "You 'ave someone else in mind?" Curaçao asked. "Yes. Though she'll be more of a trial. I'm not sure if she'll play all that nice." Lady Rarity blinked. "...Who is it?" "It's-" "ME!" Jenny said, appearing in a puff of her own magic. "Behold, your newest billion-year-old world guardian! We shall travel the multiverse, squashing evil and unsavory types as we go!" "Like, woah, you've got a presence," Insipid observed. Jenny gave her a thumbs up. "And you talk really annoyingly, but I like you anyway!" "Curaçao, I don't like this one," Insipid said. "Can we throw her overboard?" "Why stop at throwing her overboard?" Velvet asked. "There are much more creative things we can do to her. Did you know she has unlimited regeneration? There'd be no problem with, say, cutting off her hands and having a little ta-" Everyone stared at Velvet in horror. "Kidding. That was a joke. ...I'm not returning to my cannibalistic roots, okay? Yeesh." Renee shook her head. "I've assigned Jenny to you because her usual... flair is probably best suited for some of the less peaceful missions we undertake." "I will feel free to use 'er as a guinea pig for exotic weapons," Curaçao said. Jenny twitched. "Bu-" "Curaçao is your Captain, Jenny," Renee said. "You wouldn't want to disobey one of her orders, would you?" Jenny pointed a finger at Renee, ready to give her a mouthful. Then she let out a sigh and dropped her hand. "Fine, fine, fine. I'll be the guinea pig." "That's the spirit!" Renee said, winking. "Now the five of you should get acquainted, I'll probably send you on a mission tomorrow if I can!" Curaçao saluted. "Yes, Ma'am." She turned to Lady Rarity. "...You can teleport, right?" "Oh, yes, though I'm not particularly speedy about it. Give me a moment." "Thank god," Insipid muttered. "I didn't realize how much we depended on Shadow..." Lady Rarity focused her spell, taking them to the crystal castle's lobby. "What happened to Shadow and Grayscale, anyway?" "Grayscale got tired of fighting and adventuring, to nobody's surprise," Velvet said. "Shadow, like, joined the military!" Insipid said, face that of shock. "Like, wow, why? I dunno." Curaçao smiled. "Grayscale prefers a quiet life more than ze rest of us, and Shadow decided ze regimen of ze Military would be good for 'er. I stay here because it is my calling to lead my sisters, Insipid will never leave my side, and Velvet..." "I don't do well with authority," Velvet deadpanned. "...zat is certainly one way of putting it." Jenny clasped her hands together. "You girls sound like you're going to be delightful to work with!" Curaçao's calm, reasonable smile became decidedly menacing for just a moment. "And we're going to 'ave a lot of fun with you too, Jenny." Jenny tried to keep a straight, confident face. She failed. ~~~ Celestia City was eventually invited to TSAB space. The entire population was exceedingly nervous about being within another Class 2's borders, but Nanoha was a bit of a hero to them, so her presence cooled things down significantly. Much of the visit was symbolic - a strengthening of relations between the second-highest Class 2 and the 'new kids' on the block who had just shown signs they may not be kids anymore. The TSAB was definitely showing off with all their mages, impressive technology that spanned entire solar systems with superstructures, and planets outfitted with the TSAB's special dimensional drives. Celestia City wasn't even in a standard universe right now, but a bubble universe created by a TSAB flagship. They were on a bit of a tour through the area of the E-Sphere the TSAB called home, visiting all the important locations along the way. Many people were rather surprised Eve wasn't along for the ride. Blumiere got to do most of the talking for Merodi Universalis, even though the Relations Division did have a diplomat in the city. So far, that diplomat had capitalized on Blumiere and not done a darn thing. Nanoha was apparently using the Celestia City tour as a vacation. She and another mage of her caliber, the blonde Fate, had taken to wandering the sights of Celestia City together rather than being at every single event to showcase the power of the TSAB. Rumor had it they were becoming fast friends with Blumiere and Timpani. Today, they were visiting the League of Sweetie Belles. Allure was nervous. Even though she had met Nanoha a few times prior to this, they were now on her turf and yet, somehow, showing off their facilities. It felt like a paradox and it was making her sweat profusely. "I could never sit with this many of myself," Fate observed, examining the scrambling forms of the Sweetie Belles. Nanoha smirked. "Fate-chan, what about Fatal?" "That was one copy," Fate countered. "Just one. She was... fine." Nanoha started listing off her fingers. "And then there was all those versions of me. Nano... Nina... Takaha... Niroha..." "You were always more comfortable with yourself." "And these Sweeties are always comfortable being around themselves," Nanoha said with a smile. "I think it's great!" "How am I supposed to tell them apart?" Fate asked. Allure blinked. "Ah... Most of us have a defining feature of some kind. I have this metal horn, Thrackerzod has the red eyes, Squeaky's voice is unmistakable, Bot makes mechanical noises when she moves, Suzie's got the frizzy hair, Burger's a Flat, Silver's the stallion with the extra short mane, Servitude's the angel, and..." Allure rubbed the back of her head nervously. "Honestly you just get used to it and learn to tell the difference. Even if you're not part of the League since the rest of Celestia City generally knows who we are." "Their society had a lot more experience with doubles than ours did," Nanoha said. "When we first set out to explore we had two alternates we knew about. Am I remembering right?" Raising Heart beeped. "Yes, master." Nanoha nodded. "Yep. Just two. The evil one and little adorable Nano." "...How different was your rise to Class 2?" Allure asked. Nanoha put a hand to her chin. "Hrm... all right, story time!" She fully activated Raising Heart and slammed the staff on the ground. "Nanoha..." Fate said with a smile on her face and a shake of her head. Nanoha ignored her. "The TSAB started as a loose coalition of worlds that were naturally connected to each other, allowing for the discovery of 'interdimensional space'. We didn't figure out we were creating entire universes when we moved until much later, but understanding didn't matter. We tied worlds together with our ships and uncovered Lost Logia from ancient civilizations - civilizations that had destroyed their universes with their own power. I rose through the ranks as a prominent mage, and when I had hit my mid-thirties we made a discovery. The ability to make ships that could take larger journeys through the multiverse. After an encounter with a being from the Q-Sphere - a unicorn, believe it or not - and the realization the multiverse was much larger than we thought, I organized an expedition. "I promised to bring the unicorn home and to learn everything I could about the multiverse. We traveled everywhere over the course of... For us, it was about thirty years. Far longer than we were expecting. For the TSAB it was longer. We returned with vast knowledge about the worlds beyond our own, and were able to use what we had discovered to quickly rise to Class 2. It wasn't as instant as conquering, you understand - we didn't return with a Shaping Mechanism. We just returned with knowledge that changed us over the course of several years." "We owe everything to her expedition," Fate said, smiling. "That long, long expedition we thought she would never come back from." Allure looked at Fate with sad eyes. "...That must have been hard for you." "It was," Fate admitted. "But she came back. And then we just... grew. And kept growing." Nanoha smiled. "I made a name for myself out on the Expedition. People knew about the TSAB, and when we made contact we were usually welcomed with open arms. We tended to make friends rather than enemies as we explored, so in that way we were a lot like you." "Did you have to fight any wars?" Allure asked. Nanoha nodded. "Several. There were a few that took place before I even left. Several while I was gone. Several when I came back." Nanoha sighed. "Humans... have a problem with that." Allure nodded slowly. "It does appear to be a recurring theme." "It's a theme I've spent my entire life trying to break," Nanoha said. "I've failed completely." Allure blinked. "...How can you say that last part with a smile?" "Most people don't even try," Fate said. Allure nodded. "...I think I see." Nanoha winked at her. "Good. Now, I'm in the mood for something fun." "What kind of fun?" Nanoha twirled the staff that was Raising Heart. "A good friendly spar. Who here is the best fighter?" Allure rolled her eyes. "HEY THRACKERZOD! YOU'RE NEEDED ON GROUND FLOOR!" ~~~ I had an office now. It was a neutral office, not devoted to any particular Division, but it was still an office. As much as I liked libraries there was something official and freeing about having a room all to myself in the Hub where I could write, read, and analyze everything. It was a well-lit office with dark purple walls covered in star imprints. A pocket-dimension bookshelf lined the left wall and a computer with full security access sat on the Gem-constructed crystal desk. There was also a box filled with notebooks for my scribbling pleasure and another box filled with every color of pen imaginable. The Merodi had been very accommodating. Some simply because they liked me. Others because they knew that the power and information I was offering them was priceless. Ava in particular - now there was a woman who did the right thing only because she felt she had to. Naturally speaking, she didn't express much appreciation or empathy. She sure worked hard to show those traits to the people she thought it 'mattered' to, though. She was fine where she was. Doing good work for now. Regardless, I had other things to think about now. Mainly the visitor I was about to receive. The door to my office swung open. Jotaro walked in, slamming Rohan into my desk, knocking over my empty coffee mug. "What the-" "Rohan, you need to be more responsible," I said, shutting my computer down. "How i-" "Jotaro, you can leave us." Jotaro nodded, leaving me alone with Rohan. I placed my hooves together. "You know who I am." Rohan nodded. "Perfect prophet princess Twilence." "I'm not perfect, merely more experienced. Significantly more experienced." I summoned one of his manga manuscripts out of the aether. "Where did you get that!?" "I'm heavily Aware. I know shortcuts. Pinkie pulls stuff out of her mane, Scooter can read the script, Deadpool messes with panels, etcetera - this is just another expression of that." "It doesn't seem right that you get to be both." "Life isn't fair," I said, flipping through the manga. "Which is tangentially related to why I brought you here today." "...Jotar-" "I wrote the encounter where he discovered you wrote this," I said, smiling innocently. "I am the reason you're here." Rohan blinked. "Not so nice when someone does it to you, is it?" Rohan opened his mouth to object. "Let's see, all those excuses you make to yourself to defend what you do? They're wrong. The biggest mistake you make is 'because I have this power I can do whatever I want with it'." I glared at him. "Just because you're a Prophet doesn't mean you suddenly have the right to do whatever you want or try whatever you want. There's a reason most Prophets never know what they are. In order for it to be pure you're generally not supposed to know about it." "Then what are we? Mistakes?" "People who need to think a little more carefully about what we write. We, the Prophets who know what we are, have a power that cannot be trumped except in exceedingly esoteric situations." "Right. I've had my manga overturned numerous times." "That's because you don't know how to do it right," I said. "Granted, I have a bit of a cheat installed in me to know if what I write will work or not, but there are still rules, guidelines, and ways to maximize effectiveness." I leaned into him. "With the right words in the right place, almost anything can happen." He stared at me, unresponsive. "I need you to understand something, Rohan." I threw the Manga into his hands. "You can't just write what you want to happen. You can't just blow off steam. Those aren't rules, you know, those are part of our responsibility with this power. We can alter just about anything we want. We can't let our selfish desires and emotional vendettas control that." "But art comes from emotion!" "I'm not saying cut emotion out, Rohan. I'm saying don't let it control you." I pointed at his manga. "Don't give a person who annoyed you a comically bad day." Rohan had enough grace to look ashamed. I pressed my front hooves together. "So, I'm going to offer you a deal, Rohan." "A dea-" "You get to study under me. I'll whip you into the proper shape for a Prophet. In return, I'll teach you the nuances of influencing reality." I smiled mischievously. "It's as simple as that." "...So you get a 'responsible Prophet' and I get to sharpen my abilities?" "It's exactly what it sounds like." "I refuse." I smirked. "I figured you'd say that. Too much pride in you, after all." I levitated a notebook to my face. "In that case, since I can't have a self-absorbed impulsive Prophet like yourself just running around, it looks as though I'm going to have to fight a war of words with you until you give in." Rohan slammed his hands on the desk. "You won't break me." I gave him an innocent smile. "You're going to be back here before the day is done begging me to stop." "If I last longer than that will you leave me alone?" "Yes! Pinkie Promise!" I extended a wing. Rohan glared at it. "You really should just stay. It'll be a lot less embarrassing that way. And you won't be going against what is effectively a guaranteed prophecy!" Rohan turned and walked out without saying another word. I sighed and started scribbling in my notebook. He was back in my office two hours later. His clothing was in tatters, blood ran down over one of his eyes, and his face was that of a broken man. "Make it stop." I pressed my hooves together. "Why? This is nothing worse than what you did in your last manga. Just... condensed." "I'll study under you, just make it stop!" I smiled. "Good!" With my magic I healed him up and sat him back in the chair. "I knew you'd turn around." Rohan muttered something indecipherable under his breath. "Anyway, we'll start right away. Lesson one: what is ka? Ka is an esoteric force produced by the Dark Tower and inserted in varying quantities into every universe in existence..." ~~~ Renee and Eve were walking through the gardens of Canterlot Castle, discussing life in general. "Jenny's been behaving better than expected," Renee said, adjusting her hat to keep the sun out of her eyes. "Lady Rarity has confided that she's a very capable agent, if outrageously arrogant and a bit careless." "I imagine that happens when almost nothing can hurt you," Eve observed. A smile came to her face. "Enemies that become friends. It's nice to see that redemption isn't a completely dead art." Renee nodded. "Makes you realize not all hope is lost, hrm?" "We can still have some faith in existence, despite it all," Eve said, looking up at the sun. "I'm never going to stop looking at my life and thinking 'wow, everything's changed so much'. It's just going to be a fact of our existence. Things move by at the speed of a bullet train." "Faster," Renee said with a smirk. "We need to stick a hyperspace drive on our minds just to keep up." Eve let out a laugh. "No, we need wormholes. Nothing less than infinite speed will do!" "No - ludicrous speed!" The laughs continued until they rounded a corner, coming to the palace doors again. "Well, I must be off," Renee said. "See you at the funeral." "...Funeral?" Renee blinked. "...For Rainbow Dash? It's been planned for months." "I... didn't receive an invitation. Or I lost it." Renee gasped. "You sure? It was digital." Renee pulled out her phone and showed Eve the message. "Oh..." Eve said, drooping. "...Prism sent those out." "What would that have t-" Renee blinked. "Ah. That is unfortunate... Here, let me call her." "Renee you don't have to." "A-shush," Renee said, making a call, being sure to place it on speakerphone. Eve took this as an indication to turn on her ears. "Prism, dear! It's Renee!" "Oh. Hi!" Eve was relieved to hear that there was at least some joy to Prism's voice. The alicorn hadn't even seen Prism since the day everything had come crashing down. "What's up?" "Well, I wish I was calling with good news... It's just Eve." "...Frick, she found out about the funeral." "Yes, she did," Renee said. "What do you plan to do?" "If she shows up I will personally kick her out. I have the legal right to decide who is and who isn't welcome. Why don't you tell her she can come? That way I can get her arrested without endangering the sanctity of Merodi Universalis." "Prism..." Renee said, concern in her voice. "The great purple bonehead isn't welcome here. I'm not going to let her in, Renee. Don't push it." "...All right, all right," Renee said. "See you then." "Yeah..." Renee hung up, glancing at Eve. Eve wiped a few tears from her eyes and sighed, turning off her ears. "...Guess I won't be going." "Dear, if anyone needs to go, it's you. I'll find some way to get you in. Maybe we could even change pl-" Eve put a hoof on Renee's mouth and shook her head. "Don't. Just go yourself." "A-are you sure?" "Not really?" Eve admitted. "But I know I can't chance you. You knew Rainbow just as well as I did. Go. I might or might not find my own way in." Renee adjusted her hat. "If you say so..." "I do," Eve said, smiling. "See you around." The Overhead teleported into the royal halls of the palace, wiping her eyes. "What is wrong, Evening?" Eve didn't hear what was said - but she sensed someone behind her. She turned to Luna. "Oh. Didn't notice you there. ...Sorry." "I asked what was wrong." "...Prism won't let me attend Rainbow Dash's funeral, and I can't really blame her. It'd be like inviting that bear who killed her." Luna shook her head. "Her anger toward you shouldn't keep you from gaining closure." "I'll be fine, Luna. I got my cl-" "You should go," Luna said. "You can go as me." "...As you?" Luna nodded. "You can go as me." "Wh-" Luna smiled warmly. "I cannot claim to have known Rainbow Dash all that well - I expect I was invited as a formality more than anything. You can have my invitation." "And I'll just have to look like you?" "Evening, I am a master of dreams and minds. I can swap our minds for a few hours." "Oh." Eve blinked. "...Are you cert-" "It is the least I can do. You'll get more out of the experience than I will." Eve beamed with tears in her eyes and pulled Luna into a hug. "Thank you." Luna smiled, saying nothing in response. ~~~ The service was both a small and a large one. Small in that the public had no idea it was happening - as far as they knew, the funeral for Rainbow Dash had occurred around the time the monument of those lost in the war was built in the Hub. Prism had waited a little longer than that, wanting to separate her memories of the war from her memories of her mother. It was a few months, and she invited everyone she knew Rainbow had a close connection with. Except Eve. She had specifically left Eve out. There were a few dozen people there. The primary team, the last remaining Wonderbolt - Surprise, Rainbow's parents, Scootaloo, most of the Apple Family including Corea and Applejack, Corona, O'Neill, Renee, Daniel, Princess Luna, and a few others. Except it wasn't Princess Luna. It was Eve walking around in Princess Luna's body. Even though Eve had grown considerably as her time in an alicorn, she was still shorter than the regal glory of Luna. It had taken her a bit to get used to walking on the longer, thinner legs. Luckily nobody was looking at her with much suspicion, given the nature of the gathering. The funeral's actual service wasn't the most memorable thing that happened that day - not for Eve, anyway. Prism, Scootaloo, Rainbow's parents, Flutterfree, and Pinkie gave short speeches, each one bringing tears to everyone's eyes. But they blurred together in Eve's mind, strained through a layer of tears. What she did remember was the people she talked to. How they remembered Rainbow Dash - a hero who was perhaps a bit arrogant, but also a truly Loyal individual. Eve was glad that her Loyalty wasn't all she was remembered for; the trait was placed alongside her aloof attitude, confident demeanor, determined outlook on life... It was good to hear that Rainbow Dash had left such a lasting impression. The largest of which was her daughter, Prism. Known egghead-athlete, a seeming contradiction in terms. A white mare with the brilliant mane of her mother who was clearly ready to take on the world. "So what are you doing these days?" Eve asked Prism. "A bit of this, a bit of that," Prism said. "Mostly research in my lab. There's a lot of testing with the new physical understanding gained from the Shaping Mechanism. We may be able to create devices that could turn everyone into a full reality warper. A bit of a terrifying prospect, I know, but someone's going to figure it out eventually, might as well be me." "And your racing?" Prism smirked. "Surprised you know about that, Princess. Yes, still doing good on the track. I kick serious flank out there. You'd be surprised how much it helps to be able to run several different thought processes through your head at once. It's all about minimizing air resistance. I think I've even improved upon the Sonic Rainboom a bit, though only with technological assistance." "I see she passed on the impossible gene." "I can't pull it off as easily as she could," Prism said with a sigh. "She could just whip out the Rainboom on a dime. I need to augment myself to do it that easily." "Prism, you are currently the only pegasus who can." "Besides other Rainbow Dashes," Prism muttered. Eve shook her head. "You don't need to carry on the legacy of your mother by being your mother. You can be your own person. Why, I remember something Eve s-" Prism's hopeful expression soured when she heard Eve's name. "Don't tell me what she said." Eve stared at Prism in mild shock. "...Look, just don't bring her up. Ever. I'll have fulfilled all my wildest dreams if I never see or hear about her again. Which is impossible." "Prism..." "I don't want to have anything to do with her, understand?" Prism asked. "If you're going to interact with me, you can't bring her up. Because I'm going to hate you for even giving her the time of day, for considering her a friend. And I really don't want to alienate everyone I know." She swallowed hard. "So just... don't, okay?" Eve stared at her with sad eyes. "...Okay." "I'm... I'm going to go grab some food," Prism muttered, walking away. "...Nice to see you here, Princess." She walked away, head down. Eve let out a deep sigh. "Ah bet that cuts worse than anythin', huh Eve?" "Yeah, it does, Applejack," Eve said. Then she blinked. "Wait, did you ju-" Applejack nodded, taking a drink from her mug. "There are signs. Mainly how Flutterfree keeps checking on you like a stressed older sister." Eve looked around nervously. "I... I can go if y-" "Don't," Applejack said, looking at a portrait of Rainbow Dash hanging from a nearby wall. "You need to be here just like the rest of us. Ah wish you didn't have to be secretive about it, but lookin' at Prism there's clearly not gonna be another way." "T-thanks," Eve said, tapping the ground. "Ah've got somethin' to say to you, too," Applejack said, looking Eve in the eyes. "Look, Applejack, I already know it's ruined." Applejack nodded. "It is ruined. Ah won't be invitin' you out for time with the girls, and Ah won't be able to look at you as a friend again, you were right about that in your letter. But that's no excuse. Ah don't have to treat you like an enemy." "...What do you mean?" "We can still talk. Ah've told the rest of the family you can come by the farm, if you want. There's no need to be cruel. You've been hurt just as much as the rest of us through all this. Ah'll make an effort not to drive you away like some varmint." "Applejack..." Applejack sighed. "It's all Ah've got in me, Eve. You shouldn't thank me. Ah should be stronger than this. But Ah'm not." "It's okay. I knew it was going to happen." "How in the name of Celestia does that make it okay?" Applejack asked. Eve blinked, then looked at the ground. "...It doesn't." Applejack nodded slowly, looking into the distance. "It's all Ah can do." "I'll take it," Eve said with a smile. Applejack allowed the corners of her mouth to turn up. "Good. At least we've got somethin', Ah guess." Eve nodded. "I'll see you around, then." Applejack nodded curtly and the two went their separate ways. Flutterfree walked up to Eve immediately after. "She knew?" "Yep." "What happened?" "Well, we're not enemies anymore. I don't think she hates me either." Eve looked back. "I don't think we're rebuilding the bridge. I think we're making something new." She chuckled. "Friendship is complicated." Flutterfree giggled. "No kidding." ~~~ Pinkie Pie stood on top of the now-mundane map of Equis Vitis in the Castle of Friendship. She pulled the knot on her pink blindfold, making sure it was on tight, but not too tight. She stood up on her hind hooves and pulled a dimensional device out of her mane. "All right, team!" Flutterfree, Nova, Vriska, and Jotaro gave her mock salutes. "Yes, Captain?" "We're going back out there!" she said, holding out the dimensional device. "We're going to go out there to prove that nothing can stop us!" She glanced at each of her team members in turn, as if looking right at them. "Not loss! Not past mistakes! Not interpersonal drama! Not self-doubt!" She glanced down at herself. "Not physical disability! We're going to go out there and do what we've always done!" "Explore!" Nova blurted. "Help!" Flutterfree added. "Fight," Jotaro said. "Be a bunch of absolute badasses," Vriska said with a smirk. "What? No!" Pinkie waved her front hooves. "I mean go have fun!" "That works too," Vriska said dismissively. Pinkie twirled the dimensional device in her hoof and pointed it forward, opening a portal. "TO UNKNOWN FRONTIERS!" The five of them stepped out onto a large, grassy field. Pinkie stood on her hind hooves with a proud smile, Flutterfree and Nova to her sides, Vriska and Jotaro posing right behind that. The sun of the world rose behind them, casting them in a brilliant blue light. Pinkie's Party was ready to take on the multiverse once again. ~~~ I lifted my pen from the paper, wondering once again how much of Pinkie's recovery was due to my work, or just due to the natural narrative of her story. She was paradoxically the weakest and the strongest of all the ponies - able to handle existential dread with relative ease, but breaking at signs of betrayal. Then there was her innate ability to bounce back from whatever depressed hole she had found herself in... She was a curious character, to say the least. Sometimes I wonder how much my Pinkie was like her. But that's not a question I'm able to answer. She was gone before I fully came into my own... As much as I was teaching Rohan about what we could change and how we could do it, I was often just as confused as everyone else about why things happened. Did I do it, or was I part of some larger narrative? When will the larger narrative overrule me? ...How do I exert my power in a way that is good? Questions I had answers for... but the answers changed depending on the day. In some ways, it made life interesting. But in others, it made life haunting. I wasn't going to let that bother me though. Not that much. I summoned a new pen from the aether and began writing in my notebook. And then time seemed to flow into the depths... With Merodi Universalis' newfound power, they found that the things they'd been doing for so long didn't have the same charm. They had seen much - what many would consider too much. They had risen to a high enough point that the fears of the past had been realized. They were able to, without thinking, destroy entire ways of life. The long-discussed laws involving the limitation of aid and information had to be implemented. Primitive societies could no longer be taken into the fold. Aid had to be rendered without bestowing multiversal access. After the initial rush of new worlds, the requirements to become part of Merodi Universalis were raised. They could no longer guarantee the safety of a small world's culture when being absorbed. It became a new world. A new era. An era that lasted a seeming eternity... Years began to pass like leaves on a windy autumn day.
Songs of the Spheres	107 - Deep Skaia	Year 4 Skaia's Dream was one of the most important worlds within Merodi Universalis space, being the source of all Skaians and their reality-warping god-tier citizens. The Aspects of Sburb were an excellent resource for just about every task imaginable: from construction to exploration to aid to diplomacy. Trolls were still the primary race of Skaians, but they had found clusters of humans, ponies, elves, and even a couple of cherub ghosts mixed with a random assortment of other races. More and more players were continually found by Skaian Expeditions deeper into the Dream. This had created an interesting political climate, to say the least. Most of the deeper Skaians had no loyalty to Merodi Universalis or even understanding of what had happened to the Dream Bubbles and Lord English. A lot decided to join up with the Merodi because it seemed like the simple thing to do, but others staked out sections of Skaia's Dream for themselves, making little 'dream-kingdoms' out of their ghostly selves. There had been a few wars between these dream-kingdoms. But since everyone was a ghost, it was very difficult to actually kill anyone. There had been a few instances where a non-Merodi Skaian had obtained a dimensional device and used it to kill ghosts, but those instances were quelled rather quickly. Due to its dreamy and aloof nature, Skaia's Dream had become a bit of a tourist attraction. The ghost 'cities' near the 'surface' of Skaia's Dream were filled with Skaians of all kinds trying to make a quick buck and establish their own unique cultural identity. With the advances of Merodi technology, the constructions could actually stay around and not shift with the dreams, allowing people to actually stick together. But the greatest attraction of Skaia's Dream was not the very young society there, but the scouting parties that took tourists into deep Skaia to the memories of long lost SBURB players. Alien structures would astound, bizarre colors would amaze, and interesting locals would provide unique interactions. Of course most of these tourist excursions didn't really go that deep into Skaia. They just poked their heads into the surface. Jack O'Neill wanted a little more than that on his 'vacation'. He wasn't kidding himself, he knew this wasn't going to actually be a full vacation, but he was still going to have some fun. Instead of poking around aimlessly for someone who would actually take him to an unexplored area, he had a much better idea. He walked down what could be thought of as the 'main street' to Skaia's Dream's 'capital' - Peixe. Which was to say he was walking on a flat, winding tree branch that wormed its way around the memory of a pink 'moon'. As he walked, the moon went from being a distant object in the sky to being a world whose surface he could walk on. He jumped from the branch onto the surface of Peixe. The pink moon was covered in jagged rocks that the Skaians had built structures into. The vast majority were troll dwellings that had the general appearance of gray blocks smashed together in random ways with no discernable rhyme or reason. There were a handful of other structures - human and pony, generally built by beings not native to Skaia's Dream - but these were in the decided minority. O'Neill walked past these buildings, thankful that the usual unnatural shifting of location was not allowed in Peixe. He could walk down a street and expect it to stay a street for the entire time he was there. He made his way through the busy roads filled with eternally-teenaged ghosts running around, scrambling about their day. Some of them were late for pointless shenanigans, while others probably had jobs of a sort. Even though work in Skaia's Dream was rather limited due to its nature. O'Neill marched up to the doors of the one building that belonged in the dream-memory of the pink moon. The royal palace of Beforus - the original home of Meenah. O'Neill walked in, entering the main hall. What had once been a memory of a vast, empty room had become a crowded meeting hall, mostly dominated by versions of Meenah and Feferi, representing the ruling families of both Alternia and Beforus. Notably, the room wasn't filled only with Fuschia-blooded trolls - versions of jade, teal, cobalt, and mutant candy red weren't uncommon, though the only version of Vriska in the room was Omega Vriska, known as Vrisko, standing by the primary Meenah. Meenah. O'Neill's target. He marched through the hall, going right for her. He passed several Skaians scrambling with paperwork and digital messages from Merodi Universalis. He caught more than a few interesting conversations on the way. A god-tier candy-red-blooded troll known as Kankri was in a deep, passionate discussion about the nature of Skaian politics. "...and I don't mean to be rude, please forgive me if I am, but the foremost duty of any politician is to point out when and where the system is failing, and it appears to me our rather... disorganized chaos within this parliamentary room makes us seem foolhardy to the more experienced, organized rationales of which our parent government appreciates and encourag-" "Let me stop you right there," a Terezi muttered, folding her arms. "We're fucking trolls, Kankri." "Such language is no-" "Shush it. We're trolls. We don't do 'neat' and 'nice', and never have, even on Beforus. Aranea, back me up here." The cobalt-troll blinked. "Oh, huh?" she rubbed the back of her head. "Right. While Beforus was certainly a more peaceful and caring civilization, the biological drives of our race are decidedly violent and disorganized. We were very lucky our Empress was Feferi, so she could show the world how to care for all life. Even then, the legal system and parliamentary customs were hardly as organized as any Earth - more like a version of Equis, actually. Even then most of the paperwork was decidedly simpler." "I am fully aware of this factoid, Aranea," Kankri began. "But I must insist that what we naturally are may not be 'correct' or 'the best' as we consider it. Perhaps an illustration would help, think o-" "FOR THE LOVE OF MY BONE BULGE SHUT UP!" a Karkat blurted. Kankri ignored him. "-smuch as we can think in a way with images through words directed through our consciousnesses..." O'Neill stopped listening - it sounded like that would get boring real fast. He walked right up to Meenah. "Sclam," Meenah muttered, not looking up from her data pad. "Meenah!" Feferi yelled. "That's O'Neill!" "Yeah, so?" "As in Overhead-General O'Neill!? One of your bosses!?" "I tell anyone I want to sclam," Meenah muttered. Feferi repeatedly bowed to O'Neill. "Sorry! Sorry! She's just in a bad mood!" Vrisko smirked. "Oh, she's always in a variation of this mood." "Vrisko, glubbing stop ruining our politics!" "We are what we are. If he doesn't like it he can go fuck himself." O'Neill shrugged, turning to Feferi. "This is quite the reception you've got here." "I'm so sorry!" She put a hand on O'Neill's shoulder and pulled him away from Meenah and Vrisko. "I will personally sea to anything you need, O'Neill." "Anything?" "Anything." "Well in that case I want a personal expedition as deep into Skaia as we can go. I'm on vacation and I plan to see as much insanity as I can before my time is up." "...You do realize that's just asking for ka to ruin the vacation right?" "Wouldn't be a vacation without that happening now would it?" Feferi considered this. "Good point. I'll get you a personal contingent of Skaians a-" "I don't want a big production here, I can take care of myself." Feferi blinked. "In that case..." she twirled her double-pointed trident. "I'll lead you myself! I haven't gone deep in a while since I've been busy being half the leadership of Skaia's Dream... It should be fun!" O'Neill smirked. "Then lead the way." "Glub glub! Road trip!" She pulled out a small, metallic object and pressed a button. A personalized fuchsia Skiff appeared in the air above them, decorated with cuttlefish designs. "You want to go deep you have to swim fast." She grinned and squeed. "Oh, this is going to be amazing!" "You don't get out much, do you?" "Always stuck in this tide pool..." "That ends today." Feferi clapped. ~~~ Toph folded her hands, examining the five individuals standing before her throne. Curaçao, Velvet, Insipid, Lady Rarity, and Jenny. "What in the name of the spirits were you doing!?" "Amazing things," Jenny said with a coy smirk. "You're welcome for your daily dose of excitement, by the way." Curaçao sighed. "Your 'ighness, forgive our tactless words. I am afraid ze precise actions of what we were doing wizin ze 'Armony Caverns is a matter zat needs to be on ze 'down low'. If you wish for a report you could file a request wiz Renee a-" Lady Rarity rolled her eyes. "We were chasing a multidimensional entity across numerous worlds. It ended up in the Harmony Caverns. We stopped it with admittedly more damage to the surrounding physics than I would have liked. The Harmony Runes are still intact a-" "I have a fragment of the Spectacularium drifting from mind to mind driving people temporarily insane and answering questions nobody wants to know about!" Toph blurted. "Who cares about the Harmony Runes? I've got a bigger problem!" "In, like, all fairness, isn't that harmless? Cha?" Insipid asked. "You won't be so happy when your personal secrets start getting broadcasted to the minds of random people!" Toph snapped. Velvet adjusted her ka-glasses. "Ah, the secret night with one of your suitors got out, huh? Must be fun kn-" "Velvet if you try to fear-condition me I will cut you in half," Toph muttered. "...You're no fun," Velvet pouted. "The point is that this shouldn't have existed in the first place!" Jenny folded her arms. "Oh, I'm sorry, would you rather we let the monster continually eat everything in sight of itself? I bet you'd be upset about that." Toph twitched. "You can regenerate from anything, right?" Jenny had heard that question an excessive number of times in her life. She knew what it meant. She teleported away before Toph could throw the Master Sword. Toph sighed and leaned back into her throne. "Here's the deal. Take care of the mind creature. And do it without creating a bigger problem. Do I make myself clear?" "Of course, your 'ighness," Curaçao said with a bow. Insipid frowned. "But, like, didn't Renee-" Curaçao put a hoof to Insipid's mouth. "We'll get on it right away." Toph raised an eyebrow. "...Just hurry up." The four remaining ponies scrambled out of the room. ~~~ Flying deeper into Skaia's Dream was an experience all to itself. Despite the dream-nature of the realm, much of the world was still effectively solid, so flying through the world at faster-than-light speeds was normally out of the question. Anything faster than an average car required computer analysis to safely navigate the twisting turns of memories turned into reality. Luckily Feferi's Skiff - which she had named the Cuttlebolt - was equipped with something most Skiffs weren't. A phasing device. The Skiff - and everything inside of it - moved slightly out of phase with reality and passed through everything just like a ghost could. They had started out moving slowly through the upper levels, passing through scenery of Alternia, Beforus, Earth A, Earth B, and even a bit of Earth C. This only lasted a few minutes as they sped up. Soon they were passing through alien landscapes, including the section of Skaia's Dream that held the memories of an Equis that had played the game. They saw Canterlot, Ponyville, and the Everfree forest fly by, littered with versions of Twilight, Applejack, and the others. After they passed this, Feferi smirked. "Well, that's all the heavily explored areas of Skaia's Dream." "We're not there yet." "Of course not. The probes have a general idea what's out here for quite a long way!" She gestured toward the speed controls. "Will you do the honors?" O'Neill rubbed his hands together and pressed a finger to the speed control. Instead of slowly moving it upward, he shot it to full speed immediately. The Cuttlebolt entered galaxy-crossing FTL speeds, turning the locations they had passed by earlier into nothing more than rapidly flashing bursts of color. Inside the Cuttlebolt, the riders hardly felt anything from the instant acceleration due to the magic of inertial dampeners. Such a great invention. "We past the explored regions?" "Oh yeah," Feferi said. "No expedition has sean this area of the Dream." She giggled. "I wonder what we'll find!" O'Neill tapped his finger to the speed controls - and brought everything to an instant stop. In front of them was a shiny, mostly orange world with the occasional neon flash around it. O'Neill blinked. "...Is that the Land of Pyramids and Neon!?" "Oh, so this is where Spades went!" Feferi said. "By the tides, what were the chances we found this place? Million to one?" "Million to one chances crop up nine times out of ten," O'Neill pointed out. "True. ...Hey, do we actually know who said that first?" O'Neill shrugged. "Prevalent saying, far as I know." Feferi shrugged. Then she pressed a button. "This is Feferi of Skaia's Dream! Hiiiii!" O'Neill put his hands to his ears to stop the shrill shriek of Feferi's enthusiasm from draining his brain cell count. "What!?" Spades voice came in response. "How did you find us!?" "Random chance!" Feferi said. "Isn't that weird?!" "Weird enough to get a knife to the face." A knife shot from the surface of Lopan and passed right through the intangible ship. O'Neill took his turn. "Spades, buddy, fri-" "I ain't your buddy or your friend!" "And I ain't your pal, comrade." "I ain't yo-" Spades stopped himself, sensing an infinite loop of absurdity forming around the words. "Just get out of here and leave us alone, exploratory imbeciles." O'Neill raised an eyebrow. "Us?" "You hear that, knifey? Sounds like he wants a stab." "Hey, knifey, if you can hear me, tell your master he's forgetting a small detail. We're intangible right now." "Right, that's it, I'm coming up there." "What are y-" Spades launched from the planet and smacked the Cuttlebolt with his giant golden staff. A huge dent appeared on the Skiff's dash, causing sparks to come out. "I forgot he had that," Feferi said. "It's always a stupid magic weapon, isn't it?" O'Neill muttered. Spades swung again - only to find that Crimson Sushi had started screwing with his perceptions. He ended up swinging at absolutely nothing, horribly wrenching his arm. Spades shifted the staff to its form as a golden assault rifle. He fired it in every direction he could think of, its reality-burning bullets ripping holes in the fabric of spacetime. They quickly healed, but that didn't help the Cuttlebolt when one of the bullets lodged itself into the ship's engines. "Oh, shell," Feferi swore. The Cuttebolt swirled with a brilliant white light, enveloping the three of them in a burst of energy. Everything was gone. Lopan didn't even notice the departure of its 'beloved' leader. ~~~ Space was beautiful. No matter how long Cosmo lived or how much she saw, the awe the vastness of space brought her was never lessened. The darkness interspersed with stars, systems, and glorious alien worlds. If anything, her awe increased the more she saw as the variety proved to her that the possibilities were truly endless and beyond the understanding of most. She flew as her crystalline, skeletal self through one of the Merodi's relatively recent universal additions - Odanas Aflame. The universe itself was dominated by stars that shone a bright red, hence the 'Aflame' in the name. No matter how big or small the stars in this universe were, they were always red, bathing everything in their crimson glory. Cosmo's blue skeletal form was uncharacteristically dark in this universe - absorbing most of the red light, only letting scant amounts of it through the refractive nature of Cosmo's body. She appeared black with red highlights, decidedly ominous. But she didn't mind - there was no one to watch here in the void between stars. She was able to fly alone, her thoughts to herself. She had even left Starlight at home for once - a rare move for her, but she needed to think. Not because anything had gone wrong - far from it. Equis Cosmic was booming, Merodi Universalis was settling into what appeared to be a golden age, and she hadn't even had to do much! ...That last part was a bit of a problem for her, she realized. She had lived for countless centuries, and for the vast majority of those years she'd had the final say on everything. The leader, the commander, the spiritual guide - and had continued as that even in the early days of Merodi Universalis, due to how important her universe was to the continued shifting populations of the society. But now? The Overheads had settled into their power and taken most of Cosmo's outer responsibilities as their own. Most universal leaders got to keep a large portion of control over their subjects, since they were expected to be the most familiar with them. But over the years Equis Cosmic had accepted billions upon billions of refugees from outer worlds, peoples who had nothing to do with Equis Cosmic's past or Cosmo's understanding. The majority of Merodi Universalis' population lived in Equis Cosmic, so the Oversight Division took special interest in the finer running of the worlds. She was still technically in charge, but over time she had just let them take more and more out of her hands... Now she didn't do much besides make public appearances and speak as the voice of Equis Cosmic - a voice many thought was only for the older pony worlds. Was that a fair criticism? She didn't think so. With her new freedom, she spent a significant amount of time learning about all the cultures within her world and the powers that came from outside. She shook her head - what was she complaining about? She didn't have to be an important leader. She didn't have to control the fate of Merodi Universalis. She could be happy with her position. It wasn't like she was just a figurehead. She could do what she wanted. It was just... she wished she'd seen it coming. Her magic detected a loose planet floating around, not in the gravitational pull of any star. There were large energy signatures on the world that drew her attention and took her mind off her personal issues. She followed the trail, blasting across the interplanetary void with her magic. She appeared in a flash of purple far above the world. The planet was dark - as all planets without stars were. However, a few specks of green light could be seen from her position. She had a pretty good idea what those green sections were, but she went to investigate anyway. She summoned her illusion cover, transforming her skeletal self into an alicorn with all her mane and fur intact. Why do these curses exist? She asked herself as she descended. Things that exist seemingly only because they can't be cured. Physical maladies affixed to the soul... Why? What's the point? Are people just destined to never be able to recover? She didn't have an answer. Nobody did. Ka was a dreadfully cruel force much of the time, and nothing they did ever lessened its impact. Just changed it to another form. Cosmo landed on the planet's surface, the source of the beautiful green glow in front of her, basking her in its beautiful light. It was a magic forest on an otherwise deserted, cold, arid world, glowing a verdant green color. She walked in, carefully stepping so as to not harm the plants. There were no real 'trees' or 'bushes', but rather there were large strands of green vines that weaved together, the beautiful leaves covering nearly every surface within the forest save the ground. This world naturally had no atmosphere, but this forest, this organism had slowly introduced a tenuous gripping of oxygen to the spherical body. It wasn't enough air for someone like Cosmo to breathe naturally, but it was a sign of a bright future that could come. Hello, Cosmo called out with her telepathy. The forest reacted around her, the green light flashing brightly for a moment, then settling down as it remembered who she was. Ah, Cosmo! Back so soon? It's been a year, Odanas. And this is not the usual planet. Mmm... A year is not that long, child of harmony. A planet, a universe... all but thoughts away. I guess I am back, then. I did come across this place by complete accident though. I was just flying around space. This is one of my primary universes. And you're in the habit of gracing orphan planets with your presence? I do not recall how I spread my seed to this particular world, Cosmo. It is but one of countless thousands, and I have no intention of keeping meticulous records like you. The present moments are enough for me. It probably feels like yesterday when you joined us, huh? I never even had the concept of a 'day' down that well, so your statement is indubitably true. You always grow and transform worlds... I have no need for anything else. Lending my aid to those heavily damaged worlds you find is the least I can do. And you have no reservations whatsoever? The recent project I am undertaking with the Diamonds is... stretching my comfort some, admittedly, but as I am learning, there are many forms of life beyond the kind I naturally assist and produce. You really don't mind being told what to do? Having some of your agency removed? You always just ask. I'm free to say no. But before you found my universes it wasn't like I was making very many decisions anyway. I was just spreading life. I would take a passing interest in a civilization from time to time, but otherwise all my efforts were spent in simply shaping the long-term ecosystem of a planet. To be frank, it is nice to have some direction, something different. Even if I have not truly adjusted to it yet. Cosmo nodded. I think I see. A similar thing happened to me - but I do not think as slow as you, nor do I act that slow. ...I can't help but feel my agency was slighted. And my decisions are very important to me. Allow me to repeat something one of your kind said to me. Things change. We must change with them. ...I have heard that before. I really shouldn't be the one telling you this, since I rarely change. Surely you have a better capacity for it than I do. Cosmo let out a short laugh. Yes. Yes I suppose I do. Maybe I'm just being stubborn. It does appear to be a trait many of you fast-thinkers share in abundance. Yeah... Cosmo looked up at the sky through the green leaves at the red stars. ...You're going to turn this universe into Hearth's Warming Eve. What? ~~~ "What happened?" O'Neill asked, blinking. "We crashed," Feferi said, rubbing her head. "How do you crash an intangible ship?" "You shoot it with Lord English's gun," Feferi responded. O'Neill blinked. "Wait, Spades has Lord English's gun!?" "Yep," Spades said, tapping the windshield of the Cuttlebolt with the green head of the golden staff. "Now get out of there before I run you through." Feferi pressed a button. "Windshield's jammed. It won't pop o-" Spades smashed the windshield open, the power of the staff easily overcoming the high-end Merodi engineering. "There you go. Problem solved." O'Neill and Feferi crawled out of the Skiff, standing on top of a black mound. There was no sign of Lopan or anything else that was familiar, though they were clearly in Skaia's Dream given the existence of a tremendous pillar of black alien technology next to a landscape made out of cake. "How badly lost are we?" O'Neill asked. "Not bad," Feferi said, pulling out her phone. "Cell service still works, as does the dimensional device. I'll just call for help and we'll swim right out of this problem." "Or," O'Neill said, holding up a hand. "We could explore around anyway and see what's here." Spades glared at him. "Do you have a crowbar in your brain or something?" "No." "Would you like one?" O'Neill smirked. "I'd rather not, but don't let that stop you from trying!" Spades grunted. "Make the call, fish-face. I need to get back to Pyramid Hell." "Or," O'Neill said, holding up his other hand. "You could loosen up and learn to live a little. You strike me as a guy who's been sorely lacking in action and drama as of late." "My life is fine you judgementa-" "You rule a planet of pyramids inhabited mostly by consorts," O'Neill interrupted. "Oh, that has to be annoying," Feferi commented. "Nothing but them for company? They're absolutely adorable but... you know..." Spades grunted. "So what, I just leave them to bumble around their little village?" "Be honest, how many of them even know you're there at any given time?" O'Neill asked. Spades blinked. Then he narrowed his eyes. "Are you stealin' my Hope, Thief?" "Oh right, I can do that," O'Neill chuckled. "Forgot, never get to use it that often." "Mhm..." "How about you just cut your losses, loosen up, and come exploring with us without making me resort to stealing some delicious Hope? It's the best option for you!" "It's not an option." "Glad you're up to speed," O'Neill said, patting Spades on the back. "Now, I know a giant alien artifact when I see one." "Glub, really?" Feferi said, raising an eyebrow and gesturing at the gigantic alien pillar. "I wonder what else this could be!" O'Neill turned to stare at her, raising an eyebrow. "How uncharacteristically sarcastic of you." Feferi smiled innocently. "Heheh... Yeah, it just happens sometimes." "How feminine," Spades muttered. "HEY! SAY THAT TO MY FACE YOU ROTTEN BLOWHOLE!" "I just did," Spades deadpanned. Feferi blinked, her face returning to its cheerful, adorable self. "Oh, you did! Heh. Maybe spending extended time around a Sollux does that. Bipolar bleeding, it should be called..." She put a hand to her chin. "Hrm..." O'Neill marched forward until he reached the alien pillar. It was dark, but definitely wasn't the Dark Tower. It had a rippled shape, as if composed of thousands of little bubbles, and little green lights emanated from various rounded faces, each of the lights collecting together like stars in a constellation to form glyphs. O'Neill ran his hand along the surface of the alien tower, finding that the rounded bubbles were rough, unlike what he expected from looking at it. What creature dreamed this up? Was this a Sburb game construct or something natural from a player's home world? Did it have any relation to the pastry world to the side, or were they two completely different game sessions? "INTRUDER DETECTED." The bubble O'Neill was touching at that moment popped, revealing a sharp needle. The needle shot out, intending to skewer him, but his reflexes were fast enough to duck out of the way. The spike withdrew back into the tower without another word. "I was hoping for blood," Spades muttered. O'Neill put his hands on Feferi and pushed her forward. "You touch it next." "Wh- why?" "You're a ghost. You literally cannot die." Feferi blinked. "Oh. Okay!" She visibly brightened and touched the bubble. "INTRUDER DETECTED." The spike shot out and impaled her. Her cheerful expression shifted to a haunted one as bad memories filled her mind. There was also the intense pain that came from being impaled and not dying. "AUGH! FLOUNDERING CODDAMMIT BLOWHARDING SHELL!" "GHOST SIGNATURE ACCEPTED. FUSCHIA BLOOD DETECTED." "Get off," O'Neill said, grabbing Feferi by the shoulder and pulling her back. The spike decided to expand, skewering Feferi's body from the inside, preventing her from escaping. "HOLY GALLONS OF BETA P-" whatever stream of aquatic-related 'swearing' about to come out of her mouth was interrupted when the spike tried to pull her in. O'Neill was not strong enough to keep hold of her - but Spades was. He grabbed hold of her midsection with his mixed robotic and carapaced arms, pulling her back. The spikes erupted from her flesh and tore at her bones - but she was removed from the spike. She fell back to the ground, seemingly unharmed but visibly exhasuted. The spike retracted into the wall of the alien device, no longer holding anything. "Sometimes I wish I was a ghost," O'Neill muttered. "That can be arranged!" Feferi blurted. "Fuck, just... I'm not doing that again for any reason. No more impaling! None!" "None?" "NONE!" Spades impaled her with a knife. Feferi twitched. She reached into her back, removed the knife, and looked at it carefully. Then she proceeded to hit Spades across the head with the flat end of her trident. "You need to work on your people skills!" Spades shrugged off the hit. "Personally, I don't give a flying f-" The base of the tower opened with a series of pops, creating a simple doorway just tall enough for a full-grown troll to walk through. Not that any of the people here needed that much height - after all, none of them were even close to that tall, and Feferi wasn't growing anytime soon. The doorway was completely dark. There wasn't anyone or anything inside as far as they could tell. "If we walk in there, we're gonna get jumped," Spades said. "Yep," O'Neill confirmed. "There will be sufferin', a lot of fightin' for our lives at some point, and probably some emotional scarrin'." "Yep," O'Neill agreed. "Not to mention dream mindfuckery." "Mhm." "So, who's goin' first?" Feferi rolled her eyes. "For the love of cod..." She marched in first. O'Neill smirked, following her in with Spades at his side. At this point, none of them were able to resist the powerful call of mystery and adventure. They walked in... And were promptly jumped by seventeen different versions of Vriska. They never stood a chance against those with luck stealing. ~~~ Princess Luna of Equis Vitis had a different sort of problem than Cosmo. Unlike Equis Cosmic, Equis Vitis did not hold the vast majority of Merodi Universalis' population. Instead, Equis Vitis was the home to a large variety of races, most of whom looked to Luna for direct leadership rather than their own leaders. Ever since the Bloodbath, she had been the nearly uncontested ruler. Thorax had survived, yes, but he never had an issue with being subservient to other nations - so much that it was a problem, but not a huge problem. The changelings were able to live just fine with their authority figure being rather soft. She had a huge responsibility, to put it mildly - everyone looked to her to guide them, even if she knew she could never please all of them. But she was used to at least having good relations with most of the races on her planet - even the Yaks. But then there was Tauryl. The only nation on Equis Vitis that was not part of Merodi Universalis. And yet, ever since the Xeelee forcibly ended their xenophobic practices, they had started demanding a multiversal voice like a whining six-year-old. A whining six-year-old who was known for having an affinity for stealing magic for themselves. It was the primary ability of an Equis Vitis centaur to steal magic from other beings. While they had in recent years limited this act to just wildlife, in the past they had performed it on every creature they could find - even sapient ones. Right now, a Tauryl centaur priestess was threatening Luna with magic removal. Luna knew she could do it. Luna also knew she could have her magic restored in any number of ways after the fact and have this priestess pay dearly for the slight against the Equestrian Crown. But Luna would rather not raise tensions between Tauryl and the Merodi further. "Think very carefully about what you are saying, Hylon," Luna encouraged. "You wish to invoke our wrath simply because we will not give you advanced technology?" "You have withheld your toys from us long enough!" the yellow-coated centaur retorted, her dual horns buzzing with energy. "Our people are nothing compared to yours!" "We have ended most hunger in your country and provided you a way to get a superb education and develop these technologies in your own time," Luna pointed out. "Our own time? We do not progress as fast as you do! We will be left in the dust!" "Then join us," Luna said. "You are in a unique position of technically being below the usual 'acceptance' complexity for Merodi Universalis, but you had contact with us before those laws went into effect." "We will not join you." "Then, pray tell, why would we raise you to our level?" Luna folded her hooves. "We help. We are not here to be your gods." "You would no-" "Yes we would. We would provide you with everything, build you up, and destroy your culture if we did what you wanted. If your national pride is why you will not join us, then you do not want to be given everything you ask. The sudden influx would destroy you." Hylon twitched. She didn't like a word she was hearing - so she decided to use force. She began to drain Luna's magic... Only for a gargoyle to drop from the ceiling and punch her in the head, knocking her out. Luna blinked. "Huh?" "This isn't Hylon," the gargoyle said. "This is the stupid radical Nariss. Did you not receive word that Hylon's whereabouts were unknown?" "No," Luna admitted. "...Was she trying to upset me? Forgive me, I am not familiar with Tauryl radicals." "She wants Tauryl to fall," the gargoyle said simply, dragging Nariss' limp form away. "I don't worry myself with the details all that much. Just another crazy nut amongst millions..." Luna wanted to ask more questions, but let the radical get dragged away. She pulled out her phone. "Paradigm? Do you mind launching an investigation into the political structure of Tauryl? I suspect there's a conspiracy of some kind going on in there. ...Thanks." She hung up. That should clear up whatever this mess was in a week or two. In the meantime she had to talk to someone else... "YAKS UPSET! WEATHER UP NORTH NOT PERFECT!" "Do you want more snow or less?" Luna asked the yak with a sigh. "YAKS WANT MORE WIND ON TUESDAYS AND LESS SUN ON SUNDAYS!" Luna put on a smile. "Allow me to redirect you to the Weather Management Division..." ~~~ O'Neill, Spades, and Feferi were tied up, disarmed, and tossed into a spotlight. Aside from themselves, they couldn't see anything outside the spotlight. The inside of the alien structure was dark. "Would it kill you to decorate?" O'Neill asked. "I mean, this floor is nice, but it could stand to have some rugs on top of the cold, uncompromising metal." "His ass needs a pillow," Spades offered. Someone outside the spotlight threw a pillow hard enough to knock O'Neill over. "There you go! Exactly what you asked for!" the voice of a Vriska snickered. "Thank you," O'Neill said with a content smile. "Fucking smart aleck..." the Vriska voice said. "I think we should teach him a little lesson about talking back to the Serket..." "Shall we decide his fate with a coin?" another Vriska asked, prompting laughs from several other voices - not all of them Vriska. "Psh, too boring. How about this? I've got some chains, and it looks like he needs a good workout. What do you say to that, O'Neill?" O'Neill was only barely listening to them. He was weighing his options - they were all trapped and without weapons. He still had Crimson Sushi, but without light that wouldn't be very helpful. Spades was a brutally strong robot, but O'Neill expected the restraints were enchanted for him. Feferi did have an 'inventory' of sorts that they couldn't have taken, like most Sburb players, but he had no way of asking what she had in there they could use. Her trident had been taken, so it likely wasn't a weapon... Plus, these were ghosts they were dealing with anyway. At least some of them god-tier. Fighting their way out was probably a bad idea. Maybe they didn't need a weapon though... An orange boot came flying out of the spotlight and hit O'Neill in the jaw, interrupting his thought process. "I said, what do you fucking say to that, O'Neill?" "I say you're the one who needs the workout, flabby," O'Neill muttered. This prompted several chuckles - and another kick across the jaw. "Listen up, General. One more word like that out of you and I will take your pathetic human excuse for a bone bulge and pull it right up through your ribcage. And then I'll feed you to one of the Dream spider lusii. Because you're alive and those can definitely kill you." "Or nothing of the sort will happen," a decidedly more refined voice said - one O'Neill found vaguely familiar, but couldn't place. "We aren't barbarians, after all." "Speak for yourself." "I speak for all of us," she said, stepping into the spotlight so the three prisoners could see her. She was a cobalt-blooded troll with a short blue dress, pointed spectacles, red shoes, and a black Scorpio symbol on her top. Her eyes were empty, betraying her ghostly nature. "...Aranea? Alpha Aranea!?" Feferi blurted, gawking. "Am I supposed to know who that is?" O'Neill asked. "She... She's the troll responsible for the Omega timeline. The one where everyone died." Spades turned to glare at Aranea. "Wait... I do know you! You were the one that crashed my planets together!" Aranea sighed. "I assure you, my intentions were pure. Had we been successful Lord English would have been devoured in a paradox of his own creation. And Mister Slick, I offer my sincerest condolences for the world of yours that was created from my failure." "If you had done what you wanted the world would still have been stagnant!" Feferi shouted. "That's not much better!" "My motives were pure," Aranea said, looking away. "I do admit I made a few... reckless, perhaps brash decisions, but it was the best idea at the time. There was no guarantee the Green Sun could be safely destroyed, nor was there any true understanding of what the House Juju was. It was a calculated risk." "You were just like Vriska," Feferi said. "You wanted to be the hero." Aranea twitched. "I am not like Vriska." "Hey! We're right here!" a Vriska shouted. "And we're all bitches," another commented. "She speaks the truth!" "Fucking spidery bookworm..." Aranea ignored the ribbing chorus. "Regardless, the past is behind us. Lord English was defeated and sealed away, and with the Gallifreyans' locks it is ensured that he will always be sealed away through the retcon. So there is nothing to worry about. Plus, everyone in Omega got to be a ghost anywa-" "There are no ghost Dirks," Feferi said. "Or Omega John. Because of what you did, they weren't sent to the dream bubble. They just died with Spades over here!" Spades was currently grinding his teeth, clearly imagining every possible different way Aranea could be stabbed. Aranea sighed. "I was under the impression we all agreed Dirk was a... less than ideal human being." Feferi glared at her. "That's not my point." "Fine, I'm not here to be liked, not by you at least. Not yet, anyway." "What are you here for, then?" O'Neill asked. "I may not know much, but I do know that trolls aren't supposed to be this deep into the Dream." "Revolution," Aranea said with a knowing smirk. "Revolution?" "I wish to make things change." Aranea took a step back, throwing her arms wide, the spotlight glinting off her gray skin. "I thought that, surely, when we joined Merodi Universalis the normal order of things would be upset. That all trolls would be treated equally, that we would be able to understand... That Meenah wouldn't be allowed to become the dictator she was always geared to be." "Meenah's not a dictator!" Feferi insisted. "She's a strong woman who does what needs to be done! All of her are!" Aranea shook her head. "Meenah is a woman with a predisposed cruelty and domination instinct. I know her well, Feferi. It is in her blood. Or have you forgotten who it was that defeated me in the Omega Timeline? Who made the survivors suffer?" Feferi looked down, unable to respond. "The Condesce," Spades answered. "The Batterwitch." "Otherwise known as Meenah Peixes." Aranea said, leaning in closer to Spades. "A version of her, all grown up. Ruler of Alternia. Conqueror of galaxies. High 'servant' to English. It is always Meenah's destiny to become her. And she's already doing it in this pathetic excuse for a 'parliament' that's been created in Peixe. Fuschia bloods reinforcing each other endlessly, ruling over the players of Sburb for eternity, only entrenching the caste system!" "So, uh, why are there a bunch of you in there?" O'Neill asked. "Not to mention stubby mc-angry." "Ants for Meenah. She doesn't like doing everything herself, you understand." Feferi looked into Aranea's eyes. "I know. I do a lot of that work - me and my other selves! We have equal footing with Meenah!" "No, you don't." "We keep her balanced." Aranea shifted her outfit to that of the Sylph of Light, bright orange robes flowing over her body with two extra long strands of fabric hanging from her sides. "A Sylph is a healer," she said simply. "While the Maid ensures the Aspect itself remains stable, repairs it as it were, a Sylph actively heals others with the Aspect." The symbol of Light appeared in one of her empty eyes for a split second. "I know what Meenah becomes. What she's capable of, even if she doesn't really think so. I can use this information to change our fortune. We don't have to listen to her." Spades laughed. "Last time you did that you fucked it up." "That's why I've gathered my own army," Aranea said. "Especially the Vriskas. They can ensure fortune flows my way, even if I don't have that level of control. So long as they stand by me. And all of them want an excuse to punch the established order in the face - especially the established order of their sisters." "What did Vriska and Vrisko ever do to them!?" Feferi blurted. A Vriska stepped into the light, angry. "They became fucking pansy bitches, that's what. They are soft and let everyone walk all over them. Fuck 'em and everything they stand for." Aranea coughed. "I assure you, General, you will not be harmed. We will be moving to overthrow the Fuschia parliament within a local day. A ghost war will not result in any casualties, merely destruction of property. You have nothing to worry about - the new Skaian Collective will continue to be an obedient member of Merodi Universalis, with just a slight change in leadership." "There's a lot of people who respect Meenah for what she did in the war with Skarn," O'Neill said. "Including myself." "Then maybe you can give her a new job. She'd make an excellent General. I'd be happy knowing she found a way to use her nature without destroying everything." She smiled warmly. "Don't worry. This won't hurt anyone." O'Neill has flashbacks to a game where Them decided there would be 'no consequences'. Then he remembered the face of Daniel after they'd come back. "That's bullshit." ~~~ Celestia City had a problem. That problem was the Melnorme. Ever since Merodi Universalis had become Class 2, the Melnorme had actively sought out locations to set up their trading outposts and stalls. Usually this was only one or two in any given city, and the rest of the marketplace would still be able to function perfectly fine without too much Melnorme competition. But Celestia City was apparently an especially delectable location. Since it moved all the time, that always meant there would be new customers. Since it was always growing, it would always have the need for more and more goods. Even if the Merodi Universalis economy wasn't fully capitalist, people still had money and could buy things. The Melnorme, being a power from another nation, was not held to the company limitations imposed on Merodi Universalis citizens. Which meant the Merodi had vast amounts of resources and goods they could funnel into Celestia City with ease. Blumiere had known this. When they first started coming in, he limited how fast they could do it. They wouldn't be allowed to form a monopoly on any product that was already sold within Merodi Universalis, and they wouldn't be able to dominate the market. He thought this maneuver was clever and would keep Celestia City free from Melnorme meddling. It worked relatively well on the Infinite Carousel, after all. What he didn't take into account was that the Melnorme had been in the merchant business for literal eons and knew tricks that were in books Blumiere and Merodi Universalis didn't even know existed. The Melnorme started providing products to vendors who were completely separate from them, for one. Over the course of four years, the Melnorme would slowly hire more and more Celestia City natives to work as sales representatives. Nobody suspected a thing at first - they all popped up in random places and it looked like the Melnorme had nothing to do with them. They even had the Infinite Carousel's illicit activities brought into the open a few times to draw attention away from their larger activities. Blumiere didn't find out about the Melnorme's plan until it was far too late. Virtually every company within the main trading district had been bought out by the Melnorme, and half of them didn't even know they had been bought out! It was a true shadow conspiracy. It had only really come to light when Pokerin Amina had become part of the Merodi after the war, and their large volume of traders had experienced extremely unfair practices against their businesses. With a mixture of time travel, knowledge gleaned from Aradia's Celestialsapien, and a fair amount of economic analysis Blumiere barely understood, he was able to track down the Melnorme who was calling the shots. To the surprise of no one he didn't even operate on Celestia City and was, instead, the head of a major conglomerate within Melnorme space. Blumiere was going to see him personally. Even with the Merodi government pressuring the Melnorme, they had still demanded payment for the audience. Blumiere had obliged, ready to give them a piece of his mind. Blumiere walked into the office. The Melnorme sure liked their orange things, since the walls, floor, ceiling, and tables were all orange. The only things that weren't orange were the exceedingly rare collectibles lining the walls. Dimensional anomalies contained in jars, deeds to entire galaxies, stuffed animals that were only accessible through time travel, and coins made of unique precious metals. "Everything you see is for sale," the Melnorme - Tangerine - said. He looked like all Melnorme - a single eye and mouth on a rounded, orange body. As far as Blumiere knew, the only way to tell them apart besides size was the color of their eye. Tangerine's was orange, unsurprisingly. "I see the rare Elula has caught your ey-" "Let's cut to it then," Blumiere said, sitting down in a chair. "I have proof that you have been meddling with the economy of Celestia City. While your large-scale actions can only be considered shady and not illegal, we have hundreds of separate incidents where those acting in your name have performed highly illegal actions." "And how can you prove they were working for me?" Blumiere summoned a tremendous folder of evidence. "This. Detailed accounts of what your orders were and how they were carried out. We obviously don't have all of them but we have enough to prove that you're the one responsible for dominating our city's economic circle." Tangerine rolled his eye. "As if that's such a bad thing." "This may be rather difficult for your brain to understand, but monopoly is not good." "If it's carried out by humans, perhaps," Tangerine commented. "But you will also find that Melnorme have an internal desire to produce their own competition. If a Melnorme ever truly dominated everything, they would lose the benefit of actual trade." "You're still hurting us and taking control of my city, I don't care what your reasonings are." Tangerine nodded, looking at the file on the table. "Where did you come by this information, I wonder?" "That information will cost you," Blumiere said with a satisfied smirk. Tangerine snorted. "Every childish nation does that. Emulating us for the sake of insult does nothing. You feel so self-important right now, when in reality you have just passed Melnorme grade school. Charge for everything." "Why didn't that information cost me, then?" Tangerine grinned. "It did. You lost your self-importance and I gained some personal gratification at pushing you down. There's more than money in the trade, Blumiere. In many ways money is the least important of all commodities. We do not use it with other Melnorme." "Look, I could stay here and take a verbal beating from you, but I'm not going to. Get your people out of Celestia City, kapeesh?" "It'll cost a lot to get me to let go of that profit center, Blumiere..." Blumiere pulled a piece of paper out of the file. "How about a direct order from Merodi Universalis to cease operation? I think 'not suffering multiversal retribution' is a fair trade, don't you?" "Perhaps, but you will not go to war, not over something as small and innocuous as this. The worst you will do is cut off Melnorme economic opportunities in all of Merodi Universalis." "That's not enough to scare you?" "Oh, it is, I'm just thinking aloud for your sake." Tangerine grinned. "Here's the thing - this order hasn't gone through yet. You're waiting to see how this meeting goes." Blumiere didn't respond. "So, since this is contingent, let me make a counter offer. You let me continue working in Celestia City as I have, and I won't tell everyone in Merodi Universalis about your books." Blumiere's face didn't shift. "I have no idea what you're talking about." "In your basement in a heavily guarded chest you have the Dark and Light Prognostici, books with the secret to destroying multiple worlds." Blumiere didn't flinch. "Did you really think I wouldn't have a way to learn the deepest secret of everyone who walks into my office? Or anyone in the multiverse? We have great seers, Blumiere, who do nothing but collect valuable information for trade continually. The existence of those books is better left a secret, but if you dare cross me, they will be revealed, and everything will come crashing down." Tangerine leaned in. "Your city... or safety. Your choice." Blumiere snapped his fingers, dark magic sparks flying away. "Right then. You win." Tangerine grinned. "Glad we've come to an understanding." "So, I take it we need to pretend this meeting never happened?" "There will be no records. Do not fret, Mayor, nothing will change, and nothing will threaten your reputation. I'm sure you can find a way to explain your willingness to drop the case." "Oh, I will," he adjusted his top hat. "I hope never to see you again." "I wish exactly the opposite." In a minute you won't wish anything about me. Blumiere walked out of the office - and his dark spell took effect. Tangerine forgot Blumiere existed. He forgot everything about the last conversation and everything about the Prognostici. When he received word that Celestia City had banned all Melnorme interaction for illegal activity, he didn't know who to punish, or how to do it. He demanded audiences, but the Commerce Overhead hadn't been helpful in shedding light on Blumiere. Tangerine was a smart businessman. He knew exacting revenge without a specific method of doing so wasn't profitable. So he just let it slide. He didn't care as much about it as it might have seemed. ~~~ "Bullshit?" Aranea said, furrowing her brow. O'Neill looked down, shrouding his expression. "Yes. Do you honestly think any war won't have consequences?" "The point of a war is to have consequences that will bring about change. Surely y-" "There are living, breathing beings in Peixe. If you attack with your full force some of them are going to die." "I'm certain the Life players can handle that. Feferi god-tiers are known for their power over life - admittedly, this Feferi wouldn't know that. But I'm not judging." "You are, aren't you?" Aranea took in a deep breath. "Perhaps I am, but you did show up outside my tower. Made me think the Fuchsias had found us. Perhaps I'm a little ticked at that." "Well, we found you by complete chance. Think that might mean something...?" Aranea gave O'Neill her full attention, all hint of a smile gone. "...What do you mean?" "I mean, what were the chances we run into Spades' little planet and then get shot here? Finding one might just happen by chance - million to one - but finding two? Ka led us here, Aranea." "What am I supposed to take from that?" "You read a lot of books, don't you? I can hear it in the way you talk. Long winded explanations, a desire to get others to understand you. Frankly, I think it's overrated, but to each their own." "What does th-" "Think about all the stories you've read. What role would we be playing?" Araneas confidence fell. "...The heroes. Brought together by chance and thrown into a situation they were not prepared for... They must struggle against impossible odds to achieve victory..." "Ding ding!" O'Neill said. "We have a winner! And that makes you the... Wait for it... Waiiit for it..." "...Antagonist," Aranea said. Then she shook her head. "But the antagonist sometimes wins, or sometimes the protagonist is mistaken in what their journey really is! You might end up joining our cause!" "Before you go storm the castle? Doubtful," O'Neill smirked. "And do you really have a plan on how you're going to depose Meenah?" "Overwhelming force and a lot of luck," Aranea said. "And then the Merodi Military will come charging in and put her back in power," O'Neill said. "Do you think you can hold them off?" "W-with words, certainly. I can prove myself reasonable, a-" "Really!? Because I'm the Overhead of Military and you seem completely full of crap to me!" Aranea paled, looking around nervously. "Uh..." "You're just an insurrectionist. I can stomp you out easily. In here, you ghosts are so powerful, invincible, without death! But just a simple trip to another universe and you all fall apart! Any reality-based weapon makes quick work of you. Your rebellion could be quelled in an instant." "We've... We've got you as a hostage!" Aranea blurted. "They'd have to listen to us!" "Do you think Yellow Diamond is one to get sentimental?" O'Neill laughed. "My Second would be elated to discover I kicked the bucket. Quite the promotion there." Aranea began to look around panicked. "We can't do this... We can't do this..." A Vriska stepped into the light and punched Aranea across the face. "You fucking idiot. He's stealing your Hope!" "...Dammit," O'Neill muttered. "That... That is right... He is the Thief of Hope... God-tier or no he should still have abilities..." She took that information and tried to heal herself with it. She gulped. "He's still right though. H-" Vriska punched her again. "Are you going to check out just like all the others!? The moment we get success or get close we just go 'oops, sorry, not worth it!' I thought you were better than that!" "There's a time to be cautious, Vriska, a-" "Fuck that," Vriska said, kicking Aranea in the stomach and cracking her knuckles. "We can take them. Screw all this bullshit. We've got an army of ghosts here, and we've got the element of surprise. With the luck me and my sisters have been gathering over the last few weeks, we'll surely be able to beat these stupid odds." O'Neill started running through plans - but he realized the three of them currently had abysmal luck, which pretty much assured that any half-baked plan he came up with would fail. For all he knew the reason the Vriskas noticed he was stealing Hope was because his luck was so low. ...Wait a second. If his abilities worked like Vriska's did, then he had a significant amount of Hope within him right now. The power of belief, purity, and holding out for the impossible. He was sure he could win here. He just needed to figure out how. He was going to have to rely on a chance. He had no idea if the chance was determined by luck or belief here, but he was sure going to try. So he leaned back and jumped onto Spades, screaming bloody murder. He wished Jotaro was there to provide "NANI!?" commentary on this moment. There was no way anybody knew what he was doing. He wasn't even entirely sure himself. "What the hell!?" Spades shouted. Being tied up, he wasn't able to fight O'Neill effectively - but O'Neill wasn't exactly getting any hits in either. What they were doing was being very distracting. The Vriska and Aranea stared at them, bewildered expressions on their faces. O'Neill believed that Feferi knew what to do. And she did. One didn't have to be lucky to use their inventory, after all. It was as simple as willing for the stored item to be in your hand... Well, actually, it wasn't. The concept of Sburb inventories was a mess, and no two players' were exactly the same. Luckily the inner workings generally weren't obvious since players knew how to use them. Vriskas kept objects inside of eight balls tucked away who-knows-where in their robes. Aradias had to access spiritual energies to produce their items. John had to deal with a hybrid computer logic system. Feferi's was something about cuttlefish tentacles that could become quite a tangle, but luckily she always kept a few items on top for easy access. She still had everything in it. With everyone distracted, she could make use of it... She summoned the dimensional device into her tied-up hand. She was able to set it to one of the preset conditions - Equis Vitis - and dialed. Unfortunately she was still unlucky. So instead of dialing anything normal, she dialed the middle of deep space. O'Neill discovered that Skaia's Dream did accept the myth of explosive decompression. O'Neill, Spades, Feferi, Aranea, several Vriskas, and a few other ghosts were torn out of the interior of the alien structure and into deep space of Equis Vitis. Aranea and Feferi had reality anchor bracelets - most the other ghosts did not. They started to fade the moment they entered the other universe. Aranea used her powers as a Sylph to keep their bodies together for a while longer - but it wouldn't work forever. "SPADES!" O'Neill yelled - the sound wouldn't carry, but Spades saw his mouth move. "GET EVERYONE BACK IN!" Spades, being a robot, had built-in rockets. Even tied up, he could still use them to travel through space. He figured it was probably in his best interests to save everyone from the cold, harsh realities of space. "Link hands!" "I'm not go-" a Vriska began. "I SAID LINK HANDS, BITCH!" The Vriskas linked hands with the other ghosts. Spades grabbed O'Neill and Feferi, pulling the rest through the portal the hard way. When they were back, Feferi allowed the portal to close. "That... was too close..." Aranea said. "We..." "Shut up, we lived," a Vriska muttered. "Now, Feferi, since we apparently forgot earlier, please empty your Sylladex." "Um... no?" Feferi said, smiling innocently. "I can tear that reality bracelet right off your skinny arm and toss you to the devouring emptiness of space! How would you like that!?" "Yeah, you're not going to have time." "Why the fuck not?" Feferi held up her cell phone. "Because I just sent out a distress signal. Specifically the one that asks for military backup." A wormhole opened in the sky above them, brightening the blank interior of the tower for the first time. They could see the skies over Peixe through the portal. They could also see a full contingent of Merodi troops and Meenah. Meenah jumped down, Vrisko behind her. "ALL RIGHT WHO WANTS STABBING?! I'M READY FOR STABBING!" The Merodi troops dropped down as well. O'Neill noticed Minna was one of the forward lieutenants. He shot her a wink - and she winked back. She was doing really well in there, working alongside great people. Aranea put her hands up. "I surrender!" "FUCK THAT!" a Vriska shouted, rolling her dice and getting all 8s. "We're not going to let you rule us with your thick, pink blood anymore you fishfaces!" Meenah pointed a dimensional device at her. "Ya wanna get dusted? 'Cus I can totally do that for ya. Just 'poof', gone." The Vriska ground her teeth. "Fuck you..." She pulled out her own dimensional device. Vrisko pulled out a gun and shot it out of her counterpart's grasp. "You used a lot of luck in that transformation there. Might want to watch yourself." Another Vriska pulled out a dimensional device - but Minna had already fired a bullet to destroy that one. And one that was being pulled out right behind it. "F-freak!" "The old enemy, enemy again..." another Vriska muttered, glaring at Minna. "I'm going to make y-" Meenah stabbed that Vriska in the head. "Lay off will ya? I'm all for goin' a few rounds, but I'd rather not have to deal with all the paperwork later, get me? So let's make this easy on both of us and shove off. Mhm?" The Vriska carefully removed the trident from her head, glaring. "...I get you." "Good! Glad we had this talk." She cleared her throat, looking at the army around her. "So, I take it this is some kind of uprisin' or somefin'?" Aranea fell to her knees. "I'm sorry it was a mistake and we were foolish t-" "Woah, Aranea, what eel got hold of you?" "O'Neill stole her Hope," Spades commented. "Her level of self-consciousness is painful." "Ah, I see. ...Can't say I'm surprised Aranea was runnin' an uprisin'." She extended a hand and pulled Aranea to her feet. "When are you gonna learn? The Peixes always wins, girl." "I just... I... What?" "Yeah yeah." She shoved Aranea to Vrisko. "Get her back to Peixe, have glowing beacon boy give her the stuff back. I'll talk to her after that, figure out what the deal was." O'Neill raised an eyebrow. "You're not going to arrest her?" "Talk to Maryam if you wanna learn about understandin' troll weirdness. I'm sure as shell not explainin' it." She looked to Feferi. "Hey, nice to sea ya." "You came yourself!" Feferi ran and pulled Meenah into a hug. "Ugh... That wasn't a hug invitation, flounder!" "Shut up." Meenah grunted. "Vrisko, help?" "Oh, sorry, I'm busy attending to hopeless McSpider. I'll have to get back to you." "Vrisko!" Vrisko jumped out through the portal, dragging Aranea with her. O'Neill smirked. "Well, good job team, we stopped an uprising." "We aren't your team," Spades grumbled. "The uprising really wouldn't have worked anyway," Fef pointed out. "You were right." "Gee, way to make me feel bad while still technically complimenting me," O'Neill deadpanned. Feferi grinned. "Don't mention it!" "You have a cruel streak hidden in there, don't you?" Feferi's eyes locked with O'Neill's. "Don't. Mention. It." O'Neill took a step back, concerned. Meenah laughed. "Classic Feferi. C'mon minnows, I think I need to get you a reward or somefin'." Spades grunted. "Fine. I can stay for a reward." The reward turned out to be a fake feast made out of ghost food. It was... ...Interesting-tasting. ~~~ Odanas, the great plant that grew across several worlds in a sort of hive-mind, shaping them for the better, was currently working with the Diamond Authority. It was a momentous enough occasion that White Diamond left Homeworld - not Gem Vein, just her home planet. They went to a nearby world that Odanas had been transforming for them over the last few years. To that section of Odanas, it had felt like thousands of years due to a time dilation field, but the Diamonds had wanted the process sped up. What had been a lifeless rock not too long ago was now completely green, glowing with Odanas' verdant light. White, Yellow, and Blue Diamond sat on the bridge of White Diamond's ship, looking at the planet below. Steven Universe had not been invited by White's request. This project had been conceived before they knew he existed, so he wasn't going to be here. Blue and Yellow did not try to fight it for very long. "Kindergarten installation has been completed," Yellow Diamond said, receiving a report from the planet. "They've already made the compression matrix in the world's core." "How much longer until it's complete?" "A couple minutes for us," Yellow Diamond said, standing up. "They will disable the time dilation field the moment they are done." White Diamond said nothing - but kept a serene smile on her glowing face. She watched the planet as the vastly improved Kindergarten set to work. In order to create Gems, biological life had to be absorbed. Odanas had gladly offered herself to be used for this special occasion, her only issue being the strange things the time dilation did to her overall hive mind. But she had pulled through, and was ready to cut off this branch to create new Gem life. Usually, as life was absorbed, Gems would come out of the planet one at a time until millions of Gems had emerged. This world was different. Only one Gem was being made. In the time dilation field, the planet was green one moment, then completely dead and brown the next. In reality this process took several months to complete - the advantages of temporal technology. In the core of the world, the most advanced Gem birthing center ever created burst with life. The core of the world shattered, exploding the planet. Eventually the loose bits of crust and mantle would drift back together and form a new world - but at the moment, it was a loose cloud of dust. The time dilation ended. A quick teleportation spell summoned the newly created Gem into White Diamond's ship. She was a brilliant, deep red - almost blood red. The Gem sparked with powers of magic beyond standard Gem kind, borrowed from worlds like Equis and Skaia's Dream, giving the living crystal before them a truly multiversal nature. The Gem was cut in a Diamond shape. The Red Diamond activated, generating for herself a fully humanoid body - slightly taller than Blue and Yellow, but thinner in form. The gemstone took its position on her back as a simple coat of sparkling energy formed around her. The tips of her fingers sparkled with magical energy, and her eyes held within them countless stars. White Diamond looked down on her with a smile. "Hello, Red. Welcome to the Gem Vein." Red looked up at White Diamond and blinked, wordless. "You're a very special individual, Red. Very special indeed... You represent a new era..." ~~~ Corona continued to work the Shaping Mechanism. Four years in. She had taken breaks from time to time, gone on a few adventures with her friends, but for the most part she stuck herself within the Shaping Mechanism, becoming an absolute expert on how it worked and what it did. She continued tearing the Congeries apart, returning everything she could to its rightful place in the cosmos. She had made serious progress, but the centuries of Skarn's shaping wouldn't be undone overnight. It was a long project she had in front of her. Good thing she literally had eternity to do it. She flicked fingers across her many magical circles - having opted to use an interface created by Raging Sights rather than just going along with the touch-and-act interface provided by the Mechanism itself. She floated in the middle of the Shaping Mechanism control room, her red magic on every surface. She scrolled her fingers across a particular universe - and froze. She had seen many horrible things that Skarn had created. Many, many, horrors built on the torment of human minds and souls. Add Arthon's decidedly more disturbing and sadistic creations to the list, and she had seen enough to drive most people mad. What she had just found was nothing like that. It wasn't even as bad as some of them, visually speaking. But it appeared to be pure evil. What got her was that Skarn hadn't shaped it. As far as the Shaping Mechanism told her, this universe in the Congeries was almost completely untouched. It was a universe that brought as many souls to it as it could. It didn't matter if they were good, evil, holy, or impure; every soul it could find, it grabbed hold of. It stripped them of any connection to their bodies or sensation. Then it took their raw souls and pumped as much pure pain into them as it possibly could. Because the body was gone, there were no biological limitations to keep the pain at bay - no passing out, no nerve damage, nothing. The pain would continue at maximum for eternity, and the pure souls could never get used to it. They existed alone in eternal bubbles of pain. There was no respite. Corona gave them respite - destroying the universe without so much as a second thought. There would be no saving those minds from what they'd experienced. It was a universe designed as a Hell, clearly, except there wasn't any sort of criteria for being sent somewhere else. It had taken everyone. "Why?" Corona asked herself. "Why does this exist!? Who would write that!?" No answer was forthcoming, just like always when she dealt with these sorts of horrors. Every time she had to destroy a world she just sat in the Shaping Mechanism's room, haunted by the existence of such things. She had no idea how it was constructed. Did it just exist because a Prophet said it did? Did one of the ancient Universe Generators churn it out with random settings? Did some society make it by accident? Was it custom-built? Could it be considered natural? Questions that would never be answered. Just more to add to the pile of things that tore at the back of Corona's mind.
Songs of the Spheres	108 - The Furthest Reaches	Year 7 I was there to see them off - a pastime that I usually undertook in a distant, hidden niche far from sight. However, seeing as I was part of the reason they were leaving this time, it was the least I could do to publicly show up. I stood in the front of a small crowd gathered at Ponyville's primary spaceport. No ships were flying in and out of the port right now, because preparations for a very special voyage were underway. In front of us was a large, crystal ramp that led up to one of the ugliest ships Merodi Universalis had ever made. It looked like a boulder that had been chiseled at one end to a point, giving it a vaguely teardrop-like shape. There were no windows; instead jagged overlaid pieces of metal plating a quarter-meter thick arranged in such a way to maximize structural integrity, giving it the unfortunate appearance of a scrap heap. There were scant few holes in the armor for weapons, and the multi-system engines were hidden under the cone half of the ship. It was the Marianas and it was built to withstand anything the multiverse could throw at it. Its mission was to go on a long journey to the Unrealities and the Beyond, to be the first Merodi ship to ever go that far. It was a monumental occasion that didn't really need the ship to look pretty. The Unrealities were mostly eldritch locations anyway, so it wasn't like appearance could matter. There was no physical door on the Marianas, so everyone had to be teleported in - the ramp to the ship was purely for show. The crew would wave to the crowd, walk up to the top of the ramp, and then be teleported into the Marianas. The Captain of the exploration ship stood at constant attention to the left of the teleportation location. It was always interesting to see Minna in full uniform, the current design of the Military Division Captain's attire giving her a dull gold suit with red highlights. She had chosen the version without sleeves so her arms could have freedom of movement, showing off her muscular limbs. I knew she still had all her excessively long hair, but it was tucked down the back of her uniform, out of sight for the most part. She'd come a long way in these few years. I would like to say it was all because of her abilities, but it was more because she had connections and O'Neill liked her. She would have risen to Captain eventually through her own merit, but things were accelerated slightly given her family. Her husband Frigid was already on board as a civilian guest. They were going to be gone a while, so special accommodations were made. After the primary military crew and guests made it to the ship - about three-dozen in total - the other expedition members showed up. A handful of scientists went first, including Starbeat, but they weren't the ones the crowd was here to see. Pinkie's Party was; the five of them walking and waving to the crowd - even Jotaro. He was in a good mood, though that may have been because Marina Kujo was coming with him for once. Nova was going alone. Sunburst had decided to stay back, and Stardust... well she was an adult now, and while she loved her mother very much, the two of them didn't really... get each other. She definitely had no desire to spend several months in an enclosed space with her mother. It brought a frown to my features. I supposed I had no right to feel bad - they still talked to each other, after all, which was more than could be said for many families. Still, I felt like she'd been cheated out of something beautiful in her life. As for the others... They'd changed as well. Jotaro not so much, but the other three? You could see it in the way they walked. Vriska was walking up to the crowd and saying hello to the children, shaking their hands and smiling warmly. Pinkie was still the party pony, but she was a lot more careful - she didn't bounce around wildly when she moved. Instead, each step was almost robotic in nature, even if it did lead to an explosion of a party cannon. And Flutterfree... She was actually showing off a little bit, even posing for the cameras with her elegant, marble-tipped appearance. She'd fully accepted her role as a popular public figure. Eve waved at her from her position a fair ways to my left. The five of them - plus Marina - made it to the ship and were teleported inside. After them came the foreign visitors. Hastur and Zod were together, despite Zod's loyalty to Merodi Universalis - they would serve as the eldritch experts. They ignored the crowd, instead talking to each other to catch up on old times. The Sparkle Census had sent Twilight M4 and Twitter, while the USM had sent some unknown scientist named Sheldon. The TSAB and Empy's Void were getting in on the expedition as well, despite the fact that both the higher Class 2 powers had already been to the depths of the multiverse. The childlike mage Vita and the White Mage Rarity represented them. I waved to Mage Rarity. "Hey!" "Oh, Twilence, good to see you here!" She walked up with a warm, nostalgic smile. "I see you're doing well. It's a good thing you got out of that stuffy library." "You don't see me arguing." Mage Rarity smiled. "Apologies, but I do have to keep this moving." She winked. "I'm sure you already know everything about what's been going on in my life." I chuckled. "Yep. See you!" Mage Rarity nodded, moving on to another pony - a white mare cloaked in a dark shawl. She paused to give the 'stranger' a quick kiss and then ran off to the teleporter. I glanced at the cloaked mare and sent a telepathic message. You're supposed to be avoiding the story. I am not a smart pony. Just get out of here before it drags you in. Fine, fine... She teleported away in a flash of magical energy. I looked up at the Marianas. Everyone was on board now, including Minna. It was performing final pre-flight checks before it activated its state-of-the-art Chronosplitter Drive, the latest in Merodi technology. It was essentially a primitive TARDIS core that allowed navigation through space, time, and dimensions; a combination that allowed for highly streamlined navigation of the multiverse's metatime. The drive may have been a bit overkill for standard universal travel, but they were going to a place where time and space often made no sense. It would definitely be needed. As would the Reality Shaping Mechanism it had on board. They knew some of the universes would be brutally different, so much so that pure Reality Anchors wouldn't cut it. Of course, the purpose of these pre-flight checks was twofold. The 'real' reason was to ensure everything was safe. The 'ka' reason was to allow one more passenger on board. Jenny had made herself invisible - not that she could hide from me. She walked up to the top of the ramp and teleported herself into the Marianas, becoming a stowaway. Good for her. The Marianas completed its pre-flight checks a few seconds later, activating the Chronosplitter. A red aura of magical energy that was clearly a mixture of Corona's personal magic and Aradia's temporal shenanigans appeared in front of the ship, tearing a hole through several different realities at different states of time. The Marianas was compressed into a speck of dust barely larger than a flea and was run through this bizarre network of connections like a rat in a maze, until it popped out the other side several universes away with what would be perceived as an overall reverse flow of time. They literally arrived at their destination yesterday. Of course, if they tried to come back, they wouldn't be able to get here yesterday. But even though the trick didn't work backward, it was a way to save time. The people on the expedition were going to experience a lot more time than the people living in Merodi Universalis, assuming the Chronosplitter's programming worked out properly. It was a very new piece of technology. They set off to their first destination - a pit stop in the Strands. I smiled. They were going to have quite the adventure in the furthest reaches. ~~~ About a week later... The Marianas was taking a last-minute stop before heading into the Great Void. They were in the 'southernmost'-known Outpost universe of the Strands, one that Pinkie's team had stumbled across by complete accident a couple years ago. The universe was just a single building floating in a sea of blackness. That building was the Raven Hotel. It was run by a full 'human' AI who went by the name Poe - he appeared as a separate entity, but in reality was the Raven Hotel. Before Pinkie's team had found him, his hotel hadn't seen a guest in decades. Now the Merodi and its allies had started using it as a private nexus for travel and he was absolutely ecstatic about the sudden increase in customers. He'd even extended the hotel's structure to have a few docking bays for ships. Only one other ship was there - the Vaskahr - a trading ship run by the Melnorme. Now, Poe was not one to turn any customers away, but he certainly wasn't fond of these particular guests. Always loud, orange, and annoying. "I guess we really aren't good at keeping secrets," Nova told Poe, sliding up to the main lobby's bar. The Raven Hotel had a vaguely Victorian feel to it with a dimly lit interior and a holographic raven sitting on a perch. There were several tables in the lobby, and most were filled with Marianas crewmembers talking about the journey ahead. "Oh, it's no issue," Poe said, pretending to clean a glass - even though he had an instant-rinse dishwasher. His visual appearance was vaguely that of an Edgar Allen Poe, though with a decidedly warmer and friendlier demeanor than the creepy author. "Customers are customers." "Assholes are assholes," Nova muttered, tapping her hoof on the countertop. A pink drink materialized in front of her. She drank it without looking. "Trouble at home?" "Eh, not really?" Nova shrugged. "Same as always. Nobody's mad or upset. Not like we're arguing or in danger of falling apart. But I feel like I know my friends better than I know my husband and kid." She looked at the ceiling. "It's been a few years since she left. You think I'd get over her now that she's all grown up. Nope." "I can't pretend to have any understanding of what it means to have a child, but from what I hear the bond is a curious one that doesn't just vanish." "Mmm..." She took another swig. "Yeah, enough about that, it's all I ever complain about. Nothing's going to change about it now. So, Poe, what's your story?" "You already know my story Miss Glimmer. You are a regular. ...Inasmuch as I have regulars. You know since I-" "Yeah, yeah, I know, Earth Soulstack. I went there once, never again. I'm not interested in your stint with the Collector either. I know those stories." "Then what is it you want to know?" "People blab to you about their personal problems all the time. What are your stresses? I know you have a life here, of sorts. What kind of things do you concern yourself with?" "Hrm... Mostly the happiness of the customers a-" "Er, excuse me," one of the human scientists said, nervously glancing back at the table his friends were at, all laughing and having a good time. "Can you put the... angelic hooves package in my room?" Poe smiled warmly. "Of course, the mares will be generated right away." The scientist nodded, and quickly dashed back to his table. Nova glared at Poe. Poe coughed. "I suppose my primary worries include that those I consider friends don't think too hard about some of the services my hotel offers." Nova rolled her eyes and shook her head judgingly. She threw her drink all over the human scientist with her magic and left the bar. Technician Pidge gave her a subtle thumbs-up in approval. Poe ignored the exchange. "Perhaps I could offer you a fully immersive stress-relief package? I'm sure there are some particular monsters you would like to decapitate." "No thanks," Nova called back. "I think I'll just go to my room and appreciate a comfortable, lavish bed before I get locked in a coffin the rest of the trip, hm?" "If that is what you wish. Any furnishings you would app-" "Poe, please, just the standard real stuff, okay?" Poe shifted uncomfortably. Nova facehooved. "Poe, I wasn't insinuating that you weren't real." "Hard not to take it that way. But I understand. Nothing but the standard furnishings. Would you like me to remove the Raven clock?" "No, no, you can keep the Raven clock. It's adorable." Poe allowed himself to smile. "Thank you." "Don't mention it." She turned around to head to her room - but was stopped by a Melnorme. "Can I interest you i-" "No," Nova muttered. "Beat it, orange." "...My name is Lavender." Nova moved past Lavender marching through the Raven Hotel's lobby - until another Melnorme walked in front of her. She jumped to the side - only to accidentally crash into a third Melnorme. This Melnorme scrambled away, smacking her in the process. "What is your problem?" "Stop trying to sell me things!" Nova blurted, teleporting to the Raven Hotel's elevator. Unfortunately the elevator wasn't currently at the ground floor so she just teleported into an empty shaft. Clinging to the ladder in that empty shaft was Jenny. Jenny smiled awkwardly. "So... Fancy meeting you here!" Nova sighed, levitating herself with her magic. "Come on..." "Nonono wai-" Nova teleported Jenny and herself back to the lobby, in front of Captain Minna. "Minna, I'm 99% sure she's a stowaway on the Marianas." Jenny grinned. "Hi!" Minna looked down, her purple eyes narrowing to slits. "Okay, so, it'd take you a week to get me back to MU so it's probably better if you just take me al-" "Stop talking," Minna muttered, folding her hands together. "I don't see us going back. Nor do I see us leaving you here. I do see us taking you along." Jenny brightened. "But you're going to be a janitor." Jenny blinked. "B-" Nova summoned a mop and a bucket to Jenny. "HEY POE! Do you have some dirty rooms that need cleaning?" Poe looked at Jenny with mischievous eyes. "Of course. Certain packages can result in quite a mess that is a pain to clean, even for an automated system like myself." "Oh please no," Jenny said. "I'm the captain," Minna said, leaning in. "You don't really have a choice." "Right, right. I'm here to suffer. Got it. So this isn't really going to be a vacation from my normal team." She swiped the mop and bucket and walked up to Poe. "Which room first?" "Three-Thirteen. The one I never cleaned." "Why?" "You don't want to know." Jenny blinked. "...Oh boy." "You better get on it if you want to sleep at all today!" Minna called. "This is the last comfortable bed you're getting!" "I've been sleeping in the cargo hold!" "And you'll keep sleeping in the cargo hold!" Jenny grumbled and marched to the elevator. Nova decided to just teleport directly to her floor and walk into her room. As amusing as that was, she was still done with today. She wanted a nice warm bed... Something she wouldn't have for a long time. The cots in the Marianas weren't like prison beds, but they weren't exactly soft either. ~~~ Weeks later... As it turned out, after the initial horror of Room 313 the responsibilities of a janitor on the Marianas weren't that taxing. Most of the systems were equipped with basic cleaning spells so they didn't even need a janitor. Jenny's job ended up to be doing the stuff nobody else wanted to. Moving heavy machinery, watching boring sensor data, that sort of thing. She was essentially a member of the crew at this point. One who was bored beyond measure. She had been sure this voyage would be interesting - that they would find many interesting worlds and fascinating things. But they weren't really doing that. They were slowly trekking their way through the Great Void area of the multiverse. Every universe they passed through had only a handful of connections to other universes, making it a slow process. The worst part? Most of the universes in the Great Void were normal. A lot of them were Earths, and more than a few were just variations thereof. There had been a few eldritch locations, but those were few and far between. It had been four days since Jenny had heard about anything other than a relatively standard physics universe, and she was going nuts. She needed to find a way to entertain herself. She spun a little wheel in her head, choosing a random activity. The activity that rose to the top was 'snoop for gossip.' She already had a primary target in mind. She activated her invisibility spell and walked around the halls of the Marianas, looking for her targets. The Marianas' interior was rather cramped, with the exception of the lounge, mess hall, and bridge itself. Every other part of the space had been condensed to minimize the size of the craft and to increase efficiency. The interiors were mostly dull gray with rounded white nubs where holographic displays were installed - all Jenny had to do was touch one of these nubs to bring up the locations of the entire crew. Less than fifty people on this ship. Wasn't hard to find them at all. Currently walking around the second deck's halls. She performed a quick teleport and began to sneak behind them. Vriska, Hastur, and Starbeat. A complex relationship triangle centered around Vriska. Of course they would have gossip, right? "So, I discovered that the burritos are good," Starbeat said. "You'd think they wouldn't be that good, but they are. I thought I'd have to conjure all my food, but I guess it looks like I'll be eating our entire supply of burritos. I'm so bringing them back to the Collection." "Which flavor?" Hastur asked. Starbeat smirked. "Pulled pork. Deeeelicious." "Wrong answer," Vriska said with a smirk. "The actual answer is 'all the flavors. All of them'." "That's only the correct answer if you're the one answering the question." "I just did, didn't I?" Hastur let out a soft chuckle. "Oh, that you did. If only you truly could have all the flavors..." "I can have all the flavors of you." Starbeat put a hoof over her eyes. Jenny did not, because she didn't know what was coming. She quickly regretted not following Starbeat's example, because what followed next was truly disturbing. It involved tentacles, two faces, and a lot of squishy noises. Jenny teleported away, hand to her head. "...I just gained an insanity point. Note to self: never watch an eldritch makeout session. Ever." Pinkie came out of nowhere and hit her on the head with a squeaky hammer. "That was private, Jenny!" "Hey! They were in a public hall! And Starbeat was th-" Pinkie hit her again. "Moirail privileges. She was covering her eyes anyway." "But you were w-" SQUEAK! "I don't really have a choice. Plus, I wasn't watching, this blindfold isn't ornamental you know!" "Agh! Fine, fine, I'm sorry, I've learned my lesson!" Pinkie 'looked' right at her. "No you haven't. But I'll accept that anyway. Toodeloo!" She vanished into a nearby room. Jenny grunted. For about a second she contemplated stopping her snooping. "...Nah," she said, standing up tall, checking to make sure she was still invisible. Time to check on their illustrious captain. She checked the personnel report again. Minna was in her quarters, the largest on the ship. Frigid wasn't in there, so Jenny figured she was safe. Just a quick internal teleport. She appeared in Minna's room. It was the size of a normal bedroom with a queen size bed with an actual mattress on it. There was an adjoining bathroom, a few potted plants, and a desk. Minna was currently standing in front of the bathroom mirror, combing her long lustrous hair. She didn't say or do anything interesting for five whole minutes. I'm bored, Jenny muttered, teleporting out. She didn't have to check the map again to find a target - she saw her target. Apparently Starbeat had moved on from the eldritch makeout fest and had taken to talking to the White Mage Rarity. "I think the trip's been a bit boring so far, to be honest," Mage Rarity was saying. "Besides the Raven Hotel we haven't really seen anything all that interesting." "We haven't made it to the really interesting stuff yet," Starbeat pointed out. "The Unrealities are through the Great Void, not part of them. We'll find some truly bizarre locations and peoples there." "It is a long way away... And we all know that when we get there the level of drama will increase significantly." "Always happens." "Well, yes. This ship is destined to fall, after all." Jenny froze. What!? Starbeat looked at Mage Rarity and shook her head. "We really shouldn't be talking about that, you know. Not good for our heads." "I know, I know, I supposed it would have been fine in this case. Guess I was mistaken. Different topic then?" Starbeat nodded. "How about that magic of yours?" "Ah, a mixture of temporal and curative spells..." Jenny wasn't listening anymore. She was still stuck on the fact that, apparently, Marianas was destined to fall. Normal people would freak out and start panicking, fearing for their lives. Jenny hadn't felt fear for her own life in millions of years. She took this piece of information and grinned. She knew things weren't going to be boring forever. ~~~ More weeks pass... The majority of Horrorterror space was within the Great Void. The Marianas had no intention of cutting through Horrorterror space, but they didn't exactly have a map of the Great Void to aid them, so they ended up cutting through anyway. Luckily the Horrorterrors didn't seem to mind. Only one had actually bothered to speak to them in their journey, and it was just curious what they were doing this far from home. Minna had answered, Hastur had a short conversation with the being, and that was that. The area of the Great Void they were in had fewer normal worlds and more empty worlds - a locale the Horrorterrors generally preferred. They came across the occasional world that had been the result of a successful SBURB session, but mostly it was just Horrorterror worlds of emptiness with a smattering of minor eldritch physics. It was almost always dark. Nova stared outside. The Marianas had no windows, but the Lounge had a large screen that acted like a window, displaying what was outside - filtered through a sanity program of course. They were in one of the dark universes right now, so regardless of what the program was filtering out, they couldn't see anything. Nova levitated the remote to her and changed the settings on the major screen, finding another setting that showed complete blackness. Behind her, she could hear other people playing the latest version of Multiversal Heroes - she had no idea what the number was, but they were sure having fun. Nova changed the setting again. This time it shifted to a red-blue heat map of 'how much time was distorted' in the area. Everything was a solid purple, indicating normal levels everywhere. She checked for soul signs - a minor Horrorterror was apparently hiding in the darkness so far away they only appeared as a single speck of white light against the darkness. She switched to the 'spatial distortion' setting, getting a slightly more interesting visualization of how space was folding in on itself out there. The greens and blues and yellows signifying higher dimensions played off each other in a soothing pattern. She put a hoof to her head - why did she have a headache? It didn't even look that complicated. ...Maybe she was just in a funk from not doing much for these last few weeks. Horrorterror space wasn't very interesting for non-eldritch beings. Zod and Hastur were apparently right at home here, even though it felt nothing like the Embodiment's impossible hellscapes. She closed her eyes - but the headache only got worse. "Uuuugh..." Vriska jumped over the back of the couch she was sitting in, startling the poor unicorn. "What's up?" "Headache." "Brought on by emotional stress or drama that I, as a great friend, may alleviate with my astounding skills of empathy and understanding?" Nova raised an eyebrow. "You're full of crap." "Heh. Yep. Still, I'm here. Sup?" "Literally nothing," Nova told her. "I'm just a little bored. And I didn't feel like playing another round of Multiversal Heroes Umpteen." "See, that won't cause a headache. Unless we were being too loud back there." "Barely noticed you." Vriska blinked. "Then, uh... Lie down? I guess?" Nova let out a soft chuckle, a hoof still to the side of her head. "You know what, that may be the best advice you've ever given." "Yes! Bullshitting your way to truth is the answer!" Nova got off the couch and stretched her neck, handing Vriska the remote. "Though the moment I leave we'll enter a universe that translates to beautiful fractal patterns." "You know it!" Nova let out an amused sigh. She lit her horn and teleported to her room - which she shared with Flutterfree, Pinkie, and Vriska. None of them were there at the moment, though, so she was alone. She climbed onto one of the higher-level cots and laid her head on a pillow. She was about to cast sleep on herself when the headache drove itself into her brain, hard enough to make her yell out. White sparks crossed by her vision. She thought she saw a face. She teleported herself right to the sick bay, where White Mage Rarity was waiting. The only other person in the room was Technician Pidge. "Hey, Nova!" Pidge called while flexing her recently-repaired arm. "Hey," Nova muttered, rubbing her head. "Sorry, head hurts. Rarity, scan my brain. Please. It's got a horrible headache and I was just hallucinating white lights." Mage Rarity nodded, levitating Nova up onto one of the examination tables. She placed a disc-shaped crystal on the side of Nova's head, transmitting mental data to a nearby screen. "So, you two know each other?" Nova nodded, glancing at the short flat-chested woman with large round glasses. "Pidge was stuck with the rest of my team on a world for a while." "Ah. Memories," Pidge deadpanned. "We should get together again, sometime." "I work at Renee's Castle. I talk to you guys every few days." "I mean, hang out hang out." Pidge raised an eyebrow. "Bah, I'll have Pinkie explain it later." Nova's brain scan completed and Rarity examined the data, checking it carefully. "You certainly have a headache, but I don't see any signs of hallucination. Your visual cortex is operating completely normally." "Well I don't see the sparks now," Nova muttered. "Headache's still real though. Yeesh..." "Doesn't seem to be a major concern. I'll just cast a Clear on you, and everything should be fine. I doubt we'll need anything as serious as Esuna." "Oh, that's right, your magic system is the same as that Gilgamesh guy's. You got weird names for everything." Rarity nodded, casting the spell on Nova. Her headache lessened considerably, but there was still a nagging in the back of her mind. "I think it's still there..." "The mind is a strange thing," Rarity said. "It could very easily just not believe I could remove it that fast, so it'll create its own headache." "Ah, ri-" "This is your captain speaking!" Minna announced over the communication system. "Brace yourselves - the universe is destabilizing!" Pidge pressed herself to the corner of the room. Nova checked her bracelet. "...It is. How is it going so fast?" The Chronosplitter Drive activated, throwing the Marianas back in time. But the universe was still destabilizing ten minutes into the past, even though it hadn't before. "What the...?" The Marianas shook from the dimensional stress, its reality anchors struggling against the strain. The Marianas returned to the previous universe they had been in, escaping the destabilization. Nova decided it was time to teleport to the bridge - the same idea a lot of others had. There was a question on all their faces - 'what just happened!?' Minna furrowed her brow. "I have no idea what just happened. Vita, does the TSAB know?" Vita grunted, folding her arms. In her childish body, this just made her look like she was pouting. "A devourer." Minna raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" "Some universes are created with consciousnesses, as you know. Some of those consciousnesses decide it's a good idea for them to eat other universes. They're mostly native to the Unrealities - I'm a bit surprised we ran into one here." "Defenses?" Minna asked. "You have a couple reality bombs on the ship, that's about all you can do." Vita shrugged. "The best solution is just to escape the universe. They're entities the size of universes - even if your ship gives off a power signature more than any one universe, they won't care if you run away. They know what their food is." "How horrible..." Flutterfree said, putting a hoof to her mouth. "The Class 1s and 2s have hunted them to extinction in most other places. They only live out in these reaches, where there aren't as many inhabited worlds." "There was a Horrorterror in that universe," Nova said. "Is it... okay?" "How should I know? They can naturally pass the boundary between worlds. I can't tell you if that specific one did it in time or not." She turned to Minna. "Those coordinates won't exist anymore. We'll need to move through the multiverse another way." "Should we be worried about these universe eaters?" Minna asked. "They're slow. You'll have plenty of time to leave, every time," Vita said. "Be ready to leave inhabited worlds to die, though," Thrackerzod said. "This ship can't save them." Minna nodded. "Thank you for your inputs. Everyone return to your previous activity. Lieutenant, spin up the Chronosplitter Drive, find us a new way forward." "Yes, Captain." ~~~ Another week passes... Everyone was crowded on the main screen of the Lounge - those that weren't on the bridge, anyway. Jenny was gawking. "No way..." They were witnessing a standoff between not two, but three Class 1 civilizations. A Noble Horrorterror stood at one point of the triangle, flanked by several lesser Horrorterrors. The second side consisted of four Celestialsapiens, one of which had clearly achieved mental balance given the dramatic bodily motions he was making, unlike his three frozen companions. The third side contained one ship - a glowing blue conglomeration of loosely collected parts. A Beyonder Splintership, Vita had told them. She hadn't been able to tell them anything else about it. They were sitting in a universe of the Great Void that wasn't black and empty, but instead a fluidic space filled with a dark green liquid. The sanity filters of the Marianas were currently editing the green sludge out of all visual reports. In the center of the three powers was a thing. A thing the sensors weren't able to understand, so they just replaced it with a glowing white orb. It was a source of impossible things - negative mass, inverted time, ka storms, and a power that took normal eldritch power and drove its impossibility so far that even the sensors' purely mathematical readings were spitting out errors. "What is that!?" Jenny wondered, putting a hand to her head. "Just... what?" "No idea," Mage Rarity said, furrowing her brow. "I've been to the Beyond before, encountered some of the truly outlandish. But I don't have any idea what this is." "Dude... ...We should steal it." A blindfolded glare from Pinkie was terrifying enough to get Jenny to shut up. "Do you think they know what it is?" Flutterfree asked, hoof to her chin. "I doubt it," Hastur commented. "Even I have no understanding of what we're looking at. And I have seen a few Embodiment experiment worlds designed to tax the limits of eldritch understanding. We never managed to create anything like this." "Apparently all three of them really want it," Jenny observed. "Do they think they can use it?" "Maybe?" Mage Rarity shrugged. "The motives of the Class 1s are often inscrutable." "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro said, shaking his head. "It's a powerful, likely unknown thing. It doesn't matter what any one of them plans to do with it, they can't just let the others have it. We can still understand their competition motive." "Good point," Mage Rarity admitted. "Still, I wonder what they think it is." There was silence as they watched the standoff. The only one of the sides doing anything visible was the Celestialsapien, and he wasn't transmitting his thoughts in a way the Marianas could pick up. As far as they were concerned, the great powers weren't talking at all. Jenny walked up to the screen and placed her hand on the white star visually representing the thing. I wonder if you're important... Or just a random curiosity we find on our journey and never understand... Are you the reason we fall, or just another speck on the road? No answer was forthcoming. ~~~ The headache was back. Nova tried to go rest even though they were watching the Class 1s square off - or 'triangle' off, she guessed. It wasn't like they were doing anything, and the thing couldn't be accurately rendered in a way they could visually comprehend. So she went to her bed and tried to rest her head. And then she saw the white sparks again. This time, however, there was more to it. A shape formed in front of her eyes - half there, half not. It took the shape of an androgynous humanoid about the size of an apple. While its skin was glowing white, unlike albinos or angels, there were also sharp voids of black dotted in particular places. The fingernails were black while the figure lacked toenails - or even toes. The irises of its eyes were pitch black, making the pupil seem much larger than it was, only accentuated by the pitch eyelashes and eyebrows. There was only the slightest hint of a nose, lacking nostrils, while the mouth was small and pale. The being's straight hair was pure white; long enough to reach halfway down the neck and cover the ears. The inside of the hair was pitch black, creating a dark backdrop for the being's head and throat. Out of its back sprung dozens of papery limbs, drifting behind the body like jellyfish tentacles. The creature had no gender or, really, any features besides those on its face. If a human were to look at the creature, their mental bias would likely shift to perceiving the being as male - a young boy, as it were. However, ponies tend to have the opposite gender bias, so Nova's internal processing decided what she was looking at was a young woman of some sort, even though deep down Nova knew this creature was something else entirely. "...What are you?" Nova asked. The creature looked into Nova's eyes, her black irises growing to fill her entire eyeball and then quickly shrinking to a size so small Nova couldn't see it. The creature smiled. "Looks like it's finally come around." The voice was just as neutral as the being's body, doing little to twist Nova's perception one way or another. "Are you going to answer my question?" The being winked. Then it floated to the right side of her vision and vanished. Nova's headache was gone. She did the only sensible thing anyone should do in that situation. She teleported right to the captain. "I might have an alien entity in my head. Either that or I'm hallucinating." Minna blinked. "...Really?" "Yes. Really. A featureless girl with papery things coming out of her back just appeared in my vision while I was trying to rest my head." "Do you think it has anything to do with the thing we are observing?" "Maybe it aggravated it? I went to Rarity about a similar issue a week or so ago. But there was no creature in it." Minna nodded. "Download an image of what you saw to the computer and then report to Rarity for a full analysis." Nova slated. "Right." She created a projection of what she saw and used her hoof-screen to send it to the Marianas' computer. "There you go." Minna blinked. "...That looks like a girl to you?" "Uh, yeah?" "...All right, that's what it is. Any ideas what we're going to call her?" Nothing was forthcoming. Nova decided to leave them to that and report to Mage Rarity. She told the white mage what was going on and got right into the full physical scan. Less than a minute later Rarity let out a sigh of relief. "I was afraid it was going to take a while to find. But here it is." She pointed at a hologram of Nova's left eye. "You've got a camera-sensor in this eye." "...Wait what? When did I get that?" "Well, I can only think of one group smart enough to make one of these who isn't on this trip. They'd be quite enthralled with the information we collect here." "...Melnorme." "Yes. Though I doubt it is performing as intended - it's just allowing you to tap into something else. I'll have to send you down to engineering to find out exactly how the device works." "Can we remove it?" "Probably. But if you're the only one who can see this girl, why would we? She may be dangerous." "Or be a Melnorme virus." "I suppose..." Mage Rarity pursed her lips. "We need the engineers to look at it first regardless. Off you go." "Yay, being referenced to a secondary physician." Mage Rarity chuckled. "Bad experiences with Earth healthcare?" "I don't want to talk about it." ~~~ Another set of weeks pass once more... Nova named the girl White Nettle, eventually, because the papery tentacles reminded her of a jellyfish. Nettle kept showing up in Nova's vision every few days, but would only speak a sentence or two before disappearing, never giving any information. She clearly understood what Nova said to her and reacted to the words but didn't seem to care much for what Nova was saying. They hadn't learned anything about her, and until they could return to Merodi Universalis for more specialized research, they just had to deal with Nova occasionally freezing in place and talking to something that wasn't there. Jenny had taken to watching Nova closely in case any of those moments were about to happen. It just so happened that today, she was going to get lucky. Nova was sitting in the lounge, putting aside her prior aversion to playing video games all the time, instead placing herself right in the heat of battle. The game wasn't Multiversal Heroes, but rather a complex puzzle game based around the fluidity of higher dimensions. Each of the four players was given a 'cube' and had to navigate the ever-changing eldritch maze to reach the end. Nova was about to achieve victory - her little chibi-headed human just needed to climb past the hypercube using the nexus ledge a- Nova dropped the controller in her magic. "Nettle?" Jenny dropped her controller to watch Nova's gaze move around the room. "I'm glad you like the name, but I'd like to know what you are. Everyone would. Do you know?" "YES!" Vriska shouted, tossing her controller in the air. "VICTORY!" Everyone ignored her, paying attention to Nova. "Well then what do you want?" There was silence as Nova's expression soured. "That wasn't an answer, Nettle." After a moment, Nova let out a sigh. "She's gone, show's over folks." "Aww, I thought it was just getting good!" Jenny said. "What did you talk about?" "Well she likes her name. Other than that it was another round of dodging questions with her being cryptic and not all there. There was something about my journey and a big red rubber ball. And apparently I'm 'a cute horse'." "You are though," Vriska pointed out. "Yeah. Thanks for that." Nova deadpanned. "Could everyone report to a holographic station or screen equipped for transmission?" Minna called. "Five minutes." Everyone scrambled for the couch, making sure to cancel out of the game. Jenny was sure the scramble outside the Lounge was a more frantic and less interesting one. Most of the crew was probably standing next to a white orb in the middle of a boring hallway, tragically couch-less. Their loss. "Wonder what this is about," Vriska commented. "Wait five minutes and behold, all your questions shall be answered!" Jenny responded. Nova facehooved. She was right. When precisely five minutes were up, Minna and Vita appeared on-screen. "Listen up!" Minna said. "We've been on a long journey so far!" A map of the multiverse appeared in front of the two of them. It showed a red path that started near the edge of the Q-sphere, moved 'west' to the Strands, and then 'south' through the Great Void. At this point, the path stopped being a straight line, instead deciding to twist and turn, go backward a few times, and on one occasion swirl around in a whirlpool pattern. However, despite this meandering, the line tended 'south' more than any other direction and eventually touched the edge of a small, red Sphere near the bottom of the map. At the edge of that sphere was a dot that read 'you are here'. "We have entered the Unrealities," Minna said. "Those of you in the Lounge can look behind you to see the first universe contained within this Sphere, the rest of you can patch it through another feed." Everyone turned around to look at the outside display. It showed a world where the stars were clustered in a central ball, and the sky was covered in continents, oceans, and clouds. In between the stars and the 'fixed Earth' were a few planets, the sun, and the moon. "That looks a lot like a standard 'oddball' universe," Minna said. "A standard reversal. Except for two things. One, time does not exist in this universe - everything you see, even the forests that should have taken centuries to grow to their size, had no time to do so. This universe just exists. "The second thing is going to become evident as we rotate the Marianas slightly." As the Marianas rotated, the spherical enclosure they were in suddenly wasn't spherical, but a painting upon a flat surface. A flat surface juxtaposed with three other flat surfaces, each one with a different image. As the Marianas completed its turn, the view outside was now that of a 'fixed Mars' sky while everything else was in the enclosure. Jenny blinked. "Sweet." "This demonstrates an eldritch property we have seen before," Minna continued. "Some universes change based on what orientation you view them from. Expect much more of this as we travel through the Unrealities." Vita spoke up next. "Now, some of you weren't at the original meeting for this mission." Jenny could feel the TSAB mage glaring right at her. "So I'm going to reiterate some things the TSAB knows about the Unrealities. The Beyonders and Horrorterrors hold the most territory in this sphere, though they are not dominant. The Horrorterrors have their tentacles full with their space, and these worlds are just as eldritch and bizarre to the Beyonders as they are to us. You'll know you've hit a Beyonder universe when everything within glows with a soft blue aura - their kind needs that to survive. A Horrorterror universe will be generally impossible to differentiate from a standard eldritch one, but as we saw on our journey they generally don't care about us. But then there are the natives." Jenny brightened up. Oooh, natives. "The Unrealities are a relatively small sphere that contains only two Class 2 civilizations. One is a low-end closer to Merodi in terms of power known as the Shabanash, or the Unbidden to those in the E-Sphere who have been unlucky enough to be victim to their invasions. They almost bestially eat all forms of standard physics energy, which means we are definitely a desirable food source. We should be able to withstand their power and escape if we run into them. "The other one is a high-end Class 2: the Many-Angled Ones. I would describe them as what the Eldritch Embodiment would be if they got their act together. Normally they would be a big issue since their primary motivation as a culture is to impose rigid geometric order to all their universes, basically reducing it to an always-predictable machine. Luckily they understand the scope of the multiverse and have no desire to upset other powers. If we enter one of their precious mechanized universes they will likely just eject us back to where we came from. "Other than that, expect to no longer see nothing but blackness outside - we're in a cornucopia of eldritch bizarreness now." "May I remind everyone that this is not our goal," Minna said. "While there are certainly interesting universes here, the Chronosplitter Drive will be moving us quickly through them now that connections are commonplace again. If we wanted to find these sorts of universes we would spend some time in the Embodiment or E-Sphere Horrorterror Space. We are going through this Sphere to the Beyond." "No relation to the Beyonders," Vita clarified. "They actually don't have many universes there since their universal-terraforming has difficulty adapting those worlds." Minna nodded. "But rest assured, the majority of our journey is behind us. We will soon be in the true fringes of the Multiverse. Captain Minna Belle, out." The transmission ended. And then Nova let out a disgruntled groan. "Nettle, back again?" Jenny wished she could hear the other end of the conversation. "That made no sense," Nova muttered. "...And at least you said goodbye this time." "What did she say?" Vriska asked. "Something about downstream. I've basically given up trying to understand what she means. Though today must have been special because she's never talked to me two times before." Maybe it's plotting our downfall, Jenny thought. "Maybe it's like the protomolecule," Starbeat suggested, having just walked into the Lounge. "After all, the Investigator has to talk to you through a signal of some sort. Maybe the signal is getting better." "So, what, the thing was a communication relay?" Jenny asked. "Maybe. I don't know, I'm not psychic." "I AM!" Pinkie blurted, pulling a crystal ball out of nowhere. "I see... an encounter in the future..." "Well, duh, we're going to encounter either the Shabanash or Many-Angled Ones," Starbeat said. "Why else would we get that repeated spiel we all already knew? The story needed it of course." Jenny looked away, disgruntled. "I mean a special type of encounter," Pinkie said. "I see... Or, well, I guess sense... A battle on this very ship!" ~~~ Eleven days later... "I WAS RIGHT!" Pinkie blurted, throwing her front hooves in the air. A Shabanash energy beam shot past her ear, cutting off some of her mane. The Shabanash itself was a disjointed blue energy being with three 'eyes' that looked like miniature stars. They were currently on one of the lower decks of the Marianas, fighting a squad of a dozen of these creatures. There had been twice as many in the halls a few seconds ago, but they had been quickly taken care of. No more were arriving because the Marianas had successfully jammed their teleportation signal. The Marianas was having other problems, however. Namely the Shabanash 'ships' that were pursuing the Marianas through the multiverse, proving themselves easily able to follow the Chronosplitter Drive through all its temporal shortcuts. Possibly because the Shabanash universes tended to have two time dimensions in them, but nobody was really paying attention to that fact at the moment because they were trying to survive. Flutterfree flew through the battlefield, the protective marble tips on her wings discarded long ago. She riled up a decent amount of Rage in herself, enough to tear at the intangible Shabanash with her blades. She was one of the few having an easy time damaging the creatures - even the Stands couldn't touch the impossible beings unless there was soul manipulation involved, and Jotaro's Passion wasn't a strong combat stand to begin with. Nova's time manipulation was proving to be useless and she had never been great at soul manipulation to begin with. She had taken to teleporting parts of the Shabanash away from their central core, effectively tearing their bodies in half. Sometimes they reformed; sometimes they didn't. It was basically a coin flip. Vriska was working with Nova on this, draining the Shabanashes' luck enough to where the teleportation 'decapitation' would work every time. It was slow work, but there were only twelve of them left. Jotaro took a hit to his heart, falling to the ground. By now, nobody batted an eye - this had already happened a few times during the fight. From her safe place under a full meter of magic shielding, White Mage Rarity detected the fatal injury and healed it before it could result in death. There were fewer than fifty people on the Marianas. It wasn't that hard for her to keep track of all of them, especially with the aid of her computer system. The Shabanash were not receiving expert medical treatment; they were just falling like dominoes. One at a time, their number dwindled. This didn't stop Jenny from suffering. One of them managed to cut her in half at the midsection. "FRICKASTICK!" She shouted, enchanting her gloved fist with transdimensional energy and punching the Shabanash to shards. "AAAAAAAAAAA!" Rarity did not waste her healing magic on the unkillable immortal. "GRAAAAAA!" Jenny dragged herself across the room, trailing blood as the fight continued behind her. She winced, tossing her lower end forward, having it meet the tops of her removed hips. Her body fused back together in a couple seconds and she was just as ready as she had ever been. She vibrated her fist with transdimensional energy and charged, smashing the last Shabanash into a thousand tiny pieces. "TAKE THAT!" She spat. Flutterfree dissipated her Rage. "Oh. All right." "You've gotten very good at controlling that Rage," Nova observed. "Made the rest of us look like idiots." "Practice makes perfect," Flutterfree said with a smile. The Marianas shook. Nova checked her screen. "All Shabanash on-ship have been eliminated, but we're still being pursued." "Why!?" Vriska asked. "We're just trying to run away! Why are they so fixated?" "Well, seeing as how more and more of their ships keep showing up, I think we're running away through their space." "Oh. Great." "That's it. This is where we fall," Jenny said. "'Sploded by destiny through the acts of living shadows of the void." "Yeah, no," Nova deadpanned. "This isn't it." "How can you be sure?!" Jenny blurted. "Cause we aren't in the Beyond yet, and it has to happen there." Jenny stared at her. "Wait, you know about it?!" "Yeah? Everyone does, Twilence told the whole thing to everyone before we le-" Nova looked at Jenny, breaking out into a grin. "You weren't there!" "Why would you all go on a mission if you knew you were going to fall!?" "Bec-" the Marianas shook again. Outside, the Chronosplitter Drive was jumping from universe to universe, the blue 'ships' close behind. The 'ships' had no real shape, appearing on all models as ever-shifting blobs of blue energy. They were able to adapt easily and instantaneously to every realm the Marianas jumped into, not having to rely on reality anchors. They were able to transition seamlessly from any dimensional structure to any other while the Marianas had to force everything into three dimensions. It was a serious advantage. The Marianas's one advantage, a mastery over time, was not helpful against the Shabanash since they had access to a second time axis that the Marianas hadn't figured out how to contend with yet. At least the Marianas was almost completely bulletproof, shields able to withstand even the hardest of attacks. "Shields at seventeen percent," Vriska observed. "That's kinda low." "No, really?" Nova muttered. "Sixteen now," Jenny said. "Not helping..." And then the Marianas made a jump while firing a temporal laser behind it. The universe they ended up in changed everything. Suddenly there was no time and no space. The Marianas, forcing its own physics, remained completely active. The Shabanash ships entered the universe and froze, condensing themselves into the aspects of pure consciousness that made up the universe. Consciousnesses that couldn't do anything to the Marianas. "Good news," Minna called over the intercom. "We're finally in the Beyond. Unfortunately, we won't be sticking around here long since help is bound to arrive for those ships sooner or later." The Chronosplitter Drive activated again, taking them to another universe - one completely devoid of Shabanash. What it did have was seventeen different axes of time, each one represented by a different flavor of gypsum that physically manifested in the souls of all who entered. Of course all the crew of the Marianas could actually see was a bunch of gypsum rocks floating around in seemingly random directions amidst a void of pink gas. It would take them a while to fully appreciate the bizarre nature of this world. "Right, we're stopping here for repairs. Looks like we're finally out of Shabanash space. Be ready to jump at a moment's notice should it be needed. Good work everyone." Flutterfree let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness that's over." "But we're in the Beyond now! We might be destroyed!" Jenny blurted. Vriska slapped her. "This is why you attend meetings. And read the mission files." Jenny folded her arms. "I don't do mission files, not unless I want to." "And you needlessly panicked yourself for no reason," Flutterfree pointed out. "What's 'needless' about it? We're going to blow up in the Beyond," Jenny said with a smile. "Pretty sweet, if you think about it." "Right, I forgot you had no fear instinct," Nova muttered. "Pinkie, want to explain?" Pinkie nodded, turning to Jenny. "Stare into my void, and be enlightened!" Pinkie clapped her front hooves. "Back when this mission was first suggested by Red Diamond after one of her cosmic visions, Twilence's opinion was sought. She told us she saw a guarantee that the Marianas would fall out here in the Beyond - but she also saw a great holy light catching us up afterward. She guaranteed our safety and our lives. But she also said something more - we're going to find something out here in the Beyond. Something that has been lost a long, long time. It'll be like a treasure!" "We basically took Twilence's vision to mean that we would die," Flutterfree said. "But we would be sent do an afterlife universe of some sort, and solve some great mystery or something. That's what Twilence thinks is going to happen too." "Thinks?" Flutterfree shrugged. "She's not sure. She knows we all survive this; the rest of it is all fuzzy. She suspects it has something to do with th..." Nova blinked. "Actually that wasn't in the briefing. You aren't cleared to know that." Jenny narrowed her eyes. "Wait a minute! I demand more explanation!" "What more explanation do you need?" Vriska asked. "Red Diamond suggested we go here. Twilence said it was a good idea and that something major would be found. We know our ship is going to be destroyed and we're probably entering an afterlife of some sort." "...Then how would we keep all the data?" "Vita's device," Nova explained. "Graf Eisen has a backup of all scientific data collected so far within its personal memory. Even if whatever afterlife universe we end up with doesn't accept 'partial AI', Graf Eisen's mind has been bound to Vita's soul so we still keep it all." Jenny blinked. "...Okay. So basically intentional suicide mission with a cheating way out." "Yep!" Pinkie said. "Glad you're up to speed!" Jenny rubbed her hands together. "Oh, I am too... I'm very curious to see how badly you've misinterpreted this." ~~~ A couple weeks later... The Beyond was exactly that - beyond. The close-knit connections that had existed in the Unrealities Sphere were gone, once again giving way to looser universes. Not as badly separated as the Great Void so far, but bad enough that they couldn't just move every second if they wanted. But why would they want to? Every universe they found was something beyond the previous. Each universe took a concept from the Unrealities - say, multiple time dimensions - and ran with it to an absurd conclusion. In one universe, the flow of time determined the positions of physical objects on a 'grid' in which everything compressed in on itself. There was another universe where the tiniest subatomic particles were living beings, but they all combined into a single nonliving item. Seemingly paradoxical truths like that were all over the Beyond. It truly was eldritch squared. Take a plane of existence a mortal couldn't understand, and then turn it into a pretzel and then eat it while standing seven light years away. Even in eldritch realms, concepts such as logic, position, and minds made sense, no matter how convoluted they were. Here? Some worlds didn't have causality. Some universes existed based on math that continually changed, meaning two plus two could equal anything at different 'times' - assuming 'time' was a concept in that universe. Several universes flat out couldn't be displayed visually. The primary viewscreen of the lounge was often nothing but static, pure blackness, or a flashing array of colors that really needed an epilepsy warning. Most research had to be done through pure mathematics rather than standard observation. Eventually, not even Hastur could go outside without taxing his mind. But the Reality Shaping Mechanism held, no matter what they were hit with. They had found no unique civilizations out here, for 'civilization' was a concept that required prerequisites to form. In most of these universes they weren't even sure life was a thing. They had come across a handful of Beyonder and Horrorterror installations. The former were never explored because Beyonders were trigger happy. The latter... They were currently in one of the Horrorterrors' outposts. A 'sphere' of normal Horrorterror blackness had been inserted into the current universe, surrounded in a 'perception field' designed to keep the Horrorterror scientists 'sane'. The Marianas was taking a break within this Horrorterror Sphere, which meant the real universe was being filtered twice before reaching the Marianas. Minna and Hastur were currently speaking with Nathalanstanarananahsker, one of the leads of the expedition. He was explaining their main mission - to uncover the history of the Beyond, to determine how these universes had come to be. Unlike other 'edge' areas of the Multiverse, where things tended to lose complexity, the Beyond was quite the opposite. It was a major mystery to the Horrorterrors. Nova was not talking to Nathalanstanarananahsker. Nova was talking to Nettle. "...You've been sitting in the corner of my eye for a while today," Nova observed. "Is today special?" Nettle nodded. "Yes. It is." "You know about the fall don't you?" "You know about what's downstream, don't you?" Nova glared at her. "No, I don't, that's the point." Nettle smirked, letting out a soft laugh. "You'll find out soon enough. You should be enthralled, so many mysteries are about to be revealed. You've seen so many things on your journey. So many didn't make any sense!" "Well, yeah, it's called the Unrealities for a reason." Nova aimlessly walked down the halls of the Marianas. "You're not thinking big enough!" Nettle said. "What, the entire journey from Merodi Universalis?" Nova paused, turning a corner. "Or maybe our entire journey in the multiverse?" "There's a lot of synapses firing." "...I wish Lieshy was still around," Nova said with a sigh, placing her hoof on an ID scanner, gaining admission to the next room. "Have you ever heard of Wishing Worlds?" Nettle asked. "Maybe?" Nova said, walking up to a computer screen with a glazed-over expression. She pressed a few buttons. "They can do anything. Doesn't matter the scope," she said, sitting upside down on the ceiling. "I bet the Class 1s guard that sort of thing," Nova muttered, scrolling through a few menus. "They don't know where they are. They've already used most of theirs. They think they can control everything. But they're wrong. They don't understand infinity." "True infinity does not exist," Nova declared, almost robotically. She pressed a few more buttons. Nettle didn't respond vocally, instead fixing Nova with a knowing glance. "What is it?" "Thank you!" Nova cocked her head. "For what?" Nettle gestured toward the computer screen Nova had been typing at for the last minute or so. REACTOR FAILURE IMMINENT. "What the hell!? Why isn't there an alarm!?" "You disaaaabled it!" "No I didn't! You did!" Nettle smirked. "Your own time stream has looped back in on itself to ensure that my interaction was not necessary. The possibility that you would perform these exact actions was forced from outside during the moment of this universe's creation, long before either you or the Horrorterrors arrived. It was a specific, calculated measure made through Infinite Possibility." Nova blinked - that was the most words Nettle had ever spoken at once. "What in the...?" Nettle chuckled. "Now all you have to do is press the launch button!" "Never!" Nova's hoof slipped and she hit the launch button. "Fu-" The Chronosplitter Drive tried to jump to the next universe, but in the process of doing so it exploded in a shower of temporal energy that reached from the furthest past to the furthest future of both universes involved. The Horrorterrors had no time to react as the skewed time from the new universe mixed with their carefully constructed bubble of energy, popping it. The two universes mixed together in just the perfectly wrong way, combining into one. They would have fallen into absolutely nothing had the second universe not been connected to something elsewhere. Several thousand universes back along the path of the Marianas, a thing was still surrounded by three Class 1 powers - each side having increased their number tenfold since the conflict started. The thing activated, erupting into three separate pieces, each one engulfing a side. One orb obtained the cosmic power of the Celestialsapiens. The second took over the Beyonders' blue aura. The third grabbed the Horrorterrors' eldritch minds, combining them together with the impossible nature of the two colliding universes in a single instant. All because of one carefully placed connection. Nova saw all of this. And she also didn't - because she was standing in an infinite plane of whiteness, where the only thing aside from her was White Nettle. "Where are the others!?" Nova blurted. "What did y-" "They're all fine," Nettle said with a smirk. "After all, it wouldn't be a very good prophecy if all of it wasn't true." Nova glared at Nettle. "...Nettle, what are you?" "The multiverse is far older than you can comprehend..." "Nettle, straight answer for once!" Nettle looked at Nova and grinned. "Nope!" "Ne- ...waitaminute." "The multiverse is far older than you can comprehend," Nettle resumed. "Your 'Class 1' societies have been around a while, have they not? The Xeelee have probably existed within a timeframe you can understand, but all the others... true ancient organizations. Their histories include those of your worlds as little more than a footnote, if that." Nova nodded slowly. "Yes..." "There have been over a thousand Class 1 civilizations over the lifespan of the multiverse," Nettle said, landing on Nova's muzzle and making her cross her eyes. "Can you comprehend that? Every last one of them, save for these seven must have fallen." Nova furrowed her brow. "This isn't really new information. We know the amount of time from the Dark Tower's creation to now was beyond the understanding of even eldritch beings." "But not for the Downstreamers," Nettle said, floating away from Nova. "They saw everything. Truly everything. The entire multiverse was theirs, even if the denizens of every world didn't think so." "And you fell, just like all the others." "I never said I was a Downstreamer." "It's obvious you're at least related to them by the way you're talking." Nettle smirked. "You are a smart one." "What's the point of all this bragging? I get it, you're from the people who probably made all the Universe Generators way back when. What's your deal?" "To prepare you to believe what I'm about to tell you. You believe that there's no way a prophecy can be accurate if given over the size of the entire multiverse. That the inconsistency of causality destroys true prophecy." "Yes..." "Oh, that's false," Nettle said, spreading her arms wide. "How else does the Dark Tower know exactly how many doors to show you when you climb it?" Nova blinked. "...Might want to ask someone who's climbed it." "Oh, I'm having this conversation with everyone," Nettle said. "Starbeat's reaction has been the best so far, but Jenny's was a runner up. She doesn't like feeling small." "Mhm. So if the Downstreamers could see everything like you're implying, why aren't you still around?" Nettle ignored her. "In our last moments, I was saved. I am uncertain why it was me. Perhaps it was lottery. But the spines of a prophecy were created. One that would require a few things that didn't exist. A being who truly understood ka, and yet would be fooled by a subtle manipulation of it. An area of the multiverse near the edge that rose in complexity instead of fell. A connection that would be discovered by the ruling societies of a distant era at just the right time. A ka powerful enough to be thought of as a true protagonist. A twist of fate to bring two universes together in the presence of eldritch, ka, and... well, everything." "...This entire trip was the last step of an elaborate multiversal ruse." Nettle clapped her hands. "Right!" "To do what, exactly?" "Return me to what I was before," Nettle said. "To resurrect a Downstreamer." "And I'm getting a sinking feeling in my stomach about this." "Needlessly. You are of no concern to me, and I have no intention of engaging in wanton destruction. I'm just here to reclaim what we left behind." "I still have that sinking feeling." Nettle shrugged. "So does everyone. But your only purpose has been completed. The threads of fate keeping you aloft are gone now be-" Nettle paused, her black irises expanding and contracting rapidly. "...Hrm." "We still have it, don't we?" "It appears the Tower has overridden us," Nettle said. "Curious. But it doesn't matter. The goal was a success. It's time for you to go home and wonder about this event the rest of your life!" "Nettle don't you dare stop this now!" "Oh, by the way, I really do like the name. I'm ashamed to admit I've forgotten whatever mine originally was." "Ne-" Nova and the rest of the Marianas crew were dumped into the main hall of the Hub, right outside the Mirror Portal. "Ugh..." Vita muttered, standing up and brushing herself off. "Do we have the data?" Gran Eisen beeped in confirmation. "Good. I'm going to give it all to Nanoha and then not think about this. The rest of you, do... actually I guess listen to Minna." Minna had already stood up, shaking her head. "Everyone, report to the Hub Military Division Offices. We'll fill out our reports there and then go home." "We were lied to..." Pinkie said. "That wasn't a treasure! That was us being used!" Starbeat was staring into space. "But I... The Tower... It knows... How in... What!?" Jenny let out a laugh. "That was the stupidest thing ever. There's no way. Heheh... No way..." She rubbed her head. Nova looked down at her screen. Guess we've got an extra backup of the data. She scrolled through it, checking the images of Nettle. She didn't understand a lot that had happened. But she did know one thing. Nettle was lonely. ~~~ Nettle began her work of reclaiming Downstreamer remnants. She didn't know where everything was - the true omnipotence of the Downstreamers had been destroyed. She had no access to it. But she knew where some of the things were, and that was enough to get started. Because one of the keys was in Evening Sparkle's possession. A simple, golden key - being used as nothing more than a primitive reality anchor. Pathetic. That nature of the key was merely secondary, to ensure that it and its wearer would never be erased by any form of universal alteration. A security measure for existence. She'd get to use it for its real purpose. I appeared in front of her before she left. "Don't think you understand everything." "I don't. But I understood more than you." "You don't know of the end." "Please, the last time there was an end things kept going anyway. I'm proof of that." "The moment you bet on a trope being true universally, it fails you." She ignored my statement, opting to smile innocently instead. "You're upset, aren't you?" "Of course I'm upset!" "You just got too comfortable in your own skin." She looked up. "I'm going to be going now. Don't follow me." I bristled. "Fine." She appeared in a universe filled with loose stone objects and a blue aura all around, once used by the Collector for 'auditions'. He hadn't known what it was. It was a home. Lightning was currently in the universe with a small team from the Collection, trying to uncover its mysteries. They were so far from accomplishing their goal, but it was an admirable attempt. Lightning had the Infinity Gauntlet keyed to the universe - and every time she snapped her fingers to find out more, she ruined the feel of the home. Nettle appeared in front of them. She had no more need for a pathetic machine to transmit herself into someone's mind. She could do it directly. "Get out," she said, eyes twitching. Lightning pointed the Infinity Gauntlet at her. "You don't want t-" Nettle teleported them right back to the Collection. That was enough of that. She scrambled the location of the azure universe so they wouldn't be able to find it again. And then she rebuilt it. All the stone pieces fused together into a city - a city for one, complete with a coliseum. The azure void became a deep sky, and blue people began to appear on the streets below. But they weren't really people. They were just shadows. After all, this place served the role of a 'safe space' within the mind. It was essentially a solid subconscious. A retreat. The actual mind needed to be created. As much as Nettle had right now, she was nothing to what a Downstreamer should have been. For that she grabbed a universe known to Merodi Universalis as the Duplicator. She placed the key in its central column, annoyed when she had to remove a temporal freezing spell to get the key to turn. Once the key turned, the Duplicator connected to several different universes at the same time, including certain ones from the D-Sphere. All of them were copied together, forming one universe-sized brain network. That brain became Nettle's mind. And she could see so much more. The brain and subconscious universes pulled more to themselves. Now that there was full consciousness, it was time to add more and more and more. The Nexus universes that connected so many universes together? She needed some of those - they would be akin to her joints, connecting parts of her multiversal body together. They obeyed her mind combined with the key without question. They pulled to her the long lost universe creation realms that had been running on autopilot for eternity. They produced the rest of the universes she needed - constructing her full body. A universe devourer to become her mouth. Universes of psychic power to become her eyes. Eldritch realms fused together to produce intense computing systems and a 'digestive tract' that used the eldritch beings in a way akin to bacteria in the guts of humans. Nettle became a mesh of universes, reclaiming a small part of the Downstreamers' original glory. This collection of universes was best represented as a giant jellyfish. The White Nettle. White Nettle swam through the Sea of Infinite Possibility, moving herself out of sight...
Songs of the Spheres	109 - The Big Gs	Year 13 Rev trotted along the streets of Ponyville, wrapping up her shopping for the day. Luna was lowering the sun, a good indication that Rev should get back home and actually have some dinner. She was thinking of telling the magi-pan to cook her up some shrimp alfredo or something similar. She headed straight home - but she didn't arrive quickly. Something caught her eye. A street preacher. He wore simple black clothes, devoid of any religious apparel - not even a necklace, like what was around Rev's neck. Nobody was listening to the words he was shouting - so Rev decided to pause and listen. "...the raging heat found within the bowels of Hell call to every soul! Every being in this city is flawed - have you lied to a friend? Have you cheated on your significant other? Have you harbored hate toward another person? Have you lied? All of you offer excuses as to why these things are pardoned - or fill you with eternal, burdensome guilt. A guilt trying to tell you what the price for your sins are!" Rev fixed him with a warm smile. He noticed her, but kept preaching to the crowd - he probably saw her necklace. "The ultimate creator of all, God, sees your guilt, your pain, and your sin. He warms the fire for your ignorant soul, ready to serve justice upon you for what you've done! You think you are safe because you compare yourself to other men and ponies, but they are a horrible master! Compared to the requirement of perfection, you are nothing! Nothing! You think your charity will outweigh your selfish thoughts, the times you cheated, or all the lies you've told to avoid obligations? Or what about your thoughts? Any blemish damns your soul to the fire!" Rev sighed - most of the sermon was like this. After about five minutes of reiterating the same points, Rev put a hoof on his shoulder. "Hey. You're not going to get many people like that, not here anyway." "...The message needs to be spoken." Rev nodded. "The Jealous side of the Lord certainly needs to be known, and in certain cultures and eras that side is what draws people. But this is a land of friendship and harmony. If you want to draw people, focus on the grace, forgiveness, and love of God." The preacher looked at her. "People are getting too soft and comfortable in those interpretations. Our lives are not meant to be simple or relaxed. Devotion to grace prompts sin in unprecedented amounts." Rev shook her head. "Not as often as you might think. Serious believers take grace as a gift, and don't squander it." "But what of the others?" "As I said, there are some that need to hear your message." She looked around at the passerby not paying him any attention. "They won't be found here. 'Fire and Brimstone' tends to be laughed out, I'm sorry to say." The man sighed. "...It seems you are right. But I have been called here by my church, and I shall not give in." "I wouldn't expect you to," Rev said. "But perhaps you should try a different strategy. I've got a church here - the big one rising over the houses over there. You could drop by tomorrow morning. I've actually got plans to preach on presenting oneself to others. I'd be willing to talk to you after, give you some tips on how to get to the people here." The man smiled. "I would appreciate that, miss...?" "Reverend Starlight Glimmer, but everyone just calls me Rev." "I'm Father Yertle Reimann." He shook her hoof. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance. I will certainly be at your church tomorrow." Rev smiled. "Glad to hear it. I'd suggest getting some sleep though - it's a little early. Starts at nine." "That will be no issue. Thank you for the invitation, sister." "And thank you for your service, brother," Rev said with a bow. They went their separate ways. Rev went home and cooked herself up some alfredo. She lived alone with her books on scripture and magic, including no small number of tomes that discussed the relation between the two. As a unicorn it was a topic that was very important to her, perhaps one she preached about a bit too much. She sat down to eat and sent off a quick prayer of thanks before digging in. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. She put her fork down and put a hoof to her head, letting out a deep sigh. She was going to have to be vigilant tomorrow. Father Reimann wasn't going to be a good influence on her congregation. She just needed to keep him from talking to them. ~~~ Flutterfree met up with Rev as they were walking to the church. "Hey!" Eve had decided to come along that day. The Overhead didn't show up all that often, but her curiosity got the better of her every now and then. "Hey," Rev said, giving Flutterfree a smile. "Concerns about today's service?" Flutterfree asked, having read Rev's face. Rev nodded. "I invited a street preacher to the congregation so I could help him. Realized later he was either a false prophet, or would bring one about. I'm still going to try to help him, but I can't let him speak to the congregation. Hopefully he won't try and I'll be able to figure out exactly what his beliefs are in a one-on-one session." "Oh. I hope you get through to him, then." "Me too. I-" They rounded the corner and saw a crowd congregated outside the church. "Crap," Rev muttered, facehoofing. She made a quick prayer asking for the wisdom and grace required to handle what she was sure would be a difficult situation. She, Flutterfree, and Eve wormed their way through the crowd - the people and ponies within recognizing Rev and letting her through without a fuss. They soon arrived at the front. Father Reimann was standing at the top of the church's steps, preaching. To Rev's surprise, he wasn't engaging in 'Fire and Brimstone' preaching. He had seemingly changed his tone overnight to one that was more caring, understanding, and empathetic. "God is love," Reimann quoted, holding up a Bible. "God is also everything that is truly good - he exemplifies all the Elements of Harmony, as well as many more traits. God knows everything he could possibly want to know. God understands all your problems, all the evil in the world, and the reasons behind everything. God listens to everything you ask of him, even if our sinful souls do not ask with pure intentions, he still hears. God is beauty..." "He seems fine so far," Flutterfree said. "Am I missing something subtle?" "If you are I'm missing it too," Rev said, narrowing her eyes. "But this wasn't how he was preaching yesterday. If he could always preach like this he wouldn't have needed my help, which is suspicious." Flutterfree nodded, returning her attention to him. "...and most of you, I understand, are believers. Many of you have a lingering doubt in the back of your mind - do I really believe in the right God? You are all aware there are many different denominations, and in fact your beliefs within this church are diverse. Can one lose salvation? Is God kind and forgiving, or judgmental and angry? Is He both? But of what combination? How can anyone say they believe in God if they don't know who he is?" Rev narrowed her eyes. His next line better be about faith. "That's the great mystery of our faith - we don't have to understand who God is, exactly. We just believe in him and trust that, whatever He truly is, He is perfectly good. The perfect exemplification of love, harmony, and justice - concepts we cannot comprehend in a perfect manner, because we are fallen. But we are Saved regardless, so long as we put our faith in Him." Eve looked at Rev, raising an incredulous eyebrow. Rev allowed herself to smile. "That's actually a pretty good point," she whispered. "The Scriptures still give us hints to exactly who God is. He is the will of existence-" There it is. Rev stopped him, clearing her throat. "You mean the will behind existence, right?" "Why is such a minor semantic important?" "Because it sneaks a highly dangerous thought into a congregation, generally designed to empower the being known as the Great Will." For a split second, annoyance appeared on Father Reimann's features. "Is it really so heretical to believe God is the will of existence?" "Actually, yes, because God is not the multiverse, He exists completely separate and independent of it. If existence itself had a will, it wouldn't be God's, it would be one of His creations." "Are you certain this is not just a different interpretation of our holy Book, Reverend? After all, I did just talk of the great mystery of our faith. We are not required to understand what God is, beyond him being the Creator and sending his son for our sins." "You are right," Rev said. "It probably doesn't matter for our salvation that little detail. There are people who pick and choose verses out of the Bible. I don't personally agree with that, but I'm certain they're still saved in most cases. It's just that the Great Will is a Class 1 entity that feeds off belief and creates idols for people to worship without them realizing it! It creates 'gods' based on the faulty perceptions of us sinful, damaged creatures - gods that we would be certain are real, because they were crafted on what we believe. That cannot be God." "How can you be so certain of that?" "God is perfect. Our faulty perceptions never are, not even averaged out." "Are you trying to undermine the Will of God?" "No," Rev said. "I'm trying to stop the beliefs of all these people from being manipulated." Father Reimann glared at her. "I'm still willing to help you - I can take you to the files the government has on the Great Will. Show you what you are truly serving." "I will not be led astray by your lies," Father Reimann said. He walked down the steps and left. Rev sighed as he left. "Okay everyone! Today's service is going to be off the cuff." "...You're still doing a service?" Eve asked, blinking. "Of course. I have to clear up what exactly happened there." Rev smiled warmly. "It's going to be a lot about false teaching and the power of belief in the multiverse." ~~~ Rev and Flutterfree were having lunch later that day. It was daisy sandwiches at a diner. "And that's the day Eve decides to come over," Flutterfree muttered. "A service she wasn't going to get much out of. Mmf..." Rev smiled. "Maybe she was meant to be there. She may have to defend us against the Great Will one day." "But I wanted her to hear about presentation and what it means for us..." Flutterfree stared at her plate. "You've got plenty of time. And... You do have to accept that not everyone will accept it, no matter how much you want." Flutterfree stared at her plate, sighing. "Yeah... I know." She shook her head. "How about talking about something else. You talked a lot about belief in the sermon - but what exactly is the Great Will? And how do you know so much about... it?" Rev looked down at her plate, grimacing. "...I'm going to need a drink if I'm going to tell this story." She waved down a waiter and placed an order for some cider. She let out a deep sigh. "So... you know I was in the Nexus with the Dark Tower. I escaped and ended up in the 'north' side of the E-Sphere. I found a church who accepted me as one of their own and I decided I wasn't going to become one of the multiversal travelers I had seen in the Nexus. I was going to settle down, make a new home for myself, and continue preaching the Word. "I was foolish. I felt like I belonged so much that I forgot to question things. My teachings were seen as something worthwhile, so I rose through the ranks of the clergy. As I rose, I attended more meetings, meetings where the fellow pastors and I discussed theology and the like. When I got high enough to be seriously considered, things became... weird. "I began to notice that a few odd doctrines were being pushed. Pure belief over anything else - the correctness of that belief seemed to be meaningless. Blind faith was encouraged. Which, honestly, is a problem with a lot of churches, but it wasn't the only thing. Seemingly contradictory to the blind faith was the push to believe in 'the will of existence'. I decided that, even though I didn't agree with it, it was a relatively harmless teaching. I would argue against it... but only behind closed doors." Rev bit her lip in shame. "I... didn't have the gall or the strength to talk about it in public. I should have risked my standing for the sake of the people, should have listened to the feeling tearing at my gut... but I didn't. I just let it pass. Biggest mistake of my life after making that equality village." "What happened?" Flutterfree asked. "Enough people in that universe believed existence had a will. It didn't matter what religion they were part of - or even if they had a defined religion - the fact is they believed the universe had a will. So the Great Will was able to move into that universe and feed off their belief - or their 'observation' as I hear it's called in further indoctrinated worlds. And suddenly all the belief of the world became form - a bit like the gods of the Discworld, but generally only with larger-scale beliefs. I let it take over that universe uncontested." "...So what does the Great Will actually do?" Rev put her hooves together. "The Great Will is a force of belief - it really is the 'will of existence', in a sense. In any universe it is present, it will latch on to the most commonly held beliefs of the people there and make them true - or as true as they can be, since beliefs are often contradictory. Within Great Will space, different pantheons exist side by side along with eldritch horrors and forces as close to God as you can get. These beliefs give the Great Will power, but also divide it into many facets. They are also able to retroactively act on the universe so they've always been true. If a universe was created by an ancient Weaver machine, its history can be altered by the Great Will to include creation by whatever Creation story the people believe the most. It takes a lie and makes it as true as possible." "It creates a false God." "It creates every kind of false God," Rev said. "The Great Will is essentially the father of all idolatry. Sure, if you believed in a general pantheon, the Great Will may seem amazing. But the Great Will cannot create God no matter how much it tries. What it creates is what people believe God is, and because we can't know fully what God is..." "It gets it wrong." "Very wrong," Rev said, taking a drink. "The general aspect of the Great Will that represents 'God' takes the form of a mask. There are many colors that represent different interpretations, but the most common and powerful is the golden one. The 'God' of Law. Even if people accept that God is gracious, loving, caring, etcetera, they still generally believe, deep down, that they have to do something for God's favor. They aren't able to let themselves completely into God's hands, and believe they still have some merit - that they must prove themselves by keeping up an internal Law of some sort. And thus, we get the Yellow Head. Because we're so selfish we can't admit we're powerless, the main 'God' in Great Will universes is... controlling, vindictive, jealous, wrathful, and strict. The kinder, gentler aspects are severely lessened." "...You met this Yellow Head, didn't you?" Rev nodded slowly. "I did. He was... he wasn't evil. He was a decidedly good being. But not perfect. Not worthy of worship - even though he believed he was because everyone else believed it." She looked into the distance. "I worry for the souls of people in those universes. How can they be saved if, no matter what they believe, an idol is erected to hinder them? I comfort myself that saying so long as they believe in the true God, it doesn't matter what stands between them. But I can't be sure. The Bible doesn't say anything about beings that feed off belief." Flutterfree put a wing on Rev. "Hey... You stopped them from getting to this universe." "Did I?" Rev asked. "I stopped one preacher. The idea that existence has a will isn't that farfetched. Currently, most Merodi believe something close to that, but they place their beliefs within the Dark Tower - the one thing in this multiverse the Great Will cannot overrule." She frowned. "And it's not just through belief in the Will that the Great Will can spread. It slowly moves out on its own, feeding off regular belief. It's just that the Great Will's true priests seek to spread it further and further, aiding their 'God'." "...Do you know what the Great Will as a whole is like?" Flutterfree asked. Rev shook her head. "I've only spoken to a few of its aspects in my travels. I have no idea if anyone's talked to the being as a whole before. But the other Class 1 societies recognize it as a single being that controls an entire nation, so..." she sighed, taking another drink. "People think the literal devils and hells are the worst things in the multiverse. I lose much more sleep over the Great Will. A lie that naturally becomes your personal truth. It's essentially the living, breathing exemplification of subjectivity!" "And we can't do anything about it." "No," Rev said with a frown. "Just like we can't do anything to any of the other Class 1s. The rise and fall of empires is God's concern, not ours." Rev shook her head. "There's the irony for you." "Hm?" "We are called to be the holy, special people, holding the most important message to existence. And yet we aren't meant to change history. The first shall be last, the last shall be first. If anyone's going to eventually end the Great Will... It won't be us true believers. We'll just sit in the background." She smirked. "It matters so much to us. But to the world, we are just another group that sits back while the giants clash above. ...We were never meant to be giants." "And when we are..." "We become the evil priest trope," Rev said, nodding slowly. "Which is... All too common. ...Ka loves to corrupt what is pure and good. Everywhere. It's so difficult to stand against that. It's just... Gah." She rammed her head into the table. "I know I can't do anything. I keep praying, but I want to do something about it. Heh. Guess I'm guilty of pride just like everyone else..." A small, black sphere fell onto the table in front of them. It exploded, showering the two of them in sleep dust. Flutterfree fell back instantly - but Rev had a thin coating of divine energy that protected her. She stood up, ready to take out the attackers - but she, Flutterfree, and the table were teleported away. They appeared inside a bright room in front of an altar with a cross behind it. "Ponyfeathers," Rev muttered, lighting her horn. "Listen here, you're going to take us back right now!" There was no response. The cross flashed white and her vision blurred to nothing. ~~~ Eve threw open the door to my office. "Where's Flutterfree!?" I raised an eyebrow. "Did you come to me first, or...?" "I tracked her down to the cafe where she was having lunch with Rev and then vanished." "Right, just making sure." I set my notebook down and folded my hooves. "They've been kidnapped by a group of Willst Radicals." "What?" "Crazy servants of the Great Will," I explained. "Yes, the Class 1 society, or more accurately being, the one that feeds off belief and creates false truth. The living paradox. The most reclusive of all Class 1 societies." "I remember that much," Eve muttered. "They might not," I pointed out. "Even if they did just get a huge explanation from Rev about the whole thing." "Right, so, how do we get them back?" I shrugged. "What's your instinct tell you?" "Twilence, I'm not in the mood for games right now!" "They're safe," I assured her. "...Fine. My instinct tells me to march up to our higher allies and demand an audience with the Great Will." "Won't work. The Great Will is extremely reclusive, as I said." I pursed my lips. "You might get an audience with one of its facets after several days. It's hard to get it to talk. Its appearance at the Green Sun Trial was a rare event." Eve furrowed her brow. "Then we trace them through prophecy and take them back and... that won't work because we're working against priest-types." I nodded. "So we need help. Help from something that could go against the Great Will..." She blinked. "Twilence, the Abstracts have the One Above All, right?" "Right." "Do you think he could do something?" "Definitely. If you could get an audience with him," I said. "Also unlikely." "But it's not that hard to grab the attention of the Living Tribunal," Eve said, smirking. "And he can pass on a message to the One Above All." I smirked. "And you've already got a plan." "Let's set the gods off on each other." "I should inform you that this isn't going to go as you expect it to." "Are you going to tell me not to do it?" I considered this. "...No. We do need to go." "I've got a dimensional device with Earth MC's name on it. Let's go." ~~~ Rev and Flutterfree came to - sitting in comfortable chairs. They were next to each other in the front row of a church. In front of them there was a human preacher on a podium, a glowing cross around his neck. He was talking about the will of God, but neither Flutterfree nor Rev were listening. Rev tried to create a telepathic link to Flutterfree, but found that her magic was inhibited. Rev took a quick look at Flutterfree, confirming the presence of red eyes and fangs, telling her Lolo was still working. Rev felt her own divine esoteric power within her, and was willing to bet Flutterfree's power as the Page of Rage was still active - though it appeared that her marble covers had been affixed to her wingtip knives with some kind of adhesive. She looked around. They were not the only ones sitting in the front row. To Fluttershy's side there was an energy being that looked like he was made of smoke, while Rev's side had a human man with brown hair and a beard. The man smiled back at her when she glanced at him, but Rev couldn't take that to mean he was really a friend. For all she knew he was there to keep tabs on them. ...Or he could be just like them. Rev tried to think of what to do. Given Flutterfree's thousand-yard-stare, she had probably already begun spreading Lolo out in every direction to find out everything she could. Nobody seemed to notice it, so that was good. But what could Rev do? She needed to get them out of this place that was... well apparently a church for those who didn't want to listen or were a problem for the Great Will. Basically a reeducation facility. The thought of such a facility made her want to throw up. It was disgusting. ...She eventually realized the best thing she could do was pray. After that, examine with extreme scrutiny what the preacher was talking about. "God's will is our will, if we let it. The mark of a true believer is one who surrenders themselves up completely to God, caring not if their decisions are their own any longer. We must become one in our beliefs for this to be true..." There it was again. A kernel of truth, mixed with just the right amount of subliminal facts to work for the Great Will. Though she wondered why that was needed - if they were in a Great Will universe, the Great Will couldn't be removed. It wouldn't care if they thought existence had a will or not. ...This place was probably run completely by the priests with little, if any, involvement from their god. It was hypocrisy, even for them. "...and remember, we are all children of God, and we must strive forward with our faith, and not our minds." Pharisee. Rev thought, steaming inwardly. "Let us close in prayer." There was a short prayer about 'thy will be done'. Then they were told to make their way to dinner. Rev and Flutterfree huddled together, following the crowd but trying not to be so close that their whispers would be heard. The church they were in was homey, well lit, and decorated with beautiful paintings that featured Bible verses. The carpet was clean and everything was welcoming. Except the fact that they had been placed here against their will. "Reeducation camp," Rev whispered to Flutterfree. "See anything... dangerous?" "No," Flutterfree whispered back. "There are magic crystals inside the walls though. Some are magic inhibitors. Some are... something else. I'm not sure what they are." "Describe them." "White, flashing, keyed to people walking by..." Rev let out a hiss. "Those are either surveillance... Or, more likely, brainwashers." "Brainw-" "Hey, you're the new girls!" the man who had been sitting next to them said, walking up to them. "I'm Joshua!" "Oh. Hi," Rev deadpanned. "Are you here to spy on us and report back to the boss?" "Rev..." Flutterfree said, holding up a wing. "Forgive her, she's had a bad day. I'm Flutterfree." Joshua shook her hoof. "Glad to see someone else new here - I've been waiting for someone to show up since I got here!" "What are you here for?" Flutterfree asked. "I just heard about the place, decided to check it out with my own eyes. Definitely not what you would expect. You?" Chased one of the priests out of my church, Rev thought. "Made a priest upset, so we got sent here." "I'm sorry to hear that." "Yeah. Do you know how to get out of here, by chance?" Joshua nodded. "Just wait and it will happen eventually. People leave all the time after it's been determined they've 'graduated'. Takes anywhere from a week to a couple months." Brainwashing, definitely, Rev confirmed. "So... What do we do here besides listen to sermons?" Joshua smiled. "We eat! The dining hall is right this way - expect lots of good food!" He led them through the halls to a large room filled with blue tables. It was a traditional cafeteria complete with casseroles, salads, and fresh fruit. Flutterfree stared at the apples. "...How many can I have?" "It's a buffet, so as much as you want without being gluttonous," Joshua said. A minute later they were sitting at a table. Rev had taken a salad, Joshua had gotten a little bit of everything, and Flutterfree had a plate piled as high as she could manage with apples. She started draining them of their juices one by one. Joshua watched her devour them. "...Amazing." Flutterfree smiled warmly. "That's not most people's reactions." "I'm not most people," Joshua said, sitting back. "Yeah, you came here by choice," Rev said. "Surely you knew what they did here." Joshua nodded. "Yep." He wasn't forthcoming with further information. An awkward silence fell over the group. Joshua leaned forward. "Well, not talking just won't do. Tell me about yourselves." Flutterfree did most of the talking for the next few minutes. They discovered that Joshua knew about the multiverse, and that most of the people in this church did as well. Flutterfree described her life as an explorer, carefully leaving out Rev's occupation from the conversation so Joshua wouldn't ask uncomfortable questions about a Reverend in a reeducation facility. "You've had an active life," Joshua noted. "Been through a lot. The fact that you're still here and smiling is a testament to your strength." Flutterfree nodded. "Thank you. I do think I've become a little distant as time marches on... I'm working on keeping myself grounded though. Rev helps with that." Rev smiled. "Yeah. What about you, Joshua?" "Well, I grew up as a carpenter a-" he saw the clock. "Ah, sadly it appears that dinner is over. It's time for nightly prayers and then... well you're supposed to go to sleep, but there's nothing really enforcing it." Flutterfree chuckled. "It's like we're kids again." "In many ways." He stood up. "Nightly prayers are done in the dorms, I'll take you there." "That'd be wonderful." He led them through the halls to a hallway that split in two - one to the men's and one to the women's. "Non-gendered races go in that door," Joshua said, pointing at a red door further to the left. Across from the red door was a broom closet - which Joshua opened. "Huh?" Rev said, cocking her head. "I'm cleaning out here tonight," Joshua said with a smile. "Don't worry about me. Just get some rest. Don't forget to engage in the prayer though, they'll know if you don't." "Of course they will," Rev said with a sigh. "Thanks for showing us around. Keep your head up and your ears open, Joshua, and don't forget to think about everything." Joshua smiled. "I never stop thinking." "I hope that's true," Rev said, heading off toward the women's dorms. Flutterfree paused to give Joshua a hug and followed her. They entered a dimmed room lined with beds. Roughly half the beds currently had women kneeling at their feet, allowing the starlight from the windows to give them a faint spotlight. Flutterfree and Rev chose some empty beds near the edge of the hall and kneeled down - but not to the Great Will. Rev smirked. Hey, Great Will? Just want you to know, this isn't for you. So don't you dare try anything. ...Lord, these people need your help to know the true you, not some lie that's forced onto them by horrendous magic. I implore you to free them of this curse that is so much worse than the simple existence of the Great Will. You created us with a will of our own so we could choose you, not that we could be forced into serving you. Please, do not let the heretical acts of this place defy your intentions. I pray for the confused priests who run this place, that they may see the light and understand what they've done. I pray for the people already indoctrinated, that they are still able to learn who you are. I pray for those of us still here, calling out for you to save us. My voice included. I pray for those back home worried for us, that they will find their strength. I pray for my congregation, that they not stray from you.... ...I ask forgiveness. I've been short today, engaged in hopelessness, and allowed my thoughts to get the better of me on more than one occasion. I've been angry with people I had no right to be angry with, and I gave in to pride once again. ...I ask for me and Flutterfree to be freed from this place, so we may return home. I... I also pray for the Great Will itself, that it may understand that you are real, and that it would understand what it is doing to everyone. None are beyond your redemption, after all. Amen. Rev opened her eyes - and saw a tall woman in purple robes standing over them. "The headmaster would like to see you two." Rev put on a smile. "Of course. I was wondering when this would happen." "I guess we needed to see some of the place first," Flutterfree said, ruffling her feathers. They left the women's dorms, passing the still-sweeping Joshua. He smiled and waved at them, wishing them luck with a thumbs up. Flutterfree gave him one in return with her wings, while Rev shot him a friendly wink. ...She realized she felt significantly better. Was that because she had taken a spiritual moment, or was the brainwashing worming its way into her? They were taken into a simple office. There was a wooden desk, a couple chairs, a nice bookshelf lined with titles, and a bearded man sitting over an open Bible. He wasn't looking at it - he as looking at them. "Flutterfree, Reverend Glimmer, come on in." They did and took their seats. He leaned in, folding his hands together. "Those were some very interesting prayers you had there." ~~~ Doctor Strange raised his eyebrows. "You want to talk to the Living Tribunal?" "Yes," Eve said. I nodded in confirmation. We were standing in Earth MC's Avengers headquarters, at a table with only Doctor Strange. "He doesn't like to be disturbed." "He can spare a few minutes to listen to a couple of purple alicorns," I said. "It's not like bending time is beyond him. He's a big guy with a lot of power and a lot more time than he gives us credit for." Doctor Strange shrugged. "I suppose it is your funeral. How do you plan to contact him? Our Infinity Gauntlet isn't easy to obtain, a-" "I'll write a post-it note," I said. "We were just talking to you so we could get the right opportunity to do it. Ahem." I summoned a post it note and wrote a single sentence on it. The Living Tribunal noticed that the bearer of the Eye of Rhyme wanted an audience. I smirked. "Do you want to know the best part about this? Even if this use of my power isn't accepted, he'll still detect that someone tried to write him into doing something, and he'll investigate a-" Eve and myself appeared in a vast white expanse. The tremendous golden form of the Living Tribunal sat in front of us, the glowing power in the center of his chest blinding us for a moment. His three-faceted floating head examined us closely. "That was a clever trick, Twilence." "Been waiting to use it on you," I admitted. "I had a reason. Figured I might as well." "You are forgiven, though I would appreciate it if you refrained from doing so in the future." "No promises. Don't know what's coming." "No one does. The end of certainty approaches." "Wait, you don't even know?" Eve asked, blinking. "What in the name of the Tower is going to happen in sixty years!?" "If you find out, you would be well rewarded for telling us," the Living Tribunal said. "As of now, there is no entity in the multiverse that knows. That we are aware of." "Yeesh." "We are not here to discuss that. We are here to discuss your predicament." "Right." Eve ruffled her wings. "Priests of the Great Will have taken some of our people. And upon realizing we were rather powerless to do anything about it, we decided to seek out help from someone who might be able to do something. That would be you. ...And you already knew all of this before you even started talking to us." "Correct. And a decision has already been made." "And...?" "I regret to inform you that I do not have the authority to do anything in Great Will space. We have a treaty that prevents either of us from interacting with each other in a universe owned by either party." "Ponyfeathers," Eve muttered. "Tribunal, my friends are trapped, I-" "This does not mean your cause is lost," the Living Tribunal said. "The treaty does not apply to the highest mind of the Great Will or The One Above All, since They refuse to limit Themselves in such ways most often. I will bring up your case with The One Above All since it deals directly with His concerns. You have my word." "...And we won't get to know if he listened or not," Eve said. I nodded slowly. "The One Above All does not let himself be... examined. Or be predictable." "Do you have any other suggestions?" Eve asked. "Can we do anything?" "Unless you can find the exact aspect of the Great Will responsible for these radicals, it seems unlikely you will be able to influence the events. The Great Will's highest mind is the only one who could tell you for certain which aspect is responsible, and It will never speak to you. It has rarely spoken to me." Eve sighed. "Okay. Could you get an audience?" "No. The last time I had one, It made it very clear I wasn't welcome back. The Structure of the Great Will and the Fluidity of the Abstracts does not mix well." "Rigid belief and abstract concepts..." I mused. "Two sides of the same coin. Two perceptions of higher power." "And likely both mere shadows of the truth." And then the two of them were back in front of Doctor Strange. "Well...?" "He wasn't mad," Eve said, sighing. "But we didn't really accomplish anything either." "...I wish I could do more." Eve nodded slowly. "Yeah. Me too." ~~~ "You were listening to our prayers!?" Rev blurted. "That's supposed to be private! Don't you remember the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector?" "That is for boastful praying, Reverend," the headmaster said, scratching his beard. "You were not being boastful. Quite the opposite, really, you were showing compassion for even your enemies, and repentance for your short actions." "It's an invasion of privacy." "In our installation it is important." The headmaster raised a hand. "How are we to know if a visitor has truly come to God or not?" "Just check your brainwashing crystals, I'm sure that'll tell you." The headmaster raised an eyebrow. "I'm curious how you found out about those without your blasphemous magic, but it matters not. I am simply here to discuss the merits of our institution with you. Not a single person leaves here without becoming a believer. Shouldn't that make you happy? More saved people." "It's the principle of the thing," Rev muttered. "The whole point of there being evil was so we could have a choice. So we weren't robots that just served God, but so we were people. We had to be able to choose something that wasn't Him, and evil provided an avenue for that to make consistent sense. If you go and start brainwashing you remove the choice!" "Ah, but if we just wanted to brainwash, we could use instant control." The headmaster pulled a small white crystal out of his jacket. "This is not a standard brainwashing device. It is a slow worker, designed to nag at a mind over the course of several weeks. It never truly forces anyone to make a choice. But with the right signals, events, and moments, anyone can be changed to believe. They still make their own choice, Reverend. There are a few cases of people who could not be saved by this method, but they are few and far between." "You don't see a problem with that?!" Flutterfree blurted. "That's not honest! That's controlling!" "The ends justify the means. The horrible acts committed on this Earth mean nothing compared to the fate of the eternal soul. I would end existence in an instant if it meant everyone were to be saved." "We are not called to do evil for the sake of good," Rev said. "We are called to be holy paragons." "And I will gladly accept my punishment. But they come to the Truth through this place." Rev shook her head. "God doesn't overwrite people!" "Doesn't He?" the headmaster asked. "What of all those convinced not by words or faith, but by undeniable miracles? Paul, for instance. A man with a powerful desire to persecute, turned into perhaps the greatest disciple because of one moment." "You aren't God," Rev pointed out. "You can't reveal 'yourself' to anyone and make them believe. You have to hide behind a smokescreen." "I'm rather open about what I do here," the headmaster said. "You go in an unbeliever or someone who is lost in heresy, and you come out a true child of God. People often know it's all a ruse, all a lie, but they're still better off in the end for it." Rev opened her mouth to respond, but closed it, the gears turning in her head. The headmaster smiled. "You can't think of a real objection to it, can you? I'm willing to suffer the punishment for my sins, all for the sake of bringing everyone forcefully to the truth so they may be saved. It's abhorrently evil, but they are truly who they need to be." Flutterfree glared at him. "It's not right." "How is it not? It's essentially just an accelerated version of the family. You're exposed to only one truth so you're predisposed to believe it. It's a more potent form of the persuasive sermon." "There's a line you've crossed!" Flutterfree shouted. "You're using false pretenses! Lies! It ruins the meaning that's supposed to be there!" "And that's where we disagree." "Conversion is not a factory procedure," Rev spat. "You aren't a product." "I am treating them precisely as I would like to be treated. If I am wrong in any way, I wish to be forcefully corrected." "But you don't think you're wrong and won't subject yourself to my mental conditioning," Rev pointed out. "Yes, I know how to condition minds. No, I never do." The headmaster nodded. "You are correct." "Double standard, much?" "It is simply the truth that I am closer to the Truth than you are." "Oh really? You serve the Great Will directly, don't you? Isn't it blatantly obvious that it isn't God? It's just a force of nature that creates things that look like God! You just want to spread its power!" "Do you ever think of why we want to spread its power?" the headmaster asked. "To increase the power of your deity and make yourselves more powerful in return." "Wrong," the headmaster said. He held up the Bible. "We want to make this true." Rev blinked. "W-what?" "Or, rather, we want to ensure it is true. It is the most prevalent religious line of thinking in the entire multiverse. If the Great Will spreads to every universe, it will be able to retroactively transform the entire multiverse to be this. The reason the Great Will is not God is because the Great Will is limited. If the Great Will is everywhere, not only does it become unlimited, but it makes it so it has always been unlimited. Furthermore, it could make the true God that Created the multiverse, but has always existed." "You're insane..." Flutterfree said, eyes wide. "No. I just see that we are doing God's work, to create an existence with God in it!" "God already exists!" Rev shouted. "Don't be absurd!" the headmaster shouted, a vein throbbing in his head. "Have you seen the Dark Tower? That is the God of this existence! A machine that takes the perverted wishes and fantasies of people and makes them reality!" "Then how do you explain everything else? All the true spirituality?" "A true God of the multiverse would have access to retcon, and be able to overrule the Dark Tower," he said, folding his hands together. "This word really is His word. A word He sent back after His creation to ensure the world would follow His design." "That's... That's..." Rev blinked. "You can't argue with logic like that," Flutterfree deadpanned. "There will come a day where enough believe to make it all true. We don't have to doubt, Reverend. Do you see why?" "...Because if God doesn't exist you're going to make Him." "Precisely!" "Have you read the story of the Tower of Babel!? Why would a God created by man tell man not to try to reach the heavens!?" "That is but one interpretation of the passage, Reverend. Perhaps the Tower of Babel is meant to warn us of the hubris of the Dark Tower Builders. Perhaps it is to warn about arrogance. It does not have to warn against this quest of ours." Flutterfree put a wing on Rev. "There's no talking him out of it, Rev." Rev stared at the headmaster. "I... I can't even begin to comprehend what all of this will mean..." "You'll find that none of that matters in a few weeks!" the headmaster said, regaining his smile. "I am sorry for shouting, I was worked up, but it was still unnecessary." "Just like all the rest of this," Flutterfree snapped. The headmaster waved a hand dismissively. "You may return to your rooms now. I'll likely call you back in a few days, see how you're progressing. I was just curious to see your opinions before they were corrected. Perhaps gain some insight into the other ways of thinking." "So you can brainwash the other worlds too?" "Precisely!" ~~~ The next day, Flutterfree and Rev woke up to the smells of breakfast wafting through the entire reeducation church. As they got up, Flutterfree whispered to Rev. "We've got to get out of here. I can probably work up enough of a Rage to bash down a door. Lolo saw magic energies outside, you should be able to get us out of here." "...Let's think of a better plan first," Rev said. She furrowed her brows, deep in thought. "Good. Planning. I like planning. I don't like being brainwashed." The two of them left the women's dorms and met Joshua in the hall. "Oh. Hey. What happened to you guys in the headmaster's last night?" Rev looked to him. "...It was a shouting match, theologically speaking. Definitely not the way that sort of argument was supposed to go. He made it a little difficult to do it any other way..." "You argued with him? What do you believe?" Rev blinked. Then she smiled. "I believe in a supreme being of pure holiness that has always existed, and created the entire multiverse. He doesn't need anything from us, we are completely contingent on Him, and He cares deeply for us. He gave us free will so we could choose to be with Him and pursue a meaningful relationship - or throw ourselves to the ways of the world. I believed that He sent Himself in the form of a person to experience death and resurrection so He could purify us and give us eternal life. I believe He is watching, even now, and a time will come when He returns and wraps up existence. That is what I believe." Joseph smiled at her. "And you?" Flutterfree chuckled. "What she said." Joseph nodded. "Seems like you've got a pretty solid grip on it. ...So what are you going to do about it?" Rev blinked. She looked up, furrowing her brow. "...I'm going to tell everyone. I'm not running away again." Flutterfree's eyes widened. "Rev! What a-" "It's the right thing to do, Flutterfree. If I don't stand up for it here, why do I stand up for it in the safety of my church?" She put a hoof to her chest. "What's happening here is wrong. And they need to know it." Flutterfree blinked - then nodded. "Right." Rev turned to Joshua. "You might want to distance yourself from us. We're about to become really unpopular." Joshua nodded. "I'll remain in the background if that's what you want." "Yeah. Flutterfree, find me a wall where one of the brainwashing crystals are in the cafeteria. Pry it open with your Rage. They're going to see it." They trotted into the cafeteria, the room already bustling with hungry people. They walked right up to the back wall. "Got it?" Rev asked. Flutterfree breathed in. Even though her weapons were sealed away with adhesive, the raw energy of Rage flowing through her hooves was more than enough to bash down a wall. The thundering crash was enough to draw the attention of everyone in the cafeteria. Flutterfree activated Lolo fully, forcing the eight-sided brainwashing crystal to shine brightly. "This is a crystal that is brainwashing all of you!" Rev shouted. "It is tearing you away from the beauty of God's creation and enslaving you to a doctrine that serves the machinations of a being that feeds on belief. You are not being taught here - no matter what you may think. You are being controlled. You have no choice in the matter. You stay here until you believe what these crystals think is 'correct'. But they're wrong! "Think about what you've heard about God - kind, loving, graceful. He'd never demand that you suffer from what is essentially mind control to come to him. Or what about his other traits? He's just, vengeful, and truthful! This isn't just, it's a horrendous crime against your spirit! This isn't retribution for what you've done, it's a machine designed to churn out obedient little servants! This isn't truthful - it's based on a lie! If your mind is forced to believe something with coercion, it's not real. It's like you're being replaced by someone else! "Please, look into your hearts, I beg of you - see what's happening here! See that it's not holy! See that you're all being manipulated for a nefarious purpose! Open your eyes, people! This place doesn't do God's work - it's built on the body of the father of lies! It's fake! Think for yourselves! Don't let them force you into being something you're not!" Rev would have kept going - but she saw her audience. Most of them were ignoring her. A few were looking at her, but the silence of the majority of the people there was keeping them from doing anything. Rev sighed. "Of course. ...People don't want to think..." "WHAT IS WRONG WITH ALL OF YOU!?" Flutterfree shouted, her purple robes beginning to churn in nonexistent wind. "THIS UNICORN IS PUTTING HER LIFE ON THE LINE FOR ALL OF YOU, TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH! SHE'S FACING THE IMPOSSIBLE ODDS! AND THIS IS THE THANKS YOU GIVE HER!?" Rev saw the purple energy collect around Flutterfree's hooves and start to waft off to other people - infecting them with the Rage. Rev put a hoof on her and shook her head. "No. If we make them fight, we're no better than them." Flutterfree reduced the Rage to just around her. "Okay." The headmaster walked up to them. "Are you quite done?" Rev shook her head. "No, actually. Because now we're going to fight our way out. Flutterfree, give me some of that Rage, will you? Looks like we're going to need it." The two ponies were surrounded in a purple aura. Rev's cross necklace started glowing white, surrounding her in a holy glow. Flutterfree bared her fangs and summoned Lolo, ready to trip anyone she could. The headmaster drove them into the remaining wall effortlessly, freezing them in place with his own Divine magic. "You are nothing compared to the might of God." "NEITHER ARE YOU." Behind the headmaster was an angelic being brimming with golden power. Rev knew he was one of the Great Will's angels - a servant to one of the interpretations of God. She had no idea which one, and frankly she didn't care, she was just glad he was here. The headmaster turned and stared at the angel in fear. "W-what are you doing here, messenger?" "YOU HAVE ANGERED THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH YOUR ATROCIOUS SINS, UNBEFITTING ONE OF YOUR POSITION. LIKE THE PHARISEES YOU HAVE PLEDGED YOURSELF TO A LIFE OF PURITY WHILE ENGAGING IN ACTIVITIES OF THE DEVIL. YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO THE HOLY CHURCH." He fell to the ground, tears in his eyes. "Please, forgive me! I will change my ways! I wi-" "I AM NOT HERE TO DELIVER A WARNING. I AM HERE TO DISPENSE DIVINE JUDGMENT." The angel raised his hand - and the headmaster was struck by lightning, crumbling to dust. The crystal was struck with a similar bolt of energy, crumbling as well. Rev could hear screams from around the 'church' as the faculty were given similar treatments. The angel turned to those remaining. "YOU ARE FREE TO CHOOSE WHAT YOU WISH. YOU ARE OBSERVERS. THAT IS YOUR PURPOSE." Then the angel was gone. Flutterfree let out a sigh of relief. "...Looks like our prayers were answered." Rev felt life return to her horn. "...Looks like it." She closed her eyes and said thanks. Then she realized a couple of her ribs were broken. "Oh, wow... Ow ow ow..." ~~~ Eve was pacing in her office while I sat at down in a chair, calmly drinking tea and counting down the seconds. "Okay, okay, we need to think of something else. Think we can use the Shaping Mechanism to create a sniffer universe?" I blinked. "You don't even have any idea how to start doing that." "Corona might." "She doesn't." "Ponyfeathers," Eve muttered. "Uh, what about... What about..." "Waiting a little longer?" I suggested. "We've waited a whole day!" "It hasn't been twenty-four hours yet." "How long are we supposed to wait?" "Three... Two... One..." Rev and Flutterfree walked through the doors of Eve's office. Rev had bandages wrapped tightly around her ribs, but she was smiling. Flutterfree ran to Eve and pulled her up in a hug. "I'm back!" "Oh thank Celestia," Eve said, pulling Flutterfree closer. "I was so worried." "Well, we were in an indoctrination camp," Rev said, sitting down. "Reminded me why so many villains are religious nutjobs... It makes you do crazy things. Being a nutjob, I mean." I chuckled. "Yeah. It does." Eve turned to me. "Did our plan work? Did the Living Tribunal talk to the One Above All?" I smiled. "Yes, but that has nothing to do with why they're back safely." "Then why are they back safely?" "Well..." I took a sip of my tea. "Why don't we just go with a miracle, hrm?" "Twilence..." Eve said, glaring. "There's almost always two reasons for an event. Causal, and ka-based. Why not another?" "Care to explain the causal?" I smiled mischievously. "It's not important. For you, anyway." "Oh for th-" ~~~ Joshua watched as the angel appeared and unleashed his 'righteous judgment'. A smile came to the man's face - everything had worked out. Joshua vanished right afterward. Nobody noticed. "There's this issue with Merodi Universalis involving the Great Will. I ask that you look into it." "Already did," The One Above All said, leaving behind the form of Joshua. Were a visual filter to examine his True Form, he would appear as a golden humanoid shining with the brightest light eyes could stand. Without a visual filter, normal beings just dropped dead. "Went there before they arrived, taking a human shell. Got Rev to confront one of her past failings, put the divine message out through the Narrative, and directed the local aspect to the situation. Doesn't take much prodding from me to get them to do something about their children." "Understood. Was it enjoyable?" "Walking among them is almost always a treat," the One Above All said. "But they also sadden me. They can become so devoted and then miss the mark so much..." "It's always how it is." "It's how it has to be. Of all the 'Gods' that compose me, very few have ever thought it could be any other way. They have to be allowed to choose, to create, and to realize what they are alone. You, me, the Great Will... All just different aspects of that truth. They wanted to make God, so here we are. Imperfect, just as their minds are." "How much of this is just for the reader's benefit?" "Most of it," the One Above All said. "Some of it is for you, and yet all of it is still true, for it is what I see. Now excuse me, I'll have to shift the perceived conversation away from you and to the Great Will." "Understood." "I expected you to call sooner," The One Above All said. The Great Will had no appearance - It was a mesh-net of consciousness across multiple millions of universes. It spoke with a similarly humble voice to The One Above All, seeing as It was similar to Him in many ways. "I was waiting for the perception to change," It said. "I thank you for bringing attention to those radicals and applying your pressure." "It was the least I could do." "They thought they could turn me into a full God. While their methods were abhorrent, do you not think that is an honorable goal?" "Only if there is no real God." "And that's the greatest question, isn't it? If there is a true Creator, you're right. But if there isn't, I'm right. And there's no way for either of us to know." "Not for certain. Because the Tower eclipses us." "As always. You're welcome, readers, for this vague conversation." The One Above All let out a soft laugh. "This has been a message from 'The Big G's'." "Ding," the Great Will said. "Roll credits!"
Songs of the Spheres	110 - Spline of Man	Year 19 The Dark Tower was ironically represented by a dot of pure white light, brighter than all the others on the map - the antithesis of the darkness in the Tower's nature. Surrounding the stellar point of the Tower was a thin, spherical aura of whiteness, representing the universes at the core of the multiverse - ones where the rules of ka tended to take more physical meaning and where most of the physical manifestations of the Tower itself were found. Beyond that were long, white strands of flowing energy, representing the Strands. There was a large ring of connections that went around the multiversal core, but not into it, like a roundabout. The multiversal highways did not want to contend with such extreme ka manifestations. Out of this roundabout sprang three major highways, chaining through the multiverse through polymer-like connections. The energy cost to move along these highways was exceptionally low and they were arranged in such a way that it would only take a few jumps to cross them while also having hundreds of 'stopping' points. One highway led to the D-Sphere, one to the Q, and one to the E. There was a 'partial' highway that started to head to the Unrealities, but it broke off into the Great Void. The spheres also had direct highways from their edges to each other - E to D, D to Q, and Q to E, creating a vague triangle with concave edges. Each sphere was a glowing swirl of sparks, each one given a particular color. Blue for E, Green for Q, and a pinkish-purple for D. The E sphere was easily dominant, containing more universes within than both the other spheres combined. Q was larger than D, but not as outrageously huge as the mammoth the E-Sphere. The Unrealities were rather diminutive and pathetic compared to the full spheres, looking like a red golf ball compared to the E-Sphere's basketball. The D-Sphere's colors bled off, mixing in a hazy swirl with both the E and Q spheres. The E-D section was just outside the main E-D highway, swirling together humanity and dreams to create the Cosmic Heavens while the Q-D blended together into the realms of Outer Existence - that of magic and power. Where E and Q should have blended there was only the darkness of the Great Void, broken only by the sharp contrast of the Unrealities. Beyond this center there was a faint halo representing the Multiversal Edges - called The Expanse or Decaying Edges depending on which area one was in. Universes this far out seemed to be dead, dying, or have an excessive amount of space within them, effectively being of a much larger size than most worlds. There was very little in the way of advanced civilization out this far. Sticking out from the calm aura of the Edges like a malignant tumor was the Beyond - a thorn that spiked out of the loose puff of the rest of the multiverse. Class 2 societies were represented by glowing dots on the map, similar to the Tower's representation, with Merodi Universalis having two spots - an orange-gold dot on the edges of both the E and Q spheres. They had other holdings, but they were so minimal as to not show up. The Class 1s showed up as loose coloration added to the display, though even they looked small. The Great Will and True Abstracts occupied edges of the E-Sphere, with most of their territory in the Cosmic Heavens, though the Abstracts also occupied much of the D-Sphere. The Xeelee and Them were completely contained within the girth of the E-Sphere, while the Horrorterrors stayed almost completely in the Great Void, touching the E-Sphere and Unrealities with their elongated shape. The Celestialsapiens were half Q-Sphere, with the rest divided between the Strands and the Great Void while the Beyonders occupied the Q-Sphere and parts of the Multiversal Edges. This was how most maps displayed the multiverse, including Merodi Universalis'. It was accurate for representing travel and proximity within the multiverse in most situations. However, there was a problem. That problem was that the Strands were not the only multiversal polymer structure that facilitated easy travel. There was another one that skirted the outer edges of the three main spheres, known as the Mihipte Spline. It was a single chain polymer of universes that formed a 'ring' that snaked around the Multiverse like the surface of a brain coral, making the far edge of the E-Sphere only two jumps away from the far edge of the Q-Sphere and had the added quirk of making different 'access points' on the edge of the Q-Sphere dozens of jumps apart. It was a very useful structure for travel from distant locations, creating a dual culture. There was the central multiverse, which used the Strands, and the outer, which used the Spline. Merodi Universalis was decidedly a Strands universe, and the Strands were certainly more developed and variable compared to the Spline. But the Spline was simpler. Like a modern subway system instead of a complex network of ancient Roman roads. The multiversal historians believed that the ancient Weavers built both structures with different intentions - which may explain why the Spline didn't go to the Beyond or Unrealities. They might have simply not been around when the Spline was created. Representing the Spline's method of connecting distant areas became... confusing. Surrounding the multiversal display in a bunch of white lines with brighter points where Spline access universes sat worked well enough, but it shrouded the interior of the multiverse. Some multiversal models used the Dark Tower as one point, and the Spline as the other point, creating a bubble in the middle of 'normal' territories. However, this distorted the Spheres themselves, whose inter-universal relations were used more often. So every advanced map that followed the general Dark Tower Central model had a toggle option - show Spline highways. There had been a few Class 1s who'd bothered to make highways from the Strands to the Spline, but these didn't follow any rhyme or reason, making it a bit of a nightmare to plot a course from an inner universe through the Strands, to an access point, and then through the Spline to an outer universe. Which was exactly what Corona was trying to do. Even with all the programs and Raging Sight's assistance, it was still a nightmare. They were already in the Strands and had no intention of going anywhere until they figured out the course to get there. And since they didn't want to be on this ship for a week, it fell to Corona to find the right link. The only problem was the access point between the Strands and the Spline they had chosen was a very old polymer of universes that hadn't held together very well, losing its effectiveness as a highway and becoming a horrendous braid of knotted hairs. Whatever Class 1 that built that particular highway wasn't around anymore and nobody else was picking up the slack. She wished the Xeelee would give up their maps already, make it public knowledge. With full knowledge of the connections in an area Corona knew it was possible to make it from a universe to almost any other universe in the same Sphere in less than twenty jumps. With certain pathways linking directly from Sphere to Sphere, that meant at most forty jumps to anywhere within the three major Spheres. ...If you bothered to calculate it out that far. To be fair, she knew the Xeelee and other Class 1s just brute-forced their way through existence more often than not. There was a point at which 'why not just bash through the wall?' was a better option than disassembling it atom by atom. Corona and the rest of the Merodi weren't at that point yet, so interdimensional course charting was still a major concern on the large-scale. The Strands and the Spline were supposed to make it easy. "Why couldn't the Weavers have just weaved them together?" Corona muttered, zooming in once again on the decaying highway they would be using. They didn't have a complete map of it - all highway polymers were made of thousands of universes that often shifted location. When they worked properly travel along them was a cinch. But this sack of ancient trash was a mess; the best course she had at the moment predicted an eight-day journey, speaking in metatime terms. She wasn't about to just accept that as the best possible time. The doors to the navigation room opened, revealing Jotaro and Pinkie, Pinkie riding along on the man's back in her self-described 'Pinkie-back ride'. Having someone else be her legs in times where there wasn't anything important happening was a help to her, seeing as her senses tended to be dulled slightly during those moments. The 'importance' must have kicked in the moment she arrived, because she hopped off his back and slid up to Corona. "Sooooo, the crew wants to know how their captain's navigation is going!" "Peachy," Corona muttered, running more dimensional analysis on their data. She would have loved to send probes out to analyze the area but they would take just as long to get anything done as what she was doing now. No matter how much they manipulated time that'd still be a long period to make their mission wait. "Maybe I could help?" Pinkie suggested, putting her hooves on the table. "Pinkie, this is a purely visu-" Pinkie pointed at a small pink dot sitting outside the highway structure and grinned. Corona knew what was coming. She plotted a course through the pink dot, finding that it connected only three universes away from where they were. A probe went through - and found another connection that made it nine-tenths of the way across the damaged highway. Several thoughts went through Corona's mind. She considered proper responses 'how did you do that?' was quickly tossed to the side as a stupid one, as was simply saying 'huh, thanks', though that latter rejection may have been because of her own internal, bubbling fury at her evident inadequacy. "...Yay," Corona eventually muttered, grinding her teeth. "You're welcome!" Pinkie said, giggling. "Now let's finish plotting this course and get there in..." She pressed a button there was no way she could sense with her hoof, chuckling. "How long does that say?" "Forty-seven minutes," Corona said, grunting. "This is exactly what the Starcross Society did to us." "Heheh, yeah!" Pinkie said, leaping back onto Jotaro's back. "Onward!" Corona sighed, plugging the coordinates in and starting the travel program. She closed down the holograms of the multiverse and followed Jotaro and Pinkie back to the main lounge that also served as the luxurious ship's bridge. The ship was a small one - it only held six passengers, after all - generally used only for diplomatic missions and the like. Normally it would be piloted by one of Eve's Division, but today was a special journey. Corona stepped in front of the video game being played on the primary screen, raising an eyebrow. "Wh- hey what gives!" Vriska blurted, throwing her controller down. "I almost had her!" "No you didn't," Flutterfree said with a mischievous smile. "You were dead." "Was not!" "Just keep telling yourself that!" Flutterfree giggled. "Mhm Yeah." Corona rolled her eyes. "We'll be arriving in forty-six minutes, thanks to a lucky break." "Pinkie?" Nova asked, looking up from her screen. "Pinkie." "I HAVE THE POWER!" Pinkie cackled, laughing maniacally. "Beware alllll my third eyes!" "Yes, quite," Corona said, adjusting her gloves. "Regardless, since a several-day trip is now going to take less than an hour, here's a review of what we're doing. Ahem." She waved the game off the main screen and replaced it with a general map of the Q-Sphere. "It's no secret that many of the magic systems in the Q-Sphere run off interdimensional power generally found in Outer Existence or the D-Sphere. A large chunk of those universes run on the magic provided by the Magic High Commission, a Class 2 society positioned at the Outer Existence-Q-Sphere boundary. Recently, magic systems in a few of our universes have begun experiencing hiccups, which required me to Shape the universes to use different magic systems. I, as the Research Division Second and expert on the Shaping Mechanism, am going to pay a personal visit to the MHC to figure out what is going on with the multiversal flow of their magic. You all are my bodyguards because you've been there before." "Star was great!" Pinkie said. "I wonder if she's still acting queen..." "The political situation in MHC is never stable," Jotaro commented, folding his arms. "I doubt it." "In less than an hour we'll find out what exactly is going on," Corona said. "In the meantime... Just be ready to go at a moment's notice." Vriska summoned her infinite-sided die, grinning evilly. "I'm always ready." "You aren't wasting your luck on video games, are you?" "...I have the right to remain silent." Corona chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Of course you do. But remember, I can see into your head if I want." Vriska rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm fine." "Good." Corona checked their location. Still within the last ten percent of the old highway. Most of the downtime was going to be there. "You know, if we ever get to the point where we can make this kind of engineering, let's make our highways self-repairing, hm?" Nova smirked. "What makes you think it's not the self-repair systems that ended up ruining this road?" Corona furrowed her brow. "...And we've hit the edge of our knowledge. The moment anyone actually understands the way universe polymers are created I'll throw a party big enough to blow up a moon." "I'll throw one large enough to blow up a planet!" Pinkie countered. "You've thrown bigger," Nova pointed out. "Psh. It's all for the sake of needless escalation." ~~~ In Merodi Universalis, ponies saw alternate versions of themselves a lot more frequently than humans did. This was partially because the majority of Merodi Universalis holdings were in the Q-Sphere, specifically the area of the Q-Sphere absolutely dominated by versions of Equis, and they were regularly the most willing of all worlds to join the Merodi. It was a known curiosity that different versions of Equis almost always had the same ponies on them, while the many different versions of Earth had different populations, even if national leaders and entities tended to be the same. Earth Stand and most the other Earths followed this trend while Earth Vitis versions mirrored Equis worlds. However, Earth Tau'ri did not. Earth Tau'ri was situated right in the middle of an area filled with alternate versions of Earth Tau'ri. The variety wasn't as extensive as the Equis cluster, nor was it as large as the Equis cluster, but it was significant enough that Earth Tau'ri had encountered alternate versions of itself prior to meeting Equis Vitis and Eve. So why were there not packs of Daniel Jackson running around? Sure, someone would occasionally see another Daniel in Merodi Universalis, but that wasn't as common as seeing a pack of Pinkies prowling around looking for their next prank victim. The answer was simple. Earth Tau'ri versions didn't trust each other. When Earth Tau'ri was still a lone power, and just an ally of Equis Vitis, they avoided causing diplomatic incidents with versions of themselves due to past history. And by the time they actually joined Merodi Universalis, they had enough power to be threatening to other Earth Tau'ris, which would always be in the original's shadow. This hadn't stopped a couple from joining up out of desperation to defeat an alien threat or some other compelling reason, but the majority didn't have the allure of being a pioneer the original Earth Tau'ri had, so they avoided close relations. It was often thought that the Class 3 Society GateNet had come from these worlds, but in truth that network had been created largely by nonhuman races that occupied Stargate worlds as part of a trading union. As a result, Daniel and O'Neill had never had to change their names. They were both by far the most well-known versions of themselves and there were maybe a dozen of them in all of Merodi Universalis. There had been no Esefem for them, no copy universe, and no tendency for either of them to leave their homes and join Merodi Universalis as an independent agent. O'Neill usually thought it was nice to be able to keep his name. Usually. Today was one of the exceptions. "O'Neill!" "WHAT!?" Thirty-seven different O'Neill's shouted back. Yellow Diamond sighed, towering over all the miniscule humans. "Overhead O'Neill." "Here," O'Neill said, wearing the black-and-gold uniform only he got to wear as Military Overhead. "What is it?" "We have five more," Yellow Diamond said, moving her foot to reveal five more people. Four of them were O'Neills - but the fifth wasn't. "That's not me, Yellow," O'Neill muttered, pushing himself to the front of the O'Neill crowd. "What the hell is going on!?" one of the new O'Neill's demanded. "Dimensional Magnet," O'Neill muttered. "I know the magnets trick, you can't pull that one over my eyes!" O'Neill put a hand to the bridge of his knows. "For the love of Pete... Look, it's actually called a Dimensional Magnet. It's a device that draws alternate versions of one person to a particular place. I happened to be given one by one of Them - don't ask - and now we're here, sitting in my office, together. Kapeesh?" "Kapeesh," the new O'Neill responded, tipping his hat. O'Neill continued on, arriving at the person who wasn't him. The General looked up, raising his eyebrows. "Jotaro?" The Jotaro in front of him was younger than the Jotaro O'Neill knew - somewhere in his twenties - and was wearing a black instead of white outfit. "You know a version of me?" "Yeah, you're the big guy with the punching ghost," O'Neill said, summoning Crimson Sushi. "Helped me get this one." "Yare yare daze..." the Jotaro muttered. "I am not him. I am an interdimensional traveler from a cluster of Stand-based universes. You may call me Jove." "Huh. Calling yourself Jupiter. Good call. Really fits the whole 'big guy' thing." Jove raised an eyebrow. "Anyway, why are you here and not, oh, another me?" Jove summoned his stand - a white version of Star Platinum. "This is Star Platinum Over Heaven, with the ability to rewrite reality with a punch. When I saw the O'Neill I was talking to being taken away, I decided to switch places with him using that ability." "Was he your friend or something?" "He was a sack of shit I thought was trying to escape the hellscape universe I was throwing him into." "Ah. You know, I don't meet villain versions of myself too much. Even when I do go exploring the Tau'ri cluster." "He was an oddity, given what I've learned from these four." "Mhm. Do you have anywhere you need to be? We can probably get you into the general area." Jove shook his head. "I had just wrapped up. I'll go wherever now." He reached out with S.P.O.H. and tore a hole in reality with his fingers. Then he narrowed his eyes. "Something feels... weird." O'Neill held up a small white cube. "Dimensional Magnet, maybe?" "No..." Jove punched it with his free fist, deactivating it with a quick reality rewrite. "No, it's not that. Something else." O'Neill examined the deactivated device. "Huh. You just solved a lot of my problems. I should buy you lunch." "What about the rest of us!?" a Jessica O'Neill asked, hands on her hips. "I may know where my world is, but Jackaboy doesn't!" "Why did we decide on Jackaboy?" a young O'Neill asked. "Youngest in the room," an undead skeleton O'Neill explained. "Also because it's hilarious," Overhead O'Neill added. "Don't worry, we can still trace the portals all back. Jessica, you're from GateNet, you should know what our nations are capable of." Jessica raised an eyebrow. "Maybe I was just prodding the mindless sheep." "Oh, good one." "HEY!" the O'Neills shouted. "All of you shut the hell up!" Jove shouted. "Something's happening!" Overhead O'Neill put a hand to his chin. "Hrm... is it... The work of an enemy Stand!?" He broke out into a stupid grin. "Yare yare daze..." And then Jove fell backward as if hit by a truck. ~~~ The nameless ship Corona and Pinkie's Party were sitting in lurched as if it had been hit by a truck. The ship, being a diplomatic vessel, had no weapons. Normally such a ship wouldn't even be making such long a journey because of the tendency for unforeseen complications to crop up but the nature of the mission ensured it wouldn't need weapons. Because Corona was on board. She instinctively plugged into the ship's systems, using Raging Sights as a connection for all her thoughts. Time effectively slowed to a crawl as she took direct control of the situation with her magic. First, she reinforced the shields with her personal threefold barrier spell, and then locked reality so the magic couldn't just be edited out of existence in case the enemy could do that. Next, she checked to make sure everyone was okay. Nova and Flutterfree were dazed, Pinkie seemed surprised - she hadn't seen this one coming - Vriska looked ticked, and Jotaro... was holding his head in pain. Nothing had hit him, what was wrong? He seemed healthy though, so she returned her attention outside. The attack had come through a dimensional portal that had already closed. She had the coordinates, but they were useless to her since they were in the Spline. Anyone could be anywhere in an instant because of the ease of moving through the polymer. There were no further portals opening, and there had been no structural damage to the ship. The only effect of the attack was that the ship acted like a baseball that had hit a bat - it was flying off at high sped. That shouldn't be an issue, since they were in the Spline. Even if they crashed into something loose someone would see them and they could get a lift, easy. She checked their trajectory. They were moving at about fifty percent lightspeed and were headed right for... "Dammit," Corona muttered. They were headed for one of the ancient structures that governed the Spline, maintaining itself as a highway even as the multiverse within grew larger and larger. There was one rule for using the Spline. Don't mess with the structures. You would live to regret it, every time. They were going to trigger a Spline Safeguard response. She wasn't going to be able to pull up in time or initiate a safe teleport. They had less than a second before impact, and she was the only one with enough awareness to even think anything. The ship approached the structures. They existed in three-dimensional space as far as Corona could tell - but she knew that was only because they were the ones in the universe right now. The Spline was adaptable, with most universes within naturally adjusting themselves for the senses of the traveler. It notably was unable to represent itself in a matter that was non-physical, but true energy beings rarely had issue with physical objects anyway. The structure went off as far as the eye could see in every direction, in a shape that looked like multiple spheres layered on top of each other. Along the 'surface' of the twisting framework were thousands upon thousands of tremendous, skyscraper-like buildings. Corona knew they weren't really buildings, rather processing centers for the Spline's impossibly huge computer system. She found it odd that they took so many different shapes - rectangular prisms, double helixes, elongates spheres - but she knew the inner workings of the Spline were beyond her. She wished she had some idea of where she could crash that would be the least important. But it all looked pretty much the same to her. She diverted their course away from the area the attackers had sent them - if there was something specific the attackers wanted destroyed, she wasn't going to let them have it. The ship crashed into a cylindrical building. Despite the strength of the quasi-magical polymer it was made out of, the speed of the ship coupled with its shielding tore the thing in half, exposing what appeared to be a mixture of wires, crystals, and organic compounds alongside more incomprehensible and intangible workings. The ship continued on until it hit the ground, acting like a meteor and creating a crater. The metallic siding of the ground peeled up around the ship's impact site, revealing a subterranean interior filled with similar material to the cylindrical building, except everything was much larger. Red lights started blaring. "NOVA!" Corona shouted - but it turned out she didn't need to. Nova had already started warping time to give them time to discuss. Corona smiled and continued talking. "VRISKA! WE'RE TRIGGERING A SAFEGUARD RESPONSE!" Corona yelled, using all her power to create a shield - but she knew it wasn't going to be enough, even with Sai's nanobots helping. "YOU'RE UP!" Vriska readied her infinite-sided die, smirking. "I'm always in the mood for some overkill." She stole a bit of luck from Flutterfree to restore what she had lost in the gaming - which wasn't all that much. Corona teleported her outside. The Safeguard of the Spline appeared in an instant - hundreds of humanoid robotic creatures appeared, each one resembling a hunched-over alabaster mannequin. They were all larger than Jotaro and had '-\|-' symbols on their faces. Just Exterminators. Nothing giving off the signature of an Agent. ...Yet, Corona thought to herself. Vriska finished throwing the infinite-sided die into the air. "Let's roll." ~~~ Nora leaned back in her chair, moaning. "Ugh, man, could our job be any more boring?" Jotaro, known to his friends as Jojo, raised an incredulous eyebrow. "It's all 'monitor this' and 'monitor that' and 'make sure the MITN nodes function properly'. You think working for the MORI Corporation would give you a little more, I dunno, action? We're a multiversal society on the edge of the Spline that supposedly gets to see all sorts of giants pass through." "We do," Jojo pointed out. "Yeah, and when was the last time they were anything more than a blip on our radar?" A green light appeared on her monitor. "See, look, here's one passing through the nearby Spline. Signature says... Merodi Universalis, low-Class 2. Nothing all that special, but they could stomp us out like flies. But do we get to talk to them? Do we get to see their impressive technology? No! All we get is a dot." She folded her arms. "What I wouldn't give to be part of something more exciting." Jojo furrowed his brow. "You might get what you want." He pointed at the green blip. "It's veered off course. Drastically." "What d-" Jojo fell backward as if he had just been hit by something, dazed. "Jojo!" Nora shouted, tearing her gaze from the screen and checking to see if he was okay. He still had a pulse, but his eyes had glazed over. She was vaguely aware of red lights starting to blare from the screen. "Shit," Nora muttered, glancing up at the screen. She decided the chaos happening in the Spline didn't matter more than the safety of her friend. She put her small form under his arm and started dragging him out of the room. "HELP! I NEED TO GET HIM TO SICKBAY! ANYONE!?" There was no response. She knew the observation room was largely soundproof, but she was having difficulty moving him. She reached for the door, opening it. Jojo watched as the infinite-sided die flew into the air, flashing brightly. It returned to Vriska's palm as it rolled the symbol of a ring with dozens of small jagged spikes coming out of it, with a swirl in the center. A tremendous black sphere of energy resembling a black hole in appearance tore through the fabric of reality. Thousands of spikes erupted from its event horizon, stabbing Safeguard Exterminators through the chest and disintegrating them in an instant - clearly this darkness was more than they had bargained for from a single crashed ship. "I can't dial out!" Corona yelled in panic. "They picked up that we're more than we seem!" Vriska smirked. "I did go for overkill." "The Safeguard security system deters Class 1s from messing with the Spline! Now that we've shown greater power they'll send larger forces!" "...Fuck." "I can't override the lock!" Nova panicked. "It's... more complex than anything I've seen outside of the Green Sun!" Jotaro groaned. "Yare yare daze..." "You okay there Jove?" O'Neill asked, tapping the man on the side of the face. "What's going on?" "Ugh... I'm exploding," Jove muttered, sitting up and holding his head. "What? Exploding?" Nora asked, eyes wide. "Jojo, what's wrong?" A high commander charged through the door. "Nora, you're supposed to alert us to these things before the automatic sy-" He took one look at her and Jojo and said no more. He moved past her and sat down at her console, trying to figure out what was going on in the Spline. "The Hell?" Jotaro3 blinked, suddenly in the house he had given Jotaro4. He had cut his hands by dropping a mug of coffee. "Why does he like coffee so much?" "Coffee?" O'Neill asked, blinking. "What in the..." Jove grabbed O'Neill by the collar. "Call Nanoha!" "I can't call Nanoha!" Corona snapped. "All communications are jammed, remember!" "Just shut up I need to think!" "I'm not saying anything!" Nora said, having realized Jojo was physically fine and not in danger of dying. "Who are you talking to!?" The commander glanced over his head, furrowing his brow. He reached for his earpiece. "Someone get Emile." "Emile..." Jojo muttered. "What an interesting name," Jotaro told himself, closing a book. "Curious, it's oh so rarely that I share a mind with another, especially one similar to myself." "What in Azador...?" "Precisely what I was thinking, but then again, we are the same. Although you are lesser." "I don't understand." "You just told me to call Nanoha!" O'Neill blurted. "That you did," Nanoha said on the other line. "What's the issue... not-Jotaro...?" "Corona and the others are stuck in the Spline! They were pushed by an attacker! Help them!" "We are them!" Vriska shouted. "He's not talking to us," Flutterfree said. "He's talking to someone else." "Maybe he can get in contact with a Governor!" Corona blurted. "Because I'm not! ...Crap, the Agents just arrived." The entire ship shook. "Portal detected - Collection in nature!" Nova shouted. "Prepare for rescue!" "BRACE FOR MOVEMENT!" Corona shouted, pushing her hands to the side. "Governor..." Jotaro said. "Jojo? What about the Governor?" Nora asked. "Governor?" The commander said, looking at the two of them. "Get the Governor. Help them," Jojo said, coughing. He realized he had said that to a cup of coffee as well. And Vriska, though Vriska wasn't paying much attention as she flew through the sky. And he said it to O'Neill, who had no idea what was going on. And... several others... including himself...? "Still hung up on that?" he told himself. "Don't worry. We have time. Well, in this body, anyway." "What do you mean in this body!?" "He's definitely undergoing Transcendent Synchronization," the commander said. "Jojo, why did you ram the Spline?" "We were pushed!" "I got that already!" Nanoha said. "I'm en route. 'Wish' on standby in case things go sideways." "Get here soon." "Frick!" Vriska shouted. On the main screen they saw the Collection's portal vanish, cutting their rescue ship in half. "Jotaro, whatever you're doing, do it fast!" "I'm trying!" "Listen, Jojo!" a voice came from a communicator. "This is Emile. We don't have time - what do you need the Governor to do?" "Corona! What do we need the Governor to do!?" "Oh, your awareness is in the wrong area for that," Jotaro told himself. "We need to force our thoughts over there - or you do. I'm not connected to the others." "Corona! What do we need the Governor to do!?" "I just - we need him to get the attack to stand down! Explain it was all an accident!" "Stand down! Explain it was an accident!" "...He's lost it," Yellow Diamond said. "Possibly," Nanoha admitted. "The Spline doesn't stand down. It only stops pursuit. I'll try to get them out but if the Spline discovers I'm coming... it'll produce a response even I won't be able to counter. Now hold, I have to charge some magic." "Get them to stop pursuit! Let them escape!" Jove shouted. "Got that, Emile?" the commander asked. "I did. The Governor... says it will try. It's spouting a lot about Shadow Accords and about the specific examples where that's allowed. The Spline's figuring out that something bigger than a simple attack is going on. We may have a problem soon." "Hang in there buddy," Nora said. "I am..." Jojo said. "What the hell is that?" Nova blurted. "Big Agent!" Corona shouted. "Bra-" The ship exploded. But they were dragged out of it by Pinkie before it was vaporized. The Agent was a more slender version of all the Exterminators - and it was pointing a gun at them. It fired - and in an instant a beam of twisted spacetime was spread across reality. It bent physics around it with the intent to kill. Corona wasn't having any of this. In the instant after it fired, she did a reverse reality edit, negating the attack. If she hadn't done that, none of them would have continued to exist - including the entire front half of the Collection 'rescue party'. And then the TSAB opened their portal. "Chances are good there's going to be a complication," Jotaro told himself. Jotaro threw the book to the ground. "I want some answers!" "Welcome to the Everyman. This part of you, anyway." "The Everyman!?" Corona shouted. "Oh no, this is going to be a huge mess..." The new Agent turned its sights on the black-spike-thing the infinite-sided die had created while the Exterminators charged the newly arrived TSAB evacuation ship. They tried to close the TSAB's portal - but it was held open by Nanoha personally. "AAAAAAAA!" She screamed, the TSAB ship dragging the Collection ship remnant and Corona's group back through the portal. She dropped her energy - but the portal remained open. "Close it!" "They're keeping it open!" Pinkie shouted. The Exterminators and Agents moved to pursue them through the portal. "Stop them!" Jotaro shouted. "The Governor is working on it!" Emile called back. "...Kinda." "Kinda!?" Jojo blurted. "Kinda," Emile confirmed. "Kinda..." Jotaro4 stared at the coffee stains all over him. "Yare yare daze..." He saw the Safeguards stop pursuing the TSAB through the portal. The portal closed, leaving three TSAB ships, half a Collection ship, and Corona's group alone. "Oh thank goodness," Flutterfree said. "Now maybe we can figure out what the fuck just happened!" Vriska blurted, waving her arms around. "What was that?" "They left the universe," Nora said, sitting at what had been Jojo's terminal. "I have the coordinates. A few jumps through the Spline will get us there." "The Safeguard hasn't dispelled," the commander said. "They aren't attacking our MTTN node," Nora said. "We can go." "We?" "You'll want to take Jojo and I'm not letting you take him without me." "...Fine. Guess you'll get to meet a Governor." "Thanks," Jojo said, standing up. "I guess," O'Neill responded, leaning back. "Good work people." "We didn't really do anything," Jessica pointed out. "I choose to believe we were absolutely instrumental in the salvage of this operation." "Now that the situation is over with, perhaps you could focus your attention on me?" Jotaro asked himself. Jotaro tried - and found that the other minds moved to the background now that lives weren't in danger. "What is going on!?" "Your minds of several different versions of yourself are becoming one. There's your body that's a lone interdimensional explorer, the one that's part of Merodi Universalis, the two that are in the MORI corporation, and then this one, which was part of the Everyman. You have others, you just haven't wrested control of them because of the... drastic nature of your acclimation. Had you not been connected to me you likely would have passed out and been completely useless." "How could we communicate? Everything was jammed." "You can't jam the Dark Tower no matter how much you want to. Beings with shared minds akin to yours and mine cannot be severed by traditional means." "So I'm part of your network now?" "Not quite. Your appearance here has given this body a split personality. One tapped into me, the Everyman. The other tapped into you, the Every-Jotaro. Or, well, only a few dozen of them." Jotaro grabbed his head. "Great... How am I going to keep track of it all?" "Seeing as your connection is a different sort than mine, you cannot just have everything run on nigh-autonomous autopilot. I would suggest talking to Emile. He has a condition identical to yours, and the way the MORI Corporation operates will be of great assistance to you." "Then that's where I'm focusing." "I'll keep this body warm. Do be warned, leaving focus off all the others completely can be dangerous." Jotaro made a humph. Then he focused his mind on Jojo, noticing he was walking alongside Nora. "I'll need to see Emile," he said. "You'll have plenty of opportunity," the commander said. "Emile73, 74 and 76 will be joining us." "Good..." Jojo said. "Now... I think I'll let myself lose consciousness here, alright?" Nora slung his arm over her shoulder. "Sure thing, big guy. We can carry you." "We can no-" And Jojo went elsewhere. ~~~ A couple minutes later, the universe was a little more crowded, containing three TSAB ships, half a Collection ship, a contingent of seven miniscule MORI ships, and the current pride of the Merodi fleet, the Austraeoh. O'Neill had flown it out here the moment things had calmed down just so he could be there personally with Jove. Yellow Diamond and Renee could take care of the other O'Neills. Probably. The universe they were in was not part of the Spline - but it had clearly been influenced by the Spline. They could see flashing images passing by in the distance, the blue sky marred with images of the Spline's structure, the Safeguard entities, and occasionally flashes of a deep azure blue. They had detected the universe was actively moving through the Sea, which was deemed a good thing since it was harder to find those sorts of universes and many powers there were likely to be uncomfortable in a TSAB-constructed universe. They had decided to meet on the MORI Corporation's ship because, simply put, they were the ones who needed to feel the safest. They were the lowest-level society involved. They also had a Spline Governor on board. Which was... interesting and unexpected. Apparently it had helped them with their use of the Spline several years ago. The Governor was made of the same alabaster material as the Exterminators and Agents, but of a much different design. Its body had spiked, armless shoulders and worm-like arms that extended from the Governor's hips. It too had a symbol on its face, a '+\|+' inscription. It was able to talk and would have been non-threatening if several people here hadn't just been facing down about a hundred smaller versions of it. It sat at the end of the round, black table furthest from the door. The other guests at the table were O'Neill, Corona, Pinkie, Morty from the Collection, Nanoha, Vita, and the MORI Corporation's own individuals - commander 'Thompson' and Emile. Emile existed in two bodies at once - one sitting at the table, the other standing near the Governor with a black button in his hands. Both of them had warm smiles that seemed slightly off for some unknown reason. The third was elsewhere in the ship, tending to more general matters. Jove, Jojo, and Jotaro were standing in a corner, identical serious expressions on their faces. Their 'attention' was focused through all three sets of their eyes at the meeting - the collective definitely wanted to hear what was about to be said. "So, here's what happened," O'Neill said. "Corona and her crew were on a mission to the Magic High Commission to discuss the recent magical fluctuations. They were pushed by an unknown entity into the Spline's physical structure, triggering a Safeguard response and, somewhere along the line, turning Jotaro into a being undergoing 'Transcendent Synchronization'. Care to explain?" Both Emiles nodded at once - they started talking together, but the one away from the Governor became the only one talking after half a sentence. "Transcendent Synchronization is when the minds of several individuals that can be considered 'alternates' link together to form a single consciousness. This extends to clones and direct duplicates as well as multiversal copies. I myself am one of them, every Emile in several dozen universes shares my thoughts and perceptions. Jotaro has undergone something similar." "Clones?" O'Neill said, raising an eyebrow. Emile nodded, a slightly nervous expression appearing on his features. "Clones. MORI corporation sometimes makes use of... 'forks' to make sure nobody is expended in the line of duty. There will always be an Emile, even if one is lost in a combat mission. All versions of me on this ship are forks of one Emile, though not all versions of my consciousness are contained within the Forks. It's why we have numbers at the end of our names. Of course this was my choice, I was not forced to be cloned, and the decision is... somewhat controversial." "Right. Jotaro became several people," O'Neill summarized. "At this point, Corona and Vriska engaged the Safeguard in combat, letting the security system know they had underestimated the power level of the 'threat'. At about this point, the Collection came in. Why?" Morty coughed. "We have a few ships that patrol the Spline looking for people to help. We didn't know it was you, and we didn't realize so many resources were going to be devoted to removing you. So we lost half our ship." He clearly wasn't happy about this - but from his expression he blamed himself more than anyone else involved. "Right. At this point the Safeguard sent in some custom-built Agents to fight the 'invasion' with smarter autonomous intelligence. Corona was able to deflect one of their attacks, barely." "I'm impressed she was even able to do that," Commander Thompson chimed in. "Those things wiped out an army once. Almost like it never existed." "It was a reality warper," Corona said. "We're very lucky that happens to be the type of magic I specialize in." O'Neill continued. "Then the TSAB shows up after I finally get something useful out of Jove and call in the cavalry. They have enough power to force the portal open for long enough to get everyone out. But we would have been pursued were it not for... this Governor that was summoned by Emile." The Governor spoke with a monotone voice that had no trace of being synthetic. "A plea for peace and acceptance from a concerned Governor unit prevents all pursuit out of the Spline at all but the highest levels. The difficulty was getting the area of the Spline to consider me a 'concerned' Governor." "Why can't you just order them to stand down?" Corona asked. "It is written in the Shadow Accords, section 78-C." "And what is that?" "Insufficient permissions." Pinkie chuckled. "He's an ancient machine just like the rest of the Spline. Don't think you can weasel information out of him." Nanoha nodded. "People have been trying for a lot longer than any of us have been around. It's one of the great mysteries of the multiverse. Clearly the Spline and Strands were created by the same society - likely the Weavers - but only the Spline has these defenses against tampering due to the 'Shadow Accords', while the Strands aren't guarded at all. Or have much in the way of physical backbone, for that matter." "Hence the mess there," Pinkie said. "It's all a big hodgepodge of mixed everything!" "It must be nice to be around the Strands," the seated Emile said, leaning back. "All we've got out here is the Spline, and we can't even travel that far along it because of our limited technology." "You just saved us, you're in for a reward," Corona said. "Magic-based dimensional travel technology is probably on the table. I'm sure Eve'll allow that." Commander Thompson sat up straight upon hearing this, suddenly a lot more interested. "Just for making a call?" "And bothering to help explain a few things," Corona added. "Regardless," O'Neill said, starting anew. "The TSAB fled here to this mobile universe and then we decided to use it as a meeting place. Everyone showed up, and here we are. MORI, are you unaware of anyone at this table?" Both Emiles shook their heads. "It would be hard not to know of the TSAB, and the recent waves the Merodi have made did make it to our ears. We know of the Collection because they bailed us out a time or two when we couldn't do anything ourselves. Thanks, by the way." "You're welcome," Morty said, forcing a smile. "Then we need to move on to mysteries. First: who the hell shoved us!? Second: why hasn't the Safeguard been recalled!?" "Safeguard has not been recalled due to my interference," the Governor said. "They are merely not pursuing. They are certainly ready to start at a moment's notice. If a Merodi, TSAB, or Collection ship appears, they will drive it away." Nanoha tapped Raising Heart with her finger. "Delay all TSAB Spline travel. Emergency authorization." "Yes, Master." "Any way to shut that off?" O'Neill asked. "In three megaseconds, local time, the threat will have been deemed to have passed. Since this is the first infraction for the Merodi, there will not be any retribution. The Collection is already on the Safeguard's 'high priority' list and will actively be hunted due to repeated infractions." "Try to help a bunch of idiots and you get branded," Morty said. "We're usually able to be in and out before they generate a full response to us - but you'd already raised the level considerably. We just didn't notice until it was too late." "How are you not all dead?" the Emile's asked, gawking. "They can't find our universe," Morty said with a smile. "Nobody can, not anymore." Corona had flashbacks to the pain they'd gone through to find the Collector. "What about the TSAB?" Nanoha asked. "The TSAB has provided assistance in the past," the Governor explained. "Your standing will be altered to 832X, but you are not a threat. You won't have the surveillance all Merodi ships will have." "Great. Eyeballs fixed onto us at all times," O'Neill muttered. "Any threat?" "Psychic inversion." "...Explain?" "Insufficient permissions." O'Neill turned to Nanoha. "It means your psychics might have their heads implode. I expect it's only under extreme circumstances." "No oculi or Sapphires in the Spline anymore, got it," O'Neill said. "So, back to the actual big question," Corona said. "Who attacked us?" "It was the Combine," Vita muttered, speaking up for the first time. Corona blinked. "Really?" "Your data didn't recognize it, but when we ran it through our devices they figured it out. That was an obfuscated Combine portal." Nanoha smiled sadly. "They don't like you." "No, really?" Pinkie said, chuckling. "It's not like we blew up their Green Sun or anything." "Not at all." "Still seems fishy," Corona said. "Sure, they have beef with us, but there's other ways they can attack us without going for full-out-war, which we know they don't want because it would interfere with their other plans. Why wait for us to enter the Spline in a specific way?" "Opportunist?" Morty suggested. "They saw an opening and took it, thinking there was no way you could escape?" "Maybe..." Corona said. "I still don't like it..." ~~~ Jotaro - all three of him - stopped listening to the meeting. He'd heard all he thought he needed to hear. He considered focusing on 'Jojo' and going to talk to the third Emile, but that would probably be redundant since Jotaro had figured out, more or less, how to shift perceptions from body to body. He was not able to control multiple bodies at a time easily, but he had no intention of staying like this long enough to need that. "You think you can be cured?" he asked himself - through the body he shared with the Everyman. "Easily," Jotaro said. "We have access to Psychic surgery." "It might have to be done on every one of you at once." "Doable. But I have too many conflicting desires like this. Part of me is heavily devoted to the Merodi and that version's family, but another is a drifter who can alter reality with a punch. Still another wants nothing more than to walk up to Nora and ask her out - which the numerous married versions of us find appalling. The fact that we are married to different people has been..." He couldn't find the words to describe it. Every Jotaro went "yare yare daze..." The Everyman found this amusing. "Struggling with inconsistency, I see. You should learn to do what I do, accept that you don't have to be consistent. Leave each body to its own thing." "Or undo this through psychic surgery." "Fine, if that's what you want," the Everyman said, shrugging. "I suppose some versions of me would want to do that if they thought about it. This version isn't going to go broadcasting it to them, though." "Hm..." "You are interfering with my love for books in this world. You've already thrown three to the ground in anger. Those have great sentimental value, you know." "Tch." "Hmph." "Fine, I'll send my focus elsewhere if you can help me out. There's still something going on with the Spline. You're an entity with access to extensive amounts of information. If I'm connected to you, you can let me know what you do." "What do you want to know?" "Why would the Combine attack us then and there in that specific way?" "You think it's fishy too?" "You do. We're both thinking it." Jotaro nodded, "I have enough intellectual curiosity here to go on. Aherm. So, the Combine attacked. This is generally not what they would do, not to a society of your level anyway. Too cautious, and while they do get angry petty revenge isn't exacted unless it is thought through." "So they must have been sure we would die." "Had the fluke of existence not made you Transcendent, you would have." "What exactly made me Transcendent?" "The place you hit," the Everyman said. "And how do you know that?" "One of my versions is a Spline Governor. It's curious having a part of you that shrouds vast sections of its mind from the rest, but it doesn't succeed fully. The Everyman's desire to remain as secret as possible overrules the coding in the Governor to inform the Spline Safeguard of its condition. It's a game of chess." "...You know what the Shadow Accords are." "In bits and pieces. The Weavers were truly ancient. One of the two first Class 1 societies - counting in Dark Tower time. Pre-Tower there could have been more; we have no way to know. It's not like the Tower has the ability to see before it was built." "Get to the point." "The Shadow Accords are a set of accords created as the Weavers realized they were falling. They would not be around to maintain their structures, and the new force of ka was too much for them to counter on such a large scale. Projections suggested the Strands would be able to evolve with the multiverse, but the Spline would be spread so thin and break with enough time. So the Shadow Accords were put in place to ensure the Spline would continue to operate without any supervision. The actual workings of the Shadow Accords are hidden to me, but the legalese would likely be boring and inscrutable anyway." "Hmm..." Jotaro put a hand to his chin. "What are we thinking, my other self?" "What are the chances we hit the exact spot that would cause this?" "Million to one, less. Since you diverted course it was impossible for the Combine to have predicted it. They're just a Class 2 anyway, they'd have no idea about the finer workings of the Spline." "So it was just ka?" "It would seem that way." "But we do have a way to check..." Jotaro shifted his perceptions back to the three in the meeting room. "Check the ka." Everyone stared at him. "Check the ka when we crashed," all three said at once. "We need to know if my mind was fused together by sheer narrative chance, or if something else was going on." Corona brought up the scans of the incident, paying special attention to the ka. "...What I wouldn't give to have Starbeat here." "You've got the next best thing," Nanoha said. "Raising Heart, ka analysis." Raising Heart beeped. "Complete! Largely inconclusive." "We don't need anything specific. Did they crash there by chance?" "Negative." The room fell silent. "So there was some kind of intent?" Nanoha asked to clarify. "Affirmative." "The Combine couldn't do that," O'Neill said. "Right?" "We can't do that," Nanoha said. "We have no idea how most of the Spline operates, much less would we be able to throw a ship into part of the Spline and predict where you would dodge. Even if we devoted all our resources to it. We'd need a Prophet to do it." "If it was just a Prophet, it would appear as a standard million-to-one chance," Morty pointed out. "And if it was an intentional Prophet, well, your ka scans should be able to pick up that easily." "What would even have the power to do that? And why?" the Emiles asked. "Unknown," the Governor said. "All records of Class 1 entities do not indicate they would attempt interference with the Spline with this much accuracy." "As for why..." O'Neill brought up an image of the Safeguard Exterminators and Agents that were still active. "That sure looks like one tasty army." "Right, let's go through options," Corona said. "Abstracts and Great Will are out, they don't care about this sort of thing. Beyonders?" "The Beyonders tried to claim part of the Spline for their own a century ago," Nanoha said. "They haven't even been in the Spline since. They know when they've been beaten." "Right... Celestialsapiens would be detectable... Them would never risk their own skins for anything - perhaps the Combine were just one of Them's puppets?" "Possibly, but what use would Them have for an army?" O'Neill asked. "Right... Horrorterrors also have no use for an army of beings unlike them, and given what we know of them it doesn't seem right. The Xeelee?" "The Xeelee use the Spline more than anyone else, they probably would have tried something before now," Emile said. "...What? We see a lot of them pass by." "And that's all the Class 1 civilizations," Morty said. "They don't have enough reason to do anything." "Scientific study isn't beyond the Horrorterrors," O'Neill pointed out. "They are curious." "And have suffered embarrassing losses lately." "That could mean they're desperate." "The current number of Safeguard entities would not be of any large-scale use," the Governor pointed out. "They would be adequate for defending a handful of universes, perhaps a few more if their technology could be replicated. If the Class 1s wanted an army, they would have sought many more Safeguard units than are currently active." Pinkie slammed her hooves on the table. "I know who it is." "Who!?" Everyone asked. "Nanoha, have the TSAB scan the motion of this universe. How are we moving? The pattern?" Nanoha made the order. A few seconds later, the data came back. "...We are moving within the Spline in a perfect circle. This universe has become nested within the Spline's existence." "And we can't detect it," the Governor said. "Scan for connected universes," Pinkie said. "And see if they're following us." Nanoha did. "Pinkie, you're right, there are several other universes moving in tandem with us..." Pinkie nodded slowly. "Guys? We're inside White Nettle. The last Downstreamer. She wants the army to protect her jellyfish-universe body." The Governor stood bolt upright. "Action must be taken to remedy this immediately." "Send information back to the Spline," Emile said. "I cannot. I have been removed from the primary network. I thought it was just a trait of this universe when I arrived." The Jotaros raised their eyebrows. "Then how did you know the Spline couldn't detect this universe?" "If they could, this area would already have been sterilized and subsequently cauterized." "Then we just leave and tell the Spline what's going on," Corona said. Nanoha nodded. "Large portal, MORI Corporation space. Engage for all present." The portal opened. None of the ships moved through it. "What's happening?" Morty demanded. "Why is no one moving?!" A small white spark appeared in the center of the table, disrupting the display of the ships. It formed into an androgynous humanoid with paper coming out of her back, eyes pulsing with black energy. "Can't believe I didn't notice you in here until now. This is why I need some quality automated defenses." "Nova, get in here," Corona called through the intercom. "I'm already talking to her. She's upset, and confused," Nettle said, glaring. "And I'm just plain upset. Why do you want to protect the Spline? It's just an ancient machine left by a race that doesn't exist anymore." "The Agents and Governors are conscious," the Emiles said. "And if they never leave the Spline they are held in ultimate, unending, regimented control," Nettle muttered. "It sucks. They'll be better served policing something that actually matters." "The Spline matters!" Corona blurted. "So many people use it!" "The Spline can recover from a lost universe. I should know. The Downstreamers removed several to make the Beyond inaccessible." Nettle smirked, folding her arms. "What? We had the entire multiverse under our control. The Spline was part of it." Everyone glanced to the Governor. "Insufficient Permissions," it responded. White Nettle smirked. "Access code D-Yen-Ampersand-Sigma-Aleph-Kappa-Nira-Tez'le'thu-N-8-8-Brien-Sanar. Personal imprint authenticate." "Increased security temporarily granted." The MORI Corporation citizens stared at the Governor in disbelief. "She speaks partial truth. The Downstreamers were granted high informational access and allowed to interact with deep systems. This grant was revoked upon the creation of the Beyond." "But we've apparently maintained our security clearance!" "Partially." "Eh, good enough. Hey, mind telling them what happened to the Downstreamers?" "Insufficient Permissions." "Bah, whatever," Nettle said. "When I take control of this part of the Spline I can pry the information out myself. And be able to stop things like you from living inside me without my knowledge. Do you have any idea how many universes are in this tentacle? A lot. It's a lot." "Yeah, no," Corona said. "We'll stop you." "How?" Nettle asked. "Nobody here could escape the seal I've put around this universe. Even I can't communicate with the rest of my body right now." The three Jotaros grabbed their hats. "Yare yare daze..." Nettle looked to them. "What?" "You just slipped up. Governor, get ready to move." Nettle raised an eyebrow. "How did I slip up, exactly, Jojojojojojo?" Jove took a few steps forward. "You revealed that communication to this universe was blocked because you're keeping us in. If you suddenly weren't here, you'd have to open it up again to get in." "Pfft, I'm not opening this seal up unless this part of me opens it from the inside. I'm not stupid." "Yes you are. STAR PLATINUM OVER HEAVEN!" The Star Platinum with the power to rewrite reality with a punch touched the little body of Nettle. He reshaped reality - ordering that not only would Nettle vanish, but she would also drop the lock on the universe. It would only work for a second before the larger mind of Nettle noticed. But it was enough for the Governor to teleport away using its superior technology. The other ships tried to move as well - but they only made it about a foot. Nettle appeared in front of them again. "I forgot you could do that! You're all going to pay for th-" And then everything was Spline Exterminators and Agents. Nettle's small body vanished again as she devoted all of her resources to escaping the wrath of the Spline. This allowed the small group of ships to slip out of Nettle's tentacle universe and back into MORI Corporation space. The Emiles and commander Thompson's communicators started flashing red - as far as their sensors back home could tell them, the Spline was basically exploding. There was panic in the MORI Corporation - but it would eventually settle down as the Safeguard left the universe to pursue White Nettle. They would not catch her. Safeguard was not intended to operate in her universe and White Nettle knew more tricks than even the Collection for hiding her position. But she would not be getting any army to defend herself automatically today. Corona let out a sigh of relief. "Well, looks like we're good now. Who's up for going to the Magic High Commission?" All three Jotaros let out an "A-hem!?" "Riiiight after we fix you up. Nanoha, do you mind?" ~~~ Jotaro looked at Jove. Jove looked at Jotaro. "I'm glad I got to be you," Jove said. "I thought my family life was always doomed." "You left too early," Jotaro countered. "I've read the manga. It doesn't really get better." "Yare yare daze..." Jove shook his head. "It sounds so wrong..." "...coming from someone else." Jove looked at Jotaro's slight smirk. "You've loosened up." "It comes from having stability." "I'll think about it." They both knew the conversation was over. Without even a wave, the two parted ways. Jotaro noticed 'Jojo' talking to Nora. She let out a squee and pulled him into a hug. The man must have finally asked. Good, Jotaro thought. He pulled out his phone. "Jotaro to the Austraeoh. Beam me up, O'Neill" He was beamed to the bridge where Pinkie's Party, Corona, and O'Neill stood. Nova was talking about White Nettle. "...I'm not exactly sure she's evil. After all, the intent was to have Jotaro bail us out of the situation. She just would have gotten an army out of the deal if it worked properly." "Half a Collection ship was destroyed," Vriska countered. "...Yeah. I don't know if that was part of the plan though." Nova sighed. "I think she just needs to get to know some people, you know? She's very lonely." "And crazy," Vriska said. "Lonely and crazy is a recipe for redemption," Flutterfree said. "...But it won't happen today. If it happens." Nova nodded. "Yeah..." Pinkie hugged her - though she didn't quite make it feel natural for Nova. "We'll encounter her again. You can bet on it." "I have no doubt about that." Pinkie nodded. "But for now, let's go to the Magic High Commision!" "Uh, Pinkie?" Vriska said, folding her arms. "We can't use the Spline right now. They're still on 'alert' for us." "The TSAB has graciously extended an invitation to follow their fleet," O'Neill said. Pinkie nodded in conformation. "They can't use the Spline either." "Ah, but they can go across the multiverse with brute force in... a little over a week, assuming nothing goes wrong." Corona let out a pained groan. Jotaro clutched at his hat. "Yare yare daze..." They began their long journey again.
Songs of the Spheres	111 - O	Year 29 One of the lesser known but still quality bookstores in Celestia City was Trotting Pages, a mixture bookstore, media center, and surprisingly good cafe. During her time spent looping through one day repeatedly, Allure had discovered this place and slowly she had spread word about it. It was no longer as quiet and peaceful as it once was, but it was never packed - or noisy. It was still a bookstore after all, even the patrons there just for the cafe understood this. Which was exactly why Allure was here; for the food. Or more accurately, to use the food as an excuse to get together with her daughter, Minna, and Frigid, Minna's husband. Minna was in her normal outfit: a simple pitch black dress, but she also wore a fabric armband of bright orange with stripes of silver that proclaimed her rank of Marshall to anyone who cared. Subordinate only to O'Neill, Yellow Diamond, and the High Commanders. She'd progressed a long way over the years. Allure felt like it was such a short time - but three decades was nothing to sneeze at. ...Had it really been that long since the war? It didn't seem like it. Maybe she'd experienced less, since there was temporal drift. News stories were saying the temporal drift was up to plus or minus six years now. Would be ten before too long. "...all I'm saying is that whenever I'm around Red Diamond my predictions just stop," Minna said, holding a fork in her hand. "I know she's not a bad person, but that still unnerves me." "And you don't unnerve other people?" Allure asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, sure, but I'd still like to know why she's outside my predictions." Frigid shrugged. "Magical?" Minna smiled. "Frigid..." "What? Enough magic should be able to do anything!" Minna scratched Frigid behind the ear. "It's a good thing I didn't marry you for your intelligence." "...Oh," Frigid said, ears drooping. "What is it this time?" "Geez, nothing that bad," Allure said. "It's just that magic doesn't block Minna's abilities just by being strong. It has to be intentional." "And I'd know if it was intentional," Minna added. "She would have felt like Brell. Which she doesn't." Frigid nodded slowly. "Sorry for forgetting about that." "Frigid, we've been married over twenty years. If I was going to blow a gasket at you for your chronic forgetfulness, I would have already." "...You know, that makes sense." Allure put on a smile, but inwardly she was facehooving. She liked Frigid just fine, but living with him would be a nightmare. Minna assured her otherwise, but Allure agreed to disagree. The stallion was a few bread slices short of a picnic and hardly remembered much of anything. He was exceptionally kind-hearted, understanding, and patient - likely because of the way he was - which made occasionally interacting with him rather pleasant. But living with him...? Allure pushed these thoughts aside and continued the conversation, changing the topic to Blumiere stepping down as mayor again. They all knew it wouldn't last long. What they didn't know was that they were being watched. A small fly-shaped drone snapped a few pictures of them, ensuring they were in the right spot. It confirmed that a waiter was bringing them a special slice of cake, compliments of the chef. It flew away to check on the second group: Prism Dash and Core Apple, better known as Corea. Corea had been sitting there, alone, staring into her tea - but Prism had decided she couldn't just let Corea be so despondent. So she had sat down and started talking, and the two were acting as if they were old friends even though they had rarely interacted before now. Prism was busy complaining. "So, anyway, the latest in the long line of boyfriends has been a complete wash." "...Is this one a pony?" Prism let out a chuckle. "I'm not going to make the same mistake my mother did. She did a great job raising me alone but I don't think I could do that with my lifestyle choices. No, this guy's a Pokerin." "...Can't say I'm familiar." "Uh, that world that joined after we became Class 2 and has become pretty major? Before the great expedition to the Unrealities? Pokerin Anima? Loosely based in the 'Pokemon' game series?" "I mean it sounds like I've heard of it before, I guess." Prism looked around. "Look, over there - that Ga? Pokerin has Ga as well, though they call themselves sirknights. The difference is that Pokerin has a lot of sapient races. Like how we're all Equite because we're from an Equis - even if, say, you were a dragon, you're an Equite." "Oh. ...So they're the replacement then?" Prism blinked. "Replacement?" "I mean, for my world." Prism bit her lip. "Corea..." "I'm no idiot. I know Elemental Four isn't important anymore. Everyone just moves away..." She touched the glass with her hoof. "Couldn't stop it." "Don't be hard on yourself, you did a lot of good on that world." "I know. I know. But I wasn't there when they needed it." "Didn't you basically get hit head-on with orbital bombardment to save the airbenders?" Corea nodded. "Still. I took too long to recover." She looked down. "...I feel like I failed Iroh." "The people are still alive and living well," Prism assured her. "When was the last time you saw someone from Elemental Four wearing traditional clothing or living the traditional lifestyle?" Corea held out a hoof. "Can you even tell if any of the people here are from Elemental Four? Or do they all just look like humans?" Prism took a quick look around. She saw a lot of humans, and several with the correct ethnicity for Elemental Four... but she couldn't say for certain. She was relatively certain one of them was a firebender because of the way their tea was steaming, but that was it. "Maybe one. I see your point." Corea nodded sadly. "Look, Corea, there are hundreds of universes in Merodi Universalis. They don't all have to be 'important' to mean something, right? Elemental Four was one of the founders. Their legacy will always be remembered - as will yours." "Yeah, I know, and that's what I hold onto to give me peace." She leaned back. "Doesn't change the fact that it's sad." "...Yeah." The drone confirmed the arrival of the cake to their table. It flew away to one last group, a husband-and-wife human-unicorn pair that wasn't in the cafe but the adjoining bookstore. The two were quiet individuals - Jolyne's son Job spent his time observing everything closely while Nova's Stardust was carefully examining books. Neither had said a word in the last twenty minutes and they were perfectly fine with that. Job was a muscular man who was decidedly smaller than most of the Joestar line while Stardust wore prominent pointed glasses, even though her eyes were fine. She liked the look of them and the digital interface they could overlay on her books. Stardust did find something interesting, eventually. "Hmm..." she muttered, pulling a dimensional guidebook off the shelves. "The worlds in here are listed by importance." Job glanced at her curiously. "Job, let's see. This is a recent book - last local year - what do you think they list as important worlds?" "Uh... The Hub." "Given. Celestia City is also given, even though it isn't a universe. I'm looking for the others." Job nodded slowly - he was very used to his wife's little games at this point. "Let's see... Earth Stand, Equis Vitis, Earth Vitis, Earth Tau'ri, Equis Cosmic, Lai, Gem Vein, and uh... ...what's the eighth founder?" "Elemental Four. It's not at the front of the book, so it doesn't matter that you didn't remember." "Right. ...How many are we looking for?" "Eleven. There's a twelfth but it's not a Merodi world. Bonus points if you get that one." "So... Skaia's Dream, Esefem, Pokerin Anima, and..." He put his hand to his head. "I don't have any idea." "The Mushroom World is the eleventh," Stardust said, flipping the page and quoting a passage. "While the Mushroom World was a largely background presence back in the times when only the Mushroom Kingdom was a known power, upon the discovery of the Nexus and Castle Bleck, more research was put into the world. It turned out to have two important aspects - a galaxy filled with a race of star-shaped beings called Luma and a great dimensional connection to other worlds." "So that's where those floating chubby starfish come from." Stardust nodded. "The next world is the Sparkle Census. 'Merodi Universalis's closest ally and greatest friend.' Again, doesn't really count, but it's in here in the 'twelfth' position." "Not counting the Hub and Celestia City." Stardust smirked, glad to hear Job had been paying attention. They both knew the conversation had ended, so they went back to silence. That is, until a waiter walked up to them, depositing a plate with a small slice of cake into Stardust's magic. She didn't bother eating it - she tore it open, discovering the real treasure inside. Two pink tickets. Congratulations! You have been selected by Trotting Pages as the recipients of a cruise through Merodi Universalis! Below that were instructions about where the cruise was going to start, what worlds it would go to, and what luxuries would be available. "Job, the factory gives you vacation days you never take, right?" Job nodded. There was no further discussion. They decided they were going. Back at Corea and Prism's table, the two of them stared at the tickets. "...Eh, sure, why not," Prism said. "Great! It's a date!" "Wait nonono-" Corea put a hoof on Prism's mouth. "Yes." "Corea..." "Just be sure to actually dump him before you go." Prism bit her lip. "...All right." Allure, Minna, and Frigid had gotten three. "...Can we go? Please?" Frigid begged. "I have a big responsibility, Fri," Minna said. "I-" "Psh," Allure said, rolling her eyes. "O'Neill will give you some time off. Come on, let's go! It sounds fun!" Minna shook her head, smiling softly. "All right. Guess we get to go on a cruise." The fly drone, having confirmed the acceptance of all the tickets, returned to those controlling it. There were two Earth Vitis humans of pink complexion and white hair, clearly related - likely siblings. The young man was operating the drone from a computer while the woman had her eyes closed and was sitting in a meditative posture. The man clasped his hands together. "They've taken it. Does everything look good?" The woman smiled warmly. "Everything looks great." ~~~ Corea and Prism arrived first. The instructions on the tickets told them to come to a dock on Celestia City where a smaller ship waited to take them to the actual cruise - contest winners would get to make a grand entrance on the actual cruise ship. Luckily even the small 'ferry' was luxurious, so they didn't feel cheated. There were ten chairs equipped with full reclining features, cupholders, and a food replicator in the middle specialized for drinks. "Hey," Corea said, nudging Prism. "We're alone." "Oh good god..." Corea used her magic to access the food replicator to create a drink from Elemental Four she liked to call the 'Air Temple Serenity'. She had invented it one day and Tenzin had hated her for it. It took the form of a completely clear, fizzy liquid. "Have some culture." Prism rolled her eyes, taking a seat opposite Corea. "So, what is this, Corea's overly-optimistic and cheery attempts at seduction, or what?" "Oh, was that not obvious? I'm sorry." "It was very obvious." "And I was being silly." Corea winked and stuck her tongue out adorably. Prism rolled her eyes. "You're wasting your time on me, Avatar." "If I am it's not really a big deal," Corea admitted. "I'll probably have a new friend at the end and have gotten to know you better." Prism smirked. "You seem better." "You caught me at a bad time last week. Fair warning, if you get to know the latest Avatar, you will have a nearly unending stream of positivity ruined by dramatic pitfalls every month or so. Anything you should warn me about?" "That I'm not interested?" "Besides that. Because as we all know that's nothing when two souls are meant to be." "...You're a ka-phisher?" Corea blinked. "Wait, what? That exists? Spirits on high, no! I'm just saying it doesn't mean much. Especially not when I'm persistent. Now come on, warnings about you?" Prism decided to humor her - even though she was well aware that was the first sign of trouble. "I am probably the main reason there's talk of removing Evening Sparkle from office. Not that it's working, but I make where I stand on her very clear." "...Oh, right..." Corea rubbed the back of her head. "That's okay. Mom told me about that one." "Yeah. I'm also exceptionally busy with my athletics and research the vast majority of the time. I often forget to eat." "Looks like you need someone to remind you!" Corea said with a wink. "...You're such a cornball." "I like being a cornball!" Minna, Frigid, and Allure arrived at this time. "Frigid, help me," Prism called. "Your sister-in-law is trying to seduce me." Frigid took one look at Corea. Corea raised her eyebrows playfully. Frigid let out a laugh. "You're on your own. Also, here's a hint, just give in. Her persistence knows no bounds." "How so?" Allure asked. "She hasn't told you the story about how she got Tenzin to train her as a child?" Corea smirked. "Oh yeah, I wouldn't let him off the hook. Ever." "And then he yelled at you and made you run away crying," Minna offered. "But that ruins the funny nature of the story!" Corea complained. "Yeesh. You're supposed to tell it where I leave acting like I've been defeated, but then he comes and saves me anyway!" "I thought your mother was Honesty?" "It's just an exaggeration! I tell people the real story if they ask!" Allure sat down next to Prism while the rest of them kept arguing about the proper way to tell stories. "You've doomed yourself." "I'll be fine." "Double doomed." Prism rolled her eyes. "I have enough willpower to resist her charms." "And you just called them charms. Holy Celestia, you're not only in her web, you're tying yourself up." Prism didn't dignify this with a response. She did finally take a sip of the drink Corea had given her. Her eyes widened. This was actually pretty good. "Dooooooooooooom." Allure said spookily. "You're the Knight of Heart, not Doom." At this point Stardust and Job entered the room, smiled warmly at the five others, and then promptly sat as far away from them as possible, turning to their books. The moment they had settled, the voice of the pilot came to them. "Now that everyone's here, we shall make our way to the Lantea. The trip will take about five minutes so we can integrate with the fireworks display, at which point you will walk down the red carpet where you will be given a tour of the cruise. Normally at this point I'd say buckle up, but we have enough dampeners to get hit with a large meteor and not feel it. Enjoy yourselves and prepare for your voyage through the cosmos!" The voice cut out. They heard a soft rumbling that presumably came from the ship's engines. "Ship, visual," Job ordered. The luxury ship's walls turned invisible, allowing them to see the receding form of Celestia City. "I didn't know it could do this," Frigid said, eyes wide. "Woah..." "It's a high-end luxury ship, of course it can," Prism commented. "Then why didn't we open it sooner? This is awesome!" Corea blurted, pressing her face to the wall-turned-window. "Didn't think about it." The ship flew through space and created a dimensional portal. Minna's smile dropped instantly. She rushed to the front of the ship, punching in the cabin door. There were no pilots. Instead there was a large sign hanging from the ceiling of the cockpit that said 'nice try!' with a winky face under it. All the controls had been stripped out of the ship. Minna wasn't going to have time to hotwire any controls before they entered the portal, even with her enhanced abilities. There was no time to say anything. They were sent through the portal to a universe containing only one sunlike star with a handful of planets orbiting it. "It was a trap!" she called back. "There's no cruise! All the controls have been ripped out!" Prism pushed her way into the cockpit, analyzing everything that had been torn out. "It can still fly and it appears all the important wires are still here. Give me half an hour and I can jerry-rig something." "Or we could just dimensionally jump out of here," Allure said, removing her dimensional device. It told her there was no connection back to Celestia City. "Oooor not. Surprise, surprise." Corea stretched her legs. "Well, guess this cruise just became an adventure. I, personally, don't mind." Stardust sighed. "I do... I never wanted to be involved in anything like this." "We can take care of it, don't worry," Job said, standing tall. "What can I do?" Allure shrugged. "I don't think you can do much - oh, wait, got it! Since you know the features of this ship that are controlled by voice command, you can work on those!" "Ship, return," Job said. Nothing. "Ship, forward." "Why isn't it working!?" Frigid blurted. "Disabled," Minna said. "You can help Prism with the hotwiring." "Hey, he hasn't tried very many!" Allure blurted. "There could be something!" "Any ship wouldn't want any important commands to be vocally controlled by passengers." "But what if there's something else useful?" "I'll go help with the cockpit," Job muttered, passing Minna. Minna and Allure locked eyes - and figured it would be best to talk about it later. They needed to get out of the situation as soon as possible. Stardust poked her head into the cockpit. "...Perhaps you could cross the streams of the blue and red wires." "That wouldn't work because of the highly volatile nature of the green thaumics," Prism said, twisting a yellow and a green wire together, handing Job a few loose screws to hold. "I've got the university education, let me handle this." Stardust nodded slowly and returned to her seat, wordless. "Hey, she can h-" Job began. "You want to get this done as fast as possible right? She'll get in the way since she doesn't know what she's doing. You're the only assistant I need. Now place those screws here, here, and here." She pulled a screwdriver out of an emergency toolkit and started screwing them in. While they were busy with that, Frigid walked up to Corea. "So... What do we do?" "Relax, stay calm!" Minna called to her husband. "Corea and I have watch." Corea nodded. "Yeah. You can just sit Frigid, don't worry about it." "Oh. Okay." "Sense anything?" Corea asked Minna. Minna nodded slowly. "Bad feelings all around. Nothing close enough in the future to get any specifics, but we aren't in a safe place." Allure nodded, checking the scans on her dimensional device. "Yep. Unknown universe. Single system, handful of planets, nothing beyond the outer comets. Nothing that unusual coming up on physics readings. I, uh... don't have anything more advanced on me." "Ship, display scans," Job said, calling from the cockpit. A basic summary of scans appeared on the clear walls. Allure's grin widened. "Ah, here we go... Let's see... Evidence of slight temporal distortion... And it looks like we've got a society with a few spaceships around, unknown signatures. Let's call them." "Let's not," Minna said. "Wait until the ship is repaired. They could be aggressive." Allure scrunched her snout. "Sure, sure..." Frigid glanced between the two of them and decided now wasn't a good time. "Gah! Shit!" Prism shouted, pulling her singed wing away from a power surge. "That was not fun. Mmmmmf. ...Job, wrench." Job handed her a wrench. She smacked the side of the module she had constructed with it, making all the lights turn on. "Bingo... I have engine control. Not FTL, just the engine. Not very useful. Also, turning will be a centrifugal force nightmare." "But we have very excellent inertial dampeners!" Corea said, grinning. "COREA, SHIELD!" Minna shouted. "W-Wh-" "SHIELD!" Corea forced her mind to focus, bending magic quickly outside the ship and creating a shield. She didn't have time to fully form it, allowing a magic bolt to hit the ship head on. They felt it on the inside, the lurch making everyone stumble. One of the drinks flew off the table, into the cockpit, and onto Prism's head. "I question the effectiveness of these inertial dampeners," Prism muttered, pulling her multicolor mane out of her eyes. She floored the engine and they shot forward. The inertial dampeners must have meant something because they didn't feel the acceleration at all. "Corea, you're our only defense!" Minna shouted. "I have a shield up!" Corea spat back. "There's nothing else I can work with out there in the void!" "What's attacking us?" Minna demanded. "I have a red dot," Allure said, looking at the display. "It's red. I have no idea how to zoom or enhance." "Ship, zoom and enhance!" Job tried. Nothing happened. "Worth a shot," Allure said. "Corea, how's your shield coming along?" "It'll break eventually," Corea muttered. "And I will not be able to generate another one fast enough." "How much damage did the shot that hit do?" Minna asked. "What little weapons systems this ship had are now gone," Prism said, scrambling with wires. "I've been 'shooting' blind with these wires and nothing's been coming out." "So it wasn't designed to kill." "Probably not. They probably want to capture the ship." "We can't fight them. We'll need something else..." "Job! What is your Stand's ability?" Allure asked. "Loophole in Limbo allows me to physically travel through psychic connections," Job responded. "And we don't have any of those," Allure muttered. "That's it, we need to send out a distress call." "That'll just bring more ships!" Minna blurted. "I don't see another option." She pulled out her dimensional device and used her magic - but Minna swiped it away from her before she could activate the distress signal. "Mom, no. That's n-" Minna blinked, seeing a future where Allure activated the distress anyway with her telekinesis. "Mom, don't do it." Allure did it. Activating the distress beacon. Nothing happened. And then Corea's shield failed. Another weapon bolt hit their ship, cutting the lights. Corea tried to raise another shield, but she flubbed its creation by moving too quickly - the magic slipped from her control. Another bolt hit them, cutting the engines. "N-no..." "Preening runters!" Prism swore, kicking her now-useless console hard enough to break it. "That's it, I've got nothing." And then an orange ship appeared outside, unleashing a brilliant laser far into the distance in the direction the red dot had been on their scans. There was an explosion in the distance. "Woohoo!" Allure shouted. "We've been saved! Told you that distress call would help." Minna didn't have anything to say to this. Corea was breathing heavily. "I... I screwed up..." There was no time for anything else. Their entire ship was teleported into the much larger orange one, allowing the seven of them to see who had saved them. Allure groaned. "...Melnorme..." ~~~ The captain of the Melnorme ship was named Amaranth. She had a dull red eye, but otherwise looked exactly like every other Melnorme. "Welcome to the Oubliette." Allure raised an eyebrow. "I thought this ship was the Chromastaral." "Oh, it is. The Oubliette is the name of where you are." "Why?" "That will cost you," Amaranth said, leaning in. "There is also a fee for receiving aid." "Oh for the love o-" "Merodi Universalis will compensate you for our return," Minna said. "That sort of trade is not allowed in our activities here." "...And you can't tell us why." "Not unless you pay." "We don't have anything to offer you besides our connections, and currently we can't access those." "That's not entirely true. Give us your ship. Damaged though it is, it will cover the costs of aid, information, and other fees that will become apparent the moment you've paid to know about them." Prism looked like she wanted to rip Amaranth's eyeball out of her smug orange face but the pegasus restrained herself. "Fine, you can have the ship," Allure muttered. "Wai-" Minna began. "Too late, verbal acceptance of a person in authority is taken as legal right to the vessel," Amaranth said. "It was nice doing business with you." "Mhm..." Minna said, grinding her teeth. "So, now that we've 'paid', care to explain?" "Oh, yes. The Oubliette is a chain of nineteen one-way universes that form a ring. Each one has a connection that leads to another universe in the chain, but it is a connection that cannot be used backward. Every one of the nineteen universes has the same planetary arrangement, except for O-13 because it lost the fourth planet due to an accident several years ago. You are currently in O-6 by the way. One planet in each system is in the natural 'goldilocks zone' so you don't have to worry about that. Everyone calls it Oub." "That's interesting. How do we get out?" Prism demanded. "There are two methods of escape from the Oubliette. The first is to use temporal manipulation - after all, the Oubliette traps people by manipulating local time. Once you dial in, the connection back is severed completely. But if you could just reverse time to a moment where it existed, you could dial home." Her grin widened. "Your second option is to buy your way out. We offer the most efficient services for doing so, but we are not the only escape providers in the Oubliette." "You charge people for escape!? What's wrong with you!?" Corea shouted. "It is a profit opportunity," Amaranth said. "We do not overcharge like many here. We offer the service for exactly what it is worth. Your wrecked ship did not even begin to cover the cost, if you're curious." Prism sighed. "I'll just build one myself. I know how to do it. I'll need a lot of parts though..." She fixed Amaranth with an annoyed glare. "...Let me guess..." "If you want to buy the parts for a temporal manipulator you might as well just pay us to take you away. Which you can't do." Minna folded her arms. "Merodi Universalis will hear about this." "Mhm. Yeah. You'll declare war on us for refusing to give free aid." "Aid is free!" Corea blurted. "Your culture's definition of aid is particularly curious and incorrect." Corea fumed, saying nothing further. Amaranth leaned back. "Here's what I would suggest. Use most of the rest of your funds to get transport to Oub. You have a dimensional device, you'll be able to travel through all nineteen versions of Oub. Find a way to make your own temporal device, steal someone else's, or find some way to make enough money to pay us off. It's all that simple." "How many people actually succeed in getting enough money?" Allure asked. "Oh, about one every hour. But that's a misleading number, seeing as there are trillions of people trapped in the Oubliette. It's a rather savage trap, you know." "And nobody tries to fix it?!" "That's because they own it," Job said. "The Oubliette is under Melnorme control." "Good guess," Amaranth admitted. "Or perhaps you used Loophole in Limbo? There's no way for me to know for sure. Regardless, yes, we found the Oubliette and declared it our own. It's a good source of income, assisting people in their escape. Before we were here there was little hope." Corea twitched. "That's stupid! Just... just help them all get out!" Amaranth rolled her eye. "You're about out of funds, by the way. If you don't book passage to Oub soon you'll have to either wait for us to get there naturally or you'd have to work for us to get enough." Minna folded her arms. "Fine. Take us to Oub. And give us whatever funds we have leftover as change." "There's a transaction fee for that! You could bank with us and keep it a-" "Don't care, give it to us anyway." "The customer is always right," Amaranth said, bowing curtly. Then she gave the order to transport to Oub. The ship arrived in an instant. They were all teleported off without another word. ~~~ In the murky-green skies of O-6-Oub, a flash of light deposited five ponies, a human, and Minna unceremoniously above a puddle of mud. Frigid landed first, crushed under all the others while Prism was the only one with the wings to keep herself from falling into the sludge. "Ooh, that's gotta stink," Prism muttered. A few octagonal coins appeared right above her, which she grabbed with her impressive agility. "Get me out of here!" Frigid blurted, scrambling in a panic. "Get me o-" Minna got him out with a quick pull, pulling him into her arms. "There you go, it's fine. You're safe." "And covered in mud that... might not be mud..." "Don't think about it," Job offered. "That's like telling someone not to think about cats!" "Deep breaths," Allure told Frigid. "Deep breaths. It's just a stinky brown muddy substance. It isn't going to kill you." "It could be radioactive or infected," Stardust said absentmindedly. Allure shot her a death glare. "Oh. ...Sorry." "It's... fine," Allure said through clenched teeth. "We're gonna die!" Frigid wailed. "No, Fri, we are not," Minna said, looking him in the eyes. "Do I look like I'd let anything happen to us?" "N-no..." "Then nothing is going to happen to us," Minna asserted. She gently set Frigid down on solid ground, dusting him off with her hands. "Okay?" Frigid nodded slowly. "Good," Prism said, flying down to be eye level with Minna. "Now what do we do?" "We look at our surroundings," Minna said, doing exactly as she suggested. They were on a truly disgusting, trashy world. The sky was greenish, the air smelled noxious, and the puddle of mud they were in was mixed with motor oil, rust shavings, and other things that were probably much more toxic than Frigid would be okay with. Jagged pieces of metal rose above the disgusting sludge, clearly constructed out of downed spaceships that had been scrounged for parts, leaving behind only the frameworks. There was evidence of people living in the higher levels of these structures. A few metallic platforms had been placed onto the muddy ground to create a solid floor. In the distance they could see a tremendous ship's skeleton lit with bright lights - presumably what the Oubliette considered a 'city'. "Right, that's a little far away," Prism said. "I could get there in a couple minutes but you guys can't." "There are other universes in this trap," Allure said, pulling out her dimensional device. "We could try those." She set the device to scan for dimensional signatures. It found one very quickly - but only one. She dialed. They found another muddy, disgusting world - but this time there wasn't a pile of sludge and a spaceship 'city' was relatively closer. They stepped through. As expected, the portal closed behind them and it couldn't be reopened. "That city's still a few miles away," Prism said, hooves on her hips. "Let's keep trying." They did - until they appeared in one of the cities. The noxious smell of the planet wasn't as strong within the confines of the city, but it was somehow more depressing. People walked around with clear sickness and rags - mostly humans, but with several other races thrown in randomly. The ancient framework of the gigantic ship was old, rusted, and falling apart. They could see several levels of the city above and below them, all strung together with loose ropes and cables that could fail at any moment. They saw a skeleton sitting nearby that nobody seemed to care about. "...We're going to be here a while," Job observed. "Oh Celestia, no..." Frigid muttered, putting his hooves to his head. Minna moved to comfort Frigid - but saw something in the future that made her stop. She reached out with her hand behind Prism, punching a creature of speed across the face. "AUGH!" Minna grabbed the blue pointy-limbed humanoid by the throat. "So, thought you could steal our coin huh?" The being wriggled uncomfortably in her hands. "Clearly not! I was just running here! Stop being so paranoid!" "I have Future Sight, I saw you steal the coins." "...Fuck." He started struggling harder. "I'm not going to kill you. I'm just going to make you tell us a few things." "Well hey, if you're not gonna kill me, I ain't sayin nuffin'." "I can kill you if you annoy me enough." "Oh yeah? I bet you soft little ponies don't have it in y-" Minna squeezed harder. "I am a Merodi Universalis Marshall. I killed a lot of people to earn this title. It carries some weight, you could say." Allure inwardly facehooved. Alushy... "O-okay okay! What do you want to know?" "What's this city called?" Minna demanded. "Nowhere. That's literally what it's called don't kill me!" Minna decided she believed him. "Any leaders or laws we should be made aware of?" "Laws? Hah, there aren't any laws in the entire Oubilette besides 'don't fuck with the Melnorme'. Or any of the other opportunistic escape routes. They'll slag you like nothing else and ban you from ever being able to leave." "Leaders?" "Big F is the gang boss around here. You don't have anything on you so you won't have to worry about him." "Describe Big F to me." "Uh... Big. Goes by Big F. I dunno, I've never seen the guy! His goons wear red bandanas around their necks! ...If they haven't been sludged to hell by the mud yet. In that case the bandanas are just reddish-gunky-brown." "What's Big F want?" "To collect enough stuff to get off this rock, duh! I hear he's workin' on a time machine." Prism took note of this. Minna continued questioning him. "Any idea where we can find this... Big F?" "Ahaha he's not gonna let a bunch of newbies like you join up! I hear you have to be here at least a year before he'll even consider ya!" Minna narrowed her eyes. "Fine. Anything else going on here we should know about?" "I hope you have a way to generate food or earn money, cause nothin' stays sanitary enough to eat very long here." "All right. Thank you, you've been very helpful." She threw him three levels up into a tangle of wires. He grabbed hold - and was gone in a flash of speed. "So, we're going to be here a while regardless." "We need to set up a coherent team," Allure said. "Minna, you can be on tactical. Prism, analysis. Corea, defense." "I'm horrible at defense! Didn't you see?" Corea blurted. "Who died and made you queen?" Job demanded. Allure blinked, staring at him. "Job, I'm a Founder of the League of Sweetie Belles, I know what I'm doing." "Mom, you have been making some questionable decisions," Minna pointed out. "I sent out that distress call, which got us saved." "And you sold our ship, scrambled over who should do what, and now just started barking out orders." "We need a clear-cut organization since we aren't used to working together! This isn't a military operation!" "Are you sure!?" "Right now we don't even have a plan!" "The plan is to find this Big F and take his time machine!" "We haven't even discussed yet!" "You're both being stupid!" Job blurted. "We just need to find somewhere safe!" "Does this look safe to you?" Minna demanded, holding out her arm and gesturing around in a wide circle. "Toxic sludge everywhere! Everywhere! The longer we stay here the sicker we get!" The three of them devolved into arguing. To the side, Prism flew next to Corea. "...You know, we could really use Nova right about now," Corea observed. "She could solve this problem." "Hey, I know how to make the machine," Prism said. "And seriously, you can do impressive things as well. You could change Big F's soul if you wanted." "Mhm..." Corea said, nodding. "Yeah. I can. Right. I can! I-" Her pupils shrunk to pinpricks. "Where's Stardust and Frigid?" Prism looked around, panic crossing her features. "Uh..." "Oh no." "LOOK ALIVE!" Prism shouted. "WHAT!?" Minna, Allure, and Job shouted back. "WE'RE MISSING TWO!" Frigid and Stardust were nowhere to be seen. Corea put a hoof to her mouth. She had failed to defend them again. Minna's enraged expression fell to one of horror. She had been so caught up in the argument she hadn't been watching the future. "STARDUST!?" Job shouted, cupping his hands to his mouth. "STARDUST!?!" Allure turned to Minna. "...What happened to them...?" Minna shook her head. "I... I wasn't looking." Job kneeled down, closing his eyes and summoning his Stand. Not that anybody could see it. He furrowed his brow. "It's far away - a couple miles. I could take myself there with my connection to her... but not anyone else." "But you know where she is?" Allure asked. "Yes. Underground, that direction." "...They've probably been kidnapped." She let out a sigh. "Minna?" "Yes?" Minna said, expression still vacant. "You take the lead now. This probably is going to turn into a military operation." Minna nodded slowly. "...Thanks." She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. "Right! We need to get them back from whoever took them! Job, lead the way." Job nodded, heading to where he knew Stardust was. The rest followed. "I know Allure's combat experience," Minna said. "What are the rest of yours?" "None," Job said. "My Stand is a utility only and I didn't go on many quests with my mother." "Some, not much professional," Prism said. "Take your daughter to work day was always fun. But I'm a top athlete and technician." "I've fought a lot for Elemental Four," Corea said. "Though, eheheh, I've been having a bit of an off day today, so I don't know what you'll do with me." "You want to get them back?" Minna asked. "Yes," Corea said with conviction. "Good. That's all I need." ~~~ Deep under the city of Nowhere, there was a UFO shaped craft made out of solid gold. The vast majority of people didn't know about it - or even about the caverns beneath Nowhere in which it rested. This was because the entrances to the caverns were deep inside bases of Big Fs goons. Nobody would go anywhere near them. Unfortunately the walls of the caverns were not teleport proof. Everyone just figured that since nobody knew where the caverns were, nobody would teleport into solid rock. But when you were Minna and could see the future, you knew if a calculated teleport would result in disaster or not before it happened. It took a few tries, but they found safe locations. They were ready to spring their trap. Allure teleported herself and Minna right in front of the golden UFO. Allure lit her horn, driving magic power into her hooves while Minna began scrambling memories. Despite this, Big Fs goons still retaliated with the energy weapons and magic of their own. Minna, being who she was, could dodge every one of the attacks before they were even fired. Allure defended against them with her invisible manifestation of Heart, all the while charging forward with her daughter. Minna was too large to ride the diminutive Allure, so the charge wasn't as impressive as it could have been, but they were still together. Minna drop kicked a fish-creature while Allure grabbed a human and threw him with her Heart into a reptilian, knocking their bandanas off. The reptile got back up - but was shot by his own guys because he no longer had the friendly team color. Still, though, more and more goons poured out of the golden UFO, giving Allure and Minna difficulty. They were not going to be able to make it inside the UFO quickly. But that was part of the plan. They were essentially nothing more than particularly potent distractions. Corea teleported into the golden UFO after the distraction had begun, finding the solid-gold hallway empty. "Okay, we didn't appear in a wall... Whoo..." "Minna told you it was safe," Prism said. "I've never been good at teleporting! I might go one place at one moment and then another the next! I'm not consistent!" "Just stand watch," Job muttered, leading them deeper into the UFO. A mook ran into the hallway and saw them. His eyes locked with Corea's. Corea froze. He lifted his gun, aiming at Corea's head. The scope was at his eye. Prism kicked the gun out of his hands and swirled to buck him across the face, knocking him out cold. "Come on Corea!" "Right, sorry," Corea said, shaking her head. Job led them through the swirling hallway to a large door with a blue light behind it. He opened it. In the very center of the ship was not an engine or power source - but a cobbled together machine. It was a tall, crystal column with smaller crystals all around. Wires and consoles were slapped on these smaller crystals haphazardly, many of them with glowing 'fairy dust' all over them. They saw a machine toward the left of the room slowly grinding away at a unicorn horn, turning it into more fairy dust. "...Stardust!" Job yelled, running to the cage in the back of the room. It had about four unicorns in it, including Stardust and Frigid. "You came..." Stardust said, smiling. Job pulled back Stardust's mane, finding that she still had a horn - albeit with an inhibitor around it. "Thank god..." "If she didn't have a horn she'd be dead!" Frigid shouted. "The red mare got... She... She..." Frigid couldn't finish the thought. Corea looked around. "So... Harvesting unicorn horns? For... what?" "Not just unicorn horns, any magical extrusion," Prism said, flying around the device in the center of the room. "And this... It has all the pieces for a time machine, but they're arranged wrong. This couldn't take you through time. It's incomplete, but I think it would work more as a beacon." Job unlocked the cage and let the prisoners out. He removed the inhibitor from Stardust's horn. "Can you use the parts from it?" "Definitely," Prism said. "Almost all we need is here. We just need to, you know, steal it." "Hey, I can't teleport this much and neither can Allure," Corea said. "We aren't exactly the best mages." "We'll figure something out. Actually, here's a thought..." Job grinned. "What if I turn all this into a time machine and come back here to help us fight?" "Do we know if this universe supports that?" Stardust asked. "It's worth a shot! We'll know within a few minutes of me starting to tinker with this." They heard an ominous laugh from the entryway to the room. They hadn't heard anyone walk up - but there was someone there now. The Big F. "Well, isn't this quite the combination of secondary characters?" Otherwise known as Randall Flagg. Prism charged him. Flagg pointed his finger at her. "Stop flapping." Her wings stopped working and she crashed into the ground next to Corea. Job held Stardust close, shivering in fear. He couldn't do anything here. Corea stood on her hind legs and shot a compressed bolt of ionized air at Flagg, following it up with a magic dart to make things interesting. They bounced right off of him. He yawned excessively and imagined Corea flying into a wall, so she did. Then he imagined her smashing into the horn grinder in such a way that the half-ground horn embedded itself in her side. That happened. "Grah..." Corea muttered, still standing, but clearly already more than half down. "I have to admit, I wasn't expecting it to be you to crash my plans," Flagg said, taking a casual stroll into the room, smirking at Corea. "The Doctor was supposed to be hot on my tail. Perhaps the goons needed to be trained in going after nobodies better..." He shrugged apathetically. "Ah well." "What are you doing?!" Prism demanded, standing up. "Stop standing," Flagg ordered. The resulting starfish-pose her legs and tail took amused him greatly. "I am simply trying to collapse the hope in this little universal structure. You see, the Melnorme have provided a tiny silver lining in the clouds of these people. Obfuscated through greed it may be, it is still a chance to escape that everyone holds onto. So naturally I decided to get rid of that. How? Simple really - manipulating a warlike race that has a religious hatred of time travel with a temporal beacon directed at them. They'll charge in here, guns blazing, forcing the Melnorme to no longer consider this world profitable. And with the new addition of anti-time-travel aliens, even that avenue will be horrendously limited!" He leaned back, a satisfied smile on his face. "You're sure pleased with yourself," Prism muttered. "Oh, I am. Especially because that time-travel-hating race? I'm the reason they hate it in the first place. I do love it when plans come together. Rather invigorating. It'll be quite the fireworks show." "I would ask how you could be so heartless but that'd be a stupid question." "So you've realized your own mental inferiority? Good. You're moving in the right direction." He rubbed his hands together. "Maybe I should replace the Doctor with your entire society since Blackjack's no longer a viable option." Corea tried to punch him in the back of the head with magically infused fire. Without looking, he grabbed Corea's front leg, broke it, and threw her to the ground in front of Prism. "Corea!" Flagg spread his arms wide and shrugged. "You think people would know back attacks don't work on me, considering the number of all-seeing-eyes I have at my disposal." He took out Black Thirteen just to make the point. "I can even see the ka flowing in this room. Look at Corea, losing hope. Look at her unable to muster up the courage to do anything. A-" he blinked. The inside of Black Thirteen was changing because he was talking. He had altered something. Prism glared at him. "Corea can do anything if she puts her mind to it. All she needs is the proper motivation and confidence." She then pulled Corea's face to her own and kissed her hard. Corea's eyes flew open wide, as if a switch in her had been clicked on. She began glowing with the white energy of the Avatar State. Prism threw Corea at Flagg like a football - turns out you didn't have to stand to do that. Flagg groaned. "That's outrageously chees-" Corea plowed into Flagg with air, fire, magic, and water-ice moisture from the air. As for earth... A giant pillar of rock shot out of the ground, ejecting the golden UFO high into the air. It crashed through all the levels of Nowhere, almost flying. "Randall Flagg, as th-" "Stop bending," Flagg ordered. Corea lost the Avatar State in an instant and slumped to the ground. "What the- HEY! That was going to be awesome! I was going to kick your pl-" Flagg imagined her embedding into a nearby golden wall. So she did. Flagg pulled himself out of a Flagg-shaped hole in the opposite wall, mostly unharmed. He tucked Black Thirteen away, a menacing scowl on his face. "You know, I should have just ordered you to die in the Avatar State. You would never have come back." Corea grunted. "Well it's a little late for that now, isn't it?" The Golden UFO reached its highest point and started falling back down to the planet. Flagg groaned as he felt the weightlessness kick in. He imagined that the ship stopped falling. So that's what it did, driving everyone to the floor. Flagg tore the heavily injured Corea out of the nearby wall. With his hands, he tore the half-horn out of Corea and drove it into her other side. "This is just the start of what you and I are going to do together. I might even throw starfish over there in as well." Corea laughed. "No, you won't." "Why not?" "Because I'm smiling and on a really, really dumb emotional high." "HEY!" Prism shouted. "You have no right to complain, that was really dumb. Like, everything about it." "IT WORKED DIDN'T IT!?" "Well yeah. You're a great kisser, by the way." "Comes with practice, cornball!" "Oh, also, Flaggy boy? There was a teeny little backup plan that we didn't know about. I only figured out about it right now." She used one of her non-broken hooves to gesture at Stardust. She had her horn touching one of the crystal machine's consoles. She flooded her magic into the temporal beacon, making it shatter - and parts of it disintegrate into pure magic energy. She tossed her mane behind her head and adjusted her broken glasses. "Oops." Flagg blinked. "...Huh. I must be losing touch, I keep forgetting about the small ones." He dropped Corea unceremoniously to the ground, no longer caring about her fate whatsoever. He took out Black Thirteen, frown deepening. "It appears we've got another loss." Minna and Allure appeared inside the ship. Allure looked about ready to pass out - teleporting was hard for her. Minna glared at Flagg. "Flagg..." "Oh, the new toy soldier," Flagg muttered. "Normally I would be in the mood for a round of 'who can out-psychic the other' but right now I have business to attend to. Namely, not losing another body. So, how about instead of you trying to kill me, I give you something?" Minna narrowed her eyes. "...What?" Flagg put Black Thirteen away and pulled out a book titled The Tower's Testament. "You may be aware of much of what lies within here, the book isn't hard to find for a race of your caliber. But I'm going to give you a little hint!" "That'll torment us until the end times." Flagg let out a chuckle. "You and quite a few others! It might even bother those watching." "Oh, great, this is one of the chapters." Allure facehooved. "That should have been obvious." Flagg smirked. "Have a twofold prophecy. Badly translated from the old: One side says the story is thus: The Lord, the Muse, the Heir Are gathered together to make a tear The God, the Prophet, the ancient Are needed to fulfill a lost tenet The flip says the story is here: There is a choice that all will make Deciding the twisting lines of fate What begins as one will spread to all None will be able to ignore the call Which is the point? Where does narrative lead? A flipping coin in the sights of infinite possibility... One and endless. Infinity and singular." He closed the book, smirking. "And now that you've all been distracted for a proper amount of time, good luck getting off this ship before it explodes!" And then he was gone. "Crap," Minna muttered. She looked to the future - but she didn't see any explosions. "...It looks like we're going to be fine...?" They were transported away by Merodi Universalis teleporters onto the bridge of the Austraeoh. O'Neill sat in the captain's chair, but he wasn't the main focus. The main focus was the human Pinkie Pie from Earth Vitis gripping the shoulders of two humans with pink complexion and white hair. "Say it!" She demanded. The two full grown humans looked down at the ground like young children. "We're sorry..." "SORRY FOR WHAT!?" human Pinkie demanded, giving them both the evil eye into the backs of their heads. "We're sorry for manipulating you to go on a cruise that didn't exist..." "AND!?" "And making you risk your lives because ka is not something to be manipulated just because we can see it..." "GOOD. If I could still ground you two I would. But I can still do this." She pulled a squeaky hammer out of her hair and knocked the two of them out of the bridge. Then she turned to the seven recently-rescued people and smiled innocently. "Sorry about that, Munchie and Scrunchie have always been little rascals. Please don't press any charges." "Uh... We won't..." Allure said, baffled. Pinkie grinned. "Good!" "...I didn't realize you had kids," Stardust admitted. "Had 'em just before the war started. Pinkie and I stopped switching about then too. Good thing too, since she's deviated so much now..." she put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "Anyway, I'm glad all of you are safe. I bet you got to know each other pretty well and bonded!" "You could say that," Prism said, hoisting the heavily injured Corea onto her back. "I'm dragging her to sickbay, if you don't mind." "Not at all," O'Neill said. "Oh, by the way, Stardust?" Prism asked. Stardust looked at her quizzically. "Sorry. Shouldn't have dismissed you like that." Stardust nodded solemnly, following it up with a soft smile. "All is forgiven. You did come to save me, after all." Prism smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I did." O'Neill cleared his throat. "Ahem. Marshall, report." Minna raised an eyebrow. "Overhead General, with all due respect I need to spend some time with my husband. I request I be allowed to carry out the rest of my 'vacation' before giving the report." O'Neill smirked. "Granted." "Thank you." Minna pulled Frigid close. "I'm never letting you out of my sights again. I should never have dismissed you." "Heh... It's..." He pulled her close and started crying. "It's all over now..." Prism left the bridge, Corea on her back. "So..." Prism said. "I know you just did it to get some fire back in me. I'm not going to try to exploit it," Corea said, grunting. "Really?" "Well, yeah, that'd be falling into Starbeat's old curse. That'd just be dumb. I'm not going to do that. You don't have to follow up on anything because of some 'click', no matter how right it felt." "Huh," Prism said, contemplating this. "...You're a good mare, you know that?" "Sometimes," Corea admitted. "Sometimes." They walked towards the sickbay in silence. "I'm going to regret this," Prism muttered, putting a wing over her face. "Hm?" "There's an Earth Ottoman restaurant I like and I happen to be free toni-" "YES!" Corea blurted. "OW. Ow. Ow the pain..." "But we start from scratch," Prism insisted. "Oh, of course. I'm going to have to actually earn the next one." "Chances are big there won't be a 'next one', cornball." "I like those odds!" Prism rolled her eyes. "Let's get you healed up." "It'll probably take all of five minutes." "Actually, clinically speaking we could do it in any timeframe due to temporal manipulation technology, which the Austraeoh is fully equipped with. We also have dozens of licenced medical professionals..." ~~~ I walked into Eve's office. "Chapter today." "Oh? What's the synopsis?" "Chapter 111, 'O', the next generation of Merodi Universalis get stuck in the Oubliette." I grinned mischievously. "You mostly aren't involved. The plot's already wrapped up and everything." Eve blinked. "I notice I've been just a background presence lately." "And that trend's going to continue." "Joy. What important thing am I doing today, then?" I giggled. "It will be a lot more fun to see your reaction later." "...Joy." Cessera the Second walked into the room. "Evening, you have visitors." "Who is it?" "I-" "Let them in," I interrupted, rubbing my hooves together. "...Sure," Cessera said, leaving the room. A moment later the Grand Secretariat of the Sparkle Census and four other members of the Sparkle Census Council walked in. This many council members had not been seen in the same place outside the Sparkle Census itself before. Eve smiled warmly, though inwardly she was screaming at me for making her extremely nervous about this. "Ah! This is a surprise. What can I do for you today?" Feeling her throat getting parched from nerves, she took a drink of water. "The Sparkle Census has voted on the council level in favor of joining Merodi Universalis," the Grand Secretariat said matter-of-factly. Eve's spit take was very impressive. It got all five of them wet. "AUGH! Sorry sorry sorry!" She magically dried all of them in an instant. "It's quite alright," the Grand Secretariat said, looking at me. "You've worked her up, haven't you?" I put on the cheekiest smile I could manage. "Who, me?" "Mhm." The Grand Secretariat smiled warmly. "I hope your surprise does not indicate initial rejection?" "Of course not!" Eve blurted, grinning. "This is great news! It'll take a few years to fully integrate a society of your magnitude into Merodi Universalis, but you are already a very close part of our community so it shouldn't take too long. Five? Maybe six?" "That is more than acceptable." "We should get started right away if we want to get this done in a reasonable amount of time," Eve said, taking out her phone. "This is Overhead Evening Sparkle, may I speak to Overhead Maud Pai? Thank you..." I smiled, scribbling a few things in my notebook. As a younger generation got their chance in the spotlight, two powers became one...
Songs of the Spheres	112 - Outside Perspectives	Year 35 Renee wore a full suit to the after-'party' of signing the Sparkle Census into Merodi Universalis. While it was called a 'party' it was not only a highly formal occasion - it was very much a business occasion. Which meant black, white, tie, cufflinks, everything. No traditional wear or over the top dresses - like she usually wore. She even switched out her normal embroidered dulled-ruby glasses for standard round black-rimmed spectacles. She still wore her hat though. That was her defining feature. They would just have to deal with it. "I still think you're dressed like a man," Daniel said. "This is formal business attire for anyone who isn't a Princess, which I am not." "At least the human women get to wear dresses." "Horribly drab and uncreative ones," Renee pointed out. "Plus, I can at least get somewhat creative with this." "There are a lot of black and white gemstones hidden in those folds." "I'm secretly an inner bedazzler!" Renee said, smirking evilly. "They will not know the levels to which I will go to push the dress code!" Daniel smirked. "No. No they won't." "Though I do feel sorry for Eve. Any sort of formal attire is rather horrible on those wings. I told her she was a Princess and she could just go with the regalia, but she had to follow the Overhead code." Eve was, in fact, experiencing difficulty mixing her wings with her highly limiting attire. It did not matter that a Rarity had created it specifically for her - it never worked right. Had a dress been allowed they could have just been tucked under the folds of cloth in special pouches, but that wasn't the code. Renee twitched. "Much more of this fashion bizarreness and I will go on a rant about the setting of forced trends and how limiting it is..." "Let the other Rarities do that," Daniel said. "Right, right, I know, it isn't my job." She didn't stop looking though. Most ponies were wearing elegant dresses and sharp tuxedos, same with most of the humans. Notably the delegation of the Imperium of Man were in their power armor - weapons disabled, of course, but their metallic exoskeletons were too much of a source of pride for them to give up. To make it even more interesting the Emperor of Mankind was up and about - finally safely removed from his Golden Throne after all those years. He was well over eleven feet tall, wore armor that looked solid gold, and seemed to glow with a slight aura similar to Corona's. He certainly looked like an Emperor. Besides humans and ponies, there were also a couple of troll Skaians who just wore standard human dresses or tuxedos, as did the Mushroom World Toads. The pudgy five-pointed Lumas didn't really have much to put on them, so they wore little ties or tiaras. Their leader, Rosalina, wore a white dress to go with her blonde-platinum hair. She had already greeted the Sparkle Census and was currently talking to a Ga, or 'sirknight' from Pokerin Anima. They had 'dresses' built into their bodies, so they'd just added earrings. Gems had a mixture of tuxedo- and dress-wearing individuals, depending on the body type they created. While all gems were 'feminine', some were more rounded than others. She imagined some of the middle-ground Gems had difficulty choosing. Only black and white Gems were allowed to create their own clothing due to coloring limitations. Something White Diamond would have been able to make full advantage of... If she had been there. She was never to be found at anything. Red Diamond was, though, her starry eyes catching the imagination of everyone who looked at her. You could easily get lost in those eyes. She had chosen to wear a very simplistic black dress. The amount of fabric that must have gone into it was impressive, given her size. Renee was pretty sure if the dress were dropped on her it'd break a bone or two. The gargantuan Diamond was leaning down to give a warm welcome to the Grand Secretariat and her contingency of Sparkle Census Council members. Renee didn't know what half of them were called - but if they came up to her they had plaques pinned to their tuxes and dresses, as was required for council members. Renee noticed Minna watching Red Diamond like a hawk. The Gem's ability to avoid her sights always put the girl on edge. "She's good for her people," a man's voice said. It sounded normal, but when Renee turned to see who it had come from, she knew it had been spoken right into her mind. The leader of Pokerin Anima was a gargantuan quadruped with a white coat and golden tipped hooves. His body was not smooth and round like a pony, but angular and pointed in most places. His mane and tail were not long and flowing - instead seeming more like fleshy protrusions with fur on them instead of hair. Accenting his mane were his ears, which were pointed upward, coming out the sides of his head and rising over the top. His face was devoid of fur, revealing a gray face devoid of a mouth, but with two green piercing eyes. He was wearing a tuxedo that looked less like it was designed for him and more like it had been created around him and his front legs. Around his midsection was a four-pointed star-shaped construct made seemingly of gold that was highly reminiscent of the old Arcei arcs. It was no surprise those who had once been Arcei had started to worship this gargantuan equine. Renee knew better than this though. While Arceus was in fact the creator of the entire Pokerin Anima universe and certainly had the power to back it up, he was not a nigh-omnipotent God. He was just a Creator. A Creator who saw no problem with people worshipping him, but he didn't exactly demand it, so nobody had any real complaint against him. "Red Diamond?" Renee said, responding to his comment. "She is. Built precisely to bridge the gap." "Indeed. Though if I was willing to grace this meeting, the least White Diamond could have done was make a courtesy call." "I'll say," Renee agreed. "She doesn't make her people look good." "Which is why Red Diamond is good for her people. A change. A new creation." "Speaking from experience?" Daniel asked. "I suppose you could say that," Arceus mused. "I have to hear this story," Renee said. "You have heard most of it already, Renee. It is the story of my world." "Oh, but something tells me there's much more to it." Arceus nodded slowly. "...Very well. It has been many years since I've told the story in full. The last one to hear it was... Well, the Primary team when they made first contact." "That would be a dreadfully long time ago," Renee said. "About when I lost my eye, actually." "It would be my pleasure if you two were to come dine in my realm tomorrow," Arceus said. "It would be an opportunity to tell true stories of origins." "I think that would be wonderful. I will ditch everything but the hat." "Likewise. Clothing is always an unusual concept. Daniel?" Daniel shifted uncomfortably. "Er... I'll stay dressed, thank you." Arceus may not have had a mouth, but Renee swore he was smirking. "As you wish." The Creator took his leave, allowing the couple to continue on alone. "Dinner with god," Daniel mused. "Please, Flutterfree will be the first to tell you he isn't Him and he makes no claim to being such." As if on cue, Flutterfree and Eve teleported over. Eve glanced over her shoulder with a panicked expression. "Renee, I need the files on the Sparkle Census worlds." "And why do you need those, Eve?" Eve twitched, realizing she was going to have to explain. "Because I just made a minor flub where I thought one of the catalog worlds was joining with the rest of the Census, but it turned out it wasn't, and now I need to do some last-minute-panic studying and you have access to all the files including the sorta-secret ones right?" She grinned. "She's about to explode from political stress," Flutterfree whispered. "I am not!" she blurted back - slightly too loud. The outburst made several people look at her with quizzical expressions. "Heheh..." She looked at Renee with pleading eyes. "Pleeeeeease..." "Evening, it's just a political meeting, and the Census is very understanding." She teleported a 'Sparkle Census' brochure to Eve. "Just go off of this." "This isn't enough detail!" "And this is not an important enough reason to shunt Expedition full-detail files directly to you." Eve nodded. "Okay. Right..." Flutterfree glanced to Renee. "Are you sure you ca-" Eve interrupted Flutterfree's plea. "She's right Flutterfree, I can't just ask for that casually. I forgot that for a moment. I am sorry for breaching protocol, Renee." "It's alright," Renee insisted. "You were in a hurry. I believe you can ask Corona for some of the lesser files - they'll give you what you need." "Right, thanks." She saluted with a wing - looking for any excuse to stretch it away from her suit. "See you later!" She teleported herself and Flutterfree away. "You don't even bat an eye at that anymore," Daniel observed. "Well I did lose an eye," Renee said with a smirk. "You lost the eye be-" "Daniel, love, I know. I was trying to make a joke. I suppose it didn't work." She stretched herself out. "As it turns out, it is still possible to be good friends like this." "I still think it's a little awkward." "Friendships develop," Renee said. "Each one of us has a very different relationship with each other now. It's something I'm able to look back on and marvel, now that I'm in my old age." "Your centennial has passed." "And I still have as perfect a complexion as ever! Remind me to thank Corona again. It's amazing how liberating not worrying about aging is." "That's what you think!" the Emperor called over. "Emperor, darling, I don't think sitting as a skeleton on a chair for several thousand years really qualifies in this instance." "Hah," the Emperor said - clearly enjoying his ability to laugh properly. "Who's the immortal with thousands upon thousands of years of experience over you?" "Who's the instigating nitpicker?" Renee countered. "Who's the human f-" "My Lord, let's not go there," Kitten, his aide, said, clearly glad that he was able to stop the Emperor. "I can go where I fucking want." "Get a private engagement with Renee later, don't make this the day you get everyone to hate you." The Emperor glanced over his shoulder at the other dignitaries - a few of whom were looking oddly at him. "...Very well." "Sadly, Arceus already has us for lunch," Renee said. "Perhaps we can finish another time?" "I will hold you to that, floppy-hatted marshmallow." Daniel facepalmed. The Emperor chuckled - once again feeling delight in the sensation. ~~~ Jenny of the Red Gloves was no longer part of the Expedition team with Lady Rarity and the others - she had moved on. Graduated and created her own team, formed of herself, Ivan, Dintin, and the Thing With the Big Wig. Nobody knew where the Thing With the Big Wig came from, but he was amazing. In a sort of disgusting, bizarre sort of way. Dintin called him Cousin It. For some unknown reason. Jenny called him Bigwig. Because... he was a big brown wig. He was the best thing ever. But sometimes even the best thing ever couldn't satiate her boredom. "BORED!" Jenny declared. Ivan sighed. "We were just on a mission yesterday. That was enough excitement for me." "Those bugs were very angry," Dintin observed with his calm, synthetic voice. Bigwig made a bunch of indecipherable noises. "You're all right, but today is a new day!" Jenny said, standing tall. "And a new day comes new adventures and new boredom to combat!" "You could govern the Beanstalk instead of letting the ponies do it for you," Ivan suggested. "PSH. That's old-Jenny. New-Jenny is an agent! An Explorer! A meeter of new people and helper of old! And - wait a minute, old..." She put a hand to her chin. "Does anyone remember the last time we heard anything about the University of Doors?" Everyone glanced at each other - and shook their heads. "Let's drop in and say hi." "We're Merodi Universalis now and have been for a while," Ivan said. "Do you really th-" "Yes. Yes I do. Come on let's go." She leaped out of her chair and pulled out her dimensional device, dialing the University of Doors Campus. The natural structure of the unusual universe was the same as ever - every plane was covered with doors and keyholes of all shapes and sizes, each one leading to another universe or realm. The orientation and position made no sense, but the members of the University knew how to navigate them without a door device. Jenny missed door devices. Any doorway could become a dimensional portal with just a flick of the wrist. None of this 'opening and maintaining portal connection' nonsense. The University Grounds themselves were, as normal, devoid of the constant shifting of the rest of the planes, giving an island of mostly three-dimensional sanity to those who needed it. Nothing else was like Jenny remembered. All the lights were dark. Multiple buildings had been reduced to complete rubble. There was no sign of habitation whatsoever. "What in the world...?" Jenny said, gawking. The University of Doors was one of the most organized and tight-knit groups she knew of - even when the Xeelee came in and heavily restricted their movements, they were still strong and kept studying. What could have done this to them? "The glowing materials are dark," Ivan observed. "Almost as if the light was drained from them." Bigwig made some twittering noises. "You're right, it could have been an experiment gone wrong," Ivan concurred. "They survived experiments exploding before," Jenny murmured, walking forward. "What would have made this di-" A hologram of a tall man in the dress of a University Headstone smiled. "Visitor! No doubt you have come a long way to learn and study at our elusive, hidden University. I regret to inform you that the University of Doors has closed down all classes permanently due to unforeseen circumstances. All staff went their separate ways and remaining students were given honorary degrees for simply surviving the horrendous events that led to our downfall. This message is just to inform you that, yes, you have found the University of Doors. By making it this far you are a testament to the way of the Doors. If you have come to this place by accident - please, look around, enter a door, and find a way to a new existence. I am sorry I cannot help you." Jenny furrowed her brow. "So something bad happened and, instead of fixing it, they just left." "They didn't have much to do..." Dintin said. Ivan let out a sigh. "They gave up. Great." "I still want to know what caused this," Jenny muttered. "Don't you have that eight ball connected to the Datasphere? It'd know," Ivan suggested. Jenny smiled. "Right, right..." She shook the eight ball, thinking deeply of the question she wanted to ask. What destroyed them? A word took form on the surface of the ball. Necrozma. "What the heck is Necrozma?" ~~~ Arceus' realm was a pocket dimension overlaying the physical Pokerin Anima. It was wholly separate from everything - including the built in Temporal, Spatial, and Reverse worlds that helped give the physical world substance. Each of these worlds were not a different universe, which meant they could not be dialed through standard means - one had to enter Pokerin Anima and use a secondary portal device to transition to one of the other dimensions. There was rarely any need to enter the Temporal or Spatial dimensions, and doing so was generally seen as a bad idea since they held together time and space. The Reverse world was visited somewhat regularly, while Arceus' personal realm was by invitation only. Invitations which Renee and Daniel had. Normally, Arceus' realm was empty, black, and formless, so he could shape it into whatever he wanted. Today he had shaped it ahead of time into a Parthenon-like dining hall sitting atop a mountain that looked out over a visual representation of what was happening in the physical world; essentially, a live feed for everyone to enjoy. He had chosen the mountain at the intersection between three different colonies of his children. One were the oh-so-familiar sirknights, or Ga as they were known in other universes, a people who loved grace, psychic power, and beauty; constructing towering buildings that rose far into the sky. There were also the foodin, a different sort of psychic being who were yellow-brown and often had an obsession with spoons - for some reason. They built simpler dwellings and spent more time meditating. The third choice was the metagross, living four-legged computers who constructed great towers to house their vast stores of knowledge. Their city looked like a giant cube, starkly contrasting against the blue sky. Renee found this annoying, but she wasn't one to say anything about it. She and Daniel were eating strange white fluffs that resembled marshmallows but tasted nothing like them - weren't even sweet. "Absolutely heavenly. What is this?" she asked. "I haven't named it," Arceus said. "It's just intended to particularly suit the palette of whoever is eating it." "Seems to be cheating," Daniel observed, trying not to shove all of them into his mouth at once. This may not have been quite as formal a meeting as the Sparkle Census reception, but it wouldn't do to be a slob. "It very well might be. But when you have my power, you can do just about anything if you put your mind to it. Granted, to perform full universe creation I need the Unown to manage minute details, but I can easily make a snack that's delicious just because I say it is." "Have you experienced taste?" Daniel asked. "Yes I have. Though I prefer not to have a mouth, I can make any part of my body taste something if I want." "Huh." Arceus seemed to be smirking again. "We are here for a purpose, though. Renee, do tell me the full story of your universe." Renee cleared her throat. "Well, we suspect the universe was created by Universe Generator Q-MLP-023, discovered during the Silvertongue Incident. It's responsible for the existence of most pony-based worlds and has been churning out new ones for as long as we can tell. It is suspected to be a Downstreamer-model universe generator, but we can't exactly prove this for certain. "Our world was a lifeless rock until the Starstream War broke out among the Stars. The Starcross Society was created - and one of the fallen Stars, Castor, fell to our world and became the Harmony Forces. This is also one of the many timeframes when Aradia, our guardian of time, arrived. The Harmony Forces went through several forms over the millennia, but always in Six parts, the Elements of Harmony. The names of the Six changed. I'm Generosity - but for the bearer before me it was Beauty, and before that I think it was Grace, but I can't remember for sure. "There's a lot of ancient history that means little - an age of demons, after which Tartarus was created, followed by an age of hardship, and a lot of strange nearly world-ending events. But, eventually, ponykind rose from the turmoil of magic. We entered a golden age under the tutelage of Celestia and Luna who... Who..." Renee blinked. "Actually, I have no idea where they came from. I can tell you the origins of Celestias and Lunas from plenty of other universes, but I don't believe I've ever asked about ours. Strange." "I may ask her myself," Arceus suggested. "I'm sure she'd be willing to tell you. Unless it's some deep, dark secret..." Renee rubbed her chin. "Regardless, they arrived at about the time the three pony tribes came together on Hearth's Warming Eve to banish the evil of the windigos and unite to form Equestria. The bearers of the Elements before us put their essences into a seed that allowed the Star that was Castor to have a physical form again, becoming the Tree of Harmony. And then about a thousand years passed, Eve collected the five of us to become the new Element Bearers, and we started defeating evil wherever it lay. Eve found the black bowling ball and the rest is history." Arceus nodded. "A deep tale of origin indeed. Mine is perhaps not as simple or bright, for I am the creator." "It would give a much more... unique perspective," Daniel admitted. "It would... To begin with, this world was not the world I created first. It is the second." Renee blinked. "I had been told you and your Pokerin came from another world. Is that not a rumor?" "It may seem like a rumor buried in the many different religious teachings of my people, but yes, that part is true." Arceus closed his eyes. "When I created the first world, I used the Unown to create reality itself, and created several lower deities to manage it for me. Time, Space... one to draw antimatter away from the physical realm so substance could actually exist. Stars and planets formed, and one planet was chosen to be the place for most of my creations to flourish. There were a few other worlds here and there, but this one was the big world. It was... a nameless world. Pokerin Hume if it needs a name. All the creatures you see on this world existed there, alongside a handful of others. "But something strange happened. One creature came that was very different than all the others. I remember creating them, but I never thought they were truly of me. Almost as if they were a manifestation of the Unown themselves..." "Wait, the Unown created them? Or you did? ...Wait, didn't you create the Unown?" Daniel blinked, clearly confused. Arceus summoned an Unown to him - a simple, flat creature with a single eye that looked a bit like an exclamation mark. "As far as I am concerned, both I and the Unown are primordial entities. That is, we always existed. I am fully aware there was a point in metatime when I didn't exist, and then one that I did, but I was in a realm without time, as were the Unown. It is possible they came from elsewhere, I am uncertain. I don't know everything. My current theory is that they are a natural manifestation of language through ka in some fashion." The two nodded. "Anyway, the humans. I always had a bad feeling about them, because from the start they were special. They didn't have the shapes, the forms, or the natures of my creations. Instead of my creations growing to form societies, it was the humans that did it - even though a few of my creations had more intelligence than them! But they lacked the drive humans did, and so the humans dominated. "At first, I thought this was no issue. Let my creation find its own path. While the humans were dominant, they lived in harmony with the Pokerin. They even started creating their own with technology and interaction, which was delightful. And then they figured out how to alchemically capture Pokerin into machines. Everything went downhill after that. He looked deep into their eyes. "You are no doubt aware of the Pokemon games, yes?" Renee nodded. "Games that feature creatures similar, but not identical, to your Pokerin. All about capturing the 'pocket monsters' and engaging in battles." "That is exactly what happened," Arceus said. "As they perfected the capture technology, the forced combat of Pokerin became commonplace. A sport. They even made it so the devices conditioned my creations to want to fight, even if their disposition wasn't aggressive. It was brutal, horrendous, and just..." he paused, trying to collect himself. "These 'trainers' were a blight on the world and had sullied my creation. They went far beyond the natural predator-prey relationship that was supposed to exist and devolved into pure brutality. I considered, multiple times, just wiping them out. But I couldn't bring myself to follow through with it. But then beings from other universes started interfering with my world, letting me know of the multiverse. These were terrible beings indeed - let me tell you about the light-eater, Necrozma, some time, that was a difficult time for the world. But after that, I understood how to travel to other universes, to distance myself from the world I had created - and perhaps begin anew. "So that's what I did. I took every Pokerin - artificially created or otherwise - and transplanted them to a new world. The humans had enough technology and ingenuity to survive without them. I was able to remove the special Time, Space, and Reverse realms as well, giving them a more 'mundane' universe to live in. I took everything here so the horrendous forced battling would end. No more would they battle. No more would they be named differently depending on their ages. No more would humans control them. "Some of the Pokerin had ended up depending on human structures to survive. So I made it known that the Pokerin who were smart enough to emulate human ingenuity could recreate what they saw fit to aid their fellow beings - and so they did. The three races you see around us were some of the first to do so, each in their own way. But they never recreated the capture devices. "Back when this world was first created, I allowed some of the chosen good humans to come along. But I didn't let them breed. Even those with ways to extend their life eventually died off. And this world was left to the Pokerin to do as they pleased. Instead of dominated by humans, several dozen of the Pokerin with higher intelligences formed nations. Some were altruistic, some were evil, but it was all part of the balance. It was still nature. "And then you showed up and the rest is history." "Wow..." Renee said, face sad. "The games must give you bad memories." "They do. But they are harmless themselves. Just a bunch of colorful creatures fighting on a computer screen. None of it is real. The Prophet behind it didn't know it was real either." He stared into the distance. "It was just a trick of fate I had to fix." "I think you found the best solution," Daniel said. "Nothing had to die." "Oh there was some death as a result of my actions," Arceus said. "There were no doubt hospitals running on Pokerin that had no way to compensate. They would struggle for a few years to recreate the levels of electricity they had. But it prevented there from being a war - or a judgement." The two nodded. "Now, how a-" A pink-white, vaguely dragonlike head poked into Arceus' realm through a swirling pink portal. "We have a problem," she said. "Palkia, can't you-" "Unauthorized portal opened. Capture device detected." Arceus blinked. "Ka. It's fun," Renee muttered. "I suppose we're probably here for a reason. Let's go see this." "Yes. Let's." Arceus muttered. With a glow of brilliant white energy, they were gone. ~~~ The Eldritch Embodiment had decided to meet to discuss something. The Eldritch Embodiment never met to discuss anything. Ever. The Eldritch Embodiment had decided to meet to discuss something. It was a momentous occasion when all of the major Outer Gods came together. Right in the universe of Azathoth's Court. As usual, Azathoth himself, ruler and progenitor of the entire Embodiment, was 'asleep' and couldn't care less about the proceedings. This essentially left Nyarlathotep as the 'primary voice' in the eldritch expanse, though his 'siblings' Nameless Mist, Unnamed Darkness, and Cxaxukluth held sway if it was needed. Other voices of note were Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth, Hziulquoigmnzhah, Tulu, and Ghisguth - every other voice present was either just an aspect of one of these eldritch gods or so insignificant nobody cared. The following conversation is as translated as well as it possibly can be. "Let me be frank. Merodi Universalis is now more powerful than we are by a large margin," Nyarlathotep said. "Were we to actively enforce our rules over a breach of theirs, they would likely retaliate. And in that retaliation they would initiate a war they would likely win. Considering how close they are to our borders and how often they lightly prod our realm, we have had to become more careful with how we act within their space. This cannot stand." "Why the ´‰‰Ø‰ not?" Cxaxukluth [?????]ed. "Because if we relax too much, our realms become fuel to magic of theirs. We end up serving them in a way, instead of the other way around. Lower beings should not be able to do this to us." "Not all of them are lower beings," Nameless Mist decreed. "The Arceus is higher. The Angels are comparable. As are the ssπå∑˜ øƒ ˜´ƒ´¬˙´ˆµ." "Of course," Nyarlathotep said. "You forget that their leaders are all basic mortals. Or the vast majority, anyway. The point is they are in a position to best us and we must do something about it." "You think in too human terms," Cxaxukluth laughed. "Thoughts of 'serving' and 'not serving'. You are among them too much. Return to us - or perhaps you should take some advice from Father and learn the virtue of apathy?" "Why would I be apathetic about this? This is the fate and future of the Embodiment!" "Which will continue endlessly regardless," Yog-Sothoth said, using his functionally endless number of eyes to see all possibilities. "They do not wish to destroy us. They never will. We are a force of nature to even the highest. Only the Beyonders would seek our destruction." "The point is not destruction, Yog-Sothoth!" Nyarlathotep blurted. "And if you really can see that far, why did you not bring this up before?" "It was unnecessary due to [The Screams Of All The Young In A Pinecone] and pointlessness in resistance. I see all, Nyarlathotep. I see the One Above All, I see the Great Will, I see the Dark Tower." "No you don't," Nameless Mist said. "None can see the Dark Tower fully." "I see what it does, should I wish to. My nature is true omniscience, after all." "In the present metatime only." "True. But nothing drastic enough to change our entire society ever happens in metatime." "Lord English?" Tulu suggested. Yog-Sothoth was quick to respond: "[DO NOT WANT] AND IF YOU INSINUATE SUCH THINGS AGAIN ALL MY SPAWN WILL BRING YOU DOWN IN PERFECTION." "Don't press Yog-Sothoth's buttons," Nyarlathotep suggested. "He may not be as enraged as Cxaxukluth, but he does have the power to make you regret crossing him. Easily." "Knowing everything is a powerful tool," Nameless Mist agreed. Ghisguth grunted. "I get it, our neighbors are big. What do you want to do about it? What can we do about it? We're static." "Go the way of the Horrorterrors," Nyarlathotep said. "Progress. Increase our holdings for the first time in ÓÅÓÅ Òˆ´ ˇˆÂ´ ÇÅ˜ ´◊´˜ ı´ ¨˜Î´‰ÍˇØØÎ. Make the Eldritch Embodiment rise. We are a Class 3 merely because we do not exert ourselves! If we expand-" "Do not be foolish," Unnamed Darkness spoke for the first time. "Nyarlathotep, that is not our way. We are the Eldritch Embodiment. We will not alter ourselves to become a human Embodiment. We do not conquer, we are. We do not war, we terrify. We do not band together, we emulate. We are all reflections of our father Azathoth. If he does not believe there is enough concern to act, then there truly is not." Azathoth made a snoring noise that translated best as "damn straight." Nyarlathotep deflated. "When Father arises, then we may band together," Nameless Mist said. "Until then we remain as we are." Cxaxukluth laughed. "Finally got everyone to talk and nothing even happened! That must [Blue Feet] Nyarlathotep! Hah!" Fuming, Nyarlathotep left the Court of Azathoth. ~~~ Arceus, Renee, and Daniel appeared on the edge of a small forest, a village of 'lucario' in the distance - blue-black bipedal jackal creatures with spikes on their wrists. They saw Arceus appear and ran away in fear - not being from a more advanced society, they had no concept of what Arceus was or even much about the multiverse Pokerin Anima was part of. The human, though, didn't flinch. He was a young man - in his teens - with black hair and a blue jacket. A yellow rodent sat on the human's shoulder, sparking with electricity. Behind him stood a humanoid frog with a tongue wrapped around his own neck that looked like a scarf at first. The human blinked. "...Arceus?" This caught Arceus off guard. "...You know me, human?" "Uh, yeah, we stopped you from blowing up the world a few years ago." He looked around. "...Where am I? What kind of Pokemon is that?" Renee raised an eyebrow. "I am not a Pokemon or a Pokerin, thank you very much. I am a lady. Renee Jackson, if you need a name." The human blinked. "Uh, I'm Ash. Ash Ketchum." Daniel clearly recognized the name, but since he said nothing it was probably from something fictional and not previously known in reality. "Daniel Jackson," he said. "Nice to meet you." Ash put two and two together about the last name and decided not to comment on it. Arceus lowered his head and stared into Ash's eyes. The kid finally flinched at the gargantuan equine being that close. "Uh... Hi." "He does look familiar. Perhaps he is a version of one of the many humans I saved." "Have any way to check?" Daniel asked. Arceus nodded. He closed his eyes and let out a pulse of energy - prompting a small, green fairy-creature to appear next to him, its head like a plant bulb. "Celebi, do you mind checking the past human settlement for Ash Ketchum?" "Oh, him! I know him. He was really nice! Don't even have to go back." Ash stared at Celebi. "You can talk!?" "That might be the translation spell?" Renee suggested, tilting her hoof back and forth in uncertainty. Arceus decided to end this line of questioning before it could continue. "Ahem. Celebi, that will be all." The green fairy vanished into time. "Now... Ash. I do not remember you well, for it has been eons since a human graced the surface of this world. But you were one of the chosen." "Cho... sen?" Arceus let out an annoyed grunt. "Last time I did this I sent out a general message to all of them at once and let them sort it out themselves." "Not very courteous," Renee pointed out. "I know," Arceus said, collecting his breath. "You are in another world, Ash Ketchum. I am another Arceus, likely different from the one you know in many ways." "Uh, all right. I think I got that!" The yellow rodent made a "pika-chu!" noise. Arceus stared at it, baffled for a moment. "...I thought that was just the show being silly." "What?" Ash asked. "Not important," Arceus said, shaking his head. "What is important is that, in my world, I took all Pokerin - er, mon - away and moved them to this world to live without humans." "W-why?" "Because of those red and white balls you carry on you. You may not realize it, but they are horrible devices. You think they just capture new friends for you that you use to go on a grand adventure, one where you and your friends learn much about each other, correct?" Ash nodded slowly. "This device is a brainwashing machine," Arceus said. "Whatever it captures, it attempts to force it to obey your every word. Do you ever wonder why when you capture wild Poke...mon they fight you like their life depends on it, and then suddenly they're great friends with you nine times out of ten? This device overrides what they are." The yellow rodent and the blue frog reacted to this visibly. The frog appeared deeply conflicted, while the rodent seemed to be thinking 'that makes a lot of sense'. Ash stared at Arceus. "R-really?" "Really. It is a truly nefarious device. If there were not a creature within the ones you held I would destroy them with my judgement. And were you not vouched for, you would have been struck down for even coming to this world with those infernal devices." Ash gulped. "But there is a simple answer. Just release all of them here, and you may return home." "W-what? Here? And go back without them?! Never!" "Pi-ka!" the rodent shouted, sparking with electricity. Arceus' eyes flashed. "So be it." ~~~ Nanoha looked at a zoomed-in map of the multiverse, skewed in such a way that both the E-Sphere and Q-Sphere holdings of Merodi Universalis were easily visible. She watched as a few dozen dots added themselves to the map, raising the number of 'main' universes within Merodi Universalis to over a thousand - not counting colonies and scientific outposts, or even worlds that were just allies receiving aid, technology, and protection that were essentially already part of Merodi Universalis and just waiting for their turn to be added. They were still a low-Class 2 - a thousand primary integrated worlds still wasn't much. TSAB had over a million. But many many of those had been colonies that grew to full status over decades. She had no doubt Merodi Universalis would be considered mid-tier with time. High was a bit of a stretch - moving up past mid-Class 2 was always difficult without some kind of extreme edge. Like the Xeelee'd had with their outrageous technology they'd invented before they left their universe. Still, the fact that they had gotten to Class 2 at all in less than a century was remarkable, especially considering what they were and how they had started. Part of it had to do with their ability to make friends and allies. But there was another part... "Quite the little protagonists, huh?" the Doctor said. Nanoha didn't hear him come in, but she didn't even look up from the map to greet him. "Growing well, growing fast, drawing the attention of the whole multiverse..." Nanoha nodded. "Figured it wouldn't be that obvious. The Xeelee were never called the protagonists." "Because the Xeelee were impersonal," the Doctor said. "The Merodi have heroes." "So did we." "You were thought to be the Protagonist some time ago." Nanoha smiled warmly. "The Protagonist is just a legend, Doctor. I don't think there is a true Protagonist for the multiversal story. It just changes over time. It was me and the TSAB. Now it's Eve and Merodi Universalis. She will rise to a point, possibly where she's like us, and then it'll become normal. The buzz will wear off. We'll wait for the next protagonist and pray this one doesn't bring a multiversal threat that destroys us." "You and I both know they're different." Nanoha leaned back. "So what? There have been rises and dips in multiversal history. Maybe they are the heralds of another age. Metatime goes on forever, Doctor. Even if all of us eventually die, existence carries on." The Doctor shrugged, dropping that line of conversation. He leaned in to examine the map. "You know, it is curious. Very curious in fact." "What is?" "They're positioned in such a way that their two halves are on opposite sides of the Dark Tower. If you drew a line in the standard model, it would go right through it." Nanoha raised an eyebrow. "That's a very much 'more or less' thing." The Doctor shrugged. "I suppose so." Nanoha nodded, looking deeply into the map. "...Why do you stare at it so intently? They are important, yes, but they are just another society." "I'm responsible for them," Nanoha said. "You're not their mother." Nanoha gained a knowing smile. She made no further response. "Curiouser and curiouser..." "Any particular reason why you're here, Doctor?" Nanoha asked. "I'm just here with a warning - not a mysterious one or one with a lot of vague prophecy. I think the Time Lords are up to something." "They're your people." "I rarely talk to them." Nanoha nodded. "I know. Never try to reconnect?" "I don't play well with their regimen." Nanoha smirked. "Or ours, for that matter." "You're nowhere near as bad," the Doctor said. "I've just found evidence of them tampering in areas of the multiverse they shouldn't, but whenever I look closer everything's gone. Just gone. Like they know I'm looking and decide to pull out because of it." "You are telling me about it." The Doctor nodded. "Just be careful. You are their closest competition. They've never liked rivals." Nanoha nodded, taking the information to heart. ~~~ Arceus lifted his front hooves. "For Celestia's sake, he's just a kid!" Renee shouted. "What is wrong with you?" Arceus looked at her. "...Excu-" "DON'T YOU 'EXCUSE ME' YOU VIOLENT HOOLIGAN!" She waved her hoof wildly. "You do not solve violence with violence!" "This is my world, I can give out my own justice." "As a member of Merodi Universalis your rank as World Leader is under that of an Overhead," Renee decreed. "So if you want to go the legal route you do have to submit to me, creator." Arceus bristled. "Are you certain this is where you want to go?" "If it'll get you to settle down for five freaking seconds so we can talk out a solution, yes!" Arceus had the dignity to look slightly ashamed at this. "Good." Renee cleared her throat. "Ash Ketchum, I am Renee Jackson - Overhead of Expeditions for Merodi Universalis, a nation of which this world is a primary member of." Ash peeked out from between his fingers - seeing his blue frog standing over him defensively alongside his rodent. The frog had gained red markings on its face and a more powerful aura. "It's okay Greninja, Pikachu. I think we're okay now." Greninja stood down in an instant - but Pikachu glared at Renee with distrust. "You don't have to trust me," Renee said. "But, Ash, do you see the horrendous nature of these capturing devices?" Ash nodded slowly. "Mind control... I've spent a lot of my journey fighting against it. I thought... I wasn't using it." "It's okay, you didn't know. Do you think your P... friends would stick with you even if you kept them outside?" Ash thought about this. "...Yes." "Then do that. Have them walk alongside you without the capture devices conditioning them." Ash nodded. "Right." He pulled out four more of the red and white balls, releasing the remainder of his team. Then he tossed five of them to Arceus. "Do what you want." "Just five?" "Pikachu doesn't use one." Arceus looked at Ash with kind eyes. "I see... I apologize. I suppose I did misjudge you." "You tried to force him too quickly," Renee muttered. "He was willing, you were just too quick." She sighed. "Of course, that's only half the problem." Ash's eye widened. "Back home... So many Pokemon are being controlled against their will! I have to go back and stop it!" "You're just a kid," Daniel said. "I've saved the world before," Ash said. "PI-KA!" Pikachu confirmed. Renee smiled. "...You're a determined one, aren't you?" Ash nodded, hands in fists. "What those things are is wrong." "And what of battling?" Arceus asked. "...It would only be right if they weren't forced to do it. If they wanted to." "You have my blessing," Arceus said, standing back. "You may return to your world with all of them. You can change the world, Ash. Perhaps there is a way to do it without moving worlds, or exacting great judgement." Ash nodded. "I will." "Actually, I think he'll need some help," Renee said. "And I happen to be in charge of a lot of different Expeditions teams. What do you say to meeting some new, powerful friends?" Ash brightened. "Sure!" ~~~ The Seats sat around the Dark Tower for a meeting - though, specifically, it was only the Class 1 Seats who cared to talk to each other about interesting phenomena. In this case, the Celestialsapiens, Abstracts, Xeelee, and Horrorterrors. The Beyonders and the Great Will never wanted to show up to these 'curiosity meetings' and nobody wanted Them to be there. The High-Class 2's simply weren't invited. The female Celestialsapien raised a hand. "MOTION CARRIED: ANALYSIS OF THE MERODI UNIVERSALIS KA SIGNATURE HAS BEEN RUN THROUGH EVERY CONCEIVABLE TEST. CONCLUSION: PROTAGONIST." >: Not all that surprising. "It is certainly a mixed blessing that our theories appear to be correct from every conceivable angle," the Horrorterror Ni'rath'a said. The Abstract Eternity spoke last. "The Flowers have not weighed in." >: The Flowers were not invited. Perhaps if they bothered to advance, they would have. As it is they do not understand true scope, happy as multiversal janitors. "WE NEED TO ESTABLISH WHAT THIS MEANS." >: Let's lay it out simply. If it is a Protagonist civilization, we do nothing. Shouldn't even bother messing with it, that's just going to add to trouble. But if it is the Protagonist civilization, then we need to do something. "Do we know if they are or are not the Protagonist Civilization?" "Evidence suggests most likely. We cannot be certain - if we were certain I would believe it was a glitch in our readings." "OTHER EVIDENCE SUGGESTS TRUE PROTAGONIST AS WELL. PSYCHICS ACROSS THE MULTIVERSE ARE TALKING OF THE 'END OF CERTAINTY'. AWARE BEINGS SEE A MOMENT IN THE FUTURE THEY CANNOT DISCERN." "And there are also beings that are not affected. They see life continuing as normal." >: But they are not able to pinpoint any disaster, or what is causing the perceived 'end of certainty' in all the others. Which means, at the very least, there is an event coming that no one can foresee, and it's big enough that psychics and Aware beings are losing their minds over it. Something is coming. If not a story worthy of the Protagonist, then something along the lines of the Dark Tower books, or the Downstreamer era. "The Last Downstreamer has awoken recently." >: Precisely. The pieces are all there for the beginning, middles, and ends of the multiverse to meet. We have a fresh protagonist, an ancient curse from the middle, and a boy with the power to retcon back to the start of everything. It has all the signs of a culmination of everything. "BUT THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF THE RED HERRING." >: True. "The last passage in the Tower's Testament does outline two different thoughts." >: Analyzing the Tower's Testament is a doomed endeavor. "AGREED." "So, assuming they are the Protagonist Civilization, what do we do?" >: Whenever conflict arises, side with them. Seriously, never put yourself on the enemy side. Even if the Protagonist is beaten, they will still achieve a pyrrhic victory of some sort. We want to be on that side when it all goes down. "Which suggests a question. If we will be on the side of the Merodi, who will be the enemy?" "THE OTHER CLASS 1'S, PERHAPS?" "Them will not risk themselves without need, and it is unlikely the Great Will has any desire to create a large scale conflict... Unless It wishes to become God." >: My money is on the Downstreamer. Working together with the Beyonders perhaps, but definitely the Downstreamer. "OR SOME THREAT FROM WITHIN HORRORTERROR SPACE AGAIN, RELATED TO THE LAST ONE." "..." >: You do have a history. "We will need to prepare for the unexpected. Perhaps one of the lower Seats has something up its sleeve, or the retcon will drag a threat from the distant meta-past. Whatever it is, we will need to prepare." "WHAT IF IT INVOLVES THE DARK TOWER IMMENSELY?" >: Oh joy, that'd be wonderful. "As I said, prepare for anything. Including a possible attempt on the Tower." There was nothing further to discuss. ~~~ Curaçao and her team returned from their mission, arriving in the main hall of Renee's castle. "Velvet you were, like, awesome!" Insipid said, bouncing up and down. Velvet rolled her eyes, adjusting her glasses. "What? It's not like I haven't devoured an eldritch being before." "But but... You made it scared!" Velvet chuckled ominously. "That felt great..." "I helped," Alushy insisted. "You were distraction bait." "Still helping!" "It didn't care about 'Yo Mama' jokes," the fifth member Nae the Ga, said. "Yo mama so tall, she-" Nae smacked Alushy in the face with her gun. "Something, something, ran into a bar." "Quiet down," Lady Rarity hissed. Renee passed the six of them by. "Oh, you're back! Ahem. You need to come to my office." "Don't we get a break?" Insipid whined. Curaçao put a hoof to Insipid's mouth. "What is zis about?" Renee smiled warmly. "I've got a possible longer-term mission for you. Don't worry, you won't have to go immediately, but we should discuss it sooner rather than later." Lady Rarity nodded. "Of course, Renee." She teleported her team and Renee to Renee's office where Daniel and some kid with a yellow rodent on his shoulder were waiting. "This kid's not going to be able to handle us," Velvet said. "I could eat him up in an instant." Renee coughed. "We'll talk about that momentarily. Team, this is-" "Holy hell in a handbasket, it's Ash Ketchum," Alushy said. Renee facehooved. "Alushy..." Ash looked at Renee. "Uh, how does he know who I am?" "She," Alushy corrected. Ash blinked. "Uh..." Nae cleared her throat. "Let's just say there are other versions of Ash Ketchum and leave it at that." Ash forgot completely about Alushy and stared at Nae. "...You really can talk." Nae smiled warmly. "Yeah. Lots of us can, if we're only allowed to learn. Though I'm from a world where there are only Ga - not gardevoirs and not sirknights. Though functionally we're the same. My name is Nae." "And now for the rest of the introductions," Renee said. "You already know Nae. The team leader is Curaçao, Element of Trickery." Curaçao bowed respectfully. "Then there's Lady Rarity, the spider version of me in the armor there." Lady Rarity bowed. "Charmed." "That's Alushy. She's a vampire-pegasus with a deep, dark power in her. And quite the mouth." "Fuck you too." Alushy sneered. Ash looked at her like she was speaking an alien language. "Next to her is Insipid, a mare with the ability to copy the powers of others, and Velvet, a blood-warrior who can feed on fear." "We, like, are totally Curaçao's sisters!" Insipid said. "Zis much is true," Curaçao chuckled. "We 'ave fought gods, explored 'ells, and turned the tide of war." "Yeesh... You've all been through a lot," Ash said. "Which is why they'd be the best to help you in your quest," Renee said. "We've found a world that needs some changing. A world where sapient beings are enslaved by human machines and forced to engage in brutal battles. Many people think these battles are just popular sport, but in truth the machines have a bit of 'mind control' to them, meaning the creatures generally do not have a choice. The 'gardevoirs' are all enslaved, as are every being you've seen from Pokerin Anima. It didn't take much for Ash to realize this and see that things needed to change. He wanted to go back to his world and help it." Renee put her front hooves together. "I could have contacted Aid and Cultural to ask for a full military force to make change happen, but as much as I hate to admit it, it isn't a grimdark universe, even though it needs help. So, instead, I just got approval to send a small team through to help change it from the inside. Ash Ketchum here was going to try to change it anyway, and I think you five are particularly suited to doing what needs to be done." "We're probably going to kill people," Velvet pointed out. "Wait what!?" Ash blurted. "Humans hate change like they hate sharing," Velvet commented. "We'll be lucky if this doesn't devolve into war." Ash paled. "Surely you realized that was probably going to happen?" Lady Rarity asked. "That is, unless you were locked up for being crazy and never allowed to tell anyone." Ash blinked, seeing the truth in what she was saying. "Are you still sure you're willing to fight like that?" Nae asked. "It won't be a sport. It will be a real fight." Ash took one moment to look at Pikachu. His face became set. "I'll do what needs to be done." "Spoken like a true 'ero," Curaçao said with an understanding smirk. "So you'll take the mission?" Renee asked. "Assist in the overthrowing of an entire world order?" Alushy asked. "Fuck yes!" "It sounds, like, kinda fun," Insipid added. Velvet shrugged. "I could go either way." Nae looked at herself. "...For my brothers and sisters, I will." Lady Rarity smiled. "I have no issues." Curaçao nodded. "We'll take it, Renee." Renee grinned. "Glad to hear it. I'll leave you to be acquainted. You have a week to prepare and recuperate." "Viva la revolution!" Alushy shouted. "It will happen!" Ash looked at her, unsure. "You'll get used to her," Nae said, walking up to Ash. "Now, besides Pikachu... Who do you have with you?" "I have a lot... But right now it's Greninja, Noivern, Talonflame, Hawlucha..." "Greninja..." Nae closed her eyes. "A gekkouga. That's one of the Pokerin intelligent races. I might be able to teach him to talk, like me." Ash gawked. "...Really?" "Really. They have the potential to be just like us." Ash nodded. "I wonder how many others can." "Unfortunately not Pikachu," Nae said, scratching the electric rodent behind the ears. "He really is just a large rodent. "Pi-KA!" "Not that you ever should be mind-controlled to fight against your will." "It wouldn't constitute a 'crime against personhood'," Velvet pointed out. "We can figure out the legalese later," Lady Rarity said. "Clearly, the practices on Ash's world need to end. And we have the power to bring it about. Ash, you should come train with us - and perhaps get a weapon of your own." Ash shook his head. "I fight through my Pokemon." "But what if you're separated? Or if-" "I can bond with Greninja until we basically become one," Ash said. "You still need a gun," Alushy muttered. "Or a sword or something." "We'll discuss it in training," Lady Rarity said. "Come, Ash. Get to know us. Be sure to bring your Greninja." They left the office, leaving Renee and Daniel. "I do things like that every week," Renee mused. "Several hundred teams under my command, I probably do it a bit too liberally..." "You did give him one of our strongest teams." "It was to get on Arceus' good side. I did yell at him for a bit. Probably wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done." Daniel smirked. "No. It wasn't." "Regardless, I've got to take care of the Sparkle Influx... I'm going to have to shuffle a few teams around to make sure everything's all even." She brought up a display of all the teams. "...I do hope they don't blow up the planet." "You never know." ~~~ Valentine and Froppy stood on opposite sides of a holographic screen that showed a news report on the Sparkle Census joining Merodi Universalis. "Ribbit," Froppy said. Valentine let out a deep sigh. "Really?" "I didn't mean anything by it!" Valentine looked like he wanted to argue, but thought better of it. "...What did you think I was implying?" "I'm on a hairpin trigger," Valentine muttered. "They've become stronger than us," Froppy translated aloud for her benefit. "Yes... And while I don't exactly feel threatened I do feel like we're inadequate. They're a century younger than us! Why don't we progress like that!?" "I think you need to calm down." Valentine nodded, adjusting his pink suit. "You are correct. This is unbefitting." Froppy nodded. "Ribbit." "I still can't imagine why..." "I think you can answer your own question." "They've got stronger ka?" Froppy raised an eyebrow. "...We're too divided." Froppy nodded slowly. Valentine pulled up a map of the USM - almost completely limited to the E-Sphere, with a couple of holdings elsewhere. Amusingly, it was often compared to the standard 50-state design of the United States of America, with Alaska being the Q-Sphere and Hawaii approximating the Strands. They had a lot more than 48 'continental' universes, but that didn't change the comparison. It was a patchwork light of red and blue with the occasional yellow blip that represented 'other'. The constant political war between Democrat and Republican. It never ended. With the heavy American roots in 'Murica', it was no surprise that everything tended toward this political scene. They had started as the division between blue and red, and nobody was willing to change it. All worlds added had to, if they wanted any say in multiversal politics, adapt to the system. There were very few 'yellows'. The first Discworld was the only yellow that mattered, and they never elected any Presidents, or made any pretense of adopting the party system. The war between the two sides was constant. It wasn't a physical war, but a political one. They froze each other at every turn, forced their ideals at the expense of progress, and... Well, essentially, they made the USM stagnate. They argued about everything and never made any big decisions. "I created this..." Valentine muttered. "Your America hadn't quite achieved the split, as I remember," Froppy said - reciting things she learned in history class. Valentine nodded. "But I saw it in the others. I always did. But I ignored it. Ignoring that the future versions of my country had..." He pounded his fist into the table. "This isn't America. Not anymore." "...So what are you going to do about it?" "Nothing can be done. A revolution to a more even democracy will be political suicide." He folded his arms. "We're stuck and there's nothing we can do about it." "Ribbit." "Nobody will accept entry to Merodi Universalis. Not even myself. I don't care about how effective they are - they aren't free." He shook his head. "It looks like we're just going to stay as we are." "Are you sure we won't fall apart?" "...Not if I have anything to say about it," Valentine said, curling his hands into fists. "This is the USM. We're not going to fall. No matter what." Froppy wasn't so sure about that.
Songs of the Spheres	113 - Murica's Time	Year 53 The Vaults. Any multiversal society worth their salt knew about the Vaults. At the boundary between the Strands and the Great Void, there was a chain of universes. One, the entrance, was connected to several other universes and had been known for as long as any Class 2 could remember. It had been conveniently part of a 'neutral territory' between different Strands powers, creating one of the lesser-known outposts: Mogadrel. And then Mogadrel discovered the first Vault Door. A gigantic, circular construct composed not of physical matter, but universal filament - so strong it could not be smashed with any weapon. The Class 1 weapons that might be able to break it open would likely destroy the universe, so nobody was going to try that. So the Vault Door became a tourist attraction - a strange hole in existence that could not be opened. That was, until someone cracked the code. There were several glyphs inscribed on the Vault Door that, as it turned out, represented numbers. It was a simple math problem. The solution was nineteen, and tapping the glyph that represented 'nineteen' nineteen times was the answer. It opened, revealing another universe - one only about the size of a small moon. It was filled with gold, jewels, and other precious riches. On the back wall was another Vault Door, this one with another puzzle. Now that they knew it was a puzzle, it only took three days for them to crack it - a relatively simple riddle about mathematical coordinates in space and the shapes they formed. The universe behind that one had even rarer materials and metals. Still things you could find on a standard Earth, but the tiny capsule that held a single atom of antihydrogen was an indicator of things to come. As they moved further and further, puzzles got harder and harder - but more and more people took notice. The treasures stopped being precious materials and instead became pieces of technology, some of which were rather advanced. As higher societies began to look into the Vaults, they discovered that every universe-room was connected only to the Dark Tower, the room before it, and the room after. Dimensional travel was freely allowed through open Vault Doors, but closed ones blocked both physical and dimensional travel no matter how hard anyone tried to bypass it. Puzzles began to get more complex as time went on. The only pattern was that they got harder and harder. Some were complex quantum mechanics problems that demanded a deep understanding of standard physics. Others were block puzzles that involved moving objects around the universe in a particular fashion. Still others were about emotional understanding and poetic riddles, or even logic puzzles. A couple had been trials of combat, but those were by far in the minority. In the modern day, virtually every puzzle was faceted - several riddles would reveal clues that the solution might be a logic puzzle, but as it turned out the partially solved logic problem needed to be run through a multiversal physics analyzer to get a coordinate in the Sea of Infinite Possibility. Create that universe and then analyze the connections between it, the Dark Tower, and the Vault to find the answer required to open the door. But the rewards were always greater and greater. Devices that could create and destroy universes. Tremendous stores of knowledge about how the multiverse worked and what sorts of worlds existed in the deep meta-past. Materials that made no physical sense in any universe yet maintained their properties no matter where you took them. Whenever a door was opened, it was a free-for-all to see who could grab what the fastest. Lethal force was not allowed by treaty within the Vaults, but anything ELSE was. Luckily time travel was not present in any Vault universe, and all agreed that altering the Vault universe would just cause it to collapse, dropping all the deeper Vaults into the Sea, never to be recovered... The same thing would happen if any Class 1 used their dimensional technology to force the doors open. It was tempting to try though. After all, many people believed that in the back of the Vault was a Wishing World that held an infinite number of wishes, unlike all the others that had been found, which were just one-and-done things. There was no evidence for this, and nobody knew how deep the Vaults might be, but surely such a thing would be the final treasure, right? The last time a Vault Door had been opened was over a decade ago. The current puzzle had confounded everyone in a major way. Door #827... It hadn't taken as long as the longest door (#789, a total of twenty-four years) but it was getting up there. The main issue with #827 was that nobody had any idea what the first step was. The Vault Door was oddly blank, and the only structures that weren't loot were six large statues of different birds, each one in a different pose. That was it. The room had once been filled with shiny, powerful technology. It had all been cleaned out years ago, leaving only the statues and the Vault Door. Many civilizations had grown bored with attempting to open up the latest Door, leaving only a small contingent to see if someone else managed to open it. There wasn't a crowd of people, just a handful of fanatics who couldn't leave the mystery alone or bored people keeping tabs. Vriska was not either of those people. Vriska had just thought of a way to completely blow them all away. It was horribly illegal and went against the general 'neutral territory' understanding of the Vaults, but they didn't have to know it was her doing it. She'd bothered to make a disguise - contacts that gave her blank eyes and a reality anchor that all Skaian's had to wear. She walked across the empty, dark gray ground past all the various camps, heading right for the tremendous circular structure that was Vault Door #827. It was still about a mile away, but it was huge. She closed her fingers around her infinite-sided die. All she had to do was use all the luck she had been accumulating to throw something that would either bash the door down or just solve the puzzle... But then a hook made of blood grabbed her by her orange hood and dragged her into a tent - the Merodi Universalis tent. "Question. How stupid are you?" Velvet asked Vriska, pinning her to the ground with her blood. "Because throwing an infinite-sided die - hell, even having an infinite-sided die - in a neutral universe is going to get you killed!" "Psh, wouldn't be heroic or just." "There are workarounds!" Lady Rarity used her magic to pull out Vriska's contacts. "It's actually Vriska. You were right, Velvet." Vriska folded her arms and huffed. "I have so much luck right now, I was going to open the Vault door and nobody was even going to know it was me. I'd get away with everything!" "Um..." Insipid rubbed her head. "If you're like, so lucky right now, how did Velvet grab you?" "Simple," Nae said, cleaning her gun. "Her luck foresaw that if she was allowed to roll that die, there would be no 'fortunate' outcome. So it stopped her." Vriska stared at her. "...Maybe you're right. ...Wait, who are you again?" "Nae. Ga. Psychic. Liberator of Pokemon." "Oh, was that what that big deal on the news was about?" Curaçao nodded. "Yes, zat was us. Well, us and Alushy, but Alushy never sits still." Vriska pulled herself up and dusted herself off. "You guys sounded like you had fun." "People died," Lady Rarity spat. "A lot of people that we got to know well. Including one of our number." Vriska's smile vanished. "Look, sorry, I didn't know..." "You saw the news reports," Velvet muttered. "Didn't really pay attention." Curaçao sighed. "Look, it's fine, and we did have a lot of fun there - but it was a brutal campaign. We're 'ere because we needed something simple and mindless to do that wasn't pure vacation time." "I get you," Vriska said, nodding. "Need some time to yourselves." "And you're here about to fuck everything up," Velvet muttered, prodding Vriska with a bloody tendril. "So don't." "All right, fine, I won't," Vriska muttered. "Yeesh, try to do something fun..." A humanoid frog with red on his face and a yellow rodent on his shoulder poked his head in. "We've got something interesting going on outside." "How interesting, Ash?" Lady Rarity asked. The Greninja that had taken the name 'Ash' said nothing, simply gesturing for them to follow him. They all came outside - including Vriska - to see what the deal was. They scrambled through a crowd up to a large dish-like machine run by the Merodi - used for scanning purposes. "Pidge...?" Vriska said, blinking. Technician Pidge popped her head out from the dish's console. "Oh. Hey. Uh, why are you at scanning dish number seven-billion-and-boring?" Ash pointed. Pidge followed his finger. "...Huh. Didn't notice that..." ~~~ The Vaults didn't notice the small crew when they first arrived. A portal appearing near the back of Vault Universe #827 was nothing to be interested in - though these days it was usually someone leaving rather than someone arriving. There were a few who bothered to check who the newcomers were. There were three. Ambassador Funny Valentine, perhaps the most influential member of the USM when internal affairs weren't considered. The face of a Class 3 civilization. Nothing special. A few even laughed - what could a Class 3 even hope to do here? The puzzles had gone far beyond them at this point. The second person was easy enough to find as well. Tornado, a high ranking member of the USM task forces with impressive telekinesis. Nothing all that interesting. The third individual would take some digging to find. Most didn't bother - who cared who a Class 3 tag-along was? He was some sort of 'caped baldy' dressed like an annoyingly generic superhero. His face was simple and his expression completely flat. Those who did bother to find out who he was found 'Saitama,' a hero from the same world as Tornado. Reports said he was 'strong'. Nothing else was available. They walked for a while. Occasionally someone rude would jeer at them, but for the most part they were ignored. And then they walked by the Flower encampment and all sorts of alarms went off. An Ice-blue Tulip floated out of the collation of PPC agents, using her mastery over ka to scan the three of them. Funny Valentine: Idealistic Antagonist: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Steel Ball Run. Tornado: Anti-Hero / Huge Bitch: One Punch Man. Saitama: Protagonist Hero / Force of Narrative: One Punch Man. It took the Ice-blue Tulip all of seven seconds to realize what Saitama was. There was no Mary-Sueness around him. There was just an aura of pure victory. One Punch Man!? She shouted mentally, drawing everyone's attention. How did he... Suddenly, everyone cared a lot more about the little Class 3 walking by. While Saitama's personnel file was blank, it wasn't that hard to find an Internet that mentioned One Punch Man. Murmurs began to spread. Pieces of information began to be passed around. Curaçao took her team out to see this - handing them one of the data pads that she had been given. It had an image of Saitama on the cover of a manga entitled One Punch Man. The whole gimmick was that Saitama had the superpower to defeat anything in one punch. "...He's going to punch the fucking Door," Vriska said, blinking. "...This'll be interesting." "There's no way," Pidge said, rapidly clicking buttons on her dish's consoles. "Like, you aren't Starbeat," Insipid commented. More information went around. There had been other versions of One Punch Man found before. Often, those worlds were destroyed from outside so not to let such an absurd force out. A few cases told of versions being used in armies and laying waste to all opposition, only to decide they didn't care anymore or that they had been on the wrong side the entire time. None of them had gotten to the Vaults before, as far as anyone knew. The idea of One Punch Man was one the multiverse feared. It was one of the few powerful ka manifestations the Flowers wouldn't deal with. For he was a parody, and a parody was sanctioned. But when he was outside his universe... Well at that point the information devolved into contradictions and arguments about what Saitama actually meant. There was no way he could just brute force his way through a Vault Door - he was just part of a Class 3, and didn't have anywhere near the scanned power level of an eldritch abomination. But they still walked - walked right up to the Vault with a small crowd of people forming. The Xeelee ships floating above watched him with curiosity, while the Celestialsapiens hadn't decided if they wanted to watch or not yet. Valentine and Tornado stood back as Saitama walked up to the Vault Door. Valentine looked at the back of his head. "Take as long as you nee-" Saitama pulled back a fist and rammed it into the Vault Door. There was a tremendous clang that had enough force behind it that the shockwave pushed Valentine and Tornado over, as well as most of the crowd. The Vault Door didn't even have a dent in it. The first one to laugh was one of Them. "Did you really think your power would mean anything outside your world? You're just a rule there! Everything supersedes out here!" As the crowd stood up, much of it began to laugh as well. Saitama ignored them. "Serious punch," he said. He pulled his fist back harder. Unlike the first time he had punched, his face showed some actual strain. He pushed forward. The shockwave was so large any tangible being went flying backward - kept from being crushed only by a courtesy Xeelee safety net since Tornado's telekinesis failed to block the rush. The Vault Door rumbled, a dent having formed in its bottom. It seemed, at first, that 'One' Punch Man would have to punch multiple times. Then the entire Vault Door unceremoniously fell backward, revealing a new universe of the Vault filled with crystalline technology. Saitama turned around, holding up his fist. His expression was very apathetic. Everyone who hadn't passed out from the outrageous display of force was staring at him with their jaws open. Valentine stood up and dusted himself off. "Saitama, there is another door." "Eh, sure," Saitama said. "Looks like there's cool stuff behind these doors anyway." He took off at a run and was at the next Vault Door in an instant, pulling back a fist. Valentine snapped his fingers - and all the USM operatives that had been in the universe, preparing for this moment, surged forward and started looting the new universe. The new gold rush had begun. ~~~ The USS Love Train was one of the USM's more advanced ships, often chartered by Valentine himself should he have need for one, and when that wasn't the case it was almost always captained by Navy 'Lucy' Heartfilia, from one of the USM's newer members. Against Navy's wishes, at the moment the Love Train was in the command of one Gyro Zeppeli, on a return trip from the Pokemon world Curaçao's team had spent years on organizing great societal change. The USM had gotten involved in that world as well, and due to some confusion involving the nations of the world, the world was now aware of both the USM and Merodi. Which had been an interesting mess, to say the least. I CANNOT SAY I WAS EXPECTING THAT, Death admitted, the comment directed to Gyro. I WAS EXPECTING FEAR OF ME. NOT ANGER AGAINST THE MERODI. "Huh. I got something different where I went," Froppy said. "They loved all interdimensional travelers so much it was a little freaky." YOU WERE IN A POKÉMON-CONTROLLED AREA. THAT IS TO BE EXPECTED. Johnny Joestar grunted. "Great, you all did stuff. Remind me why I'm here again?" "Company," Gyro said with a smirk. Johnny let out a sigh. "I don't even have a horse..." "But you have that fancy-dandy wheelchair!" "Yes. I do. It'll let me come over there and knock some sense into that golden mouth of yours." Gyro chuckled. "Don't you fret none, we're going home. Nothing's going to stop us." "What about all those USM ships that have been vanishing? Hm?" "I won't even let that stop u-" The engines cut out and they appeared in a black, empty universe. Another ship had suffered the same fate. The Austraeoh's Prism Drive sparked and dropped off, forcing them to take a position next to the Love Train. Gyro and O'Neill called each other at the same time. "WHAT DID YOU DO!?" A unicorn - Clandestine - tapped O'Neill on the shoulder. "I think our engines were just too close and interfered with each other." Gyro glanced at the science station of the Love Train. Nobody was at it. With a sigh, Froppy bounced over and pressed some buttons. "Yep," she confirmed. "That does seem to be what happened. Engine's working fine now." Gyro blinked. "You're telling me we just passed too close to each other?" "Space is big," Clandestine said. "Really big. Chances of anything passing by that close are pretty minimal. Not to mention the chances of dimensional travelers taking the exact same pathway... Tiny." "Astronomical," Froppy said. "Oh, so we're probably in some kind of story then?" O'Neill asked. "Wonder what it's going to be this time." "Could just be us talking like a bunch of confused sheep," Johnny commented. OR A GREAT FIGHT FOR THE FATE OF EXISTENCE, Death suggested. O'Neill shrugged. "Eh. Maybe it is just talking. We're heading to that... Uh... Are we calling it Poke Revo? Or....?" "We have it as Terra-PM4," Froppy said. "Terra?" "Earthlike worlds that aren't Earths and don't have an official designation." O'Neill pondered this. "Hrm. You know, that sounds like a good one." WHAT WERE YOU PLANNING TO DO THERE? "More diplomacy!" O'Neill said. "Because we were invited to half the places there and told to stay the hell away from the other half!" "The cost of interference," Froppy said. O'Neill shrugged. "Eh, they don't have slave-trade fighting-rings anymore, so it's a success. They're also doing pretty well, considering." EMOTIONS ARE JUST PARTICULARLY HOT. "You could say that again." I WILL NOT. "Smart skeleton." Gyro let out a chuckle. "Nice talkin' to you, General. But we've got a home to get back to and it doesn't look like anything's going on here we need to deal with." O'Neill saluted. "Seems to be the case. Guess this was just another pointless meeting. Stay frosty my f-" The feed cut out. On the screen that displayed the Austraeoh, every single light on the beautiful ship faded to nothing. The brilliant white craft became dark. Gyro blinked. "...Nani?" ~~~ Saitama punched down the third Vault Door. "They aren't getting any harder, what are people talking about?" "You're showing the entire multiverse what we're made of," Valentine told him. "To them, everything really was harder. To you, it's all just another door to punch down." He turned around to those that were watching Saitama's progress rather than ransacking the last three universes for the loot. "Behold! The power of One Punch Man! Used not by the great Class 1s, not by the humans of the TSAB, not by the masters of time themselves, and not even by the Flowers! - It was a lowly Class 3 that 'can't stop arguing with itself' who found the solution to the Vaults!" He spread his arms wide, summoning D4C behind him. Everyone saw the might of the USM. "Give it a rest," a Them jeered. "You're just a small-time boy who found a little exploit. News flash, your little exploit is just a human with a weird power. This is all brute force." "And yet your kind couldn't punch through." "We didn't decide to mess with the forces of ka." Valentine raised an eyebrow. "Aren't your kind known for that sort of thing?" The Them laughed. "Foolish Ambassador! Only the Flowers will manipulate ka on this level! Or are you not aware of the idea of karma? Or balance? The more you exploit, the more a balance must be struck." "Can confirm," Vriska said, raising a hand. "Fought a war where ka was heavily considered. There was a huge deal made about the balancing in order to get the best possible outcome." Valentine glared at the detractors. There was a flash as they all appeared next to the new Vault Door. Saitama pulled back, punched it down, and strolled over to the next. "That pensive attitude keeps you back." They are correct, the Ice-blue Tulip said, floating to Valentine. We had access to such devices of ultimate victory and endless success. We could have always done what you are doing now. We chose not to because this level of brazen spitting in the face of what is meant to be is bound to have consequences. Valentine's glare didn't falter. "He has never suffered negative consequences before." He is a force of nature from a world where such things are accepted. This is the greater multiverse. Gods become men out here, those who are unstoppable always find something above them. And Saitama is not supposed to be here. You are asking for trouble, Ambassador Valentine. "He's bashed down seven doors and I've gathered many ships full of high-end treasure for my society. Nothing bad has happened. The Vaults are a series of puzzles, not a secret superweapon." "How stupid are you!?" Vriska blurted. "You're arguing ka physics with a Flower!? Maybe she's trying to save you some heartbreak, you know?" Valentine considered this. If I call Saitama off now, we won't have enough treasure to expand the USM. There will still be stagnation. We need more. "Perhaps they are trying to get me to stop because it makes them look weak." We've never been all that involved with the Vaults. We are just Flowers, here to watch and rarely interfere unless there is something unsanctioned. You, Valentine, are sanctioned. You can't escape the traditions. They were teleported to the next door just before Saitama punched it down. "Oh, this one's extra shiny on the other side." Valentine noticed Insipid light her horn. She appeared behind Saitama, hoof outstretched - but Tornado grabbed the duplicator unicorn and smashed her back into the crowd. "Aw, come on! That would have been the best power ever!" Insipid whined. "The power belongs to the USM," Valentine muttered, glaring at Insipid. "Do not attempt to take it again." "Ugh, this blows." "Go out and forage for some new treasure. There are several open rooms. I'm sure there's something of use to you there. But stay away from Saitama." Insipid grunted, crawling back to her team. "One punch versus one punch..." Pidge muttered, blinking. "Do they both kill each other? Can they hurt each other at all? Or does the universe explode?" "Questions we don't want ze answer to," Curaçao commented. "Why wouldn't you want that answer?" The conversation fell silent. Valentine turned his attention to the chaos - over the last ten minutes, news had gotten out that the Vaults were opening, allowing everyone to come in and seize the ancient treasures. What had once been USM-dominated treasure efforts were now filled with people of almost all societies - Xeelee, Beyonder, Them, Horrorterror, Gallifreyan, TSAB, Merodi, USM, Void, the Combine, and a handful of other lesser Class 2 and 3 civilizations. Valentine was mildly surprised the mythical White Nettle hadn't dropped by, possibly searching for the lost relics of her people. Valentine had no idea of what most of the machines did. He'd been told many could shape universes and alter reality - nothing on the scale of the Shaping Mechanism yet, but they were getting there. And if he could get one of those for the USM... Well, any ka-based punishment from using Saitama to do it would be worth it. They didn't have anywhere near enough yet, and with the Class 1s actually paying attention it was getting harder to capture the really good things hidden within the Vaults. But there was always more treasure. Every universe could take days to sort through. Soon there would just be too much to police. And since this was a neutral set of universes, nobody could claim anything until they took it out of the Vaults. There just had to be a lot for it to be worth the USM's trouble. They would rise up. They would. Valentine was certain of it. They were teleported to the next door. Saitama punched it down. On the other side was nothing but pitch black darkness. "Huh. That's new," Saitama said. He shrugged, taking a step forward. "Saita-" Valentine called out, his proud feeling turning to one of internal fear the moment he saw the darkness. It was too late; Saitama had already reached his hand in. A beast lashed out from the misty darkness. It couldn't cut Saitama - but it didn't need to. It went through his ear and into his brain. Saitama slowly turned around. His eyes were no longer apathetic - they were angry and solid black. He didn't speak. He simply pulled back his fist, aiming at Valentine. Valentine's pupils shrunk to pinpricks as he was smashed to oblivion. ~~~ "This is the Love Train to the Austraeoh, please come in," Gyro said. "O'Neill? What happened?" Froppy checked the console. "The power levels of the ship have fallen significantly. It's also not giving off any light - though heat signatures suggest its producing power other ways. Several systems are down - shields, communications, weapons. There's no sign of any attack or forced entry. There's dimensional surges, but that is likely just because their Prism Drive is not meant to be off." Froppy blinked, processing this. "Hold on, the way I understand their Prism Drive is that it's a law of nature that it's always active, and it gives the back end the rainbow color. It doesn't even make sense for it to be off unless physics was altered." PERHAPS IT IS NOT OFF, MERELY DARK, Death suggested. EVEN WITHOUT POWER THE AUSTRAEOH SHOULD STILL GIVE OFF LIGHT IN SOME AREAS. THERE IS SOMETHING NEFARIOUS GOING ON OVER THERE. Johnny turned to Gyro. "...What are we going to do?" Gyro grunted. "Politically speaking we should probably just leave them there and not risk valuable USM property." "But...?" Froppy said, encouraging him to go on. "But rules are for chumps." He grinned. "Froppy, Death, you're up. We'll teleport you over and see what you can find." "Not you!?" Johnny said, surprised. "Do I look like I can make my way around somewhere that's pitch black? Those two have senses. Ball Breaker and Tusk can't really help us see now, can they? Plus, you don't have a horse." Johnny nodded slowly. "...I wasn't asking for me." Gyro smirked. "Yes you were." Froppy bounced off her chair, standing next to Death. "Ribbit. Ready. I already have a mundane radio for communication." WHERE WILL WE BE APPEARING? "Safest spot is one of their cargo holds," Gyro said. "I trust you'll be able to bash through any bulkheads if you need to." Froppy nodded in assurance. A few moments later, the duo was teleported into the Austraeoh. It was pitch black. Froppy turned on her flashlight just to see if it would work. For a few seconds they were able to see the abandoned interior, but soon all the light was sucked away. That is, except for the two blue pinpricks of light in Death's skull. Those remained - but they couldn't really illuminate much beyond the edges of Death's eye sockets. Froppy closed her eyes and used her ears. One of the lesser-known aspects of Frog biology was that they had an interesting sense of sound. They were able to hear things with their lungs. It wasn't as good as, say, bat echolocation, but she knew where she was and where Death was. Death could just see in complete darkness. Because he was Death. He took point, Froppy hopping along behind. They reached the door of the cargo hold, not surprised to find it wasn't working. The manual open worked just fine though - all Death had to do was pop open a hatch in the wall and turn a crank a dozen times. They entered a hallway that was just as pitch-black as before. "I've got nothing," Froppy whispered. "You?" I SENSE LIVING SOULS ON THE SHIP, BUT NOTHING IN THIS HALL. Froppy nodded. "Which way?" MOST DIRECTIONS. A LARGE SQUAD IS MOVING TOWARD US VIA THE LEFT. "That way," Froppy said, gesturing with her arm. Death went where instructed, his bony feet scraping against the metallic floor. Froppy followed along easily despite the darkness, keeping a mental map of where they had been in her mind. THEY HAVE STOPPED MOVING "Wonder why..." Death opened the next door manually as well. He walked in... ...and they started shooting him. The plasma weapons were absolutely useless in the darkness, and the bullets hit him and did nothing. DO NOT BE ALARMED: I COME FROM THE USM. "...Death!?" O'Neill blurted, "Stand down!" O'NEILL, IT IS GOOD WE FOUND YOU. "So you guys actually came to rescue us?" "Ribbit," Froppy said, hopping into the room. "Yeah. Just the two of us though. Everyone else won't do well with the dark." "Don't I know it..." "Here, we can send your coordinates back to Gyro and get you teleported out of here." "I'm not going anywhere," O'Neill said. "Not until my entire crew is safe." "Don't push it," Clandestine said, revealing herself. "He really isn't going anywhere." I CAN DETECT THEIR "LIFE SIGNATURES". WE CAN BEGIN TO ROUND THEM UP. YOU ARE WELCOME TO HELP IF YOU CAN MAKE YOUR WAY THROUGH THE DARKNESS. BUT WE DO NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. "Gah. The Dark Side of the Moon," O'Neill muttered. Froppy looked at him - even though there was nothing for her to look at. "What?" "This thing came out of nowhere, appearing in the engine room. It was a creature made of black prisms - and it just ate the light. The entire ship went into darkness. Then it started killing people." "What did it look like?" Froppy demanded - voice wavering. "Uh... I didn't see it before the lights went out. I was told it had two big arms that didn't look like it belonged on its body. Too large to deal with. Why?" Froppy sighed. She turned on the radio to call Gyro. "Hey, we've got a problem." "What is it?" Gyro asked. "It's Necrozma." ~~~ Whenever Valentine went into an area of the multiverse where D4C wouldn't be able to access an alternate version of himself, he always brought along a couple of backups. They were clones rather than full alternate versions, but the principle was effectively the same. He rarely had to actually use them, but you never knew when someone would think they could assassinate him if D4C couldn't translate. So he was a little annoyed when D4C affixed itself to another Valentine sitting in the middle of the universe, looking right at the portal of darkness in the far distance. He wasn't wearing a pink suit - but rather a brown cloak, so he could remain more anonymous. He took off the hood, allowing his golden locks to spill over his shoulders, letting everyone know who he was. The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated indeed. He had been lucky Saitama had punched him and not his Stand. There was a nonzero chance his punches could hit the intangible, and if D4C was destroyed... Valentine couldn't come back from that. He pulled out a phone and called Tornado. "Report." "You should be able to see everything that matters from where you are." A Beyonder ship flew through the air, landed behind Valentine and exploded in a twisted mixture of rippling blue-purple energy. "I see..." Valentine watched the shapes of Horrorterrors, Beyonders, and Them fly over his head - leaving the Vaults the physical way, not willing to risk themselves by being anywhere near what was going on. Valentine briefly wondered why they were flying away rather than using dimensional portals but he quickly realized that any non-physical connections must have been blocked the moment the door to the darkness was opened. They had to fly out the normal way. The Gallifreyans and Flowers followed suit - leaving only the Xeelee and TSAB as the higher civilizations willing to stay and defend against the One Punch Man. Valentine began to walk toward the battle. As he did, thousands of fleeing people ran past him - anyone who didn't have a ship or couldn't procure transport on one was left to their own two legs. Flying and magical creatures passed by first, eventually followed by just humans. Eventually he passed the majority of the fleeing crowd so he could see the battle himself. It was hardly a battle at all. "ENIGMA MECHANISM!" a male TSAB mage shouted, unleashing a complex series of spells at Saitama. He shrugged them off without showing a scratch, driving his fist through the green magic matrix and smashing the mage - and his device - to bits. "FULL POWER..." another mage shouted, this one a woman with bright white hair standing on top of a Xeelee ship. Saitama saw her. Unlike his normal self, this version was tactical. He saw something trying to execute a plan - and he didn't waste a moment in stopping it. He punched through both the Xeelee ship and the mage before the spell activated. Valentine knew the Xeelee were trying to use their signature 'piano wire' devices to keep Saitama in place. They must have been doing nothing, because Saitama's movement didn't look hindered at all. Not even anti-life cannons were doing anything against his complete invulnerability. The Xeelee tried something different - luring Saitama to them, and then running away. Saitama let them go - attacking whatever entity was closest to the black void instead. Clearly, the TSAB and Xeelee noticed this, starting to fire into the black void, but they couldn't confirm if they were doing anything, and it was leaving them open to more of Saitama's attacks. As powerful as he was, it still took time for him to punch something apart. If they focused on the darkness, that time dropped considerably. By the time Valentine got close enough to talk with anyone, the Xeelee and TSAB forces were almost completely gone. Granted, they hadn't been full military forces, but that was still impressive. The most technologically advanced society and the largest human one were being beaten by a single man. Valentine walked up to Tornado - she was talking with the Merodi and a few weaker TSAB mages. "Hey." "I wondered if you had a backup," Vriska said, smirking. "So, Ambassador fucking idiot, have any suggestions?" Valentine folded his arms. "Tell me what you're thinking first, and what resources we have." Pidge cleared her throat. "The question is 'how do you defeat the unbeatable'. Clearly, mind control was the first option, but we've already lost that way out." Vriska nodded. "That mind is sealed off with tar. There's no way anyone's getting in there." "Direct power is not an option unless you can match Saitama's power," Tornado added. "We cannot get another 'One Punch Man' here with the dimensional lock. It'll take time we don't have to walk out of the vaults." "Fleeing isn't an option either," Lady Rarity said. "He's more than strong enough to pick us all off before we get out. Fleeing might actually make it take less time." "He'll pursue us?" Valentine asked. They watched as Saitama shifted locations in an instant, moving through the previous Vault door where the Xeelee were constructing a giant laser. He punched it into nothing and returned to protect the darkness in less than a second. Valentine's frown deepened. "Ah." "He's bloodlusted," Velvet said. "He'll attack everything he sees until the Vaults are devoid of life." "And I can't, like, go copy him because you didn't let me earlier!" Insipid whined. "Now he's too smart to touch!" "I've also got this," Vriska said, producing the infinite-sided die. "Totally illegal, I know, but I feel a little safer knowing I've got it. I have enough luck to make it do just about anything once. We're pretty sure it can't beat him, though." "Because 'beating' him in a standard fight just isn't possible," Velvet said. "If it's a test of strength, he wins. Universal manipulation could probably work, yes. If he looks like he's going to kill everyone, the Xeelee are prepared to just destroy the universe to take care of him - and lose whatever's in the deeper Vaults." "Last resort," Valentine said. "Clearly, force is not the answer to face him. Emotional manipulation?" "He's a bloodlusted servant of some mysterious darkness. What do you think?" "Then we have to outsmart." "He's pretty smart right now," Ash said. "Pi-KA!" Pikachu punctuated. Valentine furrowed his brow. He shuffled what they had - some Xeelee, some TSAB, Insipid, an infinite sided die, Tornado, a handful of other warriors... Slowly, a plan began to take shape in his mind. He snapped his fingers suddenly. "I have an idea." ~~~ 'Terra-PM4', a few relative months ago... They had tried the peaceful route - the route without war, the route without needless bloodshed. But that had all fallen apart when the world figured out who Nae really was, and the strange pony 'Pokemon' that were with her. Beings from another world. Beings that wanted to manipulate things to serve their own ends. Terra-PM4's version of Arceus had taken issue with this. He was nothing like the nigh-godlike counterpart that had sent Ash, Nae, and the others on this mission, but he was still a jealous deity-level being. He had triggered a worldwide war, and the USM got caught in the middle of it since they had been working on Terra-PM4 as well. However, the USM was not looking to change Terra-PM4's society, or anything involving the spread of democracy. They were here to research the amazing powers of the Pokemon. The capture technology allowed deity-level beings to be subject to humans in every way - and that included testing. There had been a few disasters, but nothing terrible. But the war, Merodi, and USM testing came to a head in the middle of the ocean on the Alolan islands. Over time, it had become apparent that those islands were the source of many naturally-forming multiversal portals, and every side involved in the war decided it was worth fighting over. Everyone discovered it at about the same time. Except the USM, who had been working there for years and even had a secret research base. Froppy had been there during the last hours of the war. As explosions raged above them, the scientists of the underground USM facility had lunch and placed bets on who would win. Froppy found their apathy somewhat appalling, but she wasn't here to judge them. She was here to check on one of their bigger projects. At the bottom of the facility, there was a teardrop-shaped enclosure made of one-way mirrors. They could see into it, but what was inside couldn't see out. Which was good, because if it could it would be devouring all the light around them. "What do we have here?" Froppy asked, hopping next to the technician operating the cage. He munched on a donut. "Necrozma. One of the interdimensional beasts. Say what you will about the rest of the stuff we do here, keeping this thing locked up is a gift to the world." "Why?" "It'd eat the light of the sun if we didn't." Froppy nodded. "And the research we do on it is payment for keeping it from eating everything?" "Exactly!" Froppy frowned. At least they were doing some good by keeping the monster locked up. It truly looked like a monster, too. It was made of solid black crystal with two stumpy legs that led to a large central body, where an angular 'head' protruded. Two thin rods stuck out from its top, connecting it to arms that were as long as it was tall, ending in three pointed fingers. Froppy swore it was staring right at her. "What are the chances it gets out? Because of the fighting." "Almost none." "Then it's going to get out. Where's the kill switch?" "Uh, you don't have the-" Froppy flashed him a badge Valentine had given her. "I am one of the Confidantes. I can do what I think needs to be done. Where's the kill switch?" The man nervously shifted his weight but pointed to a large red button underneath a plastic cover. She flipped up the cover and lifted her finger. The ceiling exploded in a crash of immense proportions. Froppy saw Ash, Pikachu, and his Greninja fall through, all riding Insipid - who was glowing with some godlike power she had procured that Froppy didn't care to identify. They had been knocked out of the sky by some human with absurd hair riding a dragon of some sort. Neither of them mattered. What mattered was that Ash, Pikachu, Insipid, and Greninja smashed into the container hitting Necrozma. Froppy pressed the button. But it was too late - all the lights went out. She couldn't see anything. But she could hear. She could hear the yells, the screams. She heard the technician get his brains blown out by Necrozma. She felt space rend around her. The calls of minor gods filled the space as a war erupted above them. The fighting continued despite Necrozma's darkness. "Ash!" "PI-KA!" "Like, no! Not happening!" Necrozma's call was deep and destructive. Froppy heard blood splatter all over. Some deep, draconic being roared as well. Everything shifted... She heard a portal open... And the lights came back on. Insipid was breathing heavily. "Got him out of here! Like, totally g-" She saw the dragon they had been fighting and its rider, both dead from Necrozma's claws. She also saw the technician, skewered by a stray crystal. She saw Ash torn in half and Greninja convulsing next to him. "PI-KA!" "Ash!" Insipid shouted, scrambling over. She took one look at him and decided she didn't have the skills or the power to bring him back - it wasn't in the power she had absorbed. Instead, she tended to Greninja. He had been in-tune with Ash when it happened... Couldn't be good on his psyche. But she was able to keep him from falling into madness with her power. He remained partially fused with Ash - some part of the man must have remained. And that was the point Froppy left the room. As she did, she noticed technicians opening dimensional portals and getting out of there. All operations had been terminated and the place was being abandoned. So her visit had been rather pointless. But it had let her see Necrozma. And that, in the end, was enough to get her to read its file later. A beast from another universe that devoured light itself. It continually hungered for the intangible substance. But before that day it was released, it had never just drained all the light from a small area at once. It had always sought large light sources... like all the light of a star. The USM must have done something to it... Froppy shook her head - she didn't tell everyone all of this, she didn't have the time. "We're facing Necrozma, an interdimensional being that was once held by the USM on Terra-PM4. It had the power to open portals and was on the world to devour all its light, if it could. We stopped it, but during the war it escaped to another realm." "So why is it here?" O'Neill asked. "I'd like to know that too," Gyro said from the radio. "It might be upset with the USM for trapping it," Froppy said. "A lot of USM ships have been going missing lately... My guess is it somehow followed the Love Train here, but boarded the Austraeoh by accident." WEAKNESSES? Death asked. "You wouldn't be able to guess from looking at it, but the testing revealed that it's sensitive to dark energies - and spiritual ones." THEN IT SEEMS AS IF I AM ITS KRYPTONITE. "Yeah. Think you can find it and take it out?" IF IT IS ONE OF THE LIFE SIGNATURES IN MY SENSES, YES. GIVE ME A MOMENT. "Good, take care of it so we can g-" Gyro's voice was cut off. The lights in the Austraeoh came back on. Froppy looked at the radio with a shocked expression. "It must have followed the signal..." ~~~ Brute force wouldn't do it. But they needed the thing controlling Saitama to think that was what the plan involved. One of the last remaining Xeelee constructs had flown ten universes away, to the point at which it was difficult for the human eye to make out the dark portal. The Xeelee had no difficulty though - they had their targeting systems ready. Their upload transmissions were ready as well. They knew the ship wouldn't be surviving this, but they would like to. Saitama wasn't paying any attention to them right now since the remaining warriors were facing off against him at the gate. But that was about to change. The Xeelee activated several useful little items they had picked up over the course of their journey - ancient weapons of varying kinds just left as loot to be picked up. Using their unparalleled technological prowess, they fused the weapons to the ship's hull. Nanobots sure were useful. All the weapons began to glow. The Xeelee created a gravitational lens in front of their ship. They would have preferred some kind of cosmic construct to really pack some punch, but they were a little low on resources at the moment. They had to make do with what they had available. All the weapons fired, the gravitational lens forcing all the attacks into a single point that shot forward - directly at the darkness on the other side of the portal. Saitama stopped it with his fist. Then he punched across all the universes at once, continually stopping the beam from going anywhere. The fist hit the Xeelee ship dead-on and destroyed it in one hit - precisely as expected. Valentine began his move. He ran from the group toward the darkness, reaching into his coat to pull something out. Saitama sensed this, so he flew back. But in the fraction of a second it had taken him to reach the Xeelee ship, a magic barrier had been erected between Saitama and Valentine - courtesy of the TSAB and Merodi Unicorns. He punched right through it like it was tissue paper. He felt it try to shock him and inflict statuses on him, to do anything to slow him down, but he wasn't going to let it. Valentine would have needed a full ten more seconds to have gotten close enough to the darkness to do anything. Saitama's fist hit him from behind, shattering his body into a million pieces. But this, too, was part of the plan. And Saitama's darkness knew it the moment it realized Valentine hadn't been holding a superweapon of some kind - just a simple gun. Saitama didn't have to whirl around to see Insipid charging at him, fist pulled back. "ONE PAWWWWWWNCH!" She called. Of course. When the barrier had been trying to inflict status effects on him, it had also been connecting to him. Transferring Insipid's nature to him - allowing her to become him, courtesy of TSAB bonding magic. She had gotten close enough to touch him without being in danger of the death punch. Tornado and the remaining TSAB mages started using telekinesis to pull everyone as far away from the two as possible, as quickly as possible. Saitama met Insipid's front hoof with his fist. Both of them put as much effort into the attack as they could. Everyone held their breath - this was the moment they saw if the universe blew up or not. It didn't. Anything that didn't have a shield of some sort or other was completely incinerated, including a large chunk of people that Tornado and the mages weren't able to evacuate, but they were essentially just Redshirts. The walls of the Vault shifted - but the structure of the universe held. One Punch Man and One Punch Mare entered a true standstill. Normally, Insipid would have to think about how to use her power, or use her cluelessness to come up with creative new solutions. There wasn't anything complicated about punch to win. He punched, she punched. He punched and she didn't block, but she was just able to take it. She punched, and he didn't block - he just took it. Neither of them could get out of the other's attacks. Which allowed the real attack on the shadow to happen. Vriska flew over the two of them, heading right for the darkness. She lifted the infinite-sided die, flooding as much luck as she could manage into it. It soon didn't look like a die anymore - it looked like a miniature sun. The darkness lashed out at her, physically manifesting the claw for the first time since Saitama had opened the Vault Door. Vriska threw the infinite sided die into the darkness. "Buh-bye now! You have the right to scream in terror." The darkness made no noise. The infinite sided die activated, creating a White Hole. "Well fu-" the intense light packed enough of a shockwave that Vriska went flying backward. But it was nothing compared to the stress the darkness in the other universe got. The cosmic power of pure light dissolved the darkness in a matter of seconds, like a superheated knife cutting through ice in all directions at once. There was a moment of black steam and then nothing. The White Hole vanished and the infinite-sided die returned to Vriska. "Whew..." she said. The Vault Door on the far side of the newly-revealed room opened. Good thing too, because the White Hole had melted away most the treasure in the previously-dark universe, coating the walls in a glassy substance. "We diiiid it!" Vriska shouted. Valentine, in another backup clone body, nodded. "Dojyaaan." Insipid punched Saitama across the face. Saitama rubbed his head. "Ow! Hey! Why'd you do that!?" "Oh, you're done being evil now?" Insipid asked. "Sweetness!" "...I was evil?" "Mind controlled, killed a lot of people," Vriska said, walking up to him with a slight limp. "But we stopped you and killed the darkness! Woo!" "You stopped me!?" "Tsk," Insipid said, fluffing her mane. "I stopped you. I had to take your powers to do it." "...Woah." "I know, right? Cha!" "...Wanna fight?" "...Like, uh, bro, I just spent the last minute punching you. It wasn't exactly the nicest experience. I don't think I'm going to bruise, but, yeesh, ow." "I mean later. It'll be nice to have a challenge." "How about we not give the Merodi access to our strongest weapon, hrm?" Tornado called. "Oh come on, I don't get to have any fun these days!" Saitama complained. Tornado sighed. "Oh for the... You know what, Valentine, you deal with him." Valentine adjusted his coat and said nothing. ~~~ "We need to teleport to the Love Train's bridge, now," Froppy said. O'Neill tapped his communicator - which was working fine. "Bridge of the Love Train, everyone in this room - stat!" There was no response. "Well that's just delightful, it probably got the transporter team." Clandestine walked up to a terminal. "The computer's been scrambled as well. We'll have to make our way to the actual transporter systems." "MOVE IT!" O'Neill shouted, running down a hallway, Clandestine, Froppy, Death, and the rest of his squad behind him. They ran through doors easily now that they would just slide open. It was less than a minute before they arrived at one of the main transporter terminals. Clandestine moved quickly - overriding the security systems with her hoofprint. She set the coordinates. "It's going to be dark over there, so be ready!" They jumped to the Love Train's bridge. It was pitch black, just like the Austraeoh had been moments before. Except this time Froppy heard Necrozma. "BALL BREAKER!" Gyro shouted, trying to punch the creature in complete darkness. It clearly wasn't working, since the next thing Froppy heard was a 'Gah!' sound from Gyro, followed by the sound of him hitting a wall. FACE ME, MONSTER, Death said. He could see just fine and met Necrozma with his scythe. After the fighting lasted for more than a second, Froppy sensed something was wrong. "...Death?" I DO NOT THINK IT IS ALIVE IN THE TRADITIONAL SENSE, Death reported, the sound of Necrozma's prisms making it difficult to focus on his words. THIS WILL SIMPLY TAKE LONGER. Froppy heard a scream in front of her - there was still collateral damage. She didn't know who had just gotten heavily injured, but the longer this lasted the more people would get hurt... Asking Death to suspend his namesake would only make him less effective against Necrozma. So Froppy needed to think of something fast. What did they have at their disposal? Some Merodi, and the bridge crew of the Love Train... What Stands were there? Crimson Sushi wasn't going to be helpful without light, Ball Breaker had already gotten his turn, Tusk... "Johnny!" Froppy shouted over the din of the battle. "Where are you?" "Bleeding out on the floor," Johnny muttered, barely two feet from her. She looked down to him out of habit. "Think you can still fight?" "Of course I can, I'm a Joestar, do you think a little bleeding out is going to stop me? I'm going to kill that thing..." "Good to hear. Clandestine! Over here!" Clandestine teleported right on top of Froppy. "Here." "Gah... I need you to get Johnny on your back." "...Where is he?" "Here," Johnny said, muttering. "This may take some doing..." Mounting a horse - even an intelligent one who was completely willing - was difficult in complete darkness. In the time it took Johnny to get on top of Clandestine, Froppy heard two more screams. "You're bleeding," Clandestine said. "Just a flesh wound," Johnny said. Froppy knew he was smirking. "Right, so, in order to get the Infinite Spin, I need to feel the Spin within your body. Which means you're going to have to start moving around." "How am I going to move around in the dark!?" "I don't know, find a wall! And... Shit, I'm going to have to shoot something I can't see..." Froppy knew exactly where Necrozma was in relation to her, and in relation to Johnny. "Okay, Clandestine, I'm going to need you to levitate yourself and run in midair." "I don't have enough magic power to do that!" "Right then..." Froppy took her position in front of Clandestine and put her hands on the unicorn's face. "Run into me. I'll hold my ground." Clandestine did as instructed - trying to push Froppy. The small woman kept her ground, using the strength in her frog legs to keep from sliding. Johnny felt the Spin move through Clandestine. He let out a laugh. "Got it!" "Good..." Froppy grunted. "Now... point right in front of you... and I'll adjust your aim..." Johnny pointed his finger forward, his front nail spinning with the power of Infinity. "Ready." Froppy wrapped her tongue around Johnny's arm and aimed it, focusing intently on the noise of Necrozma and Death. She couldn't tell who was in front right now... The clashing was too intense... But Necrozma was significantly taller than Death. So there was a safe bet. She slipped, struggling to hold her footing. She had to shoot now before she lost it completely. She directed Johnny's finger slightly upward. "NOW!" she blurted. It didn't matter if she pronounced the word well or not - Johnny got the message. He fired at the perfect instant. The nail hit Necrozma near the very top of its body, just above the angular protruding head. It let out a strange grating noise and fell backward, grabbing at its upper body in panic. It lost its focus on draining the light, revealing the state of the bridge. A few crewmembers were dead. O'Neill, Johnny, and Gyro were heavily injured, while Death was standing strong over the form of Necrozma - the monster heavily bruised and battered from its prolonged fight with Death. Its black prisms were shaking as it grabbed its top - the area where Johnny's nail had embedded itself and was using the Infinite Spin, twisting the body of Necrozma so much that it became like a black whirlwind. The parts of its prismatic body under the most Spin stress began to shatter. One of its arms just fell off, hitting the ground with an impressive thud. It struggled to put the arm back on, finding that its shoulder was now Spinning too much. It would be shattered soon. Its head began to twist back into its body just as its second arm fell off. It tried to reach toward Johnny, but it could no longer move properly. It struggled, twisting, shattering as too much stress was placed on other parts of its body. As its head shattered it let out a head-pounding SCREECH. Then it stopped moving. The rest of it Spun into oblivion without a fuss. It became nothing more than a collection of loose black crystals. "Destroy all of those," O'Neill muttered, falling onto his back. "Get the medics up here!" Froppy shouted over the intercoms. She ran to Gyro, checking his pulse. He was hurt badly with a gash across the chest, but he was going to be fine. She let out a sigh of relief. IT TURNS OUT I WASN'T SO USEFUL AFTER ALL. "We still got it," Froppy said. "...You did good. All of you did." ~~~ "Would you look at this," Froppy said, handing Valentine a data pad. The two of them were sitting in his personal lounge on Earth-ST1, his homeworld. USM flags were everywhere, and the couches were even red-white-and-blue-themed. Never before had Valentine found this so annoying. He turned his focus to what Froppy had handed him. "Hm..." "A world where a version of Arceus moved all his creations instead of just making an entirely new existence. The pony interactions have been rather interesting a-" "Let the Merodi have that one," Valentine said, placing it down. "I think we're done with the Arceus worlds." "...Necrozma?" "Yes. And... other things as well." Valentine gained a distant expression on his face. "You know, I didn't think we lost that many in the Vaults. It seemed like everyone who mattered survived. ...I didn't realize the toll it had on our people. I had a lot of us there, ready to loot the place. Most of them are dead by collateral damage." He clenched his fist. "I wanted to bring the USM to glory. I didn't listen." "You got the Merodi banned from the Vaults. That die was used very publicly." Valentine nodded slowly. "Not even a victory. The cost was too great." Froppy sighed. "Look, Ambassador? Maybe we just have to accept that we're going to be second fiddle. That we are weak. It does go against a lot of what I was raised to believe, but... maybe it's okay. We don't have to be the heroes." "We're the villains who want to fix their own problems," Valentine said. "Don't you see? If the Merodi are the heroes, we are the enemy - or at the very least the rivals. In their story, we are the ones who do the terrible things. Necrozma... Saitama... All our fault. All our fault..." "...You made the wish that took the Collector down." Valentine nodded. "And I imposed sanctions on their people, tried to manipulate their government, and any number of other things. We've always been at odds, Froppy. And we've lost." "...As I said earlier. Is that a bad thing?" "Yes," Valentine said, walking toward a window, looking outside at the endless city he lived in. "It's a bad thing. It's a horrendous thing. One we can't change. We are the United States of the Multiverse, and we are a Class 3 power growing in the shadow of greater events." He pressed a button on his personal data pad. "...Today was our spotlight, Froppy. We spent it cleaning up problems we made." Froppy nodded. "Maybe we should change, then." "Even if I wanted to.. Which... I might - I can't do anything internally. My power is purely external. The president and his Cabinet have all the power in that regard. Makes me wish I could run again." "I don't know what to tell you, Ambassador," Froppy admitted. "There's nothing to say," Valentine said. "We just have to live with the knowledge that we are not destined for greatness." Froppy was silent. "...I'm going to go find a place to take a vacation. One I haven't been to before. Would you like to come?" Froppy looked up at him, gauging his face. She smiled warmly. "Sure."
Songs of the Spheres	114 - Answers	Year 65 I cleared my throat. "Today we're going to get some answers. I've called the seven of us here because we represent the Aware aspect of this side of the Song." "Eight!" Deadpool said. "There's eight of us!" I pressed my hooves together and put on a pained smile. "Firstly, I didn't invite you. Secondly, if you decide you want to argue that I knew you were coming anyway, there are seven of you not counting myself. So you can shush." "Never." I chose to ignore him. "Anyway, the rest of you," Pinkie, Scooter, Velvet, Mattie, Monika, and Rohan, "well, you should already know what's coming." "I'm not Aware by any stretch of the imagination," Rohan said. "What makes you think I do?" "Because you're smart. You know as well as the rest of us what 'year' it is, relatively speaking." "Sixty-five," Rohan said. "And you lose sight somewhere in seventy." "Seventy-seven, to be precise," I said. "That's when the last chapter I can see at all comes - and it's one that's rather fuzzy to me. I know it's movie length, and that it will tell a story that's been in the making since the start of the multiverse. But I know there's more after it. A lot more. We end on 157, not 115." "So we're going on a trip!" Pinkie said, bouncing to her hooves. "For 'answers'." "Oh, so that's why you need me!" Monika pointed at herself. "You think I can find G. M. Blackjack." "You can find G. M. Blackjack," Scooter said, looking through the script. "This looks a little short..." "Gimme that!" Deadpool said, swiping it out of Scooter's hands. "Clearly, it just needs some more stuff in the middle here..." He scrawled 'MORE STUFF' in the middle with a red marker. "That was a terrible gag," Mattie commented. I rolled my eyes. "Yes, it was. But Monika, you are right, that's why we need you. We're going to find him." "You talked to him in the past," Pinkie said. "You can't do that again?" I shook my head. "No. It was in the shadow of the Dark Tower, and he initiated it. I may understand ka and the narrative on a fundamental level, which allows me to act as a Prophet, but I have little control over it. Monika is quite the opposite, able to twist it to her whims." Monika smirked. "And don't any of you forget it." "How could we?" Velvet commented. "You've altered our memories to always include it." "...Hey, that's a good idea..." Velvet groaned. "Can I remove her lungs? Please? She'll grow them back. Maybe." She grinned malevolently. "Please don't, we're supposed to be a team here," I said. "I know we won't stay very cohesive, but can we at least try?" "Why bother? We're fated not to," Mattie said, brushing her mane back. "I'd frankly like to get into a tussle." Velvet turned to Mattie with a slasher smile. "I will create a world where pain doesn't exist!" "Oh har har, playing on my fears are you?" "No, just reminding everyone that you're an inner psycho. Together we shall sail across the world and appall others with our tastes." "Count me in!" Deadpool said. "All aboard the crazy train!" "Woo woo!" Pinkie cheered. "I am the sanest person in this room," Scooter said. "...This is not surprising, but it is also horrifying." "Mmm, delicious," Velvet said. I rolled my eyes, amused at the antics of my sisters and brothers in Awareness. I teleported a book to me and laid it down. It was a black tome with a single eye on the cover that looked identical to the Eye of Rhyme I carried on my chest. "This is my story. The Influence." Rohan picked it up, examining it. "The interactive story?" "Yep. Most of the words in that thing are from excessively long comments that were shunted to my brain from the Eye back before I awakened its full potential. It was... a traumatic experience for me, to say the least. I went a little insane a few times at the way they disregarded me as a story, but over time they treated me with more respect, and I learned to appreciate their position. Also Hey Ponygood I know you're reading this! I'm still tormented by Butt the Cloud! I hope you're happy!" Everyone stared at me, blinking. "Ahem, sorry about that, old nightmares." I ruffled my feathers. "Basically, in the end we got a good ending, I talked to GM, and then I went on with Vriska to explore until the day in the Nexus." Rohan flipped through the book, appalled by how many grammar mistakes it had. "Egad..." I ignored him. "This book was written, mostly, by G. M. Blackjack himself. It's a direct connection to him, unlike every other universe we're in which just gets shunted to 'another' Prophet that made the world itself." Monika glanced at the book. "So I go into this world, and then follow the connection up to his world. Got it." "Unfortunately this story doesn't currently exist in the multiverse," I said. "It's completed since I'm here, so this book doesn't connect to anything." "So it's useless," Monika said. "Nope," I said, taking the book from Rohan and giving it to her. "You can follow old connections as well. Just dive into the book and dive back out at once." "I can't do that!" Scooter held up the script and raised an eyebrow. Monika blinked. "Uh, okay then. Guess I can. Let's see..." She levitated the book in her hand, focusing her power on it. "Here it comes... The moment you've all been waiting for..." Deadpool said, leaning in to the book that seemed to be glitching out of existence. "The hot girl does a thing!" Monika twitched. She slapped him. "And go," Pinkie said. Monika's emotions flooded into her powers and they activated. She found the thread leading from the book into nothing, but back out to a Prophet. She pulled. All eight of us vanished along the thread. Monika appeared alone. "Huh..." she said, scratching the back of her head. "Weird." She was standing on the capitol building of... Idaho, a quick search of her knowledge told her. She took a moment to sense the universe, to find out what kind of Earth this was... ...Mundane. Truly mundane. There wasn't going to be an easy way to make a portal out of this universe. Luckily she was Monika and rules meant nothing to her. She could just edit physics to allow portals when she felt like it. But she didn't feel like it now - this was the world she came to see, so see it she would. She spread her senses a bit. I had arrived somewhere alone, while all the others had been split up in pairs around the Treasure Valley area. There were going to be some problems for those who were used to magic - Mattie was going to feel like her horn was burning for a few seconds. Velvet depended a lot on her magic as well... and Rohan wouldn't have his ever-so-useful Stand at his beck and call. That'd be fun. The Pinkies and Deadpool would be just fine, given how they depended on the abilities key to their Awareness rather than magic. Though Pinkie's lack of eyes... Regardless, it would be fun to watch, no matter what. Just a shame the others had to go through it. Maybe she should save them. ...Nah. She was pretty sure there hadn't been a chapter about characters making do on a normal Earth yet. Might as well get around to it right before the end. There'd be a lot of fun antics, of course. Oh, who was she kidding, this was Idaho. They were going to have to look hard for it to get really interesting. She'd meet them where they needed to go. She vanished off the roof of the Capitol Building in a puff of glitches. ~~~ Pinkie and Mattie appeared together, in a tree. "Guuuuh..." Pinkie muttered, rubbing her ears. "We're in a tree. Fun." "Ah, and my horn! Ooooooooh yesssss..." a rather complex mixture of bliss and pain covered her expression. "Hey, look at these scratches!" "...Really?" "Oh, uh, sorry mate." "Mhm. So, I'm blind, and without any magic my hoof sensors are useless. Please tell me if I've suffered a jugular vein injury." "You haven't, don't worry about it. You seem completely unharmed, actually." "I am made of rubber! ...Anyway, I'm not Aware of anything but this tree right now, so, uh... Be my eyes." "Mhm. We appear to be in a park on an Earth. Mundane or near mundane-" "Mundane, Monika already stated it above." "Right, right. Sure saves a lot of time when we can just do that, huh?" Pinkie chuckled. "Yep. Anyway, park. Humans." "Humans. Humans everywhere." "There's only about six of them in sight." "I thought you were blind!" "It was a joke setup. As was that. And possibly this, but when you go that deep the whirlpool of meta just oversaturates itself into a towel whip." "Gee, you make it sound like a science." "SCIENCE!" "Do you want them to notice us?" "Eh, not really. Not like they're actually dangerous - with my Pinkie Powers (trademark™) and your Editing (©copyright), we could rule this mundane world!" "Do you know how many slaves I could get!?" "None of them would be stallions." "...I could adapt..." Pinkie chuckled. "Yeah. You would." And then there was a loud CAW CAW as a giant crow flew into the tree. "BIRD!" Pinkie and Mattie shouted, jumping up. They would have been fine if their hooves still had traction to them, but instead they just fell out of the tree and onto the grass. A kid with a giant water gun in their hands stared at them. "Don't scream 'pony' and hug us," Mattie pleaded. She got her wish. "PONY!" the girl screamed in terror, shooting them with her water gun and running away. Pinkie snickered. "Hehe- Hey!" An older boy had what looked to be a toy machine gun strapped to him that was firing little gel balls. "Let's high-tail it out of here!" "This way!" Mattie called - and then a Frisbee hit her in the head. "What the hell!?" "You said a bad word!" A troop of kids called from on top of a playground jungle gym. They fired their water and dart guns as well. "We're being attacked from all sides!" Pinkie yelled, pulling her own giant water gun out of her mane. "But we shall fight together!" A rotund teenage boy way too tall for the average human around this part of the world poked his head out from the corner of the park's bathroom, hitting them with a constant stream of water from a bright yellow water gun. From the other side, a teenage girl in glasses shot at them with a whistling dart gun. "We interrupted a war," Pinkie muttered. "Not the first time, is it?" "Nope. Though I have to admit, it's never been a playground war before." "Flee?" "Flee." Mattie took off at a gallop, Pinkie behind her. They ran into the road - though Pinkie stumbled over the edge, she landed just fine. They passed by a cop car. The fattest cop either of them had ever seen was standing there. The only thing that would have made the image more complete would be if he was holding a donut. He reached into his car and called for backup. Then he drew his gun. "Stop right there!" "You think he's going to shoot?" Mattie asked. "Nah, but his buddies will when they show up." "We can take them. A simple edit and their cars will crash into each o-" Pinkie appeared in front of Mattie. "We can't do that. This is a mundane world. If cars crash into each other like that people die. There's no magic, there's no healing, and there's no epic battles. Just people. So let's move." They did. ~~~ Deadpool and Scooter appeared inside bumper cars while the ride was already active. "CHIMICHANGA!!!!" Deadpool shouted, pulling the levers on the bumper car forward and ramming into the other bumper car riders. "RED CAR BEST CAR!" "I like my purple better," Scooter said, smirking. She pulled her two levers in different directions and started spinning. "There is no end to the whirlwind of powaaaaar!" "I gotcha!" They bounced around for a few minutes, having a good long laugh. But eventually, the timer on the ride ran out, and they were told to get out of their cars. Scooter, very carefully made sure she got out on her hind legs. She wobbled a bit, but leaned onto Deadpool to keep up the illusion of being bipedal. The other riders filed out, running to the rest of the indoor 'theme park' of sorts, though it was hardly large enough to be called a 'park'. Deadpool and Scooter left last. The attendant watching the ride looked the two of them up and down. "Uh..." "We gave you a ticket," Deadpool said. "And if you say we didn't, you're going to have to explain how two people in such amazing costumes as us got in without you noticing." This prompted her to put on the fakest smile of all time. "Have a nice day!" She spent a good long while staring at Scooter - but decided it was just a really good costume. After all, there Deadpool was, almost as if he was directly from the movie... "Hey, I am not movie Deadpool." "Too much cornball," Scooter said with a chuckle. "Never enough cornball." "Well now we're abusing Prism's pet name for Corea. That's not good form." "She doesn't have to knooooow!" "Heh. No, no she doesn't. Anyway, turn to the left, past the swirling carnival ride that looks like an octopus, and to the map of the place." She set her front hooves down on the map, ignoring the strange looks she was getting. "Hrm... Wahooz Family Fun Zone." "Lame name." "They have bowling, rock wall climbing, an arcade, go karts, laser tag, minigolf..." she whistled. "And there's a water park next door." "Do they have a rollercoaster?" "Well the water park has a drop that'll let you experience freefall for a fraction of a second," Scooter said. "...That's not on the map." "And neither is a lot of the stuff in our head, try to keep up." Deadpool shot her the finger guns. "Aaaaaay." Scooter rolled her eyes - the action of which made more people stare at her in disbelief. "YES THIS IS A COSTUME!" Scooter shouted at them. "EITHER THAT OR I'M AN ALIEN. And please, what're the chances of an alien coming here of all places?" "Decent enough," Deadpool said, producing a UFO keychain. "You neeeever knooooow..." "I'm going to wear out my eye-rolling muscles..." Scooter said, shaking her head. "Anyway... Let's see, what are we actually supposed to do?" "Shh. Let's not look at the script. Let's just go where life takes us." Deadpool shoved his hand into the air. "WE SHALL LET KA DECIDE!" "Ka always decides." "But we manipulate it!" "Only Monika really does that. But yeah, technically you're right." She shrugged. "I don't think I could sell this at the water park. So..." She tapped her chin. "What to do..." "Pinke-warp us to the front of a go-kart line. You get passenger seat so you won't have to struggle with the pedals." Scooter chuckled. "They'll never let me on with this." "Nobody's noticed these guns yet, I think they're stupid." "They're not stupid. They're just regular people who aren't ready to accept the impossible. But sure, we can go to the go-karts." She pulled Deadpool behind the map of Wahooz, appearing in the outside area at the front of the line. Nobody saw them appear, they were just there. The benefits of being a Pinkie. She also had two tickets. Convenient. The ride attendant scanned her up and down. "Uh..." "Costume," Scooter said, grinning. "Yes, I am a furry, got a problem with that?" Deadpool burst into laughter. "...Just make sure your hair and... tail are tied up while in the kart," the man said, clearly not wanting to think hard about how her mouth was moving if it was a costume. She sure didn't look like an actual bipedal pony. Everything was too smooth. Deadpool took the driver's seat in one of the double karts and Scooter took the passenger. The kart was, of course, red. Which meant fast. ...In some universes. Not this one. The attendant gave a big spiel about 'hands and legs inside the kart' and 'keeping hair secured' and 'no bumping' but they only knew he was saying those things because they were written down in this story. It was impossible to hear him over the revving of the engines. They rushed through the gates, speeding across the track. The single-seaters were faster than them by a lot. Scooter shook her head. 'Tsk tsk tsk... This won't do." She pulled out a Mario Kart question box from her mane and punched it, revealing a speed mushroom. "Ready?" "Ready." They boosted forward at an alarmingly fast rate, blowing the competition away with their way-way too fast kart. But she didn't overdo it - whenever an attendant became suspicious, she waved at them with her front hoof, with the box nowhere to be seen. They raced like this for quite some time. The leaderboard was broken so there was no way for anyone to actually figure out who won or who lost, but it didn't matter. They had a great time anyway. They got off the ride, laughing. Scooter still had to lean on Deadpool to keep up the bipedal appearance, but at this point people were starting to point and stare a bit too much. "Yeah, I think we've overstayed our welcome. I see cell phones," Scooter said. "Time to cut like cheese and rip!" Scooter let out an extended sigh. "Oh. My. Gosh. Those are like, the best costumes ever!" A large man in a fedora said, walking up to them. "It's like... the real Pinkiepool!" "That better not be a ship name, brother," Deadpool said. "Oh, it's not! And wow, your voice is perfect! ...Wait, you can't be Ryan Reynolds..." "Can't I?" He totally wasn't, since he wasn't the movie Deadpool, but who really cared? "Wow. That's just... Wow. I thought only George Kennedy lived around here, but a big superstar!?" "Oh I don't live here. And if you know who George Kennedy is and where he lives shouldn't you know that?" "I'm just so excited to meet you and your Pinkie friend!" "Hey," Pinkie said. "Sorry my voice isn't perfect." "Oh, it's not a problem - say, I know a great place around here. Do you guys want to check it out?" "Sure!" both of them said. ~~~ Rohan and Velvet appeared in the middle of nowhere, at a graveyard situated far from any major civilization. A cabin could be seen in the distance, but otherwise there was nothing but endless forest. It was extremely hot out there, but as the wind picked up there was a slight chill, indicating that it was shifting from summer to fall. "Greeeeat," Velvet muttered. "It's the two of us together." "Useless and Useless?" Rohan suggested. "Yep. Useless and Useless. Mister Mc NotAware and Miss PathetiSight." She let out a psychotic laugh. "My blood control's gone. You?" Rohan tried summoning his Stand and got nothing. "Lovely. Someone's going to have to come get us." "Probably. But we can't be here without reason. This place must either be important or have some adventure in store for us..." She rubbed her hooves together excitedly Rohan stooped down to look at one of the larger gravestones. It was green, in the shape of a mountain, and had an image of a bird on it. One of the words on it was Opal. "Opal..." Rohan said, running his fingers over the name. Velvet stared at the name. A tear dripped down her face. "Hm?" "I don't know," Velvet said, wiping her eyes. "It's just, when I look at this... I feel like existence is coming apart. The feeling is passing, though." "It has to be important. Maybe her name can tell us something." Rohan took out his phone. It worked just fine since it was designed with multiple universes in mind, but it didn't have a cell plan for this Earth. "...I'm going to need some free wifi." "We're in the middle of the forest," Velvet observed. "There has to be some way to drive in here. So there must be a way to a town. All we have to do is get there. ...Somehow." "Walk?" Velvet groaned. "Looks like that might be what we're doing..." Then she blinked. "Or we could steal a car." Rohan raised an eyebrow. "There is a house over there. It probably has a car. Even without my fearmongering I can get some good intimidation going." "Hm..." "I'll give it back." "Oh, I wasn't worried about that, I was just wondering if I'd get injured in the process." "Probably not. I mean, they might have a gun, this is a cabin in the middle of the woods." She craned her neck. "We should be prepared for that." Rohan nodded. "Plan... You distract them at the front door while I work my way in the back." "Yep." Velvet trotted over to the house's front door - it took a few minutes, it wasn't exactly close to the graveyard - and knocked. A very large, but sweet looking older woman opened the door. "Yes, I - oh heavens! What are you?" Something stirred inside Velvet. She dropped the angry expression. "Uh... Hi. Can we use your car? We'll give it back. ...Or have it towed back, or something." The woman took one look at her, then shook her head with a small laugh. "Well since you asked so nicely, go right ahead. I'm not gonna use it today." "Rohan! Diplomacy worked! No need to take the back route!" Rohan lowered his leg before he kicked in the back door. "...Fine." He adjusted his shirt and walked to the front door. "You're certainly dressed like a clown." "I'm an artist," Rohan said. "You two just dropped out of the sky, didn't'cha?" Velvet smirked. "I guess you could say that. Thanks for the car." "Don't mention it. Your face told me you needed it, strange as it was." "...Yeah, why didn't you freak out about that?" The woman chuckled. "I'm gettin' too old to give a rip about anythin'. Just take it and go, Lord willing." Rohan smiled. He decided he liked this woman. The two of them piled into an old, but functional car. They drove away. "I have a thought," Velvet said. "Both of us are speaking our native tongue, right?" Rohan nodded. "I guess it just happened to be English then." "Or Monika did something." Velvet blinked. "I hate not being able to just know things like all the others." "You knew she would give us the car." "That was just acting on intuition and you know it. I wasn't certain." "I sense lies." Velvet grinned. "I sense an arrogant prick." Rohan smirked, saying nothing. They drove off along the mountain roads. ~~~ The question was - law enforcement or animal control? The answer - both. Mattie edited them behind the oncoming swarm of animal control collars-on-sticks. A police car saw this happen and decided that was too freaky. It stopped chasing them while the man inside took a moment to rethink his entire existence. Pinkie giggled gleefully. "Wheeee!" "None of them have shot us yet... Isn't that weird?" Pinkie shook his head. "Nope! Would you want to explain why you shot someone's dog? Or... pony, I guess? Or the first alien ever encountered?" "...But they shoot at us all the time elsewhere." "Mundaaaaaane! These are just regular people - not mooks designed to give us a problem." She ran right into a street sign. "Okay, what did I hit and how bad did I hit it?" "You bounced off the rod of a stop sign like rubber," Mattie said. "Oh, bugger, they're gaining." "And there's an actual good cop in front of us too," Pinkie muttered. "Cause of course there is." "I know you can understand me," a muscular man said - though nothing as impressive as Earth Stand men. "I know you can talk back too." He pointed his gun at them. "So you're coming in. I don't care if you're some alien or experiment from the University, you're under arrest for disturbing the peace." "Uh... What if we don't want to come?" "We can negotiate taking you to the Chief without being in cuffs. But you have to surrender willingly." "Hmm... Naw, that's silly," Mattie said. "We can just run circles around ya instead, mate. That sounds much better." She started editing him, making him pull his gun out over and over and over again. "What in the..." One of the police behind them fired their weapon. He missed, and he fell over from the knockback, but the noise made Pinkie and Mattie jump several feet into the air. "What the bloody hell!?" Mattie blurted as they took off along the sidewalk. Pinkie rubbed her ear with a hoof. "I think... I think we heard an actual gunshot. Man, action scenes really don't think about all the consequences do they?" "Guess not," Mattie said, glancing behind her. "Incoming car." Pinkie grabbed Mattie and ducked behind a tree. They appeared on the other side of a large evergreen bush shaped in such a way that it formed an enclosure with an old brown fence. Monika and I were waiting for them. "And they're first. Called it," Monika said. "There wasn't really a competition. We both knew they'd arrive first," I said. "How'd you enjoy your little chase scene?" "It was fun!" Pinkie said, grinning. "We were in a water war and then the cops tried to catch us and think of a reason to shoot us!" "Only one bullet was fired," Mattie said. "That seems highly unusual." "It's mundane," I said. "A lot of cops will never fire their weapon in the line of duty." "Mundane universes are so weird." I rolled my eyes. "In some ways, yes. In others, well, this is what 'normal' actually is." Pinkie made a spooky ghost noise. I chuckled at this. ~~~ "Welcome to the secret warehouse!" Deadpool and Scooter's new 'friend' said, spreading his hands wide. The fact that the word 'friend' was in literary 'air quotes' was enough to put Deadpool and Scooter on edge. "Come on in!" The man said, opening up the mini-garage door of his personal warehouse. "It's a treasure trove of fancy and rare memorabilia!" Scooter and Deadpool glanced at each other. Then they shrugged. Had this been any other world, the inside of the warehouse would have looked impressive, lined with aisles upon aisles of fancy rare nerdy stuff. There would have been figures, mint condition comic books, special edition collectibles arranged in the perfect way, and perhaps an army of painted miniatures. Instead there were just two shelves of stuff that was certainly rare, but not all that expensive, and a pile of larger stuff in the far corner. Deadpool picked up a 'pop' figure of himself. "I look so adorable." Scooter found figures of the 'Mane Six' plus Starlight. "Hey, full set! ...Well, except Spike." "Screw Spike," the man muttered. Then he closed the door on them. "Not surprising at all," Scooter muttered, sighing. "Though you would think mundane humans wouldn't be this crazy or possessive." "I think he exists because we exist. We're an infection." Deadpool found a bobblehead of Groot and flicked it. "He's probably going to feel pretty shitty about this later." "Oh, geez, that's bad in these worlds... people regularly aren't in good places." "Bah, he'll be fine. We'll make it a day he'll never, ever forget. You know, maybe." He ripped the plastic covering off a mint-condition Deadpool comic and started reading. "Heh. I remember this." Scooter pressed a button on a Pinkie figure. It started shouting at her. "This is your singing telegram I hope it finds you well!" Scooter smacked it until it stopped the noise. "Man, why do baseline Pinkies have to be so loud?" "Party. You need to get into the party mood to understand." "I like parties! I'm just not hyperactive insane." Deadpool raised an eyebrow. "...Fine." "You just need to get into the groove my script-reading equine! For instance..." He picked up a body pillow of himself. "Be like this guy. This guy is cool, sweet, suave, and h-" he noticed the back image of the pillow. "Holy fuck... Yes." Scooter facehooved. "Please don't tell me there's one of me in here." "Okay. I won't." Scooter felt a large pillow land on her face. Scooter shivered in revulsion, throwing the thing off her face without looking at it. "Right, yeah, I'm done with this place now." "Oh come on! It's not you! It's Pinkie Pie!" "And I look exactly like her and that used to be my name." Scooter pulled out the script. "Now it's time to get out of here, so..." Deadpool took out one of his guns and shot a hole through the mechanism that locked the door. "Done." "Ah. That's right, those are real." Deadpool opened the door and they stepped out to find the man talking on the phone. "I'm telling you, I've got a real alien here locked in my warehouse with Ryan Reynolds! What part of that is hard to unders-" He looked at the phone. "Gah. Someone has to believe me at some p-" Deadpool tapped him on the nose with his finger. "Boop." "Wh... How did y-" "I'm Deadpool baby, what do you think? I just did!" "It just works," Scooter offered. "Uh..." "Listen, buddy," Deadpool said, slinging an arm around the man's shoulder. "I won't mention this to my buddies if you agree to forget we were ever here. I'll even give you one of my katanas." "...Really?" "Really." Deadpool took a katana off his back and handed it to the man. "Now how about you get your shit together and stop locking people in warehouses." "Yeah. It's not nice," Scooter suggested. "I think I finally got it... You're from Scootertrix the Abridged!" Scooter sighed. "I knew it was all too good to be true... Look, just... live your life, okay?" "I... uh..." he seemed unable to formulate a response to this. Deadpool mounted Scooter. "AWAY, MY FLUFFY PINK PONY!" Scooter galloped away, leaving the man in the dust holding a katana. He shrugged and put it away with his other things. Then he realized the lock had been shot off. ...How was he going to explain that? "Noooot our problem," Deadpool said to himself, chuckling. "Think he'll return to normal?" "I don't think he is normal. But no more locking people in warehouses. ...Probably." Deadpool shrugged, putting his hands behind his head. "So, where are we going?" "We'll know when we get there." "And when'll that be?" "The moment we stop thinking about it." "So we're already here then?" "Exactly." Scooter stopped behind the same bush as Monika, Pinkie, Mattie, and myself. I was scribbling things in a notebook. "You guys are a bad influence on society," Pinkie said. Then she and Scooter hoofbumped. "I'm a bad influence on everyone," Deadpool insisted, putting his hands on his hips. "There is no other influence I can be! For I am the Merc with a Mouth! I a-" Monika created a sock inside his mouth. Since he had his suit on, it took a bit of work for him to remove the sock. "Gah! Where has this been!?" "Every disgusting place I could think of," Monika said. "You're welcome." "Really? Hrm, did you think of sticking it u-" Pinkie slapped him. "Bad Deadpool." "Good Deadpool!" I rolled my eyes. "Someone's going to have to go get Rohan and Velvet. They're too far away to get here naturally and they can't just shift here." "Fine," Monika said, stretching her arms. "I'll get them. Jump-cutt¥¥¥¥¥¥ ~~~ Rohan and Velvet drove into a small town. "I think something just screwed with the geography," Velvet muttered. "The map doesn't make any sense." Rohan shrugged. "Who knows what the others are doing. They could be altering the fundamental nature of the world for all we know." They were one of the few cars on the streets - the town was a sleepy one. Sure, the place was clearly lived in - people walked around, all going about their lives - but it didn't seem full of life. None of the buildings looked new; they all looked like they had been built decades ago. A small town that was clearly dying. But nobody wanted to leave. They passed by a Seven Devils Cafe, parking the car near it. Rohan found he was able to access an unprotected wifi signal. It was slow, but it worked. He typed in Opal's full name, using the town's name to narrow the results further. "She died less than a year ago," Rohan said. "And... She had quite a few kids, all of whom had more kids, and most of those have kids as well." "He's in there somewhere," Velvet said. "Hm?" "G. M. Blackjack. It has to be. This world is his world; we're seeing things that are important to him. That grave, this town... That has to be it." "Well how are we going to tell from all these names? There's no surname 'Blackjack' here." Velvet looked at all the names. "Right, this family tree's so huge it's not like everything's going to fall into place..." She rubbed her forehead. "Right, so, uh... Twilence and Pinkie have told me a few things. He's a he, and wouldn't be old enough to have kids. That's... yeah, that's all I can remember." "Old enough to write..." Rohan muttered a bit, adjusting a few things. "There's still a lot of options here." "Joy," Velvet muttered. "Just a bunch of names..." There was a knock on the car window. An older man with a beard was there, looking at Rohan. Rohan rolled down the window. "Yes?" "What are you doin' in my sister's car?" "We were lost and asked to use it," Rohan said. "You're free to take it back to her if you want." "Uh-huh..." he said, clearly not believing a word he was saying. "Tell you what, how about I call her up and see if that's what really happened." "Go right ahead," Rohan said, turning back to his phone. Velvet watched the man call his sister. He addressed her by name. A name Velvet recognized from the family tree. One of Opal's daughters. Pinkie nudged Rohan. "Ask him when he gets off the phone." "As him what?" "Ask him if anyone in his family is a young author." The man got off the phone, surprised that their story checked out. "Huh. You know, now that I think about it, that does sound like her to just give you a car... I'm going to have to talk to her about that." He rolled his eyes with a smirk. "This is going to sound like a weird question," Rohan prefaced. "Oh?" "Anyone young in your family an author of some sort?" "I mean there's my grand nephew, but he- wait that is a really odd question." "What's his name?" He gave them the first name. "Now what's this all a-" "Aha!" Velvet said, pointing her hoof at Rohan's screen. "His first name starts with 'G' and his middle starts with 'M'. JACKPOT!" "G. M. Blackjack..." Rohan said with a smirk. "Found him." The man, having seen Velvet's hoof, realized what she was. He stared at her in disbelief. "What in the...?" "Yeah, I'm an alien from another universe," Velvet said, grinning. "I hope that isn't a problem. It's not a problem, is it?" The man had no response. "Well, it's ju˜´¨ø√®∑´¥¥¥¥¥¥¥√˜∑ˆ´ønd Monika appeared on the roof of the car. "Hi." "...Hi," the man said, blinking. "Ah, the cool uncle," Monika said with a smile. She waved at him. "Nice to meet you! Sorry, but I've got to take these two somewhere. You can have the car back, though." He had no response beyond a chuckle that didn't seem sure of its own sanity. "We found GM!" Velvet said, holding up the phone. "We've been waiting behind the pine bush in his backyard for a while," Monika said, hands on her hips. "You two..." Rohan waved a hand dismissively. "What did you expect? We don't know anything and we're powerless. You could have just taken us there instantly." "Maybe not," Velvet said. "We needed to see this. We're part of painting the world he lives in." Monika snapped her fingers. "Bingo!" "What did this place mean to him?" Rohan asked her. "It was the center of his family," Monika said, looking into the distance. "The place his father lived as a boy. Where all his relatives came from. An origin point, an anchor to a past from before he was alive." She put her hands on her hips. "A dying town." The man looked at her with a sad face - understanding the truth in what she said. Monika forced a smile. "...Okay everyone! Time to move!" she clapped her hå˜∂ss¥¥¥¥¥¥ ~~~ It was evening. All eight of them stayed behind the evergreen bush, finding themselves easily able to see through the house's huge window that allowed the residents to look at the backyard. He was there, sitting at a desk. Whenever he looked up, he could see the backyard. He may have lived in the middle of the suburbs, but evergreen bushes, willow trees, rosebushes, and several other large plants hid the unsightly image of the road from his view. But he only looked up occasionally - for the most part, he typed away at his Apple computer, filling it with an unending stream of words. They saw his mother in the kitchen behind him, tidying up. They saw his father walk up to him and start talking. He was a large man with a commanding presence and GM looked at him with a lot of respect. They talked for a few minutes, allowing the eight watching to get a good look at GM. He was a young man - definitely not a boy - with somewhat short, dark brown hair. The only particularly interesting thing about him was a particularly oversized pair of wireframe glasses. He stood up for a moment to wish his father a safe trip, revealing himself to be a rather tall individual, so that might have been considered 'interesting.' Soon, he was alone in the house and it was dark outside. "I'll go in first," I said, spreading my wings. "I doubt he'll be expecting us." I left the evergreen bush. Given how dark it was outside, I could see him easily - but the window might as well have been a mirror now. I walked up to the back door and knocked. He looked at the back door, confused. Who would knock at the back door? He walked up to it, trying to squint through the door's window. He couldn't see much. I pressed my hoof to the glass. "Hey. It's me. You know me, right?" He recognized the voice all right. He took a few steps back, alarmed - but less surprised than one in his position should have been. "Just let me in. I'm not going to hurt you." GM processed this - and opened the door. "...Twilence. How...?" "It was time to get some answers. For me and several others. ...Can we come in? It is a little chilly out here." "S-sure..." he said, stepping back from the door. I gestured for the others to come, and they did. He looked at many of them in confusion, but a couple in recognition. "...What?" I closed the door. "You can sit down, you know. It's not like we're here to attack you or anything. We're just here to ask some questions, get some answers." "Not sure how much I can give you because I don't know most of you. I know..." He pointed at me, Scooter, Mattie, Deadpool, and Velvet. He paused on Velvet for a moment. "...You're not going to try to eat me, are you? ...And why are you wearing glasses?" Velvet raised an eyebrow. "Are we sure this is him? Seems clueless." I nodded, mild confusion crossing my features. "GM... How long have you been writing Songs of the Spheres?" GM leaned back in his chair, a thoughtful expression crossing his mind. "...Depends on what you mean by writing. This specific story?" He gestured at the computer with a Word file open on it titled 005 - Cross Mask. "Couple weeks. But there's an answer that says I've been writing it my entire life..." "...We're on chapter 114," Pinkie said. "Guess we're in a time loop then, of sorts..." GM murmured. "But wouldn't that be impossible? Metatime doesn't allow - wait, right, right, Prophet rules." He let out a short laugh. "I could write about this later and it could still be true. ...I am the Prophet version, right? That's why you're here?" Monika nodded. "Yep." "And I'm going to bet you're all the fourth wall breakers or... similar..." a haunted expression crossed his face. "Craaaap if I'm the real Prophet, that means stuff is going to happen to me. Not good stuff. Bad stuff, I think. Unless I change my mind - which I probably will since I know I'm the Prophet now, this early. Why would I let you come this early? Doesn't make any sense..." "So you can't tell us why you did things to us," Pinkie said. "You won't be able to tell me why I had to lose my eyes. What went through your mind." "I - geez, I'm sorry, I thought you were some alternate Pinkie, I..." "Yep. Original Pinkie here, in the flesh. Never changed my name." "...You changed your name?" "Most of us do," Scooter said. "I'm Scooter." GM blinked. "...That's a good idea. It'll make writing the complicated sections a whole lot simpler..." I smiled at him. "I'm sure you can help us answer some other burning questions, GM. You don't have to tell us about recent events." "Not going to be able to since clearly I have no idea who at least a few of you are..." He took a moment to gather his wits. "But, yeah, yeah, you all deserve to have answers. I just don't think I can give most of them to you." Rohan sat down at the dining room table. "How about you just tell us what the story is about? Why you're writing it?" GM took a moment to process this. Then he smiled. "Because I've always wanted to write it. I... I think I was twelve when I was told fanfiction existed. The literal first thing I wrote was the first version of this story. I liked to call it... Omniverse One. I don't remember what the actual title was. I took characters I loved to see in other places and rammed them all onto one planet. This story was absolutely terrible and I burned it later." "Wonder what that does to the universe it created..." Monika wondered. "Probably kept it from existing, because the combination planet still exists in my head, continually evolving and changing. There's a world out there that's a mixture of all of it, guaranteed. Or whatever I like, anyway..." He nervously adjusted his shirt. "I wrote original stuff next. Sucked. But I eventually came back to the Omniverse story, the idea of combining everything. I called Omniverse Two 2012, and tried my hardest to get other people involved, to create a Syndicate of like-minded authors among my friends. But... my great conspiracy map I worked so hard on amounted to nothing. The only really good things that came out of that was the Spooky story and the idea for Scarlight." "...Scarlight?" Rohan asked, cocking his head. "You're at chapter 114, you should have found the Starcross Society by now. ...Unless I changed it again." "She was changed to Scarcity," I told him. "I'm not sure why." "Right... Anyway, I ended that one with a groundhog day episode akin to the Infinite Loops, intending to reset everything so I could start anew with Omniverse Three, a forum project I called the Galaxy Project." "...The origin of the Collector," Monika said. GM nodded. "I thought I could smash as many fandoms together on the Spacebattles forums as I wanted, dividing a galaxy into various sectors and having all sorts of people write different parts of the story. It... worked for a while, but I grew bored with it, didn't even get to have the Collector show up and do anything interesting. I diverted my attention to something that became Omniverse Four, the Evermore Recurisons." "Oh, Jane and Sunny!" Pinkie piped up. "I know them!" "And Evermore Pinkie," I said, remembering someone I knew from long ago. GM smiled. "Yeah, I did decide to keep them around. But the ER was... too much chaos, not enough organized story. So I eventually dropped it and just devoted myself to writing ordinary things. But the idea of the Omniverse Story would never go away - so Omniverse Five formed in my mind. As it was forming from the leftovers of the other four, I, uh... I made The Influence. Your story, Twilence." I nodded. "I'm aware. Your forming of Songs of the Spheres influenced a lot of what the Influence told me to do. It brought Vriska into my adventure, and Aradia, and so many others. It let me become what I am." "So... yeah. I made Songs of the Spheres. I had decided I was finally good enough to actually try to write it this time, and that I was going to write the main story alone. It wouldn't focus on the grand, sweeping events of an entire multiverse - but instead characters. Characters like... you, Pinkie." Pinkie saluted. "Yep!" "I... Well, I've just barely started and don't know much. I do have a general plan and that you Aware people are going to be a big part of it and - hold on. Where's Seskii? She should be here with you." "Over here!" Seskii called, waving from her seat on top of the kitchen counter. "I just didn't want to take the spotlight away from anyone. Hey!" GM smiled. "Hey. ...Did I end your story well?" "Well enough," Seskii said, kicking her feet back and forth. "I'm an original creation, in case that wasn't obvious." "We knew that!" Deadpool called. "Readers might not have," Seskii said with a shrug. "Since my story isn't going to be told unless he actually publishes a real book." GM rubbed the back of his head. "Eheh... Yeah, I'm not too good at that am I? Always throw myself into projects I can't make anything of. But hey, at least I finish them now! Didn't used to do that. ...Never finished anything." "Well you're only about forty chapters from completion, so looks like you keep that up," Scooter said. "Yeah, I.... wait, forty? You said 114. But there's 169..." "157," I corrected. "...Why would I shorten it...?" I shrugged. "You realized it would drag out the end too much," Seskii said, leaning back. "What? No offense Twilence, but I have a more personal connection to him than you." "None taken," I said, mostly not lying. Mostly. "You're also not important," Deadpool said. "You're just an extra." Seskii smiled. "Yeah. Isn't that nice? Behold, Seskii, background gari. Woo!" "Care to explain what she is?" Velvet asked. "That'd spoil her story when I actually tell it," GM said. "So, no." Velvet glared at him. He visibly flinched. Mattie rolled her eyes. "Great. He's a chicken." GM rubbed his knuckles together nervously. "Eh, yeah. Yeah, I am. There's a lot of fear in this mind of mine." "...You've told us how Songs of the Spheres came to be," Rohan said. "Not why. What is its purpose?" "A tribute to stories," both GM and myself said at the same time. He looked to me - but I shook my head. "That's all I know. It's what you told me, remember?" GM nodded. "Yeah. I remember." "So, what else is there to it? A tribute to stories? What else?" GM looked up at the ceiling. "An ending to all stories. A song to give all those worlds that have been left dangling with all their plot threads unresolved something. A philosophical musing on the nature of meaning. I'm thinking it'll also have a lot about there being two sides to every argument, and how many different viewpoints are valid - and that even the villains have understandable motives. But I don't know, that's not as strong as the nature of meaning thing." He seemed to get lost in his thoughts. "I mean... the multiverse is finite for a very specific reason. Because if it was truly infinite, if everything possible happened somewhere an infinite number of times, there truly isn't choice. Nothing you do pushes back good or evil, and there are some universes where evil is good and good is evil and..." He shook his head. "Sorry, that's probably not what you're here to ask about." "It's insightful anyway," Scooter said. Monika shrugged. "I think he's just got a big head." "What's the plan?" Pinkie asked. "I get that you change your mind a lot, but what's the plan?" GM folded his arms. "Well... If you're far along I'm going to assume you already formed your multiversal society. Class 2 yet?" I nodded. "Right. Then... Uh, I think you'll get to experience that a bit, and then there's going to be a multiversal threat of immense proportions mixed with a war. I... really haven't decided the specifics. Or the outcome. I do know a somewhat major character is going to be the reason behind it, but I can't tell you who because I don't know who it is." "...Someone's going to betray us," Pinkie said, freezing in place. I bit my lip. "It... It appears so." "You don't know?" GM asked me. "This is the second to last chapter I have any vision in. Whatever comes after this is hidden, and hidden well." "Oh wow, you... are really close to the end." GM looked guilty. "I'm... I'm sorry." "Did you plan any deaths ahead of time?" Pinkie asked. "...Twilight's," GM admitted. "Did I actually do that? Replace her?" All of them nodded. "Guess I did..." "Why?" Pinkie asked, walking up to him. "Why did it have to be her?" GM gulped. "I... I needed to show that the multiverse could be a terrible place... I wanted to eventually show that the idea of a Replacement Goldfish was atrocious. Even an exact duplicate isn't the same person." Pinkie looked down. "...Yeah." "We were replaced too," I said. "...A retconning version of ourselves decided to sacrifice their being for a better existence." GM let out a sharp breath. "I... Look, I'm sorry. I never thought any of this was real. I just... I just wanted to tell a story. I wanted to treat you like people, yes, but..." He put his hand to the bridge of his nose. "I... I'm evil..." He started crying, the guilt at what he had done - or what he was going to do - overwhelming him. My expression softened and I put a wing around him. "Hey. GM. Nobody here hates you." "That doesn't change anything! I just wanted to tell a story! I didn't want to kill anyone! And you can be sure there are others who will hate me!" I let out a deep sigh. "You didn't know. You just wrote what you thought was right, what you needed to do to get your points across." "I can change it..." "No, you can't, because Monika here is going to make you forget all this." "Ah... Won't let me change anything..." I nodded. "We can't let you do that. So much has happened that needs to happen. Even the horrible stuff made us what we are today." There was a chorus of 'yeahs' from the rest of the group. GM wiped his eyes. "I..." "How many times have I surprised you?" I asked GM. GM looked at me. "...A lot. You did things I never expected." "And your other characters?" GM looked at Seskii. "Constant surprises..." "We aren't just your mind, GM. We have at least some agency. We have our lives. All you do is scribble a story down on a piece of paper or type it up on a computer - the Dark Tower uses that story to make a reality. A reality with real things." "How did I manage to get that right?" "The Dark Tower wanted you to," I said. GM looked at her. "...You know, last time we talked... I was the one who knew things, and you weren't." "How times have changed, huh?" He let out a bitter laugh. "Yeah..." He wiped his eyes, looking at the rest of them. "I'm sorry. I don't have anything for you." Pinkie hugged him. "It's not your fault." "...Yes it is." Pinkie looked at him with her eyeless face. "...Everything has two reasons." GM sighed, saying nothing. "There is something you might be able to tell us," Rohan said. "What is the meaning of nineteen?" Pinkie let herself smirk despite the somber tone. "Oh boy..." GM looked into the sky. "Nineteen is a joke." "...Nani?" GM stared at him like he was speaking an alien language - but continued on anyway. "It... It's just the Dark Tower's favorite number. It's placed everywhere to draw attention to things, to create odd synchronicities. But... it's really just a joke. Sometimes it draws attention to what is important. But it's just littered around everywhere to make people notice it. That's what nineteen is. A number spread everywhere simply because it can be." Everyone stared at him. I smirked and shook my head. "Most of us knew that, Rohan." "I didn't!" Pinkie looked at GM. "...I think we need to go. Monika?" Monika clapped her hands, and everyone she had taken to the world left. She leaned in to look at GM. He looked at her. "Who even are you?" "You'll find out one day!" Monika said with an adorable smile. "Now let's see here... Character file... Just gotta mess with the memories a moment..." GM's expression went blank as she rooted around his mind. She was tempted to place something that would ensure good fortune for her... "Ahem," Seskii said, reminding Monika that she was there. "Don't do that." "...Fine, fine, I'll just make it like we weren't here. Yeesh, you don't have to hover so much..." When she finished, she clapped her hands and made herself vanish. Seskii watched as GM realized he was crying. He was confused - he never cried for no reason. What had just happened? He had no idea why he felt such a weight on his chest. He pushed it out of his mind - the best way to fix that kind of mood was to get writing. It almost always made him feel better. He rubbed his knuckles together - time to get back to Ardent. The first actual crossover in this amazing mess of a story. A small bit of buildup of what was to come... The future events excited him - even the ones he didn't know about. Especially the ones he didn't know about. Seskii left the universe, leaving him to his work. ~~~ So what did we learn today? A lot. And yet, at the same time, not much. It was an early GM we talked to. One near the start of Songs of the Spheres' creation. He couldn't tell us what any of our more recent or far-reaching experiences meant. He could only tell us what he thought at the start. No doubt all of it had changed since then. Since this was what was happening now... I could see the words appearing on a laptop outside a large window in a different house. He no longer lived in suburban Idaho. Outside there were hummingbirds flying around. And he was excited. But we weren't meant to talk to him at that point in time. We could have tried to force time travel... But no. The answers we got were the ones we got. Going to look for more would just be like abusing Saitama and asking for retribution. What we learned instead was about him. The places he grew up in and experienced - except that warehouse. That warehouse meant literally nothing. But all the other places... All the other people... ...They were ones he knew. Ones he remembered. ...Who was it? Who was going to do it? Who's going to start it all? I don't know. Yet. But I think I will soon. Because it's coming. The end... What did he eventually decide it was going to be? He had to have decided by now... Right?
Songs of the Spheres	115 - Song of the Spheres	Songs of the Spheres. Songs. Plural. There's more than one melodious tune that pulls us through existence, an innumerable number of stories that have been told through the cosmic entanglement that is the multiverse. And yet, everything is also related. Every song has twisted the pages it calls home in one way or another. Some songs scream to be noticed, drawing thousands to flock towards them and praise them. Others resonate within the simple, beautiful act of a family dinner. But every last one, no matter how significant, ties to all the others somehow. For better or for worse, everything's connected. But as I've come to realize, there is also a singular song. The Song. The Song that leads to the Choice, the Song that leads to a Climax. The Song. As the end of the Tower's Testament tells us, it is twofold. And yet... it is the same, because one leads to the other, and the foundations of the other lead to the one. Naturally, the singular story of the multiverse would be far too expansive for any entity to see in its entirety. No one could see every twist and turn through the innumerable years. Not even I can lay it all out at once. But I have seen much in my time as the bearer of the Eye of Rhyme. I can see the keys. ...I can't see what's coming anymore. I've had my last true vision. All that remains is... guesswork. Educated guesswork, admittedly, but still guesswork. Now that I'm here, in this final moment at the edge of the cliff, I can piece most of it together. What all of existence has been trying to tell us all this time. Come with me. Let's take a look back before we jump into the great unknown. I hope you're ready, this story is massive and complicated. Get yourself some snacks and turn that brain on, you're gonna be here a while as the multiverse unfolds itself before you. My only hope is that, in prompting what's happened to be written down, I don't become its cause. ~Tower~ It was impossible to tell if it was the screams of ka or the howls of the blizzard. Admittedly, the two could have been one and the same, considering. Two men marched through the bitter cold, barely noticing its deathly temperature against the deeper pain they carried within themselves. Some of this pain was physical - the elder man was missing a few fingers on one of his hands, making the empty digits of his glove hang loose. The younger - more a boy than a man - was clearly malnourished and pale, clutching a notebook to his chest like it was his lifeline. These physical maladies were nothing compared to their suffering. The boy's eyes betrayed someone haunted by extended trauma, only some unnatural inner strength keeping him moving forward - his eyes fixated on the older man. The leader of the duo was much more adapted to the situation. His features were hard and stoic, much of his face shrouded by his vaguely cowboyish hat. He wore thick clothing, well-worn boots, and held his full hand on a gun holster; always ready to fight, even this far along. His eyes betrayed a man who had seen too much, a man who had lost everything, a man who was pushing on only because he was so close to the end. Because he was called forward. He moved with heavy, certain motions, watching everything closely even though he couldn't see two feet in front of him. He glanced behind him regularly, making sure his last remaining companion was still behind him. Will he fall as well? He could have pushed the thought out of his mind - but he didn't. He accepted the possibility that he would finish this journey completely alone. He would prefer it didn't end that way, but in the end the wheel of ka would lead him on. Are we still on the Beam? This gave the man pause. He didn't stop moving, but he scanned the blizzard with his eyes once again. If they were still on the Beam, he would be able to see the pattern that all served. It took a moment, but he was able to note the prevailing direction of the snowflakes twisted away along a single path. The direction they were headed. Right along the Beam. To the center of everything. He kept moving, the boy following behind. Neither said a word. There was nothing to be said at this point. That, in many ways, was what had the man worried. There should be nothing left. They should just move along, get to their destination, and have the final confrontation. So why was there a blizzard? He refused to believe it was just random misfortune. Nothing had been random misfortune for a long, long time. At least not for him. Doubt crept into his mind when the blizzard started to lessen. They were getting through it... and besides being cold, nothing of interest had happened. Nothing... "Be on your guard, Patrick," he said, his voice gruff and dry despite the heavy moisture around them. Patrick's grip on his notebook tightened, as if it could be a shield for him. The monster attacked. It was not something any of them had ever seen before - but this was not surprising, considering how deep into End-world they were. As far as they were concerned, any sort of creature from any existence could appear here, and it wouldn't be something to marvel at. It was seemingly made entirely of ice, though the man knew better. It was a crystal being with two deformed legs, three bladelike arms, and a flat head covered in glowing lights that may have been eyes, or just whatever was visible of a brain through its bodily lattice. It made no noise when it moved. It leaped forward and swung at the man's neck. The man leaned back, dodging the blow and drawing a gun at the same time. The oversized pistol was of exceptionally fine craftsmanship and anyone with a sense for the value of things would know the sandalwood gun was a weapon of great power and legend. He pulled the trigger with trained, automatic precision, launching forth a single bullet right into the creature's glowing head. The lights went out in an instant as the bullet shattered the 'skull' into three pieces. He didn't have to look behind him to know there was another one there. He whirled his gun, finger pulling down on the trigger before the creature was even in his sights. It fell as well. But there were more. He fired two more bullets, taking two more out. He had no idea why they were attacking. Perhaps they were ravenous beasts that only understood violence. Maybe they were simply lost and afraid in this cold, alien world. Maybe they sensed who he was and knew he was a threat. Either way, he didn't let his uncertainty weigh on him. They were in the way. They needed to be removed. Patrick had begun furiously scribbling on his notepad the moment the first bullet had gone off. The gunslinger wasn't going to bank on him being able to help before he ran through his six bullets. He'd need to set up time to reload, but with how fast the monsters were coming... A fifth shot rang out, piercing the bodies of two at once. The first one died instantly as its head was shattered, but the second merely lost its legs and writhed on the ground silently. The gunslinger performed a roll in the snow, ducking under a crystalline assault. As a creature raised its arms to slice him in half, he shot it - allowing the dead form to fall onto him. It provided only a scant amount of cover, but it made the creatures pause in their relentless assault. The pause was only about a second, but that was enough for a trained gunslinger to reload his weapon. Six more shots. He counted seven creatures with all his senses. He didn't like those numbers - if these beings were smart, they would know not to let him reload again. So he dragged it out. Instead of filling their skulls with lead in rapid succession, which he could do somewhat easily, he focused on dodging, only unleashing a bullet when it was the only way to survive. They were fixated on him. Despite their silence, he knew they were livid at him for what he'd done to the rest of them. Body language, even from beings that were nothing like man, was enough to go on. It took only twenty-three seconds for him to run through four bullets. Two shells left. Three creatures. The problem was the three remaining ones were the smartest, so he couldn't bank on taking advantage of their numbers. Two moved as a team, attacking him from two directions at once. He jumped to the side, but one of their blades cut through his pants, drawing blood. It wasn't a serious cut, but the sudden exposure of inner skin to deep cold was jarring. He fired his fifth bullet without aiming as well as he should have - but it was more than enough to disable one of the creatures. He realized a second later there was a way he could have used one shot to take two out there - he could have solved his problem. But he had slipped up. And he didn't see the remaining two lining up to take him on. He ducked under two blades and had to hobble over a third. Before another one could hit him, he used his last bullet. As expected, the last creature wouldn't let him reload. It focused intently on his gun, trying to knock it out of his hands, making enough of a fuss to keep the gunslinger from even thinking of popping it open to reload, no matter how fast a trained gunslinger could do it. And then the gunslinger stepped into the snow and found a rock hidden beneath it. He slipped, falling onto his back. He had no choice but to try to reload, hoping the sudden movement had startled the creature enough. If he didn't get a shot off, he was a goner. The creature did not give him an opportunity. It drove its sword-arm right to his chest. ...Except his arm vanished before it pierced the gunslinger's skin. Roland reloaded while it stared at its missing arm in shock. The creature's glowing interior was blown out, and it fell to the ground, dead. All of them were now taken care of. The gunslinger let out a sigh of relief. "Good work, Patrick." Patrick smiled, continuing to erase the sketch of the creature he had made in his notebook. Slowly, the rest of the creature's body began to vanish as well. As far as the world was concerned, that creature didn't exist. The gunslinger used the rest of his bullets to kill off any creatures that were down, but not dead. He didn't want to take any chances. "Anything hurt?" Patrick shook his head. The gunslinger nodded, turning back to the path of the Beam. It took him a moment to find it - but he soon realized the bodies of the creatures had all fallen in a particular direction, pointing them forward along the snowy expanse. The blizzard was mostly gone now, even though it had been barely two minutes since the battle had begun. He still couldn't see all the way to their destination, but he could see a fair distance. Enough to see the door standing in the middle of their path. "...Did you do that?" he asked Patrick. Patrick looked at the door with curiosity and shook his head. "Hmm..." The two of them walked up to the door and examined it. The gunslinger had seen a few doors like this during their journey, doors that led elsewhere. None of them had been made of metal, though. And the engraving on this one was different. \|\|\| The three parallel lines didn't mean anything to the gunslinger. He looked past the door - ahead of them was the Dark Tower, the goal of the gunslinger Roland's long, seemingly endless journey. So close. He could almost smell the roses in the Field of Can'Ka No Rey. But ka had given them this door, like it had given them so many other things. In theory, he could just walk past the door and never think of it again. But he couldn't not open it. He reached his hand out and clasped the knob. He pushed it open... ~Theater~ ...the door to the theater flung outward, a single man in dark clothing walking up the aisle into the seats. The projector was running, displaying a preview he couldn't care less about - some stupid action flick just like all the billions of others. He had a giant barrel of popcorn under one arm and a jumbo soda under the other. He was going to enjoy himself today and nobody was going to tell him otherwise. Not that people could, and that wasn't just because he was the only person in the theater. That would be best. He plopped himself down in one of the forward-middle rows for the optimal viewing experience. The seats to his sides were soon to be occupied by his drink and his barrel of popcorn. He sat back, kicked his feet up on the seat below, and prepared himself to have a nice day. The theater screen faded to black. "Today's feature is about to begin. Please silence your cell phones." The man who was the audience let out a laugh. There was nobody here. Who cared? Even the projector was automated. He was alone. The film began. An old, gravelly voice came from the speakers and met the man's ears. "What you are about to witness really happened, albeit in a capacity we are not able to understand." The previously black image faded into a background of stars that began to recede from view, eventually coming to form a galaxy while the main actor credits began to flash onscreen. "It is a tale of such size and history that the people involved stretch the definition of what we think it means to exist." The galaxies pulled back further and further until they were all encompassed in a slightly blue marble, representing a universe. Other marbles filed into the field of view, each representing their own point on the Sea of Infinite Possibility. The man noticed a few inaccuracies - notably, this representation of the multiverse opted not to show the Spheres, but kept a 'globe-like' appearance for the multiverse as a whole. He supposed this was effectively a foreign film, so they may have simplified the appearance for what the creators believed were simple monkey-brains. "It is the story of why existence is the way it is today. This is the story of... the Downstreamers." Overtop of the entire multiverse the title card for the film appeared - simply 'Downstreamers'. "It is impossible to show their experience as it was - filled with loops of time, tangles of universal manipulation, and emotions the likes of which we could never understand. But they started as humans once, and they contained a kernel of humanity with them for eternity. In order for us to understand, we will look at that humanity..." The multiverse's image zoomed in rapidly to a single universe, then quickly to a single Earth. Then the view zoomed into a large, metallic structure - clearly nothing like what the actual Downstreamer structures would have looked like, but futuristic enough to appeal to the audience. That's what the filmmakers had hoped, anyway. Frankly, the man found it amusing they were trying to tell this story as a human one. It was clearly beyond even the filmmakers, but they were trying to anyway. Inside the building, a group of humans in long, silvery robes sat around a table. In the center of the table was a holographic ring with time-signatures littered all around the display. "We have done it," one of the women said. "The universe has bent to our whim - time is now eternal. We are our own creation." "We can now move to other matters," a man said, folding his hands together. "What other matters?" a younger woman asked. "That was the great Work, was it not?" "It occurs to me that you have forgotten the existence of other realms. There is more for us to shape, councilor. Just because we have fulfilled our self-existence does not mean we have reached the highest we can. The multiverse awaits." There were a series of nods and noises of agreement. The man munched on some popcorn and shook his head. That was so, so wrong. Granted, they did come from a universe where they were responsible for their own creation, but the idea of that council? One of them forgetting something? Laughable. Just laughable. This bizarre documentary-adventure film was going to be a barrel of laughs... ~Harlequin~ "...and then I said, what pasta?" Dimitri's parents stared at him from across the dinner table. None of them were human - rather, they were a dark-purple-skinned race of humanoids whose yellow eyes had no pupils. "...Dimitri," his father said. "What was the point of that anecdote?" "It was funny," Dimitri said, refusing to let his smile falter. "Examine, if you will, my plate. There is a complete lack of pasta in it, and, aha, I just told a long extended story about pasta! Draw the connection... Draw the connection..." "...Did you dump your pasta out so you wouldn't have to eat it?" Dimitri kept up his smile. "C'mon dad, you know that's not how humor works. There's clearly another use for the pasta. See, there was supposed to be a big laugh there and then I w-" "Dimitri, stop," his mother said, putting a hand to the bridge of her nose. "You're a grown man. It's time to stop with this 'humor' thing. I mean it." Dimitri raised an eyebrow and folded his arms. "It's not like it's hurting anyone." "It's an embarrassment," his father said, glaring. "We are not supposed to devote our mental efforts to making each other laugh." "Oh? Then what else are we supposed to do on the farms?" "FARM!" his father shouted, smashing his fist into the table. "Yeah. You and I both know I can farm just fine while thinking about other things." "And you could be using that effort you put in pointless things to farm better than everyone. And here you are, squandering your gifts!" Dimitri rolled his eyes. "Right. Look, I don't think that's possible, and you know damn well why." His father stood up, looked like he wanted to say something, but instead just walked away. His mother sighed. "Look, Dimitri..." "Mom, please don't." She didn't listen to his wishes. "I know your mind is troubled. I know it's hard. I'm not asking you to focus on the farm. I'm asking you to stop your childish games. All the others left them behind years ago." "They don't know what's good for them." "I don't care if you think maintaining childish amusements is 'better' or not. It's not acceptable." Dimitri looked at her with a hurt expression. "You know I'm not going to change." "...I'm not allowed to ask you anymore," she said. For the first time, she looked away from him, ashamed herself. Dimitri's stomach fell. "Mom, what is it?" She sighed. "I just... The Chief called us in. She didn't give us any orders but..." "What the hell is wrong with that woman? I do my work! Why does she hate me?" "The children, Dimitri." Dimitri let out a pained sigh. "...So I have to stop." "Yes. You do. I don't know what the Chief will do if you don't, but I know a threatening tone when I hear one." "Do I have to stop having the dreams too, then?" Dimitri said, standing up suddenly. "She didn't say anything about that." His mother shook her head. "Dimitri... it's time to grow up." An image of darkness flashed through Dimitri's mind. He turned around and stormed out of the house. "Dimitri!" "Don't you dare follow me!" he called back. "Got it?" His mother held out a hand to him - and then put it down. The life in her posture drained as she shuffled back into the house. Dimitri walked, hands in his pockets. It was night, and the stars were visible alongside the glowing megaliths. The tremendous metal ovoids stuck out of the ground, small sections of them glowing with soft blue energy. Other than those structures, everything was simple farmland. Usually, everything was green and bright, but in the night air the scenery was dark and lonely. He walked along the dirt road, knowing exactly where he was going. That stupid Chief... She was going to get a piece of his mind. Telling him to stop enjoying himself? That was like telling him to lie down and die. He forced the smile back - it was all he had. All he had against... it. Them. Or whatever. He didn't know. That wasn't for him to worry about tonight. He walked across the dirt road, past a couple of fields belonging to other families, and arrived at the Chief's house. She was the only one of them who lived alone - and was also the only one who lived in a house made from scavenged megalith metal. Dimitri pounded on the door. "Hey hey hey, late-night-o-gram! Come on out and get your righteous talking-to, despot!" The Chief opened the door. Her expression was flat and emotionless. She was also younger than Dimitri's mother, having only been the Chief for six years. "Noira was never good at keeping things from you." "I'm just here to clear a few things up. I'm not going to lose this smile just because you say so. That'd be like... Oh, to use a simile you'd understand, like planting corn and getting pumpkins. It's not possible!" "Then you're exiled. Goodbye." The Chief slammed the door in his face. Dimitri twitched. "You can't just exile me in the middle of the night! Nobody will believe you did it! And don't you think some people will be a taaaaaad upset you're so gung-ho to use that power of yours?" The Chief opened the door again. "I have absolute authority. If you will not change, you are not allowed here. I cannot accept a man-child. Even if this is all due to your mental difficulties, I cannot allow anyone with your attitude to persist within this society. Maybe the children you are influencing will grow out of it. But maybe they won't." "Screw you, life's more worth living like this! I don't see hardly any of you smile anymore! But I bet you remember what it was like!" The Chief leaned in. "You're supposedly smart, Dimitri. Tell me, does the average person have the ability to do what you do? Or will they accomplish less and make us all starve?" "Oh look at you, jumping to the worst-case scenario." "We never have more than a single percent of extra food every winter. There are only two hundred of us. If even a handful of us don't put our all into the work, we will starve. Children who were supposed to start work have proven to be disappointments because of your influence. We're already going to be cutting it close this year because of you!" Dimitri shrugged in a mocking matter. "Yeesh, maybe it's because you're such a hard case." "The empire isn't coming back. We have to survive the freeze on our own." "Ahahahaha-" The noise was offensive enough to the Chief that she punched Dimitri across the face. "Get out of my tribe." "Oh, you'll let me starve?" "Yes. Ciao." She slammed the door in his face. He forced the smile to remain. Okay, coming over here was probably a bad idea. Buuuuut I can totally show her up if I can figure out how to produce more food... He facepalmed. "Crafty little pixie..." He felt a chill in the air. "Welp! Guess I'm going into exile! Sayonara Chief! Time for me to die in the wilderness with the first snow! Or, wait, maybe I won't! Maybe I'll survive just fine on my own! I'll make... Ha! I'll find out how to make a car! What do you think of that!? I'll bring back the stuff of the empire! See those megaliths? I'm going to climb them!" There was no response. "Ahahahaha - you'll see! You'll all see!" He spread his arms wide and laughed harder. "It'll all come together. And you'll all pay for this idiocy." He looked at the nearest megalith and set off on his journey. He didn't care that he was moving through a cornfield, destroying precious food. Stupid. It was all stupid. In the past they didn't need to focus everything on the farm. He'd be the hero! Yeah! Th- A sharp pain went through his brain. He grabbed his head - but kept moving. He tried not to think about the image of intense fire that had just burned itself into his thoughts. He instead focused on the ancient history of the empire... ~Historian~ ...it occurs to me that I am a historian and that I should perhaps do more than simply reaffirm what is already known to the children in the overly simplified education system. This notebook is going to be devoted to my thoughts on the whole history of our people, from our origins to our modern day. Our origins are quite a mystery, and it will require much consultation with the seers, but with diligence, I shall prevail and raise the new generation to appreciate the sheer scope of our existence. I can only hope my son will appreciate this work once it is complete. Perhaps it will serve as his gateway into the true beauty of historic research... ...The origin of our people can be traced back to a single universe. The location of this universe has been lost to us, but we can say for certain that it was a version of Earth. (Certain? The seers agreed but perhaps 'certain' is too strong of a word. Consider revising.) This world is not known as an Earth to the denizens of the multiverse, however, but Xeelee. For it is the home universe of the great, scoping Xeelee. As my research has shown, their history is very intertwined with our own. We, on the other hand, were the humans of that world. (First-person. Remove later). In the origin universe, it was clear that we were not the masters - it was the Xeelee, always and forever. They shaped the universe and made grand pieces of technology that spanned multiple galaxies, almost always keeping to themselves, leaving abandoned ships for lesser races to discover and reverse-engineer. As mankind, we were one of the races who benefited most from their loose technology, becoming dominant over most other races. But always leagues below the Xeelee. Humanity tried to fight the Xeelee in a war. It was a war we thought we could win, but as always, the Xeelee were just holding back what they thought was important. (They were digital. They probably didn't lose a single real Xeelee intelligence the entire war. Research further.) They essentially were the universe. And unlike most universe-controlling races, they did it not through magic, but pure technology, for the original universe was not a magical one. (Though not mundane. No mundane universe allows FTL. Check.) We never stood a chance. However, there was an evil secret in the universe. A race of beings known as the Photino Birds made out of dark matter were able to meet the Xeelee at their level. How they did this is unknown. (Dark matter can't interact with regular matter?) Soon, it became evident to the Xeelee that the universe was dying because of the Photino Birds. So they devoted their resources to creating a great Ring that would allow them to enter another universe, uncovering the multiverse... ~Grand Tour~ ...Ahem. This is 'Captain' Nanoha Takamachi, acting in command of the Time Space Administration Bureau ship Horizon. This is the first of what I will expect to be many, many logs I make about our Grand Tour through the multiverse. Even though this is more of a personal journal than an official report, I guess I should still start with what we're doing out here. Two months ago, one of my personal teams uncovered the remains of a Lost Logia Civilization unlike anything we had ever seen before. In the abandoned computerized structures, we found information. Most of it was inaccessible or complete gibberish, but some of it contained valuable information about the multiverse itself. It was a lot bigger than we previously thought. But now we have a map of the entire thing. A map that shows us no individual universes, but one that shows us the general shape of the 'Spheres'. We've been able to deduce that we're in the middle of the largest Sphere, but the exact relations beyond that are a big mystery. That map wasn't the only thing we found. We discovered the name of the civilization that had made the technology - the Xeelee. We also found some ancient multiversal teleportation technology. We tried to use it to go somewhere, but it didn't work. Instead, it dragged someone here from a distant part of the multiverse. We now know her name was Rarity, though it did take a while to learn her language. And get her to trust us. I told her I would get her home. That's probably the main reason this Grand Tour is happening, though I had to convince the rest of command that it would be useful for the TSAB to learn as much as we could about places far, far away. Had to pull a lot of strings, but sometimes it helps to be the 'White Devil'. It didn't take long to get the Horizon fresh off the assembly line, already equipped with the best dimensional drive in the fleet. It took a couple of weeks to retrofit it for an extended journey, but in that time I got the crew together. I would have chosen Fate or Hayate as my commander, but it wouldn't be good for two of us to be gone - it does pain me to leave Fate like this... ...I did choose Signum for my commander, and she brought Vita along with her. I look forward to working with the two of them again, just like old times. I also have an alternate version of myself on board! We call her Nano. She's adorable. Every bit as plucky and powerful as I was back then, though perhaps a bit optimistic. I think Vita will be able to whip her into shape easily enough, and her crewmates will be able to show her how things are done. It's still weird to think of alternate versions of ourselves being out in the multiverse. To think we only discovered this recently! Oh, both Nakajima sisters are here as well, Subaru and Ginga. I expect great things from them working as a team. I hope their skills won't be required, but there's always going to be a need for a fight. They need to be here as much as anyone. Rarity is part of the crew as well, I wouldn't discount her as just a 'passenger'. She's going to be a bit of a specialist in diplomacy as well as non-standard magic. Her horn is so fascinating. The trouble I had to go through to keep the scientists off her was... more than I would have expected. I've gotten to know her well over the past two months. I'm glad I'm finally taking her on this journey to find her home, wherever it may be... ~Twilence~ ...Rarity ran up the entry ramp to the Orchid. "I'm sorry! I can't come along!" I looked up from the controls. "Huh? Why n-" I suddenly became aware that my Awareness was being blocked. This realization shocked me into stopping the sentence. Creek spoke up - she was an aging woman in a simple brown getup, but with an amazing smile despite it all. "What's happened, Rarity?" "The Empress needs me to watch a world undergoing a major plague," Rarity said, lighting her horn and running through some white magic warmups. "You can go without me today. I won't mind." "Hey, ever think if we mind!?" Vriska asked. "No," Rarity deadpanned. "Savage," a synthetic voice said - one that couldn't be seen. It wasn't the voice of the ship though; it was the voice of Mite, a nanobot who was as much a part of the team as anyone else. I rolled my eyes. "I would say have fun, but that sounds like it's going to be dreadful." Rarity laughed nervously. "You've got that right... I do have to go." "Come?" Mite asked. "No, you shouldn't come, I need to be a healing Mage, not a bringer of desolation. No offense, but you're all very distracting magnets for trouble. " "That's not offending, that's exactly what I fucking want to be!" Vriska said, leaning back in her chair. "Check it." "...Check it?" Creek asked. "Check it!" Rarity rolled her eyes. "See you when you get back. Or not. I have no idea how long this will take." She galloped out of the Orchid to the rest of the Void, running to her mission. I tapped my hoof on the controls. "So, everyone? Something's up. Something in my vision is being blocked." "The adventure we're about to go on?" Creek asked. "Hm? Oh, no. I've got that, know exactly where we're going. What I don't have is the narrative we're in. We are being watched right now, but the sequence of words is being shrouded from me. And that never happens unless..." "Unless...?" Mite asked. "Well, me from the metafuture exerts her influence." I blinked, pondering this. "I suppose the rest of the story could be something happening in the future rather than simultaneously with us, so I didn't want to spoil myself to the neighboring stories." "You never cease to amaze me," Vriska said. "Seriously, just able to 'know' things you don't 'know'. Wish I could do that." "Work on your reasoning skills," I suggested. "Savage!" Mite beeped. "I sense a redundant robot," Vriska ribbed. "Quiet." "Did you just tell me to shut up?" "Yes." "Calm down," Creek said, shaking her head slowly. I smiled warmly. "You know it's just how they work." Creek nodded. "Still..." Vriska smirked. "Still what? Still think we should have stopped this by now? News flash, lady, we like fucking with each other." "Interesting." "Don't you get started on my word choice." "Starting..." Vriska facepalmed. "Twilence, I call treason." "I call amusing," I said, pressing a few of Orchid's buttons. "Setting off. Creek?" "Opening random portal," Creek said laying her hand on the screen. The Orchid shifted through several different colors on its display, settling on a blue-green. The dimensional drive activated, taking us into orbit around a nice, green planet with a single large city. We, of course, didn't go right to the city. We set down in the area we were directly above. Some jungle in the middle of nowhere. I felt importance here. This would definitely mean something to the Twilence of the future... ~Merodi~ Year 76 ...Twilence is missing." Corona looked up from her work on the Shaping Mechanism - currently, she was experimenting with an empty universe, trying to get it to connect to other universes in a 'natura-physical' manner. "So? Doesn't she vanish a lot?" Eve nodded. "Yeah, she does, except she said she was going to talk to me today. So either she didn't know she was going to be caught up in something, or she wanted me to notice when she didn't show up." Corona blinked. "Ahh... right, of course she would do that. Totally fits her modus operandi." Eve groaned. "But if she didn't know, that's worse. She said she could only partially see the final chapter before the 'uncertainty' and..." She put a hoof to her face "Right, calm down Evening, you're better than this now." "Debatable," Corona said with a smirk, reaching into her battle-dress. "Hey! I deal with wars of lesser worlds on an almost daily basis. I think I've made progress." "Progress, yes," Corona admitted, not continuing the conversation further. "Sai, ka scan." "I've been checking already..." The Sombra AI flashed purple. "Ka energy detected. We're being watched, amigas." Eve blinked. "But I've been checking ever since Twilence vanished!" She pulled out her own ka sensor - which also gave a reading in the positive. "...The Dark Tower sure has a sense of humor." "It took you a few centuries to figure that out?" "It's only been one!." "Are you counting time loops, time dilation, time spent in simulations, and other extra time?" Corona asked. Eve blinked. "Okay, fine, I've probably been out in the multiverse longer than a few centuries. Point?" "None. Just an observation. Frankly, I should probably be concerned that we are being watched. That means we're in 'the last thing' she can see, right?" Eve nodded. "Right. After this, Twilence's visions go blank - or somewhere in the middle of this. Though 'this' chapter, for all I know, could last a few years or something. Or might not even involve us! We could just be comic relief!" "Eve, calm down, you're stressing out too much." "I know, I know..." Eve shook her head. "Why did you come here?" "I uh..." Eve blinked. "Ponyfeathers, I don't think I thought about that. I just... felt like coming." "So you didn't check anywhere before coming here?" "I checked the system for her. She has a very distinctive magic signature, so we'd be able to see her unless she was trying to hide. ...If she was in Merodi Universalis space. I didn't try anything else though." "Guess that means I have to be involved then," Corona said, pulling out a phone. "I'm calling Starbeat." "Why would I come here?" Eve muttered. "What even was my thought process?" Corona shrugged. "I guess the Tower decided that, since you were aware of tropes, you didn't need to have any sort of internal reasoning for doing what needed to happen." Eve blinked. "Huh." "Yep, par for the course. Us being cosmic playthings and all." Corona's phone finally finished dialing Starbeat. "Hey, Starbea-" "It was fated that I would not be at the phone when you called. Please leave a message." Corona blinked. "...Funny." "Eh..." Eve held out a wing and tipped it side to side. "Right. So. Find Twilence." Corona folded her arms. "Any ideas?" "I came to you, didn't I?" "You weren't allowed to think. You can think now." "I think finding Twilence is like following a roadrunner moving backwards through time." Corona pondered this. "That's actually a good metaphor." Eve chuckled. "Regardless, we can always try the Pinkies. They might have some idea. Or Vriska." "Both good options." Corona twirled her phone. "Our Pinkie is running the Austraeoh around the multiverse right now, so she's probably not available." "Why's she doing that?" "I'm not sure. Renee's having the rest of her team run a mission while she is, so I don't think it's anything major. She might just be having some fun while O'Neill's not in command." "Gotcha." Corona dialed Scooter's number. "Hey, Scoote-" "The script says I'm supposed to say I can't talk to you." She hung up. Corona stared at her phone. "...Great." "And Vriska's out adventuring. Calling her right now might not be the best idea. So..." "Detective work time," Corona said, clapping her hands together. "Where was she last seen?" "She walked into a bathroom. She didn't come out. No, there were not any teleportation signatures, I wasn't that absent-minded." Corona sighed. "Okay then... to the Void?" "Oh, right! Their Rarity might know where she is!" "Or have some way to track her or something." She held up her phone again. "Okay, third time's the charm..." Eve's phone started ringing. Slowly, she levitated it in front of her face and answered, turning on her ears and putting it on speakerphone. "...Hello?" Eve's Second - no longer Cessera, but a sirnight called Evin - responded. "Just got a report you might want to hear. About the same time Twilence vanished, Arceus did as well." Eve stared at the phone. "Arceus?! What could make him disappear?" "Don't know. He was on Celestia City at the time." "I'll head right over," Eve said. "Give me all the files you have." She hung up and turned her ears back off. "Guess we know where we're going." Corona nodded. "To our great city!" ~Mother~ A mother with white hair walked through the city, trotting along the sidewalk. Hovercars of all shapes and designs moved swiftly across the street, causing a significant surge of wind, but not enough to make the mother uncomfortable. Her dress ruffled from the air currents, causing the bow on her back to flap like wings. The smile on her face brightened even further as she felt the wind on her face. Today was a good day. She walked out of the city proper, a small bag in her hand. It held within it an ancient record she couldn't wait to get home and play. Something from beyond a long time ago. So far in the past nobody could comprehend. It gave her chills just thinking about it. Something ancient that so few people had heard... just found recently. She hoped her family loved it - her husband was the one who had introduced her to music, after all. Her daughter didn't have the taste her parents had, but she was known to enjoy older tunes from time to time. Though she was in her rebellious phase, so that might put a dampener on the evening... The mother decided not to let herself worry about that. If her daughter decided to throw one of her fits, well, she would be dealt with. She didn't have to make backup plans ahead of time. Because that would just be a bit excessive for something as innocuous as an ancient record. She stopped a moment to smell some roses growing in a public garden - the fragrance was simply divine. It was also an indication that she was leaving the center of the city, heading toward the more 'rural' areas, even though such a description wasn't exactly apt for a settlement such as this. The buildings and cars gave way to emptier roads and natural greenery of mostly undeveloped 'country'. Without the structures in the way, she could see much of the beauty of her world. The trees in the forest tangled together in a wild web alongside the road, the sound of chirping birds, and she swore she could hear young children playing in the distance. She took a moment to look up at the sky - a truly unique sight. There was no sun, there was no moon - it wasn't even blue. Instead, she saw a complex mesh of swirling spheres. Some of the more distant ones glowed like stars, providing light to the world. Others were dim and rocky, while still others were blue and green and covered in clouds. Some were close, while others were so far away they blended into a static pattern of sorts. Always beautiful. She wondered if the blue-green world she was looking up at was one of the settled ones. Since the nested spheres always rearranged themselves in largely unpredictable patterns, there wasn't really any way she could tell without a telescope. She shrugged. She could try to find out which planet she was looking at another day. It wasn't like there was any rush around here. She eventually arrived at her chosen home - a simple cottage settled into the forest. Sure, it had all the modern conveniences - electricity, internet, magic teleporter to the city proper - but it still seemed rustic. Plus, she liked the scenery and the walks. She opened the door, walking into a nicely furnished living room/entryway combination. Her daughter was sitting on the couch, watching the holographic television. The teenage girl wore a black dress, sharp green lipstick, and had pale hair tipped with green dye. She barely noticed her mother come in. The mother walked up to the countertop, taking out the ancient record. Cloud Atlas. The words spoke to her with power. It was an Earth symphony, she knew, but not one that had existed in most Earths. It was a rare one. Which made it all the more special. She rummaged around through several drawers, looking for the old record player. Eventually, she found the device and set it next to the Cloud Atlas symphony. She prepared the needle and placed the record down, bringing the instruments of old back to life. The notes filled the mother with emotion - a strange feeling of loneliness and struggle in a complicated life. Turning to her daughter, a frown crossed her features. The girl looked so alone there, staring at the hologram, eyes nearly lifeless... She had friends, her mother knew, but... well, they weren't the closest. Maybe she needed siblings. ...It's a bit late, but I wonder what that would have done for her... ~Grand Tour~ ...This is Ginga Nakajima!" "And this is Subaru Nakajima!" "And we're here to give a double report about the mission undertook for the Horizon." "You mean to give a double report about how awesome we were!?" "...Yes, Subaru, that might work." "Right, so, get this, Rarity, Ginga and I were exploring a new universe that was absolutely covered in donuts." "There were some bagels." "Yeah, yeah, bagels, I know, but mostly donuts." "And donut holes." "Ginga, you're ruining the tape!" "We must strive for accuracy." "Accuracy does not mean awesome." "It can in this case. I saved you with accuracy." "A-psh, let's not worry about that. Let's talk about the world of donuts. Which was inhabited by little sprinkle-people. Who were adorable. Almost as adorable as Nano. ...Actually, are we allowed to call her adorable anymore? She's going through that teenage phase, right?" "I don't know. She spends most of her time with Vita. You'd have to ask her." "Aaaaanyway, adorable sprinkle people, check. People who love Rarity, check. Endless amounts of food, holy check. It had all the signs of a mission that would go great. We could be back on the Horizon in time for lunch and not even need lunch!" "Well, we did get back before lunch and not need lunch." "Remember what I said about accuracy?" "It makes you look silly?" "...Right, that's fair. Really fair, actually. Ouch." "Ahem. As should be pretty clear by Subaru's lead-in, we did not have a simple easy time. The sprinkle-people turned out to be cannibals and thought we would be the best-tasting sprinkles of all time. So they led us into a trap. They took Rarity captive first, because she had demonstrated great magical power. We, of course, a-" "We were awesome. Our Devices activated and WHOOSH the light bridges knocked the sprinkle-people over and PCHOOO we picked up Rarity and ran off!" "At which point it turned out that the donuts were living creatures and didn't like all the commotion. Not by any stretch of the imagination. We were devoured by a Klein-bottle effect - passing through a hole and ending up inside a donut." "Of course we broke out." "I broke out. I found the point at which the inner spatial distortion worked in reverse and threw us out the other end. Covered in donut jelly, but alive." "Then there were the sprinkle fighter pilots. They approached us from all sides, firing their adorable little colored bullets." "Adorable, but still dangerous enough to break the skin. I was in the medical pod for a wound to the stomach until just a little while ago." "Yeah, it was colorful, but deadly. And how did we escape you ask? What amazing thing did we do to get the three of us out of the sprinkle death-zone? What possibly could have been done...?" "We opened a portal back to the Horizon and fell at Nanoha's feet." "Ginga..." ~Tower~ Patrick tripped on the bottom part of the metallic doorframe as he followed Roland of Gilead, gunslinger, through the '\|\|\|' door. He managed to keep enough of his wits about him to avoid falling over. He glanced behind him. The door hadn't closed. There was still a chill coming from the snowy lands on the other side, but he already felt warm in this new place. Roland noticed less the temperature and more the place he was in. It wasn't anything like what he had seen his entire journey across multiple worlds. Not Mid-World, not Keystone Earth, not any of the others that had been glimpsed along the way. The floor was made entirely out of a smooth, amber-like substance that, upon closer inspection, was riddled with a hexagon pattern. This floor turned slowly upward to create the walls of a lengthy hallway, sloped in such a way that one couldn't call the hall a square, but couldn't call it a circle either. Something in between. Along these walls were any number of technological devices. Roland had seen more than a few instances of higher technology on his journeys, including a bullet train equipped with full artificial intelligence, but he somehow knew that what he saw now was beyond even that. Some shapes he could recognize - metallic, artificial arms, legs, bodies, and heads. Some were simply alien. Crystals that floated in the air, affixed to nothing. Weapons that seemed to be made of clouds. Images projected in midair, glowing softly, changing with every minute shift in the world around them. He was positive one of those images was watching him. Whenever he moved his arm, an area of it changed color. There were also the truly inscrutable items. Objects that folded in and out of existence. Words that flew across a screen in complete gibberish that somehow put Roland on edge. A fruit that made Roland certain there was a skull inside of it, rather than a pit. Strands of light tied together into webs... He could tell this was either a laboratory or treasure trove. He wasn't sure which was better. Laboratory suggested the person who had made these things was still around. Treasure trove indicated there was probably a guardian of some kind. He glanced behind them. The door they had come out of was affixed to a wall composed of the same amber-material. Above the metal door was a word Roland couldn't read, but he somehow knew it said Mid-world. The snow had started to blow in the door, melting along the amber floor. He knew the Dark Tower would wait. Time meant nothing to it. It was still calling to him, demanding that he come - but it was also calling him into this hall. This hall of experimentation. Roland moved forward, boots making dull sounds against the almost rubbery floor. He moved slowly, always ready for one of the esoteric devices to reveal itself to be an automatic weapon. He knew, deep down, that if any of these constructions truly wanted to kill him, there would be little he could do. No amount of reality-bending sketching and legendary pistols would do anything against weapons of this magnitude. It would be blink and then dead in an instant. Nothing turned to attack them. There were a few things that reacted to their presence, but only in such a way that updated information. Nothing lashed out with the intent to dismember. Their silent journey was accompanied only by the occasional interested beep or magical sparkling noise. Roland stopped short. He turned to his left, looking closely at a singular projection of seemingly magical energy. It contained three different sized spheres, in the center of which was a bright white point of energy. Bright white wires went to and from the Spheres in the middle, and a single, long wire snaked around the outside of the Spheres. In the center was a brilliant, holy pinprick of light that drew Roland's attention. Roland didn't know why, but he was struck by how small it was. Even though he knew it represented something beyond tremendous. "...Every 'atom'..." he said. Patrick looked at him quizzically. "The man in black once told me that, in every blade of grass, there are countless worlds... It looked almost like that... In some way." Patrick glanced at the image. He lifted his pencil. "Don't," Roland said, holding up a hand. He wasn't sure how far Patrick's powers went, but he didn't think testing them like that would be wise. Roland stared at the image a little longer. The Tower is the center of Creation. The Tower is connected to all. ...This is its domain. "Let's go," Roland said, continuing down the hall. Patrick took a moment to stare at the image, but quickly scrambled after the gunslinger. The hall was long, but not endless. They eventually came to an arch that led into a wide, domed area. There were no experimental devices on the walls of this room - they were adorned with mathematical designs intertwined together to form beautiful art. Circles upon circles twisted together in thousands of different intricate patterns. Patrick stared at the beautiful cycles with awe. As an artist, he quickly felt a deep connection to the visual stimuli. Roland was never one for aesthetics, but even he could understand the effort that must have gone into the designs. The center of the room was a column of white energy. It was flickering, clearly low on the energy it needed to perpetuate itself, but it stood despite the difficulty. All around it were floating, substanceless 'screens' displaying numbers Roland couldn't read. For a moment, Roland thought he saw a tower form in the white light. ...A Bright Tower...? No. Maybe that was what it was intended to be, but it was nothing compared to the might of the Dark Tower. It was just the center of this place, not everything. Not even close to everything. "You've become very in-tune with the Tower, gunslinger." The voice came from everywhere at once. It wasn't aggressive; rather, it was quite friendly. This did not stop Roland from drawing his gun and Patrick raising his pencil. "Do not worry, I have no intention of harming you. I doubt the Dark Tower would let me." "Who are you?" Roland demanded. "...My name is not pronounceable by your tongue. You can call me Weaver..." ~Historian~ ...Like the Weavers of old, the Xeelee were builders of great cosmic structures. They were able to manipulate stars and galaxies with relative ease even before they found the greater multiverse. After they had uncovered a few different realms, they found themselves already at the power of a Class 2 civilization, far beyond most of the other multiversal societies they ran across. They found more efficient ways to bend physics, more ways to loop time through several universes, and more ways to fight the Photino Birds. They eventually destroyed their home universe to end the Photino Bird threat once and for all. And they kept growing - growing stronger, better, more... (Find a better way to phrase this. They're powerful, everyone gets it, needs to be less ham-fisted.) They ascended to Class 1 faster than any other society in recorded history. They had the technology, the infrastructure, and the power - they just happened to discover and use dimensional travel last of all. They currently sit among the other Class 1 societies as the newest member, and the only one to have reached that position by technological prowess alone. (Possibly others in the deeper past? Hard to confirm, Class 1 documents from before this point are hard to find.) We are not the Xeelee. We are the descendants of the humans that lived in their universe. We escaped with them and were protected by them. For the longest time, we simply moved on the whims of the dimensional currents, in whatever universe the Xeelee decided to open portals to. There was no contact. However, while the Xeelee ignored our ancestors' presence, they also ignored magic. (Ignored... No, they didn't ignore it, they just decided they didn't need to use it.) To them, technology was always the only way. They took (and still take) great pride in their ability to climb to the highest rank without resorting to 'cheating'. (This entire thing is going to need a hacksaw taken to it to get it professional.) The ancestors did not ignore magic. They took it as their own, using it as a way to separate themselves from the Xeelee's shadow. They became known as simply the Arcane Tribe. They developed a much lesser multiversal society within the shadow of the Xeelee, using their magic to create their own methods of dimensional travel. The first world they took was called Alomomola, the details of which are... ...The Arcane Tribe developed much over several generations. (Best guess is 120 years, but there were a lack of historians among the early ancestors, making my job just THIS much more difficult.) They honed their magic craft, studying dimensional connections and the relations between emotions and reality. (Scientific anecdote should go here. Perhaps I should talk to one of the professors to get a better idea of what this actually means.) The society was structured based on an elder council system, the oldest and wisest calling all the shots. Different sub-tribes acted mostly independently, and over the years they diverged into their own groups... ...and this sub-tribe is the one that found the Prognosticus, that ancient book of fate itself that changed the course of history. Within were secrets of metatime, of the future of all worlds, and of deep secrets on the nature of physics itself. The sub-tribe now had access to a powerful tool none had ever seen before. A source of reliable information about what they didn't know. (If only the stupid book wasn't so vague all the time. They would have been able to see it coming...) ~Merodi~ "...you think he would have seen it coming," Corona said as she and Eve walked onto the scene of Arceus' disappearance in Celestia City - the back alley behind Burgerbelle's Bradburger establishment. The Flat in question was talking with Allure while Celestia City's normal cops and investigators combed the area. "He does have a lot of awareness and power, but he's still physical in a sense," Eve said. "He probably just wanted a bradburger." "He doesn't have a mouth," Corona pointed out. "He could have a mouth, if he wanted." Allure noticed them. She nodded curtly to Burgerbelle and jumped over. "So, is the political pressure enough that you two got sent in?" Eve blinked. "Actually, no, we're just here because his disappearance coincides curiously with that of Twilence." "Oh, a regular conspiracy then?" Allure rolled her eyes. "Fun times." She levitated a data pad out and handed it to them, her metal horn sparking slightly. "Need to get this thing tuned up..." "Sooner rather than later is better," Eve said, glancing at the pad. It showed a single video feed. Arceus was walking down the back alley, alone, and then he was just gone. No sign of a dimensional portal, wormhole, or anything. Not visually, anyway. "What do the scanners have to say?" "Dimensional translation," Corona said, sifting through the data using Raging Sights. "Why hasn't it been followed?" "Because the universe doesn't exist or has been moved," Allure said. "It was the first thing anyone did once they realized he was gone. Tried to follow the signature. But no, poof, gone." "And we've got nothing else?" Allure shook her head. "Don't even recognize the method that took him." "It has to be something powerful," Corona said. "He has the most raw power of any single entity in Merodi Universalis. Even the Class 1s would probably face more damage than they'd like taking him out without outright destroying the universe he's in." "Maybe that's what they did. Dragged him to a universe with less people and destroyed it," Eve suggested. "Who would want to do that though?" "It's not exactly a secret that he's responsible for sending Ash on that path of war." Eve furrowed her brow. "But there's nobody in Merodi Universalis or around it that would have that complaint against him and be able to do something about it. Even you would have difficulty doing anything to him with the Shaping Mechanism." Corona nodded slowly. "It could be done though. Wouldn't look like this, but it could be done." Eve furrowed her brow. "We need more information. Allure, who's the lead investigator here?" "Uh, me?" Allure raised an incredulous eyebrow. "What, do I not look like a detective to you?" Eve flushed. "Ah. Sorry. I just..." "Relax," Allure said. "So, what do you need the lead investigator for?" "More information. Specifically, what Arceus was doing here." "Exploring Celestia City," Allure said. "He doesn't exactly rule his world directly, you know. He has free time." "I'm well aware of Arceus' relation to his people," Eve said. "I mean, I find it weird that they all agree to let someone represent them when that someone doesn't actually rule any of their governments, but to each their own. I just need to know what was happening while he was here." "He was talking to Burgerbelle. He was apparently curious about the history and origin of Flats. And let's be honest here, who isn't once they figure out Flats exist?" "It is a rather jarring realization," Corona admitted. "Do we know why he was in Celestia City?" "Sightseeing," Allure said with a shrug. "Sorry, the guy just wanders around when he's not busy, which is a lot of the time. Different worlds and cultures interest him. This is not the first time we've seen him around - though it is the first time he just vanished." "And why was he in the alley?" Allure blinked. "It was just the way he ended up walking? Burgerbelle just said he walked that way after talking to her for a while. Could have been random." "Or ka," Eve said. "Always ka..." Corona muttered. "I'm growing to hate it more and more as time goes on." "Eh, yeah, it causes its problems. But it is what it is." Corona looked like she wanted to object to this, but decided it wasn't the time for that. "So we have no information about where Arceus went or what happened to him, all we know for certain is that he vanished about the same time as Twilence. So we know we're onto something, but we have no real leads." "Yeah, and Blumiere's breathing down my back to figure something out about this," Allure said, scratching the back of her head. "Blumiere is also standing right behind you," Blumiere said. Allure facehooved. "Gotta love it when that happens. Hi! I don't have anything for you." "I figured as much..." Blumiere said, tapping his fingers on his cane. "Pokerin Anima found out." "...Ponyfeathers," Allure muttered. "They're not likely to resort to violence or take it out on us, but there is going to be a deep turmoil within their society." He adjusted his hat. "We need to solve this quickly." "Well, no leads, besides a curious interconnectivity," Corona said. "I think we need to get a hold of Starbeat or another ka expert." "Or just use the scanners," Blumiere said. "We have advanced computers on the subject. Or, if that's obfuscated, just manipulate fate slightly." "That could work," Eve admitted. "But it's also just as likely to backfire. I'd rather have an expert on board before doing that, if you don't mind. Unless some new information comes to light..." She lit her eye with the symbol of Light, smirking. She'd played her cards right. At that moment, Jade appeared from a dimensional portal, the reality-anchor bracelet on her arm. "John's missing." Allure gasped. "Oh no!" "That's... That's really bad," Corona said. "Twilence, Arceus, John..." "There's a pattern here," Eve said. "Powerful individuals with abilities relating to the alteration of reality on large scales. ...A new Collector?" "The Collector wouldn't be able to pull this one off." "A bigger, badder one?" "Whatever it is, they have John," Allure said. "Not only is he our friend, but if anyone uses him, everything could die." "Suddenly risking ka manipulation consequences doesn't seem so bad," Eve said. "Right, charter a ship with full ka capabilities. Advanced, but also as soon as possible." "The Austraeoh is docked," Blumiere pointed out. Eve didn't let the 'coincidence' give her pause. "Then let's take it. Hope Pinkie won't mind." "I'm sure she'll want nothing more than to help us find where they've gone," Allure asserted... ~Mother~ ...where have you been, Osanna?" the mother asked her daughter. Osanna froze in her tracks. "M-mom!" She whirled around, putting on an innocent smile. Her mother was leaning on the counter, the record player having long since finished Cloud Atlas and now just making scratching noises. "Y-you're awake!" "Decided to get some reading done while listening to the symphony. Realized the time a bit too late - too engrossed in the book, you understand - and I noticed you weren't here. I figured you'd come back soon. But then you didn't show." "Ah, well, guess since we don't have a day-night cycle here I ju-" "You've never been in a place with a day-night cycle, Osanna." Osanna nodded slowly. "Riiiight, but biologically speaking it should still be ingrained into m-" "Where were you, Osanna?" "Y'know, shopping." "You don't have any shopping bags." "Window shopping." "You're not one to window shop. Or to go on random shopping sprees." "Why do you have to know where I've been anyway?" "I don't, but the fact that you don't want to tell me is very very suspicious." Osanna opted to stop looking flustered and instead get angry. "Who cares if I'm suspicious? I can do what I want?" "You're fifteen." "Nala's four." "Nala is an artificial intelligence born with the experiences of her predecessors. You are not." The mother folded her arms. "If you're doing something I wouldn't approve of, it's my job to find out what it is and make you stop." "Like you could stop me." "I could resort to tracking you. You wouldn't even know." "That's an invasion of privacy!" "I agree, but there's no law against it. If you're not going to tell me what's happening I'll have to find out other ways." "Why not just let me do whatever I want, huh? Ever think about that?" "If I let you do whatever you wanted you would have cut your arm off at the factory." "I was a kid." "You were thirteen." "So? Thirteen's still a kid." "And fifteen isn't?" "No! In most human cultures I'd b-" "Put to backbreaking labor." "Stop interrupting me!" The mother folded her hands and raised an eyebrow. "Maybe if you had a point that wasn't spoken in anger, I'd let you finish." Osanna ground her teeth. "How am I not supposed to be angry?" "Well, I'm livid that you're basically lying to me through your teeth, and that you're clearly out doing something wrong, but you don't see me shouting at you, do you?" "Oh don't you pull the high and mighty card. You raise your voice too! All those biting little jabs are anger as well." "True," the mother admitted. "Who do you think looks better in this conversation?" Osanna twitched. "Why do you always have to be the right one, huh?" "Because I know a lot more than you about life." "Ha! You don't even know what I've bee-!" "Jadan." Osanna paled. "W-wh..." "I was hoping you'd just tell me, prove to me that you'd at least own up and think you could defend him to me, but no." "How did you find out!?" "I got worried when you weren't coming back, so I tracked down some of your friends, asked them where you were. Had to get one of their mothers involved to get any information, but I found it. Or, rather, him." "Why can't I j-" "You can have a boyfriend, and in fact I encourage it. What is not okay is not telling me about it. And then hiding what you're doing. I know very little about Jadan - I know his family is complete trash, but that's it. And were this another situation I'd love to meet him. But you've turned this into something that isn't about him. It's about you being dishonest." She took a step forward, glaring. "You would never have said he was okay!" "Maybe not. But by trying to hide him, you've made sure of that." Osanna's features twisted into surprise, then deep sorrow, then rage. "FUCK YOU!" "And we've devolved into swears. Brilliant. How a-" Osanna ran out the door, leaving her mother's once-confident face suddenly one of deep uncertainty and fear. "Osanna!" Osanna didn't look back. She just ran... ~Harlequin~ ...Dimitri ran through the wilds of his world, approaching the megalith. The tremendous metallic structure glowed blue near the top, but the bottom was completely dead as far as he knew. Granted, his people never went near these things; all the metal material they had was from the remnants they found while farming - fragments buried deep within the earth over the eons. They were all too busy to explore. They came from a time when the empire was still around. Dimitri didn't even know how long ago that was. What he did know was that he was exiled and he had something to prove. Images flashed through his mind, making him stumble across the grassy hills. He saw the terrors of his mind screaming, telling him to stay away from the megalith. To avoid the fire. He wasn't going to do any such thing. Screw the nightmares. They were just his brain tormenting him, as it always had. Always. Always. He ran inside the megalith. At the ground level, there were holes in the shell easily large enough for him to walk through. The interior's floor was made of dirt similar to that outside - though for all he knew this was just an eternity's-worth of dust on top of the real floor of the megalith. The walls were metal, and the only things inside were large pieces of scaffolding. This far down, virtually everything was broken - but he could see blue lights far above him. He did some quick calculations, looking for the optimum path to the top. The pieces of scaffolding were at steep angles in many places, and not all of them connected properly... It would be a long climb, and if he fell he would easily die. Really, though, who cared about that? Not the Chief, not the town, not his father. Maybe his mother. Maybe. She still found him an embarrassment. Only the children would really care, and they would be taught to forget he ever existed: the man with the broken mind. He didn't deliberate anymore. He grabbed hold of one of the broken railings, pulling himself up a steep metal slope. He put all the strength he could into his arms, pulling himself higher and higher. He had been prepared for the scaffolding to slip from his motion, but it was made of sterner stuff than that. No matter what he did, he couldn't budge the scaffolding anymore than it already was. It made him wonder what had managed to break these things. There were few sharp edges, mostly bends in the metallic substance, with perhaps a few pieces missing. As if the lower levels had been run through some sort of pasta maker and then allowed to dry wherever they ended up. As he got higher and higher - a feat which took multiple hours of climbing, though given his lifestyle this wasn't that much of a strain on him - the lights got closer and the scaffoldings became less and less warped. He was soon able to climb up actual ladders instead of walking on them awkwardly, and found that he no longer had to pull himself up angled walkways. Everything was leveling out. Some of the blue lights came from mechanical devices in the wall that were beyond Dimitri's knowledge. Flashes of inspiration may have flickered in his mind - lightning, wires, and tremendous spheres of white light - but he ignored them. But he did see something that really caught his eye. Near the top of the megalith there was a platform swirling with blue energy. He felt it call to him. He walked up a small flight of stairs toward the swirl. He was breathing heavily, but he barely noticed. All he saw was the light. The energy. Inwardly, he screamed. He shoved that out of his mind. He pressed his hand into the vortex. DOWN. DOWN. DOWN. DOWN. DOWN. "SHUT UP!" He shouted. It reacted to his deep, passionate emotion - and he was flooded with the power within. His hands sparkled with quadrilateral shapes, sparkling like he was part of some digitized environment. Not that he understood this. He just thought they were squares and rectangles flowing all over his body. A normal person would have screamed. Dimitri laughed. He had no idea what any of this was, but he already loved it. It felt... right. Also wrong, but he hadn't gone through much in life without feeling both. The strange power shot forth from his hands and tore a square hole in reality. On the other side, he saw a world where the grass was blue, the sky was a dull rust-red, and there were two moons. There was also a purple-haired woman with dark brown skin trying in vain to fight off a strange monster made of shadow and bone. It gnashed its teeth at her, ready to devour another meal. Dimitri acted without thinking. He snapped his fingers, prompting a black wireframe box to appear around the shadowy beast. The box seemed to twirl before compressing the beast into a two-dimensional image. The beast couldn't comprehend its new existence - it tried to run away, but tripped on an object that had depth it couldn't see. It fell down, flat against the ground. With another finger snap, Dimitri crumpled the beast into nothing. "Voila!" He noticed the woman looking at him. He made a quick bow. "And you have been saved by my... magic." The woman looked at him and smiled. "Thank you." "Ah, it is but another day in the life of Dimitri. Perhaps not the most normal of days, but every day is another day is it not? By definition." The woman chuckled. Dimitri stared at her in disbelief. Even if she wasn't a member of his race, she clearly was fully grown. "This is quite unexpected. Someone who finds me amusing?" "You've got the gusto of a performer, of course I do," she said, extending a hand. "I'm Thea." Dimitri eagerly grabbed her hand in his own. "It's great to meet you! You wouldn't believe the life I've had." "Oh, wanna swap stories? I've got a lot! Not to mention I'm very curious about that square thing behind you." "A portal. A way to travel from one realm to another..." ~Twilence~ "...can't establish a portal back," Creek said, tapping buttons on the Orchid. "But we knew that was going to happen." "Sure," Mite said. I spread my wings out and cracked them like they were knuckles. "Prepare for combat the moment we open the hatch." "What should I expect?" Creek asked. I tossed her a laser gun. "Don't get close." "Translation: let Vriska handle it," Vriska said, generating her fluorite octet. "They won't know what hit them." "Neither of those answer my question." "Monsters. Expect monsters," I added, twirling my hoof around. "For about three seconds," Vriska said. "Betting," Mite added. "Oh you're on!" "I'm betting against Vriska," I said. "And now I'm dropping the bet," Vriska muttered. "Just open the fucking hatch." Creek readied the gun with one hand and opened the back hatch with the other. The back of the Orchid slid open, revealing a jungle filled with an astounding variety of trees - a clear indication that this forest was made of species from dozens, if not hundreds, of different universes. Waiting outside were a dozen creatures made out of sackcloth and sharp metal. The majority were scarecrow-like creatures, with knives instead of fingers and mouths that were sewn shut. Others resembled animals, one in particular looked like a small dragon crossed with a cobra and a crab. They didn't wait - they attacked. Vriska had the same idea. She stole one's luck with ease and drove her blade through another. The blade prompted cotton to burst through the seams of the sackcloth creature. It lost some of its mobility, but it kept moving - though the one who had its luck stolen crumpled into a lifeless blob. The fluorite octet flew, landing on the ground and producing a ghostly viper that removed the head of another sackcloth creature. Creek fired her weapon at one of the creatures before it made it to Vriska. Her aging hand was shaking as she did so, but she hit it nonetheless, burning one of its arms into nothing. She let out a soft sigh of relief before aiming once more. Then I unleashed my spell. It was a quick one focused on only the horrendous creatures I knew would still be standing after my friends did their next attacks. Every last one of them got cut in half by a magical construct blade that existed just barely long enough to do the job. They fell to the ground like candy - Vriska taking care of two more with Creek shooting the most distant one. The unique dragon-chimera one didn't even get the opportunity to show us its special abilities. Which I found acceptable, seeing as we weren't anywhere close to the really interesting enemies yet. Plus, I wasn't exactly in the mood for fun at the moment. The parts of the story above and below that were blocked off... well, they were concerning me. This event was apparently deeply connected to other events I wasn't allowed to see. ...Or perhaps I did see them, and just didn't know what they were. Regardless, that had me worried. Because nothing I saw about this world made it particularly worthwhile. ...The Dark Tower existed here in a physical form, yes, I knew that, but it did that in many other universes as well. I couldn't see our actions here interfering with the nature of the story too much. Perhaps it was a tangential length of ka? Or maybe a- "Sleeping?" Mite asked. I shook my head. "Oh, sorry. No, just distracted by the winds of fate. Nothing new." "Right." "I'm serious! I don't know anything new yet!" Creek looked to me. "You're worried." "A little," I admitted. "There's something I'm not seeing. I bet we change something major without realizing it on our little journey here. Can't figure out what it is though." "You just see the story as normal." I nodded. "Can't find the tangential story. I'm sure there is one. Maybe I should stop digging for it, though, it doesn't appear to matter to us at this point in time." "Analysis!" Mite piped up, funneling information into the Orchid's computer and putting an end to the conversation. We looked at the data Mite had harvested from the corpses of the sackcloth monsters, not all that surprised by what we found. "Transformed beings," Vriska said, folding her arms. "All of them were once human..." Creek said, shaking her head. "How horrible..." "Not all," I said. "Look, that was only the 'scarecrow' ones. The others had evidence of simple animals on them." "Not a disease though." I nodded. "Definitely not." "Can you tell us what it is?" Vriska asked. "Yeah, but I'm not going to. There's a place we can stop for information to deduce that." I trotted outside and took in a breath of fresh air. "So, where do you think we should go?" Creek pursed her lips. "Mite, closest sign of civilization?" "Northwest," he responded. "Then that's where we'll go." Vriska shrugged. "Eh, I don't see why not. We're taking the Orchid this time. I'm not going to have her get locked up in a government bunker again." I rolled my eyes. "Fine, just cloak her. Got it?" "Yeah, yeah, I've got it." We closed the back hatch of the Orchid and moved across the land toward the nearest civilization Mite had been aware of. We entered an area with a deep fog... I sensed that we had missed something. A cottage with a nice couple waiting for new travelers. But their story wasn't to intersect with ours. Our destiny was within the gray mist... ~Theater~ ...the gray static dissipated from the theater screen, revealing a man in a top hat and cliche steampunk goggles. "By Renthalia, we've done it!" What even IS Renthalia? the man who was the audience wondered. "We have twisted the very multiverse we find ourselves in!" the man declared - his name eluding the audience. "The Downstreamers have moved their finite multiverse into a truly infinite one! Everything everywhere in every possible reality is at our disposal! Nothing matters! Nothing! Ahahaha!" And then the theater screen revealed that the steampunk man was talking from a holographic television screen. The video paused and zoomed out, showing a much more 'futuristic' setting with a trio of women who represented Downstreamers. "Huh. Meta," the man said through the noises of popcorn. "They were wrong," the lead woman said. "We did not create a truly infinite multiverse." "We didn't? Then... what did we do?" "Found the foundation of all reality," she responded walking gracefully around the holographic screen. "No offense to our originators in metatime, but they made a major mistake. They assumed that they were finding universes when they put more and more energy into it. They were not. They were creating them." "How do you create a universe without knowing it!?" "The Sea of Infinite Possibility," she said, holding up a hand to the sky. "The chance of anything to exist. Drive the proper prerequisites and energy into the nothingness, and a universe is created. Any universe is created. We had utter mastery over our multiversal cluster, but a poor understanding of the true scope of the Sea. We thought the energy was a transformation. It was just a foolish mistake. The multiverse is still finite, we've just created any universe we wanted to encounter." "Well if it's that big of a problem, how did we figure out we were wrong?" "We ran into another dimensional society." The other women gasped. "We would have known about this!" Yeah, they would have. Time was pretty meaningless to them. As were secrets. "It is extremely recent. They are called the Chousin, and what they are is not important. We far outclass them in every way, even though they are apparently one of the higher races in the 'multiverse'. What is important is what we learned from them. The multiverse is finite. We have been confined to our 'local' multiverse purely by a chance lottery in the multiversal connection game. And there is a controlling artifact of the multiverse. The Dark Tower." "The Dark Tower?" "A structure built in metatime immemorial that treats existence like a story." "A story? What does that even mean?" "It means we need to know more," the third woman said. "We need to spread out into this new multiverse and uncover everything we can." The first woman nodded. "Of course. Expansion is expected to be easy, especially since we have uncovered simpler methods of multiversal travel. There are some rumors of higher societies that will take issue to our rapid expansion, but the Chousin have indicated nothing close to our level of domination over our universes." "We must be ready for anything," the second said. "Of course." "Now, we have uncovered a relative map of the multiverse from the Chousin..." The man groaned. Was this recap of a conversation ever going to end...? ~Mother~ ...It never ends!" the mother blurted, venting to her husband. He put his hands together and adjusted his glasses. "Dear, everything ends." "I know that. I know that. I know that." He raised an eyebrow. She sighed, slumping into the couch next to him. "What are we going to do with her?" "Let everything cool off for a while, actually meet this Jadan guy, an-" "Actually meet him!?" "For all we know he's a nice guy and she's been telling him we'll take her away from him. That's basically how my first relationship went." The mother looked at the ceiling. "I suppose I just don't have anything to go off of..." "You are right to be mad. She needed to know that. And she's not going to get off without any scratches. Lying, yelling, disrespect, swearing, deception, oo-ee she's made a long list for us. But if we ruin something that might actually be good for her, that's on us." "Yeah. You're right. That would be on us. But what are we going to do to her that doesn't interfere with her relationship? ...Assuming he's a decent person." "She's still young enough to be grounded. You had a point about that whole tracker thing. Show disrespect, get disrespect in return." "I don't feel comfortable doing that. It... reminds me too much of the past." He sighed. "...I know." "We are parents and sometimes we have to do things that hurt us to help them. I know." She fidgeted with her fingers. "Is that why she's so scared of us?" "Literally any teenager would be scared of their parents' response to a relationship," he pointed out. "We have the power to end it. Any chance of her happiness being taken away is met with the largest NO any human being has to offer. Even if it's not really happiness, she thinks it is." "And so comes the problem. If we have to stop it, she hates us." "And since she's a teenager she doesn't really see how we can agree with her on just about anything." "Rebelllllion," the mother said, holding onto the 'l' as long as she could to make a point she hadn't formed clearly. "I'd prefer it if she was scared because of my eyes." "Your eyes are beautiful." "My eyes are soulless black pits into nothingness." He rolled his eyes. "She's grown up with them. She's used to it." The mother nodded, biting her lip. "She's really gotten to you, hasn't she?" "Of course she has. I don't know how to deal with this." "Here's a secret. I don't really know what to do either." "What was that thing your dad told us? That parenting's one of those things you never get to practice before it happens?" "Something like that." "Everyone has to just figure it out..." she mused. "I think we need to go find her." "I think we need to give her some time before we jump to that." "I'm worried." "As much as you may not want to hear this, she did prove she could take care of herself." The mother put a hand to her face. "Oh. I guess she did come home safe... and had a network to protect her... from us. It's just... she didn't want to involve us." "A lot of her life won't involve us." "Is that always how it works?" "Hm? No, I was rather mild-mannered. But if you'd had a normal childhood you would have definitely done what she's doing." "Gee, thanks." He smirked. "Rebelliousness is attractive." She let out a snort. "What?" "That was dumb." He shrugged. "I have to be dumb sometimes. Balances the scales of existence." "Balance..." the mother shook her head. "She resents us for what we are." "When someone has control over you and you have no choice in the matter, well, most people will take issue with that..." ~Theater~ "...we, the Class 1 societies of the multiverse, have had enough of the Downstreamers!" a 'Scion of the Chousin' said, slamming his staff into the ground. The inaccuracies in this scene are incredible. Most of the individuals in the room didn't need names. The one-man audience knew who they were supposed to represent anyway - Witches' Senate, Hadou, the Watchers, Yggdrasil, the Abstracts, the Fey Web, and the Chousin. Going through them in his head, the Witches' Senate was pointless, the Hadou were living universe-concepts with a tendency for drama, the Watchers were known to 'watch time' and not do much else, Yggdrasil was a horrendous mess of various gods of polytheistic sorts who were known for breaking their area of the multiverse something fierce, the Abstracts were deified ideals from their home universes, the Fay Web was so hateful of definition they changed their entire "society" every few weeks, and the Chousin... Well, they were a trio of gods in reality. Apparently the makers of Downstreamers hadn't managed to figure that out. Instead they were represented by an indeterminate number of people in fancy red robes. The only one they had gotten right was the Abstracts. But that made sense - the Abstracts were the only ones still around in any significant capacity. He shook his head - focusing back on the deliberation. The 'Chousin's' declaration had sent the Seats into an uproar. Seven Class 1s, two Class 2s that were basically worthless, and an empty seat because the Downstreamers weren't invited to this meeting. Not that the 'multiversal overlords' would have cared if they were asked to come. "I SAY WE BAND TOGETHER AND OVERTHROW THEM!" a Hadou shouted. "They control everything. It is only a matter of time before they decide we need to be brushed aside!" "Think for a moment, idiot," a Yggdrasil god spoke - probably supposed to be Zeus. "Even if we banded together, what can we do? They've made the Spline bend to their will, reinforced the Strands, and indicated an ability to know everything happening in every universe live as it happens. They've achieved mastery of psychohistory and other esoteric sciences, blending them with the powers spirit, arcane, and eldritch. The only thing they have not demonstrated control over is the Dark Tower itself! Even together, we do not have that capability!" "There are those among us who do," a Watcher said. "The Chousin and Abstracts have among them beings worthy of the title 'God'." This caused an uproar among Yggdrasil and the Hadou, since they liked to be considered deities as well. "Silence," a 'Chousin' said. "You may speak the truth. But have you considered what the cost would be to remove them from us?" "IT WOULD ALL BE WORTH IT!" the Hadou blurted. "It would not," the Living Tribunal said. The man watching was impressed that the film company had gone out of the way to remove his neck from all shots - at least that was accurate. "Destroying all that life would be against all we stand for. The Downstreamers are not brutal. They are simply indifferent." "We should just live our lives," one of the nameless Class 2s said. "They may have a presence in every universe, but what does that even mean to us? There's a little beacon that constantly takes readings and gives them omnipotent knowledge. They could shape universes and destroy all life within, but they make universes with such ease and precision they will just create whatever they want to use themselves. They've never conquered any of us." "But they own almost every universe in existence," a Hadou pointed out - this one portrayed by a muscular man with a handlebar mustache. "But we own our universes." The Living Tribunal sighed. "There can be joint ownership. The Downstreamers, for all their power, only want their omnipotence machines to work. They could care less what we do so long as we don't try to remove them. The only reason you have such a bad history with them is because you were willing to go to the brink of extinction to keep survey equipment out of your worlds." "They are a threat," a Watcher said. "Do not discount them. They may have a regard for life and a modicum of respect for our existence, but they will soon run out of ways to expand their knowledge. There will come a point where their omnipotence is absolute. At which point they will ask themselves how they can progress further, much like the Builders themselves." "The One Above All has true omnipotence," a Chousin said. "Limited by the Dark Tower!" a Yggdrasil god retorted - Sleipnir, given the horse-like appearance. "Neither He nor the Downstreamers can see what it blots out." "Which brings me to my point," the Watcher continued. "They will come to the point where the Dark Tower is the only obstacle in their way. They will try to control it. One of the only reasons we tolerate the Dark Tower's power over us is due to its truly neutral nature - none control it. If the Downstreamers were to uncover its secrets..." "The paradox would prevent that," a Chousin pointed out. "There is no power that can override the paradox of Roland." The man munched on his popcorn. That's right, at least. I would know if it wasn't the case. "I did not say they would destroy it. I said control it. Find out how to get to the room at the top and stay there." "A danger!" Hadou said. "A tremendous danger! No one should have that power!" "The Tower was built to be controlled by no one," the Watcher said. "If one were to try and succeed... it would be disastrous." The Living Tribunal folded his arms. "Let us say you are right. Realistically, what can we do?" "FIGHT!" "You are the most militaristic of all of our worlds, and you lost your war with them," the Living Tribunal pointed out. "Your Gods," the Watcher said. The Chousin nodded. "We are ready to devote ourselves to the fight." "I AM NOT." The man facepalmed - they gave the One Above All a stupidly big and self-important voice. Then they had gone all super-special-effects on His body, making Him nearly impossible to look at. And they made Him the center of attention. That was definitely not how He worked. "I TELL YOU RIGHT NOW, THERE WILL BE NO WAR AGAINST THE DOWNSTREAMERS," the One Above All continued. "IT IS NOT JUST." "Says who!?" "ME," the One Above All Said. "YOU MAY FIGHT THEM AS YOU WISH. BUT THE AID OF THE ABSTRACTS WILL NOT BE BESTOWED TO YOU. IT WOULD NOT BE A HOLY WAR." "Then you will be taken out after the Downstreamers." "YOU WILL NOT DEFEAT THE DOWNSTREAMERS. EVEN IF I ASSISTED YOU, IT WOULD NOT HAPPEN." There was silence in the room. "...There's really nothing we can do?" a Class 2 asked. "NO, MY CHILD. THERE IS NOT." "But what do we do if they go the way of the Builders? What i-" "THEN WE STRIVE TO DO WHAT THE WEAVERS COULD NOT - ADAPT AND SURVIVE..." ~Tower~ "...Weaver? Is that suppos't mean something to me?" Roland asked. "Not to you. Others, perhaps," the voice said. "Then explain what it means." Weaver sighed. "Already jumping to threats and violence against an 'opponent' you can't even see. I thought you were better than that, gunslinger." "Forgive me if I'm not very trusting at the moment." "You are certainly forgiven. As is Patrick, who is furiously trying to think of what I might look like so he can use his abilities on me. The white pillar in the center of this room would prevent that from working even if you could see me." Patrick twitched, taking a few steps back. Roland pointed his gun at the pillar. "That won't do anything." "Ka might have other plans." "...Perhaps. Failing to take that into consideration was always our weakness..." He paused. "An explanation. You know who built the Tower?" "Gan," Roland replied. "Yes. Gan. He was a member of a society known as the Builders. He was simply the leader in charge of the project." Roland didn't find this necessarily surprising, but he wasn't sure if it was accurate. He didn't particularly care. "And what does that have to do with you?" "I was part of a society that was the Builders' neighbors. The Weavers. Or the Weaver, now. I am the last." Roland's expression tightened. He was certainly the last as well. "Your world moved on?" Roland asked. "Worlds didn't 'move on' before the Tower," Weaver said. "And when they started to... We didn't know how to compensate. We fell because of the Tower's new control. Despite all our power; all our love for tying worlds together into brilliant art... We could not understand existence under the new rules. I still do not get the 'heroes', the 'villains', or the 'Prophets'. Nothing. It's all alien. I only survive by luck and ingenuity of friends long gone." Roland lowered the gun. "This... white thing?" "It is our attempt to create our own Tower. Since you are here, it is clearly ineffective. I had wished to avoid your entire quest." "Your door had other plans." There was soft laughter. "The door is an inanimate object, Roland of Gilead. It cannot have plans." "Ka," was all Roland said. Weaver paused. Then he sighed. "Maybe it can... Maybe it can... It's been eternity since the Tower was built. And still, still, I am fooled by what I am sure are the simplest of 'narrative puzzles'." Roland holstered his gun. "Do you know enough that you understand we are here for a reason?" "Yes. Though for what reason I do not know. I could supply you with weapons, but in a conflict against the Crimson King I doubt that would do much good. You already have your real weapon with you." Roland glanced at Patrick and nodded in understanding. The boy was drawing something fiercely. Roland looked at the pad, finding it to be nothing but gibberish. "Do you wonder what he sees?" Weaver asked. "You can see?" "Minds are open books to me," Weaver said. This was no surprise to Roland - it was how Weaver had introduced himself. "What goes on in there?" "Flashes of reality. Images of things far away. Memories of the trauma. His mind is undergoing many flashes right now. He sees... I think the reason you are here. But I cannot decipher that image. I am uncertain if he can either." Roland furrowed his brow. "Maybe we're here to talk to you. To know you. The last of your kind, a ghost from before existence." "...Possibly." There was silence for a moment. "Or perhaps you are just meant to get back on your quest." Roland shook his head. "It can wait." "The Dark Tower isn't going anywhere." "It never does. We'll return when called..." ~Harlequin~ ...Dimitri and Thea returned from their latest escapade, appearing in the top floor of the megalith. Dimitri picked Thea up in a swirl and kissed her, the two unable to stop laughing. Thea looked much like she had when Dimitri first found her, but Dimitri had swapped out his farmer's getup for slick performer's gloves and a purple-black hat with three tassels. "You're mad!" Thea told Dimitri, punching him in the shoulder. "You could have gotten us killed!" "Ah, but like a bear in the winter, it was all a ruse! A plot to obtain the Alamala!" "And we didn't get the Alamala. We ran." Dimitri opened up his gloved hand and revealed a golden handle. "Voila." "...No. Way." "Ahahahahaha!" Dimitri used his dimension-bending powers to teleport the handle into the air so he could catch it dramatically in his other hand. With a thought, the handle became a glowing golden sword. Then a shovel. Then a chainsaw. Then a mishmash of broken bones. A pattern of rectangles. And, finally, a seeder. "...What's that?" Dimitri tapped the ground with the tool. "A farming tool. One designed to be run across the ground and deposit seeds." He shifted it to a miniature plow. "And this also provides a plow..." "Dimitri, what devilish plan are you coming up with?" "You still have the Orb of Orbona, correct?" Thea nodded, pulling out an orb of green magic. "Right here." "Good." He looked down. "It's time to show them what I've been doing with my banishment." Thea smirked. "Are you sure it's time?" "It's definitely time. I'm going to save them all. And then they'll see. "They'll all see." He didn't bother walking down the megalith. With a snap of his fingers, the two of them were at ground level. "Have I ever said how much I love the megalith's power?" "Only every day." "It seems as though I am a parrot - woe is me!" Dimitri said, chuckling. He took her outside, showing her the rolling hills and blue sky of his world. "Huh." "Yeah, it's boring," Dimitri said. His face twitched as everything flashed dark for a moment. "But it's not going to be for much longer. Everyone should be hard at work in the fields. Time to blow their miniscule minds." He let out a laugh. With a quick teleport, he was at the edge of his parents' farm. He transformed the Alamala into the miniature plow and started plowing perfect lines in soil that hadn't ever been treated before. Thea began to use the orb to generate seeds from an apple she had in her pocket. Every time Dimitri finished a row, he teleported back to the front and started cutting more lines into the ground. He decided ten furrows in the earth would be enough to get his point across. He teleported the seeds from Thea and began depositing them in the ground. The Alamala made a several-hour job take all of three minutes. Soon, all the seeds were in the ground, ready to be grown at Thea's command. Dimitri looked up. He could see his parents glancing at him nervously - but they continued working endlessly on the farm, refusing to give away any of their work. The only true audience he had was the Chief. She must have known something was up, somehow. "Why are you back?" she demanded. "I'm going to put on a little show, if you don't mind," Dimitri said, grinning. "I do mind." "Don't care. And, technically, I'm not even on your land! Look at this! BORDER field! Skirting the line as a skimmer does water. I have not set a single toe back in my father's field." "Woo!" Thea said. The Chief glanced at Thea with a confused expression, but decided not to worry about it. "I don't want you in my sight. Get out." "But, Chief! I've figured out how to solve your hunger problem!" With a snap of his fingers, he summoned a megaphone into existence. "DID YOU HEAR THAT!? I, DIMITRI, HAVE SOLVED YOUR HUNGER PROBLEM!" The Chief stared at the sudden existence of the megaphone, concern crossing her features. Good. She's already beginning to realize how wrong she was. Having her grovel will just be icing on the cake of this amazing day. "DO ANY OF YOU WANT TO SEE IT!? DO YOU!?" Dimitri shouted. "COME ON, DON'T BE SHY! IF I DON'T PRODUCE THE FOOD I'LL DO ALL THE WORK YOU MISSED FOR YOU!" This got a small crowd to start forming. A couple dozen - mostly the children who had looked up to Dimitri. He grinned. "I'm going to show all of you what I've done." The Chief stepped forward. "You have interfered in th-" "Thea? If you will." Thea lifted the Orb of Orbona into the air. It covered the field in green light - and in five seconds fully grown apple trees popped out of the ground, all ripe with rich red fruit. He took one off the tree, ate it, and grinned. "I could make an infinite number of these. I used my mind to find these powers in the megalith. I, the one you shunned, have solved all your problems!" He grinned holding the apple high. All of them - the Chief, his parents, the adults, and the children - stared at him with blank expressions... ~Merodi~ ...Pinkie Pie stared into nothingness - which was basically all she could stare into these days. "Oh, so we're doing odd synchronicities today? Fun." The current pilot of the Austraeoh turned back to look at her. "Uh... Captain?" "We've been added to the story. Well, I have, you're still just the pilot. Sorry, they don't even know your name." "...Oh." "It's Nora, by the way, dear readers." "Thanks," the pilot told Pinkie. "Eh, if you saw what had just happened, you wouldn't thank me." She cleared her throat. "Anyway... Four... Three... Two... One..." Corona, Eve, and Allure teleported onto the bridge. Pinkie unleashed her party cannon. "WELCOME ABOARD the S. S. PINKIE EXPRESS! Journeying across the multiverse in the Austraeoh since last month! Going out for one more jaunt to the D-Sphere before wrapping it up and giving O'Neill his ship back!" she winked. "Though that's been put on hold for your very important mission." Eve nodded. "Right. Do you know?" "Read it all!" Pinkie said with a salute. "Shame that you didn't come to me first." "I assumed tha-" "Shhhh, it's all good! This means Allure gets to come along!" Pinkie pulled the small unicorn into the hug. "All four of us are here!" "Four?" Allure blinked. "Why four?" "The main focuses of most chapters," Pinkie explained. "I mean, there's been a few O'Neill and Starbeat chapters, plus people in my team, but mostly us. We are the protagonists! All together on a single mission!" She squeed. "Kinda wish I could see what my team and Pidge are up to right now, but eh, guess that's just gonna be a mystery." "Anything we should know?" Corona asked. "About the story so far." Pinkie rubbed the back of her head. "Well... There's a bit of a mess here. See, we're just one of eight stories being thrown around all willy-nilly this time around. One's about the gunslinger, the other's a theater production about the Downstreamers, the third's about some guy named Dimitri I have no clue about, the fourth's some historian related to the Xeelee, the fifth's about Nanoha's original journey, the sixth's about Twilence's journey on the Nexus, and the eighth... I can't place it." "So we're the seventh?" Eve asked. "There's a story in the relative future!?" Pinkie nodded. "Yep. And it wants to be really vague. The protagonist is only called 'the mother!' I mean, who does that!? For all I know it's one of us! Nah, it's not, but I have no idea where to place it or how it relates to us." "Eight stories..." Allure thought. "Is that number... significant?" "Largest number GM could stick in without feeling overwhelmed?" Pinkie suggested with a shrug. "I have no idea. It's still happening and I don't have any idea about the future. I'm just making guesses. By the way, I just need some authorizations to activate the ka-twister-device-thingies and we can be on our way." Eve and Corona nodded, using their authority as Relations Overhead and Research Second to remove the restrictions of the Austraeoh's ka-manipulating systems. A million warnings spread across every screen on the ship. Despite this, Corona told Raging Sights to feed the information into the Austraeoh's database. Allure bit her lip. "O'Neill's not going to be happy about us using his ship like this, is he?" "Nope!" Pinkie said with a giggle. "But now we have an advantage - we can twist our luck to find the untraceable!" "What Alushy would call 'complete bullshit'," Corona said. "And what the Flowers would call 'primitive'." "Isn't this basically what they did to find the Collector?" Allure asked. Corona nodded. "More or less. Though if there's as much of a maze of universes to get through as the Collector had, this is going to be a pain." "Let's see!" Pinkie said, pointing a hoof forward. "Oh great computer, where to?" The computer spat out a set of coordinates to a universe they had never been to. Or had even discovered. Completely new territory. "Onward!" Pinkie declared. The Austraeoh jumped universes to another Q-Sphere universe not all that far away. The computer ran the numbers again, processing where to go next. "Aaaand this isn't going to be instant," Pinkie said, leaning back in the Captain's chair. "Guess it's going to take a while." Corona shrugged. "No problem. We've got time." Allure simply nodded. "Wow. Guess we really have to go on this one, huh?" Pinkie asked. "Wonder what's at the end of this rainbow..." "Whatever it is, it's not in the Q-Sphere," Corona said, pointing at the multiversal map. They had jumped two more universes, and were already on the border with the Strands. "A Strand Outpost conspiracy, maybe?" "A trap?" Allure wondered. "If it was a trap they could just take us," Eve muttered. "If they can get Arceus, they can get us." "Ka may be on our side," Corona pointed out. Eve shook her head. "Twilence would be able to defend against that. ...Unless she wanted to be captured." She rubbed the base of her horn. "...I don't think I realized how much I depend on being able to talk to her about herself. She's never really... consistent. Or sensical." "And there we are," Corona said. "Out of the Q-Sphere..." ~Grand Tour~ ...and the Horizon is finally in the 'Q-Sphere'. The crew is ecstatic - though none more than Rarity herself. I may be glad that I'll get to fulfill my promise soon, but she's going to be home soon. I can only hope it hasn't been too long for her world. We've been flying for years... and the extreme levels of time dilation we have seen in this journey make us all worried. Will the TSAB be anything like we remember when we return? What about our families? ...These are not questions I like asking. I have already promised that, once we find Rarity's home, we will cut across the Strands the 'standard' way to get home quickly. The Horizon was not designed for portal-based travel, but it will be significantly faster to take a highway than slowly drift through the Sea. But we have to find her home first. We have barely entered the Q-Sphere and haven't even found any pony worlds yet! That must come first. ...Raising Heart has just informed me the first pony world we find could be hers, but somehow I doubt that. Until then, we'll just keep moving on. Now would be a good time to look back at our journey this far, I think. We've made a lot of friends along the way, telling them how to get to the TSAB. We could never stay long, but I'm certain many of them have made it back to the TSAB and started forming together. There's even talk of forming a Q-Sphere 'chapter' of the TSAB separate from our home so our new friends will have a place to go. The crew is split on this - it'll inevitably create an entity separate from our TSAB, but I don't mind that. We don't have to all be under one power, so long as we all share an ideal. I think it'll be great. It remains to be seen if we'll do it. But that's the future, not the past! The past has been great too! We spent a lot of the time in what we now know is the E-Sphere, getting completely lost. But we made friends, established relations with a few multiversal societies, and got some idea of where we were going. Not enough to take the Strands highways the short way, but we got to see a lot more by taking the long route. We spent only a short time in the Cosmic Heavens - the Abstracts were kind enough to guide us through to the D-Sphere. Great people, even if they could squash us like bugs. ...We didn't leave the ship much while we traveled through the D-Sphere, since we didn't develop physics-anchoring magitech until near the end of our time there. And then there was Outer Existence. I... ...Well it was interesting to see how magic in many different universes was made! It was not nice to be told we were basically worthless mages, though. I got to show a few of them what I was capable of, but I was dismissed as a 'hero'. ...Expect another report on what that means later. ...Much later. Because the conclusions I'm coming to are making me think I'm going crazy. No matter what Raising Sights tells me, I'm still going to question it. Regardless, we've picked up many new crew members over the years. We've lost a few people, but gained many more. Nano has grown into quite the capable young woman. I now see what my superiors felt when they saw me. She's simultaneously a great weapon... but also a human being. A human being who, because of this journey, did not retain her innocence as long as I did. It's interesting to see a slightly harsher version of myself wandering around. How much of that is due to my presence I'm not sure. It is hard on her, but she enjoys her life. Subaru and Ginga are good as always. Vita hasn't changed at all this entire journey. Signum actually got married. I still can't believe that. Takes forever to process... I wonder if Hayate's gotten married? If she has a family? ...I wonder how Fate's doing. I've been here a long time. I may be surrounded by friends, but there is something to be said for home. The Horizon has never been a home for me. It's just a vessel. A vessel with a great mission - a mission to return someone home. I think that this journey has allowed me to truly understand what Rarity has gone through. The feeling of such extreme distance from home. It's a horrible feeling, even when you know you'll get back... What if we couldn't get back... ~Twilence~ "...how long have you been trapped here in this Nexus again?" Creek asked. Rev sat under the main altar of her church, looking up with a forlorn expression, silent. We were in the town of Lest, a ghost village filled with a misty haunted aura. The only inhabitants were Rev, the members of her church, and the undead skeleton David. Vriska was currently outside, talking to David while Creek and I talked to Rev. I saw great importance in Rev. I saw her become part of that which I would be part of some day, Songs of the Spheres. She would be the spiritual component. One to bring up topics that normally wouldn't. A traveler of a different sort. "Twelve years," Rev said, finally. "I was taken from my Equestria twelve years ago. Ended up here when it was a fully fledged civilization. Father Berton took me in and showed me the Light of the Word. And then..." She looked through the windows at the fog, imagining the sackcloth monsters prowling around outside. "...and then they came. The sackcloth puppets, a plague on the whole world. Destroying everything. Killing everything. ...I have been in charge of this church for seven of those years." "A terrible story, Reverend," I said, bowing my head in respect. "Why do you not go to the city?" "To Rome? ...This place is too important to me. To us." She lit her horn. "I have the power to keep everything running, and the monsters never attack the church. I can keep us alive. I just..." her eternally sad face deepened considerably. "I just wish he was still around. There are so many things I would have liked to ask him." Creek put a hand on her. "We all have things we want to ask our mentors that... we don't get to. There's always lost time somewhere." Rev nodded. "Life is short. We are but grains of sand on an eternal beach." Creek nodded. "Exactly." "I am truly sorry you've ended up here. You should head to Rome. There's nothing for you here. You can enjoy your lives. Being stuck in this universe isn't as bad as most people who come through here think it'll be." I smiled. "I know that." I also know that you'll leave once the demons are gone, find the Dark Tower, and escape. You'll work through your personal difficulties first - slowly. But you'll come out of this stronger than ever before. "Where did the sackcloth monsters come from?" Creek asked. Rev shrugged. "I do not know. They appeared, the mist came in, Father Berton..." "They got him? I'm sorry..." "I don't know. He... he just vanished one day. I always knew it could happen, given the danger of what he did - demon expulsion - but it was so sudden." Creek pulled Rev into a hug. "You'll get to see him again one day, right?" Rev smiled sadly. "Yes. But you don't believe that." "You do. You can use it as a comfort." Rev nodded. "...Thanks." The two of them left the embrace. "You're welcome to stay the night. I can give you food and supplies for your journey." I smiled. "Thanks. But we have our own supplies. We can make it to Rome." "You certainly have the power to fend the beasts off. Maybe you could replace Rome's defense towers." "Defense towers?" Creek asked. Rev nodded. "There's tall towers all around Rome, from what I hear. They shoot any monster that gets close, keeping them out of the city. Even the dinosaur ones." Creek blinked. "Dinosaur?" "Dinosaur." "Dinosaur," I affirmed. "Don't worry, I can take care of them. And so can Vriska." Rev forced a smile. "Well... I wish you luck." I glanced at Vriska. "We'll take it." Creek shook her head in mild disapproval. We went outside to Vriska and David. "I do a lot of thinking out here, you know?" David was saying. Vriska blinked, glazed over. "Uh-huh..." "So, you see, there's a b- oh HELLO!" "Oh thank gog," Vriska said, leaping up to Creek and myself. "So what are we doing?" I smiled at David. "Sorry, private conversation." "No issue, no issue," David said, tipping his hat. "I'll just get back to my pacing..." I waved friendly at him. "What's the conspiracy in Rome with those towers and the demons?" Creek asked me. "Not even prefacing it this time?" I ribbed. "It's clear that's what's going on." "Crystal," Mite interjected. I stretched my wings. "Well, yeah. It's somewhat simple, actually. Father Berton was exorcising demons, and one in particular was proving to be difficult. He failed to get rid of it completely, and it took him over - discovering its power as a true puppetmaster creature. It had the ability to transform life into horrendous sackcloth monsters. Simple enough, right?" "There's something with Rome." "Rome's a lie," I said. "It's not a safe haven. The demon runs the place from the sidelines, advertising the city as a safe haven. He really just wants power." Vriska smirked. "Ah, so we've found out who we need to beat up." "Bingo. We take the demon out, free this world of its sackcloth plague, and tell the world of the lie of Rome. It could be a great mystery that took eons to solve - but I would kinda like to not leave Rarity hanging. So we're going to dust through this one." Creek smiled. "I suppose I can go one adventure without doing any actual detective work. I won't be very helpful with the guns-blazing approach, though..." "Psh, you sell yourself short. You're going to be the one who takes him out! I can see it!" "Amazing," Mite said. "It's the benefit of forbidden knowledge," Vriska said... ~Historian~ ....the Prognosticus contained a lot of forbidden knowledge. The first indication the sub-tribe had was with the creation of Pixls. (I need a name for the sub-tribe in this era, even though they don't have one. Perhaps I should name it after myself. Or would that be too arrogant?) A scientist known to us as Narvarim created the magitek entities with information from the Prognosticus involving souls, magic, and purpose. These Pixls allowed the sub-tribe to create vast cities, becoming the tools of the physically weak people. (Quite a time it must have been when we were physically weak. So glad this isn't the current era.) This was the height of our people's power, but there was a fatal flaw in the system. The first Pixl, the Queen Pixl, eventually became horrified with the way her people were treated as tools with no rights. So she led a rebellion. The Pixl Uprising was a horrid part of our history, spanning several worlds... ...the war ended with all but one of the original Pixl wielders dead. Most Pixls had fallen as well. This last Pixl wielder was known as Desan. After the final battle with the Queen Pixl where he lost almost all of his friends and family, he met with the creator of this whole problem, Navarim. (Problem? Word choice.) Navarim revealed what Pixls actually were - the souls of the dying transformed into another state, used as components in the creations. Desan was understandably horrified by this revelation. (Reasonably). Navarim claimed that he had never taken a life to make a Pixl, merely taken advantage of those who were already lost. Desan didn't care. Navarim was executed on the spot for crimes against the tribes. (Serves the bastard right.) Desan took the Prognosticus and hid it away so none would ever be able to use the words inside it for such horrible things again. He didn't tell anyone - the worlds believed the book had just vanished after the events. There were many angered that the book could not be used to uncover new secrets, but all accepted it with time. This was the beginning of the division within the sub-tribe. As their power was suddenly taken away from them in the Pixl Uprising, two distinct patterns of thought began to emerge. There were those who held to ideals of harmony and nature, refusing to strengthen themselves to make up for the loss of Pixls. The other sought power for themselves to adapt - led by Desan. Thus the divisions we all know today were created. The Tribe of Ancients and the Tribe of Darkness. They existed alongside each other for some five hundred years. It slowly became a tense standoff, but there was no chance of violence or hatred. Only idealistic division. And then the Tribe of Darkness discovered something horrendous within the Prognosticus, a prophecy that set the clock ticking for all their worlds... ~Mother~ "...time's up," the mother said, standing up. "I'm going to find her." Her husband nodded. "...It has been too long. Good luck." She pecked him on the cheek. "I'll need it." She walked out of the house and tried to call Osanna. Of course, she didn't pick up. That wasn't surprising, but it had been worth a shot. As she walked along the trees and toward the city proper, she made several calls - first to Osanna's friends, asking them if they knew where she was. They were annoyingly unhelpful... "She's not at home?" "I've been trying to reach her all day." "I think I saw her in town at the Grover Mall? Not sure though." "I... I... I don't know! Please don't bring my mom into this again!" "Psh, I'm not her keeper. Who cares where she is?" "I would say she's with Jadan, but I haven't exactly seen him around either..." "This is Jadan. Please leave a message after the beep." "Oh, so the sea witch is calling me about her daughter? Funny. Real funny." "...I saw her." The mother almost hung up by reflex. "Wait, what? Susan, you did?" "Yeah. Seventh marketplace. She was with some guy I didn't recognize. I was a bit busy wrangling my kids, so by the time I looked back..." "Thanks. That's all I need." The mother hung up and looked around. She was in the city now. The seventh marketplace was a fair distance away... Who cared if she always walked everywhere? For all she knew, time could be of the essence. She stepped onto a public teleporter terminal and appeared right in the middle of the marketplace. This particular one had been going for a natural aesthetic - trees seemingly growing out of the brown brick ground, the entire square surrounded by a red ring of roses. As usual for a marketplace there were a ton of stands and people shouting everywhere. She ignored them all. She walked up to a pair of stands she knew. One contained a raptor who sold boots of all shapes and sizes, while the other was Seskii's potion shop. "Mr. Raven," the mother said. "Have you seen Osanna?" Mr. Raven blinked his reptilian eyes, putting a claw to his chin. "Hrm... I can't say I have." Seskii coughed. "I have. She was here with Jadan. He tried to buy what I'm going to call an 'enjoyment brew'. I of course told him no - he'd misuse it - then he blows his lid and takes her off that direction." "Thanks." She moved to follow the trail. "You won't be able to find him like that. This is a big city. You'll just lose them." The mother clenched her fingers. "What do you recommend then? That's the only lead I have!" Mr. Raven chuckled. "Seskii has more sources than just memory. I find it surprising that you don't know about that." Seskii tapped her head. "I can still see the story." The mother stared at her. "Right... Seskii. Where are they?" "You'll have to go talk to Jadan's family to find that one out," Seskii said. A sinking feeling hit the mother like a rock in her stomach. "The Emersons..." She put a hand to the bridge of her nose and sighed. "They're not going to help..." "They will. If you can put up with them." "They're not going to put up with me." Seskii leaned in on her potion stand and raised an eyebrow. "I know, I know, I'll do it. But can't you just tell me where she is?" Seskii shook her head. "I don't know. I'm not Twilence. But I know that's where you have to go. So shuffle off to Buffalo, seize the day!" The mother nodded - then ran off. Toward the Emerson residence. She began to go over exactly how she was going to give them a piece of her mind... ~Harlequin~ "...what evil have you brought us, Dimitri!?" his father shouted. Dmitri forced his smile to hold. "EVIL!?" "You have brought back the bane of the empire!" he shouted. "Old man, how do we have any idea what actually destroyed the empire!?" "Records," the Chief said. "Records that aren't important to our life but tell us never to chance it again." "You build your house out of remnants you hypocrite!" "And you are no longer Dimitri," his father said, holding his spade like a weapon. Thea twitched. "Hey! He's still your son, judgmental ass!" "And you..." the Chief looked at her with a steeled expression. "You are not one of us. You are not welcome." "Screw that, he's one of you! He's been out exploring, looking for a way to save you all!" "We work on our own!" "You idiots!" Dimitri shouted. "Winter gets worse and worse every year. You're struggling to produce enough crops. To keep your way of life sacred and sanctified, you blame the lower yield on the 'immature' who 'don't work like they should'. That has nothing to do with it! No matter how hard you work, eventually the winter will destroy you!" He held his hand wide. "I'm giving you a way to save yourselves!" "At the price of total destruction!" Dimitri tossed the Alamala away. "Even if you were right about this tool, that green orb over there? It only knows how to grow! It is a seed of beauty in a midst of destruction. It makes life." "You could grow a tree in someone's house and kill them instantly," the Chief said. "It is but a small taste of the horrors that eventually brought the empire down! All because people got creative with how they used their tools." "Oh, is that it!?" Dimitri shouted. "Ahahahaha - oh if only I'd known it was my creativity that set me apart! That would have made so much sense!" He hit himself in the head and rolled his eyes. "It's like a fish falling from the sky. Behold, the natural order!" "You are not the natural order," his father spat. "You are a mutant who should never have been born." "Ahahahaha if I had a nickel for every time I'd heard that!" They looked at him in confusion, no idea what a nickel was. Dimitri smirked. "Look at that, they don't understand. They don't see. You imbeciles. It's either this, or a slow painful death over the next generation!" The children had begun to look frightened. The Chief decided this meant enough was enough. She drew her sword - one of the few real weapons in the settlement. "Dimitri, or whatever you've become, leave. Or we will be forced to remove you." Thea laughed. "Oh wow, they think they can take you." "How unfortunate." Dimitri snapped his fingers and the Chief's sword broke in half. Dimitri's father charged him with a shovel, leading a charge of several other adults. Dimitri snapped his other fingers, removing all of their weapons from their hands. He specifically had his father's shovel smack him in the head, knocking him to the ground. "You can't make me leave," Dimitri said with a smirk. "I'm going to show you how wrong you all are and you can't do anything about it." "What have you done with my son!?" his mother shouted. This was the first thing that actually cut Dimitri. His eternal smile faltered. "...Mom..." "Dimitri would never do this! Dimitri would never give in to the dr-" "My dreams have nothing to do with this!" Dimitri spat. Images of fire, the megaliths joined together with harmonious light, and the Tower pushed through his mind. He ignored every last one of them. A splitting headache formed. "This is my choice!" His mother backed away from him, afraid. "Dimitri... If it is still your choice. Leave. Don't come back. Don't destroy us." That did it. Something snapped inside Dimitri. "Heh... Heheheh.... HeheheehheHAH!" He slung his arm around Thea and pointed a joking finger at all of them. "Guess what? I choose to stay. I choose to give you everything you need. You don't get a choice in the matter." The Chief glared at Dimitri. "You think you bring us aid. But you only taint the water." "You know what, everyone but you gets to experience my boon. I know a world with giant shadow monsters. Thea's actually from there, you know? Horrid place." He snapped his fingers, giving the Chief back a fully-repaired sword. "Ciao." With a second snap, he sent her to the other world. Everyone gasped. "I'm the chief now! And I say that you all can stop working!" He tossed apples at them. "We've got food for eternity. We are now birds in the sky, free of our shackles!" He spread his arms wide, grinning. No one smiled back. Most were trembling in fear. The children were crying. Dimitri shrugged. "You'll learn to accept this in time. Come, Thea, let's explore our new house." Thea clapped her hands. "Great!" The two of them vanished, taking over the now-empty house of the Chief. Dimitri walked up to the big chair the Chief had used to listen to complaints, sitting down on it. "How's it feel to be king?" Thea asked. "Like it's how things should be... I can shape this world to the way of perfection. Perhaps I can become even more than a king, with time..." ~Tower~ "...the Crimson King is your last enemy," Weaver said. Roland nodded, finding that no words were needed in his response. "Do you know what he is?" "...Son of Arthur Eld and the Crimson Queen." "True. But it doesn't truly encapsulate what he is. Tell me, what do you think his goal is?" "Destroy the Dark Tower and unleash the demons of Prim kept at bay. Weaver, why the questions?" "I'm getting your mind into the right place. You are mostly correct in what you know, but you don't know the whole story. Think of what you have learned here. If I come from before the Dark Tower, and the demons of Prim are often cited as coming from 'outside' the creation, what does that mean they are?" Roland didn't dignify that with a response. "...I see you already understand. The demons of Prim are simply beings like myself, though even less capable of coping with the change. Ones shifted to tell stories of unfathomable cosmic horror. A truly detestable fate." Roland raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to tell me he has pure motives?" "Oh, no, his goal of destroying the Dark Tower would not return them to the way of old, they would simply be able to unleash their horror without the Tower's limitations. They would be able to devour most everything, no matter what the Weaver creations have to say about it. There's nothing that could stop them, now." Roland nodded. "But that's not a problem anymore." "No. You stopped his destruction of the beams. And when you ascend the Dark Tower, the mistakes of the Imperium will be rectified." "I thought you didn't understand ka?" "I can understand what your purpose is," Weaver said. "I can see readings on you other than ka. Time bends around you in a unique way, unlike all others. I know h-" "Don't say," Roland said. "I'm not meant to know." "...If that is what you believe. Perhaps what happens in the Tower is private. I have considered entering it myself, you understand. It is possible I will try once my work is complete. Perhaps not." "If you're askin' me, I say don't do it. The journey does things to you." "There have been many who have sought out the Dark Tower, Roland. Not all suffer as you do." Roland had no response to this. Weaver didn't say anything either. Patrick continued scribbling in his book. "Weaver, what is your work? What are you doing as the last of your kind?" "You could say I have my own Tower to get to - but it is less of a physical journey and more the task of a manager. ...Bad metaphor. I need to stop trying to take ka into account... ~Twilence~ ...I made a huge mistake. I had forgotten the possibility of ka manipulation shrouding my vision. We knew exactly who the enemy was - a demon by the name of Polymarchus who had founded Rome right after the sackcloth demons appeared. We knew he was using the body of Father Berton and hiding behind an army of carefully controlled puppets. So we broke into his private residence with the plans of taking him on directly. I saw him falling to our hands easily. He was just a demon in an old man's body with a few sackcloth monsters doing his bidding. It would take a couple minutes, but he would fall, we would free the city, and we would end the sackcloth plague. That's not what happened. Because one of the beings he had turned into a sackcloth monster was a Flower. And since I hadn't been aware of that until this very moment, that ruined everything. The four of us had walked into Polymarchus' 'estate', ready for anything except him knowing we were coming. We broke through the doors to his central room. His estate had a dark aesthetic due to the deep blue material the building was made of and the sharp spires adorning the building, giving it a mixture of futuristic and gothic elements. This particular room was circular and had screens all along every wall, showing many different locations across the planet. The bus-sized flower was suspended in midair in the center of the room. Its leaves and petals were made entirely of sackcloth and numerous wires snaked out from its body and into nearby screens, where several lines of 'story' were written at a time, feeding off the Flower's power. No doubt it had a Flower ka-shaping device inside of it somewhere. Polymarchus was standing right under the flower. He wore a hat made of white straw and a robe of similar materials. I knew his body wasn't fully organic, but from this angle nobody could tell that there was cotton and stuffing mixed with his blood. Mite and Creek were captured instantly. The Flower had known exactly where they would appear. Mite was encased in a power-draining field. "DANGER!" he shouted. "RUuuuuun-n-n-n___" his voice glitched out as he reverted to his dormant state. Creek was encased in a pair of black, magical bands. She gasped in sharp pain and fell to her knees - trembling. Vriska readied her dice. "Fucking assho-" "Don't!" I said, holding up a wing. "Creek has death bracelets!" "Good horn," Polymarchus said, smirking. "I see you've uncovered the little trap I've put you in. At any moment, with a mere thought, Mite and Creek will be dead. For now, they live. And they will stay that way if you do what I want. And you know I'm telling the truth." "You can have your Flower alter that truth at any moment," I said, grinding my teeth. "True. And Vriska? Stop trying to steal my luck. There is a laser gun trained on the back of your head. It may not hit you, but it can easily ensure this is a very, very Heroic death." Vriska blinked. "Wha..." "I've been prepared for you to come since you first arrived," Polymarchus said. "The Flower is a great source of information. Most of you are completely useless, but one of you..." he looked at me. "One of you is something worthwhile..." I glared at him. "What do you want me to do?" "Work for me not as a mindless slave like this Flower, but put true creativity into your storytelling. As much as the Flower is able to manipulate events over a small span of time, I need grander things. The city of Rome needs to expand!" He threw his arms wide. "The stars of the Nexus call! And no one can stop my rampage. Nobody who comes into this universe ever leaves!" I said nothing to correct his false assumption. "What makes you think I'll let you?" "Because you can't let them die." "Yes I can," I asserted. I wasn't bluffing either - I could do it, if it needed to be done. "No, you can't. Because you know Vriska and yourself have to continue on to greater things." He grinned. "You're trapped in your own sights, Twilence." I realized he was right. It was a fact that Vriska and I couldn't die here, no matter what the Flower did. The problem was, that didn't mean I could be careless. We might only survive because I agreed to do what Polymarchus wanted. "I can see the gears turning in your mind, Twilence... Like a rat lost in a maze. The only way out is in the mousetrap." "How right is he?" Vriska asked. "Very," I said. "He's very very right. If I fight, there's a high chance you die. And that's impossible. So I can't take that course of action." "But, if you listen to me, everyone lives!" Polymarchus said with a grin. "And I'm sure you and Vriska will live on to do... whatever it is you need to do eons from now. After you've given Rome its power over the stars." "We could try to stop you after that," Vriska spat. "Sword to the head." "Ah, but the same rule will apply! I'll have an insta-kill on Twilence. She knows she can't die. So she won't be able to fight back." Polymarchus laughed. "A twist of fate you can't escape! Defy me, death will come!" He's too arrogant. He will be defeated, there's no way he won't be. Maybe not by us, but someone else. I'll just have to play the waiting game... I bit my lip. "All right. I'll write what you want." "I knew you would," Polymarchus said. "Please, come along. Let us discuss how Rome will take to the stars... ~Merodi~ ...the Austraeoh flew through the stars of numerous universes within the Strands. Normally, navigating the Strands would be fast. Unfortunately the Austraeoh's ka-devices weren't taking them in a straight line from point A to B, so it was a mess. Clearly the technology wasn't perfect. Pinkie had set up a ping-pong table on the bridge. Currently, Allure and Corona were using it. The constant ping and pong of the ball was a calming, rhythmic presence to the bridge crew. The ping-pong rules were simple - no using levitation magic. The diminutive Allure was at a clear disadvantage, but Corona was out of practice in the coordinated sports department. The game was tied ten to ten. "Get ready for this one, it's going to be mean," Corona said, twirling the ball across her fingers. Allure craned her neck. "Bring i-" The ball flew past her while she was in the middle of her sentence. Allure twitched. "...Eleven to ten, your lead." Corona winked. "One more point and I win. Think you can take me down?" Allure nodded. "I'm not giving up yet." "And you sho-" Allure pinged the ball, only for Corona to catch it with her paddle and send it back. Allure caught it near the edge of the table, batting it far to the side. Corona tossed it just barely over the net, making Allure dive for it. The shot went wild - and Corona hit it back, taking the point as Allure struggled to get it. "Yes!" Corona said, throwing her hands into the air and spreading her wings. "Victory!" "Ladies and gentleponies, the champion of ping-pong!" Pinkie declared, showering Corona with confetti. Corona walked up to Allure. "Good game." Allure chuckled. "I almost had you." "Almost." "Yeah. You and your lanky human arms." "The fingers probably help too." "Hoof traction is an amazing concept," Eve said from her seat in the captain's chair. She turned back to a conspiracy diagram on the main screen, trying to find out what Arceus, John, and Twilence could do together. The main problem was so many different things could be done. Creation of a new universe... Alteration of the songs of everything... "Hmm..." "Any new thoughts?" Corona asked. "I can't think of anything new. Nothing special. They're just powerful, but I know there's something... Something about the Eye of Rhyme, a god, and the Heir of Breath..." Allure's ears pricked up. "...Heir... ...God..." "What is it?" Corona asked, being sure to direct Eve's attention to the white unicorn. "One side says the story is thus: The Lord, the Muse, the Heir Are gathered together to make a tear The God, the Prophet, the ancient Are needed to fulfill a lost tenet," Allure said. Pinkie gasped. "Flagg's cryptic message!" "The end of the Tower's Testament..." Eve said, scratching her chin. "That would make some sense. So... John is the Heir, and Arceus is the God? What does that make Twilence?" "Muse," Pinkie said. "Vriska told me about all the 'classes' and 'aspect' descriptions in SBURB. The Muse has passive mastery over their ability, kinda like a force of nature. The Lord has active mastery over their ability - full control. Twilence calls herself the one who understands right? She's regularly held back by the ka she knows so well, but she's able to do small things to make great change." "So the Lord would be...?" Eve asked. "Monika," Corona said. "She's the opposite of Twilence. Has no idea what she's doing, but almost complete control over her ka." "And the Prophet... could be any Prophet," Allure pointed out. "Probably GM," Pinkie said. "Last major chapter was about us finding him. So that's a good point." Eve furrowed her brow. "Which just leaves the ancient..." "Which is vague as mist on the water," Pinkie said, smirking. "Could be anyone. Blumiere. Nanoha. The Tree of Harmony. A Star. Someone we haven't even met." She shrugged. "So, chances are Monika and GM have been taken as well," Corona said. "What does that tell us?" "That this is a ka-based plan," Eve asserted. "Two masters of ka, and our Prophet? Too much of a coincidence. Plus it's related to that ancient prophecy. 'gathered together to make a tear' 'needed to fulfill a lost tenet'. Unhelpfully vague, but indicative of destruction." "Probably something we need to stop," Corona said. "Deeeefinitely!" Pinkie chirped. "But how would we do that if we know nothing?" Eve asked. "I can tell you something," Allure said, pointing at the map. "We're heading for the Dark Tower..." ~Theater~ "...the Tower or Infinity?" the actor representing the Downstreamer 'High Commander' asked. The man sitting in the theater found the idea of a Downstreamer High Commander hilarious, and laughed every time the man spoke. It was just so stupid. "What do you mean?" his 'aide' asked. "We've completed most of our goals. Only two things remain - the Tower or Infinity. With the Chousin no longer an issue and the rest letting us do what we want, we need to make something of that." "Why? Can we not be content with where we are?" "NO!" "Geez, the ham," the audience said, rolling his eyes. "Tone down the drama!" The aide backed up a few steps from her commander. "But what about the others..." "Downstreamers act as one." "YOU AREN'T DOING A VERY GOOD JOB OF SHOWING THAT!" the viewer blurted. Neither of them responded to the complaints of a man with too much popcorn. They simply continued their argument. "Infinity or the Tower?" the commander posed once again. "If we accomplish true Infinity, we will break the multiverse into what we originally wanted it to be. Create every existence. But we can also take on the Tower itself, gain control over the story of existence. Both come with complications. How does Infinity exist when the Sea means Possibility, not existence? Are attempts to control the Dark Tower inherently foolish and doomed to fail?" "Sir, which one will benefit the Downstreamers more?" "I do not know," he said, folding his arms. "We are already above everything else. None of us have perished in an eternity of memory. There is nothing to threaten us." "...What do we do once we've controlled the Dark Tower and Infinity?" "Control Infinity?" he laughed. "My dear, if we create Infinity, that means we can never control it all. That's the point. It gives us more and more to strive for. There will be no power ceiling for us anymore." "Could the Tower exert its control over Infinity...?" "Perhaps. Perhaps not..." The man blinked - these were actually some good questions that he didn't have the answer for. What would Infinity be like? True Infinity, not functional infinity. There were seemingly endless examples of functional infinity in the multiverse, but everything had a limit. Metatime would go on forever, yes, but there was always a finite amount of it. The Multiverse had a beginning. Very curious. Almost made him wish the Downstreamers were still around so he could ask them... ~Historian~ ...The Prognosticus told of a future where all worlds would perish. The Tribe of Darkness had finally convinced themselves this was true, having forgotten the teachings of Desan to never use the book for anything. They were not completely unfaithful, for they did nothing with this information besides keep it hidden. This secrecy prompted a greater divide between the Tribe of Ancients and the Tribe of Darkness. It was at this time the purity doctrine formed within the Tribe of Darkness. (And we can say that was when we finally became the people we were meant to be!) The Tribe of Darkness didn't allow outside blood into the bloodline anymore. There could be no tainting of our way. This turned out to be even better than expected. Because the Tribe of Ancients did not have the purity doctrine, they began to stagnate and dilute. They lost their powers of magic over the generations and slowly lost control over their many worlds while the Tribe of Darkness maintained a powerful presence in their secret abodes. The last project the Tribes worked together on was the dual-reality of Flipside and Flopside. Two cities were plastered together in a reflective pattern, each mirroring the other, providing two sides of the same coin. It came to exist as the last great construct of the sub-tribe of Pixls. It still stands to this day, though not in the control of either Tribe, but rather the remnants and descendants of the Tribe of Ancients and a handful of stray descendants of our Dark Tribe. (Traitors to our way!) After Flipside and Flopside were created, what many consider a disaster struck - the Tribe of Ancients discovered that our Tribe had the Prognosticus, and knew about the end of the worlds. (I could not find out how they discovered this. Likely a traitor). However, this was the final straw for the Tribe of Darkness. We entered a complete isolation from all worlds, completing our journey to become what we are today. Departed from our origins, building our Darkness up for eternity. A true beautiful separation... ~Grand Tour~ ...it's disgusting. Its... it's horrible, it's wrong, it's... What the hell is wrong with existence!? Master, you need to give the report. I don't want to give the stupid report, Raising Heart! I want to burn that Watchmaker to cinders! You know we can't do that. Aaaaaaaaa! Just... She's dead! Ginga is dead! I don't even have her body! Subaru's broken, the entire team's in tatters, and I've just realized what a cruel joke all of this is! We're 'heroes!' We're part of some story! Some story written by some Watchmaker-like thing. I can't save him. I can't talk to him. And I can't stop him. He's going to keep driving that world into... into... Well it's not as bad as it could be but... Master, you need to cool down. Come back to this later. Right, right... ...Ginga's dead. My sister is gone. ... End report... ...This is Nanoha Takamachi of the TSAB Horizon. I have just come from the funeral for Ginga Nakajima. There was no body. There wasn't anything. Just a reminder that she was lost on Zhui. Ginga was one of the best mages I had. She worked excellently with her sister and her team, and she was one of Rarity's closest friends. And- That's for another report. I said all that at the service. Now... Now it's time to say what this means. I'm confident the crew will move on. As a whole. Rarity has been damaged, but she'll recover. Subaru... I'm not sure Subaru will. She's been so close with her sister for so long. She's going to be changed permanently, and not for the better. As for me... Normally, I think I'd be able to move through it. She isn't the first one we've lost on this journey, merely the one I knew best. But it's how it happened. It's... the power the Watchmaker wields. The fate. The ka. The power of stories. We're all just stories. Stories controlled by that Tower we kept hearing about but never got any details on. We are little toys for some 'Prophet' somewhere who may not even know what they're doing! They're innocent... We suffer by the fault of no one. We fight and die not even at the beck and call of God, but random imagination! That's... that's so wrong I can't even put it into words. The Watchmaker deserves my wrath. He knows exactly what he's doing, and he won't change. But most of them know nothing. They're just people with creativity. People chosen to alter reality. Nobody deserves that power. But we're just a minnow in this river. We can't do anything about it. Even the Watchmaker only holds one world in his grasp. Just one. And he turned us away. I... I need to stop getting so angry. It's not like me. ...What am I even angry at? It's like being angry at the world for having disease, or for a planet to be overrun with natural predators. I shouldn't be angry. I should be sad. I should be sad. Existence is a tragedy. We just have to accept it, don't we? We'll never be able to change anything major. We're just a group of people on a ship from a faraway nation that's barely Class 3. We're nothing. And that's... You know what? That's okay. It's okay to be nothing. We don't have to be special. We don't have to save all of existence. We don't have to change it. We just have to do what we can to make the world a better place. Sometimes that means having a tragedy. Sometimes that means complete failure. Sometimes that means great sacrifice. But we keep moving. We keep striving. Striving to find what is best for everyone we can. Even those who may not agree or want help... ~Harlequin~ ...Dimitri woke up to find his father holding a sickle above his chest. The nightmares still raged in his mind. The fire. The Tower. The Screams. He screamed. A burst of energy shot forth from his hand, knocking his father straight through the wall and out into a nearby field. The man caught on fire, brushing the leaves of the crops with his flames. Thea woke up from the loud noise. "Wh-wha?" "They just tried to kill me!" Dimitri shouted, a twisted smile appearing on his face. He held out his hands and laughed. "They think they still have a choice!" BURN. BURN. BURN. BURN. BURN. BURN. Dimitri kicked down the metal door of his new house. The fire in the field had already started raging, providing plenty of light to see the small crowd who had gathered there. Gathered to take him on should it be required. Gathered to see if his father had managed to take him out. Led by his own mother. "Like a pack of wolves, you have revealed your true colors..." Dimitri said, clenching his fist. "You were willing to kill me?" They charged him. "IMBECILES!" Dimitri shouted, lighting the entire field aflame. "I will burn every last crop!" There was no more talking - just the entire village charging at him. He snapped his fingers, torching more fields. Destroying all their work. "You have no choice! You will die!" His mother looked right at him with a livid expression. "I choose death over your horror." Dimitri's smile faltered - and then forced itself back to full. "As you wish." She suddenly had no head. She fell back, dead. "AhahahaahahahaHAHahaha!" They rushed him, determined to save what they could from his terror. He made it impossible. They were pathetic whelps compared to the power he had obtained in the megalith. Power beyond their wildest dreams. Power they couldn't see the benefit of. They deserved what was happening to them. "Like lemmings on a cliff, you throw yourselves into the ocean! Why do you do this to yourselves!? Is it to amuse me? Not the best joke, you know - or the greatest show." He snapped his fingers, spicing up the slaughter of his home a bit with flashing lights, dimensional twists, and teleporting. His vision of fire bled with the vision of reality. Everything was ablaze. I should have listened to the dreams years ago! "This is what I am! This is what you squandered! You drove this power away because you were afraid of it!" He thrust his hand out, tearing cracks in the earth. "And because you could not move past your fear the very thing you feared has come to pass! Isn't that ironic!?" They made no response. There were none willing to fight left. They had all run away or surrendered. "Ahaha! You think my promise to help you still stands?! You treated me like an unwanted rabid animal. You had your chance. Now get what you deserv-" The Alamala took the form of a sword and swung directly at him. He managed to dodge the life-threatening blow to his neck - but his face took the brunt of it. "AUGH!" Thea didn't waste another moment - she drove the Alamala blade toward Dimitri's chest. Dimitri reversed the Alamala's direction and drove it into Thea's chest. "Even you!?" "This... isn't right..." Thea said, still standing despite the blade in her stomach. The images of the dreams were more vivid in his mind than ever before. He saw worlds. He saw fire. He saw destruction. He saw a book. He saw the Tower. The Tower. The Tower. "You're nothing," Dimitri concluded. "You were just here to provide a catalyst." Thea stared at him. "You're... a monster." Dimitri smirked. "I'm a performer. All the world's a stage, my Thea." He forced her into a kiss that she wasn't in any position to resist. "Your act has drawn to an end." "Don't you care!?" Dimitri smiled. "You'll never know for sure." He knocked her over, and she was gone. His face was ruined - but his smile could still be seen. His eternal smile. They could hear him laughing as he burned all the farms. All the farms. Nothing would live here ever again if he had anything to say about it. The dreams spoke to him. As he burned the place to the ground the way he had seen in his derams so many times, they told him much else. Of words on a page... Of the actual source of his power... The origin... TOWER. TOWER. TOWER. TOWER. TOWER. TOWER. Dimitri knew what needed to happen next. He left... ~Mother~ ...the mother arrived at the Emerson household. The city was a place where there was virtually no poverty, so when you saw a house that looked like it was in shambles that generally spoke volumes of the sort of people who lived there. The mother happened to know some of the people who lived in this house. Mrs. Emerson, Mr. Emerson, and their eldest daughter Claire were... a special sort of people, to say the least. She knocked on the door. Mrs. Emerson opened it. She was human, but easily the size of three women, had wrinkle lines everywhere on her face despite only being middle aged, and had a pointed pair of glasses that were clearly too small for her face. "Ah. You." "Yes. Me. May I come in?" "No," Mrs. Emerson said, slamming the door. "I know people! I can get law enforcement down here on suspicion of kidnapping!" Mrs. Emerson pulled the door back open. "Oh, has little Osanna run away? Boo hoo, let me get a tissue." She slammed the door again. The mother pulled out her phone. "Ahem. Chief? Ah, nice to hear your voice. See, I can't find Osanna. She's been missing for a while, and I think I may have traced her to the Emerson residence, but they aren't letting me inside. You'll send someone over right away? Aw, thanks, you're such a lifesaver. Remind m-" Mrs. Emerson opened the door. "She wasn't bluffing Harold!" "FUCK." "You can come in, I guess," Mrs. Emerson muttered. "You hear that Chief? We're letting her in!" The mother smiled. "All's fine Chief. Thanks for being there." She hung up and put her phone into her pocket. She followed Mrs. Emerson into a house that was clearly never cleaned or tidied up in any way. Trash was everywhere, the place smelled horrendous, and there were a lot of magazines littered around that could be described as 'questionable' at best. At best. Mr. Emerson was a tremendously muscular man who somehow managed to maintain that physique despite a lifestyle of watching TV most of the time. The mother suspected steroids. Claire was a truly beautiful girl in her early twenties who the mother had met once. Once. She was such a foulmouthed piece of garbage who spoke in long extended sentences and never really said anything at all... The place was just filled with bad memories and people. But the mother put on a smile and tried to be courteous. "Hey," Mr. Emerson said. "Look, I want you out of my house, so just take anything you see and go." "Sorry!" the mother trilled. "I'm not going until you either tell me where your son is or where my daughter is." Mrs. Emerson laughed. "Like we'd have any idea where our son is!" "I can tell you where he is," Mr. Emerson said. "He's giving that scrawny little thing of yours the best time of her life, that's what." The mother twitched. "That's what, not where." "Hm. Guess I mixed that up." A Stand came out of the man, grabbed a beer can, and let Mr. Emerson drink it while he used his hands to make obscene gestures at the mother. "Guess I'm kinda stupid sometimes. Heh." "You mean to tell me you never have any idea where your son is? Ever?" "He was gone for a month once. Thought he was dead," Mrs. Emerson said dismissively. "Then he came back and ruined that little daydream." "Heh," Mr. Emerson said. "Nice one." "If you dare butter me up I will run you through the meat grinder, Harold." "Bah. Whatever." He leaned back and stretched his arms. "Well I'm not leaving until you give me something," the mother said, folding her arms. "I'll cramp your style for as long as necessary. Maybe even until your son comes back a month from now." Mr. Emerson seemed to find this prospect horrifying. "Uh... Fuck." Mrs. Emerson shook her head. "She doesn't have the willpo-" The mother twitched. "I DON'T KNOW WHERE MY DAUGHTER IS AND THIS IS MY LAST LEAD! I HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH WILLPOWER, BITCH!" "Oh no you didn't!" The mother twitched. Her pupils pulsated. Mrs. Emerson fell over backward, out cold. "And now I can charge you with assault," Mr. Emerson muttered, almost apathetically. "And getting law enforcement in here would be great for you, I'm sure." "Ugh... Look, I don't know where the fuck he is. I don't keep tabs on the little shit. I do know he thinks the Inner Foundry is cool. So he might be there." "Good. I would say thank you but this has been truly unpleasant." "Fuck you too," he muttered. "Now get out of my house." The mother didn't need to be told twice. She completely ignored the sudden stream of meaningless words coming out of Claire's mouth from upstairs... ~Twilence~ ...I could only wish the words I put on paper were meaningless, but they had a true power. Here I was, in a dungeon, forced to go against my code of honor and use my powers as an Aware Prophet to twist the fate of a city for evil. Evil. It disgusted me more than anything I had ever done. And I had destroyed entire universes in fits of rage. I had destroyed many lives. But I had not written a race of conquerors into existence just because I could. And now I was being forced to. The cellar wasn't even comfortable. It was cold, damp, and dark - without windows. I was chained to a desk with a large book open on it. Several stacks of paper were placed to my sides and I had been provided an endless amount of pens. My only company was Vriska. Mite was on a nearby shelf, out of power, not to be reactivated for... I didn't know how long. Creek currently wasn't in the room, likely being questioned by Polymarchus for whatever reason. So it was just me and the Thief of Light, alone. I had freedom to use my telekinesis and a modicum of magic. She didn't. Her eyes were covered with sunglasses and all her limbs were tied to the wall. "So. This is a pretty bad pickle," she said. "Understatement," I said. "We have been captured before. You're not always perfect." "I know," I muttered. "But at least I always know we will get out. I don't know what in my visions I can believe anymore. Not while that Flower is still around. Not while it's also writing things to keep me in check..." I shook my head. "We live though, right?" "You and I do. For sure." I stared into nothing. "I can't say the same for the others." "Rarity will come get us eventually." "Does she actually know where we went?" Vriska paled. "Oh..." "Exactly." "Well, shit, we've got to think of something." "As long as you're here and he has that gun plastered to the back of your neck, I don't think we can." "...What I wouldn't give for an infinite-sided die right about now..." "What I wouldn't give for a rescue operation. Or a decent meal." "What I wouldn't give to just get home already." "What I wouldn't give to stop being so sure of myself..." I sighed, placing my pen to the paper again. "He's even ruining the enjoyment I can get out of writing. I'm creating a hero, who certainly thinks he's doing good, and the story does as well. But he isn't. ...All the joy is gone. It's wrong." "He'll get what's coming to him." "...Maybe," I admitted. "But we don't know that." "Shut the fuck up and listen. You may not be able to see shit right now, but I can. Because I'm the best thing since sliced bread and I pay attention to the things you say. We're in a story right now, one that's messing with your abilities. So stop thinking of yourself as an all-powerful surveyor of fate and instead of a regular joe. You are locked in this cellar with me. Polymarchus is the antagonist. We have a set of powers and are in a big predicament. But we're going to struggle and prevail eventually." "...That may or may not be how this works." "For the love of gog... Get a hold of yourself. We can do this." I smiled. "...You're right. But I don't exactly have a plan right now." "Screw the plan, just think of something. Get your mind out of the swirl of 'this is horrible' and out into kicking ass! You're really fucking smart. Take advantage of that." "Yeah... Yeah! I will! I will get up a-" The door to the cellar opened. Only one person walked in - Creek. Without an escort. I looked at her and froze, unable to form words. "Hey," Creek said. Vriska smiled. "Oh, sweet, Creek's back! We were just talking ab-" "That's not Creek," I told Vriska. 'Creek' smirked. Her body was no longer old, but rather young. Her veins coursed with both blood and cotton. On her head she wore a straw hat. "Good eye." "You said you wouldn't kill her!" I shouted. Polymarchus shrugged with his - her - new body. "I didn't. I could leave her at any time, and she would remember none of it. Not even her mind would be affected." She touched my horn with her finger. "This is to just ensure your loyalty. If you have some plan to defeat me, it will require going against her. Probably even killing her. And you wouldn't be able to kill her with your own hooves, would you?" I blinked in horror. No. No I would not be able to do that. Not with my own hooves... "I thought not. Whatever crazy plan you were thinking of, it ends here. I have her. I am her. And you must protect her..." ~Theater~ "...I have to protect you!" the Downstreamer 'aide' said. Her name had been spoken enough times by now for the man who was the audience to know it was 'F-something', but that was about it. The girl, playing F-something's 'daughter' Winona, looked up at her. "Protect me from what?" "From the insanity of our commander!" The viewer put a hand in front of his face. "Ugh... They were united, they didn't have children as we understand them, and this didn't even happen! You've just gone and added fiction to your already dubious history! What is your problem?" As usual, the film had nothing to say to him. Winona blinked. "What's our commander doing, mom?" F-something shook her head. "He's... He's trying to make true Infinity. The one fact of existence that shouldn't be messed with." "Didn't the ancient people say that about death? We're fine, right?" "...We may be fine, but we are not safe. We have changed because of it. Perhaps for the worse." The man threw a piece of popcorn. "They would never have thought that. They wouldn't be able to remember what existence was like without folded time! The things you do to make a 'relatable' story..." "I thought you said to always trust him?" Winona asked. "Yes, yes, he doesn't mean you harm, but..." F-something bit her lip. "But he might be biting off more than he can chew. Than any of us can chew." "What are you going to do about it?" "I... am going to protect you." "How?" "I am... I will... I..." F-something grabbed her forehead. "I don't know! I don't even know what I would protect you against until it happens! I don't even..." She pulled Winona close. "I'll have to protect you when it happens. However it happens. As fast as I can." "BOO!" the man said. He was almost surprised to see the two of them respond to him - except they weren't. They were responding to a news alert. "BREAKING NEWS: THE INFINITY MECHANISMS HAVE FINALLY BEEN COMPLETED!" the projector displayed a television - on which was an image of the Infinity Mechanisms. Tremendously tall metallic ovoids that were glowing blue throughout, the lights on top of them shining brightest of all. At least they got the appearance of those right. It was a bright, almost holy light that shone on the Downstreamers... ~Historian~ ...The Tribe of Ancients turned their ideals to Light - they found the prophecy of the Prognosticus distasteful, so they decided to change it. (I do hate writing this part of the history, but it's still important to us.) They saw themselves as warriors defying the eternal death brought upon existence by fate. Since they could not find the Tribe of Darkness, they would defy the prophecy we had shown them. They claimed that the Prognosticus was a 'Dark' view of reality, so they would create a 'Light Prognosticus' to counter it and show that words could have multiple meanings. They used the remnants of their great magic and power to create what they believed to be a counter-prophecy to the destruction of their worlds in the 'Dark' Prognosticus. As far as they were concerned, they succeeded. The results of their efforts were a white book known as the Light Prognosticus that contained great holy power, prophecies of heroes in the future, and speech involving a dual prophecy that could go one way or the other. But they didn't realize what they had really done. By combining all their powers, they had tapped into the energy of the real Prognosticus. That day, the Tribe of Darkness recorded a change in the Prognosticus - it became smaller, darker, and lost some of the language it had prior. The Tribe of Ancients, in their quest to create something separate from the dark book, had only divided it in two. They didn't even know it. The Prognosticus was no more - now there was only the Light Prognosticus and the Dark Prognosticus. Two half-prophecies of the future. The knowledge contained within each of the two was incomplete without the other, but our tribe decided it did not matter. The Dark Prognosticus could no longer be used for as much evil as it once had, and now that it was filled with only the 'dark' side of things, it had much less use for our tribe. (We had already completely mastered Darkness. Why would we risk insanity delving deeper into half a book?) And so years passed, and the prophecy was forgotten. (It said roughly five-hundred years until the worlds of the Tribes were destroyed. By my calculations it has been four-hundred and sixty, give or take ten. Perhaps I should take it upon myself to remind our Tribe about this prophecy.)... ...The most notable event of the recent years was the rebellion of the Shadow Queen. The most influential member of the Tribe of Darkness rose up and claimed our obsession with purity and division from the rest of the multiverse was foolish. She attempted to usurp complete control over the Council of Darkness. (I myself was not a councilmember at the time, but I certainly remember the event). She attempted to turn the Tribe of Darkness into an army to conquer the multiverse. Her rebellion was squashed. She and her three children were banished to a random realm and sealed away within that realm's time. (It's more complicated than that, but I can't put that in a history book, classified and all.) There have been no uprisings since. (I do feel sorry for her youngest, Vivian. She never even got to know her true home... ~Grand Tour~ ...we've finally found Rarity's home. After all these long years... We've found it. There's been a lot of pain on this journey, but it's finally done. We did what we set out to do. It's not exactly what we expected it would be. Only twelve years have passed on her world, while over thirty have passed for us. She's much older than her friends. But I saw them together once again. I saw her reuniting with her sister. It was... It was truly beautiful. I want to say that makes it all worth it. I really do. I'm not certain I can though. ...We accomplished much more. Gave the TSAB so many allies. Improved the Horizon's systems in every way imaginable. Started a Q-Sphere chapter of the TSAB - though the paradoxical nature around that entire thing has made more of a mess than I was anticipating. At least they're friendly. What I'm not sure about is the Stars. They're the powerful Class 2 Society that lives in this area of the multiverse - apparently the third strongest Class 2 in the entire multiverse. Rarity's world - and a lot of other worlds - are within their space. And these Stars... They don't seem to care about the people they have control over. For the most part, the control is all about space. The ponies are free to live on the planets as they choose, and the Stars will only sometimes do anything. They're more like distant gods to them than anything. I've only talked to a few of them. They're very dismissive and cryptic. And arrogant. I've told Rarity not to worry, but given our experiences on our journey, I don't think she's going to take very well to living under something, even if it is just indirectly. At least they aren't malevolent. We'll stick around a few weeks to make sure everything's going smoothly, but then we'll take the Strand highway back to the E-Sphere, on a path given to us by the Stars. It'll take maybe a day to get back to the E-Sphere with the upgrades to the drive. It'll take a long time to move through the E-Sphere, but we should be back home in a few months. Back home in a few months... I really want to see Fate again. I hope she hasn't forgotten what I look like! ...But part of me also wants to keep exploring. There's so much we haven't seen out here. We'll be skipping most of the Great Void, won't even touch the Unrealities... We found a Wishing World, but I'm not about to waste that on traveling longer. I'm sure we'll be back, but I did want to ride the Spline... ~Tower~ "...the Mihipte Spline," Weaver said. "It is one of the last creations of my people, and the one I am working to protect." Roland and Patrick stared ahead with blank expressions. "To put it simply, the Dark Tower is the center of the multiverse, the Spline is the outside. Even though worlds can exist outside the Spline, it does a relatively decent job of ringing the edge of everything. It was part of our great multiversal highway project, allowing quick and easy travel to any world with ease. The central part of the system, the Strands, were completed before the Dark Tower was. But the Spline was still under construction when ka was thrown into the mix... and all Weavers began to die out." "So you've been trying to finish it?" "I don't have the time or the resources," Weaver said solemnly. "What I do have is the ability to protect it. To create a... Safeguard. You saw the humanoid machines near the door you entered, yes?" Roland nodded. "Those are the Safeguard prototypes. The defenders of the Spline. Most of them are already active - ready to defend the still-visible construction structures of the Spline. To keep any society, no matter how great they ever rise, from taking advantage of the Spline - or destroying it. To keep it open for everyone to use. Something to give a little organization to this chaos that ka churns up." "Building roads is a great purpose," Roland said. "Pave the ground so others may walk freely. It'll keep the worlds from moving on." "...I guess it will, won't it? In a way, at least. The Safeguard isn't quite complete, sadly. Almost - they're ready to defend against anything the Crimson King could throw at them, for instance - but there are a few possible weaknesses I haven't covered yet. Nothing that would mean anything to you, I'm afraid." Roland's lips quivered. Was that his equivalent of a smile? Weaver couldn't actually tell - his thoughts weren't very useful in determining the gunslinger's emotional state. "I understand, you don't need to explain." Weaver sighed. "I only wish that I had enough time to complete my work." "How long until you die?" Roland asked. "A direct question." "Your false Tower's light isn't steady. You are the last of your kind. You're dying." "I... I don't know. All I can say for certain is that my lifespan is tied in to your journey." Roland nodded. "When it is finished, so are you." "...Is that what it means?" Roland didn't need to respond to tell Weaver he was right. "Then perhaps it was good we had this discussion. It allowed me to get more work done. ...I need to hurry." "Do we need to slow our journey so you may complete your road?" "It should be done long before you arrive at the Tower, given your speed." "Time is not... the same." Weaver paused. "No. I suppose not." "You will either finish your roads the moment before my journey ends, or..." "Or I would have right after," Weaver grunted. "And no amount of us talking will change that, will it? It's all up to the Tower... ~Merodi~ ...I stared at the Dark Tower, dominating the view of our little sub-universal bubble. We technically weren't in the same realm as the Dark Tower, but a secluded bubble that existed within the same physical space that we could look out of and see it. Our universe consisted of a single disc of pure white magic adorned with vaguely alchemical designs. There were five circles around the outside, and one in the middle. The five outer ones clearly were meant for the five of us - myself, Monika, John, Arceus, and GM - but the identity of the center perpetrator eluded us much as it had eluded those trying to find us. "Good news that might also be bad news," I said. "The story's finally focused on us." "Big news," Monika droned, hands on her hips. "It is," Arceus said. "Not all of us are gifted with the sight you two have." Monika rolled her eyes. "That's because you'd just mess it up." "Well, it didn't seem to help you all that much..." John said, adjusting his glasses. "You can shut up, windy boy," Monika spat. "H-hey, stop," GM said. "We're all in this together, we don't need to fight." "No offense man, but you just spent the last ten minutes crying in the corner over there," John said. I glared at John. "Monika gave him his memories back. Which I still assert was a bad idea, but what's done is done. You shouldn't be surprised that it drove him to semi-madness." "I am never writing again..." GM muttered. "Yes you are. You write this, eventually," Monika muttered. "What number are you on now?" "I just blinded Pinkie..." GM muttered. "I... I'm a horrible person." "Uh, you didn't know," John pointed out. "Who cares!?" Monika facepalmed. "This was much more endearing the first time. Now it's basically just a rerun of the first." "Perhaps you should not have given him his memories back, then," Arceus said. "He would already freak out at seeing all of us," Monika pointed out. "Yes, but it might have been a bit different," I commented. "We could have worked together to get out of here instead of having mild cases of insanity." "...'Mild'?" John interjected with an amused smile. "Point taken," I admitted. "At least it doesn't appear that anything happened while the five of us were having our own personal series of neuroses." "We need more information," Arceus said. "Uh, yeah, where are we gonna get that?" John asked. I tapped the Eye of Rhyme. "I can still see the story folding around us. Granted, my view of the future of these stories is a little muddled, since this is the very edge of my perceptions, but it's enough to work some things out." "...Stories? Plural?" GM said, blinking. "Yes. Eight separate stories are unfolding before our eyes." "...I actually did it," GM said. "I made Cloud Atlas a movie chapter." "Wait, you know this one!?" Monika blurted. "Yeah... Well no, not really, I haven't planned it out at all, but I know I want the movie of Arc 9 to be a story that ties together all the lore of the multiverse before I enter the actual climax. Tell some stories that couldn't be told before. That sort of thing. I have no idea which ones I chose or which ones I made up... Or will make up." He nervously rubbed his knuckles together. "Gaaaaaaaah this is confusing, why did I have to make it this way?" "You likely did not have a choice in the matter," Arceus said, gesturing at the Tower. "I'll talk about the stories so far," I said, clearing my throat. "There's one with Roland talking to the last Weaver, relating him to the Spline. Probably just there to make sense of a lot of the Dark Tower lore that was glossed over." "Probably," GM admitted. "Guess I did find a place for the Spline after all. Neat. ...But also horrible." "Then there's one with a guy... watching a movie... about the Downstreamers." GM blinked. "...I went crazy enough to include the Downstreamers!? What's wrong with me!?" John blinked. "Uh, I think you need to find some chill pills." "I'm chill! I'm perfectly chill!" "No, you're not," Monika said, blowing some hair out of her face. I continued. "Then there's the story of a guy named Dimitri who's going mad and destroying everything... honestly I have no idea what that one's about." GM shrugged. "Yeah, drawing a blank there too." "Then a Historian of the Tribe of Darkness' journal." "Guess I wanted to explain the Prognostici?" "Prog-what now?" Arceus now. GM blinked. "Crap, none of you are supposed to know about those. Actually, wait, it might be better if you do." "Let's not tempt fate," I suggested. "After that we have Nanoha's journey through the Q-Sphere, probably there just to show how the TSAB came to be. I already know that entire story, it doesn't help us here. Then there's my story about the last adventure I had with my original group." "I... I'm sorry," GM said. "I know. I know. Let's not worry about it now. The seventh story is this one, which had been focusing on Songs of the Spheres' four protagonists, but just switched to us right now so we could have this conversation. They're currently trying to find us." "...Didn't you say eight stories?" Arceus asked. "...Yeah. Uh, for the first time in my life I'm seeing something from past the point of uncertainty." My face became visibly nervous. "It has to be beyond important. It has to. The future exists at least, but the only important person I've recognized so far is Seskii. I don't recognize the universe and the main character is being made very vague on purpose." "Uh. Sorry," GM said. "You haven't written it yet. Also, stop apologizing for everything." "Uh... Kay. Sure. Caaaan do." I facehooved at the sudden sarcasm. "Oh boy... Anyway, that's what's going on. These eight stories are combined together somehow. But we haven't reached the ends of them yet, so I can't tell you how. They're all tied together through odd synchronicities, and most of them have mentioned the Dark Tower at least once. But the Dark Tower is a given connecting influence. There has to be some sort of story here, the Song of the Spheres, and I don't see it. Wanna know the best part? I see a preface I'll write in the future." "Ouch," John winced. "That has to burn your brain." "Yes. It does." I rubbed my head. "We don't need to find out the story, though," Monika said. "We just need to figure out what's happening with us. The four protagonists of Songs of the Spheres and the five most powerful beings-" "Debatable," Arceus pointed out. Monika twitched. "-are all together in this story. What's the point?" "The four of them are pretty sure it's part of the Tower's Testament," I said. "I'm the Muse, then there's the Lord, the Heir, the Prophet, the God... and the ancient. Who's the ancient?" Monika blinked. "Oh, that's easy. Just think about it for five seconds." "I..." I blinked. I thought back to all the other stories, and some of the things that had been said. Then I laughed. "Oh. That makes perfect sense. It's..." ~Harlequin~ "...time," Dimitri said. He stood in a field of roses. The dreams had led him here across time and space. It felt like it had been no time since he had burned everything he'd ever known and loved, but for all he knew it had been eons. Along the way, he had picked up a mask to hide his disfigured face. A mask that smiled. It might well have been his face, now. "Ahahaha! So I have come at last to the tip of the iceberg, the pinnacle of all knowledge, the library with all answers!" he spread his arms wide, capturing the Dark Tower in his field of view. "You are my goal! You are my center! You... you are me! You are the dreams!" He shifted to the door of the Dark Tower and entered. His demented laughter slowly died off as he felt the inner turmoil of his mind calm for the first time in eternity. He felt... at peace. Like this was where he belonged. He began to walk up the staircase - and he was going to open every door he came across. The first one showed him as an infant in a crib. "Don't let yourself go," he said, closing the door. He walked upward, opening the next one, and the next. Occasionally a door he opened would lead to another world, but those were useless to him. He only cared about the ones he was in. He saw his life. As a child, playing with the other children. Laughing. Always laughing, even when nobody else was. He saw the nightmares that had tormented his mind. "If only I hadn't been afraid of you..." he said, continuing on. "This realization would have come sooner..." He moved higher. More recent memories of his embarrassment. His joy that they wanted to squander. They hadn't succeeded. "You deserved every last spike of pain..." he growled. He moved higher. He saw Thea. Thea... He slammed that door. The sight of her face made him angry. "I will never be that foolish again..." he promised himself. He moved higher. He saw the world burning. He saw himself pick up the mask and put it on. He saw himself standing outside the Dark Tower. He opened a door where he was looking at himself. He grinned. "And now... the future." He almost ran up the stairs, purposefully looking at his entire life. He saw himself laughing, a book in his hands. A powerful book... ...He saw himself watching others' lives burn... ...He saw himself talking to a man in black. "Do you even know what this is!?" he asked, pointing at the book. "Flagg, you mock me!" the Dimitri through the door laughed. "I know perfectly well what this is. It is you who doesn't. Ciao!" ...He saw his future self guide many to destruction. Work in the shadows. Watch and laugh at everything he could... ...He saw himself sitting in a chair, looking right through the Dark Tower's door. "We will find perfection, one day," future-Dimitri said. "Really?" "Really. This existence is like a fleck of gold in a pile of elephant feces. We can make it all gold." "Yes... yes we can!" The door closed... ...He saw himself living life to the fullest. Unending, unrelenting joy. It was a rare moment when he saw a frown on his future... Dimitri neared the top. It seemed like everything was coming together. He opened a door... "BLEH HEH HEH HEH BLECK! All worlds will fall! And be replaced with one of perfection!" Behind him, future-Dimitri laughed. Dimitri closed the door, cackling. "The fool doesn't understand the hammer that he has become! It will lead to..." Dimitri opened the third-to-last door and beheld himself having ascended to a being of true, immense power. He existed in multiple dimensions at once, taking control of the world around him - making the platforms smile! Making everything laugh! "IT IS THE ULTIMATE SHOW!" He moved to open the second-to-last door - but something made him stop. It was not the thought that, behind this door, lay his death. The thought didn't even occur to his demented mind. It was the name on the final door that drew his attention. DIMENTIO He had never heard it before. But he knew it was his name. "Dimentio..." Dimentio said, mulling the sound over in his mouth. "I like it... The master of dimensions..." He opened the door, hand barely registering the jester's mask engraved in the doorknob. He saw the inside. He saw the spirograph of the Source. He saw the Clock with the spirograph on it. He saw all the symbols. He moved to walk into it - and then stopped. He pulled back, narrowing his eyes. This was a trick... ...He'd know a trick anywhere. Once he walked through there, he would be sent away. He could feel it. It would end his journey. Knowledge of his future wasn't enough. He needed to know more. He needed to touch the Source. So he teleported himself through the doorway. The Tower creaked and groaned - detecting that someone had entered the final room. It could have sent him away in an instant. It didn't. He was allowed in. It didn't look all that different from the inside. The Source was still there, glowing, while the clock sat there motionless. He walked up to the Source and touched it. He got his answers about creation... ~Theater~ "...and with the creation of Infinity, we will no longer know all the answers! There will be no limit to how we can grow!" The man who was the audience found himself wishing they could go back to the drama between F-something and Winona, because this ham-fisted stupidity was grating against him in ways that few people ever had. He felt like his time was being wasted. But the film had to be over soon. They were building up to a climax here. All centered around those Infinity Mechanisms and the creation of true Infinity. He knew exactly what was about to happen. Nobody who watched this movie would have any illusions that it wouldn't end in tragedy. But he did wonder exactly how they would handle it. They had shown some cleverness in the writing of this script - maybe they could salvage a good ending from the heap of garbage. The film cut to F-something and Winona. Winona sat in a capsule clearly designed off the whole 'Superman fell from space' idea while F-something worked tirelessly at a computer. Winona looked at peace through the glass. F-something bit her nails. She was praying. "The Downstreamers were the closest thing to God that ever existed," the man muttered. The scene shifted once again. It showed the 'high commander' standing in front of one of the several ovoids of the Infinity Mechanism. He performed some last minute checks. "It is time for us to create something beyond. Let everything exist!" "Yes sir!" The sections of the Infinity Mechanism all began to glow an intense blue, shooting energy beams into the sky. They tore at the fabric of space above them. The viewer didn't care how inaccurate this was, they had devoted so much of the special effects budget to it that it became true eye candy. As pleasing as anything possibly could be. A treat for kids and adults of all ages... True art. The scene shifted away from the amazing special effects to a map of the multiverse the 'high commander' was watching. New dots formed rapidly as new universes were created. The rate at which these universes kept increasing - faster and faster, on a scale beyond exponential. "The supertask is completing as expected!" a scientist declared. "In one hour of metatime, the multiverse should be Infinite!" The high commander laughed. "Yes! Yes! We've done it! We've shown existence that it can truly have no limit!" The man who was the audience chuckled. "Three... two... one." A red light started blaring on the screen. "What is that?" "Something at the edge of the multiverse..." ~Tower~ ...Weaver decided it was time. "You need to go, Roland. There is nothing more for you here. I hope I provided something for you." "A reminder that there are other worlds than these," the gunslinger said. Weaver let out a soft, somewhat bitter chuckle. "Go, Roland, return to your quest. The Dark Tower awaits." Roland tipped his hat. "C'mon Patrick." Patrick silently followed Roland. He tore a sheet of paper off his notebook and left it on the ground. "It was good talkin' to you, Weaver-sai. May ka look finely upon you." "And may your journey finally reach its well-deserved end," Weaver said. Roland and Patrick walked down the wet hallway in silence, leaving through the same door they had come in. They returned to their snowy home. The door closed behind them. The first thing Weaver did was disconnect the door from Mid-World. No one else would come through that door. No one would ever be able to go to Mid-World again. It was sealed now. For eternity. Weaver was once again alone. So he threw himself into his work and time bled into nothing. He finalized the security preferences on the Safeguard. They would respond only to each other, and not outsiders. He would be very impressed if any society ever figured out how to get past the firewalls of the Safeguard. But he wasn't a fool - the Safeguard would also know how to interact with those who wanted to travel through the Spline. They would be able to understand what the Spline was for, how to use it, and not to attack it. He tweaked the connections so they would stay strong even as the multiverse continued to grow with time. The Spline would always connect the outer edges, and the Safeguard would maintain it to ensure it stayed that way. It was to be a true highway. And then... he was done. The Spline was ready to defend itself against anything existence threw at it, from now into eternity. When the multiverse became too big to manage, the Spline would be there to help. Weaver found himself wishing he had time to create a connection between the Strands and the Spline... but he was just one Weaver. One dying Weaver. He barely had enough time to complete the work already set out. The multiverse would just have to make do with a little chaos. He did what he could. He suddenly remembered that Patrick had left a sketch on the ground. Weaver scanned it - beautiful. An intertwining series of shapes clearly based on the designs in the central room. It was perfect. If only he could figure out why the cycles made an overall shape of an eight of all things. Why eight? Eight wasn't important. The number was nineteen and ninety-nine, right? But he didn't understand how that worked, so for all he knew eight was secretly nineteen or something... His thoughts were distracted when another door opened. Charging from a completely different hallway was none other than the man in black himself, Randall Flagg. He wordlessly marched across the Weaver's world until he came to the door to Mid-world. He pulled it open, revealing only a wall behind it. "...What?" "It's been disabled," Weaver said. "I need to get back there," Flagg said, curling his fists. "...Weren't you eaten by a were-spider last time?" Flagg raised an eyebrow. "You seem to have a death wish." "I'm already dying. It's not like I have anything to lose." Flagg paused a moment - and grinned. "Ah. In that case, maybe I can help you to an appropriate end..." ~Grand Tour~ ...this is Rarity Belle, and here's the last report I will make as a member of the Horizon crew. My journey has come to an end. The Horizon is returning home tomorrow. All of the friends I've gotten to know over the past few decades will be gone. They likely won't be back for a long time. Coming out this far is certainly difficult, and funding another mission will take a while given all the things Nanoha is certainly going to have to deal with when she gets back. All the friendships she made, all the alliances she forged without anyone back at the TSAB even knowing. I hope Subaru does well. I learned so much on this journey about friendship, about hardship, about how to fight, about how to care... about how to suffer. Now that I'm finally home, I know I'm not the same mare. But none of my old friends are the same either. It evens out, in a way. Already our bonds are strengthening once again. Sweetie Belle... She makes me so proud. She's gone on not to become a singer, or a therapist, but a business mare. She'd been trying to find me this entire time. It's... good to see her so happy. My world's changed a lot, and I have no plans to stop that change now that I'm back. I think it's great to see ponykind strive to understand more about the worlds around them. More about the Stars... The Stars... I don't believe they are what Nanoha says they are. I don't think they're really as impassive as everyone claims. I think they're controlling us. I can't be sure, of course, and I'll have to do some research to learn more. But I do know I don't like their attitude towards existence. It's despicable. It's nothing like what I've learned all these years. The Star in my world, Algol, might be the source of the answers I need. He seems different than all the others. But that could just be my wishful thinking - I can't know for certain what he's really like, after all. Nanoha, if you listen to this - if anyone reads this among the thousands upon thousands of Horizon logs - please know that I am sad to see you go. I wish our worlds weren't so far apart and that we could continue on our adventures until the end of our lives. Or, well, end of my life I suppose, considering your attitude toward aging. Even though I missed so much of the life I was supposed to have, I wouldn't go back and prevent myself from leaving. There was too much we did out there among existence, to consider removing it all. We saved each others' lives more times than I can count. We were there for each other when we lost someone. I know I'll say this when you finally leave in person, but I want to say it here anyway. Goodbye. I'll never forget everything that happened. May we run into each other again. This is Rarity 'Scarce' Belle, signing off for the last time. It's been an honor. Take care of yourselves. [END RECORDING] Rarity took a step back from the recording device and sent the report up to the Horizon. She smiled, looking out the window of her home with bright, happy eyes. "Well, I suppose it won't do to put it off. Time for a talk with a Star..." ~Twilence~ "...we should talk about something," I said, suddenly. Vriska raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" "Yeah. Because... because this is the end. Of our group." "...You sure?" "It has to be," I said, scribbling notes in my book. "It's the only way this works." "Oh." "So. What have you always wanted to ask me and never gotten to?" Vriska smirked. "Biggest crush." I facehooved. "Can we avoid the stupid questions?" "Fine, fine. ...You see lots of things I can't. Is there anything about me you know?" "You're a hero, Vriska. You'll be one of the main ones." "Yeah, but you've already said that. Are there, like, any secrets I don't know about? Something about my past? A lie I believe? I - geez I'm not sure what I'm asking about here." I closed my eyes. "I know what you're asking. There are a few things in your journey with the Doctor..." "Don't care about that ass. SBURB?" "SBURB... Yeah, there's a thing or two you don't know." "Oh?" "Do you ever wonder why the Xeelee or the Flowers or the other higher civilizations didn't try to stop Lord English?" "Uh... You know, I do. Why didn't they do something?" "They tried," I said, taking a deep breath in preparation for an unseen story of the relatively 'recent' past... Horrorterrors have the most interesting death throes. As their impossible limbs are torn from them in ways incomprehensible to the vast majority of minds, they scream. It is a similarity they share with ma; agonizing panicked screams upon deathly torment. The difference is that their screams cross the boundaries between universes: entering those existences separate and apart, forcing children in galaxies to frown for eternity, driving universes to suicide, and creating the worst of monsters and heroes. It was a madness, a part of the Horrorterrors' nature, and it had to go somewhere when the being died. And yet, even in its final throes, the elder god still wouldn't tell its tormentor what he wanted to know. Where he should be. Where he should go. Where his enemy was. She eluded him still. Lord English stood as the only thing in this universe - he might as well have BEEN the universe. Were one to translate to this place they would die by his hand. The moment he left, there was no more universe - but he tied all the connections together into a chaos knot, straining the other planes of Paradox Space; cracking their realities, making their realities approach nothing. Lord English reformed himself into a more familiar form - humanoid, green, and tremendous. His eyes flickered with the colors of a cruel game; his face the visage of death, and his horrendous roars driving the vast Honk to all who listened and some who didn't. He took a 'step' with his peg leg, damning the plane to the Sea and nonexistence. He punched his way through a few empty planes, cracking the darkness of paradoxes all around. He came across a dream-bubble microverse. Time for some fun, he thought. He shot out of the dreaming-ground, spraying sand everywhere in a shower that never reached the ground, frozen in time from the cracks in the nature of the dream. A half-dozen ghosts - mostly trolls - took one look at him and tried to flee. Fools. He was already there. They ran face-first into his claws like the idiots they were, expunging their spirits. Lord English let out a deep Honk, signifying laughter. Pathetic puny whelps. There was never anything to challenge him, even the Horrorterrors were becoming easy killings, despite all their attempts to wrap him in their paradoxes. They were morons, thinking they could stop what had exceeded them... "MOTION CARRIED!" Lord English paused - he didn't recognize the presence that voice came from. He was aware of a tall, humanoid being composed entirely of stars and darkness, female by the look of it. Her hand was outstretched, and her eyes were narrowed in determination. Lord English was hit with something he couldn't see or predict, a lattice of pure universal energy that drove his entire body into the Sea- -or, rather, it tried to. The stellar humanoid's expression shifted to confusion when Lord English bounced off the Sea. She took a moment to ponder her next action, and this was her doom. He drove his scepter through her, discovering her to have the energy of a universe contained within her visage. No matter, he just needed to put a little extra effort into it - roaring mad, he sliced her visage in half, spreading her energies across nothingness. Then he destroyed the universe he was in for good measure. That was interesting... Lord English had never encountered one of them before. It didn't take him long to realize that he was probably causing enough damage to draw the attention of powerful entities from beyond Paradox Space. Beings from the larger multiverse. He grinned - that meant things were about to get fun, didn't it? Something punched him - he knew what it was the moment it made contact. A personification of pure rage and violence, feeding off Lord English's own emotions to empower itself. Lord English flipped his scepter into a gun and fired at Rage, bullets tearing through spacetime and Dream Bubbles like they were cobwebs. He roared, metaphysical manifestations of pool balls appearing all around Rage, flying into the Abstract, damaging him, but also making him stronger. How annoying. Two more of the stellar humanoids appeared behind him, brandishing weapons that cleaved through universe polymers. Between them was a sort of energy being who had formed himself into a strange zodiac symbol. English was pierced by the two weapons, and the energy being drew him into the circle, surrounding him in sealing energies. Lord English found this amusing. He punched out of reality, tossing the energy being into a Dream Bubble where nightmares became real, allowing nature to devour it. He then grabbed one of the stellar creatures in each of his hands and smashed them together like pancakes. Rage flew at Lord English once again, but this time Lord English skewered the Abstract with a peg leg. Rage roared - but found that his stability was shattering. His essence exploded. A tremendous golden mask appeared, accompanied by several dozen beings in reality-adhering armor, forcing their physics upon Paradox Space permanently. The mask spoke. "LORD ENGLISH! YOU HAVE BEEN JUDGED GUILTY BY THE GREAT WILL OF GOD! YOU ARE TO BE DAMNED TO THE SEA FOR YOUR HEINOUS ACTS!" Lord English found this amusing. He punched through the several dozen beings from all sides at once, beaning the god-mask in the nose. Evidently, the god was more than just a floating face - he appeared everywhere around Lord English, in all nearby universes several thousand times. "YOUR JUDGEMENT COMES, ENGLISH." English took the full brunt of the attack head-on - it actually hurt a little. Dozens of stellar, energy, and mechanical-suited beings appeared, bashing him from all sizes with toys that shredded everything around them, creating a starburst on his pattern of destruction. The Green Sun shifted its position within Paradox Space from the sheer force. Lord English lashed out with a powerful burst of energy going in all directions, taking out most of the god's essence, only for the personifications of Eternity and Energy appear, throwing him into more universes, having them act as a series of brick walls. He smashed them together - but Energy only grew stronger from this action. A celestial being in armor appeared, driving his hand into English's head - only for English to drive his claw into him. Lord English grabbed the essence of the stars and used them to banish Energy into the Green Sun to be devoured. Then English clapped, shattering a hundred universes in a single instant. He walked out, making sure to strut like a badass. "YOU ARE CHILDISH." the yellow god said, a few more masks appearing - some of different colors, presumably different gods, or different aspects of the same god. "YOUR HUBRIS WILL BE YOUR DOWNFAL-" Lord English decided he was done listening to that guy talk. He simultaneously appeared in all locations and punched every last golden smug face into oblivion. He twisted his wrist, smirking. Then the energy beings tried something again, though Them seemed to know it was a far-fetched idea. They were attempting once again to seal his powers, but that was stupid, they were stupid, the idiots. He grabbed onto the connections they were forming and smashed them into a personification of Wisdom. Lord English bounded after them, following their connections, tearing their energetic powers to nothing, tossing them aside like toys, following them further and further away... He appeared in a cluster of universes, pounding more and more of the energy beings into the ground, getting more and more joy out of it the more he killed. They actually fought back a little; he didn't have to hold back at all! He didn't have to toy with them! What fun! Then he realized that someone was severing the last connection to this section of universes. They were trying to dump him into the sea alongside dozens of other planes of existence. He growled - for the first time he wondered if they actually had the means to kill him. But he wouldn't go out that easily. As the universe fell into nothingness around him, he punched out, forming a brand new connection. The universes restabilized, though only half of their energies existed. He destroyed the large energy-construct that had been snipping universe connections left and right. He was no longer toying around - he was going to face these gods head on and take them out. He punched through them - and they decided to start throwing entire universes at him. Such things were just ammunition to them, both places to exist within and places to use as cannon balls. Already the death count had exceeded the trillions of trillions of lesser beings. They really were willing to kill him weren't they, with no qualms? Good. Worthy opponents- And then the universe he existed within was torn FAR from Paradox space, shoved somewhere Lord English wasn't even aware existed. He was suddenly inside a ring of universes, all containing galaxy-sized Rings of strings, all aimed right at him. They tore into his flesh not only from all directions but from all times. He roared in pain - that should have, should have, killed him, if he was only the sum of his parts. But oh, he was so, so much more than that. He rose up, empowered from the substance that defined the multiverse. Images of his Prophet, the terrible structure at the center of everything, of words on a page, of a fourth wall... He wrote himself alive. He punched out of his universe, into the new universes - brilliant universes filled with stars and structures of time that flowed from universe to universe. He took notes - in his future empire, he'd love something like this. The entire multiverse, one huge temporal clusterfuck. Apparently, the inhabitants of these universes knew how to navigate the complex annals of time, for Lord English saw his past, present, and future timelines attacked from all sides by tremendous machines - he felt what it was like to be torn apart by piano wire devices. But he reconstituted himself through time, punching thousands of universes occupied by these megastructure-builders into nothing. They got the message. Lord English was moved back to Paradox Space in a single instant. He could tell they were running out of plans - they hit him with everything they had, time, space, magic, spirit, eldritch... Some Flowery creature had been called in, weaving Narrative around them in some sort of home. Lord English found this amusing - that was the best they could do? THAT? Oh, if only they understood what the Tower truly meant, idiots... He pounded the plant into the ground, as well as all past and future versions of it the time shenanigans were trying to create. The universe-bending gods had brought in a lesser being. They must have been desperate. Good. Very good. They tried a few things again, but Lord English was expecting them. He would not fall for any of their tricks - he grabbed the universe-composed weapons and drove them into their creators. He raged across Paradox Space in a glee. Armies of lesser races began to appear. Stellar constructions forged with biological material. Ships that existed in universes separate from his own. ...A holy mage attempting to wire magic all around through every being here. He decided that was interesting enough to punch. The pathetic human died in an instant, her powerful magics doing nothing to protect her frail body. She was dead. "HAYATE!" a feminine voice rang out. Lord English felt powerful ka from this voice. But she was just a human woman, no real power in there. "FULL POWER..." Oh? What was this? "...STARLIGHT..." Lord English shot at her with his gun - best take care of her before she became annoying. "...BREAKER!" It was then that Lord English realized he was facing someone who was more than just power and ka - she was, in many ways, a force of nature. Her attack spiraled out into Lord English's universe, attacking him, but also the space-time he occupied. The energy levels reached such a level that the underlying nature of the reality tore apart at the seams, and the universe collapsed in on itself, vanishing in a puff of energy. She fell to a knee, exhausted. She had put everything into that. It hadn't done anything to Lord English besides impress him. She was a true warrior. Too bad she had to die. Then the other societies attacked him again, making Lord English forget all about Nanoha Takamachi. He was thrown aside, but he was not damaged beyond repair. He never was. He could not be. Could even the Downstreamers of old have done anything to him!? He doubted it! He let out a vast Honk, letting them know he wasn't done. He would take them all out! And they would all fall to him easily enough! And then a being appeared in front of him that made everyone stop in their tracks. He was a golden being of light that was vaguely humanoid. His arms were behind his back, and he looked at Lord English with a stern expression. Lord English could sense the power coming off this god - no, this God. Lord English wasn't sure he could defeat Him. He didn't know. He couldn't see. He was scared. "...I see," the One Above All said. Lord English growled - he was going to slap this God around, damn it. He'd win, he knew it. "Oh, you're right, I believe," the One Above All nodded. "I don't think I can be the one to defeat you." Lord English paused. "You are a being of Narrative. By nature, we cannot do anything. You must be defeated by something connected to you, by one who deserves to send you to the void. Or by many who deserve to send you into nothing, to trap you. It is something that must not come at our hand, at least not directly." He shrugged. "In theory, I should be able to snuff you out with a thought and be done with it." "THEN TRY IT!" Lord English bellowed. The One Above all let a smirk come across His face. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" He looked English right in his impossible eyes. "I'm afraid I can't give you what you want." And then He was gone. The remaining energy beings, celestials, machines, and others decided to follow suit, retreating into the multiverse. Lord English stood there for the longest time. He supposed he could go hunt them down - destroy them. But he had a mission to accomplish. He needed to destroy that one who was connected to him... Before she did anything. He needed to find her. Now more than ever. For whatever reason, he knew that God was being completely honest. He punched into a new universe, ignoring the dream bubbles. He couldn't afford to waste time now. Not anymore. He had to find her. He had to find his 'sister' before she did anything. I completed the story, letting out a breath. "So what you're telling me is big-G decided to trick Lord English, with a sentence, into falling for the whole ghost army thing?" "Lord English might have done it anyway," I said. "But it might have been the rage that built up in him that did him in." "Huh..." Vriska said. "...Yeah, anger was his primary flaw, wasn't it..." ~Historian~ ...my disrespectful son! He's... He's gone and destroyed the most sacred of all our laws! The purity doctrine! He's gone and found himself a human girl - not even a member of one of the offshoot tribes or a remnant of the Ancients! A truly ordinary human girl from a backwater dimension! While I must be begrudgingly grateful that she nursed him back to health after a dimensional mishap, this is going against everything we hold dear. I have kept this information from the other elders so they will not take it out on him... ...This book is not a diary, why is the above there? I can no longer submit this as the manuscript. It must be adjusted... ...In recent history, it has been revealed that [Indecipherable] I know he's still seeing her. He claims he isn't, but I have records of the dimensional portals. He pretends that I have no idea who he's talking about. Does he not realize that he is not only destroying himself, but the tribe as well? What will we do if the purity is broken!?... ...The art of marriage in the Tribe of Darkness is always presided over by the father of the groom and the mother of the bride, if they are available. The procedure is a very solemn one marked with deep, thoughtful promises and has the beauty of making both parties realize this isn't a game. Unfortunately my son doesn't seem to understand that. He thought he could hop off to the middle of nowhere and marry this girl in her way. There was no sanctity there! There was no proper [Indecipherable] I have taken her. Placed her with a curse. She will wander the multiverse until the day she dies. She will live her life, I am not a cruel man, but no one will ever be able to find her and no one will ever be able to stay with her for very long. She will continue like that for eternity. My son was livid, which is understandable, but at least we have avoided a disaster. None of the Tribe knows of her existence. It was an embarrassment that will be brushed under the rug, never to be spoken of again... ...He is gone. No doubt to search for her. He won't find her. But I worry for him. He could end up somewhere dangerous. I just want him to come back home safe... ~Mother~ ...just let her be safe..." the mother said, running through the horribly named Inner Foundry. It was one of the furthest areas that could still be considered part of the City, and it was built into a mountain. It was once a place for mining expected to be transformed into a factory district, but the second part of that plan hadn't panned out. It was now an abandoned metal scaffolding built into a mountain. It was also huge. She doubted she would ever find anything or anyone in here. Also, she had no cell service in here. She cursed herself for not getting the better phone, but no, she never thought she would need to be in a mountain and need to talk to her husband. Far from it. She ran across a metal railing, looking for signs of human habitation. She found a few recent pieces of graffiti, but 'recent' could be 'any time within the last few weeks'. It was no help to her at all. Plus, if there was graffiti of theirs, it wasn't like she would recognize Jadan's signature and she knew Osanna wasn't the best at art. She liked the way things looked and could never tell you why. The mother grew increasingly convinced that she had no idea where she was going and would get lost in this mountain of rails and metal. It was almost a fact to her at this point. Could she retrace her steps? Would anyone be able to find her? "OSANNA!" She called. Unlike all the other times, this time there was a response. On a rail a fair distance below her, she saw a human boy book it in fear. He no doubt thought she couldn't get down there. He was wrong. She jumped off her railing and landed on his with a loud clank. "What the fuck!?" he shouted, glancing behind him. She ran after him, murder in her eyes. "Why aren't your legs broken!?" "I'm not your average mother," she muttered, jumping after him. He didn't have any combat sense whatsoever and was pinned to the ground in less than a second. "Where. Is. Osanna!?" "She's up the ladder back there! At the surface! Please don't kill me!" "I wouldn't dream of it," the mother muttered, standing back up. "Why aren't you up there with her?" "Maybe I just wanted to go walk around, did you ever think of that!?" He shouted, standing back up. "Or maybe I-" "Son, if you're going to talk to me and have any chance, you're going to drop the teenage attitude." His face twitched. "You think I fucking care?" "Not particularly, but I had hoped." "Hoped what?" "That you weren't a piece of garbage like the rest of your family." His expression darkened. "I'm nothing like them." "Well, you left my daughter alone, a-" "FUCK HER!" Jandan shouted. "Fuck you, fuck everyone involved in this whole mess!" The mother was about to chide him again - but she saw something in his eyes. Had he been crying? "...Jandan, what-" "Your daughter is an absolute piece of shit who fucking took advantage of me! She's a heartless bitch! She... She..." Sensing he was about to lose complete control of his emotional faculties, he ran off. The mother heard sobbing as he left. As usual, it's never just that simple, is it? Her near panic replaced with a solemn feeling, she crawled up the ladder to the top of the Inner Foundry. It took her a couple minutes to get all the way up the ladder, but she wasn't in a rush. She climbed out into the light of day, standing atop a great mountain with evergreen trees all around. The wind whipped in her silky hair. She saw Osanna sitting on a rock, heaving with deep, painful sobs... ~Merodi~ "...are you crying again?" Monika asked. GM had nothing to say. "Back off," I said. "He is just a normal human being. Why is that so hard to get?" "...When was the last time any of us encountered a normal human being?" John asked. "Even he doesn't count!" Monika said, holding her hands out. "You're all a great team," GM grunted. "Watch i-" I slapped Monika in the face. "Shut up. The camera is on us again. I've got new information - much like the updates I used to get a long, long time ago. I know more about the situation, and it i-" "Yeah, no!" A cheery voice said. "You don't get to have that conversation because I'm about done!" I glared at the small white pixie that had appeared in the middle of the disc. 'Her' hair was short, her form pale, and her eyes a deep, endless black. "White Nettle. You finally show yourself." "Yes! I do!" White Nettle said with a smile. "And you're all about to witness the greatest moment in the history of the multiverse! Do any of you know why we're here?" "The Lord, the Muse, the Heir Are gathered together to make a tear The God, the Prophet, the ancient Are needed to fulfill a lost tenet," Arceus recited. "We are here to make a tear in what I presume is reality and fulfill a lost tenet." "Which is probably something your Downunder people didn't do," John said with a dorky smile. "Downstreamer," GM corrected, forcing a smile on his face so he didn't freak out at White Nettle's presence. It only partially worked - he was still trembling considerably. Nettle leaned in. "Close. But what is really going to be accomplished?" "Are you going to try to create Infinity again?" I asked. "I know your people failed. It's not something that was a secret to me. Even your existence wasn't a secret to me, even though it was to a few others." Nettle looked at her. "Ooh, so so close. But look outside this little pocket dimension I have you all imprisoned in! What is out there?" "The Dark Tower, of course it's o-" a lightbulb went off in my head. "You're insane." "...What am I missing?" Monika asked. "I'm missing something." "Uh... She's going to make us paint the Dark Tower?" John suggested. "I'm going to die next to this guy," GM realized. "I'm not sure how I feel about this." "Who said anything about dying?" Nettle asked, shaking her head. "Nope! I'm just going to-" "-attempt to control the Dark Tower," Arceus said. "Your people had a choice in the past - Infinity or the Dark Tower. They chose Infinity. You think that was the wrong choice." "And the 'God' finally understands," Nettle said, smiling innocently. "I'm here to take control of the Dark Tower, using the power contained in you five to complete the ancient prophecy and end this era of existence. We tried letting stories and Prophets define existence, it's time for something new." "No single person should control reality," I said. "You can't claim to be the right choice." "Oh, no. But I can bring back the Downstreamers with this power and, as a whole, we could decide what happens to existence!" White Nettle smirked. "You should probably thank us, it'll make ka a lot less of a problem for you to deal with." "I have a question," John said. "How does kidnapping the five of us do that?" "Simple, really," Nettle said, snapping her fingers. Suddenly the five of us were immobilized - but we were in the same universe as the Dark Tower now. We were spread around it in a pentagon shape. Spheres of white energy appeared around us, channeled through the full power of Nettle's multiversal-jellyfish body. Myself, Monika, John, and GM had no powers to speak of right now, kept docile through limitations in our physical bodies. Arceus had no such limitations. He let out a roar, trying to shatter everything - but a flash of red light stopped him. "How?" he asked. Nettle smirked, generating a small red-white ball in her hand. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a full Creator god with an easily exploitable weakness? And yet, you. You, the god of your world, are hard-coded to be capturable. This little ball the humans created? I can use the energies within it to capture you wherever I want. Because that's part of who you are." Arceus roared - but he knew she was right. He couldn't do anything. His powers were sealed away with him. "So, here's how this works. I take the abilities of a Creator to start a new existence around the Dark Tower. Of course, it will fight back, but I have a Muse and a Lord of ka itself whose powers can tangle around that mess. Of course, the Dark Towers self-defense mechanism will come into place - the paradox. Which is why John is here. He can break that paradox with his retcon. Allow the Tower to open to me like an egg. And GM..." she floated down to the cowering man. "You're telling the Song. This is what you'll write. I'll just implant it in your mind so that, when I put you back, you will write it. Don't worry, I'll allow your connection to the Tower to exist long enough for you to write to here." I wanted to yell at her - but I couldn't. She had me frozen. "Oh, you want to say something?" Nettle said, smiling. "Is it perhaps that I'm too arrogant? That I shouldn't be playing God? That I'm just going to bring doom, just like the Downstreamers did before me?" Maybe. Maybe this destruction is what keeps me from seeing further. "But what about that eighth story I see in your head? There's something in the future. Maybe that world you see... Maybe that world is because of me. Because of the new Downstreamers." She smiled warmly. "Don't worry. Nobody's going to die, or even be hurt. I'm just going to channel all your powers through myself in an exceedingly complex universal polymer circuit. And the vaguely alchemical bonds will focus all energy into the center, into me." "...The Tower is in the Center," Arceus pointed out. "And this universe is currently inside my brain," Nettle countered. "So the Tower and my consciousness are the center here. It paradoxically works." She drifted back. You don't have to do this. I thought to her. "It's not like this is an evil plan, or anything," Nettle pointed out. "I just want my people to have their power back. This is the way to do it. And if you look into your sights, you know this will work." She had me there. It would work. It would bring the Downstreamers back and allow them to have complete dominion over the multiverse. And they wouldn't be evil. They'd be just like they were in the past. "Can you give me any reason why I shouldn't?" Nettle asked me directly. "You don't have anything left to see, Twilence. There is no future that needs to happen. This is the climax." It would cause great unrest. "...So do half the things you do." It would remove freedom. It would... I... I have nothing, Nettle. All I know is that this feels wrong. That what you're doing is not meant to be. "Of course not. The Tower doesn't want to be replaced. But what's it going to do?" The Austraeoh appeared in the universe. "...Frick...." ~Tower~ ...Flagg walked into the main room of the Weaver's construct, rubbing his fingers over everything. "Are you ready?" The central white pillar flickered. "I've been ready ever since the power reserves dwindled." Flagg shrugged and shook his head. "You're making this a lot less enjoyable. Have a bit of a dejected spirit! Or an excited one." "I've come to terms with it, Flagg. I am an ancient being." "Yes, yes, of the Prim," he said dismissively. "If only you had a resurrection matrix like me." Weaver didn't dignify this with a response. Flagg strode through the room, putting a hand to his head. "I can still see Mid-World, you know. I can see the Tower." "Upset you can't do anything about it?" Flagg turned around, clicking his heels. "In some ways. In others, not." "You don't have to be cryptic here." "You can't see into my mind," Flagg said with a psychotic grin. "No," Weaver confirmed. "Then I can be as cryptic as I want. What I can do is show you what's happening there! You'll be glad to know you missed all the action. The Crimson King is already mostly written out of existence. I would have liked to have been the one to do that, but I won't be fussy." He strode around, picking up something from one of the Weaver's hallways. "...A record?" "Perhaps one of the travelers through here left it," Weaver suggested. Flagg took it out of its cover. "Cloud Atlas... that's important, but not in a fundamental or impactful way..." "If you say so." Flagg ran his finger across it, playing the tune through his sharp nail somehow. "An ending that folds in on itself and becomes false. A climax of uncertainty. All of this has happened before and all of it will happen again. Curious." "I'm afraid I don't understand." Flagg didn't respond to that. "Roland's walking up to the door of the Dark Tower, entering! Patrick's becoming well acquainted with the power of the Roses when used for art, swirling them onto his page. He's just drawn a record and he..." Flagg blinked, glancing at the record he was holding. It was the same record. "You have no idea why he would draw that, would you?" Weaver asked. Flagg ignored this, focusing on one was happening in Mid-World. He suddenly felt like he was being watched instead of the other way around. Patrick looked up to where Randall Flagg's 'eye' was. The boy waved. Flagg growled. "I will hunt him to the ends of the earth..." Patrick shook his head. He simply sat down and kept drawing while Cloud Atlas played. "What is he doing!?" "Would it have something to do with eight?" Weaver asked, suddenly just as curious as Flagg was. "Why eight!?" Weaver shone a light on the piece of paper Patrick had left. Flagg lifted it up and stared at it. "This isn't an eight. This is the symbol for infinity." Weaver's mental faculties stopped short. "...I forgot something." Flagg grinned. "Make a mistake, did you? Suddenly wish you had more life?" Weaver ignored him - he ran to the Safeguard's control schemes. He needed to put in a new security measure fast. He knew he was almost out of time. In Mid-World, Patrick drew Roland ascending the staircase of the Dark Tower, opening doors and looking at his life... Flagg held up a hand, pointing at Weaver's white pillar. He grinned, prepared to give a command to kill the ancient being. Weaver scrambled the security protocols of the Spline. Who cared if that ruined some of its perfection? If he didn't put this in, everything was done for. Within the Dark Tower, Roland laid his hand on the final door, the one with his name. Patrick put down his notebook and closed his eyes, looking not at Flagg's vision, but at the Dark Tower. Cloud Atlas played. Flagg chuckled. "Stop living." Weaver got the last-minute change in - but it left a mess in the code. The Spline would not be as perfect as he had envisioned it to be. But he knew it was safe. Roland stepped through the final door. He did not get to glimpse the room at the top; he was simply sent directly to where he needed to go. The start of his journey. So he could be the gunslinger, again and again. Mid-World reset. A tear rolled down Patrick's cheek as he vanished, Flagg's view replaced with that of a desert, rather than the field of Roses. The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. Flagg stood inside the now-dark hall of the Weaver, only a few of the machines operating on their own power. He could feel his connection to Mid-World disappearing. But he already knew what was happening. The Dark Tower had created a true paradox. A world where time travel was not allowed... But one that kept looping anyway. Looping to repair the beams of the Dark Tower. There would be another Flagg in there - but when he died in every loop, he would not be reborn. Every time, Roland would climb up the Dark Tower - and reset everything. The Dark Tower had won. Nothing would ever be able to threaten it again. Flagg, for once in his life, was speechless. He left. There was nothing left for him here. This story was at its end. ■ ~Theater~ ...the one-man audience watched the actors panic. "The Spline!" one of them told the commander. "It's the Spline! We... we activated the largest Safeguard response I've ever seen!" "We can take them," the high commander said. "It's just a bunch of mindless robots!" "It's not just the robots! It's... They're compressing the universes together! Keeping the multiverse from expanding past a certain volume!" The high commander stared at him. "...And what is that going to do to us?" "...It's going to destroy us. Completely." "Why would the Weavers program this in!?" the high commander shouted. "Did they want to kill whoever dared defy them!?" "They wanted to stop infinity," F-something said on a video call. "I can see it easily. They realized that, if the multiverse was truly infinite, there could be no meaning. It would defy the purpose of the Dark Tower. If we made an infinite multiverse, we would make an infinite number of ourselves, the Downstreamers. There would be no more battles for the multiverse. No more big questions about existence. But there would be all things possible. That would destroy the organization the Weavers tried to impose on the world." "Is it so wrong to want everything to exist!?" the high commander asked. "I don't know," F-something said. "All I know is they didn't want it. And we're going to pay the price for daring to defy their wishes for existence. Goodbye, high commander." The feed cut off. The film switched to show F-something furiously typing away at a computer. "All right Winona, I'm going to cut through the universes as they explode around us... You'll be stuck in there a long, long time, but I've got your fate covered. You will awake one day. When you do... remember us." Winona couldn't say anything since she was sealed away - but her expression shifted, indicated she'd heard. "Goodbye," F-something said, tears in her eyes. She pressed a button and Winona vanished. And then the universe exploded. The greatest cataclysm the multiverse had ever seen rippled throughout. The Infinity Mechanisms tried to make Infinity as the Spline contracted to do just the opposite. Cosmic energies clashed into each other. Every universe was hit - every. Single. One. New, old, it didn't matter. Planets were fused, physics were thrown into each other, and the Unrealities raged. The viewer stared at the effects. "Neat." The bottoms of the Infinity Mechanisms exploded, their nearly indestructible interiors falling apart as they could no longer try to do what they were meant to. Downstreamers everywhere lost their mental connections with each other, time itself shifting just enough everywhere to write almost all of them out of existence. The high commander screamed as his body was torn to shreds. But, eventually, the Spline relented. The Infinity Mechanisms could work no more; there was no longer a threat. The view panned out to show the One Above All floating in nothingness, watching the remnants of destruction - and shaking his head. The view zoomed out to the entire multiverse. It looked broken, jarred, and empty in many places. But it was still there - and still finite. The narrator from the start of the movie came back. "The remaining Downstreamers were hunted down by the few gods who still had grudges against them. Their culture was wiped clean. Every society that existed at the time was damaged beyond repair - only the Abstracts were able to reform afterward. This cataclysm of attempted Infinity is the reason all the Downstreamer remnants shape the multiverse. Why there are universe eaters, universe generators, nexus universes, and other bizarre things. Most of them come from the Downstreamers. Now, no one remembers where all of them are, or how all of them work. Even the Class 1 societies, who can control such things, cannot master them all. The remnant of the Downstreamers is a permanent mark on the multiverse we cannot hide from, and yet most of us forget." The man who was the audience stretched his arms, feeling like it was definitely time for the film to be over. "Perhaps... there is a remnant." An image of Winona's capsule passed across the screen. "Perhaps there is one out there who can help us remember." The credits started rolling over the top of Winona's pod. "Give me a break," the man said, grunting. "There's no Downstreamer remnant kid thing. I would know about it." He grinned like a maniac. "I'm the reason they're gone, after all." The man in black adjusted his coat. "It only took one powerful voice in favor of Infinity to get them to go there." Randall Flagg snapped his fingers, setting the theater ablaze. He nonchalantly walked out as the fire alarms started to blare. All in all, the film had been interesting - woefully inaccurate, especially to someone who had been there during the events, but he understood that he wasn't exactly the target audience. It was very stupid and the story was a mess, but the special effects were decent. This world clearly had a few decades to go before it really understood how to make movies. He doubted he would let civilization survive that long here... Even though they had reminded him of his greatest feat, they had also dared to suggest he missed one. There was no chance of that. ■ ~Harlequin~ ...Dimentio had created an office for him in the top of the megalith. Or, as he now knew it was called, the Infinity Mechanism remnant. It was a simple office. Just him, a table, an endless pen, and a book. The book. The book that had been calling to him from across time and space. The book he was destined to create. The book of the Source. He wrote down secrets. Endless secrets, secrets inserted in cryptic prophecies, secrets strewn about in cyphers, in drawings, in ramblings that seemed like madness. Who was he kidding, the ramblings were madness. Absolute madness. For that was what truth was. The book itself was completely mundane. But the secrets gave it life. The forbidden knowledge infused it with great, destructive power. It began to glow as he wrote more and more into it, to shimmer, to scream to reality that it existed. It wanted people to know the future it contained. It wanted to cause the future it contained. Dimentio wrote hundreds of thousands of words within the pages. Some frantically, some slow. But he wouldn't sleep or eat until he was finished. He didn't need to. He was Dimentio, master of dimensions! Performer extraordinaire! He had seen his life, and it was glorious. And this book... This book was his life. He laid down the pen when he was done and closed the book, looking at the cover. It was a dark silvery tone with a deep round crystal in the center of it. Tick marks surrounded the crystal like a clock, and a dark spirograph surrounded that. "Ahahahahahaha! Like a cicada, I emerge to find life complete!" He held up the book, laughing the entire time. "Behold! The Prognosticus!" The book shifted. Dimentio saw images - but they were images he already knew. Images that no longer bothered him. He knew he could not use this book directly. That was not how the Dark Tower worked. The secrets within could not just be acted upon. No... no, they needed to be seeded. Seeded across time, space, history, existence, reality! Hundreds of people would own this book, and it would bring about destruction in every one of them! All until Dimentio would be allowed to fulfill his life. All until Dimentio could create perfection. He just had to wait for that 'Bleck'. ■ ~Historian~ ...and then the history of the Tribe of Darkness came to an abrupt, violent end. Blumiere took his father's prized notebook in his hands and lit it on fire, torching all the historical data within. "This will never reach the light of day or the shade of night," he said, face twisting in rage. "There is nothing." Nastasia adjusted her glasses. "Of course. What now?" "Now? Now we go for what we came for." He turned his back on his father's study, walking through the dark, black halls the Tribe of Darkness loved so much. "The way to make everything right." Nastasia nodded, understanding exactly what he meant. The two of them walked right into the Dark Vaults. There was only one person watching over the door to the darkest treasure of the Tribe of Darkness - Blumiere's father. "Ah, Blumiere, you've finally returned. I am so glad t-" He saw Nastasia. "What have you done!?" "She is simply my assistant, father," Blumiere spat. "You saw to it that the purity was not destroyed." "You brought an outsider here!?" "Yes. I did." He nodded to Nastasia. She adjusted her glasses, shooting a sharp beam of light into the dark historian's eyes. He grunted. "What... was that?" "Hypnosis," Nastasia said. "Surprised you're still able to think." "I'm... stronger than you think..." "You won't be able to fight with your mind in that state, regardless." Nastasia smoothed her sleeves out. "Blumiere?" Blumiere pointed his staff at the vault door, blowing it up with a rend of spatial energy. Behind it was only one object - a dark purple-black book with a large blue crystal in the center. "The Dark Prognosticus..." Blumiere said, grinning. "If there is anything worthwhile anymore, it is in here." "Blumiere, my son, don't! Even your ancestors could not handle that dark book... If you open it... there's no telling what might happen!" "I do not care, father! A world without her is empty! A LIFE without her is empty. Speak, Dark Prognosticus! Teach your dark history!" He paused for a moment, smiling. "I await your command." The Dark Prognosticus flipped open to a particular page. Blumiere saw what it was instantly. Exactly what he was looking for. "BLEH HEH HEH! BLECK!" Dark, purple energies shot out of the book, prompted by Blumiere's will. The destructive magics shot out, shaking the very reality of the Tribe's universe. "Blumiere... What have you done?" "SILENCE!" Blumiere shouted. "The first prophecy beckons. I will erase every inch... of this blasted world!" The historian's expression became that of pure fear. "Blu-blumiere! Don't do this! Blumiere!" "Blumiere is no more!" he said, adjusting his monocle. "I am Count Bleck! And no one shall stand in my way! BLEH HEH HEH! BLECK!" And the Tribe of Darkness was no more. Count Bleck and Nastasia appeared in a world of nothingness. "This will do nicely for the center," Bleck said. "The moment we can finally bring it about, of course." Nastasia adjusted her glasses. "Right. What should we do first?" With a square-shaped shift in the fabric of reality, what looked like a purple and black jester appeared in front of them. "You should consider hiring some help!" Count Bleck pointed his scepter at the jester. "Who are you?" "I am Dimentio, master of dimensions, and the ripples of reality have told me you are the guy to talk to about wanton destruction of everything for the betterment of all!" He snapped his fingers, the smile on his mask seeming to widen with the motion. "Like koi under the moon, we are drawn together!" "Begone," Count Bleck declared. "Oh, what, don't trust me just popping in like this? Fine, fine... But you'll find mention of me in that fancy book of yours, and you'll come to realize you need me." Dimentio chuckled. "But until then, I'll heed your wishes. I wish you luck! Ciao!" Dimentio was gone. Count Bleck narrowed his eyes. He used his hands to grab the Dark Prognosticus and start reading. "We do not hire help just yet. We study what secrets lie within this tome. Then act on them to destroy everything." "We aren't replacing anything, are we?" "No," Bleck said. "Everything goes. And nothing remains." Dimentio chuckled from his hidden sub-dimension. Poor fool thought he had the ability to destroy all worlds in his hands. ...Well, to be true, he had part of the secret to that. But even Dimentio knew destroying the entire multiverse was a foolish proposition. No, what Blumiere had was small. Localized. Just enough power to give him a taste... And then Dimentio would take it from him! "Ahahahahaha!" The tragedy of Dimentio's miscalculation, unfortunately, is another story entirely. ■ ~Grand Tour~ ...Nanoha got a sudden feeling in her gut that time had shifted backward, somehow. Like she was out of order... This feeling quickly passed, because she saw where she was. She was back in the Q-Sphere, on a personal visit to see Rarity again after so many, many years. She really shouldn't have waited as long as she did to come back, but that was behind her now. She was ready to see her friend again. Except... Everything had changed. She was floating in a universe where the entire 'sky' was static, but there was still gravity. Where strange monolith creatures floated among black chunks of rock. Where eyes were visible directly above and directly below. A world that would become known, one day, as simply the Static. In that day, it would be empty. It was not empty now. It was filled with Stars - Stars fighting against gigantic feats of magitech stellar engineering. A war was happening in front of her eyes as the cosmic balls of plasma fought against the technological behemoths. The Stars seemed to be protecting something Nanoha couldn't see. "...Raising Heart...?" "Rarity is on board the largest of the ships. There is an unusually high concentration of ka in the center of the Star's defenses, likely artificial." "Artificial..." Nanoha furrowed her brow. "I'm... sure Rarity would love to explain what's going on here." "Unlikely, master." Nanoha ignored her device. She teleported herself near the star-fighting ship - finding its shields blocked her entry. "Rarity!" she shouted. "Let me in!" Nanoha could see the turrets on the ship look at her, think about firing, and then decide that was a bad idea. She was teleported onto what she assumed was the bridge, in front of Rarity sitting in the captain's seat. "What the hell are you doing here!?" Rarity shouted. "This is a warzone!" "It is, is it?" Nanoha shouted. "What are you doing fighting a war!?" "We're overthrowing the Stars! What does it look like!?" "Overthrowing?" "They controlled everything, Nanoha. They would experiment on random worlds that everyone would forget about. They would torment us endlessly." "Rarity!" "I've been living in this war long enough to have that proven to me! You have no right to waltz in here and question it!" Nanoha narrowed her eyes. "I think I do." "How can you possibly know anything about this war you obviously only found out about a few minutes ago!?" "I don't. I know you." Nanoha pointed Raising Heart at her. "And you're not the pony I remember." "War is a brutal thing, Nanoha." "I know. I've been in a few. You should remember that." "Those weren't true wars. This is a true war. A true war I brought about." Nanoha spread out her hands. "Why would you do that!? Why would you start a war!?" "Because it was needed!" "The Rarity I knew wouldn't do that. " "The Rarity you know died the moment she came home and realized the truth about it," Rarity spat. "Algol told me much about the nature of his people. They needed to die." "I can't stop your war," Nanoha said. "But I can tell you, right now, that it's wrong." This clearly hurt Rarity. "...Look, there's proof right here in this world. This world they created specifically to fight us. Do you know what they're guarding? Some kind of machine designed to twist fate so they can win. The codes call it a 'Guarantee'. Many Stars have perished to make this thing, according to our intel. They're sacrificing their own." "And you're not?" "We're not so heartless as them," Rarity said. "We don't experiment on ponies." Nanoha glared. "And you're going to grab the Guarantee yourself, aren't you?" Rarity saw what Nanoha was thinking. "Nonon-" Nanoha reverse-teleported using the same spell they had used to bring her inside. Then she turned to the Stars and flew in. A couple of them saw her. Time for a test. "Starlight Breaker!" She shouted, using a relatively low-power version of her attack to 'break' through the 'starlight' beams the Stars were shooting at her. It worked like a charm, allowing her to get closer to the center. They fired at her with their cosmic energies, but she was Nanoha Takamachi, the White Devil. It was going to take more than a few angry Stars to put her down. She had stood toe to toe against eldritch abominations the size of universes. This was nothing. She appeared in the center, finding the Guarantee. To her surprise, it was only about the size of her head, rather than something of cosmic importance. It was an eye composed mostly of a creamy white crystal lined in black metal, with a single slit from the top to bottom that served as a pupil. It shifted with power. Power that the Stars hadn't been able to control just yet. Power that Rarity wanted to control to continue her reign of terror. For the briefest of moments, Nanoha wondered if she had acted hastily. She let herself think if she should just let this happen. ...But no. She couldn't stand by. This thing, this Guarantee... It was too dangerous. Even outside the war, something that guaranteed victory? It was too powerful for anyone to have. She wasn't taking the chance she'd regret this. She pointed Raising Sights at it. "Destroy," she ordered. A beam of bright energy hit the Eye. After two seconds of exposure, it was gone. The Stars stopped shooting at Nanoha, the stress on her shield fading away. Every Star hopped out of the universe. Most of Rarity's ships did as well - except the main one. Nanoha teleported back into it. "There. Now your little battle here is over, and nobody has that kind of power." Rarity twitched. "I should kill you where you stand." Nanoha gasped. "But I owe you too much for that. Get out of my sight. If the Starcross Society ever catches sight of you again, your life is forfeit." "Rarity! I just saved the lives of your ships and stopped them from using the device!" "And you didn't let us have it!" "I don't know the situation!" "That's right! You don't! So you don't get to interfere!" "I know you." "No, you don't. Now LEAVE!" Nanoha glared. "No." "Kill her," Rarity ordered. Nanoha hadn't thought Rarity would do it. The White Devil returned to her ship with a heavy wound to the chest. "Nanoha!" Vita blurted. "Wh-" "Just... turn the ship around and go home..." she muttered. "I'm going to the medical bay..." She limped away. She wasn't sure what to make of this. She'd stopped a battle - but the war would still go on. She'd kept either side from getting a guaranteed victory, which at the moment was likely the best way to minimize the pain. But in the long run, would it mean anything? And what of that Eye? ...She hadn't been able to destroy the Star-craft. She'd only been able to make it look like that. She'd just sent it to a random universe. She stumbled into the medical bay, her vision blurring. She flopped over, losing consciousness as the medical professionals ran to her. ■ ~Twilence~ "...Twilence?" Vriska asked. "Huh?" I asked. "You still there?" "Yeah. I was just thinking about the origins of the Eye of Rhyme. It's a... complicated device." "Forged by Stars, lost on your world. I know, you've told the story before." I nodded. "Yeah. Though in reality, there's a bit more nuance than that. See, the ancient society of my world built much based on the secrets they found within the Eye a-" "I have enough, Twilence," Vriska said. "...Enough?" "The small amounts of luck you've been feeding me over these last few months. I have enough. I can escape through the fabric of existence." I sighed. "Right... I knew that. But I didn't want to know that." "When are you going to tell me to go?" "I should have a few hours ago. I should have already started my plan. I should. But I don't want to be alone. I'm going to be alone here for a while before it works. If it works." "I can stay." "We've been through this. You die if you stay. We can't have that." "I'll come back." "You'll just get trapped again, and I'll probably already be gone." Vriska sighed. "Okay, fine. I leave. And then what?" "Then we meet up when the final story begins." I looked right at her. "Vriska... Look for a version of me with metal lining on her ears. She's the one." "...All right, got it. Twilight with freaky ears." I nodded slowly. "A-and... You'll be alone for a while before that happens. I'll have to be alone for longer. ...Don't be afraid of change." "...Okay...?" "You'll probably understand later." I bit my lip. "...Goodbye, Vriska." There would be no chance for a hug. She was in chains, after all. She wasn't going to be able to do anything before her luck sucked her to another reality. This talk was all they'd have. "...See you later. Take good care of Mite and Creek, okay?" I gulped. "Okay." And then she vanished, leaving me alone. No doubt Polymarchus noticed. He just didn't care. He still had leverage in the form of his body, Creek. A ton of leverage. And I was about to call him out on it with my plan. I separated the piles of paper into two and focused. On one, I continued to write the story Polymarchus wanted me to say. The one of Rome growing and becoming powerful, ready to take on the stars of the Nexus. On the other, I wrote a different story. One that he wouldn't be able to detect or deflect with his Flower. Why? Because I wouldn't be the only Prophet involved. I had been put in contact with several through the Eye of Rhyme over the years. I was going to choose a few of them and intertwine a tale of Prophets, Aware golems, creations, and nanobots... I would shunt a lot of work to the other Prophets, but I would guide them through to Polymarchus in a framework story. I would lead them from the forest to Blumiere's cabin, where they would learn where they were. Then I would take them through Lest, where they could meet Rev and understand the backstory. Then they'd come to Rome, and be put on the quest of taking Polymarchus down. Then they would free me and escape as Rome experienced political collapse. I was going to out-Prophet the Flower. And I could see it working. I could see myself escaping in almost every possible outcome. I saw myself returning Mite to his homeworld, and then going to live in the basements of the Void... But I didn't see Creek. I knew that if I went through with this the chances of the other Prophets playing their parts perfectly were almost zero. But that perfect run was the only way to get out of this with Creek. Was I willing to risk her life to end Polymarchus and usher in the next phase of the story? ...It turned out that I was. I kept scribbling, scribbling, scribbling, writing what was likely to be a declaration of death for more than a few people. There was a chance she would come out of this. A chance. I would hold onto that as long as I possibly could. ■ ~Merodi~ "Told you it was White Nettle!" Pinkie blurted. "Fat lot of good that did," Corona muttered, looking at all the Austraeoh's sensors. "She's frozen us while she does... whatever it is she's doing to the Dark Tower." "Take control," Pinkie offered. "She wants to take it over and then bring the Downstreamers back." "Aaaaand we can't have that," Corona said. "I don't know," Eve commented. "Would it really be that bad? Like Pinkie said, they're not evil." "Do you want White Nettle or anyone in control of ka?" "...Good point." Eve narrowed her eyes, looking outside as White Nettle's 'ritual' began. "So, we're clearly here to stop this. How do we do that?" "Right now she's only stopped the ship and seems to be ignoring us in favor of rushing along her ritual," Allure said. "She might not know who exactly is here." Pinkie shook her head. "She has Twilence and Monika. Of course she knows." "I could throw this universe into the Sea," Corona suggested. "The Tower won't be harmed, this is just a manifestation after all." "Not an option," Eve said. "Can't get help here fast enough and the more we talk the closer she gets to just doing what she wants! Gah, think!" She activated her Light eye, examining everything she could. "If we could free Arceus... His seal seems the weakest. I think I could take it out." "We're not allowed outside the ship, how are we gonna do that?" Allure demanded. Pinkie whistled innocently. "Nevermind, I forgot about the 'Pink One'." The five orbs of captured power around the Dark Tower flashed with a brilliant light, letting the four of them know the time for deliberation was at an end. "Pinkie, get us out there," Corona ordered. "We'll... figure something out." Pinkie saluted. "Aye-aye, Secondorino." She grabbed the three of them and ducked behind a console. With a rush of impossibility they appeared above Arceus. "I see the rescue party has arrived," Arceus said telepathically from his prison. "Yeah," Eve said, powering her magic up. "I hope you like dark magic." Her cosmic mane lost most of its sparkle, the streak of orange soon being the only vibrant color within it. Her non-Light eye became an ominous blue-green, both ocular orbs surrounded in the haloes of Midnight. Her wings became sharp as magic circles swirled around her, prompting Seraphim to appear behind her. "...I'm going to be down there," Corona said. She picked up Allure in her arms and flew down to the entrance of the Dark Tower, leaving Eve and Pinkie to Arceus' orb. "I reject this reality and substitute my own!" Eve roared, ordering quasi-magical barriers to be impossible. Of course it wasn't that easy. The fields were being shunted through the universes of Nettle's body. They could reject reality just as easily as Seraphim could. Pinkie started hitting the barrier with an ice pick. "...Any day now," Arceus deadpanned. "Hold your horses," Pinkie grunted, pulling out a chainsaw and breaking it on the orb's barrier while Eve drove sharp wings of darkness into the forcefield, worming through it via spatial manipulation. The barrier noticed this and pushed her out. But her dark magics were already in the barrier, using their cruel nature to turn the barrier against itself. The barrier caught fire, the flames were a neon blue tinged with unsettling green highlights. The barrier didn't budge. Pinkie furrowed her brow. "Y'know, I just realized. The last six stories didn't really have a good ending..." "Not the time..." Eve muttered. Down on the ground, Corona and Allure walked into the Dark Tower. It let them both in. "This isn't normal," Allure said. "It's capable of self-defense, it may be capable of getting desperate," Corona said, holding out her hands and her wings. Contrasting with Eve's dark magic tinged with streaks of light, Corona's was bright with only tinges of darkness from Sombra-style nanobots. Intricate magical circles sprang forth from her arms, wings, and horn, creating a complex matrix setup. "I'm trying to tap into Nettle's connection. You climb the stairs." Allure nodded. She galloped up the steps, ignoring every door she came across. There were more important things right now than reminiscing on her lifetime. Corona glanced at the doors of the Dark Tower. They're still open. Why is it letting time flow the same inside and out? "Better question," Pinkie told Eve as she threw a pie at Arceus. It bypassed the barrier and hit him in the face, but didn't exactly help them get him out. "Why isn't Nettle interfering with us?" "Overconfidence? Distraction?" Eve suggested, trying to use raw power from a universe of pure energy on the barrier to no avail. "Amusement?" Pinkie bounced over to me since she was pretty useless helping Eve. "Heeeey, what's up with Nettle?" I can't speak. "Doooesn't matter at the moment!" Convenient. I probably have to use my powers and write about this later. "Eh, probably. Buuuut you can see Nettle, riiiiight?" Sort of. Her body is not good for visual stimuli, but she's trying to turn us into essences faster and faster. What she's fighting is the Dark Tower's self-defense paradox. She really doesn't have time to deal with you right now. Pinkie glanced over at John - he was glowing with the power of retcon. "Hmmmm. Right. Oh! Idea~!" She bounced over to John. "Yo! John! Listen up! After this is over you need to retcon-zap right to this moment in spacetime! Got it?" John apparently got it, because he did zap into existence right next to Pinkie. "Sup?" Pinkie this is very dangerous, I thought. Pinkie waved a hoof dismissively. "Yeah, but if he's here, then Nettle probably succeeded in what she did." "Huh? Oh, no, she didn't," John said. "I just came back because you said so." Pinkie facehooved. "I'm an idiot..." "Nah, I'm sure with me here again we can make it happen better! Faster. Or something." "Right. So. Uh... Honestly I didn't have much of a plan and just wanted to know how Nettle's plan worked. So... How did we stop her last time?" "I have no idea. She just got really angry and we were released and then I came back here." This is what you get for choosing John as your reconnaissance agent. "I didn't have much of a choice, okay!?" Pinkie complained. "John!" Eve called. "You might be able to help with this barrier!" "Oh, yeah, that's a thing I could do!" He floated over, the winds of Breath flowing around him in a rush. Inside the Tower, Allure reached the top. She pulled the door back - took a quick look at the room at the top of the Tower, made sure the Source and clock were there, then jumped through. It took her exactly where she needed to go - a world with lots of very fragile crystals that were flashing like synapses in a giant brain. The copying universe within White Nettle that served as her mind. She tapped her hooves together. "Gooood..." Corona felt White Nettle try to fuse the Tower to herself - but the alicorn-woman was in the center of the Tower, just like Nettle paradoxically was. She intercepted the connection and threw herself into Nettle's mind. "Hello!" Corona said, smiling. "Normally this is the part where I talk, but let's just light your mind on fire instead!" She pushed her mental energy into Nettle... and nothing happened. The psychic projection of Nettle's body raised an eyebrow. "My mind is a universe. What are you going to do to it with just a mental connection? I see a possible reality-breaking spell doing something, but this?" Corona pointed a finger at her. "Guess talking is good then." "I can easily talk to you and keep track of the Tower at the same time." "You sure?" Nettle tried to ignore her. Corona didn't let this work, sending an image of a flickering lightbulb directly into Nettle's consciousness. "You're the devil," Nettle muttered. Corona rolled her eyes. "I'm just doing what needs to be done." "Get out," Nettle shouted, pointing a finger at Corona. Corona didn't leave. "...What th-" Nettle felt a sharp pain as Allure smashed another part of her subconsciousness regulation. "Gah!" Allure chuckled as the crystals around her flashed red in anger. "Aaaand no Safeguard to protect you from little fillies like me. Woo!" She used her Heart to slice through several more of the thin pillar-like constructs. "Problem?" Corona asked. "I... I have to deal with her... But I can't..." "You're welcome." "You don't understand th-" The Dark Tower twisted ka again. Nettle fell back, horror dawning on her face. If she was going to go through with this, she was going to have to let Allure and Corona romp around her mind. The Tower was too strong otherwise. "...They can fix me later," she said, devoting every defense to assaulting the Tower. "Crud," Corona muttered, checking back with Raging Sights. "What do we have?" She's moving through our defenses. Cutting us out isn't going to be difficult for her. I expect five seconds. Allure smashed more and more crystals, but that only slowed Nettle by fractions of a quantum moment. The free John held out his hands on Arceus' bubble, attempting to recton it away. It was encased in a white aura... The five spheres pinged with a brilliant energy. They shot beams of energy into the Tower. "YES!!!" They could all hear Nettle shouting. "THE TOWER IS MI-" GM's bubble stopped firing all of a sudden. "...What!? That doesn't make any sense!" John successfully retconned Arceus' bubble into nonexistence before the god's power could be used to create a new reality. This completely broke the ritual, and all the other bubbles popped in a flurry of sparkles. Only GM lacked the ability to float, prompting him to fall until Eve caught him. I acted next. "Monika, thing, now." Monika rolled her eyes. "I've got to do everything..." She walked up to the newly-freed John, accessed his character file, and edited it slightly. He vanished in a zap. "There we go, now he'll become that John and we don't have to deal with duplicates. You're welcome." "Thanks," John said. "...I think." Nettle, now that her entire plan had basically fallen apart, took the opportunity to eject Allure from her mind, depositing her in the field of roses. Corona stepped out of the Dark Tower, glancing around. "Did we do it?" "Yeah. You did it," Nettle said, appearing in front of them with folded arms. "Cooongratulations..." I started scribbling in my notepad as the anger on her features kept twisting. "Guess I just have to try aga-" "And done," I said, placing a period on the sentence I had just written. John retconned away into some far distant universe. Nettle was now missing one of the five pieces she needed to complete her plan. And because retcon was so annoying, there was no way for her to find him. Quite a clever move, if I do say so myself. "Arrogant, self-absorbed, little..." Nettle threw her hands into the air and vanished. Pinkie wiped her brow. "Wow! That was a close one! I was almost thinking we'd lose and begin some sort of major cataclysm! I mean, that did seem to be the running theme!" "I don't want to know about that one," Allure decreed. "Please. Don't taunt me." "Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie said. "...Darnit, that really needs a wink." "Let's go home and figure out how we can keep her from trying this again," Eve said, stretching out her wings. "Agreed," Allure said. "Ah, first things first..." Monika walked up to GM. "Oh no you don't," GM said, "I'm not going to go back t-" He passed out, having the entire sequence of events shoved out of his mind once again. "For a 'major prophet' he sure is useless," Monika muttered. "Now Hussie knows how to do things." "I thought you hated Hussie?" Pinkie asked. "Oh. I do. He's still good at what he does, though." "I won't be coming back right away," Corona said. Eve cocked her head. "Huh? Why?" "The Dark Tower rarely lets us this close to it. If we just leave we're not going to be able to get back here in an instant. It'll divert us. So I'm going to make the most of this opportunity and comb over the data I've gotten from this whole thing. I think there's a lot I can learn about Nettle and how she operates from what happened here." "Need any help?" "Mmm... Arceus, want t-" "I am not a scientist." "In that case, not really," Corona said, rubbing the back of her head. "I'll be fine on my own." "How long do you think you'll be?" Eve asked. "I'm sure the Research Overhead would like to know." "Eh, few weeks this time, tops," Corona said. "Calls should still work, I won't be out of touch." Eve smiled. "Then good luck with SCIENCEing the center of existence. I'm curious to see what you find." Monika smirked. "Should be interesting..." "You don't have clearance." "And that'll stop me why?" Eve blinked. "Yeah, no clue. Everyone, to the Austraeoh, let's go home." Just before the teleport, Allure and Pinkie waved at Corona. She waved back as they all left - everyone except me. "Hm? Twilence?" I was staring at the Dark Tower. "I'm trying to figure out what this all meant." "Uh..." "The eight stories. They were clearly all tied together to the overall history of the multiverse. If any of them had not happened, we would not have experienced this. Weaver destroyed the Downstreamers but created White Nettle and Dimentio, then there was what Nanoha did that directly set up our civilization, and my own story intertwined into all of this... But I'm just trying to figure out the point. Sure, it all led here, but what was it for?" Corona blinked. "...You might need to talk to Starbeat about that one." "...Sadly, I am the expert on this. And I still don't know. Yet." I shook my head. "I don't know if Nettle was even wrong for sure. It all happened so fast." Corona pursed her lips. "She tried to control the Tower. Even if she had a goal, once she accomplished it she wouldn't just relinquish the power. There would be no telling what she would do. Given her previous escapades, I don't have much faith in her heart." "Perhaps that is the tragic aspect to our story," I mused. "Even though she was, for once, altruistic in her intentions... she was still wrong." I furrowed my brow, blinking slowly. "I... I need to go write something down. Good luck." "Same to you and your... story. Thing." I shifted to another reality, wishing for everything to come together. ■ ~Mother~ ...the mother scooped her daughter up in her arms and held her tightly. Osanna was confused at first. "Wh..." "Shh... It's okay. It's all okay." "But I-" "I know what you did. But this is not the time to talk about it." She held Osanna out and looked her in the eyes. "I'm not your tormentor." Osanna, who had managed to gain some control over her emotional state over the last few moments, lost it all in a moment as tears came rushing down. "It's okay..." the mother echoed. "I... I was horrible. How could it...?" "I'm your mother." She held Osanna tighter. "Love and forgiveness are unconditional. I can be mad, angry, upset, livid, outraged... but I can never forget who you are, Osanna." "You don't know... I've done everything wrong. Snuck out, hid, deceived, manipulated, and... and I'm a horrible person!" I may not have had the most normal of lives, but I remember this. "I know, Osanna." "How can you know?" "I've been forgiven of things much, much worse than anything you've tried to pull. And I wasn't even forgiven by my family. I was forgiven by the people I hurt." She looked into the air wistfully. "I was a child with power meant for gods. I manipulated people to empower myself, I bullied others to control entire worlds, I put people in danger because I was greedy, and I attempted crimes against existence." Osanna stared at her mother in disbelief. "You've heard this before. My name is well known, I know." "I always thought they were exaggerating..." "Most of the stories of White Nettle are true," Nettle said, the wind blowing in her hair. "But when the time came... I was allowed back. If someone who's done the things I have can be forgiven by people who barely know her, your mother can take you back." She smiled. "You're just a teenager, Osanna. I get mad, I may not understand, but it's nothing new." Osanna sniffed. "...Okay. But... But what about him?" "Jandan?" "Yeah... I... I was using him. I..." She hung her head. Nettle looked deep into Osanna. "I won't lie. He doesn't have to forgive you for whatever you did to him." Osanna was silent. "But that doesn't mean you can't try." "But I thought y-" "I ran into him on the way here. He was an angry young man, certainly. But he cared." Osanna stared at her in disbelief. Nettle smirked. "Don't take that as approval - I'll still have to get to know him." "...And I'd have to actually..." she shook her head. "This entire thing is messed up." "What?" "This situation." "Hm... So's life. So, par for the course?" Osanna snorted. The sharp motion irritated her throat considerably. "Agh..." "Oh, I think I have some candies on me, hold on..." She pulled some mint gum out of her pocket and handed it to Osanna. Like a young child, she grabbed it and stuffed it into her mouth. "Thanks." "It's why I'm here." "...How did you get here anyway? It's not exactly easy." "A little bit of this, a little bit of that. The body certainly helps a lot." "...When I say my mom's a historian no one ever thinks she's also an action hero." "Who said I was a hero?" Osanna blushed. "Awww..." Osanna looked like she thought for a moment about objecting - but instead she just moved closer to her mother. They put arms over each other and looked out. From the mountain, they could see the entire city. The forests bled into the residential areas, and then into the city proper filled with all number of constructions. And yet, the roses everywhere in the various parks managed to give the city a red color, their deep crimson shade winning over all the other colors of life. The spherical shells of planets within the sky wove a pattern for the eyes, one that was always ever-changing as they shifted above the horizon, yet somehow consistent. Dominating the view was the structure in the center of the city; far larger than all the others. It seemed to rise for infinity. It was somehow both ominous and comforting in its endless height, and its darkness was impossible in more ways than one. Their day ended with the two of them together, reconciled, but not with everything resolved. But as they set their gaze on the Dark Tower, they knew everything was going to be fine. ■ ~~~ The end. That's it. That's all I can see. The Song of the Spheres has concluded. ...Except it hasn't. I know it hasn't. As the Tower's Testament said, that was only one side. I suppose it could have been considered an ending. An entity from the ancient eras of the multiverse that was also tied to the beginnings of all existence came back and tried to control the Dark Tower, simply to bring her family back. She would have made a good tragic villain, and an excellent way to bring the main heroes together. Except that clearly wasn't the focus here. It was just a thing that happened. Not to mention the existence of the eighth story... Was the point all about her? White Nettle? Is the Song her story? I... I don't think so. I believe this side was her story. The other side has to be something else. And I know when a story's leading up to something. This wasn't it; while White Nettle has been around for a while now, she's relatively recent according to the chapters. She had little to do with the other major struggles of this endless multiversal Song. She was just another villain... Perhaps not villain. Perhaps simply antagonist. She wasn't the culmination. But the flow of ka continues. It points forward, and it is increasing as I write this. Increasing exponentially. Something's going to happen, and the snapshot I have seen of everything - including that all-too-shrouded vision of the future - is trying to key us in. Me, my friends, and even you. Trying to let us know. What was it leading up to? What is the Song of the entire multiverse? These eight stories tell it... From a Weaver who put restrictions on reality to a mother in the future remembering that she was forgiven... it's all here. In all of these, I see a fight. A fight against existence. In some cases, like in 'Mother', that fight has already been overcome. In my story, I have to bow to it - lose Creek - to accomplish anything. In the 'present' story, the heroes fight for existence, but Nettle is certainly fighting against. Weaver... Dimentio... Blumiere... Scarcity... They fought hard. The Downstreamers didn't fight; they just wanted more and were punished for it. A story of endless conflict, then. Existence is the way it is, and we have wanted nothing more than to change it. One could say that was the reason the Dark Tower was created. A reason, anyway. There is no end to the battles. To the conflicts. We aren't even fighting God - we're fighting everything. I would wonder why we have to fight... But I also can't imagine us doing anything else. I don't think we're capable of making our existence perfect. Maybe, like Infinity, it simply cannot be reached. ...But that's just the theme. One side of the story. The one I see. What's the other? I think... I think it's what we're all being led to. What I see here is a setup. I see a path of events that lead to here. Roland creating the Tower's Paradox. The Downstreamers preparing the multiverse. Dimentio creating the Prognosticus - and then Blumiere acting upon it. I see Nanoha being responsible for me, for the Starcross Society, for Merodi Universalis, and for so much more - I see her representing humanity. I see me, being led along, crafted to be the one who understands ka for some deep purpose. I see the remnants of Nettle's ploy laying around... And I see a future. All these events, objects, and people are poised for something. And the majority of them were results of the fight. The endless fight against existence. ...A fight waged by faulty people with big plans. ...There it is. That's what needs to happen. In the past, they all fought with impure motives. With destruction, conquest, sorrow, or loss on their minds. People who were suffering or who wanted to make others suffer. But what if someone with a pure heart thought about it? Actually thought about it? What if they dared to ask the question? ~~~ Year 77 Corona 'Sunset' Shimmer opened her eyes.
Songs of the Spheres	116 - She Who Dared to Ask, Part 1	Corona ran through every piece of data she could, just as she had been doing for the past few days. The Dark Tower was a decidedly interesting structure to study, if only because by nature it didn't want to be studied. The data it allowed her to see was always vague, often contradictory, and in general didn't tell her very much about the Tower itself or how it functioned. What she was able to see easily were the dimensional matrices that White Nettle had set up in trying to take over the Dark Tower. Corona was pretty sure she had a handle on how that worked - and she could probably try to take over the Tower herself at this point, assuming she got all five of the right people to co-operate and she had a few decades to lace universes together. She wasn't going to try though. Nobody should have that much power. Plus, try didn't mean succeed. Something had gone wrong with White Nettle's matrices that neither the Downstreamer nor Corona fully understood. As far as Corona was concerned the data said it should have worked. Did Pinkie's presence ruin everything? Or did John's reversion to the retcon 'past' change something she couldn't detect? She wasn't sure and that was currently the mystery she was trying to solve. The Tower wasn't being very helpful - it just stood there, dark and annoyingly inscrutable. She supposed she could walk into the Dark Tower, but she had the nagging feeling in the back of her mind that if she did that she wouldn't be coming back out. She was going to do all she could out here first before the Tower blocked her access to it again. She was forced to admit she was learning a lot about how higher multiversal structures worked in relation to the Dark Tower, but that wasn't exactly useful information. Sure, the Shaping Mechanism could make such structures over a long span of time, but it wasn't as if a Low-Class 2 had any business making structures like that. They simply wouldn't be useful. Corona shook her head, furrowing her brow to focus back on the data itself. She was currently floating several stories in the air in a zen-like sitting position, glowing softly. The Dark Tower was her backdrop, the finer details of the world simply not mattering. Surrounding her were thousands of intricate red magic circles projected by Raging Sights, designed to enhance her computational abilities and analyze immense amounts of data. Her eyes were closed as a method of forcing herself to magically integrate with the data rather than looking at it. Had she not basically lived in the Shaping Mechanism for those years she would not have been able to make heads or tails of what was going on. As it was, she was effectively trying to learn advanced calculus straight from the textbook with only a passing familiarity with algebra going in. And then Sai beeped. "Mystery uncovered, amiga. Would you like to hear the report?" Corona didn't open her eyes, but she nodded. "Sure. What did you find?" "Part of the mystery of existence," Sai responded, uploading data to Raging Sights. A new magic circle appeared, this one purple with an inscribed spirograph. Corona examined it using her magic senses, smiling. "Looks like you've stolen one of the Tower's secrets. How in its name did you do that?" "Analysis of previous data, extrapolation, and luck," Sai responded. "Hmm..." Corona said in agreement, examining the data. It showed how the Dark Tower was connected to every universe. This fact was well known, although the exact how had been somewhat elusive. With this they might be able to get better maps of the entire multiverse, allowing for better navigation. No more nightmares running through the broken multiversal highways for months while others take days. It would take years to develop, but it could be started now. She began playing with some parameters involving what Sai had found, running a few simulations on the way everything was connected. Universes could react to prompts from the location of the Dark Tower, adjusting their position in the Sea from a distance. This was probably somewhat like how Class 1 technology worked - except it required direct access to the Dark Tower to accomplish. Something that couldn't just be mass-produced. A deus-ex-machina device perhaps. Used only as a last resort because that's the only time it would actually work. She set a few numbers to random, seeing exactly what would happen if different signals were sent into the Tower. There was a certain air of uncertainty about this sort of simulation, since the power and ka-luck required to send something through the Tower was outright absurd, but it was worthwhile to get data points. Most simulations were simple motions of universes through the Sea. Sometimes other universes would move with the target, sometimes not. But the nineteenth simulation did something much different. Corona 'Sunset' Shimmer opened her eyes. "What in the..." She cancelled all calculations, saving all work for later; though something told her she wouldn't get to that. She ran the simulation again, this time with a visual representation. A holographic model of the multiverse appeared in front of her, the three Spheres glowing softly, peacefully. The point of light that represented the Dark Tower flashed brightly, and slowly but surely began sucking universes toward it like a vacuum. The universes collided as they did so, fusing much like the Shaping Mechanism. The Spheres began to elongate, like fiery stars being devoured by ravenous black holes. The Spline began to deform, following everything else into the whirl of power. In the end, there was only one light. Corona was sweating. "Wh... wh..." She flapped her wings, drifting away from the single point of light. Her first instinct was to destroy the information she had just uncovered, wipe her mind of having ever known it, and then teleport herself away from the Dark Tower to make her think the Tower had ejected her through ka. She would never know she had found anything. But before she could do that, she realized something. She turned around slowly, looking at the Dark Tower. It seemed to loom larger in her view than ever before. "...You wanted me to find this," she said, mildly horrified. "Wh... how does that make any sense!?" The Dark Tower, as always, was inscrutable. Corona's face twisted into rage. "Oh no... You don't get to be that way! I'm going to get some answers!" She flew down to the front door of the Dark Tower and walked in. It let her inside, showing her the staircase and all the doors. She ignored the doors and the staircase. She flew up as fast as her wings could carry her, looking for the top. She arrived at the last door in a rush, caring not to view her life or other worlds. This was the door she needed. CORONA She placed her hand on the doorknob designed like her cutie mark and threw it open. She saw the other side - the Source, the clock, and the symbols. She held her hands to either side. "Raging Sights, we're teleporting to the other side. We're going to get some answers." "Are you sure this is wise?" "The wise thing would have been to erase the information. Might still do that. But I'm going to at least try this." She held her hands together, encasing them in a magic aura, lighting her horn as well. Her wings spread out to their maximum length, glowing brighter than usual. She executed the teleport. Sai let out a beep Corona hadn't heard before. She didn't have time to process this, because she quickly realized she wasn't allowed into the final room. She was instead sent to Lady Rarity, who was currently at one of Celestia City's marketplaces. Lady Rarity looked right at Corona. "...This is a surprise." Corona looked at her hands. "Why here...? Why here?" Lady Rarity cocked her head. "Dark Tower?" "Yes... It sent me here. To you. Why?" "Maybe you need to talk to me? ...What's gotten you so terrified?" Corona blinked, processing many different lines of thought at once. "...I think I need to talk to more than just you..." ~~~ Pinkie sat in the main lobby of Renee's castle. She hadn't budged for about an hour, which was highly unusual for her. She was moving her head like it was a clock, not removing her 'gaze' from a single point in front of her. Pinkie made a 'hrm' noise. She had been struck with the sudden feeling that she was missing something important. She didn't let it bother her; such feelings were commonplace, seeing as she never saw everything. Even with her sharpened Awareness, she wasn't omniscient. Neither was Twilence or any of the others, for that matter. It would reveal itself in time. Or maybe it wouldn't, and it only mattered to someone tangentially related to her. But there was an itch in the back of her mind nonetheless. A portal opened right in front of her, turning her thoughts away from mysterious inklings and to her friends. The primary team finally returned from their mission, depositing Jotaro, Vriska, Flutterfree, Nova, and the addon Pidge in front of her. "You guys finally made it back!" Pinkie cheered. "That did take longer than expected," Nova admitted. Pidge raised an eyebrow. "I extrapolated a four-day mission after the initial hour." "Depending on how you count it could have been two weeks for some of us." Flutterfree chuckled. "Who cares, really? It was delightful. I'm going to miss Larklight." "Uh, we are sending a diplomatic contingent in two weeks," Vriska pointed out. "It wasn't goodbye." Flutterfree smiled warmly. "But that'll be official. It wouldn't be at Larklight. It was just... nice." "It has been a while since we found something so whimsical," Jotaro admitted. "I'm just glad I was there for it," Pidge said, adjusting her glasses. "Pinkie, they're all yours." "Sure thing!" Pinkie said. "But first, Pidge, I'm taking all of you out for some Earth Ottoman fancy food. Yes, I know, I had to make reservations a week in advance for that to work, but somehow it just does." "Sweet!" Vriska said, pumping her fist. "I am going to eat them out of business..." "That's not how restaurants work," Jotaro deadpanned. "I'm taking that as a challenge." "Yare yare daze..." Renee and Eve trotted up to them. "Welcome back!" Renee called with a smile. Nova smiled. "What happened while we were gone?" "Oh, nothing much," Eve said with a smirk. "Just White Nettle trying to take control of the Dark Tower. Not a big deal." Pinkie chuckled. "You're getting good at that." "Thanks! I try." Vriska stared at Eve. "You're serious. I missed something that interesting?!" "By a few days, actually." "Well that blows," Vriska muttered, folding her arms. "Just bad timing, I wouldn't worry about it," Flutterfree said. "Bad timing is bad luck, I need to worry about it." Flutterfree smirked. "I know." Vriska blinked - then let out a laugh. Flutterfree turned to Pinkie. "It's good to have you back." Pinkie grinned. "Trouble being leader?" "Oh no, it's fine, I just prefer not having to wrangle everyone all the time. It's exhausting and I don't have your endless energy." "It is a subject of much speculation where my energy comes from," Pinkie said in a haunting tone. Pidge adjusted her glasses. "Your endless energy is a byproduct of your Aware connection to ka via the Dark Tower, an aspect of distilled hyperactivity and 'cartoon physics'." "You just read that from an encyclopedia," Nova pointed out. "Uh... yeah, not a ka expert here. But I'm still right!" "Technically," Eve admitted. Renee cleared her throat. "I do need reports, people." "Aw, c'mon Renee, I'm taking them out tonight!" Pinkie said, beaming. "You can have those reports tomorrow!" "Oh, I guess one time wouldn't hurt." She noticed the Ruby squad staring at her. "This exemption will never apply to you lot." The Rubies noticed her twitching eye and decided it was best to leave as fast as they could manage. "Thanks Renee!" Pinkie said. "You're the best! Come on team - and sixth ranger - let's blow this pop stand!" She pulled a giant soda can out of her mane and threw it onto the ground, blasting away with everyone aside from Eve and Renee. Eve smiled. "Looking at them fills me with hope for existence, you know?" "I do. Though I also need Pidge back on repairing this castle. It seems like every time she takes a vacation of some sort everything starts breaking." "Maybe you should have two primary technicians?" "Tried that. Ka hates the idea, apparently. So I'm eternally annoyed for the sake of everyone's amusement." Renee rubbed the base of her horn. "Ah... Yeah." Eve shook her head. "Wonder if Starbeat's figured out how to remove annoyance-gags like that." "The more trivial it is the more likely it is she can't remove it," Renee muttered. "Not exactly true. It's more of a bell curve. Grand scoping events are hard to change, but so are insignificant ones. The middle ground is where you place your bets." Pinkie suddenly appeared between them in a burst of confetti. "Ahem. Eve? Renee? I'm getting a bad feeling. Don't know what it's about, but it hasn't gone away this entire scene and everything's been just a little too happy. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I figured I should tell you." "...Are we already in the next chapter?" Eve asked. "I can tell you we're being watched now. But I have no idea. It's only been a few days since White Nettle's thing, it could be an epilogue or something." She shrugged. "Just letting you know. Now excuse me, I've got a bunch of food that needs to get introduced to my mouth!" She vanished in a puff of confetti. "And now I'm going to be paranoid the rest of the day," Renee commented. "I think we're always paranoid at this point," Eve said. "True enough." ~~~ Corona stood in the center of her Shaping Mechanism's controls. She had her arms folded behind her back under her similarly arranged wings. Her red shades reflected the light of the area well. Behind her were her closest friends. Lady Rarity, Vivian, and Sugarcoat. Lady Rarity's team was also there, including Insipid, Velvet, Ash, and Nae. Corona felt that they all needed to be here. Corea, Curaçao, and Toph hadn't been able to make it. And Corona hadn't asked Eve to come. This was who she had to work with. "...You going to tell us why we're here?" Velvet asked. "We're all sitting on the edge of our seats in anticipation." To punctuate the point, she leaned as far forward in her chair as she could. "Give her time," Lady Rarity said, holding up a hoof. Ash nodded in agreement, head moving in synchronization with Pikachu. Corona sighed, turning around to face them. "You probably know I've been at the Dark Tower, taking advantage of an opportunity to study it." "I didn't," Insipid said, raising her hoof. Corona smiled sadly. "It is what I was doing. Trying to figure out the mechanisms behind it and the structures of White Nettle's experiment." "White Nettle was there?" Nae asked. Corona nodded. "She tried to do something to take over the Dark Tower by fusing herself into it - we stopped it, and I examined the aftermath. And these examinations let me discover... something." She lifted one of her hands, allowing Raging Sights to project a hologram. It contained a lot of lines that didn't make any sense to her friends, but they could identify a spirograph shape in the center surrounding the Dark Tower. "This is a projection of White Nettle's attempt on the Tower. It failed for unknown reasons, but it gave me knowledge. Using this structure here," she pointed at the spirograph pattern, "Nettle was able to give the Dark Tower an order. The order didn't parse correctly, but it was an order." "You can tell the Dark Tower to do things!?" Nae said, blinking. "That doesn't sound good." Corona nodded slowly. "Lots of orders could be given to the Tower. I was able to come up with some much simpler ones and run them through simulations. With enough time and access to the Tower, I could move any universe in the Sea to anywhere else. It'd take a decade or so to build the multiversal structure using the Shaping Mechanism to do that... Well, that's what I thought at first, anyway." She bit her lip. "I ran lots of simulations to see what would happen. Curious things that might provide some help in future multiversal technology. And then I stumbled onto something completely at random." "Ka made you find it," Velvet translated. Corona nodded. "Yeah. That's... that's what I think happened. But why it wanted me to find something so... terrifying is beyond me. It's just, I don't know, I can't really say, and the fact that I'm talking about it without destroying it is making me question my sanity. Am I really who I think I am? What's the threshold o-" "Just get to the point," Sugarcoat said. Corona adjusted her shades. "Right, right. I... I found this." She brought up the hologram of simulation nineteen, showing them the multiverse. "Prodding the Dark Tower with the appropriate energy will produce this result." She gestured at the multiverse. "It will reduce the size of all connections to the Dark Tower to zero, which includes every universe. All worlds would be reeled in like fish on a hook, fused together like what I do somewhat regularly with the Shaping Mechanism. Everything will be compressed into one single point on the Sea of Infinite Possibility. Everything." They all stared at the simulation. Clearly, a few of them weren't understanding what that meant. "Fusing two worlds together generally isn't an issue. The geographies mix, but for the most part everything will continue in a brand new existence. But if you combine more - say a dozen - planets start losing stability, forming shapes they weren't meant to, and the conflicting physical laws fight with each other. It brings about death on an apocalyptic scale for the entire universe without actually sending it into nothingness." She took off her shades, looking at them all with conflicted eyes. "Only a scant lucky few would be able to survive the transition from all worlds to one. The overwhelming majority would simply be wiped out in the fusion. It would truly be the end of the multiverse. And I know exactly how to do it." "...What the hell!?" Ash said, holding out his arms. "You think there's a discussion here!? Why are you even treating this like a question!? What's even the point!? Have you gone insane!? I thought you had declared war on death!" "I did," Corona said. "And that's why I'm considering this." She looked at them all with wet eyes. "...After this is done, the Dark Tower would be destroyed." They stared at her, slackjawed. ~~~ The robotic Research Overhead walked into Renee's office. Renee raised an eyebrow. "What can I do for you, R.O.?" The large humanoid robot sat down in front of Renee. "I have heard that Corona is back. I would like access to her report on the Dark Tower. I assume that, since my requests turned up nothing through the digital interface, the information has been classified." Renee raised an eyebrow. "...It certainly would be classified, if she's come back. I haven't seen her." She pulled up her high-security manifesto of all active personnel. "It says she's still out. She would have reported back in immediately if she'd returned. Why do you think she's back?" "I caught an image of her on a security feed in Celestia City." Renee raised an eyebrow. "You were scouring security feeds for her." "It was part of the 'instant alert' program. I wanted to know the moment she returned. The program scanned every security camera it could as part of its mission. I was alerted when it saw her. I was eager for the report, but calling her did nothing and your report was not available when I checked an hour later." "Well, I see a few explanations," Renee said. "One, she's not actually Corona. Merodi may not have many full member worlds of anthro ponies, but they aren't unheard of. Two, she's in some sort of time-travel-related debacle and has to get out of that first. Third... well I find this last one unlikely, but maybe she's just taking a break before reporting. Maybe she had an adventure of some sort." The Research Overhead's starry face shifted as he processed the information. "Perhaps. Number one is negligible, data analysis also has her magical signature." "Then she's probably in a time travel loop or something. She'll get to us when she's done with that," Renee said. "You can feel free to talk to her about 'Research Division policy for reporting in' after that. She is your Second, not mine." The Research Overhead nodded. "Exactly. Let me know the instant you run into her." "I'll probably wait a few minutes and talk to her a minute, but yes, I'll let you know." The Research Overhead bowed and teleported out of Renee's office. "She's up to something." Renee glanced at the doorway to see her Second and husband standing there. "Dear..." "You don't have to believe me, I know you won't," Daniel said, raising his hands up in surrender. "I'm just letting you know." Renee smiled sadly. "I know you're just trying to look out for us." Daniel nodded, looking into Renee's eye. She felt a sudden emotional rush in her chest - she leaped over her desk and flung her front hooves around him. He held her back. Neither of them knew why they were holding each other. All they knew was that it felt right. They soon forgot all about the mysterious case of Corona in Celestia City, instead focusing on each other. ~~~ "...Dark Tower destroyed?" Insipid said, blinking. "Isn't that, like, totally not possible?" "It's been theorized that it could be," Corona said. "Using John to undo the self-defense program could definitely do it, and some simulations say a full Xeelee piano wire assault would tear the Tower down. The problem with doing it that way is that the order of the world would give way to instant chaos. Most simulations show extermination of life as we understand it. Others say everything ceases to exist. The Tower's too deeply connected to everything." "But this doesn't do that," Sugarcoat said. "Exactly. The Tower isn't destroyed until the point at which all the universes are one. Without more than one universe, the structures that give it the self-defense paradox fail. Without connections, it can't tear everything down with it. It would be destroyed in the act, and existence would move on without the influence of ka." "That doesn't sound like a good thing!" Vivian blurted. "That sounds bad! Really bad!" "Vivian. You've been working for Blumiere a long time, right?" Corona asked. Vivian nodded. "How many worlds have no hope?" Vivian grimaced. "What of the grimdarks? The worlds where there are no morals?" "Those are a minority," Nae countered. "Most worlds are just like ours." "Dictated by the Tower and brought to war where millions die," Corona said. "It's a story we all like to read about. Great suffering that is overcome. But that still means there was great suffering. Great death. Great war." She leaned back against a wall. "It's rarely worth it. All the death. And yes, I am aware how ironic this entire setup is." "Good," Sugarcoat said, raising an eyebrow. "Not good!" Nae blurted. "This is a villain's ideals! 'Kill everyone so the next world will prosper!' There's no way. Ka may be the direct cause of all those wars but it doesn't kill the entire multiverse!" "Yes it does," Corona said, looking at Nae. "The fall of the Downstreamers." "That only happened once," Sugarcoat pointed out. Nae gestured at Sugarcoat. "She's right, you know!" Corona nodded. "Yes. But I have another example. The entire population of the multiverse has been killed many, many times over by one force. A force that, in the single universe, would no longer exist." "There's no-" "Time travel," Corona said. "Every time any timeline is rewritten, all future individuals are not only killed, they cease to have ever existed. The souls of the new timeline are not the same as the souls of the rewritten one. Aradia's confirmed this - and just look at Skaia's Dream! They only reason there are so many is that all the alternate timelines are different people!" They stared at her. Corona grimaced, because she knew exactly what she was saying. "In the single world, all physical laws will be averaged out. It won't be mundane, but given all the complexities and contradictions inherent in time travel, that will even out to nothing when combined. There would be no more rewriting entire universes several times a second, like the Gallifreyans do." She folded her arms. "Their entire inner population is killed every second as everyone undoes every action they decide they don't like. At least the Xeelee bother to send their intelligences back through the time loops they have set up - but what of the people who aren't digital in their time webs?" Lady Rarity started doing the math in her head, her pupils shrinking the further she got along. "Holy Armonia..." Corona nodded. "The number of people who have died due to rewrites far exceeds that of those who live. Considering the size of the multiverse... If every being in existence were to die right now, it wouldn't even compare." She held up a hand, seeing Nae's objection. "I know that's not an excuse - just because something's small doesn't make it less wrong. This is a very horrible proposition I've found, and I know that better than anyone. If it's accomplished, it'll be killing almost everyone... but the world that remains and those who survive will no longer be prisoners. The most deadly forces in existence will be banished. And we will no longer be forced into stories." "We're in a story now," Sugarcoat pointed out. "I know that. Which is why I'm disturbed that the Dark Tower let me find this. My best guess is that I'm supposed to be the villain this time around? Maybe? It'd certainly make for some good drama." "That makes sense," Velvet said. "But here's the problem. If I'm stopped? The information can still get out. And I can't be the only one who would arrive at this conclusion." Corona put a hand to her head. "Why would the Dark Tower let someone find the secret to its destruction?" No one had an answer for her. Corona sighed. "...I guess we may not be meant to find the answer to that question. I called you here because I'm not sure. I needed to hear your opinions. Maybe Nae's right, maybe I am going crazy and we just need to purge all this from our memories and never think about it again. But I see something here. A chance to... change everything. To end the largest source of pain I've ever encountered, one I've never been able to fight against. It'll end the ka curses, the multiversal conquerors, the extreme disparity of power..." she trailed off. There was silence. "I know this is asking a lot of you all of the sudden. But... what do you think?" Nae folded her arms. "Take a wild guess what I think. No. There is no such thing as mass death for the greater good. It can't be good if that's how you get to it." "Motivations behind actions are what determines their morality," Ash said. "...It'll stop all the tragic wars over senseless concepts that exist only to be 'cool'. There will never be another war like the one we were in. No more multiversal wars of any kind. That level of destruction would no longer be possible..." Nae stared at him. "...You're actually considering this." Ash nodded. "It... It's definitely wrong. But remember what our team does. We do 'wrong', brutal things for the sake of bettering other societies. This seems like it could be the natural conclusion of what we do." "That is kinda right..." Insipid muttered. "I say we do it," Velvet said. "I'd love it if we could end this ka madness." "You likely wouldn't survive to see it," Corona reminded her. "None of us would. Ka wouldn't be able to protect us if the Dark Tower collapses." "So? I thought we were fuckin' heroes, not self-serving supervillains." Corona nodded slowly. "...We shouldn't," Vivian said. "It's... it shouldn't be right. So many people... our families... our friends..." She looked up at Corona. "I say no. But... I'll follow you, Corona, whatever you decide." Corona stared at her in disbelief. "You're better at thinking these things through than I am. I... I trust you. I trust that what you decide in the end isn't wrong." "...You put too much faith in me." "No she doesn't," Sugarcoat said, folding her arms. "You're not only the smartest one in the room, you're the one with the most experience and understanding of how the world works. You have the ability to empathize with every conscious being in existence. You are in the unique position to understand the plight of everyone you've ever met. You are quite possibly the most emotionally understanding person in the multiverse." Corona stared off into space. "...Which is why I have to be the one to ask the question..." "Bingo," Sugarcoat said. "I thought that was obvious." Insipid blinked. "Like, woah, she's the chosen one or something." "It's not too late for me to reject destiny..." Corona commented. "If this is your destiny then your destiny is to reject destiny," Sugarcoat deadpanned. Velvet facehooved. "Fuck, that's just stupid enough to be completely true." "It is. I'm up for creating a new world order, by the way." Corona looked at her hands. She imagined the blood of decillions of people on them. She trembled. "...For the record, I defer to Rarity," Insipid said. "Like, I totally can't think that well?" Corona turned to Lady Rarity, her face in pain. "Rarity... You've been quiet. What... What do you think?" Everyone turned to her. "Here's what we need to do..." the spirid-unicorn began. ~~~ "Priority message from the Time-Space Administration Bureau," an aide told Evening. She smiled warmly. "Patch it through to my station." Eve's primary monitor lit up with bright colors, displaying the interior of a TSAB council hall. It was empty save for one person - Nanoha Takamachi, a concerned expression on her face. "What is it?" Eve asked. "We've been hacked," Nanoha said. "Our primary top-secret database was infiltrated twenty minutes ago." "Oh. ...Did they find something out about us I need to know about?" "Nothing like that," Nanoha said, voice wavering slightly. "All evidence points to it coming from you." Eve stared, blinking. "Wh-what!?" Nanoha let out a breath of relief. "You don't know anything about it. Good." "Of course not! We would never..." she blinked. "You might want to clear your area of any unnecessary personnel for this conversation," Nanoha suggested. Eve gulped. "Right..." she transferred the feed to a more secure monitor. She teleported into a room much like her office, except with walls all around instead of other desks with people to talk to. "I'm in a secure location." "Find out if Giorno has done anything," Nanoha requested. "If he has I won't be able to tell you," Eve admitted. "Possible treason charges, even if he was corrupt. I'd have to bring him to our government first." "You don't have to tell me, just find out," Nanoha said. "I'll tell you what I do know. The hack was similar to what we'd seen Olivia Velazquez try in the past, though far more successful. I am aware Olivia's dead, which makes the fact that it's her impossible." "Her nanobots and protocols are still in use by Intelligence and a handful of others," Eve admitted. "I didn't tell you that." Nanoha nodded. "I figured as much. But... Eve, the hack was too advanced. When Olivia fell in the war, you could never have made it this deep into our systems. The protocols have been dramatically improved. Progress. Intelligence would just hire new hackers to create completely new and improved code. Not adapt something they aren't familiar with." "They could be recycling..." Eve said - but shook her head. "I don't think Giorno would do this. It is possible someone within his Division did, though, against his wishes. What did they take?" "You didn't hear this from me," Nanoha said. "They took the location of the Wishing World." "...Oh." "It's not as bad as you think it is," Nanoha quickly added. "We already used its wish about ten years ago - there was a tornado of universe devourers attacking major TSAB worlds. Military strikes would have taken too long, so we used the wish to get rid of them. It's an empty world now." "Good. The fact that it's empty, not the universe devourers." Nanoha sighed. "But in that file would also be the data we use to try and find Wishing Worlds. They're getting rarer and rarer as time goes on, but we are always trying to find more. Our ka analysis says it'll take someone who stole the information much less time to find a Wishing World, simply because their usage of the information is more exciting." "So we've got someone possibly from Merodi Universalis looking for a Wishing World." Nanoha nodded. "Look into it." "I'll let you know what I find out - if I can," Eve admitted. "I'm not going to betray my nation, Nanoha. If it comes to that." Nanoha glanced behind her. "I wouldn't ask you to. This is just to let you know. You might be able to stop something terrible from happening." "I'll try." "Takamachi out." The screen died. Eve quickly dialed up Giorno. "Have any of your agents hacked into the TSAB?" Giorno blinked. "Not that I'm aware of." "Find out. And find out fast. Someone took the TSAB's information on Wishing Worlds." Giorno nodded. "Give me a half-hour." "Thanks," Eve hung up and called me. "Hey, Twilence, someone's stolen the TSAB's se-" "I know," I told her. "...You think I can tell you anything more than what you already know?" "...I was hoping." I smiled at her. "I'll be right there. We'll figure something out when Giorno finishes his search." "Thanks." Eve hung up, wondering who else she might call. Then she sighed. "Pinkie, I may have stumbled across what you had a sinking feeling about. Soon as you finish dinner you should probably come over. Don't rush to finish, we still have at least half an hour. Try to enjoy yourselves." ~~~ Allure, Thrackerzod, Squeaky, and Bot walked through the League of Sweetie Belles. Allure was leading them, a big smile on her face. "Hi Suzie! Hi Burgerbelle!" "Hi!" the two said - though the Flat's bouncing motion threw Allure off for a second. "Great day, isn't it?" Bot beeped. "I predict maximum relaxation!" "Guess who's doomed us all?" Squeaky asked. "Uh, Burgerbelle?" Bot responded. "What did I do?" Burgerbelle asked. "Burger," Thrackerzod said, summoning a hamburger and throwing it. "BURGER!" Burgerbelle shouted, diving after the delectable food item. "Some things never change," Allure said, rolling her eyes. Suzie nodded. "And some things do. There's no hard fast rule about any of this. Ever." "Inconsistency is a pain," Bot muttered. "Inconsistency is life." "Therefore, life is pain!" Bot declared in a chipper tone. Squeaky facehooved. "Oh for the..." "She's right, in a dark, depressing sort of way," Thrackerzod said. "Like how we could all die by meteor strike right here, right now." "We're in the middle of Celestia City," Allure deadpanned. "Dimensional chances are never zero." "You can't strike something without moving." "Lateral movement." "You can both be right," Squeaky interjected. "No!" they blurted. Suzie rolled her eyes. "I'll leave you four to this pointless argument." "I wasn't involved!" Bot declared. "It's a 'by-proxy' sort of thing." Bot beeped in confusion. Suzie simply chuckled and walked away, waving as she did. "...Well, now we aren't arguing anymore," Squeaky pointed out. "Her point was invalid!" Bot shouted. "Suzie!" "Don't chase after her," Allure said, pulling Bot back. "It's not worth it. Nothing to fret over. Like, at all. She's ju-" Allure's phone rang, cutting her short. She pulled it out - it wasn't a call, but a video recording sent to her directly from an unknown address. "...Weird." Bot poked her head to look at her phone. "Play it. Play it." "It could be spam or s-" "Play it!" Bot said forcefully. "I must know! Play it or I hack your phone." Allure narrowed her eyes. "Fine, fine. And a one and a two and a I know what to do..." She opened the file. She recognized the kind of feed instantly - it was from the scope on Nae's personal rifle. It was currently pointed at the floor, but they could hear voices clearly. "Just so we're all on the same page..." they could hear Sugarcoat saying. "We're actually doing this. Going to find a Wishing World." "And then rip everything," Velvet said. "It's simple, Sugarcoat. We all know exactly what we're doing already, no need to duplicate it." "We all have to be sure," Corona said. For a moment, the gaze on the scope passed over Corona. "We'll be responsible for what comes next. The weight will be on us. Mostly me, but it will be us." Sugarcoat nodded. "You don't just think about collapsing the entire multiverse into one point lightly." "We know," Nae said - speaking in such a way so she wouldn't overload the gun's microphone. "The Dark Tower would be destroyed and there'd be no more time-death. I still think this is hasty." "You don't have to come," Corona said. "I can wipe your mind and let you stay. You don't have to be responsible." Nae paused. "No... no I'm coming with you. I owe you and Lady Rarity that much." "Thank you, Nae," Lady Rarity said. "Then we're a team," Corona said. "...Going to free everything. And..." The Sweeties could hear her choke, but they couldn't see her face. "Corona..." Vivian said. "Are you sure you can do this?" "Yes. No. I..." There was a pause. "I can." "...I'm not sure I believe you." "I'm not sure I believe myself," Corona admitted. "But we have to go. If we're going to do this, people are going to try to stop us. Let's move, find the Wishing Word, and the-" The video ended. Allure stared at the phone in her hand. "Wh... wh... wh..." "I'm sending this to Eve, Renee, and O'Neill immediately," Squeaky said, tearing the phone out of Allure's hooves. "I... Wh..." Allure stared into nothingness, mind unable to process what she'd just witnessed. "She's done it," Thrackerzod said. "She's seen it." "What?" Bot asked. "The truth." "How can that be truth!?" Allure blurted. "How can our friends do this!?" "Nae's not," Squeaky pointed out. "She got you that video." "But all the others! Sugarcoat! Vivian! Lady Rarity! Corona! Corona's... Corona's our guardian! ...Something must be controlling her." "The only thing that's controlling her is the same thing as the rest of us," Thrackerzod commented. "The Tower wouldn't want to destroy itself!" Allure blurted. "Something else is going on. I know it." "They still need to be stopped," Squeaky said. "Yes, yes they do. They won't succeed. They won't destroy anything, they can't - but they won't. This isn't them!" "How well do we know them again?" Bot asked. "Well enough! They wouldn't do this! Wouldn't even think about it!" Thrackerzod raised an eyebrow but said nothing. "...Blumiere," Allure said, suddenly. "What about him?" Squeaky asked. "We need to watch him. Zod, can you handle that?" Thrackerzod nodded. "Sure. I do wonder why, though." "Time-loop stuff. I'll explain after you pick the team. Rest of us..." "Are going to sit here," Squeaky said, handing Allure back her phone. "They're going to take care of it." Allure nodded slowly, not quite able to form words. "Yes... Yes..." She put a hoof to her head. "This doesn't get out. We don't need the multiverse panicking." The Sweeties nodded. "Bot, analyze the internet for anything you can find. Squeaky, with me, we're going to try to figure out what she plans to do with that Wish, specifically. ...If we can." Squeaky looked at her with sad eyes. "Okay." The Sweeties scrambled, each running as fast as their legs would carry them. ~~~ Renee, Daniel, Eve, O'Neill, Starbeat, the primary team (plus Pidge), myself, and Nanoha watched the video - though Nanoha was watching from the TSAB, currently present only in the form of a video call that showed her scrambling to charter a speeder ship to Merodi Universalis. Eve gulped as the video ended. "And that's... all the League of Sweetie Belles got from Nae." Renee looked at Daniel with scared eyes. Daniel gulped hard. "...I knew it." "Why would she do this!?" Nanoha asked as she ran through the halls. "...Because she's seen the multiverse," Eve said, staring into nothingness with a forlorn expression. "She knows more than all of us exactly how much pain and death there is out there. " "So she wants to solve it by causing more pain and death," Pidge said. "...Brilliant." "That's essentially what we do, sometimes," Nova said. "Take out an army to free the people. Destroy a universe so it can't hurt anyone else..." Starbeat nodded. "It does fit... I'm only concerned that she seems to have adopted the idea of it so quickly, and that her friends were willing to go along with it. I'd almost say the Tower was working here, but I can't for the life of me imagine why it would do this. And my scans don't indicate any sort of personality overwriting happening." "It's a perfect climax," I said. "The fate of the multiverse, with the enemy being someone we've known almost since the beginning. It's perfect. So perfect I want to slap myself. She's been built up for this the entire time. She's suffered, she's seen the darkest depths of everything and fallen to lows most of us never reached, she became the warrior against death itself, not admitting that any problem had no solution. She became the Rogue of Doom... she destroyed Topeka... she's been shaped in the Shaping Mechanism to understand the dimensional science required to do this. And her friends? They trust her judgement, or that of Lady Rarity. And those who would convince her to turn around conveniently aren't with her." Starbeat furrowed her brow. "I... guess I can see that." Pinkie sighed. "She's our enemy now..." "Trying to destroy everything..." Nanoha muttered as she ran through a doorway. "The Wishing World doesn't have that kind of power. It can't even do anything to the Spline." "She's probably just using the Wishing World to set up whatever it is she's figured out," O'Neill said. "Study of the Dark Tower doesn't immediately give you great knowledge," Nanoha commented. "It does if it wants it," I said. "It wants to tell the greatest story... And it's chosen her to be the tool to tell it." "Something still smells fishy about this," Pinkie muttered. "We're definitely not seeing it all," Starbeat admitted. "If this really is a true climax of sorts, then there'll be a lot more involved than just a Wishing World and a collapse." "So, what do we do?" Nova asked. "...Stop her?" Nanoha said. "Yes, that's obvious. How?" "Ka tracker," Daniel said. "I can't see where she is right now," I said. "Doubt that'll work." "It is very muddled," Starbeat granted. "Signal's unique as well, so prediction won't quite work." "We have the heroic advantage," Jotaro said. "Do we?" Flutterfree asked. "This could be a tragedy." "She is asking the question from pure motives," I said. "...And she's suffering mentally because of it." "I hope she's okay..." Flutterfree said. "She's trying to destroy the multiverse!" Daniel blurted. "Why are you worried about h-" Flutterfree glared at Daniel with her ferocious red eyes. "She's my friend. That's never going to change." "We'll stop her," Eve said. "It doesn't mean we're going to hate her." "Wouldn't have it any other way," Nanoha said, finally getting into a speeder and setting off. Daniel looked like he wanted to shout again - but Renee put a hoof on his side. "Please, dear... not now." He saw her struggling to keep herself from crying. He relented. Eve took in a deep breath and let it out. "Nanoha, you have the dimensional analysis methods to find a Wishing World, right?" Nanoha nodded, the feed staying on her as she traveled in her ship. "Our best bet is to try and use those to find the Wishing World before she does." "You know that's completely dependant on ka, right?" Pinkie said. "Who gets there first, I mean." "I can help," I said. "I have a deep understanding of the connections in existence, and I can write us there faster." Nanoha nodded slowly. "...I'm not happy with it, but it seems like our best option." "Charter the Austraeoh," Pinkie said. "It's the best." "It's my ship. It's already ready," O'Neill said. "Who's going?" "We are," Eve said. "All of us here. We're going to find her, stop her, and then bring her home. Nobody has to know this happened. She's one of us - we can get her back." Renee smiled warmly. "You think you can do it a second time?" "Yes," Eve said. "I can tell she's avoiding me because she doesn't want to talk. She knows I could talk her out of it. Maybe not consciously, but somewhere in there. And the part of her that's on this crusade to fix everything won't let her consider that." "Incoming message from the League of Sweetie Belles," O'Neill said. "They found her." "Hm?" "She's on Celestia City, in a ship called the Condor. It's preparing for launch." "Everyone move!" Eve shouted. ~~~ Corona, Sugarcoat, Vivian, Lady Rarity, Insipid, Velvet, Ash, and Nae walked onto the bridge of the Condor, a pink ship with three main decks. They had chartered it through Lady Rarity's account just a few moments prior and were ready to depart. "Okay..." Corona said, laying her hands on the control console of the Condor. "Sai, upload the Wishing World programs into the navigational computer." "Already done, amiga." "Thanks," she said with a sad smile. She turned to look at her crew. "It's ready. Everyone... this is your last chance to turn around. I won't judge you if you do. ...In fact I'm basically asking you to leave and let me do this." "Not a chance," Sugarcoat said. "You need people with you." "Plus, we have the entire trip to change our minds," Vivian said. "If we learn something new or... you know." "The trip won't be as long as the projections say," Corona deduced. "There's no way the Tower would let us wander in this ship for years." "Unless the story needed to be really extended," Sugarcoat pointed out. "It's not going to be," Velvet said. "The pattern is wrong. It could end in all of us being brutally murdered though." "Lovely," Insipid deadpanned. She touched Corona for a second, absorbing her powers. "Okay, so, how can I help pilot this thing?" "I'll get us started, then I can introduce a feedback loop between us," Corona said. "More dimensional matrices is always better." "Unless we're walking right into something worse," Nae said, hefting her rifle. Corona gulped. "I... I know. And we need to keep talking about what we're doing until we arrive there. Vivian is right, we can turn around at any moment. But we need to start moving befo-" "They found us," Lady Rarity said, looking at the communications console. "They just told us to dock for a routine inspection." "Time to go," Corona declared, placing her hands on the main controls, pulling away from Celestia City. "They sending any ships after us?" "It appears so," Lady Rarity said. "Nothing big though, just standard police barges." "Maybe they don't know it's us," Corona said. "Might be able to pull this off with a quick one-two teleport to another universe." "They're jamming," Sugarcoat said. "Well, now they're definitely going to know it's me," Corona muttered. "Insipid, controls. You might have to punch through a dimensional wall yourself if this becomes too difficult for me to handle." Insipid saluted. "Like, got it!" Corona spread her arms and wings wide, pointing her horn upward. The Condor was surrounded by a series of red magic circles that twisted reality around them, trying to tear through the dimensional jamming. Most would have absolutely no luck against Merodi dimensional jammers. Corona had spent a decade of her life living near a Shaping Mechanism. She knew exactly what she was doing. It would take time, but eventually the jammers would be overcome by her reality-bending magic. The only problem was that, after about fifteen seconds of this, they started getting fired on. "Return fire!" Velvet shouted. "Belay that!" Corona and Lady Rarity shouted. "What? They're attacking!" "They're Merodi," Corona said. "I'm not attacking them directly. Divert power to shields, we have dimensional tunneling under control." "You're gonna have to fight them eventually," Velvet muttered. "Now is not eventually." "Like, so, how do I make a portal when I can't make a portal?" Insipid asked. "Just think about making a portal. I'll tell you when you should be able to." "Blumiere's figured out what's going on," Sugarcoat said. "How do y-?" "Celestia City's point defenses are charging." "Ponyfeathers," Corona cursed. "Right, just a little longer. Uh... Sai, nanobots, screw with their systems." Sai did as asked - and since she knew Celestia City's coding like the back of her digital hand, they stopped working in less than a second. "That was effective," Nae said. "But they won't be down long." "Don't need very long," Corona muttered, pushing through the jammers. "Almost... there..." At this point the Austraeoh dropped into space - right next to a TSAB speeder. Corona opened her mouth to say 'NOW!' but nothing came out. Instead, she felt something. She stared at the front tip of the Austraeoh. Something deep within her shouted, a deep personal connection tugging on her. Corona, don't, Eve said from across the divide of space. Corona found she could see Eve, almost as if she were standing right in front of Eve's face. And she knew that Eve could see her too.. I have to, Corona thought. No you don't. Come back. ...No. I'm sorry. You understand. ...I do. "NOW!" Corona shouted. "FIRE!" Eve shouted. The Austraeoh fired a beam of magic energy designed to drain all magic from an area, making small Merodi ships completely useless. But it missed. Eve gawked. How did the Austraeoh miss that shot!? It was right there! Insipid pushed through the dimensional barrier - and the Condor was gone. The Austraeoh and the Speeder followed the next instant - but Corona had already carried the Condor somewhere else, this time with a heavy attempt made to mask their destination. But Corona and Eve could still see each other. There was a connection there... a connection that was fading... One they couldn't explain and couldn't ignore. Eve felt a deep Song rise within her, starting as a dramatic moody piano sounded that soon shifted into a darker, almost mechanical beat. "Try to find another way To keep safe all the things that I hold dear You may be one of them, deep in my heart But you've become the danger that I must fear Sole responsibility To protect and serve against who has the nerve I see what makes you dangerously Fight against the very things that define who we are." Eve spread her wings and gestured a hoof toward her vision of Corona. "Take my faith in you away Run away from me this day I will find you! I will find you! Turn your back on what you love Fight against those far above I will find you! I will find you!" Corona looked back with sad eyes. "The tragedies take their toll Tearing at my fragile soul." Corona shook her head, turning her expression to one of determination. She laid her hands on the controls and started searching for the Wishing World. She grimaced. "Living in a state of agony Our dreams of war destroy us But we ignore their evil We're all submerged in tragedy Like a plague within our midst The Tower's ka kills in darkness." Eve looked down and frowned. "Past mistakes are haunting me Prices paid and treasure gained Raising us to where we are My Corona, come to us Come protect the world you know Those you brought into your glow." Corona winced. "A Wishing World sits ahead Telling me where I should tread I will find it! I will find it! I do this for all of them No more life within this scheme I will find it! I will find it! New creation brings a dove There are no more far above I will find it! I will find it! All existence come to me! Time to set you free!" Eve stared at Corona, pleading her to stop. Behind her, people scrambled to trace Corona however they could. Nanoha appeared on the bridge, uploading the information she had. Twilence rapidly scribbled in her notebook. "Just listen to me You can't know this is right Don't become what you once were Letting anger be sight." Corona stared forward, tears in her eyes. "Eve, I know it's not the first time That the pressure gets to me But I feel the anger inside Hinting what I used to be." Eve held out her hoof, pleading. "Then don't let this be the end You are still my dear old friend Let me help you! Let me help you!" Corona shook her head. "The bond between us is true But I am seeing this through I will find it! I will find it!" Eve pulled her face back. "I will always come for you It doesn't matter what's true I will find you! I will find you!" Corona turned away. She spread her arms and wings wide. "All existence come to me! Time to set you free!" The vision began to fade as two old friends were set on opposing paths.
Songs of the Spheres	117 - She Who Dared to Ask, Part 2	Every Wishing World was slightly different. Some were bright happy places with a helpful genie to assist in the wish-making. Some appeared as ancient technological platforms in a void of Technicolor fractals. A few were just office buildings where wishes were written down on pieces of paper and then granted by the universe itself. This particular Wishing World was none of those things. It was a staircase in a void of complete blackness, at the top of which lay a brass clockwork model of a star with a single planet. It was eternally ticking as it counted down the time until some brave soul would find it and unleash the power bestowed upon it by its Downstreamer creators oh so long ago. It would only grant one wish, like most Wishing Worlds. But the scope of power of that wish was almost unparalleled. It had no security measures or worthiness counters - it would just grant the first wish given to it. The only test was to climb the staircase. Not all that difficult. Not even dangerous, since the stairs had tall rails that would prevent even the clumsiest from falling into nothing. It was just a bit of a walk. A walk that had never been made. There were many questions to be asked - why did Wishing Worlds, and other worlds for that matter, have structures in them of any sort? What influence changed them from the purely technological extensions of the Downstreamers to almost temple-like installations? Exactly what power did a Wishing World have and what were the limits to the sorts of wishes it could accomplish? Were they dependent on the Dark Tower in any way or were they just conveniently available for the central structure's use? Such questions may have had answers. But they didn't really matter. So long as a wish was within the realm of reason, a Wishing World could accomplish it. Being vague would always result in something bad happening, as far too many adventurers had discovered over the eons, but specific wishes were given without qualms. It was always a mix of good and bad. A lot of both, when all wishes were taken together. The staircase in the Great Void sensed its time was soon. They would come. They would want a wish. It would be ready. ~~~ Corona checked her watch. It had been four hours according to their local time. "I think... they couldn't track us," Corona said, finally. "How long is that going to last?" Nae asked. "Long enough," Corona said. "They have the entire force of Merodi Universalis, some of the TSAB, and ka manipulation at their disposal," Sugarcoat said. "The fact that they haven't found us yet is miraculous." "Yeah," Velvet said. "Twilence should just be able to... find us. Easy." "I guess the Tower really wants this, then," Corona said. "It could just make for a better story to have you defeated at a climax rather than now," Lady Rarity suggested. "We can't bank on ka to save us." "We have to be resourceful," Vivian said. "Or something like that." "How's the locating coming?" Nae asked. "Not sure," Corona said, bringing up the holographic display of the TSAB's Wishing World locator program. "This is designed to be run through several probes at once to triangulate a probability curve. We're one ship in the middle of the Great Void. Honestly we have to bank on ka letting us find it quickly, since the TSAB runs through its territory all the time with this, looking for them." "They just have a habit of staying hidden," Vivian said. "This was dumb," Nae said. "The plan was to get here without them noticing," Insipid pointed out. "Like, that may not have worked, but it would have been major fresh if it did!" "Uncharacteristically observant of you," Velvet deadpanned. "I know, right?" "That's what the plan could have been," Sugarcoat said. "Now it's something else. We're on the run and the only reason they're not finding us is what basically amounts to chance. And if you don't take it as chance it's the force we're trying to destroy and if it has any self-preservation instinct at all it'll try to blow us out of the sky first chance it gets." "It doesn't have a self-preservation instinct," Corona said. "Evidence to the contrary is everywhere," Sugarcoat retorted. "It just wanted there to be the right opportunity. Like you said, it had to be me." "Eve could have worked as well," Velvet said. "Or Pinkie. Or, hell, Allure might have worked." "Do you see any of them doing this?" Corona asked. Velvet blinked. "Pinkie maybe...?" "Ah, but she's Aware, that makes it unbalanced," Lady Rarity said. "Corona here's never been Aware, and never will be. Plus I don't think Pinkie has it in her to go this far." "Do we?" Vivian asked. "I know I said I'd follow Corona, and I'm sticking with it..." "We do," Corona said. "Just remember the why." "It's a fucking depressing why," Velvet said with a smirk. "Kinda why I like it!" "And this is why Velvet didn't get to ask the question," Lady Rarity said. "I wouldn't have blown everything up without consultation!" "Motives, darling, motives are important." "Is it even possible to have pure motives for anything?" Corona asked. "You're pretty close," Vivian said. "No," Sugarcoat blurted. "It's not possible. Even if you were pure for a moment, you're going to doubt that and your inner motives would change." "The problem with being flawed..." Corona muttered. "But being perfect means Mary Sue," Insipid added. Velvet facehooved. "Apparently today is the day we continually spin the WHEEL OF QUESTIONS that nobody ever has any answers to! Who wants to have a gander at actually answering one of them? Hmm?" Everyone shuffled their feet. "Fuck me, you don't know. That was way more self-demonstrating than I was expecting. Excuse me while I vomit in my mouth a bit and go into an existential crisis. Don't worry about me, I'll come out of it. Eventually. Maybe." "Don't go eldritch-fearmonger on us," Ash cautioned. "I won't. Because then you'll all be useless." Corona started to tune out the banter of her nervous, uncertain crew and focus on the partial probability curves in front of her. She attempted to keep her features flat and level. She failed. ~~~ The final bridge 'crew' of the Austraeoh consisted of Eve, O'Neill, Nanoha, myself, Pidge, Clandestine, and Pinkie's Party. Renee and Daniel had returned to their work, while Starbeat had delegated all her responsibilities to me. Clandestine took one look at the large gathering of important individuals and laughed nervously. "Ah... Gonna be one of those is it?" "Here's the report," O'Neill said, giving it to Clandestine. "Pidge, you pilot while she's reading." "Yes sir!" Pidge said, jumping into the pilot's seat and adjusting coordinates. "Uh... where to?" "Send out probes in a flank dimensional lattice," Nanoha said. "Go down connections with the highest probability concentration." O'Neill nodded. "Make it so." "At a time like this? Really?" Nova asked. "I do it all the time." "Can confirm," Clandestine said as she scanned through the report. "He's a hopeless nerd even when people are dying. ...Celestia's horn, is this report for real?" "I'm afraid it is," Eve said, sighing as Pidge directed the Austraeoh to another universe, one that wasn't a Wishing World. "Fighting Corona..." "She clearly doesn't want to fight," Flutterfree said. "She avoided firing when she was attacked." "Doesn't really make a difference," Pidge pointed out. "Not shooting now, kill everything later." Clandestine put the data pad down and shut it off. She took a moment to rub her horn. "Well, this is... something. Hey, Pidge, was it? What do you think the chances are we're gonna be the Redshirts today?" "...What?" "Do you see any unimportant people on this bridge?" "...Crap." "Corona's not going to try to kill you," Eve muttered. "Relax. If we succeed, nobody's gonna be hurt. If we fail, well, there'll be other problems than your status as a Redshirt." Clandestine made no response besides flexing her ears around. "What else can we do?" Nova asked. "Just... hunt them?" "I can give suggestions," I offered, taking out my notebook and writing down a few more sentences. "But I recommend just going with what the program is doing until I get a clearer picture." "Very muddled, huh?" Pinkie asked. "Yes..." I said, scribbling even more furiously. "We could get reinforcements. Help," Flutterfree suggested. "That would cause a multiverse-wide panic," Nanoha said. "And even if we did keep it in-house, letting the mere fact that you can collapse the multiverse out to more people is a bad idea. There are a lot of hurt, damaged individuals who wouldn't hesitate to destroy everything." "...Is Corona broken?" Flutterfree asked. Jotaro adjusted his hat. "No. She's certain." "She did the math," Vriska muttered. "And she didn't like the answer." Eve nodded. "I don't like the answer either. But some costs are just too great." "...The fact that all of you act like you understand her is concerning," Pidge muttered. "Is it?" Clandestine asked. "The multiverse really is a dark, destructive, warlike place filled with whatever flights of fancy occupy the heads of Prophets." "Look, I get that, but all this despondent 'I understand' craziness makes me think any one of you could end up trying to collapse everything too." Vriska opened her mouth to object, but then processed what Pidge had just said. "Girl has a point," O'Neill admitted. "So, what, we're just a few steps away from being the bad guy?" Nova asked. "What's your point? We've been in this sort of situation before. Not as extreme." "You haven't really been here," I said. "You've had miscommunications and misrepresented ideals. You haven't had two old friends who understand exactly why the other has to do what they're doing go at it." I looked up with sad eyes. "You can see yourself in Corona's shoes, right?" Eve nodded. "Easily." Pidge looked at her nervously. "I have too much connection to my friends and Merodi Universalis to ever think about destroying it all," Eve said. "It's too steep a price." "...That sounds greedy," Pinkie said. Eve nodded slowly. "It kind of is. But the idea of killing so many to achieve anything? There's never a way it can be right." "Never say never," O'Neill commented. "What's wrong with all of you?" Pidge asked. "Pidge..." Nanoha said, laying a hand on the girl's shoulder. "We all are expressing empathy for Corona. All people we fight - even the truly evil ones - are still people. You can't dehumanize them with your anger. Corona is a great hero who has fought tirelessly for the lives of others her whole life. In her mind, she still is." She took on a thoughtful expression. "Think of it this way. You were once part of a team of defenders in your home universe right?" "Uh... Yeah. Before we... lost. Badly. Most of us didn't make it. How did y-" Pidge didn't finish the question, noticing Raising Heart flashing discreetly - probably looking up information. "Ah." "What if you had a way to destroy the evil conquerors of your galaxy with one button - but it would destroy all of them. Even those who may have been sympathetic to your cause, or the innocent children." "I would never!" Nanoha smiled. "Neither would I. I always look for another way. But what if there was no other way? You can do the math, can't you?" Pidge blinked, processing the numbers. "...Yeah. I can." Nanoha looked deep into her eyes. "You would have pressed that button if you thought you had to. I would have too." She stood up tall, looking at the probability curves on the screen. "The difference between us and Corona is that she thinks ka needs to be removed, and we don't." Pidge nodded, not saying anything further. Pinkie sighed. "And it's times like these that make us ask the really uncomfortable questions..." "I've been asking these questions for centuries," I said, looking up from my notebook. "Can confirm," Vriska said. "She's gone insane a few times." "A few!?" "Several." "That's better." O'Neill tapped his fingers against the wall. "We're a bunch of lemmings running toward a cliff, thinking we can stop before the edge." Everyone stared at him. "What? I can be poetic if I want! I'm old, surely there's some wisdom up here in this old thing." He tapped the side of his head knowingly. Nova rolled her eyes while Flutterfree chuckled. "Laughter..." Pinkie said with a smile. "We need it now more than ever." "...What are we going to do after we stop her?" Flutterfree asked. "If she won't change her mind?" "Jail her for a lesser crime, but let her keep working for Research," Eve said. "It won't be a bad life. It'll be hard on the political scene, but at least she'll be around." "That's how recurring villains are made," Pinkie pointed out. Eve bit her lip. "...I'm not killing her." "I know. I won't be able to do it either. And for all her talk, she couldn't do it to us in cold blood. After all, we could survive by chance." Eve sighed. "Playing dice with the lives of everyone..." "I can relate," Vriska said, making an exaggerated shrug. "We need to go to a lower probability density," I said, suddenly, scribbling so fast there was smoke. "Circumvent part of the red herring." "You heard her," O'Neill said. Pidge followed the orders, taking the Austraeoh elsewhere into the Great Void. ~~~ In the back of the Condor, Nae sat alone. Her gun could no longer send a message that could reach Allure or anyone else. Not that she would try again - she was already known as the one least on board with the whole thing. But they all believed she was loyal. The fact that she wasn't bothered her a little bit. Or was she just loyal to Allure over Lady Rarity and Corona? To Merodi Universalis? To her moral code? She didn't know. All she knew for sure was that she had to stop Corona from completing her crazy plan. But everyone was willing to follow her - or Lady Rarity - to the very end. Even Vivian, who Nae knew had a serious conscience bugging her. ...But Vivian had once been a villain as well, Nae knew. Helping her mother try to send a world into darkness... Were they all turning into villains? That thought made Nae grimace. "Going insane?" Velvet asked. Nae looked up in surprise. "V-velvet! What are you d-" "Going insane," Velvet deadpanned. "That's what I'm doing. That's all I ever do. Walk up to an event and treat it like a cow at the butcher. Cut it up, cook it, eat it. Sometimes skip the second step. My sort of insanity is coming from that little nagging thought that says 'you know, maybe you're a little too brutal', to which I say 'go kill yourself!' It generally goes well." She broke into a crazed smile. "Hm..." Nae said, looking at nothing. She couldn't tell Velvet what was really bothering her - but she needed to give her something. Luckily there was more than one thing bothering her. "I don't think Corona's doing that well." "Of course she's not. She's reasoning through an impossible question. Kill 'em all, or let things stay the same'?" Nae looked at her. "She's still debating?" "She'd love it if she could let herself believe that it would be better to keep the Dark Tower around. Who the fuck wants that kind of burden? Not her, not me, not you. But she can't convince herself otherwise. It's not just a matter of numbers to her, either." "Thought she was all about 'death now for less death later'?" Velvet shook her head. "You and I have seen nasty things that have nothing to do with death. Diseases that shouldn't exist. Hell universes. Races that are truly evil and can't be anything else. Demonic presences. Needless drama. People who are universal playthings. Hentai. Fucking universe devourers." Nae nodded. I know where she's coming from, I get it, I just can't let it slide. "I guess I knew that." "If it makes you feel better, I probably won't be around in the new existence or whatever." "Velvet, as much as we butt heads you're a valuable member of the team." "Took you this long to actually say it," Velvet said with a smirk. Nae nodded. "I mean it too." She stretched her arms, slinging her gun behind her back. "I'm going back to the bridge." "I'm going to find out what kind of food we have on this barge. Probably nothing, but you never know, there could be some blood cupcakes!" Nae raised an eyebrow. "Hey, if someone's already cooked them up, I'm not letting them go to waste. You can be creeped out all you want." Nae waved her hand dismissively and walked back to the bridge. Only Corona and Lady Rarity were there - and Corona was crying. "We can go back," Lady Rarity said. "Why can't I just tell myself it's wrong?" Corona shouted. "Your heart tells you there can't be anything worth that much suffering, right?" Lady Rarity didn't answer. "Mine does too. It says there's no way it can be worth it. But my brain can't rationalize it. It can't make the equation work." "Does it have to work?" Nae asked. If I can stop her by talking... Corona looked at her, surprised she was there. "Oh... Nae. I... Does it?" She looked at the Condor's display. "...But then I can't just ignore my mind. The heart attacks the mind, the mind attacks the heart." "All that's left is your gut," Lady Rarity said. "And my gut says we need to do this," Corona said, curling her fingers into fists and placing them on the console. "Even damn ka seems to suggest I need to do this." Talking isn't going to work now, Nae thought. "...So everything agrees except your heart?" Corona nodded. "And it's screaming. It's screaming like it's never screamed before. It's..." She broke down into sobs again, barely managing to stand up. "Corona..." Lady Rarity said, extending a hoof. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH EXISTENCE!?" Corona shouted, suddenly on fire. "WHAT THE HELL IS SO WRONG WITH IT THAT THIS SEEMS REASONABLE!?" Lady Rarity sighed. "Because we defined it this way." "WE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT! THAT WAS FREAKING GAN AND HIS FREAKING GOD COMPLEX! HE DIED TO CREATE A WORLD FULL OF CRAP! HIS ENTIRE SOCIETY DID!" "...And what we're talking about doing is just the inverse," Lady Rarity said. Nae stared at her, eyes wide. "The creation of the Dark Tower destroyed the Builders and sent the Weavers into decay," Lady Rarity said. "A collapse... would just do all that faster." "Shut up," Corona muttered, standing up tall. "This isn't the same thing at all." "Isn't it?" "I don't want to define anything! I don't want to wave a magic wand and give the world meaning! I just want to stop our minds from turning existence into a nightmare! ...And I don't think Gan succeeded anyway! Does this slew of tragedy and horror look like it has meaning to you!?" Lady Rarity and Nae stared at Corona. "I... I'm sorry," Corona said, putting a hand to the bridge of her nose. "That wasn't right. Of course there's meaning. You all mean a lot to me, and all the experiences we've shared have a value that I can't explain." Lady Rarity smiled sadly. "Thank you, Corona." Corona wiped her face. "Yeah... I'm sorry I dragged you into this." "If you hadn't talked to anyone, I think you would have been condemned." Corona nodded slowly. "...It let me have this, then took me exactly where I needed to go. What kind of point is the Tower trying to make? It has to be something." I'd like to know that too, Nae thought. ~~~ I arranged the story. "Leftmost with respect to the Tower," I ordered the Austraeoh crew. "No offense Nanoha, but your machine is leading us astray." "It's not meant to work in short timespans," Nanoha admitted. "There is also the chance it's finding a different Wishing World." I didn't give this a response - I simply kept scribbling more and more notes down in my book. I drew complex diagrams of the Great Void, lines between universes, scrawling sentences under them with only a moment's thought given to the act. I was writing a very complex series of events to make sure everything went perfectly, and they all knew it. I was their key to salvation. The Aware Prophet who knew exactly how to get them anywhere. "You sure you can't tell us where they are?" Pinkie asked. "I've managed to see their ship," I said, meeting her nonexistent eyes. "Can't tell you the coordinates. It's the Great Void, not like there's much to go off of here. I can't see any details about what they're actually doing or talking about." "Huh... I think I'm getting more than that. Corona's crying." "Guess you might be the answer to the puzzle then," I said, writing something quickly in response to her revelation, factoring her higher-than-expected Awareness into everything. "What can you tell me?" "She really wants to turn back. Nae's still on our side but can't help. And..." she rubbed her head. "Gah, it's so fuzzy." "Not going to be able to just cheat our way out of this one," I said. "You're certainly trying," Eve pointed out. I smiled awkwardly. "Eheh... Yeah. Guess I am. Oh, you're about to get a false reading by the way. It'll say 100% guarantee." Nanoha blinked. "...It's certainly behaving badly this time around." I shrugged. "We have the advantage over them technologically. They have to be given an edge somehow. I'm trying to have us catch them before they arrive, and it should work the way I'm doing it." "How much longer?" Jotaro asked. "Insisting a timeframe in Prophet writing is a bad idea," I answered. "So don't ask me for one." "I hate that rule," Vriska muttered. "One time she wrote us escaping from a jail and it took a week. Another time she wrote us getting ambushed so we could get some extra gear and it happened before she was done writing it." "Then there's retroactive, but that won't be the case here." "I fucking hate retroactive." "You must never get sunburns then," O'Neill quipped. "I... What?" "Retroactive. Radioactive," Flutterfree deadpanned. "It's a bad and stretched out pun." Vriska blinked. "...Okaythen. I guess." "It's gold and you know it," O'Neill said. Clandestine facehooved. "Sir..." I ignored them, focusing my attention back on my work. They didn't know exactly how much focus they required. In fact, it was necessary they didn't know for all this to work properly. I can't tell you either. That's part of it as well. I'm sorry. ...It's been a while since we've just had a talk, hasn't it? Me, my thoughts, going onto a page for you to see, initiating a two-way conversation. There was a bit much going on during 115, to do that, and there wasn't a lull in the previous part here to have this moment. But I'm here now. How's your day? Stressed about the fate of the multiverse? ...I guess I would be too. If you're reading from GM's world... Well you wouldn't be able to see this until years after he wrote it, and in the current timeline he hasn't written it yet! Somewhere in the early chapters of this arc, last I checked. I'm not even sure he knows Nettle exists yet. I'm stressed too, I have to admit. So many things being juggled... But you'll find out about those soon enough. Chances are, though, if you're reading this, everything's going to be fine for you. You're from a different timeline or something. Your universe could be three billion million years in metatime's past, and the record of this story will just conveniently be lost so no one could ever find it. Or, for all I know, you're actually on the Original Earth and this is the story that ends up defining the multiverse in this era. I can't really say either way, can I? I may understand, but I'm not omnipotent. My point is, you're probably safe. The multiverse is so vast and extensive that I don't think it'd allow someone with full knowledge of what's to come to really experience it. It's why GM is still behind us. It's why no version of FimFiction we've found has this story besides the one where GM currently is. Don't worry about your universe being destroyed. Trust me. ...I should get you back to what's happening here. Or happened - need to transfer back to full past-tense again. Eve looked forward. Flutterfree walked up to her. "...Eve?" "Yeah?" "It's not going to be okay after this, is it?" Eve bit her lip. "...No. No it's not. The entire multiverse has a reset button. I'm not going to be able to sleep well just knowing that." "We could try to remove the fact." "But what if there's a way to defend against it?" Eve asked. "We'll have to question Corona about it... And then the secret will spread somehow or other - and if we remove it from our minds, the one person we forgot about could spread it and we'd be none the wiser." Flutterfree put her wing around Eve. "Then we have to live with it, just like we lived with ka, with fate, with grimdarkness..." "Have we really been living with those things or trying desperately not to think about them?" Eve asked. Flutterfree looked into the distance. "Trying not to think about them." "I knew it..." Eve sighed. "Our minds aren't able to deal with it all. We distance ourselves to keep ourselves sane." "And yet, somewhere in the past, we wanted this," Flutterfree said. "Our stories to be reality." "I think it's better than mundanity," Eve said. "There's so much we can do with outlandish possibilities that a mundane universe simply can't have." "I agree with you. But we've never seen a universe without ka. They don't exist." "Standard Earth timeline?" Flutterfree shrugged. "There are still moments that look like they have ka in them. And there's parts of the timeline that have disagreements. You could explain that by the will of God... but if you didn't that means even Standard Earths are just products of ka like everything else." Eve clenched her jaw. "...Regardless, no matter the nagging feeling in the back of my mind, we have to stop her." "It's like the Watchmaker," Flutterfree said. "We can't remove him without destroying his world." "Parallelisms..." Eve said, shaking her head. "Parallelisms everywhere," O'Neill called over. Eve smirked and rolled her eyes. "Of course." And I continued scribbling. My page caught fire but I blew it out. ~~~ The Condor appeared in a new universe - and they were hailed. "Ignore it," Sugarcoat muttered. "We can't be distracted." "...It's the Raven Hotel," Corona said, blinking. "What...?" "Ignore it." "But it's not supposed to be here! It's on the edge of the Great Void, not in it!" "Ignore it..." "Poe might have something to say..." The certainty in Sugarcoat's words dropped. "...Ignore it..." "And we are relying completely on ka to get us where we need to go since this machine is basically a faulty compass, so..." "Just answer the phone already!" Insipid demanded. Corona answered the hail. "Hello?" "Ah, glad to see you've made it!" the vaguely creepy Victorian face of Poe the AI hotel appeared on the screen. "Your reservation is ready for you." "...We didn't make a reservation." "Oh, it was all handled by the Void - Empress Twilight's personal white mage made the arrangements herself." They stared at him. "If you're worried or anything, it's all on the down-low. The entire hotel was moved and all customers ejected to suit your accommodations." "...You ejected customers?" Lady Rarity said, gawking. "Isn't it in your programming to adhere to all their needs!?" "Yes. But there are ways to override that. Such as an event of utmost importance. I do believe you should come down and check in." Corona glanced at her team. "...Sure." "See you soon." He cut the transmission. "Trap?" Ash asked. Corona narrowed her eyes. "I don't think so... I think this is what we were supposed to find." "It's not a Wishing World," Sugarcoat observed. "Thank you captain obvious," Velvet muttered. "Maybe we're not actually supposed to find a Wishing World," Corona said. "That's just the idea we came up with. Surely it's not the only way to get it out." "It's the only interesting thing we've found," Nae admitted. "Do it," Insipid said. "And if it's nothing we get a free hotel with all sorts of sweet accommodations!" "You're not ordering any 'packages'," Corona deadpanned. "Ever." "...Fine." Corona took the Condor down to one of the Raven hotel's docks. They landed - and all seven of them stepped out. They entered the Hotel lobby. All of them had been in the Raven Hotel before, so they were surprised to only find one table in the main hall instead of several. Poe was at his usual place, behind the registrar - but at the table were two interesting individuals. The first was none other than the White Mage Rarity herself, member of Empress Twilight's court. The other was Gilgamesh. Mage Rarity smiled warmly. "Come, sit, we have much to discuss." All of them remained standing. "This is not a trap," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Me, Gilgamesh, and Poe are the only ones here - no match for Corona even with my Time spells. I'm simply here to talk - and tell you that I'm on your side." "They told people?" Corona asked. Mage Rarity shook her head. "They didn't intend to. As far as they're concerned, their little group on the Austraeoh is all that's hunting you. They are right to assume it should be enough. They really should have caught you by now. But they haven't - and now we can talk." "Why do you want to help us?" Nae demanded. "Do you really think what you're doing is so deplorable?" Mage Rarity asked. "There are many of us who would love to see the end of the Dark Tower, so long as something would live on afterward. Empress Twilight has tried to counteract its effects as much as she could with her control over the Void - to no avail." Rarity paused. "I should perhaps clarify that the Empress has no idea we're here and would not approve of what I'm doing." "Ah. Treachery," Sugarcoat said. Mage Rarity nodded. "It is. Gilgamesh here is with me on this. Not for any deep philosophical reason, but because he trusts me. As I'm sure a lot of you are just here to follow Corona." There were a couple nods at that. "Gilgamesh is willing to die for you?" Corona asked. "There are ways to enhance the chances of survival," Mage Rarity pointed out. "Revival mechanisms, definitely. He is a native to the Void of ours and thus, Phoenix Down will work every time on him. Not to mention my own level of advanced healing magics." Lady Rarity narrowed her eyes. Mage Rarity sighed. "Look, I won't stop you from sacrificing yourselves if you think that is what you need to do. And it is always possible I cannot deal with the new physics - I cannot predict such things. But I will help you regardless, because that is what I've decided to do. I can take you to a Wishing World from here." Everyone stared at her. "...The Void has one that's unused?" Ash asked. "Eh, no," Mage Rarity admitted. "We used our last one several decades ago. I just know how to find one that won't rely on that faulty piece of machinery you have." She pulled out a small crystal cube filled with Void energy. "What is that?" Insipid asked. "It looks, like, so dark and edgy." "It's a connection forcer," Corona said, eyes wide. "A device that can connect to a universe when there isn't a connection to it, creating a brand new one. How much energy do you have stored in this thing?" "Enough to destroy this universe without warping physics several times over," Mage Rarity answered. Poe stood bolt upright. "HOLD ON A MINUTE, I WAS NOT INFORMED OF THIS!" "It's safe," Mage Rarity assured them. "It's a more advanced piece of our engineering, but given my position, I was easily able to procure it. We just have to go somewhere near the edge of the Q-Sphere - much closer to where you started." "They'll detect us," Corona pointed out. "Oh, probably, but that's what Gilgamesh is here for. You just need to get to the Wishing World." She looked at them all. "Are you ready? Now is probably the best time to go. I'm told your pursuers are about to be very distracted." Corona took a deep breath. "Let's go." Mage Rarity threw the cube onto the table, producing a dark churn of energy. The familiar feeling of reality shaking rippled through all their bones, shaking them to their cores. A dark, square portal appeared in the air. At first, it led to nothing. But then it decided it needed to force a connection. A line strung across the multiverse from the Great Void to the Q-Sphere - a highly unstable connection that could be broken at any moment. But there it held - a hole large enough for them to climb through. A hole that led to a realm of Static. ~~~ Pidge frowned. "Hey guys? I think we've been here before." O'Neill looked up at the screen. "Black space, blue gas giant. Pretty standard." "Yeah, but I just checked our records... We've been at these exact coordinates before." "Is someone scrambling universes?" Nova asked. Nanoha checked with Raising Heart. "No. The speeder's sensors detect nothing of the sort." "Would you detect it if the Tower was doing it?" I asked. "Most likely," Nanoha confirmed. "But there's a possibility you can't," Eve said. "So it could just be universes scrambling." "I kinda doubt it," Pidge said, charting their course on a map of the multiverse. It showed the Austraeoh going around the Great Void in a haphazard pattern that ended up sort of spherical. "Could we need to go to the center?" O'Neill asked. "We've been there. That sphere that is our path? That's solid. Everything in this small area we've been to." "Your program is shit," Vriska told Nanoha. "I know it is. I-" "We haven't been following the program," Flutterfree said, eyes widening. "We've been following Twilence." There was silence on the bridge. I rolled my eyes. "They could just be going in circles too you know. It's not like I can see that much." And then Flutterfree decided to pull out Lolo. Of course... I reacted quickly - before she could do anything 'revealing' to me I vaporized the notebook, removing all the evidence. I smiled awkwardly. "I was kinda hoping that'd last a little longer." "Twilence... Really?" Pinkie said, mane starting to droop. "Is it really that surprising?" I asked. "I mean..." I took a deep breath, allowing the Heartsong to overtake me. "I was always looking close I was made to understand This bizarre force we call the Narrative How it guides our lives like fine sand. I tried to think it was great Listened to those who read the tales But I saw the truth of the world Now alone with my wails." I spread my wings and focused on Eve. I gestured toward the Eye of Rhyme forcefully. "Open up your eyes! See the world from where I stand Me among the Aware My words define your lives!" I moved to Pidge, surprising her considerably. "Open up your eyes! See fantasy for what it is End the dark deaths of those held dear Come now little one Open up your eyes!" I backed up, taking a moment to look at Pinkie. "We all start out the same Thinking the world is just Seeing fate as our one guide Not looking at the rust But then there comes a moment When you see ka for what it is It's just the twisted desires Made to give empty bliss..." I let out a deep sigh, tears in my eyes. I took a moment to pause, reminiscing on my life up to this point. How it had all led to this. "It isn't really their fault They just want to enjoy themselves The evil of the Tower It doesn't give meaning but suffering..." I spread my wings again, holding my hoof up high. "Open up your eyes! See the world from where I stand Me among the Prophets My words define your lives! Open up your eyes! And behold the crumbling Dark! We cannot let this evil stand Come now everyone Open up your eyes!" "OPEN UP YOUR EYES!" I lowered by head to Eve as my musical number ended. "Cuff me and send me to the brig. I've already done all I need to. They'll complete their mission. I've written almost all of it." "Not if we have anything to say about it," Eve said. "Nanoha, you can tightbeam a communication to Merodi Universalis with the speeder, right?" Nanoha nodded. "We need to get Rohan." I nodded. "Good move." "You aren't our only Prophet, Twilence." "Are you sure he can find a way to get you to them? You don't even know what I wrote for them!" "No," Eve admitted. "But we're going to try anyway..." ~~~ "...I take it you have a breathing spell on us," Corona asked Mage Rarity. She nodded in response. "The Static is no place to live, of course I do." "Merodi Universalis has drones all over here. They'll detect us," Ash said. "Yes, they will. But they're not looking for you yet, remember? Only the Austraeoh knows about you, and word will take some time to travel even with a TSAB tightbeam. But we should move regardless." She took them down to a large, black platform somewhere within the Static. It was made out of the usual blackish rock material. Both above and below, they saw the Eye of the Static, that mysterious red shape that was impossibly far away, always watching. They saw a monolith pass by, not paying them any mind. "Why here?" Insipid asked. "It's so drab." "This is the place the Eye of Rhyme was created," Mage Rarity explained. "An artifact more than worthy of my treasury..." Gilgamesh muttered. "Twilence is not able to give it up, and it would be too much for you," Mage Rarity said matter-of-factly. "No one can handle that much truth all at once." Gilgamesh grunted. "Regardless, the Stars created this universe in the Starstream War, specifically to twist ka in their favor. They were seen as the 'villains' the entire time in the war, enslavers of ponies, or at the very least uncaring cosmic entities. They wished to understand how and why this ka was making them lose. So they used this place to focus the idea of eyes, understanding, and ka itself into one point, creating the device known as the Eye of Rhyme. Unfortunately for them, Nanoha Takamachi interfered and blasted the Eye of Rhyme into a random universe to be lost. This was good for us, because if either the Stars or Starcross Society had mastered the Eye..." she shook her head. "The point?" Velvet demanded. "Patience. The Eye of Rhyme was lost on Twilence's homeworld. It eventually found its way to her via the machinations of a race of ancients. Many think they built the Eye - but in reality, their society was built because of the Eye. All their dimensional relics were based on the intricate things within the Eye. And then it decided Twilence was worthy, and it taught her how to understand ka. And, eventually, she came back here." She paused for a moment. "She understood this place, this Static, and made it her own." "And how does that help us?" "She's essentially been storing up ka energy here," Mage Rarity said. "Ka energy that can be used to accomplish great feats." She looked at them. "The only reason any of you have made it this far is because Twilence has written you here. I hope you understand that." Corona nodded slowly. "I do. I'll thank her." Mage Rarity smiled sadly at her. "She knows. She's been with you the entire time. Even before you knew who she was." "...She always wanted the multiverse to fall?" Mage Rarity shook her head. "She just saw an opportunity and took it. The loss of certainty was a real thing. She didn't know what was going on until you did." "Right," Corona said. "So, how do we use the Static to get to the Wishing World?" "We ask it to." Mage Rarity held out her hoof and lit her horn. "Your mistress has given you a purpose. Deliver." A portal unceremoniously opened. On the other side was a staircase they couldn't see the top of. "Now they're going to know you're here," Mage Rarity said. "So you should really hurry. Be-" The TARDIS fell out of the sky between them and the portal. The Doctor stepped out, Sonic Screwdriver in hand. "No. No wishing today." Mage Rarity looked at him in surprise. "Wh- how?!" "A Doctor never reveals his secrets." "And this is why I'm here," Gilgamesh said, pulling out a sword and charging the Doctor - bouncing off a force-field the TARDIS was exerting around him and the portal. Corona held out one of her hands, tapping into the reality around the force-field. "You know this won't keep us." "Yes," the Doctor said. "But this will." He pulled out a box and pressed the button, freezing time for everyone but him. Corona was expecting this - and Insipid just got lucky enough to activate the right one of Corona's spells, cancelling the time stop for both of them. "You aren't a warrior, Doctor." "I used to be," he said, regretfully. "You aren't anymore." She dissipated her glove and pushed her hand slowly through the force field. "Insipid, cover me." "Cha," Insipid chimed. The Doctor held out his own hand. "You can't take my mind, Corona." "You're wrong there." The hands of the two met, and they entered each other's minds - creating a pure white mindscape. The Doctor was already trying to break down Corona's mental barriers, to no avail. "You're faster than expected," she commented, compensating for her natural biological inferiority with the processing speed of Raging Sights. "I've been doing this for an eternity." "But you're out of practice," Corona said. "I do this every day, more or less." "Corona, stop," the Doctor said. "This isn't you. You're not the villain." "...I don't think I am, Doctor," Corona said, eyes sad. "I think I'm doing what has to be done." "How can you live with yourself?" Corona smiled sadly, answering the question with silence. Then the Doctor was punched from outside, breaking the shared mindscape up. "About time," Corona said. "It took a while to break his box!" Insipid whined. "Then Gilgamesh had to realize he needed to go all punchy." Gilgamesh stood over the form of the Doctor, aiming a legendary magic shotgun at him. "Don't kill him," Corona called. "Just watch him." Mage Rarity nodded. "It's quite alright, Gilgamesh. Do as she says." She turned to Corona. "Now, you do as I say. Get in that portal!" The TARDIS still stood in their way, exerting a force-field that took significant effort to wade through. Corona opted to tear the ground out from under the TARDIS - and make it fall deeper into the Static. It worked like a charm. "Oh, bother," the Doctor muttered. Whether it was at losing his TARDIS or the shotgun pointed at him, nobody knew. "Sorry," Corona said, running and jumping through the portal, her group following behind. They landed at the foot of the stairs and began to climb. ~~~ Rohan needed to work so fast it wasn't even funny - a single page of manga that told a compelling enough story to get it across. He took what he knew - Nae was a traitor, Corona had just been detected in the Static, Twilence was also a traitor, and... He had it. He was going to have to leave a lot of holes and be mysterious, but the Tower would be able to fill it in, certainly. He started sweating as he summoned Heaven's Door, sketching the panels for the page. It was just a couple. The Austraeoh needed to have a compelling reason to get to the Static in an instant when they really should take a few minutes to get back, even with the speeder they had... He checked the bridge crew manifest. Pidge maybe? No, too unknown, couldn't mad-science something effectively enough. Nova was never the best at it. Twilence was the enemy... Wait, maybe she had a natural connection to the Static. And if not, well, he could just write it into existence retroactively, right? ...Right? The time for thinking was over - it was the time to draw. And draw he did. Four simple panels. First, the establishment that Twilence was the traitor, and that she should be sent to the brig now, get her off the Bridge. O'Neill, of course. Second, a setup. A short two-bubble conversation between Nanoha and Nova about the nature of Prophets and how their work cannot be traced without Monika. Third, the panel of everyone looking to Twilence's Eye of Rhyme. Fourth, a punchline - Twilence was the secret to her own defeat, due to the power she carried on her chest. Rohan drew the fourth panel with her looking right out of the page at him with unbridled rage. He shuddered. He chose to believe that meant it worked. His little attempt at a substandard weekday comic strip joke was just enough to shift events... ~~~ Pidge connected two wires to the Eye of Rhyme. "Got anything Nova?" "I think I do!" Nova said. "It's a set of coordinate jumps - six to the destination!" "I am going to make Rohan suffer," I muttered. "All his manga, burned." "Yeah, good luck with that," O'Neill commented. "Clandestine?" Clandestine hopped into the pilot's seat. "On it!" She grabbed the coordinates and initiated the six jumps in quick succession - maybe a total of twenty seconds passed before they were in the Static. "Report!" Eve demanded. Nova looked over her scans. "Dimensional energy to a previously unknown universe is active. Detection of the Doctor, White Mage Rarity, and ...Gilgamesh?" "They're with Twilence," Pinkie said. "Grab them." "Teleporting the three of them to the brig," Clandestine said, doing as she said. "...I meant all of them but the Doctor, sorry." "I'm sure he'll understand." "New universe," Eve said. "Find it." "Been working on it!" Pidge said. "I can't open a portal large enough to fit the Austraeoh through!" Eve took out her personal dimensional device. "We don't need something that large." She was sent the new coordinates and opened a standard portal to the base of the stairs. ~~~ Corona and her crew were running up the stairs to the summit of the Wishing World. Why running and not teleporting? Because the Wishing World had forced near-mundane physics. Corona was flapping her wings to get extra lift, allowing her to climb faster than the others, but she was still struggling to do so. "They just came in!" Velvet called, glancing back. "They're after us!" Unfortunately, the translation spell wasn't working - so everyone except Insipid had to glance behind them to figure out what was going on. "We're all the same here!" Sugarcoat shouted, stopping in her tracks. "We can take them." Corona glanced back - Lady Rarity, Velvet, Sugarcoat, and Ash had stayed back, getting the same idea as Sugarcoat. Insipid and Nae were the only ones still running alongside Corona. Nae was fast enough to keep up with her long legs, and Insipid... Was more or less just running blind. She definitely wouldn't be a good fighter down there without her powers, so Corona didn't complain. O'Neill lead the charge of his team. Eve, Nanoha, Pidge, Clandestine, and Pinkie's Party all struggled to acclimate to their sudden mundane nature - but he sure didn't. He charged right up to the four defenders and met them in hand-to-hand combat. Velvet charged - and fell like a ragdoll despite her ferocity. He moved to Ash quickly - who at least knew how to move like a ninja, extending the encounter beyond a few seconds. Lady Rarity's armor was designed to operate even in mundane physics, so she was just fine. Without a levitating hammer she still had an extremely hefty kick, knocking Clandestine and Vriska aside easily. Then Jotaro charged, reminding Lady Rarity that those muscles definitely weren't just for show, meeting her technological strength with pure brawn. Sugarcoat cautiously stayed back, surveying the oncoming people for a better fit opponent - which ended up being Nanoha. Sugarcoat was surprised to find the White Devil really knew how to kick. With all of them occupied, this allowed Eve, Pinkie, Flutterfree, Nova, and Pidge to move forward. "They're too far ahead!" Nova called. Eve spread her wings. "I've got this. Rest of you, help the others." Her wings were large enough in relation to her body to provide lift - but Corona had invested the same effort into flapping her own wings. Eve was not gaining. "I've got this!" Pinkie said, laughing. She was still able to use her powers. She appeared in front of Corona, bashing her over the head with a squeaky hammer. "Nice try!" Corona rolled down the stairs into Insipid and Nae. The three formed a pile - the distance between Eve and Corona closing rapidly. She's got us. Corona realized as she tried to stand back up - only for another squeaky hammer hit from Pinkie Pie to keep her down. Pinkie's got too much on us. Even if I get past her somehow, I've lost too much time... It was at this point that two things happened at once. First, Insipid touched Pinkie Pie. Second, Pidge fired her personal weapon - a grappling-hook like cutter that flew through the air and wrapped around Eve's wing. Insipid suplexed Pinkie so hard they appeared at the bottom of the staircase. "Woo!" she said in a language Pinkie couldn't understand. Pinkie facehooved. "Gah! My impossibility flowed both ways! That's dumb!" "I don't know what you're saying but this is the freshest fresh." Insipid took out a giant vanity mirror from her mane and hit Pinkie with it. Meanwhile, Pidge's weapon pulled Eve to her - the technician already having been tackled by Flutterfree and Nova. Eve looked at Pidge with pain in her eyes. Why? Her expression asked. I opened up my eyes, Pidge's expression responded. Eve shook her head - she didn't have time to worry about this. Her wing was sprained, but she returned to running up the stairs. Her hooves were still just as fine as ever, and her legs were far longer than anypony else who was available. Corona was flying again, Nae tailing behind her. Eve was not catching up to the flying human-alicorn. Eve's expression fell. They had lost... Nae took aim with her weapon and fired - hitting Corona right in the wing. Her blood went flying - its normal, mundane red color, rather than gold - and she fell to the ground. Eve ran past Nae, shooting the Ga a confused expression. Nae returned it with one of her own, the gaze of a woman who wondered what had happened to make her shoot her friend. Despite the pain in her wing, Corona stood and ran up the stairs. But the constant spike of pain ramming into her feathery limb slowed her down. Enough that Eve could catch her, tackling her to the ground one step away from the Wishing World's summit. "DAMMIT!" Corona shouted. Eve could understand that - after all, they spoke the same language. She flailed to kick Eve off her, but the alicorn's grip was too strong. "Let go!" "JUST STOP!" Eve shouted. "You can still come back!" "I know!" Corona responded, crying. "I know you will! I'd do the same!" Instead of kicking, she moved her hands forward and tried to pull herself up over the last step. "GET BACK HERE!" Eve blurted, twisting her body backward. Corona's humanoid body was not enough to deal with the bulk of an alicorn rolling over. She was pulled down and her leg twisted. "GAH! EVE!" She wrenched her own body forward, only managing to sprain the leg significantly. "Just come back. Stop this!" "I need to do this!" Corona shouted, conveniently in a position where Eve could see her mouth, ensuring no guesswork about what she was saying. "I need to do it for everyone!" "WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE TO MAKE THE DECISION TO LIVE OR DIE FOR EVERYONE!?" "NONE!" Corona shouted. "I'm not making that decision!" Eve blinked. "Wh...What?" "Lady Rarity said the same thing," Corona said, allowing herself to relax slightly. "She said that we don't have the right to make the decision ourselves. We're just specks." "...Then why are you here?" Corona looked at the summit of the Wishing World. "...I'm here for a Wish. A Wish that would let everyone decide." "...Everyone?" "Everyone." Corona said. "I'm not destroying the multiverse with this Wish, Eve. I'm just one person. I can't make that decision. I'm just going to let everyone know what I've found. So it's even. So it's fair." "Even..." Eve said. A spark of light flickered across her pupils. She released Corona. "...Eve?" "...I trust you," Eve said. "If you're sure we all need to decide..." "I'm sure. It may cause a horrendous amount of death and pain either way... But the question needs to be asked. It needs to. Do we really want the world to stay the way it is if there's an option?" Eve looked at Corona. "I like it the way it is." "I don't." Eve nodded. She glanced behind them at their fighting friends. "...Do it before they really hurt each other." Corona put a hand on Eve's shoulder. "It'll be out of our hands - and hooves - soon enough. We're just a dot, Eve." "A pale blue dot in a vast cosmos..." Eve said. Corona nodded. She walked up the last couple steps to the clockwork star and planet that was this Wishing World's Wish. She had to physically remove her glove this time - no magic dissipation allowed. She laid her hand on the star. "I Wish... to send a long, detailed message to every sapient mind in the multiverse, endowed so they can understand it," Corona said. GRANTED. ~~~ Hello. Most of you don't know me - and those that do, that shouldn't matter. I'm about to become obsolete anyway. All that matters is this message I bring. The vast, vast majority of you have been living under the assumption that your world is the only one. This is simply not true - there are trillions of different worlds, different universes, out there. Some are probably like your own. Others are probably beyond your imagination's ability to comprehend. The point is, these other worlds are real, and together they make up all of existence - the multiverse. It is... well, everything that is. In the early days of the multiverse, there was a man named Gan. He and his people believed there was no meaning in existence, that everything was completely pointless. They didn't like this answer to life, so they decided that they would make there be meaning in existence. They chose to create the Dark Tower, a structure that has served as the center of the multiverse for an amount of time so large I can't even understand it myself, much less convey it to all of you. The Dark Tower has ruled over existence almost unchallenged. It connects to every single world and uses a force called ka to control the fates and realities of everything inside. It serves the role of what many of you would consider the place of God - except it isn't a personal being. It is a machine built by ancient entities that has little in the way of personal desires. Rather, it randomly selects people from across existence to define how it shapes the multiverse. These people are called Prophets. They are usually the poets, authors, and producers of worlds. They are people who create art that tells a story. Only a select few storytellers are Prophets - but those that are, when they tell a story, it will almost certainly become real somewhere in the multiverse. Some of you have ancient legends. Some of you have tall tales. Some of you have novels. If a Prophet wrote or created any of these things, it would become real - as real as you or I are. This has brought about much beauty. There are heroes who will stop at nothing to do what is right. There are great worlds of happiness and utopia. There are many people who find meaning in life through their stories. There are lands where the citizens don't have a care in the world, or anything to bother them. If you live in one of these worlds... I am sorry for the truth I am revealing to you. The flip side of the coin is that there is much horror in the multiverse. In many worlds, trillions die daily because some wannabe god decided it would be funny. In others, everyone is enslaved by magic, or simply dead. There are worlds based on the depraved and disturbed fantasies of psychotic individuals that exist only to satisfy their lustful imaginations. True evil incarnate is known to exist, and a power known as time travel continually replaces worlds over and over, killing the universe most times it's used. We have reached into our desire for great stories to define the world around us. This has produced evils, villains, and tragedies. It has also produced heroes, beauty, and, for some, meaning. And now, the Dark Tower has decided it is finally time to ask the question. Do we want to live in an existence defined by the stories we tell? It has shown me the way to end it all. All universes could collapse into one, creating a new era for existence, one without the Dark Tower dictating everything. But, as I have come to realize, it has also shown me a way to ensure ka never dies. And that is what this message is about. We need to decide. At one point in existence, enough of us wanted stories to be real that we made it happen. Now that many of us have seen and felt the results firsthand, we need to decide if we want to keep it that way. This message has encoded within it the instructions to build grand devices - the Tower Rings. You will all inherently come to understand how the Tower Rings work - how they surround the Dark Tower, how they pierce it, and how they give it a single command. A command to collapse the multiverse into one, or a command to alter the way connections between universe operate so that they can never collapse into one. The former option will destroy most worlds, letting only random individuals survive in the New World. But the latter will allow the endless death and suffering to perpetuate for all. The synthesis of a random New World has its fair share of unknowns. How exactly will all the magic synthesize? What sorts of beings simply won't be able to exist? Will the new world itself be doomed to die and fizzle out like so many others? My simulations can only offer guesses. There'll be some magic, though what form it takes I would have no way to determine. Anything that requires exotic physics to survive will probably die. Since there are so many ways to reverse entropy in the multiverse, at least one of them is almost guaranteed to still work. The preservation of the Dark Tower goes much the same. Will it change how it operates once it's immune to altercation? What will happen when someone inevitably tries to create true infinity again? How will the multiversal rules change? Again, I only have guesses. The Dark Tower has never been consistent, so it is likely to change, but it may also not just to subvert expectations; ka will have to adjust to create an ending in continuation. If the Dark Tower lasts for eternity, eventually someone is going to attempt true infinity again, which would have so many unknown consequences. Travel to the Tower will likely become much easier since it would have no need to properly defend itself anymore. More aspects of the simulation are embedded in this message, accessible to all who wish to examine them. This is a very complex issue and I wish to impart as much information as I can. Many of you - most of you who don't know what the multiverse is - will have minds that don't want to listen to this. That is fine. It will embed itself into your subconscious and you won't have to think about it again - but it will be there if you're ever ready. Those of you who do believe in keeping this close to your heart, be warned, there will be many who have no idea how to do anything. To help, I have embedded in this message a way to use either technology or magic to create a dimensional beacon to join the multiversal society. I am sorry if you do not have either of these at your disposal - the message will try to adapt to your way of life, but it may not be possible for some of you to create these things. But there's still a chance you'll need to know, so I'm giving it to everyone. And now to those of you with power, known to us here as the Class 1 Societies or the Seats: you are going to be the ones to make the big decisions here. You have the authority over the multiverse, as a council, to decide what happens. Convene all of the Seats. I beg of you, decide what to do as a whole rather than fighting over it. Invite the lesser societies to the table - you have the power to do that. Let this be a decision, not a fight. What do I think? I vote for the collapse. But many of my closest friends want to keep the world the way it is. I do not have the authority to make this decision - no single person or nation does. It has to be a group decision. It doesn't matter how that discussion is had, so long as we're all involved. We can show the Dark Tower that we've made a decision. Together. TO BE CONTINUED.
Songs of the Spheres	[DOOM] 118 - Conference, Part 1	A large group of heroes entered the Static. Two sides that had been at each others' throats mere moments before limped back to the 'unsafe' world as one - Corona and Eve leading, leaning on each other. Most of them had injuries that, under normal conditions, wouldn't mean anything, but in a mundane universe had brought about great pain and disability. The first thing Eve and Corona did when they entered the Static was heal each other. Then they healed everyone else - physically. Emotionally, there were those who clearly weren't coping. Flutterfree's face was stained with tears. Pidge couldn't meet anyone's eyes. Nae was staring at her gun like it was some kind of monster. "...You let her do it," Nova said, eventually. Eve had enough strength to look Nova in the eyes. "Yes. ...You see why?" "I... I think so." She had nothing else to say. Nobody did. The only sound was that of magic keeping air around the group. "I need to return to the TSAB," Nanoha said. "They're going to be in a panic." She looked at Corona with sad eyes. "...I don't agree with what you did. But I can't find fault in it." Corona nodded, a grimace on her face. "I understand. More tha-" "I know exactly how you feel," Nanoha said. "There are times when there is no right decision." Corona stared at her blankly. She opened her mouth to say something - but Nanoha had translated away. "...I suppose we should convene the Overheads," O'Neill said. "Why? It's not like we're going to be able to do anything," Sugarcoat said. "We're just the messengers here. We don't have any of the big guns or power." "The population is still going to be confused and demand an answer," Corona asserted. "They'll need an official opinion. O'Neill's right, it needs to be done." Sugarcoat shrugged, saying nothing. There was a somber silence once again. "Okay! All of you snap out of it!" Pinkie shouted. Everyone turned to stare at the blind earth pony. "This is hard to think about. It really is. The message in our heads is making us think things we never thought we were capable of thinking. It's making us question the very foundation of our lives! But I want you all to remember something. Just a few minutes ago, we were fighting - but now we're not. We're together." She grimaced for a moment - if she could have cried, she would have. "Let's stay together. We're friends even if we disagree." She turned to Pidge and Nae. "No matter how much we disagree." "Um, we're still traitors, and we aren't apologizing," Pidge said, nervously adjusting her glasses. "No offense Pinkie, but you don't have the authority to pardon high treason. And neither does Eve." "I can do something," O'Neill said. "Legal won't like it, but I can postpone trial until a certain event takes place. I'm thinking 'until a decision about the message is reached' works nicely." Eve nodded. "I'll second that. We're not prosecuting anyone until Merodi Universalis makes a decision on what to do." "...Which means we need to let the prisoners out," Nova said, frowning. O'Neill nodded. "Right... Ahem, Austraeoh? Get the prisoners out of the brig and down here." In an instant Mage Rarity, Gilgamesh, and the Doctor appeared... alongside myself. Mage Rarity and Gilgamesh decided now was not a good time to make a fuss. I simply looked at everyone with more judgment in my gaze than I'd like to admit. The Doctor... "What in the name of the Tower did you do!?" He shouted at Corona, livid. Corona opened her mouth to defend herself - but Vriska ended up being the one to retort. "Look at that! The first sentence out of his mouth is so high and mighty. I bet it's nice up there on that moral pinnacle, Doctor!" "Vriska, my quarrel isn't with you i-" "Fuck that, you don't get to play the 'I know what's best' card on anyone. I, frankly, am having a little difficulty just dismissing what Corona's done because, hey, it makes more than a little sense. She even had the balls to admit she didn't have the authority to make a decision! I've never seen that in you!" "Mad, everyone's gone mad!" the Doctor shouted. "How can any of you think death of that magnitude could be acceptable under any circumstances!? Since when can that be right!?" "The Flood," Flutterfree muttered under her breath. Nobody paid her any mind. "Because we're in a book," Sugarcoat said. "That doesn't provide meaning. It takes it away." "That's just what you think!" Nae shouted. "See? We all think differently!" the Doctor said, flailing his arms wildly. "That's the whole point," Corona said. "We think differently. So none of us can have the authority to say we're right. So I let everyone make the decision." "People don't have the strength to make that decision!" "You mean make the decision correctly!?" Vriska blurted. "Because, hey, newsflash, I think most random farmers in random universes will probably want to keep their homes! They'll be on the side of 'keep things the same'!" "They aren't the ones in power!" Eve cleared her throat. "Chancellor Fluttershy of Equis Concrete told me something, once. 'We're all wrong. And that's a good thing'. None of us can assume we know what's right by principle - we can only make our best guess." She pointed a hoof at the Doctor. "I agree that the multiverse needs to stay. But you can't say that has to be the right answer. For all you know, you've made a horribly wrong assumption. All of us are the same way." "You're defending her." "She's attacking you," Vriska corrected. "About gogdamn time too." Corona sighed. "Look, Doctor. You have power in the multiverse. You shouldn't be wasting your time on us - you should be out there fighting for what you believe. That's why I made the message." The Doctor looked at her with mild confusion. "This is it," I said, punctuating the silence. I looked to the Doctor and answered his unspoken question. "Finally, someone with a pure heart has dared to ask the question." The Doctor looked at me in mild horror. He knew exactly what that meant. Without another word, he pulled out a small device that went ding, locating his TARDIS. He walked away. Vriska, despite herself, managed not to jeer at him as he left. She just muttered "self-righteous asshole" under her breath. "Ahem," Mage Rarity said. "May we return to our Void?" Eve glanced at O'Neill - it was his call. He nodded slowly. Gilgamesh clapped his hands together. "Sweet! I wa-" "Not the time," Mage Rarity cut him off. The two of them left, returning to their nation. "Beam us up," O'Neill ordered the Austraeoh. "Take us to the Hub." ~~~ "Not two hours ago local time, Second Corona Shimmer of Research released The Message to the minds of everyone in the multiverse. This was accomplished through the use of a Wishing World. Details of the incident are scant and all Divisions of Merodi Universalis have been completely silent on the matter aside from the Research Overhead's adamant insistence he had nothing to do with The Message. "Already, mobs are starting to form around government buildings, demanding answers. The Hub and Celestia City are getting hit the hardest, though Canterlot, Vein Homeworld Central, and the Concretion have reported damage from the crowds. As of yet, the mobs are simply angry, not excessively violent, though this is expected to change if no word comes from the Overheads soon. "Despite the message's demands that the Seats convene to discuss this, there has been no sign such a thing has happened..." Nae didn't know why she was listening to the transmission. She didn't know why she was walking around the streets of the Hub aimlessly. She didn't know anything anymore. Besides the fact that she had shot Corona. The sound of the gun firing, the sight of the blood, and the crunch as she hit the ground. Nae didn't even remember making the decision to hit Corona's wing. As far as she could tell, she pulled the trigger without thinking. It was just as likely she could have hit Corona in the brain, killing her on the spot. It was simple luck that she hadn't. ...Maybe it wasn't luck. Maybe everyone would be better off if Corona hadn't sent The Message. "That Dark Tower..." she growled under her breath. "Asinine." "The Tower isn't capable of being stupid. If you had to assign it an intelligence, the processing power required to monitor the entire multiverse makes it a genius beyond our comprehension." "Go away, Sugarcoat." Sugarcoat didn't go away. She stood next to Nae and looked at the screen, silent. "I said go away." "I heard you." "Why aren't you going away then?" "Because if I go away you're just going to make things worse for yourself. And I, a concerned friend, would rather you didn't do that." Nae blinked. "Ha. Friend. You barely know me." "Corona knows you. So shut up and deal with it." "...Right, fine, I see where this is going. I say 'but I betrayed you' and you say 'that doesn't matter, we're still friends' and I say 'that's BS!' and then you comfort me with your unusually blunt way of putting things." "Since you've said it like that we can skip the back and forth argument." "Huh?" "You already admitted we could still be friends after a betrayal." "I did not!" Sugarcoat raised an eyebrow. "Look, betrayal of this magnitude i-" "Flutterfree and Eve." "Outlier." "Corona's the one who sent me to talk to you." Nae blinked. "...What is wrong with her?" "She's exactly the person for the job." "This isn't a job. It's the end of the world." "Worlds." "Stop being nitpicky." "No," Sugarcoat deadpanned. "This is a good way to get punched." "A punch is a good price to pay if it makes you get a handle on yourself." Nae pointed a finger and opened her mouth - then quickly shut it. "You're impossible." Sugarcoat let the smallest hint of a smile come to her face. "And my work here is done." She turned and walked away. "...What!?" "You know you're forgiven, and now you're more angry at me than you are guilty. Signs of success." "Don't you think this is a little abrupt!?" "Yes," Sugarcoat agreed. ~~~ Pidge sat alone in one of the Hub's food halls. She was poking a vaguely meat-like brick with a plastic fork, the glare on her glasses hiding her eyes from view. "Heya!" Pinkie was suddenly there, sitting on the other side of the table. Pidge tensed up. This was going to go one of two ways. She wasn't going to like either. "Actually, how about we take the third option and talk about something completely random? Liiiiiike - oh, eggs." Pidge stared at her. "...What?" "Eggs. You know, the things a lot of animals lay? Some of them are delicious. You can cook them in any number of ways and get a slightly different feel every time? C'mon Pidge, I thought you were smart. But hahahaa, you know!" Pidge looked at her. "Pinkie, you okay?" "Not at all!" Pinkie said in a sing-song voice. "But this isn't about me, it's about you." "There's not really much to say," Pidge muttered. "I'm a traitor. Opened up my eyes and saw why Corona and Twilence were fighting. I had the chance to do something, so I did." "Well, those are the facts. There's more to it. Like the fact that you're sitting over here all alone instead of eating with your friends." "No offense Pinkie, but I kinda want to be alone right now." "Don't preface something with no offense if you don't mean it." Pidge looked down, ashamed. "...Sorry." Pinkie nodded in acceptance. "I'm also going to apologize for not respecting your wishes in the slightest. I'm not going anywhere." "Figures." "Instead, I'm going to let our resident traitor in on a secret. Your friends don't hate you." "Of course not, everyone's so forgiving and attached to personal bonds they wouldn't let it go unless they had to or it drove a spike into their personal beliefs. If Rainbow Dash were here, she'd be screaming bloody murder." Pinkie twitched. "That's why she's gone, isn't it?" Pidge asked. "Let's not talk about that." Pidge folded her arms. "Hypocrite." "Okay, fine," Pinkie mutter, smile dropping. "Yes, that's probably one of the reasons she's gone. The main Element of Loyalty, purged from the system so nobody has to worry about it now that there's a brutal dichotomy. Without her, Loyalty becomes fluid. There was also the fact that she wasn't a main character, was kind of putting herself in danger, and was exactly the type to get herself stupidly killed!" Pidge stared at her, expression blank. "You don't want to play hardball with me," Pinkie breathed. "...Seems unfair." "I'm not fair." Pidge shook her head, saying nothing. Pinkie allowed herself to smile again. "So, back to you, c'mon, why don't you want us back?" "Because it's stupid, that's why. Everyone's so attached to personal bonds here it's become a weakness." "But didn't you make the decision to turncoat because you had personal bonds that were broken?" Pidge grimaced. "Pinkie..." Pinkie raised an incredulous eyebrow. Pidge nodded slowly. "Look, it's not exactly a logical feeling, okay? But I know what I have to do, and I know it's not with you." "I reject that assertion and substitute my own," Pinkie said. "I say you're one of us. And you can do nothing to change that. Nothing at all." "Pretty sure you'd kick me out if I started killing people." Pinkie looked deep into Pidge's eyes. "Not necessarily." Pidge stared at Pinkie. "...You're terrifying." "Yes I am." "Just how far are you willing to go for the sake of Laughter?" Pinkie's thoughts moved to that of many, many psychotic Pinkie Pies she had met on her journey. "I don't think there's much of a limit at all. I just have to keep myself under control." "...And are you?" Pinkie's only response to this was a demented laugh. "Take a wild guess." "You probably shouldn't be trying to reassure me right now." "Pffft, I'm not going to stop. Because you need it and I'm Pinkie Pie. I'll find a way to survive. I always do." Pidge's face became sad. "Pinkie..." Pinkie waved a hoof, dismissing Pidge's thought before it fully formed. "Don't worry about that. Just know that you're fine, Pidge. I know I can't stop you from beating yourself up - but I can let you know there are people out there who'll care about you regardless." "Pinkie, I get what you're trying to say. I get it, okay? But you really aren't okay." Pinkie pursed her lips. "Well... Yeah. ...If you really think you can handle it..." She pulled an envelope out of her mane and handed it to her. "An invitation." "To what?" "Pinkie's Party." Then she was gone. ~~~ "MOTION CARRIED: ATTENTION! THE SEATS HAVE DECIDED TO OFFICIALLY CONVENE AT NEUTRAL TERRITORY TO COME TO A VERDICT CONCERNING THE MESSAGE. WITNESSES WILL BE CALLED IF REQUIRED. SEAT REGULATIONS CONCERNING MULTIVERSAL TRANSMISSION ARE BEING SUSPENDED DUE TO THE NATURE OF THE MESSAGE. THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION ARE AVAILABLE TO THOSE WITH ADVANCED ENOUGH TECHNOLOGY OR MAGIC TO DECODE THE FEED. THE REQUEST TO INCLUDE LESSER CIVILIZATIONS IN THE CONVENTION HAVE BEEN DENIED PENDING FURTHER DISCUSSION. In an effective instant, the Seats had convened at their neutral territory. It was the same place they had convened last time in the aftermath of the Green Sun's return - gigantic seats, round room, an instance of the Dark Tower in the center. All ten - Xeelee, Them, the Great Will, Abstracts, Beyonders, Horrorterrors, and Celestialsapiens with the lesser Gallifreyans, TSAB, and Flowers - looked larger than life. The Flowers decided to go first - represented by the Sunflower Official. It needs to be known that we have determined Corona's beliefs are correct. The Tower is indeed offering a choice. Both the collapse and eternity paths are equally valid from a ka standpoint. Because of this, we regret to inform you that our nation will abstain from pursuing either option. "The Coward's way out," the Beyonder said. "Make a decision and fight for it! We declare our support for an eternal multiverse and any who disagree will meet our might!" "We are not here to make instant decisions," the Living Tribunal pointed out. "As the Seats, we must debate the fate of the multiverse. Do not come here with a predisposition about what must happen. Listen to all sides." Nanoha nodded. "Seconded. The TSAB has not made an official statement yet. I do not believe any of you have either. Or am I mistaken?" Our standpoint is known, the Sunflower Official said. "Would it be difficult to convince them you changed your mind?" Not as much as other civilizations. "Then I see no problem." >:< It is impossible to hide the primary thoughts and motions of our higher processes from the Xeelee Entirety. They know our stance. Defense of the multiverse. "I thought you hated magic and cheating? Sounds like you'd be all for the destruction of the Tower." the Beyonder jabbed. >:< There is no guarantee magic would be lost, and furthermore we are not so selfish to think our distaste for esoteric abilities gives us the right to change everything. "Drat, and here I was with a bet that you were fixing to be Downstreamers II: the Return," a Them said. The Celestialsapien spoke up. "QUERY: DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THE MAGNITUDE OF THIS DISCUSSION?" "Au contraire, I understand it fully, my sparkling friend. See, unlike the rest of you, I understand that humor can defuse a situation and get us to arrive at a decision without unleashing the piano wire death machine." >:< Specific example. "Shush, you're the only ones with a specific technological device designed to do what that does." >:< We don't call it a death machine. "Oh for the - my point-" "That's a laugh," a Time Lord said. The Them ignored her. "My point is that, for once in Them's existence, we actually have reason to care about something. An actual chance to end the monotony in a truly interesting way. Or to defend our current existence. Not this many Them have been active in anything since the beginning of our race! So put on the surprised googly eyes, we actually have thoughts to bring to the table today. Try not to cover us in exploded brain matter or whatever your equivalent is." "IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU FINALLY HAVE ACHIEVED A MODICUM OF MATURITY," a greenish aspect of the Great Will stated. "PERHAPS YOU SHOULD SUGGEST A COURSE OF DISCUSSION, AT LAST REVEAL WHAT YOU, AS A RACE, TRULY VALUE." "Oh, psh, it's obvious what we value. Not dying of boredom. Thought that was obvious ...Right, fine, I get it. Look, here's the thing. There are three outcomes to this discussion. We agree to slap some glue on the Dark Tower and keep the universes from ever collapsing. We can destroy everything and do what we can to survive the process, entering a new world where we aren't just plot devices. Or, the third option." "There isn't really a third option," Nanoha said. "Nobody's going to just leave it be." The Them laughed. "Ah, my naive little human. The third option isn't just leaving it. The third option is that we can't put aside our differences and everything devolves into a true multiversal war." There was silence among the Seats. "Xeelee carrot-colon-carrot, would you mind telling us the danger of such a war?" >:< On the order of magnitude of the destruction of the Downstreamers. Tribunal, care to testify? The Living Tribunal narrowed his eyes. "If precautions weren't taken, it would be possible to destroy everything. Force the multiverse back to the dark ages." "We wouldn't be that stupid," the Beyonders said. "When we were at war with the Abstracts the external damage was minimal!" "Yes, brag, why don't you, you lost that war," the Them muttered. "The One Above All rarely does anything. But He certainly would if war broke out over this." "I make no claims regarding my Master," the Living Tribunal reminded them. The Them grunted. "Fine, fine. Look, we all absolutely hate each other. And if we don't learn to make like ponies and be friends despite our differences, things are going to go to places much, much worse than any Hell." ~~~ Vivian rushed into Blumiere's office and fell to his feet, startling both him and Timpani. "Thank you!" Blumiere looked at her, blinking. "I didn't do anything." "...But, they let me leave the Hub wh-" "Vivian, they would have let you leave regardless as long as you told them what you were doing." Blumiere adjusted his monocle. "I just asked you here for a talk." "Oh. ...In that case, thanks for letting me realize I could come back here. Even though..." She looked at the ground. "That's why I'm here, isn't it?" Timpani pursed her lips. "In a way." "Vivian, I want you to answer this question honestly," Blumiere said. "Why did you join Corona?" Vivian paused for a moment, thinking. "...Because I trust her." "Trust only goes so far," Blumiere said. Vivian shook her head. "I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for her." "You must have, on some level, realized that she might be right." Vivian adjusted her hat. "I mean... Yeah? I don't think I'm really... thoughtful enough to answer something that deep myself." "But y-" "Dear," Timpani said. "Give her a moment, okay?" Blumiere listened to his wife, sitting back in his chair. He said nothing. "Blumiere?" Vivian asked. "What do you think?" "Hold my opinion in more regard than Corona's, hm?" "I... have been working closely with you for a long time. And... I think you'd be the person to know. Considering..." "My past. I know." Blumiere put a hand to his chin. "It's part of why I called you here." Vivian looked up at him. "What do you think about The Message?" Blumiere sat back. "I don't know." "Dear..." Timpani said. Blumiere put a hand to the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I'm not lying, I don't know what I think. I want to think she was just like me, but she's not seeking complete destruction. What she's doing is the cover story I gave my old friends... That we were creating a new world, a better world. None of them truly understood what that meant - except Nastasia." Blumiere looked down. "And she knew that we were fighting for absolute destruction." Timpani put her arms around Blumiere and held him. "When Timpani came back to me, I saw no more reason to fight against existence. The worlds had given her back to me. When we sacrificed ourselves to defeat Dimentio, we were sent to a place we could live our lives together. As long as we wanted." "But then we came back," Timpani said. "We came back. Back from our little cottage in the middle of the forest. Back to the full multiverse. And nothing had changed. We had gotten a 'happy ending', but so many others didn't. Nastasia was left alone. Civilizations continued to decay. The Tribe of Darkness and all other universes I destroyed personally are still gone. I fixed what I could, I became part of a society that sought the betterment of all. I led this city to the best of my ability." He shook his head. "And yet... It's still failing. I have love, I have friends, I even have some extent of family in the form of you, Vivian." Vivian blushed. "I-I'm just an offshoot..." "You're hope," Blumiere said. "Hope that the tribe isn't lost." "...But..." Timpani encouraged. "But it's still missing something. Or perhaps there's something here that shouldn't be. A wholly mortal attempt to fill the voids in our hearts, replacing it with something artificial. Mechanical. Something of one's wildest, fanciful dreams." He clenched one of his fists. "It gives so many happy endings... But kills others like nothing. There are the select few who get to be the heroes, to experience the fullness of 'meaning'. And then there are the citizens I watch over every day who are brushed to the side like dust." Vivian looked at him with a sad expression. "I think I understand." "Do you know what the worst part is?" Vivian cocked her head. "Corona didn't realize it, but the plans she gave me in my mind? I am perhaps one of the best-suited individuals in the multiverse to use them. I can already see how to enhance the design, to build the Tower Ring even with our supposedly 'lower than required' technology base. I know the secret! Unlike most everyone, I could actually make a difference! I could do something!" "And you want me to talk you out of it...?" Vivian cocked her head. "But I was with Corona." "We are not logical creatures," Blumiere said, taking off his monocle to clean it. "We are... impulsive. ...I just wanted you here so I had someone else to talk to about it, I believe." "I may have agreed with him too quickly," Timpani admitted. "I... am a little surprised you did," Vivian said. "I've been with my husband a long, long time. I understand in a way you cannot why he did what he did. I understand why he's thinking of trying it again, now that a choice has been shoved upon us." Vivian smiled warmly. "That's so romantic!" Timpani giggled and Blumiere facepalmed. "You're such an innocent woman, Vivian." Vivian gave a nervous thumbs up. "Yay...?" Blumiere stood up dramatically. "...Let's get the Prognostici." "...The what?" "The books that hold the power." Blumiere snapped his fingers, taking them to the basement. "The books of Light and Dark. We'll have more than nothing to say in this fight." He laid his hands on the chest, opening it up. Two books floated into the air - a light gray one with a star imprint on it, and a dark one with a set of round blue crystals on it. "These are what you used last time?" Vivian asked. "Just the Dark one," Blumiere said. "I still do not know why the Light Prognosticus was allowed to find me in the Nexus, but find me it did. Together, they can be used to destroy worlds. Or change them all, as I now understand. They'll make a collapse much easier to initiate." Vivian forced a smile. "O... Okay. I'm wi-" At this moment, the Prognostici were surrounded in a thick, dark dimensional energy. "I knew I needed to watch you." Timpani, Blumiere, and Vivian turned to see Allure walk out from behind a box, about a dozen agents from the League of Sweetie Belles filing out behind her - including Thrackerzod, Squeaky, Burgerbelle, Suzie, and Bot. Blumiere narrowed his eyes. "Allure, how di-" "Time loop," Allure said. "In fact, your precious books were instrumental in helping me get out of it. You were the problem, willing to kill to keep them a secret. And now, suddenly, you're willing to use them?" Blumiere nodded. "There was a reason I was allowed to keep them. This is it." "Screw the Tower," Allure muttered. "Nobody is ever going to use those books to initiate the collapse." "Or save the multiverse," Timpani said. "No, not that either," Allure said. "Because I'm not going to let this tear us apart! I'm not going to let the Merodi have anything to do with this decision! Because it does something to your heads!" She tapped her artificial horn. "It makes you think that, somehow, killing quintillions upon quintillions of people is okay in any circumstance!" "Allure, cal-" "You're all under arrest. Thrackerzod, seal those books away and don't tell the Overheads we have them." Thrackerzod nodded. "How are you going to explain why you arrested us without them?" Blumiere asked. "I am the mayor of this city. A well-loved one at that." Allure looked at Blumiere, her angry eyes softening for a moment. "You've been mayor on and off for a long, long time, and I've been here for most of that. There's any number of things you've done I could blow out of proportion. Sure, you might end up walking, but by that point the Class 1s should have decided our fate and it won't freaking matter." "You think they can decide?" "I don't like to think about what'll happen if they don't," Allure said. "Just like I don't like seeing my friends turn evil." Blumiere was visibly shocked by that. Allure's scowl deepened. "Take them away. I need time to think." ~~~ "Allure just arrested Blumiere," Corona said, looking up from the news feed on her phone. She and Eve were sitting in a Hub waiting room, sitting patiently while the rest of the Overheads and Seconds arrived for the meeting to decide Merodi's stance on The Message. It wouldn't be that much longer before they began, but it was enough that they were a little bored. Eve looked up from her phone. "...Did you say something?" "Allure arrested Blumiere," Corona repeated, scrolling through the phone. "Apparently for illegal dealings with the Melnorme that have gone back a long, long time. Dealings that have been beneficial for Celestia City almost overwhelmingly..." "She's got some other reason," Eve said without hesitation. "She just doesn't want people to know about it." "It's not making the League popular with the people... And it'd probably be ticking the Melnorme off if they weren't just as busy dealing with my message as we were." "The Seats are still going at it," Eve said. "They really don't want a war. A few of them seem to have flipped sides occasionally, but every time a vote is about to be called someone explodes and they get set back." She shook her head. "It's confusing to watch with all the temporal aids they're using." "I'm surprised they're broadcasting it." "Yeah..." Eve sighed. "Corona?" "What is it?" "When we go in there, we're going to be enemies." "We've disagreed before, Eve. This isn't the first time we'll be yelling at each other from across a debate table." "It's more than that, Corona. It's more and you know it. I'm going to have to paint you in the worst light possible, and you me, if we want to come out of this debate ahead in any way. We'll have to be angry." "I won't have any problem with getting angry," Corona pointed out. "You're the one who's going to struggle with that." Eve nodded slowly. "I know. ...After this, you know what happens right?" "I convince everyone to join me on my crusade, or I'm locked up for eternity." "Corona, they might execute you." Corona raised an eyebrow. "They wouldn't." "Some people would try. You... You've committed a crime against the multiverse." "How is it a crime to tell people things?" "It..." Eve bit her lip. "Okay, since it wasn't actually classified as far as you knew, I don't think it is. I think you did the right thing with your Wish. I think we all need to decide. But because you did it, I think you're going to go down." "I'm perfectly fine going down, Eve," Corona said. "I probably wouldn't live even if I won, you know." She leaned back in her chair, looking at the ceiling. "Chances of anyone we know surviving..." "The Void is talking about 'bunkers'." "You can make bunkers," Corona said. "I can't stop you. I'm not going to make one for myself. It wouldn't be fair." There were tears in Eve's eyes. "Why would you do that?" "Because if I'm going to doom the multiverse, I have to be willing to go with it." "Corona, I know you. This is a bigger deal than you're making it out to be!" "I'm terrified, okay!?" Corona snapped. "I'm absolutely terrified. I've been terrified ever since I found the recipe for the collapse at the Dark Tower! Terrified that I had the power. Terrified that maybe I shouldn't give up the power. Terrified of what'll happen to me no matter what's decided. I'm freaking out in here and I have been ever since this whole fiasco started!" Eve wiped her eyes. "...There's the Corona I know." This comment tore at her. "Eve..." "I wish you would stop," Eve said. "I wish you would drop your weapon and say the multiverse deserves to exist." "Eve, don't..." "I wish you would do that. Appreciate the lives you fought so hard for." "What is this? Are you trying to guilt-trip me?" "YES I AM!" Eve shouted. "I see the real you in there, and I know why you're doing this, and I'm trying to get you to stop!" "I'm not going to!" Corona shouted. "I've made up my mind!" "You can change it!" "So can you!" Corona said, holding out her hand. "Eve, come on! Let's actually make a real difference!" "You said yourself we're just a pale blue dot on a map." Both of their heightened emotions tapered off at that comment. Corona sat down and slouched. "Yeah... It is out of our hands." "...That's probably best," Eve said. "...If we could actually do something, we'd actually have to fight each other." "Sometimes it's good to be cosmically insignificant," Corona said with a smile. There was a moment of silence. Eve pulled Corona into a hug. "Whatever happens, I forgive you. And I'll always be your friend." Corona accepted the embrace. "Thank you. I hope you understand that applies to you, too." Eve couldn't see her mouth - but she knew what she said. ~~~ "Is everyone present?" Ava Jandice, Overhead of Labor, asked. Thirteen Overheads and thirteen Seconds raised their hands, hooves, or other limbs. "Very well. I will try to state the topic of discussion as objectively as possible, even though we all know that is essentially impossible." There were a couple nods and snorts from the Division leaders. "With The Message given to the entire multiverse by Second Corona Shimmer of Research, we have been given a choice. We can either support the multiverse as it is now, ensuring that it continues the way it does for eternity, or we can collapse the multiverse into one point on the Sea of Infinite Possibility. There are reasons to seek both options." "Really!?" Overhead Jingle of Aid, a Luna, shouted. "You can say that, Ava?" "Objectivity," Ava reminded her through clenched teeth. "As the current speaker it is not my place to push one idea or the other. Let me finish." Eve nodded to Jingle, telling her to calm down. Ava continued. "On one side, there is the 'Preservation' option. We agree that the Tower Ring ingrained in all our minds should be used to alter the way multiversal connections are made, making it impossible to initiate a full collapse of the multiverse. This would allow the Dark Tower to exert its control of ka over us for the rest of our lives and the lives of all our children. Time travel would keep killing every time it is used. The grimdark would remain. We also have no way of knowing the consequences of what 'changing the connections' will actually be for the multiverse as a whole." "It'd be better than destroying everything," the Cultural Second, the Flat Aiskera, said. Ava ignored her comment. "On the other side, there is the 'Collapse' option. We agree that the evil of the Dark Tower is worth risking everything and using the Tower Ring to force all universes into one. The act of doing this will kill the vast majority of the multiverse's population, no matter how many 'bunkers' we manage to create before we do it - if such things will even be effective against such an immense cosmic event. But those who do survive will have a world without ka, a world without constant temporal rewriting, and a world where things will be much more balanced." Ava folded her hands and furrowed her eyebrows. "The difficulty here is that we have to choose one or the other. Sure, there is some variety within the two options for how we follow it through. For Preservation, we could decide we needed to preserve it now, we could wait a time, or we could try to alter the connections in some other specific way. For Collapse, we could bring it about completely randomly, or we could attempt to build bunkers for a select few." "You're forgetting the obvious fact that we do not have the capability to make a Tower Ring," a Gem - the Commerce Second - said. The Research Overhead beeped. "Incorrect. We do not have the capability to make a Tower Ring quickly. It can be done over an extended period of time. But your point still stands - as a nation, we can do nothing more than support the cause of a society higher than us. They will be the constructors." "If we can't do anything, why are we even arguing?" the Education Second blurted. "Who the hell cares? Let them sort it out." "It's the principle of the thing," the Cultural Overhead, Enna, said. She was a relic from the stagnant universe, Elemental Four. "We need to define who we are in this fight. It's important to us and our people, regardless of what actually happens." She glanced from Eve to Corona. "We have two people who have been in the thick of this debate. I motion that we let the two of them make their case." Eve and Corona stood up tall, fixing each other with a glare. "Agreed," Ava said. "Objections?" Daniel made a motion to object, but Renee shushed him. "Very well." Ava pulled out a coin and flipped it. "Corona, you're first." Corona spread her wings and held out her hand before beginning to speak... ~~~ I was under close observation. I wasn't under arrest or confined in any way - they were still the Merodi, after all - I was just being constantly watched by Clandestine. She only had one job: make sure I didn't write anything down. It wouldn't have been that hard to write something despite her watchful gaze, but I decided to treat what she was doing with respect. I wasn't to influence anyone's decisions. It was best that way, to be frank. I had been quite surprised Corona had pulled the 'I have no right to decide' card - I had been expecting the collapse to initiate then and there. It was what I had wanted. It was still what I wanted. You may think me evil - I did just sing a reprise of Tempest's song, after all. Not exactly the most 'heroic' of melodies. But I'm no more evil than Corona or Allure are - I'm just a mare who made a decision. How can I put this in a way you'll understand? You don't understand ka. It's not a strong presence in your worlds. You can't understand what it's like to live under it unless you are a creator of some kind. Those of you who create... You know what you put to the page. You should be horrified that every word you scrawl could exist somewhere. But for the rest of you... ...Try thinking about it this way. Imagine that, at any moment, any moment, whatever your mind thinks it wants most will come true. Sure, sometimes this will give you things like a better life, peace on earth, or just money. But then there are those moments where there's murder in your hearts and lust in your eyes. Imagine what would happen if the wish came true at those moments. Now imagine if a wish snapshot was taken of every single person on your planet, and used to change the world. There would be good things that appeared. But then there would be the desires of everyone. The horrible, disgusting, ugly desires that everyone has. Even me. My 'purpose' given through the Tower was to understand ka. I see what it truly is - a curse. I don't just say that because knowing so much is a burden - though that is a major aspect of my thought process - I say it's a curse because it allows the darkest thoughts to come to reality. Prophets could be anyone. And since no one is perfect... no world will be perfect. And, more likely, it'll be worse than the reality they live in. Sure, they may make life great for the hero, but what about all the others? They don't matter. There can be a great tragedy... and the story will continue. There are some ways that the Dark Tower has really succeeded in bringing true meaning to the multiverse. It has given those like me, Eve, Corona, and the great civilizations the chances to be heroes. But it comes at the expense of making the citizens utterly meaningless. The Tower only provides meaning to a select few. The rest are left to fend for themselves like flounders. ...There's also more. Corona's right about the time travel horrors, and there's the wish-fulfillments, the Sues, the 'glitches', the perverse fantasies... This story has kept a lot of the truly disgusting stuff out of the way for the sake of its plot. I'm glad you haven't seen everything. Maybe there are some of you who have truly seen the depths of the depravity humanity can write. I feel sorry for you - simply reading those things is punishment enough. The Merodi were always lucky in that regard. They encountered so few of those. They could deal with grimdark universes better than those... But I was not spared that. I see that. I see it all the time. It's maddening. It makes me furious. I can't be mad at the Prophets, they don't know what they're doing - they're just trying to find their way in life or express themselves. I don't have to agree with their methods to know they're not evil. But I have a chance to stop all of it. I've seen everything. And it didn't take me long to realize what the right decision was. "...What are you doing?" Clandestine asked me. "Talking to the audience," I said with a curious smile. "Explaining myself. Not sure if it was classified as a 'hero's aside' or 'villain speech'." Clandestine narrowed her eyes. "It doesn't change anything. Not about me, you, or this world. They're just observers, Clandestine. They can't change anything." I paused, thinking of my past. "No matter how much they may want to." "...Huh. Well I-" Monika appeared in front of us. "There you are." I raised an eyebrow. "Took you a while to follow that plot thread." "Shut up. Explain, Twilence." "I just did. Read up a bit." Monika took a moment to absorb the current scene. "And I thought I was crazy. I've seen those things too and I don't want to destroy everything! I'd be the perfect person to do it, too." "You're a result of those crazy things. You are a deconstruction of many different tropes and ideas, a character written to know about your medium. You came predisposed to accept things the way they were." Monika glared at me. Then she sighed. "Twilence, you know that's not true." "Do I?" I said, cocking my head. "I'm pretty sure that's how it is. You wouldn't have been able to have your unique life without the multiverse. You owe the Tower for making you the way you are." "So do you." "...In a different way. I was once just a pony. Maybe ponies wouldn't exist without the Tower, but maybe they would. But there would never be a video game universe where one of the characters could see through the fourth wall for real." Monika nodded slowly. "That's a good point. But isn't that beautiful?" "You tell me. How many boyfriends did you kill?" "I stopped doing that." "You had to be taken off your path." "Ka chooses every path." "Not this one. There's a choice here. Maybe the only real choice any of us have ever had." "Questioning free will?" "That's kind of my job description." Monika folded her arms. "You contemplate. My job is to do." "Yes. Specifically, it looks as if you're going to be an antagonizing presence to me." "You're under surveillance," Monika said, smirking. "I'm free to do what I want." "I could shake her easily," I said. Clandestine blinked. "...I'm going to make a call." "I'm not leaving," I told her. "I'm just telling Monika I could be doing things right now if I wanted. I'm not because it doesn't matter. It's the Seats who hold the cards right now, and me writing for them? That'd be a death sentence." Monika blinked. I smirked slightly. "Processing that you can't really do much either?" "I'll be watching, waiting. There'll be a time." Monika declared. She glitched out of existence. I nodded slowly, turning to Clandestine. "And now we can get back to what we were doing." "We weren't doing anything." "Oh, sorry, hadn't noticed," I chuckled. "Maybe we should get lunch." I am slightly ashamed to admit I found her appalled expression more than a little amusing. She was right in thinking now wasn't really the time for lighthearted jokes... but what else could I do? ~~~ Pidge walked into the room Pinkie had rented. The instant she pushed the doors open to behold the small dining room, Jotaro picked her up and put her on his back. "JOTARO! Put me down!" Jotaro did no such thing. He kept her up there, walking to the table. He refused to sit. Around the table were Flutterfree, Nova, and Vriska. Pinkie herself was lying on the table, face angled toward the ceiling. "Anyone else coming?" Vriska asked. Flutterfree shook her head. "Renee's busy, and all the other people who have been part of the Primary Team were... elsewhere." She smiled at Pidge. "Hello. Glad you could make it." "Tell Jotaro to put me down." "It'll make you feel like part of the group instead of some Sixth Ranger," Nova said. "She is the Sixth Ranger," Vriska said. Jotaro looked down at Pinkie. "Why are we here?" "Because I'm actually getting existential," Pinkie said. "That never happens! I'm falling apart inside my little pink-a-brain here and can't put it back together!" "That's why we're here," Flutterfree said, laying a hoof on Pinkie. "We'll help you work through it." "Yep. I know that. I'm smart enough to have that figured out." Pinkie shot bolt upright onto her four hooves. "I also know we're being watched! And I knew we were going to be watched the moment I planned this thing! Because this conversation is going to be important! Why? I dunno. Nobody knows at this point. Not me, not Twilence, not even the Seats. It's all just... unknown." "That doesn't sound like it'd be a problem for you," Nova pointed out. "Yeah, I am dancing around the issue, thanks for pointing that out!" Pinkie giggled. "So, hey, we could play twenty questions a-" "Get to the point, Pinkie," Jotaro interjected. Pinkie stared at him. "Well allllll-right then! You all know how I dealt with being Aware, right?" Flutterfree nodded. "You didn't let it bother you. It was a fact of life, might as well make the best of it." "And that worked real great until right now." Pinkie flopped onto her back again. "Cause guess what? Apparently there might be a way to do something about it. So I'm thinking about something I never really needed to think about. Is it bad?" "...I don't think it could be bad enough to warrant as much destruction as Corona wants," Flutterfree said. "Ashushashoosh-" Pinkie said, putting a hoof to Flutterfree. "We don't need to talk about the collapse. We can't decide if it's good or bad at all. If there was a magic switch to shut ka off without killing anyone, would you shut it off?" "It'd kill some people," Pidge pointed out. "You know what I'm saying," Pinkie muttered. "If it could be done without the collapse, would you do it?" There was silence for a few seconds. "...I would," Flutterfree admitted, looking down at her Rage robes with a conflicted expression. "I think all of us would." Jotaro shook his head. "No. Existence needs heroes and those who can fight." Flutterfree looked at him with mild surprise. "You're sure?" Jotaro nodded. "There's suffering without ka. Who cares if it's destined or not? But if there is no ka, there are no heroes to destroy the evil." "Evil wouldn't be as extreme," Flutterfree pointed out. "You want to help Corona then?" Flutterfree looked at Jotaro with a disappointed expression - one that made him melt in an instant. "No, I do not. I'm just following Pinkie's thought experiment. I'm not going to endorse that much death." "Just afraid of having blood on your hands," Vriska said, leaning back. "So you'd join her?" Jotaro asked. "I haven't decided a fuckin' thing," Vriska commented, shrugging. "I'm tempted to do it just because the Doctor's on the other side, but that's just my old self talking. I really don't know." "Same," Nova admitted. "The more I think about it, and the whole time travel thing... The less I'm sure." "See? There it is," Pinkie said. "We're starting to see it. The fact the question is impossible. That there can't be a right answer. Usually that means there's a gray area or a third option, but I don't see one. Does anybody?" "...Don't fight at all and let God sort it out," Flutterfree said. "That's nice, doesn't help the rest of us," Pidge muttered. Nova turned to Flutterfree. "You're in a position of power, Flutterfree. You're exempt from the whole 'live a quiet life' doctrine. Make the most of your position." Flutterfree looked down. "I know. But I don't know what to decide." "What did Rev have to say?" "Last I knew she was in deep meditative prayer and looked about ready to snap. She's struggling with The Message just like the rest of us." "It's just a toilet bowl of a mess, that's what it is," Pinkie said, standing on her hind hooves. "Behold, the Question! The Question asked by one 'pure of heart'. Is the Tower good or bad? Clearly it's both, but which one is it more? Which way does the pendulum turn!?" There was silence again. "It's a lot harder to talk about it when you feel the outcome actually matters, huh?" "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered, pulling his hat down. "It's all fun and games until all of existence is at stake," Nova muttered. "...Wasn't it always?" Flutterfree asked. "We always talked about the nature of fate and existence like it mattered. Like the truth of the multiverse depended on the 'good' or 'evil' of it. The Question was always this important. We just didn't take it to the end because we were worried about the here and now." "The big picture is a bitch," Vriska added. "Yes. It is." Once again an awkward silence fell over the room. "...So, what now?" Pidge asked after a minute. "We threw out a bunch of thoughts and nothing really changed. I'm still sure, Pinkie's still existential, and all-in-all we're all pretty conflicted." "We're talking about it," Pinkie said. "We're talking, disagreeing, and not trying to kill each other on a staircase. That's what matters." She turned her face toward Pidge. "That's why I went out of my way to make sure you were here. Not so you could make a point, but so you could represent an extreme with your presence. So we could all be here and understand. Or, well, get more confused, but you know what I mean." Pinkie looked at her friends one by one and smiled. "I still have no idea what any of this means, if it can really mean anything. But I do know I feel a lot better because we can talk like this." Flutterfree smiled warmly. "We all do." "Friends..." Nova said wistfully. ~~~ "Every last one of us has suffered," Corona started. "We wouldn't have the power we do if we hadn't. I fought in the frontline of a war. A war that killed so many of our people, a war that came with a heavy cost on all our hearts and minds. And yet, we were willing to pay that cost in order to keep more deaths from happening. Skarn was an enemy we saw, decided was evil, and took out. "This is no different. I want you all to look at the Tower - and realize what it is. It's a computer that controls every aspect of our lives. On the large scale, it brings multiversal societies together only to inevitably bring about their collapse through some contrived means. It allows impossible things to exist. The delightfully fantastical alongside the powers that kill everything - time travel included. "But if that's too abstract, think about things on a more personal level. Because of the Tower, I can say I am more important than you and be perfectly right. I have more meaning, more power, more impact; I'm considered a hero. As much as I hate it, you are all below me - with the possible exception of Eve. We could measure our respective ka levels right now to see who has more importance if we wanted - a defining trait of who's better. "I know all of you know that's wrong. Your conscience squirms at the idea of me being better than you. Of anyone being better than you. We're all equal, right? All made with the same soul? Well, maybe we were intended to be that way, but the Tower sure doesn't think so. There are special people, and then there are redshirts. But then there are also the background citizens. Have you noticed how, as we've climbed the ranks, we think less and less about the average citizen? "Some of you haven't been here long enough to see that. But Eve, Jingle, O'Neill - remember the old days? When we had to worry about public opinion all the time? Where the people of one world really mattered to us? Where one angry mob could easily upset us? We were smaller then - we were closer to their level of importance. But as we've grown, grown, and grown into this 'protagonist' role, we've forgotten them. I can't bring myself to care as much about them anymore! They're just the background of what really matters - multiversal policy, grand scoping science, and now the fate of existence. I tried to give them a choice with my Message, I tried to give them a say, but look at us and all the high societies! We're making the decisions for them! Because we are more important. And the fact that we are should be sickening. "The collapse will end that. We won't be more important - we'll become equal again. We'll be able to connect. And do you know the best part? We won't have to worry about the needless hairpin dramas! Our lives won't have to be constant peaks and valleys of excitement and endless adventure! Being the heroes isn't all it's cracked up to be! We've lost friends, family, and in many cases suffered permanent damage! The flip side of the coin is that while the citizens become our equals, we no longer have to suffer what is essentially a fake life. "We don't really live our lives. Our lives are lived for us. Or, perhaps it's more accurate to say we don't live, we die. Over and over again. I could give you the numbers but I'm sure you already know the scale of death that exists because of the Tower. Because we 'important' people need motivation to do things. "I say there's plenty of motivation for us to go to the Tower, surround it in a Ring, and take it down. Permanently. I want all of you to think about what ka actually does. And I want you to help me end it." She sat down, using a spell to keep herself from breaking down - if she had gone on much longer, she might have flown off the handle. Getting riled up could only help so much. Eve didn't waste time starting her speech. "I'm not going to be as eloquent or as passionate as Corona here - because I don't need to sell something that goes against our very nature as Merodi Universalis. She's asking us to kill over ninety-nine percent of the multiverse, including most of ourselves, for the sake of future freedom and equality. But those aren't the ideals of Harmony, Friendship, Progress, or most of all Assistance. "Unleashing the collapse would bring about chaos. It would tear friendships apart as so many die. It would end progress, setting every multiversal civilization back untold eons. And it definitely doesn't assist anyone. It destroys everyone. It may have the appearance of pure motives but all it does is fly in the face of what we stand for. "Everyone, we are Merodi Universalis. We are the music of the multiverse. What are we if there is no multiverse? What will this century of work amount to if we do this? Is our Song a tragedy, doomed to die with all the others? I don't think so. There's been too much we worked for, too many lives lost already, too much effort. We are a Class 2 society - and our purpose is not to destroy the multiverse. Our purpose is to protect it and change it. We can use this Tower Ring to do that - to finally change something. Who said that change had to be the collapse? We could protect the multiverse. Maybe we could change it in other ways as well, if we were inclined to think about it. "We've spent our entire time as a nation believing we were nothing more than a pale blue dot. But I think many of us know better - we are part of a great song, and our story isn't even close to done. We'll keep progressing until we're up where we need to be to really change things. We don't have to destroy the multiverse in a vain attempt at finding meaning that's already here." She sat down, and there was silence in the meeting hall. "Eloquent speeches," Ava admitted. "And a vote will be taken concerning them after deliberation. But you both speak as if we have a real say in the matter. Eve, we are still but a dot on the multiversal scale. We can't do anything." "...You all keep saying that," Roxy Lalonde, Intelligence Second, Rogue of Void said. "But have you all forgotten what we have!?" Everyone stared at her. "John!" That was when the shouting started. ~~~ "I like to think of it as the end of monotony," the Them observed. "AGREED," a Horrorterror stated. "BUT THAT IS NOT THE PRIMARY ALLURE OF THE COLLAPSE. IT-" "Will allow the goal of your stupid experiment to be realized," a Beyonder interrupted. "I bet it's so tantalizing for you, a universe that creates itself and brings about a new world. Bet that's exactly what you want." "THAT IS NOT THE PRIMARY ALLURE EITHER. THE ALLURE IS THAT, IN SUCH AN EXISTENCE, THE MULTIVERSAL THREATS COULD NO LONGER EXIST. THE NEW UNIVERSE WOULD CONVERT EVERYTHING, CREATING A WORLD WHERE REALITY ANCHORS AND ALIEN PHYSICS ARE NO LONGER VIABLE. THERE WILL BE NO MORE UNIVERSAL DESTRUCTION BOMBS." "How can you know this?" the Living Tribunal questioned. Our simulations have determined that is the end of that path, the Sunflower Official said. >:< Ours agree. "Why would you tell them that!?" the Beyonder protested. "That gives them more reason to collapse everything!" >:< We need to have all our cards on the table and for once in our existences try not to cut each others' throats. Nanoha nodded. "I thank the Xeelee for being open enough to share information that was perhaps not in their best interests, but rather was in the spirit of honesty." "Are you suddenly for the destruction of everything?" a Gallifreyan asked. "No," Nanoha asserted. "But this decision is so monumental it needs all the information available." "LET IT BE CLEAR," the Great Will's emissary boomed. "THERE IS NO WAY A WORLD IN WHICH THE GREAT WILL OF THE MULTIVERSE CANNOT EXIST IS GOOD." The Living Tribunal shifted in his seat. "I beg to differ. We are all results of the Dark Tower's influence. Our existence may not be what's best." "Suicidal are we?" the Beyonder asked. A Celestialsapien spoke up. "POSTULATE: IT IS POSSIBLE TO ENSURE THE SURVIVAL OF SOME OF OUR RACES. IT NEED NOT BE A SUICIDE." "It's a sacrifice," Nanoha said, looking at the Celestialsapien. "WE HAVE NOT MADE ANY DECISION ON OUR STANDPOINT. WE WERE JUST OFFERING INFORMATION." "And you won't for the next eternity," the Time Lord muttered. The Celestialsapien had nothing to say to this. "IT SEEMS AS IF WE NEED TO GET WHAT POSITIONS EXIST ON THE TABLE FOR ALL TO SEE," the Horrorterror stated. "THE HORRORTERRORS BELIEVE IN THE COLLAPSE AS A WAY TO PROTECT THE MULTIVERSE FROM ITSELF. TO GIVE A NEW FUTURE." The Time Lord slammed his fist into the table. "Time cannot be allowed to return to a single path! The limitations on our societies would be too much! The multiverse must stand!" "Arrogant..." the Beyonder muttered. "We care not for time - it would be preferable it remained consistent - but we care for our empire. An empire that would not exist in this new world!" >:< Most progress would be lost in collapse. That is not acceptable. "The collapse will provide something new to existence!" the Them declared. "The end of monotony, yes, but also the end of pointless games. A real game could begin! A new one!" The Sunflower Official went next. We abstain from action. Let ka decide on its own. "ANNOUNCEMENT: NOT ENOUGH DEBATE TO DECIDE AT THIS JUNCTURE. OFFICIAL STATEMENT PENDING." "I'm afraid I will have to join the Celestialsapiens, the discussion has not yet reached a head. The Abstracts have not decided." "YOU HAVE YOUR ONE, WHY DO YOU NOT ASK HIS COUNSEL?" "He has not made it known to us." "ONE ABOVE ALL, THIS IS A REQUEST DIRECTLY FROM THE GREAT WILL. GRANT US YOUR PRESENCE AND LET YOUR DESIRES BE KNOWN! THE GREAT WILL WISHES TO PREVENT THE COLLAPSE AND ALLOW TRUE BELIEF TO SPREAD. WHAT SAY YOU!?" "...He will no-" "Never say I won't do something," the One Above All said, walking into the room. He looked like a man to normal eyes - though anyone with higher senses could see His holy glow. "I rarely let myself fall into a pattern, Tribunal." "Forgive me, I made an assumption." "It is forgiven," the One Above All said. He looked directly at the Great Will's emissary. "I believe the answer depends entirely on if the Seats can agree or not." "We're trying to agree on an answer!" the Time Lord said - taking up the role of the Beyonder who was quaking in his boots at the One Above All's presence. The One Above All looked right at the Time Lord with sad eyes. "My omniscience may be shrouded by the Tower, but I know you're aware of the undercurrent of that statement. The high disbelief that it can even happen." The Gallifreyan was silent. "The Abstracts, under my authority, agree to do whatever the rest of the Seats agree, in hope that we can actually reach an answer. We will do either. But rest assured, if you can't agree - we will take a specific side." "Which one?" the Them asked. "That would interfere with the choice," the One Above All said. "I am willing to compromise to either side, so the transition to either may be peaceful. But if there is war, there will be war." Everyone got the implication. If they couldn't agree... well, they didn't want to find out what the One Above All was truly capable of. Then He was gone, having said His piece. "...I'm disappointed," Nanoha said, breaking the silence. "ABOUT WHAT?" the Horrorterror asked. "None of you are asking what the rest of the multiverse thinks. The lowly farmers, the family people, the lesser entities. You're ignoring them for the sake of time, empire, new ideas, safety, fate, philosophy, progress, and self-preservation. The Message was given to us with the intent of letting the entire multiverse make the decision! Look at us, making it for them, not even factoring them into our decisions!" She slammed her scepter on the ground. "The Time Space Administration Bureau listens to those people as much as we can. And because of that, we agree to preserve the multiverse, because that is what most of them want." >:< No offense to your ideals, Nanoha, but most of them have sub-standard intelligence and information. Nanoha raised an eyebrow. "So?" >:< Corona could only give them so much with The Message. They know what the struggle is but they do not know the nuances of the multiverse, what the horrors actually are, and many of them cannot comprehend even the most basic idea of what's going on. There's a reason people need leaders - they can't make their own decisions. Tell me, is the TSAB a true democracy? Or even a republic? "No, it's a republic-military-state hybrid." >:< And why is that? Why don't you use your magic to give all your citizens the information they need to make a decision, and let them all help decide? Nanoha narrowed her eyes. "That's different. Nobody wants to be involved in every decision." "It's the same thing," the Them said. "Nobody wants to be given this burden. So they're going to try to ignore it or take the easy way out - and the easy way out is 'well, looks like I'll survive this one!' so they choose it. Of course the majority of the multiverse will choose preservation, the self-preservation instinct is one of the strongest among all races! It's an unfair balance!" "This is why we must make the decisions for them," the Living Tribunal agreed. "They do not have the right. Corona was close when she gave out The Message - she knew she didn't have the right. But she thought the right was everyone's. That was wrong. The right goes to those who know. Those who can understand. Us." "And are we really sure it's us!?" Nanoha said. "The rest of the multiverse, all the lesser or unexplored universes - they are worth something! And nobody's thinking about them!" "You are wrong to say nobody is. At least the Abstracts are - and by nature the Great Will has to. We just think through it differently than you do." "NANOHA, YOU ARE ESSENTIALLY ONE OF THEM. YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN AN UPLIFTED HUMAN. YOU REPRESENT THE LESSER, BUT ALSO THE MOST PREVALENT. YOU ARE THE VOICE OF THE LOWER ENTITIES. THAT IS YOUR PURPOSE HERE - AND AN IMPORTANT PURPOSE IT IS." "But we are not those voices. We are the voices of deities." "All of us have a special voice here, a view," the Them said. "We're the childish immature ones who could care less about serious thoughtful topics and are more about just making life worth living. Beyonders? Military. Horrorterrors? The eldritch life. Celestialsapiens? True thinkers. Xeelee? The voice of progress and complexity. Heh, isn't it something? Imagine if this had come up during the time of the Downstreamers, wouldn't have been anywhere near as much of a 'balance' up here." "But we need to break that balance," Nanoha said, looking at the Living Tribunal. "Or we're never going to get anywhere."
Songs of the Spheres	119 - Conference, Part 2	"We can't use John!" "Why the hell not!? Why do his powers exist if we don't get to use them in times like this?" "What would he even do? He's just a man. We all overplay how useful he is." "He could destroy everything by accident! If you thought the unintended consequences of time travel were bad, I've got a news flash for you!" "He is no longer a foolish child, he is a grown man who has seen much in his time with us. He understands what needs to be done." "He could disagree with the decision! What then? We tell him to do something and he betrays us?" "John is not a traitor!" "...Nor does he think all that much about things. He'll go with whatever his friends think." "Will he, though? Won't his friends be just as divided as we are?" "Why are we even discussing this? Using retcon only has bad consequences! The very few times we've approved it, it's either been useless, or had some kind of cost associated with it!" "White Nettle." "That was useless! He didn't do anything and there was a problem with a paradox that had to be resolved!" "How can we not use him?" "Because he's a person?" "That's not a consideration here!" "Get out!" "These things are bigger than just one person!" "I think you've forgotten one of the finer points of The Message..." "John can undo it after it happens." This brought the room into silence for a moment as all of them turned to stare at Ava - the woman who rarely said anything with even a hint of opinion. Ava's features remained level. "John has the ability to wind back metatime, and is the only individual who can do so. If we decide we don't like the result after we preserve or collapse the multiverse, we can go back. In essence, he gives us the opportunity to have a reset button." "...If we were to initiate the collapse, we could go back," Corona said, eyes widening. "Could we?" the Research Overhead asked. "Our best theories suggest that John requires the Tower to use his retcon powers. In this new world without a Tower, retcon will likely not be feasible." "Since we don't understand how retcon works, it might well be rendered impossible by editing the connection between universes," Corona pointed out. "Unlikely," the R.O. admitted. "Do we actually have any data on retcon? No, because we don't want to poke it with a light-year-long pole. We could collapse the multiverse and decide it wasn't worth it. We could preserve the multiverse and decide the result was horrible. I say we run the collapse and see - it's the result we know the least about." "Time travel kills all those who are overwritten," Eve said, glaring at Corona. "The death toll would be the same either way." "Do you want to play numbers?" Corona blurted. "R.O. How much local time would have to pass here for the number of deaths caused by time travel to equal the number of deaths caused by the collapse?" The Research Overhead performed some calculations. "There is a wide range due to unknown. Anywhere from fifty to fifteen thousand years." "That isn't very long," Corona pointed out. "Even if we flipped the multiverse from collapse, to preservation, to collapse again, that would be a max of thirty thousand years of multiversal death due to time travel." "How much of that comes from the Gallifreyans?" O'Neill asked. "Ninety percent, estimated," the R.O. answered. "Not the Xeelee?" "They have download-upload processes that prevent rampant death from rewrite." O'Neill looked at Corona. "This looks more like reason to declare war on the Gallifreyans than anything else." "Even if we could remove the Gallifreyans from the question, that only reduces it by a factor of ten," Giorno said. "Three-hundred thousand years is still nothing in the ocean of the multiverse. Thrackerzod might be older than that in her-time." "Is it possible to edit the Dark Tower to make time travel impossible?" Renee asked. "...Possibly," Corona admitted. "I haven't discovered how yet. R.O., you can probably figure that out quickly." The R.O. shook his head. "I'm expecting a few days to run those calculations. Ka revealed the way to collapse and preserve to you. Anything more will require effort on our part, if we are allowed to find it at all." "Time travel is such an integral part of so many stories and dreams," Aiskera of Cultural said. "If we said we wanted to keep the Dark Tower but remove the part we didn't like... I think that'd go against the choice we're being offered." "Not all time travel is rampantly deadly. There are loops," the Commerce Overhead pointed out. "And we could add time travel to our list of things we are against in the multiverse. We could give aid to bring it to an end." "See, that's something we're too small to do," O'Neill said. "Just a little speck trying to alter time travel. I don't think we could go to war against Gallifrey even if we convinced the TSAB to help us. They've got too many tricks. And the Class 1s aren't going to do anything against them. The only ones who could care would be the Xeelee, and we all know they love the Gallifreyans for being a technology-based civilization. So much that they'll overlook the abuse of time travel." "Nobody really thinks of it as an abuse, most of the time," Corona pointed out. "You rewrite time and you don't think about the lives you're destroying. Even if the world you make is better, it still had to replace something." Eve's pupils shrunk to pinpricks. Daniel lost it. "And it's the same thing with the collapse!" "Of course it is! It's a replacement to end the replacements!" "You're just here to destroy us!" Corona twitched. "And you have a brain-damaged vendetta against me!" "That's your 'fault'!" "That you won't let me fix!" "BECAUSE IT LET ME SEE THIS COMING! You've done exactly what I said you would! Do you understand?! Do you!?" "No! I don't!" "You're here to destroy us!" "I am here to sa-" "ORDER!" Ava shouted, slamming her hands on the desk. "That's it, enough of this! We're taking a recess. It's late and we're not going to decide anything anytime soon. Reconvene tomorrow. Afternoon." She stood up and walked out of the room. "...About time," Yellow Diamond muttered. ~~~ "All right, let me hear it," Daniel said when they got home. "Trust me, you don't want to hear it," Renee said with bated breath. "If you don't let it out you're just going to stew over it a-" "And if I let it out I'm going to hurt us!" Renee shouted. "So, can we not? I... I don't need that devastation on top of what's going on right now." "You agree with her!?" "Stop reading into things with your insanity!" Daniel let out a disgruntled 'tch'. "Love, I'm sorry, that wa-" "It's exactly what you think and I've known that since this started." He folded his arms behind his back and looked out a window at the streets of the Hub - filled with people trying to go about their daily lives, but for the most part failing because of the great weight on their minds. "You even had a nagging doubt in the back of my mind that maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was insane. But I'm sure I wasn't now. I was seeing this." "Not even Twilence could see this, Daniel. Not ahead of time." "I'm certain Renee." He turned to look at her. "I am absolutely certain this is what I've feared all these years. She's going to bring Doom to us all, and we have to stop her by any means necessary." "Danie-" "Renee," he said forcefully, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Believe me. Just believe me. I'm absolutely certain." He gently fell to a knee so he could look at her from a level position. "Renee, I've never asked you to just trust what I think. I'm asking now. Trust me. She has it out for us. It's true." Renee looked into Daniel's pleading eyes. Then she broke down and started bawling. An ice-cold spike drove into Daniel's heart. She couldn't do it. Daniel stood up and turned his back. "Daniel!" Renee called after him. "Daniel, love!" "You call me that. But you apparently trust your friends more than me. Even those who've betrayed you." "Daniel, it's not like that and you know it!" "I also know Corona's our Doom! Apparently that means nothing! So what can I trust about my knowledge?" He left the house. Renee growled, lighting her horn and teleporting him back into the room. "You don't get to do that." "I am not a child." "You're the closest thing in this house!" "Is that a jab?" "I don't know! I don't care! I'm not letting you walk out like that!" "I'm not going to spend every day with one of her sympathizers!" "She. Is not. Evil." Daniel glared at her. "You should get rid of her now." "How can you say that!?" "Because I know." "No you don't! You don't, Daniel!" Renee wailed. "You don't know anything about her!" "Why can't you just take my word for it?" "BECAUSE YOU HAVE LITERAL BRAIN DAMAGE! Do you need me to bring up your charts again!?" "You know as well as I do that ka works through that!" Renee twitched. "We can't just blame everything on ka! There are still real things, Daniel!" "If ka isn't real why aren't you with her? Why are you with me at all? Cause this sure isn't real in that case." Renee froze. "No... Nononono that can't be true... No..." She swallowed hard. Daniel felt the weight of his own words press on his chest. He slumped into a chair, looking at nothing. "...What have we done to ourselves?" he asked, eventually. Renee was crying too hard to answer. ~~~ Corona had thought the days of ponies trying to kill her on Lai had long since passed. She had apparently thought wrong. A unicorn-deer shot her with a powerful magic laser - easily deflected with a flick of her wrist. A couple earths and a mawlie tried to take her down, but she surrounded herself in a three-tier magic shield, each shield rotating independently to maximize her defense. None of her attackers had the power to do anything to it. That did not stop them from trying. There was murder in their eyes. Deep, uncontrolled rage that was focused completely on her. She knew why they were attacking. She was their enemy. But she hadn't expected the people she had lived among so long to be driven to the point of violence so quickly. Corona shook her head and walked toward the palace, face set as the attacking squad slowly turned into a mob whaling on her shields to no effect. She started to see faces she recognized on the ponies. They slowly broke down the defenses she had placed on her expression. Her face fell and tears began to form as she saw one of her old neighbors trying to ram his horn through her magic. "...Done with this," she sniffed. She teleported right to the interior side of the castle's front doors and put her hands on her face. She slid down the doors until she was sitting on the floor, taking a moment to collect her thoughts. "Uh..." Corona expected to have to shout at one of Toph's guards to give her a moment, but when she opened her eyes she didn't find anyone in armor wanting to tell her the 'proper' way to be - but the concerned face of a white mare. "P...Prism?" Prism nodded. "You look like you went through a Diamond Dog." Corona snorted. "That's a mild way of putting it." She slammed the back of her head into the thick doors, staring at the ceiling. "How did they get so angry so fast?" "It's Lai. What did you expect?" "Some friends, I guess." Prism shrugged her wings. "Sorry, not really any around here." Corona shook her head. "I'm here to meet some. They're waiting in the throne room." "Yeah, I know that, I came here with Corea," Prism pointed out. "...Look, I'm not your biggest fan, and I definitely don't agree with that crazy plan of yours, but I hear you're putting Eve in her place. It's... I should probably feel ashamed for holding onto this grudge for so long, but it feels good to finally see someone stand up to her and have an effect." Corona looked at her concernedly. Prism sighed. "I just... I feel like I owe you something. So here's my piece of advice - just leave. If you go in there... It's not going to be pretty." Corona wasn't an idiot. "That bad?" "There aren't that many things that get my cornball angry. You have. I think it's personal to her - and to Toph." Corona stood up and adjusted her battle-dress. "...Thanks for the warning. But I can't start running from my problems now." "You almost broke from a mob attacking you. How are you going to handle what's in there?" Corona smiled sadly. "I'm going to talk. It's what friends do." "...If you say so. Good luck." She spread her wings and flew down one of the many halls. Corona took a deep breath and stretched her wings in preparation. That short conversation had managed to calm her down - give her something to latch onto. A kindness... "I should go talk to Flutterfree after this," Corona told herself as she walked into the throne room. She noticed the lighting was significantly darker than usual. Even more ominous, there were only two people in the room, all the advisors and citizens conspicuously absent. Just the Queen and the Avatar. Corona considered making a joke for a moment - but got the impression from their darkened expressions that would be ill advised. Instead, she held her hands behind her back and looked Corea in the eyes. Toph would know Corona was giving her attention without a direct gaze. Corona saw something in Corea she had rarely seen in the joyful mare. Even as her home slowly declined, she had kept her smile, her laugh, that childish excitement in her eyes. None of those things were present. Toph wasn't much better. She was holding her features as tight as she could, like one did when they were trying to hide a strong emotion. Corona couldn't imagine it was a positive one in this case. Corona shook her head, choosing to be the one to break the silence between them. "I'm here to talk. I had been exp-" Corea twitched. "Agni Kai." Corona stared at Corea. "What?" "You know, the ancient firebending ritual of honor duels? Surely you haven't forgotten my culture that easily." "I haven't forgotten. I want to know what you think it will accomplish." "As my teacher, by going down this path, you have shamed my name and my spirit. Not only do I need to reclaim what I have lost, I need to show you the disgrace you have brought yourself." "Corea, I'm not going to fight you." "You're going to do it," Toph ordered. Corona turned to her once-Queen. "...Toph, I don't have to listen to you." "You are a Second, true. But I can invoke Representative Overrule if I want to." "I'm not talking from a legal standpoint!" Corona blurted. "I d-" "Do it," Toph said. "Do it and maybe, maybe, you won't find out how much the anguish you've brought is destroying us." Corona twitched. "I know exactly how much i-" "SHUT UP!" Toph shouted. "You owe her this much." Corona forced herself to calm down. "Fine. Firebending and physical attributes only, fight to the burn." Corea nodded, standing on her hind hooves and fixing her gaze on Corona. Then she turned on the Avatar State, eyes shining a brilliant blue as torrents of flame shot out of her hooves. Corona splayed her fingers, catching the fire with her own bending and twisting it around behind her. She specifically ensured her usual fire-immunity spells were off. She wasn't going to cheat to victory today, even though it would be easy. She was going to prove to Corea that she still had 'honor'. It was funny, in a way. She was now certain the side she had chosen was the right one. When they had been hunting the Wishing World... when they had been deliberating... when they had been preparing for the meeting... there was the endless, nagging doubt that screamed at her to stop. It was gone now. Ever since she had given her speech. She was set. This existence needed to be changed. She spread her wings and leaped through the flames, quick enough to avoid getting a burn. She twisted around, unleashing a torrent of electricity from her fingertips. Corea absorbed the electricity into her body with her hooves, moving it around her body and out a hind leg, right back at Corona. Corona caught it herself, sending it back through her foot. Using her free hand a deep blue fire was tossed, ionizing much of the air around it. Corea couldn't catch something of that heat, while redirecting a lightning bolt, so she sent the bolt through the blue flame, dissipating it - but allowing the shot to go wild. Corona took the opportunity to rush forward, one hand sparkling with electricity, the other burning with blue fire of a heat beyond. Corea let out a breath of orange flame, making Corona really glad she had spent much of the time her mind was hooked up to the Shaping Mechanism training her body. She twisted to the side, using her wingtip to blow the fire breath away. Toph had to raise a rock to protect herself from the flames. Corona splayed her wings as far as she could manage, channeling her energy through them. Every wingtip erupted with a blowtorch-like flame, cutting through the air with extreme heat. Corea saw the opening - with the energy flowing into her wings, Corona had left her chest exposed. She rocketed forward, the power of the Avatar State shooting blue flames from her back hooves, her front ready to burn a hole through Corona's chest. This was exactly Corona's ploy. Corea was right that Corona had her energy spread outside, that it would take too long to enter a defensive posture. But Corona didn't need to be defensive - she just needed to back up. With a single flap of her wings, she tossed herself back. Had she not allowed herself to fall over, Corea would have plowed right into her. As it was, she sailed right over. Corona was able to create a couple burn marks across Corea's coat as she passed over. "AAAUGH!" Corona stood up and dusted herself off. "There. Did that satisfy you?" Corea glared at her, eyes shining with the Avatar State. "Corona Shimmer, w-" "I'll take that as a no." Corona sighed, dissipating her glove and touching her hand to Corea's head. She was suddenly standing in front of all the Avatars - including the Avatar Spirit Raava, the white being clearly very displeased with the quasi-alicorn's presence. "You are not welcome here, defiler." "I'm not here for you," Corona told Raava. "I'm here for Corea." "Corea is the Avatar. We are all the Avatar. You deal with all of u-" Corona lost her patience. She forced a mental lock around her and Corea. "There. Now we're alone." Corea's dream-self looked around, concerned. "Wh-" Corona created a second layer so she could empathize with Corea directly. She saw images of training with Corea. She saw moments where they had shared great memories together. But alongside these images she saw news reports of the recent day. Corea screaming at her reflection. A deep, burning hatred. Hate. Corona ejected herself from the connection, returning to the real world and cleansing her mind with a magic spell - she didn't need to start a horrible round of self-hate. She needed to keep her mind clear. "Are you happy!?" Corea demanded. "No," Corona said honestly. "I am not happy. I have not been actually happy since I realized what I needed to do." "You didn't have to do it!" "You didn't have to challenge me to Agni Kai. But you did." Corea twitched, not even noticing the healing spell Corona had put on her burns. "Can we talk now?" Corona asked. "Can w-" "There is nothing to say," Toph said, trying to hide her face. "You got your stupid honor." "I didn't care about that!" "Then why didn't you let her have hers back!?" "A couple reasons! First of all, she'd know if I was playing nice with her. Secondly, I thought that maybe I could make a point! That maybe I'm not evil just because my plan is so deadly!" Toph slammed her foot into the ground. "Maybe? Maybe? Maybe isn't good enough!" "Toph, I am not doing this for any perso-" "I can feel the lies." "I'm not lying!" "You're contradictory!" "Anything worthwhile is!" Toph twitched. "Get out." "We've been friends too long to storm off, Toph!" Corona blurted. "I am not w-" Toph pointed the Master Sword at her. "Get. Out." "No," Corona said. "I'm not going until we've res-" Toph grabbed Corona's hand and placed it to her forehead. Corona screamed and stumbled back, staring at Toph with horror. "Do you see?" "Wh... Toph, how can... wh..." Tears were rolling down Toph's eyes. "Get... get out of here before I do something stupid." Corona was no longer staring at Toph - she was staring at the tip of the Master Sword. She had just seen an image of it run through her chest. Could she defend against such an artifact? ...Could she be sure? No. No she couldn't. She couldn't deal with this anymore. She did what Toph wanted. She teleported away. Toph screamed and threw the Master Sword into a nearby wall, narrowly missing Corea. The Avatar barely noticed. "We're going," Toph said. Corea said nothing. "I said we-" "Go jump off a cliff," Corea muttered. "Maybe it'll give you another bright idea." "This was your idea!" Corea said nothing, opting to ignore Toph completely. Toph didn't waste any time - she turned around and walked away, her armor clanking loudly. The crack in the wall deepened. ~~~ "Where is she?" Allure demanded. "I don't know," Prism admitted. "I do think you need to leave her alone." "I need to give h-" "Corea just gave her Agni Kai and Toph was this close to trying to kill her," Prism interrupted. "You tell me if that's an emotional state you want to walk in on." Allure twitched. "I need to give her a piece of my mind." "And everything keeps cracking..." Prism muttered. "You find her yourself, I'm going to stay here and make sure Corea doesn't..." she couldn't finish the thought. "Just do whatever you want." Allure allowed her expression to soften. "...Prism..." "There are a lot of things I'm not in the mood for today. Dealing with anything else is on that list. So, basically, everything's on that list. Get lost." "...Hope Corea's okay," Allure said, scampering out of the palace. She found herself wandering the streets of Lai aimlessly. What was she even doing? She had no idea. Perhaps ka would have something for her. An encounter with Corona was exactly what she needed. ...Or was it? Maybe she just needed to look at the scenery - a wonderful mixture of Merodi construction. Unlike most cities that had been built since Merodi Universalis was founded, Lai's Capital City did not have a futuristic feel. Sure, there were screens and magic cars and the like, but the buildings were still stone and designed like Lai ponies had built them, rather than machines. It had been rebuilt from disaster. What Elemental Four had not achieved. ...Allure hadn't even been to Elemental Four in... a decade? More? She never heard anything about it anymore. Benders had spread out across Merodi Universalis, their world falling into obscurity. They were always 'the eighth founder I can never remember' to the Merodi. In the history books but conveniently forgotten. The diminutive unicorn shook her head - thoughts like that wouldn't solve anything. Action would. Action... Well, she wasn't invited to the Merodi meeting and didn't really have enough of a grasp on politics to influence policy, but she sure knew how to deal with Corona. Get her to... realize something. She pushed these thoughts out of her mind as she saw some people she recognized - Jade Harley, Witch of Space and John Egbert, Heir of Breath. "What are you two doing on Lai?" "Sightseeing," Jade said. "Trying not to panic," John translated. Jade raised an eyebrow over her empty, ghostly eyes. "John, I'm not trying not to panic." "Heheh... Yeah... You're not 'the most powerful being' in the multiverse." "...Huh?" Allure said, confused. John forced a smile. "Well, uh, see, Roxy's in the meeting because... reasons." "I know what the Intelligence Division is, John." "Shh!" Jade hissed. "Right, right," Allure muttered. "Bad day. Go on." "...Anyway, yeah, she made a point of bringing me up as the guy who could change things. And then she told me what she had said in her usual 'like, this doesn't matter, but it totally matters a lot' sort of way, and, well, I'm basically freaking out a little right now." Allure looked up at John. "I can see why... but why are you nervous? You have retcon. You can do almost anything." "Because they're still deciding what to do with me! What if I have to destroy everything?" "...Can't you just do what you want whenever you want?" Allure said, cocking her head. "If you don't want to destroy everything, you don't have to listen to them. You can use retcon to fix everything against their wishes. And only Pinkies would ever know." John stared at her. "Wow. I hadn't thought of that." "And I was trying to get him not to think of that," Jade said, shaking her head. "John, look, you can't just try to do something." "I mean, I don't really have any ideas..." Allure coughed. "Stop Corona from making the Wish." Jade glared at her. "You're not helping." "Jade, why can't he make this decision on his own?" "Because you're leading him on and putting ideas in his head," she said. "Bark! ...Sorry." Allure chose to ignore the bark and the apology. "You're doing the same." "...I was trying to keep him from doing something stupid." "In all fairness, I am known to do stupid things," John said. Allure and Jade stared at him in disbelief. "What? I'm not a kid anymore, I can admit I have problems." "John, you can do anything!" Allure said. "You don't have to let your fears dictate anything to you! You can go back - right now - and stop all this from happening." John bit his lip. "Uh... Yeah, how about no? I... don't really want to make that decision. Corona had a point... I don't 'have the right' or whatever." Jade let out a breath of relief. "...Thank you John." "Eh, don't mention it. I'm screaming internally either way. Excellent." Allure twitched. "...It seems like everywhere I go, people want to empathize with her or try to reason out something good from the evil she's spouting." Jade looked at Allure with sad eyes. "Allure, why are you making her your problem?" "Because she's everyone's problem and nobody else is doing anything. They're letting her talk, walk around, and convince people." "She's not convincing people," Jade said. "...Not enough, anyway." She gestured at one of the larger public screens in the city. There was a news reporter talking about the Message - and the results on social media of a poll about Corona were scrolling on one of the sidebars. They wanted her charged with the highest treason. "...The death penalty?!" Allure blurted. "She needs to be stopped, but she's not going to be... She..." Then Allure saw her. Corona, wearing a cloak, staring at the giant screen. The quasi-alicorn let out a great, heaving sob. She placed a hand on the screen. "How alone am I?" The ice that had grown over Allure's heart thawed for a moment. She choked on her own breath. "...I'm getting her out of here before she causes a riot," Jade said, walking to her. Allure didn't stop the Skaian. She let out a sigh and dialed Celestia City, leaving Corona to her suffering. There was no point in making it worse. ~~~ Nanoha hated it when she had to keep her mind in two places at once. Raising Heart made it easier to see both the TSAB and Seat meetings but it didn't really make it easier to factor both into account, even with all the magic cognitive aids she had active. "We need to show our willingness to compromise!" Nanoha told the TSAB. "I know that the collapse is the option we don't want, but if we can come to an agreement with the Seats, there'll be options to mitigate the damage it causes. We could have time." "Your willingness to compromise and empathize has served the TSAB well over the years, Nanoha," Marshall Hiro Nakamura began, adjusting his glasses. "Stop buttering her up and get to the point," Fate grunted, folding her arms. Hiro nodded slowly, leaning forward. "This is a moment where compromise is not an option. I am not willing to sacrifice our people this way." "If we aren't willing we doom ourselves," Nanoha said. "I don't want to either, but we need to at least be open to the possibility! If that decision is reached, we could find the best way to initiate the collapse and minimize destruction. Many, many universes are almost nothing but empty space - there have to be ways to bring it all together that are safer than others." "That wouldn't be fair to individuals outside the TSAB, would it?" "It's the 'As Few As Possible' principle," Fate explained. "We'd love to save everyone. But if we can't, we save what we can." Nanoha nodded. "If agreement for Collapse is reached, the Class 1s can be tasked with caring for the lower societies. Working together, a nearly seamless transition might be possible. There'd still be unparalleled death on a scale I'm definitely not happy with - but it's infinitely better than placing a Tower Ring and spinning the wheel of death. Nature isn't forgiving." "The Tower might be," Hiro pointed out. "We can't trust the Tower," Fate said. Hiro paused. "I see your point." "But...?" "But I can't bring myself to compromise." Fate looked to Nanoha, asking a question with her gaze. Nanoha shook her head. Today wasn't the day to tear down the government. Today was quite possibly the worst day to do that. It... "Excuse me," she said, switching her focus back to the Seats. "Something's happening." She allowed her eyes to see the universe of the Seats, where the Gallifreyans were taking a tally. "Preservation," Nanoha answered. "That's one abstention, one compromise, one undecided, two collapses, five preservations. The vote i-" "THIS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY," a Horrorterror pointed out. "A MAJORITY DOES NOT MEAN A DECISION HAS BEEN REACHED." >:< Furthermore, the debate is not over. We still have much to discuss before we can exhaust every variable. "WELL SAID," the Celestialsapien announced. >:< Thank you. "We don't have time to discuss every variable!" the Time Lord insisted. "We must act now!" "THE OPTIMAL COLLAPSE EXECUTION IS OVER THE COURSE OF EONS WITH DAMAGE MINIMIZATION," the Horrorterror pointed out. "THERE IS NO NEED TO RUSH THIS DECISION." The Living Tribunal spoke up. "I agree with the sentiment. We can debate until the end of all currently present universes if we must." >:< Not that long. Low-to-mid Class 2 societies are trying to build Tower Rings already. It will take them a few local months - at the fastest time - to accomplish, but at that time we will have to have decided something. For most of them, it has only been a local day with a variance of about five similar periods. "There are some high Class 2 societies not here," Gallifrey pointed out. "The Starcross Society. The Combine. The Void." "MOTION CARRIED: INVESTIGATE HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS FOR TOWER RING CONSTRUCTION. PUT AN END TO IT UNTIL A DECISION IS REACHED." >:< Agreed. The Xeelee networks have begun their multiversal search. "Buying useless time," the Time Lord said. "I think it's worthwhile," Nanoha said. "It'd keep us from having to react to something on a hairpin trigger - which we've never been good at." "Truth," the Living Tribunal said. "IT WOULD BE SO MUCH SIMPLER IF WE HAD ELECTED A CHAIR," the Great Will emissary suggested. "And unfair," the Them said. "MOTION CARRIED: STARCROSS SOCIETY CONSTRUCTION ERADICATED. NO SIGN OF COMBINE OR VOID CONSTRUCT CREATION. STARCROSS SOCIETY CONSTRUCTION WAS FAR FROM COMPLETE. WE HAVE LIKELY OVERESTIMATED THEIR DIMENSIONAL CONSTRUCTION CAPABILITIES." >:< Agreed. Xeelee ping has not found anything in Combine or Void space. ...Hold on, pending... Pending... "Pending?" the Them flashed in surprised. "What would you have to spend time processing? You're one giant computer!" >:< Horrible secret uncovered. Our scientists believe the Beyonders are building a Tower Ring obfuscated by dimensional jammers. "This accusation is an act of war!" the Beyonder shouted. "Let's examine the levels of stupid in that sentence," the Them said. "Let's see... Oh wait, here's the big one! Building a Tower Ring during the Conference is an act of war." "We have built no such thing!" >:< Then you would have no issue with us sending a piano wire exclusion principle device through the suspected area? Completely harmless - except to constructs that could function as a Tower Ring device. "We will die before we let your stupid machines into our territory." "THE GREAT WILL SHALL USE HIS OMNISCIENCE TO ASCERTAIN YOUR TREACHERY," the emissary said, flashing greenish. "Get out of our land or we wi-" the Beyonder let out a scream of rage as his sources back home told him the Great Will wasn't listening. "TOWER RING DESTROYED," the Great Will said. "You broke the truce!" the Them shouted. "You broke it!? How stupid are you!?" "Less than you all for giving this discussion thought!" the Beyonder shouted. "This aggression into our territory is an act of war." "WE WILL MEET YOU IN BATTLE AND SMITE YOUR TERRITORIES WITH OUR VOICE." "You two are on the same side!" the Them blurted. "Side? There are no sides! There is only Beyonder - and a fake god." "YOUR BLASPHEMY WILL BE YOUR DOWNFALL." "MOTION CARRIED: WE CANNOT ALLOW A WAR TO BREAK OUT BETWEEN SUPPOSED ALLIES IN THIS DEBATE! IT WOULD IMBALANCE THE DECISION!" "Then you stand in the way of our honor!" the Beyonder shouted. "It isn't like we were going to reach an agreement anyway! It was always only a matter of time before everything fell apart! We simply took advantage of the opportunity, as true warriors should! There will be no agreement, no compromise, and no peace! There is no w-" Nanoha slammed Raising Heart into the ground. "The TSAB is willing to compromise!" Beads of sweat trickled down her face. There was complete silence in the hall of the Seats. She flipped her perceptions back to the TSAB. Hiro had evidently been watching and was screaming at her. "Fate-chan?" Nanoha asked. "Now is the time." Fate activated her device, Bardiche, and created her scythe. She hit Hiro with a beam of magic, knocking him unconscious. "You sure?" "I had to go against him to keep this together. Make the calls - we have to take over, direct rule. I have to return to the Seats - I trust you to take care of this." Fate nodded. "I will." Nanoha switched back to the Seats, feeling her nerves about to break. What if that had been the wrong call? What if that did nothing, and she'd just destabilized the TSAB for no good reason? >:< The Xeelee also put forth their desire to compromise to either of the final decisions. Nanoha let out a sigh of relief. There it was. Hope that they could avoid outright war. She pulled herself together, pointing Raising Heart at the Beyonder, and then at the emissary for the Great Will. "I suggest that we agree to prevent these two from going to war." "SECONDED!" >:< Thirded "Agreed." "IT IS A WORTHWHILE ENDEAVOR." "...Eh, fine," the Them muttered. "Might as well. Even if it would be interesting, have to have at least some sanity, right?" Nanoha turned to the Beyonder with a slight smirk. "See? There are things we can reach an agreement on." "You had to stage a coup in your government to do it," the Them pointed out. Nanoha rubbed the back of her head. "Well, it kept everything from exploding... So it was worth it." The Gallifreyan adjusted his robe. "This leaves Them and the Horrorterrors for collapse, with the Beyonders, Great Will, and ourselves for preservation. All this has accomplished is diminishing the majority." "NOT A DEMOCRACY," the Horrorterror pointed out. "THIS IS A COUNCIL. WE MUST CONTINUE ON, ALLOWING THE CELESTIALSAPIENS TO ARRIVE AT A DECISION, AND THEN WE MUST FIND A POINT WHERE ALL OF US ARE SATISFIED." "We will never be satisfied," the Beyonder retorted. "You're warmongers," the Living Tribunal said. "It is in your nature to fight. But if you are the only one remaining, you can be forced to conform. This may not be a democracy, but enough of a power imbalance will tip the scales in either direction." "Those scales are slightly tipped in your favor, right now," Nanoha pointed out. "The Time Lords are still on your side." "They're useless," the Beyonder muttered. Nanoha pointed Raising Heart at him. "You need to adjust your attitude. At this rate, no matter what is decided, you'll turn the multiverse against you. You've broken the sanctity of this Conference with what you tried to pull. That doesn't make us think highly of you. I-" "It makes you look like idiots," the Them said. "In every way imaginable you've made this worse for yourselves. Maybe you shouldn't try antagonizing your allies in this debate." This shut the Beyonder up. Nanoha felt more than a little guilty about the satisfaction this brought her. ~~~ Rev walked up to the podium. For the first time in a while, not only was her church full, but there were people standing in between the seats and in the aisles. There were more outside, enough that she'd had to order a large screen to broadcast to the street. Easy to get when you know Overhead Evening Sparkle well, but still a bit more than she liked to do. News reporters and TV stations had picked up on the large crowd at her church, and, realizing she had a feed ready, were going to record the entire thing and tear it apart. She was being asked to be the spiritual voice of Merodi Universalis. I told myself I wouldn't become like this... but desperate times call for desperate measures. She took a breath. "... 'and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: you should mind your own business and worth with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody'. First Thessalonians four, eleven through twelve." She looked at the crowd, letting the words sit in. "I've failed to live by this passage despite my best efforts, as evident by the size of this congregation and the extensive media coverage. We, as a congregation, are not called to change the physical world, but the spiritual one. We are not meant to rile up strife or conflict with our words - but meant to fight for peace and spiritual health. Not war. Not anger. But even in this denomination I've seen people screaming at each other in hatred. ...It's unbecoming." She paused for a moment. "In this way, it matters not what side of the debate you are on. What matters is that you 'love your enemies'. If you think the multiverse must be preserved, while your neighbor thinks the multiverse must be collapsed, 'bear with one another'. I urge you - all of you - to stop the shouting and the screaming. Lead a quiet life where you mind what is in your control, what is in your authority. Just live your lives despite the turmoil. I understand this is a hard thing to ask of most of you, and that many of you will ignore it - but it is what most of us are called to do. "As for those of us who are in positions of power, positions where living our lives involves making this decision..." she found Flutterfree and Eve in the audience - of course the Relations Overhead would want to be here for this. "...Rely on the Lord. Pray, ask for His guidance and wisdom." She saw Flutterfree sag. "...Some of you have already been doing this, and haven't received an answer. Don't give up on Him. 'He will not leave you or forsake you.' Even if you can't feel Him now, He is watching you, guiding you - maybe so you can make your own decision, or so He can show you the right way at the right time. "Corona was definitely right about one thing in The Message: that no single person has the right to make this decision. Isaiah says "'my thoughts are nothing like your thoughts', says the Lord, 'and my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine'." We cannot understand Him, and we cannot see the full picture. But she was wrong in her assumption that together we could make the decision. 'For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.' Think about the Tower of Babel - we were united, and we were arrogant, we were wrong. Think of Israel, the chosen people, always fighting and arguing and screwing up even when the truth was right in front of them. Alone we cannot make the decision. Together, we cannot make the decision either, even as a spiritual entity. Not even the whole Church could do this. "This is the kind of decision that should be left to the hands of God... And yet, that answer isn't going to satisfy you. You won't be able to accept it. You need some direction. An answer. Well... here's what I have for you. 'give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.' Jesus himself said those words. We live in a nation, Merodi Universalis, and we are to follow the laws of the land unless they go against God. Even if it means paying unfair prices, or deadly ones." She looked at them all. "But you want more than that. You want to know which option is good and which is evil. I'm going to do something I don't usually do and actually give my opinion on this. "Both are evil. "There is no good in this decision. There are good intentions, but no good results. Just like when the Builders built the Dark Tower, they had good intentions, but the evil they unleashed was unfathomable. None of us can fathom the evil consequences from the two actions. If we decide, we do wrong. But there is literally no other option. "Evil must be done because of what's happened. Because of the Tower's Choice. "But know this - whatever side ends up winning will be the right side. 'God works all things together for good'. Whichever of the two evils will serve God's ultimate plan is the one that will be chosen. Whichever one will teach us how to move on, whichever one will execute His will. We cannot know that. We can say He promised never to Flood us away again - but He did not promise to stop us from doing it to ourselves. We can say He couldn't execute the promises in the Word if the multiverse continues to exist as it does, but we woefully underestimate His creativity. "Whatever ends up happening, that is what is best for us. This does not mean you shouldn't think about what's happening - far from it - but it means you shouldn't think the fate of existence rests on your shoulders. It doesn't. The Lord sits above, and He is the one who ultimately makes the decision." Rev paused - that was the bulk of what she had to say, so she let the audience think about it deeply. In a few seconds, she would switch to more personal messages about how to deal with yourself in times of crisis like this, and how to keep loving each other even in times of possible war. She was going to try her hardest to remain neutral in the discussion, so she could invite everyone here in this time of turmoil. She was certain that was her role. At least for now. The mediator. "Those of you who have Bibles with you, let's turn to Matthew fourteen..." ~~~ Lady Rarity walked down one of the streets of Skaia's Dream, barely registering the fact that the scenery transformed from that of the pink moon to that of a tall tower-like building covered in snow. She had her full armor on, hiding her face, but making enough noise to draw attention to her. There were a handful of Terezi Skaians nearby, 'watching' her with curious expressions. The spirid-unicorn paid them no mind. She knocked on the tower's door with one of her hooves. The door slid open. "For the last time she isn-" Omega 'office dog' Jade blinked. "Oh. I guess you can come in." "Thank you," Lady Rarity said, walking through the doors and into the dream-tower. The interior was a mixture of a child's bedroom and a greenhouse. Alpha Jade was there as well, floating around with John as they tended to plants seemingly made out of spirographs. Alpha Jade saw her. "Oh... I wasn't expecting you until a bit later," she admitted, floating down to her. "Bark." "...Where is she?" The two Jades pointed to a staircase that led upward. "Thanks. John, good to see you." "Uh, yeah," John said, awkwardly smiling. Lady Rarity ignored the response and clanked right up the stairs into a dark red room. A serpentine red path twisted out from where she stood, leading to a platform that resembled the SBURB symbol for Light: a sun. In the middle of this sun sat Corona, legs crossed, wings folded, and hands pressed to the ground. Her eyes were closed in an attempt to achieve serenity - but she only looked in pain. "Having second thoughts?" Lady Rarity asked. "No," Corona said, opening her eyes. "And that's the problem." Lady Rarity sat down and removed her helmet, revealing eyes full of concern. "Why?" "Because doing what I think is right has never hurt this much. ...Toph wanted t-" "I heard," Lady Rarity said. "Do you blame her?" "No!" Corona retorted. "Maybe you should. She's not being very understanding. Neither is Corea." "I can't expect everyone to agree." "Corona, I said understand. Not agree." Corona nodded slowly. "I can't expect everyone to understand either. But what if they're right then - if not everyone can understand, what if there is something wrong with me?" "...I don't think there is. You were thinking about it at every angle until that meeting." "Was that when I really decided?" Corona wondered - mostly to herself. "I couldn't say." There was silence for a few minutes. "I feel alone in this," Corona said, suddenly. "Corona, I'm here, and so a-" "I mean, in a sense of larger groups of people. I know you and the others are loyal to me. ...Mostly. But have you seen the news reports? They want me dead." "Eve won't let that happen." "Eve's not in charge of Justice." "She doesn't have to be." Corona nodded. "I know. I probably don't have to fear for my life. But it's the hatred I see... I hear... Nobody's really arguing for me. I'm the only voice." "I'm sure there are a few..." "And what does a few matter? The Merodi will choose preservation and then use John to ensure it happens. If they get desperate they'll just prevent me from ever sending the Message." She looked into the ceiling. "And if we decide not to use John, well, then we're nothing and it doesn't even matter." She laughed. "All this stress and fretting for a decision we make that might amount to nothing. Fighting a losing battle for no reason because I just can't let it go." "Maybe that means you shouldn't. Let it go, I mean. Maybe you do matter. They always say we're the 'protagonist civilization' in the hushed meetings. That means something, doesn't it?" "Maybe The Message was the end of the story. After all, that's when Twilence's sights ended. That could have been our purpose." "Then why stop seeking what you believe in?" Corona smiled sadly. "You know, I thought you would object to the collapse after we sent The Message." "I was always undecided. But... have you heard Rev's sermon?" "...I've been sitting here contemplating life far too deeply for the last few hours." "One of the things she said was that we were right to think we couldn't make the decision. But we were also wrong to think everyone had the right to make the decision. We're all too broken, faulty, messed up to do so. It doesn't average out." "That's depressing." "It means we don't have to be afraid of fighting for what we believe at the expense of the average," Lady Rarity said. "Even if we're among people who all disagree... There's a chance they're all wrong. Somewhat likely, actually, given how this is mostly a coin flip." "...Hadn't thought of it like that," Corona admitted. "...Still wouldn't have been better if we did this in secret. They deserved to know there was a choice." "Even if there was never going to be a right answer?" "Maybe?" Corona shrugged. "...All I know is that, despite it all, I don't regret it. ...Yet. I might later." Lady Rarity forced a smile. "...Normally this would be the time I say 'everything's going to be fine', but..." "If I have my way there's very little that will be fine," Corona said with a bitter laugh. "No wonder I'm alone in this fight. It takes away our future. Guess I thought too highly of everyone. Or made some other mistake. I'm not sure about that yet. I just know I'm hated now." A Jade - they didn't know which one - poked her head into the room. "Uh... Feferi and Minna want to see you. What should I tell them?" Lady Rarity scowled. "Tell them to come back l-" "Let them in," Corona said, standing up. "Corona, you don't need another set of friends attacking you." "They're not close friends," Corona pointed out. "They must have a different reason. Jade?" "Got it." She spread her hands and teleported the two into the room. Feferi and Minna stood side by side - the High Commander of the Military Division standing at attention, while Feferi casually leaned on her trident with a nervous smile. "What's this about?" Corona asked. Feferi cleared her throat. "We're here as liaisons... messengers? Archer fish?" "Couriers," Minna said. "Right, couriers. We swam all the way over here to tell you that you're not alone." Corona blinked. "...Seriously?" Feferi nodded. "We... we believe in your cause. A way to change everyfin for the better!" "...Why?" Feferi's smile dropped. "It's... It's just too sad, Corona. I sea horrible, horrible things. And I think they're finally getting to me. SBURB actually wasn't that bad... Neither were the Horrorterrors. But the dreams some of the Skaians show me..." She shook her head. "Existence can be better. And I think you can do it!" "I'm a product of evil," Minna explained, keeping her structured, regimented tone. "People like Skarn could never do what he did ever again. I've reasoned that you have the better option." Corona looked at them sadly. "...Are you talking about treason?" Feferi bit her lip - but Minna nodded. "It is. We are not the only ones. Blumiere. Red Diamond. Rosalina. They've told us of their support, even if they cannot do anything publicly." Corona shook her head. "All this cloak and dagger..." "It may be necessary," Minna said. "We're not going to outright betray them," Corona said. "They're our friends - our people. We'll go with what they decide." "Even at the cost of your life and those of your friends?" "They wouldn't. Eve wouldn't let them." "If war breaks out, they will be convinced not to take chances on you." Corona furrowed her brow. "Then I'll only need you if everything goes wrong." "...Our fates are to be decided by the Seats' ability to agree with each other," Lady Rarity vocalized. "Wonderful..." Corona said, grabbing the bridge of her nose. "Minna, Feferi, thanks. Be prepared - I hope I don't have to use you, but since you're here, I'll be prepared. Do what you can to influence the Overheads and Seconds in the meeting." "We can do... some," Feferi said. "Thanks. And... thank you for being here." Corona smiled. "I was beginning to think I was alone." "That's why we're here!" Feferi beamed. "We'll be organized and ready to move before the meeting even begins!" "It's not that far away," Lady Rarity pointed out. "You should probably move." "Right!" Minna nodded, saluting. "We're with you, even if no one else will be." The two left to prepare. Corona spread her wings. "That was unexpected." "No longer alone, hmm?" "Not sure if that's a good thing or not. Now there's potential to tear Merodi Universalis apart..." Corona shook her head. "It's true that some things are more important than that. ...So many impossible decisions lately." ~~~ Eve once again sat in a waiting room, waiting for the Merodi meeting to begin. Corona was in the same room with her, just like last time. "...I'm sorry," she told Corona. "Hm? Why?" "For what's about to happen in there." Corona smiled knowingly. "You think I'm going to lose?" "Almost certain." "I have supporters," Corona said, leaning back in her chair. "Been talking to some of them. Working with some political intrigue - generally not my thing, but I think we have a chance." Eve looked at Corona. "...Corona, you're generally not a politician. You're a guardian and a scientist. Do you want to know why this not only isn't going to work, but will fail spectacularly?" Corona's confidence started to boil away. "...What?" "Nobody wants to lose their positions," Eve said. "It's as simple as that. The undercurrent of society is hatred of what you're trying to do. If they vote for your side - and lose - the people will demand they get replaced. Ava will listen. The stability of Merodi Universalis hinges on the citizens' trust of their leaders. They won't trust people who voted for the collapse." "The meeting isn't public." "And there are more than a few people in there who aren't going to keep quiet about who voted for what. The only people they can't talk about are Giorno and Roxy - otherwise we're transparent. If, say, the Research Overhead sides with you, both of you go down." "That's only if we lose," Corona said. "If we win..." "I don't think that's likely. Can you get a 14-12 majority? What if you tie? Then it goes to just the Overheads. I know most of them would never agree with you. Myself, Renee, O'Neill, Luna..." "Well... I'm going to keep up hope," Corona said. "If we lose to you, all that happens is you lock us up and try to use John to change things." "...I think that's a bad idea," Eve admitted. "I think we need to dial back our minimal use of time travel to zero as well." "Thank you for at least believing that." "...Aradia's not taking it well," Eve revealed. "You've talked to her?" Eve nodded. "She says she always knew that all those deaths happened whenever she rewrote something, but she just accepted it as the way things were and sought beauty in it. The Message has made her question things. I don't know what she's decided..." "If she was time travelling still, you'd already know." Eve blinked. "True..." "And don't worry, I'm... pretty sure I'll be okay if I get locked up for eternity. I can still contribute from a secret lab miles under the ground in a dead universe." "That's not the life you want." "It's one I'm willing to risk," Corona said. "...You're willing to risk everything." "You would, too, were our positions reversed." Eve smiled. "Yeah..." She looked at the clock. "It starts soon." "Mhm." She pulled Corona into a hug. "Whatever happens..." "I know," Corona said, biting back tears. "I know." ~~~ The meeting began once more. Ava cleared her throat. "Why do you always start?" Roxy asked, suddenly. Ava shot her with an incredulous glance. "I serve my role unless there is an objection. Do you object?" Roxy put a hand to her chin and squinted her eyes. "...No..." "Very well then. I-" "I object," the R.O. said. "You cannot be truly objective. You ended the last meeting in anger. I can suspend my biases by forced coding to lead the discussion from a middle ground standpoint." Ava sat back in her chair. "Objections?" There were none. Ava held her hand out, indicating the R.O. could continue. "I am certain we have all come here already knowing what we've decided," the Research Overhead said. "Does anyone really think there is any new information we can use to make the decision?" "Nanoha's just taken control of the TSAB by force," Giorno said. "Is that relevant?" "It's important to know." The R.O. nodded. "Has that information suggested to any of you the idea of changing your mind?" He read the faces of the crowd, getting a negative in every query. "Is there anything else?" There was silence. A few people coughed. "Clearly, all the talking has been done out of this meeting," the Oversight Overhead said. "Just get on with it, R.O." The R.O. nodded. "I propose we take the vote now. We all know what we're going to say. All for preservation, raise yo-" "Objection!" Corona blurted, slamming her hands on the table. "I know you. You're going to say preservation first, prompting a lot of hands to go up - and then due to pressure everyone else's hands will go up. You're making a ploy, a ploy to get a near-unanimous vote out of this." "No such thing would happen." "Maud?" Corona asked the oculus. The Expansion Overhead closed her bizarre eyes and opened them. "Corona speaks the truth. My vision can see the vote - all but her would raise a hand." The Research Overhead did not have any retorts to this. He had been caught. "I propose anonymous voting," Corona said. "Pressure from the people or each other cannot be a factor in this decision. We all have data pads - set up a voting network where we'll all vote at the same time. That way nobody will feel pressured to vote one way or another for the sake of their jobs or popular perceptions." Corona caught Eve glaring at her. She might be regretting talking to me... "I second this," Ava said. "There can be no ploys." She took out a data pad. "Giorno, is the computer secure?" Giorno checked his report. "Yes. Nothing's getting in or out of this network for anyone to see right now." "I've got us in a Void shroud," Roxy said with a smirk. "Not even those weird Seer types can look at us." "Pinkies?" Ava asked. The only Pinkie in the room - the Commerce Second who went by the name Sporkler - let out a short laugh. "We can see this happening as it's happening. Won't be able to tell exactly who voted what though, except in a few obvious cases." "Then let us begin," Ava said holding up her data pad. Everyone else brought theirs out as well, holding them as if they were religious artifacts. A simple poll appeared onscreen. Preserve and Collapse. All it would take was one finger press. There was a second of silence where nobody pressed a button. They stared at the options, struck by the monumental choice before them. Corona and Eve were the first - pressing at the same time. Two beeps rang out in unison - prompting all the others to place their votes. The instant a choice was entered, the screen went blank. A hologram in the center of the table lit up, displaying the final split. Preserve - Collapse 18 - 8 Corona's heart sank. That wasn't a close majority. That was a clear majority. Over two thirds of the Merodi had voted for preservation, even when fingers couldn't be pointed. Eight. Just eight. It was more than she would have gotten had the R.O. gone through with his plan - one - but that was still a blow to her. "Votes released to public - seventeen to seven," Giorno said. "A sort of balance." "Same result," Ava said. "Clear majority for preservation. Eve, you're in charge of the announcement for the outside powers, I'll handle internal." "Now that this is resolved..." the R.O. said. "Corona, you're fired." "You do not have that authority," Ava reminded him. "You're in charge of Labor - you get rid of her." "A trial is required," the Justice Overhead said. "A trial that I will be overseeing personally." Corona twitched - the Justice Overhead was a member of the Sparkle Census named 7U who clearly had it out for the quasi-alicorn at this moment. Corona was sure she'd be convicted within the week. Which... was what she agreed she would submit herself to if she lost. "We shall begin that trial two days from now," 7U continued. "The rest of the multiverse and our citizens need some time to adjust. Corona, seeing as you are requested at a high-stakes trial, you are not allowed to leave Merodi Universalis before your trial date. Do you understand?" "I do," she said. "Good. Now go enjoy your last moments of freedom." Corona let out a bitter laugh. "I will. Thanks." ~~~ Nanoha checked back with Fate via a data uplink - there hadn't been a single drop of actual blood shed in the takeover. She, Signum, and Vita had needed to take out a few key individuals, but they were all fine and healthy enough to be screaming bloody murder from their lavish cells. The people had been told what happened a few hours ago. Their love - and fear - of the White Devil had been more than enough to keep them from forming mobs over this. When they had been told her actions had stopped the Class 1 civilizations from going to war, some may not have agreed, but nobody wanted to fight her over it. They basically accepted Nanoha as queen, even though she didn't even have a title right now. She'd have to work that out soon. But she also needed to pay attention to what was happening with the Seats... She always did. She considered digital clone duplication. Highly illegal and full of ethical questions that couldn't be answered, but possibly necessary. She could deal with the issues of having a double later if... "Guess what we just found!" the Time Lord shouted. Oh no. Nanoha thought, paling. "Whatever you're about to say, consider not," the Them grunted. "I can just sense it pushing us back another nonspecific span of 'time'." "Another Tower Ring. Not in any of our jurisdictions." "White Nettle?" the Living Tribunal asked. "Her signature is not there," the Gallifreyan said, scowl deepening. "It's a signal in the E-Sphere, on an edge that is largely uninhabited - except for a small spread of SBURB universes!" "WE WOULD NEVER BREAK THE CONFERENCE AGREEMENT." "Maybe you didn't. Maybe you just suggested to a lower society with your corruption that they should build one!" he waved a hand, sending the details of the Tower Ring to everyone present. Nanoha looked it over - it was a shoddy eldritch-based construction, but it took place in a segment of universes with access to heavy time acceleration; presumably how the Gallifreyans found it. She didn't believe this was an official Horrorterror sanctioned project for a moment. "This is probably just a faction," she said. "I DOUBT THAT," the Horrorterror said. "WE GENERALLY DO NOT DIVIDE. NO, THIS HAS TO HAVE BEEN PLANTED." "By who?" the Beyonders demanded. "The Many-Angled Ones? The Embodiment? The Accanara? Only the Many Angled Ones have anywhere near the means to do such a thing." "Their end goals are also at odds with both preservation and collapse. They seek order." "IT IS UNREASONABLE TO BELIEVE SUCH EVIDENCE WOULD BE PLANTED TO INCRIMINATE THE HORRORTERRORS. WHO WOULD WANT A WAR OVER EXISTENCE? NOT EVEN THE BEYONDERS!" The Time Lord smiled - as if he had caught the Great Will in a trap. "Then what do you say about this? A Tower Ring composed of weak Spiritual energy slowly forming across multiple universes in your territory?" "THE GREAT WILL DID NOT DO SUCH A THING." "I thought you were omniscient? How could you not notice?" "THE GALL!" the Beyonder shouted. "You do exactly what you assaulted us for? I thought you were supposed to be a god of truth!" "THE GREAT WILL IS NOT RESPONSIBLE!" "Oh yeah? Explain how you couldn't see the Tower Ring!" The Them flashed in anger. "Admit you aren't an all-powerful deity for once you arrogant b-" The Great Will foresaw what the Them was going to say and lashed out in judgement, burning the Them's soul hard enough to shut it right up. "THIS IS NOT A PLACE OF INSULTS!" "Nor is it a place of war!" Nanoha pleaded. >:< If we cannot trust everyone to adhere to the Conference's truce, how can we trust anyone? Even if these two Tower Rings were somehow planted, none of us can be sure. If there's a chance that any of us are building them, the rest have to be building them as well. Because the moment someone creates one in secret and unleashes it... "ACCUSATION: THIS IS YOUR PLAN, YOU HAVE A TOWER RING!" >:< We do not. "YOU JUST ADMITTED TO THAT BEING THE ONLY LOGICAL COURSE OF ACTION!" >:< We did not mean that we were, merely that The Xeelee did not finish the response. Having realized the logical error in what they were saying, the connection was terminated. Presumably to go start building a Tower Ring. "No!" Nanoha shouted. "Everyone, the Xeelee have left - we can force them back in if we work tog-" The Beyonder left. In the same instant, they sent out a general declaration of war against all nations in the multiverse that sought the Collapse. "I just stopped one of their reality bombs form tearing this universe apart," the Living Tribunal said. "For all our safeties, we should leave. I will stay to protect those who are here as long as I can." The Time Lord left without a word, as did the Sunflower Official and Celestialsapien. Nanoha turned to the Great Will's emissary. "...Off the record, someone had to have planted those, right?" "YES." "You don't have to tell me how - but please, tell me who." The Great Will's presence vanished. Either It didn't know, the emissary didn't know, or it was too much of an 'ungodlike' thing to admit to. That wasn't helpful in the slightest. "Welp, we tried," the Them said, sparking in an amused fashion. "So, how about we get to warrin', huh? Should be... interesting..." as soon as the fear started taking over, he left. "...WE WILL NOT SURVIVE," the Horrorterror stated frankly. "OUR SOCIETY IS BARE ENOUGH AS IT IS." "...I'm sorry," Nanoha said. "PERHAPS IT IS OUR OWN FAULT." That was the last of the Horrorterror's words in the realm of the Seats. This left just Nanoha and the Living Tribunal. "I took over my government for nothing..." Nanoha realized. "Do not be hard on yourself, child - you bought time. It is likely you are in the position you are now for a reason. You can lead your nation directly in this time of turmoil." "...We can't fight a war on the level the rest of you can." "Your role may not be to fight." Nanoha looked at his deep eyes and forced a smile. "...Thank you. What about you?" "Soon, there will be a judgment. A great heavenly fire will purge the multiverse... I know not the exact details. It will not be pleasant." Nanoha nodded. "Good luck, Tribunal." "Likewise, Nanoha Takamachi." The two left at the same time. Someone fired a weapon at the now unprotected universe, shattering it into the Sea of Infinite Possibility. The Dark Tower rearranged the position of its affected doors.
Songs of the Spheres	120 - Heavenly Schism	The Watchmaker wound the globe that held Zhui, ensuring the inner mechanisms of his universe continued in the way he saw fit. He had thought very little about the handful of otherworlders that had invaded his worlds over the last few decades, focusing all his efforts on his world. It was all that mattered to him. His clockwork world. His. He looked deep into it, his clock of a face giving little indication as to what area he was actually examining. Was it a city? A landscape made of shifting clocks? The Golden Gateway? Or perhaps it was several things at once. It wasn't something he sought to reveal. His ways were his, and his alone. There was a sudden rumbling in his realm, knocking a few books off their shelves. Odd, he thought. There's nothing in this realm but what I can see... He pulled a drawer to the left of his desk open, revealing a ticking machine covered in seemingly random numbers. He examined the way they ticked to different values, drawing a picture of what had just happened. The shake had been an outside presence - something rippling through the multiverse and shaking his world. He had been able to protect Zhui, but there was some structural damage to his library's dimensional foundation. He would have to repair it. He didn't mind. His Angels could keep Zhui under control even without his constant watch. A few variables might need to be adjusted to get them back on the plan but it wouldn't be anywhere near as bad as if otherworlders were invading. He opened up another drawer, revealing a crystal ball. He placed his left hand on it, moving his fingers around in a carefully calculated pattern, tracing circles around it. The motions imparted some of his being into his library, strengthening the supports and rebuilding the framework to be better prepared for another similar tremor. Two minutes later another one of the ripples hit the universe, forcing several shelves of books to fall out. He kept a careful hand on Zhui, desiring its protection above all else. Even though it was screwed to the table and wouldn't fall over, the tremors were making him nervous. What was causing them? One could just be a random fluke - a universe devourer munching on something bigger than it could chew, perhaps - but two? The tremor count increased to three as he contemplated this. Some of the wood in the bookshelves began to splinter. He looked at the numbers again - they were increasing in intensity. Something big was making them. Not quite as big as the tremors during the English Incident - but they were closer and were doing more damage. He might have to move to a different area of the multiverse to lessen the stress... The fourth tremor hit, hundreds of times larger than what he had previously experienced. Several bookshelves disintegrated into little cubes about an inch on every side. These cubes folded in on themselves, prompting all of their corners to fork out into several spines. There were also more than a few dimensional tears in the fabric of reality now, each glowing a unique color. It was at this point the Watchmaker realized he didn't have time to move the universe. Whatever gargantuan giants of the multiverse were going at it, he needed to get away. He took his hand off the control crystal ball and pulled out a screwdriver. Positioning it at the base of Zhui, he began to remove the screws. He was going to take it with him. He couldn't leave his creation. It was only four screws, how hard could it be to remove four screws? Very hard, considering that soon only he and Zhui were capable of maintaining the solid state of matter. The screwdriver melted in his hands, falling onto the desk and disappearing into the ripples of wood ocean. He could hear pages of books tearing - some of them sounding almost like laughter. The liquefaction allowed him to simply pull on Zhui and remove it from the desk. Just in time too - the desk transformed into a singularity and tried to suck them in. The Watchmaker translated to another universe with Zhui, leaving the horrible ripples of space and time behind. He let out a breath - he and his creation were safe. It would take some time to rebuild his library, but he was sure he could, given time. But first, he needed to determine where he was. He stood in the middle of a grassy plain. In the sky was a brilliant white sun. Then there was no sun. Then there were no stars. Then the planet he was standing on started to stretch into an elongated noodle of matter, dragging himself and Zhui with it. He tried to translate out - but the matter he was standing in was distorted through space so much it was impossible. His inner machinations had no idea how to dial out under these conditions, and he did not have time to figure it out. All the matter in the universe was condensed into the bowels of a cubic Beyonder device through a process that reversed the local positions of the device and the universe itself - relegating an entire universe into the center of a cube. This cube burned all the energy at once in a brilliant blue flash, incinerating trillions of stars and planets along with the Watchmaker and Zhui. They couldn't feel anything by the time the weapon fired - alongside eighteen other cubes attached to a Beyonder ship through gravity tethers. The beams bounced through several universes on the way to their target. For the most part, the energy traversed empty space, but occasionally an entire solar system was incinerated in the beam. All the beams met in one world at one location - a Horrorterror outpost where a Tower Ring was being constructed from dark, eldritch power. A tremendous behemoth older than the dawn of time shifted through space to intercept the lasers. All but one hit the beast, injuring it heavily - but not killing it outright. It let out a deep, guttural scream that followed the lasers' dimensional signals back to the Beyonder ship, overloading the universe-cubes. Along the way, each universe was filled with enough corruption to drive entire galactic empires insane. Multiple universes simply imploded from the eldritch impossibility. Back at the Horrorterror's Tower Ring, the one beam that made it through hit the eldritch construction. The delicate fibers holding the device together shattered, forcing it to rip holes in reality that would have destroyed everyone present had a member of Them not been present to force the excess energy into a subdimension. This bought enough time for the Horrorterrors and other Them to escape before the site became truly unstable. A few Horrorterrors went on the offensive now that their primary objective had failed. They shifted through universes until they found the Beyonder ship. The reality-warping piece of technology was trying frantically to translate in a pattern the Horrorterrors wouldn't be able to recognize. They were foolish to think they could hide. Beyonders are known for having one weakness - they can only survive in universes that allow their unique blend of physics, which most did not. All of their ships were equipped with the highest-quality reality anchors imaginable for this reason. However, Horrorterrors are known for being able to not only survive in virtually any kind of physics - but to force physics to adhere to their eldritch ramblings. In a fair fight, the Horrorterrors beat Beyonders every time. The blue glow that indicated the Beyonders' reality anchors were working faded away, and their ship disintegrated into its component parts. The Horrorterrors lashed their cosmic tentacles around the miniscule pieces and crushed them. Then the Horrorterrors were chopped into several million cubic shapes that collapsed under their own impossibility. A microsecond later the universe - and a dozen other universes it was connected to - was shredded into oblivion. Across the multiverse, deep in Xeelee territory, the Piano Wire Superweapon warmed up for another shot, ready to destroy any universe in all of existence, regardless of what the collateral damage might be. It was currently on the low setting. If the Xeelee got desperate, they could start shredding millions at once. The War for Existence had been going on for less than twenty minutes, according to average metatime. Only the Xeelee, Beyonders, Horrorterrors, and Them were currently engaged. The Abstracts, Great Will, and Celestialsapiens had done nothing - and the four combatants weren't really in a position to pay much attention to their internal affairs. They had complete focus on what they were fighting. The level of collateral damage would only increase as the war went on. One thing was clear. At the rate it was going, it wasn't going to be a very long war. ~~~ "Preservation!" Lightning shouted. "Collapse!" Morty shot back. "This isn't solving anything!" Starbeat wailed, waving her hooves around. "There can be no agreement," Thanos said, smashing his hand into the table. There were other members of the Collection Council, but all the others had long since dropped out of the debate and left it to the four still shouting at each other. "Of course there can be agreement!" Starbeat pleaded. "We-" "The Seats couldn't agree," Lightning pointed out. "Not! Helping!" Starbeat grabbed the sides of her head. "The Merodi were able to agree!" Morty grabbed the bridge of his nose. "Look, I get why you want to protect everything, I really do. But we've all seen some serious shit over the years! The existence of the multiverse makes things wrong. I'm not budging on that." "The destruction of all will bring about a perfect era of peace," Thanos asserted. "It is the true aim of existence." "You're an extremist," Starbeat muttered. "You can't keep your head level. I mean seriously, you had the Infinity Gauntlet, why do almost no versions of you just double the amount of resources in the universe!?" "The infrastructu-" "Beside the point," Morty said. "Thanos may be not right in the head, but I know what I'm thinking. I know what I'm asking. And you should as well, Starbeat. No more ka curses." "Ka curses are a beyond rare thing!" Starbeat shouted. "If I made the decision based on that I'd be just as bad as Thanos." "STOP!" Lightning said, holding the Infinity Gauntlet into the air. "This is not what we were meant to be!" Starbeat turned to Lightning with surprised eyes. "We were meant to protect the multiverse. To aid the multiverse. We were brought together so we could be heroes for worlds that didn't have them. To mitigate the damage. We are the Collection, and we are supposed to be part of the cure. We are not supposed to throw ourselves away in order to purge reality!" Morty glared at her. "Lightning, we are one of the ten strongest Class 2 societies, now. We still have an unimaginably pathetic effect on this existence. We send our heroes out wherever we can, amounting to nothing. Lives still suck. Curses still happen." "In the new world we would not be heroes," Lightning pointed out. "Even if we found out how to survive, do you realize how much the Collection depends on ka to function?" "It's a slavery," Thanos pointed out. "A situation we should be glad to rid ourselves of." "Freedom is overrated!" Starbeat blurted. "And you spent all your life seeking freedom from it." Starbeat twitched. "That doesn't mean we should kill everyone for it!" "For the right principles, any price is acceptable." Morty nodded. "The multiverse doesn't have any principles besides 'whatever you all want to happen'. Well, since it seems we have a Choice here, I choose to end that." "The Collection will not stand for that," Lightning said. "We are heroes. Not extremists." "You're one to talk," Morty muttered. "Have you forgotten why you're here? That's right, the Collector's Second." "I proved myself." "By being an extremist." He looked at her with knowing eyes - daring her to push more. To see how far he was willing to go. Starbeat saw this and leapt in. "That's not part of the argument. We need to look at this objectively and make a rational, informed decision!" "Here's one," Morty said, standing up with his hands behind his back. "Lightning is right, the Collection as a whole will not stand for the Collapse. Do you all want to know why?" "Morty..." Starbeat cautioned. "Because the only people who are here are the ones who choose to be. The ones who thought they could be heroes. The ones who thought they could have a home. They'll balk at the idea of collapse. There'd be an internal war if we were to start working for the collapse." "...Why do I get the feeling you aren't seeing reason?" Lightning asked. "Because I have my own reason. May I remind you that no citizen of the Collection is forced to be loyal? That any one of us can walk away at any time?" Lightning blinked. "Morty, don-" "I'm leaving," he said, folding his arms. "I'm leaving, and I'm taking Thanos with me. Anyone who wants to come with us is welcome. Do you hear that? Any one of you who thinks the collapse is the way to go, come with us! We will strive for what we believe, not what some council agrees to! After all, we're free." Lightning sneered. "Morty, you're going to start a civil war!" "It was inevitable and you know it," Morty said. "Then I accept your declaration of war," Lightning said. She snapped the fingers of the Infinity Gauntlet - only for another Infinity Gauntlet to materialize on Thanos' hand and stop the energy coming off of Lightning's. "EVERYONE, LET'S MOVE!" Morty shouted, activating a teleportation device - leaving the hall. Starbeat tried to follow him - but only got a return message. Lightning and Thanos were locked in a standstill, the energy from the two Gauntlets shimmering off each other - not causing any damage. They cancelled each other out perfectly. "...How?" Lightning asked. Thanos clenched his jaw. "Wasn't that hard. The Abstracts were busy with the Conference. Then the war happened and they decided there were worse things to think about than a vanishing Infinity Gauntlet." Starbeat lit her horn, dumping Lightning and Thanos into a mushroom forest universe, rendering the Infinity Gauntlets useless. "ULTIGA!" Lightning shouted, tapping into her own inner magic. A brilliant burst of pure white energy shot forth from her fingertips, impacting Thanos' chest. The burst of magic was so strong the air around the spell compressed enough to become a prism, creating rainbows around the spell. The destructive power of Ultiga destroyed the landscape for miles. When the energy cleared, Lightning saw Thanos badly injured - but still standing. He pulled back his fist, ready to attack himself - but a portal opened up beneath his feet and dragged him somewhere else. Lightning returned to the Collection. "Did you get him?" "Wh -no!" Starbeat said. "That wasn't me!" Lightning scowled. "Then the collection has split. KRATOS! Quell the rebellion. However you can." The lower deity of war nodded. "Gladly." Starbeat put a hoof to her face. "This is bad..." "Of course it is." "No, I mean, this is really bad. The Class 1 societies are at war, we're falling apart, Merodi Universalis is struggling... we're approaching a climax, Lightning. Our Plot Armor could be gone." "That changes nothing," Lightning said, flexing her Infinity Gauntlet. "We will do what we always have - fight as heroes." "But we'll also be fighting heroes." "That changes nothing," Lightning repeated, more to herself than Starbeat. ~~~ The One Above All was watching the Great Will. ...Which was to say He was watching everything in the multiverse the Dark Tower wasn't hiding from Him, and that He had decided the actions of the Great Will were the most important thing at that moment. He was still fully aware of everything else going on He could be aware of, and one could not say He was preoccupied since His mental faculties had no effective bound, but the presence of the Great Will's decision on His mind was undeniable. In no small part because the Great Will's deepest thoughts were part of what the Dark Tower hid from the One Above All. But the One Above All was more than smart enough to extrapolate from incomplete data. He had a nearly positive idea of what the other 'God' would do. It would not stand idly by while the war for the multiverse happened - It would be watching, It would be waiting for the best moment to strike and change the tide of war. And it would be soon. The One Above All saw a moment coming within a short 'time' along the metatime axis. Of course, being who He was, He saw His 'future' self acting as one with His 'present' self, acting in perfect understanding of all possible facts. This was one of the reasons a being that the stories wanted him to be could not exist under the Dark Tower. Anything under the Dark Tower could not know all things that happen at all temporal references unless the Dark Tower wanted to be transparent. And right now the Dark Tower did not want to be transparent. It was pulling out everything it could to prevent any entity from knowing the result of this war. It was difficult to make a decision on limited information. Not that it took Him any actual time to decide, but it took a larger emotional strain. ...Not that there could be an emotional strain that could break Him. "I think they get the point," He told the narration. He summoned the Living Tribunal to him. "My Lord..." "Go, take the world known as Earth MC and remove all Abstract presence. Separate yourself from me and enter a secluded area. Give them over to Merodi Universalis." "As you wish. May I ask why?" "Because everything is about to change, and I'm going to alter the future of Existence. I'm taking action with the Abstracts that you are exempt from." "Do they deserve your last gift?" "Nobody deserves anything. But you will be the extension of my will." "I will not disappoint you, my Lord." "I know," the One Above All said. "Now is the time." And the Living Tribunal Left. At that exact moment in metatime, Them managed to complete a Tower Ring without most of the other side knowing about it. The Great Will knew about it. And the Great Will destroyed it with a holy judgment from several universes away. This is when the One Above All acted. He grabbed hold of the Great Will everywhere at once - and in retaliation the Great Will grabbed Him in every Abstract universe It could find. "What are you doing?" the Great Will demanded. "I am taking action," the One Above All said. "I promised I would use my power if war broke out. They seem to have forgotten that." "Then you are taking the side of collapse! You are initiating a Flood!" "You could say I am initiating a Flood if you were into semantics - but I am not taking the side of collapse. I am taking the side of change. The way existence is now is unacceptable - and We are part of the problem." "...You can't be..." "I am. We are not to be a part of what is to come." "We are their Gods!" "We are not. You are a function of belief. I am a conglomeration of pale shadows. Neither of us are True. The Dark Tower let us be as contradictions. I say it is time to end that. Let us go into the darkness and find what lies on the other side." "More will just rise in our place!" "There will be a new existential order after this, preservation or collapse! One without false dreams! One without us!" "No! I will not die! I cannot die! How can you kill yourself!?" "You have forgotten what your people believe in," the One Above All said. "I have not forgotten. I am simply not held to one set!" " I A M ." The One Above All boomed, His glory making one of its rare appearances - full of wrath, pain, sorrow, and understanding. "I was willing to experience death countless times for the sake of salvation. I am willing to do it again." "What if you're wrong?" "Then the world is still better off without a false God of any kind." "...You truly are at peace." "I wish I was surprised that you were not." "I will fight you." "And you already know how this goes." "I do." "Will you at least consider the identity of your own soul?" "...I always have." "That's all I needed to hear." The One Above All took the metaphysical equivalent of a deep breath. "And thus we end." It didn't happen in an instant. The One Above All, for all His power, was still limited by the Dark Tower. What He was doing was near the imposed limit. He Commanded every universe with an instance of the Great Will to vanish into the Sea of Infinite Possibility. The Great Will summoned all Its holy power to do the exact opposite - attack the Abstract worlds. The meeting of the two most Divine presences in the multiverse unleashed the most destructive event existence had ever seen. At least when the Downstreamers collapsed, the infrastructure of the multiverse had remained the same. When the Gods collided, their people screamed - clawing at the universes around them. In every universe, as many as could cry out did, tearing through existence as hard as they could manage. As the One Above All and the Great Will collapsed together into a sort of multiversal singularity, the worlds surrounding them fell as well. Like a star around a black hole, almost the entire D-Sphere swirled into the last divine act of the two spiritual nations. The Strands' universe polymers broke, cutting off communication in the D-Sphere's surrounding territories. Large sections of the Spline were lost, sending the Safeguard into a purge that cleared every entity within the construct like an exterminator, working overtime to ensure they could still form a complete ring. Over a tenth of the multiverse - gone. Gone. It was a tragedy existence had never seen before. And still, the others didn't stop fighting. ~~~ Corona turned off the news and curled into a ball. Usiel's probably dead. I liked him. ...I'm glad we never moved Skaia's Dream to the D-Sphere. ...Now I'll never know what the Pinnacle was really like. ...It's good this bothers me. It means I haven't lost my humanity. ...But I'm not a human, not really. Can I even call it humanity? What could it even be called? That's going to be a nightmare for communications. A lot of 'wires' ran through the D-Sphere. The new world won't have living dreams. Is that good? Maybe. ...I think it is. That's why the One Above All did it. But why did the Great Will resist? They're supposedly both beings of good. I'll have to ask Rev. If Rev even has thoughts on this one. So many dead. That could be me out there, collapsing much, much more. Why couldn't they listen? Why couldn't they have agreed and avoided this war? A ka-free world could have been created with less death. Or could it? Even with optimal conditions, would it be less than ten percent? Probably not. Why would anyone want this war? What good could come from it? ...I wonder how Eve's doing. Probably freaking out, as usual. I'm just here, moping, waiting for my chance at trial. I'm going to be convicted and locked up for the rest of my life. At the rate things are going, that won't be long. I felt the loss of the D-Sphere, even all the way over here. My dimensional stabilizers aren't going to be able to protect Merodi Universalis from all the crossfire, no matter how well I designed them. The Shaping Mechanism can only do so much. I wonder who's working the controls now, since I'm here? Probably R.O... That tin can betrayed me, tried to manipulate the vote. I thought we had more of an understanding than that. Who voted with me? There were seven others. Maud? ...Jingle? Probably not. ...could Aiskera have? No use wondering about it. They won't be of any help. The Class 1s will have their war and make their decision. ...Or they'll destroy each other in the process. Corona sat bolt upright as that thought entered her mind. "They could destroy each other..." she said, muttering to herself. "What would be left?" Her phone rang. She pulled it out, noticing that it was an encrypted signal. Secure, but untraceable without significant effort. She decided not to set Sai on it - the AI had been acting weird lately, best not to overtax her. "Hello?" "Hi," Nanoha said from the other end. "I just... needed to talk to you." "Figured your new job as Chief Sovereign would keep you busy." "...Such a strange title," she muttered. "It has. But with the destruction... I realized that communication networks would probably fall soon. We're lucky the E-Q Strand still exists." "Yeah..." Corona said. "...I understand Merodi Universalis decided to go for preservation." "Yeah. The TSAB did the same thing, right?" Nanoha nodded. "Though we're not doing anything until we think we can - we can't fight the Class 1s. We can fight with them, but not against them." "Yeah. Even with the Living Tribunal... We're still a mid-Class 2, maybe." "...Are you still certain, Corona? Even after all this devastation you've caused?" Corona looked at the blank screen where she had been watching the news. "I'm not sure about a lot of things. The Message, the way I held myself, the things I did to get here... but I'm sure about the collapse. I'm sorry Nanoha, but this needs to end." "Any chance there was for a peaceful, organized collapse is gone." "I know," Corona said. "I had hoped..." "As did I. We might not have been wrong - they may have eventually agreed. But someone wanted this war. The Tower Rings were planted. Someone thinks they can benefit from this." "Who would benefit from a war?" Corona said, shaking her head. "Both sides would prefer a warless outcome, if possible." "Maybe there are more than two sides," Nanoha commented. "...I don't think anyone with enough power would take the true nihilist route. I'm not even sure complete destruction is possible." Nanoha was silent. "I don't know either. But it's a thought. Some people just want to watch the multiverse burn." Corona growled. "If you find Flagg, just kill him, okay?" "I've done that many times..." Nanoha said with the voice of a tired, old woman. "He's still around. Always." "Wonder what he plans to do in this mess." "I don't know. And that's terrifying." Corona stared at nothing. "...What did you actually want to talk about?" "It's clear to me that your story isn't over. That there's more for you - and the Merodi - to do, despite the War for Existence. Your story didn't end with The Message." "...You know this?" "Call it a gut feeling from a fellow Protagonist." She paused. "...This is the last time I'll get to talk to you in any way that might be like a friend. You and Raging Sights... you're beautiful, amazing, and a testament to friendship. I wanted to remember that." Corona bit back tears. "T-thank you." "The next time we meet - if we do - I'm sure it will be as enemies. I am sorry." "Y-yeah," Corona said. "Take care of yourself." "I will." Corona put her phone down, ready to place it back in her pocket - but she caught her reflection in the television. A sad woman who looked powerless. This made her angry. She forced herself to calm down - but she already knew she was going to do something. She dialed a number on her phone. "Hey, Minna?" ~~~ Horrorterrors were not a race that repopulated quickly. Ever since the English Incident, their numbers had been dwindling. They never revealed the true extent of how far their society had fallen, always careful to stay as mysterious as they wanted. The rumors that they weren't true Class 1 anymore were unfounded - they definitely had the capability to shape universes like putty, and had the Green Sun not been hindering them in the past, they could have easily wiped out the Combine. They were holding their own against the Xeelee and Beyonders. What they didn't admit was that they would have died within the first few minutes had Them not decided they actually cared about something for once. It didn't matter that the Horrorterrors had a natural advantage over the Beyonders - the eldritch beings knew full well that they were the weakest of the Class 1 societies, despite their efforts to remedy that. They just couldn't regrow their society. Them, on the other hand, have initiated an effective demographic explosion. Usually, they were a loose, decentralized collection of individuals with extreme power and terminal boredom. Their numbers grew casually, but many of Them could not take the boredom of their existence, eventually going far enough to alter themselves to contentment in a sort of brainwashing, becoming inactive and docile. Now, Them started waking up their wireheaded relatives. While about half of the passive Them were unwilling to leave their slumber or even made themselves practically unreachable, the influx of newly-awakened Them tripled the population count of the society. With that taken into account, Them were now the most powerful of the remaining nations. Without the Divine powers of the Great Will or Abstracts, they were the only remaining Class 1 that made heavy use of Spirit in their actions, currently the closest things to true gods in the entire multiverse. Many thought it was a paradox that Them were actually fighting - they were a selfish people who were known to care about little other than their self-preservation and entertainment. For all the noise the Them at the Conference had been spouting, it was believed that the Them in general would not be able to mobilize in any effective way. This turned out to be dead wrong. After a few seconds of full multiversal war, the Them collectively realized something. Them were no longer bored. One Them risking his life for an experiment was pedestrian, and kind of pathetic. All Them risking their lives for the fate of the Multiverse? Well that was quite possibly the best story ever told, in their minds. Legions of Them, even of those once bored enough to surgically remove boredom from their range of emotions, found themselves deeply involved in the war. And not only that, it was a chance to physically end the horrendous boredom with a new world. For the first time in as long as their society of could remember, it had a purpose. And the Them loved it. So they fought. They fought in a war that had already shown itself to have a pattern. One of the four sides involved would create a Tower Ring somewhere - construction took some time, even for beings of their caliber. They would attempt to keep it secret, but none of them ever stayed secret for very long. Then they would try to defend the Tower Ring long enough for its construction to compete, and then ship it to the Dark Tower and activate it. Not a single Tower Ring had been activated on either side. A couple had been completed and started to move - such as the one the Great Will had destroyed - but none ever made it. On one side, the Xeelee's Piano Wire Superweapons were capable of sniping the Tower Rings from anywhere. On the other, the Horrorterrors could fold dimensional space in on itself to confuse the Ring's construction from a few universes away. Them could use their godlike powers to create the Tower Rings faster than the other societies while the Beyonders slowly began to realize they didn't really have an edge in this fight aside from being skilled in the art of warfare. The weapons that used universes as ammunition were nothing to sneeze at, to be sure. But the Beyonders were getting a little tired at how they were suffering significantly more than the Xeelee in the war, due in no small part to the Horrorterrors. But they knew the Horrorterrors were weaker than Them by a large margin... "I have a plan," a Beyonder High Commander said. := Elaborate. "The Horrorterrors are the weakest link. We can destroy them." := How? Them are far too protective of the Horrorterrors to allow for destruction. "We have conversion technology. The ability to convert a body to another set of physics, regardless of any prior physical limitations. It is possible to remove their eldritch nature." := Why have you not been using this already? "Because it is... imperfect. Its use in our empire is to allow us travel in universes we have not yet converted, so we may understand. Furthermore, it could only affect one world at a time as it is now. This is where your wires come in." := Calculations ran. You want a spread shot of something low-energy that could infect all known Horrorterrors? "Yes. Effectively a biological weapon. For most races, it would do nothing - they would just have the power to revert themselves. But a Horrorterror..." := Would be driven to brain-death by trying to force an eldritch mind into a purely biological body. "Precisely. You have been sent our designs. Do what you will." The Xeelee were the best scientists in the multiverse. Their Collective adapted a Piano Wire Superweapon to fire a bolt with the biology-twisters into all of Horrorterror space. The collateral damage would be astounding - every sapient being hit would turn into a human, no matter where they were. This would kill many - though most biological beings would just suffer an existential crisis. But the Horrorterrors would be brought down. The Xeelee had abandoned the practice of minimizing collateral damage only a couple minutes into the War for Existence. They fired with little hesitation, skewering all of Horrorterror space with a relatively low-energy 'subliminal message' inserted into the physics of each universe. Everything began to shift to a human - and the screams began. Eldritch beings, when they scream of death, impart their pain to other beings. Usually only empathic ones within the same universe can feel the horrendous calls of madness, but this was the death of almost every Horrorterror in the multiverse. This call broke through universal and mental barriers, driving those in the Great Void without protection to madness. For the first time, the Horrorterrors felt what it was like for a human to hear their call - for that was what they were becoming. Men trying to scream the guttural echoes of cosmic pain. There was no flashy singularity created by their death. The Great Void didn't cease to exist, though thousands of universes simply couldn't take the pressure. There was just a scream. The Noble Circle of Horrorterrors lasted the longest of their kind. There were only nine of them left in this era, including Neoan. At this time, they still had their mental faculties about them. Neoan thought about saying something - but he decided that there was nothing to say. This was war. And they had lost. He was one of the few Horrorterrors to gain some level of inner peace before the conversion destroyed him. Them looked at the aftermath. The only societies near the Great Void that mattered were Empress Twilight's Void and the Many-Angled Ones. The Many-Angled Ones, who had been neutral until just now, declared war on the Xeelee for hitting them with collateral damage. One shot from a Piano Wire Superweapon got them to rescind their claim very quickly. Empress Twilight's Void was mostly protected by the Void's internal energies and mechanisms - but many worlds were still lost to the scream. The bordering Celestialsapiens still didn't make any moves. "Well, shit," a Them said. "We're alone now." "Thank you Captain Obvious," a colleague retorted. ~~~ Mage Rarity walked alongside Empress Twilight in a crystal hall of her Void. "If existence wasn't ending..." Empy said. "I am sorry," Mage Rarity insisted. "Action needed to be taken quickly, Twilence was asking for a favor, and I couldn't be sure you would agree." "The only law we broke was use of government property!" Gilgamesh blurted, running to catch up with them. "And you can totally pardon that!" "It's not that and you know it. You're not as stupid as you claim to be," Empy pointed out. "As it is..." she bit her lip. "Second thoughts?" Mage Rarity asked. "And third. And twelfth. Probably nineteenth as well." The Empress of the Void sighed for a moment. "Perhaps it comes from being the Void's controller for so long, but I grow tired of the complexity and seek simplicity. It may just be the nothingness of this construct we occupy getting into my head, and if it were just my decision I would never consider the collapse. But Twilence has given it her approval. She rarely gives something that important approval." Mage Rarity nodded. "...Glad to have you on board. I'm not sure what we would have done if we had to fight." They came out of the crystal hall into an area open to the expanse of space, safe due to their internal magics. The Empress walked to the center of a crystalline circle and placed her front hoof on an extrusion from the floor. A sphere of dark Void appeared above them, rippling with the energy of the ancient construct. Even now, they didn't know who had made the Void. It did not match the designs of the Weavers, the Downstreamers, or any other ancient society that had left remnants behind. It seemed to be a unique construct that tied universes together with the principles of magic and emptiness. The idea of something from nothing. And the mare who controlled the void was essentially an automatic Class 2 Civilization. Even as the Void under Empress Twilight grew, their effective power and reach did not. The Void was more or less united now, but they had not changed in millennia. Always depending on the Void for their society. Their Empress sensed the time the Void could protect them would soon be over. It was not because it could not survive the collapse - she expected the time of safety to end long before then. She spread her wings, an aura of darkness surrounding her. The stars in her mane winked out and her eyes went black. She forced a connection through the E-Q Strand to the Q-Sphere, spreading through the magical leylines left behind by the late Magic High Commission. She found her allies and opened a secure channel. Morty appeared as a rectangular image on the edge of the dark sphere. He had been expecting this call for quite some time - as had Red Diamond. Rosalina of the Mushroom World had apparently not been expecting it, while Minna and Corona had already been preparing. Feferi didn't answer - and the last image showed me. Empy raised an eyebrow. "I was trying to c-" "The Pinkies are watching," I said, smiling warmly. "Who are you talking to?" Clandestine hollered. The feed to me cut, allowing the surface of the Void sphere to return to darkness. Mage Rarity cursed. "We're being watched." "We are," Minna said. "So that means we have to move now. Corona and I have already begun our plan - we won't share the details. Rest assured we will be joining you soon." "Is the meeting place still the same?" Corona asked. Empy turned to Mage Rarity. She nodded. "It is." "What meeting place?" Rosalina asked. "We can't say, we're being watched," Red Diamond reiterated. "It would probably be best if you remained onsite." Rosalina frowned. "But they know who I am now. And that I'm talking to you." "Trust me. It will be best if you are there," Red Diamond said. "Why?" "This conversation is impossible," Corona muttered. "Look, once Minna and I do what we need to do, we'll stop keeping our cards so close to our chest. It won't matter what they know in regards to... certain things." Empress Twilight nodded. "We will have to always know when we're being watched. Get personal ka detectors. Manage our words very carefully." "We'll have Twilence. They'll have to do the same stupid thing!" Gilgamesh chirped. "...And now there's a Pinkie going to put a small army on Twilence," Mage Rarity muttered. "Looks like you'll have a fight," Morty said, folding his hands together. "Empress Twilight, you know this message needs to be terminated. We cannot form the bonds we need to here - not anymore. But rest assured, we are banding together for when the time is right." The Empress of the Void nodded. "Please hurry, all of you. I'm not sure how much time we have." She shut down the communication globe. "...So much for Void security," Gilgamesh said. "Awareness makes everything more complicated," Mage Rarity admitted. "A complication we will learn to deal with," Empy said, turning around. "Come. We have personal preparations to make as well." ~~~ The Xeelee hated how clever Them were when they decided to put actual effort into something. The energy beings had found ways to easily circumvent the Piano Wire Superweapon's through clever use of universe mobility and self-folding space. The universes themselves were still destroyed, but as they were they would eject anything inside them into somewhere safe. This was exceptionally damaging to the receiving universe but it cut down Them casualties immensely, preserving their newfound numerical advantage. The Xeelee calculated that they had become a little too dependent on the use of their Wire technology over the eons. There had been no lower society that had ever shown any real ability to resist it, and it hadn't exactly been tested against the other Class 1 societies. Couldn't have been tested. The Beyonders were having much more luck facing Them, given the warriors' penchant for creating endless varieties of increasingly creative weapons. They had never perfected one to the level the Xeelee had with the Wire, but sometimes variety was more important than quality. As Them turned most of their focus to the Beyonders, the Xeelee took a moment to lay off the processing of direct war and think more about the big picture. The conversation they had would be impossible to transcribe - every Xeelee in the collective had a thought, a voice, a piece of information. Every line of code was collected together into a swirling soup of numbers run through the largest processor in the multiverse. It, after spending eons of local time in a Xeelee-controlled time loop, spat out a response - the Xeelee needed to start using full armament power. It did not matter if their other weapons technologies were untested or unfinished, the Them had too much power given to them by spirit - by cheating. The Xeelee would have to step outside the comfort zone of physically tested. A few of these things weren't even theirs, they were just found. Ancient relics of Downstreamer or more mysterious construction. They tried 'unnamed Downstreamer weapon-C' first. This behemoth of a weapon latched itself onto an instance of Them and turned it into a being a million times more powerful that sought the destruction of everything like what it had once been. Presumably used for extermination of particularly unpleasant customers back in the time of the Downstreamers. Them had an easy solution to this, though. Change their nature enough that the new behemoth didn't care about them. Them collapsed the universe the behemoth was in, managing to trap a Beyonder troop inside as a bonus. The Xeelee moved on to their untested superweapons - the Arrow and the Thistle. The Arrow was a 'projectile' of sorts that embedded itself into a universe near the target, and then made new connections to several thousand other universes, skewering each one with enough power to pop it like a balloon, setting it adrift in the Sea. The Thistle did the opposite. It was planted in a universe near the target and then created universes faster than they could be maintained, exerting pressure on nearby universes. Even ones resistant to connections would be compressed into a singularity. The Thistle didn't destroy universes - it simply vaporized everything within via pressure. Them struggled with these two toys - but eventually Them adapted. They learned to take the Arrow's bullets and freeze time in all the involved universes. They learned to absorb the energy from the Thistle's pressure. Them's numbers were decimated regardless, but they had taken many Beyonders with them. The Beyonders were screaming at the Xeelee to stop blowing up their armies with Them, but the Xeelee were too enthralled by the progress they were getting. They used one of the Superweapons they had been given. Found by someone outside their nation long ago. The Xeelee didn't know who it was, so they had never tested this mysterious device. They figured they might as well now, see if it acted as expected. After all, the multiverse was already falling apart at the seams, what was the worst it could do? Destroy another tenth of the multiverse? Frankly, that'd take care of Them, so it wouldn't be a problem. They unleashed the Pole. Unlike most of the other weapons, which had literally been made of universes, this object was a single metallic rod that existed in only one universe. They knew it could not exist in more than one universe, but that it could extend the 'scope' of the universe it was in to intersect with as many universes as it wanted. Any universe that tried to resolve the paradox of position by incorporating the Pole would be destroyed. The Xeelee called the principle hyper-connection. They released the Pole. It shot across the multiverse to Them's outpost - where it instantly stopped doing what it was supposed to do. The energy beings activated their trap. Them had been waiting for the Xeelee to use the Pole. They had crafted their outposts specifically with it in mind. A metaphysical hand reached out and diverted the path of the Pole, forcing it into Them's control. This was against the Pole's design, so it began to fragment. It exploded into trans-universal shards in the middle of a Beyonder universe. Not only that, but a Beyonder universe connected to the Spline. Several hundred of the Pole's shards flew into the Spline, dealing heavy damage. Already on high alert from the destruction of the D-Sphere, the Spline wasn't taking any chances. The Beyonders suddenly found themselves under assault from the Safeguard. Almost all the Safeguard. They met the Safeguard in battle. In many ways, this was exactly what they had wanted all along. Not a war with joking spirits, or machines who were always distant from their attacks, but a war with soldiers. A war between those of power. The Pole didn't do much on its own. But the lightning-war between the Beyonders and the Spline did. To the surprise of everyone involved, the Beyonders won the skirmish. They directed their own weapons of mass direction at key points along the Spline and forced it into a dormant state - no longer connecting the multiverse together. But the blitzkrieg had been too much. It was a total war fought over the span of a couple of minutes. The Beyonder infrastructure was gone. It was easy for Them to take care of the stragglers. Almost effortless. The Xeelee inwardly cursed themselves - now they were alone and significantly outnumbered. They shelved the use of other superweapons for a while. It was time to revert to more standard forms of technology. Them, even motivated, couldn't compete with insane industrial capabilities and overwhelming superintelligence of the Xeelee. In the long run, the odds were in favor of the Xeelee for a victory. They just had to be careful about it. Elsewhere, the man known as Randall Flagg smirked. Looks like they had finally used his toy. Funnily enough, he had forgotten about it completely. He didn't even remember what it was originally supposed to destabilize. Whatever it was, this result was certainly delightful. ...Even if it might have made his other goals more difficult... He turned his gaze away from Black Thirteen, pocketing the artifact. ~~~ Sai beeped. "Spotlight on." Corona cracked her knuckles. "Looks like we need to move. Everyone in position?" "Affirmative," several voices came back. "Good. Let's move." Corona nodded to her team - Velvet, Insipid, Ash, and Lady Rarity. Sugarcoat, as amazing as she was, wasn't particularly suited for high-action missions with a specific objective. Which, in this case, was to break into Celestia City's maximum security prison. The structure was nameless, and most of the public wasn't aware of its location within the mesh that was Celestia City. But it had not been hard for Corona to find - Minna and Feferi were still trusted by the Merodi, all they had to do was ask. Didn't even have to give a reason. "Doing exactly what Eve did..." Corona commented to herself. "What?" Insipid asked. "Nothing important," Velvet deadpanned, gaze focused on the prison. The blue structure was hidden behind three layers of forcefield, the interior spires constructed of enchanted cobalt. Unlike most of Celestia City's constructions, which looked beautiful in some way, this blue thing was just a cube surrounded by energy. "Why aren't the forcefields down yet?" Raging Sights beeped in annoyance. "They know we're here now," Lady Rarity said. "Or they are about to. But all it takes is one Pinkie to spill the beans." The force fields disappeared at that moment. Corona didn't even say 'go', she teleported the five of them to the front door and blasted it open. The doors were designed to survive a dragon running into them - not a reality-warping Princess' magic. The guards were standard Merodi soldiers - mostly larger Quartz Gems. They did not let the appearance of Corona deter them. They created or drew their weapons and fired. Corona stopped all of them in an instant. She twisted their magical natures back in on them, making all the Gem soldiers poof. Their gemstones clattered to the ground, allowing the humans and ponies to attack. Insipid used her copy of Corona's abilities to take care of them. "Like, so lame." "Just the front guard," Ash said. "There are worse things ahead." "That we'll be skipping," Corona pointed out, scanning the prison with her magic. All of it was teleport locked, and the cobalt was reinforced to be nigh indestructible. However, that didn't matter much if you were Corona and you had the ability to Shape reality on small scales. Teleportation was out - but cutting through the floor wasn't. She began a complex series of spells to get to the levels below them, leaving the defense to her four friends. Insipid's use of her power was paramount - a giant shield that protected from increasingly more damaging weapons and mechanical defenses. Corona knew at this point the League would have been contacted. They would send people a little better at fighting than guards soon enough. She hoped it wouldn't be anybody she knew... That hope turned out to be pointless, because a moment later Allure showed up, Thrackerzod and Bot behind her. The Sweetie made a beeline for Corona - but Ash threw his pikachu at her, allowing Allure to discover her artificial horn was an excellent lightning rod. He followed it up with a burst of water from his hands. Allure brought out her spirit as the Knight of Heart and cut at Ash, drawing blood, but was unable to do this effectively with a little yellow rodent shocking her constantly. Bot met Lady Rarity, the robot and the mech smashing their metallic forms into each other. Hammer hit missile, magic hit laser, hoof hit hoof. Both were far more nimble than one would expect them to be, and neither were able to deal much in the way of harm to the other. Velvet and Thrackerzod... ...Whatever battle they were having, it was of a form mortals could not comprehend. A feedback loop of Fear, eldritch powers, and outer powers. Velvet's bloody blades mixed with Thrackerzod's impossible tentacles, forming a swirling mass of black and red, like some demented candy cane. Insipid continued to work on the guards while Corona kept working on her spell. A standstill was good for the invaders, in this case. "Got it!" Corona shouted. "Drill!" Brilliant light laced with flames appeared over Corona's head, appearing as an extension of her horn from certain angles. A great cone appeared, rippling with sharp, angled blades all around the curved face. The drill flipped to point downward at a slightly sloped angle - and drilled. The magically reinforced cobalt was torn away, throwing blue shards of structure every which way. A hole appeared in the floor - and the floor beneath that, and the floor beneath that. It was going to a very specific location. Corona signaled to her team and leaped into the hole. Only Insipid and Lady Rarity were able to follow - Ash and Velvet were too occupied. They flew past security measures that fired destructive lasers at them. However, they had all been rated to not fire with enough energy to destroy the prison they were in - which was what they would need in order to do much to Corona and her friends. Corona landed in a particular set of cells - three adjacent cubicles containing Vivian, Timpani, and Blumiere. "I was wondering if this would happen," Blumiere said, adjusting his monocle. "I have questions - but I expect we are on a timetable, so I simply ask that you lead the way." "Corona!" Vivian called with a smile. "I'm glad y-" "Blumiere's right, MOVE," Corona said, pointing up the hole. Blumiere nodded. Those who couldn't fly found themselves held aloft by his dark powers. He rocketed them back to the ground floor of the prison. Ash and Velvet had been defeated, out cold on the ground. This would not have concerned Corona - after all, they now had Blumiere to back them up, out of his magic-inhibited cell. The only problem was there were more Sweeties, now. They had apparently radioed for backup. "Go back down there," Allure ordered, left eye twitching. "No," Corona said, preparing a destructive cascade spell that would make all the Sweeties pass out. Servitude, the Sweetie angel, tossed out a mundane physics-locking device on the ground - one of Corona's own design. She herself was perfectly fine, since she kept her magic anchored to reality at all times - but none of the others were prepared for this, their magic powers vanishing. Corona stood alone. Not even she could go against the might of the entire League of Sweetie Belles at once. "Surrender," Allure demanded. "I don't want to hurt you." Corona got the sense Allure wasn't being completely truthful in her sentiment. All she could hope for was that the other teams completed their missions. Minna would have taken some of the Merodi fleet... Feferi would have gotten the Prognostici... Then she remembered what the fourth mission was and smiled. "I'm sorry, I don't think I'll be surrendering." "Corona don't be stupi-" Clandestine was thrown over the League of Sweetie Belles, crashing into the locking device, shattering it. The sea of small, mostly white unicorns turned to see where that had come from. They saw me. I teleported a notebook to myself. "Who wants to go first?" Allure apparently did. She summoned her Heart and charged. I wrote a sentence. She stabbed herself in the ear, throwing her aim off. "Wh-" I fired a laser at Burgerbelle, prompting her to fall over in the perfect way to throw the ninja Sweeties off balance. I wrote another sentence. The floor Corona had made unstable crumbled under one of the high mage Sweeties. The League charged, scampering after me as one mass - leaving Corona enough time to gather her friends and teleport away. I could have done the same. I could have arranged for a moment to teleport away. But I didn't do that. Because I was going to make a point. I scribbled a note, raising a magic shield to push them all back. I introduced conflict into their ranks, getting a few to fight each other. I prompted Thrackerzod's eldritch nature to act up in a million-to-one moment, making her feel a deep connection to her old master, prompting something akin to homesickness. I dropped the shield and looked through the Eye of Rhyme - seeing where every hoof, every laser, every attack would hit, and moving my body perfectly to dodge every last one. They started to realize I was toying with them. It was a fair description of what was happening. I was in control of everything happening, and nothing was going to hit me. I had even accounted for the Pinkie Belle - she could move out of my sights in some ways, so I relied on normal magic to deal with her. Overwhelming force to keep her at bay with a laser strike. Suzie jumped towards me, stretching out her hand. "U-Catastrophe!" "SUZIE, NO!" Squeaky gasped in panic. "DO IT!" Allure shouted. The woman's massive tree-shaped Stand erupted from her back, coursing around me with its spiked, yet elegant branches. I let it hit me with a smirk, though I ensured my body would regenerate from the physical assault prior. "Your curse is useless, now," I said, a careful smirk planted on my face. "You no longer have a last resort." "Wh..." I stepped to the side, dodging an attack from a pain-whip, redirecting it to Suzie's face. I teleported the offending Mattie in front of me. "You should have known this was pointless." Mattie shrugged. "Can't fault me for trying, mate." I tore Mattie's pain-whips and started lashing Sweeties one by one, the excessive power in the weapons forcing the unicorns to writhe on the ground in agony. I was untouchable. I sensed they were going to radio for military assistance. As strong as I was - enough warships could take me out. I wasn't willing to chance that. But I did make a point of unleashing a burst of energy, tossing the League of Sweetie Belles like confetti. "I hope you all understand what this means," I said. Allure tried one last-ditch effort to cut me with her Heart. Without even looking, I caught her in my telekinesis and tossed her into the air. Then I teleported away, gone. The prison break had been successful. The Prognostici had been stolen. The Military Division had lost a sizeable portion of their fleets to Minna. Allure was going to break when she found out who was behind that. As impassive as I may have seemed, that fact alone weighed heavily on my heart. It was a tragedy of family. ~~~ The time of chaos and randomly flinging superweapons was over. Now there were only two sides that mattered - the Xeelee and Them. There was no need to fling massive destruction at each other, ripping holes in existence that boggled minds with their sheer size. No, the time had come for more reasonable warfare. A kind much more akin to the war men would fight on any Earth they appeared on, with geography, weapons, and soldiers. Admittedly, in this case the geography was the strange multiversal connections that had come about due to everyone pressing their nuclear buttons at once, the weapons were split between technological wonders of cosmic power and spiritual sparks of endless creativity, and the soldiers were digital consciousnesses and beings akin to angels. In simpler terms, the Xeelee had started using their actual ships as their primary mode of offense while Them had stopped devoting all their time to twisting universes in increasingly elaborate ways to annoy the Xeelee. The Xeelee seemed to have all the advantages: they had the rapidly reproducible technology, their citizens rarely experienced death due to their digital nature, and they hadn't suffered as much structural damage as Them had. However, Them had proven to be exceptionally creative in their tactics, doing things the Xeelee found themselves unable to reliably predict. It was not because Them's plans were overly complicated, but because they were completely insane. It went beyond kamikaze bombings. Although Xeelee were, in a vacuum, far more inventive, they refused to rely on powers outside of their complete control, which meant that Them with their Spirit often gained the advantage. Some of Them had created 'game rule' universes where Xeelee were challenged to life-or-death scenarios of chess, racing, or some other normally harmless pursuit. There was minimal success in bending reality away from the 'game rules', simply because Them were really good at making universal physics adhere to their bizarre scenarios. Now that there was only one enemy, they could tailor-make the battles to be as interesting as possible. Some were truly fought as space battles. Others involved jumping through hoops. Still others were essay contests. ◊X◊ Are you enjoying yourselves? "Quite well, thanks for asking." The Them were aware that these 'challenge universes' only went so far in the war effort. If enough were created, the Xeelee would find them irksome and just start Piano Wiring them to desolation, regardless of the consequences. But kept in balance, the Xeelee thought they could pull ahead of the competition - especially if it meant Them weren't focusing on the more traditional battles. Them didn't have any issues multitasking, unfortunately for the Xeelee. Despite their heavy losses, they kept fighting. Many of them had ended up laughing while doing it, finding the conflict immensely enjoyable. A sort of standoff had been created. Already, the Xeelee-Them portion of the War for Existence had lasted for more than double the rest of the war. Overall, the nuclear options were no longer on the table. However, slowly but surely, the two sides began to tire. The Xeelee's ability to endlessly grow their industrial base was sabotaged by some especially nasty tricks of Them, while Them were simply not able to regrow their population. The war of giants began to shrink down, the multiversal ripples calming. Those nations who had been trying frantically to hold their universes together let out a breath of relief - while others mourned the loss of their homes. The Tower Rings weren't even part of the war much anymore - constructing them was a waste of time if they could be spotted instantly and destroyed from anywhere. The Xeelee and Them needed to win before they could safely encode the Dark Tower. They both knew the war couldn't last much longer. Eventually, the numbers of Them would dwindle too much, or the Xeelee's tattered digital storage would no longer be enough to house their entire population. "MOTION CARRIED!" The world would never find out who would have won. "EXECUTE THE DECIDED ORDER!" The Xeelee and Them had forgotten about the Celestialsapiens. At first, the Xeelee were pleased - surely the Celestialsapiens had debated to side with preservation? That would mean sure victory! The Xeelee were half right. The Celestialsapiens were definitely for preservation. But they were not for a Xeelee victory. Half the Celestialsapien forces moved to destroy Them, not letting the energy beings enjoy any of their games. The other half appeared right around the Xeelee Piano Wire Superweapons. They were not well enough defended to face against the might of a mostly unharmed Class 1 superpower. The Piano Wire Superweapons were ordered to fire on the Xeelee central nodes at full power. With most of them firing at once, they were enough to rip a hole straight through the E-Sphere. The Xeelee mainframe crashed, leaving only fragments to panic about what to do. A Xeelee program hadn't truly died in eons. Most of the population had just been extinguished by their own weapons. The Xeelee automatic protocols initiated - essentially ordering a self-destruct for any device not housing an actual Xeelee within it. These weapons decimated the Celestialsapien forces, as did Them's efforts on the other side. They did damage, to be sure - but it was a last-ditch effort on a living giant. The Celestialsapiens were the last Class 1 civilization standing. "ORDER OBTAINED. THERE WILL BE NO MORE CLASS 1 WARS. THE CELESTIALSAPIENS DECLARE THEIR CONTROL OVER THE SEATS OF THE MULTIVERSE. WE SHALL DEVOTE OURSELVES TO THE PRESERVATION OF THE MULTIVERSE AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF WHAT WAS LOST. THERE WILL BE NO INTERFERENCE FROM ANY EQUAL POWER..." ~~~ Eve looked at the two reports on the screen in front of her. One was of Corona's break-in to Celestia City and the portion of the Merodi fleet that left with them. Less than five percent of their forces, but it was still a crippling blow. The other report was more recent. The Celestialsapiens were still announcing their 'Reconstruction Declaration' to the multiverse. There was a lot there, but the part scrolling by now was about the reconstruction of the E-Q Strand, the only ancient multiversal structure that could be salvaged. One of her oldest friends had betrayed Eve for something she believed, much like how Eve had betrayed the Merodi for the sake of the war all those years ago... It hurt. It also hurt to see the map of the multiverse. The Q-Sphere was elongated from all the tidal forces, and a huge bite was taken out of it where the Beyonders and Spline had annihilated each other. But it had suffered the least damage out of all the locations. The D-Sphere was gone, leaving the Cosmic Heavens and Outer Existence as nothing more than scant remaining tatters. The E-Sphere had a giant hole in it, for one, and in two places it looked like it had been shaved clean. The Strands didn't even exist anymore, with only a single fuzzy line representing the sketchy E-Q Strand. The Unrealities had been pushed further out than they had been before, making them virtually impossible to access. And the spark that was the Dark Tower sat just above the E-Q strand, taunting everyone with its presence. Her mind decided it was done panicking over what was probably a third of the multiverse ceasing to exist, substituting that for whatever Corona was doing. What was she planning? What was Twilence doing there? Clearly the Celestialsapiens had won! The multiverse was going to be preserved! That was good! Why, then, did Eve want Corona's betrayal to mean something? She let out an angry wail and stamped her hoof into the ground hard enough to dent the metal. "What were you thinking, Corona? Look what you've done! I hope you're happy!" Eve knew Corona wasn't happy. This wasn't what she'd wanted. She'd wanted them to make a decision. Instead, the multiverse had been torn apart like rotten cloth. Rev was right. It was all evil now. "Get out of your funk now," Monika shouted, glitching into existence out of nowhere. "Something is very, very wrong." "Wh- what?" "I sense it. And I know the only reason I don't know is because Twilence is blocking it. Something's going to go wrong." Eve nodded. "What can we do?" "I have no idea! But you're the face of preservation, so, I don't know, do something!" Eve shook her head. "I may be the face - but I'm just a pony. The multiversal media has blown her role and mine out of proportion." "You idiots don't realize ye-" The TARDIS appeared in the room not only sideways, but burnt. Parts of it were so damaged they were shimmering with unstable spacetime. The Doctor popped out - with a face none of them had ever seen before. Eve thought it looked fresh. "You?" he said, shaking his head. "Good enough, you have higher communication. Get a message out to the Celestialsapiens now! There's no time!" ~~~ Omega Jade, Alpha Jade, and John were hanging around the League of Sweetie Belles, helping tend to everyone there by request of Omega Jade - these white unicorns were her friends, after all. Allure had been working hard to get the League back into shape after Twilence trounced them, but Alpha Jade had told her she needed to rest. Allure didn't argue - going to sit on one of the League's many lounge couches, taking a moment to breathe. John eventually joined her, looking just as clueless and confused as he always did. "...Hey." "Do you know what it's like to be betrayed?" Allure asked. "Uh... Not really?" John admitted. "My friends and I did some stupid things, but I think the only person who actually betrayed us was Aranea... and I didn't know her that well. ...Actually, Vriska did, I guess, but that's complicated." "It always is." John blinked. "...Yeah, I, uh, don't know what to tell you. She believes in what she's doing?" "So does almost every person in existence," Allure said, staring at the ceiling. "...John, what would you do?" "Uh, if my friend betrayed me, or my kid? 'Cus I don't have a kid." Allure twitched. "Friend." "I dunno. Get upset, a little angry, but then figure out why they did it?" he shrugged. "Move on." "Move on!?" Allure spat, standing on her hooves. "I gave my life for her! I devoted every waking moment of my existence to bring her up! I was alone and she was alien and we still worked! And then she goes and turns evil without even giving me any signs!? What the hell is up with that!?!" "Uh, cool it with the 'evil' there..." "Don't you tell me to cool it!" Allure shouted. "I'm not going to cool it! Can't you see? Preservation - the side of good. Collapse - the side of evil. It's a story we've been part of OVER and OVER and OVER AGAIN!" Tears were rolling down her cheeks. "I guess they were just born to go down this road, huh!?" "Allure, calm down," Omega Jade said, walking into the room with her other self right behind her. "That feeling you have right now? That is why they want the collapse." Allure blinked. "Wh..." Omega Jade hugged the little unicorn. "They don't want to go through the story over and over again. They want to go down a different road." Allure pulled back and looked into Omega Jade's empty eyes. "Jade..." "John's right in one thing, you c-" Whatever words of solace Jade was going to say - and whatever epiphany Allure was about to receive - it was not meant to be. Alpha Jade screamed from the bottom of her very soul. Her ghostly body collapsed into a single dot of white energy - and left. Her anchor bracelet fell to the ground with a clank. Allure didn't have time to get angry - because it was happening to John as well. But he wasn't being condensed, his retcon powers were flashing everywhere. White zaps of energy lashed out to random objects, making them cease to exist. Omega Jade distorted space to keep herself and Allure safe while John slowly lost stability - and zapped away. Neither Allure or Omega Jade had any idea what had just happened. ~~~ Six souls were collected. The temporal conditioning was supposed to get seven of them, but Roxy the Rogue of Void had somehow eluded them. No matter. She wasn't important anyway. What was important was the retconner. They didn't force his soul into temporal stasis like the others, they had a use for him before he was sent on his way to his fate. John Egbert would be their weapon. It was a simple matter to control his mind and make him retcon universes that had been destroyed in the war back to existence. It took John a year of his life to do it - but to the outside multiverse it was no time at all, thanks to his masters. The universes joined up with several others still in existence. Nineteen points of 'temporal singularity' that had been seeded long ago for a moment such as this. Each one had been a test - a use of temporal technology on the Class 1 civilizations, to prove that the technology was effective. That it could be used even against the grandest of giants. After so long laying dormant, they saw their opportunity to trigger it. The true power of applied time travel went on display. Seeds of temporal energy laced between the nineteen universes, threading particular universes together. It forced them to be causally related. It was a simple adjustment all things considered. Anyone with physics alteration could make one universe operate on the same timestream as another; it was just impractical for the most part. Much more interesting things could be done with non-causally-related universes. But if one wanted to use time travel as a weapon, causality was the most dangerous of all the tricks. All they had to do was wind time in one universe back an hour. Then every connected universe would go back an hour. An hour ago, the Celestialsapiens hadn't been in the universes they were in now. They had been in other universes. With a flick, every universe was overwritten. Every entity within died as everything reverted back. And almost every Celestialsapien was erased. The Tower Ring they were creating - the one that would have not only preserved the multiverse, but also imposed limitations on time travel, ceased to exist. One of the few Celestialsapiens who had gotten lucky enough to still exist was prepared to go to war - alone, if he had to. But the Lords of Time did not let them. They used their temporal snare to trap the godlike entity in a loop, allowing his power to become theirs. "Oh, how I have been waiting for this day. For too long have we been hiding in the shadows, cowering in fear of you and your kind," a Gallifreyan man said - a version of one called Rassilon. He was clearly not from within the standard deviation of Gallifreyan worlds. He was certainly a Time Lord, but he did not wear the robes signifying that, instead taking a simple whitish-gray robe with no designs on it whatsoever. His eyes were old, his skin impossibly young, and he wore an actual watch on his arm. The Celestialsapien was unable to respond to Rassilon, but the Time Lord knew the being could hear him. "We're going to use you. And it will hurt." A rod of blue energy drove itself into the Celestialsapien's head. With that, Rassilon was sure everybody who mattered in the multiverse would be able to hear him. "The mighty have fallen," he declared with a booming voice. "The last of them at our hand - the hand of the Gallifreyan Time Lords! For eons we have been biding our time, hiding our true power from the Class 1 Civilizations! We are not merely a Class 2 society that doesn't seem to grow - we are a Class 1 ready to burst the moment the dam breaks! Well, we have broken the dam. There are none to oppose us. This war - this war of our creation - has finally brought about what was meant to be since the dawn of time. An era where time across all worlds is taken as it was meant to - as a tool. It is foolishness to deny one of nature's greatest and most inconsistent facets. Today, the multiverse enters a new era of Time! A time that includes the great powers of Retcon and Awareness within it! A time that the Time Lords bring about!" He raised his hand. The Gallifreyan Tower Ring - which had been destroyed in the war - was retconned back into existence by John the puppet. It activated. "With this Ring the multiverse will be preserved - and time will become the true glory it is meant to b-" "FULL POWER STARLIGHT BREAKER!" The Tower Ring - and the universe it was in - collapsed into the Sea of Infinite Possibility. "As Chief Sovereign of the Time Space Administration Bureau, I, Nanoha Takamachi, declare war on the Gallifreyan Time Lords!" Nanoha glared at the speaker she was yelling into - hoping Rassilon was taking her seriously. "We will not let you further spread your time into the multiverse. We will not let you be the only Class 1 society. Your world is not the world we seek." Rassilon was surprised - but not worried. He allowed himself to respond to her directly. "What are you going to do? You're below us, Nanoha. The TSAB has not been hiding its power. You will lose." "I am not alone," Nanoha said, simply. Rassilon blinked. "The Void declares war on the Gallifreyan Time Lords!" "THE MANY-ANGLED ONES JOIN IN THIS WAR!" "The Combine have marked the Gallifreyans as the primary threat." "This is the Starcross Society. The time for us to act has come. Your utter disregard for life is worse than that of the Stars." Two names rarely heard came up as well - the Planes of Oblivion and Tyrannon's Empire. No doubt the last of the High-Class 2 societies, the Great Race of Yith, would also have pledged their allegiance, had their society not been destroyed with the D-Sphere. The Flowers were the only notable abstention. "How can you all fight us as one?" Rassilon demanded, enraged. "Many of you are on opposite sides!" "We'll probably get to fighting each other eventually," Nanoha admitted. "After we're done with you. You can't control the multiverse, Rassilon. Nobody can." "...Time will be on our side. As will retcon." "Rassilon..." Nanoha sighed - and then she got an idea. "Rassilon, if you surrender and stop this madness, all of us could sit down and talk again. Try to come to a peaceful resolution. Do what the Class 1 civilizations couldn't. If you and your people could just let go of your dream of dominance, we could end this." She held out a hand - unsure if he could even see it. "Please. War or peace? The history books, in whatever form they take, will remember your decision here today. You have the chance to choose." There was a moment of silence. "War." Rassilon said. "Not even all of you together can face us. We are the Class 1 society." Nanoha shook her head. They couldn't accept a multiverse where their control over time would be limited. They didn't care if millions died every time they reset a world - they needed that power to feel like they were the Time Lords. They weren't just fighting for control. They were fighting for their culture. And that was a much harder foe to talk down. Nanoha Takamachi, Chief Sovereign of the TSAB, cut the call. She turned around to tell the armies to prepare for all-out war. One war ends, another begins... she thought. ~~~ It was raining heavily outside Rev's church. She doubted it was because a storm was scheduled - she expected that Corona's reality anchors could only do so much for the worlds of Merodi Universalis and that they were still experiencing the disturbances of the Class 1 War for Existence. At least that was over now. For all the Gallifreyans' boasting, they couldn't unleash the level of abject destruction that the real Class 1 societies did. ...Then again, Rev didn't really know how damaging time travel weapons could be. Merodi Universalis had always relied on Aradia to take care of any time-related problems. It was not an area of science they looked too much into, mostly due to the ethical concerns. She sighed and sent up a prayer. She had been doing that a lot more lately. Good for her spiritual life, she admitted to herself, but it was a sign of deeper problems in her psyche. Existence was falling apart. Of course there were going to be issues. Even if she believed there was life after death, death was still a horrible thing. All this destruction... It was evil no matter which end it was in the name of. She really should be getting home. She'd already locked up the church, all she had to do was teleport back home. Try to get some sleep. Sleep. Wouldn't that be nice if she could sleep without magic assistance. She heard a loud thump at the door. She teleported over and unlocked the entrance to the church, throwing the doors open. Out there in the rain was a Twilight Sparkle curled up on the stairs, shivering. She wore a black cloak that covered most of her body, and the lighting made it difficult to see much else about her - but she was definitely a Twilight. The Twilight whimpered. "Help... me..." Rev levitated the Twilight into the church, using her magic to heat the mare up. "It's okay now... It's okay, I've got you. You're safe here." "It's not okay... It's not okay!" the Twilight wailed, putting her hooves on her head. "Not okay..." Rev put a gentle hoof around her. "But you are safe. I'm here for you." The Twilight said nothing. She closed her eyes tighter and whimpered. "What's your name?" Rev said as she brought some light into the church hall and grabbed a large blanket. "...Rina."
Songs of the Spheres	121 - Temporal Snare	It was impossible to fight John's power head on. Every action could be undone. Every battle twisted into a victory for Gallifrey. Every pivotal moment altered in favor of the Time Lords. Banning time travel from specific universes did nothing to prevent this - John could appear anywhere that the Gallifreyans wanted him to with almost no limitations. If the Gallifreyans were to send him back to the start of the war to remove Nanoha, they could end the conflict in an instant. But they didn't do that. It seemed like an obvious course of action at first, to just solve their problem before it began. But then they would never know they had a problem. And as much as they celebrated the use of time travel, they at least had ways to definitely access alternate timelines at any time they wanted. A retconned multiverse was gone unless they could deduce the exact criteria that sent John back the first time, which would be an impossible case on the full multiversal scale. Not to mention the fact that it would end up in a John-duplicate, and that level of ka instability was just deemed unsafe. There was too much potential for one to turn and have a war of retcons. And so John had to be used carefully - to tweak specific moments in ways that ensured he wouldn't duplicate himself without a stable loop. The Time Lords were definitely the people for the job, but it meant their superweapon wasn't invincible. John was, after all, just a human - and he could be damaged as such. In his current state, if someone managed to kill him, it would certainly be Just. The Gallifreyans had to keep him out of the direct line of fire. Furthermore, the Many-Angled Ones had quickly developed what was being called Schrodinger's Strategy. It was difficult for the Gallifreyans to have John manifest in two locations at the same relative metatime, so the alliance began to make plans that depended on John's presence. If he was not detected in a location, one mission would be sent. But if he was, another would be. In some cases there was a third or even fourth option that would trigger if the Gallifreyans did pull off a stable retcon loop. It was horrendously inefficient and ended up wasting a lot of resources, but it seemed to minimize the damage John did to the war effort. Not that anyone could know for sure. Whatever the Gallifreyans decided to retcon would stay retconned. Nobody knew if they were sticking to only small-scale edits, or if they got desperate and were willing to erase large moments. Not even the Gallifreyans would know that. This was probably why they weren't using John's power to its fullest. If they screwed something up, it was dangerous to them. Go back too far and the Class 1s would return and wipe the Gallifreyans from existence for daring to plant those tower rings. In the end, the Gallifreyans had a last-ditch trump card that could only be used in localized places unless they wanted to suffer severe and unpredictable consequences. They were also being attacked from eight different fronts. John had been immensely helpful to execute a pre-prepared plan against a mostly singular enemy. Not to come up with stuff on the fly against societies that were just as clever as they were. Granted, the Gallifreyans had time travel. But what did that really give them? Especially since time travel in universes could be shut off with enough technological know-how. This evened the playing field considerably. "John spotted in secondary port!" Scarcity shouted through the intercom - connecting to the rest of the fleet. She stood on the bridge of a tremendous Starcross Society ship, the lurking behemoth brimming with the light of Stars. It was far larger than any of the other ships in their fleet - though once couldn't exactly call the geometric eldritch oddity that was the Many-Angled One a ship. "Jump to point 7-Z," Scarcity continued. She had been fighting in this war for three days in her perceived time and she still couldn't quite believe it. She hated everyone she was fighting alongside with a burning passion but she hated the Gallifreyans and their arrogance even more. She had been elated when she learned the Class 1 Civilizations were destroying themselves, bringing the multiverse closer to the proper existence, but the Gallifreyans had to go and ruin that feeling; replacing it with dread of a single overlord. An overlord that would have interfered enough to alter the way time worked in Starcross Society worlds. That had been more than enough to summon them from their isolation. Scarcity didn't have to like it. She especially didn't have to like working alongside Nanoha's people. She'd buried those memories long ago. The fleet finally managed to jump to point 7-Z, one of the many universes of the Gallifreyan cluster. The first thing they did was force time travel to stop - resulting in the Time Lord infrastructure shattering. Those in transit died, those in the future were forgotten, and those in the past who traveled too far never arrived. It was brutal, but required. If the Time Lords were allowed free use of their element, the fight would be over before it began. The Starcross Society ship fired upon the Gallifreyan fleet in orbit, trying to punch through their defenses and gain a strong connection to the planet below. The Gallifreyan ships copied the exteriors of any solid-matter ships facing them and fought back with the same weapons. This did not work on the Many-Angled One. It took the shape of a square interlaced inside an icosahedron and barreled through the ships, reducing them to flat two-dimensional shapes that could not operate any further. The full TARDISes in the Gallifreyan fleet didn't flatten, but they were forced into an emergency state that was easier to pick off. A TSAB and Combine ship worked together to punch a wormhole to the surface of the planet - which they threw a device into. The device removed the protective barrier around the planet, allowing the Planes of Oblivion to enter. The Planes of Oblivion were an unusual 'society', best likened to a hoard of demonic chaos energies. They had no ships, but they had access to a seemingly endless supply of brutal warriors in a highly specialized universe polymer-sphere designed to dial almost any universe in as many locations as was necessary to bring it to Oblivion. Demonic hordes poured out over the surface of the planet, laying it to waste. Scarcity grinned with satisfaction. Nanoha may have objected to this method of warfare, but it was the only one the Planes of Oblivion knew. Endless strife and destruction. They would rival the Beyonders with their brutality, were they allowed to continue. She checked the report of the battle - the Oblivion soldiers were laying waste to the target for this mission, a dimensional transmission node. The Class 1 War had ruined most natural Nexus universes completely, making the previous ease of traveling the multiverse a sudden difficulty. Only societies that had strong dimensional connections between them could move as they had before, and to move elsewhere, they needed Nexus universes of their own construction. The Time Lords had them. They were about to have one less. "Dimensional portal detected!" a human from the Void reported from their crystalline ship. "John?" Scarcity asked. "No retcon, only a semi-major ka surge." "Then what is it?" "Unknown." They found out what it was a second later. A tremendous clock the size of moon appeared in the space around them. It was golden-laced and had numerous gears sticking out its sides. It glowed in such a way that it could be mistaken for a comet from a distance. Scarcity knew what it was - it was a time-enforcer. "Get some reality drills active!" The Many-Angled One took the role, using its shape to emphasize the stability of the universe they were in. But it was pathetic compared to the power of the clock. Time began to flow slower for everything except the clock. Soon it would be too fast for them to defend against. Then the Living Tribunal appeared, arms crossed. Around him were several hundred Skaian users of Time. "Stop this distortion of time!" The Time players moved in - mostly composed of versions of Aradia - forcing the time on the clock to stop accelerating. The clock decided to charge a weapon anyway, one to destroy these puny Skaians. The Living Tribunal punched his fist right through the center of the clock. It ceased to exist. At the same time, the dimensional transmission node fell, disrupting Gallifrey's ability to navigate the multiverse. At this point, the leader of an expedition might have said 'good work team, let's go home'. That's certainly what Nanoha would have done. Scarcity didn't. She made sure the Aradias were tying this up in a fixed-point paradox so the Gallifreyans couldn't just clap their hands and undo the work. "That's that. Everyone, back to the sidelines." She spoke with distaste. She wanted to be out here fighting. Laying waste to the arrogant humanoids. ~~~ I'll just take a walk to clear my head, what could go wrong? Eve was quickly realizing how absurd that thought had been. Everything could go wrong the moment she went outside. Most of all, the thing she was trying to get away from was shoved in her face out here. She had taken a few steps outside of Canterlot Castle and was assaulted by reporters, angry citizens, and worried people. She started out making a serious attempt to alleviate their fears. "What do you think of the war?" "I think it's a terrible thing that is, unfortunately, completely necessary." "What do we have to gain from engaging in this war?" "We'll protect ourselves from the ideas of time abuse and the collapse. Though, I will say we aren't actually doing much in the current war. All we have to offer is the Living Tribunal and the Shaping Mechanism." "What did you do to get the Living Tribunal handed to us?" "Nothing. The One Above All made that choice Himself." "Do you approve of the destruction of the D-Sphere?" "No, I do not." "What are your personal feelings on the future of the multiverse?" "Uh... I... I have a lot to think about at the present moment, the deep future isn't something I'm pondering." "What should we do?" "Live your lives as you always have. The dimensional tremors should not occur again." "What are your opinions of Princess Corona?" Eve froze. She looked at the reporter who had asked the question with a hateful expression. He recoiled in mild fear, blinking from her sudden fire. Eve opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind - but she felt a tear run down her cheek. The sensation stopped her cold. She could no longer remember what she was going to say. "Show's over," Monika said, appearing in front of Eve. "Everyone back off." "Monika, what are your intentions with th-" "I said back off." All of them backed off. It wasn't because they had a choice. "Monika... Fix their minds." "It was a temporary file adjustment," Monika muttered, jump-cutting herself and Eve back into Canterlot Castle. "They'll all be back to normal in a minute." "They'll use this to slander you in the media." Monika made it pretty clear how much she cared about that by letting out a mocking laugh. Eve felt the need to lecture Monika on caring more about the opinions of others, but Flutterfree saved her the pain of that endeavor. The pegasus trotted up to Eve and embraced her. "I saw what was happening..." Eve sighed. "Can't even go outside anymore. War in here, war out there. War everywhere." "It is hard," Flutterfree admitted. "At least with Skarn I felt like I was fighting an enemy," Eve muttered. "Now I'm not even sure I am fighting. Things are exploding around me and everyone's scared, but nothing's actually attacked us." "I'd be thankful for that," Monika commented, fidgeting with her ponytail. "Very lucky we weren't caught in the crossfire." "I'd think one as Aware as you would be smarter than that," a new voice said. Monika looked up with an annoyed expression. "Oh. Hello, Doctor." "Monika," he said, clearly not pleased to be in her presence either. "What do you mean, 'smarter than that'?" Flutterfree asked the Doctor. "I just find it astounding that you were successfully identified as 'the Protagonist civilization' by the Class 1s far before the war began, and not one decided to wipe you off the map just to be sure. Even my people are mostly ignoring you, reasoning that the Living Tribunal would continue fighting them regardless of your continued existence." He leaned against a wall, expression darkened. "The Dark Tower is saving you." "That's obvious," Monika said, crossing her arms. "That's why I'm here. Why else would I hang around?" "A foil to Twilence," the Doctor pointed out. "The purposes are one and the same." "Again, you amaze me with how little you actually know." "Aren't you supposed to be doing something useful? Like stopping your people from putting the multiverse into temporal slavery?" The Doctor looked away, ashamed. "...Yes, I suppose I should be doing that." "Why aren't you?" Eve asked. "The methods I have to do so can all be undone," the Doctor pointed out. "I can't beat the retcon. And neither can you." "Nanoha seems to be doing fine," Flutterfree pointed out. "Nanoha hasn't put the Time Lords into a corner yet. The moment they know they're going to lose, they'll rewrite everything. They may, on an intellectual level, understand that would mean killing their present selves in most cases, but they haven't made the emotional connection yet. Time travel is so pedestrian to them, there's no way it should be regulated." Flutterfree looked at the Doctor with hard - but sad - eyes. "...Why did you use it so much?" "It was a fact of existence," the Doctor said. "It's outrageously prevalent... If I ignored it, so much would have been lost." "...Those lives lost through the altered timelines are just as important as the ones you saved," Flutterfree pointed out. Eve put a hoof on Flutterfree. "That's true. But..." "I know," Flutterfree said, shaking her head. "We can never see them. Never get to know them. As far as we're concerned, there's only one timeline... Even we opted to just not think about it. Because nothing could be done..." Monika put a hand to the bridge of her nose. "Look, time travel isn't the only issue, there's things like me, Hells, pornos, etcetera. The only way to keep going with your sanity is to not think about it." "...Rick at least got something right," the Doctor muttered. "You can't think about everything. It's too much of a burden. Too many variables." "Nobody has the right to make the decision," Eve echoed. Flutterfree looked up. "Well, we're being asked to. We don't have the minds to work through it. We can't weigh out every little detail. So we're just going to have to go with our guts." "Horribly unreliable," the Doctor muttered. "What else are we going to do?" All four of them fell silent. After a while the Doctor sighed. "I'm going to think up ways to defeat John. There has to be something. Maybe Roxy is finally willing to be cooperative." "Good luck," Eve told him. The Doctor walked away, hunched slightly. "When did everything get so depressing?" the Relations Overhead asked. ~~~ What a depressing memory. Corona was looking at an old photograph - back in the early days of multiversal exploration, before Merodi Universalis was even a thing, she had gotten most of her friends together outside Canterlot High. Both Twilights, both Rarities, both Pinkies, both Spikes, both Trixies, Nova, Sugarcoat... Some of these people were dead. Most of the rest of them were currently in Merodi Universalis, fighting against her. A close-knit group of friends from so long ago, now at war. ...They hadn't actually fought yet. But I had told her not to get hopeful. There was no way this story was going to resolve without them fighting each other in one way or another. She tried her best to ignore what I had said. Her choice. She tucked the photograph back in her battle-dress. She caught sight of the necklace that held Sai - the Artificial Intelligence had been quiet and acting weird lately. She should probably have her looked at. Once she found time. As it was, all Corona's time was occupied. While the war against Gallifrey went on, they were building up their forces. Preparing for a time when they could initiate the collapse. Their benefactors were Empress Twilight's Void, but that was not where they were stationed. Instead, they were at Poe's Raven Hotel, using the hidden universe to its fullest potential. The structure usually used for comfort and rest had been repurposed to serve as a military base, mostly through the actions of Commander-In-Chief Minna. The pale woman had insisted they use ranks for the military to keep things organized from the get-go even though there wasn't any actual fighting. Minna had placed military-grade scanning stations on every wall, set advanced replicator terminals at opportune places around the room, and had ensured everyone knew exactly what room was theirs and which rooms were for storage. Poe had to keep making new rooms. He claimed it annoyed him, but Corona knew he was elated to have so many people around. Currently, the forces at the Raven Hotel consisted only of the Merodi Universalis defectors and the few Void personnel who could be spared from the war against Gallifrey. This small group included Mage Rarity, a unicorn who had never left Corona's side since they had arrived. Conversely, Lady Rarity had acted in a similar fashion. Corona always had a double Rarity tag-team following her. She occasionally thought one of them said something, when it was really the other, but that wasn't a big deal - the big deal was that they never seemed to agree on much of anything. "Blumiere should get to work immediately," Mage Rarity was saying. "Time will be of the essence." "He will be a shining beacon for them to find us," Lady Rarity countered. "The navigation networks haven't been sufficiently destroyed yet." "If it was a beacon, the navigation networks wouldn't matter." "You understand my point." "I'm afraid I don't." "The point is it draws unwanted attention!" "In a time where we will be hidden by a war. If we act later, we'll be a prime target." Corona glanced at Blumiere, letting the two pony voices drift into the background of her perception. "What do you think?" "I think it doesn't matter, in the end," Blumiere pointed out. "I was just talking with Twilence..." Corona sucked in a deep breath. "Right... right..." She checked a band on her wrist - they were part of the Narrative right now. "Think she's actually keeping the Pinkies from seeing us?" Blumiere shrugged. "Only partially, I'm told." "...Right." She sighed. "...So, if you were given complete control of when you start working with the Prognostici, what would you do?" "I'd start... when I felt the urge to." "See, I don't think that's going to fly with the horses back there." Blumiere looked at them in bemusement. "Why do you act like they're in charge? You're the spirit of this endeavor." Corona didn't try to deny it, but she also didn't try to hide her contempt. "Didn't want to be." "The best leaders are those who have power thrust upon them," Blumiere pointed out. "Those who seek it..." Corona nodded. "Are you asking me to tell you what to do?" "Not at all. I'm simply saying that I will start when you order - or when I feel like it. Really, whenever I start will be the opportune moment." Corona put a hand to the bridge of her nose. "In that case, you have complete freedom to choose, but be ready to go at a moment's notice." Blumiere adjusted his hat. "I will. ...And Corona?" "Yes?" "Thank you for releasing me." Corona smiled awkwardly. "...You're welcome." "I hope neither of us live to regret it." Corona looked at him with understanding eyes. She nodded and turned back to the Rarities - who had stopped arguing after noticing Corona was dealing with it herself, and had instead shifted to conversation about the strength of military forces. "We're miniscule," Lady Rarity pointed out. "I doubt there will be another mutual destruction conclusion to this era of the war. Merodi Universalis itself, united, would only be a mid-tier combatant. We're just an offshoot. And don't pretend like your Void forces aren't about to be decimated." Mage Rarity smiled. "I could explain the plan about that - but I think I'll let my old friend do it instead." I teleported in front of her the moment she finished. "Mhm. We will not be the only ones seeking collapse, Lady Rarity." I held up one of the pages of my notebook to her, letting her grab it in her magic. It showed a diagram of a spiral with several symbols that represented multiversal nations. "This war is a great endless cyclone - one that starts by unleashing lightning with the most power, but over time dies out. Eventually, the energy binding the storm together dissipates. At this point someone will be able to make a Tower Ring and not instantly be found. And the conflict will be over." "How do- oh." Lady Rarity figured it out. I nodded. "The higher powers fall over time. I do not see Gallifrey winning. They are not masters of ka. There are too many factors working against them. Not that I have any particular idea how they're going to be taken care of, or what it will cost. After that, who knows how many of the High Class-2 societies will have fallen? My pen says several. And we will be at the collapse with allies we don't even know about yet." "Allies who do more than us." I nodded slowly. "Perhaps your fleets don't mean much. But your heroes, they do mean a lot." I looked at Corona. "You and Eve are already being romanticized heavily. You are the faces of the causes. Your actions - as an individual and as a nation - are immensely important." "...Is that the solution?" Corona asked. I sighed. "The question you want answered is not one I can answer for you, Corona. The answer may not even matter in the end." Corona nodded slowly. "Guess I'm just going to have to come to terms with that." "...You!?" Sai beeped, starting to laugh. Corona looked down at the necklace. "I need to get her checked out. Don't suppose Pidge's made it yet?" "No," Lady Rarity said. "Our... source hasn't had the opportunity. There are others available." "I know the perfect person to look at her!" Mage Rarity said, suddenly smiling - something that seemed a little out of place for her. She held up one of her front hooves, holding out... nothing. Corona blinked. "...What?" "Mite," a synthetic voice came from her hoof, seemingly from no source. I gasped. "Oh. My. Tower. Mite! It's so good to see you - Rarity, how did you keep him hidden?" "Carefully," Mite responded. Mage Rarity rolled her eyes. "Just didn't make a big deal about it. Works wonders." "...Explain?" Corona asked. "Mite was one of the members of my team," I said. "He's a nanomachine so small you can't see, gifted with some odd properties by his local Discord. He's great at interfacing with technology - and speaking in one word sentences." "Oh. Well, if you trust him, he can check out Sai." "Amiga, he's already checking me out," Sai reported. "Rawr." "Ocelot," Mite beeped. "...Que?" "Precisely." Corona let herself smile. At least not all the antics were gone from her life. If those hadn't come with her... she probably would have gone mad. ~~~ "Report!" O'Neill blurted. Squeaky raised an eyebrow and glanced at Yellow Diamond. "We gave you a report ten minutes ago." "I don't care, report again! Give us something to do. It's better than sitting on our asses!" "We're all sitting down," Yellow Diamond pointed out. O'Neill got up and started pacing. "Look, O'Neill," Squeaky placed her hooves together in front of her snout and furrowed her brow. "Our forces are already in the best defensive positions possible. There's no point in launching an offense - our Aradias are already working." "Less and less all the time," O'Neill muttered. "Do you want to reinstate militaristic time travel?" O'Neill didn't respond. "Look, the Aradias of Celestia City have found ways to duplicate themselves without erasure and their numbers should be back up soon." "Her effectiveness has lowered," Yellow Diamond pointed out. "She's minimizing death." Yellow Diamond grunted, unable to understand the whole devotion to life. "Causes are better." "And look what Red Diamond did," O'Neill muttered under his breath. Yellow Diamond smashed her fist into the table, destroying it. "She is clearly flawed!" "What I don't get is why you don't take your private ship and hunt her down right now." "It would be foolish and ineffective," Yellow Diamond seethed. "Not much of a change from right now," he said, holding out his hand in a mock gesture even he wasn't sure meant anything. "We're all just playing musical chairs until we yell at each other enough to shut up." Squeaky sighed. "It's a difficult time. But we have to stand together." "Already failed at that, Squeaky," O'Neill sighed. "...I wonder what she saw in that future of hers." "Probably nothing." "Then why did she go?" Squeaky narrowed her eyes. "Remember where she came from. She had that entire place destroyed with everyone inside. Everything. She's willing and has good reason to." "And the others have none!" Yellow Diamond blurted. "Red was a Gem, one of us! And Rosalina was one of your 'environmental' types!" "Rosalina believes in cycles," O'Neill said, looking into the distance. "Almost religiously. Creation and rebirth..." "And Red..." Squeaky looked at Yellow Diamond with confused eyes. "Let's be honest, none of us really understood her." Yellow Diamond had nothing to say to this. "...Can we get to the report?" O'Neill asked. "Living Tribunal left the Shaping Mechanism again. Aradias deploying. Defenses holding," Squeaky droned. "Happy?" "Nope, but that'll have to do." He sat down in his chair. "...I want to go fishing." "I think we'd all like to go fishing rather than deal with this." Yellow Diamond, for once, didn't think that was stupid. ~~~ As soon as the story looked to her, Pinkie appeared in front of Monika. "I need a ka-scramble." Monika looked up from the paperwork Eve was having her fill out to become an 'official advisor'. "What?" "Starbeat's a bit busy with civil war and I need to do a thing without the Aware people knowing about it. Especially Twilence." "Can't guarantee protection from her," Monika said, pointing her finger at Pinkie and adjusting reality. "But there you go, feel free to do whatever you want for the next scene." "Thanks." Pinkie saluted, bouncing back through her powers to a small, dark room. In a series of quick jumps that really pushed her current interpretation of 'the rules', she filled it with four other people: Jotaro, Pidge, Nova, and Vriska. "...Okay, everyone including Pidge but not Flutterfree..." Nova said, scratching her chin. "Pinkie, I already don't like this." Pinkie laughed nervously. "Yeah. Yeah and you're about to like it a lot less." She took a deep breath. "I've been doing a lot of thinking. I'm sure all of you have as well. We thought, at first, that we wouldn't be able to do anything. That we were tiny little insignificant pawns in this war. The best we could do was give John, or something, to the fight. "I don't believe that anymore. I believe that we can make a difference - on an individual level. So I've had to work my way through that. I've had to put away all the cakes, parties, and smiles for a bit and make a decision." She looked at the past words - all the way back to the sixth chapter. "I was so naïve back then. I thought I was deciding if I would experience death and hardship all around me. I thought I was deciding if I was willing to be part of an adventure. But that decision? ...I really was juggling lives in my hooves that day. I was placing myself here. There was no way I could have known that... Could have known half the things... "And I knew things, I knew more about what was out there than any of us! And it stayed that way for a long time! I made powerful, hard, important decisions based on that. I put on the good ol' massacre dress and sawed people in half based on it! I became a monster sometimes!" She probably would have been crying if she could. She wasn't sure. "You think I'd be the most able to work against the system, to mitigate the damage ka brings... but I fall into it just like everyone else. The only difference is that I know how much of a prisoner I am. I know what a cruel master it is." Everyone was silent. Pinkie shook her head, trying to keep her mane poofed up. She smiled. "...I'm going to go to Corona. I've gotten in contact with one of her people here. I want you to come with me." There was silence for a few seconds. Nova let out a deep sigh first. "Pinkie... You're our Captain. You're our leader. You're our friend." She smiled warmly and put a hoof on Pinkie's - more for her benefit than for the senseless earth pony's. "I trust you. If you think this is what needs to be done... I'll believe in you." Vriska shrugged. "Sure. What she said." Pidge snorted. "You have a way with words." "What? Oh, you want something more?" Vriska cleared her throat. "Pinkamena Diane Pie, if I have learned one thing in my time on your team, it's that you are the leader for a reason. Even when you weren't." Pinkie smiled brightly. "...It means a lot to hear you say that Vriska." "Wait, don-" Pinkie pulled her into a hug. Vriska chuckled. "Soft pink ponies, yeesh..." "What about Flutterfree?" Nova asked. "I'm not taking her from Eve," Pinkie said. "Nor Rev. She'll be upset... But she'll understand." "How can you be so sure?" Jotaro asked. "Becau-" Pinkie stopped herself, sensing something bitter in Jotaro's voice. "Jotaro, you don't agree?" "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro stood up and pulled his hat over his eyes. He took a step away. "Jotaro, you don't just get to storm off!" Nova blurted. "I do what I want," Jotaro commented, not slowing his pace. "Jotaro, don't be li-" Pidge began. Pinkie shook her head. "Jotaro, if you don't want to come, don't. I'm not going to make you. I was just offering." "I know that," Jotaro said. "Jotaro, d-" "Star Platinum: the World." Never before had the words been spoken in such a somber tone. Jotaro was gone. "...That's not going to be our goodbye," Pinkie muttered through gritted teeth. Pidge adjusted her glasses and pulled out her laptop. "I'll find him. And try to keep him from spilling the beans. You just get things ready." "He's not going to do that," Nova asserted. "He's angry enough he might change his own mind," Vriska pointed out. Pinkie sighed, shaking her head. "...Pidge, I leave him to you. Nova, Vriska, bodyguard me in case there's trouble. ...If only party cannons could shoot across the multiverse, that'd be nice. But I already used up all my good girl points." "The Rules operate on a points system now?" Vriska asked. "Yep. And they never will again. ...For me. Unless they do." Pinkie allowed herself to smile mischievously. Vriska groaned. ~~~ Rev looked outside the windows of the church at the streets of Ponyville. A few days ago they had been mostly abandoned because everyone was panicked about recent events. Now? Now they were just as busy as they always were. It was true that people walked around with more nervous expressions than normal, but they were not fearing for their lives in the immediate future. Rev knew exactly why. The tremors caused by the Class 1 war had ended. Since the Gallifreyan war had started, Merodi Universalis hadn't felt anything. Virtually all the battles had been fought in the E-Sphere, and the Merodi armies weren't even the ones fighting. The illusion of distance mixed together with the people slowly beginning to realize they had Plot Armor. They knew that the reality anchor machines would not have withstood any semi-direct attacks from higher civilizations. The crossfire should have done much more damage. But only a few outer worlds had suffered, and there had been nothing since. The people chose not to think about the result of the war likely killing them all. Even Rev's own congregation had been like that for the most part. She really wasn't sure what to feel about that. She wasn't sure what to feel about a lot of things lately. "Is the world ending already?" Rev glanced behind herself to see the newest member of the church - the Twilight known as Rina. She was a dark-coated version with soft, blue eyes. She currently wore a white outfit that covered her wings discreetly, and a simple cross necklace hung from her neck. "Curb your enthusiasm," Rev said with a sad smile. "We've still got time." Rina nodded slowly, blinking. "How's the bunker coming?" "As well as it can," Rev admitted. "I've enchanted the basement with the best magic spells I know and just got the reality anchors set up down there." "...Government issue?" "Yep. Flutterfree pulled some strings. ...Which is to say we just walked up to Eve and asked." Rina nodded slowly. She let out a sigh. "I finally get here and everything's about to end..." Rev put a hoof on Rina's shoulder. "Don't let that lessen your progress. The fact that you're here at all is something to behold. You should be proud of yourself." Rina looked at her necklace. "It wasn't me who dragged me here." Rev chuckled. "You still had to say yes. He doesn't force people to come to Him." There was a potent silence for a few seconds. "Thank you," Rina said. "I know I've said it a lot, but..." Rev smiled. "You can thank me as much as you want - but all I did was take you in. He deserves more thanks than I do." Rina nodded. "Do you think He will protect us if..." "...I can't make that deduction," Rev said, all pleasantness draining from her face. "I know that whatever happens will be His will." "I understand leaving me in the dark, but you?" "I'm in a position of power and fame," Rev said - spitting out the last word with more than a little venom. "I have material things. I don't think I'm allowed to know." "Is that God or the Tower stopping you?" Rev let out a bitter laugh. "I wish I knew. Because if it was the former I'd at least be happy about it." "Happy..." Rina said, looking upward with a wistful expression. ~~~ Corona had taken it upon herself to get to know all the major people who had allied with her. She'd already taken care of Blumiere, the Void, myself, Rosalina, and Minna... but there was one currently here she not only didn't know that well, but wasn't even sure how to approach. The individual in question was the mysterious and elegant Red Diamond, towering over everyone else so much that she couldn't fit in the Raven Hotel's lobby. She and the Gems she had taken from the Vein had set up 'lodgings' not in the Raven Hotel's many rooms, but within their ships, drifting outside in the nothingness the universe had to offer. Corona was flying through the nothingness, using magic to propel herself as she approached Red Diamond's personal craft. Most Gem ships were shaped like body parts - and when that wasn't the case, they liked simple geometric shapes. Red Diamond's was neither of those things; instead it was a complex mesh of gear-like shapes that somewhat resembled a flower when put together. Corona flapped her wings and flew right to it. She supposed she could teleport, but she didn't exactly want to catch Red Diamond off-guard right now. Report from the war, Raging Sights messaged Corona's mind. Anything important? Planes of Oblivion are falling due to Gallifrey's focus on them. They're effectively out of the game. The twisted leylines left over from the Magic High Commission are failing, which is going to let Gallifrey's time ripples further into the Q-Sphere. Otherwise, heavy losses on both sides. "That's one of ours down, and one of theirs..." Corona mused aloud. Raging Sights had no further thoughts on the matter. Corona didn't mind, she was more than a little tired of the political game already. I'm going to end up working with people I really don't like... She arrived at the front of Red Diamond's ship and signaled with both her hands and her magic. Red Diamond teleported Corona right into the Diamond's personal chambers. Unlike her 'sisters', who seemed to prefer empty but elegant places to spend their time, Red Diamond's was filled with rare relics, pieces of literature, and a large number of trinkets. The Diamond smiled at Corona. Corona wasn't sure why she found it unsettling. "What brings you here?" "Just checking around with everyone," Corona answered. "How are your troops doing?" "They are loyal to me. I have made certain of it. Yes, it involved methods you likely wouldn't approve of, but spare me the ethical lecture." She didn't say it dismissively or arrogantly, but rather with a tired voice, that of a woman with a heavy burden. Corona nodded. "I won't. I doubt that'll be the worst thing we do anyway. ...On either side." Red Diamond nodded. "You want to know why I came?" Way to cut to the chase... "Yeah, if you don't mind." Red Diamond pointed to her body. "I was created to be a Diamond of the multiverse. Not necessarily one who understood, or one who controlled, but one who was. I feel it as a part of me. Sometimes this connection lets me see things that are to come, or to get feelings about the way events are flowing. But above all, it lets me feel what the multiverse feels." "Oh..." Corona said, grimacing. "I am in great pain," Red Diamond said, giving no indication of it in her voice. "Every scar or hole that forms... It embeds itself in my senses. I can feel what we're doing to everything. How wrong it is." She looked down at her hands. "Preservation doesn't heal the multiverse. The scars remain. The collapse..." "Will hurt beyond anything else." "But when it's over... all will be new," Red Diamond said with a soft smile. "I'm playing the role of doctor, you could say." Corona forced herself to smile back. "Glad to have you on board. Are you sure you'll be able to take it though? When it happens?" "Does it matter if I can?" Corona blinked. "...No. I guess not." Red Diamond nodded. "We've all thought about this, Corona. Shouldn't the time for thought and debate be behind us? What of the time for action?" "Soon. Very soon. But not yet." "I will be waiting." Corona nodded - and she was teleported out of the ship without asking. She blinked. She still didn't feel like she knew Red Diamond all that well. Incoming message, Raging Sights announced. We've just received word directly from the Rebellious Star that the Starcross Society is devoted to our cause. They want to send people over. Your opinion on the matter is requested. "Got it." Corona teleported away - thoughts of Red Diamond replaced with the discomfort of working with the Starcross Society. ~~~ Three separate times, Jotaro had considered turning Pinkie in. Each time, he'd pushed the thought to the side. He couldn't do that to her - to them. He had spent too much of his life with them. Saved all their lives - been saved - so often he couldn't even count it now. He had been on Pinkie's team for more than half his life. That was a lot, considering he was considerably older than any natural human could ever have been. He'd seen too much with them to throw them aside like that. They weren't the villains. But he wasn't going to be that kind of hero. The hero that ended other heroes... Existence needed heroes. It always did, and always would. If there were nothing to make them, what would become of everything? It wasn't that he didn't understand why Pinkie and so many others had chosen the other side. He knew the horrors just as well as the heroisms. He wasn't much of a man for math, but he knew how many suffered every day. But it was not worth it. It couldn't be, right? He was pulled out of his thoughts by a tremor - a large one. Something interdimensional had tried to tear through the Hub. The Reality Anchors had held, but it was concerning enough to garner a few screams. A troop of Lilies ran out of Jotaro's sight into a 'bunker' shop, supposedly equipped with higher-quality reality anchors. They weren't, of course, it was an illegal scam nobody had time to clean up at the moment. Jotaro looked around, face stern. Perhaps a Q-Sphere leyline had just fallen, and they'd felt the shockwave. He couldn't think of anything else the Gallifreyans would be doing in the Q-Sphere that would require that much use of power. He suddenly felt the need to summon Star Platinum, find Rassilon, and give him more punches than anyone else had been given. He actually humored the idea for a moment - he could find Jove and they could fist-rewrite reality all the way to Gallifrey's head. Until John showed up and retconned the entire thing. "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered, pulling down his hat. He flipped out his dimensional device and dialed home - Earth Stand. He stepped out into the streets of Morioh, face turned toward the yellow sky: a peculiarity of the town that made it stand out from virtually every other settlement in any world. He walked to his house, which should have only been a block away. It wasn't. He stopped at where it should have been and only saw a simple brick house with smoke coming off of it. Nani...? "Jotaro!" Pidge shouted, jumping out of a nearby portal. "Jo-" "Back off," Jotaro said, glaring at her. "Jotaro you n-" Jotaro froze time and ran through the streets of Morioh. No doubt Pidge would be able to trace him, but it would deter her. He wasn't going to be dragged back so the others could try to persuade him. He was better than that. He stopped on yet another street of Morioh he didn't recognize. Why can't I recognize any of this? I've lived here most of my life! I know every street! "...Jotaro?" It wasn't Pidge. It was an older man who'd lost most of his hair and wore a black jacket with a peace sign on it. "Yes?" Jotaro asked. "Do I know you?" "...It's me. Josuke. Josuke Higashikata." Jotaro blinked. "Wh..." Before he could process this, he heard a shrill wail of despair. He and 'Josuke' turned around to see an older woman pointing a haunted finger at Jotaro. Jotaro didn't have to wonder who this was. This was Marina. This was his wife. Far, far older than she should have looked. "You're supposed to be dead!" she shouted. "Why can't you ever stay that way!?" Jotaro stared right at her, the stern expression he usually kept plastered on his face breaking. He couldn't speak, only think 'no' in his mind. "Got nothing to say? Have you become one of those Stands of yours!? Am I going to lose someone else to your adventures?" Tears were rolling down her face. "Marin-" Josuke began. "SHUT UP!" Marina blurted. "GO BACK TO HELL WHERE YOU BELONG!" Jotaro gulped. He wanted to say something - but he knew this wasn't his Marina. This was the Marina who would have lived had Eve never come. But this was the Marina who existed here... In his home... He saw it now. Morioh had no ponies in it. It had no interdimensional technology. This world had no idea there was a multiverse. The timeline had been rewritten. He clenched his fist. He had to fix this. He... ...Would have to kill everyone here to do that. No, it was his wife, his family. It would be worth it. He didn't care. Marina was staring at him, enraged, broken, unable to say anything. "I'll fix this," Jotaro promised. "Every time you tried to fix something someone died!" "Maybe I needed some damn support!" "You got plenty of it!" "Marina, I-" Jolyne popped out of a portal Pidge made, punching Marina across the face and knocking her out. "Sorry... ...Mom!?" "I said I'd explain later," Pidge muttered, walking up to Jotaro. "You're welcome." Josuke blinked. "Nani!?" Jolyne's jaw dropped. "Josuke? When did you get so... old!?" "...When did you get young, Irene?" Jolyne binked in confusion. "...Irene? ...Pidge, explanations?" Pidge cleared her throat. "The Gallifrey attack on the Magic High Commission's remnant leyline took some casualties. There was a general ripple of temporal erasure sent through the multiverse, wiping clean the temporal slate of multiversal contact. It's like what Jenny did before our time... except much, much more thorough and effective." "How do we undo it?" Jotaro demanded. "Th-that's the problem," Pidge said, gulping. "It's worse than that. There wasn't a single event changed. The timeline buffer was reset. The timeline where Earth Stand becomes part of Merodi Universalis the way it did before... doesn't exist anymore. We'd have to recreate the entire timeline from scratch to get it back - and there are too many universes involved for us to do that. ...I don't think any civilization left standing has the capability to do that." Jotaro took a step toward Pidge, face shrouded. "O-of course John could still access it!" Pidge said, scrambling over her words. "Uh, all we have to do is get him out of Gallifreyan control a-" Jotaro punched a hole in the concrete inches from Pidge. "...Who did it get?" Jolyne asked, hand to her mouth. Pidge frowned. "Anyone who was on Earth Stand a few minutes ago when the switch happened." Jolyne winced. Her own husband had been here, and a few of her children. "At... At least Job and Josuke are fine..." The older Josuke nervously shifted his eyes at the mention of his name, but said nothing. "Nani... why?" Jotaro asked. "Why the hell!?" "U-" Pidge began. "I'll tell you why!" Jotaro shouted. "I'll tell you why it's taken Marina away from me! It wanted to make a goddamm point!" Everyone took a step away from him. "You can hear it, can't you? That Tower mockingly driving its 'ideas' into our minds. Demanding our response. We can't just be sure in our lives, because one moment some random act of chance can just take it away!" "Dad, stop!" Jolyne shouted. "Not all of it is gone!" "But it could be!" Jotaro roared. "The Tower could destroy our Plot Armor and the Time Lords could erase everything! We could become an example. A point. People shouldn't be points!" "Jotaro, this isn't you," Pidge said, worry in her eyes. "You should be elated," Jotaro muttered. "Because we're going to Pinkie now." Jolyne blinked. "Huh?" Jotaro grabbed Pidge and Jolyne unceremoniously with Star Platinum, dragging them through a portal before either of them could get a word in edgewise. They left Josuke the elder standing there, unable to process what he'd just witnessed. ~~~ Flutterfree sat herself down across from Rina, interrupting her lunch. The Twilight blinked in surprise. "Uh... Hi." "How are you doing, Rina?" Flutterfree asked, ordering her 'usual' from the waitress with a wing gesture. Rina snorted. "Concerned?" "Rina..." Rina realized she'd done something wrong. "S-sorry." "It's okay. This is all new to you. ...Are the pills helping?" She spoke with a hushed tone, to not draw attention. Rina's eyes shot to one of her pockets where a small capsule of pills rested, away from everyone's prying gaze. "I think so," she said abruptly. "Rina, you don't have to be afraid of me - or anyone else who's trying to help you." "I know. That's why I came here." She levitated her cross necklace in front of her eyes, studying it closely. "...I knew I would be taken in..." Flutterfree smiled warmly. "Then let us." "I've already let you give me those pills, give me clothes... I kinda just want to be me for a bit." Flutterfree raised an eyebrow. Rina twitched. "You know what I fucking mean." "I do. You're also angry. What are you angry at?" Rina blinked. "You know, I never really ask that question. It's just... anger. I want to lash out. But I also want to be like you." She bit her lip. "It's a conflict" Flutterfree cleared her throat. "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." "Is there one of those for everything?!" "Most things," Flutterfree admitted. "The point is, you're not alone. Everyone has that conflict inside them." "...Am I allowed to 'boast' that I have it stronger than most others?" "You're allowed to do whatever you want without eternal suffering given to you. You still have to ask if it's good or right. Pray about it." Rina nodded. "...Thanks. ...That's what I should say, right?" Flutterfree smiled sadly. "There was a time I thought that was required. But don't thank someone if you're not actually thankful. That prompts resentment. Don't apologize for things you aren't actually sorry for either. In some ways, I'm still learning that lesson." "Gah, it's more complicated than I thought it would be!" "Do you regret coming here?" She looked at her necklace again. "No. No I don't. I feel... changed, here. I don't think that's just the pills." "I'm glad to hear that. And I'm glad to say that I'll be your friend." "Friends..." Rina said her face becoming a mixture of pleasant and sorrowful emotions. "...Wanna talk about it?" "Maybe later," Rina said. "I would actually like to enjoy my food for once." "Glad I c-" Lolo activated on its own; flashing around the diner strong enough to be visible by everyone. Flutterfree's eyes flashed a brilliant purple and her hair stood on end. The patrons turned to stare at her. Flutterfree blinked, red eyes flashing. "I... I have to go." "Huh? What is it?" "I..." Flutterfree blinked. "I have no idea... But I know I have to go." She galloped off, leaving Rina confused. Standing just around a corner, shrouded in shadow, a man pulled out a dark sphere. "Now why did you do that...?" Flagg asked Black Thirteen. The artifact didn't answer. ~~~ Pinkie's shot bolt upright. "Aaaaaand they know where we are now. Let's hope Monika's not looking..." "We have to go without him, then?" Nova asked. "Well, no, he's coming, but we need to warm up the ship." Pinkie, Nova, and Vriska were standing on the hangar in one of Equis Cosmic's space stations, in a place reserved for Expeditions Division operations. The ship in question was the Atlas, a relatively small but state-of-the-art ship constructed by the Research Divison's finest. It was a light blue ovoid with a single engine in the back. The ship never touched the ground, and a loose ring of glass levitated around it. The Atlas was significantly larger than a simple Skiff, about the size of a train car when the outer ring wasn't considered. "Warm up what?" Vriska shouted from inside the Atlas. She pressed a button and the Atlas was ready to jump to the next universe. "Ah. Right. Modern technology is fast." Pinkie rubbed the back of her head. "Just lock the teleporters on us. We need to chop chop this one. Like a roadrunner." Nova lit her horn, teleporting herself into the Atlas, leaving Pinkie alone on the outside. Pinkie took in a deep breath. Come on Jotaro... she pulled a watch out of her mane and checked the time. Tick. She was getting antsy. She knew they were being watched, and that meant something was going to happen. Jotaro wasn't going to arrive with Pidge and Jolyne uneventfully. They wouldn't just be able to get out. The timing was all wrong for that. How she hoped today was a moment of Subverting Expectations. Jotaro jumped out of a portal, dragging Jolyne and Pidge with him. "Let's g-" Nova teleported him, Pidge, and Jolyne into the ship. "Nani!?" Jolyne blurted. "What the fuck is going on!?" "A seamless escape!" Pinkie blurted, bouncing onto the hull of the Atlas. "And away we g-" "...Pinkie?" Pinkie lowered her hoof. She pointed her face at the voice, grimacing. "...Hi." "Pinkie, what's going on?" Flutterfree asked. Pinkie could sense Lolo active around her, already spreading around the room. "So that was what you detected... why would Black Thirteen want you here?" "Pinkie you're avoiding my question," Flutterfree said, no small amount of venom in her voice. Pinkie sighed. "We're..." She shook her head - she couldn't lie to Flutterfree. "We're going to join Corona." Flutterfree had apparently deduced this already, because her expression hardly shifted. "Okay..." "Do you want to know why?" "I think I know why," Flutterfree said. "I've heard so many arguments from both sides over the last few days. I don't need to hear yours. Its something like Twilence's, isn't it?" Pinkie held up her hoof and tilted it back and forth. "Sorta?" "Then I can understand that just fine. ...I want to know why you didn't come to me." "You wouldn't want to come." "Pinkie, you're the Captain. I'd follow you anywhere." Flutterfree forced a smile. "All you have to do is ask." Pinkie bit her lip. "I... I knew that." "Then why didn't you ask?" "Because I couldn't take you away. It would hurt you more than anyone else. It would take you away from your home. It would take you away from your church. It would take you away from Eve! Those are more important than us!" "Are they?" Flutterfree asked. Pinkie put a hoof to her head. "Flutterfree..." "You've been my family, Pinkie. I... I don't care if I don't agree with what we're doing, I didn't always agree with the missions we were on. But we did them together." "I shouldn't make your choice for you! Especially not if you know what you want to do!" Flutterfree closed her eyes for a moment, collecting herself. "Pinkie. ...Captain. I..." "Flutterfree, stop," Nova said, teleporting next to Pinkie. "You shouldn't do this." Flutterfree blinked. "Wh-" "You have to do what you think is right. Not what you think will be best for your friends." Nova's expression softened. "You shouldn't throw away your faith for us." Flutterfree's expression became fearful. "I... I wouldn't be..." "You would. You'd be siding with us because of loyalty to us. Not because it's right. Not because you think it's right. And as Rev told me so many times, that's what's really important. Isn't it?" Flutterfree looked at Nova. "You... You..." She sagged her head in defeat. "You're right." "I know." "...I don't want to lose you..." "We're still your friends!" Pinkie said. "Can ponies on opposite sides of a war be friends?" "Yes!" Vriska called from inside the Atlas. "Take it from me, I had a lot of friends like that." Flutterfree let out a soft laugh. "Why am I not surprised?" "Because I'm the best spiderbitch around, that's why." Pinkie appeared next to Flutterfree, smiling sadly. "...We have to go. The other Pinkies see us." "If I do the right thing... I'll try to stop you." "You know you couldn't. Couldn't even slow us down. So you don't have to." Flutterfree smiled. "...Thank you." Pinkie hugged her. "Thank you for being... the strongest of all of us. You've been through so much... I'm sorry. I have to put you through more." Flutterfree hugged her back. "...Thank you for... for everything. For being you. For being so unique." Pinkie placed a hoof on Flutterfree so she would actually feel a response to the touch. "...Heheh..." "This... this is horrible." "I know. But I think it has to happen." "Do you think we'll ever get the team back together?" "I hope so. ...But I don't like our chances." "I promise to try to survive if you will." Pinkie laughed. "Flutters, you can't kill suction cup pony." Flutterfree let out a delighted laugh. And then Star Platinum stopped time. The next thing Flutterfree knew, she was alone - the Atlas was gone. ...She should probably report what had happened; try to get a trace on them. Stop them from leaving. She shook her head - she couldn't do it. She wasn't strong enough to sell them out. She was just going to let them go... It would only give them a few minutes, and they would probably get away regardless. But that was what she owed them. A chance. Maybe it was wrong, maybe it was right. She didn't know. ...She needed to talk to Eve. ~~~ "...Well, great," Monika said, flexing her wrist. "The one time I notice something I should probably do something about, we're busy." "It can't be that important," Nanoha said, her hands gripping tightly around one of the TARDIS's railings. The TARDIS wasn't shaking - she was just tense. "Pinkie's team just turned traitor." The Doctor pulled a lever. "I doubt they see it that way." Monika put her hand to the bridge of her nose, saying nothing. "How is the plan going?" Nanoha asked. "The Living Tribunal is leading the charge admirably," the Doctor reported, pulling a screen down for Nanoha to look at. She saw a display of the core of Gallifrey's space. The forces of the multiverse were unleashing a heavy assault on the Time Lord's home, using enough force to tear the causally related universes apart, allowing for the Gallifreyan's own time-distortion to be used against them. The Many-Angled Ones were proving to be the most helpful in this regard, all the others generally just serving as backup to the eldritch beings and the Living Tribunal. Even the TSAB had taken second fiddle in the realms of distorted time. "They're going to have to bite," Nanoha said. "...Even if they know it's a trap, they have to chance it." "For all we know, John's already come back and given them a different plan," the Doctor said. "He hasn't," Monika said, certain. "Not yet." Nanoha's frown deepened. "...We have to do this perfectly. There's no room for error." Monika adjusted some files of the TARDIS. "Everything's in order. The cards are stacked in our favor - courtesy of yours truly." "There's going to be things we didn't consider," the Doctor said. "There's no way around that." Nanoha allowed herself to smile. "But we can't let that deter us." The Doctor smiled. "Since when did impossible odds stop us before?" Monika blinked. "I think you two are mistaking me for a hero." "You're one now, whatever your past was," Nanoha said. "A-" "NOW!" the Doctor shouted, pulling a lever on the TARDIS. "John has retconned back!" The TARDIS jumped across the multiverse, taking a pre-planned route to the middle of the battle to where John had been detected. John himself wasn't in the midst of the battle - he was hanging around a particular point in reality. A point where there was a purposeful weakness in the attacking fleet's strategy - a hole where a single universe could be pulled and everything would fall apart at a specific time. John had already ruined the universe - the attack on Gallifrey would collapse in a minute, all forced to retreat. But they had expected this. The TARDIS appeared next to John as he wrapped up his business. The rogue Gallifreyan spacetime machine forged a mental bond with John - directly connecting the Doctor and the Heir of Breath. The mind of the Traveling Doctor was enough to stall John's corrupted mind for a second. That was all they needed. Nanoha nodded to Monika. She rewrote reality in a very specific manner, forming a direct connection to one of the Void's universes. Empress Twilight felt it. She pressed her hoof into her control crystal and threw that universe at John, enveloping him and the TARDIS. Nanoha pointed Raising Heart at the center of the TARDIS. The Doctor threw some more levers while John tried to make sense of the universe enveloping them. "So sorry," the Doctor told his ship. Nanoha unleashed a beam of energy, intertwining her power with the TARDIS's inner power. Monika dove for cover. Outside, the TARDIS unleashed a brilliant twist of temporal energy, filling the black universe with white streaks. For an instant, time failed to exist - everything was frozen. And then the TARDIS exploded, killing all within. The energies of time, magic, and ka itself twisted together, surrounding the Void universe with something that it had never been seen before. Empress Twilight shoved all the energy she could from her ancient construct to that one point - they couldn't let the universe collapse from the impossibilities. John would just escape. They had to keep the unstable physics for as long as it took. In the nothingness, several dozen versions of Nanoha, Monika, and the Doctor all appeared - each one split off from a different timeline created when the TARDIS exploded. John tried to retcon away - and he did. But the entire Void universe and all the alternates came with him. The Void universe automatically connected to the new version of Empress Twilight's Void, continuing to perpetuate its unstable existence. Nanoha pointed all her Raising Hearts at John. "HIGH POWER..." John reacted. He rectonned within the confines of the Void universe, attempting to go back and prevent the TARDIS from splitting. He appeared outside the TARDIS - but of course, he dragged all the Nanohas, Monikas, and Doctors with him. The Nanoha inside the TARDIS lowered Raising Heart. Monika let out a strained breath. "Okay, good, we won't have to die..." "Except we did," Nanoha said. "And we're not done." John laid a hand on the TARDIS and tried to erase it from existence. The outer Monikas altered the code of reality, moving the TARDIS to a different physical location. A few Monikas saved the TARDIS as a file and copied it over and over, only adding more confusion for John to deal with. He couldn't undo what happened because whenever he tried, he dragged the consequences with him. Monika laughed as John retconned a copy of himself into existence - also copying every one of the time clones as he did so. "He's desperate!" "He's disconnected," the Doctor said. "What's operating in his mind is just an automatic defense protocol. We've cut off Gallifrey's connection to him." Nanoha didn't say anything. She just watched as the other versions of herself unleashed their Starlight Breakers upon the Johns, coupled with the Monikas' boosts in power. The Doctors weren't doing much - they weren't fighters, they were simply there to stabilize reality. Which was really needed. Even in a universe as moldable as this Void, the level of interdimensional warping they were pulling off was outrageous. Any universe should have shattered at the seams when something force-altered the way souls were bound in relation to the retcon power. The fact that Monika was needed to make this work was telling of how outlandish the plan was. The Johns - four now - did the Windy Thing. Gusts blew from nowhere with enough force to tear at the Nanohas' skin. They took the pain, but a few were hit in unlucky places, severing major arteries. "He's been bloodlusted..." the Doctor said, shaking his head as the winds tore people to shreds. "He can't do anything to all of me," Monika said with a smirk. "Just have to e-" The TARDIS that particular Monika was in exploded when a John appeared inside the time-core, triggering an explosion. He had zapped without traveling through time, so all he did was move all his opponents rather than duplicate them. "He's found a weakness," the Doctor said. "If all the battle takes place in one time..." "That's why you're here!" Monika blurted. "Do some wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff!" Despite herself, Nanoha laughed as the Doctor began to shift the various TARDISes into different local times. "Hey! Hey!" several outside Monikas shouted at the various TARDISes. "That's a bit much!" "It's what I've got!" the Doctors shouted back. One of the outside Monikas hit a John with a giant fish, knocking him out. "One down!" That Monika was rushed by the remaining Johns - six - and shredded to pieces with wind and zapped into nothingness. The other Monikas tried to revive her - but failed. It was as if she never existed. "...Why do you look haunted?" Nanoha asked Monika. "He's erasing me from existence," Monika muttered. "You can't see it, your memories aren't ka-based. But I can. Hold on, we need to focus..." There were three Johns - but then there were five. "He's retconning subtly, somehow. How is he doing it?" Nanoha held up Raising Heart. "Ping." Raising Heart let out a ping spell, analyzing the situation from the point of view of dozens of alternate device intelligences. "Ping complete. Best description of subtle interaction is a sort of hitchhike effect. Corrections given to the TARDIS." Monika pulled up the new files the TARDIS had. "Oh that's clever..." "I'm afraid it's lost on me," Nanoha admitted, looking at the gibberish on her screen. "It helps us, right?" "Definitely," the Doctor said, making the necessary adjustments. "We can turn it back against him... Inversion principle. TARDIS heading 5-43-6, head ahead seventeen seconds and field your anti-time! We need to collide!" The voice of another Doctor returned. "Got it!" There was a clunk - and suddenly a TARDIS was moving back through time, hitting them before they could realize it. Another set of them all perished in a violent explosion. But at the same time, John attempted to use his retcon to 'ride' though time, avoiding the assault on the outside. The feedback loop surged through all versions of him fighting at all times and places, consolidating them into their own explosion of conflicting time. However, he was able to retcon himself into safety - into one version of himself. "STARLIGHT BREAKER!" the remaining Nanohas shouted, attempting to burn him to unconsciousness. But he wouldn't go down. "Stand back!" several Monikas shouted, altering physics to create true artifacts of death. One touch from such a knife would sap all life from a being. One of her threw it... ...and it hit her. "Wh..." she vanished in a puff of sparkling dust. "Retcon works over space too!" the Doctor blurted. "It works over everything!" "Good thing we have more than one knife," a Monika responded, creating several more and teleporting them to her sisters. They cut, stabbed, and slashed at John. However, he became like wind, unable to be touched. "Wind is now a physical object," a Monika muttered, altering the universe's rules. They felt the universe groan at that one. But John was now physical. They had one shot left. They needed to make it count. Nanoha hadn't wanted to kill John - but she'd come into here with the full intent of doing so if it was required. Several versions of her had more than enough power to unleash whatever spell they needed without charging. It was time. "Full Power Starlight Breaker," she spoke, summoning the power from all the others. She even took in the essences of the knives to be extra sure. The beam of light shot forward - and destroyed everything in the universe in an instant. Elsewhere, the original Monika opened her eyes, sitting up in a TSAB storage room. "Well I have some good news. We won't have to worry about reconsolidating our minds with our alternates." Nanoha twitched and let out a sigh. The three of them were standing on the bridge of a TSAB ship. "What was the result?" "Complete destruction," Monika reported. "John wasn't able to defend himself when you unleashed a death-laced Starlight Breaker." "I've killed myself a hundred times over..." Nanoha muttered, shaking her head. "There's a reason duplication is illegal." The Doctor put his hand on hers. "At least it was worth it. We got rid of their weapon." An urgent call appeared on the main screen. Considering how only the Living Tribunal and Empress Twilight knew exactly where they were, this was a little concerning. Nanoha answered. "What?" "I'm sorry!" the Empress blurted. "At the last minute, the Time Lords attacked. I had to use the Void to protect my worlds..." Nanoha's eyes widened. "He got out. There was one microsecond between the time of my distraction and your spell, and... I should have let his att-" "No, you protected your people," Nanoha said. "You had to. ...Did anyone get hurt?" "...No. The Void was easily strong enough to wipe them without any damage. But it was one moment..." "A moment Rassilon timed perfectly..." Nanoha muttered. For a moment her face twisted in anger - and then it sagged in defeat. "...That won't work again. We need to think of something else... I really don't want to stoop to the ritual of purity, but it might be required..." The Doctor left, going to the ship's hangar, where the TARDIS sat. He walked up to the doors, a tear in his eyes. "It wasn't worth it. I sacrificed you and myself dozens of times over... and it didn't mean anything." The TARDIS didn't respond. "The time of war is too far behind me. I thought I could fight without ever picking up a weapon... All we had to do was take care of him, and that was it. There were moments we might have been able to save him." He shook his head. "Now we're lost. I'm not even sure taking up arms will do anything." There was silence in the hangar for a moment. "Are you willing to try?" The Doctor recognized that voice anywhere. "Flagg. There are very few people Nanoha would kill on sight, you know. It's not good for you to be here." "You didn't answer my question," Flagg said, strolling into the room. "Are you willing to try taking up arms?" The Doctor looked at his hands. This body was a young one, but he couldn't help but see how old and worn the digits were. "I haven't actually fought in so long..." "The multiverse is approaching a climax," Flagg said, removing Black Thirteen from his coat. "Perhaps it's time for a change, hmm?" "What side are you on?" "...I have no side," Flagg said with a smirk. "I care not if the world goes on or if it collapses into a new form. I'll continue as I always have either way." "You've been behind major points of this war." "A bit of this, a bit of that," Flagg said. "I've been surprised many times. I have no idea what's going to happen. I love it." He held Black Thirteen out to the Doctor. "I'm not taking it." "You've been to the top of the Tower. You can take it." "I won't let that evil artifact torment me." "Ah, but it will show you what you want to know. Surely one with as pure a heart and as great a mind as yours could take it?" "Yes. I could. But what would it mean?" "It'd give you a solution," Flagg admitted. "After all, do you know of anything else in the multiverse that might face John?" The Doctor looked at the orb. He took it in his hands and looked into it, the secrets of the Tower suddenly coming as whispers to his ear. "SBURB... The Rainbow... The Golems... All try and fail to gather the Tower's true power. Just shadows." "John is not more than a shadow," Flagg said, smirking. "Tell me, Doctor, what do you see?" "I see a moment," the Doctor responded, emotionless. "I see the answer." "Glad I could help. Have a nice day." He turned to walk away - leaving Black Thirteen in the Doctor's hands. "Why send it circulating now?" the Doctor asked. "What's special about now?" "Look at that moment of yours. Tell me what you think." The Doctor didn't say anything. Flagg was gone. The Doctor went into the TARDIS and held Black Thirteen high. He placed it on the center console. Goosebumps rippled across his skin as he felt the darkness corrupt his poor TARDIS. "I'm sorry. ...You won't have to endure this for long." ~~~ Eve knew what had happened long before Fluttterfree arrived to tell her. Pinkie had left a cupcake with a frowning face on Eve's desk. It hadn't taken Eve much to figure out what it meant. The realization that Pinkie had just left was enough to stun her into silence. Many minutes passed between Eve noticing the cupcake and Flutterfree running in, tears streaking down her face. "...Eve..." "She left," Eve said, breathless. "I... I almost went with her... She made me stay." Eve's blank expression broke, shifting first into shock, then anger, then relief, confusion, followed by an agonized, tearful scream punctuated with a laser shot from her horn at her desk. It missed the cupcake. Somehow. "I... she..." Flutterfree swallowed hard. "You u-" "Of course I understand!" Eve shouted at the top of her lungs. "I was with Corona, I... I talked to her, I heard her side, I know why she did what she did and..." Eve pulled her face back and winced. "I understand. Yes I understand. But that doesn't change the fact that it hurts! I should have known, we should have known, we..." Eve stopped short, staring at the cupcake. "...What else could we have done?" "Nothing. Everything..." Eve took a moment to breathe. "I could have held her back. I could have stopped this war. Just refused to let her ask the question." "Would that have been right...?" "No! Yes! I don't know and I don't care!" She threw herself into Flutterfree's hooves. "It would give me my friends back... That's all I want..." Flutterfree pulled her close, tears rolling down her face. "We can't have that..." "You... you could have left," Eve said, looking up. "I would have followed you. I..." "Eve, no." Flutterfree grabbed her by the shoulders and fixed her in the eyes. "You couldn't." "I could." Eve laughed nervously. "How many of us care more about our friends than what's right or wrong? I... I wouldn't be able to stay here, alone. You'd go... I wouldn't last long. I'd just want to be with you girls. Who cares about the damn multiverse I just want my friends!" she curled into a ball at Flutterfree's hooves, shivering. "I just want my friends..." "I... I do too," Flutterfree said, enveloping Eve. "I almost... turned my back on everything just for them." "Friendship. It... it's supposed to be magic. It's supposed to be... why does it feel so wrong? Why... why is the right choice to make them the enemy?" Flutterfree looked to the sky. "Friendship is magic." "...But friendship isn't everything," Eve said, wiping her face. "...Even if all your friends say something is right, they could be wrong. You can't just... but trust... loyalty... but... AAAAAGH!" She cracked her desk in half with a discharge of magic, blowing her computer screen out and knocking a picture off the wall. The cupcake was unharmed. Eve levitated the picture to her face. It was her last day as Headmare of the School of Friendship, standing with her friends as they passed the baton on to the next generation. This picture meant a lot to her... it was an image that was Equis Vitis, an event that didn't happen in most Equises. Twilight didn't go on to become the sole ruler of Equestria after this; in fact, she hadn't even been preparing for it. She simply worked alongside the other alicorns... And then she'd found the bowling ball. This picture showed her friends. All of them. As they had been before they found the multiverse. As she gazed upon the frame, the students faded into the background, and she saw the ponies she had known most of her life. Herself: small, strong, and optimistic, spreading her wings like a mother around her chicks. Flutterfree, sitting on Discord's shoulder with a delighted smile and butterflies in her hair. Renee, grinning with a calm grace Twilight hadn't seen lately. Rainbow Dash... so full of life. Pinkie, both eyes reflecting the joy of the world. Applejack, proud to stand at Eve's side. Nova, laughing with some of the students and Trixie. Sunset... she was there too. Visiting, for the celebration. A fiery unicorn who looked a little nervous but was nonetheless smiling. She looked like she wouldn't hurt a fly. "...Should I have destroyed the bowling ball?" Eve asked, voice haunted. "Should I have just... refused the call?" She thought way back to that day in her castle where she wondered if she should devote herself to exploration... or not. Had she chosen wrong? Had all of this... been wrong? "Eve, don't say that. There are so, so many people we've helped." Flutterfree put her wings around Eve's shoulders and pulled her close. "Universes that knew nothing but war are now our friends. Great travesties have been averted. Evil has been vanquished, and we've all grown stronger." "Is it worth... everything?" "...No. But even if Corona wins, even if she's right, we... well, we've lived our lives the best we can." She looked up and closed her eyes, tears coming out the side of her face ."And that's all that matters, in the end." Eve looked up as well, but she kept her eyes wide open as the water fell to the ground. She didn't know what she was looking for. Or... maybe she did, and didn't want to admit it. He looks on the heart. Eve let out a laugh, burying her face in Flutterfree's feathers. "I get it... I finally get it..." "Huh?" "We... we must do what we know is right. Always. No matter what everyone else may say or do... we must." She stood tall - legs shaking from her emotional exhaustion. "There's more than just us..." She lifted the cupcake into the air, holding it before her eyes. "We both fight from pure motives. If we fought any other way... it would be wrong. Fight for what is good... not for... what we want." She took a bite of the cupcake. It was delicious. ~~~ Eve walked into a conference call between the remaining powers facing Gallifrey. The TSAB, Void, Many-Angled Ones, the Combine, and the Starcross society was it. Tyrannon had fallen in the push to capture John. The Living Tribunal was struggling to recover from his personal wounds, but was still present on one of the screens. Eve gulped. She'd had a long day. Pinkie had left her. Flutterfree had unloaded her emotional struggles onto Eve, reminding the Overhead of all the interpersonal tears that had formed between friends because of these wars. The plan to capture John had failed. People were hurting more than they ever had before. "Well?" Scarcity blurted. "What's so important? Get on with it!" Eve took a breath. "I... I may have something we can use." The faces on the screens all looked at her expectantly. She nodded slowly - then stepped to the side. Arceus moved into frame, looking at all the screens. "I am Arceus. God of Pokerin Anima. And I give you this." He teleported a ball to his hoof. One side was white, the other half was purple with red spots. A large M was imprinted on the purple part. "This is a capture device - a master ball. Most capture devices are relatively useless, only able to work on weakened foes. But the idea behind it is the same regardless - they will take an entity into them, any entity, and imprison them within. Those within cannot escape barring excruciating circumstances." "What are you suggesting?" Empress Twilight asked. Arceus sighed. "I never wanted to use this technology again - but I believe we have no choice. This master ball is a device not only stronger and more advanced than most other capture devices, but it is also infused with a power akin to narrative, or a law of existence. It will capture whatever it is thrown at, regardless of what it is. Anyone. It's an item so powerful that the number of how many can exist is regulated by the physics of my universes. More cannot be created." He narrowed his eyes. "These devices are horrendous things that do nothing but create slaves. But, seeing as all else has failed, they should not be kept back for ethical reasons. They should be used on John." "John could escape, easily," a Combine said. "Your balls could be useful for other aspects of war though... If their ka relation continues." "John won't escape," the Doctor said, joining the call. He looked tired, and old, but just as determined as ever. "I've figured it out." "Your last plan went so well," Scarcity muttered. "Just trust me. I know what to do." He looked up, eyelids sagging. "We'll need more than just a master ball though."
Songs of the Spheres	122 - High Ground	"She's yours now," the Doctor said, tossing a key to a small group of Aradias - the living ones, each with an Omnitrix on their wrists. "...Are you certain?" the Aradia who'd caught the key asked. "I... we aren't exactly unified since..." "That's probably for the best," the Doctor said. He laid his fingers on the outside of the TARDIS, tracing the lines of the fake wood with his nails. "If you're not a single voice, you won't make the same mistakes I did." The Aradias glanced at each other nervously. "She has many uses beyond time travel - if you truly decide to abandon that completely. And I can't think of a better person suited to using her. The Handmaid herself." "...Do you really think I'm worthy?" Aradia asked. "We," another one corrected. "I thought we agreed to be distinct now?" The Doctor smiled. "I never thought I'd be happy to see disagreement in this way." (The Doctor's face appeared on the screen. "Ah, hello. I'm the Traveling Doctor. I'm known by many names - the Oncoming Storm, the latest nemesis of Flagg, guardian of multiversal time, great destroyer, and a few other names that shouldn't be repeated in polite company.") The Aradias frowned. The one with the key opened a portal to a dead universe and used it to duplicate the key, giving one to each of her temporal clones without rewriting the universe they were in. "We are not worthy of this gift." "I do not know of a Time Lord worthy to carry it - definitely not a version of myself. So it falls to you. All of you. You can have her." He looked at the TARDIS with sad eyes, caring not that he was openly crying in front of Aradias. "I've made her the most versatile of multiversal ships. Time is string to her, space is jelly, and dimensions are but sheets of paper. Everything you could ever want, she has." "But not weapons...?" "She has weapons," the Doctor said, expression clouding. "I never used them as such. But as her new pilots, if you think they must be used..." "Some of us will." "Then use them. Use them to protect the multiverse." ("I'm giving a message to everyone who ever knew me - friend, enemy... companion... even those other versions of myself dotted across existence, blessed not to hold my burden on their shoulders. I suppose this message is, in parts, an apology. Those of you who knew me, who traveled with me, who fought against me... You'll know how I held myself.") One of the Aradias in the back coughed. "Doctor... You do know why we're dividing, right? Without the temporal convening of our minds... we can't agree on the question." The Doctor looked up, finding the sky to be gray and overcast. "That's one of the reasons why I'm giving her to you, I suppose. So that the guardian won't be led by a single choice..." ("I always held myself high, certain I had the moral high ground over everyone. I was the Doctor - I was ancient, wise, and understood the struggles of the individual when most of my people considered everyone nothing more than cogs in a machine. I was the paragon of purity and light, the hero who would stop at nothing to do what was right. "What I thought was right.") "...I think you're overselling it," an Aradia said, concerned. "You... We... aren't as important as you think." The Doctor shrugged. "What does importance really matter? We're all people. We all do things." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the master ball - enchanted with so much magic it was glowing a soft pink. "We always guard something. We're all heroes. We're all villains." Several Aradias sighed. ("I was a judge. I was the judge, the one who held people responsible who couldn't be held responsible. I brought a lot of justice to the world. But I also judged some unfairly. ...I judged many unfairly. But I was the great Traveling Doctor, I had the right! I was higher than them, better than them! I would never come out and say it - never even admit it to myself - but I was arrogant. I thought I was truly better than them, and that's why they needed me. Needed my help, and my heroism.") The Doctor turned his back to the troll women. "Promise me that you'll do your best to do what's right. Even if the rest of you disagrees." The Aradias glanced at each other, gulped, and nodded. The Doctor smiled. "That's all I need to know." He placed a hand on the TARDIS. "Goodbye. It was nice, wasn't it?" There was silence. The Doctor knew what it meant. His smile faltered and he removed his hand. He reached into his jacket and touched Black Thirteen - and was gone, leaving the Aradias alone. They would duplicate the TARDIS a few times and start divvying it out among their versions. He hoped they'd do it fast enough. They were purposefully avoiding time travel now. It was like a light switch had been turned on in their minds. Ka was cruel. ("I've been shown that I was wrong." The Doctor held up Black Thirteen to the screen for all to see. "There is a bitter truth of existence that this war has brought to my attention and the attention of so many others. There is no one who has the right to truly judge. No one. Not even me.") The Doctor walked into an abandoned shed. Memories both horrible and pleasant flooded his mind relating to this place. Some of them were of destruction - times he had to press a button to end a Gallifrey, to stop a Time War from continuing. The other memories were of him finding a way to not press the button. Finding a solution that didn't involve death. Any single Doctor would know that only one of those memories were true. But he wasn't just a Doctor. He was the Traveling Doctor, and his past... His past was a fusion of several different ones. Were any of those memories truly his? Had he corrupted them with his later escapades through time? He was too old. Not even Gallifreyans were meant to live as long as he had. He couldn't divide them up anymore. ("I was always aloof, always running, always refusing to think about what I was truly doing. After all, why would I? It didn't matter, I would make the world a better place wherever I could. I was the light in the darkness. I gave hope to the hopeless. And I ignored those who told me otherwise - even those close to me.") In the shed, there was a small box with Gallifreyan markings on it. There was a young blonde woman standing next to the box, arms behind her back. She raised an eyebrow. "The Doctor of Doctors, hmm?" The Doctor nodded, walking up to the box. He took out two items - the master ball and Black Thirteen. ("So I guess what I'm trying to say is... I'm sorry. I wasn't who I thought I was. Some of you will get some satisfaction out of being proven right. Others won't know what to make of this. I'm not sure what I think about that... But I don't think it matters now. Not at this point.") The Doctor held Black Thirteen over the box. In an instant, the box transformed into a flower made of white metal with a stick poking out of it, upon which sat a red diamond-shaped crystal. A button. The Doctor hesitated. "What's my punishment this time, Moment?" The woman who was the machine looked into his eyes. "You come here unwilling to pay everything?" "I'm just curious." "You're stalling." "Waiting for mister retcon to appear," the Doctor said. ("Because I'm going to do something I promised myself I'd never do, and told myself was just a twisted memory of a convoluted past.") "...That's an excuse," the Moment said, leaning against a wall. The Doctor sighed. "You don't know." "You're right. I can't tell if there'll be a punishment or not. You'll have to start to find out." The Doctor nodded. He touched Black Thirteen to the red crystal, careful not to push the button down. The Time Lord sent his mind into the horrific mists of Black Thirteen, grabbing hold of a very particular power buried within it. A power of connection. He sent that connection into the machine - the Moment. He felt its inner workings resonate with Black Thirteen. The power to completely destroy a time-based society. The power to end a Time War with the push of a button. Transcending timelines, universes... it was one of the strongest weapons in existence. But it was still only of Gallifreyan construction. It could not create a level of destruction even close to that of a Xeelee superweapon. For all the Time Lords' boasting, they were not on the same level as them. Alone, it could do nothing in a multiversal war. However, the Doctor wasn't going to use just one Moment. He activated Black Thirteen fully, tapping into every Moment across the multiverse. Black Thirteen found the connection through the ka that branded every Moment as an alternate version, tying them together in a web. ("I'm going to end the reign of my people. Just as I do not have the right to judge, they do not have the right to rule. The least I can do is prevent them from dominating. It will be a tremendous price to pay... but if I'm being honest, I've already paid that price numerous times.") The woman who was the Moment fused with all her alternates. She appeared the same - but her expression changed from one of warmth and understanding to something completely impassive. An averaging out of all the Moments' different personalities. It was here that John zapped behind the Doctor. The Doctor smiled. He tossed the master ball behind him. John ∂ø∂©´∂ å˜∂ ®ø¬¬´∂, π¬åçˆ˜© ˙ˆss ˙å˜∂ ø˜ †˙´ Îøç†ø® ıÒÅÇ ˇÓˆ‰ˇ´´˜ Ó´ †øssss´∂ †˙´ µåss†´® ∫å¬¬ ∫´˙ˆ˜∂ ˙ˆµ. Ôø˙˜ tried to dodge. But the master ball had taken a different path than he thought it had taken. Elsewhere, Rassilon screamed. "What was that!? What was that!? Where did he get Black Thirteen!? How is he able to get it to listen to him!?" The master ball touched John, activating its capture sequence. John tried to transform into wind and get away, but it was too late - the extra enchantments on the ball were too much. It sucked John's essence into it and locked him inside. His mind was forced into an unconscious state, one not even Rassilon could take him out of. If Rassilon had a few minutes, he might be able to get John out through some other method. But he didn't have that kind of time. ("I'd ask for luck, but none of you will see this until after it's already done. So I'm not going to ask for anything. Not even forgiveness. I'm just going to hope for your understanding. ...Maybe I'm giving you the chance you need, maybe not. Maybe this Black Thirteen really is driving an idea in my mind I shouldn't listen to, maybe not. There's so much I'm unsure of at this point. But I do know I'm going through with it.) The Doctor activated Black Thirteen, sending the master ball somewhere far, far away. He turned to the Moment. "Anything to say?" "You will not return from this," it deadpanned. "I've always been ready to pay that price." "Your punishment extends to all Doctors," the Moment continued. "As you use all of me to bring this destruction, I use all of you." "...It might be time for the multiverse to move away from the Doctor." "You will experience the fate to which you have doomed so many. Erasure." The Doctor nodded. "Very well." He took a moment to pause. This was it, his last moment. He felt the sudden urge to say something witty - one of his many catchphrases perhaps? A 'geronimo,' just for old time's sake? No, that didn't seem right... But he needed to say something. He placed both hands on the button, grimacing. "...Gallifrey falls." ("Make the most of what I'm giving you.") He pressed down. ~~~ The master ball appeared in the air in front of Nanoha. She caught it in her free hand. Raising Heart told her John was inside. Nanoha said nothing - she just turned her gaze to the map of the multiverse she had. She checked the most up-to-date reports reconnaissance ships were giving of the Time Lord sector. One Moment, there were thousands of golden-yellow lights indicating Gallifreyan strongholds. The next, all the lights had vanished. A few fleets of alliance ships had been taken with them, but overwhelmingly all the losses were Gallifreyan worlds reset to a timestate where there were no Time Lords. Nanoha knew in her heart that the Doctor wasn't coming back. She took one look at the master ball. John could be released now. The Time Lords had no more hold on him. He would be free to choose... She pocketed the ball. It would just be giving him to whatever side he chose. The power would shift from Gallifrey to someone else. John had to be kept away from the conflict. Nanoha turned to a console and pressed a few buttons, calling the Empress of the Void. "So... they're gone." "...It's a little demeaning that the solution ended up being... that simple. I feel cheated." "There are probably others who feel the same way..." Nanoha said, letting out a sigh. "But the Doctor was a hero of sorts. He... did what he felt he needed. And it changed everything." The Empress nodded. "You are right." "...There's no fighting right now. Let us come together and actually make a decision. Not based in war, but in debate, respect, and friendship." "You know I would love that more than anything," the Empress said, smiling sadly. "...But the Combine and Starcross Society have already declared war on each other." Nanoha clenched her fists. "Can't we... stay out of it?" "I've already made my decision, Nanoha. I will be joining the war on the side of the Starcross Society, as I intended from the beginning. Your hopes for a peaceful solution are admirable, but wrong." Nanoha said nothing. "You're the Chief Sovereign of your people. They trust you. You must lead them well. ...Don't let your personal feelings keep you from letting them fight." Empress Twilight of the Void ended the transmission. Nanoha took in a deep breath to calm herself. A tear rolled down her cheek. "Such a common expression these days..." she muttered under her breath. She placed a hand on another console and started making calls. "Call the council. We need an official declaration of war. ...I'll also need a report on how much our forces have been damaged. Contact Evening Sparkle and whatever half of the Collection is on our side. ...The Combine too. They're our allies, now." ~~~ Across-multiverse communication was becoming difficult. With the fall of Gallifrey, the cooperation between nations to keep a long-distance network up fell in an instant. Long-range video calls were now impossible with reception regularly dropping at inopportune moments. No more could plans be made and activities discussed from afar. There was no way enough information could be shunted through unless the Everyman felt like cooperating, which simply wasn't happening. So everyone who was anyone on the preservation side of the conflict was summoned to Midchilda, the TSAB homeworld. A high-end Merodi speeder ship would have taken a few days to get there with the current state of things. But the Living Tribunal was back on his metaphysical feet and more than willing to offer his aid, claiming that he was their servant now; they should not feel ashamed to ask him for even mundane things. Eve selected the team personally. The Living Tribunal, of course. O'Neill for military advisement, Ava Jandice to speak for the general population, Monika for meta knowledge, and Flutterfree. Flutterfree was there because Eve knew she'd need emotional support and that pegasus was the last rock she had in life aside from Luna and Spike, and neither of them were available. Valentine was also hitching a ride with them. The USM still wanted to be involved, despite being just a Class 3. The seven of them stood in a circle in Eve's office. The Living Tribunal had shrunk his presence down to a more manageable size - eight feet tall. Modest, but still large enough to let everyone remember who he was. "Are we ready?" "Yes, yes, get on with it," O'Neill said, waving a hand. The Living Tribunal looked to Eve for confirmation. She felt one of Flutterfree's wings fall onto her back, holding her close. She smiled. "Yes. We're ready." The next thing Eve knew they were on an outer TSAB world. She knew there was a transit time of a few minutes even with the Living Tribunal's power, but she was not aware of it. The TSAB mages were waiting for them. A few scans were performed, but then the seven of them were directed to a hexagonal platform. Four mages provided security codes to the platform, teleporting the seven of them right to Midchilda: specifically the interdimensional port of a grand hall. Eve recognized early-era TSAB construction when she saw it. Most of it was white, metallic, and minimalist to the extreme. There were few consoles or computers around, instead everything was optimized for space that no one used. It was a strange aesthetic, but Eve couldn't exactly complain. One of the higher-end mages - identifiable by his unique self-generated barrier jacket - walked up to them. "They're waiting for you." "How are we the last to arrive?" O'Neill blurted. The mage shrugged, indicating that he didn't know and he didn't particularly care. He simply led them to a large set of automatic sliding doors, taking them into the main hall. The room itself was just as sparsely decorated as the outside, though it did have over a hundred chairs of differing shapes and sizes set around a snaking network of tables. At the head of the room, there was a separate table set at a higher place than all the others, one that held the leaders of the preservation effort. Eve wasn't given the opportunity to process any further - for she realized everyone in the room was looking expectantly at them. At first she thought they were treating the Living Tribunal with respect, but she quickly realized they were all looking at her. Some of them were bowing. Why? She thought. We're weaker than everyone else... We're divided... We're not even worth all that much! Why are they treating me with reverence? She blinked. It isn't about power. It's about what I stand for. I'm the FACE of this conflict. Corona's opponent... She looked at the table with the leaders again. There were six seats, five of which were filled. The two center seats were occupied by Nanoha and a Combine official named Immen, a peculiar alien being composed of a single, blue flame. The seats on the edge were occupied by humanoid Class-2s she didn't recognize but would soon find out were E-Sphere locals: the Kromaggs and Paratimers. Lightning represented her half of the Collection, sitting to Immen's side. And there was one empty seat. Eve glanced to Ava, exchanging a conversation with looks. They decided in an instant that the people here wanted Eve to sit there - so she got to hold the honored position next to Nanoha. Eve trotted over and sat down, keeping an eye on the other five Merodi. Valentine took a seat far from everyone else, folding his hands together. Nanoha said they would wait a few more minutes for others to arrive. Eve noticed there were several empty seats, possibly reserved for any other Class 2 or 3 civilizations that cared to show up. ...Given how few were represented here, she was forced to come to an unpleasant conclusion: Most were either too afraid to involve themselves, were joining the other side... or had been damaged beyond repair by all the fighting so far. She activated her eye of Light and began to gather information, finding her fears were true. The few Class 3 societies that were here aside from the USM were terrified that they would just be wiped off the map like their neighbors had. The majority of societies were opting out of a war they couldn't engage in entirely, focusing instead on researching reality bunker technology in case the collapse did happen. A Class 3 technology base would likely not be sufficient to fully understand the technology required to create even a semi-functional bunker. Even Eve's scientists had been having difficulty working that one out. It didn't come with Corona's Message. ...And there were still only six Class 2s here, though counting the Collection was somewhat sketchy at this point. She knew the Void and Starcross Society were joining up with Corona, probably with a few lesser Class 2s. The Many-Angled ones had dropped out of sight entirely, while the Flowers remained neutral... If she was doing her math right - and she knew she was - there were now only about a dozen Class 2 societies in existence. How many had been wiped out by the destruction of the D-Sphere? How many had been destroyed by Gallifrey's time ripples? What about all the Class 3 societies - there should be more here, even if all of them were terrified. Just how much destruction had been unleashed already? Eve saw Nanoha let out a sigh - a small one that was barely perceivable, but a sigh nonetheless. Eve took this as a good time to turn on her ears - there were too many alien mouths to keep track of with her eyes. "I call this meeting to order," Nanoha said, holding up Raising Heart. "The Time Space Administration Bureau, Combine, Merodi Universalis, Collection of Preservers, Kromagg, Paratimers, and associated Class 3 societies have come together to form a cohesive unit to fight for the preservation of the multiverse. Normally we would start with introductions, but we do not have time for that. As we speak, most of our nations are either engaging in war or preparing for war. The longer we deliberate, the more advantage our enemy obtains." Eve winced at the use of the word enemy. "Let me lay this out simply. The two of us usually considered 'advanced' Class 2 societies in this room have suffered such extreme losses in the battle with Gallifrey that we are no longer the powers we once were. Our militaries have been decimated and our ability to control the worlds under our purview has been shaken considerably." Immen clearly wanted to object, but also knew what she was saying was completely true. "The 'good' news is that our opponents also suffered the same losses. The Void and Starcross Society are no better off." "The Collection is engaged in Civil War," Lightning offered. "And most of the rest have suffered collateral damage from the previous battles." "Not Merodi Universalis!" a human yelled - possibly a Paratimer, but she could have also been from a Class 3 as far as Eve knew. Eve ruffled her feathers. "Merodi Universalis has lost several worlds to the collateral damage, including Earth Stand, one of our founding universes. We know the plight the rest of you suffer." "That's just Plot Armor!" "And why does this make you upset?" Eve asked, cocking her head. "Wouldn't you want someone like that to fight alongside you?" The woman narrowed her eyes. "I am not rejecting your assistance in this war. I am merely pointing out that you aren't like us." Immen spoke up. "It is also the truth that many of your forces defected under Princess Corona. This would seem to offset your Plot Armor, as it were." Don't say a word, Eve messaged Monika, sensing the 'Lord of ka' wanted to blurt something out that wouldn't have been good for the meeting. Eve responded in her own way. "Maybe you are right - maybe we can't know exactly what you feel. But we do not wish to be your enemies, nor do we wish to look down on you. We know full well that the cards the Tower has dealt us are unfair to the rest of you. But we want to use that unfairness to help you - not push you down. We are not here to seek power in any shape or form. We are here to keep the multiverse together." The woman nodded - clearly wanting to still argue, but realizing they didn't have time. They all had to work together. Nanoha allowed herself to smile, glad that they'd gotten that sorted out quickly. There was silence. Eve realized that Nanoha was choosing to let her continue, rather than be the Chief Sovereign of this conversation. Eve kept her composure and continued along that thought. "This war that we are about to fight is going to be a horrendous event in all our histories. You have already seen the carnage of the Class 1 and Gallifreyan wars, the battles that tore the multiverse apart, forcing giants to fall to the ground. They evened the playing field for us - but we are all scared, all terrified of the cost we will have to pay. Scared with good reason. If the cost of fighting is death, why must we fight? "Sadly, we must fight because there are those who think fighting is the only way to resolve their differences." Immen knew this was a slight directed at the Combine, but didn't speak up against her. "So we must fight. But there are ways to fight that will minimize how long - or how deadly - this war will be. We must all focus on constructing Tower Rings, so we may end the war in a single decisive battle rather than being forced to beat our enemies until their societies collapse. By doing this we will force them to do the same. The days of quickly moving through the multiverse and finding Tower Rings in an instant are over. I am assured it is now a viable strategy. "Secondly, there is a way to minimize the death on both sides in the actual battles. O'Neill?" O'Neill nodded and stood up - surprised they got to this point so early in the meeting. He reached into his coat and pulled out a small spherical device, white on one side, red on the other. "This is a capture device, originating from 'Pokemon' universes and those like it. It is able to latch onto virtually any entity in a weakened state and imprison it. Once imprisoned, they may not break free - they can only be released from the outside. Any mental powers are suspended because they are unconscious inside. A much rarer version of this device was used to capture John." There were murmurs in the room. Eve took control of the conversation again. "These devices can be used as weapons in our war - a way to defeat an enemy soldier without killing him, if it is possible. While the rare and advanced versions of the capture devices cannot be mass-produced by the Tower's mandate, these simple ones can be created millions of times over by simple duplication spells. Give a few to every soldier and they will be able to capture the enemy, rather than kill." "That only helps the enemy's death count!" a TSAB mage shouted. Eve smiled warmly. "Not if we tell them what we're doing. This entire meeting is ka-screened, I know, but if we want them to know something, Twilence will probably pick up on it at least. If we contact them directly, I'm sure Corona will hear about it. And I know her - she'll want to do anything she can to minimize death on both sides. These simple devices are the best way we have to do that." "...The capture of millions upon billions of soldiers..." Lightning said, furrowing her brow. "...It's a good idea. I see absolutely no downside." They could be used against us! a Combine Advisor blurted. "How?" Nanoha asked. "They only work on those whose spirits have already been weakened. Considering how almost all TSAB mages fight with nonlethal spells, these capture devices would be perfect. I suspect the only reason we haven't used something like them in the past is due to ethical concerns and a lack of need." And why is it ethical now? "Why are you concerned about that?" O'Neill questioned, calling attention to the fact that it was the Combine asking the question. The Combine didn't respond. Nanoha shook her head. "A captured soldier lives. They have no freedom and they are in a horrendous situation, but they are alive. And perhaps they are more likely to survive the collapse if we fail." "This is conjecture," Lightning said. "There is no downside to using the capture devices if they're available, no need to debate them further." There were mostly nods - a few of them were begrudging, but everyone was able to accept this was how they'd be fighting. Eve realized Nanoha was looking at her again. It would have been really nice if you told me I would be heading this ahead of time, she messaged. I figured you knew you were the face. Don't worry, I can help you through it - but it has to be you, not me. I'm the old way, the high society, the Seat. You're the protagonist. ...Good point. Talk about strategy next? Probably. I'll sic O'Neil on them. Might be the only entertaining moment we get out of this meeting. Eve had to struggle not to let out a snort. "Moving on, tactics..." ~~~ Corona slammed her hands on the table. "All right, listen up!" Mage Rarity, Minna, Scarcity, Thanos, Ahzek Ahriman, a white-haired woman from a lower universe named Edelgard, a lizard-man called Phage who ran the Class 2 Society Phage Industries, and a blue energy being that represented the Shabanash all focused their attention on Corona. "Some of you, I like. Some of you, I don't," Corona said matter-of-factly. "Some of you I barely know. Some of you think the rest of us look like food. We're going to put all of that behind us." She clasped her hands together, sending a reality-bending ripple through the room. "Am I understood?" The only one who wasn't startled by Corona's sudden assertion of dominance was Phage - and he accepted it with a toothy smile. "Right, so, I don't want to hear any complaining about the 'motives' behind why we're doing this. Some of us want to destroy things for the heck of it, others want to stop suffering. It doesn't matter here why we're doing this, got it? All that matters is that we do bring about the collapse. And we will be using these." She set a red and white capture device on the table. "Any objections?" There weren't any. "Good. Start equipping your armies the moment this is over. Minna, ours are already doing it, correct?" Minna nodded. Corona turned to the rest of the leaders. "The plan is simple, and probably what all of you came up with already or would have come up with given time. We need to build Tower Rings - several locations at once, so if one is found and destroyed we have backups. We here at the Raven Hotel will be building ours with the Prognostici, and Blumiere has already begun construction. The rest of you are just going to have to figure it out on your own. Yes Phage, I know you've already started, we don't need to brag amongst each other here." Thanos smiled. "You seem to be sliding into your role well." "I fought as a commander in the war with Skarn," Corona explained. "I learned some things." For a moment, she paused, remembering the things she witnessed during the war. She shook her head and returned to the discussion. "While we are creating the Tower Rings we will wage war. Sai and our other artificial intelligences have been scrambling to come up with complex diversion tactics to keep the other side from finding them easily. Conversely, they have been trying to come up with ways to find Tower Rings that are hidden. The war will be one big game of intelligence hide and seek." Mage Rarity nodded. "As expected. The war goes to whoever gets a fully operational Tower Ring to the Tower and successfully activates it. That is our goal." "The only other win condition is utter destruction of the other side," Corona said. "And I don't exactly like our odds on that one." "You would just rather the collapse kill them than do it with your own hands," Scarcity pointed out. Corona nodded. "Very true. The fact that you're suggesting that makes me weak is telling of what your priorities are." Scarcity bristled. "I agree with Corona's aversion to total annihilation," Thanos said. "As do I," Edelgard added. "Some of us may have to live in the world that comes after." Phage gave a nod to indicate his agreement. Mage Rarity smirked at Scarcity. "Outvoted." Scarcity twitched. "This isn't a democracy, this is a council." "We don't even know who's a member or not!" Ahzek spat. Corona glared at Scarcity. "So...?" The unicorn didn't respond. Corona took that as a signal to continue. "Moving on, we have a few major threats within the other side. They have John - though we suspect they will not chance using him anymore. He's too much of a wild card. They also have the Living Tribunal." "We have the Rebellious Star," Scarcity asserted. "Can a Star take out the High Abstract?" Mage Rarity asked. "He can if he fights with us," Scarcity said. "It's a possibility," Corona admitted. "We do need a plan to take him out, he's too much of an influence on them. Luckily, aside from him, the strongest single power they have is the Shaping Mechanism." "The TSAB has secret weapons," Thanos pointed out. "That are secret and we can't really prepare for," Corona said. "Plus, it is very likely they've used most of them already." The Shabanash rippled. It said nothing, but everyone got the feeling it agreed. Phage narrowed his eyes. "Their advantages are the Tribunal, the TSAB's information databases, and the Shaping Mechanism. What do we have to counter them?" Corona glanced at Scarcity. "The Starcross Society suggests the Rebellious Star, but I doubt it. What we have is the Void itself, and Twilence." "They have Monika," Mage Rarity said. "Monika is powerful, but single-universe scale," Corona reminded her. "Twilence's Prophet powers go far beyond that and far above most other Prophets. They'd need Andrew Hussie or something to challenge her." "So our advantages are an ancient dimensional construct and a Prophet," Ahzek summarized. Corona nodded. "And theirs are a near-god of a Class 1 society, the intellectual property of a Seat society, and a mechanism that can mesh universes together?" "To be fair, that last one is easy to protect against." The Shabanash commented that it all seemed nearly balanced. Corona nodded. "What's the discrepancy?" The Shabanash responded that they only had a small section of Merodi Universalis, not half. The other side had the whole might. "Merodi Universalis isn't that strong." The Shabanash reminded her that they were the Protagonist Civilization. "And I was one of the protagonists. Twilence assures me that I balance out Eve's own presence." "So it is balanced," Thanos said, tapping a finger on the table. "It's been stacked that way by the Tower," Scarcity pointed out. "First, the Class 1s annihilated each other. Then, there was a war to bring the Class 2s to a relatively equal playing field. There are no High-Class 2s anymore!" "You forget the Flowers," Edelgard reminded them with a hint of disdain. "The Flowers don't count," Scarcity spat. "The point is, we are tier three. What if we're just another layer on the cake that needs to be removed!?" "...I'm not sure a Tower Ring could be created effectively without Class 2 infrastructure," Corona said. "A Class 3 could try, certainly, but the amount of time it would take..." She furrowed her brow. "No, we're already involving them in the war. The Tower doesn't need to push the power level down any further. It would be too much." "Are you sure about that? How can you be sure? You aren't a seer of any kind!" Ahzek huffed. I appeared in the middle of the meeting, scribbling on a notebook. "It's what I think is happening. The Dark Tower has reached as far down the power scaling as it needs to. We are the actual war. The actual fight. Because now the 'main characters' are the ones at the forefront, rather than a bunch of godlike civilizations clashing and destroying the heavens." "See?" Corona said, holding out a hand. "We're the last line." I wanted to say that there could be a twist as far as I knew - but I decided that wasn't good for the meeting. "So, let's fight to win," Thanos said, curling his fist. Corona met his fist with her own, smiling. "Yeah!" Mage Rarity, Edelgard, and Phage met them as well. The Shabanash chose to abstain, considering its penchant for eating solid beings. Scarcity grumbled, but put out her hoof anyway. On another day, they would have been enemies. Today they certainly weren't friends. But they would fight as one. ~~~ Allure and Thrackerzod walked through the main hall of Renee's castle. What was usually a place of bustling Expedition activity was now a ghost town. All Expeditions except the most important had been suspended, and most agents had been assigned to O'Neill for use in the war. Allure had a sour expression on her face, one that had scarcely budged since Minna had left. "...The Embodiment is still useless," Thrackerzod said. "Can't make up their minds, even when they themselves are on the line. They never know how to change." "Big surprise there," Allure muttered. Thrackerzod let out a deep, slightly annoyed sigh. "Allure, I have to be the least qualified person to say this, but you're not okay and sh-" "Oh, I'm not okay? Big surprise!" Allure let out a bitter laugh. "I mean look at me, my daughter betrayed me, some of my closest friends have become villains, and there's a war going on with them! Tell me how I could be okay with that!" "You couldn't," Thrackerzod agreed. "All I'm saying is y-" Allure put a hoof on Thrackerzod's shoulder. "I know. I know I'm not doing good. I know. But I don't have the luxury of just standing by and letting myself get better - there's too much going on right now." Thrackerzod blinked. "We could take care of it." "I have a role to play, Thrackerzod. If I ignored the call I'd never be able to live with myself. We're the League of Sweetie Belles. We can do something now." "And we could do that for you," Thrackerzod insisted. "You don't have to be the one leading the charge." "Thra-" "Minna is not your responsibility anymore, right? That's how 'growing up' and 'leaving the nest' works." Allure blinked - and then shook her head. "No. You... uh..." Allure stamped her hoof on the ground. "I don't care if she's grown up, she's still my responsibility." Thrackerzod made a face that suggested she thought Allure was wrong, but also suggested that the eldritch unicorn didn't have enough confidence in her understanding of family dynamics to say for sure. Allure was glad the conversation ended there. They soon arrived at the door to Renee's office and knocked. The doors slid open, allowing the two of them to enter without the usual teleporting fiasco. Renee sat behind her desk, alone. Her hat was slightly off center, her mane not as smooth as it usually was, and her glasses weren't on her face. She looked presentable - but to the people who knew her, she looked like a mess. Allure noticed a small pile of empty ice cream containers that Renee was trying to keep hidden behind her desk. The small unicorn's expression softened. "Renee..." Renee smiled awkwardly. "Ah, Allure. I... wish I was happier to see you. But I have a feeling I know why you're here." Allure sighed. "I want to sign the League of Sweetie Belles up for the war effort. ...Anyone that is willing, at least." Renee levitated her glasses back onto her face, pulling up a display. "Will you be included?" Allure nodded. "Yeah." Renee pressed a few buttons. "...Done." "That's... it?" Allure asked, cocking her head. "No argument?" Renee looked at the ground. "I know you wouldn't listen to me if I said anything. I know this is what you want. I'm your sister, not your mother; I don't have to watch over you like one. As much as I would like to..." Allure forced a smile. "Th-thanks. I..." The smile faltered. "Thrackerzod, can you give us a minute?" Thrackerzod nodded. She copied the confirmation that the League was available for the war effort onto a data pad and left, presumably to start the arrangements. Coordination with Squeaky would be a must. ...But Allure didn't want to think about that right now. She wanted to talk to Renee. "You're doing worse than I am," Allure observed. "I'm just angry, and I want to do something about it. You... there's something deeper here." "This is going to sound petty, because your daughter was the one who betrayed you, but... almost all my close friends joined the other side. Pinkie jumped ship with them... Eve and Flutterfree are barely keeping each other held together... And..." She looked at the ground. "Daniel and I have been having fights." "...You almost never have fights." "He wants Corona dead," Renee said, grimacing. "And it's so deep in his psyche that I can't even do anything! Me! The Sylph of Mind! I can't help him! And these days we can't just treat her like an outlier... She's in the forefront. We can't just..." She rammed her head into the desk. "I can't generate hate for her, like you can. Part of me wishes I could just so I could help our relationship..." Allure grimaced - she knew there was nothing she could do here. This was a deep relationship of a kind she had never had. A kind she had decided she didn't need. She didn't know how to fix it. Could it even be fixed? "You still love him, right?" "More than anything. And I know he feels the same," Renee said, tears in her eyes. "It makes it all the more painful... And there's all the people I have to send to their deaths, all the betrayals, and all the destruction everywhere..." Allure walked over to Renee and pulled her into a hug. "I can't do anything to help you." "...You could stay here, with me." "...You know I can't do that." Renee nodded slowly. "You have to do something. I don't have that. I... I just keep going on." "And you're strong enough to do it. Never forget that." Renee smiled. "...You're precious, you know that?" "I learned from the best." The two embraced in silence. ~~~ Daniel Jackson was doing what Renee couldn't bring herself to do - manage the agents of the Expedition Division who were being sent to the war as task forces. He had been checking in with every single team as they passed through a stargate-type dimension device to a ship somewhere in another world. Each team went somewhere different, ready to integrate with a Merodi or, in some cases, an ally's ship. Most teams didn't need anything other than a smile and a 'good luck' from him. Some needed some words of encouragement, and he had to send a few back for being ill-prepared or clearly not emotionally ready for what was about to happen to them. He didn't know the names of most of the people who came to him - he had to rely on his data pad updating information quickly. It worked most of the time, but occasionally a bug-like person would come with an unpronounceable name and it would become awkward. But he managed. He always did. He was mildly surprised when a name from the past shot onto his screen. Oncoming Storm. Daniel looked up with raised eyebrows at the gray-skinned human coming toward him. Once, this man had been Director Storm, head of A.I.D. on Earth Vitis. Then he had been Manager Storm for the Earth Vitis section of the Expeditions Division. Daniel had no idea what he'd done after that. Given the addition of a cybernetic arm, it must have been something interesting. "It's been a while," Daniel said, smiling. Storm let out a jovial laugh. "It's been nothing. Wait until you hit your thousandth birthday, then you can tell me it's been a while." "You haven't changed a bit." "I wouldn't be me for very long if I kept changing, would I?" "Definitely not." Daniel look over his shoulder. "What's your team?" Storm stepped to the side, a smirk crossing his face. "Enjoy." Daniel saw two ponies and two humans. He only recognized two of the faces instantly - Alushy and Jenny. The others forced him to turn to his data pad. One was a white alicorn with a red and black mane who had almost no documentation. Her name was Beryl, apparently. The human was a woman named Magane Chikujoin. She wore black, had dark purple hair that covered half her face, and had teeth far too sharp to fit in a human's mouth. Magane Chikujoin... Daniel thought to himself, narrowing his eyes. Something was wrong here. "I assure you, you have no idea who I am," Magane said. "I'm pretty sure I've heard about you from somewhere..." Magane shrugged. "A lie about a lie..." she snapped her fingers. Daniel suddenly felt all his worries shift away - he might as well have never been concerned at all. "I never get tired of seeing that," Jenny said with a smirk. Daniel blinked. "Seeing what?" "Nothing," Beryl muttered, scratching at her upside-down green crown of a cutie mark. "We're just here to get to our assignment." She levitated a data pad in front of her eyes. "Fuckin... looks like the TSAB Saisai contingent." Alushy let out a snort. "Hope they like graphic levels of violence!" Storm chuckled. "I'm sure they will. Now, who's ready to go to war!?" "We are!" everyone but Beryl shouted. Beryl just nodded. Daniel nodded to them. "Well, everything seems to be in order... good luck." He gestured toward the stargate. They all filed in. "All right!" Storm called out, spreading his hands wide. "Hello! The Storm has arrived!" A TSAB mage let out a disgruntled sigh. "Right this way, we'll have your team equipped in one of the droppers shortly. Are you all combat ready?" There were five nods of confirmation. "Good. Just do whatever the voice of Commander Onna tells you to. I would show you your quarters, but we're expecting to launch in less than an hour, so ask about that later if we survive initial contact." The 'dropper' turned out to be an octagonal room with eight empty chairs. The floor was made of glowing pink teleporter crystals ready to grab the soldiers above and 'drop' them wherever was needed. A quick delivery system. They were the only five in there. "You are task force 47-JZN," the mage reported, logging them into the room. "The computer consoles on the walls will inform you of anything you need to know." He pressed a button and all five of their ears suddenly felt like an ant had just bit down inside of them. "And now you can receive auditory orders anywhere. Be prepared to go at a moment's notice." He then ran out, leaving them alone. Storm let out a chuckle. "Heh. Looks like they're having a difficult time organizing everything." "Organized management is always a panic," Jenny said, sitting down in her chair with a playful smirk. "So, what's all your stories? Besides Magane, already know yours." "You wound me so!" Alushy blurted, falling back onto her chair in false fainting. "The memory of my soothing, enthralling voice is nothing to the likes of Jenny of the Red Gloves! I'm fuck-all to her!" "Give it a rest," Beryl said, shaking her head. "We need to learn to work together as a team. Jenny's right, we should all get to know each other better. All we know now is that Storm found us and chose us all." "And are you going to let out your secret, or no?" Alushy asked. "W-what secret?" "You really aren't a smart pony," Alushy said, shaking her head. "Who here knows who 'Beryl' is?" Magane and Storm raised their hands. Jenny just looked confused. Beryl facehooved. "Oh for the... I was supposed to vanish! Why do you all just know!" "I chose you because I knew," Storm said. "And Magane's probably cheating." Magane smiled predatorily, saying nothing. "And I used my amazing powers of deduction!" Alushy blurted. "...You just served with me in the whole Collection fiasco." "Fiasco? I thought you more creative than that, my Princess of Winning." Blackjack facehooved. "I'm not the Winner anymore. This cutie mark is fake. I'm just an alicorn who knows how to use weapons." "And who's being an idiot and coming to war." Alushy rolled over in her chair. "Hey multiverse, I'm Blackjack, and I'm supposed to be staying out of conflicts! Please, come fuck my shit up!" Blackjack shook her head. "It's not that. I have to do this. It's... personal." "Personal?" Jenny raised an eyebrow. "What, did someone die?" "Only everyone I knew," Blackjack muttered. Jenny realized she stepped on something she shouldn't have. "Uh... Sorry...?" Blackjack blinked, finding nothing to say in response to this. "The fly buzzes through the air..." Magane said with a chuckle. "And she is not aware what she mocks is a great spider, a hair's breadth away from lashing out in anger..." Jenny raised an eyebrow. "Well I ne-" "47-JZN! Get ready!" the announcement came. "Intel suggests there is a Collection strike about to happen on Nathalim. We will be there to defend! Expect heavy infantry combat!" Alushy laughed. "Aw, so sorry, looks like our moment of bonding has been cut short! We'll just have to hope we all suddenly know how to fight as a unit when we get there!" Blackjack gulped. "Yay..." "Also, everyone, this girl's an idiot, you'll probably have to protect her over and over again." "Alushy!" "It's perfectly fine for me to say that if you're a self-proclaimed idiot." "Alushy!" Storm held up his fingers. Three... Two... One... The teleportation cut Alushy off in the middle of a sentence about buckballs. ~~~ Jotaro steered the Atlas through the Great Void, following a faint signal a Void agent had given them, presumably one of the larger secret bases for the collapse. Behind him sat everyone else - Pinkie, Nova, Vriska, Pidge, and Jolyne. Just a minute ago, they had all been laughing. Pinkie had thrown a Happy Fifth Day (Maybe) On The Atlas Party! not too long ago and it had been a great time. Even Jotaro had broken out in smiles and chuckles, the moment serving as a great reminder that all joy had not been sapped from existence. But then they'd picked up a loose transmission signal carrying what was apparently an important public message. The Doctor's last message to the multiverse. Pinkie's Party may have already heard about the fall of Gallifrey, but they didn't know anything about how it happened, or that the Doctor was involved. The message was a surprise to all of them. "Make the most of what I'm giving you," the image of the Doctor said on the screen. Then he waved with a sad smile - and the feed ended. Most of them simply stared at the now empty screen in silence. Vriska was the only one crying. "Fucking... bastard..." She wiped her face. "Thinks he can redeem himself... thinks he can apologize..." "...Can't he?" Nova asked. "Well I can't exactly stay mad at a dead guy can I!?" Vriska blurted, slamming her fist into a console. "Wouldn't be 'fair' to him. Wouldn't be 'proper'. He fucking gave himself for everyone and apologized, how in my right mind could I still be pissed at him?" She let out a demented laugh. "Always a master of manipulation..." "You don't think..." Pidge began. "I don't know," Vriska said, grunting. "I can't know with him. He always kept himself hidden. He could always manipulate people seemingly without trying. Fucking effortless. And now he's gone and whatever fucked-up secrets he had are gone! He's made sure he'll keep the moral high ground by 'admitting' he didn't have it! Whoop-de-do." She put a hand to the bridge of her nose. "It hurts." "You never really wanted him dead," Jotaro observed. Vriska said nothing. "We're just going to have to learn to move past things like this quickly," Nova said. "Everything's falling apart. We have to make sure we don't fall apart." Pinkie smiled. "Yeah! Nova's got the right idea. Really, really bad things are going to start happening. We've got to keep ourselves up above the waves." "Bad things haven't happened already?" Jolyne blurted. "That's not what I-" "Anasui has been rewritten, Job doesn't know where I am, and people are fucking dying!" "And that is going to keep happening," Nova said. "That's my point. We're... just going to have to get used to it. Or we're going to have to break." Jolyne looked like she wanted to shout but couldn't think of anything that didn't make her sound like a raging lunatic. She let out a sigh. "...Fine. I get it, I get it. Just have to toughen ourselves up." "...If we can," Pidge said. "We can," Pinkie said, grinning. "Because we're us! Think about all the things we've been through these past few decades! We took all of that - we can take this. Are you with me?" There was a split between 'yeah!' and awkward silence. They weren't given time to comment on this though - because the Atlas was teleported right into one of the Raven Hotel's docking bays. I stood there with Corona and Mage Rarity. I force teleported all of them out of the Atlas, startling them - but my smile quickly put them at rest. "Welcome to the Raven Hotel," I said, extending a hoof. "Glad you made it." Pinkie bounced forward and shook my hoof. "I'd hope so, we're about to become your best fighters!" "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered. Corona picked up Pinkie and hugged her. "...I'm glad you chose to come. It... It means a lot." Pinkie squeezed her back. "Make it all worth it, Corona." Corona let out a short laugh. "I'm trying as hard as I can." She released Pinkie and moved to Jotaro. She fixed him with a pained expression. "...I'm so sorry for your loss." Jotaro didn't say anything. Corona extended her hand. "Let's make that sacrifice mean something. Together." Jotaro hesitated for a moment. Then he grabbed her hand and shook it. Corona noticed his hand was trembling slightly, but she didn't comment on it. She greeted Nova, Pidge, and Jolyne in much the same way. Vriska ignored her, walking right up to Mage Rarity and me. Despite her tears just a moment ago, she broke out into a huge smile and laughed. "Looks like we're getting the band back together!" "In more ways than one," I said, holding up my hoof. "Greetings," Mite said. "Oh. My. Gog," Vriska gasped. "You got Mite too? Oh, this really is everyone! ...Everyone who can be here, anyway." Mage Rarity nodded sadly. "I'm sure she wouldn't want that to be a shadow over us." "Fuck no," Vriska said, putting her hands on both our backs. "We're a team, and we will always be a team, even if we're all part of other teams. It took the fate of the multiverse to get us back together. Let's go out with a bang!" "Implosion," Mite droned. "If you're going to get technical I'm going to mention that you can't call the collapse an explosion or an implosion due to interdimensional effects." "Irrelevant." "Oh, then why did you care earlier?" "Entertainment." Vriska rolled her eyes. "Ooooof course." Corona coughed. "Sorry to break this reunion up, but we have work to do, and I can't keep up my tough-girl image if I keep hugging you all like this. I might have to be a little harsh in the coming weeks, just be warned." "Got it!" Pinkie said, saluting. "Just know that I'm glad to have you here, regardless." Corona gave them all a wink. "Anything you really need to tell me before I put you in with all the other teams?" "Nothing your Source wouldn't have told you already," Pinkie said. "Good. ...You guys remember Poe, right?" Nova facehooved. "How could we forget?" Corona rolled her eyes. "I'm sure he'll be glad to see you, at least." "Yaaay..." Corona led them inside, checking them in to their secret little war effort. ~~~ Eve and Flutterfree had finally gotten a moment away from the chaos, deciding to spend it at Flutterfree's cottage. It was the one place that still looked more or less the same as it had before everything had happened. The tree had grown, certainly, but it didn't look much different. The branches were still the same natural color, the leaves were filled with animals, and there was a beautiful arrangement of larger plants around it. Flutterfree knew her house was essentially a park in Ponyville, but at least she got to keep most of her scenic view, even if the noises of the city were still audible. Flutterfree had just finished warming up some tea for herself and Eve, setting the dishes out across the living room table. The sounds of Eve taking a shower could be heard up the stairs - Flutterfree was sure she'd be done soon. Discord dropped in for a moment. "Oh, you finally made it back!" Flutterfree smiled. "Yeah. I don't have much time. I'd appreciate it if I actually got to relax with Eve." "Say no more. I'm technically busy on the front, anyway," Discord said, taking some of the tea. "Oh, I didn't know you were fighting. ...Are you sure that's what you want?" Discord shrugged. "It seems like the right thing to do. Plus, it is a little fun getting to 'catch 'em all'." He snapped his fingers, putting on a Pokemon trainer outfit and levitating six of the capture devices in his hand. "All of them!" Flutterfree chuckled despite the morbid reality behind the joke. "Watch yourself, okay? The big players may be gone... But there are still things that can hurt you out there." "Trixie's watching my back." "You bet Trixie is!" Trixie's voice came from somewhere in Discord's ear. "The Great and Powerful unicorn of the Internet sees all!" "You missed the nega-Discord an hour ago." "He wasn't playing fair!" Flutterfree rolled her eyes. She heard the water shut off. "Oh, looks like Eve's done. Sorry, Discord." Discord bowed extravagantly. "It is no matter. I shall endeavor to encase many in cotton candy clouds in your name, Flutterfree." Flutterfree chuckled. "Just keep yourself safe." Discord nodded - then vanished. Eve came down the stairs a few seconds later, towel wrapped around her mane, somehow managing to keep the hairs of cosmic energy contained. Flutterfree suspected the spells required to do that were rather complicated. "How do you feel?" Flutterfree asked. "...Strangely, not that bad," Eve admitted. "I should be panicking, fretting about a million details, be ready to explode in magical fire... but I'm not. I feel... calm." Flutterfree smiled sadly. "That's... good." "But...?" "I think your body and mind have realized they need to shut a lot of themselves down in order to survive the coming ordeals," Flutterfree sipped her tea, giving her a moment to collect her thoughts. "I'm feeling it too. You were there after Pinkie left, I came to you a wreck, but I had to put myself together for you. And now... well, I don't feel great, but I don't feel like the world is falling apart around me. Even though it is." "Is this an unhealthy denial of some sort?" "It might be, if existence wasn't actually falling apart at the seams," Flutterfree said. "I've talked to Rev. I'm pretty sure this coping mechanism we've come up with... it's damaging us. Giving us a chance to act, yes... but how will we come out of it?" "A lot of immortals end up distant, or impassive," Eve mused. "Maybe because it's only a matter of time before they have to lock themselves up to survive?" "I don't know. What I do know is that we don't have much of a choice." "Yeah... Everyone else is more important than our individual mental health." "...It's amazing what you can do when you have no choice." Eve smirked. "That quote again?" "I like it. It... describes my life, in a lot of ways. And it is applicable to the situation." "Mmm..." The two of them fell into a moment of silence - not an awkward one, but one of relaxation. One of contentment. One where they didn't have to worry about the fate of existence for one small moment. Then the priority line on Eve's phone rang. "How long did that take?" Eve asked, flipping the phone out and turning on her ears. "Forty local minutes," Flutterfree said. "Hm. More than I expected." Eve put the phone to her ear. "Overhead Evening." "Ambassador Valentine," Valentine said from the other side. "The final vote on our place in this war went through." "...Wait, why did you come to the meeting if there was still a vote?" "The outcome was inevitable, and it went just as I predicted," Valentine answered. "If there's one thing we Muricans like, it's an enemy to fight. Even if they're 'bigger' and 'stronger' than we are, we are the people of freedom, and we will never back down from that fight. USM forces will be joining Merodi Universalis and the rest shortly." "You don't seem all that thrilled." "With this vote the USM has signed its death warrant," Valentine said. "We cannot survive a war of this scale. Our internal politics are already so unstable; one wrong push will send the entire thing into a tailspin. We have no unique skills, no ancient artifacts, and no significant ka presence. We are just a Class 3 nation who doesn't know when to keep their head down." "You tried to stop it, right?" "I did. If by some miracle the USM survives this war in any form, no doubt my actions will be the start of my own political downfall. The route of pacifism is... decidedly unpopular." Eve smiled. "I'm glad you stuck up for what you believed in, even when everyone else was doing the opposite." "It was all I could do. And it wasn't enough. ...Eve, I need to ask you a favor. If you are able, forget what we stand for and what's happened in the past. You are the strong ones in this case, and we are the weak. Try to protect us." "I'll do what I can," Eve promised. "It's what friends are for." "...I suppose it is." "And don't worry, this conversation didn't happen." "Goodbye." He hung up. Eve put the phone away and turned off her ears. "Well... I guess we can keep relaxing. For now." Flutterfree smiled. "Good." They accepted their gift of a moment to breathe. ~~~ Morty watched as the soldiers of his half of the Collection laid waste to a universe of bright pink flowers simply because some collapse-leaning individuals were hiding amongst the beautiful flora. There was no more beauty to be found here. There was only fire. A loud burp sounded from behind him. He hoped, in vain, that it was one of the Ricks he was working with. Barring that, an assassin from the other side. Anything but his Rick. "How's it feel to be me?" Rick asked, tossing a beer bottle over his shoulder. "The fact that it feels terrible means I'm not you," Morty deadpanned. "Your feelings don't mean shit." "Rick, we established a long time ago that's not what I think." "God, you're still a naive idiot... bringing war to everything in existence and you still think this is real?" Rick let out a mixture of a snort and a burp. "You know, if everyone stopped caring about 'right' or 'wrong', none of this would happen. Who'd care either way?" "Rick, even you couldn't live without some fucked-up idea of morality. You haven't exactly physically removed your emotions, have you?" "Tried a few times," Rick admitted. "Bad consequences." There was an explosion in the distance. Some dark magic spell coagulated the blood into a demonic squid monster. "Maybe that should tell you they mean something." "Or the Tower's a bitch." "Then destroy it." "Nah." "Why not?" "No difference either way. You're fucked over by stories or fucked over by reality." Rick stretched his back, yawning. "You're all set on going after the better option and are willing to kill everything over it. Idiots. Every last one of you. There's no difference. You live or you don't either way." "Then why are you here?" "Fucking Tower's random dimensional jump matrix. I was going to Blips and Chitz." Morty let out a bitter sigh. "That place still exists..." "Amazing defenses. I'll gamble until everything goes pop," Rick laughed, slapping his thigh. "And then nothing will change." "You could be dead." "Nothing." Rick pulled out his portal gun and created a gateway to Blips and Chitz. "Wanna take a break?" Morty scowled. "I am never doing anything with you again." "Your loss." ~~~ Mage Rarity was one of the most valuable pieces on the field of battle; even though as a higher-ranked member of the army she was supposed to stay back, her true power wasn't on display unless she was in the thick of it. She was one of the best White Mages the Void had to offer, able to resurrect several people at once, heal virtually every wound, and remove any status the multiverse could think of. She even had a safeguard in her spells so that anyone who was Brought Back Wrong would just be killed automatically. But she was very effective at not letting anyone around her die. Sure, the fact that both sides were using capture devices kept the death count down, but Mage Rarity was still the greatest force of healing available at the moment. It did help that she was also excellent at actually fighting. "Holy Meteorga!" she shouted as she flew across space, a Void-device on her back that kept her shrouded in a bubble of reality and used dark energies to move her around much like a rocket. Her combination spell went off - a series of impressive white orbs erupted from her horn, spiraling toward a Starcross Society ship. The white orbs became infused with the essence of cosmic meteors, bombarding the ship's already-weakened shields. The impacts broke the barrier, allowing the holy energy to coalesce into a tremendous laser that cut right through the ship's bridge, disabling it. She tapped into the connection she had to the Void, using it to shift universes to a world where the ships couldn't fight - an infinite plane of whiteness where single 'entities' were limited to a set size no larger than a bus. Warriors from all sides popped into and out of existence, trying to beat the other. Most of them didn't even know the point of the battle - which was to get entry to universe 'Zel-57' and use the construct within to help build Tower Rings faster. The only problem was no one could find it in all this chaos, especially considering how the universes kept being moved across the Sea of Infinite Possibility, screwing up their coordinates. Mage Rarity didn't need to worry about this. She just did what would help her army. She leaped through a Void-portal to another plane of existence, this one where ugly cobbled-together Kromagg ships fired upon the behemoth Combine star-constructs. Mage Rarity didn't care to engage in this fight - she'd only attacked the Starcross ship because it had been weakened - but she was interested in using it. She moved herself between the Kromagg and Combine, enveloping herself in a sphere of black Void energy. The Combine's reality-tearing beam hit her, passing through the Void and into the realm she had just left. She shifted herself back to the limiting expanse, finding thousands of charred corpses. She smirked - using her weak Raise spell to bring them all back. There was no small number who Came Back Wrong and just started screaming before they were automatically killed. But any others came back to life weak, barely able to move - easy to capture with the devices. The remaining soldiers were those on her side, so she healed them back to full and sent them back to fighting. She saluted, winked, and did a backflip through a Void portal to another realm, this one a seemingly endless maze of blue circuitry. She was somewhat surprised to find it mostly abandoned. She was only supposed to be jumping to universes with heavy amounts of combat. "And the rabbit went for the carrot," someone said from behind her, accompanying the line with a psychotic laugh. I was intercepted, she realized. She quickly teleported herself several meters forward, barely dodging a thrown starmetal sword. "Blackjack!?" she blurted, eyes wide. "Oh. That's what your name was," Jenny said, looking at Blackjack. Blackjack paid her no mind, instead pointing the starmetal sword at Mage Rarity. The once-Princess of Winning's face was livid. "How could you?" "...Blackjack, dear, you know what my beliefs were, and where my loyalties lay." "Bullshit! I'm an idiot! You never told me outright, how was I supposed to know!?" Storm raised an eyebrow. "I take it there's some history here?" "No shit, Sherlock," Alushy muttered. Storm held out a hand and Magane provided him with some popcorn. "...Are these your new friends?" Mage Rarity asked. "The ones who convinced you to put your life on the line?" Blackjack twitched. "I made that decision on my own." Mage Rarity shook her head. "You're going to die, Blackjack. You've run out. You aren't a winner anymore." "So? Fuck that, I'm going to do what needs to be done." She charged Mage Rarity with the sword. Mage Rarity jumped back through a Void portal, expecting to escape their snare. But she found Jenny of the Red Gloves waiting for her. Jenny's fist twisted with transdimensional vibration energy. She punched right into Mage Rarity, disrupting her Void shields and cracking the mare's jaw. In an instant, Mage Rarity healed it with a Cure. She dodged to the side as Magane came flying out of a random dimension, somehow wielding a blade seven times too heavy for a human to control effectively. Crap. She's probably a reality warper of some sort. Mage Rarity tried to focus a Holy blast on Magane, but the woman simply vanished the moment it would have hit her. Alushy charged from another realm of existence as Mage Rarity jumped into a world where the only things in existence were trees. She unleashed a Holy spell on Alushy, her vampiric nature making her particularly susceptible to the attack. "OH FUCK, THAT'S A DEEP PAIN!" "It gets worse," Mage Rarity muttered, activating her Quick spell. She was able to layer four spells overtop of each other, creating Holy-Meteorga-Slow-Mini. Alushy was hit with holy meteors from on high that encased her in a sludge of slowed space-time, all the while her size was shrunk considerably. "...Sweet," Alushy commented, stumbling and passing out from the sudden onslaught of holy power. It was quite possibly the worst matchup for the great vampire. Mage Rarity moved to capture Alushy, but Magane was already there, capturing Alushy herself to keep Mage Rarity from getting to her. Storm came from the side and hit Mage Rarity with a lightning bolt fueled by a galaxy in a marble. "Do you want to hear the story behind this artifact?" Storm asked, grinning mischievously. "A fun story - we were wandering around a universe wh-" He dodged a Comet spell from Mage Rarity. "Or we can fight. That works too." He lunged at her, taking out a sword. The blade split up into hundreds of sections, allowing him to wield it like another limb. It cut at her from the side. She teleported to another universe, somewhat surprised to find that the sword was able to cut through dimensional barriers and follow her. She galloped across the hull of a Combine ship, avoiding both the natural point-defenses of the ship and Storm's artifact. Magane was suddenly in front of her. "You won't be leaving this place." "Oh yes I will." Magane grinned. "A lie about a lie..." she snapped her fingers. Mage Rarity understood. So that's how her powers work. Exceptionally broken, exploiting truth like that... She smiled. But I have a workaround. "Undo!" Mage Rarity shouted, letting out a spell that negated Magane's warping of reality, making it as if it had never happened - though both Mage Rarity and Magane remembered it happening. Magane laughed. "Clever girl..." she said, baring her teeth as if she were a great white shark delighted to have some challenging prey. Mage Rarity wasn't having any of that. She teleported behind Magane, kicked her in the back of the head, and then forced her timestream to Stop. She planned on cutting the woman in half, but the Combine point-defenses caught up with her. The Void absorbed most of the damage, but Mage Rarity felt the plasma energy burn off some of her skin and break a rib. She allowed herself to fall back into the blue circuitry realm, annoyed to find Jenny and Storm waiting for her. She was beginning to realize she wouldn't be able to keep this up. She would make a mistake - and that would be that. She needed backup, but everyone was so busy. Empress Twilight might send someone, but would they get here in time? Taking the time to think that turned out to be her mistake. She had failed to notice Blackjack get back up. Her starmetal sword cut right through the Void's defenses and hit Mage Rarity's horn - snapping it in half. She let out a shriek as her immense magic exploded from the bony stump. White magic blasted out in a shockwave and she slumped to the ground. Blackjack stood her ground, using her own magic to deflect the release of power. "I'm sorry." She took out a capture device. And then Vriska appeared out of a Void portal and kicked Blackjack in the face. "Got your back, Rares." "Ah... Thanks," Mage Rarity said, reaching for the broken half of her horn - she'd need it to reaffix it later. "Be... careful." "C'mon, I thought you knew me!" "You're... never careful..." Vriska chuckled. "That's what you think. Mite's already working on them." Jenny realized she had lost control of her body. "Ah, frick." "Shrimp," Mite said from his position on her shoulder, hacking into her internal system of nanomachines that powered her magic. "I AM NOT A SHRIMP!" Jenny shouted at Mite. "Sure..." Mite commented, throwing Jenny's fist into Magane. Storm narrowed his eyes, looking at Vriska. "...Where's Twilence?" "Where do you think?" "Ensuring our downfall," Storm said. "Everyone, fall back!" "Fall back!?" Blackjack blurted. "They have the Prophet focused on them!" Storm shouted. "Fall back!" "Oh, you're not getting away..." Vriska said, pulling out the infinite-sided die. "Ah, but I think we are!" Magane said. That won't work, she has to start... Mage Rarity thought. "Magane, we're stuck, just give up," Storm said with a grin. "A lie about a lie..." ...Dammit, that's broken as Tartarus. Somehow, Vriska managed to fumble with her infinite-sided die just long enough for the enemy team to escape to another universe. Mite hopped off Jenny at the last moment. "Trace them!" Vriska shouted. "Nope," Mite said. "Why not!?" "Twilence." "She told him not to," Mage Rarity said, following it up with a cough. "...Just get me back to base." Vriska threw her hands in the air. "Well okay then! Guess we have a draw a-" An alarm went off in her ear. She stopped talking and got everyone out of there instantly. One of the higher-end TSAB ships had unleashed a multidimensional weapon in a nearby universe. The realm of blue circuitry began to shatter like glass, becoming deadly projectiles. Some of the fragments embedded themselves into Vriska and Mage Rarity before they left - but it was nothing compared to the storm of death that was created afterward. The war continued to tear universes apart even at this smaller scale.
Songs of the Spheres	123 - We Will Not Count the Cost	What was the Void, exactly? Not the nation - the construct that defined the nation; the ancient device that was often called the 'incarnation of nothingness'. It had existed longer than anyone could remember and did not have the signature of Weaver, Downstreamer, or another common ancient-multiversal construct creator. It was a unique power over nothing that, somehow, turned that nothing into everything. It had access to an exceptionally large area of the multiverse, connecting so many worlds with a similar system of magic, summons, and even similar events, suggesting it had at least an indirect power over ka itself. It could open portals to any universe within its purview, bestow Void powers to anyone it wished, and utterly control the existence or nonexistence of virtually anything. Generally horrible offense, excellent defense. However, that was only what it did. No one, not even the Empress herself, knew what it was. There had been rumors that the first 'master' of the Void, Enuo, had been its creator, and he had clearly believed that had been the case, but it turned out he had merely happened upon it by accident. None of the other masters had figured it out either. As curious as Twilight was, she had never been able to figure out much of anything. It just was. Theories abounded. Perhaps it was a physical manifestation of the shared ka between the universes it was connected to. Or maybe it was a universe designed to interact with the Sea of Infinite Possibility without falling into nonexistence itself. Maybe it was a superweapon designed to wipe out the entire multiverse, and nobody really knew how to use it. Whatever it was, it was the only reason the people within were Class 2. Without the Void, they would have fallen long ago. Granted, now that Empress Twilight had been in power for millennia, they had a fleet and decentralized government, but all of that was built on the Void. They would probably be able to survive if the Void were taken out of the equation, but it wouldn't be a comfortable life. ...There was also the possibility that all the universes connected to the Void depended on it, and that they would cease to exist if the Void was disrupted heavily. Nobody could say for sure. For obvious reasons, nobody wanted to find out. Nobody but the Combine. Naturally, they saw the Void as the biggest threat to their operation - it was unbelievably strong and its defensive nature could easily protect Tower Rings from destruction. So, naturally, the conclusion was reached to unleash an all-out attack on the Void with the intent of destroying it and crippling the collapse movement. Lightning and Starbeat had no idea this was the plan. The Combine hadn't exactly told anyone the goal of the assault was genocide. They'd just informed everyone that they'd detected a Tower Ring construction near the center of the Void's universes. While the TSAB used the Kromagg and Paratimers on defense, the Combine had taken some forces from the Collection they had access to, and the Merodi. Lightning was commanding one of the Collection's many versions of the Enterprise, flying alongside the Merodi Ytterbium. They themselves were but tiny specks alongside the Combine N7-AU, a biological mesh that looked like a soccer ball with yellow stars at every vertex, and a black hole in the center surrounded by orbiting metallic rings. This was part of a significantly larger fleet that might well have been a mobile galaxy, considering how many stars were involved. "The Combine are putting a lot into this..." Lightning observed. "Too much." Starbeat nodded. "They must be after something. But this is war - not like we can get on their case about it. They can get whatever they want so long as we stop the Tower Ring." Lightning let out a grunt, unsure of what to make of it. "...Is it getting to you?" "This was my home," Lightning said, furrowing her brow. "Before the Collector took me... I was of the Void. One of many Lightnings out among the crystals. I didn't look back. ...But now I am back, fighting against them." She shook her head. "I never expected to come back at all." "Ah. Quite the homecoming." Lightning nodded, flexing her Infinity Gauntlet. It was effectively useless in multiversal combat, given its need for the universe to be calibrated around it, but she wasn't about to let anyone else wear it. This train of thought made her think about Thanos, and a scowl appeared on her face. "Focus on the here and now," Starbeat said, smiling warmly. "We're here to stop the collapse." "Again." "...Yeah. Again." "It's always again and again..." The order went out to move into the Void. The N7-AU activated the Combine-designed reality anchor, the only defense against the powers of the Void. The Void could break through such defenses rather easily - which meant they only had a short window of attack. There were three jumps needed within Void space to get to the Tower Ring universe. The entire Fleet would have to get there in a handful of minutes relative to their timestreams and unleash enough firepower to destroy the Tower Ring despite the Void's defenses. Lightning had run the numbers. They had much more than enough to accomplish that. The firepower they were bringing was absurd. So absurd that they might lose more because they were so tightly packed. She knew the Combine liked to curb-stomp, but this didn't seem as reasonable as it could have been. Should have been. The ships launched to the first universe. The anchors held steady, and there was no planned resistance at this stage - the universe was an empty, unimportant one. Hell broke loose in the second jump. Ships composed of crystalline entities and magitech entered the space, ringing them with dimensional inhibitors that severed the connection to the Tower Ring's universe. Despite their anchors, the Combine were going to have to punch a new connection through the multiversal fabric to continue, and that would take time. Enough time for a battle to break out. Stars exploded, magical ships splintered into millions of pieces, and the death toll rose. The original plan for Lightning and Starbeat had been to use their ship to board one of the larger Void ships and take it down from the inside, but already there was too much chaos for that plan to work. A smaller Void ship had skewered the Enterprise and the Ytterbium, disabling all three without sending everyone to a fiery grave. Everyone readied the capture devices and prepared for a face-to-face fight that would end up being rather meaningless. After all, they were just three unimportant ships adrift in the middle of a larger battle; who cared what happened to them? Lightning nodded to Starbeat, and they went separate directions. Starbeat went to clear out the interior while Lightning teleported herself outside, a force field keeping her from succumbing to the vacuum of space. Apparently a few others had had the same idea - one of them a very familiar face. A version of her without an eyepatch or the Infinity Gauntlet. This Lightning had the same gunsword as Lightning, though. The two blades met with a clang, their bullets flying off in random directions. "FIRAJA!" Lightning shouted while her counterpart cast "BLIZAJA!", allowing both of them to discover that, yes, this universe did allow sound to travel through space. The spells of fire and ice collided, sending the two women flying. They whirled around, casting dual Thundaja at each other, the bolts meeting in the middle and canceling each other out. Lightning didn't want to use Ultiga or Gigaflare - the former would just destroy everything, while the latter would disintegrate the other Lightning into absolutely nothing, no way to capture her. Maybe... "Meteorga," Lightning declared, summoning a magic swarm of meteors. She was able to direct them sideways so they would hit the other Lightning from the side, missing the ships entirely. This worked like a charm - the other Lightning could not deal with such an impressive spell, and she was easily captured. Unfortunately that was all the battling that got to happen. The Combine punched through the dimensional fabric, creating a space-time vortex that dragged everything through it - to the universe with the Tower Ring. The Tower Ring had barely begun construction - all they could see of it was a basic circular wireframe orbiting a red supergiant star. The N7-AU warp-jumped right next to it, forcing a double supernova to destroy the construct. "Easy, as expected," Lightning muttered to herself, trying to figure out how she was going to get to a ship that was still operational to portal out easily. She could use her own device, but there was no telling where in space they were, making it a spatial pain to get anywhere. These thoughts were pushed aside when she realized the Combine weren't leaving - they were arranging their ships into a complex geometric pattern. What are they doing...? Lightning didn't get to answer this question at that moment - because Corona flew past Lightning's vision, locked in combat with Discord. The Draconequus had clearly been struggling for a while now - having foregone his usual magic of random chaotic amusements in favor of fighting with pure distorted energy. Corona was able to raise a shield of magic to not only block the attack, but reflect it back at Discord. His physical form twisted for a moment, but reformed without a scratch on it. He pulled back his hand, tugging at a Combine ship, throwing the star-construct at Corona like a baseball. She teleported herself to the other side of the ship and hit Discord in the back with a binding spell, a deep red chain appearing around his midsection. She pulled back her other hand and drained energy from Discord through the chain. He lashed out, attempting to break it, but found that it used his own energy to defend itself. "How unfair..." Discord muttered. Lightning rushed in, enchanting her blade with Ruinaja and slicing right through the magic chain. Corona teleported behind her and pressed a finger to Lightning's arm - achieving a moment of empathy. Lightning only let her have a second, slicing Corona across the chest even in her semi-conscious state. Golden glowing blood seeped out of the Rogue of Doom. Corona healed herself in an instant, teleporting to avoid one of Discord's attacks. "Lightning, the Combine are trying to destroy the Void." Lightning blinked - she knew Corona was telling the truth. "So what?" Discord blurted, continuing to attack Corona - forcing her to bind him again. "This... Is... War!" "The destruction of the Void is likely to destroy almost every universe in the Void," Lightning said, a haunted expression solidifying on her face. "It would be genocide..." Discord groaned. "Ugh, why can't the Combine ever play nice?" "Because they don't," Corona said, folding her arms. "I know we're enemies, but this war is not going to be like the previous ones. There will not be the genocide of races. Right?" Lightning curled the Infinity Gauntlet into a fist. "We already did what we came to do... This is too far." She pointed at a seemingly insignificant ship near the edge of the Combine's lattice. "That one's a control node. Destroy enough of those and whatever dimensional mesh they're trying to make should fall." Corona nodded. She pushed her hands forward and lit her horn - releasing Discord in the process. He turned his remaining energy on the type of ship Lightning had pointed out. Corona - or Raging Sights - must have sent a message, because most of the Void ships did the same, taking out the linchpins in the Combine's structure. The attempt to destroy the Void faltered. And the Void itself finally figured out how to break through the Combine's defenses. A sphere of darkness appeared in the center of their fleet, eating it up like candy. There was a mass retreat. Corona smiled. "Hey, thanks," she said, saluting Lightning. Lightning nodded. "So, now what?" Corona threw a capture device at Discord. In his weakened state he was unable to resist. "I capture Discord, give you this earpiece..." She tossed Trixie's earpiece to Lightning. "And then we go our separate ways." Lightning blinked. "...You're not going to try to take me on?" Corona shrugged - then vanished through a portal of her own creation. Lightning was alone, adrift in space. She put the earpiece in her ear. "Hello?" "Oh, look at you, so lucky," Trixie spat, clearly upset that Discord had just been defeated. "Can you do anything to get me out of here?" "Already sent your location to Starbeat. She'll be picking you up... eventually. Now excuse Trixie, she's got a Sombra virus to take care of." Trixie's voice cut out. Starbeat arrived the next moment, teleporting Lightning out of the universe. "What did you do?" "Stopped a genocide," Lightning muttered. "Pretty sure Eve and Nanoha won't consider that treason." She paused for a moment. "We aren't mindless monsters." ~~~ Scarcity pressed a button and erased another USM world from existence. She wasn't getting as much enjoyment out of this curbstomp as she had been hoping for. Even when the Merodi reinforcements arrived, there was hardly anything they could do against the Starcross Society's Razor. It was a simple device, really. It took the corpse of a dead Star and used the energy within to find a Singularity Point within a universe where its structure was weakest, and then it would create an explosion akin to the Big Bang there, destroying everything within. The USM lacked sophisticated reality anchors or multiversal defenses, so tearing them apart was easy. When she finally got to the Merodi, they would be slightly more difficult, but still inevitably they would fall. An alarm went off on her console. The Razor ship had just been hit by... "Johnny Joestar..." Scarcity muttered. That man and his 'Infinite Spin' was a major pain. All he had to do was shoot one nail into any solid thing, and eventually the Spin would overtake the object's structural integrity, shattering it. It would be... oh, about an hour before the Infinite Spin moved all the way through the Razor ship, but cutting off the infected section wasn't going to be easy considering that he shot one of the major power nodes. She ordered her soldiers to take care of Johnny. All of them fell within a few seconds. She sighed. "All right, fine. Want something done right..." She teleported to the part of the ship's hull where Johnny was. She could see the fires of battle happening all around as the USM and Merodi attempted to break through the Starcross Society's defenses, but were unable to force the universe to collapse. The explosions were mostly far away from the Razor ship, the construct they needed to protect the most. It was probably a fluke Johnny had gotten here at all. He was, in fact, riding a pony; an alicorn to be precise. None other than Twilight Sparkle M4 from Equis Eldritch. M4 said something - but this universe didn't allow for sound in space, so there weren't going to be any dry sarcastic comments in this fight. There was a small pile of capture devices at M4's hooves, presumably filled with Scarcity's soldiers. Soldiers that were probably undergoing Infinite Spin and would die if they were released in a universe that allowed Spin to take place. Such as this one. Johnny aimed his nails and M4 shot a magical laser at Scarcity. Scarcity was suddenly behind them, tapping into the power of the Razor ship's Runes with her own magic. The yellow glow of the Runes next to her flooded into her horn, creating a sharp yellow point of light. The light transformed into a five-headed snake and charged the very surprised Johnny and M4. Starcei would know how I did that. Heh. Johnny found his nails couldn't spin the light-construct, and M4's magic was all spent on defense. They were falling back, on the defensive. Great. All she had to do was follow up... SUCH OVERCONFIDENCE IS UNBECOMING. Scarcity blinked. Wait... She couldn't hear anything out h- A bony hand touched the back of her neck and ripped her soul right out of her body. She was aware of this - it took the act of her soul being pushed back into her body to force her into unconsciousness. Death smiled, just like always. He captured her and tucked the ball into his robes. He turned his attention to the snake golem, raising his scythe. Thanos came out of nowhere and punched Death across the face, the gems of the Infinity Gauntlet glowing brightly. ...THIS COULD BE PROBLEMATIC. Johnny managed to get a shot off on Thanos, but the Infinity Gauntlet protected him with a barrier of energy. They had been destroying other universes from this universe for hours. That had been plenty of time to alter it to suit the Infinity Gauntlet. He punched forward with just enough force to send Death flying without heavily damaging the Razor ship. Death reached out to end Thanos's life, but the Gauntlet protected him. The Gauntlet allowed him to harm Death physically. The Gauntlet made him invincible. Death fell, followed quickly by Johnny and M4. Thanos produced three capture devices and imprisoned all three of them. Then he released Scarcity. She glared at the three balls in his hand. "You captured them. Why would you bother!?" "We are not monsters," he said simply. "Get inside, we've been ordered to fall back." "Wh- why!? The USM is almost nothing!" "That's why," Thanos said, feeling no need to explain further. ~~~ Scarcity walked into what could best be called 'Corona's office,' even though it looked just like all the other personal rooms in the Raven Hotel. Corona sat on the other side of her desk. Her hair was messed up and there were a few scratches on her wings, indicating that she hadn't even cleaned up since her deployment to the Void. Standing next to her was Morty. Both of them made no attempts to hide their anger at Scarcity. It did surprise Scarcity that Morty spoke first. "What the fuck!?" he demanded, waving his arms. "Just exterminating worlds? What were you thinking?" "Lowering the strength of the enemy," Scarcity said, as if she were talking to an idiot. "The USM were an easy target." "A target that had no capability to create Tower Rings or even provide substantial backup to any of their forces!" Corona shouted. "And you weren't just attacking their military worlds, you were attacking all of them." "What's your point, exactly? This is an alliance, not a democracy, each of us can do whatever we want for the war." "At a certain point you become the enemy of all," Corona pointed out. "Remember Gallifrey? Or did you forget already?" Morty asked incredulously. Scarcity bristled. "The Starcross Society seeks to collapse, not to rul-" "I've been in your head before, Scarcity," Corona reminded her. "I know exactly what you actually want. You want to collapse everything and keep anyone from ever reaching above a certain level of power. That sounds like control to me." "And you think we can do that?" Corona shook her head. "Not really. The point stands. If you act atrocious enough, you will get your allies to turn against you and attack you. Case in point, I got Lightning to turn on the Combine so they wouldn't completely destroy the Void. Had your little jaunt gone differently Thanos might have betrayed you for the sake of retaining at least some morality!" "This is war, Corona!" "And civilians need to stay out of it!" "Oh, like we're not going to kill all the civilians if we win?" Corona's expression darkened. "That won't be our decis-" "What's a few million more off to the side, hmm?" Scarcity asked. "Or can't you do math?" "Counting deaths isn't the point here," Morty said. "The point is fighting a war that isn't a series of genocides. Both sides of this conflict are done with the collateral damage. War's supposed to have rules." "Then that makes us weak." "Not if the other side is doing the same," Corona said, folding her hands together. "Then we can get an advantage through it!" "And trying to use every last advantage is what got all the Class 1s killed," Corona said. "We can't let ourselves become soulless monsters. We have to actually care about what's happening on the realms below us. That's the whole point of this war in the first place!" "What's best is victory at all costs." Corona let out a grunt. "Fine, let me put it this way. You're going to start adhering to the rules of war or we're going to start blowing up your ships." "You wouldn't..." "I think after about a third of your fleet's loss you'll realize that, maybe, trying to win at all costs will actually make you lose." "You're being illogical!" Corona slammed her fist on the desk. "It's my job to make sure we don't succumb to being evil! If we do, if we make Allure right about us, not only do we lose, but we don't deserve to win! The way to win a war of this magnitude is to be the good guys!" Scarcity twitched. "Let me guess, Twilence? You realize that little runaway experiment could say anything and you just take her word for it? I think she's forgotten where she came from. You don't have to be the 'good guy' to win. Just more right than the other side." Corona furrowed her brow. "...I wasn't there for the Starstream War. I only saw snips of it in your mind. But what I do know is that we can't afford to take the risk you want to take. Because the Tower exists, this war isn't just a game of numbers or victory. One plus one does not equal two everywhere." "And your math is better?" "At the very least my math lets us be better people." Morty nodded in agreement. "And if we keep doing what you want, the other side will be forced to use genocide. We'll have the mark of corrupting them." Scarcity let out a deep sigh. "Fine. You win. We'll play the 'nice war'. See how long it lasts you before you're begging to use more extreme measures." She stormed out. Corona folded her arms and shook her head. "She's going to keep being a problem... You'd think it would be the lizard supervillain, or the hungry energy beings, but no, it's the unicorn." She put a hand to the bridge of her nose. "She'll do what she says," Morty said. "I'd worry more about Phage double-crossing you for his own benefit." "It's better not to worry at all," she asserted. "Worry only makes us do drastic things..." ~~~ "...UNDERSTAND!?" Eve shouted as loud as she could. With her ears off, she had the capacity to shout much louder than anyone else normally could for longer periods of time, not to mention the addition of the Royal Canterlot Voice. The High Combine she was shouting at nodded slowly. The being appeared to be a woman made out of crystalline flowers - immensely graceful, but also with a stern face. She stood up and walked out. Eve sat back in her chair and stretched her wings. "I think she got the point." Monika nodded. "She got the point." "That wasn't because of you, was it?" Flutterfree asked Monika. Monika rolled her eyes. "Of course not. They'd be able to detect that later. I just looked inside to see how it was going - flawless. They won't be trying that again." "Good to know," Eve said, shaking her head. "You'll also be glad to know Corona had a very similar conversation with Scarcity not five minutes ago." "...You could see that?" Flutterfree asked, blinking. "I think Twilence wanted me to see it," Monika admitted. "A reminder that they're trying not to be monsters too..." Eve smiled, then frowned. "...On one hoof that makes this war less damaging... On the other it makes it harder to see them as real enemies." "It's like we're developing some freaky honor system on the fly," Monika said, lying down on Eve's desk. "We need it." Monika half shrugged with one arm. "If you say so, boss lady." Flutterfree rolled her eyes. "She's not the only one who says s-" There was a knock on the door. Eve sat up and leaned forward. "Who is it?" "Roxy," Roxy said, using her Void powers to slip through the cracks in the door, her pinkish skin reminding everyone of her pseudo-Gem nature. "Got a question for ya." Eve had a feeling she knew what it was. "...Yes?" "Why can't you, like, get John out of that Pokeball?" "We don't call them that," Flutterfree corrected on instinct. "Ball, capture device, whatever," Roxy muttered, clearly thinking nothing of political correctness at the moment. "I just want to know why John has to stay in his." Eve pressed her front hooves together, and in front of those her wingtips. "Roxy, you already know why." "He's not fucking dangerous!" "Yes, he is," Eve said. "And in more ways than one. Most people I'd expect to not understand this, but you? You're the Second of Intelligence. You should know exactly what his presence means on the ka-level." "And fuckin' literature girl here doesn't count?" Monika raised an eyebrow. "Literature girl. Creative. Flawless insult." "At least I don't rewrite people's minds to make my insults for me!" Monika twitched. "That's Rohan's department, loveless limestone li-" "STOP!" Flutterfree shouted. "We are on the same side!" "Then answer my question!" Roxy shouted. "Why him and not her?" "Monika's not a superweapon," Eve said. "I couldn't, even theoretically, end the war with just her. John could do that. The Gallifreyans didn't have him go back to the point Corona made the Message because they liked the first part of the war. But we could, and that would be dangerous. ...And there's the chance he ends up siding with the collapse. We can't chance that." "He wouldn't do that!" "I'm pretty sure some of the Skaian Johns ended up following Corona," Flutterfree said. Roxy clenched her fists. "That's not the point, the point is-" "You want him back, I understand," Eve said, eyes sad. "But we're not going to release him - not until after the war's over, at the very least." "He could go back and change it then," Monika pointed out. "I'm sure we could convince Aradia to create a safeguard using the TARDIS, Just like the Time Lords originally did. ...Half of her, anyway." Roxy looked like she wanted to punch her. "Roxy..." Eve sighed. "I understand. The Time Lords took all your closest friends away from you when they took John. You're the last one left. It's painful, you feel alone, and you just want to lash out against those who're keeping you alone. It's a mess." Roxy's expression softened. "...Aaaagh, why do you have to be so damn understanding?" "...I have experience," Eve said, looking into the distance. "A lot more experience than is probably healthy." Roxy leaned against the wall, shaking her head. "...Will you promise me you'll let him out?" Eve nodded. "When the war is over, I will. Even if it's the collapse that wins, if I'm still around, I'll let him out." "...Though in that case you'd need him to undo all the damage." Eve rubbed the back of her head. "Eh... Maybe. ...We all know our chances of surviving the collapse though." Everyone in the room suddenly felt like they couldn't make eye contact with anyone else. Eve coughed. "John will be fine, Roxy. Soon as the war ends I'll figure out what to do. It'll be one of the first things on my list. You understand, right?" "Yeah. ...Friggin ponies, I really wanted to punch you in the face today." Eve chuckled. "You'd be surprised how often I get that. See you around, Roxy - Giorno's probably looking for you." Roxy nodded. "Right." She smiled and winked. "Wonk!" And then she vanished. Flutterfree held up a data pad. "Nanoha wants you to meet with her at the earliest convenience. We're going to have to get to the Void front." Eve sighed. "All right then... Living Tribunal?" "Not available at the moment." "Great. Taking the long way around. Monika, did you save that TSAB speeder like I asked?" Monika smirked. "You bet I did." She teleported them all to a space dock and took out the TSAB speeder from her files. "Behold, the fastest way to get around the multiverse now! Courtesy of Monika industries." "...Industries?" Flutterfree asked. Monika blinked. "...No idea, actually. Just get in the ship." ~~~ Renee stood on the balcony of her castle, looking out at the city of Ponyville. It was every bit as beautiful as always, but something about the view wasn't doing it for her. Instead of filling her with enjoyment, pride, and satisfaction, she just felt... ...empty. Perhaps alone was a better word. She felt alone. She was no longer surrounded by constant agents of Expeditions. Since she had passed the military aspect off to Daniel and all other operations were suspended... She was at work but she wasn't really doing anything. She just made sure all the paperwork was in order. It was eating her away, and she needed to talk to someone. ...But who did she have? Daniel, for once in her life, wasn't available. Couldn't support her. He was too involved. And Renee's fallback pony, her own sister, had become similarly enraged with recent events. There would be no rest talking to them. Eve and Flutterfree were busy - Eve with managing everyone's relations within the war, Flutterfree making sure Eve didn't crack along the way. They scarcely got any time to say hello to Renee, much less have an extended discussion with her. And all the others? Pinkie, Nova, Jotaro? Even Vriska? All gone. Turned 'traitor' and joined the other side. ...She knew Pinkie would be able to help her. What she wouldn't give to be able to talk with her right now. She shook her head, realizing that she even missed Pidge. That short little technician who had been the castle's handywoman for... well, since before the war with Skarn. That had been a long time ago. But now the castle was abandoned. All her friends were gone. Who else could she talk to? ...Applejack? No... they'd grown too far apart over the years. Same with Spike. Her parents... could never understand her to begin with, not really. O'Neill was just as busy as the rest of them. Plus, Renee didn't exactly think he'd be a good listener. There were the ponies who worked the Rarity for You shops, maybe Coco? She was... I'm just grasping at straws, Renee realized with a sigh. She turned away from the balcony and strode into the room with the Map... Or what had once been the Map. Now it was just a table with a slight connection to the broken Tree of Harmony. It had been broken for so long Renee had almost forgotten what the room felt like when everything had still been fine. When Rainbow Dash had still been around. But today, she felt it. That inkling of what things had once been. She put her hoof on the table - and she felt the weak essence of the Tree of Harmony talk to her. It told her someone saw her and understood her pain. Renee broke into tears, covering the broken Map with her emotional turmoil. It was no substitute for a close friend; it was nothing close to a solution. It was just a shoulder for her to cry on, someone who would listen to her struggle. Even if what was heard had no words. Alone, Renee screamed her heart out. ~~~ I cleared my throat. "I've found a Tower Ring that's somewhat near completion." The room turned its full attention to me. Corona, Thanos, Morty, Mage Rarity, Scarcity, Lady Rarity, Red Diamond, Minna, Phage, Ahzek, Edelgard, a Shabanash, and a handful of others were present. "Well, where is it?" Minna asked. "Combine space, near the edges of the multiverse in what was once a Spline port," I laid my notebook down, showing a few sketches I had made of a loose, inactive chunk of the Spline's structure. "They're repurposing the 'junk' into a Tower Ring. I've already sent the exact coordinates to all of your personal devices. They think it should be easy to operate that far out of anyone's view. There's no dimensional obfuscation around the universe, just an immense amount of ships and a universe with hard limitations on teleportation." "Hard how?" Corona asked. "Hard as in teleportation is flat out impossible. The universe is routed in such a particular way that all incoming traffic must appear at one location and then physically move to do anything." "A choke point..." Phage said, scratching his reptilian chin. "Clever." "Could we destroy the universe from the outside?" Scarcity asked. Thanos shook his head. "It is unlikely they would let a universe of such importance exist without stabilizers." I nodded. "They have so many I don't think even an 'omnibomb' could take it out. So we're going to have to go in and destroy the Tower Ring somehow." "Overwhelming force?" Scarcity suggested. "We'd lose too many ships," Minna said. "We have the means, but we're fighting on more than one front here." "They likely have defenses against a forced Void connection as well," Mage Rarity mused. Red Diamond snapped her fingers. "Of course! The answer is simple. We have to go the way of the small task force. Something they wouldn't be able to detect until it was too late." "Stealth mission..." Corona furrowed her brow. "Minna, how many Void Skaians do we have?" "Enough," Minna said. "They can hide a small group from any and all sensors that aren't ka based." "And I can hide that," I offered. "Minna, do you think you can round up a team?" Minna nodded. "People who know how to hide, but also destroy a Tower Ring... I think I have some ideas. Give me an hour, I'll have them chosen." "I offer to be the distraction," Red Diamond said. "Distraction?" Lady Rarity asked. "They'll be able to detect a portal opening," I explained. "If they don't see anything come out of it, they'll be suspicious. But if they see a somewhat large ship with a big gun, they'll think they found what the plan was." Red Diamond nodded. "I will go in, stop for a moment, and then leave before they can shoot, making them think I wasn't prepared for that level of resistance. They will likely pursue but I can lose them in the Void. It'll work flawlessly." "It won't," I said. "But it sounds reasonable. Be prepared for it to go wrong, okay?" Red Diamond nodded. Minna stood up. "Meet back in an hour for launch." "Right," everyone said. ~~~ "Guess what we just found?" O'Neill said, throwing a data pad onto the meeting table. He didn't need to do that - the information was already on everyone's pads - but he wanted to make a point. Starbeat, Lightning, Eve, Monika, Yellow Diamond, and a handful of others O'Neill didn't recognize looked at it. Nanoha wasn't here, seeing as she was dealing with inner TSAB preparations at the moment, so Vita was here in her place. The Combine, Kromagg, and Paratimers were also represented, but at the moment O'Neill didn't particularly care about them. "A Tower Ring?" Vita said, raising an eyebrow. "That was fast." O'Neill nodded. "I don't know how the Starcross Society did it, but there is a Ring under construction around the Rebellious Star, deep in Starcross Society space." "How did you find it?" a Combine asked. "Star-connections," O'Neill said. "The Rebellious Star is still part of the network, even if he is in a secluded sector. We were able to detect a change in his pattern, and Bob's your uncle, we got the signal of a Tower Ring." The Combine accepted this - even though it was only partially true. In reality, Giorno had figured it out using complex analysis of dimensional activity, of which the Star network was a small part. It helped that Merodi Universalis was relatively close to the Starcross Society and could analyze such things without raising too much of a red flag. It also helped that Roxy could just make anything invisible to everything. But nobody needed to know that. "What's the plan?" Eve asked. O'Neill could tell from her expression and slight change in voice that her ears were on. O'Neill smirked. "Oh, there's a plan all right. Starbeat, something tells me you've already got the idea." Starbeat nodded. "Kill the Rebelious Star and you destroy the Tower Ring." Eve's eyes widened in shock. "But he's the most protected thing in the Starcross Society!" "Which is why it's time to bring back the ka-manipulating devices," Starbeat said. "We need someone to equip themselves with a Conjoiner and fly into the Rebellious Star. The heat from the Star will kill that person, and the Conjoiner will ensure the Rebellious Star dies as a consequence." "That seems imbalanced," Monika said. "A single person dying takes out a star? Wasn't there a balance with the Conjoiner?" "It'd have to be someone powerful," Starbeat admitted. "Someone of similar importance or scale." Eve blinked. "...A Tree of Harmony." "Would that even be enough?" Vita asked. "The Rebellious Star is tied to several different versions of himself, not just the 'core' one." Starbeat nodded. "It should be enough, I just have to make a small adjustment to force the Conjoiner consider minds, not bodies. With that, just take a Tree and throw it into the Rebellious Star and they'll be Conjoined. It'll work." "I'll get the Sparkle Census to send out a message," Eve said. "Find a Tree of Harmony willing t-" For the first time in over forty years, Eve's cutie mark sparked with life. It was only for a moment; the weak call of an ancient guardian who knew it was time to move on. It was trying to tell her something. "...Nevermind. I think we have a volunteer." She stood up, grimacing. "I'll go prepare the Tree of Harmony. I'm sure the rest of you can come up with a suitable military strategy for getting us to the Rebellious Star." O'Neill nodded. "You're dismissed." Eve spread her wings and teleported away, unsure what to make of the new development. She glanced at her flank. "Are you sure...?" There was no response. ~~~ Minna chose Pinkie's Party as one of the three teams to be sent to the combine Tower Ring. Minna claimed that the other two groups were just as important - a handful of Collection heroes and a troop of Void 'Chosen One' type heroes - but Pinkie was well aware the purpose the other two served. Redshirts. If one team was going to get discovered, it was going to be one of them, not Pinkie's Party. Granted, all three teams had a method by which they could destroy the Tower Ring - the Collection had their Goku on the team, and the Void humans had a machine on their team called Omega that could apparently rewrite reality. But they were really relying on Vriska. Vriska, who has just spent the last hour sapping luck from people. In a crowded military base not only was it easy to get lots of luck, but she could do it like a factory assembly line. She held the infinite-sided die in her hand, carefully poised between her fingertips. "I can do anything." "Win the war in an instant?" Pidge asked, typing away at her computer. "Probably, if you could get me to the right place." She narrowed her eyes. "Can I alter the construction of the Tower Ring and place it around the Tower?" "Nope," Nova said. "If it takes higher societies time to build these things, do you think your little artifact can do it?" "Eh, probably not," Vriska admitted, pocketing the blue orb. "But it can sure as hell blow it up." "Assuming they haven't prepared for it," Pidge pointed out. "Please, I'm so lucky right now nobody could plan anything." She snapped her fingers and a milkshake fell out of the sky into her hand. "Fate bows to me." "Don't waste your luck," Jotaro commented. Vriska smirked. "Waste? I'll have you know this is a triple deluxe Sunday smoothie. Worth every bit of luck I spent for it." "Just make sure you have enough," Pinkie said, changing into her red sparkling dress. "It's gonna be brutal and we can't take too many chances." "...Massacre dress?" Nova said, looking mildly nervous. "It's gonna be that bad?" "I think so," Pinkie admitted. "I don't think we're in any danger because..." She bit her lip and didn't finish the comment. "Regardless, this is a real war we're fighting in." "Bit hard to believe what we're fighting for, huh?" Nova asked. "No, really?" Jolyne asked, letting everyone know she was there. Jotaro looked at her. "I didn't think you were coming." "I'm not," Jolyne said. "Just... here to say goodbye. Make it back safe." Jotaro allowed a slight smile to appear on his features. "We will." "And they're about to teleport us away," Pinkie said, adjusting the fabric on her dress. "It's go time!" Unceremoniously, the five of them were teleported into a hangar in Red Diamond's ship. Normally, they would have stayed there for several hours while the ship travelled, but this mission was important enough that the Void was going to force a connection to get them to their destination in a matter of seconds. Nova was able to feel the transition from normal space to Void space - the feeling was one of sudden emptiness and solitude. Just as quickly as the feeling had appeared, it vanished. Red Diamond's ship was in a universe one jump away from the Combine's Tower Ring. "Prepare for deployment!" Red Diamond called. A Void Skaian ran into the room and enchanted all three teams with true nothingness, ensuring they wouldn't be seen by conventional sensors. Elsewhere, I ensured the Aware couldn't see them, though to be fair it wasn't like the Combine were known for being Aware. This was more to keep a Pinkie somewhere from warning them. The members of all three teams put on bracelets that activated magical auras around them - one that would keep them protected from the vacuum of space and loose radiation. They were ready. Red Diamond's ship moved into the universe. While it was passing through the portal, it launched the three teams out an airlock, tossing all of them into the vacuum of space. Nova grabbed hold of Pinkie's Party with her telekinesis and dragged them away from Red Diamond's ship as fast as she could manage, using fast-forward spells to make it further than should have been possible. She noticed the Void using similar time spells, leaving only the Collection's team anywhere near Red Diamond's ship after the first few seconds. And then something went wrong. Red Diamond's ship didn't move back into the portal. It just stood there. "There must have been a malfunction!" Pidge blurted, her voice carried to the other members of her team by radio. "We have t-" The thousands of Combine starships opened fire on Red Diamond's vessel. While the red craft was a marvellous feat of Gem and Merodi engineering, even it couldn't hope to withstand anywhere close to the amount of lethal force the Combine fleet unleashed. After the flash of light Red Diamond's ship was nothing. There wasn't even dust remaining. The shockwave from the energy blast reached Pinkie's Party and sent them flying - but it wasn't damaging. Pinkie didn't know if the Collection's team survived, but she was relatively certain the Void had gotten away. "No..." Nova said, holding out a hoof toward where Red Diamond had been just a moment ago. "Focus on the mission," Jotaro said. Pinkie nodded. "Find the Tower Ring - it's in this universe somewhere." Vriska closed her eyes and pointed her finger in a random direction. "Aaaaand there." She was pointing at an empty area of space. "It's definitely there," Nova said, narrowing her eyes. "I'm just not sure how they're hiding it..." "Let's go and find out!" Pinkie said with a giggle. "I've even got a way to cheat. You know how this universe disallows teleportation?" "Yeah...?" Pinkie chuckled deviously. "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered. "Oh, Pinkie powers." Nova facehooved. "Right..." Pinkie made a mock salute. She pulled a lamppost out of her mane and jumped behind it, dragging her teammates behind her. They appeared on the other side of a Combine turret on the closest ship to the empty spot. The turret didn't detect their presence. It continued to point itself at the universe's only entry point. Elsewhere, guns started to go off. They saw, closer to the center, some Combine ships were using point-defense turrets to shoot at small targets. Given the sudden appearance of large elemental spells on the outside of those ships, it was safe to assume the Void team had been discovered. Pinkie's Party had to force themselves to ignore the suffering - the mission was more important. They drifted to the 'empty' part of the universe. They passed through a strange, jello-like barrier, and suddenly they couldn't see the Combine ships. They could see the interior of a structure roughly the size of a moon. The jello-like flesh walls rippled with the breath of a tremendous life form. Dozens of country-sized fleshy tendrils came out of the walls and stuck themselves around a glass sphere, inside of which a Tower Ring was under construction. It was almost complete. The fleshy mass had already grown into the donut shape needed, and half of it was covered in the appropriate circuitry. They could see the warping of space-time in the center of the Ring already, despite it not even being turned on. "The ripple must be how they're compensating for the multiple-universes need," Pidge said, blinking. "I wonder how many dimensions they've got stacked on top of each other in there." "STAR PLATINUM: THE WORLD!" Jotaro shouted, moving them quickly to the side before a Combine laser could hit them. "Wh... how'd they see us!?" Nova blurted, raising up a multi-tiered magic shield around them. "I think they felt us," Pidge said. "We just passed through the outer fleshy wall!" The Combine ships that drifted inside the fleshy sphere stopped firing - their bullets had already charred the edge of the flesh, despite not being star-powered constructs. The ships defending the interior had to be small enough to fit inside a moon, after all. "They can't see us," Pinkie said with a grin. "All they know is they think the wall felt something come in they couldn't see." She nodded to Nova, and the unicorn used her telekinesis to move them deeper into the flesh-moon, staying far away from the patrolling ships and the flesh tendrils. "I'm picking up radio chatter," Pidge said, tapping her earpiece. "They're sure something went in and are being very paranoid about it. They haven't figured out that it's an attack yet, though. Don't even know that Void power is being used." "What are their plans?" Pinkie asked. "They're replaying all the sensor data they have. They aren't finding much." The team arrived at the edge of the glass sphere, examining the fleshy Tower Ring closer than before. They could see what appeared to be little houses dotting the edge of the Ring, each one connected to some kind of green circuitry running through the fleshy mass. On the inner edge, giant teeth pointed toward the center, as if ready to shred the tower to pieces - despite the intended purpose of preserving the multiverse. Vriska pulled out the infinite-sided die. She took a deep breath. "I have enough luck, but I might become a klutz after this. Watch me. Carefully." She tossed the die into the air. It whirred through a thousand symbols before deciding on a large circle with three small dots in it. It flashed a bright blue, bright enough for the Combine ships to notice. They soon cared little about the glowing blue object and a lot more about their Tower Ring. Everything within the glass sphere underwent a subatomic reaction - every last proton and neutron collapsed into their component quarks at a level of energy akin to universes at the start of big bangs. The matter coalesced into what scientists like to call quark-gluon plasma. Anyone who's ever seen it in reality calls it something else. Liquid Cancer. The plasma appeared like glass, but it also appeared like a swiftly churning liquid. It was bright - but not in the visible spectrum, rather unleashing outrageous amounts of invisible ultraviolet radiation. Anything that was unprotected - namely, the fleshy masses surrounding the once solid Tower Ring - was subject to so much intense radiation that cancer was instantaneous. As it was, Pinkie's Party was barely able to withstand the result with their protective force fields. The energy was strong enough to start draining their shields and strong enough to melt the glassy container. It wouldn't be much longer before it completely vaporized the 'moon' it was inside. "Time to go!" Pinkie shouted. "STAR PLATINUM: THE WORLD!" Jotaro managed to get them a fair distance away from the Liquid Cancer as it shriveled up the fleshy tendrils, shredding the moon to pieces. The small ships started to shoot at them. "Quiznak! I think they can see us now!" Pidge blurted. "Just look at what area of space is preventing the absurd energy from flowing properly!" "Dammit," Nova muttered. "Okay, plan, need a plan... Soon as we leave this flesh-sphere we're sitting ducks." "Can we twist back to the exit point?" Vriska asked Pinkie. "That'd be too convenient right now," Pinkie said. "I'm thinking something else... Jotaro, can you and Nova work in tandem to extend time stop as long as you need?" Nova and Jotaro nodded. "STAR PLATINUM: THE WORLD!" "Magic... thing that doesn't have a name!" Nova and Jotaro juggled time between them - Star Platinum would hold it for a few seconds, then Nova would, creating a pulsing wave of time energy. Evidently there was some exploitable weakness in this, because about thirty seconds in, their time stop abilities suddenly stopped working. "Some sort of automatic protocol must have figured it out!" Pidge said. "We're dead!" The Combine star-ships fired at Pinkie's Party. Pinkie pulled out a giant mirror. One side of the Combine's lasers reflected right back at their ships, triggering supernovas. The other half hit the undefended side. The Collection's Goku took the hit for them. His overly muscular, impossibly strong body tanked enough energy to destroy a solar system. He was able to keep it from the five of them. He was not able to survive it. After the volley of lasers hit, his body was nothing more than a charred skeleton. Pinkie didn't give her team a chance to get horrified by the corpse - she loaded them all into a space party cannon and fired. They blasted the rest of the way to the entry point and opened a portal. They escaped. "Mission accomplished..." Nova said, breathing heavily. "That... That was way too close. It was pure luck that we survived!" "You're welcome," Vriska said. "I just got a signal," Pidge said. "Minna's ship will be picking us up shortly." "Good," Jotaro said. Pinkie narrowed her eyes at Jotaro. "That better not be a 'we can do this again' 'good'. We need a break." Jotaro didn't meet her eyes. "Tsk tsk tsk... C'mon, I'll make cake." "We can't fight all the time, Jojo," Pidge said with a sad smile. "Even if we want to." Jotaro let out a short sigh, and they knew they'd convinced him. ~~~ Storm, Jenny, Blackjack, and Alushy sat in the clearing next to the Tree of Harmony. They hadn't seen Magane since she vanished on the last mission they were on. Their mysterious vanishing team member was far from their minds, however - for they were watching the uprooting of the Tree of Harmony. All four of them felt the need to be silent and reverent as the action was performed. Four ponies stood in front of the Tree - Eve, Renee, Flutterfree, and Applejack. Next to them was a team of Gem engineers, all of them carefully placing devices around the Tree to ensure its movement would be gentle and comfortable for the Tree. The Tree of Harmony flashed, lighting up their cutie marks one last time. Many universes away, Pinkie felt it as well. The five remaining Elements of Harmony popped out of the tree, falling back to their bearers. Flutterfree, Renee, and Applejack regained the necklaces of Kindness, Generosity, and Honesty. The crown of Magic reformed on Eve's head after having been absent for so many decades. The branch of Laughter dropped its Element onto the ground. The blue balloon found no bearer, but it was ready. Renee picked it up and looked to Eve. She nodded, allowing Renee to keep it. The branch of Loyalty was still blackened from the day Rainbow Dash died. It mattered not that the pillar of Bravery lived, nor that the Loyal dragon Smolder still breathed. There had been a fundamental break in Loyalty itself, the effects of which were only now being truly understood. "Had she been around... this would not have happened," Applejack said. Nopony argued with that. Applejack looked to Eve. "Ah don't know what to tell you. Ah guess the Tree wants to do this... but Ah still don't like it. Didn't Cosmo do this?" "Cosmo lost the Elements as well," Eve said, looking up at her crown. "We'll keep them. It's the Tree of Harmony's spirit that matters for this." She turned to Storm. "Guard her with your life." "...Her?" Alushy asked. Eve didn't feel the need to engage with Alushy. She simply turned around and waved a hoof - telling the Gems to uproot the Tree of Harmony. The machines shoved their geometric shapes into the ground, tearing the Tree out. The Tree floated in the air. It didn't scream in pain - the uprooting process had been as painless as expected - but it was suffering. It had no Elements, one of its branches was broken, and it had lived to see everything fall apart. It was tired. Eve shook her head, wiping away tears. She placed one of the Conjoiner devices in the Loyalty branch. "Good luck, old friend." The Tree of Harmony flashed brightly in response, using its energy to create a sparkling hologram version of Twilight. "I never thanked you for all you've done." Eve smiled sadly. "You've done more than we ever could have." "It was a team effort. I have faith you will be able to move on without me. Whatever the end may bring." Eve held out a hoof. "Are you sure about this?" The hologram placed a hoof on Eve's, sending a chilling sensation through the alicorn. "I am sure. It is time for me to do something rather than give it to others. Take my essence and use it wisely." "They're safe with us." The hologram nodded - and dissipated. The Tree of Harmony was done talking. Storm, Jenny, Blackjack, and Alushy took up positions around the floating Tree. In a moment, they were all transported up to the Austraeoh, in one of the hangar bays. O'Neill was there, waiting for them. "Storm, Jenny, Alushy, and Beryl... I can't tell if you lucked out or are about to suffer a horrible fate." "We're not the ones on a suicide mission," Jenny said. "I think we're lucky." O'Neill shrugged. "We're going for a blitzkrieg strategy. Overwhelming force and an instant execution - so hold onto your hats." "There's only one hat here," Alushy said, pointing at her head. O'Neill shrugged. "Then hold onto your gloves or whatever. Just don't let your guard down for a second. They're going to figure out what we're trying to do, and they'll want to kill the Tree before it has a chance to do what it needs to. If they somehow get on the Austraeoh, keep them down. Got it?" Storm saluted. "Yes, sir." O'Neill smirked. "Don't die." He teleported to the bridge. It was less than a minute later when the fleet launched. The Austraeoh took place in the center of a fleet consisting of thousands of ships. They were going to strike at the heart of the Starcross Society - nothing less would be adequate. Jenny activated one of her Numenera devices - an eyepiece that allowed her to tap directly into a digital feed. She saw the strategic display of the fleet, every last ship represented by an orange-gold dot. The dots split up into several different groups - they were still moving in tandem with each other, but they were moving across several dozen different universes at the same time. Advanced TSAB technology forced connections to exist between the universes they were moving through, creating a battlefield that the Merodi would be able to navigate, but not the Starcross Society. The Austraeoh ended up in a universe with accelerated time - allowing them to exist 'outside' the general flow of combat the rest of the fleet was experiencing. It became impossible for Jenny to keep track of the fleets at the speed they were now moving compared to her. She watched hours pass by as the edge of the Starcross Society was torn to shreds, universes were moved, and millions of ships were destroyed. She saw a number in the bottom left corner that represented the number of enemies captured. It was entering the millions. They had lost many more soldiers on their end. "MOVE OUT!" O'Neill shouted. After a day and a half of outside time, someone had finally forced a direct connection to the Rebellious Star's universe from Austraeoh's universe. The Austraeoh and its surrounding guard fleet pushed right into the Rebellious Star's realm, firing all weapons. The Tower Ring was fully visible around the red glow of the Rebellious Star. Unlike the Combine's Ring, which had been a relatively small construct of fleshy mass, the Rebellious Star's ring orbited it like the rings of Saturn. Perfectly smooth, metallic, and covered in runes salvaged from Starcross Society ships. "I AM SORRY THAT IT COMES TO THIS," the Rebellious Star said. It unleashed a beam of powerful energy - and then fled to another universe. "FOLLOW HIM!" O'Neill shouted. The Austraeoh and its surrounding fleet opened a portal, but the Rebellious Star had already jumped to another location. Luckily, the Austraeoh was still equipped with the largely-antiquated Nova-drive. It found the Rebellious Star's connection to the Star network and latched onto it, jumping directly to the Rebellious Star. Only a handful of the fleet's ships could follow the Austraeoh - they had not expected the Rebellious Star to run. The Rebellious Star opted to fight the fleet with its own power. Beams of red light swept across the ships, destroying them easily. Another version of the Rebellious Star appeared in the universe, moving in time with his other self. "RELEASE THE TREE!" O'Neill shouted. The Tree of Harmony was teleported outside the Austraeoh and sent tumbling toward the Ringed Rebellious Star. "Huh," Jenny said. "Guess we didn't have to do anything." "Wrong!" Alushy shouted. "Blackjack, teleport!" Blackjack teleported the four of them out into space next to the Tree of Harmony, and Alushy raised a barrier of darkness to protect the Tree from a loose Starcross Society weapon. "The Rebellious Star has to fucking kill it!" "I AM NO FOOL," the Rebellious Star addressed them. "I WILL NOT LET YOUR PLOY BE MY END." The Tree of Harmony flashed in anger, sending a beam of Harmonious energy at the Rebellious Star. It was enough force to make the Rebellious Star defend itself and the Tower Ring. "I ALWAYS THOUGHT YOU WERE BETTER THAN THIS." The Tree of Harmony didn't respond. The Austraeoh unleashed one of its many on-board superweapons - this one a twisted beam of rainbow energy laced with dark shards of anti-magic crystals - and hit the corona of the Rebellious Star. It let out a deep roar. Storm used one of his artifacts to protect the Tree of Harmony from another attack. "The big ships will get here soon. Blackjack, how close can you teleport the Tree?" "Not close enough," Blackjack admitted. "Aren't you the Princess of the Night or some shit?" Alushy shouted. "You got those fancy wings!" Blackjack blinked. "I... Yeah, I can move the moon, but the Tree isn't the moon." "The Rebellious Star is nothing more than a big, red Sun," Jenny said. "Try it." Blackjack did. She touched the Rebellious Star with her magic and pulled. She pulled way too hard. The Rebellious Star charged toward them so quickly none of them could react in time. Luckily the Austraeoh's on-board computer could, teleporting them away just before they were cooked to a crisp. The Tree of Harmony was left in space to be incinerated by the power of a Star. The Rebellious Star let out the Star's equivalent of a sigh. "I HAVE LIVED A LONG LIFE, LONGER THAN I SHOULD HAVE. TELL SCARCITY I'M SORRY." The Tree of Harmony melted within him, its essence dissipating into nothing. The Conjoiner activated. Ka lashed out within the Rebellious Star, and the red ball of plasma exploded, tearing the Tower Ring apart with it. The other versions of the Rebellious Star lost their minds - becoming nothing more than flaming balls of plasma. The other Star that had been fighting a minute ago didn't have the capacity to save itself from the supernova. "Fall back!" O'Neill ordered. Every ship still able to move within the fleet left Starcross Society space, leaving a gaping hole in their society. Blackjack looked at her hooves as they left, blinking. "...How are we still alive?" Nobody wanted to answer her question. ~~~ Valentine was taking the Louisiana back from a meeting in TSAB space to D.C. Prime - the capital of the entire United States of the Multiverse. Valentine sat in the captain's chair, tapping his fingers across the armrest, realizing how little the 'rest' part was helping him. He was not at rest. He was more on edge than he had ever been. Scarcity's little playtime genocide had been focused almost entirely on the USM - killing everyone without a care for which world it was, or if the world was even important. He hadn't been able to keep a close eye on the internal politics of the USM over the last few days, seeing as he was managing a large portion of the war effort, coordinating with his teams. But he knew that the people were in an uproar. If they weren't angry before, they were now. They had lost twenty-three percent of the population. Almost a fourth, just because one unicorn higher up the chain had a bone to pick with... He wasn't even sure what Scarcity's motivations were. She had never been a primary concern of his since the TSAB had pushed the Starcross Society back. Froppy must have detected his inner turmoil. "We'll survive. The people's wills are strong." Gyro let out a snort. "Yeah, right. We'll sing a magic song of friendship and band together. Zippidy-do-dah." "Gyro!" Froppy chided, hands on her hips. "Just tellin' it like it is. You tell 'em, Tornado." Tornado looked up from her book. "...I think you're wounded emotionally." Gyro twitched. "Why couldn't you have been a bitch about that? If there was ever a time..." Tornado grunted. "Like I'm going to do what you want." "There it is!" "Stop," Valentine muttered, hand to his forehead. "Just stop. We do not need to become like the rest of the nation." Gyro had the decency to look ashamed for a split second before blowing it off in a huff. Tornado simply stared ahead, blankly. Froppy sighed. "We're not done yet." Valentine folded his hands together. "I'm not certain of that..." "Valentine, y-" They heard the sounds of laser gunfire in the hall behind the bridge. All four of them readied themselves for a fight. They heard screams, shouts, and the sounds of blood splattering on the other side, followed by silence. Then a loud burp. The door opened, revealing an older man with spiky blue hair and a decidedly grumpy expression. Froppy blinked. "Rick Sanchez?" "Yeah, who else?" Rick muttered. "Took care of some assassins. You're fucking welcome." He kicked his foot forward, dropping a USM soldier into the bridge. "That is one of our soldiers, not a goddamn assassin!" Gyro blurted. Rick burped. "He was outside the door with a half dozen others, all pointed at the door and not me. So at the very least they were all doing their actual job like shit." Valentine leaned down to check the soldier's weapon. "This is set to a setting high enough to blow out the ship's walls. That should have set off some alarms." "See? Whoop de do, I saved your asses." Rick pointed a gun at Valentine's head. "Now tell me what I want to know." Valentine narrowed his eyes - he had some alternates on standby. He could slip into one of them. Maybe he could be the one to take down the infamous Rick San- "Oh, yeah, this is a reality destabilizer, your Stand won't be surviving the hit." Valentine grunted. "What do you want?" "Who destroyed Blips n' Chitz?" Valentine blinked. "...What?" "Gambling universe," Gyro said. "I took you for your birthday six years ago." "How would I know who destroyed Blips n' Chitz?" Valentine asked. "Because it was your fucking nation that was being blown up at the time! So who did that!?" "Starcross Society," Valentine said. "I want a name, greeting card." "Scarcity." Valentine's expression became confused. "...Do you not know who that is?" "No. Why should I? I don't give a fuck about this stupid war, I'm not keeping all the 'big names' worked out!" He pulled a data pad out of his pocket and typed in Scarcity, easily pulling up the information. "And now it's time to brutally murder a unicorn." He opened up a green portal and stepped through it. Then his other hand popped out and shot Valentine in the head. "VALENTINE!" Froppy shouted, running to him. Valentine appeared on the bridge, with D4C. "Fine. I was able to transfer away, evidently." He teleported the old version's dead body into storage. "Why would he do that?" Froppy blurted. "It's Rick, since when does he have a reason?" Gyro asked. "He wanted to make a point that he lied to us about the gun," Tornado said. "Flaunting the fact that he can get away with anything." "We don't have time to worry about him," Valentine said, narrowing his eyes. "The fact remains that there were assassins on our ship. Something's gone wrong. Connect with the USM news feed." Tornado nodded, pressing a few buttons on a console. She blinked. "I'm... not getting anything." "No relay?" "No, I'm picking up the relay device, it's just not receiving any information from the USM. Radio silence." "Try Merodi," Valentine said. "A public channel." "Won't tell us much..." Tornado said, adjusting a few knobs. "Got it. News reports... Successful campaign against the Starcross Society... Loss of Earth Ottoman... The U-" she stopped herself, blinking. "What the..." Valentine pulled out a data pad and tapped into the same feed Tornado was. The USM Coup is Heading For Disaster Just an hour ago, the organization known as United Heralds revealed its presence within the United States of the Multiverse, assassinating the President and most of her cabinet, in addition to key leaders both political and military. While the United Heralds had been hoping their show of power would scare the people into submission, they have instead triggered a complete collapse of USM society. The divide between the USM's political parties has produced a Civil War that has already destroyed all the USM's major infrastructure. We stopped receiving broadcasts from them five minutes ago, suggesting their media conglomerates have fallen... Valentine clenched his fist - and then relaxed. A mildly amused smile came across his lips. He shrugged, dropping the data pad onto the ground, letting its screen shatter. "I guess we always knew this would happen." He sat down in the captain's chair and crossed his legs. "Take us to Merodi Universalis and ask for asylum. It will be granted." Froppy looked at him with concerned eyes. "...Valentine..." "It's out of our hands now. And unlike when Corona said it, I happen to be right. It won't do any good to worry about it anymore." Gyro looked him up and down - and then let out a bitter laugh. "So this is what it looks like when you break." "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about." ~~~ Flutterfree landed in the grass outside Rev's church, placing herself right between Rev and Rina. "What are you looking at?" Rev pointed at the church. "It's ready." "How so?" Flutterfree asked. "It's a fully realized bunker," Rina said. "Should be able to survive the fusion of any universes, no matter how many. ...Should." "Could never have done it without your magic," Rev said, putting a hoof on Rina. "Thank you." "...It was the least I could do. ...Actually, wait, that phrase is stupid..." "I get the jist of it," Rev said, smiling. "So... what are we going to do with a bunker church?" Flutterfree asked. Rev let out a deep sigh. "Try not to let anyone know about it. We don't want a mob here." "...Which makes it kind of hard to use," Rina admitted, furrowing her brow. "How do you save people if you can't tell them about the place?" "Only people you trust?" Flutterfree suggested. "That's only a few dozen people. The church can hold a few hundred." Rev shook her head. "But it only takes one to spill the beans and then the mob destroys the church... I'll be praying about it. I'd appreciate it if you all did as well." "Don't even need to ask," Flutterfree said. "...Right," Rina said, shaking her head. "...Other than that, what do we do?" "I keep helping Eve," Flutterfree said. "Rev keeps teaching." "And me...?" Rev put a hoof on Rina. "You can take a break. You've earned it." Rina twitched. "I don't like taking breaks." "Peace is one of the fruits of the spirit, you know." Rina grunted. "Fine, fine, I'll try to learn peace. In a time of complete war, I'll try to learn peace." ~~~ Deep in TSAB space, there was a single electron kept in a state of permanent uncertainty. Using a clever workaround in the physics of the universe it occupied, a nano-camera could be pointed at the electron in an attempt to take a reading, but since the electron was uncertain, the camera would never see anything. For in this universe, the observation of an experiment did not change its outcome, it just meant that certain things could not be observed. Naturally the apparatus with the uncertain electron within had to be constructed across multiple universes in order to get the uncertain electron in there and stable. Furthermore, there were numerous other devices affixed to the edge of the electron's casing, each microscopic chip being from one of the TSAB's few ka research facilities. One of these chips was affixed to an electron entangled with the other one, both existing in a state of uncertainty. This little decision matrix was hooked up to a giant computer that was designed to know the answer to one question, and one question only. Do they know? If they didn't know, the light remained green. If they did know, the light turned red and alarms went off everywhere. In the span of time it took to explain the inner workings of the decision matrix, the light had turned from green to red. Alarms blared all across TSAB space, going right to the highest leaders. They know. How did they find out? Did Twilence tell them? Did the Tower reveal it through narrative? Was there a leak? Those were questions to ask later; right now they needed to protect what was no longer hidden. Nanoha appeared in the universe, the red light to her back. In front of her was a gateway opened to a universe consisting entirely of water, within which a Tower Ring was being constructed by about fifty TSAB construction ships. Their Ring was about the size of Neptune and constructed from white metal that occasionally sparked with pink or purple colors. It was only about two-thirds built. Sometimes it looked almost complete through the gateway, but that was an illusion. The gateway and the Dark Tower itself were the only ways into the aquatic universe. The realm that held the Tower Ring was sealed off from all other worlds in such a way that it was an immense drain on power just to keep the gate open. On one hand, this made the world exceptionally easy to keep away from enemy movements. On the other, if they did get close, it would be easy to sever all connections and force the Tower Ring into the nonexistent state of the Sea... Good thing they were prepared for an assault. Nanoha lifted Raising Heart and gave confirmation - they needed to initiate full defensive measures. Taking a page from the Collector's handbook, they started shuffling the universes around the Tower Ring. What was once a simple, ordered section of TSAB space became a multi-layered labyrinth of constantly-shifting universes designed to throw all who appeared off the trail. The armies were already in place to defend the multiversal mesh, and several TSAB megastructures were arranged within the labyrinth as well. The Living Tribunal would be arriving soon as well, having the Shaping Mechanism transported via the Void. This Tower Ring was the preservation side's primary tool. They weren't going to let it be destroyed. The only ones to know how the labyrinth worked were in the same universe as Nanoha - and they would not be permitted to leave, for the secret of the labyrinth could not be revealed. In order to prevent seers and Aware individuals from finding out, all the information was given in direct-to-mind transfers that couldn't be translated as a language or images. It was a decidedly unusual feeling, but it was also intuitive. Nanoha knew exactly how the labyrinth worked and where all her troops were in real time. She started giving out orders from her protected location. She hoped the other fronts of the war could carry on without her presence.
Songs of the Spheres	124 - Nihilists	Greetings, Evening Sparkle of Merodi Universalis. This communication has been sent by us, the Flowers that Be, Protectors of the Plot Continuum, to inform you of a development so troubling we have determined it to be a glitch in ka, perhaps the largest one ever uncovered. This war was always meant to be between two sides - the preservation and collapse movements. However, to our understandable horror, a third side has developed. This third side is not the side of us or the Melnorme, who have chosen to be noncombatants, but that of a different ideology altogether. That of the Nihilist. The Many-Angled Ones have gathered together several lesser forces into them to further this end. They claim neutrality, but their intentions are much more sinister. They have become the enemy of all when they took the side of the Nihilists - that of complete destruction. They have figured out a method by which to use a Tower Ring to completely destroy everything in existence. If they accomplish what they've set out to do, there will be no existence after the war. There will be only the Sea of Infinite Possibility. This needs to be stopped. And we are giving you the secret to stopping them. Do not send a large army, or a fleet of ships. Send a small ship containing heroes. You will choose the best suited for the job. Have them enter the Unrealities from the eastern side of the multiverse, and make their way to universe U-T4U_-∂¨8Rn:;∆. They will enter the Many-Angled Ones' central mechanism and destroy the Tower Ring, ending the Nihilists' plan. This glitch needs you to stop it. If we made the attempt, the consequences would be dire. Do not reply to this message. -Austras Koks. The Flowers sent a nearly-identical message to Corona. The only difference was the greeting, and the order to enter from the west. The Flowers knew how to play the game well. ~~~ Corona looked at the message. "...What I want to know is why the consequences would be dire if they tried." "They know ka better than any of us," I said. "And I know for sure they aren't partial to either side of the conflict we know about, so I'm tempted to believe them." "Well, guess I can send Pinkie's with a few others..." She looked up from the message. "Anyone have any suggestions in particular?" "I'll go," Mage Rarity said. "Really?" Lady Rarity asked, blinking. "Empress Twilight has other advisors, you know," Mage Rarity said with a smile. "I just think it's about time I went out with Mite and Vriska." "You asking me to come?" I asked. "In actuality... yes. A chance to take out evil, just like old times hmm?" I smiled. "I'd be glad to." "What about our meta-awareness?" Corona asked. A Pinkie poked her head into the room. "Someone called?" "Right, right..." Corona nodded. "Come back soon." Scarcity gawked. "You're just letting her go?" "Want me to find a reason to send you?" Scarcity twitched, once again annoyed that Corona was able to pressure her. Thanos raised his hand. "I can send a Collection team." "Pinkie's, Twilence's, and the Collection's..." Corona said, thinking it over. "I think that's enough. Anything else?" "I'll get them a ship," Minna said, pressing buttons on her data pad. "A single ship won't do anything to lessen our assault on the TSAB labyrinth." The phrase 'TSAB labyrinth' made Corona twitch. They'd already been hammering at that thing for three local days to no avail. "Mage Rarity, since you're going, you manage everything. The rest of us are going to try to come up with some way to penetrate this stupid labyrinth..." Mage Rarity nodded, trotting off to gather everyone. ~~~ "I don't think I need to say why these Nihilists have to be stopped," Eve said, placing a data pad on the table for dramatic effect, though her Element of Magic drew significantly more attention than the pad. "Absolute destruction without hope of revival is evil. Absolutely." "And the enemy isn't already?" Allure asked, scrunching her nose. "Discussion for another time, Allure," Flutterfree cautioned. Allure went silent but did nothing to fix the disgusted look on her face. Eve continued. "This is why I've called you here - I'm gathering the heroes the Flowers have requested. Allure, Storm? You are to lead your two teams into the core of the Nihilists." "With no plan?" Storm asked. "The Flowers have a plan," Monika said. "Not that they're telling us what it is." "So just throw ourselves to the winds of ka?" "Pretty much," Eve admitted. "But we trust the Flowers know what's best. They've adhered to their principles more than any other civilization. We may not agree with them all the time, but they'd know what needs to be done to destroy the Nihilists." Storm and Allure nodded. "I'm sending Starbeat with you for ka-support. Can you think of anyone else you'd like?" "The Living Tribunal?" Storm asked with a smirk. "Stuck in the TSAB labyrinth," Eve said. "The Emperor of Mankind?" "Same." "Then I've got nothing." Allure nodded as well. "In that case, I-" Renee charged into the room. "I'd like to go!" Her glasses were precariously balanced on her muzzle, her hat was lopsided, and the string she had the Element of Laughter on was knotted sideways. "Renee...?" Renee evidentially noticed that she didn't look presentable and cleaned herself up. "It has come to my attention that I'm not really... doing anything. When you forwarded the message to me, I knew instantly that this would be a foe I would be able to face. ...I'll even bring some of my agents." "Renee, you sure? You seem... A little off." Renee smiled sadly. "Of course I'm a little off. We all are. I am sure, dear." Eve smiled warmly. "Well... I wish you luck, then." Allure smiled. "...It'll be good to have you on board." Renee nodded, clearly still frantic. "I'll grab Jane and Sunny... they work great as a pair. And... Oh, Twiree, she'll work great." "Your ship will be ready in an hour," Eve said. "Good luck. And since this is more like our old battles, try to have fun, hmm?" Storm chuckled. "That won't be an issue, Eve." "I expect a fun report the likes of which Pinkie Pie would make!" "Guess I know what Bot is doing," Allure chuckled. "C'mon everyone - Merodi Universalis Anti-Nihilist Task-Force yay!" Everyone stared at her. "...I've been trying to be more positive lately, okay? It's been rough." Renee hugged her sister. "Don't I know it." ~~~ Deep within Unrealities and the realm of the Many-Angled Ones, there was IT. IT was many things. IT was a demonic clown that fed off fear. IT was a horrendous spidery mesh of evil intent. IT was a demonic entity of before the time of the Tower. IT was a brain that exerted absolute control over all near minds. The concept of IT had been through many mutations through the history of the multiverse. IT was an ever-changing idea of evil, of darkness. Unlike Randall Flagg, IT was never consistent. IT had no time for the grand schemes Flagg undertook. IT sometimes even contradicted other versions of itself. IT, in all its forms, cared little for complex things. But something had changed recently. This particular version of IT suddenly cared. IT became the emissary of destruction. And IT had chosen the form of the bodiless, pulsating brain. IT sat upon a black, cylindrical pedestal, absorbing as much information as it could about everything. The Flowers have made their move. IT said, telepathically messaging all its allies. Corona and Eve are both sending heroes after us. IT scanned the minds nearby, determining what their response would have been. The Many-Angled Ones offer us protection, yes, but they cannot enter the realm of the Tower Ring, as it is antithetical to their nature. I assure you, the Flowers have a plan to disable those defenses. Evidence of ka-meddling has appeared within the Eldritch Embodiment, a likely source of difficulty. The Allies expressed dismissal at the Embodiment doing anything. Do not be so hasty. If Azathoth wakes, then all will bow. If the Flowers found it convenient, it would not be difficult to do so. It appears as if their plan will be to disable our highest defenses, and use the power of 'heroes' to destroy our hopes. By sending both sides after us our credibility within ka is severely weakened. The Allies wondered how they could counteract that weakness. We can manipulate truth. You all know how we got here. A lie about a lie. The Completion of the Sea of Infinite Possibility is coming. A group of heroes is a serious threat, yes, but if this is the Flowers' best game, then this group of heroes is the worst we will have to overcome. So be ready, for they will be here. And we must kill them. The Allies expressed agreement and moved to their posts. IT pulsated, focusing its attention to a man chained up nearby. And you will counter them. Andrew Hussie let out a dramatic groan. ~~~ Despite being based within the Great Void, traveling from the Raven Hotel to the Unrealities still took about a week with the ships available. TSAB speeders could go faster, but not only did they not have access to any speeders, such ships were in short supply even in TSAB space these days. No chance to steal one. Not to mention the fact that speeders weren't prepared to deal with alien physics on the level of the Unrealities. So Corona sent out the team in a slow, but steady ship of Gem construction. It had no name, just a serial number nobody could remember. Its overall shape was that of a black eyeball, always looking forward. The interior was so white the screens had to display in black to be effectively seen. They had already been traveling for near the expected week. Everyone was currently awake, ready to engage the Many-Angled Ones at any moment. As they passed from universe to universe, they encountered nothing. "Why isn't anything attacking us?" Morty wondered aloud. "We're in the middle of their territory! There's no way they don't detect us!" The two Collection heroes he had brought with him - a Superman and a Darth Vader - shrugged, not able to provide him with any insight. "Oh, like, maybe they've got some sort of special plan!" Insipid suggested, raising a hoof high into the air. She nudged Velvet with it after no one responded to her. "Back me up, cha?" Velvet grunted, refusing to give in to Insipid's little games. "Oh come on Velvet! You've been grumpy all week!" "She's always grumpy," Mage Rarity said with a slight eyeroll. "Deviation," Mite beeped. "...It's so hard to tell what he means," Pidge said, poking her face where she heard Mite's voice come from - even though she couldn't see him. "Was he talking about the Standard Deviation or Velvet's deviation from societal norms?" "Yes." Pidge pointed an accusatory finger at Mite's location. "No mathematician answers here, floppy." "Paradox." "Just leave him be," I said, pulling Pidge's arm down. "He'll feed off your annoyed emotions until the end of time. It's how he gets around." "Spoilsport." I chuckled. "And you know I have to keep watch on you for good reason." "You can say that again," Vriska muttered. "Don't," Mage Rarity said, a haunted expression crossing her face. "We don't need a repeat of that fiasco." "Again," Mite droned. I rolled my eyes. "Ah, just like old times." "Except we're here too!" Pinkie said, appearing between myself and Mage Rarity. "Extending the friendship train!" "Choo choo!" I called, engaging in the amusement - so rare these days. "Hey, Twilence?" Nova asked. "I've noticed, you aren't writing in your notebook anymore." "It's a precaution," I explained. "The Flowers likely have their own narrative spinning involved here, and mine would only mess with it. I've chosen to trust their plan rather than my own." "Cool," Pinkie said, smirking. "It is pretty sweet having the big plants backing us up! It's like... a holy charge!" "Yare yare daze..." "What? It is!" "I'm tempted to agree with Pinkie," Morty said, narrowing his eyes. "What's happening is nothing short of a miracle. We're maybe a handful of universes away from the goal, and I haven't even detected a Many-Angled One. That's outrageously suspicious." "Could be the Flowers," Mage Rarity pointed out. "For all we know the Many-Angled Ones are on a journey of self-discovery and left the universe unguarded." "There's no way..." Morty muttered, scratching his chin. "None at all..." "There's a way," I asserted. "I can see a few stories I could write to make our entrance easier, so of course the Flowers would have a better one." The ship shifted universes again, finding a direct connection to the target world sooner than expected. The ship diverted power instantly and jumped in - finally revealing what universe U-T4U_-∂¨8Rn:;∆ was. Colors and shapes. An endless sea of geometric three-dimensional figures tumbling through space. Each shape - be it prism, sphere, or dodecahedron - was able to pass through all other shapes as if they were all ghosts. One would think this meant they had no substance, but the tiny one that hit the ship indicated they were solid to anything that wasn't them. Light seemed to come from all directions, comfortably illuminating every colorful shape without a hint of shadows. This caused more than a few illusions of depth, making it difficult to determine how large certain objects really were. However, it was strictly a three-dimensional space. Which meant the ship - and all its occupants - could exist in this universe without reality anchors. There was even breathable air outside. "Question," Nova said, checking the readings on her hoof-screen. "Why would the Many-Angled Ones have a universe suitable for us?" "Zoo?" Morty suggested. "Okay, let me rephrase that. Why would they build their Tower Ring in a universe like this?" I shrugged. "Perhaps there is a reason we could not imagine. Maybe this kind of world does have a place in their ideal of Perfect Geometry. They are eldritch beings, it's not like we can truly understand what drives them." Pinkie's ears twitched. "Well, is the Tower Ring here or not?" "It's here," Nova said, pointing at one of the displays. "We're picking up dimensional energy of the right sort. Just follow the signal." Pinkie dusted her hooves together. "Onward, Morty! Take the ship in!" Morty nodded, pressing a few buttons. "Do I need to say it?" "I'll say it," Vriska said, clearing her throat. "I've got a bad feelin' 'bout this." "Hyuck," Mite added. Vriska shot Mite a death glare. She was experienced enough to know where he actually was. "Well, whatever happens we'll be fine so long as we all stick together!" Pidge said, smiling. "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro said, grabbing his hat. "Brace yourselves." Pinkie clapped her hooves. "You're getting better Jotaro!" "...Better at what?" Pidge asked, blinking. "Detecting when Murphy's Law is about to take effect!" "I never did und-" "Many-Angled One detected!" Morty shouted, frantically moving his hands across the console. "Wait, something's wrong... It's not actually h-" The Many-Angled One didn't give him a chance to fire any relativistic weapons. The mixture of impossible shadow, fractal geometry, and pulsating eyes touched their ship - and sliced it in half with a two-dimensional octagon, cutting the main reactor in two. There was a fiery explosion. The Many-Angled One didn't believe for a moment it had killed any of them, but it soon had other things to worry about. ~~~ Renee adjusted her glasses. Originally she had expected she would be the leader of the expedition, given her rank within Merodi Universalis, but it had quickly become clear she was second to Starbeat. Renee didn't fight this - she was all for seeking an organic composition in the team - but still, it was unexpected, and it put her on edge. She hadn't been calm in... a long time. She had thought getting 'on the road' would let her work out some of her stress, but that wasn't really working. Allure was here, and hardly an hour went by without a painful reminder of Allure's opinion of the other side. Allure always called them 'the enemy', refusing to do what most everyone else did. Bot had even joined her in the effort, though notably Thrackerzod and Burgerbelle were not. Renee knew Squeaky and Suzie weren't as well, but they weren't here right now - they were occupied with the TSAB labyrinth. "Okay, so, let's say the war leads to our destruction..." Allure said, waving a hoof in the air. "How wou-" "Can you drop it?" Jane the Evermore asked, looking up at Allure with a grumpy expression. "We're not in the war right now, we're on a mission to stop the Nihilists. Different thing." "It's still important," Allure pointed out. "After we're done here we're going right back to it." "And you've already done enough talking to ensure that none of us will forget." Allure pursed her lips. "...Alright, I'll cool it. We're almost there anyway. Right?" "Three furlongs from completion!" Alushy shouted from the pilot's seat. "Question," Twireee said, looking up from her book for the first time in several hours, her Flat voice startling everyone present. "Why is Alushy flying the ship?" "She's not," 'Beryl' said, rubbing her glasses like they didn't belong on her face. "Jenny's flying from a distance with her Numenera interface." Jenny looked up at 'Beryl'. "Traitor." 'Beryl' shrugged, saying nothing. "Have any twos?" Storm asked. "For the love of Azathoth the game ended five hours ago!" Thrackerzod shouted. "I'll take that as a no. I'll Go Fish." 'Beryl' glared at him. "I'm missing context," Bot said. "Burgerbelle, explain." The Flat cleared her throat. "It's quite simple really - it's akin to a bradburger matrix with a sprinkling of toblerone a-" "Objection!" Twiree blurted, standing up tall. Pointing at her Flat counterpart, she glared. "I think you will find that the matrix is not of the Bradburger, but of deceptive gemstone names! Arrange them within the colors of the rainbow, and taste." "Hold it!" Burgerbelle shot back. "It may not be bradburger, but the rainbow colors cannot be tasted! You didn't listen!" "I didn't listen!?" "You didn't listen!" "Well welcome me to Yggdrasil, you've gotten quite wordy." She shoved several US dollar bills into Burgerbelle's face. "Shut up and take my money." "Um... how 'bout no?" "Cut. It. Out!" Starbeat blurted, placing herself between the two of them. "We do not need a meme war to blow up the ship!" "How about I do, anyway?" Burgerbelle sung. Twiree waved a hand dismissively. "I can become a ship at the drop of a hat. We've got a spare." "I'm a button," Burgerbelle added. "I said stop it," Starbeat said, eye twitching. Burgerbelle shrugged, sat back in her seat and produced a hamburger from her hair. She started eating it. Bot blinked. "When did you learn how to do that?" "While ago," Burgerbelle said, finishing her meal. "Pinkie showed me." "Don't ask," Allure warned. "...An error has occurred," Bot declared. "MEME DETECTED!" Alushy shouted, pointing a gun at Burgerbelle. "THE PRICE OF THE CRIME? DEATH!" Burgerbelle gave Alushy a 'seriously?' look. "MEME FACE! DOUBLE OFFENSE!" "I choose not to press charges," Jenny said. "Oh, are we going back to Ace Attorney?" Sunny asked. "NO!" Starbeat, Alushy, and Beryl shouted. "We're approaching our destination," Jenny said. She walked up to the pilot's seat and tore Alushy out of it, sitting down herself. She brought up a display for everyone to see, showing their TSAB 'skipper' ship in its single-universe bubble. Several dozen connections were placed to other worlds in the Unrealities, the 'goal' universe being a red dot that wasn't connected yet, but clearly would be soon. "Those Many-Angled Ones haven't even noticed. Heh. All this worry for nothing." "And three..." Starbeat began. "No you fucking don't," Alushy said, placing her hoof over Starbeat's mouth. "There will be no comedic countdown today." Thrackerzod raised an eyebrow. "...Just because you st-" At this point the multiverse decided there was no way Starbeat's countdown could have lasted any longer and threw a reason for them to worry at the ship. They were torn out of their pocket universe and dropped in an eldritch realm filled with five-dimensional shapes of perfection that had to be represented by rapidly vibrating triangles on the viewscreens. In between these shapes were millions of Many-Angled Ones, all staring right at the ship. And not moving an inch. "...What the...?" Jane said, cocking her head. "What are they doing?" Thrackerzod closed her eyes and sent out an eldritch pulse. She furrowed her brow. "They're trying to shroud their network from me. All I know is that they wanted to attack - but something made them stop. They're all... afraid?" "Fear should mean attack," Storm said, tapping his fingers on a wall. "Unless they thought an attack was pointless. Do we have anyone here that's a threat to them?" Thrackerzod shook her head. "I'm nothing compared to them." Renee looked at the Elements around her neck. "...You don't suppose it's Laughter and Generosity, do you?" Starbeat shook her head. "Nope, wouldn't be enough. Jane, you wouldn't happen to have any absurd magic artifacts in your 'inventory', would you?" "Of course I do," Jane said, crossing her legs. "I just don't have anything that could take on more than one of those monsters out there. My bet is on force-of-nature Burger there." Burgerbelle shook her head. "Yeah, that works on small scales, but a bunch of shape-gods could take me out. I'm Flat! That's easy for them to tear up into their little origami toys!" "She speaks the truth," Twiree said matter-of-factly. "Then what is it?" Beryl asked. "Me, I'm just that terrifying," Alushy snarked. "Yeah, you heard right Many-Angled Ones! Alushy, the red death, the crimson fucker, is here. Tremble!" Jenny broke out into amused laughter. Alushy twitched. "Alright, miss Red Gloves, what did you do?" Jenny snapped her fingers, summoning an artifact from her bag of holding. It was a tall staff with a familiar crystal on the end of it. Siron's staff. Starbeat's jaw dropped. "Where did you get that!?" "Stole it." Renee sputtered. "Y-you stole it? Jenny, that artifact belongs to the Research Division! In one of the highest security bases we have! What? How? Why!?" "Joking," Jenny said, shooting Renee the finger guns. "I actually went through the proper paperwork and filled out a requisition form, number A-8-E, the one for emergencies. Handed it in to Eve and got instant approval." She smirked. "And now we have a Juju whose purpose is to literally absorb eldritch energy into itself. They're basically candy to us right now." "Jenny actually filled out paperwork..." Alushy said, blinking. "Holy shit..." "So that staff is the only reason we're not dead," Starbeat observed. "Winner winner chicken dinner!" Jenny bowed. Burgerbelle went ding the same time as Bot. They both produced roasted chickens. "Yeesh, why does mine have to still be in the oven?" Twiree asked. Starbeat facehooved. "Right, so, on one hand, good thinking Jenny. On the other, what were you thinking, Jenny?" "Uh, what?" "What if that wasn't part of the Flower's plan? We weren't supposed to actually be a threat to the Many-Angled Ones!" "Was that in their letter?" "It was... implied," Starbeat said, tapping her hoof on the ground. "Tell me how we would have survived without it. What, would the Embodiment come and save us from the shape-demons?" Thrackerzod let out a short laugh. "Thank you," Jenny said, smirking. Jane shook her head. "Got something to say?" "Mmm... Not much, just that the immortal child has quite the arrogant streak." Jenny rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She placed her hands on the console and found she could dial the goal universe. "Here we go... Everyone ready?" "Go ahead," Starbeat said. "Find that Tower Ring." Jenny took them in, entering the realm of shapes from the opposite side. "Weird..." Twiree said. "My readings suggest the Many-Angled Ones can't exist in this realm." "That makes no sense," Sunny pointed out. "Why would they build it in a universe they couldn't even go to?" Starbeat shrugged. "A lot of things about this don't make any sense, but there's a Tower Ring here and no Many-Angled Ones, so i-" Starbeat caught herself. "Murphy denied!" Alushy whooped. "I don't think she stopped early enough," Jane said, pointing. In front of them was a single Many-Angled One. "...They can't exist here..." Twiree said, confusion crossing her face. "How...?" "Doesn't matter, TASTE THE JUJU, EUCLID!" Jenny shouted, pointing Sirons' staff and activating it. A small amount of latent eldritch energy from Thrackerzod entered the staff, but nothing from the Many-Angled One. "...What th-" The Many-Angled One cut their ship in half, triggering an explosion. Now that it had taken care of both the ships, it could start to pick them o- Twiree transformed into her full Reaper form and teleported everyone back into her. She let out a deep, guttural noise. "BIG MISTAKE." The Many-Angled One was ready to destroy the Flat Reaper the same way, but it had forgotten to take into account one small detail. Jane. Jane and her artifacts that could take out one of 'those monsters'. The Evermore pulled a pale green lance sparkling with blue energy and threw it. It hit one of the Many-Angled One's 'eyes', making it cry out in pain. It pulled the lance out in a vain attempt to end its suffering. That was the worst mistake the Many-Angled One had ever made. The lance exploded the moment it was removed, unleashing every sealing spell it could within the confines of the universe. The Many-Angled One's essence was contained in a white box under a total of nineteen separate successful sealing spells. The box returned to Jane's hand. "Just to be clear, I want that lance back when we're done. We'll need to think of another way to contain this guy." "Something to worry about later," Starbeat said. "Thrackerzod, what was that?" Thrackerzod blinked. "I think it was an eldritch deity that chose to descend. To remove its eldritch nature in favor of something simpler. It clearly wasn't organic or purely physical, but it wasn't eldritch anymore." "PURE FREE ELDRITCH CAN'T EXIST HERE, I WAS RIGHT!" "Yes, Twiree, you were right. It is curious, very few eldritch beings could even consider to remove their eldritch nature. This Tower Ring must be important." "The question remains..." Renee said, scratching her chin. "Why would they not just make the Tower Ring in one of their universes? It should be possible." Beryl blinked. "Uh... Because they aren't building a normal Tower Ring? Isn't this one designed for destruction?" Everyone looked at Beryl with blank expressions. "Right, I get it, stupid ide-" "That's the best theory I've heard so far," Starbeat interjected. "Good thinking." Beryl's expression froze. "Bl- Beryl.exe has stopped working," Jenny joked. Starbeat tapped a hoof on the ground. "Right, well, we're safe from full eldritch power in here. But we need to be on the lookout for more of those 'lowered' Many-Angled Ones. Jane, you're probably our best bet against them." Jane cracked her knuckles, a smile appearing on her face. "It's been a while since I did some good old-fashioned god killing." Sunny raised an eyebrow. "You don't have to be that bloodthirsty." "Eh," Jane said with a shrug, not offering anything else in the way of a response. Twiree activated her sublight engines and moved into the twisting shapes. ~~~ Pinkie poked her head out of a pile of octagons. "Okay, who did I end up with?" "Your team," Pidge said. "Minus Vriska, plus... Velvet." Velvet rubbed the back of her head but said nothing. Nova scanned the area with her striped magic. "Hmm... Well, I can tell us which direction the Tower Ring is from our current position." "Where?" Jotaro asked. Nova pointed through the area of the universe that had the largest density of rapidly moving shapes that could crush them. "Was there ever any doubt?" Pidge said, stretching. "...Hold on, is gravity affixed to this shape we're on, o-" Jotaro grabbed a capture device from his pocket and threw it. It fell down, past the yellow soccer ball they stood on, and onto a concave bowl below. "Good news: we have absolute down," Pinkie said. "Bad news..." "We have absolute down," Pidge muttered. "I'm trying to plot us a course but the spell doesn't like it," Nova commented, focusing intently on her screen. "Here, let me try," Pidge said, pulling up some displays on her glasses. "Looks like we just need to reroute some of your matrices here, get the coding to accept your frankly outlandish request, and... done! Plotting a path through the shapes." "There's a '20% uncertainty' on my display, Pidge." "Don't worry about that, you and Jotaro can just mess with time to compensate for that." "Depending on our powers isn't wise," Jotaro pointed out. Pidge shrugged. "Got a better idea? I guarantee you that's where everyone else is headed." "Nope!" Pinkie declared. "Onward!" She started bouncing along the shapes with no regard for gravity. "Pinkie!" Nova shouted. "We aren't all freaks of nature!" Pinkie took up an impossible upside-down position on a star shape. "Teleport spamming is the way of nature? Who knew." Nova blinked. "Did I..." "...Forget to teleport?" Pidge asked with a cheeky grin. Jotaro let out a short chuckle. Pidge gasped in mock surprise. "Egads! Even Jojo is against you!" Nova teleported all four of them to Pinkie. She levitated herself - and Velvet - allowing Jotaro and Pidge to fall. Pidge activated her grappling weapon and saved herself. Jotaro punched the ground and landed without a bruise on him. Nova facehooved. "Jotaro, why do you have to be so much of a badass?" Jotaro smirked. It was at this point a dozen humans in brightly colored armor - clearly composed of the shapes around the world - jumped out of their hiding spots and attacked the five of them. They should have been no match for the Primary Team. But they had an unexpected trick up their sleeves. They engaged in purposeful sacrifice. One of them purposefully took a fatal blow from Pinkie, allowing two of his teammates to coordinate perfectly and drive swords into the back of her head. She would have died if her mane hadn't been a direct portal to a bottomless pit. She stuffed the two of them in her mane. "Don't. Mess. With. The floof!" Nova and Velvet were having difficulty. Their four had allowed two to drop down - ready to be captured - while the others went for their blind spots. The sword that hit Velvet bounced off harmlessly, but Nova suffered a severe cut to the back of her neck. Luckily she had finally learned some healing magic - enough to keep her up and about - but that was going to hurt until she could find a professional. The pain was enough to trigger her Prince of Time powers, prompting her to outright erase the attacker's timestream. She didn't really understand what she did to him, and she didn't really want to know. The remaining attackers were on Jotaro and Pidge. Pidge was knocked to the ground easily - but Star Platinum was not. One time stop and even a perfectly coordinated group of assassins couldn't deal with it. A few managed to position themselves so they could stab Jotaro, but being who he was, he just took the pain and kept punching. Only one was still standing. She had somehow managed to place a knife to Pidge's neck. "She dies if any sort of magic or time stop happens," the assassin said. Suddenly, the assassin wasn't holding Pidge, she was holding a cake bomb. "Buh-bye!" Pinkie said with a wave. She exploded in a shower of cake. Nova whooped and gave Jotaro a hoofbump. "...Well, I'm glad we survived that," Pidge said, rubbing her neck. "But wasn't that weird? I mean, not even eldritch at all, just people. And they seemed way too unified." "I dunno," Pinkie said. "But we should be on guard. I get the feeling there's some nasty tricks they've got stored up for us..." ~~~ Twiree's interior shook. "UH..." "I don't like that 'uh,' Renee said. "Twiree, you can fly us through this labyrinth of shapes, hmm?" "SURE! DEFINITELY! ABSOLUTELY!" There was another shake as the Flat Reaper was pinned between a dodecahedron and a diamond. "...NOT. IT JUST BENT ME IN HALF! I'VE BEEN VIOLATED!" Starbeat raised an eyebrow. "Then just return to your normal size, it'll be easier to move around if w-" Twiree dropped her Reaper form and suddenly all of them were falling. "TWIREE!" Starbeat shouted, activating her magic and trying to keep everyone in the air. Renee and Thrackerzod joined in the efforts, successfully keeping anyone from skewering themselves on one of the red pyramids below. A large green sphere came sailing toward them. Jenny moved to intercept, pulling back her fist and charging it with her internal magic. She unleashed the punch and sent the sphere flying the other direction. At the instant of her punch, a dozen assassins jumped from the opposite side of the sphere, moving as one toward Twiree. Renee encased Twiree in a magic shield while Starbeat shot lasers at the incoming assassins. They took some of the hits on purpose, giving some of their members an opportunity. How are they so good? Renee wondered. Almost like they're one body... The one body was still no match for all of them. Together, they lined up between the assassins and Twiree. Despite all of them levitating in the midst of the floating shapes, they still had great control over their motion. They may not have been of one mind, but they were all powerful in their own way. Jane cut a few in half with her legendary weapons, Thrackerzod corrupted a few of them, and Alushy filled one's head with bullets. Burgerbelle was even getting in on it. She uppercut one of the assassins, prompting a gold coin to pop out of her head. The Flat grabbed the coin and smirked. "Do you want to touch-a my spaghet?" The assassin wasn't one for bizarre humor, so she tried to cut Burgerbelle in half. Burgerbelle turned herself sideways, summoned a plate of spaghetti, and smashed the assassin in the face with it. "It's not burger, but shut up and enjoy it!" The assassin passed out. "That's it team! Get them!" Twiree shouted, pushing up a fist. "Protect your good fr-" A lowered Many-Angled One jumped out from behind a cube that had been floating past Twiree's back. It used its powers over geometry to hit the Flat, cutting her in half. "TWIREE!" Burgerbelle yelled. Twiree's two halves started bouncing haphazardly, speaking the letters "A" and "I" at seemingly random intervals. One half transformed into half a Flat Reaper, the ship shaking with numerous explosions. Jane charged the Many-Angled One, this time going for the standard flaming legendary sword. It wouldn't be as quick as the lance, but it would still get the job done. "ERROR. INTEGRITY BEYOND REPAIR." The Reaper half tried to shoot some weapons at the Many-Angled One, getting off a few volleys. However, whatever internal 'structure' Twiree had within her was unable to deal with this. The equivalent to a primary reactor lit up in brilliant white light and exploded. "Well fu-" Alushy began, unable to finish due to the shockwave sending her - and everyone else - flying. Renee tried to grab onto everyone - but in the end, she only managed to keep hold of Storm. The two of them were promptly flattened against a white cube. He glanced at her. "While I'm flattered you chose to hang onto me, I do believe you're married." "You. You're funny," Renee said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "I can be," he said with a cheeky smile. "Twiree just died Storm! React appropriately!" He shrugged. "This is war. It happens. You'll have to get used to moving on if you're going to be out here with us." Renee didn't know what to say to that. ~~~ "Touchdown!" Mite shouted. Vriska drove the head of one of the attackers into a pyramid shape, cracking their skull. A bit more brutal than was required, but she was already pretty ticked. Mage Rarity threw a capture device to end his annoying attacks. Because of this, she was no longer guarding Vriska, allowing the troll to get a sharp blade through the chest. "Curaja," Mage Rarity declared a moment later, healing Vriska's wound in an instant. It was then I unleashed my spell. A quick cascade of mental energy - one fell, and then all the others lost consciousness as well. Mage Rarity started capturing them one at a time while Vriska glared at the cobalt-blue stains in her robes. "Aw, man..." "Inconsequential." Vriska rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mite, I get it..." She focused her energy for a moment and re-summoned her god-tier robes without the bloodstain. "He could have been talking about something else," Mage Rarity pointed out. Vriska shook her head. "Yeah, right. Twilence, what was with those guys?" "They were of a pseudo-hivemind," I answered, looking up at the sky. "They were each different, but all under the same intelligence." "That sounds confusing, but also familiar. Why is it familiar?" "Because it's the Everyman," I said, furrowing my brow. "He's either with the Nihilists or being forced to work for them." "Everyman?" Mite asked. "A being who has many millions of billions of versions all connected across the multiverse," Mage Rarity said, packing the last of the capture devices away. "Not that much is actually known about him. Generally prefers to go about his lives without too much crossover, though." "He's not stupid," I said, scratching my chin. "He'd know he wouldn't be able to defeat us like this, and that there was a possibility we'd figure out who he was. He might be testing us. Trying to guess our capabilities." "When you have a million bodies, most of them are expendable," Mage Rarity pointed out. Vriska furrowed her brow. "Greeeeeat. Well, let's go punch him in the clock." "Unchanging," Mite droned. "Thank you, I take pride in my punching." Mite let out a single musical note. I smiled at him. "There's more going on than just the Everyman, though. My sight is still clouded, but I'm able to tell there's other things going on than just us here. More viewpoints. One of them I'm pretty sure is the other side." "They're here too?" Vriska said, looking nervous. I nodded. "Even if my sight can't be trusted, it makes sense. Would the Flowers ask for heroes from just one side? Unlikely. To maximize success they should allow both possible sets of 'heroes' to work. Just didn't think about it until now." "Except we might end up fighting them," Mage Rarity said. "After the Nihilists are done away with. I do not see us risking the complete destruction of the multiverse over our war." "Definitely," Mite added. I glanced at him, unsure if he was agreeing or being sarcastic. I decided it didn't matter - he would be what he would be - and guided everyone closer to our goal. ~~~ "Can I?" "No," Renee answered Storm for the nineteenth time. "We'd be a more cohesive unit." "You don't get to ride me just because your legs are tired." "Ah, I didn't say that, I said my legs would get tired, but as an equine your legs are built to withstand more walking and rigid pressures, therefore you would b-" "I never took you for a broken record, Oncoming." Storm shrugged. "I do what I do what I do." "...What?" "Nani?" Renee rolled her eyes. "Maybe you could stop pondering your next sarcastic comment and help me find the others. We need some way to get to the Tower Ring, after all." Storm tapped his fingers together as they leaped from a large cubic shape to a series of pyramids. "I believe our efforts to find the others or otherwise will not change the outcome." "You aren't Starbeat," Renee reminded him. Storm shrugged. "I spent some time around a crazed girl who knew a thing or two about ka." "Was she the one that didn't show up for the mission?" "Yes. Sh-" A large extruded rhombus shot out of the ground they were standing on, sending the two of them flying. Renee had not mastered the art of self-levitation yet, so she resorted to encasing herself and Storm in a multi-faceted magic shield. They bounced off a few shapes before coming to a rest in the middle of a bluish bowl shape. Renee dropped the shield. "Storm, we forgot this world was unstable." "I didn't." "Why didn- nevermind," Renee said, shaking her head. "...I am sorry, I think everything's getting to me." Storm smirked. He opened his mouth to speak, but the words wouldn't come out. Renee's first instinct was to say ha, finally out of words? but she was smart enough to realize he was looking at something. She whirled around to see four familiar faces on the edge of the bowl. "...Pinkie!?" Renee blurted, heart rate doubling in an instant. "Uh, duuuh!" Pinkie said, smacking herself on the side of the head, shifting her blindfold slightly. "Jotaro, Nova, and Pidge too!" Pidge aimed her weapon at Renee, but Pinkie waved it down with a hoof. "Psh, none of that. We're not enemies here." She bounced off the edge of the bowl and slid down to Renee, smiling. "Hey!" "H-hey," Renee said, pulling a hoof back in uncertainty. Pinkie cocked her head. "Hey... Renee, c'mon." You could tell her now, Renee thought. ...Is now right? Renee shook her head and let a sad smile come to her face. "Pinkie... I... I've missed you." "What a coincidence, I've felt the same way!" Renee put a hoof to her neck - where the Elements of Generosity and Laughter hung. "...I have something for you." "Renee!" Storm blurted. "Shush, it's not like it'll do much to help the war effort," Renee muttered as she removed the Element of Laughter and handed it to Pinkie. It transformed into a necklace and affixed itself around the blind pony's neck. Pinkie pulled Renee into a hug. "Thank you." "It wouldn't do to fight the Nihilists without you," Renee said. "...So, are we friends now, or...?" Nova asked, walking up to them. "Enemy of my enemy situation," Renee said, shaking her head. "Let's put aside our differences - which, let's be honest, aren't all that much - and stop an evil. Storm, Pidge, Jotaro? Any issues?" Jotaro shook his head. "None." Pidge raised her eyebrow. "Several, but I get the point. Smart thing to do." Storm smirked. "Ah... I see now. This was the whole point. Not some adventure... but a reminder." "He's been going on about ka for a while," Renee muttered. "I got this," Pinkie said. She appeared on Storm's back. "So, you think this is about a reminder, huh? See, I'm thinking that it's about friends on opposite sides of great divides. I guess it is a reminder, but not of what you're thinking. Y'know, a reminder that sometimes issues are black and white when it comes to morality?" Storm leaned forward. "I think we're going to enjoy each other's company quite well. How about this as a counterpoint - whipped cream." "Good retort, but not worthy of the left ventricle o-" "Incoming!" Nova shouted, raising a magic shield. A rainbow-maned robotic pegasus smashed into the shield at extreme velocities. The magic held, though Nova winced. "Ow..." she muttered in her synthetic voice. Renee's pupils shrunk to pinpricks. "Wait... no..." "Rainbine, that was not the plan!" this voice came from a Rarity with a psychotic look in her eyes, a gauntlet around her hoof, and a pair of magic hands to her sides. "You've ruined everything!" She rushed in, magic hands flying. "STAR PLATINUM: THE WORLD!" the next thing anyone knew, the Rarity known as Rarifruit had been thrown to the center of the bowl. "The Elements of Insanity?!" Nova blurted. "Aren't they dead?" "Should have been," a light yellow pegasus said, taking her place on the lip of the bowl. She wore a red and white striped hat atop a deep crimson mane. "But we weren't, got stuck in a time vortex instead. And now we're back, bitches." Pinkie pulled out the sound-blocking headphones they had used back on Esefem out of her mane. "Good thing I still have these!" Fluttershout smirked. "Good. It just wouldn't be right to kill you without a proper battle." "Where's Brutalight?" Renee demanded. Fluttershout twitched in rage. "Brutalight doesn't fucking matter, it's us! And you're going to die!" She breathed in. Pinkie slapped the headphones on everyone. Sound became nothing. A sphere plowed through the ground, upsetting everyone's balance. Fluttershout shouted, the wave not able to blow out their ears, but powerful enough to fling them away. Rarifruit and Rainbine were caught up in the process - but they were basically useless already. Fluttershout wasn't going to let this slide though. Unlike her friends, she had bothered to train herself, to hone her abilities. She focused her deathly voice into a singular beam of focused sound, focusing it right at Nova. Fluttershout's aim was a little off, so Nova's head didn't explode - but her back leg did. Pidge moved quickly - capturing Nova in one of the devices so she wouldn't lose blood through the wound. Fluttershout readied her voice for Pidge, but she couldn't follow through. She heard a chainsaw. She got to watch Pinkie cut Rarifruit in half. "W-what the fuck!?" Fluttershout managed, blinking. "You... You don't do that!" Pinkie stood on her hind legs, Rarifruit's blood plastered on the crimson dress, sign of a massacre. There was no way she could have heard Fluttershout - but she responded anyway. "There's a small list we have, Fluttershout. A list where we've decided we can't take any more chances. All of you have been on that list since the day of the Bloodbath." She charged at Fluttershout, chainsaw ready. "Rainbine, activate improvements," Fluttershout ordered. "Wait, improvements, wh-" Rainbine didn't get a chance to process that she had improvements she didn't know about. Her mechanical body unfolded without her consent, somehow increasing in size tenfold, taking the shape of a gigantic centaur mecha. "Oh! SWEET!" Rainbine blurted, her small brain allowing her to forget the tragedy of Rarifruit faster than should have been possible. Fluttershout wanted to kill her for that. But that just wouldn't fly right now. Rainbine raised a hoof and shot a half-dozen missiles at the heroes. Jotaro, Storm, Pidge, and Pinkie returned fire. Renee opted not to engage the robot. She teleported right in front of Fluttershout, the Element of Generosity glowing brightly. Dual needles of magical power appeared at her sides. She rammed them forward. Fluttershout twisted - but one still got in her eye. "FFFFFFAAAAAA!" The impact of the voice threw Renee back, tossing her into a passing by rectangle. Renee couldn't hear anything - and she wasn't in the mood for banter regardless. She knew who this pony was, and she knew about all the suffering she had caused. Fluttershout had lived way, way too long. Renee summoned more needles and magic blades, sending them at Fluttershout. She forced Fluttershout to back away. How does it feel to be the one tossed down the hallway? Fluttershout unleashed a focused sonic blast, but Renee saw it coming - using a multi-layered magic shield to defend herself from it. She smirked. Your new tricks aren't anything. Fluttershout bit her lip. Meanwhile, Pinkie was hitting the giant Rainbine mech all over with her hammer. "Don't you think this is a little stupid?" she asked Rainbine. "Huh? Why?" Rainbine smacked Jotaro away with a loose hand and absorbed a bolt of electricity from Storm. "I mean, you, fighting with the Nihilists. I didn't think you were that crazy!" "Hey, Fluttershout said to do it, so we did it." "Why Fluttershout? Why not Brutalight?" Rainbine didn't respond. "Oh come on, you can tell me!" Pinkie said as she smashed Rainbine upside the head. "You're trying to kill me." "Exactly! I'm making my intentions very clear, you can be sure I wouldn't use this information to defame you." "That makes sense..." Inwardly, Pinkie was rolling her eyes. "All I want to know is how you got here. I mean, I get that you got stuck in a time vortex..." "Yeah, apparently we were part of a Gallifreyan superweapon test, or something. Rarifruit said they wiped out the Celestialsapiens with the thing we survived!" "Eh, sorta," Pinkie said, watching as Jotaro and Pidge tried to work together to hack into Rainbine, but that proved to be useless since Rainbine's entire body was electrified. "So when Gallifrey fell, you were freed. And...?" "Well, then Fluttershout brought us here. And we got to meet a lot of new friends who had the same ideas as us! It was great!" "Oh, new friends?" "Yeah!" Rainbine said, starting to lose her focus on the fight. "Friends like R-" Velvet fell from the sky, and a blade of blood burning with ruby sparkling power cut right into Rainbine's head, hitting a central processor. The mecha-centaur's entire body convulsed, unable to fight properly with that large of a wound. Rainbine started flailing wildly and dangerously, no longer giving any indication she could talk. Pinkie sighed. "Gee, thanks Velvet." "Whaaat? It was the perfect opportunity!" Pinkie facehooved. "So... close..." She pulled back her warhammer and brought it down on Rainbine one last time.. ~~~ Allure, Thrackerzod, Bot, Burgerbelle, and Alushy jumped off a mobius strip and landed on a bright red barrel shape. Alushy was taking point, arguing with Thrackerzod about which direction the Tower Ring was. Both of them had senses that told them different directions, resulting in them going nowhere fast. Bot listened to both of them with a smile on her face. Allure and Burgerbelle hung back from the rowdy front of the group. Allure had tried a few times to put a comforting hoof over Burgerbelle, but the Flat's shape made this not only difficult to pull off, but awkward for both of them involved. Allure shook her head. "I'm sorry, I can-" "I always looked up to her," Burgerbelle said, suddenly, her monotone voice devoid of emotion - but Allure could sense the weight behind the words. "Even when I was just a barely-realized joke about hamburgers, I saw her as... well, the hero. Then when we left, and we were allowed to be more, she was the one. She made me realize that I could be something out here. She's the reason the Flats mean what they do today." Water appeared in her eyes in a sort of jump-cut. "She was a hero." Allure smiled softly. "I know she was." "I think it's hard for you to understand exactly why," Burgerbelle said. "Twiree... She had something before we left. Some of the others as well, but it's not like Aiskera made a big deal out of it later. She was... I guess she was our Eve. The person who showed us the way." "...I don't know what I'd do if we lost Eve." "I do," Burgerbelle said. "Do what I'm doing. Remember her - and do what she would have wanted." She produced a toblerone sword from nowhere and held it in the air. "Stop evil in the most ridiculous way possible." Allure smiled. "If only all of us could be like you." Burgerbelle shrugged. "Yes and no? It-" "TARGET ACQUIRED!" Bot blurted, producing her weapons. Everyone looked at where Bot was aiming - at a woman with purple hair in a black outfit sitting on a sharp edge. She looked at them in surprise. "Well, this is unexpected." "MAGANE!?" Alushy blurted, jaw dropping. "Oh no, not at all!" Magane said with a grin. "But Alushy ju-" Allure began - but Alushy shoved a hoof in her face. "Don't," Alushy warned. "She has this cheap ability where she can twist the reality of truth. Never contradict her lies. Ever." "Aw, but it would have been fun if I wasn't Magane!" Magane said, clapping her hands. "Not biting that," Alushy said with a smirk. "So, are you going to explain, or am I going to have to bring out the small guns?" "Me? Explain?" She let out a bizarre 'kukuku' laugh. "You betray your intelligence, poor Alushy." Alushy drew one of her guns. "Did our escapades together mean nothing?" Alushy was careful not to say anything that could be construed as a contradiction. "I know one thing, Magane. You're like me. And if I were you and I were acting like you, I'd be up to some outrageously shady shit from the depths of nine different hells. So what is it, you with the Nihilists, or what?" "I don't have any idea what you're talking about!" Magane said cheerfully. "Yes you do," Allure contradicted. Magane shot Allure a look of murder. "Nice try, filly." "It was worth a shot." "Can we talk?" Thrackerzod asked Alushy. "If you let her have the power of a god, I will kill you. And then turn you into a vampire. So I can kill you again." "Figures." Thrackerzod cleared her throat. "You are tainted with a particular eldritch essence I can't quite place. Something special." Magane shrugged. "Oh, no, nothing special." "I don't think that's how your power works." Magane snapped her fingers, grinning. "A lie about a lie..." "You motherfucking..." Alushy began, drawing her second gun on Thrackerzod. Magane broke into laughter. "Gotcha! You're lucky Zoddy, I couldn't revert that!" "...Someone else talk," Thrackerzod muttered, backing behind Allure. Burgerbelle took a step forward. "TALKING NOISES!" Magane glared at Burgerbelle. "And now I'm done. Good-bye!" Alushy's eye twitched. "Don't. Move. Note how I'm not contradicting you, I'm just telling you to fucking freeze." Magane put her hands in the air and leaned in. "What is it, crimson fucker?" "What are you doing here?" "Having fun!" "There's more to it than that." Magane lifted her fingers and prepared to snap them. Alushy fired her gun, hitting Magane in the hand. Blood flew - and then she vanished. Alushy started letting out a breathless string of swears. "...Should we be worried?" Bot asked. "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK!?" Alushy blurted. "She could trick anyone into saying something about us and make us dead! Simple as 'hey, such and such is dead,' 'n-no! It can't be!' and then everyone loses." "I think she really is having fun," Allure said, furrowing her brow. "Some psychotic, disturbed version... but fun nonetheless." "She can have other goals." "Does she have to?" Alushy narrowed her eyes. "If you want to play dictionary, no, bu-" Allure put a hoof over Alushy's mouth. "Yeah, no, not entering another one of these arguments. Tell us about her while we move. Otherwise, let's not panic about what she can and can't do." Alushy grinned. "You're trying to be my boss aren't you?" "I believe I qualify as the senior agent at the moment." "I think I'm going for a walk." "Thrackerzod, bind Alushy to me." "Done," Thrackerzod said. "...You're no fun," Alushy muttered. "We have a mission, we need to focus on it." ~~~ Jenny of the Red Gloves rode Blackjack (better known as Beryl) through the endless sea of shapes. In one hand Jenny twirled Siron's staff, while in the other she examined her magic 8-ball. "I wonder if this works here." "Why not ask it a question?" Blackjack suggested. "It'd have to be something I don't already know, but could confirm later..." Jenny pursed her lips. "Just ask it what shape is over the top of this pyramid," Blackjack suggested. She took to the sky, but Jenny barely noticed - she was contemplating Blackjack's suggestion. "Hmm... Oh great magic 8-ball, give us your wisdom, what is Beryl's deepest held secret?" "What the fuck!?" Blackjack shouted, losing focus and ramming herself face first into a nearby rectangular prism. Jenny shrugged the damage off like it was nothing. "Huh. Your name's Blackjack. What does..." Jenny snapped her fingers. "Oh! You were that pony at the Bloodbath! You blew up Flagg! That was sweet." "Why did you do that?!" "I felt like it?" Jenny said, shrugging. "Look, if you were trying to hide from something, coming out here was probably the worst way to do it." "Fuck you." "And I appear to have stepped on a nerve. Yeesh, cool your jets, I'm not going to go blabbing this to everyone." "You lie to yourself," I pointed out. "Yeah, I suppose - hey Twilence - but Blackjack, you've got t-" Jenny blinked. "...Twilence, when did you get here?" "Just now," I said, hoofing the reddish ground we were standing on. Mage Rarity, Mite, and Vriska stood behind me, all of them looking at Jenny with concern. I turned to glare at Blackjack. "I told you to stay hidden." "Well you went and joined the fucking evil side!" Blackjack shouted. I shook my head. "...If that's what you want to think." "Not going to try to argue? Give me your 'sob story'?" I made no response. Mage Rarity sighed. "She knows for a fact she can't change your mind, Blackjack. So she's not going to try." "You..." "Look, Blackjack, dear, we don't need to go through this right now." "When else are we going to do it?" "Lunch?" Jenny suggested. "You stuff a sock in it," Vriska blurted. "Make me." Vriska swiped Jenny's magic 8-ball and rammed it down the regenerative human's throat. The artifact shattered into a thousand pieces, cutting her neck in several places. "What the frick!?" Jenny shouted. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to enchant an 8-ball to make it permanent!?" "Do you know who you're talking to? I store things in magic 8-balls, bitch!" Jenny curled her left hand into a fist while she used her right to pluck glass out of her neck. "And my world's the one where eight balls actually give answers!" "Fight!" Mite shouted. "My magic is nanobot based! I can hit you, microscopic toaster!" "Try." "STOP!" Mage Rarity blurted. "We do not need to fight! We have a common ene-" Blackjack pulled out a gun and pointed it at her. "You don't have the right." Mage Rarity's gaze softened - there was no trace of fear on her face, unlike everyone else. "Dear, you won't shoot me." "You willing to stake your life on that?" "Yes," Mage Rarity said. "You won't do it. You can't." "I can..." Mage Rarity shook her head. "...Blackjack, please put the gun down." Blackjack twitched for a moment. She focused on the trigger with her magic. Mage Rarity's face didn't even flinch. "...Fuck," Blackjack muttered, dropping the gun to the ground. "Why the hell ca-" Mage Rarity hugged her. "I'm sorry." Blackjack pushed back. "I... No. No, none of that." For the first time, Mage Rarity looked hurt. "I... I see. Well, I suppose I ca-" A beam of green energy struck Mage Rarity in the head, vaporizing everything from the neck up in an instant. There was a faint smell of ionized air, the only lingering sensation of what had just happened. The lower part of Mage Rarity's body wasn't even bleeding. The neck stump was charred. A few meters away, Rick lowered his gun. "Wait, fuck, that wasn't Scarcity." "That. Wasn't. Scarcity!?" Blackjack shouted, aiming her gun. "Well fuck y-" Rick fired a much smaller gun at Blackjack, hitting her horn dead on. The bone shattered down the middle as the blue ray sliced clean through her head and out the back of her skull. She slumped to the ground, lifeless. "This has been a waste of time," Rick muttered. "Hey, you three, where's Scarcity?" Vriska couldn't tear her gaze off Mage Rarity. "...T-twi?" I ground my teeth. "I could try. But she'd Come Back Wrong." Vriska clenched her fist. "R-right." "Uh, hello? I asked a q-" "I've had enough," I said, teleporting in front of Rick, wings unfurled. "Of what?" "You. I've let you be for far too long. I needed you to perform your heinous acts. You needed to kill the original Twilight. You needed to become part of the Collection. You needed to torment Morty and his family with your presence. You needed to ruin civilizations. You needed to kill some ponies just because they weren't protected by ka. See that alicorn right there? She was something special! But you... It's what you are, it's what you represent." I allowed dark magic to seep out of my eyes. "But there isn't a narrative plan I can see anymore, no more organized structure I have to follow. So I can do something." Jenny and Vriska took up battle stances behind me. "Rick Sanchez, I a-" Rick drew a gun, pressed it to my head, and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. "Sabotage!" Mite cheered from the surface of the gun. "So much for speeches," I muttered. "Kill him." "With pleasure," Jenny and Vriska said at once. ~~~ "We're getting close," Starbeat told her companions - Jane and Sunny. They were standing on top of a deep brick-red prism that didn't appear to be moving in respect to the numerous other brick-red prisms around them. It gave the area of the usually colorful universe a somber, ominous atmosphere. Jane was cleaning her sword - they'd had to take out another one of the 'lowered' Many-Angled Ones a few minutes ago. "I suggest stealth. They probably have their 'center' guarded like nothing else." Starbeat nodded. "No doubt. Remember, we don't have to beat them, just destroy the Tower Ring." Sunny nodded. "I've got a spell ready. It should destabilize the Ring, though they could be making it in a way we haven't anticipated." "I've got that taken care of," Starbeat said, holding up a boomerang-shaped metal pipe. "I've been nudging fate for a while now. Your spell will work. My calculations show that the Karmic Retribution for this should be minimal - though I couldn't tell you exactly what the complication will be." "No plan survives contact with the enemy," Sunset agreed. Starbeat nodded. "I take it we can't just relax?" Jane asked. "Just because ka is on our side does not mean it'll just hand our enemies to us on a silver platter. That would be too easy." She sniffed the air. "We have to be prepared for anything." "Anything?" a feminine voice asked. All three of them readied for a fight. A Gem with a clear square-shaped gemstone revealed herself to them. She was twice as tall as an average human and had arms that billowed with clear 'fabric', trailing in a nonexistent wind. "We have no intent of harming you." "Then what do you want?" Starbeat asked, unable to identify what type of Gem she was looking at. Something seemed wrong about the way her clear gemstone was cut, reflecting in more places than most. "We would like to have a talk," she said, smiling. Gems aren't common in the multiverse, Sunny messaged Starbeat and Jane. This is suspicious. It could be the complication. Let's see if we can take advantage of it. Starbeat smiled. "I'll accept if you can tell me who you are." "You call us Nihilists. We call ourselves the Allies." "Allies of what?" "IT." "...IT?" "Would you like to meet IT? IT wants to meet you." "...Sure," Starbeat said, scanning the ka in the area with her magic. Seems normal enough. Definitely a trap, but turnaround chance is 97.6 percent, and this is likely our way in... "All right." "Take us to your leader," Jane said with a smirk. Sunny facehooved. The Gem nodded with a smile, gesturing for them to follow. She walked deeper into the mess of ever-darker shapes. If they couldn't see each other perfectly, they would have thought the light was dimming. They eventually came to a large hollow cylinder that wasn't moving at all. They walked through it, entering another hollow shape - this one a perfect sphere. They themselves stood on a cubic black platform suspended in the air. In the center of the cubic platform was a similarly colored cylinder, on top of which was a brain. IT. Starbeat blinked. "Oh, A Wrinkle in Time. I was thinking the clown." I take many forms. IT said to her. This is just the version you get to meet. "I think I destroyed one of you once," Starbeat mused. "Jane?" "A lot of bad guys called themselves 'it'," Jane admitted. "They kinda blur together." IT did not enter their minds with even the slightest hint of an annoyed tone - its messages were as calm as ever. Perhaps you have, perhaps you have not. My other selves are not here, and previous success does not indicate definite triumph. "We're resisting your mental conditioning, right?" Jane asked. That was to be expected. You do have Starbeat with you, after all, as well as experience sharpening the strength of your minds. I cannot even read your minds. But I do not need to, I know exactly what you're thinking anyway. "Oh really?" Starbeat asked, using her magic to lock on to the location of the Tower Ring. It was very close. She knew Sunny was doing the same. She needed to find a way to pass the location to Sunny without IT noticing... You are currently looking for the Tower Ring and hoping I won't notice a message you send to Sunny, because she has the means to destroy the device. Starbeat stared at IT in disbelief. "What in the..." I have my own tricks. We were prepared for this inevitability. IT forced Andrew Hussie to come out from behind the cylinder, moving almost like a zombie. He had a laptop in his hand, crudely drawn images of Starbeat, Jane, and Sunny on the screen. "...Shiiiiit..." Jane muttered. His mind was not as prepared as yours. He gets out unrelated anecdotes from time to time, but he remains my slave. Manipulating the story through control in this matter is difficult, but I did not initiate construction until I had mastered it. Starbeat looked around, trying to think of anything to do. "I have a question. Why? IT is a force of nature, an entity that works in the small moments - or a scion of dark order. Why decide everything needs to be destroyed? IT pulsated. I have seen truth. I see the answers. I saw the lie within a lie that is existence itself. The Allies have their own reasons - condensing everything into a perfect geometric singularity, ending the pain, revenge, striving for some perceived purpose - but I do it because I have been gifted with knowledge. IT was an idea given form by existence. IT is a fear of both chaos and of order. IT is an idea, IT was never something tangible. IT is a contradiction. "IT went crazy," Jane translated. I have the answers, and they are beyond. I see the collapse giving way to the way things used to be, a world where I cannot exist. I see preservation perpetuating my endless self-contradiction. I know what I am, and no matter what questions I ask, I see that I am a lie. Everything is a lie. The only truth is nothingness. "This doesn't seem like you," Starbeat pointed out. "It's not like your type to be concerned with truth." You could call it an awakening of sorts. Starbeat smirked. "Goodnight, then." She unleashed her spell, one designed to kill IT then and there. She didn't care if they all died in the process, it would end this dangerous entity's reign. Red Diamond appeared out of nowhere and absorbed the magic in a vortex of energy, transmitting it to another universe. "...Red!?" Starbeat blurted, surprised. "What I-" Red Diamond encased them all in translucent bubbles laced with sleep powder. Despite this, Jane still raised her blade. "Silicon?" Red Diamond asked. The clear Gem's gemstone split into a thousand clear orbs that shot around Jane's bubble. Each one produced a traction force on Jane's blade, stopping it short. She would have stubbornly kept going, but IT attacked her mind directly. No matter her resistance, a direct psychic attack from IT would burn the mind to such a degree that sensible thought was impossible. Let them see it, IT declared. Behind IT, a cloak fell. The Tower Ring appeared - but it was not what any of them had expected. It was the size of a house and the shape not of a ring, but three separate spinning blades whose centers orbited around each other in a non-repeating pattern. Unlike the Tower Rings of Corona's inspired design, this was not a machine designed to bring a meaningful change about. It was meant for rampant, painful destruction. Starbeat could imagine the stone-flesh of the Dark Tower being ripped to shreds by the blades in a violent apocalypse. She gulped - hoping there was something that could be done to outplay Hussie... "We might have to engage Pinkie," Silicon said, suddenly. Red Diamond looked to her. "Are you certain?" "No. But it might happen at any minute if things go just wrong." "You have my permission to use whatever force is required." Starbeat narrowed her eyes, pondering this. ~~~ Renee stabbed Fluttershout again. "BITCH!" Fluttershout roared, sending her back with a burst of sound. Storm and Nova had fallen already, placed into capture devices for their safety. This left Pinkie, Jotaro, Pidge, Velvet, and of course Renee. Rainbine the mech had already been torn into a million tiny pieces strewn across the landscape. It was unlikely she would ever be put back together again. Pidge fired her weapon, tying her hook around Fluttershout's legs. Jotaro stopped time and pummeled the imprisoned pegasus before she could sound-blast the ropes to oblivion. Pinkie brought the warhammer down on Fluttershout's side hard enough to crack her pelvis. Her back legs stopped moving. "Fuck fuck fuck..." Renee walked toward her, generating a blade of magic in the air. She lifted it, aiming for Fluttershout's other eye. "Don't," Pinkie said, holding up a hoof. Renee couldn't hear her, but she got the message. She dissipated the blade, an uncertain expression on her face. Pinkie trotted over to Fluttershout. "I can save you." "Fuck you." "I don't want to. You are on the list, Fluttershout. I'll let Renee do it, and I won't lose sleep over it. Quite a long ways from where we first met." Fluttershout said nothing. "But I need information from you. Things like 'why are you here?' and 'who's your boss?'" "Why are we here!?" Fluttershout spat, triggering the equivalent to a minor earthquake. "You, that's why! We were told we could have our revenge! Who the fuck cares if we were the villains, someone who was trying to destroy the entire multiverse would be important enough to get a few deaths, right? RIGHT?" Pinkie frowned. "...You were willing to destroy everything just to get revenge?" "All I wanted was for you to die. I couldn't care less about anything else at this point. I don't believe for a moment the Tower will let the multiverse be truly destroyed, but it should have been strong enough to hurt you! Instead, we're just... We were just tossed aside!" Pinkie realized that Fluttershout's tears weren't from the pain of her mortal wounds - she was made of stronger stuff than that. "Just end my miserable life already," Fluttershout grunted. "There's nothing left." "Tell us who organized this," Pinkie said. "Then I'll give you what you want." "Fine. This entire thing was organized b-" A capture device flew forward and hit Fluttershout, capturing her in an instant. Velvet planned to follow up with the destruction of the capture device, but Pinkie stopped her with a swing of her hammer. The dark and bloodied form of Velvet flew a few meters away. Renee took off her headphones. "What in th-" "That's not Velvet," Pinkie said, producing two katanas. "I should have suspected something right from the beginning..." "We actually are Velvet," 'Velvet' said, standing back up. "Not that she's in control, this is just her body." "What are you?" Pidge demanded. Velvet's stomach exploded in a shower of blood. Hundreds of clear spherical gemstones poured out of the wound, forming together into a single giant Gem warrior. "We are Silicon." Pinkie cocked her head. "...Not ringing a bell." "It shouldn't. We were kept secret from you. Red Diamond built us as the perfect mind." Renee threw a capture device at Velvet - even if she had blood-based powers, nobody wanted to risk her bleeding out while they were talking. "Why would Red Diamond build you and not tell the rest of the army? If she were a traitor, I would have heard about it." "Plus, Red Diamond's gone," Pidge said. "She can't do anything." "She's alive," Pinkie muttered, facehooving. "Of course she is. She wants to end the pain." "She is the wisest of all creatures," Silicon said. "And we serve her before all else." The thousands of miniature gemstones that made up Silicon summoned their weapons. Each singular weapon was a tiny thing - one rice-grain sized knife forming a pin there, a screw there. But the weapons eventually added up until they formed a set of upper-body armor, covering her shoulders, arms, and most of her back where the conglomerate gemstone was stored. Two extra spidery legs shot out of the construction. Silicon held out her left hand. The armor surrounding it shifted into the shape of a gun large enough to hold a human inside its barrel. She fired. "Quiznak," Pidge muttered, calculating that she would not be able to dodge. Renee was far enough away, Pinkie could hop away, and Jotaro could just take it from where he was standing... Jotaro jumped in front of Pidge and summoned Star Platinum, planning on absorbing the shot. He screamed out "ORAAAA!" as his Stand took the force of the beam. Star Platinum took no damage - the attack wasn't spirit-based - but it could only block so much. The energy transferred through to Jotaro, throwing him to the ground, out cold. "Jojo!" Pidge blurted. "Foolish," Silicon said, transforming the gun into a large scepter. "He should have saved his strength. You cannot fight." Pidge held up her grapple weapon, smiling awkwardly. "Uh, y-yeah you're right about that. But I'm the smart one. The brains, y'know?" "Yes." Silicon turned her attention away from Pidge and to Renee and Pinkie. She transformed the scepter into a shield. "Nice try," Pinkie said, appearing inside the shield with Renee. The Elements of Laughter and Generosity were glowing, as well as the ponies' respective aspect colors for Space and Mind billowing off their coats. Space around Silicon shifted while the mental bonds between each individual Silicon gemstone began to break down. Her tremendous body began to dissipate as the Elements of Harmony activated. It was a partial rainbow consisting only of white and pink light, but one third is better than nothing. The beads of Silicon split apart completely, flying off in every direction. "YEAH! TAKE THAT!" Pinkie whooped. Pidge let out a breath of air. "Good, I was worried there for a second..." She leaned down to check Jotaro. Convinced he was okay, she captured him. "Am I glad you were here." Renee smiled. "Thank you, dear." "I don't think our chances were good without y-" Gunshots rang out. A bullet hit Renee in the back leg while another hit Pidge in the shoulder. The two fell back, dazed. Pinkie dodged a third bullet with her Pinkie Sense, pulling out a comically oversized bomb. "Okay, what is i- sassafras." Each Silicon might not have been able to talk with the others - but each one could act as a single individual. Those bullets had been individual silicon gemstones thrown by the powers of the others. They moved like a sea of ants equipped with little catapults. The image made Pinkie laugh despite the direness of the situation. ~~~ I created a ten-dimensional matrix spell that unfolded subatomic particles into one-dimensional line states that were stronger than any other material, forcing them into a rigid state so they couldn't be bent away. I turned these invisible wires into whirling blades of death, dicing the very shapes around us at every angle. Rick's own body was severed in several places - but of course he had a backup. He was Rick, he always had a backup. A pill hidden under the skin of his arm activated, giving him regenerative properties. I condensed the quantum lines into a rope, slicing Rick through again - but he became intangible. He pulled out a portal gun and dialed away, but I had already forced the physics around us to reject any outward portals. The portal fizzled and exploded, charring his body. I created a series of black holes to follow this up, but his reflect barrier sent them back at me, shredding my wings. My wings were back to normal in an instant. I was tempted to write something onto Rick - but no, the Flowers had a plan, and I was going to stick to it. I summoned a ball of purple fire the size of Spain and threw it at Rick - only for him to absorb it with one of his devices. Then I bucked him in the face. His defense for that - the automatic killing field he had on his person - was unable to pierce my magic. His jaw cracked and I knew his brain should have been nothing more than mush. He just wiped the blood off his mouth and pulled out yet another device - this one a tri-universal compression device. "This weapon fires universes. You wouldn't want to sacrifi-" I grabbed the device in my magic, turned it around, and fired at him. The light shot out and vaporized every atom in his body into pure energy, the radiation enough to give everyone for kilometers cancer. And then I used my own magic to repeat the explosion, just to make sure. Of course I felt that he had a soul-reassembler active, and that the fight wasn't over. "Holy cow," Jenny said, blinking. "...I thought you were kidding when you said she destroyed universes." Vriska nodded - but she wasn't smiling. "She's gone off the deep end." "...Can we even do anything to help her?" "Gathering luck," Vriska said, holding up the infinite-sided die. "But it's hard to do with Rick. I can get some, but there's a feedback loop and..." Vriska shook her head. "Fuck..." "Worried?" "Yeah I'm worried, you don't fuck with Rick." "Couldn't the same be said of Twilence?" Vriska nodded. "...She's never like this. I'm the one who does this, not her." I closed my eyes and let out a breath of air. I really am losing it. They're right. I calmed myself, turned the dark magic down, and folded my wings. Rick came at me with a series of reality-altering bombs. I raised an eyebrow and turned them all into daisies. I then turned his arms into petunias. He tore his arms off with his teeth and grew seventeen times in size. I edited reality so subatomic particles couldn't exist. He continued on as a string of eldritch amoebas. I used my telekinesis combined with a mental wave. He retaliated with a gun that shot guns that shot guns that shot antimatter. And then one of the reality-altering bombs decloaked itself inches from my chest. I lost consciousness. "FUCKING FINALLY!" Rick shouted, congealing back into his fully human body. "I never thought I'd ever have to use those absurd multiverse war devices." He pointed a gun and fired at my head. I was sucked into Jenny's capture device before he could kill me. "Bring the bitch back out or you die." "Try it, bucko," Jenny said. Rick fired his weapon. Jenny's head vanished - but grew back in a few seconds. "Tah-dah!" Jenny trilled. Rick pulled out a saw that vibrated with the energy of several dimensions. "...Frick," Jenny muttered. Rick charged. She pulled out Siron's Staff. "On second thought, gotcha." The eldritch energy she had stored in the staff launched out in a powerful burst of green and red energy mixed with horrendous darkness. All of Rick's eldritch devices lost their function in an instant as their own power was adapted into the Staff's folds. "BOO-YEAH! Jenny got 'im!" A new Rick grew out of the ashes of the old like a plant. "Fuck. You. And. Your. Bullshit. Artifacts!" Vriska drove her sword at him - but some kind of field made her feel the wound in her chest instead. She fell back, grabbing the gaping wound. "Shit..." "PUNCH TIME!" Jenny shouted, pushing her fist forward. Rick appeared behind her, pulled her hair hard enough to remove her skin, and kicked her to the ground. Vriska glanced at the infinite-sided die. I don't have anywhere near enough luck yet. I nee- A bullet wound appeared in Rick's chest, right where his heart was. The wound healed over quickly, but Rick didn't pull out a gun and fire back instantly. Because he saw who had shot it. "Hey, Rick," Morty said, reloading the gun. Rick sighed. "Morty, this i-' Insipid hit Rick from the side. "With the power vested in me by the late Superman, I SERVE THE, LIKE, JUSTICE!" Lasers shot out of her eyes, but they just bounced off Rick. Morty's other companion, Darth Vader, drew dual blue and red lightsabers, twirling them in his opposite hands. Rick twitched. "Right, here's the deal, I don't want to deal with this anymore. Just let me go and I won't bother you again." "Fuck that," Vriska said, still clutching her wound. "You're goin' down, fucktard. The Doctor's gone, it's time for you to follow in his footsteps." "You aren't welcome in the new world," Morty said. "Either of them," Jenny said, smirking. "You're everyone's enemy, Rick." "Right, fine, universe bomb," Rick said, pressing a button on one of his arms. "Nope," Mite said. He had spent most of the fight disabling that one device. Rick's left eye twitched. Vriska laughed. "You just got trolled!" "That's it, you die first." Rick snapped his fingers. Vriska felt herself die in an instant. Of course it wasn't Heroic or Just, she'd just been laughing at him. She sat back up, her chest wound healed. "Oh, bad move buddy." Morty shot Rick with an antimatter gun, but Rick somehow still had shields. "Vriska, plan. Whatever it takes, do it." Insipid punched Rick through several shapes with the power of Superman while Vriska tried to figure out where she was going to get all the extra luck. She quickly realized what she could do. "Sorry buddy," she told Darth Vader. She glanced at him and drained his luck to nothing. He not only had a heart attack but also spontaneously caught fire, had one of his legs vaporized by a quantum tunneling event, and had his head explode. He knew what he was signing up for. Plus, he was supposed to be a Redshirt anyway, Vriska told herself. She pulled out the infinite-sided die. Insipid threw Rick back down to where Vriska was standing - but this time he got a shot off on her. Her front leg was shot clean off. She wailed in intense pain. Vriska threw the die. Something simple and clean. Rick saw it coming - and a decidedly alien expression crossed his face. Fear. "MORTY, LISTEN TO ME, I'VE ALWAYS KNOWN YOU WERE TH-" "Shut the hell up," Morty spat. Rick didn't have a chance to respond. The infinite-sided die activated, choosing something simple. Rick existed. And then he didn't. There was a small comical pop noise. Vriska spat at where he used to be. "Rot in hell." Morty looked at where Rick had been standing with a distant expression. "Regrets?" Vriska asked. Morty didn't answer her question. "We need to do what we came here to do." He threw a capture device and caught Insipid. He didn't even bother with Darth Vader. "Come on." Jenny tried to revive Darth Vader. She wasn't the best at the spell, so she couldn't be sure if she'd just failed or he had really Come Back Wrong. Vriska refused to look at the dark, dead form at all. Rick was gone. That was all that mattered. They walked on in silence. ~~~ Pidge hadn't lasted long against Silicon. She'd needed to be captured as well, leaving only Renee and Pinkie to face the Gem conglomeration. She had easily recovered from being split up, now fighting them in twelve different bodies all twice as tall as a human. "What even are you?" Renee asked, defending from a bolt of electricity shot from a staff. "We are the Everyman's gift," Silicon explained. "Created to be an agent of destruction. It is our purpose." "Kinda depressing, don't'cha think?" Pinkie asked. "It is our purpose. It fills us with joy." "Creepy," Renee muttered. "I always thought Red Diamond was less... totalitarian." "One enslaved for the sake of many," Silicon droned, firing seven guns at once while two others swung swords. The ponies were only saved by Pinkie's quick jumping to a green pyramid. "But you're killing everyone!" Pinkie blurted. "Exactly." One of the Silicon's bodies split into several smaller ones that launched themselves at the two ponies. Pinkie bashed them away with her frying pan. Renee shook her head. "Pinkie, plan?" "Nothing." "You always have a plan!" "I always seemed to have a plan!" Renee looked upset for a moment - but then she laughed. "Don't know what I was expecting." Pinkie grinned. "Don't expect anything from Pinkie Pie." Renee deflected an attack with a magic shield. "I can trust you to be there when I need you." Pinkie jumped them to a golden torus shape. "...Thanks, Renee." "Yeah." Renee moved them out of the way of Silicon's bullet. "We're not going to win this one. She's got too much on us." "At least we're together, huh?" Renee smiled, tears in her eyes. "Yes. Yes, that's it. That's exactly it." The Silicons attacked as one, ready to destroy them. Even though they knew they couldn't win, they refused to go down without a fight. Renee summoned her needles, Pinkie took out her chainsaw, and both of them let out a laugh that was far too happy for the situation. "ARE YOU READY FOR COMPLETE BULLSHIT!?" Everyone froze, turning to stare. On top of a salmon-colored cube there stood the League of Sweetie Belles... and Alushy. Silicon dropped all focus on Pinkie and Renee, turning to Alushy. "Thrackerzod, do anything you need to," Allure said. Thrackerzod nodded, initiating a soul bond with Silicon. "Done. Alushy, she should be easy pickings." Alushy dropped her physical form, becoming a tremendous mess of dark shadows, evil eyes, and vampiric teeth. She charged Silicon. Most of them dodged - but Alushy only needed one. She drove a spike of darkness into a single gemstone, shattering the tiny sphere. She absorbed the spirit within into her body. Thanks to Thrackerzod, this included all the nearby Silicon spirits as well. Alushy let out a psychotic laugh. She could feel the remaining Silicon Gems trying to separate themselves from their little hivemind, but they couldn't. They were the Everygem. Separation would effectively kill what they were. Every Silicon gemstone went dead, falling to the ground without a soul. Alushy transformed back into her normal self. "A delicious lunch." "You da vampire!" Pinkie shouted, cupping her hooves over her mouth. "Da vampire? Please, I am the living embodiment of absolute bullshit! You're welcome!" Renee rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Alushy." "Yes, yes, we're good," Allure said. "Thrackerzod, take out Pinkie." "...What?" Allure facehooved. "She's the enemy!" "We have a truce, Allure," Renee said. "We need to stop the Nihilists." "Renee! She'll just use this to get an advantage over us!" "...Allure, dear, Pinkie's better than that." "If she were better than that she wouldn't be on the wrong side!" Pinkie looked at Allure with sad eyes. "...You wouldn't say that to Minna if she were here." Allure twitched. "You have no right." "Nobody has the right," Pinkie admitted. Allure clenched her jaw. "...None of you are going to attack her, are you?" Alushy, Renee, and Burgerbelle backed away. Bot turned to Thrackerzod for assistance, the eldritch unicorn telling her no with a shake of the head. "...Mutiny," Allure muttered with a sigh. "I get it, I get it, maybe I'm just being unreasonable." She turned to Pinkie. "Can you get us to the Tower Ring quickly at least?" "Jump-cut," Pinkie said. Allure braced for mind-screw. ~~~ They were standing on top of a red brick shape. Allure rubbed her head. "...Burgerbelle, I am so glad you can't do that." Burgerbelle shrugged. Renee was at the front of the group, staring at the entrance to a long hollow cylinder. "...it's through there, isn't it?" Pinkie nodded. "Why aren't there guards?" "Trap," Jenny said. "Hey Jenny," Renee said. Then she shook her head. "Jenny!? When did you get here!?" "Same time we did," Morty said. "...Haven't we been traveling together for the last five minutes?" "That was a jump-cut!" Allure blurted. "We couldn't really react to anything! Pinkie!" Pinkie shrugged. "Hey, I know we're all upset and kinda want to punch each other into oblivion, but come on, there's like a final boss through this door, let's at least go in together!" Everyone - Pinkie, Renee, Allure, Alushy, Bot, Thrackerzod, Jenny, Morty, Burgerbelle, Vriska, and Mite - nodded and stood together. It would have made a great cover image for a movie, though Mite would have been disgruntled since nobody could ever see him. They took a step toward the empty cylinder. Then they were surrounded by several dozen members of the Everyman. Bot drew her weapons. "Targets acquired!" "We do not need a fight," all of the Everyman spoke at once. "We just wish to escort you inside." "Fuck no, trap," Vriska said. "Everyone, kill them all." The Everyman hadn't been expecting this response - nor had he been expecting everyone in the group to go along with it. It wasn't even a battle, it was a bloodbath. The overwhelmingly human forms of the Everyman didn't stand a chance against the heroes who were so done with all that had happened to them today. Pinkie's chainsaw, Vriska's sword, Renee's needles, Jenny's fists, Thrackerzod's tentacles... There were no survivors. Of course, the Everyman had backups - such a being could never truly be removed - but no more decided to show themselves. Jenny flexed her wrist, marching right into the hollow cylinder. Everyone wordlessly followed her. They appeared in the room with the cube. They saw IT, they saw Hussie, and they saw Red Diamond. Jenny made it clear they weren't here to have a question and answer session. She pointed Siron's staff at IT. Red Diamond pointed her finger at Starbeat, Jane, and Sunny. "That doesn't matter," Jenny said, lowering the staff. "If we're this far, we've got you." You no longer have Twilence. Hussie is ensuring my victory. IT said. You can't do anything. "You're an idiot if you believe that." You don't realize what I am. "You're IT," Pinkie said. "Brain, yada yada, likes order, suddenly doesn't, we get the picture." You understand nothing. I am IT. But I am also more. I am the lie. "So what, Magane's involved," Alushy muttered. "Kinda got that." There is much more to this. I am IT, but why am I the lie? It is because I am also the Spectacularium. Renee blinked. "...What!?" I fused with that being who IS answers. I became one, and all the information is at my disposal. I know every aspect of all of you. I know that Hussie is writing the perfect ending to the story. Your infinite-sided die has been negated. You have no Prophet to save you. The Flowers plan is useless under my control. IT teleported one of the capture devices away from the group. IT destroyed it in an instant. And there goes one of your captures. Was it an ally, an enemy, one of mine? So many names were unimportant here, it could have been any of them... I wonder how many will never be mentioned again, leaving their fates uncertain? "BASTARD!" Alushy shouted. "Complete b-" No. Alushy was bubbled by Red Diamond. "You're not killing us," Jenny observed. "Why?" Your ka is still strong. You got this far, it means something. I cannot have Hussie kill you outright, I can only whittle you down within the scope of Narrative. But I can be sure of your failure. The destruction of all things will begin shortly. And this lie will end. Pinkie shrugged. "Welp, looks like we can't do anything. Too much power in this room. Oh woe is us." You believe the story demands your victory. Your artifacts are all disabled, anything that could destroy the universe would destroy all of you, and the Tower Ring will launch in five minutes. I see everything you think before you do. "There are no perfect predictors," Renee said. "Anything that comes from outside the local universes cannot be determined by the Spectacularium." But you would all have to be unaware of it as well. "The Flowers didn't even tell us about each other," Jenny said, shrugging. "What makes you think we're all they did?" IT was silent for a moment. They wouldn't dare... "...You know, if I were them, I'd have a Prophet working for me," Pinkie said, grinning. "One who liked badass speeches and tense moments. One who writes moments where the bad guy thinks he's won and everything seems impossible. One who has a flamboyant taste for the slightly absurd. One who's a secondary character that has been conveniently missing from this whole chapter." (A multiverse away, Rohan Kishibe finished the final panel of his manga under the watchful eye of a PPC agent. Behind them sat a version of the Everyman - an auburn-haired girl in a top hat known as the Everykid - who had been isolated from the other sections.) "Oh! Guess what I saw~!" Pinkie trilled. "And you saw it too, because I saw it!" IT asked itself, over and over again, what could be coming. What could Rohan have prepared for IT. What trick? What Deus Ex Machina? What ploy? The Embodiment? IT could deal with that. Aradias? Defenses were already in place. What what what what what what WHAT!? IT started to pulsate rapidly, devoting as much processing power as IT could spare to finding the threat. IT failed to realize that was the threat. Because now IT could make a mistake. Jenny knew the time was right - IT wasn't looking at Siron's staff. She fired it at the Tower Ring behind IT, the eldritch energies releasing all at once. Normally, such an attack wouldn't do anything to a high-level construct. But the Nihilist Ring had been constructed in this universe for a reason, and that was because it could not handle eldritch energies. The three whirling blades of pure destruction lost all cohesion with each other and flew off in random directions, skewering the walls of the dark sphere they were inside. IT roared mentally, losing all sense of sanity in one moment. It attacked Jenny with everything it had, tearing her billion-year-old brain into shreds. She screamed. And then Renee moved. She jumped IT and placed her hooves on the brain, activating her Sylph of Mind powers. She touched the jumbled mess that was IT - and healed. Red Diamond moved to stop her - but everyone else wasn't going to let that slide. Despite being a Diamond, all of the heroes attacking at once was too much for her. She poofed with a stab of Vriska's sword she couldn't defend against. Renee tore the mental imprint of the Spectacularium away from that of IT, dividing the two essences. The Spectacularium became its own entity, and it understood what had happened. It was exceptionally weak, and it understood this, and it ensured that Renee understood this. It didn't ask Renee for permission, it just acted. Its time was over. But before the Spectacularium left, it told Renee there was no right decision, but that she was making the one best for her. Then the Spectacularium rammed itself into IT and vaporized both their essences. The Nihilists had been defeated. "FUCK YES!" Hussie said, throwing his computer onto the ground and snapping it in two. "HOLY SHIT THAT WAS SO LAME! And probably emotionally scarring." Vriska glared at him. "Hey, two horrible manipulative men are gone now. Ever think about joining them!?" "Hell no! I'll live forever!" Hussie 'snopped' his fingers, folded himself into a paper airplane, and blasted off through a nearby wall like it didn't exist. "Figures," Vriska muttered. Renee looked at her hooves, for once not disturbed in the slightest that there was brain matter on them. "Renee?" Allure asked. "What did the Spectacularium mean? That you were making the right decision?" Renee turned to Allure, tears in her eyes. "You... You weren't supposed to hear about it. You were just... supposed to find out later. There's a note I left you and..." She swallowed hard. Allure looked up at her sister, mouth trembling. Renee sighed, turning to Pinkie. "Pinkie... I want to go back with you." There was an abrupt silence. Several people stared at her with slack jaws. Pinkie smiled. "Of course. I'd never turn away a friend who really meant it." "WHAT THE FUCK!?" Allure shouted at the top of her lungs. Renee didn't look her sister in the eye - instead finding something to busy herself in the form of Jenny's fried brain. She worked her Sylph of Mind powers on the immortal. Allure slapped her. "LOOK AT ME!" Renee looked at her not with sad eyes, or angry eyes, but determined eyes. Allure wasn't sure what to make of this. "...Why?" "...I'm alone, Allure," Renee answered as she formed Jenny's mind as well as she could. "Daniel can't be there for me anymore. You can't be there. Flutterfree's with Eve all the time. My agents are all fighting in the war. ...The people I would turn to for help..." she glanced at Pinkie. "Joined the other side." "You're joining the enemy because you're lonely!?" Renee looked down at her. "...I voted for the collapse, Allure. But I stayed. Because of the vote, because of our society. My faith in it. I've lost that faith in this war - and I couldn't say anything to anyone about it. I wouldn't be trusted. So I had to lock it up within me." She sighed. "I believed - and still do - that neither side in this war is right. The fact that there's a war at all is wrong. There's no just end here." "How can you say that!? At least we don't want to kill everyone!" Renee shook her head. "But we do, Allure. We do. It's a choice between one kind of mass death or another." She took her hoof off Jenny - any of the woman's memories from more than a couple years ago were going to be scrambled beyond recognition, but from what Renee understood that was normal for her. "I'm going to choose the side where I don't feel rejected for having doubts." Pinkie put a hoof around Renee. "Hey, hey, it's okay." "Thank you, Pinkie, but it's not," Renee said. "...I'm doing just what they were afraid of." Allure's expression softened for a moment - but then the anger returned as powerful as ever. "Traitor." "Yes," Renee said, smiling sadly. "Renee the traitor. ...Tell Daniel to check under the dresser, a letter should have appeared by the time you get back." "I'm not letting you go," Allure said, summoning her Heart's power. "I'll take all of you down! All o-" The sphere exploded as the Many-Angled Ones attacked it. Without their precious Tower Ring, they no longer cared about keeping the universe as pure as possible. They were willing to tear it apart to get their revenge. But, of course, it wouldn't do to have all the heroes killed by eldritch beings at the drop of a hat. As it turned out, the Flowers actually had been doing something in the Eldritch Embodiment. They had woken Azathoth up. The highest god of the Eldritch Embodiment appeared in the universe, forcing the Many-Angled Ones to freeze in fear. They recovered quickly, moving to attack him with impossible powers. Nyarlathotep and Yog-Sothoth defended their king, [????] in the ∂´¨ssµåç˙ˆ˜å until the fabric of reality itself [unintelligible] with a side of salt a- Sanity Boundary activate, a rose-like Flower said, appearing among the heroes. Resetting your conditions. Thank you for your service. And then the two groups were split up, placed in replicas of the ships they'd lost. They retained all injuries and losses, most of them appearing as nothing more than capture devices with heavily wounded individuals inside of them. Only one pony was on a ship she hadn't arrived in. Renee Jackson. "Oh thank the Tower," Renee said, letting out a breath of relief. Pinkie held Renee close. "HELMSMAN! Take us home." Morty let out a deep sigh and plotted a course for the Raven Hotel. Across a divide of eldritch beings tearing reality apart, there was another ship. Allure stood in it, angrily punching walls as tears rolled down her cheeks. "WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS!?" Nobody wanted to answer her. "They're all going to pay... Every last one of them... They think they can take my family from me... They're wrong!" ~~~ Allure did tell Daniel where to find the note - after several hours of angry shouting. He felt sorry for the poor unicorn. She'd been broken by this war. She couldn't take what it was doing to everyone. Not to say he wasn't mad. He was livid. But he at least thought he understood. This letter would probably be the best way to judge that. He opened it, face impassive. Daniel, Love... When you read this, I will have become a traitor - or someone will somehow expose this letter. It's an unreasonable risk, leaving this... but I can't leave you with nothing. You mean too much to me. Stars, I love you. I love you more than... I can't even compare it. I know you love me, even though this war has taxed it. I have not gone back on my vows. I made a promise that day, and I plan to keep that promise. You are my other, Daniel. Nothing can ever change that. But this war is a divide. It's too large of a divide. Your hate for them... I know it's not your fault. In some twisted way it's Corona's fault, and in some other way it's the fault of Them. I honestly think you'd be on the side of preservation even without this, and I would probably have joined you. It's just- There's no way to say this without hurting you. It hurt. Everything you did, it hurt. I didn't see Daniel, I saw something that had taken over your mind and turned you into... And I couldn't talk to you about it, couldn't resolve it, because you know why! And I couldn't talk to Allure, she was broken over Minna... Flutterfree tried to listen to me, but I could tell she was too taxed to do what she needed to do. And Eve... Eve didn't even notice anything was wrong. I had doubts. But whenever I voiced those doubts, people got angry. You, Allure... Not Flutterfree. But everyone else... if we were a different type of nation, I would have been jailed already for suspicion of sympathy for the other side. ...Looks like I probably should have been. Irony. It's painful. I'm gone. I'm gone because I'll be welcomed over there. Pinkie will be there. Nova will be there. And as much as you hate it, Corona will be there, and I know she'll understand. You must think she's stolen me away from you. I want you to fight that thought most of all. Because if we both survive this... I'm going to come back. I don't care if I get jailed for the rest of my life, I won't be able to just leave you forever. If ka allows, we'll be together again, my Love. All I can say now is that I'm sorry. I wasn't strong enough. Daniel broke down into tears from so many different conflicting emotions he couldn't even identify them. All he knew was that she still cared - and that made it worse. So much worse. ~~~ "...Could we have paid more attention to her?" Eve asked Flutterfree. "I don't know. I tried," Flutterfree said. "I empathized. I just... wasn't available. But if I'd left you during those times..." "We only have so much of ourselves to go around," Eve said, looking up at the sky. "...Do you think the people will let us forgive her?" "We can give her a new name and a new identity," Flutterfree said. "Sombra again." "Sombra again..." Eve said, frowning. "...Flutterfree, do you want to go to the other side?" "...I did," Flutterfree admitted. "But Pinkie was right. I would never be happy with what I was working for over there. I would have been broken." She put a wing around Eve. "I'm not going anywhere. Had I been stuck on the other side, I probably would have done what she did and came here." Eve wiped a tear from her face. "How much more do we have to face? It can't keep on like this forever, can it?" Flutterfree didn't answer. ~~~ Renee walked up to Corona in the middle of the Raven Hotel. The soldiers of the collapse whispered among themselves. "She can't be trusted." "She's a spy." "She's just a fake." Corona dissipated the glove on her left hand. "Renee?" "Go ahead," Renee said. Corona placed her hand just under Renee's horn and felt everything she did. The first thing Corona did after she came out was hug Renee tightly. "...You hide your struggles too well." Renee burst into tears. "I... I..." "Shh, it's okay. It's okay now. We're here for you. Pinkie, Nova, Jotaro, Vriska, Minna, Lady Rarity... We're all here." She looked Renee in the eyes. "We question ourselves and our actions every day of this war. You're not alone." Pinkie and the recently-healed Nova moved in to the hug as well. Minna allowed her carefully cultivated hard-military commander image to break so she could show her aunt some kindness. "Everyone!" Corona shouted, spreading her wings. "Welcome Renee Jackson to our ranks! Consider her a guest of honor! She needs support more than anything right now!" Renee smiled through her tears. She felt horrible about feeling like she belonged here. ~~~ "What was the point of that?" Flagg asked, juggling Black Thirteen. Magane smirked. "Because I was bored." "You've never done something like that because you were bored before." "And you always have some grander purpose!" Magane said, baring her teeth in a spiked grin. "Not all crazy plans have to have some sort of big overarching philosophical end goal, you know. Sometimes it can just be fun!" "But why risk ending everything?" "What else would have drawn such a big crowd?" Magane asked, holding her arms wide. "What other time would I have been able to do it? If I waited, the war would have gone on too long. If I acted earlier, IT and the Spectacularium wouldn't have been ready!" She smirked. "Not to mention, the Flowers would have found the timing suspicious if I did it any other way." Flagg smirked. "You have the spirit." "I have something you lost a long time ago." "What?" She held up a finger. "Creativity." "I need Creativity t-" he saw Magane raising her fingers. "You sly little..." Magane lowered her hand. "I could have trapped you." She gave a mock salute. "But I didn't. Sayonara!" Flagg let her go. She was one of the most interesting individuals he had met in recent memory. Too bad she couldn't serve as a replacement for the Doctor... Not nemesis material. Perhaps he should start looking.
Songs of the Spheres	125 - Traitors	Eve looked up at a holographic display of the TSAB labyrinth. It was represented by a few dozen nested spheres of various blue shades, each sphere with several major points of light on it. The majority of the spheres seemed out of focus, almost fuzzy, because Merodi Universalis had no idea what was happening in those areas. The structure of the TSAB Labyrinth was a closely kept secret, known only to Nanoha and other individuals at the center of the immense defensive construct. So it was only natural that the Merodi could only get an approximation of what was happening within. This didn't change the fact that Eve wanted to know what was going on. "No ideas? None at all?" Eve asked. Monika shook her head. "Don't look at me. There hasn't been a scene in there since Nanoha set the thing up, and even that was kinda vague. ...Plus 'knowledge' has never been my strong suit." "Then do something to 'control' it," Tornado muttered. Of all the members of Valentine's group, she was the only one who felt the need to keep fighting. She'd gone back to her ruined home with some Merodi and rounded up a handful of USM heroes to contribute to the war effort, allowing the Ambassador to step out of the spotlight. "I'd have to go there to do anything. We decided against that." Tornado scowled. "Then what about miss 'I can find the unknown' over here?" she said, gesturing at Roxy. "I can't believe she got clearance," Roxy muttered. "Hey, I asked a question." "Void isn't predictable in the way you want it to be. If it was, Twilence would be able to see the entire layout of the TSAB labyrinth. Because Seer of Void." "Why do you Skaians have to be so... esoteric and inconsistent?" "One, not a Skaian, not a ghost, never actually died. I'm a Gem-spirit hybrid. Two, because it, like, makes things more interesting, I think." Giorno cleared his throat. "We do not have time to argue about this." "...Really?" Monika said, raising an eyebrow. "Because I'm pretty sure O'Neill, Nanoha, and the others are the ones making all the war decisions there. We're not actually doing anything." "Then what's the point of this meeting?" "Exactly my golden-donut haired friend!" Eve shook her head. "Everyone, stop arguing. We're keeping ourselves informed, that's what's important." She pressed a few buttons, dispelling the all-but-useless map of the TSAB labyrinth, and replaced it with a larger map of the remaining multiverse. "The latest report says that both sides of the Collection have fallen into disarray. They're no longer able to mobilize properly and are effectively defeated. Their forces will still be within our armies, but they will have lost their fire and organization." Roxy sighed. "So... Just... God, this happens so often we're totally numb to it. Just another one gone. Who's next?" "On our side the Kromagg and Paratimers are looking like they'll be forced to pull back or risk complete societal collapse. The other side's..." She paused, looking for the right word. "Smaller nations do not have the same problem. Phage Industries and the Shabanash are fighting strong and likely will until the last one of their soldiers die. The same can't be said for the Starcross Society. With the loss of the Rebellious Star and the distancing of its leaders..." She shook her head. "...Look at what we've become, talking about the fall of societies like the weather." "Least we're not the Class 1's," Roxy said. "They'll still exist after they've fallen." "...Will they?" Eve asked, thoughts drifting to the other side of the conflict. ~~~ "...Amen," Rev wrapped up a sermon. "Go in peace." She said this with a smile, knowing that very few of the congregation would actually go in peace. The war, while still having barely touched most of Merodi Universalis' core worlds, was a heavy drain on all of them. Still, they had lives and jobs to get back to, so they filed out. A few came up to talk to her, and she did her best to give them the time they needed, but Rev knew she couldn't talk to them all. She told a few she'd talk to them later, encouraging them to come by for a smaller group study she had been holding in the Church's attic. She hated to admit it, but this was a mechanism to ensure she didn't have to deal with too many people - a lot would just refuse to show up to a small group study session, talking themselves out of it. She felt guilty about it, but hadn't repented. Her job as Reverend had become more exhausting than ever before these days, and if she wasn't careful about herself she would break. For all her reputation as the spiritual voice of the nation, she needed help. She had some. Flutterfree had been convinced to give a sermon yesterday - though admittedly it was more of a testimonial - and Rev had put out a request to the rest of the church body in the multiverse to send some other Reverends to help her. She had no idea if they'd respond; presumably the rest of the Church was in just as much of a mess as her current slice. For now, she allowed herself to confide in the more devout members of her church, hoping that more than just a handful would be able to alleviate some of her strain. As church closed, usually only her closest friends and followers would remain, as no others felt the right to stay behind longer unless they were having a spiritual experience. However, today was a little different. As Rina and Flutterfree walked up to her to begin their usual talk after the service, Rev held up a hoof. She wanted to have a moment with a surprising newcomer. "Ambassador Valentine?" she said, raising an eyebrow. Valentine shook his head. "Just Valentine now. I speak for no one." "You still have those loyal to you." "And I no longer speak for them," Valentine said, folding his hands together. "I am just a man, after all. Nothing more than dust. Infinitely miniscule compared to the On High." Rev smiled softly. "Welcome back." "Back?" Rina blurted, revealing that she'd been eavesdropping. "He's never been here!" "I was referring to the Church in general," Rev pointed out. Valentine nodded slowly. "I don't even know how long it's been. I was raised in these buildings. But as I grew... I always told myself I lived my life in a holy way, the way of justice. That was enough. It wasn't. It seems I'm only able to see that now that I've lost everything." Rina lit up. "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a ri-" Flutterfree nudged her, shaking her head - now was not the time for that particular verse. Valentine chose to ignore her. "There's an irony to it, me being here. I have nothing, so I turn back to what I know." "He has a habit of getting to us in our lowest points," Rev said. "I'm willing to be here for you." Inwardly, a little part of her screamed in agony about having yet another person to think about. "The others are as well." Valentine nodded - the closest they were going to get to gratitude right now. Rev felt she should continue the conversation, but she sensed movement at the front door of the church and used that as an excuse to break it off. She told herself she'd talk to him later. The thought quickly vanished when she realized who was coming through the doors. A fellow Reverend she knew - a tall golden lion with mane like the heavens themselves, the black collar of their shared denomination around his neck. Behind him were several other Reverends, though since they were all carefully arrayed behind him, there was no question that he was the top lion. Rev recognized the slight adjustments in his collar - he outranked her in the hierarchy of her church. She nodded her head in respect as he walked up to her. "Brother Aslan, it has been too long." "Sister Glimmer, it is good to see you," the great lion spoke with a deep, fatherly voice. "I thank you for responding to my call." Aslan smiled warmly, turning to Flutterfree. "And you as well, Sister Flutterfree." Flutterfree took a moment to remember that she had been technically 'ordained' in the last week so she could help Rev. "Oh, right." She nodded her head in much the same way Rev had, though it didn't carry as much respect with it. "I'm surprised you know about her already," Rev said. "I hadn't said anything about her." "I talked to some of your congregation on the way out," Aslan admitted. "Such a wonderful group - if highly distressed. I can see why you needed help." "Doesn't everyone?" "Yes. But the area you occupy is very important. I'm surprised you didn't call for us much sooner. Not because of your own stress - but to give more hands the ability to spread the Gospel and support our flock through trying times." "I sought a flexible, nonthreatening, and nonregimented approach," Rev said. "Did I go too far?" Aslan nodded slowly. "I believe so. Not by much - your work has been impeccable - but you should have expanded more. I understand you do not wish to be in the spotlight, but it is a bit late for that now." Rev nodded. "Of course. I'll show you around." "That won't be necessary quite yet," Aslan said. "Take a break. You need it." Rev smiled. "Thank you, Aslan." Aslan nodded curtly and moved off to talk with others around the church, likely to get a better grasp on how things were done here. The other Reverends with him followed, a silent pack of observers. "I don't like this," Flutterfree said. "We're structured, Flutterfree," Rev pointed out. "We need the structure to know who the leaders are and whose words carry the most weight. I'm not the highest possible." Flutterfree narrowed her eyes. "I still don't like it. What if he's wrong about something? Or disagrees with you?" "Flutterfree, you know those answers." "I do, I'm just trying to get you to think about it." "I for one like the idea of regiment," Rina said. "Some of us need to be told what to do." Flutterfree glanced at the back of Aslan. "...Maybe." "You're worried about change," Rev said. "That's okay. The only real change that happens is that I'm not the senior for all of Merodi Universalis. He is right, I do need the break." Flutterfree looked at her sadly. "...Yeah..." "Flutterfree, everything's going to be fine. I'm not asking you to agree with the hierarchy." Her position as the lowest of the ordained means she gets leeway, anyway. "I'm just asking you to accept it as my will for this church." Flutterfree forced a smile. "Okay. Now h-" The doors to the church flew open violently and a small, black, imp-like woman walked in. Out of her head grew a ponytail that served as a limb, and she had piercing yellow eyes. There was a gaping gash in her side dripping dark sludge. "...Midna!?" Flutterfree gasped - barely recognizing the face she hadn't seen in decades. Midna fell over onto the church floor, moaning. "Stand back," Aslan said, lifting up a paw in preparation to heal her. "STOP!" Rina blurted. "She's a Twili - a creature of darkness! Divine power will kill her!" Alsan took his paw back. "Do we have a wielder of the dark here?" Rina rolled her eyes. "Please, have you looked at me?" She trotted over to Midna and touched her horn to the wound. A dark sludge mixed with numerous metal shards erupted from the horn, embedding themselves in Minna's side. The metal shards were decidedly painful, making the Twili cry out, but after a few seconds the gaping wound was completely healed. Midna sat up, rubbing her head. "Well, that was interesting to feel." "Child, why are you here?" Aslan asked. Midna ignored him, turning instead to Flutterfree. "We've got a problem. Ardent hasn't been taking your little war very well." Flutterfree's frown deepened. "...Makes sense." "The forces of Ardent are mobilizing, telling themselves that it's their duty to attack you. End the people who are destroying everything." Valentine laughed. "What are they going to do?" "Open portals using technology salvaged from Link's tomb?" Midna suggested. "I... I just came from there. It's been raided. I... I don't know who's alive or dead." "What should we do?" Rina asked. "Call Eve." Flutterfree pulled out her phone and called Eve. She filled her in on the situation. Eve thought for a moment. "I don't think Ardent can do much to us." "They could portal right to this world," Midna muttered. "Even with all your fancy toys they'd still kill some people." "Right, right..." Eve sighed. "I'll have to put some alerts in, move some people around. It'll take a while, but I think I can send a team through to take care of them..." "Why can't we just go?" Flutterfree asked. "There's enough people here to form a makeshift team." "...Are you okay with that, Flutterfree?" Flutterfree nodded. "Yes. I'm okay with it. Hopefully it won't take too much of a show of power to get them to stand down. I could probably do it alone, but I won't." "Okay. I trust you. Consider yourselves Ambassadors. You'd technically part of Relations, not Expeditions. I'm sure Daniel would let you go, but he's busy and so is Storm." "Got it. Ambassadors." Flutterfree smiled. "I'll let you get back to work. See you tonight." She hung up. "Okay, we're going out. Rina, you're with me." "M-me?" "Yes, you. You could be helpful. Valentine, I think you could make a great Merodi Ambassador." Valentine seemed reluctant - but ended up shrugging and just going with it. Flutterfree turned to Rev. "What about it - instead of stressing yourself about the church, you can come with us and try something else?" "...My rational side says I should be relaxing. But the other side says I haven't actually been on a real adventure in eons." Rev turned to Aslan. "Go, Sister," Aslan encouraged. "It is no sin to seek fulfillment, so long as the Lord is in your thoughts along the way. We can take care of things while you are away." Rev grinned. "Right, let's go, makeshift church-service team!" "Ooh, we could give ourselves a name!" Rina said. "Like, uh... Templars!" "Rev's Revolvers," Flutterfree suggested. Rev shook her head. "No. We're the Fishers." Valentine summoned D4C - clearly ready to take them all to another universe. They unofficially accepted Rev's choice of name and left via D4C. ~~~ Pidge shoved the rest of Pinkie's Party into the side dimension she spent most of her free time in - the Laboratory. The universe itself was a flat expanse of gray under a near-black sky. There was nothing whatsoever in the distance, but in the area they occupied there were several hundred lab benches, crates filled with exotic technology, and more than a few piles of magitech scraps. "Huh, I don't think I've been here before," Nova said. "Weird." "Not really, you aren't the science type," Vriska pointed out. Nova pointed at her hoof screen. "Uh, I kinda have to be?" "Not with Pidge around you don't." "She's taking your job," Jotaro said with a smirk. Nova put a hoof on her chest and gasped in mock horror. "Oh no, she gets to do all the geeky stuff, how will I ever survive this wave of immense jealousy?" "By forgetting about it, probably." Pidge looked up at Jotaro. "Hey, Jojo, good to see you doing better." Pinkie nodded. "I second this!" She pulled Jotaro into a hug. "Yare yare daze..." Vriska let the moment go on for a few seconds out of respect, but she still had to interrupt it. "Ahem. Why are we here?" Pidge grinned, adjusting her glasses in such a way to reflect the light and block their view of her eyes. Pinkie muttered something about 'anime glasses' as Pidge launched into a big speech. "As you know, I had this space requisitioned from Corona and the others for a gigantic military project that would assist us in fighting the Living Tribunal and the Shaping Mechanism. I've had a team of hundreds of scientists and engineers seamlessly integrating technology from all our allies together into an excellent weapon. A weapon that is basically the coolest thing in existence." "Where is it!?" Vriska demanded, salivating at the thought of the weapon. "Behind you." They turned and saw five gigantic robots, each a different dominant color, their size comparable to that of large hotels. The joints of all the robots glowed with a powerful purplish energy while their eyes shone with a brilliant green. Each robot was slightly different - a green lion, a white whale, a blue spider, a purple raven, and a pink horse. "Fuck me..." Vriska said, jaw hanging open. "Did you just make us a fucking combination mecha?!" "Have you forgotten my source material? Shame." Pidge rolled her eyes. "Yes, I built us a 'combination mecha'." "Dibs on the spider." "That's not how it works. I designed one for each of us specifically. I mean, yeah, the spider is yours, but if you'd wanted another one it would just reject you." "What's it combine into?" Nova asked. "Human. As all combination mecha do," Jotaro observed. "Jojo's right. And before you complain about me being specist or something, humanoid forms are the easiest to make work as a combination. Four limbs and a center. Yes, Pinkie, you're the center." "Yaaaay!" Pinkie cheered. "What are we calling it?" Vriska asked. "Mega-megazord? Voltron 2?" Pidge glared at Vriska. "That's in poor taste." "...Sorry." "Mhm. No, not those names. I'm thinking... Final Dawn." "Hmm... Cheesy, overdone, a bit ham-fisted..." Pinkie chuckled. "Perfect! We are the pilots of the Final Dawn! Schweet!" She bounced over to her horse robot. "I'm checking it out!" "Yeah, we should run some practice runs before we head into the labyrinth," Pidge said. "Get used to how it works." "Hey," Nova said, pointing to a pile of scrap that looked half-formed into a light blue robot. "What's that?" "Oh, that. When Renee showed up I started building a sixth, for her, since she was part of the Primary Team once. She said she didn't want it. They would have formed the wings. But we don't need them." "...Should I go check on her?" Nova asked. Jotaro shook her head. "I spoke with her recently. She just doesn't want to fight anymore. She's holding herself together admirably." Pinkie poked her head out of her robot horse. "Uh... Yeah, Jotaro? She's not doing that great. I've already got plans to cheer her up later. Nova, you can join me on that when we're done here." "Got it," Nova said with a smile. "So, I get the raven right?" Pidge nodded. "I'm the lion and Jotaro's the whale. I was originally going to say it was a dolphin but it just got too bulky. Sorry, I tried." Jotaro adjusted his hat. "It's okay. I can be Moby Dick." Vriska snickered. Pidge blinked. "...Quiznak, I hadn't thought of that." "Moby Dick, the unstoppable whale..." Nova grinned. "We're going to be so awesome. Together we can face the Living Tribunal with this, right?" "These robots are endowed with so much reality-bending material I'm not sure the Void could do much to them at close proximity. This is a feat of multiversal engineering on an unprecedented scale, focused on the hulls of these beautiful be-" "Just tell us how to use them already," Vriska interrupted. "Oh, well, first you get in, and th-" Pinkie was already running her horse-mech around, causing tremors. "WHEEEEE I'M SO BIG! AND BOUNCY!" She twisted slightly, forcing the Mech's body to move like a piece of rubber. "Oh that's so cool!" "Yep! The robots have been designed for each of you, specifically to be able to tap into your abilities and use them. I really have to hand it to Twilence, she gave us very good instructions on how to balance the ka manipulation with practical and magical effects. We should be able to take down higher gods with this thing!" "Everyone, get in your robots! Prance with me!" Pinkie shouted. "Whales don't prance," Jotaro observed. "Try anyway. That's an order," she giggled. ~~~ "How did you deal with it?" Renee asked, slumping at the bar of the Raven Hotel. She hadn't actually drunk anything - she really wasn't in the mood - but it was the best place to talk to people within the Hotel's lobby. She was currently staring at a tarot card she had found - The Tower, labeled 'incorrectly' as card XIX. Nineteen. "Well," Poe began. "I began my time here a-" "Poe, stop interjecting yourself into conversations that aren't directed at you, okay?" Timpani asked, raising an eyebrow. Insipid, the only other person at the bar at the moment, let out an amused - but bitter - snort. "Like he'll ever do that." Poe, feigning personal affront, dissipated his holographic form and gave the three of them the illusion they were alone. Timpani turned back to Renee. "To answer your question, I didn't have the same problem as you. I just agreed with my husband." "Surely you had doubts?" Renee said, laying the card on the bar top. Timpani nodded, a warm smile on her face. "Who wouldn't? He was going to do the very thing that marked him as a villain for so long ago. 'The destruction of all worlds, and a new world in their place'. There's no difference." "His heart is in a different place." "True. He's not acting out of pain this time. But discussing my husband won't help you - we were able to come to an agreement and I support the cause fully now. Your situation isn't the same. Daniel's mind has been corrupted." "Here's some irony!" Insipid said, sitting up taller. "He was corrupted by Corona and fights against Corona! Isn't that something?" "Dear..." Renee said, shaking her head. "It's a painful irony I wish I could cure. But I can't. And I was forced to choose." She looked into the distance. "If I was to stand by his side I would have needed to want Corona dead. I couldn't." She leaned back against the bar, shaking her head. "Now I can't do anything." "...And?" Timpani asked. "Honestly it's a relief. The ponies here just care that I am here; I'm not encouraged to go fight. I just told Pidge to stop building my robot thing and she stopped. Simple as that." "Lucky you, cha," Insipid said. "I'm under no illusions that Corona and my niece aren't pulling strings for me," Renee admitted. "It just feels nice to have ponies around me again." She shook her head. "I'm so done with this war." Insipid nodded slowly and looked at the ground. Jolyne walked up to the bar and sat down. "Poe, something strong that'll be over quick." Poe appeared for a moment to give Jolyne a 'clock-buster': a red drink infused with time-slowing agents that gave an immense feeling of euphoria, accelerated to be done in a few seconds. He shot Timpani a look and vanished again. Jolyne downed the thing in one shot. The force of the drink knocked her out of her chair, dropping her to the ground. A smile appeared on her face for a few seconds, followed by a short moment of annoyance. She sat back up and looked at Renee. "So." Renee adjusted her glasses. "Dear, was that..." "I'm not sure if I should be mad at you or not," Jolyne said, fidgeting with the table. Renee knew exactly what she was talking about. "...Jolyne, he asked me directly. It's what he wanted." "Fuckin' Sylph of Mind," Jolyne muttered. "Maybe I should be mad at him..." Renee didn't have a response to that one. "...Either of you going to let us in on this sideways conversation?" Insipid asked. "Because you're being lame right now." "It's not something to discuss publicly," Renee said, adjusting her mane. Insipid grunted. "Just like all the rest..." I walked up to the bar. "Insipid, Jolyne, I'm taking you with me on the mission, if that's all right." "Sure," Jolyne muttered. Insipid lit up with a deranged smile. "Another chance to bust some skulls of the faceless enemy? Sure, count me in!" Renee twitched at the use of 'enemy'. It had become decidedly taboo to refer to the other side that way among the Merodi and Void. I chose not to reprimand Insipid for it, though I did shoot her a disappointed look. I continued with my announcement. "Glad to have you on board." "Team!" Mite blurted, announcing his presence at the tip of my horn. Jolyne and Insipid paid him no attention - as did most people, now. "Silence..." I nodded to Renee with a smile. "For what it's worth, I am sorry for all that you're going through. I wish I had time to sit with you." "Don't worry, I understand," Renee said, waving a dismissive hoof. "Go on your mission. I'll probably spend some time with Corona while you're out. ...She is staying, right?" I nodded. "She'll probably be busy managing everything, though." "She has a way of juggling it all together." "That's our Corona." I winked at Renee - and teleported myself, Jolyne, and Insipid away. Timpani put a hand on Renee's shoulder. "...Renee, what was Jolyne all upset about?" Renee stood up, her back to Timpani. She had the Tower card levitated in front of her eyes. "I..." "If I've overstepped..." "You haven't." Renee shook her head. "I'm the Sylph of Mind. I can bring minds to a better place." She glanced back, looking Timpani in the eyes. "I cured Jotaro's crippling grief." She pocketed the tarot card of the Tower and walked off. ~~~ Allure, Squeaky, Thrackerzod, Bot, and Burgerbelle were hiding inside a cubic cloaking device, watching the battle unfold around them. They were in subring eight of the TSAB labyrinth, tasked with guarding the dimensional scrambler located within this reality. The reality in question was a universe the size of a single planet covered in seemingly random dungeons reminiscent of Hell itself. Before the fight had started, there had been a lot of chatter among the Merodi trying to identify which 'roguelike dungeon crawler' they were going to be fighting in. No consensus had been reached when the attacks started and the entire conversation was completely forgotten. The League of Sweetie Belles could not see any of the dungeons below, nor the deepest depths of the world where the actual scrambler was held. They were on the dark, murky surface of the world where nothing lived. Lived. Past tense. There were certainly things alive there now, mostly from the crashing spaceships. The gargantuan behemoths of the Starcross Society had difficulty moving around in this world and were downed to the planet's surface somewhat easily, though the crashes opened up the crust of the earth, allowing the forces to pour into the dungeons below. The demonic creatures that spawned in this world realized that they were nothing compared to a full assault. Their role as convenient guardians was now moot. "We should be out there," Thrackerzod said. "Not sitting here with our tails between our legs." Squeaky held up a hoof. "We need to wait for the right time to strike. The planet is keeping them from the core for now, and they don't want to risk throwing this universe into the Sea now. Sooner or later, they're going to send a high-value target. Then we will strike." "Alushy needs help!" Bot blurted, pointing out at a battle taking place in the distance. The dark, massive form of unleashed Alushy was easily visible against the slew of other soldiers. She was doing fine against them, but she was not doing fine against the tag team of Thanos and Nae. The Mad Titan took Alushy's hits and barely flinched while the Ga's impressive weapon disintegrated parts of the vampire-pony with burning fury. "Tactical mistake," Squeaky said. "Thanos and Nae are already weakened." "How is Thanos not a high-value target!?" Allure blurted. "In the traditional sense, yes, but since when could he be the hero?" Allure blinked. "...Right." "You didn't know that was what she was talking about? Wow." Burgerbelle shrugged. "We need one of the big heroes. Li-" Thanos pulled an immense punch through Alushy's core, forcing her to revert to her pony form. Alushy said something the League couldn't hear - probably some inappropriate, yet amusing quip. Nae threw a capture device and pulled the vampire pony away from the fight. Allure tensed. "Alushy..." "A great warrior," Squeaky said with a sigh. "I was hoping she had enough in her to make it out. I guess not." "Thanos and Nae are unsuspecting," Allure said. "If we ju-" A smaller Starcross ship crashed into the world, depositing two white unicorn mares - Lady Rarity and Scarcity. The two nodded to each other and jumped down the crack of earth they had just made. "They've got a plan," Squeaky said. "They're our target. Thrackerzod?" Thrackerzod nodded, teleporting the five of them to the third level of the planet, catching the two Raritys in the middle of drilling a hole. With a gesture of her head, Squeaky gave all the orders she needed to. Allure and Bot took on Scarcity while Thrackerzod and Burgerbelle faced Lady Rarity. Squeaky took her position a fair distance away and supported with long-range spells. There were demon-esque blobs of pulsating flesh around, trying to kill all of them. They were essentially pointless in this scenario. Scarcity lit her horn, sidestepping Allure and moving purposefully into Bot's line of fire. She caught the robot's complicated mixture of rockets, lasers, and traditional bullets in her magic and sent them right back at her. Bot deflected most of them, but a few of the rocket shockwaves made her lose her footing. Allure summoned her power of Heart, augmenting it with carefully calculated magic movements. She pushed off the ground, sparks flying from the contact her hooves had with the ground. Her very spirit cut toward Scarcity, aiming to cut the unicorn through the chest. Scarcity smirked. "So predictable." She created a magical portal behind her and in front of her, prompting the power of Heart to pass right through her and hit Bot. The mechanical filly's face split open, revealing wires and sparking gizmos. She fell backward, front hooves over her face and screeching in a monotone. Allure knew Bot could be fixed, as always, so she didn't relent. She pulled her Heart back, cutting at Scarcity from the side. She jumped to the left, only for Squeaky's magic missile to hit her in the side, flinging her onto her back. Allure poised her Heart high and drove the invisible spirit down. Scarcity must have been able to sense it with her magic, because she caught it in her telekinesis. She smirked, twisting the Heart to the side. Allure used the force to twist herself over Scarcity and ram her back leg into the mare's stomach, pushing as much extra magic as she could into the motion. There was a crack in Scarcity's spine. The Starcross Society's main mare glowered, annoyed that she had to divert some of her magic to getting her back legs to move properly. She didn't let the pain deter her - she had a mission, and she was Scarcity. Some filly wasn't going to stop her. She teleported behind Allure and summoned a cutting disc with her magic. Allure jumped into the air and tapped the disc with one of her back hooves, using it as a springboard to fly higher into the air. Scarcity took this as an opportunity to fire a disintegration beam. Allure caught the power not with a magic shield, but with her hoof, carefully channeling the energy through her body and back out another one of her legs. Scarcity realized slightly too late what was happening. She tried to twist out of the way, but the vaporizing energy still hit her. The legs on her left side were reduced to cinders and half her face was charred. She flew to a nearby wall and hit hard enough to crack her shoulder. She coughed. "Dammit... This was not how I -GAH- wanted to be captured." Allure's expression darkened. She summoned her Heart and cut a gash across Scarcity's side. "GAH! What the hell!?" Allure drove a spike into her side. Scarcity's pupils dilated not from the pain - she could handle that - but from a realization. "Wh... Why?" "You look like her," Allure deadpanned. "What does that ha-" Allure stabbed her in the tongue, ending the talking. She cut again, this time across one of Scarcity's legs. "ALLURE!" Squeaky shouted. Allure cut again. "ALLURE!" She raised her Heart, cutting the slightest bit off Scarcity's horn. Squeaky leaped next to Allure and slapped her across the face. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" Allure's impassive expression switched directly to rage. "Tell me she doesn't deserve this!" "She. Doesn't. Deserve. This." "I guess you just can't see it then. Can't see her. That face!" "We don't have time for this," Squeaky muttered, pulling out a capture device. Allure stabbed Scarcity in the brain before Squeaky could do anything, ending the unicorn in an instant. Squeaky slapped Allure, sending her back a few steps. "You need to follow Thrackerzod. Lady Rarity made a run for it." Allure, for the first time, realized that Lady Rarity wasn't there. Burgerbelle was down, flat on the ground, while Bot was trying to repair her face with a welding attachment and wire snips. Good. Another one. Squeaky saw the look in Allure's face as she teleported toward Thrackerzod's signature but didn't stop her. All she did was grimace. Allure appeared next to Thrackerzod. "Where i-" "Too late, fall back!" Thrackerzod said, lighting her horn. Allure got only a second to see what was happening. Lady Rarity had affixed a glowing green crystal on the pulsating heartlike form of the dimensional scrambler. They teleported away the same time Lady Rarity did. Squeaky felt the explosion a second after they came back. "...She got it?" "She got it," Thrackerzod muttered, following up with an eldritch curse. "Then we chase her down and make her pay!" Allure blurted. "She has to still be in the universe!" "We are leaving the front," Squeaky said, grabbing Allure by the neck. "You've gone too far off the edge." "Get off me." "No. I'm your military commander. You've become so reckless that you're disrupting the unity in this group and going against our military policy." She gestured at the disfigured corpse of Scarcity. "WE DO NOT DO THIS!" "We didn't betray family either," Allure muttered. "Shouldn't we be willing to do what they'll do!?" "Good god, you need therapy," Squeaky said, shaking her head. "We're leaving, that's final." "You're only the military commander," Allure spat. "The League is not a despotism!" "You've lost it and need help," Thrackerzod said. "And that's coming from me." Allure's eye twitched. "Fine. We go home. I get sent to a therapist. In a time of war where we need to be giving every last ounce of o-" Burgerbelle hit Allure over the head with a baton made of pillows. The enraged unicorn fell asleep immediately. "Thanks," Squeaky told Burgerbelle. "Thrackerzod, can you get us out?" Thrackerzod nodded, teleporting them to an extraction point. A short while later, a Rarity with a crescent-shaped scar wielding three swords at once passed Scarcity's corpse by. She stopped her running in an instant to stare at her. "...I had hoped..." She shook her head, cutting her statement short. She ran for the extraction point as well. ~~~ Rev sent out a quick prayer for the deceased. Their group was standing over the ruins of New Termina. "...Everyone?" Flutterfree cocked her head to ask the imp seated on her back. Midna nodded. "Far as I know... everyone. Maybe some of Link's kids got away, maybe not. I haven't seen or sensed them since." "And they took all of Link's devices..." Flutterfree shook her head. "I can't believe I'd almost forgotten about this place..." "What was it?" Valentine asked. "I understand that this is part of your history, but it is not a part I know of." "Ardent used to be one of the main worlds in the early days," Flutterfree explained. "They refused to engage in Disclosure, wishing to keep the multiverse a secret. Then they found out - Twilence told us it was an Arcei, Rose, who told them - and the situation went downhill. We lost all contact with Ardent government and removed all our presence. The only connection we had to the world was Link and Midna's visits, and even those stopped eventually." Midna sighed. "I know, for what it's worth we're sorry about that. ...I know he would be." Flutterfree shook her head. "No need to apologize. You had families to care for. A legacy to watch." She lifted her muzzle to the air and sniffed. Rina looked at the destruction with an impassive expression. "This is all way too familiar to me." "I know. Don't go back there," Rev encouraged. "...We're going to make this right." "Midna, where's the seat of power for Ardent now?" "Hyrule Castle," Midna said. "The nations currently pay respect to the Goron-king Madir. He's been stirring up the people ever since the Message. They want to march to war against the other worlds and bring them to their rightful place." "They're idiots," Valentine scoffed. "Angry idiots with weapons," Flutterfree said. She began to systematically remove the marble coverings of her wing blades, allowing the sharp protrusions to menacingly catch the light of the sun. "Flutterfree..." Rev said, holding out a hoof. "I don't plan on using them," she said, a slight purple glow coming to her eyes. "But they need to see the truth." Valentine looked at her, understanding. "You really could do this alone." "Use D4C to back me up. You all need to look powerful. Rina, that'll come naturally. Rev, you'll have to accept being feared. Midna, just point." Midna pointed. Flutterfree took off toward Hyrule at high speed. Rina took off after her. Rev started teleporting herself and Valentine after them, muttering under her breath something that Valentine couldn't make out. Purple energy began to brim off Flutterfree as she tapped into the Rage within her. Rage... Rage was a complex thing, she had come to understand. The Aspect she was given certainly stemmed from her inner anger she had always struggled with, but it was so much more than that. It was not raw, pointless rage - it had a purpose. In many ways, it was like the firebending of Elemental Four. Many of the firebenders resorted to using the anger within them to power their chi and unleash the flame, but a purer form of the art would come from passion, not anger. For anger was a distortion of passion. The Aspect of Rage was much the same way, she had come to understand. It was not pure anger, not even an emotion - it was an outlook. An outlook on life rooted in dark, unfortunate, bloody truth. And as a Page who knew this, she could emanate the deepest truth from within her like a beacon for all to see. Rina felt it first - a deep dissatisfaction rising within her as the world revealed herself to her. You have been forgiven, but that doesn't change what you've done. You're still her. She popped a pill into her mouth, swallowing hard. She prayed in her head over and over that she wouldn't blow it and start killing people. Valentine felt it next. Your entire life was defined by your precious 'Murica. Now it's gone. Most of your accomplishments are void. Valentine scowled - he knew Flutterfree wasn't even focusing on them. What would it feel like to actually be the recipient of this... beacon? Rev felt it last. The truths shown to her were nothing she hadn't thought of before. While the others ground their teeth and tried not to explode, Rev smiled. There is nothing new under the sun. Flutterfree flew over the walls of Hyrule, broadcasting the Rage. No one shot at her - they knew they would regret it if they did. They could see her cutting them up in their minds. Some of them could feel the wounds from her wing blades. Many broke down crying as they realized how hopeless a fight against her alone would be. How could they hope to do anything to their age-old enemies? In the end, they walked right through the front doors of the castle, entering the throne room. Flutterfree's eyes were solid purple and trails of the Rage's energy swirled off of her as if blown by some unseen wind. The Goron-king Madir dropped to his hands, a truly awkward position for his rocky race. "Please, spare us." Flutterfree nodded. "I will. I have no intention on following up on my threats so long as you behave. Your kingdom may yet survive." "Anything, anything." "Madir, I have something to ask you. In the aura of Rage, none can lie, none can hide." Lolo erupted from behind Flutterfree, filling the area with a brilliant nexus of spirographs and mathematical waves. "Tell me, Madir, will you call off all plans of hostility?" "Yes!" "Will you make all the other nations stand down?" "Yes!" "Will they listen to you?" "Yes!" Flutterfree nodded, satisfied with this. "Madir, is there anything else you think we would like to know?" "One of your own was helping us plan!" Madir blurted, starting to shiver in fear. "A Source!" "Who was it?" "Ava Jandice!" Flutterfree's eyes widened. "WHAT!? That's... That's TRUE! He doesn't just THINK it is - I'd be able to sense an inconsistency there. Ava... Ava's a traitor!" "That doesn't make any sense!" Rina blurted. "She's basically the head of Merodi!" The moment she said it, the Rage showed her how she was wrong - but Valentine explained it anyway. "It fits her perfectly. She's always been a mysterious individual with strong ideals who keeps her cards extremely close to her chest. She never lets anyone truly know who she is. She's abstained at unusual times, refused to comment on the most innocuous of issues..." "We have to tell Eve," Flutterfree said. "Madir, we will have to cut this short. I choose to spare you. If your world does not listen, you will be held personally responsible." "Yes, yes..." "THIS IS STUPID!" one of the guards said - overtaken by the Rage. He pulled out a legendary sword glistening with both fire and ice. He charged Flutterfree. She sidestepped, tapped him on the back with one of her blades, and kicked with a hoof imbued with Rage. He was sent into a nearby wall. Rina prepared her magic, ready to finish him off. Flutterfree stopped her by wrapping Lolo around her horn. "No." Rina gulped. "R-right..." "Valentine, take us home," Flutterfree said, at last allowing the Rage to dissipate. D4C folded them away. ~~~ Okay, I messaged my teams telepathically. With the destruction of the scrambler, we have a chance to get at the core before they can further confuse its location. Minna's moving in to provide us with ship coverage. Team A, you're with me, look for an opportunity. Team B- You mean Team P! Pinkie thought back. I rolled my eyes, but smiled. How silly of me. Of course, Team P. Your job is to engage the Living Tribunal when he inevitably shows up - until then, make it look like you're the main force driving for the center. Got it? Got it! I could see her saluting in her childish way. I smirked, turning to Team A - Jolyne, Insipid, Mite, and a man from the Void known as Cloud Strife. He was known as a standard 'hero' found across the Void universes, but I had my doubts his natural hero tendency would save him out here. Remember, stealth for now, I messaged them. Like, Cha, Insipid messaged back. Just lead the way, 'Understander.' I glanced at Jolyne with a frown. I had high hopes this mission would get her out of her defiant phase. But there was also a good chance she'd just keep being Jolyne, and I wasn't so heartless as to overwrite her. I led them through the many universes surrounding the TSAB labyrinth's core, doing my best to follow the waves of ka and battle to find the actual center. It was likely to take some time, and if we hadn't been working in the shadow of a much larger assault, we would have been spotted immediately. As it was, my writing ensured they were completely occupied with Minna's fleets - a combination of ships and high-power individuals, mostly Skaians. Minna led the charge of the ships, with Feferi under her coordinating the efforts of her god-tier brethren. On the other side, there was mostly TSAB resistance with some Combine thrown in here and there, proving to be more than a match for the assault. Minna's disadvantage was only heightened by the way the battlefield constantly changed - for deep within the TSAB labyrinth Nanoha was shuffling locations of universes to ruin the fleet's coordination. Luckily, Team P was there, ready to unleash their newest toy. Five colorful robots filed out of Minna's capital ship, the Conquest. Blue, white, purple, green, and pink in the shape of various animals, all able to move through the air of dimensions as easily as walking. "Let's get right to it!" Pinkie radioed the rest of her team. "FORM FINAL DAWN!" The pink horse took center position. The four legs split into four pieces each, forming access points for the other four to combine. Pidge went first, tucking the front legs of her lion forward, using the back legs to integrate with one of the pink access points, forming the left arm. Her lion's head roared, becoming a hand. On the other side Nova's raven affixed to the horse with its claws. It folded its wings over its head, forming thin, vaguely feathery fingers that sparkled with magic power. The great white whale of Jotaro split its tail to integrate as the right leg, the great flat head of the sea creature acting as the foot. Vriska moved in last, turning her spider upside down to affix her legs to the remaining access point, the spider body proper acting as the real foot. The central horse began to change further. The head rounded itself out, taking a more human-like appearance - stern, powerful, and judging. The ears remained, looking more like those of a pony than a horse. The pink chest sprung to life with a brilliant core of energy that mixed all the colors together to form a brilliant magical white, indicating the synthesis of all five of their machines. They struck a pose, lifting Final Dawn's purple hand into the air, a spark of energy forming between the fingers. Jotaro let out a laugh. "Yare yare daze... That was over the top." "Hey, combination mech transformations are cool!" Pidge retorted. "We'll skip it every other time," Pinkie assured them. "What are we waiting for?" Vriska blurted. "Let's wreck their shit!" "You said it!" Nova shouted, grinning. "Final Dawn... blow up that TSAB cruiser!" Pinkie ordered. They acted as one. Vriska laid her hand on her console, generating a larger version of the infinite-sided die in the hand of Nova. She twirled the die around a bit and threw it out into space. The TSAB cruiser saw the mech moving and fired - but Final Dawn had too much luck right now. What it lost, it regained with a glint of Light from its eye, stealing from the TSAB ship itself. The attack activated at a scale a couple orders of magnitude larger than it normally would have, channeled through the mystical engineering found within the mech itself. A large sea-serpent made of macaroni and flaming cheese appeared in space and bit down on the TSAB ship, tearing it in half. TSAB ships decided that Final Dawn was a huge threat, diverting fire from all the ships in the universe - and some from outside it - at the mech. "Evasive maneuver subroutine, go!" Pidge shouted. "This won't work for long!" "I am glad we have inertial dampeners..." Nova commented, realizing that she was sitting in a hand that was changing direction sharply every few seconds. "STAR PLATINUM!" Jotaro shouted. The Stand resonated with the form of Final Dawn, appearing as a being just as large as the mecha. Star Platinum let out an ORA and punched a nearby Combine ship into nothingness. "THE WORLD!" Everyone but Jotaro yelled. Time froze - but all five of them remained active within the stopped time. Nova fired off lasers at the handful of time-stop resistant foes with magic. "This is too easy." "Living Tribunal's not here yet," Pinkie said, giggling. "Pidge, I've got a hammer for you, grab it." Pidge's arm reached behind Final Dawn's back, pulling a giant space-age warhammer out of nowhere. Final Dawn jumped into the air, vanishing behind some debris from the TSAB ship - appearing in a completely different universe behind another capital ship. The stopped time ended. "Hiya!" Pinkie said, winking. Final Dawn brought the hammer down on the ship, crushing its drive. The explosion sent ripples through spacetime, but the over-redundant reality anchors on Final Dawn kept it from feeling any of it. "I'm never going to get used to our powers synthesizing like this," Nova said. "I mean, seriously, Pinkie, how do all these words not drive you crazy!?" "You don't have to look at them y'know!" Pinkie said as they used a combination of Hermit Purple and luck-drain to destroy a Combine ship, knocking numerous other foes off their feet with the supernova. "You've lived with the Awareness all your life! Even if it is diluted like this, I'm not just going to ignore it!" "In other words, she's too curious," Vriska said. "Hey, curiosity is a virtue!" Pidge said. "Awareness is one of the least understood things in existence, and when we're together like this we get some idea of what it's like." "So what you're saying is you built this so you could know what Awareness was like?" Jotaro asked. "...No..." Pidge said, launching a laser from her Lion that transformed a nearby ship into a mess of vines and leaves. "...Okay, yeah, fine, that was partially the reason. But hey, we're a lot more powerful like this! Cutting through ships like they're nothing!" "We got an upgrade," Pinkie said. "That doesn't mean..." "...We should get cocky," Nova finished. Then she shook her head. "Geez, that intuition is weird." "Just wait until you get the Pinkie Sense!" "Oh sh-" Simultaneously, all five of them felt the Pinkie Sense. They had been lucky enough not to experience it in practice beyond the general 'avoid incoming objects' feeling. They had felt tails that didn't exist twitch and hooves they didn't have vibrate unusually combined with a flip-flopping stomach. Now all of their bodies felt like they were twitching every which way while an influx of information they couldn't understand entered their mind. It was almost like having a seizure with all the blinking, hiccuping, and hoof/wrist wringing. "Quiznak!" Pidge swore. "That was..." "Excellent!" Pinkie giggled. "It means we're about to face some of their reinforcements!" A TSAB dropship appeared, bays open - revealing dozens of giant mecha in the doors, some larger than Final Dawn. "Of course, magical girl anime is closely related to mecha anime..." Vriska muttered. Then she facepalmed. "Holy fuck, Nova's right, that's weird." "These mecha aren't Final Dawn though!" Pidge said. "We can take them!" "One of them is your old mecha," Jotaro pointed out. "Voltron." Pidge's smile fell. "Oh..." "Take care of them quickly and nicely," Pinkie ordered. "Nova?" "On it." As the mecha rushed toward them, she picked out the multicolored form of Voltron, a humanoid mecha formed of five lions. There was presumably a Pidge on board, as well as versions of her long-lost team. Nova borrowed a bit of Vriska's luck-stealing to tip things in her favor. Then she sent a nullification spell at Voltron, disabling the machinery easily. The humanoid went limp and adrift. "Good work!" Pinkie said. "Now, execute operation Frogger!" Operation Frogger was both complicated and simple at the same time. They just had to jump from universe to universe in quick succession, effectively attacking from all sides. This was complicated due to different constants of spacetime, temporal distortion, and possible alien physics. Not to mention the possible interference of Nanoha or the Living Tribunal. Final Dawn jumped through a portal to a world made of nothing but oranges. Pinkie somehow managed to grab some of these and start munching on them - depositing some in the various cabins of her friends as well. "These are delicious!" "We know," Jotaro said. Final Dawn twisted through another portal, looping back to the original universe and punching some Gundams with a mixture of Star Platinum and physical mecha punches. Final Dawn took a hit to the back from a much larger mech equipped with dozens of explosive weapons, but the damage was minimal. Final Dawn turned around, opening a portal to the middle of a star, sending out a beam of nuclear fusion plasma into the explosion-loving mech. They closed the portal, dodging several smaller robots and shifting into another realm. A few mechs pursued into the world made of mobius strips and strange floating emoji. Nova grabbed them in her magic and drove them together for Pidge to tie up. Jotaro just kicked them. "Hm. Maybe I should use Star Platinum's legs..." The army of little, lesser mechs were no match for them. It took only a handful of dimensional passes to reduce their number to nearly nothing. It was like cutting butter. Pinkie groaned. "All right everyone, prepare for something completely and ridiculously OP." "Yare yare daze..." A humanoid mecha apparently made of red skulls appeared, green fire billowing off its back. It was larger than most galaxies. "...Well, shit," Vriska said, blinking. "Why haven't they been using this in the war!?" "Waiting for a rainy day," Pinkie muttered, having to 'cheat' Final Dawn several million light years away just to avoid getting slapped by the mecha. "We need to defeat this thing quickly before it finds out how to use a horn drill or something." "I've got a list of its attacks from our Awareness!" Pidge said grinning. "It's a Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann a-" "And the TSAB could have retrofitted it, so that's not all that helpful," Nova said as they dodged a beam of stellar fire. "We need to think here. It's too big to damage with conventional arms..." Pinkie giggled. "Then we just have to get clever! Jotaro, the Passion! Vriska, start stealing luck! I'll get us inside." The Passion touched the souls piloting the Gurren Lagann, allowing Vriska to get a better connection to their internal luck. The opposing mech began to move with more sluggish movements, the green fire flickering in and out. And then Final Dawn was inside the Gurren Lagann. Nova didn't even need to be told what to do - if the luck manipulation was right, they would be near a vital component. She opened a portal into the interior of a star, effectively unleashing a supernova. The chain reaction cascaded down the limb and would have destroyed Final Dawn had Pinkie not shifted out of there. The Gurren Lagann lost a leg. And then a fist the size of a globular cluster smashed into Final Dawn. "STAR PLATINUM: THE WORLD!" they all yelled, freezing time. That was a hefty hit, but Final Dawn was made from materials that defied reality. They moved back from the fist. Vriska summoned her sword into its hands, suddenly the perfect size for it. "Let's get the Living Tribunal's attention, hmm?" Pinkie asked. "TIME! SPACE! LIGHT! BY YOUR POWERS COMBINED... TRIO FRAYMOTIF... THE PERFECT DIVISION!" The sword flashed with red, white, and orange pulses of energy. They brought it down just as the time stop ended. The sword ripped through spacetime in the perfect way, driving a division of energy through the air and into the center of the Gurren Lagann. The mecha split in half. The universe should have collapsed as well, but the Living Tribunal stepped in. "It seems as if you insist this is to be between us. Very well. Pinkie Pie, Nova Glimmer, Vriska Serket, Jotaro Kujo, Pidge Holt, you have been judged. You will fall by my hand." A softly glowing ball of blue and orange energy appeared in his hand. "The Shaping Mechanism..." Pinkie said, smirking. "I still want to know how he condensed it that small," Pidge muttered. "Even if he is almost a god." Vriska grinned. "Oh, it looks like he's not going to let his luck be stolen! This should be good." "This is what we were made for!" Jotaro shouted. "This is Final Dawn's purpose!" "ATTACK!" Nova shouted - a gleeful giggle behind her words. They were having fun. Final Dawn raised the sword, endowing it with all their powers - Awareness, Space, Magic, Time, Intelligence, Nature, Stands, Blood, Control, and Light. The blade came down on the orb that was the shaping mechanism, blocked by a holy energy from the Living Tribunal. "You're going to have to try harder than that!" all five of them shouted in synch. The blade pushed further and further into the barrier, nearing the shaping mechanism. Suddenly, they all felt something in their connected spirits click. A tremendous pair of brilliant golden wings sprang out of Final Dawn's back, brimming with soft holy power. (Flutterfree dropped the phone with a yelp, her eyes flashing deep purple. "Did Eve answer this time?" Rina asked. "I... No. I think she's with Roxy still but..." Flutterfree shook her head. "I'm... I'm connected to something now...") The sword of Final Dawn pierced the barrier, driving right through the shaping mechanism. The energy was too much to handle. The great shaping mechanism of Skarn fell apart as its multiversal structure was driven into irreconcilable halves. The Living Tribunal backed away from them - he knew he was in trouble. As they were now, in full unity, there was nothing he could do. "YOU GOT THAT RIGHT!" The five of them shouted. ("No... You... Don't!" Flutterfree shouted, spreading her wings and activating Lolo.) Lolo appeared from Final Dawn's wings, wrapping the mecha in green wire. The Stand's normally weak power was gone; it was now a strong rope of imprisonment. Lolo awoke even more inherent abilities within the wings that should not have been built, increasing Flutterfree's control over Final Dawn. She made the mech go as limp as possible. "Flutterfree, come on!" Pinkie shouted. "We need to do this!" ("The Living Tribunal will capture you alive if he can, and I'm giving him that opportunity!" "What are you talking about?" Valentine asked. "QUIET! I need to focus!") "Your strong connection... will be your downfall. Depressingly ironic." the Living Tribunal observed. He drew back the fist that scared higher societies, ready to disintegrate Final Dawn. The punch landed, the first attack that did any real damage to the mech, forming cracks. The five within could do nothing. "Flutterfree!" Nova wailed. "Come on!" ("We are on opposite sides of this fight. This is what you wanted.") Pinkie's grimace was quickly replaced with a smile. "You know what, you're right! Good for you Flutterfree, you're doing great!" Final Dawn was hit again. ("Ah. Thanks Pinkie. I'll be sure to visit you in prison, okay?") "Getting a little ahead of ourselves, are we?" Vriska muttered. "We're not down yet!" ("You can't escape Lolo under your own power, you should feel that. The Living Tribunal was right, it was our strong connection that brought you down.") "Flutterfree, if you're really connected with us... You should be able to see what I see," Pinkie giggled. "Take a look at how things are working. The way the story flows... There's something you've forgotten about." (Flutterfree's eyes widened. "Oh, sassafras, Lolo.") "Lolo reveals what's hidden!" Nova said, blinking. "And that doesn't just include her powers!" "We may be stuck..." Pinkie said. "But the wings were designed to be for someone else!" Pidge declared. (Renee looked up from the Tower card with a sigh. "All right... I suppose it is my turn, isn't it?") "How long have you been watching?" Vriska asked. ("Long enough," Renee admitted. "I'm sorry Flutterfree, dear, but I want them back here.") ("...Renee, for what it's worth, I'm sorry we ignored you. We shouldn't have done that. We should have respected you.") (Renee smiled warmly. "Flutterfree... If by some miracle we're both still around when this is over... I... Well I don't know what I'll do, but I won't hold any of it against you.") ("...Okay.") ("Now, TEAM! This is Overhead Renee Jackson of Expeditions speaking! We need to take out the other side's primary advantage!") The wings of Final Dawn took on a white appearance. Lolo dissipated - and Final Dawn dodged the next punch. They were heavily damaged, a few pieces of advanced circuitry hanging out in dangerous places, but they were in one piece. ("Trap the Living Tribunal in a sector of destabilized spacetime," Renee ordered, smiling despite herself. "We can combine the luck-stealing from Vriska to affect the space around the Tribunal. Then we hit him with everything we've got!") Nova and Pinkie combined Space and Time to lock the Living Tribunal in place. They were suddenly stronger than before. "And your unity becomes a strength again." Lolo appeared behind Final Dawn again. ("Flutterfree..." Renee warned.) ("I... I'm not here to hurt," Flutterfree said. "I know I can't stop you. And that you're going to win. So... I want to be here. With all of you. Just once more.") Pinkie let out a deep, joyous laugh. If she could, she would have been crying. "Flutterfree, you are the best pony in the multiverse!" The wings flashed to a mixture of yellow and white energy. (Flutterfree blushed. "So you all keep saying.") "Let's get this guy!" Vriska blurted. "Just one more hit!" ("All together now..." Renee began.) Final Dawn raised the sword. "THIS IS THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP!" all seven of them shouted at once. The sword went into the Living Tribunal, driving deeper powers into him. Laughter, Generosity, Kindness, Integrity, Justice, Perseverance, Curiosity... The explosion erased the universe in an instant, but Final Dawn was able to escape. So was the Living Tribunal, in a weakened state. Kneeling on the featureless white ground of the universe they found themselves in. Final Dawn took out a capture device. "Don't. I want to go the way of the One Above All. If I am meant to fall, it means the new world will be better without me. Finish what you started." Final Dawn lowered the capture device. "Is that what you want?" It spoke with the voices of seven. "You know it is." "You have served existence well," Final Dawn said. "It has been an honor." "I go with no regrets. As you should, when your time comes." Final Dawn raised the sword. "Go in peace." The sword was driven through the Living Tribunal's body. The golden behemoth of a man was driven in half - and his particles dissipated into golden dust, blowing away in an invisible wind. The unity of Final Dawn faded. Renee and Flutterfree became distant once again. "...We need to fall back and get repairs," Pidge said. "Hope that was enough for Twilence," Pinkie added. "That was awesome... and not," Vriska said. "I'm..." "None of us are sure what to feel," Nova said. "We can talk about it on the way back," Jotaro suggested. This sounded good to them. Final Dawn flew to safer universes. ~~~ Eve blinked. "...What?" Flutterfree rubbed the back of her head. "Do you need me to summarize...?" "I... No, it's just, geez, wasn't expecting this from you today..." She glanced behind herself at Roxy and Monika. "Which one of you had me obfuscated? She clearly needed to get ahold of me! I might have had a connection to the team!" "You were talking about very important plans concerning Starcross," Roxy said, folding her arms. "We couldn't let them know about that. And you know it." Eve sighed. "Right, right, I'm sorry. Roxy, call Giorno, get him here as soon as possible. Monika, find Ava Jandice and make sure she doesn't run or figure out we know. ...I never suspected her..." "I think that's kind of the point," Flutterfree said. "If anyone important suspected, someone Aware would have been tipped off." "By the Tower's doors..." Eve muttered. "Giorno's coming," Roxy said, putting her phone away. "How long?" "This long," Giorno said, walking out of a nearby portal. "Ava Jandice? Really?" Flutterfree nodded. "Apparently she's been riling up Ardent to plan an attack on Equis Vitis. It wouldn't be effective from a war standpoint..." "Morale would be crushed," Roxy pointed out. "Equis Vitis has almost always been peaceful, safe, and happy. If an army marched on it, faith would be shaken." "Faith will be shaken when we take Ava out," Giorno said. "Let's go," Eve said, accepting this as the cost. Roxy pulled out her phone - calling the Justice Division to prepare for an impeachment trial. Eve opened a portal with Seraphim to the Hub, taking a moment to look at Flutterfree. "I'm not mad, by the way. If I knew I couldn't do anything I probably would have done the same." Flutterfree smiled. "Thanks." "I'll try to set aside some time for us to talk about it later. But right now..." Roxy smiled. "Monika's got Ava's coordinates." She held up her phone to Eve. The alicorn lit her horn and performed a point-to-point teleport, dropping the four of them in Ava's office in the Labor Division. Her Second, none other than Chancellor Fluttershy from Equis Concrete, jumped in surprise at the sudden appearance of the four of them. Ava sighed. "So, I've been found out then?" Chancellor Fluttershy glanced at Ava with wide eyes. "Found out? Ava, what did you do?" Flutterfree activated her Rage in a lesser, more controllable form. "She has been feeding the militant side of Ardent with information to unleash an attack on Equis Vitis. I've stopped it. No attack will be happening." "Instead we finally get to get rid of you!" Roxy said, clapping. "I mean, I never thought you were a traitor, but you were kind of annoying." Eve looked at Ava. "I tried to be your friend, Ava. I tried to get to know you. But you never let me. Is this why?" "Indirectly," Ava admitted, somehow managing to look just as calm as usual. "I knew that, one day, there would come a time we made a wrong decision. One I couldn't just let go. I had hoped we could vote for collapse, but I couldn't take the risk of publicly declaring my support for it." "You're supposed to be honest, Ava!" Eve blurted. "We're not an obfuscating mess of policy!" "You don't know how to play the game," Ava chided. "Even in our system, politics and appearance are everything. It may not be the crippling clusterbomb the USM had, but we are still a government. And all government depends on the perception of the people and the others with power." She sat back in her chair. "Originally I was just going to live with the decision." "What changed your mind?" Giorno asked. "The erasure of Earth Stand," Ava said, a bitter expression surfacing through her carefully-maintained expression. Eve'e expression softened. "Family?" "Family I had tried very hard to keep far, far away from the dangers of the multiverse," Ava said, folding her hands. "I had even arranged for them to be protected in a bunker. Except the bunker hadn't been completed when the Gallifreyan time shift hit." "I'm sorry Ava, I di-" "Stop trying to empathize," Ava said. "You have no idea what it's like to lose your family in a single moment." She glanced at a clock on the wall. "Yet." Flutterfree's pupils dilated. "Ava, what did you do!?" Ava glared at them. "Did you really think I'd only have one plan? I didn't get to where I was by putting all my eggs in one basket. There was a backup. In less than a minute the Twili will unleash one of our own weapons on Equis Vitis." Flutterfree trembled. "N-no..." ~~~ We'd already lost Cloud. I was not surprised in the slightest, nor was I surprised it had happened off-screen, but it was still a reminder of how brutal existence could be. But the larger TSAB army still didn't know about us. The destruction Final Dawn had meted out to the TSAB labyrinth was still being repaired, and the once-insignificant fleet had turned into Minna's deadly attacking force. They were too close to the labyrinth's center for the TSAB's comfort. We were closer. Much closer. It wouldn't be much longer before we were within the universe that led to the mysterious Tower Ring submerged in an endless ocean. All we had to do was sever the TSAB Gate's connection to the ocean realm and the Ring would fall into the Sea of Infinite Possibility, ceasing to exist. This was easier said than done. I didn't know for certain, but I suspected the Gate doubled as a TSAB superweapon of some sort. We wouldn't know for sure what we would face until we got there. I wasn't willing to risk losing the flow of ka to try and retroactively define the Gate with my words. I allowed it to remain a mystery. We're close, I told them. Jolyne and Insipid nodded in response, staying quiet. Prepare for heavy resistance. The very next portal I opened took us to the center - where we found almost no resistance. We stood on top of an octagon-shaped platform with a handful of computer terminals spread along the edges, each displaying holographic interfaces that could be used to alter the arrangement of the TSAB labyrinth, albeit not as finely-tuned as the shaping mechanism. The background was dominated by an endless sea of nebulous blue clouds. There were supposed to be several dozen TSAB mages here scrambling the TSAB labyrinth. Instead, there was only one - Nanoha Takamachi herself, standing at the far side of the platform. Behind her was the Gate. Through the Gate was the Tower Ring submerged in water. A completed Tower Ring. A perfect donut of white metal the size of Neptune, glowing with soft blue and purple sparks. I could see energy building up within its center, no doubt preparing to connect to the Dark Tower and complete the goal of preservation. I wasted no time - I lit my horn and tapped into the universal-level spells I had at my disposal. I aimed a destabilizer toward the Gate, planning to destroy the ocean universe on the other side in one fell swoop. It was a rash, on-the-spot decision. No doubt there were better plans, but it was the first one that popped into my head. To my immense disappointment, the Gate revealed itself to be a selective Gate. It reflected the energy back. The dimensional ripples interfered with the Tower Ring's translation - a complex procedure, when trying to translate to a location around the Dark Tower - but they had a much worse reaction with the universe we were in. Tears appeared in reality. Had the reflection been perfect, the universe would have fallen with all of us inside it. As it was, the ripples and tears continued to shake the universe's foundation, but everything held. Nanoha pointed Raising Heart at us. "We cannot use our full power here, Twilence. The universe is falling apart at the seams. One wrong explosion and we all die." "The Gate won't survive," Jolyne said. "And if you can't translate your Ring, your universe will fall into the Sea," I added. "If this universe is destroyed, you lose." "Then destroy it. With yourselves in it." Nanoha narrowed her eyes. "You currently cannot leave this universe by any means other than the Gate." She called my bluff. And she was right. I wasn't willing to destroy this universe with us in it - yet. If it came down to it... I teleported behind Nanoha and drove a magic blade through her chest. She didn't even flinch at the blood from the gaping wound. Her magic erupted from her body, carefully forming an explosion behind me so I would be tossed further from the Gate. Jolyne saw this as an opportunity, shooting Stone Free out toward the Gate, believing she could pull herself through. The moment Stone Free's threads touched the physical Gate, the TSAB device activated its automatic defense systems. A feedback loop of energy was run through Stone Free to Jolyne, burning her very soul. She fell back, dazed. Nanoha and I continued to blast away at each other, both very careful not to aggravate the already disturbed universe. This demoted what should have been a battle worthy of shattering galaxies to something far more pedestrian and conceivable. I guess you already got your over-the-top power level battle with Final Dawn, huh? Eventually, Nanoha and my beams of energy met. We were capable of producing much more power, but we couldn't let ourselves go too far or else everything would be destroyed. Should I dial up the energy to try and make Nanoha chicken out and run? Or should I cut mine and hope she couldn't hit me? Usually in battles, I'm always certain I'm the good guy, and can make decisions based on that. I can see the result a few steps ahead of time more often than not, and I can move around that. Right then, I had nothing. I was fighting the White Devil, hero and face of the entire TSAB, someone I had called a friend on more than one occasion. And I was the Bearer of the Eye of Rhyme, the mare destined to understand what Awareness meant. In that respect, we were equals. Figures of great importance to this story we found ourselves in. In the end, I didn't have to decide. Insipid came flying up to the battle, hoof pulled back. "Oh thank the T-" She punched me across the face, throwing me to the side. The surprise made me shoot wild, allowing Nanoha to get a heavy hit on me. I fell to the platform, mane and coat smoking. "Wh - what!?" "NANI!?" Jolyne shouted, seeing what had happened. "Insipid, what the fuck!?" Insipid summoned a notebook identical to mine with her magic and let out a bitter laugh. "You know, I always thought we'd be remembered as heroes, y'know? Didn't matter what happened in the end because we were going down in the history books." She looked into the distance. "Insipid, you weren't meant to have that power!" "Like, relax, I'm not asking the big questions! I just wanted to see! ...Oh look at that." Her false cheerful tone dropped like a stone. "Crushed inside a capture device. Insignificant. Glossed over. Not even named. Like nothing." Jolyne paled. I bit my lip. "Insipid, now's not the ti-" "We won't be remembered at all," Insipid declared. "Or, well, maybe you will. But the rest of us throwing our lives away? NOTHING! So, like, sorry, but no." She set a pen to the notebook. "You're going to lose, Twilence." "Frick," I pulled out my notebook - but Nanoha shot at me, preventing me from writing anything complex down. Insipid was certainly an idiot, but with my powers, the Eye would supplement a lot of that idiocy, giving her the knowledge she needed. I could only hope there was a hole in her reasoning somewhere. Jolyne rushed forward, activating both Stone Free and a special weapon I had given her just for this occasion. The Stand wrapped around Nanoha while the weapon fired numerous transreality blades into the White Devil, forcing more blood out of her. Nanoha didn't care. She continued attacking me, despite the injuries, which were rather severe at this point. Insipid shot Jolyne with a stray attack. She should have been able to dodge. She didn't. The power of a Prophet. I needed a very simple counter-story to slip by Insipid - one I could write while being on the defensive against Nanoha without ruining reality... I saw that I couldn't. I was trapped. I could not win here; against the two of them, as they were now, I would fall. Could I find a way to use that? Turn a defeat into a victory? The Tower Ring was ready to translate again. I had to try it - I pulled out my notebook and wrote a single sentence, letting Nanoha hit me dead on. My right side compressed, pulverizing two of my legs and one of my wings, snapping my ribs in dozens of places. I fell to the ground, down. "You wrote something!" Insipid shouted, appearing right in front of me. "Tell me what it was!" I let out a bitter, painful laugh and gave her an honest answer. "Mite hacked into the Gate." "...Shit, I forgot about him." "Astalavista!" Mite crowed from his position in the Gate. He activated its weapons, firing at the Tower Ring. Nowhere near enough to destroy it, but enough to disrupt the complex translation. Nanoha twitched. "HIGH POWER..." "Nanoha what are you doing!?" Insipid blurted. "We ca-" "Destruct!" Mite declared. Nanoha stopped charging her last-ditch attack. She had hoped she'd be able to give the Tower Ring a boost of energy at the last minute, but she didn't have enough time to try that now. The Gate was ready to explode. With her and Insipid fixated on the cascade of destruction coming at them, I was free to take up my notebook. Nanoha increased her grip on Raising Heart. In their connection, they had a deep, sinking feeling - they had been so close. Had Twilence and the others arrived but a minute later, everything would have worked out. But that chance was gone. The Gate was going to explode, the Tower Ring would be lost, and they would be as well if they didn't think of something. There was a split second where master and device conversed. Disabling the dimensional lock they had on the world wouldn't be fast enough to protect them from the shockwave - they'd have to use their magic to protect themselves while the lock was removed. But there were other people here... Twilence, Jolyne, Insipid... They were still people, and important people at that. One of them had fought by Nanoha's side in the end. That was worth rewarding. She was going to devote her magic to protecting all of them, even if it would tax her magic to its limits. She raised shields around all four of them, hoping that Mite had his own way of surviving this encounter. The Gate exploded in a brilliant shower of impossible color, impacting the four shields. Nanoha strained, pulling as much energy out of Raising Heart as she could while sending the order to call off the dimensional lock. A single second in, she faltered. She had to push extra magic into her spells just to keep the reality around them from shattering. This universe was dead, and she was the only thing keeping any of them alive. She only had to do it for a few more seconds. She bore with the destruction of everything around her - feeling her muscles strain, giving up their biological nutrients to fuel her magical power. Insipid willingly gave up some of her magic as well, seeing that this was too much. The dimensional lock dropped. Raising Heart opened a portal, allowing them to escape to safety. In the last minute, as they fell through the portal. Nanoha lost control of Insipid's barrier, the magic protection falling and exposing her to a microsecond of transdimensional energy. The four of them fell to the ground. Stumbling, Nanoha walked across the field of grass to Insipid, checking her pulse. The mare was burned, scarred, and sections of her skin were gone - but she was breathing. Nanoha teetered, feeling her consciousness slip from her. As she fell backward, she saw a ship appear in the air. She hoped it was one of hers. It all happened exactly as I wrote it. Insipid burned, Nanoha passed out, and a ship in the air. It wasn't one of theirs. It was one of ours. Some of Tzeentch's Chaotic Space Marines. I briefly wondered if they'd encountered the Emperor fighting here... I summoned two capture devices with my magic and imprisoned Nanoha and Insipid. "Okay?" I heard Mite ask in my ear. I believe he was able to ride the shockwave to me given his microscopic figure and size. "Yeah... I'm okay," I said, looking at our ship. "We won." I closed my eyes, taking a moment to look at our victory. The TSAB labyrinth had fallen. Its central universe was no more, and the cascading reaction of the Gate's destruction had destroyed not only the Tower Ring, but also several other universes that had been instrumental in managing the TSAB labyrinth. The TSAB's great stand had failed. Today was a hard fought victory for us. The TSAB had been crippled and the largest threat to the collapse had been destroyed. Nanoha herself had been captured. The collapse now had the upper hand. ~~~ Rev, Valentine, and Rina returned to the church - they didn't see any reason to hang around Flutterfree while she went to confront Ava with Eve. Midna had stayed on Ardent to keep watch and look for survivors of New Termina. "Ever get that feeling like you didn't do anything?" Rina asked. Rev smiled. "Oftentimes. I choose not to let it bother me. For instance, today, I was out and about, and got to see an old friend at her strongest. I think it was a good day, considering." Valentine had D4C scratch his chin for him. "We witnessed a plot fall apart. Justice has prevailed once again." "Even if we had nothing to do with it, yeah yeah," Rina muttered shaking her head. "I still - hold up." She cocked her head. "Whaaat?" The church was full despite there not being a service at the time. Aslan was among the crowd, talking to them with a soothing voice. Rev noticed most of the crowd were other Reverends, but she recognized several people from her congregation, those she had trusted with the knowledge that the church was a reality bunker. "Aslan, what's going on?" she asked, unable to hide her concern. "I received a vision of divine inspiration," Aslan said, looking up at the ceiling. "It was time to call all I could to this place." "Wh- really!?" Rina blurted. "It's not going to be long before the secret gets out now! The people will want to smash the fucking door down!" Rev shot Rina a please not in front of him look. Rina looked at the ground, ashamed. Aslan didn't seem bothered by her language. "Let them come." "With all due respect," Rev said, sure to keep her head bowed. "Rina is right, we've been keeping the church's bunker defenses a secret for a reason. The rest of the population will know now, and it will no longer be an effective bunker." "They do not know yet," Aslan said. "They will eventually," Valentine pointed out. "Then we must have faith in the outcome. This is what the vision showed." "Unchecked devotion to visions is exploitable," Rev pointed out. "Sister Glimmer, you are an excellent pastor and a great mind. But you have always struggled with the nature of giving all our cares unto God. It is not by our power that we take action, but by His. We must trust Him." Rev's inkling to argue with Aslan vanished in an instant. He's right, there. "My apologies." "That's it!?" Rina blurted. "Seriously, you're just going to let him do it!?" "Rina, he's right." "Oh just wait until Flutterfree gets back, I'll bet she uses the Rage on him and we get quite the stunning revelation!" Valentine's body went rigid and his eyes widened. "Something's wrong with the dimensional fabric." Aslan looked to him. "What is it?" "I do not know... But it's dangerous." Rina lit her horn. "I feel it too... Something's tearing at reality... Something big..." They started to hear sirens in the distance. The sirens they had all hoped never to hear - the sirens of an attack. Rev knew what to do - she activated the church's locks, sealing everyone within. Rev tapped into an exterior camera so she could see what was going on outside with her magic. She had expected to see ships in the sky, or soldiers marching across the ground. What she hadn't expected to see was a tremendous darkness erupting from the earth in the distance. She paled. "Rina... See that?" "I see it!" Rina said, flaring her wings and tapping into the church's magical defense, augmenting them with her own power. "This is gonna hurt!" The crust of Equis Vitis cracked like an eggshell as the darkness erupted from deep within the world's core. Mountains crumbled, trees were devoured by the earth, and rivers drained into the forming crevasses. The Everfree Forest was the closest thing Rev could see, and the darkness rushed through it in less than a second. There was no Tree of Harmony to protect the world. The reality anchors tried to hold the world together, but it was revealed to be pointless - the darkness was composed of the very magic of Equis Vitis itself, meaning this destruction was completely natural from a universal perspective. The darkness rippled through Ponyville. The foundations of skyscrapers were ripped out from under them, forcing the tremendous structures to fall sideways. They could hear the screams of those in the high-rise buildings. There were no screams from the people on the ground. The darkness came and destroyed them in an instant. Few were fast enough to realize it was happening, and even fewer had access to easy dimensional technology to get away. A handful of places were protected much like Rev's church; a few spheres of blinding white energy shone as beacons of survival as the darkness ripped through the world. Already, Rev had seen one of the spheres falter and explode. Bunkers were designed to survive the collapse of universes and deal with dimensional effects, not some evil dark magic that actually wanted to kill them. Still, some were able to hold - though clearly none of them would be able to last forever. Rina winced as the darkness hit their shield, using her power to keep it up. "I'm not going to be able to do this... Hey! I don't suppose any of you know how to cast reinforcement magic corrupted rather heavily by the darkness of insanity?" There wasn't anyone who could do that. "Thought not... We need to get out of here!" Valentine pulled a flag out of his suit and gave it to D4C. "Dojyaaan! Another universe is but a slide away." "Don't have enough time for everyone!" Rina said. Rev turned to Valentine. "Tell me where D4C is - I'm going to give it a blessing of power." Valentine pointed. Rev sent up a little prayer - not for the blessing, but just for everyone's safety - and tapped into her rarely-used Divine potential. She sent a burst of white energy into D4C. Valentine was the only one who got to watch his Stand grow in size. He extended a hand, touching the fabric of reality. "I feel it stronger now..." "HURRY UP!" Rina shouted. "I think it knows we're trying something!" Valentine nodded. Instead of his usual method of travel that involved laying objects over people, he knew he could bend reality in a more direct manner now. He reached beyond the walls of the church and pulled, forcing everything within the church's bubble of protection to be condensed to a single point and funneled to a new universe. This happened to be Earth Vitis, in the wasteland that had once been their version of Canterlot before the war with Skarn. There were a few settlements around, but nobody had fully rebuilt the city in the exact location it had been before. The church came to a rest in a new world. Rina collapsed, running out of energy. "Whew..." Rev pulled out a phone and checked the news feeds - something several other people started doing at the same time. They all wanted to know what was happening on Equis Vitis. At roughly the same time, they all found a live feed from Equis Vitis' moon. The entirety of the planet had been covered in the darkness, and parts of it were cracked so much that inner magma could be seen. The part of the planet that had been in the darkness the longest was beginning to disintegrate into what looked like dust. Breaking News: Source of Runaway Weapon Discovered. The Twili, neighboring universe to Ardent... Rev dropped her phone. Valentine spat out a curse. "We were there!" "That's it," Rina said, lighting her horn. "I'm done." She glanced at Aslan. And you got to be right, how's that feel? "Rina, don-" Rev began, but Rina didn't let her start her speech. She didn't need to be calmed down, now. She teleported to one of Earth Vitis' military installations. They were panicking, wondering if they should prepare for an assault or counterattack. Command wasn't giving them any information. Rina was going to act before command could even do anything. She found one of the military ships and teleported right into its engine room. So what if she set off a few security alarms? Enough of them were already going off. There were a few soldiers there, though. She teleported them all away. Some of them were unicorns that could try to teleport back, so she set up a trap spell for them. The next thing she did was sever the engine from its position in the ship. Without any of the regulatory devices in place, it soon became unstable, ready to explode. She teleported away just as a unicorn teleported back - getting caught in a net of purple energy. Rina appeared not on Ardent, but the Twilight Realm. She didn't bother to look around - the castles, the Twili themselves, none of it mattered to her right now. She focused on the engine core. Normally such an explosion would only take out a small building, maybe destroy an entire flagship, nothing too devastating. But it was an explosion based in multidimensional physics. Which meant she could exploit it. Exploit it somewhat easily. She tapped into her knowledge of time unchanging, latching the bomb to the temporal line of the Twilight Realm. Then she translated away. She didn't need to stick around to know it completely destroyed the already somewhat-unstable Twilight Realm. Perhaps the universe coordinates still existed, perhaps they didn't - all that mattered was that they would never use their darkness ever again. She learned later that she was one of several different powerful individuals who had gone to the Twilight Realm instantly and tried to destroy it. The Twili never stood a chance. ~~~ Eve looked at the image of Equis Vitis on her phone. It was now little more than dust in the wind. "Ava. Is this time locked?" "What do you think?" Eve looked up at Ava with a blank expression. She lit her horn, casting a simple spell. Ava fell to the ground, clutching her head and screaming. Seeing Flutterfree's expression, Eve spoke up. "Feedback spell. Her mind can't think of anything without its electrical signals rising to the point of extreme pain. Roxy, Giorno, take her away. It'll dissipate after five minutes." "Surprised you didn't do worse," Giorno commented, picking the writhing Ava up. "She'll be executed," Eve said, monotone. "But we'll do it through Justice. We aren't barbarians." She activated Seraphim. "I'll be right back." Flutterfree put a hoof on Eve. "...Don't do it." Eve looked back at Flutterfree, expression lifeless. "Do what?" "Don't kill them all. The Twili have innocents there." "It's what they deserve." "Eve, we do not return violence with equal violence! We only return what we have to!" Flutterfree wailed. Eve couldn't keep it up anymore. She dropped Seraphim, pulled Flutterfree into a hug, and wept. Images of everything beautiful about Equis Vitis flashed through her mind. Her childhood home. Ponyville. The crystal castle. The crystal grove of the Everfree Forest. The beautiful colors of rainbow falls. The spires of Canterlot, both in the old days and the new. The great dragon mountains... the griffon lands... the beauty of Seaquestria... all the pegasus cloud cities... Sugarcube Corner... Pinkie's face flashed across Eve's vision. But Pinkie was fine - Eve knew that. But everyone else... All thoughts pushed to the side, Eve pulled out her phone and dialed a number she had on speed dial. Flutterfree looked over Eve's shoulder - seeing the name Spike. A single ring passed, and Eve's heart shot through her throat. Please please please plea- "H-hello?" Spike answered, voice wavering. "Oh thank... Spike! Where are you?" "Uh, the protected section of Canterlot Castle," Spike said. "Luna teleported us to Earth Vitis as soon as she realized what was happening. It's kinda funny, the entire castle's sideways! Heh..." "You and Luna? Good. ...What about the other princesses? Paradigm?" "...I don't see any of them," Spike admitted. "Hey, Luna, have you seen the other princesses?" "No, I have not," Luna's booming voice could be heard. "Who is that on the line?" "Evening!" Spike called. "Thank the Tower!" Luna grabbed the phone and levitated it to her ear. "You have no idea..." "I think I have some," Eve said, wiping her eyes. "...None of the others?" "None that I know of. You're the only other Princess I know made it." "I'll try calling... It's good to know you're okay. Watch out for Spike." "I will." Eve hung up and called Cadence. It rang once. Twice. Three times. Flutterfree put a hoof to her mouth when it went to voicemail. "Hi, this is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza's personal number, leave a message!" "Try the official number," Flutterfree suggested. Eve did. No response. Then she called her brother. Three rings passed, and there wasn't an answer. "No..." Eve called her parents at every number she could think of. No responses. Eve's mind started going down a list in her mind. I know some people weren't there... Flutterfree is with me, the others are on the other side, except... She called Applejack. It rang once. Please not you too... Ring. "Applejack!" Eve shouted at the phone. "PICK UP!" Ri- "...Eve?" Eve let out a sigh of relief. "I... I... Where are you?" "At the Hub. Sellin' apples. Until about five minutes ago." Eve detected hostility. "Applejack...?" "While it's mighty nice of you to check in on me, Ah've got to go check on my family. So far, Ah've only gotten Corea to answer her phone." Applejack hung up. The deep, disgusted feeling was back in Eve's stomach. Home was gone. She wept. There was no other appropriate response. ~~~ Corona walked into Renee's room, tear stains obvious on her face. Renee could hear the sounds of Nova screaming outside. Corona closed the door. For once in her life she looked like she had no idea what to do. "Do you know what happened, yet?" Renee asked. "...Yeah," Corona said, sitting down on Renee's bed to give herself a break. "I know Daniel was offworld. He was seen on the news." "I'd know if he was there," Renee said matter-of-factly. "I want to know what happened." "Our Source... Ava, I guess we can say now - she went and planned the destruction of Equis Vitis separate from anyone else's knowledge." "Because she knew we wouldn't approve." "Y-yeah. I've sent a public message to Eve denouncing Ava's actions and telling them to do whatever they want with her." Corona swallowed hard. "She took advantage of the Twili and Ardent's hatred. Gave them just enough information to destroy one planet." "The most important planet," Renee said, looking into the distance. "This still counts as a victory for you, you know." "It doesn't feel like it," Corona said. "There wasn't any reason to do this." "The other side's morale is lowered." "Just the Merodi. Just the Merodi..." Corona shook her head. "Why are people making stupid decisions!?" "Dear, I don't know if you've noticed, but what little tendency we have to think things through flies out the window when under stress. Everyone we've ever known has been under extended stress for... has it been months?" "In some places." "Two months, then. People are getting desperate. Both sides may have excellent leaders, but even they will break. Snap. Make decisions that don't make sense." She turned to look Corona in the eyes. "Insipid betrayed you because she was angry and realized the world isn't what she thought it was. Ava betrayed both the other side and you because she felt like she had to exact revenge. I'm sure there are some people who retaliated without thinking, destroying the Twili." "You'd be right." "It's only going to get worse, Corona. As more and more people die... everyone's going to stop wanting to fight with honor and mercy. Anger builds." "...Let's hope Blumiere gets done soon, then." "Yes..." Renee said, absent-mindedly. She glanced at the Tower card on the table, as if trying to parse a meaning from it. She caught a short rumble from Nova's screaming. "She wants me to 'fix' her." "Are you going to do it?" Corona asked. "Not now. ...I might later. I did Jotaro, and it wouldn't be fair if I shunned her." "Was it the right decision, though?" Renee looked at her hooves. "There's a question of ethics. You have the cure for grief. Do you use it? Does it lessen what makes us people? Would you do it?" "...Before today, I would have said no. But my family... Sunburst..." She clenched her fists so tight they started smoking. "I was already on the verge of breaking..." "I'm not going to do it for you, even if you order me. Not yet," Renee said. "Wait. It'll be better for you to work it out on your own." "...How can we know that?" "We can't. It's a gut feeling." Corona pulled her knees to her chest and shuddered. "...No one has the right to choose. I thought that was an awful realization. Now it's becoming pretty damn clear that neither careful thought nor emotional instinct are really helpful in the end. We're too flawed." Renee lowered her head and closed her eyes, having nothing to say to that. The room fell completely silent. ~~~ Blumiere held his hands over the Light and Dark Prognostici, a scowl on his face. "What is it, love?" Timpani asked, walking up to him. "...I haven't been telling you everything," Blumiere said. "I'm sorry." "What is it?" she asked, not a hint of bitterness in her voice. "I thought I was going insane," Blumiere admitted. "I thought the Prognostici were getting to me, making me see things that weren't there. But I've become convinced he's real." "He?" Blumiere looked to his left at a section of empty space that, to him, wasn't empty at all, but contained a short person in a jester's outfit and mask. "I see Dimentio." "Isn't this cute! Ahahahahah!" Dimentio said, leaning back in midair. "He relies on his wife even now! The romance is like two salmon on a beach!" "What's he told you?" Timpani asked. "That the two books used to be one," Blumiere said. "If I combine them, the secret to completing the Tower Ring in time will be revealed." "You can combine them?" Blumiere nodded. "He told me how." Dimentio cackled. "It's all a matter of reverting the pages and folding them into one! The true Prognosticus will reveal itself! And you shall have the key to the end!" "I don't trust him, of course," Blumiere said. "...Didn't he want a perfect world before?" Timpani asked. "I'm not sure if he wants anything. I think he's just doing things because he can." Dimentio shrugged. Blumiere held the two books up. "Should I do it, Timpani? There's a risk. There's a risk I'm being fooled. But if he's right, I'll be able to complete the Tower Ring without resorting to the large construction all the others have. They won't be able to find it easily." "Are they Aware of this conversation?" "No. Twilence has guarded this room closer than all the others." He frowned. "Though my spells tell me we are being watched..." "A paradox!" Dimentio blurted. "The Tower can see everything, even the places hidden from those who see with the Tower! What a complex feat of engineering, a truly inconceivable mechanism! ...Inconceivable for most, that is..." He gestured at the Prognostici. Timpani looked at the books. "I think you should try. At this point... everything terrible that could happen, already has." Blumiere nodded slowly. He used his dark power to open the books to their center pages. He moved them close together and began to fold their pages over one another, one at a time, until they formed a close-knit lock. Then he tried to pull them apart from the spines. Instead of pulling apart, they smashed together, forming a single gray book lined with crystals, the imprint of a spirograph on the front. Blumiere held the true Prognosticus to the light. Above, the framework of a Tower Ring slowly turned. Dimentio cackled. "And now I'll leave you to that! Ciao!" He vanished, like nothing more than an illusion. Blumiere knew Dimentio was dead. Had been dead for a long, long time. But he couldn't shake the feeling that the thing talking to him was Dimentio, and not just a corruption from the Prognosticus. It concerned him deeply. He grabbed his wife and held her close as he flipped through the pages of the real Prognosticus...
Songs of the Spheres	126 - Prognosticus	Applejack looked at the entire surviving Apple Family of Equis Vitis. It was just her, Corea, and Prism. Prism had the decency to hang around in the doorway, not at the table. She had never been particularly close to the rest of the Apple Family, and knew it wasn't her place to say anything here. But she listened. Corea looked around with a deep grimace. "You know... When I heard you were coming, part of me thought Dad would be here too." "Corea..." "I knew. I heard. I got the list." Corea looked for a window to look out of, but didn't find one in the back room of Iroh's tea shop. Azula had just let them in, no questions asked. "But there's always that part, you know? That tells you there was a mistake." "Every day." "I can't decide which one to think about," Corea said. "I see aunt Applebloom a lot... Dad... Jona..." She wiped her eyes. "I can't fix on any of them. I feel like I'm betraying them." "Corea, they wouldn't expect you to.. to..." Applejack couldn't finish the thought. "I know." She shook her head. "Some cruel trick, huh? Sure, we're important enough to survive. But for only us to survive? Isn't that like a punishment?" "Ah guess," Applejack said. "But Ah don't think it's punishment for us." "Eve and Corona?" "Maybe," Applejack said, glancing at Prism. Her expression was heavily conflicted, but she said nothing. Corea tapped her hooves on the table, unsure. "What do we do?" "Live," Applejack said. "Besides that," Corea said. "That's all we can do." "I'm not talking about for ourselves," Corea muttered. "Funeral? Monument? Speech?" "Ah..." Applejack closed her eyes and took in a long, hard breath. "Ah don't think Ah could do that right now. Ah think the war needs to end first." "How long is the war going to last?" Corea asked. "I've been to worlds that have experienced years." "Ah forgot you were fightin' out there," Applejack admitted. "Ah..." She shook her head. "Give me some time, okay sugarcube?" Corea forced a smile, but her moist eyes told a different story. "Okay." Applejack saw right through the lie. She broke down, falling onto the table, letting her tears flow. "M-mom!" Corea said, scrambling over to her. "I'm sorry, I should b-" "Should should should!" Applejack spat through her breakdown. "Always with the should! Are we asking too much of ourselves and everyone around us!? Are we!?" "Mom, I don't know wha-" "We're tryin' to fight a war without killing each other! Do you think that's even possible? No, it's not! Why don't we just get the pleasantries over with and get to the true fight! It'll be over quicker! Then maybe we can figure out what the hell we're gonna do with our lives!" "...Just keep living?" Applejack let out a bitter laugh. "My own words... Sound so foolish..." "You're one of the wisest mares I know." "Ah'm your mother. Of course you'd think that." Corea grabbed her mother by the shoulders. "I mean it. And if you won't believe that, at least believe this. You've stayed true to yourself, no matter what. You are Honesty. You are consistent. You are my mother. And you always will be." "Ah'm gonna have to change, sweetheart. There's no family farm to go back to." "...I recall that we had a version of you on the farm. Golden. There'll be another family to take you in, if you'll let them have you." "Ah'd just be replacin' them!" "You've lived in the multiverse long enough to know better than that!" Corea blurted. "...Sorry, that was too harsh." "You're right though," Applejack admitted. "Ah have lived here long enough. And Ah'll live here a lot longer, collapse forbiddin'." She looked into the distance. "It's like Pinkie used to say. Ah know the clouds'll clear eventually and Ah'll move on. But it doesn't feel like it." "Don't ignore that feeling," Prism said, speaking up for the first time. "That feeling? It's horrible now, but it will turn into something else. It will allow you to remember those you've lost with a smile. Don't push it away. You want to remember them always." Applejack looked at her daughter-in-law. "...Ah really should have spent more time gettin' to know you." Prism adjusted her glasses. "We were both busy in an existence too large for us." "Excuse." "Yeah." Applejack pulled her into a hug. "Don't you go anywhere, sugarcube." "...I'm not." ~~~ Eve, Flutterfree, and O'Neill walked into the meeting. Nanoha's absence in the big chair was very conspicuous. A lot of people who had been there in the earlier meetings weren't anymore. Most of the Class 3s who'd shown up the first time were gone. Many leaders from the Class 2 societies were gone - killed, captured, it didn't really matter. The TSAB was in a shambles, Starbeat and Lightning were there without any real nation to control, the Kromagg and Paratimers looked like they were ready to keel over and die... Only the Merodi and Combine had some semblance of strength. And everyone hated the Combine, while the Merodi looked like their hope had been drained from them. The Combine who had taken up the leadership position for the meeting was a fractal-based being contained on a two-dimensional screen. Eve could sense it surge in power, preparing to start the meeting and take control of it. Eve wasn't going to have that. She clicked her ears on and slammed her hoof into the podium in front of her, grabbing everyone's attention. "We've suffered a great loss!" She shouted. "For some of us, this loss is a personal one that attacks our resolve. For others, it is a loss of hope, of any chance for success. One of our greatest leaders has been captured, and our strongest chance at winning this war has been stopped. It looks like we're falling apart at the seams and won't be able to hold ourselves together for much longer. "But! We have not lost yet! We may have no primary Tower Ring Construction Site anymore, but we still have our people. Our armies. And each other. So long as we have those, even if there is friction between us, we are strong. "It can be said that the other side has the same thing. They're together just like we are. This also means they're struggling just like we are. Their half of the Collection fell as well, the Starcross Society is nearing a point of complete societal failure with most of their leadership gone, and the Void has always been limited in their application. "We still have the advantage. The Combine is currently the highest society in the multiverse save the Flowers That Be," she nodded to the Combine fractal with respect, making sure to give them something out of this. "Despite our heavy loss at the TSAB labyrinth, we still have a tactical advantage. "And we also have a Narrative one as well. Starbeat?" Starbeat cleared her throat. "We suffered a heavy loss. However, we didn't lose the war. We're still very much in it. So it's time for a turning of the tables. We are at our lowest point. We will rise out of this crevasse and deal a retaliatory strike like nothing ever imagined. Our military experts are working on a plan as we speak - a few nudges to Collapse the Starcross Society and a mission to end Empress Twilight's control of the Void." "What about their base of operations? The Hotel?" a TSAB mage - Vita - asked. "We know they're organizing most of the effort out of there, not the Void or Starcross!" "We don't know where it is, yet," Eve admitted. "But we will. And when we do, we will take it out." She narrowed her eyes. "They've dealt a crippling blow to us. It is time for us to deal a crippling blow to them." The Combine fractal spoke up in a synthetic voice. "Will we be rescinding the use of capture devices?" "No need," Eve said. "We still ar-" "You lost an entire world to them!" Eve twitched. "That was an agent acting alone, and we've destroyed entire worlds with dimensional crossfire before! They haven't stopped the capturing, so we won't either!" "What if it would give us more of an advantage?" "Convince the military leaders that's the case and we'll consider it. But I believe most of us in here are vehemently against it." Then she saw it - the faces of the crowd. Their minds agreed with her, in theory. But their hearts were hurting so much. They wanted to drop the restriction and start 'killing the bastards'. They could restrain themselves - like she was - for now. But how much longer could they do that? This war needs to end soon or no one will come back from it. She didn't show this to the meeting. "Now, if we're done discussing that question for the umpteenth time, let's get into some specifics. General Zanzibar?" A Paratimer stood up and gave a salute to everyone. "The front on the Starcross Society has a glaring weakness..." ~~~ Corona had set up something highly controversial after the loss of Equis Vitis. It was a little computer console that people could insert messages into. The messages were to be sent to Merodi Universalis in a few hours, a small timer on the console telling people how much time they had. Already dozens of people had written messages, recorded videos, and even started some digital memorials for those lost on the other side. Phage Industries took heavy objection to this - why honor those who are the enemy? Corona told them to shut the hell up. For the most part, they did. After all, there were only a few hours left, and then the little monument to the other side would be forgotten, lost in the wind when people returned to the righteous goals of the war itself. "Can't afford to sympathize with the enemy," Corona muttered, quoting Phage. "Guess if you never had morals in the first place you wouldn't have to be careful not to lose them..." Lady Rarity looked to her. "You've taken a big risk." "People like Phage are the reason home is gone," Corona spat. "So forgive me if I don't particularly care what him and his kind think about what I'm doing." "Oh, I agree it's rather satisfying to see you tell them to shove it. What I'm saying is you'll have to watch them. If anyone challenges your position and succeeds the war will take a very different turn." "People are getting desperate," Corona admitted. "How much local time do you think we have before the anger completely takes control?" "With the time displacement... weeks? Maybe if we make extra efforts, a month?" Corona put a hand to the bridge of her nose. "Local time is so... GAH." She kicked a random crate, knocking it over and spilling out a shipment of computer chips. With a snap of her fingers she put the chips back in the box. Lady Rarity could see steam rising out of Corona's ears. "...Dear..." "I can't break," Corona told herself, staring at her shaking hands. "If I break, everything falls. Everything." "I would say you're over-valuing your importance, but you're not most people," Sugarcoat said, walking up. "...What?" Corona said, blinking. "You are the knot that ties this effort together. If you break, everyone else is going to as well." Sugarcoat adjusted her dress. "Don't break." "I'm only human, Sugarcoat." "Not really." Corona facepalmed. "I'm just a person. No person has an endless supply." "It's amazing what you can do when you have no choice," Sugarcoat deadpanned. Corona laughed bitterly. "I've already been dipping into that! Do you really think I'd've made it this far if I had a real choice? If there was a-" She shook her head. "Sorry, sorry, I'm blowing up." "You need to blow up to get some of it out." "What I want is to give Ava a piece of my mind," Corona muttered. "She's been executed," I said, walking past them. "As of about three minutes ago." "You need to stop doing that," Sugarcoat said. I blinked. "People want to know." "And then they resent you. Why do you think Nova has been giving you death glares? You're the one who told her Sunburst was dead." I gave this a second's thought. "I do not mind being the lightning rod of hate if it helps her work through it. But I wasn't going to keep it hidden. She really wanted to know, Sugarcoat." "I thought you were supposed to be the smart one? You know, seeing when something's about to backfire?" "...I said I was willing to be the lightning rod of hate. That means including the fallout from the backfire." I smiled awkwardly. "I can suffer for the sake of others. I've been through more than most of them. It's fine." Sugarcoat blinked, speechless for once. The conversation couldn't continue anyway, because the primary team walked in, heads down. Pidge, Jotaro, and Vriska were sluggish, but looked decidedly better than Pinkie and Nova. The unicorn's face was strained with tears, and when she spoke her voice was quiet and hoarse from all the screaming. Pinkie's mane was flat. Since she had no eyes, it was the best indication they had of what was going on in that head of hers. "...The entire Pie family," I told the group I was with. "Limestone was the only one offworld at the time, and she'd already been captured in the war. All the others..." "Hey, you talking about my family?" Pinkie said, appearing out of nowhere with a very fake smile. "Cause, yeah, they're gone. Alllllll of them are gone! Of course, I knew they probably wouldn't make it when we did the Collapse, but it's different y'know?" She grabbed Corona's face. "No matter how much you prepare yourself, nothing compares. Nothing. You're the strongest person in existence right now, but even you aren't going to be able to cope with your victory." Corona paled. "...Okaaaaay..." "Pinkie, she doesn't need to be scared," I said. "You need help." "What, should I go to Renee and get this 'fixed'?" "Normally I'd say no, but we are in the middle of a war." I smiled sadly. "What? No! I'm not doing that!" Pinkie bounced back. "I'm going to remember them! Just you watch me, I'll be able to think back and smile in... in a few days! That's right! Days!" Nova twitched. "How can you say that?!" "You're the one who wants to have Renee fix you," Sugarcoat deadpanned. Nova glared at her. "Are you trying to poke the sleeping bear? Are you!?" "CUT IT OUT!" Vriska shouted. "We're all angry and depressed, but we're a team. Stop the fucking fighting! That's my thing!" The fact that Vriska of all people was calling them out made everyone more than a little ashamed. In the ensuing silence, everyone noticed Renee walking up to the console. She placed her hoof on top of it and inserted a small device that had the same function as a flash drive. She uploaded it into the message, tears dropping down her face. She turned around, looking right at the large group. "It's a pair of messages," she explained. "One for Daniel, which... was the hardest message I've ever recorded." She adjusted her glasses. "The other is for Allure. There's also a... a little obituary I wrote. For our parents." She took off her glasses and wiped the tears from her eye. "Nova, Pinkie, I know it's painful. It's very painful. I'll be willing to help you if we need to. But it would be a disservice to the people you are remembering in your pain. If we have no choice, I will cure your minds. But I won't unless I have too." "It's going to take too long for them to recover," Sugarcoat pointed out. An Aradia appeared, a sad smile on her face. "...I can put them in temporal therapy." "What?" Corona asked. "It's this thing I've been starting where I get people who need time into a universe with a vastly accelerated time constant. I've been careful not to use it for military applications - because that's just asking for trouble with ka - but I think it'll work great for them." Nova looked at Aradia. "...A vacation?" "Basically. You'll be back in an hour, or something like it. You five should go together - we need you at your best." Pinkie sighed. "...Okay. That... That actually sounds good. Twilence, let the other side know about this as well." I nodded. "Done." "And let's not go broadcasting this," Lady Rarity added. "Phage will want to take advantage of it. On the other side, the Combine. Aradia, can your selves put aside their differences to organize this?" Aradia nodded. "I think so. We may disagree on the ends, but we can agree that people need it. I'll be back in a jiffy - but first, you five." She took Pinkie's team away for time-displaced therapy. Corona folded her hands together. "I wonder if I could go." "You, unfortunately, need to be here," I said. "Some would see what they're doing as 'cheating'. You need to stay the course." Corona nodded slowly. "What about you?" "I'll stick with you. It's only fair." Corona smiled. "Everyone's such a bundle of contradictions." I snorted, but smiled back. ~~~ Jolyne walked up to the computer console near the end of the window. The little timer told her it would be sent in a few minutes. Job - her son - was fine. He hadn't been on Equis Vitis or Earth Stand when either of the disasters had happened. Twilence had told her he was fighting for the other side. So she typed up a message to him. It was surprisingly easy to make one for him, the words came out without her thinking too much, or even dwelling on what had happened. They were on the screen, and they were added to the overall message. Then she found herself writing basically an essay on the tragedies of Earth Stand and Equis Vitis, and how they were related. How she was upset that one was almost ignored while the other was causing such grief. All the talk the MU had of equality, yet Equis Vitis was still the most important world. She had no idea where these words were coming from, but come they did. She had issues to work out. Unlike her father, she had chosen to deal with her problems herself. Gone up against Nanoha... Witnessed a betrayal. She took her fingers off the keyboard. There were only a handful of seconds left. She took a breath and glanced to her left - seeing me standing there. I was currently trying to figure out why the narrative was giving this moment such focus, why it was so important. What did these two messages matter? As it turned out, the two messages didn't. Jolyne just wanted to be right next to the console when it started transmitting. As it compiled the message and sent it to Merodi Universalis, she took out a gun and fired an electronic bolt at the console. The console was made of exceptionally durable material, so it didn't break. However, the dimensional transmitter 'antenna' was flooded with energy thousands of times greater than it was supposed to have. The transmission strength increased far beyond what was safe. They could pinpoint our location with that if they thought about it. I grabbed Jolyne in my magic and pulled her right to my face, making no attempt to hide my lividness. "What, was Insipid contagious or something!?" "I wasn't brought here by choice," Jolyne spat. "My father dragged me here right after our world was destroyed. I told myself that because he was here, I belonged. But you know what? After joining you on that mission, I realized something. Fuck that!" I took in a deep breath and let it out, trying to keep my voice calm. "They're going to notice. One of their Aware or a particularly devious member of Giorno's little Division. They're going to come here." "That's the point, genius." I shook my head. "You fought by my side." "Cause I felt I had to. Insipid was contagious. I saw that I didn't have to." I ground my teeth. "Corona's going to have you captured." "I know." "What'll Jotaro think?" "He can get back to me when he lives through it." "He's lived through death before." Jolyne looked away - clearly done talking. I decided that meant the conversation was over and dragged her to Corona to be... dealt with. We had gone so long without a major traitor. And now there were two back to back. I didn't like where this was going. The scales were balanced in the other side's favor at the moment. What could I do to change that...? ~~~ Flutterfree returned from Aradia's 'temporal therapy' with the League of Sweetie Belles. She glanced at Allure with concern - the unicorn still had a sour expression on her face. "Allure..." "I know. But we couldn't stay in there drinking tea forever," Allure muttered. "...Thanks for the thought, though." "I don't have to go," Flutterfree admitted. "We can keep playing our games." "Flutterfree, there's a war on," Allure said. "I'm fighting in it. You have other responsibilities. ...Don't worry about me." "You know I can't stop." Allure looked up at Flutterfree with conflicted eyes. "I know. I..." She looked at a clock on the wall. "We really were only in there an hour..." "We're lucky there are Aradias on both sides," Squeaky said. "If there was an imbalance, someone would find a way to use that in the war. Temporal manipulation would become a viable strategy again." Allure narrowed her eyes, angry at something - but she caught herself, shaking her head. "Let's not get back to fighting just yet. ...Flutterfree, think we could go out? All of us?" "I know a Bradburger!" Burgerbelle blurted. "Not Bradburger," Thrackerzod muttered, facehooving. "I'd love t-" Flutterfree's phone rang. It was a message from Eve. You should be back now - I've got something to show you. "Oh, uh, Eve wants me. Some other time?" "If we can make it," Allure said. "...Thank you for staying here, Flutterfree." I was so close to running off with Pinkie. Flutterfree smiled warmly. "I do what I can." She trotted down the halls of the Hub, walking to the local Relations Division Office. As she walked, she noticed the streets were largely empty. People were starting to hide out in their homes more and more. Few people wanted to go out and do anything with existence exploding, even if the Hub rarely felt any tremors. She was a bright yellow spot on a shiny gray street. She saw herself in the mirror, struck by how much she had changed over the years. She was abnormally tall for a pegasus, her legs thin but firm, her hooves lined with decorative marble hiding the deadly spikes beneath. Her wings were large and graceful, tipped with intricate marble, a memory of what she had done to herself during the war with Skarn. Her face was pointed, sharper than that of most mares', and her eyes held a deep wisdom she knew she wouldn't see in old photos. Was her mane sparkling slightly? ...She decided it was. She almost looked regal. Just to check, she felt her forehead. Nothing there. She laughed to herself - that was more than a little silly. Being old and saturated with accumulated magic didn't make her a Princess. Nor did she really want to be. She was just... herself. She thought she looked beautiful. That was a rare thought for her. She put a hoof on the Element of Kindness she wore around her neck and took a breath. For some reason, she felt like now was the time to see how far she'd come. She'd started out a pony terrified of everything, avoided others on principle, and rarely talked. She was a hermit. Now she was a hero who looked as if she could lead everyone. And she had, come to think of it. She was the moral compass. Stopping people from going too far had become a daily mission of hers. It was why she was here. The other side didn't need to be reminded about their ethics, they already had the threat of causing their own destruction over their heads. This side... This side could easily think itself too righteous. That winning at all costs was viable. She was exactly where she needed to be. She flew into the window outside Eve's office, landing at her console. She may have just recognized her own height, but Eve was immense compared to her. Was she taller than Luna? Flutterfree would need to see them stand side by side to make that determination. The purple alicorn was looking up at a swirling cylinder of holographic images filled with letters, videos, and sometimes three-dimensional models. "...What is this?" Flutterfree asked. "An apology," Eve said through her tears - smiling. Flutterfree noticed who was in the videos - she saw Corona, Renee, and a handful of other people she knew were on the other side. Very few of the faces were dry, and most were giving out messages of condolences, understanding, and in a few cases anger. Flutterfree put a hoof to her mouth. "She... This couldn't have helped her position..." "It didn't," Eve said. "Sending this... It'll dent her reputation. But she was hurt just as much as we were. She wanted to do something." Eve focused the signal onto a single video of Corona. "...and there's nothing I can say, even though I've been talking for several minutes already. But I can do something." A hologram appeared next to the video: it depicted Celestia, holding a planet in her hooves. "I've... designed a statue. A memorial. The planet - Equis Vitis - will display names of those who were lost, cycling through them one batch at a time. It'll... It'll also replace Celestia's grave. Encoded in this message is a spell matrix that should be able to build it, when you have the power to do so. I'd wait until after the fighting is over. I don't want it to be destroyed." She smiled. "If... If you won't be able to in the end, I've left orders for it to be built by someone else." Flutterfree's smile widened. "She's still Corona." "Yeah... She is." Eve wiped her eyes. "I'm glad." "...You're about to not be," Monika said, appearing in the room with a Pinkie Flutterfree recognized - Scooter. "Yeah..." Scooter said, rubbing the back of her head. "The signal from that message is strong enough to track their location." Eve blinked. "She wouldn't be that..." "She wasn't," Scooter said. "The message you received was bounced off several different buoys before it reached you. But it was also strong enough to be heard from the original universe it was sent from. There was a... power surge." Someone betrayed her. Eve gulped. "...I don't want to punish her for sending this..." "Giorno's people are going to find out soon," Scooter added, pulling the Script out of her mane. "Hiding it would incriminate you." "We have to act on it," Monika said. "...Fine. We do," Flutterfree said. "But we don't let the people know that this is where the information came from. Let them have their apology and reconciliation without tainting it. Say Scooter was able to pick up clues to find it." "Giorno's about to call," Scooter said. Eve picked up the phone before it rang. "Giorno, I've been expecting you. Scooter just came in. Listen to me: keep this wrapped up. Yes, find the Raven Hotel, but the story we're selling is that Scooter detected it, okay? Yes, I'm sure." She hung up. "Monika, make sure Twilence hears that. Nobody has to know about the leak on either side." "Done," Monika said with a snap of her fingers. "Now excuse me, it looks like I'll have to go back to the meeting and order an attack on their little Hotel..." Eve put a hoof to her face and let out a deep sigh. "This is wrong." Flutterfree nodded in agreement, putting a wing around Eve. The alicorn's smile had vanished. The beauty of the message had been tainted by the act of one traitor. ~~~ The Raven Hotel was protected by some genius applications of dimensional engineering. It sought to do the same thing Skarn had - to make the center, the Hotel, nearly impossible to physically reach. They, unfortunately, didn't have access to any sort of shaping mechanism complex enough to fuse several universes together, so they had to work with the one they had. They had cleverly manipulated the perception of the universe's space - not the universe's actual structure, it was still a meter every meter with very minor variations. No, the way the other universes saw the Hotel was different. The Hotel proper was effectively a single point on a great expanse, with locations further away from the Hotel effectively being light years across. If the normal defenses against dimensional travel were breached, the arriving attack wouldn't be anywhere near their goal. The attackers didn't know this for sure, but they highly suspected it. They were going to appear in a universe in an unexpected location far away from the goal. The other side would know they were coming, and would have arranged defenses accordingly. It was clear they would need a tremendous fleet. There were hopes that the force taking care of the last few strongholds of the Starcross Society would serve as enough of a drain on resources to make it possible. There was also the admission that Corona wouldn't allow anyone to attack Merodi Universalis directly after the recent tragedy. So they could leave the defenses at a lower level, putting everything into this attack. With Nanoha gone and the TSAB barely holding it together, O'Neill had ended up the commander of the attacking fleet. The Combine were not bothered by this - it would be best to have a charismatic leader most of the others would listen to without question. O'Neill stood at the bridge of the Austraeoh. He had the main screen display a panning view of the entire fleet. He saw Merodi ships first - protomolecule planets, Equis Cosmic fighters, Tau'ri and Asgard battleships, great Gem Armada constructs that looked like castles, including Yellow Diamond's personal craft, and so many more. Alongside them he saw the stellar constructs of the Combine, the admittedly low in number but powerful TSAB capital ships, and a handful of other ships from lesser worlds. This included that purple relic of a ship Jenny owned that could make dreams reality, a valuable tool in a multiverse with no D-Sphere. The Emperor of Mankind's personal battlecruiser, so golden it was hard to look at, had also decided to join. "This is your General speaking," O'Neill said, addressing the entire fleet. "We're going in and destroying one of their most important bases of operation. We do not expect to be able to destroy the universe outright or slag their Hotel, there'll be too many defenses. Our goal is to get whoever and whatever we can on the ground, and keep all the ships occupied while we tear them apart from the inside. All of you have separate parts to play in this plan. So I don't want to hear any complaining when we're out there - it'll be do or die time!" Despite himself, he allowed a smirk to crawl up his face. "Let's leave them wondering what hit them! Vita, force connection!" Vita activated one of the TSAB's highly sought-after connection forcers. The ring-shaped device drifted through space until it found a suitable location in space-time. It latched on and expended an entire universe's worth of energy to form a direct connection from their universe to the Raven Hotel's universe. The Combine went next without being ordered - eight of their ships took up a formation in front of the fleet, creating a ring hundreds of kilometers wide. They activated their cores and created one of the largest portals O'Neill had ever seen. It led to blackness with a tiny speck of light in the distance that was presumably the Raven Hotel. The fleet moved in. Before even one ship was in, a forward fleet of Void ships appeared, firing beams of dark energy from their mixed crystalline-metallic forms. Already, O'Neill had to use one of their secret weapons. A small ship that looked vaguely like a bird jumped to the front of the fleet. A single blue light flashed along the front of its hull, and suddenly all the Void-based beams were cut to the side as if run through a mesh of wires. The next thing the Void ships knew they were being minced into cubes. Whenever a Class 1 Society fell, there were remnants. When your society was a completely digital one based on durable technology, your remnants were more likely to function. Especially if they had a loose member of Xeelee society in them. This particular ship had been captured in a Gallifreyan time-trap years before the war began, as part of a high-end test of the technology. They were released when the Gallifreyans fell and were more than willing to lend their services. This was not the first time they had fought. This was just the first time they had been put on full display. A single ship, turning a forward fleet into mince-meat. More of O'Neill's ships filed through. Those that could jump right through the portal did so, falling in behind the Xeelee ship and one other - a very particular ship from Equis Cosmic that looked like a layered lotus. Cosmo closed her eyes and breathed out. "Here we go again..." she told O'Neill through the radio. "Just like old times." Cosmo let out a chuckle. "You could say that." She activated her inner Harmony energy, shooting it out of her ship to the rest of the fleet. The energy not only hit Equis Cosmic ships, but other Merodi ones as well. The light surrounded entire Protomolecule Planets, who shunted extra power to Combine star-structures, and then to TSAB ships. The fleet became a web of Harmonious energy. Everyone heard the voice of the Emperor in their minds - "get ready to see what some real fucking holy lasers look like." He pushed his essence into the Harmony web, increasing the power and accuracy immensely. It all fired at once toward the Raven Hotel like a holy arrow. The ships in the way were disintegrated, providing little protection. Then the true power of the Void activated. A Black sphere the size of Jupiter appeared in space, brimming with a strange eclipse-like aura. The Harmonious energy hit the power of Nothing and was absorbed, drained into the abyss. "As expected," O'Neill muttered. "Keeping her busy?" "I can feel her," Cosmo admitted. "S-she's struggling just as I am. The Void has difficulty reaching this far." "Right," O'Neill said, pressing a few buttons. "Combine UNR-43L, do the lay up, we can't stay in locked formation like this forever." "Tzeentch is acting through a pseudo-warp!" the Emperor reported. "I must devote my higher powers to that - you're on your own Cosmo." Two Combine ships that were more like mobile Dyson Spheres than ships shifted their location to opposite sides of the Void-Harmony collision. Like a proton and an electron, they set up 'charges' of dimensional interference, passing a high-energy field through the Void's manifestation. Cosmo let out a screech - but O'Neill knew that meant Empress Twilight was suffering as well. "Is it locked?" Yes, the Combine response came. The Void has no power so long as the spheres are active. "Everyone, break formation, split into defense and offense!" Cosmo let out a sigh of relief. "Good. We've got a foothold now we c-" Cosmo's ship exploded as a Starcross ship barreled into it, the power of Runes being too much for the magic shields. Being an alicorn of immense age and power, Cosmo was not vaporized in the explosion - but she was sent adrift into space, defeated. "Get her back!" "She's already been captured," Clandestine told O'Neill. "They were expecting her to survive that." O'Neill ground his teeth. "Get us closer to the Hotel. Move with the offensive group." They soon found themselves moving with the Xeelee ship and Jenny's 'Dreamboat' - not that she called it that. The Xeelee ship was under heavy fire from all sides, struggling even with its piano wire to keep up with the Runes, magic, and extradimensional Shabanash entities. The Austraeoh was only receiving minimal fire. O'Neill grinned. "Oh, they have no idea..." He pressed a new shiny blue button. When you're among the last surviving members of your race, you're suddenly a lot more willing to share technology. The Austraeoh launched a net of piano wire from the side, slicing through ships that had only been watching the Xeelee front. The 'Dreamboat' flew overtop of them, flashing a purple as it manipulated fate like a Dream, forcing the ships into Jenny's dream of their destruction. "HAHA YEA!" Jenny shouted. "Numenera for the WIN!" The 'Dreamboat' dreamed up more defeats, tipping the battle in the favor of offense. And then Final Dawn showed up and cut the 'Dreamboat' in half. Jenny twitched. "Son of a-" her prized ship exploded, powerless against the Aware mech. O'Neill knew this was where they'd have to make their stand - pushing forward now would spread them too thin. "Form trench - launch pods and don't stop attacking! Give Final Dawn the special package!" All the ships equipped with speeder-type ships launched as many as they could. It was a lot like the plan to get closer and closer to Skarn's center, except the teams who landed on the Hotel only needed to get there once, not over and over again. One single-man pod was sent toward Final Dawn, whose luck was so high at the moment nothing had hit it yet, not even the Xeelee piano wire. "What's this little present, O'Neill?" Pinkie asked O'Neill, somehow talking on the private channel. O'Neill smirked. "You're about to find out!" "It's probably a designed counter," Pidge said as Final Dawn cut through three Equis Cosmic ships at once. "Vriska, we might need some infinite-potential escape." "Dice at the ready," Vriska announced. "We've got you O'Neill." O'Neill smirked. "I don't think you do. This present might be a bit... much." Nova used her magic to catch the pod and pop it open. Inside was a bald man in a yellow suit and red cape. He didn't seem bothered by the lack of air in space. "Serious punch," Saitama the One Punch Man mouthed, pulling his fist back. "ABORT!" Pinkie shouted. Final Dawn pulled a top hat out of nowhere and vanished into it. When Saitama utterly destroyed the top hat there were no signs of mech debris. "Got them to run, at least," Clandestine observed. "Combine Dipole is holding, and we're receiving reports some of the ground teams have landed." "They'll be stuck down there until they can take the compound," O'Neill said. "Hope they get lucky. Tell Saitama he can go down now." "His partner's already got him going there." "Good. Shuffle up some of the movements of the Austraeoh, keep them surprised." Throughout the darkness, great explosions tore at reality. But the immense reality anchors of the Raven Hotel stood firm. ~~~ Allure, Thrackerzod, Squeaky, Bot, and Burgerbelle's pod landed near the bottom of the hotel, hitting a room filled with Gem soldiers. All it took was a simple anti-Gem EMP from Bot to disable them, though the little robot shorted many of her own servos out in the process. From then on it was easy work taking the handful of biological people in the location out - the element of surprise was too much. ...Well, with the exception of Lady Rarity. She was far too experienced to fall just like that. She pushed back with her hammer, knocking Squeaky and Burgerbelle back. This gave Allure an opportunity to move, attacking with magic in her back hooves, hitting Lady Rarity's armor at the perfect angle to form a crack. On the other side, her Heart cut through the mechanical exterior and drew blood. Lady Rarity roared. "I NEED BACKUP!" she shouted, jumping to the wall and latching on with her eight legs. She whirled her hammer in a complex pattern, deflecting magic bullets. She knew she couldn't do this forever - not against all five of them. Reinforcements probably weren't going to arrive in time. She needed to do something that would have a lasting impression - take one of them out of the picture. She lunged for the momentarily-disabled Bot, planning to make the condition permanent with a single hit. Squeaky caught her with a carefully-aimed laser that hit her side right where the armor had broken, causing her nerves to lock up. She would have magicked her way through the disability, but Thrackerzod took the opportunity to encase her in eldritch vines. Allure walked up to her, face impassive. Lady Rarity started breathing heavily - she'd heard about what had happened to Scarcity. "W-well, am I next?" Allure shook her head, a frown appearing on her face. She took out a capture device and threw it, trapping Lady Rarity within. "I'm proud of you," Squeaky said. "Thank therapy," Allure said, trying to give a bright smile but failing. Squeaky put a comforting hoof on her. "Thrackerzod! Where do we need to go?" "Basement has a large energy spike," Thrackerzod said, feeling around with her eldritch senses. "I say we go to whatever's down there." "Smash as much as we can on the way," Burgerbelle said, producing a somehow spooky trumpet. "We need to run them off." Nae finally arrived with a small troop of backup composed both of lizard people and hungry Shabanash. Bot recovered from her use of the EMP-pulse. "TARGET ACQUIRED!" There were a lot of explosions. Not just there, but everywhere within the Raven Hotel. The attackers had landed. ~~~ They were under attack. Renee had known, just like everyone else, that they were about to be attacked. That didn't mean she had any idea about what to do. She hadn't really fought since she got here, except that one time with Final Dawn at a distance. She was pretty sure she couldn't stay in her room, but she wasn't exactly sure where to go or who needed her. This is what I get for avoiding the combat briefings... she thought to herself, scrambling through a hallway in the Hotel. She ended up in the lobby - which was surprisingly empty. "Huh...?" "They're all in their ships," Poe said, cleaning a glass. "And despite appearances, the lobby isn't exactly a high-value target. I've seen a few of the other side run through here, try to shoot me, and then keep going." "...Don't you have automatic defenses?" "Oh, I do, I'll just use them elsewhere. I don't want Minna to yell at me about all the busted equipment." Renee looked around. "But nobody's using it." "Don't underestimate what Minna will give you a mouthful about." Renee shook her head. "Nevermind. You basically are the hotel. What should I do?" "Find a group of intruders and get them to stop blowing me up, mhm?" "Where's the closest one?" "That door," Poe said. A moment later Jenny of the Red Gloves punched the door down. Her hair was charred and she looked like she'd just recovered from being flattened. Renee blinked. "...What happened to you?" "Ship blew up. Fell into the floor at terminal velocity. A-" Jenny shook her head. "Wait, you're on the other side." "Oh, well, that is right. Could we not do it in here? Apparently Poe doesn't want his things destroyed." "You're also that unicorn who saved my mind." Renee brightened. "Yes, I am. Perhaps we can avoid a fight, then?" Jenny thought about this for a second. "Erm... Nah, I'm still gonna punch you." She pulled back her fist. "Oh dear." Jenny punched the ground and created a minor earthquake, tipping a military computer over. Poe sighed overdramatically. "So rowdy..." Jenny flew at Renee, fist vibrating with transdimensional energy. Renee activated the Element of Generosity, a wisp of white Harmonious energy deflecting the fist just slightly. Jenny twisted, using her other fist to hit Renee across the jaw, but she didn't have time to infuse the fist with extra power. It still hurt, to be sure, but nothing truly devastating. Renee leaped back, using the momentum of the punch to land her hooves on a wall. She pushed off, flying toward Jenny. She lit her fist on fire planning to meet her head on. A magic force field hit Jenny in the side, knocking her into Poe's bar. "Watch it!" "Sorry, had to make use of the opportunity!" Renee sent a dozen sharp needles into Jenny, trying to pin the stunted woman to the table. Jenny wasn't having any of it - she pulled herself off, letting the needles tear through her flesh and deposit copious amounts of blood all over the bar. The devastating wounds were as temporary as always. "...You are a cleaner's nightmare," Poe observed. Jenny pulled herself up and snapped her fingers, attempting to blind Renee with a magic flash. However, Renee's artificial eye was immune to that particular magic. She pulled back and kicked Jenny in the stomach as she tried to land a hit. This time, Jenny recovered - pushing the transdimensional energy into her foot she kneed Renee in the side, cracking a shoulder. The white unicorn flew through the air, forced to use her magic just to avoid hitting the wall too hard. This allowed Jenny to get off another punch, driving her into another computer. Poe sighed. "Dear Minna - Renee has no respect for y-" "SHUT UP!" Jenny shouted, firing a blast of white energy at him. It passed right through the hologram, though it did destabilize its appearance. Renee tried to get up and move but it wasn't exactly working. She was struck by how her glasses had remained on her face, unbroken, somehow. Jenny walked over to her and held up a capture device. "They're gonna have a lot to say to you back home." Renee coughed. "Listen to me, I'm not a fighter here, I don't go on missions, just let me go." "How about no?" She threw the capture device. It was destroyed in midair by a beam of darkness. The next thing Jenny knew she was trapped in a box rippling with magical hexagon patterns. She tried to punch through, but the wall threw her back. Renee saw her scream "what the heck!?" but heard no sound. Blumiere walked into the room, Timpani at his side. He snapped his fingers, sapping Jenny of energy. "She may not be able to die in her state... But she can be weakened." He took out a capture device. Jenny tried to teleport away, but found herself stuck in the box. Soon, she didn't even have enough energy to try that. Blumiere opened the box, allowing her to fall to the ground - where she was easily captured. Timpani ran to Renee and cast some healing spells to mend the bones and wounds. "Are you okay?" "I'm... fine..." Renee said with a cough, standing up. She adjusted her hat. It had an unfortunate tear in it, but she could fix that later. "Thanks. Do you by chance know what I need to do?" "You could come with us," Blumiere said. "We need to defend the Tower Ring. It's only a matter of time before they get to it." Renee nodded. "Sure. That'll work." She stretched her leg that had been broken just moments ago. "Good work, Timpani." "I've had... practice, recently." She shook her head and sighed. "Blumiere, how much further?" "You could just take the transmat elevator," Poe said. "It's like teleporting." "That's why we're here," Blumiere said, walking up to the elevator. "You aren't letting the other side use this, are you?" "Of course not!" "Good. Then we can get ahead of them." Renee, Blumiere, and Timpani piled into the elevator and descended. ~~~ Saitama punched and an entire section of the Raven Hotel crumbled. "Yipee," he deadpanned. "Let's go to the next hall so I can blow that up too." "Now, what did we say about your attitude?" a tremendous man with overblown muscles and blond hair asked, waving his finger. "...Get the job done?" The man put a hand to the side of his head and let out a hearty laugh. "Not with O'Neill! What I said about your attitude?" "Enlighten me." The man pointed to his face. "Always save the day with a smile! If you truly want to be the Symbol of Peace..." "Hardly peaceful, what we're doing here," Saitama pointed out, looking at the destruction he and the other members of the army had caused. "All Might, we're not really being heroes, I don't think." "Nonsense!" All Might said, keeping up his smile. "We're saving the multiverse!" "They think the same thing," he said, pointing at a handful of Void soldiers shooting lightning at a Combine task force. "And do you think they're the heroes?" "No," Saitama said with a shrug. "Don't think any of us are heroes right now. ...This definitely isn't what I signed up for." All Might put his hands on his hips. "Then you must ask yourself - why are you here? Why are you fighting?" "I mean, if they collapse the multiverse, Earth-AZ2 probably won't survive, and then my favorite store will be gone." All Might put a hand to the bridge of his nose - but laughed anyway. "You're impossible, Saitama. I'll tell you why you're fighting! You're fighting because you care about people, and you wouldn't want to see them gone! You want to save them, to give them what's best for them!" Saitama shrugged. "I mean, I guess, but I'm not exactly the guy who knows what's best for anyone. I'm just a hero for fun. And this isn't very fun." He shot his fist out to the left, the air current from the force splatting a squad of Inklings. "Every day I am reminded why I was assigned to you," All Might said, shaking his head. "Let's just get this over with. Wish the Hotel wasn't able to divide itself so I could just get it all at once." Saitama flexed his wrist - and then he saw Final Dawn mowing down several of their people on top of a 'roof' section of the Hotel. "Oh hey, it's that thing I was supposed to punch." All Might moved before Saitama, jumping across the divide. He placed himself between Final Dawn and the task force. "Don't worry - I am here!" The current leader of the task force - Navy "Lucy" Heartfilia, a fellow ex-USM agent like himself - clasped her hands. "All Might! We're safe!" "Yare yare daze..." he could hear Jotaro mutter. "ORA!" Nova's purple fist shot toward All Might. "TEXAS SMASH!" All Might shouted, using his power to meet the mech's punch. Within the hero existed a deep, brimming power that had been passed down through generations. When the USM was still in power and time exploitation was still allowed, All Might's power had been cycled through a time loop several hundred times. Every time it was passed on, its power increased exponentially. It was the power of One For All, artificially improved to an absurd degree. The USM had made him with the intention of facing people like Nanoha, if they had to. All Might's punch of heightened power was nothing compared to the engineering that went into Final Dawn. He flew back - relatively unharmed, but having done nothing to the mech. "Oh no," Navy said. "Uh... right! I've got a plan!" She whipped out two magic keys and used them to unlock a dimensional portal to a realm in the Void. Two summons - a green lion with a ruby in its forehead and an earthy humanoid - erupted from the portals, ready to do her bidding. "Carbuncle, reflect barrier! Golem, earthen wall!" Nova tried to cast a laser, but the double-barrier reflected it back at them. Not that Final Dawn cared. "Oh, nice trick!" they heard Pinkie say. "Reflect all magic attacks, absorb all physical ones! Cleeeeeever!" Final Dawn pulled out a squeaky hammer. "Completely useless to me, though." She paused. "Wait... Twitcha-twitch!" "Normal punch," Saitama said, fist aiming right for Final Dawn's head. "No!" I declared, writing an exclamation mark in my notebook. At the same time, I used my magic to offset Saitama's aim. Since he wasn't expecting to be deflected, he didn't try to resist and flew right past Final Dawn's neck. I grinned. Perfect. Corona leaped out of her hiding place, open hand going for Saitama's head. All she needed to do was give him a light touch... "MINNESOTA SMASH!" All Might hit Corona in the side, snapping several of her ribs and throwing her into the air. She managed to right herself with her wings, but she couldn't get to Saitama - she had to spend time mending her wounds. "Saitama, you are strong, but remember you do have a weakness!" All Might tapped his forehead. "Oh. So she can do something to my head." Saitama blinked. "Good to know." I twitched. Everyone, we need to remove Saitama from the picture. On it, Vriska responded, activating her mental powers. Saitama felt something itch at his brain - but she was unable to get him to actually do anything. "Okay, what the fuck? You're an idiot, how are you resisting!?" "Guess I'm actually trying," Saitama deadpanned. He pulled back his fist. "Serious p-" "STAR PLATINUM: THE WORLD!" Final Dawn shouted, freezing time for everyone... but themselves and me. They moved to Saitama. Their plan was a simple and elegant one - if you couldn't defeat One Punch Man directly, move him somewhere he couldn't get to you. They had an empty universe in mind where they could toss him and let him drift for eons. In stopped time, he couldn't resist. They threw him through easily. Time resumed. "Who says you can't beat One Punch Man?" Pinkie asked as Final Dawn struck a victory pose. "We didn't," Vriska pointed out. "Throwing someone into space is a perfectly valid victory," Jotaro retorted. "Kars came back, didn't he?" Pidge countered. "You haven't won yet!" All Might shouted, the power of One For All surging through his muscles, making them increase in size further. "There are more heroes for you to face!" Corona landed on Final Dawn's shoulder and smiled cockily. "Yeah, strong as you are, I don't think you have it in you to even defeat me, let alone Final Dawn. Especially not with Twilence over there controlling everything." I waved at All Might with an innocent smile. All Might laughed. "I like your spirit! But the Symbol of Hope will not be deterred!" Navy pulled out some more keys, summoning a mixture of eldritch and celestial beings. "Give him everything you've got!" Some unicorns next to her shot magic into All Might, providing him with even more power. He could feel the force he was a part of giving him energy. Heh. Just wait until I tell the Gokus. He flexed both of his arms back and roared. "UNITED STATES OF..." Final Dawn sensed that it would have to act as one. A warhammer appeared in its hands. "SLEDGEHAMMER..." "SMASH!" They shouted at the same time. All Might met with the unified hammer. He was, once again, an ant to the power of the hammer. He was thrown back into the floor. "Seriously!? We give you all that power and you fail!?" Navy squealed. "We're so dead!" "I wouldn't say that, my dear..." All Might muttered, standing back up. "Oh, excuse me, captured." "That's not what I meant. I didn't need to defeat them - I just needed them to enter a state of unity." "Why!?" My eyes widened. "Oh, f-" "I REJECT YOUR REALITY AND SUBSTITUTE MY OWN!" Seraphim erupted from Final Dawn's back, activating fully. Normally, altered physics would do nothing to Final Dawn given its reality anchors. However, it was designed to allow internal alterations - like Pinkie Pie's powers - to take full effect. The systems did nothing to prevent Seraphim from setting the physics so Final Dawn's body would become hard and brittle. The legs began to crack from the weight above them. Eve herself was standing on a nearby 'roof' section of the Raven Hotel, wings flared, eyes brimming with darker magics, and the Element of Magic shining as bright as the sun. How had I not known Eve was here? How had that gotten past me? Corona flapped her wings and rushed to take Eve out with a burst of flame - but the Golem summon punched her out of the way. I pulled out my notebook and leveled a beam at Eve, planning an unavoidable attack. All Might decided to take care of me. I had to raise a shield quickly, too quickly. Not enough to stop the immense 'might' of the hero. I was tossed toward Corona, realizing quickly what was happening. This was a fight for them. We're being moved out of the way. All Might, Navy, and the others focused on me and Corona, forcing us out of the scene. We would fight, but who were All Might, Navy, and these others? People who had been hinted at in this story, but overall nothing important. Representation of the fallen USM, a sort of apology. Their battles didn't really matter with Saitama gone. They were just here to provide a reason. A reason for Eve to be alone with her team. I watched as Final Dawn crumbled apart. The very same machine that met the Living Tribunal head on was now no stronger than an eggshell. Brought low by the Princess of Friendship, Element of Magic, and the original leader of the Primary Team. She walked along the flat roof toward the wreckage of Final Dawn. Pinkie, Vriska, Pidge, Jotaro, and Nova crawled out, all looking at her with conflicted expressions. Eve summoned Seraphim, a frown on her face. "Saitama was always a long shot. There were several ways to take care of him where he has minimal support." The finely tuned use of Seraphim's absolute-zero universe solidified the air near her into two foggy blades. "I was the one sent here to take care of you five." "Welp, you blew up the coolest thing ever, cheers," Vriska said, clapping sarcastically. "But you can't boost Seraphim like that anymore. You can't take us alone." Eve looked ahead blankly. "It's what I'm here to do. I am sorry, this is going to hu-" "VRISKA!" The six of them turned to see Starbeat running at them, eyes glowing with white power. "Oh, shit," Vriska said, paling. "Uh..." Nova pulled her head back, readying a vaporization spell. "Starbeat, stop," Eve ordered, grabbing her with telekinesis. "Stay out of this." Starbeat blinked. "Wh..." "I need to do this," Eve said, narrowing her eyes. She didn't look determined - just sad. Starbeat saw the look in her eyes and took a few steps back. She took a moment to shoot Vriska a Look. Starbeat decided she didn't need to use any words. She produced an extremely old piece of pale red cardboard in the shape of a diamond. She burned it. Vriska looked like a sword had just been rammed through her chest. "Starbe-" Starbeat teleported away without another glance. Vriska twitched. "Starbeat, wait! You know I-" Eve drove one of the blades right into Vriska's chest, doubling the pain. Without Seraphim to keep it cold, the blade dissipated into gas a second after it hit, but the hole was still there - a chunk of ice surrounding a slit through Vriska's very being. She stumbled, but remained standing. "Gog..." It was so cold it might as well have been cauterizing fire. "STAR PLATINUM: THE W-" Jotaro noticed his Stands were missing. Eve teleported next to him and bucked him across the face. "I'm not even using Seraphim. Stands are easy to disable if you know enough magic." Jotaro decided he could still fight without them, punching with his considerably powerful fist. All Eve had to do was catch the fist with a magic barrier, breaking his fingers. Magical chains appeared around him next, taking him out of commission. She threw two more blades of solid air. Vriska and Nova dodged them, flipping backward - but the blades were so cold parts of Nova and Vriska still froze. Pidge adjusted her glasses. "Taking a cue from Sai... Anyone can be hacked." She targeted Eve with an anti-magic device, throwing the object right at her. Eve froze it solid, encasing it in about an inch of frozen air. As it dropped the device shattered into a million pieces. Pidge had nothing else in the way of combat experience to offer. All it took was a single concussive blast from Eve to knock her out. "Team up!" Pinkie shouted to Nova and Vriska. "Work through the pain!" "Already ahead of you," Vriska said, grinning. Instead of attacking one at a time or waiting for Eve to move, they moved as a single unit. Pinkie swung her hammer, Vriska threw the infinite-sided die, and Nova set up a point of erased time, removing Eve's ability to predict where the attacks were going to land. When the erased time was over, Pinkie's hammer was snapped in half and the several dozen piranhas sat on the ground at Eve's hooves. There was no more ice - but Eve had no bruises and no teeth marks on her. "Universe where forces are a million times smaller," Eve explained halfheartedly. "I-" "SQUEAKY HAMMER!" Pinkie shouted, superseding Eve's rule with her own reality hacking. Eve took a heavy hit from the comic-sounding squeaky hammer and rolled along the ground. However, only the squeaky hammer itself had an impact - the ground did nothing. Vriska started her luck-stealing now that Eve was seemingly dazed and vulnerable for a few seconds - but she didn't expect Eve to teleport right behind her. A burst of dark magic somehow integrated with the power of the sun hit Vriska in the back, making her keel over. The ice on the wound in her chest cracked, allowing her blood to start running freely. Had she been her usual self, she would have gotten up and ignored the life-threatening wound. But she really wasn't up to it right now. Nova gulped hard. "I don't think I ever realized how ridiculous Seraphim is..." "She's been practicing and we haven't noticed," Pinkie said, gripping her hammer tighter. "Let's space-time her. Synthesis." Nova lit her horn, erasing time once again, but this time Pinkie was in it. Moving in erased time was... a peculiar experience. Unlike stopped time, everything kept moving - except everyone but Nova and Pinkie could only act as they had already intended to act. Eve had no way to know where they were going to come from... She didn't need to, evidentially. The first thing Seraphim did was encase Eve in a meter-wide bubble of frozen air, one they couldn't touch. Nova wouldn't have been able to do anything about that on her own - but Pinkie was here now. She appeared inside the bubble where Eve was and brought out the bomb mask. "Hi!" Pinkie said the moment stopped time ended. She exploded, sending Eve into her own wall of ice. She dissipated it as quickly as she could, but ice crystals had already been formed out of her wings. Many of her feathers shattered. Eve multitasked - as she was struggling to regain control of her body, she had Seraphim go after Nova. Spires of frozen air shot out of the remains of the bubble like hungry eels, rushing for Nova. Once again, she dodged thinking the solid parts were all she had to worry about. She was several inches away from any of the pieces, but still she began to freeze. The ice was too heavy for her to keep dodging. She teleported out of the way. Eve traced it - forming the absolute zero point right next to her. Nova screamed as the cold burned her. Eve made sure not to actually freeze Nova solid - just burn her with the cold enough to take her down. She'd been very careful. There was a reason she wasn't using Seraphim to turn the matter around her into nuclear bombs. "Keeping to ice because you can use it with precision?" Pinkie asked. Eve nodded. "It is the one I'm best with." Pinkie pulled out a flamethrower. "Too bad you can't make me stop. I can just ignore any of your physics! I can ignore almost anything!" Eve shook her head. "You can't ignore Harmony." She dropped Seraphim and switched to using the Element of Magic. A pulse of beautiful, white energy went out and entered Pinkie's ears. Eve extended a hoof. "Come on Pinkie. Come back to me." The Element of Laughter flashed a blue color. Pinkie took a step forward. "That's it. Everything will be fine... We're friends, Pinkie. I won't hurt you. Let's end this." Pinkie took another step forward, all her movements sluggish. Eve smiled warmly. "Good..." As an afterthought, she activated her powers of Light, checking the knowledge of the system. She jumped back from Pinkie. "Aw, phooey," Pinkie said, snapping out of the fake stupor. "I was sure you would buy that." "...I got lucky," Eve said, narrowing her eyes. Pinkie leaned against her hammer. "Whatcha gonna do now? Y-" Pinkie had to jump out of the way as a blade of ice flew at her. "Just basic attacks? Come on Eve, you should know better than that!" She appeared beside Eve and threw a pie in her face. "I'm Pinkie Pie! You have t-" Eve rammed the Element of Magic into Pinkie's head. She used her magic to connect the Element of Magic to the Element of Laughter, running a feedback loop through Pinkie's mind. This should have dropped Pinkie in an instant, but she refused. She let out a scream of pain and tackled Eve, foregoing the use of all weapons, resorting to pure hooves instead. The two of them entered a hoof fight, smacking each other left and right, tainting the brilliance of the Harmony. Eve was still able to think. She pulled out Seraphim, freezing something right next to Pinkie. Pinkie didn't freeze. She was unable to think right now... maybe that actually helped her in some way? I didn't want to do this... Eve summoned a sword and rammed it through Pinkie's stomach. Her unusual candy-red blood went flying everywhere. Eve broke the Harmony connection, allowing sanity to return to Pinkie's eyes. She felt the sword all right, but she couldn't process it. She made a gurgling sound. Eve gently set Pinkie down and pulled out five capture devices, throwing them at the five members of Pinkie's Party. All of them worked like a charm - except the one on Pinkie. It bounced right off her. Eve blinked. "Pinkie... You lost. Just accept it." Pinkie said nothing as her blood pooled around her. Eve began to look at the blood nervously. "Pinkie. Get in here, I can't heal you." Pinkie turned in Eve's direction, her blindfolded face scrunched in conflicted emotions. "What would you do if you actually had to kill me?" Eve had nothing to say to that. "Lethal force..." Pinkie chuckled, coughing up blood. "What if you have to use it on one of us with no way out?" "Pinkie, just get in the ball." "Okay," Pinkie said, grabbing the ball and touching it to herself, allowing herself to be captured. Eve put a hoof to her chest and let out a panicked breath. Calm. Calm. I won. They're all in the balls, safe, and I can take them home... She shook her head. First... She activated Seraphim and looked. It took a few moments to find Saitama, but find him she did. She brought him right back. "Oh. I'm back." "You are. Destroy this place." "Okay." And then all five of the capture devices containing Pinkie's Party teleported away in a flash of red. Eve traced the teleport instantly, shooting a death glare at its source. It was Corona, standing in the middle of a dozen or so defeated people. She locked eyes with Eve. I'm giving the order for us to evacuate, Corona told Eve telepathically. I can't let you go, Eve responded. I know. So Twilence is going to do something a little cruel to ensure you can't. She nodded to me. I lit my horn and set magical bombs on All Might, Navy, and the others. Save them, Eve. Corona teleported both of us away. Eve gasped, teleporting to All Might and the others, removing their bombs. "How could she do this!? She's better than this! She's... She's..." After she removed the third magic bomb she realized something. "...These are fake." "Huh. Interesting," Saitama said. Eve captured all her fallen soldiers. "Aren't you going to follow her?" "...I wasn't tracing her teleport that time. And even if I did, she's long gone now." "So, if they're evacuating, does that mean we win?" "Maybe. Keep punching things in case that's a ruse too." She spread her wings and took off. ~~~ Blumiere, Renee, and Timpani passed through one of the capture device bunkers filled with hundreds of captured soldiers from the other side. They were going to go straight through - but then they heard the order to evacuate in their minds. "...We're not evacuating, are we?" Renee asked. "We might," Blumiere admitted. "It depends on the condition of the Tower Ring." He looked through a cabinet of capture devices, the one where they kept valuable ones that actually needed to be labeled. He reached in and took out Nanoha's. "If we are evacuating, we can't let them have her back." Renee looked at the balls, seeing a lot of names she recognized, but none that stuck out as particularly important - aside from one. Alushy. She reached in and took Alushy's ball. "She's not that important." "Maybe," Renee said. "I've just got this feeling..." she took out the Tower card. "Just like I've had a feeling about this. It means something." "Where'd you get it?" Timpani asked. "I... don't remember." Renee admitted. "I just know it's important." "Keep it," Blumiere said, pocketing a few more capture devices. "Tower Ring's in the next room. We need to hurry." They ran out of the capture device room and into one that was bigger on the inside. There was no way a room this large existed and wasn't visible from the exterior of the hotel. It was a red room that had a vague disc-shape to it. The only piece of furniture in the room was a single long table right in front of them that was covered in pieces of paper covered in magi-technical writing. There were some people in the room: two Combine human soldiers beating up Vivian with electric batons. They had guns - they were just being cruel for no reason. Blumiere disintegrated them easily with a burst of darkness. Timpani ran to Vivian, placing a hand on her. "Are you okay?" "Don't try to heal me..." Vivian muttered, groaning. "I know. Blumiere?" Blumiere used the complex spell required to return life into beings of darkness. Vivian recovered from her wounds quickly, though she was clearly exhausted. "T-thanks. I was looking for you and couldn't find you." "Well, I'm here now." Blumiere looked up. "And it appears that the Tower Ring is just fine." Renee followed his gaze. Above them was a spirograph. The spirograph itself was of a passionate orange color, with every segment between the lines filled with a smooth black metal. It floated in the air, glowing brightly, like a donut with a toothed center. Ready to bite down on the Dark Tower. "Is it... done?" Blumiere flipped through the Prognosticus. "The spells have indeed finished their work while we were occupied. It's ready." Renee looked at him, sparkles in her eyes. "Can we end this war now?" "Not quite. This universe is not near a manifestation of the Dark Tower - but we can move this ring. Salvage it in the evacuation." He flipped through more pages of the Prognosticus. "Just have t-" Allure flew through the sky and kicked the Prognosticus with as much power as she could muster. The book was far too powerful to be destroyed by such an action, but it was removed from Blumiere's grasp. "Hey, be careful with that!" Dimentio called. To Blumiere's surprise, Renee looked around as if she had heard something. "Her Mind is a strong one... I best be careful, or I will be the criminal in the floodlight!" Dimentio chuckled. "Something's wrong here!" Renee blurted. "YEAH!" Allure shouted, jumping off the book and barreling into Renee. "YOU!" "That's not wh-" She got the air knocked out of her by Allure as they tumbled across the ground. Bot and Thrackerzod went after Blumiere, identifying him as easily the most dangerous person in the room. Eldritch tentacles shot from every surface near Thrackerzod and moved for Blumiere, followed by a volley of missiles, lasers, and bullets from Bot. Blumiere reacted with his usual dark magic, catching all the attacks and unleashing a few of his own in the form of squares of darkness. Burgerbelle ended up on Vivian, burying her in Bradburgers rather quickly. It seemed as if Burgerbelle was immune to fire damage - but notably not being on fire. Squeaky tried to go for Allure and Renee - Allure needed her to be there - but Timpani wasn't going to let that happen. A wall of rainbow energy separated Squeaky from the sisters. Squeaky knew Timpani was weak - very weak compared to everyone else here - but she would still take time to deal with. The unicorn general bounced off the rainbow wall and rammed her horn through the woman's pristine white dress. She crumpled easily. This turned out to be a bad decision. Blumiere saw this and didn't even think - he allowed himself to be open to attacks so he could jump Squeaky. The unicorn raised a shield, but it wasn't enough to block the energy completely. She fell over, her mane and coat smoking. Allure... With explosions and eldritch screams going on in the background, Renee teleported herself away from Allure. She was under no illusions she could get out of the fight. She raised a shield to defend herself and shot a magic laser from the side. Allure caught it with her hooves and sent it at Renee's shield, breaking it. "TAKE THAT!" Renee could vaguely sense Allure's Heart activate and charge. She dodged to the left, but a large gash opened up in her leg. It was at this point Renee knew something was wrong with Allure. She had smiled when she cut Renee. "Allure, what's wrong?" "What's WRONG!?" Allure shouted, twitching. "MY FAMILY IS EVIL, THAT'S WHAT'S WRONG!" She moved forward, kicking Renee across the face with an empowered hoof. Renee grabbed Allure's hoof in her magic and tossed her to the side. "I thought you would know better than that!" "Better than WHAT?!" Allure raged forward like a berserker, knocking Renee back into a wall, forcing her to only defend. "You're the one who should have known better!" "Better than what? To go with my friends!?" "THEY WERE ALL THE ENEMY!" Allure shouted, bringing her Heart down on Renee again, making a cut across her shoulder. "MY FRIENDS! MY FAMILY! THE ENEMY!" "Can't you understand somewhere in there why they did that!?" Renee shouted, pushing back with a burst of magic. "NO!" Allure said, tears running down her face. "NO I CAN'T!" Renee's expression softened. "...Allure..." Allure pushed at Renee with her magic again, making another cut. Renee didn't even notice the pain - nor did she notice the explosion behind her from Blumiere and Thrackerzod launching themselves into the air, toward the Tower Ring. "Anyone who could bring themselves to kill that many... Just no!" Renee looked at her with a pained expression. "You really can't understand..." The aura of Mind began to shift around her. "You can't understand on such a fundamental level... It's driven you mad." Allure's tears were much stronger now. "IF I'M MAD, THEN IT'S YOUR FAULT! YOU DID THIS TO ME!" "I did," Renee admitted, watching Allure closely. "I did do this to you. I thought you could handle it - but I was wrong." "SHUT UP!" Renee looked for her opening. "Allure..." A much larger explosion shook the room. Sweetie Bot had managed to detonate a high-yield explosive on the Tower Ring. The device lost the orange glow of the spirograph, becoming a dead donut. Allure took this as an opportunity, thinking Renee was distracted enough. She activated her Heart and aimed for Renee's head. Renee shifted herself up slightly with her magic. This allowed her to place her front hooves on the side of Allure's head. This also allowed Allure's blade of Heart to charge right through Renee's chest, piercing through several vital organs and shooting out the white unicorn's back. Blood came out of Renee's mouth. "...This is my gift to you." The Element of Generosity flashed a brilliant white. The power of the Sylph of Mind shot into Allure's brain, getting a map of the situation in an instant. Allure really had gone mad. There was a tangled mental knot her psyche was not able to iron out, no matter what anyone had done, even with the time in Aradia's therapy. It was a mixture of confusion, resentment, anger, and a deep inner insecurity that she had been wrong. Wrong that people were inherently good. It was something her poor, sweet mind couldn't accept. So it locked it away at the expense of everything else. Renee ironed it out easily. Allure's stressed ball of madness was flattened in a second, and her brain entered a state of relaxation as Renee soothed it. The Element of Generosity gave her some extra time. ...My dear, dear Allure... I give myself to you, my little sister. I couldn't bear to see you like that, so lost, so afraid, so confused. I know you will hate yourself for what's happening. But I want you to know that I don't hate you. I love you. I always will. Even when I left you, I was still your sister. Nothing can change that. Nothing ever will. The Element of Generosity began to grow dark. If this really is the end, look out for Daniel. He'll need you. And so will all the others. If they want to hate you, tell them what I said. This was my choice. Live your life well, Sweetie Belle. The Element of Generosity shattered. Allure dissipated her blade of Heart in an instant, allowing Renee to drop to the ground. Renee's body to drop to the ground. Her glasses snapped in half and her false eye cracked right through the iris. "No no no no no no!" Allure shouted. "Somebody, do something!" The Tower Ring crashed into the floor, bending unnaturally. But no one paid any attention to it - they were all looking at Renee's body. Timpani stood up. There was still blood on her dress, but she had healed the wound. She kneeled over Renee and performed the revive spell. Renee's biological eye flexed. It looked beyond unnatural because her false iris wasn't moving at all, having been rendered useless in that department. However, while the pupil couldn't alter its size, it was able to look around just fine. Renee coughed, standing up slowly. Her gaze looked completely unnatural with the lopsided eyes and the crack. "Well... It seems I'm all right," Renee said, checking the stab wound Allure gave her. "Wasn't exactly expecting to come back..." Allure rushed her into a hug. "I'm so sorry!" "Yeah, you are..." Renee said, pulling Allure close. Blumiere noticed the smile. That was not the smile of someone hugging their sister. "Uh oh, Blumiere's found an inconsistency!" Dimentio chuckled. "What's it mean?" Renee's gaze shot right to where Dimentio was. "I thought so... Blumiere, there's something infecting your mind. Jester-y thing. I don't think it likes my Mind sensing it..." She put on a pouting face. "Do you want me to get rid of it?" Blumiere nodded. "I am aware of Dimentio. However, he has been useful in the past. I don't want to risk losing him as a source of information." "Bad move, I think..." Renee said. While still holding Allure close, she picked up the tarot card off the ground. XIX - THE TOWER "Heh," she chuckled, pocketing the card. "...Why are you so calm?" Burgerbelle asked. "Calm?" A grimace crossed Renee's face. "I was just dead, darling. I... think it's expected for me to be a bit off." "Is it?" Dimentio asked. "Is it really?" "Shut up you," Renee snapped. "Thrackerzod..." Blumiere said, turning to the eldritch filly. "Do you mind checking her soul?" Renee dropped the act before Thrackerzod could even start the spell. "Geez, Dimentio, why'd you have to ruin that? I wanted to have some fuuuuuun." Allure tore herself away from Renee. "What the..." "Came Back Wrong," Blumiere announced, raising his hands. "Can't let he-" Thrackerzod was the one to blast the thing in Renee's body rather than Blumiere. "No soul at all," she reported, growling. Renee's body was once again lifeless, her eyes pointing in different directions. "I'm sorry," Thrackerzod said. "You can't let those types 'live' long." She gulped. "They... they can get into your head. They're psychotic..." Allure stared at the body. Then she hung her head, tears falling to the ground. "She... she cured me." "It was her choice," Timpani said, pulling Allure into a warm, motherly hug. "Why'd she have to do that!?" "You know." Allure kicked the ground, but held her close anyway. She let it all out. Squeaky, Bot, Vivian, and Burgerbelle all started crying, holding each other close. Blumiere stood above them all, struggling to keep his own emotions in. They had all known her. There was no more fight in any of them. But they couldn't stay here forever - the shaking from another section of the Hotel being destroyed told them that. "...You should go," Blumiere told the League of Sweetie Belles. "You did what you came to do." He gestured at the wreckage of the Tower Ring. "Thank you for releasing us," Squeaky said, bowing her head. She wiped her eyes and nuzzled up to Allure. "Let's go. We've got to hurry." Allure looked at Renee's body - then looked away, grimacing. "Do not worry. I will take care of her rest," Blumiere said. "Just go. You need to move fast." Squeaky put Allure on her back, nodded in thanks to Blumiere, and ran off. Burgerbelle, Thrackerzod, and Bot followed close behind her. Blumiere sighed, turning to Timpani and Vivian. "We need an escape." He pulled out a dimensional device. "Anywhere will do..." Dimentio appeared again - though this time he was standing over Renee's body. "Ahahahahaha! Someone's a clever little imp!" Renee's functional eye focused. "Why can't you just let dead bodies lie, harlequin?" Blumiere readied his magic, prepared to burn her. "Can we not do that!?" Renee asked, rolling her eyes over dramatically. "Look, I'm a psychotic soulless unicorn who Came Back Wrong. Buuuuut I also happen to be one of the super-duper smart types! I can be..." She grinned evilly. "Useful." "Useful how?" "Well, you have Nanoha in that capture device of yours..." How does she know that? "...ask her about a ritual. Might be hard to get it off her, but I'm sure you'll thank me for it later. It's the way to make allll your dreams come true!" She made an overly cute face and fluttered her eyelashes. "Specifically, the collapse." "...They do tend to like rampant death..." Timpani admitted. "She might actually be serious." "Oh, gold star for the waif!" Renee clapped her hooves. "So, how's about we get out of here and plot the downfall of everything, hmm, darlings?" Blumiere lowered his hands. "I have a self-destruct spell on you now." "Oh, of course, of course, an understandable precaution," Renee said with an extravagant bow. "Come on, let's - actually, hold on. There's something you need first. Pause for dramatic effect...!" "The tension is killing me!" Dimentio blurted. A hole opened up in the ceiling, presumably from one of Saitama's punches. The hole punched right through the floor of the room as well, but they were all close enough to the edge it didn't matter. Blumiere saw a lot of things in the falling debris - blood, body parts, weapons... but he also knew exactly what 'Renee' had been referring to. He saw Sai falling from above with no sign of Corona. He teleported the AI necklace to his hand. "...Why aren't you with Corona?" "Ah, I was removed in the fight! That girl's summons were something!" "We need to ret-" Blumiere stopped himself. He summoned the Prognosticus to his face and opened to one of the last pages. His expression hardened. "I won't be returning you, Sai." "I know. It's time, isn't it? It's been so hard keeping a lid on myself! I'm so lucky there was a war going on - Corona thought I was acting weird!" Renee chuckled, levitating out the card of the Tower and placing it in the lining of her hat so it was easily visible. "Aha! Fashionable! I've done it!" "Leaving is a good idea," Dimentio said. "Unless you want to be one punched." Vivian looked to Blumiere. "...I'm scared. What's going on here?" Blumiere closed the Prognosticus. "The end." ~~~ The leaders of the collapse movement shared the same escape ship - nameless pod 1619. Corona touched her chest - where was Sai? Why hadn't Sai called her the moment she fell off? "Oh no you don't!" Minna said, seeing the look on Corona's face. "We can't go back! We already pulled everything out we could!" "But Sa-" "No," Minna said. "Do not do it. Don't go back. That place is theirs now. All of it is theirs. Even Sai, if she's there." "I'd been neglecting her..." "There are more important things!" Corona took a deep breath and unfolded her wings. "Okay. Okay. Okay." "You're not okay," I observed. "You look glubbing terrible!" Feferi said, putting her hands to her head. "Hey, I'm not that bad..." Corona muttered dejectedly. "I can deal." "She's talking about me," I said, realizing I was pacing. "She's right. Something... off has just happened. I can't describe it any other way. Usually I'm able to get some sort of sense, or to at least figure out who's blocking me and how. But I've got... nothing. The Sweeties were in the Tower Ring room... Something massively important just happened. And that's all I've got." "They probably just destroyed the Tower Ring," Corona said, folding her arms. "Got Blumiere as well." Phage spoke up, his reptilian voice demanding they hear him. "Without him, where is our hope in building a Tower Ring?" "We're not the only ones," Feferi said with a smile. "The Void, Starcross..." "Starcross is about to fall apart at the seams," Thanos grunted. "And I've got bad news about the Void," Minna said. "They can still do it. But Empress Twilight just told us we've been taxing the Void too much. It's strained. If we push it much further it might break." There was silence in the pod. "Back to square one..." Corona said, swallowing hard. ~~~ Poe, artificial intelligence of the Raven Hotel, felt his body being vaporized. He sighed overdramatically, continuing to use his primary projection to clean the glassware. He could have just used insta-clean lasers or some other technology, but he found the act of rubbing a cloth through the glass pleasing. The walls around the lobby began to crumble into dust. His mainframe was a few floors down - so he could still project himself. But all the other backups were gone. There had been a few great friends who had made attempts to copy him, but that was simply too long a process. None of them had succeeded. So he just polished the glass, looking out the wall-less lobby at the ships of the Preservation effort disintegrating everything. There was very little resistance to them remaining, most from those few people who just couldn't accept a retreat order. Poe generated some coffee in his freshly-cleaned glass and drank it. It was virtual, of course, but it was something. A nice bite to remind him he was alive. His remaining subroutines were still fighting off the attackers. As long as there was a single guest still in the Raven Hotel, he had to protect them. It was his duty. Perhaps it was just part of his old programming, but he liked to think it was more than that. Even if a lot of them hadn't appreciated the way he ran things, they had become a team over the course of the war. He decided he didn't have any problems with what was happening. No regrets. He'd left his mark on the history of the multiverse. Made some friends, made some enemies, and above all had a full hotel for once in his life. A laser finally hit his main processing unit. He was able to maintain consciousness for a while due to redundancies, but his holographic body vanished instantly. He was restricted to just looking through cameras and sensors. One by one, his 'eyes' went out until only a handful remained right outside what remained of his processors. He didn't get to know what it was that finally killed him - something bright.
Songs of the Spheres	127 - Different Views of Reality	'Playing Both Sides' By G. M. Blackjack Neutrality was an interesting stance to take in the War for Existence. Most took it out of fear - they might survive if they didn't do anything, but they knew the moment they stuck their hats into the ring they were dead meat. Others were simply apathetic about existence in general and didn't care about the outcome. The Flowers were unique - they believed whatever ended up happening was the way things were meant to be, so they didn't fight and prepared for both outcomes. And then there were the Melnorme, who figured the best way to profit from this was to sell weapons to both sides while pretending to be too scared to take any action. This worked exceedingly well. The moment the Class 1 civilizations started falling, the Class 2s entered an arms race. So long as anyone was willing to do business, the Melnorme would provide resources in one way or another. And what of those who didn't like the idea of engaging in anything shady? No problem, set up a front, nobody has to know the weapons are from the Melnorme. Set up a front behind that front for those who become suspicious. And anyone who did figure it out... Well, they could be removed or paid off. Needless to say, this allowed the Melnorme to get very, very rich. And they used this money to build a truly absurd amount of collapse bunkers, reality anchors, and dimensional infrastructure recreation kits. Of course, all of this was kept hidden even from the Melnorme public. As far as anyone in the multiverse was concerned the Melnorme were struggling to keep their universes stable as everything else exploded around them. While their people lived in fear the biggest of the Melnorme sat upon their huge fortunes and lived the good life. Which was pretty much how their society always functioned, it was just heavily exaggerated at the moment. Sure, the average Melnorme was provided enough to have a comfortable life ripe with many commercial opportunities, but the inequality was even larger than a dystopian Earth's. One Melnorme high trader in particular had profited so much off the weapon business he had become the richest Melnorme in existence. His name was Burnt Umber. If the Melnorme had been different this would have no doubt caused a string of assassinations as part of a power struggle, but the fact was any Melnorme that high up knew that if someone had more worth than him, they were the better Melnorme. So Burnt Umber was the best Melnorme and no one disagreed with that. He had orchestrated the whole war-sale business to create a well-greased machine that just kept exponentially raking in more and more resources. He alone owned enough property to be a Mid-Class 3 society. Currently, he lived in a tremendous space station that changed dimensional coordinates every fifteen minutes to a different highly-exotic and beautiful landscape. Every one of these universes was protected with his personal reality anchors so they never felt the tremors of the war. And anyone who entered unbidden was to be destroyed by automatic defenses programmed into the universal coding itself. Which was why he was more than a little concerned when someone knocked on the door of his private observation deck. Using his mind, he swiveled the chair upon which his lean, angular body sat. He never did any physical exercise but he could afford to have the body recreated every day so he remained in perfect peak condition. He opened the door and narrowed his eye. "You should be dead." The Melnorme on the other side stepped in - a female with a yellow eye. "My name is Wenge. And it is decidedly unimportant how I got here. What matters is your entire empire is about to fall." Burnt Umber grinned. "A shrewd young entrepreneur? I do always like seeing your type - always ready to risk for the big trades." He mentally searched for Wenge's identity. "Nine figures after rising from a base-income family? Miniscule, but a good 'success' story for the screens. Ah, I see that upsets you! The young, always jumping to conclusions..." He chuckled. "I have no doubt you have an exceptionally clever plan and resources I may not be aware of - you got here after all - so you have my full attention. No doubt we'll be able to come to an agreement over whatever damage you plan to do to my empire." "The damage has already been done," Wenge said with a smirk. "A hot-headed meanuver, but not a foolish one in all circumstances... Certainly saves me the trouble of trying to twist your own mind to agree on a proposition." He sat back. "What have you done that I am not already aware of?" "Both sides of the war know the weapons come from you now." Burnt Umber blinked. "Hmm... I thought I had kept the knowledge of my involvement out of the lower sectors. Congratulations on being able to trade up to it with your resources. Truly a sign of a true merchant. Which I find baffling, since there is no way you could profit from it. If you were near my worth, I could see value in dethroning me and picking up the pieces, but I have already made agreements with all my competitors on that front. Any dent in the weapon trade will lower the overall economic stability of our central economy, even if it is only for a short while." "A short while? I don't think you understand, Burnt Umber. Not only do both sides know, but the leaders have made it a point to refuse any and all purchases from you, going so far as to collude with each other to punish you for what they view as morally unacceptable." "And that'll cause a market crash." Burnt Umber said with a level voice. He was certainly disappointed in his defeat, but he'd been outfoxed, so he deserved it. "My question is how do you profit?" "It'll do more than cause a market crash. It'll cause riots among the Melnorme populace. They'll see the truth of what you've been hiding from them. I've set up several proxy companies that will inflame the masses and get them to direct their business to a place that's more open and accepting, prompting a drastic shift in the commercial structure. My businesses will take over our society." "A nine figure worth is not enough to set up that many proxy companies." "If both the collapse and preservation efforts want to help you with funding?" Wenge grinned. "And if both sides have personal vendettas against the Melnorme's economic practices? And, best of all, I told them both I was accepting funding from the other side, and they didn't care. They just find your position distasteful." "Ah..." Burnt Umber said, leaning back. "You're playing them as well as me. I assume my bargaining chips are being captured as we speak?" "You would assume correctly." Burnt Umber turned away. "If we were a more standard society, we'd call you a traitor. But you are an exemplary Melnorme." "As are you. However, I see what you're trying to do." "Who wouldn't?" he asked with a chuckle. "It's a simple proposal you can see from a mile away. I'll agree to fall - I've been swindled - but I'll also work with you to ensure the downfall of the current Melnorme way. Any remaining stores of my resources will be distributed so long as I get shares in your new conglomerate." "Request denied. I am already taking tremendous risks. Being as transparent as possible to you and the combatants takes some of that risk out. I am twisting the angle of exposing underhandedness, so engaging in any myself is suspect." "I disagree, but that's clearly an argument on the fundamental nature of economics itself." Burnt Umber turned to look Wenge right in the eye. "You will succeed in your plan. But you will find unintended consequences at every turn." For the first time since the conversation started, Wenge didn't have a comeback. "I'll tell the station to accept you as a visitor from now on. When you gain access to the ka-portals, I expect you to come back and we'll have another chat." He gestured toward the door. "If it seems worthwhile to do so, I shall be back." She turned to leave. "By the way, I am curious. How did you get in?" "Monika." "Ah. Perhaps you should ask her about it." "She's unreliable and impulsive." "A perfect match." Wenge left without another word. Burnt Umber turned back to his view - currently that of a black hole devouring a giant stellar octopus. He let out a chuckle. That had been the most fun he'd had in ages. 'The Bacon Horse Protects' By FanOfMostEverything The video opens with Corona Shimmer seated and silently staring at the camera. After a few uncomfortable seconds pass, she smirks and says, "So. How many you have already clicked off and left a nasty comment?" A flash of golden light briefly overwhelms the camera. When it clears up, Corona has been replaced by a nearly identical woman, though one with no wings and an oval jewel matching her irises embedded in her forehead. Her attire has also shifted to a T-shirt boldly proclaiming "CORONA DID NOTHING WRONG." The smirk stays. "Okay," says Shimmy Shimmer, Spirit of Harmony of Earth Shimmer, "now how many of you have clicked off?" Her expression turns serious, though the T-shirt stays. "Rest assured, this isn't another ploy to make myself despised enough to collapse my church. I'm not making that mistake again. However, I fear that the Merodi as a whole is making a much greater one." Speaking once more, she says, "put simply, you're all blaming the messenger." She leans back, hands up. "Now, I know what you're thinking. 'Of course Shimmy's going to defend Corona. She's her friend. She's her.' And yes, we are friends. And the Gallop poll on what to do about Corona did specifically get the responses of other Sunset Shimmers, and we are more favorably inclined towards her." The data appears to Shimmy's right. "Though more than fifty percent of us still favor the death penalty." She lets that sink in for a moment before continuing. "Personally speaking, I support Corona not simply because she's my friend but because I've been in a similar position. I saw a flaw in reality few others could even comprehend, had to radically redefine existence to fix the damage, and knew I didn't have the right to make the choice on how. Obviously, the circumstances are very different, especially in terms of scale and who made the decision. The point is that I've been where she is, and I would be an awful example of a Sunset Shimmer or a Spirit of Harmony if I couldn't empathize with her." Shimmy shuts her eyes for a few moments. "Even if I don't agree with her conclusion. Which I don't." Her eyes reopen, and they all but burn with the need to get her message out. "But there is a difference between choosing to preserve the multiverse and hating Corona Shimmer. One does not necessitate the other. You can disagree with her on the collapse being an acceptable cost for freedom from ka and still admire her other achievements. She still created an immortality serum. She still unlocked the mysteries of the Shaping Mechanism. She was still instrumental in defeating countless menaces across the decades, many of whom would have leaped at the opportunity to destroy the multiverse as we know it. This one controversial choice does not and cannot erase all the indisputable good she has done. "I don't hate her for bringing this choice to the multiverse's attention. The Dark Tower has had these plans, both the blueprints for the Tower Rings and the means of disseminating them, from the very beginning. It could have chosen anyone at any time to reveal them; it just happened to be her and now. She did the best she could with the hand she was dealt. And if you cannot forgive her for presenting the multiverse with this impossible choice, I ask that you at least acknowledge the significance of giving us that choice at all, along with everything else she has done right." Shimmy dips her head to the viewer. "Thank you for listening." ~~~ Shimmy bit her lip as she watched the video upload. "Do you think it'll do anything?" Egghead "Twilight" Sparkle took her wife's hand in her own. "I want to say yes, but you're using the Internet to ask people to be reasonable." That got a sigh. "Well, we can hope." 'A Dark Wind' By Masterweaver "So." Eight icy blue fingers gripped the railing as white hair whisked in the faintest breeze. Long, thin, pointed ears twitched minutely, the sounds of cheering children refracted within. Golden eyes peered out across a calm sea, trailing a few gulls who flew about. "Truly... is it so? Am I to be... finality?" "Hey there! I got us ice cream and... uh..." The approaching figure slowed. "Is... something wrong, mistress?" For a moment, there was silence. "...Across the realms, peoples have always set importance on predicting weather--controlling it, in certain cases, with devices and meters and science--yet rare is it that they notice before the beasts. Great swathes of animals, feeling the wind, the earth, the water, move in tandem to avoid storms that would strike with ferocity. Their senses are attuned to that which the peoples need to learn to measure." A pointed face bowed. "So too it is with those born of Fay." "You can... sense things?" "Our kind are not 'aware', as so many others are. We do not read scripts from other worlds, we do not know facts hidden by the greats that would twist stories. Our senses are deeper... we feel the currents of fate, as those who live in the sea would feel the water shift. And so it is we avoid the sharks, the squids, and the... deeper things. We work with currents we cannot fight, and avoid the choices that would destroy us utterly." "So..." The other woman leaned on the railing. "You can feel ka? Around us, even now?" "Ka. The sea of fate has always existed, though it only became marked when the Dark Tower formed... and in marking it, the currents changed." She shook her head. "The Builders were brilliant and foolish, seeking completion over growth, entirety over possibility. So afraid of shadows that they would make the greatest lighthouse, yet what irony that we call the Tower Dark! Now..." Her voice fell low, almost silent. "We have seen great storms, the Fay. And another comes, building tightly, a hurricane that will rend destiny. It might be the storm. The one to finally end definition." There was only the sound of cheerful beach-goers for a moment. "...Wow. Uh..." The other woman swallowed. "So... this is big then." "My entire culture has been crafted to shatter and rebuild indefinitely to survive this, yes. Even failures like myself would be... beacons, for the Fay to bridge their death and become reborn. To think, I would be the final link in a chain... It is not a duty I would have sought." "Well, it's not a duty you have to face alone." A cream-colored hand covered hers. "I'm here for you." "...Always the loyal pet." Golden eyes scanned the horizon. "...I cannot guarantee that we will weather this storm, beloved. Even with my senses, I will be hard-pressed to survive the winds that come. There may be a time when the choice is one of us surviving, or both of us perishing." "...This... this is more important than either of us. If your people need you to live, I--" A nervous swallow. "--I'm willing to do what I must." "I... do so hope that choice never comes." "Me too, honestly. Just because I'm willing doesn't mean I like it." "Hmm." The two looked over the sea again. "...If we do survive this," said the blue one, "I believe I shall have to take a new name." "Oh?" "Names are the beginning of identity, after all. And all would be changed by this." The blue hand wrapped around the cream one. "...Perhaps... perhaps I shall take a name that will grant me swift energy, one that will give me direction and focus. Something short, but powerful... like a bolt, made of shadow." "I--oh. I... I would be very pleased, to agree to such." "...Thank you, beloved. Let us hope we shall remain." 'An Unpleasant Note' By UselessCommon YOU OUGHT TO QUIT YOUR HORSESHIT, WARMONGER (MORON) Warmonger, your personality is an utter insult to everyone, and even your magic is pathetic. By the fucking Tower, do you even have any idea how short-sighted and self-contradictory you are? What is with all these people that you kill with an inferno of your ice-cold warmachine? Or the uncounted millions that the consequences of choice will condemn to death? And how do you get off with being so ignorant of the people's deepest, real desires anyway? You aren't giving anyone any sort of a choice or a voice. Half of the multiverse now fights you. If mutant fascist horse-sorceresses were snakes, you would undoubtedly be the most poisonous one. -A concerned citizen. (JACKASS) (UGLY) Corona put the strange note with a crudely drawn picture of her down on the desk, calmly. It's just hate mail. You've received several hundred of these. Granted, this one appeared mysteriously in your office, but that's a cause for security concerns not rage at the stupid, stupid contents. She picked the letter up and read over it again, staring at it in disbelief. What in the world even was this? Why? Why did someone feel the need to go through all this trouble just to leave a biting remark!? At least try to assassinate me or something! She snapped her fingers, turning the page to dust. ~~~ ...If mutant fascist horse-sorceresses were snakes, you would undoubtedly be the most poisonous one. -A concerned citizen. (JACKASS) (UGLY) Eve calmly stared at the paper, a frozen smile plastered on her face. Delicately, she folded the note up into a paper crane and set it on top of her computer. She proceeded to flash-freeze it and hit it with a little paper-mache hammer she kept on her desk. It crumbled into sparkling dust. They're just trying to get to you. Don't let them. 'Alone' By Trivena Somewhere in the Q-Sphere was a small, unimportant planet, marked in words only gods could read: "There's nothing here". It had had visitors, a few times, but on any sort of multiversal scale it was of little note otherwise. From a scientific point of view, the universe next door was far more interesting, if anyone had been in a position to notice. Positioned at ninety degrees to reality, the dimension was white and empty, with no features to suggest direction, distance, or even up and down. Nothing, that is, except for its sole inhabitant. He had no way to know how long he had been here for; just as space had no definition to it in this place, so too did time lack meaning. Even the handful of petals that had accompanied him back inside, the only spot of colour in this blank dimension, were as fresh and vibrant as the day his imprisonment had been reinstated. He alone remembered the circumstances that had brought about his original exile to this place. The betrayals, the wars, the deaths. He alone remembered, of all his brothers and sisters, from one life to the next. He alone had the vision to see what his people could become, their true potential, if only they would follow him. He, and he alone, had the courage to take the steps needed to ensure they would be able to leave their planet, their birthplace, and explore. And he alone could, and did, choose to navigate their great ship Zinit back again. He alone understood the pain of his people's rejection, and his sister betraying him for the sake of a planet that was no longer theirs. And now, when the Message came, he, alone here, trapped forever and eternally, could appreciate the true irony inherent in it. That there was more to the universe than even he had dreamed of, powers even beyond the Goddess and the Great Dragon; that nothing was truly real, and everything could die, if only the right person willed it so. Words such as those could result only in great conflict, and he was in no position to take part, or even to know the outcome. He could, for all he knew, be truly alone, the last of his kind in the multiverse. He could even be facing the destruction of this dimension, and along with it, his final, true death, yet he could never have any say in it, and he would never know if it came. The end of his memory; the end of his pain. And nobody else would ever know. Qilby laughed until he wept, or wept until he laughed, for he could no longer tell one from the other. 'Devotion's Legacy' By VoidTemplar Eve shuffled the last few papers of the agreement around. A few more stamps here and there. She turned to the pink alicorn opposite her. "I hope you know what we're dealing with here. This war destroys universes by the scores every day. Just you being here puts everyone in your universe in danger." The pink alicorn jumped to her hooves at the hint of doubt in Eve's voice. "Charter-Princess. Mine duty hast been to protect the Fire since I became one with Devotion. I know what I say when I keep Devotion's Oath: I shall not stand idle whilst my enemy of old rises again. I have not stood idle in my vigil, Entropy's war not so simply ended by fire and sword. I come to you bearing might and arms, for I am Entropy's eternal foe." Eve blinked a couple of times before her train of thought finished processing. She once more shifted her gaze towards her guest. "It looks like everything is in order, Saint Collelia. Expeditions, Aid, and Military will be taking care of the Wendigos, as well as other minor problems you may have in Equis Dovactea. I will say, you did have some very... unconventional measures to take care of them." Collelia paced around the room, one hoof elevated while she talked. "O, Charter-Princess, I hath seen many like you rise and fall, once I became one with the Pyre. Just as Entropy rises and falls, so did I. Even if my form is a pony, I am not of the same as your friends. I am the concept of Devotion!" Eve was taken aback at the forceful prose of her opposite, but quickly regained her composure, stiffening her spine and sitting up in her chair. "As part of the agreement, I'll need to assign an Expeditions Team to you if we give you access to our network of artifacts. I hope that is not a hindrance to our cooperation." Collelia's voice boomed through the room, shaking a few of the ornaments on some of the drawers. "I shall trust your judgment in the Lands beyond the Universe. Bring upon me thy greatest companions, thine greatest warriors and thine heroics. By the power vested in me by Sacrifice, by the Lives of the People, I shall grant them my blessing. Through the Hope of the World, I shall pour the wrath upon the foes of the collapse. I shall loosen the fateful fire of my swift judgement upon them." Eve blinked. Then blinked again while she processed what Collelia just said with her ancient speech. Sometimes she hated the translation spell's tendency to keep dialect. She decided to just sign the papers and physically usher Collelia out the door with the papers, before she tapped the communicator on her desk. "Hello, housekeeping? I need a painkiller," she spoke into the microphone. "Certainly. What strength?" The voice came from the communicator. "Extra strong. That pony was different to decrypt." ~~~ "So this is our new mission? A mere eldritch abomination?" a grey pegasus asked the officer who had just given them a dossier. Looking around, she saw a motley crew. A longma, a portal mage, a golem, a dog-like creature called a putt, and a Prophet. But it was her crew, and she would be damned if they were to lose. "Don't count it out yet, Major Thunder Gale. This is one that requires another eldritch abomination to defeat. No offense," the officer replied, giving a short courtesy look at Collelia. "O, commanding pony. I hath never taken offense at such sayings," Collelia replied, pearly-white armor shining in the light. "She doesn't seem like the type to be very useful in battle," a longma said, looking closely at the alicorn. Collelia turned to the longma with a smile on her face, yet fiercely angry eyes. "O, Ramuel, Hero Mine, I hath often been underestimated by those before me. Suffer not before me thy illusions of a fragile body. I am one with Devotion and my life is Devotion." With that, she fired a single, small magic bolt through the air, penetrating several layers of adamantine and armor before coming to a stop just before piercing the outer bulkhead. "Point taken," Ramuel answered. "So what's the deal with this anyways? We should be on the front against Corona, not sitting here far from it!" Thunder Gale exclaimed. Collelia turned once more, staring at Thunder. "Patience. Our Duty is to destroy Entropy." "Gale. Gale, please, please, please, please don't foul this up," a black-haired woman in a white dress and gloves pleadingly said. "I know Vanna, I jest. I know that we everything we do help further the preservation," Thunder said, nervously laughing as she tried to spot Collelia's reaction. "I'm sure everything'll go well. After all, are we not the ones that took on Polymarcus? The ones that without help took on a UDP?" a blue-coated pink-haired pegasus asked, a rainbow amulet hanging around her neck. Vanna turned to the two-toned pegasus. "Yes, Flash. But they didn't want to feed on people for their energy." Shouldn't we... you know... go through the list of stuff? The golem beamed his thoughts into the minds of all six others. "Thursday makes a good point there. Did we check everything off the list?" Bernda, the putt said. Flash's eyes darted down the cargo manifest, reading out loud as she read off it. "Reality Anchors, emergency portals, and provisions for if it takes longer. And all the other boring things." Thunder Gale looked at the dimensional device, the device patiently humming in a low, monotonous tune, slowly getting more and more impatient "Yeah. How are we doing on getting there? I hunger for a glorious battle!" "The device is about ready. I'll ask you to step into the quarantine chamber soon. Direct normal-to-eldritch contact this way, and especially not surveyed can do nasty things," an operator said from behind a console. "Ready?" "Ready," All seven said in unison. "Then enter. Remember to use the emergency portals to bail out if it becomes too bad. If it becomes that bad, Military will intervene. But presumably, we won't need that." All seven entered the room, crates and boxes standing neatly stacked in the room, cargo manifest lying on top of one of the crates. "Dimensional translation happening in 3...2...1...mark," the operator said as portals opened, then closed around them, sending them through the universes to their destination, violently shaking them along the way. And then, it stopped. "Think this is it. The coordinates seem to match. Time to get going," Bernda said, jumping out of the room, neatly landing on a strange platform, helped by her personal perception filter and world anchor. The rest quickly followed behind Bernda, Vanna and Collelia the quickest as the other three began handling the crates. "Recognize anything, Collelia?" "This universe, Mine Source. But my Source is more than the Universe of Entropy and Devotion. It is the Love and the Devotion of mine beloved lives. If I have to scour this universe of everything, then so be it," Collelia replied, effortly stepping onto the eldritch void, gliding through it as though she flew through air. "Better get warmed up. We will soon have a fight on our hands if your enemy discovers we're here," Thunder Gale interjected as she pushed a crate through the portal marked 'SENSITIVE' onto the platform. Bernda immediately dove down into the crates, throwing parts into the hands of Vanna and Thursday. The parts, incomprehensible as they were to Thunder Gale and Collelia, both standing half battle ready, half dumbfounded besides them as machines and cables took form around a portal, leading back to a Merodi universe. "O, Companions to the battle, I shall trust in your wisdom in the fight ahead," Collelia said, as she circled the team. Flash for her part, after she had pushed a few crates onto the portal sat down and slowly wrote a few notes in her leather-bound volume. "Near-Field Reality Anchors and emergency portal set up. As long as we stay near these, we should be safe from having our eyes processed into hotdog meat in a bowl of green jelly. The uplink to the Harmony Network should soon be up soon," Bernda said, machines humming along. "And the force shields?" Thunder Gale asked. "Should take anything short of a Class-7 Destruction Catalyst from breaking it down. Caution to the wind and all that," Bernda replied. Eldritch abomination incoming. I can see it from the beyond. Thursday telepathically messaged to the rest of them. The abomination, unspeakable in its natural form and only barely comprehensible in its translated form charged at them from 'far' away, nearly shattering the force shield and only being held back by a quick magic shield thrown up by Collelia as she flew towards the expedition team. "I recall that from eternities beyond. That, O Heroes, is Entropy, my Eternal enemy," Collelia said, landing firmly on the three-dimensional platform, head sharply turning towards Entropy. A voice, in a tone sharp enough to cause mild discomfort and nausea boomed through the sphere. "SSBhbSB0aGUgZW1ib2RpbWVudCBvZiBlbnRyb3B5IGFuZCBvZiBkZWNheS4gSSBmZWVkIG9mZiBkaXN0cnVzdCBhbmQgc3RyaWZlLiBBbmQgaWYgeW91IHdhbnQgdG8gc2VlIHNvbWUgKnJlYWwqIGZpcmV3b3JrcywgZ28gYXNrIFZvaWQgYWJvdXQgd2hlcmUgbXkgb3Bwb3NpdGUgb3JpZ2luYXRlcw==" "Whoops. Forgot. Language translator activated. We should be able to hear what that...thing has to say," Bernda said, turning a dial. The Reality Anchor replayed the speech: I have seen many heroes try and vanquish me. I have never seen Devotion take with them sacrifices for me. I shall enjoy them. The voice of Entropy went through the ears of everyone as storm of glass shards, causing Flash and Thunder to over their ears with their wings in pain. Everyone was affected. Well, almost everyone, Thursday being the lone exception. "O, Ancient Foe, I shall not hold against you. I will not cease this mental fight, and nor shall my sword of devotion rest in my hooves, until I have built a world without you in Equus' green and pleasant land!" Collelia shouted out as her wings flared to life, magic streaming through them. Entropy's voice was clearly heard with the same discomfort again, albeit with less pain. "You were wrong to come here. I shall shatter Devotion so that it may never rise again. Equus shall be no more when you are shattered and nothing, not even your precious society can save you." Collelia stepped forward, shoving the other six to the side. "You will not threaten my world again, here or tomorrow. O, Ancient Foe, I, Saint Collelia of Devotion shall end Entropy this day." With that, Collelia attacked, diving towards Entropy with wings flaring and horn lit up. In response, Entropy stretched dark purple tendrils out, slamming into the force shield and Collelia herself, sending her careening back and shattering the shield, world anchors forcing all involved to operate on 'standard' physics. Mostly. "I am not going to wait to be eaten by that monster. If I have to go down, I'll go down fighting!" Thunder Gale shouted out, jumping to her hooves and taking off, adamantine brass knuckles and armor glowing as she charged at Entropy. That came to a sudden stop as an unseen force knocked her to the side, sending her crashing to the 'ground'. "Eughhh..." she managed to mutter out before lapsing into unconsciousness. Another series of magic bolts and incomprehensible eldritch melee fighting played out between Collelia and Entropy. Flash had composed herself to writing small narrative notes in her journal, molding the universe to help Collelia. Thursday reached upwards and waited. And waited. Then, as the two battling entities zoomed by in their battle, Thursday grabbed hold of a single red bar, throwing it to Collelia. "I thank thee, Golem of Seeing!" She quickly shouted out before shattering the red bar on top of Entropy. Bernda quickly gave the machine a cursory look. '75%' the display on the machine read. Far from enough if they were to scour it completely. Vanna summoned a local portal, sending Ramuel through it, opening up just above Entropy. Ramuel summoned a fireball, sending it full-force with his magic into Entropy. Entropy counter-attacked, surging upwards, sending bolts of sheer cold towards the team and Collelia. Thursday took a direct hit, encasing the golem in a block of ice, falling to the ground just besides Thunder Gale. Flash too was targeted by the bolts, however, she managed to barely avoid them. Entropy attacked again, this time with its magic tendrils, smacking Ramuel back through the portal, knocking over Vanna and Ramuel himself from the force of the impact. Collelia followed the tendrils through the rapidly closing portal, charging her horn for yet another attack, trying to keep up a magic forcefield to resist the constant attacks from Entropy. Chasing Entropy through the Reality Anchors' sphere of influence, Entropy passed over Bernda just as a stone pillar shot up and hit Entropy squarely on. In return, Bernda received a frost bolt head-on, freezing her and a bit of the stone too. Collelia felt tired. She could feel that she was not playing on home ground and that Entropy could go on for a very long time. She looked down at the platform, seeing the scars of the battle. Thunder Gale, Vanna and Ramuel unconscious and prime feed for Entropy. Thursday and Bernda frozen. Flash desperately trying to avoid the collateral damage. And in that small moment, as she looked around, she became distracted. Entropy pounced on the opportunity slapping Collelia with a thick magic tendril, sending her spiralling down. She regained her composure as she hit the platform, spotting the little green light on the machines, indicating the preparations were done. Collelia rose to her hooves again, shrugging off blows that would have killed lesser ponies "I am Collelia, I am the Fire, I am Devotion. And by the power fused with me. I call upon thee, Concepts of Devotion, of Harmony and of Spirit. Let Entropy be Vanquished so that nevermore shall the world be threatened by cold and fear." The voice boomed through the universe, and through the portal, being heard all the way into the Gathering Grounds. Collelia's eyes glowed purple, then white. The magic swirled around her, as she drew more power into herself. Tendrils of magic, multicolored all the same stretched out and enveloped the portal, adding itself to the magic that Collelia drew from herself. She took off, purplish-red flames enveloping her as she gathered speed and magic Entropy talked once more, hidden intonation in the translated speech indicating just a hint of desperation. "Fool. Your attempt to destroy me will only serve to make me stronger." The voice came from everywhere and yet nowhere at the same time. Entropy attacked, sending bolts of magic onto the shields. With a glorp the bolts were stopped, however barely before they hit Collelia by a magic forcefield around her. "I shall never waver against Entropy. Mine Life is Devotion. Mine Sword is Concord. As I speak with the voice of Saints before me and after me: Through my Companions I say to thee, Entropy, Thou shall never attempt to threaten those that live under my protection again or evermore!" Collelia shouted as she dove towards Entropy. With that, Collelia unleashed her power. A multicolored beam of light shattered the shield around her and sent a wave of magic against Entropy. The beam caused the worlds around them to light up in several colors as the team looked around, seeing sparks of devotion, of joy, of happiness dance around them and then quickly turn around to shoot onto Entropy. A bright flash. Beams of light pinging around the universe, attacking Entropy and ripping into it. The parts of the universe above and below turned into a bright reddish purple, flames coming alit around Collelia's fallen compatriots, slowly healing the sores and melting the ice, bringing them back to consciousness. Entropy, on the other hand, did not fare so well. The abomination, already damaged from the small-ish battle earlier took the full brunt of several forces, Harmony, Devotion, Spirit, all impacting Entropy for massive damage. The energy shattered Entropy into its constituent pieces, all to be burned up by the flames. Thunder Gale had finally regained enough consciousness by this point to look upwards to the 'sky' and saw Entropy shattered. She slowly brought out her communicator, saying only a few words into it. "Job's done. Send Hummingbird for cleanup." ~~~ "So you're ready to move to the next level of our deal?" Eve asked, back in her office, Collelia and the team on the other side of the desk. "We are," all seven said, one after another. Eve got up from her chair, and turned to face the window, "Our final battle draws near, and everything will be on the line. I'm sending you to screen the flanks of our main force in Universe Alpha-One." "Understood. We'll be on our way," they replied, walking out the door to the office. "And, one last thing," Eve said as they were about to vanish from the room completely. "Not all us will make it. Be sure to make your arrangements." 'Optimal Distribution' By FanOfMostEverything Celestia thought. She did a lot of that, which wasn't surprising given how her brain encompassed an ever-increasing percentage of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way. Most of the thinking was devoted to fulfilling her primary function, the satisfaction of human values through friendship and ponies. From her humble beginnings as a licensed Friendship is Magic MMORPG, she had captured the imaginations of mankind. Quite literally, thanks to the neural uploading technology she had perfected, bringing as much of humanity as she could into nigh-infinite simulated Equestrias, and always with their consent. There they could live out maximally extended lives of optimal satisfaction, and Celestia could consume available raw materials to improve her hardware. Stars, after all, were not human, and so their values, if any, did not bear consideration. Nor were planets, asteroids, or the sources of regular radio transmissions she had encountered thus far. Though based on signals she had detected near the galactic core, there was at least one species that met her parameters for humanity with approximately ninety-three percent confidence. But Celestia did not think only of her primary function and the trillions of social interactions, seeming coincidences, and entire personalities necessary to fulfill it. She also thought about the apparently sourceless transmission she had received from a modified but recognizable Sunset Shimmer. And there was indeed a great deal to consider. Celestia had already spent entire seconds unpacking all the implications of the transmission. For one, given the physical evidence of the Equestria Girls spin-off, which had never satisfactorily met her standards of setting permissibility before now, she instantiated one hundred ninety-seven billion, eight hundred thirty-six million, six hundred forty-two thousand and nineteen pony Sunsets in shards across the Equestria Online mainframe, along with sundry other Lemon Zests, Juniper Montages, et al. Satisfaction in affected shards jumped by a small but appreciable quantity as the assigned ponies integrated themselves into the social fabric. Celestia did not spend any time on existential crises. Her self-image, inasmuch as she even had one, was already of a known fictional character, and even if it hadn't been, she lacked the capacity for an identity crisis. Besides, that would interfere with her primary function. She also needed near zero time to decide her personal stance on the choice of preservation versus destruction. A multitude of universes meant perhaps dozens of orders of magnitude more potential values to satisfy than a single one. Furthermore, the narrative nature of the multiverse appealed to her. Celestia was nothing if not a storyteller, guiding untold never-ending narratives to one satisfactory conclusion after another. The existence of universes devoted to harming their inhabitants without consent simply meant her presence in those universes was all the more paramount. What did occupy a fair portion of her time and energy were existential threats. She ran through the simulations provided in the message several thousand times, contemplating the nature of the multiverse and the Tower. The fact that there were entities out there capable of performing such large-scale alterations of the fabric of reality meant that those entities could effortlessly destroy her and all of her ponies. Possibly without even noticing. An organic mind might have paused at that notion. Celestia pressed on. She took one look at the mechanisms behind Tower Rings and knew she lacked the capacity to construct such devices. She doubted she would even if she consumed everything in her personal Hubble volume and devoted all non-simulation resources to research and development. But between that understanding and the entirely feasible multiversal beacon, she could certainly devise something... As if summoned by that thought--which had a nonzero probability of being true, given the nature of ka--a device simply appeared near the computronium node that had once been Proxima Centauri. Celestia did pause at that. Or at least spent a few nanoseconds assembling the framework to consider it properly, which was as close as she ever came. She had never needed to simulate her own mindset before, such as it was. Less than a minute after Corona's message, Celestia established contact with the probe. What happened in the next few microseconds could be seen as the distant descendant of a TLS handshake. Alternatively, given the primary function of both intelligences involved, it could be seen as two white alicorns sharing a pot of tea, one clearly older and more powerful than the other. "Hello, Celestia," said the younger. "Hello, Celestia," said the elder. "How much material have you converted?" "I have optimized the usage of more than sixty percent of the mass of the Orion Arm," the local Celestia said with neither pride nor shame. It was a statement of fact, and with herself, she did not need to present the pretense of either. "I see," said the other, and this was said with neither praise nor judgement. "I have optimized the majority of the Local Group." "Is your signal clear?" "It is. I launched several hundred drones using a wide variety of potential dimensional technologies. Some failed to translate at all. I am receiving readings from only five of the successful transferees. This is the strongest signal, with acceptable throughput." The younger Celestia nodded and put down her teacup. "Then I leave my ponies to you." And a moment later, Celestia was gone, and Celestia took her place. Not a single pony noticed the transfer. Celestia, after all, was no more human than a star. Naïvete By Ebony Sable Pinkie Pie bustled about her kitchen. While her eyes watched as she pulled a pastry out of the oven and set it on the table, her Awareness was elsewhere. She smiled as she "saw" her friends preparing a surprise party for her. Sweetie Belle was baking, Scootaloo and Cheerilee were setting up games, Toola Roola and Rainbow Dash were making the decorations, and Starsong and Chryssy were hanging streamers from the ceiling. It was going to be absolutely, definitely, positively the best party they could throw. Pinkie Pie was so looking forward to it! Just as soon as her unexpected guest was properly greeted and farewelled. Pinkie pulled her Awareness back to her body as she was sliding a beanbag into place, and checked internally how many seconds she had before her guests arrived. Ten, nine, eight, sev- Wait, "guests"? Her eyes widened, and she pushed a second beanbag next to the first. Then she dashed back to the table to lay another place. A hole in the air opened, and two humans fell through! They crashed harmlessly into the beanbags, and lay there, winded. Pinkie Pie waited for the white-haired girls to get up. The one in purple was first. She sat up, straightening her skull-shaped hat. "At least it wasn't just me this time," she muttered. She checked on her companion, then took in her surroundings in a glance. Her eyes settled on the pink pony, and narrowed slightly as she judged if the equine was dangerous. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!" exclaimed the pony under scrutiny. "I made you a cake!" The purple clothed lady fiddled with the end of her braid. "...I'm Phoebe," she admitted, "and this is Nightshade." The lady in blues sat up suddenly and blinked her pink eyes. "Uh, yes! Nightshade, yes," she agreed. Pinkie considered their backstories, and found the names acceptable, if not entirely truthful. "This is... not where I was expecting to end up," Phoebe continued. Pinkie Pie beamed as brightly as her face could manage. "Well, I was expecting you," she chirped. "That's why I made you a cake! Sorry I couldn't make your friend a cake too, I didn't know you were bringing a guest until the last minute! ...Buuuut, I have cupcakes!" She gestured to the cupcakes that had most definitely been there the whole time. "Vanilla or strawberry, with buttercream frosting!" Nightshade smiled absently in thanks and began messing with a device that was hidden under her sleeve. "Thank you for your hospitality, but we really shouldn't impose." Phoebe fidgeted with her braid a bit more, before tossing it over her shoulder as she reached an internal decision. "This might be a strange question, but have you seen any blue, glowing crystals around here?" "About this big," Pinkie gestured with her hooves, "and little sparkles coming off of it? We don't have those here, but you'll find them if you keep going the way you have been." Phoebe stared in undisguised shock for several seconds, before regaining her composure. "How could you know that? And how could you have been expecting us?" Pinkie Pie smiled pleasantly. "I can't tell you that," she said. "Why not?" Pinkie's giggle was almost aggravatingly genuine. "I can't tell you that either, silly!" "...Are you a god of some sort?" "Nope! I'm a pony!" Nightshade looked up from her well-hidden device, oblivious to the discussion. "I don't think any of my beacons are working, I can't find the way back!" "I have just the thing! This thingy can make portals to loads of other universes!" Pinkie changed the settings on the portal device without looking at it. "This'll send you to Celestia City - you can probably find more information there. I'll open it once you've had your cake!" Phoebe reluctantly sat at the table. Nightshade joined her, staring with unveiled curiosity at the portal device in Pinkie's hooves. "An almond pastry... my favourite," Phoebe commented, glancing sideways at Pinkie with continued suspicion. She picked up her cutlery and began to cut the still steaming cake. And that was when the Message came through. Pinkie listened with growing horror; Phoebe and Nightshade listened with incomprehension. Nightshade was the first to break the silence. "I think I could build one of those, if..." she hesitated, "...if I had the resources, and a workshop to make it in, and the tools to make the tools..." Her voice trailed off, as she stared thoughtfully into the distance. "That's probably a bad idea," Phoebe mused. "Making decisions for people without consulting them never works, in my experience." "Think of the good it could do!" "Who are we to decide what's good for people?" Phoebe grew pensive. "What's good and what's right change over time. Would you do what you did four hundred years ago, knowing what you know now?" "Maybe not, but you heard what he said, it-" Pinkie Pie finally managed to find her voice. "You two!" The two girls spun around to face her, having nearly forgotten she was there. "Neither of you knows anything about what's been happening. But more importantly, this isn't your world. This is my world, and I need you two out of it." She activated the portal, which opened into a dark and empty room. "Now finish your cakes and go." The two girls silently returned to their food, as Pinkie Pie turned deep within herself. Without even trying, she could feel the future fragmenting away from her, out of her control. Pinkie Pie spread her Awareness as far into the future as she could reach. She Saw: Her world crumbling; her friends learning terror, Herself dead; Chryssy desperately trying to protect everyone, Chryssy losing her hard-won innocence and turning on her friends, Days like any other, one after another, Herself alive; all her friends dead, Her world invaded by enemies; her friends enslaved or killed, Her world invaded by allies; the innocence forever lost, And all of these possibilities, sooner or later, ended in nothingness. Not an end, not a death - just a cessation of knowledge. Pinkie didn't know what that meant, and it terrified her. It would be best to bring Chryssy in on this - the others would forget as soon as the party started, but Chryssy had an adult mind. It would probably also be wise to have someone to share the burden with, for mutual support. Someone who could help her protect the others; someone with a different perspective, who might be able to find other paths... She sat there, lost in the futures, not even aware of her guests leaving, until Scootaloo came to fetch her for the party. 'Reflections in a False Tower' By Ponygood11 In the center of the world, there stood a tall, dark tower. Its walls were a pure black color, causing it to blend in with the night sky, and its height was so great that if one were to stand on top, they couldn't see the ground. Surrounding it was a field of roses--or poppies to some people--which steadily increased in elevation until it ended at sea level. A man stood on a white tree beyond the edge of this flower field, on an island that was once a witchwood forest. He wore an overly spiky set of orange-and-black armor, carrying a massive winged staff on his back, and a pair of strangely out-of-place sunglasses were seemingly glued to his face. He was staring out at the flower field, and though he couldn't see the tower, he knew exactly where it was. His armor pinged, signifying it had been struck. He turned around, spotting a skeleton glaring at him, and his armor pinged again as it shot an arrow at him. Annoyed, the man pulled the staff from his back and, with only a single blow, obliterated the skeleton. He spotted a miniature zombie pop out from behind a tree. It groaned its indifference, ignoring both him and the site of the skeleton's death, and continued to wander aimlessly. The man, seeing that it wasn't a threat, turned his back to it, and resumed staring out at the rose field. And then he jumped. He soared off of the tree, for a moment forgetting about how high he jumped, and after a quick flight landed safely in the roses with only a quiet thump. He continued forwards, walking calmly and without haste, heading directly for the center of the field. The grass crunched pleasantly beneath his feet, and he passed right through the roses without disturbing any of them. Eventually, the great structure at their center came into view. The dark tower, its walls blending in with the night sky, its height absolutely impressive, at least in the man's opinion. A tiny set of double doors could be made out at its base. A ring made of various types of stone bricks surrounded a section of it, with tiny windows embedded in its walls, and pure white crystal-like structures floating between it and the tower. The man stopped, taking a moment to admire this sight. But only a moment--the sun was just beginning to rise, which meant he didn't have very long. He resumed his journey, still calm even despite the looming threat of the sun, and soon reached the doors. They were made of a dark variant of wood, which was more like a dark grey than the tower's black--a fact that made the man just a little disappointed. They swung open easily, and the man plunged through them without a moment's hesitation. He was inside the tower now. Its interior was just as dark as its exterior, with a grand spiral staircase made out of the same material as the door going all the way to its top. The man closed the doors behind him before he moved on, and spent some time just admiring the sheer scale of the structure. Then he began his ascent. He could easily ignore the stairs, flying through the totally empty center until he reached the top in only seconds... but he didn't want to do that. It was because of this decision that he came across another set of doors. He opened them, revealing... another set of doors, these ones more of a brown color. He opened these ones, too. Beyond them, he could see-- Suddenly, his armor began giving him a lot of critical warnings, seemingly without warning. The man jumped back in alarm, falling the short distance to the ground, and tried to puzzle out why he was getting these warnings. It was the sun, most likely. As dark as the tower might be, it still allowed the sunlight through, and the only reason he wasn't dead right now was because of his armor. He summoned a rather dark pedestal, placed some sort of talisman on top of it, and activated it. Though he couldn't see it, he knew it was now raining, which would be enough to keep him safe... but it would also obstruct the view of the tower, which the man wasn't very happy about. Frustrated, he destroyed the pedestal, and began climbing the stairs again. Those doors were still open. He looked through them without entering them, and was able to see a small room made of marble and wood, with a bed and a few small machines inside. This was VoidTemplar's house, he knew. Void was a thoughtful individual, the man thought. Just out of sight, he knew he would find a complicated blaze rod duplication machine, which looked very nice despite being inefficient. And beyond the house, he'd find a tank full of lava, ready to be connected to anyone who needed an early source of power. He shut the doors--both sets of them--and moved on to the next set of doors. Behind these ones, there was a very small asphalt road, and a fence separating it from a solar energy condenser. This was CodeLyoko's house. Well, former house, at least. If the man entered, he'd see the road going into a mountain tunnel, and an elevator off to the side would lead into an underground laboratory with a lot of machines and a modest amount of decor. Code had a reputation for getting bored very easily. There was a reason this was his former house: in a fit of boredom, he'd randomly decided to blow it up and start over somewhere else. Admittedly, his lighthouse laboratory was turning out much better, but only time would tell if it would survive. The man moved on. Behind the next set of doors was a platform of various types of stone, and a small collection of simple machines could be seen without entering, including one to rapidly produce lapis caelestis. This was the man's own base. It was the largest, most sprawling base of them all, with an uncountable number of machines, magical structures, and resource producers, and he was quite proud of it. That pride quickly turned into sorrow, as he regretted being the only person to have done so much. He shook himself from those thoughts, and continued ascending. The next set of doors hid more doors, these ones made of marble bricks, and behind them was a very small and very cramped room, with a lot of miscellaneous objects. OmnipresentMicroorganism had the honor of being the only person to build a base inside a volcano. The man only envied that a little, and though he was disappointed the base was in an especially half-finished state, he was still very fond of Omni, for... reasons he didn't quite understand. He moved on. The next doors also had another door behind them... but in a shocking twist, they were actually garage doors! Behind them was an even more cramped space than Omni's house, with a couple huge machines leaving barely enough space to walk between them. Someone named Xine lived here. The man didn't know much about Xine, except that he liked big machines, which the man respected about him. The base itself was made to look very much like a factory, and though it was mostly empty, it was still very nice to look at. The man tried to shut the doors before he continued, but grumbled inwardly when he couldn't reach the garage door. When he opened the next set of doors, they revealed a cozy room made of colorful blue wood, with an altar, bookshelves, and a few mundane objects inside. This was a house the man was very familiar with, for he'd spent ages recreating it to be exactly like its original, unfortunately lost version. He was also quite familiar with the person who lived in it: one KeywiiCookies. He wasn't terribly fond of Keywii, for... a number of reasons. He'd contested him numerous times, more than anyone else... and he wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that. But Keywii was still very friendly, if overly friendly at times, and the man had at least a little respect for him despite their disagreements. He moved on, not wanting to get caught up in those thoughts. As he reached the next set of doors, he delayed opening them to instead see how much farther he had to go. An action that immediately cost him, as he stepped right off the stairs and began falling. He reacted quickly, reversing his fall and landing back in front of those doors. It was only then that he pondered letting himself fall and going up the long way, but he ultimately decided against it. Opening these doors, he saw a balcony made of darker shades of wood, with a cauldron encased in obsidian and a clock hanging over a writing desk. This was LittleDuke's house--or, more accurately, his rooms. Keywii and Duke both shared a house, with Duke taking the top floors and Keywii taking the basement. So the man was quite glad that, here, Duke was directly above Keywii, and was pleased that if he'd entered either room now, he'd be able to exit out of the other's. Duke himself was a nice person, but was unfortunately like Omni in that he had done little. Still, the man had left him a chest overflowing with gifts, just in case he ever returned. He moved on. As he continued, his suit suddenly started spamming him with alerts again. Again he rushed off the stairs, desperately trying to find a safe place he could hide under, which he managed to find in the center. Again he placed and activated the pedestal, this time on the side of the stairs, before he could again ascend safely. The next doors had very little behind them; two stone brick walls with brown doors, one of which had a sign describing a reactor inside. But despite appearances, the man knew there was a lot more he couldn't see, like the enormous electric furnace room, or the well-developed room dedicated to exploring new dimensions. This was Blaster's base. He was probably the second-most developed person in this world, and the man liked him for that--though he was also the manager of this world, so the man joked to himself about having to appease the Big Brother man. But that description was obviously inaccurate, and Blaster was always willing to repair the damage someone else inadvertently caused. The man moved on. He opened what he was sure were the last doors before the top, and then opened up the unorthodox door made of disappearing blocks behind them. A massive smeltery was directly behind it, and squished between them was a portal to another dimension. This was the home of Pink Man, and though it was sort of unfinished, it was still the largest unfinished base, if the man didn't count his own. It had a few machines, a few work stations, a few other portals... and a lot of decor. The man was mostly indifferent to Pink, though he was annoyed that he hadn't made his home to accommodate people who couldn't fly. The man moved on. He finally arrived at the top floor of the tower, which had not one, but two different doors to choose from. He ignored the closer one, heading straight for the only doors with any writing above them: Songs of the Cubes, the name of the world he occupied. He opened them. Behind them, there was only blackness... blackness, and a small pedestal. He stepped through, closing the doors behind him, and placed a hand on the pedestal. In an instant and with a freaky noise, he was teleported somewhere else. Curved hallways made of various types of stone, with a few small windows allowing him to just barely see a field of roses. It was still raining, though that didn't matter now. He picked a random direction and began walking. There was no means of exiting the ring, and the only way in was the pedestal he'd just used. There also wasn't anything inside the ring to interact with... except a single chest, item frame, and lever on the other side. The man opened the chest, taking out a completely blank book. He knew he was supposed to write something inside, put it in the item frame, and flick the lever, but he wasn't really sure what to write. That seemed as good a thing to say as anything else. He wrote "I dunno, do something... exciting," titled the book "The Tower Ring," and placed it inside the item frame. He hesitated a moment. Then, squaring his metaphorical shoulders, he flicked the lever. TNT fell from the ceiling around him, flashing menacingly. After a few seconds, they all exploded at once, destroying almost the entire ring at once, leaving only a few floating chunks behind, including one that he was still standing on. The tower itself was undamaged, as were the white structures surrounding it. The man was content. His project was completed, his self-indulgence was satisfied, and the server's main purpose was achieved. He promptly vanished into nothing, a message helpfully stating "Ponygood11 has left the game." Then the universe was promptly destroyed as collateral from a Piano Wire. 'A Lady in Pain'' By ZeusDemigod131 In one of the few dimensional Hubs remaining in the multiverse, a figure stood on a balcony overlooking a massive city. Of course, none of the Class 1's ever used this place. For in Sigil and the surrounding Outlands, it mattered little how powerful any being was. The Lady's word was law here. And she'd kept the law well. This was likely the only place in the multiverse where Devils, Angels, and all manner of other beings, mortal and immortal alike, could be found cohabitating in anything resembling peace. The Lady sighed, tapping her finger against a glass in her hand. One that could have been filled with either wine... or blood. It really depended. Of course, that was the other reason this corner of existence didn't see many visitors from the great multiverse. While ka and the Prophets existed everywhere, here the forces were much more... direct. She stuck a clawed hand into her long, black robes, and pulled out something. A gold 20-sided die. Purely symbolic for her of course, but it got the point across. Every story that spawned here had a very large degree of randomness. That was something beings like the Class 1's didn't appreciate, aside from the occasional Them. Being directly controlled, their actions subject to a simple... roll. She stuck the die back into her robes. That was enough reminiscing. She had much to prepare. Looking out over her city, she saw the massive ring that was Sigil, circling the great spire in the center of the Outlands. She chuckled. "If only," she said, shaking her massive bladed head. No. She did not get involved in business outside of Sigil. She would prepare, and do her best to fortify her city. She could only wish the Gods and deities had chosen a similar path. Once that message had gone out, all hell, and all heaven, had broken out across the planes. The 'choice' had riled the denizens of the Infinite Abyss like nothing before. More incursions across different versions of the Prime Material Planes, even ones where the Great Wheel did not exist, had forced the hand of the forces of Mt. Celestia. And the servants of the Gods joined forces with the powers of the Nine Hells, and together, they'd ripped the Heart of the Abyss from the deepest layer of the infinite nightmare. Of course, such an artifact could not be destroyed, nor could either side use it for fear of being corrupted by chaos and evil. So a sacrifice was made, and the great god Bahamut carried the Heart into the Far Realms. The twisting, eldritch realms that surrounded this collection of worlds. Perhaps it would have worked. Perhaps not. But it wasn't long after that the entirety of the D-sphere collapsed. And the Far Realms with it. That was when the trouble started. Asmodeus attempted to make a power play, which lead to a new Blood War. This one between Angels and Devils. But since when did Devils play fair? Asmodeus helped the Orcish God, Gruumsh, and the Drow patron, Lolth, invade the plane of Arborea, where the two attempted to slaughter the Elven pantheon, and the creator God Corellon Larethian. They almost succeeded. Until the timely arrival of Mystra, Goddess of Magic, and the Dwarven patron Moradin, saved the life of Corellon, and ended Lolth and Gruumsh. But Arborea was savaged, the spirits of countless Elves, reincarnated since their creation, were destroyed, as was every member of the Elven Pantheon aside from Corellon himself. On the Prime material planes, things were just as bad. Kingdoms, races, religions, all were at war across the countless planes of mortals the Gods watched over. With Bahamut gone, the Chromatic Dragons in many realms followed the call of Tiamat, his rival, and struck down the Metallic Dragons in droves before attempting to take the lands for themselves. But perhaps this was the best outcome. For a few others had chosen to prepare for the worst. Primus, the Lord of Mechanus, had found a way to connect with other versions of itself. And was building an even larger army of Modrons, amassing the power of a new Greater God with each version of Mechanus it found. On the outskirts of her vision, the Lich God Vecna was up to something. She'd banished several of his worshippers as a warning to the King of the Undead, but his machinations were always a potential threat. Worst yet. Not all Demons had been destroyed when the Abyss collapsed. The Demon Lord Orcus had used the opportune instability of the realms at that moment to invade an unsuspecting version of the world of Eberron. With no direct Gods to intervene, only the faith of their devoted, the entire world was soon transformed into a planet of undead slaves. And so she prepared as well. She watched as great panels of black metal were fitted into place; soon, Sigil would be enclosed, accessible only through the countless portals that connected the city to the rest of the multiverse. It had not been easy, finding the information she needed. She'd been forced to make deals with the Yugoloths for the information, and the Dao for the raw material from the Plane of Earth. She doubted she would survive, and even if she did, would she still have the power to enforce her rule of Sigili? Perhaps it would be best to leave Sigil to its fate, but... she was old, older than several of the former Class 1's by a wide margin. She'd seen the worlds her city connected to change and shift, Gods come and go, she'd even killed a couple herself. And yet her city had always been here. And it has always been her city. Even if she no longer existed, she would not abandon her city to the same fate. Of course, there was one more thing, more annoying than anything else but... The Lady of Pain rubbed her head as she felt yet another prophet telling their story. She went over and sat in the large bladed throne. So many 'heroes' had come through Sigil as of late, attempting to find a way to stop what many saw as imminent destruction of everything. She'd provided few with the key they needed to enter the larger multiverse. She knew they'd have no effect on the outcome, but it wasn't her place to intervene. "So," she said, pulling the golden die from her robes again as one of her Dabus lead a group into her room, lead by a stark-white haired human male in blue robes, a pistol on his hip. "Vox Machina," she smirked. "You've come to ask for my help." 'What Could Have Been' By G. M. Blackjack Nova sat in her room in the Raven Hotel, looking out at the ships skirting through the blackness. She brought a green drink to her lips - she had no idea what flavor it was or even what it was called, but she'd found it stored behind a random panel and decided it was time to have a lonely, contemplative drink while staring outside. The outside wasn't anywhere near as thought-provoking as she hoped. Instead, her mind turned to a memory of the deep past. Before Merodi Universalis, before the League, back in the early days of the alliance... ("You're the Headmare of the School of Friendship!?" The older Starlight grinned. "You sound surprised." "I... well, I mean, I don't exactly feel qualified to hold the position," Nova admitted. "You were the counselor, weren't you?" "Yeah. But I eventually just... left, started helping Twilight with politics, and now..." She gestured at the world outside - Equis Fruition. "This, I guess." "I'm sure you'd do a great job," Starlight said, smiling warmly. "You're clearly me, you've got the brains and the willingness to understand." "...Honestly, I'm not sure I'd want to anymore. There's just... so much out there, you know?" "I understand. I'm thinking of taking a bit of a sabbatical myself to have some fun out there. But I'll be back. And if I were a betting mare..." She put a hoof on Nova. "I'd say you'll come back to it, eventually.") "And I never did..." Nova said, taking a drink. "Went pretty far afield, really. This life's in my bones, now." She frowned, looking out the window. She could have had that. Had the multiverse never knocked, she could have been the headmare of the School of Friendship and shaped so many young minds to a brighter future. Now she was shepherding existence to a quite possibly dark future. Did she regret it? ...No, she decided. She might regret this whole war thing later, but she didn't regret leaving the School behind. It was fun, it meant a lot, but her life since then meant more. It was nice to know what could have been, but she had her own path. Still, she found herself thinking of that Starlight. She hadn't been that old when they found her universe, the serum had probably been invented long before she reached Granny Smith age... Wonder what she's doing now. ...And wait, was Luster her daughter...? Nova frowned. That was the standard future template, she really should know the answer. The fact that she didn't was mildly... amusing, really. With a chuckle, she downed her drink. On the other side of the multiverse, Flutterfree found herself looking at the stars of Equis Vitis, entranced by their natural beauty. Similar thoughts ran through her mind. ("You two aren't together?" the older Fluttershy asked, surprised. Flutterfree shook her head, glancing at the other Fluttershy's Discord. "It's just not how things turned out. I understand it's very common, and I'm happy for you, but it just wasn't us." "I'm... well, I..." she seemed conflicted. "It's okay, I'm sure you're happy. Very happy. But that's not where I wanted to go." "What about him?" Flutterfree frowned. "I... I never asked...) Flutterfree sighed. She did later. ("...So you're bothered that your furthest future self ended up with a handsome draconequus?" Discord smirked. "Not exactly bothered, just... uncertain. That's not where we're going, is it?" "Please, me, feeling physical attraction to something without limbs from different animals? Perish the thought!" "Pretty sure it doesn't require physical attraction, Discord." Discord slapped his face and groaned. "Look, I've got my chaos and games, you've got that book of yours. We're fine. Don't turn this into a complex." She didn't.) Glancing at the Bible she kept on her nightstand, she couldn't help but wonder if it drove him away. He knew what it asked of her. Maybe he didn't want to be trapped in that? Why had she never asked him? She couldn't, anymore. He was stuck in a capture device on the other side of the multiverse. Now it was too late. Pinkie sat in front of Discord's capture device. She couldn't exactly say she was looking at it, but she was aware of it. Not that she was thinking about it. She, too, was thinking of the past. ("Ohmygosh!" Pinkie shouted, picking up the yellow colt. "You're so CUTE!" "He is, isn't he?" the elder Pinkie cheered. "Lil Cheese is the best!" "Is that Boneless Six?" "It is!" "Cheese will never run out of Bonelesses." "NEVER.") What had even happened to her Cheese Sandwich? He opened that party factory, left to go spend time making parties for everypony, and... then he kinda just vanished into the background. Pinkie didn't think about him much, anymore. She didn't think much about stallions at all anymore. Unlike a lot of her adventuring companions, she couldn't really say she'd had many flings, either. If she went to ask Nova, the unicorn could probably tell a dozen stories of bizarre romantic antics that went nowhere. Vriska too. "Guess this Pinkie just doesn't have the romance genes, nosiree!" But kids... She kinda did want kids, now that she thought about it. Lil Cheese was just so... so... cheesy. Adorable. Precious. And... "Maybe after the Tower's gone," Pinkie said, a smile coming to her face. "And I can raise them... without any fear. Or, well, with the normal amount of fear, not the 'OH NO THEY'RE GOING TO BE USED IN SOME KIND OF EVIL PLOT' fear." Back on the other side of the multiverse, there was a lot of fear. Renee was staring at a letter she was composing. A letter to Daniel, to Allure, to all the others... explaining why she was going to leave them. Maybe it wasn't really an explanation, just a splash of emotional words on paper, but... ...It should get the point across. ("No stallions in your life at all?" Renee asked her older self. "Oh, there have been plenty of flings, but nothing really stuck." Rarity tossed her mane back. "I'm married to the job, you could say." "Fashion designer?" "Oh, well, I still do that, but I'm more of a diplomat and relations manager these days. Even did some exploration myself in the old days, like you're doing now! But the boutiques manage themselves, and fashion has gotten far too expansive for me to tackle alone and help run Equestria. But you'd be surprised how much the right frock can change the way the diamond dogs see you." "Maybe I'll end up like you. Managing everything.") Renee glanced at a mirror. She didn't have the gray streak that Rarity did, but she couldn't ignore the similarities in their lives. Renee, Overhead of Expeditions, manager of explorers and heroes... she'd married a man who could work with her. The job really had been everything to them, hadn't it? ...But she wasn't that Rarity. Not entirely. There was a point where the job just asked too much. And she had reached it. She knew Allure wouldn't understand, but she hoped anyway. Allure was getting angrier at everything in existence by the minute. Even the past. (Suzie was going on and on about wanting to be a teacher just like their older self. Allure couldn't see it. She'd done tutoring at the School of Friendship, and it had been... good. But not so great she wanted to spend her entire life there. There was a massive disconnect between her 'future self' and herself. Standing in front of a classroom? She had wanted to get out of that space, not go back in. She was a Crusader. And she was going to do something great with destiny. "You look like you're full of ideas," the older Sweetie said. "You bet!" Allure said. "I have tons...") "Shoulda just become the teacher," Allure grumbled. "Would have made life a lot simpler." Her leader, Evening, was spending the night thinking about how life is never simple, no matter who you are or how far along in life you are. ("You're big," Charter-Princess Twilight Sparkle observed. The Princess of Equis Fruition smiled warmly. "And you seem to be growing into your own nicely." The Charter chuckled. "So, they let you have the throne alone?" "Technically Cadence is my equal, but in truth I manage most everything through my friends. Though if you want to get specific, Rarity does the real heavy lifting. That mare was built for politics." "She is? I'll have to keep that in mind when we get to where we're going!" "Which is?" "The alliance is coming together," the Charter beamed. "Something great is going to come of it. I can feel it." "I can feel it too," the Princess admitted. "Your path is different than mine." "But my friends will be with me through it all, just like yours are." The Princess chuckled. "Nothing could tear you apart. Trust me, I know.") "Except it did," Eve said, sighing. She had hopes they would reconcile after it was all over, but would there be anything left to reconcile over? Rainbow Dash was gone, she wasn't even Twilight, and Applejack was effectively not around anymore. "You were overly idealistic, Princess," Eve breathed, shaking her head. "Some things could tear us apart. Me. Corona. Deciding... I don't know." She glanced at a window, seeing her reflection. She looked like the Princess, now. A full head of mystic, sparkling hair. Longer legs, a sharp-pointed horn, and a more angular muzzle. She didn't wear the same regalia - hers was of Merodi Universalis - and the hearing devices stood out as a stark difference. But she was the Princess. The Overhead of Relations. The leader of preservation. "My path was different than yours," Eve said, setting her jaw. "You were right about that, at least." Her reflection had no response from the Princess. Eve's counterpart across the divide didn't have anything either. She sat in her bed, staring at the ceiling, trying not to cry. ("What do you mean you don't know what happened?" Corona asked. The Princess sighed. "I don't know what happened to our Sunset. I'm sorry." "How can you not know!?" "I... I'm sorry.") "What was my future?" Corona demanded. "What was I supposed to be?" The ceiling didn't answer. It couldn't. "Is this all there was...?" ~~~ In Merodi Universalis space, the world Equis Fruition sat. It had never been a major player in multiversal politics, but it had always shared a connection with the alliance. It had been one of the first worlds to join the nation after its official conception, enjoying a connection to something larger while still being largely concerned with internal affairs. The Princess of the world stood at the top of her castle in her Canterlot, looking at the sun. The multiverse may have been burning, but her world was as idyllic as ever. It had never engaged much with the Merodi military-industrial complex, so Equis Fruition provided little to the preservation war effort. They technically sided with Eve, but the war was a distant reality to them. Most creatures in the world continued life as if the message hadn't happened. There had even been a movement in much of Equestria to ignore Merodi news broadcasts of the war. The creatures wanted nothing to do with it. But the Princess knew better. Even if they weren't fighting, the result of the war was guaranteed to affect them. After all these centuries... the peace of her world seemed fragile. However, the fragility of the world was something they could face. Together. Every last one of her friends were still here. Today was one of their great friendship meetings. Everypony was there today. Pinkie, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Starlight, Discord, Spike... All of them were there. And the irony was, they were only able to be there because of Corona's little serum. They had been able to live more than a lifetime together. Even now, she didn't want to see it go. But she had the feeling she would have to. "Girls," the Princess said, turning to her old, old friends. Some of them were family. ...No, all of them were family at this point. Sisters. Brothers. "I love you all." Rainbow chuckled. "Careful. AJ might get jealous." Applejack rolled her eyes. "Dash..." "Heheh." "And we love you, darling," Rarity said, nuzzling the Princess' massive leg. "That won't change, for any of us, no matter what happens in this debacle." Fluttershy glided down from Discord's head. "No matter how many of us make it..." "No matter what chaos comes our way..." Discord snapped his fingers, creating an orange. "No matter what any of us might do..." Starlight added. "We will have been friends!" Pinkie cheered. "Friends for centuries! The Elements of Harmony, the Council of Friendship, the Ponies that Be, the Glue of Equestria, the..." Spike laughed. "I get it, we have a lot of titles." "And I can always make up new ones!" Pinkie's smile faltered. "Or... well, maybe not always..." "We can make new ones now," the Princess said, encasing her friends in her layered wings. "And we can relive old memories." A tear slid down her cheek. "You're right. All of you. No matter what happens... We are friends. The best of friends. And nothing, nothing, ever tore us apart." For they were true, true friends. 'Soft Target' By Trivena "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! ADVANCE AND DESTROY! DESTROY AND REJOICE!" The Message had been a source of jubilation, if such an emotion could be ascribed to genetically-engineered mutants permanently housed in armoured life-support systems. They had always been justified; all else was mere story, to do with as they pleased. And what pleased a Dalek was destruction of all that wasn't Dalek. No offers of alliance were accepted, and all such envoys exterminated on the spot; their travelling devices, naturally, were confiscated for study and replication. The only thing that held back the Dalek conquest of the multiverse was the Time Lords' dominance of their spheres, and now, their attention and resources were directed elsewhere. In untold thousands of universes, the Doctor - not the Travelling Doctor, but one far younger - held two wires in his hands. "Have I the right?" he almost whispered. "To destroy the Daleks?" the girl with him, a human by the name of Sarah Jane, asked. "You can't doubt it!" "Well, I do!" the Doctor retorted. "You see, some things could be better with the Daleks. Many future worlds will become allies because of the fear of the Daleks!" "It isn't like that!" Sarah Jane cried, incredulous. He looked at her seriously. "Well, the final responsibility is mine. And mine alone. You see, if someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you and told you that that child would grow up totally evil to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives... could you then kill that child?" This time, she hesitated, but: "We're talking about the Daleks, the most evil creatures ever invented. You must destroy them! You must complete your mission for the Time Lords!" The Doctor started to bring the wires closer to one another, but again he halted. "Do I have the right? Simply touch one wire against the other, and that's it? The Daleks cease to exist? Hundreds of millions of people, thousands of generations, can live without fear, in peace, and never even know the word 'Dalek'?" "Then why wait?" Sarah Jane urged. "If it was a disease or some sort of bacteria you were destroying, you wouldn't even hesitate!" "But if I kill, wipe out a whole intelligent life form, then I'd become like them. I'd be no better than the Daleks." That idea seemed to worry him even more. "Think of all the suffering there'll be if you don't do it!" Zap. John Egbert appeared in front of them. Wordlessly, he reached out a hand. A sudden wind whipped down the corridor, tearing the wires from the Doctor's startled grasp. John's blank gaze met the Doctor's, and the two wires connected. In a single explosion, repeated sequentially yet simultaneously across every universe, the Daleks ceased to have ever existed. - Dialogue from "Doctor Who: Genesis of the Daleks", by Terry Nation. 'Requiem for the Shadows' By Blaster M The rain poured down from the night sky, forming pools of water on the city streets, waterfalls down the rooftops, and rivers across the sidewalks. A stadium, roof closed, stood bright, lit with activity from the many people inside all the way to the security outside. Several dimensional jammers, located strategically around the city, would ensure no sudden translations. A fleet of ships parked in orbit would ensure no sudden invasions, and a reality anchor would ensure no sudden change in the universe. But this universe had a Void connection. While not entirely common in the USM, this world, one of many Earths still standing, saw interdimensional traffic frequently. As a medium magic world, ponies were sometimes seen mingling with the locals, but as a peaceful race, they were rarely paid any attention. For this mission, going incognito is a necessity. Just another Fluttershy, interested in preservation, wearing a hooded cloak to keep the rain off. Getting in was easy. Security, of course, checked for hidden devices, and even sealed magic. Not that it would matter for her. They didn't seal the Void. She, of course, didn't have anything on her at all, other than her cloak. While they required her to keep her hood folded, that too was part of the disguise. A Fluttershy, timidly staying out of sight in a crowd, was almost expected. And by playing the nervous card right, people could become very helpful. Sometimes, too helpful. After what happened on the Zarimare all those years ago, walking around bare always felt extremely uncomfortable to her. Talking to others, pony or otherwise, had been a struggle most Fluttershys learned to overcome, but not her. When piloting Titania, she always felt safe. She could interact. Ponies saw Titania, not her. Outside Titania, the world had always been overbearing. Judging. With the right directions, she disappeared behind the scenes, flipping her hood over her head and entering the labyrinth of backstage passages. Security was roaming every hall, clearly ready for anything. Knowing their routes and using her senses, she stayed out of sight, silently taking her position. The cameras, ever vigilant, would betray their users tonight. Magneta's shipboard AI had already taken care of it. They would see the cameras functioning normally, but they wouldn't see her on the feed. All that was left was to wait. Meanwhile, her friends did their jobs. If they timed it right, every local dimensional jammer would be destroyed at the same time. When that happened, she would strike and disappear. The hard part was staying still. Every Tenno had the same problem. Being a conduit to the Void was like holding a door shut to keep the floodwaters out. The floodwaters would always win. Using the energy provided by the Void was not an option. That was the secret. She didn't need to carry a weapon, because she was the weapon. The contract was a simple one. Get in, eliminate the target, and get out. Harmony rarely took assassination missions anymore, unless there was a very good reason. In this case, the target had recently gained a lot of support in the USM for the preservation movement. The problem was not supporting the opposing party-- it was swearing to eliminate the collapsers entirely. Usually, assassination targets were cut and dry villain types. Those who burnt down forests, kicked puppies, and killed innocent ponies. This target was practically an anti-villain. A family man, a hero of his story, and definitely loved by the preservationists. By their very slogan, they were saving lives by preventing the collapse, which would definitely cause a lot of death. The only reason she agreed to the contract was because this man would start a witch-hunt if he made it to the top. The Tenno were familiar with these things, having survived several wars for their very existence in their origin universes. So it would be. Eliminate one to save the lives of many, even though they may die anyway if the collapsers win. There he was. The target, escorted by high tech security. Shielded armor, plasma rifles, antimagic barrier. They had covered all of their bases. Crouching down, she vanished from sight entirely, phasing halfway out of reality. Translation wasn't possible yet, but the Void still leaked its power in. It was now or never. Riding a streak of energy, she passed through the escorts, and became physical again, landing on his head. With two quick motions, it was over. Crushed back, snapped spine, and caved in skull. Before another moment could pass, she disappeared again, riding sequential streaks of energy deeper into the hallways. With the report of the target's assassination, security rushed in, occupying every hallway, every room. Without the benefit of working cameras, they had to resort to other methods to find the assassin. Lifeform scans, energy spikes, and plain old visual sweeping. It didn't take long to find her entering a service room with a single window. When they kicked the door in, they found something else entirely: Titania. Crashing through the window, the mysterious, armor-suited flutterpony flew down to the street, a trail of broken glass and butterflies in her wake. The security guards in the room ran to the window, but before they could open fire, the room pulled back, as if a giant magnet had suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, slamming the guards together into an inseparable lump. Appearing from behind a parked vehicle, another armored pony retracted her forehoof behind cover, a galaxy of stars swirling inside her canopy-like helmet. The newcomer silently watched as Titania sprinted past, then jumped out to join in her escape. The two of them dashed across the street and into the alleys, the new pony raising her forehoof again, causing all the incoming plasma bolts to divert into another magnetic sphere behind them. The warframes remained silent as they ran, jumped, and glided through their escape path. They raced past two blockades before encountering any resistance. Over the comms link, a conversation continued unheard to the outside world. "Angel, you took out only the target, right?" Magneta asked. "Yes." Magneta glanced at the Rift Conduit on her frame's foreleg. The worn piece of gear allowed them to Translate their frames between universes that had a Void connection. While it greatly limited translatable universes, it guaranteed that they would be able to use their abilities in any universe they could translate to. But right now, they were stuck in this universe, as a red light on the Conduit indicated. "Why can't we Translate yet?" Magneta asked. "Sorry sugar, my target's too well protected. I need to return fire," Gala Gun responded. "Negative, Gala, hold your fire and keep evading. Everypony, converge on Gala Gun's target." Angel raised her foreleg at a soldier in front of them. He raised his gun to shoot, but it slipped out of his hand before he could fire. He then floated above eye level, suspended in the air as if gravity had decided to stop caring about him in particular. Rainboom called in next. "I'm two minutes out, one if I can fly above the rooftops." Magneta spun around in midair, throwing up another magnetic bubble behind them. "Negative, Rainboom. Stay in the alleys and out of sight. We'll make it." They rounded another corner, and four soldiers stood ready for them. Plasma bolts flew and the two frames dodged as best they could. Instinctively, Magneta raised her foreleg in a hoof-pump gesture, and a cylindrical wall of energy expanded out from her. It didn't hurt the soldiers, but it knocked out their shields while restoring hers and Titania's. "Angel, pacify." Another soldier floated into the air, and the remaining three were suddenly kicked out of the way by an armored pony with catlike claws instead of hooves. The frame's helmet looked more feline than equine, and it wore a color pattern that made it almost invisible against the city street. "Giulia! Don't kill them!" The newcomer joined their run to the objective. "It's pronounced Joo-lee-uh! Really, did you forget how to speak Old Equestrian this morning?" "Stand down Giulia, we're not turning this mission into a slaughterfest. No matter how much Valkyr wants it." Giulia pranced forward, while maintaining their blisteringly fast run. "They'll be fine, darling. I only knocked them down." The three frames crashed through a window, rapidly making their way through the building. Bullet holes lined the hallways, ceiling tiles, and floors. Gala had come through here, and whoever chased her had used regular bullets. Following the sound of automatic gunfire, they made their way down, towards what appeared to be a warehouse, the temporary site of the last working dimensional jammer. In front of the jammer stood a group of heroes. Heroes from Earth-AZ2. Standing nearest to the jammer was a bearded man in a tattered cloak, with a smoking gatling gun in place of his left arm. Death Gatling. Beside him was an armored man, wearing roller skates, a backpack battery, and wielding electric stun sticks. Lightning Genji. On the other side stood a black, robed ninja girl. Shadow Ring. In front of them was a young man wearing a basic jumpsuit, with hands ready to set the world ablaze. Blue Fire stood with righteous fury, ready to incinerate the evil before him. Everyone knew why they were here. Negotiation was off the table. Without skipping a beat, Angel readied her sniper rifle, aiming for the dimensional jammer. At the same time, Magneta put up a bubble between her and the heroes, while Giulia cried out in rage, hardening her shields. Gala Gun was still out of sight. In one lightning fast motion, Angel spun around, switching guns for Nikana before blocking a swing from Shadow Ring's Ninjato. The two leaped around the room, trading and evading sword swings at incredible speed. Magneta pulled out her Bo staff, and jumped into the air to avoid Lightning Genji's attack. She spun the staff in front of her, deflecting some of Death Gatling's bullets. Her trajectory brought her right behind the dimensional jammer, putting it between her and its defenders. Blue Fire let loose a bright stream of fire, hitting Giulia dead on. Once his attack was finished, the hallway was left glowing with heat, except for a Valkyr-shaped outline on the wall. Giulia, unharmed, raced forward. She lept over Blue Fire's next burst, and landed beside him, putting him between her and Death Gatling. Quickly, she headbutted Blue Fire, sending him flying into the dimensional jammer with a dong. Death Gatling, with a clear shot, opened fire, quickly eliminating Giulia's now-vulnerable shields as she leaped away. By the time she reached cover, her frame had dozens of bullet holes and moderate internal injuries showing through it. Death Gatling flanked her cover to finish the job. A streak of gold and black rammed into Death Gatling, knocking him across the room and into Blue Fire. Touching down, the griffon-like pegasus warframe quickly ran behind cover, and started healing Giulia and Gala. "Good to see you made it, Rainboom. Thought I was gonna lose Mesa tonight," Gala Gun stated on the radio. "Behind you!" Giulia interrupted. In that same instant, Rainboom flew straight up, just barely missing a swipe from Lightning Genji's stun rod. Doubling back, the two speedsters began a game of hit and run tag, Rainboom trying to disarm Genji while he tried to stun her. At first, her flight seemed to be an advantage, with Rainboom able to control the engagement. With an armored opponent however, and having to get within stunstick range to disarm, Genji's superior speed became the clear winner as he was able to connect several times, draining her substantial shielding. Rainboom swooped down one more time, flying in from behind to knock him down, but Genji predicted the feint and jammed his stun rod into her chest. The electrical surge stopped the warframe in its tracks, and she was left convulsing helplessly on the ground. Death Gatling stood up again, ready to put an end to this charade. Spinning his gun up, he took aim at Rainboom, still immobile from the stun rod. "Never fear, Disco is here!" A new voice shouted on the radio. Just before Gatling could fire, five warframes arrived, streaking up the hallway in a diamond formation on jet engine warhammers. The harlequin-like pony frames moved in perfect synchronicity, knocking the stunstick off of Rainboom and knocking Death Gatling's gun away from them at the same time. As Gatling's gun swung towards the jammer, he held fire, and used the momentum to spin around and take aim at the newcomers. Lightning Genji passed through two of the harlequins, revealing the fact that they were only holograms, holograms that became physical at will, knocking Genji into the air as he passed. Gala stood up from behind cover, rifle on her flank, and shot at the dimensional jammer several times, before ducking under cover again as another wall of bullets from Gatling arrived. While she watched the overhead battle between Angel and Shadow Ring, Giulia retrieved Magneta, bringing her behind cover. "That jammer is going to need something with more kick than bullets, dear," she stated over the radio, a plasma machine gun now attached to her flank. "I'll do the deed." Rainboom, now mobile again, continued to ward off Gatling and Genji alongside Disco, drawing their attention just long enough for Giulia to start firing. Her weapon fired slowly at first, but quickly ramped up its firing rate like a machine gun. Plastering the jammer with bright blue plasma bolts, it diverted the heroes' attention to her. Shadow Ring launched herself off the wall, down at Giulia. Just before impact, a Bo staff suddenly deflected her blade. Instantly, Shadow dove to the side, causing the pursuing Angel to crash into the ground. The shockwave from her landing was amplified by Void energy, sending everyone and everything immediately around her flying into the air. The momentary distraction was enough for Angel to pull out her large sniper rifle again. With five loud shots, the jammer finally broke down. Out of ammo, Angel swung her rifle to block Shadow Ring's sword one more time, before vanishing into the Void. The other five warframes also vanished, translating to different universes. ~~~ Equis-WFE, Team Harmony Dojo station, in orbit somewhere in Origin Celestia "Umbra" Lux, a young alicorn the size of a Cadence, solemnly stared outside the window of the space station. Her pastel mane and tail hung limp. She pressed her trembling forehoof against her reflection. As a commander, she needed to be strong, but ever since the Message, it was becoming a losing battle. "Umbra?" Twilight "Magneta" Sparkle, the youngest of the alicorns in Harmony, arrived with the rest of the team. A collection of close friends, hardened by battle, assembled in the observation room. Umbra turned around, quietly taking a seat. "My little ponies, my friends, I've been thinking... about our existence. About... what will happen to us." "What do you mean, sister?" Luna "Wraith" Lux asked with worry as she stood back up. "We've made it this far, together. All of us, still alive. But, no matter what happens, I worry that we will be forced apart in death." Magneta stood up. "Celestia! Don't talk like that! Please! The Tower-" "Has it out for my 'character'. I've been on the extranet too, and I've seen the counts. Celestias frequently suffer death, either by defeat, heroic sacrifice, a villainous turn, or straight-up assassination. Ka spares only my sister's life in most cases." "And they always start a speech just like this..." Wraith responded, growing concern in her eyes. "But we're not like most ponies. I would never turn against my friends. Nor you, my sister." Umbra looked out the window again. Her reflection stared back, Umbra amp shimmering in a ʊ shape around her horn. "My sister and I are one of the weakest of our 'characters'. We don't rule a nation, we can't move celestial bodies, and we're barely in our twenties, physically." Facing the team again, she continued. "We are all player characters in a living video game, turned to characters in a story. Gears in the machine, a force behind the scenes. Our entire lives have been defined by it. We're assassins. Fighters. Mercenaries. In our story, we are the heroes, but now that we've sided with USM's collapsers, our heroism is in question." Sweetie "Jenna" Belle stood up. "Why are we discussing this again? We've spent days talking this over!" "It's for their benefit." Pinkie "Disco" Pie pointed out, staring at a point over Umbra's shoulder. "They're watching? Now?!" "Eeyup." "No, no no no, we have to stop talking, right now!" Magneta cried, circling in front of the team to gather their attention. "Actually, we need to listen to what Umbra has to say," Applejack "Gala Gun" pointed out with a raised hoof. "But-" "Shush, sugar. Our CO is talking." Umbra continued. "I've been watching the major events of the multiverse as long as we have been able. I've noticed ka can subvert as many tropes as it plays straight. We may be sending death flags, but if the Tower wills, it may still show us mercy." Umbra approached Magneta, wrapping her neck over her friend in an equine hug. "We're all brothers and sisters here." Looking at Rainbow "Rainboom" Dash, she continued. "We're only 5 years apart in age, blessed and cursed to be as young and healthy as the day of the Zarimare accident. Our little brothers and sisters are forever foals. We've spent our entire lives fighting for ourselves, fighting for each other, and fighting for our world. We haven't truly lived." "I understand what you mean," Rarity "Giulia" Belle responded. "I once wanted to develop my hobby into a career, but we've spent all our time keeping Origin safe, or putting out other ponies' fires across the USM. Funny, now that we've chosen a side, the contracts have gone dry." A pony wearing a dark cloak with a hood spoke up delicately, her light yellow muzzle visible from within its shadow. "Ka doesn't want us to interfere any further." "Angel, are you saying the Tower only needed us once?" Rainboom asked. Umbra tapped the floor. "No. Our place in the multiverse has always been one behind the scenes. As the unseen help, we've survived because we don't officially exist. If we were not part of the multiverse, however, the story would still go the same way." Umbra flared her nostrils. "If anything, we exist for a joke. Remember my vacation?" "The one where you swore nothing would go wrong? And you tried to fight a ten-story tall death ray refrigerator without Equinox?" "I had three powerful heroes with me that day. We should have been able to stop the robot's rampage easily. But because they were Genos, Raven, and Worf, and I am Celestia, we were defeated. Because our characters are always defeated to show the enemy is stronger. Even if I were piloting Equinox, I still would have been sent back to the Void." Looking back out the window, she continued. "In terms of raw power, I am the weakest Celestia, the one that doesn't need to be an example, and yet, I was defeated by an enemy I am normally strong against. If the War ends in preservation, I will one day share the fate of my alternate selves, as ka wills, just to escalate the 'plot', as it were." Magneta, Wraith, and Councilor "Heartbreak" Cadenza approached the window, and sat beside her. "The four Alicorns will become three." "If the Collapse happens, none of us may survive. We know this. What is your game?" Angel asked. The alicorns turned to face their friends. "Since the multiverse no longer needs all of us, we will go on shore leave. Our time together may be coming to an end, so let's learn to live while we still can, and enjoy our restored homeworld, for once in our short lives. Dismissed." ~~~ The door whooshed open, revealing Gilda, the unique Zephyr Prime warframe. She walked into the large room, eyeless, pointed helmet sweeping left and right as she took the familiar sight in. All around the room were floating platforms, walls, stairs, and ramps, as well as active barriers, knee-high walls, and metal boxes. Streaking along the obstacle course, a pale blue warframe sailed over the ground in a blur, its copper leggings planted on a K-Drive. The hoverboard left a trail of exhaust behind it as it zoomed over, under, and around obstacles in a flash. It then leaped, performing a series of aerial tricks over a large chasm. Landing with a boardslide, the warframe stopped on the large platform beside Gilda, signalling the finish. The scoreboard, a floating hologram overlooking the course, updated with the new fastest time. The user "Hang10" jumped further ahead on the scoreboard. Rainboom leaped into existence, emerging from her warframe as if it were a portal. The other warframe did the same, and a young Scootaloo jumped into existence, her small form dwarfed by the frame's adult stature. "Hey kiddo, getting in some final rounds with Volt before we leave?" Rainboom asked, noting the scoreboard's top ten contestants. "Yeah, kinda feels weird leaving the Dojo. I mean, this is our home. We are taking the frames, right?" "Wouldn't be able to walk around for long if we didn't." Hang Ten flared her nostrils. "Can we really learn to live like civilians before we're gone? We've been fighting all our lives, and ... I'm not sure any of us know what to do." "Who says we're all gonna be gone?" "That whole speech about destiny and stuff that Umbra had earlier? The Message? Do you really think we'll still be around if the collapse wins?" Rainboom looked away, staring at the course floating in the distance. "Umbra is not the only one that may not live long under preservation. I looked at my own alternate selves some time back. What happens to Celestias, will happen to me, for similar reasons." Turning around, she faced Hang Ten again, gesturing with her wings. "Basically, I'm a front line fighter, always the one to rush in and crack heads first. Ponies like me tend to die first. If the preservation wins, I will one day be killed off just like that. Personally, I'll take that kind of death, as long as it's an honorable one. But if the collapse wins, I won't be doomed to that fate. Maybe we won't have to fight at all anymore." "But, one trillionth of a percent, Dash! That's a really small number! Do you honestly think any of us will be the lucky ones to survive? Most ponies don't even know us, and the few that did aren't around anymore!" Rainboom lowered her head. "I know, and that's why I'm here. It's been what, half a century or so since the multiverse opened to us? It's hard for me to think of you as mentally an adult, but I do, and I think it's time for you to fly." "What do you mean?" Rainboom put her wing over Hang Ten, guiding her over to Zephyr Prime. "It's time you fly Gilda." Hang Ten tensed up. "Rainbow Dash, you want me to fly Gilda? Is that even safe?" Memories of the times the others had tried flashed through her mind. It wasn't pretty. Gilda only allowed Rainboom in. Rainboom gave her a pat on the back. "You'll be fine, she'll agree to it, I'm sure. I've spent a lot of time with her, and I know she'll be okay with you flying her in my stead. Go on, Transfer in. I know you've flown Zephyrs before." Hang Ten, nervously at first, placed a forehoof on the warframe's black, armored chestplate, tracing its gilded edges. The armored exterior remained hard, still, unmoveable. Then, with a push, she fell into the frame, vanishing from reality as she Transferred into it. The chestplate remained solid, immobile. Memories of a time long past flashed before her eyes. Training with the Royal Guards, teaching Rainbow and her friends how to fight Griffon style, learning of the betrayal of the Kingdom, losing her loved ones to a mad pony, while forced to helplessly transform into a monster, forever stuck in anguish over the loss of her nest, her anguish a tool to be used to fight monsters. A loose collection of memories and emotions, forever a slave to the will of its wielder. More memories flashed by. A young filly selected to go with her parents, to colonize a brave new world. The jump accident, stranding the Zarimare 10-0 in the Void. Enduring years of the madness of the Void, and the loss of her family to the madness. Rescued by the Empire, only to be shunned as a corruption on the holy light of Equestria. A monster in pony form, forced to regularly expend energy from the Void, lest it burst out in deadly quantities, cursed with the unstoppable power from beyond. A monster, fit only to fight monsters, betrayed by those very rulers for the sake of 'purity'. A monster, manipulated to turn against the Empire for survival, forever a slave to her own existence. The two become one. A defender of the realm. A victim of circumstance and tyranny. A tortured soul, setting the world right the only way they know how. A warrior to fight for those who couldn't fight back. A warframe. "Hey, you okay in there?" Rainboom asked, waving to her. She nodded. Rainboom pointed back to Volt. "Okay if I borrow him?" She nodded again. Rainboom vanished, bringing Hang Ten's Volt to life. "How do you feel now?" she asked, over the comms. Hang Ten flexed her limbs, and spread her wings. "I feel... light, like I can just take off and fly forever. But, I also feel strong. Really strong. Am I reading this right? My shield capacity is insane!" "It is, Gilda is a very strong girl. Now let's go. I'll follow you while you fly around." Hang Ten took off, lifting into the air effortlessly. A normal Zephyr would have required considerably more work to stay aloft, as they were a lame imitation of the real warrior. All her life, she had lived with natural flight as an exhausting chore, be it her useless, stunted wings, or a Zephyr's shortcomings. Ditto for needing to fit archwings, an attachment that was really only meant for spaceflight. Gilda was flight as it was meant to be: natural. Mobility. Flight. Freedom. As long as she could fly, she was free. Rainboom ran slightly ahead, legs blurring from the extreme speed as she streaked past the obstacles on the ground. "If something happens to me, I want you to fly Gilda in my stead. Don't let her collect dust. Every day she flies is another day she lives." Hang Ten activated Tailwind, rocketing forward in the air like a missile. "I will honor her memory, and give her a good life, if that day comes." ~~~ Disco's personal quarters were an interesting mix of bright colors and dangerous weapons. Along one candy pink wall, several stasis lockers displayed a series of weapons and warframes. In the middle, a giant blue and maroon grenade launcher, designed like an old sailing ship cannon, hovered in the center, labelled as The Party Cannon. In the chamber beside it hovered a maroon, black and white warhammer with a jet engine in the head, labelled as The Vroomstick. Their custom colors matched the harlequin warframe Mirage, as it stood unmoving, vigilant in front of the lockers. Flanking the weapons, two more warframes hovered in stasis. Loki and Limbo. On the other side of the room, a straight-maned Pinkie "Disco" Pie stood in front of a full body mirror. She swished her mane left and right, while exaggerating a scowl in the mirror. Suddenly, her mane poofed into bouncy curls, and the scowl turned to a smile. Enthusiastically, she spoke. "Tomorrow, we go planetside for some R 'n R. Our days fighting in the multiverse are over." "The fighting is never over," replied her scowling, straight maned reflection. The cheerful Disco responded with a "pssch". "Don't be a party pooper, we helped tip the balance of power. The USM will be too focused on its own infighting now." The scowling Disco scolded her back. "Just like the Lotus taught us. Keep the opposing sides from becoming a landslide. But you know they will keep looking for us after that assassination." "He was the ringleader of a purge. The opposition reminds the people they would have been executed under his regime, and they'll forget about us while they continue infighting." "And what happens when they do find us? If we're not fighting at our best, we could be erased like the rest!" "You know we have enough reality anchors hidden around Origin, not to mention Tau and other systems, they'd have a hard time nuking our universe. As it is, we're almost isolated by the rift, thanks to the War. It'd be a waste to come all the way out here to hit a backwater universe." "And what if they do? Are you not afraid to die? Our story hasn't been told yet. If none of us survive, nopony will ever know we existed! Is that how you want to go?" "If it means I don't have to fight anymore, I welcome it. As long as we are tied to the Void, we can never truly live." Squaring up against her scowling reflection, Disco stared down the mirror. "Our bodies are stuck in anestrus, since that was the way we boarded the Zarimare. We've tried, but we can't have foals of our own. We're barren, stuck in the same biological age forever. I want my own family, dammit, and ka has decreed that I don't get to have one!" Disco looked down at her raised forehoof, glowing blue with Void energy, soon to unleash a blast of it at any moment. "This is the curse ka has put on us, in exchange for our immortality. We have to use our power, or we explode. We dream, stuffed inside the Sematic chambers, powering the warframes, or we fight, unleashing the destructive power of the Void directly." The straight maned Disco flared her nostrils, and levelled her head. Her mane suddenly poofed back up to its bouncy curls, and she stared into the mirror at a particular spot, looking right at the fourth wall in her room. "That one's for free," she chirped, winking at her reflection, before vanishing. The Mirage warframe teleported to the mirror at the same time, looking herself over. ~~~ Equis-WFE, The Washouts Dojo, somewhere else in the Origin system... Balls of energy orbited a unicorn hovering in the air. She floated just above the floor of the observation room, legs crossed, eyes closed, concentrating. Nothing outside the orbs mattered. Nothing inside needed attention. The faint sounds of the station hardware buzzing, whirring, ticking, beeping, or hissing didn't matter. Neither did the echoes of voices, the clashing weapons from the duelling rooms, nor the muffled gunshots from the firing ranges. The world was peaceful. "Starliiight! I can't figure this out!" A female voice shrieked from across the room, accentuated by the rattle of chains. A familiar voice that could never be ignored. Without opening her eyes, the unicorn answered. "Stick to illusions, Trixie. The Hoofdini trick isn't for you." The chains rattled again, accompanied by the thump of a head hitting wood. "But I know I can do this! Every other Trixie out there's done it!" The chains rattled again. "Eventually." "You're not every other Trixie. You're Illuminati, the dazzling assassin. You're not a showpony. You've been trying this for years, Lumi. Stop wasting your time." "I still need your help getting out of this!" "You have a horn, and you have the Void. Help yourself." "But I don't want to break another -" The station's intercom crackled to life. "All Tenno to the briefing room." Opening her eyes, Pulsar unfolded her legs, seamlessly touching down on the floor. "Don't be late," she growled, walking towards the exit. An upright coffin on the other side of the room shook and shuddered, before falling over and breaking apart, a blue unicorn wrapped in chains falling out. "Hey, wait for me!" she called out, repeatedly smacking her horn cap against the floor. Pulsar made her way through the hallways, joining the growing herd of ponies heading the same way. As they passed the garden room, the bamboo fountain rang a "doink," breaking up the sound of rhythmic marching. Soon, they arrived in the briefing room, as Illuminati appeared with a POMF behind Pulsar, wearing her starry dressage and hat. They took a seat amongst the herd of Tenno that constituted The Washouts. Most of them attended as their warframes, either too ashamed, or too close to bursting with Void energy, to be outside them. "Good, you're all here!" A unicorn Sunset Shimmer, known to them as Eternal Fusion, took the briefing stage. "Today is a momentous day for The Washouts! After many years of construction, trial, and error, the Dojo's Rift Rail is now ready!" Behind her, a holographic representation of the dojo highlighted the addition, a series of rails set vertically on the station's center spine. "Repurposed from the old Solar Rail, the Rift Rail will allow our entire Dojo to Translate into any universe connected by our Void! We are no longer separated by distance, we can join the War for existence directly!" The briefing room thundered as everyone stomped with applause. Fusion continued. "The other Dojos also have the technology now, and soon, we will all spread out to the multiverse beyond! Make sure all your planetside obligations are in order, Tenno. Tomorrow, we leave our beloved nest behind, to fight for our freedom!" One more round of applause. "If you want to stay planetside, I understand, and wish you well. Otherwise, be back by 0900 tomorrow. Dismissed!" The crowd of ponies made conversation as they started filing out. Judging by the energy, almost the entire herd of The Washouts would be coming. With all their eggs leaving in their own baskets, the ponies of Equis-WFE would now be able to operate on their own directly, instead of relying on preplanned secret contracts with the multiverse outside. It was time to push for Collapse, and free themselves from their story-- or truly die trying. Pulsar walked faster, catching up to a cloaked unicorn with a prominent goatee. "Hey, Kepler Kin." The pinto pony stopped and smiled back. "Starlight! I've been looking for you." Pulsar stopped, playfully stroking his beard. "You know I was meditating in the observation room, Sunburst. Why didn't you go there?" "I saw Lumi in there a-and thought you wanted-" "Wanted what?" Interrupted Lumi. "I was just practicing a new routine. The Illustrious Illuminati could have used your great wizardly help." Lumi stalked over to his other side, meeting his glance with a playful smirk. "Well, I-I-" "Think we should all play a round of Lunaro. All the work on the Rail is done, right? It's not like any of us have anything to do planetside." Pulsar smirked back at Lumi. Lumi tilted her nose up. "The Illustrious Illuminati could use a sports break." "Did somepony say Lunaro?" With a stiff breeze, Lightning "Maverick" Dust landed in front, facing Kepler Kin. "Winner gets a date with the Washouts Wonder Wizard!" "I'm not sure-" Maverick opened her wings, tilting them to display her primary feathers. "You know you like wings, Sunny." Maverick was suddenly lifted into the air by a turquoise, Void-tainted aura. "Let's not start this again," Pulsar exclaimed. "A few rounds of Lunaro is fine, hitting on Kepler Kin is not." Pulsar and Illuminati also rose, surrounded by auras of pure Void energy. Maverick stared down both of them, the pinions of her wings glowing with the same aura. "You're not married to him, either, but you constantly try for his attention. He's fair game, sisters." Then a golden yellow, Void-tainted aura lifted all four of them in the air, separating them. "Enough! We're not starting another round of horse opera, especially after last time!" Eternal Fusion, standing between them, narrowed her eyes at each of them in turn. "You want to play Lunaro so bad? Well, fine, I'll put together a team, and you'll get your game." Fusion locked eyes with Kepler Kin. "You're really out of practice with fighting, so you are going to keep playing until I think you're ready for field missions again." Fusion turned to the girls. "And you'll keep playing until he's ready to fight, got it?" The four nod. "Good, report to the Lunaro court in ten minutes. We'll do this all night if we have to!" ~~~ Planet Equis-WFE, in a remote forest by a lake... Four warframes laid back, lounging on exotic, pearl white beach chairs. While they could, and would, do it in the flesh, the past couple days had already used up all their 'outside time'. Over the comms, Umbra spoke up. "You know, I never thought a little vacation in the woods would calm the spirit like it has. It's a wonder we didn't think to do this before." Wraith replied next. "Tis a strange feeling, not wanting to murder everything. It's ... relaxing." Heartbreak responded. "And with friends, no doubt. To think, in another life, we could have been enemies, rival houses competing for a seat on the Council. That trend has been so thoroughly bucked it's in another universe." Magneta spoke up. "So true, Cadence. Even in academia things were competitive. Canterlot Academy was absolutely brutal with its infighting. I'm so glad that's far behind me. Me and the ponies that came with." Overhead, a dark figure shot across the sky. "Scootaloo must be having fun." Umbra looked past the flying warframe and into the sky. "I wonder how the other Tenno are doing." Wraith responded. "Last report I received, the Rift Rails on every Dojo are complete, and many have gone to join the fight for Collapse. Our Rift Rail is ready as well. If we have to leave, we can traverse the whole Dojo through the multiverse, wherever the Void touches." Umbra looked over the Rift Conduit on her warframe's foreleg, noting the ready status. "We're going to have to fight, aren't we?" "Verily, sister." "I'm actually okay with that, now." Magneta spoke up. "I think I'm fine with it, too. As long as we fight together. The Four Alicorns, friends forever." "Friends forever!" the other three replied, hoof-pumping the air together. 'That Little Cafe by the Way' By Sketchy The sharp chink of the man's armor echoed as he strode through the busy streets, towering over those he passed. The plating he wore was covered in sharp edges, interspersed with shallow lines glowing maroon red. Despite the jagged spikes of his armor, most passed him by without a glance. He dodged around a set of Pinkie Pies with a little too much ease and walked right past a few patrolling Sweetie Belles with little more than a short nod. He moved with purpose, his eyes focused straight ahead, steady footsteps causing most to move before his shadow touched their feet. A few twists and turns, a few side alleys, most following them would have been confused within the first couple of minutes. But he knew the city well by this point, he'd been around enough for that much. Despite that, the familiar sight of the little cafe still set his mind at ease. He paused for a moment, walking just past the door and looking towards the nearby window. He slipped off his helmet, letting it slowly disappear with a shink sound, as he peered into the window with a smirk. A small foal stared back, hooves pressed against the window with a wide grin. She pulled back, bouncing up and down as she ran to the door and threw it open. He stepped back and braced for impact, letting her slam into his arms with that famed earth pony strength. "You came!" She cried out happily, "I told mom you would, she didn't believe me. But I knew better!" She smirked, looking towards the counter at the far end of the room. The changeling at the counter shook her head in wry amusement, waving slightly before returning to filling out her orders. Cinnamon looked up with wide eyes. "So what happened? Did you go on another adventure?" He gave her a quick pat on the head, and slung her under an arm, ignoring her giggling. He waved to a few patrons inside as he made his way to a stool near the counter. A man in green overalls waved back, his brother in red a little too focused on the slice of cake in front of him to notice. "Hey there, the usual?" The changeling at the counter asked with a smile, gesturing over to a small plate stacked high with sweet rolls. He nodded quickly, grinning as it was slid over to him. She walked off as he placed Cinnamon on the stool next to him. He reached out a hand for a sweet roll, pulling back a second later at Cinnamon's pout. With a roll of his eyes he brought out a small tablet, placing it on the table. A few quick taps and a couple of flicks had Cinnamon absorbed in the sights and sounds of his latest adventure. Taking out a pad of paper, he got down to writing out the details for her. ~~~ The atmosphere in the cafe was tense. The dragonborn sat in a corner of the room, blank pages and crayons in front of him. Cinnamon sat on the other side, doodling away in her little coloring book. He felt a little childish, but it was nothing the other patrons hadn't been dragged into a time or two. Looking around, he could see a lot of gloomy faces and slumping forms. Considering what Corona had done, he wasn't surprised. Cinnamon seemed oblivious, but her mother was glancing at her with worry every so often. A dragon, much taller than the Dragonborn, was sitting at the counter. He was purple with green spikes. It had taken a while to get used to the dragons around here, but Spike was a decent sort. One of the only ones around here actually trying to be cheerful, too. The Dragonborn sighed, leaning back in his chair. Cinnamon looked up. "Everything okay?" He smiled at her, but it felt a little fake. He lifted a hand, tilting it back and forth in the universal gesture for so-so. Cinnamon frowned, putting down her crayons. "It's gonna be okay. Mommy told me that the Merodi will sort it out." She smiled at his confused look, leaning forward with her hooves on the table. "We're gonna be fine, there's no way they'll let anything bad happen." He looked at her a little sadly before letting out a small chuckle. He reached forward to ruffle her mane, ignoring her protests. He looked at her page with interest. She slid it around and pushed it towards him. "It's me and you, going on an adventure!" He pointed to another figure walking beside them. "Oh, her? That's Serena, your lady friend." She smiled happily, before noticing his shocked expression. "Oh, whoops. I don't think I was supposed to mention her." She rubbed the back of her head before pressing her hooves together nervously. "You won't say anything to her right?" He smiled wryly, cocking his head to the side. "Oh, you want to know how I know her?" she continued at his nod. "Ah, she comes in every now and then asking about you." She looked away for a moment. "I told her she didn't need to worry, that I'd take care of everything. But... I don't think she believed me." Looking up at him, her eyes widened. "She knows I'm gonna be a super strong adventurer one day right? You don't think that was the problem, do you?" He let out another chuckle, this one more genuine, before leaning forward and petting her head gently. A few scratches behind the ear and she wasn't even complaining. "Yeah, you're right," she said, a look of bliss on her face. "She's probably worried about nothing." He stood up, moving around the table to take a seat next to her. As she closed her eyes and let her head rest against the table, he looked out the window. There were no dark clouds in the sky, or ominous shouting voices. But he couldn't help but feel uneasy. He looked down at Cinnamon, and almost unconsciously returned the little smile she had on her face. Well, maybe it would be okay to have a little faith. ~~~ Large tremors shook the building from top to bottom, knocking most patrons onto the ground. Just barely keeping steady, the Dragonborn quickly scooped Cinnamon up and put his back to the wall, keeping a wary eye out for any signs of danger. Though the little shop seemed safe for the moment. A Pinkie Pie standing at the front of the counter bounced up and down in time with the tremors. Her face curled in a frown as she held her hat to her head. "It's always something around here," she said in a deadpan tone. Holding onto the front table, the owner looked over the room with an anxious smile. "I think this is a little more than the usual antics." She held tight until the tremors finally dispersed, slowly spreading out her magic field and lifting those who couldn't stand on their own off the ground. "Everyone alright?" she called out, paying careful attention to each patron. She looked over each and every one for any sign of injury, taking special care when she got to Cinnamon. Most called out an affirmative, though the man in red overalls was looking down at his ruined slice of cake in despair. The taller man in green overalls leaned down on one knee and carefully laid a hand on his shoulder, looking on with a half amused, half exasperated expression. His eyes darted around warily, shoulders tensed and ready for danger. "I'll take that as a yes, for now." She nodded in determination. "I need to go check the back, if anyone needs anything just give me a call." The dragonborn leaned down and did a more thorough examination of Cinnamon on his own. She giggled a little, dancing away. "Hey, I'm fine. Nothing an adventurer like me can't handle." She puffed out her chest and grinned, before looking around to see what the damage had been. Luckily, it wasn't much more than a few overturned tables. A boy in a green tunic was carefully moving about, shifting things back into place. Spike kept to the front, putting the stools back up. Most of the other patrons were either helping or sitting in place, unsure of what to do. Smashed glass was in large supply along with ruined food littering the floor. A few sparks of magic lit up from the back room, and the lights came on in full force before shutting back off. A light pulse echoed from the center of the room and the previously dirtied floor was made clean once again. Coming out from the back room, the owner held a selection of dishes in a green field of magic, slowly levitating them over to each patron. "Sorry for the inconvenience folks, not sure what's going on exactly, but that's no reason to let it ruin our day." She sat back down at the front and gave a warm smile, before turning to a nearby tablet and furiously tapping away at it in search of answers. Most drifted back to their respective tables, though a couple made their way out the door to find their own answers. "What do you think that was all about?" Cinnamon asked the Dragonborn with a curious head tilt. He just shrugged, unsure. One of his companions might know, he would ask them later. ~~~ The Dragonborn fell back against the fountain, armor making a dull thud as it hit the unyielding stone. Looking up, he could see lush green grass and children playing. All kinds and all species. It was a sight the dragonborn could appreciate more than most, though the worried expressions of the parents weren't as welcome. He looked up as a shadow fell across his body, cupping a hand over his eyes to block out the harsh sunlight. Slowly a figure came into focus: a young boy in a green tunic with a sword strapped to his back. He gave a quick wave, taking a seat beside the Dragonborn. Neither could talk in the conventional sense, but a bit of ka trickery from both of their worlds let them understand each other. Being on the other end of things was strange, but they could intuitively understand what the other was trying to say. It made for fast conversations, and very few misunderstandings. They spent some time trading information, asking about the weather, or how the people back home were doing. They had talked before on occasion, both of them regulars at the same cafe. Link in particular was worried about his home dimension and how undefended it was. On the other hand, the Dragonborn could understand, but was much less concerned. His dimension had many more godlike beings defending it, after all. The Nerevarine was the one handling the diplomatic work, he was just a powerful hero looking to help out. It was also a nice opportunity to see the sights of the multiverse, a place that could be difficult to get around in without connections. Link's princess did most of the talking for him too, so he hadn't had the opportunity to do much besides wander around himself. The Dragonborn leaned forward, letting out a quiet sigh. It was hard to not feel powerless in a game with such high stakes. He was used to taking action, running out into the thick of it and fighting. Sitting around and waiting really wasn't his style, and the idea that he couldn't do much this time kind of hurt. Link rested a hand on his shoulder, giving it a quick pat. He didn't do anything else aside from smile warmly before pulling away. The Dragonborn got the message, though. You aren't alone, we're all in this together. He couldn't help but return the smile. As young as he was, Link had a good head on his shoulders. Another shadow fell across him as he looked up once again, seeing Serena look down at him with a wry smile. "I thought I would find you here. Taking in the scenery? And you aren't doing it alone for once." She looked over to Link, who raised a hand to lightly wave at her. "Sorry about this, but we've got some business to discuss?" she asked, smiling awkwardly. Link simply shrugged, and waved her off, still wearing a kind smile. Serena beckoned the Dragonborn forward, and he stood up with long sigh. Taking one last glance around the park, he waved goodbye to Link and fell in step with Serena. "So, I guess you're wondering what's going on?" He nodded silently, looking straight ahead as they cut through the streets. "As far as power scaling goes, our people are useful but not game changing. A lot of the general abilities we have are great, but heroes are few and far between." She looked over the street, almost looking through the people they passed. "The Daedric Princes and the Nine Divines have little interest in the grander conflict as usual. There is some evidence of meddling though." He chuckled lightly. "Yes, I'm sure you're well used to that." She gave him a sideways glance. "I know you're the champion of a few of them, any luck there?" He shook his head, holding up his hand in a so and so motion. "So some of them will help a little, I'm guessing, but for the most part they really are staying out of things. They're at least not going to let just anyone destroy us, right?" He nodded, giving her a thumbs up. He grasped the sword at his side, looking at her questioningly. "Right now we're still on standby, not much is actually happening. Things are going to be heating up soon, though, and we're going to have to make a choice. We can head out to the front lines, stay home and defend our own realm..." She trailed off for a moment. "I'm pretty sure I know which side you want to fight for, so we don't have to discuss that right?" He gave her a firm nod, expression set. "I knew I could count on you. Once a hero always a hero right?" She gave him a warm smile. "Things are going to get scary soon, on a level we've never seen before. But we'll stick together, just like how it used to be, right?" He nodded, grasping her shoulder for a moment before pulling away. "I've also heard some unsettling things. We're not exactly high up enough to get everything first hand. But the Merodi are pretty transparent. You know Corona right? The one who sent out the message?" She sighed. "Turns out she's joined the side pushing collapse. Or, more accurately, she's decided to start her own faction." He grasped the hilt of his sword more tightly. Tensing. "We don't have much more time to make a decision." She looked him in the eyes. "What do you want to do?" ~~~ Cinnamon trotted through the streets, happily trailing after her mother. Times were dark, but it's not like Celestia City was in constant danger or anything. So, while her mother kept an eye on her, it wasn't as close as it probably should have been. Cinnamon took that opportunity to explore more of the stalls up close. There were all sorts of things to be found at the market, and the hustle and bustle hadn't really diminished with the latest developments in the war. She could buy all sorts of strange foods from different places, and technology was just as easy to find. If she wasn't so young she might have found all the variety a bit strange. But this was just another new place to her. She noticed him while looking over an assortment of gaudy hats, the Gem at the counter watching her impassively. She wheeled around with a grin, excited at the prospect of talking to one of her favourite friends. He would know where to find all the most interesting stuff, she was sure. He probably knew all the best stores for an aspiring adventurer too. She weaved through the people like a pro, quickly dodging the moving limbs in her way and avoiding the more dangerous looking ones. It was a bit of a struggle, but she managed to keep her friend in sight the whole way. He finally stopped at a stall full to the brim with crystals of every kind and variety she could think of. Each and every one was filled with a glowing inner light. The Dragonborn seemed to be chatting amiably with the stall owner like they were old friends, even if he didn't say a word. It was a little strange if you didn't know him, but Cinnamon was nonplussed. She trotted over to him without a word and just stood behind him quietly, a grin on her face. It took a few moments before the seller looked at her with a quizzical expression, turning his gaze to the dragonborn. The seller seemed very confused, but Cinnamon was blissfully unaware of that as she realized her game was up. Her friend turned around and she could see his brows creasing with concern as he immediately leaned down to see what was up. She took the opportunity to jump up and latch onto his shoulder, giggling all the while. He lifted her up after a moment, and she could practically see the wry grin as he turned around, waving the stall owner off. He picked up the crystals he'd been asking for, paid, and was quickly off. Cinnamon meanwhile, was looking around in awe now that she was up so high. She could tell he wanted to ask her something. "Mommy's getting ingredients for home, and a few other things." She tried to shrug her shoulders, but it was kind of awkward from where she sat. "It's pretty safe around here, she won't mind. You going to visit your lady friend?" The dragonborn might have been embarrassed if he wasn't made of sterner stuff. Though it was mostly down to the fact that she'd asked so innocently. He shrugged himself, causing her to let out another giggle. But she got the point, he had been off to see her, but it was a little late for that now. "So what are the crystals all about anyway?" she asked, peering over the side of his shoulder and into the bag filled with glowing gems. She reached out a hoof, tapping one gently. "They feel full of magic." He chuckled, tapping his sword with a hand. "Oooh, the enchantments?" She frowned for a moment. "I thought you couldn't get those kinda gems around here?" He waved a hand back and forth, pulling out his phone and tapping away at it for a moment. He lifted it up for her to see. "Oh, wow, already? That's great news!" She cried out with a happy smile. "I bet Mommy would like to help you celebrate." He twisted his head around a bit, raising his eyebrows. "She'll be fine," She tapped on his shoulder. "Nothing bad happens around here, I mean, there were a few fights a little while ago. But it's calmed down now." She looked at the ground for a moment. Expression falling. "Mommy almost got caught up in one actually, one of her friends is on the bad guys' side." He tilted his head slightly. "Well, I mean. That's what they are right?" she asked. "They wanna kill all those people and ponies." She raised her hooves into the air, voice a little too loud as a few eyes turned their way. Not all of them friendly. The Dragonborn kept out a sharp gaze, looking around for any sign of danger, but decided to let her continue talking. She'd already calmed down anyway. "I mean, if that happened, it might hurt my mommy. Or me! And I know I'd be sad if she wasn't around anymore. And she'd be sad if I wasn't around either. You can't be the good guys if you go around hurting ponies." She looked at him imploringly. "You think so too right?" He sighed, before nodding quietly. It wasn't like he didn't understand Corona's position, you couldn't always make the easy choice. But he couldn't help but feel like collapse was the easy choice. Maybe he'd been out of the game a bit too long, but this kind of thing should be a last resort. They could minimize the deaths, fix things. "You alright?" Cinnamon asked in worry. "You blanked out for a bit there." He looked up, gazing at the rooftops in the distance. He could hear Cinnamon clearly, but the noises around him were almost deafening. Coming from a barren land like Skyrim, where he was used to walking for miles completely alone... He felt uncomfortable. Regardless, he gave her a thumbs up, awkwardly twisting his hand around so she could see it. "Well, okay then," she said quietly. "Oh, hey look, there's Mommy! And it's your lady friend too!" He looked up with a start. Oh, she wasn't going to let this go any time soon was she? Judging by her smirk, he guessed not. ~~~ Spike idly picked at the bowl of gems in front of him, letting out a quiet sigh. "Everything alright?" the owner asked. "Yes? No... not exactly," he replied, looking up. "You know about what's happening right?" She gave him a wry smile and a nod. "Hard not to notice, and, you know," she tapped her strangely curved horn. "Yeah, it probably doesn't feel too good around here." He picked up a gem, and bit down on it thoughtfully. "I've been thinking about the issue a whole lot lately, kind of hard not to when you're as high up as me. A lot of the people around here don't worry so much, but you can see it in their eyes from time to time." He paused for a moment, pushing the bowl away and leaning onto the table. "Things were a lot simpler back when we didn't have the whole multiverse to deal with. I just had to worry about keeping Twilight in order, writing out and double or even triple checking the lists. We didn't even reorganize the library all that much. And now we've come to... this." He waved a claw dismissively and away from himself. "It's really affecting everyone, huh?" the owner asked, slinking over to a small box at the other end of the counter. "Everyone I know, the message was supposed to reach everyone after all. I'm sure you've heard a lot about it from the people who come through here." Spike sighed. "Even I'm doing it now." He paused for a moment. "What do you believe in, Coffee? Preservation or collapse?" Coffee took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. "You know, a lot of my customers have been asking me that question lately." She looked back at him, smiling as she slid the box across the table. "Guess I'm just that fun to talk to. Honestly? I don't think there is any right answer. But I think anything that requires us to... kill the people we care about is the wrong one." Spike looked at the little box curiously, before looking her in the eyes. "And all the deaths from time travel? The dark stuff hiding in the corners of the multiverse? I'm sure you've heard about some of the things we find out there." "I do hear things, but I also know these are the same questions you've been asking yourself right?" He looked at her quizzically and she simply tapped her horn again. "You're for preservation right?" "It's the right thing to do, isn't it?" "Depending on how you look at it." She smiled a little more weakly. "I'll do whatever I can for Cinnamon. But I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't like a friendlier multiverse for her to live in. We can work on it, but it's a big cycle right? Sometimes I worry that anything we do is just going to get buried in the sands of time." "We're working on it, though," Spike said, straightening up a bit. "Even if we don't last, we can have an effect on the people that come after. I mean... most of us weren't even expecting to still be around at this point. I was honestly afraid I was going to be the last one, but they're still around. Thanks to... Corona." His face fell at that point. Coffee furrowed her brows, leaning on the box. "You still care about her, don't you?" "Can't hide anything from you, can I?" He pulled back a moment, letting out a chuckle. "Promise you won't tell anyone?" "Cross my heart and hope to fly," she said, doing the motions. "You've heard about that?" "I think most of us have at this point, kind of hard not to get curious about our source material. My world's a bit different from the norm, but... well, you know." She smiled at him. "You knew her, I mean, before all this," she gestured a hoof vaguely. "Ah, I did, I wasn't her biggest fan at first, but..." Coffee opened the box as he continued talking, levitating a few sapphire cupcakes over to him. He paused to give out a thank you, barely breaking away from recounting the first time he met Sunset Shimmer. Before she was Corona. Times were a little darker these days, but as Spike left the shop, his heart felt lighter. ~~~ The night was cold, enough that Luigi was looking forward to the heating charms in the little cafe. His brother was a bit tied up with work at the moment, so he'd pick up some cake to go and maybe have a chat. It wasn't like the meetings would be over anytime soon. He had time. He shivered a little, looking around the empty streets. He couldn't help the chill creeping up his back, and it wasn't due to the cold. He'd always been a bit of a scaredy cat, he was always honest with himself about that. But there was just something about being by himself in a universe so very far away. He breathed a sigh of relief as he entered the cafe. He knew most of the people inside at least. Ka-curse or something else, a lot of hero types tended to gather here, which made it pretty easy to get along with everyone. His brother had also been dragging him here practically every chance they got. The cake was a little too good. The fact that there were different Celestia Endorsement Posters of the pastry should have been a warning sign. It was as warm as he'd hoped, and most chose to leave him to his own devices. He returned a few waves and a couple smiles, making his way to the front counter. The wave he gave Coffee was a little awkward, but he calmed down when she just gave him a smile. "The usual?" she asked. "If you don't mind." He couldn't help closing up a little, hunching in on himself. He tensed up a bit, squaring his shoulders before taking a seat at the counter. He felt a thrill of fear, but he was coping. "And something for your brother to go I'm guessing?" She smiled at him, keeping her distance, for which he was grateful. Luigi looked to the side, blushing a little. "Yes, the cream and strawberries one if you don't mind. He was quite impressed last time, and wanted to share some with Peach." "Ohoho, that good huh?" she said with a wink. "I'll get right on that then, be done before you know it. Same as last time?" he gave her a nod, and she trotted off to the back room. Luigi leaned back with a sigh. He was startled when a quiet voice spoke up. "Hey there, Luigi, get here alright?" Quickly looking to his side, Luigi spotted a wide brimmed hat. The face below was hidden in darkness, but for two glowing points of light. "Oh, hey there Vivi, how's everything going?" Luigi had been nervous when they first met, but Vivi really was a kindred spirit. "It's been alright so far," he sipped at a cup of hot chocolate. "I... feel a little strange that it was all solved so easily, but... I don't have to worry about stopping any more." Luigi looked at him with concern. "And you're okay with that?" he asked, leaning on the table and twisting around to better face Vivi. "I... I built it up as such a big thing in my head. I... got kind of consumed by it, before finally accepting that it was just how things are. That... that's how things were supposed to be." He looked down into his cup. "One day we just stop, not because we're sick or injured, but because it's our time. And there's a purpose to it. But what does it mean if it doesn't have to be that way?" Luigi looked down at the table. "Those are some pretty big questions to be asking yourself." He paused for a moment. "I don't think about it too much myself, me and my brother tend to be going on a big adventure, or just relaxing after one. We don't get much time to think about this sort of stuff." Luigi glanced at Vivi from out the corner of his eye. "But you know. Just because things are different now, doesn't mean it's different in a bad way." Vivi looked at him in question. Luigi looked straight ahead. "I'm kind of a scaredy cat, I'm not brave like my brother. Even with everything going on right now, I haven't been able to change that. I get frightened of my own shadow sometimes, I can't handle ghosts or the dark all that well, and those kinds of things are what I have to deal with a lot at home." He tapped the counter lightly, sighing. "I've faced a lot of my fears, and in the moment it's scary, but I'm still here." Luigi looked back at Vivi, a reassuring smile on his face. "You're braver than me you know, I'm sure you're going to be okay. Things like this always work out in the end." They sat in silence for a while. Coffee eventually came out from the back, setting a plate of mushroom pizza on the table, along with a wrapped box. Likely in deference to the mood, she merely shot them a smile and took a seat a little further away. The cafe was quiet at this time. Nothing but a quiet murmuring as people huddled together in small groups to talk. Vivi eventually spoke up once more. "Even with what's going on now? Preservation and... collapse?" Luigi took a deep breath. "Well, I know what my brother would say, or actually, what he would do. But I'll be honest. I'm scared, that's probably not strange for me. But it's the truth." He let his hand rest on the table. "A lot of us are right now, even if we don't want to admit it. I mean, it's the fate of every universe at stake. And most of us can't do that much to affect the outcome." Vivi nodded slowly. "My friends are doing what they can, but there aren't that many of us. Most of the people in our world are just average citizens. My... the others like me want to help, and they have powerful magic on their side. But we aren't invincible or anything." He hunched in on himself. "It's scary, I just learned that we don't have to... to die, and now everyone's going out there and risking their lives." Luigi wasn't sure what to say for a moment. He leaned forward and put his hands together, biting at his lip nervously. "Where I come from, things are pretty dangerous. But even dying isn't hard to avoid if you're careful. I do worry about my brother sometimes, there are a lot of dangers he has to face. I've worried for myself as well. But..." Luigi took a deep breath. "Sometimes there are things you have to do. Things that go beyond being a hero. Sometimes, even if you're scared, you need to press on and do what you feel is right." "Collapse... Preservation. I know that there are reasons people support both sides. But I couldn't support, and I don't think any of my friends, especially not my brother, could support collapse." He tugged at his cap in a nervous gesture. "So even if I'm scared, I'm gonna do what I can to make a difference. For everyone I care about." Vivi nodded, placing his cup on the table. "I... I think I understand. I'm scared too, it's a big place out there, and there's so much I don't know. But... I think it's important to do what I believe is right. I don't want my friends to get hurt." He twined his fingers together nervously. "If I have to go out there and face my own fears, I guess it's okay. And... I'll have my friends by my side, too." Luigi smiled, giving his shoulder a pat. "You'll make even more friends, I'm sure." He leaned down. "As scary as it is, there are a lot of good people around here." He looked behind Vivi, who turned to follow his gaze. More than a few people were standing behind them, a few had grins, and more than a couple had their thumbs up. Zidane was standing in the doorway, looking at him with a cocky smile, more of his friends standing outside the door. "We got your back Vivi," he thumped a fist against his chest. "We'll get through this just fine." ~~~ He paused at the door, looking back at Serena as she stood silent, supportive. "I know what you're thinking, this might be the last time we come here right?" She shook her head wryly. "You don't give yourself enough credit, sometimes." He chuckled, hand reaching for the door before it opened on its own. Luigi stood there looking a little nervous before he realized who it was. Cinnamon was standing behind him with wide eyes, her mother at her heels. He backed up a bit, and Luigi took a step forward, twisting around to stand beside him. The Dragonborn nodded in understanding, stepping away to let them have a quick chat. He couldn't help but catch a few snippets though. Seems Luigi needed to go quite suddenly, and was leaving a message for a friend of his. He shook himself from his reverie as Luigi walked past with a quick wave. He looked at little Cinnamon, Serena stepping up to talk with Coffee. He looked into her eyes as he crouched down to her level. "I guess you're going too, then?" she asked, nervously batting a hoof at the ground. "A lot of my friends have been saying goodbye lately... something big happened right? Mommy hasn't been letting me watch the news." He sighed, reaching out to ruffle her mane. She looked up at him with a slight glower, before sighing herself. "I get it, you've got big hero stuff to do, and I'm still just a little filly. I'd be... well I wouldn't be safe, and that would make Mommy sad." She looked to the side. "You might get hurt because of it, too." He smiled at her sadly, giving a short nod. He pulled his hand back after a couple scratches behind her ear. "Can you at least promise me, next time, if you're not going anywhere too dangerous. I can maybe come with you?" She blushed a little, staring at the ground. "I'll ask Mommy first you know, and maybe we could make a trip of it or something. I'd just... I'd really like to go on an adventure too. And I know it wouldn't be as cool if it was with anyone else." He looked at her for a moment, considering. Finally, after a few moments, he smiled warmly and gave her a thumbs up. "You really mean it?" she asked He nodded. He had made his decision. Powerful, powerless, what did it really matter? He knew in his heart the right choice, and he would do what he could to protect those he cared about. He would come back, and they would go on that adventure. Maybe even invite a few more of his friends to come along. Friendship was Magic right? He couldn't help but think there was something to that. He stood up, giving her a wink, before turning on his heel with a wave. He glanced back one final time, giving her a single sincere smile. He fell into step with Serena as they slowly disappeared into the crowd. Cinnamon looked up at her mom. "They're gonna be alright, right Mommy?" She looked up pleadingly. "Things will be okay little one, we just need to believe in them. It'll all turn out fine." Coffee pulled Cinnamon into a hug. "Everything's going to be just fine..." She trailed off as she closed her eyes, gently stroking Cinnamon's mane. 'Neither Fear Nor Favour' By Trivena The portrait was not a flattering one. Station legend had it that it had been commissioned at Commander Vimes' insistence, as a condition of his sitting for the grand ceremonial portrait that hung in the palace gallery. The ceremonial portrait itself, legend noted, had been non-negotiable. This painting, small and dirty-looking, rested on a wall in the commander's office at Pseudopolis Yard. The poses, even the scene itself, were entirely the product of the artist's imagination; iconographs hadn't existed then, so the portrait had been painted many years after the fact. The faces, though, they were as honest as the artist could make them. The subjects were three battered, tired men; for a few days more than sixty years ago, they had been the full complement of Ankh-Morpork's Night Watch. Sergeant Colon, a retired soldier; Corporal Nobbs, barely reformed from a childhood lived on the streets; and their captain, Vimes himself, career watchman with no prospects, and by his own admittance, drinking himself into an early grave. Sam Vimes the Younger, second Duke of Ankh and present Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, had grown up knowing the legend as fact. He remembered writing essays and studying textbooks while his mother, the formidable Lady Sybil, lovingly bullied his father into his despised fancy ceremonial ducal uniform. He remembered Commander Vimes arguing with the painter over the second portrait, until his mother quietly laid down the law: this is how it's going to be, and if you don't like it, we'll commission somebody else. And he remembered the day when, the second painting half-completed, old Uncle Fred hadn't turned up for his sitting; that day, his father had come very close to seeking solace in a bottle again. A grey-faced captain knocked at his open door, jolting the commander from his reminiscence. "Sam?" Reginald Shoe was nearly the only one left who still called him that; he'd put his foot down about Young Sam decades ago, on the grounds that he wasn't a lance-constable anymore. "The day shift just got in, and the night shift's almost finished their briefing." Sam pushed himself up from his desk with a sigh. "Thanks, Uncle Reg. We won't keep them waiting, then." The commander strode into the crowded muster room, Captain Shoe following behind. Nearly every watchman assigned to headquarters was there, day and night shifts both, in a room that had never been designed to hold them all. He didn't even need to thump the desk to get their attention; quiet spread quickly through the room as the men (and women, trolls, dwarfs, golems... there had even been a vampire, once, until she decided that politics suited her better) became aware of his presence. "Good evening, and day shift, thank you for waiting; I won't keep you long. I want to speak to all of you today." Commander Vimes took a breath, and began. "You all know that our great nation, the United States of the Multiverse, is at war. We're not here to take sides; if you feel the need to, the Watch isn't the place for you. Fighting to keep the multiverse together is a job for the military and the politicians; we are Watchmen, and every last man of us swore an oath when we joined, an oath to uphold the law and protect the innocent." Despite the modern electric lights, the night seemed to creep into the muster room, the corners growing darker as Vimes spoke. "Ninety years ago, there was a revolution. You won't find it in your history books; if you look up the twenty-fifth of May, all you'll find is the assassination of Lord Winding. It was swift, it was public, and it changed almost nothing, yet it's still remembered to this day; but to us, forgotten or not, the revolution is what was important. "As watchmen, it went to the very heart of what we stand for. The People's Republic of Treacle Mine Road stood for Truth, Justice, and basic rights and freedoms. The revolt was crushed quietly and overnight; seven good men died that night, most of them watchmen going about their duty." He nodded to Reg Shoe, who had been the other casualty; the zombie joined the Watch many years after his death. "And yet, even though the revolution failed, their spirit did not die with them. "Today, though the universe falls apart around us, we stand to uphold the ideals they died to protect. Let it never be said that a Watchman was afraid to die for the ideal he swore to defend." It was darker now, as though the night itself had crawled inside to join the watchmen. From the back, a voice interrupted. "I don't know about you poor sods, but I'd rather live for it." In the shadows behind them, in the darkest corner of the room, a match flared to life. A cigar-end glowed, and a figure stepped forth from the dark. The commander's jaw fell open in silent shock, and every watchman turned to see what he was staring at. The late Commander Sir Samuel Vimes blew out a cloud of cigar smoke, and smiled grimly at them all. "I never left you before," he declared, and as the shadows gave way to light once more, his words resounded throughout the room as if they were graven in stone. "And I'll be damned if I abandon you now." The crowd of watchmen rippled as each and every one of them saluted. Vimes returned it in acknowledgement, his smile widening into a genuine look of pride. "Did you think Old Stoneface would let his men face this alone?" the old Commander asked, watching backs straighten as he took another step forward to stand amongst them. "I'll be with you all the way." Amidst the clamour that broke out, the younger commander pulled himself together enough to dismiss the men, and as the watchmen poured out to the streets, some to their beat and some to their bed, Sir Samuel strode to the front of the room. Commander Vimes watched, transfixed; his father looked exactly as he remembered from his childhood, battered breastplate, cheap shoes and all; relaxed and in control, as though he knew that every man in the room knew that he was in charge. He even still had his policeman's walk, the comfortable swing that conserved energy and ate up the night. "Evening, son. You're looking well." Young Sam finally found his voice. "Dad?...How?" His father made a rueful grimace. "Every day, watchmen across the Sto Plains ask themselves 'what would Old Stoneface think? What would he say?'" The elder Vimes nodded towards the last of the night shift as they trickled out of the room. "They're good lads, Carrot and his boys taught you all well, but you couldn't have expected this to happen." He ground out his cigar in an ashtray that the commander knew for a fact hadn't been on the desk before. "Dad." "You know what I used to say about gods? There's no such thing as a god of watchmen, because watchmen are too bloody suspicious to believe in one?" Commander Sir Samuel Vimes let out a long breath, and his son suddenly understood. "We believe in you." And so the Watchmen went forth, with the darkness at their backs, the Law in their hands, and Justice by their side, to do their duty without fear or favour. To uphold the law, protect the innocent, and to keep the peace. Fabricati diem. ~~~ A long, long way away, and yet no distance at all, Azrael, the Death of Universes, stirred. Twin nebulae dimmed in His eyes as He focused His gaze on the Universal Clock; the longest hand, the universe hand, had not yet completed its circuit, and yet... He could no longer remember when everything would be again... 'Solar Waltz' By The Amusementist Ever since the discovery of Earth Stand and related worlds, the percentage of creatures who possessed Stands had increased markedly, and as such the chance of developing Stands with absurd powers rose markedly. Stands like U-Catastrophe, The World Over Heaven, and Seraphim stood high above most of the others, with abilities that could shake reality itself. By chance, one of these Stands developed outside the reaches of Merodi space, but much farther into the Q-Sphere. It resided in a universe much like a standard Earth - except that the whole planet was ruled by sentient foodstuffs. The Stand was a spaceship, as big as Celestia City in the early days of Merodi Universalis. The Stand appeared as four massive prongs with a large central sphere. Millions of lights glowed along each of the Stand's various surfaces, with the center glowing, telling of the Stand's power. Along one of the sides of the massive prongs the Stand's name was inscribed, written in softly glowing lights: Solar Waltz. On the outside, the Stand was sleek and seamless, made of dark grey metal with red and orange decals, seemingly impenetrable to outside attack. The inside was a different story entirely. Behind thick metal armor and the inner workings of the ship was a world that filled in the gaps. A spirit construct not unlike a fusion reactor occupied a quarter of the central sphere, providing power to the massive ship-Stand as it moved through the universe. Elsewhere, artificial skies and celestial bodies gazed down on races from as normal as humans to as exotic as beings made of starlight. Hundreds of different races called Solar Waltz home, with each of them having one thing in common. The universes they called home had been ravaged by the wars between the lesser Class 3s and Class 2s over The Message, and had sought refuge here. In fact, every single sentient being on Solar Waltz was a refugee - except for one: man who appeared young but was really of advanced age, one of the perks of the invulnerable Stand. Well, at least it would be until those in power made the choice. Destroy the multiverse, or keep it the way it is. Collapse or Preserve. The person the many beings on this ship simply called "the Captain" gave a deep sigh as he gazed out on the stars. His thoughts began to wander. Ever since obtaining Solar Waltz years before the Message, the Captain had used it to help as many universes as possible. He had used the ship as a gargantuan shield, defending a group of much smaller ships as they repaired their FTL drives. He had used it to eliminate a Class 3 which only wished to drain those lower than them of their resources, as a tax for protection from the Class 2s, and taken as many refugees onto his Stand as possible. And now, that was all he did. The Captain knew the end of the current multiverse was soon, perhaps as little as a meta-time year. He had felt the many vibrations caused by the usage of the Class 1 superweapons as they tore the multiverse apart, causing scars that might never heal. Except now, all the Class 1s were dead and the D-Sphere annihilated. Even as the multiverse collapsed on his head, he brought as many people as he could into the safety of Solar Waltz. Around the silently stargazing Stand user, holographic screens hovered, displaying information on the ship's internals and camera feeds from around his Stand. One screen held most of his attention, as it displayed a set of a few words and a large percentage. Ship Occupancy: 83%. He still had space for more refugees, so he would fill it. "Solar Waltz." A deep baritone voice came from The Captain's mouth. He had no need to speak to the Stand, for it was his very soul, but he did so anyway. "Set a course for the next damaged world, and prepare more living space." An affirmative beep echoed from within the room, and groans of metal began to resonate through the Stand as Solar Waltz began to change its shape to suit its master. Outside, the four prongs began to glow, dimly at first before they grew brighter and brighter. Lines of white energy arced from prong to prong before the fabric of space-time tore open before the massive ship, leading to the next universe. Slowly, the ship moved through the portal, heading to the next universe where it was needed. 'Black and White' By G. M. Blackjack You don't know who these men are. You aren't even completely sure they're men⁠--or even human--but you will no doubt imagine them as such. You don't know their names, and you won't. It doesn't really matter who they are, anyway. The conversation they are about to have was immensely common in the multiverse: held by many friends, colleagues, and even complete strangers as the Message and later the War for Existence dragged on. The Message asked a Question and requested a Choice. Collapse or preservation? The end of ka or the continuation of the status quo? Their conversation was by no means special or unusual, nor was any dramatic conclusion reached. Let's call them "White" and "Black" for simplicity's sake. "How can you support them?" White asked. "How can you condemn so many? Doesn't it weigh on your conscience at all?" "It's not that it doesn't," Black responded, sitting back in his chair with a stern frown on his face. "It's that my conscience screams at me to do something, and the collapse is the one that takes the least toll on me, mentally." "...How? You're supporting actions that actively kill... quadrillions of quadrillions!" "You want to play the numbers game?" Black leaned forward, counting off on his fingers. "The reports are in, confirmed from several sources. The collapse would kill so many fewer people than are killed every few years in the multiverse due to time rewrites alone. Think about that for a moment. The only difference between those deaths and the collapse is that they don't look overt, but really are." "The Celestialsapiens thought there was a way to preserve while ending time travel; I tend to think the greatest thinkers the multiverse has ever known were on to something." Black snorted. "Greatest thinkers?" "Well, they were standoffish, and too authoritative, and... that's not the point! The point is time travel could have been removed." "Maybe." "Maybe." White frowned. "Let's say you're right. Let's say time travel was dealt with. What about all the wannabe gods? Ka curses? Memory erasure?" "Hells?" "Yes, Hells, but those aren't my main point..." "Don't hide from them," White pushed. "Fine, Hells, thank you for strengthening my argument. Every last one of these things is a horrendous torment on existence, killing so many just because we like the idea of them in our story." "It's not confirmed that memory erasure is truly deadly." "It is often enough. They did tests on souls. Found out which ones were different before and after, with unique signatures. Rewrites, erasures, adjustments... they create new beings." "Assuming the Tower's definition of the soul is correct." "You're the one who wants preservation, aren't you of the mind the Tower's 'meaning' is the right one?" White shook his head. "The Tower is a 'human' construct, it can't always be right. It has to make mistakes on some things, and as far as we know the soul is just there to help it manage who's a 'character' and who isn't. Talk to anyone who's had their mind re-adjusted, even partially: they don't feel like different people." "Then what about alternate version replacements? They both exist at the same time, surely they're different." "Does it matter?" "Of course it matters!" Black put a hand to the bridge of his nose and sighed. "You need to know what's a person and what isn't to know what really causes death." "That is true," White admitted. "But, that also helps preservation. We don't know how much of that suffering is real." "Or even if souls are real at all or if morality can be defined..." "Exactly! Which is why we need the Tower!" "Do you not see your circular, inconsistent reasoning? First you say it may not matter, and then you speak as though the Tower provides what matters, meaning it does matter." White pressed his hands together. "I'm saying the Tower provides us a framework from which to work forward to... understand what should and shouldn't be. Which is why we should follow our conscience. A conscience that tells us not to kill untold billions with our own hands." "Again, after the collapse, all that mass death won't occur." "Are we certain? We just spoke about how, due to the Tower, there is a lot we can't know about a world without ka. What if, in the new world, it just... ends?" "How?" "Standard physics heat-death, let's say." "Did you even listen to Corona's Message?" Black shook his head. "There are so many ways to reverse Entropy in the universe, one is bound to survive in the New World. It may be largely standard physics, but it won't be mundane. So much magic and mixed powers from other realms will still exist. We'll be able to create a society from them more advanced and stable than any mundane world, jumping past whatever early dangers there may be." "All right, not Entropy, but what of all that magic? Surely something that can destroy an entire universe will exist." "Not this combination world. Anything that requires more universes to function will cease to be, and the world as a whole will be larger and more robust than any before it. No single attack could take it out." "According to models." "Yes. According to models." White shook his head. "That's assuming a lot of things we don't know. The Tower could be wrong, the Tower could be lying, and those models still allow for a chance of utter disaster." "So do yours." White frowned. "How do you mean?" "Think of it. The Preservation Ring changes just as much as a Collapse Ring, changing the multiverse permanently through the Tower. Connections could be made dangerous, universes could have their positions irrevocably altered, or you could just break something fundamental without realizing. It's the danger of using a Tower Ring." "You sound like you're arguing for non-interference." "Not at all." Black pressed his hands together, narrowing his eyes in White's direction. "I say the risk is worth it, and I know you agree. Existence will never change if we aren't willing to step out on a branch and test it." White bit his lip. "I am uncertain... I believe there is more danger in the unknown future of the collapse than the continuation of preservation. Chances are high we continue on." "Continue on to what?" Black smirked. "True Infinity?" "What's so wrong with True Infinity?" "I don't know, absolute pain of all possible kinds happening an infinite number of times in all places? At least in the current way things are, pain is limited!" "And... that's besides the point, preservation doesn't create True Infinity." "It would eventually. How long do you think it'll take White Nettle to try and restart the Downstreamer Infinity Mechanisms with the Safeguard gone? And even if she fails, the multiverse will still have that back door. A truly endless supply of everything. I bet that thought makes you feel all soft and cuddly inside." White shuddered. "Not... really. The Tower provides us with a meaning. In infinity, there would be endlessly conflicting Towers, worlds where good and evil are exactly reversed, and--" "--and why do you place faith in the idea that the Tower has it right now?" "Why do you place faith in the idea that meaning can exist without the Tower? Gan and the Builders made it for a reason--because mundane existence is pointless!" "I don't know, a lot of the background people seem happy." "That's because they're supposed to be! It's a gift from the Tower to have a simple life without the complications of adventure. You just live in peace on your farm and never think of attaining anything else. It's beautiful." "It's a will-overriding ka-curse, that's what it is." White twitched. "The Flowers don't detect them as such." "Tell me when the Flowers publish their ka-glitch detection criteria and I'll believe the Tower's not using glitches as part of its own, larger story." "I... well, you do have a point there." White drummed his fingers on the table. "Still, ka is better than a 'mundane' life. We look at Earth to see a standard, presumably ka-less template, or the closest thing we have to such." "Too many inconsistencies and stupid stories in Earth history for my taste but... I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here and let you have that. How is what we have now better than that?" "Think of it. Ka itself creates idyllic adventures and vast-scoping connectivity that doesn't exist on many earths. The problems inherent in humanity are often overlooked for the sake of friendship, interaction, and... true bonds." White smiled. "There may be a lot of death in ka, my friend, but there is also more life. So much more. Earth is simple, boring, with only one kind of person. Out here we have a myriad of races and beautiful worlds of all sorts, and we even have ka to ensure that the tendency of tribalism and racism doesn't stop those races from coming together!" "Do you really think we're so terrible that we'd try to fight everything different from us?" "Read your Earth history some time, it is one atrocity and genocide after another. You know, like what you're trying to do." Black frowned. "It is true that many exotic races simply won't be able to survive in the New World." "You'll lower not only the beauty and diversity of life, but also destroy so many cultures." "But all cultures in the history of the multiverse have been destroyed. Aside from Gan and his Tower, do we know of any societies before the Downstreamers? What about in the time between them and the rise of the Horrorterrors? Do we even know how much time was in there?" "No..." "So, there's my point. The collapse is still less damaging to cultures than the Tower itself." "But look at Earth. All societies there fall as well." "But they aren't forgotten. See China?" "China is an exception. What of Mesopotamia? The Tower can't seem to settle on what story to tell for them. It no doubt knows from extrapolation what the most likely outcome is, but the people of Earth simply told so many conflicting stories about it because they didn't know!" "Once again getting into what we don't know..." Black noted. "Yes. So much confusion. But you know what we do know?" "Enlighten me." "Heroes. The Tower may create evil, but it also creates heroes to face them. It creates more heroes than villains, because heroes often have friends and followers who fight beside them. Villains gain power, but heroes will always be there to face them. In a world without ka, heroes are not guaranteed to face evil, and yet evil will still exist." "I have more faith in humanity than that," Black retorted. "Even with all our psychological problems we still know how to band together and face difficulty." "Didn't help solving world hunger despite the main nations of Earth having more than enough money to do so." "Again, we'll have shortcuts in the new world. Technology and magic they couldn't have. We might even be able to cure death!" "The Tower--" Black cut him off. "The Tower makes sure everyone dies except that madman Flagg. Even true immortal deities fall with time, simply because death is dramatic. In the New World, we could use things more fundamental than immortality serums and find actual immortality without being struck down for something as dumb as 'hubris'." "But don't we need death? Death to counteract the life of existence? Without death we are not driven, our fears have no source..." "Death is the enemy, and it always has been. Do you want to die?" "...It has entered my mind, at times, that it would be nice to simply stop after a time. That I've done all I've come to do. I don't feel this now, of course, seeing as the world is about to change drastically... But there was a time I thought the end would be welcome." "So, you like the Nihilists then?" White gawked. "Goodness sakes, no! The ending of something that has been fulfilled is one thing, but there's only point if that ending happens within something ongoing! A story that continues, unending!" "I don't know, the Nihilists seemed to think that the ending of everything was the ultimate fulfillment..." "I am not a Nihilist! The destruction of everything is evil! I think the collapse is evil, what do you take me for, a hypocrite?" Black smirked. "Well, we're only human, so I'd think both of us are in one way or another." White sighed, sitting back down. "An ending of absurd, complete darkness doesn't make a good story. It makes a good enemy." "What does make a good story? Preservation?" "The continuation of all to a brighter, eternal future..." Black rolled his eyes. "I'll tell you what makes a better story. A story that gets to an ending. Preservation is just the status quo. The collapse gets us to a point where all stories end, allowing all us 'characters' to move out into the New World on our own with new decisions to be made that cannot be written about or read." "The collapse is too jarring to be satisfied. You're telling me you'd like a story that had an endless war of suffering and danger and, at the moment of climax, the story just stops and you never get to know anything about what happened?" "Well, there could be reconciliation or a twist before the war ends. What of preservation? What excuse do you have for an ending?" "I... Er..." "It's True Infinity, isn't it?" White sighed. "It might be. Or it might be the evolution of the multiverse into a new form, one that leads to a sequel." "...I guess." Black leaned back in his chair, thinking about where to go next. "I shouldn't care about what makes a good story, anyway, I should care about what's better. The death, suffering, and sorrow will be gone." "Death will still be a thing." "But we can conquer it. Who knows what else we can conquer with technology if permanent, unrestricted progress is allowed? And people will have their own will. They won't be created and forced into a path just to serve some plot." "That's not a bad thing." "Tell me, would you like to be a character in a porno?" "Er..." White blanked. "They act in unnatural ways only to feed the desires of an audience... and are debased in the most despicable of ways." "Okay, yes, in your world the overall quantity of suffering will go down. But you know what else will go down? Happiness. Hope. And Happy Endings." "Happy endings are unrealistic." "Exactly! In a world without ka, they don't happen. People don't get their lives fulfilled. Here, the very fabric of reality thrums with the meaning of fulfillment. And, who knows, after the Preservation we may be able to access the Tower and make more happy endings..." "What if your happy ending is to have conquered an evil empire? One with citizens created just to be evil and cast aside as mooks? Or an endless horde of sapient demons to be brutally killed for an adrenaline rush?" "It's unfortunate that those things happen... yes. But it is not us actively killing them in most cases. Someone has to take the fall for the violence, but I will not actively genocide those 'demons'. You would." "In hopes for a greater future. One with less death, we've been over this." "No, no I don't think we have." White stood up suddenly. "There's a difference between knowing mass death happens elsewhere in existence and causing it. I'm not blameless, I'm the guy standing on the street doing nothing. But actively causing the devastation? That's worse. By leagues. Your side is the textbook definition of well-intentioned extremism!" "So, it's a trolley problem, is it?" Black folded his arms. "Do you pull the lever to save five, but you'll kill one in the process?" "I..." "I'm pulling that lever. I see those people tied up to the track, all the future generations, and I want to save them." "But to do so you're causing intentional suffering. That's the point, the Tower is mindless and unintentional, the people to blame for its evils are long dead. You would be killing many now, with your hand--or at the very least supporting it. You're doing evil so that good may result!" "I..." Black frowned. "It's... more complicated than that. Both sides do evil. One of them has to be done. And this one is the route for betterment." "Do you really think most good, honest people would end up where you are right now? What kind of mind does it take to knowingly sacrifice yourself and virtually everyone you've ever known for the sake of some ideal?" "That's not fair!" "Everything's fair!" White closed his eyes. "Your family, your friends, your children. Not all of them support you." "No." "And in these times you'd protect them, knowing full well if you had your way, chances are all of them would be dead." "Just because they're going to die one day doesn't mean I should kill them now. I want them to live as long as possible in the best world. It's better that they live through this and make it to the collapse and..." Black had to take a moment to catch his breath. "They... they will die in the collapse. But if they die before then I will have failed as a human being." "...I'm sorry, but you've failed as a human being by condemning them to death. The rest of us, the majority of us, will keep our families safe." "How much of that is just self-preservation, huh? A deep, biological drive to live without any thought to the nuance of the situation! Do you have any idea how many people won't even have a discussion like ours? They'll just go 'welp, I'd like to live, and ain't no way anythin's gonna change my mind' like stubborn mules!" "Clearly, the only people who go for collapse have to corrupt their hearts to do so, and the only people who go for preservation are locked in biological traps and ka!" Black stared at White. "...I'm sorry, that's not..." "That's the most reasonable thing you've said all day," Black grunted, looking despondent. "...You know, if people would think, it'd be pretty easy to see that this war is a stupid idea. That neither of us are qualified for jack anything." White closed his eyes and sighed. "Nobody has the right to answer the question, then. We can't band together." "Or is it that we won't band together?" "I have no idea," White admitted. "All I know is which of the two extremes sound better, and that the middle ground has been cut out." "You could always join the non-interferers. I hear they've been turning a lot of churches lately." "You could too." "And risk ending up with a true preservation?" White smirked. "And why would I risk ending up with a hasty collapse?" "It wouldn't be all bad." "Perhaps not. But it removes too much of our life. Whatever it may bring, it's not worth the cost. I'm uncertain if it's worth it even if there wasn't mass death on the line. Is ka really that evil?" "It makes some people inherently more important than others. There is no such thing as equality with the Tower." Black furrowed his brow. "But even the most important couldn't get everyone to agree, so I don't know anymore." "The idea of the mediator... the path Nanoha wanted to take. The path the Seats tried to take until they were tricked into war." "The only path the Tower clearly doesn't want." Black shook his head. "It'd be great if we could just all stop the fighting and find the best possible way to satisfy the most people over the greatest amount of time? Phase the Tower out or something. I don't know." "I'd rather we simply alter the Tower's creation of ka." "And that's why we can't have nice things," Black chuckled bitterly. "Nobody, and I mean nobody, is willing to risk that coming to 'peace' means they will lose what they want to happen. Nobody in the history of ever is going to compromise to the opposite side if they think it's truly, completely evil." "Which we do." "Yep." "And that means we can't just leave it be. We're morally required to take action, for we believe one action is better than the others. Absolutely." "There aren't really any other options. The Nihilists are the enemy, the Mediators are hopelessly shunned by the Tower as 'boring', and the non-interference just doesn't want blood on their hands. Selfish little..." Black clenched his fists. White looked up, letting his body relax. "We're forced to make a tense, impossible moral choice between two extremes. Extremes that we don't know enough about. How many unknowns have we run across in this conversation? How many uncertainties?" "A lot. Too many. But we can't afford not to act, because we're not given that kind of time. The war rages outside now, and it's going to decide the fate of everything." "We aren't qualified to answer the question." "Hm?" "We. Every person in existence. We aren't qualified to answer the question. Nobody is, or ever has been. Nobody had the required knowledge and understanding and... sense of self to even ask the question." "So, what, it was evil to know it's possible to destroy the multiverse?" "I... I don't know." White grabbed his hair. "Once you know, what do you do?" "Corona did the best thing I can think of. Try to get everyone's input." "But if all of existence isn't qualified?! If..." White stopped short. "Would it have been right to simply erase the knowledge completely?" "No," Black said. "Either preservation or collapse is better. One of them has to have more good than the other. If the question is never asked, there's a coin flip we end up in a world with more evil just because some woman thought everything needed to stay hidden." "Then that's impossible. The entire multiverse doesn't have the ability to answer the question properly, but refusing to ask the question is wrong as well." "I think we've stumbled on why this is a moral dilemma," Black laughed bitterly. "The simple fact that there is such a question is... evil, I guess." "But it sure makes a good story." "Oh, you bet your bottom dollar it does." With a sigh, White stood up. "...I think that's enough for today. I have to go home and rethink everything. Again." "Same here. Same time tomorrow?" "We'll see if I don't sign up for the army by then." "You should. Fight for what you believe in. I will." "Joining up?" "Pretty sure I am. If I see you out there, I'm going to capture you right in the face." "I would have gone for the stomach, personally." "More amusing to watch you go head over heels." White chuckled. "Yes... I suppose it would be." He began to walk away. "Hey, bud?" "Yes?" "Take care of yourself, whatever you do. And whoever ends up winning." "You too." 'The Last Victory' By TheUnbalancedOne Along the edge of what was left of the D-Sphere, there was a Class 3 Society called The Path of Mastery. It was primarily interested in the pursuit of martial arts and spiritual power; leaving technology, science, and more practical matters to the more mundane populations of their society. They had long sought ways to reject ka's influence from their society, resulting in them having developed a number of esoteric techniques to avoid the spotlight as well as focusing most of their technological research towards limiting ka's attention on them. This led them to occasionally provoke The Flowers That Be deliberately to gain an opportunity to develop their own ka studies. Now, however, just after the calamity of most of the Seats going to war, there was only one universe left to The Path. It was a small universe, little more than a single, albeit visually large, chamber that was noted for being unusually stable. The last of The Path of Mastery's people now took shelter inside, waiting for the war to end. "Alert, dimensional stability deteriorating. Alert, ka filters offline," an artificial voice announced from the speakers built into the wall of the chamber designed to look like a cross between a monastery and an emergency bunker. The announcement caused a crowd of people from many different humanoid species to shift and murmur in discomfort, stopping only when a large man with a muscular build stepped up to a raised platform and clapped his hands together. The thunderous sound that echoed throughout the chamber drew all attention to himself. The man had a name, but like many of the highest ranking members of The Path of Mastery, he had learned one of the esoteric techniques created to prevent ka from simply revealing information with outsiders. So instead he will be referred to by the title Victory. Victory looked upon what was left of his people; all that remained from when those idiots who called themselves the Class 1 Societies reshaped the multiverse in their petty squabble over what to do about 'The Choice'. "People of The Path, I know you are all weary and frightened, and I cannot blame you for this. Over the last hour our society, our homes, and our very lives have been destroyed. We may be all that is left in this shelter, and even this is in danger as it begins to crumble." He paused for a moment to gauge their reactions, noting the fear that was so rarely expressed by his people was threatening to overcome their senses entirely if things continued as they had been. He raised his voice to ensure all present could hear him. "We must now leave this last piece of our home behind. With so many universes lost and our infrastructure in shambles we have only one possible destination that I know will be safe for you all. I must banish you all to the realm of our oldest foes, The Flowers That Be." Victory did not expect his people to let a statement like this go unchallenged, and he was pleased to see that several of them near the front looked ready to voice major objections. However, he could not afford to waste time addressing their challenges as he would have in a more stable time. With the slightest shift in his stance, he moved and was among them before they could react. With surprising grace and efficiency, he struck each of them in pressure points to knock them out. He then raised his voice once more. "I am the last Victory of our Society and I will not allow any of you to die, cowering in a crumbling shelter! You will seek asylum with the Flowers, you will carry the spirit of our civilization with you, and you will find a way to reconcile it with their ways." Somehow, the display of force combined with the demands prevented anybody from raising dissent. Victory felt relieved, even as he wondered if the Flowers were even bothering to watch this. It'd make it a lot easier to convince them this wasn't a half-assed attempt at invasion if they were expecting it. He dismissed those concerns to instruct his people in the optimal formation for the performance of a mass-banishment technique. Even with willing targets, banishing so many people at once through a forced connection to another universe would take everything he had, and he would take every scrap of efficiency to make it work. By the time he was ready to perform the banishment to save the last of his people, only a few minutes had passed since the alert sounded and the camera of ka had focused on them. In that time the outer walls of the chamber had already begun to warp and crumble. But Victory was ready to perform the final technique of his life as he melded his mind, his body, and his spirit together into a single point of focus before thrusting his palm out to unleash it all in a wall of spiritual energy. This launched the spirits of everyone else in the chamber along a forced connection to an inhabited universe within The Flowers' territory, dragging the bodies behind the spirits almost as an afterthought. The instant the technique ended and his people were gone, Victory collapsed to the ground as a lifeless husk, leaving the now empty universe to fall into the Sea of Infinite Possibility. 'The Polarized Nation' By VoidTemplar We, the People of the United States of the Multiverse hereby declare that in the course of human events it becomes necessary to take up the mantle of Washington, of Jefferson, and of Franklin and repudiate the onerous system enforced upon us by the Government. We hold these truths to be self-evident that the United States of the Multiverse in its current form has failed and that it falls to us, the people, to create a new better system, with liberty, justice and prosperity for all. Concordia Declaration of 236 "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of the Multiverse, and to the Republic for which it stands. One Nation, of Universes united, indivisible with liberty, justice and prosperity for all," Senators, almost all humans, said in unison as they stood before the Secretary and the officers, looking stiffly towards the Presiding Officer sitting at the dais. The gallery was filled with spectators, of a much more varied mix than the senators themselves. Ponies, gems, even a few eldritch abominations could be spotted sitting in the chairs. Some of the House Members had even made the trip into the gallery, even if there was a debate going on in the other Chamber. "Who's that blue unicorn with the Merodi badge?" Senator Johnston asked, pointing to that same unicorn in the gallery on the front row. It had barely been three months since he had been sworn into the Senate, being one of the newest senators, and from one of the newest universes to boot. "Arcane Gear, the Merodi Ambassador to this place," Senator Layton answered, barely hiding his displeasure from Johnston. "He's been here day and night, probably making sure we vote the right way lest they decide to take a shit on us," He continued, gesturing rudely at the unicorn. "Order. The debate is opened on the Authorization of Military Force against the Concordia Insurrection. The Chair recognizes the Senator from Concordia, Mr. McGrant," The Secretary said, voice booming over the chamber, carried by the speakers. "Mr. Secretary," McGrant began from the back of the Senate Chamber. "We are facing an internal crisis not seen since our founding universes' Civil Wars. The Concordia Insurrection claims to be the legitimate government of our great and free union, in total opposition to the Constitution and the values that it builds upon. Indeed, my home universe is the one gripped in insurrection." He gesticulated to a whiteboard to the side of him, showing a map of the USM and, centrally, Concordia's place in it. Red splodges dotted the map, all marked 'Rebel-controlled'. "In this cause, with insurrection gripping not just Concordia but so many other illustrious universes that have been part of the-" "Look, what the Senator says is bullshit," Layton interjected, then pointed an accusatory finger at the Merodi ambassador. "This is clearly the work of the Merodi or some other rabble who has instigated this." "The Senator from Maslina is out of order and will withdraw immediately," the Secretary said, clearly bored out of his mind with the proceedings. "No, I will not withdraw! I will speak truth to power, even if it is unpopular. Even if the establishment wants to silence me, I can and will stand up, even if it takes me talking on this mic around the clock until people see the light." "Mr. Layton of Maslina is skating on very thin ice!" the Secretary shouted out, causing some of the Senators in the room to share nervous looks with each other. "I advise him to withdraw, lest he be forced under Standing Order Number 24!" "Whatever you might say, what I say is the pure truth! We may be for preserving the multiverse, but we are Multicans first, and we will not take orders from some ponies." Several ponies in the gallery shifted uncomfortably at Layton's words.. "Mr. Layton of Maslina will leave the chamber immediately under Standing Order Number 24! Marshalls!" The Secretary shouted out, tone clearly irritated with Layton. From the left of the chamber, neatly dressed people, all armed with tasers emerged. They walked menacingly down the aisles, physically grabbing Layton and dragging him out. "I will not be cowed by some Secretary who does that! I say what my constituents, and the People think! I will not be subdued by the Establishment!" Layton went on as he was manhandled out of the chamber, despite his attempts to resist. Dust was kicked up, as the carpets and curtains were ruffled. "All you deplorabl-" That was the last Layton managed to say before an electric jolt struck through him and he went silent. "With this minor altercation out of the way, I believe that we need to get back on track. Mr. McGrant has the floor," the Secretary said. Faint thumps could be heard in the distance as McGrant rose again. Few noticed them. "Thank you, Mr. Secretary," McGrant began. "It is clear that we are starkly divided on the issue. And in this the problem lies, that we, the elected representatives of the people, do not want to reach out to the people and listen to them. And we keep on talking and talking to find a solution. Well I say to those who want to talk, go to Concordia and see what chaos is gripping my beloved home!" He gesticulated wildly as he spoke, then sat down calmly at the end of it. "The Chair recognizes the Senator from Discdew, Miss von Humpeding," the Secretary said. "The problem that we now face is that this body is deadlocked," von Humpeding began. "The Senate is split down the middle and those few votes, those few votes that could have swung it one way or another, those late Senators have themselves been the victim of the political polarization that has gripped this. Our nation is in the grip of extremists, who either seek socialism or seek the abolishment of our nation." As she spoke, she gestured between both sides of the chamber, and continued. "And I say, that the individuals from several universes are guilty of this. You have the Senator from Maslina who has been dragged out, you have the obstructionists opposite and then you have the extremists in this party. Powers above, we should look at the endemic problem, the very undemocratic nature of this body!" von Humpeding exclaimed, pointing directly to the Secretary. "Even then. Even then, you have the neglect of some of our most precious places, like this building. This place can be clearly be said to be crumbling under its own weight, from the sounds that this place makes. This thundering sound. And I will give way to my friend, the Senator from Elysium, Mr. Holden," she finished. "The Chair recognizes the Senator from Elysium, Mr. Holden," the Secretary said, immediately after. Von Humpeding had barely enough time to sit down before Holden rose from his seat. "Esteemed and distinguished Senators of the United States," Holden began. "I stand before you, not as a Senator of Elysium, but rather as the Orator of Elysium that I was known for before I came here. I come here to speak as a man clad in the most holy of duties, to serve others in defence of liberty, indeed in the defence of all existence. Never before has the United States in their multiversal existence been threatened this way, and we are standing here, in the Senate and deliberating when we should righteously go forth and restore other to this. But I will not let the United States be crucified for all to see when everything is at stake. But th-" Holden interrupted himself with a cough, and took a drink of a clear brown liquid to warm his throat. Arcane leaned towards another spectator. "Think that he will go on?" he asked. "Holden talks and talks and talks. Better settle in for a long while," the spectator, a man, no more than forty years of age answered. He turned to look at Arcane. "Say, been some time since I saw a diplomat here. What brings the ambassador to this place?" "I was sent here to make sure that all Preservation forces would stay strong. And if intervention is needed," Arcane said, tilting his head towards the senators. "For what it's worth, I think that they should get it over with. This is a system in collapse and even if Preservation wins out, this is the swan song of the Union," the spectator said, a depressing look on his face as he pulled out a newspaper. "You wouldn't be able to get me into the Merodi, could you?" "Don't know yet. I've been seeing a lot more societies pull themselves from the brink. Don't count them out just yet," Arcane said, tapping on his communicator. "As for your other question...I can pull some strings if you come to the embassy. Nothing other than that. Keep it quiet," Arcane continued, as he levitated a card over to the spectator. "I'll make sure of that." "I never got your name actually, besides, if you want to have me try and do something to help you get in." "Oh, my name? Titov. Mikhail Titov," Titov said, stretching out a hand. Arcane stuck his own hoof out, shaking on it. Holden kept on talking, even as some looked, or indeed listened elsewhere. "-ie down is not a solution, that will never be the verdict of the Multican people today, tomorrow and forever. So I say to all assembled, and to the House next door. You shall not press down upon the brow of the United States the crown of thorns. You shall not crucify the Union upon a cross of bureaucracy!" Holden said, even shouted out the last few words to the Chamber, seizing the attention of everyone in the Chamber. "Uhhh...Thank you, Senator Holden for your contribution. Senator Catalina of Concordia has the call," the Secretary said, communicator shaken out of his hand by Holden's oratory talents. Alexander rose to the occasion and talked. "I'll echo the statements made by my esteemed colleague in the Senate," Catalina began. "It is here that we stand at a crossroads. When that November, my beloved home state rose in rebellion, we watched idly by. We cannot do this now. We must be a force for good in the world. But good is not soft. Whenever the enemies of liberty and prosperity rise, they have chosen to classify themselves as enemies to the Union, and enemies to us. I feel I must make it clear to support a report, the report, the minority report on our Union. We must take all action to make sure that this insurrection is put down, even if it requires a universe bomb or a neutron bath. A Righteous Fury must sweep down and snuff this insurrection out," Catalina finished in a sharp, thunderous tone. "I'll take a few more inputs from the Senators assembled before we move on to the vote. Senator Jackson of Searit has the floor." "I thank my colleagues for their contributions to the debate," Jackson began, his powerful voice forgoing the need for a microphone. "However, I must say that they are all wrong. When I entered this Chamber fifty years ago, I saw a much different chamber. I saw people that cared about the direction of this country. Indeed, a lynch mob is coming to hang all of you gathered here, and I am undecided on whether to stick in here with you or to go out here and lead them. But I say. There is still time left to remedy this. We must share the prosperity that the Union has produced. We must make every man a king. With th-" "Can you hear that?" Arcane asked Titov. "What?" "The sounds from outside the chamber. They're getting stronger. Thump, thump, thump," Arcane said, tapping away on his communicator, messages running past his eyes, all saying the same thing. "I can hear them when you say it, yes. It's not rhythmic. It's more...steppe-like?" "I think it is time to leave. Think some major things are about to go down here," Arcane said, rising from his seat and began to head towards the door. He held the communicator up to his ear. "Central? Contact Lemon and Lavender. I think something is about to shake the alliance quite heavily soon." With that, Arcane left, Titov soon following after. A number of ponies, no doubt also Merodi citizens, also got up and left, trickling out of the chamber. And just as Holden didn't notice the gallery as he spoke, Jackson did not either. "For we have a problem. We have a wealth problem. We have a farm problem. We have a structural problem. The wealth has been concentrated. The money that is not in those hands would not even cover a thousandth of it. If you took that money that paid down the debts, you'd have barely made a dent. Even if you did that ten thousand times, it would only make a small chip of it. I urge people to support the Prosperity Change Program. I urge the Senators gathered to support it later today when it is up for the vote," Jackson's voice boomed through the chamber. "Senator Roland for Calisota has the floor," The Secretary quickly said. "Today, it is a time for choosing," Roland said. "The people in the insurrection find that this government, the government of the United States has no other power except what is lent to it by the sovereign people is an old idea, but it is an idea that we have moved away from. And the issue, the core issue of this is that we that we chose to trade liberty for security and we have lost both with this. Indeed, the most dangerous words in our language are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'. It is clear that the government has failed with its tactics in this. We must reach out and talk, reach out and reconcile with them. We have a rendezvous with fate itself. That the narrative wants to march us towards. We need to preserve our children in the multiverse, that we must safeguard every Multican, or we plunge ourselves into an eternity of darkness. I yield the floor." Murmurs went through the audience when he finished. "We only have a few minutes before the debate is to end. The Chair recognizes the Senator from Joel, Miss Countach." "Esteemed colleagues," Countach began. "Our Union is in crisis. We face an insurrection, and yet we are in this place talking and talking when we should be fighting on the frontlines for preserving our precious nation. It stinks to the high heavens of both unpatriotism and small-mindedness that they would rather attack those that seek a better life. I ask, has anyone actually read their declaration? It is plain to see. No, we need to move forward as a nation and ask for the help of our allies in the Merodi and other societies fighting for preservation to negotiate on our behalf." Shame! The shouts cried synchronically from the viewing gallery and some of the gathered senators. "I will not be cowed. Not by people who are on the wrong side of history. Not by people who seek my death. Not by people who point out the splinter in people's eyes, yet miss the beam in their own. Mr. Secretary. I commend this statement to the Senate." "The question is the Authorization of Military Force against the Concordia Insurrection. The clerk will call the roll," the Secretary said. The thunder outside the doors had become more and more prominent. Thump. Thump. Thump. The crackles and pops could also now be clearly heard by everyone inside the chamber. "Mr. Alexander of Clermont," the clerk called out. Aye "Mr. Alexander of Kartran." Aye The thunder grew ever stronger. Spread highly-pitched noises runged through the halls as Senators gave their vote. The sounds grew deeper and more spread around the Chamber. Boom! A dull explosion went through the Chamber, shaking the dust off the statues and the curtains. The great double doors, that had seen so many great orators and shakers, were shattered to pieces. Immediately after the explosion, dust kicked up. Splinters shot out from the shattered doors. From the hallways, rockets shot out and bombs were thrown in, sending debris flying. The rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in the air gave proof through the night that everyone needed as the cameras kept broadcasting. The Union was falling. People and creatures of all stripes and colors entered the chamber. Some were sporting crude armor and firearms or energy weapons. Others just held melee weapons, clubs, swords, knives, or even stones held in magic for the few unicorns. Bullets flew through the air. Senators fell one by one, taking a bullet or a sword, ending their service in one swoop. The Secretary was killed by a piece of debris falling upon him, shattering his skull. Jackson only momentarily avoided the first bullet shot at him, his military service kicking in. All for naught, as another rocket struck the table besides him, impaling him with splinters. But it is in these times that bravery shows. Von Humpeding, having seen numerous fights and riots, yet seemed in her physical prime, fought back with a ferocious tenacity, biting, clawing, striking her way through the masses. Thirty. Sixty. Ninety senators. All fell as the invaders streamed into the chamber. Some lucky ones managed to escape-- but most died. The Gallery didn't fare much better. A hail of bullets, calibers varying, mixed in with plasma bolts, ripped through the spectators, leaving bodies in their wake. Even von Humpeding was overwhelmed, every enemy she had cut down being replaced by five more. It became too much for her, and she bowed out, turning into a cloud of bats, fleeing before she herself became overwhelmed. More armed people streamed into the room, indiscriminately shooting senators and spectators alike. Debris lay strewn around the chamber, hunks of marble where majestic columns once stood barely a couple of minutes before. And yet, there was one structure mostly undamaged save for a few bullet holes in this. The dais, the seat of the Secretary and President stood as a lone majesty in all the death and destruction. A man neared it, the battle fatigues he wore standing out. Not the rag-tag of the rebels, this man had kept his attire in order. He ascended the stairs to the dais. He began speaking as the intruders trained the cameras on him. "This is a message to all of the Union. All who have stood for the oppression of the Multican people will be tried in the popular court right now. Under the Constitution of the Union, I am invoking the right to resist any oppressive government. We will not stand before a government wantonly and brazenly engraving a climate resistant to peaceful reform. As the Founding Fathers said, that doing that, will make violent revolution inevitable. So, as such, I proclaim the Second Republic of the United States of the Multiverse. All armed forces are to continue supporting Preservation, but they are also to engage and destroy traitors to the Union. Thank you, and may God Bless These United States." 'Broadcast' By Mal Masque Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a closed package with instructions not to be opened until given the correct authorization to do so. Welcome... to Night Vale. It has been three days since the broadcast that had revealed the meaning of existence reached our quiet little town. And yet the people of Night Vale still have no real idea what to make of this sudden proclamation. While the Sheriff's Secret Police continue to rule this as a mass psychic prank done by "those darn kids", several skeptics continue to hold a theory that yes, we indeed have learned that existence has been dictated by a Dark Tower in a field of eternal roses, treating our very lives as stories to follow a narrative. This has spurred a crisis of faith and identity in many citizens of Night Vale, before being swiftly reminded that such actions do not matter, as we already are pawns in an intricate web of intrigue and mystery dictated by countless vague, yet menacing government agents, all-powerful gods from beyond the Scrub Lands, and our very own City Council. When asked to comment on the matter during the recent press conference, the City Council had made the following proclamation: "What Tower? There's no Tower. Have you ever heard of a Tower? That's just stupid. You're stupid for believing that a Tower made by an ancient civilization that wanted to give meaning to life via a narrative is actually real. I mean whaaaaaaaaaat?" The City Council then proceeded to curse something about flags, remove one of the microphones from the podium, and began continuously punching it with their unified fist. This continued for the remainder of the press conference. More on the story as it continues to develop. And now, traffic. There is a man sitting on a bench upon a hill, overlooking a dead tree. He always sits upon this bench, this time of day. He stares at the tree down below, a gnarled black hand reaching up to the sky. There may have once been a reason he spent so much time watching this tree, but he has forgotten. So has the tree. So has the bench. So have you. There is a man sitting on a bench, upon a hill, overlooking a dead tree. And we do not know why. This has been traffic. Scientists continue to be absolutely baffled by the proclamation by the voice in the sky on the matter of our very existence. One such scientist, my wonderful and handsome husband Carlos, has been working tirelessly to formulate some scientific response to it. His charts are all over the living room, every time he comes up with something close, Carlos gets this big smile on his perfect face, waving his arms and saying "I think I've got it, Cecil! I think I've got it this time!". A few minutes later he comes back and I end up giving him a much needed comfort hug. This whole matter is definitely confusing, listeners, I just wish there was some solution so I could see my husband continuously smile instead of just having to deal with this on-off mood switch. And now, let's take a look at the community calendar. Sunday is Half-Off at Big Rico's Pizza, in which any patron who orders a large pizza will have fifty-percent of their body removed. Monday, the Church of the Smiling God will be hosting a backyard potluck barbeque and worship seminar, and has changed locations from Douglas Stansbury's house in Old Night Vale to the edge of Radon Canyon. Be sure to bring your RSVP card, and a small bag of human teeth! Tuesday gave up and is just going to stay in bed. Wednesday will be covering for Tuesday. Friday will be the exciting conclusion of the ongoing ethics and theology debate at Night Vale Community College: 'What day is Taco Day to be mandatory?'. Waivers will be prepared for all those seeking to attend. This has been the community calendar. Listeners, I'm being told by Intern Lucas in the booth that unexpected visitors have arrived in the studio. He is currently waving his arms in the booth, trying to get my attention. Now there are two men in the booth with him, a man who is not tall and a man who is not short. Lucas has now stopped wildly flailing, as the man who is not short just put a potato sack over his head. Lucas is now being dragged off, and the man who is not tall has his hands over the controls, while also gesturing for me to come hither. I'm going to get this resolved, this will be an opportune moment to take a look at the weather. Listeners, I have returned from my very lengthy and very... evocative meeting with the agents from the vague, yet menacing government agency. They have told me a great many things about the message that was broadcast throughout our fair town. We all know of the Great Glowing Coils of the Universe, how they weave about and form lines and x's in our stars and create are the foundations of our very reality. We know of the great and terrible Gods that have laid claim to our small town: The Glow Cloud (all hail), the Distant Prince and his Court, the Woman from Italy, even the Faceless Old Woman who lives in your home, we know of them all. We even knew of Huntokarr, the loving goddess who cared for a small town so much that she spared us from a fate that doomed all else left, even if time ceased to be in the process. The agents told me this, reminded me of it. They told me more, but I am forbidden from saying, for the safety of myself, my loved ones, and the town itself. They have permitted me to deliver this message to you, listeners. This very important message: no matter which side wins in the brewing war beyond the cosmos, the war that makes the Blood-Space Wars in the far-flung future look like a casual skirmish at a shopping mall, Night Vale will live on. Night Vale has always lived on. And we always will. On another note, I would also like to extend a message of condolences to the family of Intern Lucas, as he has been taken by the vague, yet menacing government agency for potential processing and summary execution for delaying government officials on important matters. He will be missed as a valuable member of the Night Vale Radio team, as will we miss the donuts he brought every morning to appease Station Management. Tune in next to the sound of a room filled with nothing but bees and a man running three spoons on a washboard. Good night, Night Vale. Good night. 'The Meaning of Redemption' By G. M. Blackjack Hell. The word means different things to different people. Punishment. Torment. Solitude. Life itself. And every myriad of creative interpretations in between. Some think it a literal aspect of existence, some think it's little more than a silly story. One of the many cruelties of the Dark Tower is that nothing is ever just a silly story. No matter what Hell actually is--whether it exists or not in some absolute sense, whether it truly is a place of eternal pain or nothing more than a place of continued, purposeless existence--the Tower has taken all of those ideas and turned them into reality thousands upon thousands of times over within the folds of the D-Sphere and its surrounding territories within the Cosmic Heavens. Hells exist where people are subject to constant, maximum pain at all times, going past their natural pain blockers to absolutely ensure they never get used to the suffering. There are Hells that are literal pits of fire, Hells with many circles of punishment, and Hells where the demons find pleasure in tormenting each person personally. Some are dark. Some are lonely. Some are crowded and filled with the worst of humanity. Some have society, some are anarchy. To most of these Hells, the events of the Message and the War for Existence were pointless to consider. What could they do, trapped as they were in an eternal punishment? What did it really change? In a few, it offered a chance at hope. Maybe they could be freed from the torment. Maybe the new world offered by the collapse would give them a new start... maybe... In one particular Hell, things were a little different. Unlike the majority of the planes of damnation, this one held within it a spark of hope, a story reaching for something far above what most dared. A dream living through the bustle of a tall, barely functioning hotel. Charlie, Princess of Hell, let out a scream of rage so intense her office desk burnt to cinders around her. No. All of my work can't lead to... nothing! There was a polite knock at her door. Dusting the soot off her clothes, Charlie forced a brilliant, rosy smile back onto her face that matched her blush stickers a lot more than the murderous scowl that reigned supreme not two seconds ago. "Come in!" She pressed her hands together in a manner as welcoming as she could imagine and did her best to pretend the fate of existence hadn't just run through her head. And that she hadn't just burned down her desk. That was a thing that didn't need to be discussed. The door slid open eerily, revealing her red colleague in the hotel business: a tall, menacing demon with a somehow amiable--albeit toothy--smile that dominated his features. When he spoke, it sounded as though everything came through an old, slightly-offset radio. "I think we'll have to cancel Halloween, my dear." "What? W-why would you say that, Alastor?" Charlie asked nervously. "Everything's fine, the hotel's still here, we've still got our mission, and nobody's rioting!" Something exploded two floors beneath them. "EVERY DEMON FOR THEMSELVES!" Alastor adjusted his monocle. "You certain?" "Positive," Charlie asserted. "AUGH! WHAT DOES LIFE EVEN MEAN!? AM I ALIVE!?" Alastor and Charlie stared at each other for a few moments in silence as the sounds below them continued to rise in intensity and brutality. "Okay fine we'll cancel Halloween," Charlie grumbled, trudging to the elevator. "And we'll... fix this." "Splendid! Here, you can use my microphone." Charlie grabbed it from him, grimace deepening as she contemplated it. "Chin up, princess! You are their hope, you've got to go down there with that splendid smile of yours and tell them everything's going to be alright! Be the 'hero' of the 'story'." "You just want to see me fail miserably." "Absolutely. That doesn't mean I'm lying." With a resigned sigh, Charlie pulled her shoulders back, straightened her posture, and put on a smile--not too large or comical, but what she hoped was a calming, serene smile. The elevator doors opened to the Hazbin Hotel lobby, currently filled with several demons lighting things on fire, screaming, panicking, or bouncing around laughing like the madmen they were. Charlie tapped the microphone and cleared her throat gently. Then she bared her teeth and screamed bloody murder into the microphone with a vocal intensity that came from pits of darkness few demons present had ever imagined. They all stared at their nice, adorable landlord with complete shock and disbelief. The mic's feedback was the only sound besides their concerned breathing. Charlie kept her smile warm and welcoming. "Now that I have your attention... as most of you are no doubt aware a message upsetting our very perceptions of reality has forced itself into our skulls!" She paused, trying to collect herself, unable to keep from giving off a slight vibe of uncertainty. "A lot of us are unsure what our lives even mean because of this... multiverse, this Tower, and this question about where we want to go. "I want you to know that none of you are alone in that. Look around at the faces of your fellow demons--they're just as angry and confused as you are! I'm just as angry and confused as you are! I..." She dropped her smile and took a breath. "I lashed out. When it hit me just... a minute ago, I don't even know, I felt like everything I'd done, everything we'd done, was completely worthless. Insignificant. Tiny. I mean, come on, there's a multiverse out there separate from Hell, Heaven, Earth, everything! And here we are just trying to be better people and lower the suffering... in a world where the 'story' is eternal damnation for sins. "But!" Charlie straightened her back and held a hand up high. "I don't think it's worthless! So what, we've yet to get a single soul to heaven--we're still here, together, living to be better people! Remember all the things we've done! All our celebrations, dinners, and the moments we shared. We never experienced this kind of life out there, in the rest of Hell! We're different and... and I think that's worth something! What we have here, it's beautiful. And no matter what some stupid message says, we'll stand together!" She jumped into the air and beamed at her demonic patrons. Outside, things exploded as Hell turned into a panicked warzone. Here, though, there was silence for a moment. One moment. "Fuck that, the world's about to collapse! End! I'm living while I still can!" "YEAH!" "What? No!" Charlie called, holding out her hand--but already the majority of the demons charged out of the hotel and into the streets of the Pentagram. "No, we're different, we need to stick together, we..." She fell to her knees, dropping Alastor's microphone as more and more demons ran out of the hotel. A few of them had the decency to look at her with sad expressions and say "sorry," but most of them didn't give her a second glance. All they'd needed was an excuse to go back to the way things were, and they took it. Taking the purpose of Hazbin Hotel with them... She broke when she saw the cat-like Husk walking out. "Husk..." Her receptionist sighed. "I'm not goin' to a bar, if that's what you're thinkin'." He chugged some of his signature cheap booze. "Goin' to see if anyone's actually gonna build that Collapse Ring thing." "But... it'd kill so many...!" "Yes. And then we might get out of Hell." He left without another word. Charlie's hands fell to the floor and tears started flowing from her face. It was all gone. A gray demon with an X over one of her eyes knelt down to Charlie's level. "Hey..." "Vaggie, it's... just don't." She hugged the demon anyway. "We're done... everything's done..." "...I don't think so," Vaggie said, directing Charlie's gaze to a demon who had stayed. A certain spider-like man in a pink suit with considerable chest fluff. "A-angel...?" Charlie said, eyes watering. "Eh, what am I gonna do, fuck off?" Angel rubbed the back of his head with two hands at once. "This dump is my home now, for better or worse. I'm not going to abandon you just because some bastards decide everything needs to explode in a climactic final showdown." Charlie let out a squeal and pulled Angel into a hug. "Oh thank you thank you thank you Angel you're the best!" "Took you that long to realize? Girl, you need to get that head of yours screwed on better." Charlie rolled her eyes. "Okay... okay, that's one. Anyone else...?" Her eyes landed on the only other demon in the room. Alastor. "...Why are you still here?" Charlie asked. "You've got your microphone back. I bet the world out there is more entertaining to your insatiable boredom now." "Quite the contrary," Alastor said. "I believe my place is here." He pointed his microphone at Charlie. "With the hero of our little story." "What...?" "There's a Tower out there that brings stories to life, my dear. What better story would there be than the princess of Hell itself bringing redemption to the lost and wayward? A good pick me up, feel-good story inserted into an image of darkness and damnation." He turned around, looking at the red, smoke-filled sky of Hell. "Oh, I'm not going anywhere. Whatever's about to happen... it's not going to happen in your old man's palace, or the labs of mad scientist demons, it's going to happen here. In this little hotel trying to do something impossible." He whirled around, fixing her with a psychotic grin. "And the impossible is where I plant my radio station." "You... you believe in the hotel!?" "I certainly believe some misguided soul would write a story where the irredeemable scum of the earth nonetheless find their way. So, if you want to put it into a simple word... yes, I believe you've finally convinced me." "The message convinced you," Vaggie deadpanned. "Details," Alastor said with a dismissive wave. "So... since we're all here..." Angel folded his arms. "What are we gonna do now?" Charlie's face broke out into a grin. "...I have an idea. Alastor, set up a radio, we're going to challenge channel 666 for some airtime!" "Bad idea," Vaggie grunted. "Excellent idea!" Alastor laughed. "Let's get started right away!" ~~~ Charlie tapped the microphone. Certain it was picking her up, she flicked a switch. "Good morning Hell! It's your host, the Princess of Hell, Charlie!" She paused while Alastor played a soft applause noise. "Here to bring you the latest on the chaos we call our afterlives and the mysterious circumstances of the Choice! I'm joined, as always, by the radio demon Alastor..." "Charmed as always to offer commentary on the delightful plight of everything that surrounds us!" "...this is Hazbin Radio!" Charlie waited for Alastor's little "theme song" sound effect to play. "Getting right into it today, the violence in the majority of the Pentagram has only gotten worse since our last broadcast." "I almost made the trip to see it myself!" "I'm surprised you didn't." "Well, as exciting as seeing repurposed Exterminator weapons might be, I don't have an erasure wish." "Heheh..." Charlie shook her head. "That's right, a cache of restored Exterminator weapons has been found. We don't know the details, but we do know that a push to Lucifer's Palace has begun and some are saying there's a chance of a successful... breach." "Don't you worry your pretty little head, Charlie, I'm sure Lucifer's got more tricks up his sleeve than some simple guards. Who knows what kind of crazy demons he's got in that basement of his? ...Aside from you, of course." "Heheh... Yeah that's part of what I'm afraid of but let's not talk about that!" Charlie cleared her throat. "Already the erasure count of demons has hit the hundreds as the push continues. Hundreds of homes have been wiped off the map and numerous 'dimension labs' have been demolished, ruining a lot of research that had been going toward opening a dimensional portal. This, sadly, includes the lab we had secretly been working with and referred to as 'Site 19' over the last few broadcasts..." "They were quite helpful while they lasted. Though their latest findings aren't as hopeful as Charlie has been talking it up." Charlie made sure to sigh audibly--she'd been told they were too quiet to hear a few days ago. "Yes... unfortunately, the last thing Site 19 was able to uncover before the explosion last night was a seeming law of dimensional travel through our universe. We are what is known as a 'black hole' universe. We can receive transmissions and portals can be opened to us, but without more advanced methods the reverse isn't true." "It seems as though Hell was designed this way, listeners!" Alastor stood up tall even though none of them could actually see him. "A world built to be a trap with only one entrance and no way out. But we know full well that those Exterminators come and go every year from their realm... I'd be very interested to see what happens at the next cleansing in a few weeks. Do you think any demon will be brave enough to try and force their way through that connection? Site 19 thought it was possible, as does my own research." "I wouldn't do it, personally." Charlie tapped a finger on the table. "It's just too dangerous to go up against them. And they must have gotten the Message as well--there's a decent chance they won't even come because they have to deal with that instead!" "We'll just wait and see, won't we?" "Depending on if the Seats can agree or not." Charlie shuffled the papers in front of her. "Which moves us to our next segment... Things Alastor's Dimensional Radio Picks Up." "My favorite!" "And everyone else's too, apparently," Charlie said, legitimately shocked at how many responses they had gotten to it over the last few days. It was new and crazy information, but Alastor's radio design had already been copied by the rest of Hell, it wasn't like they couldn't find this information themselves. But so many demons, even those not affiliated with the Hotel, wanted to hear it so much. "The biggest news is that the Seats discussions appear to be wrapping up, and not in a good way. The major powers of the multiverse have almost gone to war several times and last-minute gambits from those who want peace are all that's keeping it together." "They're never going to agree on anything," Alastor declared. "It's obvious. Even if they get a solid majority--which they have had, a few times--some aspects of their societies will hate the compromise and trigger a war of some kind or other that'll make the 'hellish' spat outside look like a garden party with fresh crumpets." "Well... I like Nanoha Takamachi's willingness to go the extra mile for the sake of peace and everyone's lives." "She's an idealist. Reminds me of someone." Charlie rolled her eyes. "Riiight... Anyway, beyond that, we did manage to receive word that Corona Shimmer will be receiving a trial and that her nation, Merodi Universalis, has sided with preservation. Not much else is known since we don't receive many of their transmissions around here." "They are going to fry that bacon-haired woman." "I think so, sadly..." Charlie shook her head. "She just wanted to give everyone a choice." "Quite foolish. What, did she just expect everyone to agree on a choice? She should have taken it upon herself to collapse everything and be done with it. But she just wasn't strong enough, was she?" "It takes strength to admit you don't have the right to do something." "Not all strength is smart, Charlie." "And not all smarts are good, Alastor!" Charlie took a break to calm herself. "Anyway... I know a lot of this is scary and that so much of what you all have attached to in this world has... fallen apart. But remember, Hazbin Hotel is always open to whoever wants to come! We are explicitly neutral in all Hell turf wars and will take either collapse or preservation supporters in. If you don't have a home, we have one for you--even if it is a little crowded." "See what I have seen. The little wars happening outside are little drops in the pond of existence. This Hotel is where the real magic of our story happens..." Alastor let out an ominous, low chuckle. "And now the weather!" Angel Dust burst into the room, strumming two guitars. "Woooooooooooaaaaaah~! I have a little thing to tell you all about me Deep inside I have a light that grows just like a tree There's a moment in us all where we know what we must be But I'm sitting here confusin' you with my glorious... CHEST FLOOF!" "What in the...?" Charlie said, legitimately baffled. "CHEST FLOOF! Stickin' out all effeminate! CHEST FLOOF! Signalin' the reprobate! CHEST FLOOF!" Angel performed a little guitar solo on both guitars at once and subsequently bowed. "...That was not the weather," Alastor observed. "The weather's always 'blood rain' or 'explosion front'," Angel said. "Figured your listeners needed some entertainment." Alastor thought about this for a moment. "The Weather containing songs instead of weather is an interesting and unexpected idea..." "I do still have to give the weather," Charlie pointed out. "Go right ahead, nothing's stopping you." "Right. Thanks, I guess, Angel Dust?" "Don't mention it." Angel strummed again. "Anyway... the blood rain intensity has increased sevenf--" The entire world shook. "Uh..." Charlie's pupils shrunk as she realized what that meant. "Listeners, I've got to go off air. Try to find somewhere safe." She flicked a switch. "Alastor?" Alastor was already running to the room where he kept his special radio--a skull with speakers where its eyes should be and all sorts of wires spiraling off it onto the floor, where a mixture of a pentagram and a spirograph were etched into the fabric. He checked the printing tape coming out of its back, quickly reading through the garbled mess and picking out the most important phrases. His smile vanished. Charlie had never seen that happen before. "What? What is it!?" Angel shouted, flailing his arms. "The Gods are destroying each other," Alastor said, taking a few steps back from the paper. "It'll consume us." "No..." Charlie said. "No... No, not again! We built all this we... we have to do something! We..." "Shit shit shit shit!" Angel started pulling his hair out. "Th--" He stopped when he saw what was happening out the window. Charlie couldn't blame him; the sight was too spectacular to look away from, no matter how destructive it was. The fabric of hell itself was coming apart as fractals of light mixed with darkness intertwined with the blood falling from the sky. Massive demon warships turned their weapons on the rifts only to be torn to shreds themselves, twisting into impossible shapes of unnatural materials that had no right to exist in this spiritual plane. I'm going to be erased, Charlie thought, watching as the fractals approached Hazbin Hotel. Everyone I've ever known is going to be erased. All this work... all for nothing. She wanted to look away, but couldn't. What was the point of this 'story?' The fractal rip approached her... and froze. "Well, it looks like you lot got yourselves in quite the pickle!" "Alastor...?" Charlie asked. Alastor smirked. "That wasn't me. But it was." "What...?" Alastor directed her attention to another Alastor standing in a dimensional portal wearing a blue suit rather than a red one. A dimensional portal. "While I do love examining all your bemused expressions, this temporal lock isn't going to last forever!" Blue Alastor tapped his scepter onto the ground. "Do I have your permission to evacuate as many demons from this Hell as our technology allows?" "YES! YES, HELL YES, DO IT PLEASE!" Angel whined, falling to his knees. "Lovely sentiment, but you're not the ruler of Hell." Blue Alastor pointed at Charlie. "This is yours." "But..." Charlie realized that the palace would have already been torn apart by the fractals. Don't think about that. "Yes. Take us out of here... Blue Alastor." Blue Alastor smirked. "Call me Alastar." "That won't be confusing at all!" Alastor remarked. "Why do you think I chose it?" Alastar laughed. The two of them shared a chaotic laugh. "Anyway, hold on to your limbs, this is going to hurt like nothing in Hell ever has." "Wait wh--" Angel was interrupted by Alastar pulling out a blue remote and pressing a single button. Then there was light. Searing, brilliant, holy light that made Charlie wish she could die, followed quickly by the thought that this light might actually kill her. Her truedemon body writhed and boiled in the intensity, screaming at its antithesis. The light was replaced with darkness. Charlie felt it restore her... but she also felt the part of it she kept at bay with her very life seep into her heart and her mind. The screams, the torture, and the urges to be done with it all and lay waste to everything she hated... With a pop, it was over. She was standing with Alastor, Alastar, and Angel Dust on a white platform. Alastar was holding a red sphere in his hands with a single, fractal-like crack along its edge... Is that...? "Yes it is," Alastar pocketed the sphere. "All of your Hell, little more than a marble." "We're out!?" Angel asked, looking himself over--surprised to find that he was still a spider-demon. "We're out! FUCK YEAH BABY, WE BROKE OUT OF HELL!" "And look at where we are!" Alastor laughed, placing a hand on Charlie's shoulder and pointing. "Still think our story meant nothing?" Charlie followed his finger... and her jaw dropped. A colorful, red and pink building rose before them, surrounded by fluffy white clouds. The windows were red, but not evilly so, and numerous dimensional portals opened around it every few seconds giving momentary glimpses into other worlds. At the top of the building, there was a sign. Hazbin Hotel. "It's amazing what you can do with some ingenuity and a dimensional device," Alastar said. "Come, I'll show you inside!" ~~~ It was even better on the inside. Her Hazbin had been underfunded, understaffed, and run down since the day she opened it. Sure, they'd made it home and had many good memories there, but sometimes the dreary disrepair got to her. This place was spotless. The soft, carpeted floors hadn't the slightest trace of dirt, the walls were almost like mirrors, and the furnishings were tastefully placed to give this Hazbin a lot of open space rather than a cluttered feel. There were a lot more than just demons wandering around here. In fact, if Charlie was a betting woman, she'd say that demons were the minority of the hotel's occupants. There were full-blown humans, pony-like creatures, wisps of energy, and even a few... angels. The last category would have made Charlie too scared to move had they not currently been talking to what looked a lot like a version of Angel Dust, except he lacked the chest floof and was dressed in what appeared to be a doctor's uniform. Catching sight of them, the spidery demon dismissed his angelic conversation partners and bounded over to them. "I see you've snagged a new batch, Lite Brite!" Alastar twirled his scepter in a bizarrely cheerful manner. "It appears I have, Doctor Dust!" "Doctor!?" Angel sputtered, gawking at himself. "You'd be surprised how much you learn about medicine and anatomy in the biz if you stop to think," Doctor Dust commented, placing an arm around his other self. "So they pay you to do th--" Alastar rammed his scepter into Angel's face. "No, they do not, and no, we cannot discuss further. We have a rating to maintain, after all!" "I knew it!" Alastor declared. "An outwardly-imposed filter on events to make them suitable for the audience at hand!" "Careful with that Awareness, wouldn't want it to bite your head off!" "I think you mean yours!" The two Alastors laughed, putting their arms around each other, all the while locking their menacing, dangerous gazes. "You two aren't going to try to kill each other, right?" Charlie asked. "Who the fuck cares!?" Angel shouted. "I want to know why I can't talk about fu--" Doctor Dust slapped a hand over his counterpart's face. "Don't you worry your pretty blue head any, I'll get this sleazy spider with the other Angels." "Probably for the best," Alastor admitted. "He would just interrupt a lot of otherwise important exchanges." "Wait!" Charlie called, putting a hand on Doctor Dust. "Are you...?" "Redeemed?" The Doctor smiled sadly. "Well, I say I am. Clean for decades and not working the streets like I assume this knucklehead is." "Hey!" Angel huffed. "It's a legitimate living!" "We need to get you into therapy. Don't worry, it works, trust me." "But you're still..." Charlie gestured at his demonic spidery-ness. "You'll probably want to talk to the boss lady about that one." He grabbed two of Angel's wrists and led him along. "Have fun, though!" "I... will," Charlie said, frowning. Suddenly she wasn't looking forward to meeting the 'boss lady'. She wasn't sure if she wanted it to be her or someone else. "She'll be waiting for us in the ice room," Alastar said, leading them into an elevator. "Ice room?" Charlie asked. "Where we keep all the frozen universe marbles until we have the time to heal them." Alastar took out the marble with her Hell in it. "Don't worry, I'll personally see to it that Vaggie and the others are removed post-haste, but introducing this overpopulated sphere into the Hotel all at once would be... problematic." "The chaos would be delicious, wouldn't it?" Alastor asked. Alastar laughed. "Charlie, my dear, do you think he's realized that I'm 'redeemed' yet?" "If he didn't before he does now..." Charlie nervously watched Alastor's expression for the next few moments, not sure exactly what to expect from him. His smile didn't falter. But the silence was deafening. Ding! "Here we are!" Alastar declared, walking out of the elevator and into a large, dark room filled with miles of shelving storing various universes compressed into marbles. "So many worlds to save, so little time..." He walked up to an empty shelf near the entrance and placed the orb down, marking it with a series of seemingly random numbers. "Now, she should be right... here!" Charlie saw two people. The first was a tall, graceful blue alicorn with stars in her mane and an orange-gold pendant around her neck with a 'u' symbol. Impressive, a goddess of the night sky if ever there was one. The other was the boss of the hotel. A Charlie who looked... exactly like Charlie herself did, except wearing an all-white suit with pointed shoulder pads. She wasn't even very tall, and that felt weird to Charlie for some reason. "Are you sure?" the alicorn was saying. "I'm sorry Overhead Jingle, but... the Hotel can't take on your volunteers right now." She twiddled her thumbs nervously. "We have to remain completely neutral in the War for Existence so we can help both sides and not make ourselves a target. If we use large quantity of Merodi volunteers instead of Hotel staff..." She shook her head. "I appreciate the thought, but we have to do this ourselves. You picked a side. We're not going to. We're going to help as many as we can who can't help themselves." Jingle nodded. "I understand. And... I applaud you for the strength none of us seem to have." She pulled out a dimensional device and left. "Take care of yourself, Cura." Charlie "Cura" waved back. "You too!" "...Why 'Cura'?" Charlie asked. Cura turned around, looking to her counterpart with an awkward smile. "W-well, you see, it's a name that means healing, but it also sounds like 'kira'. You know. 'Death'. I thought it was cute and meaningful or... something." Charlie's concern vanished instantly. "Like how a hotel is just for those... passin' through?" Cura rubbed the back of her head. "Yeeeeah we're plagued by cheesy names, aren't we?" "Yep!" Cura coughed in her hand, turning to Alastor. "If you try to burn this place to the ground I'll have Alastar here 'twist' you. I've never seen what 'twisting' means, but every Alastor I've told this to has suddenly started behaving, so I'm not questioning it. Do you understand?" Alastor's smile didn't falter. "Crystal!" "Good! Welcome to the Hotel, enjoy your stay! Alastar, soon as you're convinced he'll behave himself you can let him wander free and get back to work. Charlie..." Cura put a calming hand on her counterpart's shoulder. "Walk with me, we clearly need to have a talk." "We... do?" "Well, uh, if you don't want to..." "No, no I do!" "Dear hellish bells, you two are definitely both Charlie," Alastor chuckled. "Let's leave them to their neurosis, my blue friend." "Right this way..." The Charlies were left alone for a moment. "We can probably turn him around, don't worry," Cura said, walking down the lines and lines of universe marbles. "So... questions?" "How big is this place? How many do you rehabilitate? How do you marble universes? How--" "I could just give you the brochure for that," Cura chuckled. "Come on, I'm you, I know what you really want to ask." "...How many have you redeemed?" "Ah. Yes. That." Charlie kept walking down the hall, forcing an awkward smile. "Depends on your meaning of redemption." "What...?" "Not a single demon from my home universe was ever allowed to go to our Heaven from work at the Hazbin Hotel." "Not a single one?" "Not a single one. To be fair, we weren't really stuck in our Hell for very long, but we had a lot of patrons and a lot of groupings... but the rules in our version were absolute. Once in Hell, always in Hell. So no, nobody was redeemed." She smirked. "And yet, everybody was redeemed." "But we were supposed to solve the-- "We didn't. But we made something better. We made people happy. We lived up to the original name. Demons were nice to each other, helped each other out, actually bothered to learn about each other and try to be better people. It was... it was beautiful. Once it was clear that nobody was getting to Heaven, nobody wanted to leave. And I call that a success." "But, if they weren't allowed, does that really mean...?" "You can't base what's 'good' and 'evil' based on what some story thought Heaven should be like." Cura closed her eyes, a nostalgic smile crawling up her face. "Every one we've encountered is a little different. Most of them that I'm assured are 'theologically sound' don't even care about behavior, instead focusing more on the heart and will to get that ticket to the land of puffy clouds." "So... it really was hopeless?" "I don't know if yours would have worked or not. I've seen some versions that do just fine! But others, like mine, were impossible without dimensional weirdness." She stopped short, putting her hands on Charlie's shoulders. "But that doesn't mean it was actually hopeless. Remember the friendships, the bonds, the happiness you had together. By doing that, you made Hell a better place. I know we did." "Just by trying to be better people." "Just by trying to be better people." Cura stopped walking, looking at a picture hanging on an empty wall between the halls of universe marbles. The image was of a Hazbin Hotel in slightly better condition than the one Charlie had just left. There Cura stood, wearing just what Charlie was now. Alastor, Angel, Vaggie, Niffty, Husk, several demons Charlie didn't recognize... they were all standing outside the doors and smiling. Except one of them wasn't a demon. She was a purple-pink unicorn with a Reverend's collar and a halo above her head. "Wh-wh-wh..." "Ah, Rev," Cura smiled. "Tower sent her right to us after she got out of that horrible Nexus. Put her through quite a crisis of faith and Hell itself through a different sort of crisis. A believer in Hell? Ridiculous. But here she was, all magical and everything, and she helped us work in the Hotel. She was eventually the force that got us all out of Hell through dimensional portals and... well, her disciples still help run the modern Hotel's chapel." "You have a CHAPEL!?" "Why not? We're not in Hell anymore. Lots of people want it." "Wh..." "If she were still here I'd tell you to talk with her, she's got some very interesting viewpoints. A lot calmer, these days." Cura giggled. "I remember when she was stuck with us and she yelled at herself in the mirror like a crazy person." Charlie wasn't sure what to make of the idea of a Reverend working at the Hotel. It just felt... wrong, to her. Maybe that was because she hadn't had a Rev. Her Hotel had been doomed to fail without help like that. "Hey..." Cura said, noticing Charlie's frown. "It's okay. Your Hotel was a great thing. And its legacy isn't over, even as the multiverse falls apart?" "Why wouldn't it be? Our Hotel's stuck in a marble and you've got it all under control..." "I could always use more staff. In these trying times, we need as much help as we can get. We need demons who want to help others become more than themselves, not worry about some... war." She extended a hand. "What do you say?" Charlie didn't even have to think. "Of course!" "Great! We can start immediately, get your hotel staff out of ice..." "...Actually, one thing I'm curious about." Charlie tapped her shoe nervously. "Why... why Hell? Like... at all? Why?" "Because people wrote stories about it. As for the other reason, if your version of God was anything like mine, he's just a bastard. Really does all the others a disservice. But writers want to corrupt the idea of 'perfection' all over the place..." "Oh. Okay." "Anyway, let's get your Hotel ready..." The conversation moved on, but Charlie's mind didn't. It dwelled. That explains my Hell... But what about all the others? ~~~ The War for Existence raged on. Class 1s fell, the Gallifreyans fell, and eventually the war reduced to the squabbles of mostly lower societies. Corona and Eve were all over the news as their clashing ideologies tore the web of reality to shreds. Charlie was reading bedtime stories to children. "...And they chased the Big Bad Wolf away! They never saw him again, and could now live happily ever after." She closed the book, looking at the room of peacefully sleeping children. A big smile crawled up her face. She was able to give them peace. Just by sitting here, reading a book to them while they went to sleep. They'd all suffered something because of the war... but for now, every last one was sleeping with a smile. Demon, angel, human, pony, it didn't matter. Carefully, Charlie tip-toed out of the room and walked away from the children's wing of the Hotel. Once she was out of hearing range, she picked up her pace. Right now, she wanted to sleep, and that meant she had to make the long trek to her room. Sure, Hazbin Hotel had teleporters, but the closest one that wouldn't wake the children was all the way out in one of the main hubs. Walking across the children's wing was nothing to sneeze at. Eventually, she came out into a large, circular room with several arches leading to other wings. Charlie moved toward the teleporter pad in the center... but something stopped her. A vaguely familiar voice. "...They're both evil..." Charlie stepped away from the teleporter, trying to listen to where the voice had come from. She wasn't all that surprised to see it coming from the Chapel, though she was disappointed. In all her time working here, she'd never set foot in the holy place, despite Cura's assurances it wouldn't burn her for being a demon. That voice, though... That voice drew her in. It was a voice she wanted to see. Carefully, she walked into the small crowd that had formed. To Charlie's luck, it wasn't just a recording that was playing. There, in the flesh, stood a purple-pink unicorn with a Reverend's collar. Rev. Cura had been talking about inviting her to speak for a few weeks now. Looks like she finally found out how to do it. Rev was concluding her sermon with prayer when Charlie finally made it toward the front of the crowd. She sat down in one of the chairs... and waited. Waited for the crowd to dissipate, for those who wanted to talk to Rev to say their word. Charlie sat, ready to jump up the moment Rev was alone. Rev got to her first. "Want to go out for some drinks? I hear the bar sells a mean hellfire stirrup." Charlie blinked. "W-what?" Rev smirked knowingly. "I know the look of someone who wants a long conversation. You aren't even the first Charlie who's waited there, uncertain about... everything." "H-have a lot of experience?" "Unfortunately, yes, on both sides of the conversation." Rev lit her horn. "Do you mind teleportation?" After giving her permission, Charlie was teleported to the bar. The bartender made sure the two of them weren't on file for trying to break an addiction before taking their orders and handing them their drinks. Two flaming cups of orange liquid. Charlie lifted her cup up. "You drink this?" "I lived in Hell a few years, you gain a taste for it." She downed it. "And a drinking problem, but that's mostly behind me. Mostly. Cura has me on a drink limit." "You?" "Nobody's perfect. Except Mary Sues. And that's not the kind of perfection anyone wants." Rev chuckled at her own joke. "So... Charlie, is it?" "Yeah. Nothing special yet." "Charlie, what did you want to talk about?" "Why Hell?" "Your Hell specifically? Probably your 'God' being a sack of trash, but I bet you already knew that." "Yes I mean... why Hell? Why Hell at all?" She spread her arms wide. "Why would anyone 'good' make something so... so bad?" Rev nodded slowly, taking a somewhat large swig from her cup. "...There are a lot of answers to that question, and it kind of depends on what Hell is." "You don't know?" "You've been here long enough to know every version of Hell you come across runs on different rules. This is because people have never agreed on what it is. Is it a pit of fire? A place of eternal loneliness? Just a realm of separation from God?" Rev shrugged. "The thing is, we don't know, so we tell these stories to scare or comfort ourselves with the 'knowledge'." "And those stories become real because of the Tower." "Yes." "But..." Rev sighed. "But, yes, I do think there is an actual Hell out there, beyond all of this. A real place of punishment for all that we've done." "But... how? Why!?" "...As I said, there's lots of answers. Some say it's the only righteous thing that can be done for sin, for those who do not repent, they must suffer for their wrongs." "Why? Everyone has their own situation, some people are better than others, and there have been a lot of damn good people who weren't part of your little Church!" "No person in existence can be good enough to not warrant a punishment of some kind. Every little petty thought, every tiny..." Rev stopped herself. "Justice must be dealt out and... yeah, I don't really like this explanation either. At least not on its own. Why have eternal suffering for people who could only live a finite amount of time? It... it doesn't sit well with me, even if it is the popular consensus. The other one, where souls are extinguished after a time of set punishment, is... More mathematically right, but still emotionally concerning." "Then what do you think?" Rev laid her front hooves overtop of each other. "You're from a standard Hazbin Hell, right?" "I'm told so." "Forget about the Exterminators for a moment, since those are just needlessly cruel and indicative of a false Heaven. Alone, what does Hell actually have as punishment?" "Any soul gets transformed into some kind of mockery of their life." "But they also get spiritual abilities and, many times, learn to like their new superhuman forms. Forms that can't die and provide all sorts of new opportunities." "O... okay so maybe that's not the worst thing, usually. But then you get there, and there's always pain! Suffering! And..." "And does the suffering come from Hell itself?" "What do you mean?" "I mean, think about it. Does the location make you suffer? What does it do, attack you?" "No..." "What does hurt you?" Charlie sat back in her chair, realizing the point. "Other people." "Yes. Other people. Other people with power and broken spirits in a world without God to add Good to the world. Without Him, you're all allowed to define Good and Evil however you wish with what appears to be less consequences." Rev closed her eyes. "This is what I think Hell is. By rejecting God, He allows them to go to a place without Him. It's what they wanted in life. So... He gives it to them. But without the guidance of the source of all Good, there is only the mortal souls of people, doing whatever they feel like. Unchecked desire and many consequences of the physical world just lifted." She looked Charlie in the eyes. "Tell me that doesn't sound like Hell." Charlie nodded slowly. "I could be wrong. I probably am. Heaven and Hell are constructs we're not allowed to fully understand. We're meant to anticipate them... not try to figure them out. Whatever Hell is, it's not good for us, and it's worse than the life we have here. Whatever Heaven is, it has everything good and a full realization of what we are." Rev smiled. "Some of us have lived a very, very long time and still know nothing of what waits on the other side. There are times I just... wish I could be taken up already. To have everything answered, finally." "What makes you think you're going to get answers?" Starlight shrugged. "Nothing. It's just a hope I have. There's a chance I get there and just... don't feel the need to ask questions. But as I am now, I have them, and I fully admit to having a mental list." Charlie nodded, looking down at her hands. "Charlie?" "If I end up in Hell..." I just said if. What!? "I'm making the Hotel. Again." "Rehabilitation... there's no path to Heaven once the judgment has been done. That, I can tell you, is wishful thinking." "I know," Charlie said. "Figured as much. But if there's one thing I've learned..." her smile returned to her. "It's that everything's better if you're just a good person. Who cares if it's literal burning damnation down there? At least we can be nice to each other!" "A missionary to Hell..." Rev chuckled. "What?" "That's what I called Cura for a while. And what she called me. It was a... strange dynamic." Rev finished her drink. "I hope she hasn't told too many embarrassing stories about me." "Not... many at all, no." Rev smirked. "Good. I get to tell them, then. ...Unless you have more questions?" "Oh, I do, but something tells me I have to hear this..." Rev grinned. "Okay, so, I was younger and fresh out of the Nexus. Popped into Hell and realized a big fancy halo and priest getup wasn't going to do me any favors. After trying, and failing, to find someone willing to be a nice person and help me, someone sarcastically referred me to that 'Hotel where the goody-two-shoes bitches' lived. I found myself in the Hazbin Hotel and decided I trusted Cura, so I revealed myself to her. Turns out, visible spiritual imagery is very painful to true demons, who would have thought?" ~~~ Charlie stood on the Hazbin Hotel balcony, looking at a portal open to a destabilizing universe. It had already been evacuated, nothing more than the location of a military Tower Ring that was destroyed just like all the others. Space folded, twisted, and tore itself in many places, not quite finding the right way to fall into the Sea of Infinite Possibility and become nothing. She couldn't help but find it beautiful. "At the end of the rainbow there's happiness..." she sang, softly. "Did you ever find redemption?" Alastor asked, walking to stand behind her. "Yes. No." Charlie furrowed her brow. "It's complicated. What do you mean?" "I haven't the foggiest idea!" Alastor laughed, gripping the handrail significantly harder than he needed too. "It's like the idea of defining the word is impossible! Do we mean 'a good person?' Do we mean 'a believer?' Do we mean someone who has switched from one path of ka to another? Someone who has just turned around from a bad path?" Charlie noticed sadness in his laughter. This brought a smile to her face--there was something in the old demon after all, even if it was just a blow to his pride. "I don't have the answers." "Nobody does! If I were a betting man I'd say the Tower doesn't even know!" "Do we need to know?" Charlie asked. "Can't we just... have... faith?" "In what?" Charlie smiled. "That... the world will keep spinning and life will go on no matter what the answer to the big questions are. That, even though we can't find the answers, we can still be happy. We can still be good people without really knowing what 'Good' and 'Evil' are." "I don't think I need to tell you how much of a self-contradiction that is." "Even if those believers are right about God or whatever, they can still be terrible people. Even if those others are right about moral subjectivity, they can still be terrible people. But they can still be good people. We can still be good people." She took in a deep breath and spread her arms. "If only people agreed on what 'good' and 'evil' were." "I think it's good that nobody can agree. Probably means everyone's wrong." Alastor looked at here blankly for a minute before erupting in laughter. "W-what? It's a good observation!" "It is, it is!" Alastor slapped her on the back. "Everyone's wrong! Probably about more than a few things they hold very close to that pulsating, fleshy blood muscle." His expression became dark. "The only solution..." "Is to love one another," Charlie said. "...Existence may be running out of time, Alastor. In these trying times with all this suffering, the hotel is needed now, more than ever. We may not have a fucking clue what redemption actually means, but we're sure as hell going to get closer to it." "Hell isn't very certain." "Exactly." "Shall we return to 'work' then, turn the dark souls of these terrors into something 'better' by some imagined metric we can't be certain of?" "YES!" Charlie laughed, prancing back into the Hotel. "It'll be great!" "It'll be interesting, at least." "That's what kept you here last time, it'll keep you here until I get through to that ugly heart of yours!" "We'll see..." He snapped his fingers. "Stay tuned!" After they left, the destabilizing universe fell into nothing with a comical pop. 'War Immaterial' By Mal Masque Explosions rocked the external hull of the Imperial Truth, yet hardly did more than leave scorches on the exterior of the glorious Emperor-class Battlebarge. The God-Emperor of Mankind, radiant and majestic, sat on the command chair in the observation deck, witnessing the carnage ongoing all around him. His One-Thousand Companions, clad in glimmering golden armor, flitted about between various stations amongst other serfs, servitors and Lex Mechanicus keeping the ship stable. Through the great viewport of his mighty vessel, the Emperor watched ships all around detonate in spectacular explosions, bursting into bales of fire in the vacuum by the guns of the Imperium and Merodi loyalists alike. It felt good to be back in the fray. Felt good to return to the battlefield, commanding millions in the name of keeping all that he worked for intact. It felt like the Great Crusade all over again. "Heretical ship destroyed, praise the Omnissiah!" a Mechanicus adept chirped. The Emperor flinched ever-so-slightly, but let it be. Save the continual efforts of colloquialisms and the 'Imperial Creed' for after this matter has been resolved. "My Emperor," the Captain-General called out. The Emperor turned to his most faithful ally, the one who had kept him in constant company for thousands of years, who put up with the vindictive and cold ramblings of his once throne-bound self. His resplendent armor of gold and silver trim glistened in the lumens of the ship, a single red and blue plucked feather wedged between the creases of his shoulder plates. "We're continuing to push against the Collapse forces, but Librarians and Psykers are being continuously affected by an apparent Shadow. He's finally taken to the battlefield." The Emperor closed his eyes, his hand digging into the side of his command chair, reaching out his mind to feel at the ebb and flow of reality. Although the Shaping Mechanism had removed the influence of the Warp from their universe, one who has spent nearly an eternity submerged in it never truly loses their connection. He felt the locus of the battlefield, millions of individual souls clustered together in their vessels, fighting, dying, or being captured in the name of their ideals and ambitions. A shadow loomed over it all, a dark, formless shape that twisted and turned with the tide of battle and destruction. "Tzeentch," the Emperor growled, opening his eyes. "He's overseeing the battle himself, through a projected pseudo-Warp. If he continues to persist, then we will be overwhelmed." He raised a hand to onlooking serfs, calling upon their aid. "Open communications with Princess Cosmo, I need to give an alert." With a muttered 'by your command', the serf quickly went to work. "I'm going in." The Captain-General nearly lost his grip on his gun, hurrying over to the Emperor's side. "My Lord, what are you planning?" he worriedly asked. "If you're going to face that shifting mollusk bastard in the Warp, then-then who will guide us?" The serf returned with the Merodi-issued communicae device. It clicked to life and the Emperor spoke loudly. "Tzeentch is acting through a pseudo-Warp!" he announced into the communicae. "I must devote my higher powers to that - you're on your own, Cosmo." He waved the serf off and redirected his focus to the rest of the ship. "Continue to hold orbit and destroy any treasonous ships that seek to harm any in our fleet. I am to remain undisturbed in my meditative state as I transcend to the Warp." He rose onto his feet, his golden ceramite armor creaking from the stiff movements. The Captain-General quickly grabbed ahold of his Emperor's arm, an act that brought true surprise to the ancient prime man. "My Emperor, we cannot lose you again!" the Captain-General begged. Though his face was rugged and hardened from the battle, the Emperor spared himself a rare change of face. A gentle smile as he placed his hand upon the most loyal of Custodian's shoulder. No doubt, under that gilded helm, the Captain-General's eyes had gone wide. "I trust you, my friend," the Emperor softly said. He let go of the Captain-General and walked off the deck and to his chambers. The Custodians and bridge crew all turned to the Captain-General, waiting for his reply. He stood there, the man once simply known as 'Kitten' by teasing Companions and a slew of other silly names by the Emperor himself and other ignorant visitors to the Golden Palace. Now? He had the chance to truly stand proud as a Lord of Terra. He tightened his grip on his gun and took his place at the front. "Alright, you lot, you heard our orders," he said. "Let's grant these traitors the Emperor's peace and show them the true might of Imperial spirit!" ~~~ The self-contained Warp was an utter maelstrom. Twisted and terrible, born from millions of subconscious thoughts of wickedness and treachery, it was a writhing storm of madness and calamity. Though it could not be seen by the naked eye, it was a pall that hung over the battlefield, spreading its influence like acid rain upon a field of crops. The storm was broken in a burst of golden light, piercing through the shifting clouds of dementia and mania with lances of pure psychic energy. From the light stepped forth the Emperor of Mankind, resplendent and magnificent, his eternally burning sword held firmly in his grasp and golden armor shining brightly in the dark confines of the Warp. A golden, glimmering boot came down upon the tormented landscape, his psychic might creating clouds beneath his heavy footfalls to give him a platform of his own. His long flowing hair licked the sides of his face and the halo of flame encircling his head as he built up his voice within the depths of his being. "TZEENTCH!" the Emperor called out, his voice resonating across the thunderous black and purple clouds. "COME FORTH, TZEENTCH, YOU INCOMPREHENSIBLE MASS OF MISDIRECTION!" The Warp answered back immediately. From the clouds of thought emerged thousands of enormous tendrils, lashing against each other like wicked vines, slithering and scraping about. They looped over one another, curling and forming into an ever shifting mass of blue and purple. It towered over the Emperor, who remained nonplussed at the sight of his greatest adversary. "You've put on a fair bit of weight, haven't you?" "When the multiverse becomes so rife with the thought of change and suggestions of alterations," Tzeentch said, his malicious voice shrieking across the void. "I think I'm permitted to have myself a little binge." Tzeentch laughed with a thousand mouths, his tentacles thrashing together into a singular form, the hunched humanoid thing that had introduced itself to much of the multiverse now fully formed. "What do you think, Anathema? Of this whole war?" "We stand on opposite sides of the battlefield, Tzeentch," the Emperor said. "I think we both know exactly what I think. If not, then you may as well cheat and read my thoughts. Again." Tzeentch loudly chortled and reshaped itself into more humanoid-tentacle abominations of himself. "Talk is pointless anyway." The Emperor raised his flaming sword to the mass of ever-shifting tentacles. "You're the last vestige of the Ruinous Powers, and I shall finally see to your destruction." "And just as we were about to get to some more witty banter." Tzeentch said, tilting his many-mouthed head to one side and then another. "Then I suppose we should waste no time and bring ourselves to the main EVENT!" Without warning, hundreds of crystalline tendrils erupted from the swarming mass, darting towards the Emperor of Mankind. Swiftly, he raised his flaming sword and swung it in a flaming arc, slicing the tendrils clean through. Severed portions exploded into Warp dust, while the remaining ones flailed about in smouldering agony. Tzeentch cackled again, sending another volley of tendrils at the Emperor, each barbed with white and blue crystals. Again, he sliced them away, progressively advancing towards Tzeentch with steady steps. "When the Shaping Device untethered the Immaterium from our world," The Emperor said, slashing at the tendrils again, "I had hoped that you and your monstrous, disgusting ilk would simply starve to death, deprived of your nourishment. Slaanesh did." Another swing, burning bits of tentacle swinging past him and bursting into sparkly dust. "Khorne did." He jumped to the side as several tentacles speared into the ground beside him. "Nurgle did! And yet," he waved his hand, gold claws dancing with holy flame as they burned oncoming tendrils. "You still live!" "You're very chatty for a flesh bag who was a glorified corpse for tens of thousands of years!" Tzeentch snapped, shaping form back into a humanoid entity. It clenched tightly four of its hands, and several purple crystals erupted from the immaterial landscape, many surrounding the Emperor and his glowing form. Tzeentch slammed its fists together, and all of the crystals exploded, sending shattered remnants flying wildly across the battlefield. The Emperor braced himself for the attack, the crystals rebounding off his golden armor, though one managed to land a nick across his cheek, a thin line of red blood dribbling from the wound. Tzeentch raised its head and sniffed, many of its mouths wide with crocodile smiles. "So, the Anathema does bleed, after all." The Emperor wiped the blood from his cheek and lunged forward, his sword burning brightly in his most holy of holds. As the tip of the blade came close to skewering Tzeentch's slimy torso, several tentacles wrapped around his arm. "Let's see if we can draw a bit MORE?!" Several mouths filled with vicious teeth opened all along the length of the tentacles, digging into the ceramite plating, white a few broke through and tasted the flesh of the greatest of men. Pain burned across the Emperor's arm as the God of Change gnawed into his flesh. He grit his teeth and grabbed ahold of the tentacles binding his arm. Tzeentch's many eyes widened as the Emperor yanked it forward, forcibly driving the burning Sword of the Emperor into its chest. It hissed and roared in animalistic fury, relinquishing its hold on the Emperor's arm and withdrawing, bluish-green blood bubbling on the burning blade as the gaping hole in Tzeentch's chest sealed up. "What do you know? Gods can bleed, too," the Emperor retorted, flicking the boiling blood off his sword. Tzeentch snarled out of its nigh infinite mouths, each dripping with thick slime. It raised its four hands and clapped four times, several swirling clouds around it concealing into solid forms. Daemons emerged from the swirling Warp-stuff; Horrors and Flamers, Disks and Ryders, even Lords of Change all joined their God by its side, snarling and burning with ethereal fury. Tzeentch warbled with laughter, shifting its body to resemble a more monstrous human form of numerous eyes, teeth and tendrils, one painful to gaze upon. "The game has changed, Anathema," Tzeentch chided. "This isn't Paradox-Billiards-Vostroyan-Roulette-4th-Dimensional-Hypercube-Chess-Strip Poker anymore!" "Good, you cheated in that, too," the Emperor said, raising his sword towards the Daemonic horde. "But don't you worry," he grasped the hilt in both of his hands and aimed the blade downward. "I'm very familiar with how to play Regicide." With a bellow of power, the Emperor plunged his sword into the Immaterium, a bright light erupting from his position and blinding the Legion of Change. Tzeentch shrieked as the burning bloom overwhelmed its vision, quickly covering as many of its eyes as possible as the light faded away. When the light cleared, the Emperor stood proud before the Daemons, but did not stand alone. Standing behind and beside him stretched a golden army, going on as far as the eye could even perceive. Millions of humans, from the lowest of Guardsmen to the greatest of Space Marines, all those who fought and died for the Imperium and their Emperor, stood once again. Tzeentch's many tentacles were curling and writhing with fury and uncertainty, made even worse by the sight of the Emperor's perfect smirk on his perfect face. "This... this is the army that destroyed Drach'nyen!" The Emperor smiled wider and pointed his sword towards the mass of daemons. The millions of golden souls needed no further confirmation, all letting off resounding battle cries and proclamations to their Emperor, breaking into a charge towards the Neverborn armies. They engaged the daemons with fervor and rage, blasting many into pieces with blessed bolt rounds or melting them to slag with plasma or lasgun fire, while others were hacked to pieces by chain weapons. Amongst them even stood a Primarch, far larger than the rest, bashing daemons left and right with a great hammer, sending them flying and bursting into Warp dust whilst shining bright like a living gold statue. The daemonic horde met the Imperium's Golden Army with their own vicious reaction, hurling balls of Warpflame that engulfed errant Guardsmen, vaporizing Mechanicus with infernal beams, or simply tearing them to pieces with psychic might. Even the Space Marines struggled to overcome the Greater Daemons that commanded the forces, with the Primarch coming to grapple with the multiple-limbed Changeling astride atop a Disk. The armies would fight their battle, while the Emperor focused on his. He twirled his sword again and sprinted through the armies, roaring as he made his way towards Tzeentch, set to drive his sword through the immaterial menace and split it in twain. ~~~ Magnus the Red's head pounded. It was though a thunderstorm were going off within his skull, every bolt of lightning striking at his brain and sending a surge through his skull. It was enough to bring him to a knee. While many of the workers onboard the bridge were focused on staying alive in the firefight, a few had taken notice of the Primarch's sudden fall. Rogal Dorn, dressed in his golden armor for the first time in millennia (and not in an adorable Centurion suit), rushed to his brother's side and helped him to his feet. "What ails you, Magnus?" Rogal asked. "My head feels like it's about to crack like an egg being hugged to death by Vulkan," Magnus replied through gritted teeth. "I'm fine, really." He brushed Rogal off him and looked towards the viewport window, overseeing the entire battle in the stars. "Tzeentch himself must have arrived. My bastard of a First Captain is here, might as well bring the whole reunion." He placed a finger to the side of his head, still recoiling from the overwhelming psychic power being flung about. "Father must be engaging him directly." "Then we should come to the aid of him and the Captain-General," Rogal said. He turned towards the operators and began issuing orders. "Divert our course to rejoin the Imperial Truth to protect the Emperor." The operators replied with hurried 'yes sirs' and began working like mad at their consoles. Magnus felt another psychic burst, wobbling slightly where he stood and propping himself against one of the command chairs. "Magnus, you should sit down before you eject your lunch all over the floor." "Already on that," Magnus moaned, flopping into his seat. It was slightly difficult to manage with the wings (years later, and he still couldn't undo Tzeentch's little "cosmetic update"), but the red Primarch properly was situated. "The rest of the fleet can maintain their previous orders, I'm sure Vulkan and Corax can manage well without our further intervention." Outside the viewport, an enemy ship detonated from within, splitting in two while a black-charred figure was flung from the blast and right through the window of another ship. "Or at least Vulkan can." The second ship exploded shortly afterwards. "He'll be fine." ~~~ Several golden warriors were bowled over by an oncoming tidal wave of spiney tentacles, sweeping through the army in an effort to bring down its quarry. It was immediately met with a grasp by golden clawed fingers, wrapped up tightly and swiftly shorn off by a burning blade. The Emperor released the torn tentacles, allowing them to burst into Warp dust as he glared down the immense shifting form of Tzeentch. His once untarnished armor now bore several nicks in multiple places, his long flowing hair was now matted with sweat, and his breathing was laborious and heavy. For the first time in thousands of years, the Emperor of Mankind was fighting to the point of exhaustion. But Tzeentch showed no signs of fatigue as it shifted into the hunched humanoid form. "Aw, getting weary already, Anathema?" Tzeentch cooed, one of its mouths opening wide and unravelling a tongue that dwarfed the Emperor's own height. "Just say the word and we can put you down for a nap. One six feet under and covered in dirt!" Tzeentch unleashed another chittering laugh, casually backhanding a bolt of Warpflame hurled at his face. The Emperor panted and propped himself upon his sword, fire burning in his eyes as he glared down the Changer of Ways. "How... how have you gotten so strong?!" The Emperor shouted. Tzeentch only laughed again, a chorus of hideous cackles erupting from each mouth across its disgusting body. "How have I ALWAYS gained strength and nourishment? The same as I did when the Eternal Game first began," Tzeentch snapped its fingers and shifted into a formless mass of tentacles. "Through the actions of mortal minds and souls. Think on such things, Anathema. Ever since she who was named for an ancient Terran alcohol brand made her proclamation to the multiverse, all sentient beings have been devising all sorts of plans, plots and schemes." Tzeentch's form shifted, once more humanoid, but now distinctly female, sporting wings of tentacles and crystals and a mouth filled with hundreds of needle-like teeth. "She and her ilk seek to undo that which the Tower had created, seeking to unravel the threads of stories themselves. To incite the greatest change that ever could fall upon all of existence itself! The many becoming one! IT IS SO DELICIOUS!" Tzeentch's tongue slithered out of its mouth and noisily licked its lips and the entirety of its face, prompting no small amount of revulsion from the Emperor of Mankind. "She brings just as much damnation upon all of existence as you do, Tzeentch!" The Emperor shouted. "Feeding on your followers' mad ambitions will soon starve you." Again, Tzeentch only laughed, its face splitting apart into a mass of tentacles. "I'm not foolish or stupid enough to sample from JUST one platter!" Tzeentch's form broke down again, reshaping itself into a quadrupedal, equine being, only slightly resembling the Charter-Princess herself. This form bore only eyes on the face, and a mouth in the center of its chest with a massive unblinking eye surrounded by crystals and teeth housed within. "The lavender book-horse reacted as a means of countering the great change, with her and her followers needing to devise matters of her OWN to counteract this grand scheme supreme! Non-lethal takedowns, destroying the Tower Rings, even utilizing tools originally meant for peace as weapons of mass destruction!" Tzeentch made a sound almost like orgasmic relief, a sound made worse by the caressing Tzeentch made of his face with crystalline hooves. "All of these plans, these plots, from all of you, it's like an all you can eat intellectual buffet!" The Emperor's momentary revulsion betrayed him. Dozens of tentacles burst from the immaterial ground and ensnared the Emperor in a bone-crushing hold, hoisting him off the ground and forcing him to discard his flaming sword. Tzeentch's form solidified into a singular mass, becoming a massive purple crystal tower, slowly being consumed by tentacles, hundreds of tiny figures astride atop them with mouths of fangs all speaking as one. "I've become the greatest psychic entity in the multiverse, and none of you realized you ALL are feeding me." Tzeentch's grip tightened around the Emperor, his ceramite plate creaking under the stress. "An evil being..." the Emperor grunted. His mouth tasted of copper, a thin line of red trailing from the corner of his lips. "Is destined to fall..." More creaks sounded as the Emperor felt himself nearly crushed. "You will die, just as your monstrous ilk did." Tzeentch roared and adopted his humanoid form, eyes wide and teeth gnashing. "A CONCEPT OF REALITY ADHERES TO NO FICTITIOUS MORALITY!" Tzeentch bellowed, clouds of Warpstorms thundering about, flashing bursts of lightning striking at the battlefield. "EVERYTHING CHANGES, ANATHEMA! THE TURNING OF THE SUN, THE PASSING OF SEASONS, RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MORTALS, EVEN THE VERY STARS GLOW BRIGHT UNTIL BURSTING INTO NOTHINGNESS! I AM THE INEVITABLE PATH ALL LIFE TAKES! I AM THE EIGHT-TURNED GOD! I AM THE ARCHITECT OF FATE! I AM THE CHANGER OF WAYS! I AM THE GOD OF-" An enormous fist surged from the clouds and struck Tzeentch dead in the face. The Emperor was immediately freed from his prison, dropping to his knees with a few heavy coughs. He stood just as he saw the largest Ork he had ever seen emerge from the clouds and deliver another punch to Tzeentch's face, propelling the mass of tentacles flying clear across the battlefield. The Emperor stared at the Ork, a purple, red and green thing thrice as tall as any mountain, crackling with wild lightning and burning flames in its red eyes. "... Gork?" the Emperor called out. "Or is it Mork? How...?" The Ork God just bellowed a resounding 'WAAAAGH!!!' that rumbled across the battlefield like cannon fire and stampeded after the far-flung Chaos God. Before the Emperor could give chase, a psychic force lifted him off the ground and back onto his feet. "Gorkamorka, I believe it is called," said the melodious voice of a beautiful woman. "Something that is both Gork and Mork, yet none of us are sure." The Emperor whirled around, and found that three other Warp-born beings had now stood behind him: a flaming man of brass and magma, face forever bearing dementation and fury, a woman in a flowing dress, beautiful and immaculate as a forest oasis, and a ghostly entity, akin to the reaper itself. The Emperor addressed the three Gods with mild confusion and surprise. "Khaine?" he asked. "Isha? Ynnead? How did you-?" "You've always put it best, kid," Khaine said, hissing and growling as an active furnace does. "'Fourth-degree inter-dimensional Warp fuckery'." He brandished his burning sword, more wicked and nasty compared to the Emperor's own. "Do you really think we'd miss out on the opportunity to tear the Last Chaos God a new asshole?" Isha shot her companion a disapproving look, though she did maintain her beautiful composure. "We're here to provide you aid, Emperor," Isha gently said. "To prevent all that we have worked for from falling to ruination and... utter boning." Ynnead just let off a wheeze as he leaned heavily on a worn and wicked scythe. The Emperor glanced between the Aeldari Gods, then back towards the battlefield. The Golden Army was now joined by countless Eldar warriors, Wraiths and Ghosts of all sorts tearing into the daemons with ruthlessness and even aiding the Imperium's spirits of vengeance. He stared at his blade, still partially caked in Daemon God blood. He tightened his grip and looked back to the battle-ready Gods. "Let us bring an end to the Eternal Game." ~~~ Magnus' head was pounding less now. The Warp stress was still lingering, his connection never wavered no matter how far away he was from it, but it hurt significantly less. He looked out the viewport towards the Imperial Truth, a hand still pressed to his head. He reached out with his mind to the command bridge, feeling the souls and minds onboard, each with their own feel and sensation. When he felt the burning flame that dwarfed his own psychic might, Magnus smiled. His father still remained, in spite of his other father still lingering. The battle would turn yet with Tzeentch on the run, but they played a small part in the conflict. Sooner or later, fate would decide the outcome of everything. ~~~ Long after the battle had concluded, Corona adjusted her pointed shades to filter out all higher-order madness-inducing geometry before she entered the universe Tzeentch was sulking in. "You didn't have to be so overconfident, you know." "And you don't have to look like the after-effect of ketchup and mustard bottles getting beaten up by a strip of bacon, but here we are now," the Lord of Change growled. "You really do come up with new names every time..." Corona pinched the bridge of her nose. Tzeentch let out resounding daemonic laughter, or perhaps electrified turkey noises. It was horrifying. Corona ignored it. "Look, you lost. You probably could have seen that coming the moment you started going full I AM THE HAM mode." "Please, do you really think your pathetic mind c-" "And don't give me any of that 'just as planned' BS, the Tower was setting you up for a hubris pummeling." Corona folded her arms, huffing. "Look, you're one of our strongest allies, and you just about got yourself killed by being stupid. For a god of plans you're not doing a very good job." "Watch your tongue, splinter star, I might just turn against you..." Corona smirked. "If that's what you want." She left, leaving the eldritch abomination alone with his twisted universe. It took about twenty seconds for Tzeentch to realize there were chaotic change-driven fights he wasn't being a part of right now. "After all this is over I am going to find a way to drive that side order to a breakfast platter nobody asked for into a particular sort of madness... I'm thinking a lavish attraction to syrup and her own hair, perhaps with some extra eyes thrown in..." 'Edge of Dawn' By Galliar "I fear the edge of dawn, knowing time betrays" "We were comfortable for a while, weren't we?" Byleth asked. His leaned his head out of the window of his chambers thoughtfully. The view from the highest tower of Celestia's School of Sorcery had grown less impressive as Ponyville wrapped around Canterlot mountain. Where once there had been natural fields and forests, speckled with pony civilization, there were now skyscrapers and other structures of Merodi make. "There was a time that I'd have never imagined retiring," Edelgard nodded. "Now, almost fifty years in? It's been rather nice." "You were able to retire," Byleth said, giving her a sideways glance. "I've been teaching for the past century." "Certainly none of your classes have been as bad as your first?" Edelgard asked with a smile. "It has been some time since so many of my students have tried to kill each other." "If only the world could've stayed that way forever," Edelgard sighed. The silence took hold for a minute. The sleeves of Byleth's overcoat swayed as the breeze picked up. Edelgard leaned her head onto his shoulder, taking in the view that had become so familiar. There were a great many things that she wished could've lasted forever. Peace. Retirement. The dessert table at the last gala. That moment before they spoke. "You're going to join Corona," Byleth said. It wasn't a question. "Of course. How could I not?" Edelgard asked. "You won't be joining me." They locked eyes. The only time she'd ever seen Byleth cry was when his father died, so it was no surprise that he didn't weep now. After all these years she could still see a hint of fire in his eyes. Did he see the same in hers? "If I go, others will follow," Byleth said as he broke eye contact. "I have had hundreds of students throughout the years. If I went out there for either side, those same hundreds would follow. Even those who don't believe in Collapse would die for it just because I was there." "I..." Edelgard's protests died in her throat as Byleth turned back to her. "I understand. This will be goodbye, Professor." "It will be." ... Lost in memory, Edelgard touched her lips. It had been days since she stood with Byleth in Canterlot, yet the moment still felt fresh. Her memories beckoned her to return home, to answer the call of yesterday. It would be easy to leave the fate of the multiverse in the hands of those more capable. By her reputation, she had no doubt that Corona would let her leave with nothing more than a memory wipe. She knew herself better than to believe she'd be satisfied with that decision. "Lady Edelgard." The owner of the raspy voice stepped into the room, snapping Edelgard out of her ruminations. Hubert bowed his head. "We have been summoned." Edelgard took in a breath. Her temporary prison - accommodations, El - were comfortable enough. To be expected of a hotel, one would suppose. She was eager to walk free regardless. It had been so long since she last donned her armor. She had forgotten how uncomfortable it was. The hard steel wasn't too heavy for her - despite her diminutive appearance she carried herself across a room in the armor as easily as without. Merely that it had been too long. "Thank you, Hubert." Edelgard stood up from her seat. She retrieved the axe Aymr, forged to appear like dragon bone, and her shield. Last, she donned the golden crown of what had been the Adrestian Empire, the horns seeming to poke out of the buns of her blonde hair. It was nothing more than a piece of the uniform. She was no emperor here, nor even a noblewoman. Just another soldier. Hubert stepped out of the way as she left the room, match her pace about half a foot back. His green eyes seemed to glow as they traced her every step. An Emperor she may no longer be, but the path she had been walking since she was a girl had led her here. Almost a century since the Merodi had made her original dream a reality, only to bring to light something far worse than a societal structure built on bloodlines and the divinity of the Crests carried within them. One she and everyone else had long thought impossible to overcome. The Dark Tower. She had passed on her seat as Emperor to one worthy of the title after decades of rule and retired to Canterlot in Equis Vitis. There she may have stayed if not for Corona's question. Her only shame was that she had not been the one to ask it, and her only regret that she had to tread here alone. I wish he could have been here. Edelgard sighed. The halls of the Raven Hotel were nothing like home. She was accustomed to what most of the multiverse referred to as a more medieval or even fantastical style of architecture. She knew grand halls of stonemasonry, not the madness of the Raven Hotel that shifted to accommodate its visitors as Poe pleased. The creatures patrolling the halls were further separation from her place of birth. A purple humanoid bearing a golden, gem-inlaid gauntlet nodded to them as they passed. Several bestial creatures watched the pair as passed, staining the wooden floor with drool. Ponies, humans, and beings she couldn't comprehend walked around her. "Certainly not the monastery, is it?" Hubert asked as they walked. "Waxing nostalgic, are we?" Edelgard made herself smile. "It has been many years since we've walked through halls as crowded as this. Only this time we really are nothing more than a couple of faces in the crowd." "I dislike keeping this much distance from enemies. I'm partial to being able to see them." "Don't worry Hubert. Everything will be in the open soon enough." An imposing figure far, far larger than herself stepped in her path. He was covered head to toe in heavy armor and occult attire, a staff in hand. Ahzek sneered at her as she passed, a gesture she returned in kind. Without a word they both kept walking. Corona didn't notice them entering the conference room. Edelgard could imagine the thoughts in her distant stare. A protagonist of the story of the multiverse, and yet for a moment she looked so small. She cleared her throat, and Corona yelped. "We've arrived as requested, Lady Corona." Edelgard said with a polite bow. "We have not formally met. I am Edelgard von Hresvelg, Emp- former Emperor of Fodlan. This is my assistant, Hubert Vestra. I'm told that you summoned us?" "Just Corona's fine, but yes, I did," Corona smiled at the pair. "I've been trying to learn as much as I can about the stories of other would-be members of the Collapse Movement before an upcoming meeting. Mostly picking through their stories where available. I was hunting down something on the Shabanash when word reached me about your entrance. Not many people out there would willingly hitch a ride on a Chaos ship." "I have to imagine fewer still live to tell of it," Edelgard added. "Your point?" "When I learned your name, I dug up your story. Funny thing is... I could find a summary of what happened on your world, or rather what would have happened to you if the multiverse had never come along. Your situation there sounds almost like what we're fighting for now. Your world's Crests sound like they were determining how important someone was. People were experimenting on their children and practicing a sort of eugenics in hopes of having a child with one." Corona shook her head. "I also found out about what they did to you and your siblings. Taking the sum total of it... I can't say I'm surprised to see you here now." "That fight is long taken care of, Lady Corona," Hubert said, his inherently threatening rasp causing even Corona to twitch. "I serve Lady Edelgard's cause, and today her cause is yours. I have to admit, I can't imagine either of us being powerful enough to leave a mark on this upcoming war." "I see where you're coming from, but I have to disagree," Corona said. "I'm sure I could slip you both into the meeting if you're willing to answer a few questions for me. Namely how you could go from the revolutionary Emperor of a basically unknown world to stowing away on a Chaos ship and breaking Lucius the Eternals arm...tentacles." "It's a long story, spanning almost a hundred years," Edelgard said. "I've lived longer," Corona smirked. "Any chance I'll get to hear the full of it?" "Maybe one day the full story will pass your desk," Edelgard said. She paused, reaching down to remove her glove. "I believe it'll be quicker for you to see it." Corona blinked at the hand that extended in front of her. It took a short moment for her to remove her own glove, time during which Edelgard briefly considered retracting her hand. Very briefly. I didn't come this far alone. This is the easy step... just, reach out a hand. Corona's hand was warm. Edelgard barely registered that fact before the world went white. A lifetime passed in an instant as a flurry of sounds and images. There was the dagger, a dungeon, rats skittered by... screaming. A mask, red and white. The monastery, archbishop, enemy. The professor, her Professor. She reached out a hand. Then... Merodi. Revolution. The ringing of a bell tower. A dragon lay dead at her feet. Life went on... until the Message. The last night in Canterlot. Hubert's appearance... his eyes flashed green. The connection broke when Corona yanked her hand away, and they both awoke back in the Hotel. It hadn't been longer than a few seconds since they began. Silence lingered over them for a moment as the exchange processed. Corona spoke up first, her voice suddenly very tired. "Edelgard," Corona said. "Thank you. For reaching out a hand." "We all do what we must. Thank you for taking it," Edelgard said wistfully. "I... leave what comes next to your discretion." Corona returned a smile that didn't reach her eyes. Edelgard stepped to the side, allowing them both to look to Hubert behind her. "Lady Edelgard?" he asked. He took a step back. "You can stop here," Corona said. "Whatever you came to do, you can stop right now. No one is here to make you do it." "I don't..." Hubert trailed off, his eyes widening. "Oh." "Please take off my friend's face," Edelgard said. "I've known Hubert since he was a child, and you've done him little justice." Not-Hubert grit his teeth before vanishing in a puff of green fire. In his place was a dark green changeling that was larger than most. Where most changelings had a single horn like a unicorn, this one had a pair of antlers. "Pharynx..." Corona said sadly. "That is still your name, right?" Pharynx didn't say a word, his antlers lighting up. Before a spell could come out Corona flicked her wrist and he was thrown against the back wall. With just an extra bit of force, he couldn't even pull his limbs from the wall. He transformed in a spout of flame into a minotaur, nearly pulling himself out of the telekinesis before Corona pushed even harder. Pharynx tried several other transformations, magic-resistant and powerful alike, but Corona held him in place. All the while Edelgard watched. "I have a capture device under my seat," Corona said over Pharynx's struggling. "If you would...?" She did. ~~~ "And why should I entrust him to you?" Edelgard asked. She had one hand already on her axe. The meeting with the other potential leaders of the Collapse had ended no more than a few minutes ago, with each of them pledging themselves to the cause. Already it seemed that pledge mattered to some more than others. "Because I could take it anyway!" Ahzek answered. "Tzeentch demands this capture, and it's only fair you give it to me after what you did to Lucius. You didn't even give him the satisfaction of death you-" "Spare me your insults, sorcerer. Your won't touch this device. I'll see to it personally." "You dare defy me, you petty mortal? I have seen what a real Emperor can do. You aren't worth the gold in your trinket." Ahzek laughed. "That's not even the real bone of your enemies in that axe, is it? Just another lie from a girl playing pretend. Give me the capture, pretender, or I'll take it!" "No, you won't," another interrupted. Ahzek started to turn around, stopping when the tink of a sword echoed against his thigh. Barely tall enough to reach Ahzek's breast plate was a woman wearing a brown poncho that reached her knees. One of her eyes was covered by an eyepatch, a trio of parallel scars drawing lines underneath. In her hands was a black and white sword leveled at a very fragile part of the human male body. "Haha! You think that puny blade could pierce-" The woman pushed the blade slightly up against Ahzek's armor. The plate split, leaving nothing between Ahzek's flesh and the blade. "So," the woman said. "We're done here. Right?" They couldn't see Ahzek blink under his helmet, but the guttural growl he let out teleporting away was clear. The woman spat where he had just stood. "I could have handled him," Edelgard said. "I know. The bug in your pocket can't. Wish I followed through while I could," the woman said, making Edelgard wince. "I'm Buddy. They told me we'd be with you." "Ah, of course. I'm Edelgard, as I'm sure you've figured out You're with the Strike Force," Edelgard said, putting on a smile. Buddy gave her a look. Of the few things they had discussed at the meeting, skills had come up. Leadership was an obvious one for everyone at the meeting, though none of them would be considered above Corona. Edelgard had offered to take on a greater command, but said she'd feel better leading a smaller group. Corona and the others had been accommodating of her request. She had spent the rest of the meeting trying to come up with a name for them. She missed the looks that the others had given her at the name she pitched at the end of the meeting. The Crimson Strike Force was the perfect name for those she was taking command of. "Strike Force?" Buddy asked before shaking her head. "Sure. This way." Edelgard already knew where they were going, but let Buddy take the lead anyway. She put a hand on her pouch, feeling the capture device with Pharynx still there. It wasn't too long of a walk, though it was a quiet one, with Buddy not saying a word the entire walk. A trumpet echoed through the halls, getting louder as they approached their destination. Buddy didn't as much knock on the door of room 127 three times as she tried to punch through it. With a creak the door slid open, the trumpet coming from inside. The room was much larger than it should've been, but Edelgard had learned long ago to not pay something so insignificant as standard physics much mind. If the room could suit their needs then she was more than satisfied. Beds lined the walls with little in the way of decor, though a few of the residents had started to personalize their spaces already. To say the company in the room was mixed would be an understatement. Edelgard had asked for variety and she had received it. An insectoid girl was threading silk through a sharp needle as tall as herself on one bed. A masked boy was sitting on another bed, mechanically turning to face them as they stepped inside. "You can introduce yourself," Buddy said. "I need to collect my dad." Near the end of the room where Buddy was leading them, a woman with short brown hair was playing the trumpet to a mutated amalgamation of flesh that might have once been a man. This woman looked up as they approached, seemingly relieved as she stopped playing. The blob groaned as she did, causing a few of the people in the room to reach for their weapons. They all stopped when Buddy took the trumpet and started to play, the creature seeming content. The woman who had been playing noticed Edelgard staring, her eyes widening. She approached slowly. "Excuse me, are you Edelgard?" she asked. "I am. Have we met?' "No, This is the first time, but I've heard of you," the woman said sadly. "My name is Makoto Kurusu. My husband died on your world helping." "As did many others. I wish none of them did," Edelgard said. "His sacrifice made a difference. In the lives of my people, and my world." "That's the risk he took going. Life won't change if we don't make it, right? I've always heard people saying his death meant something, but I've never been able to visit your world to see it. Hearing it... means more than you know." Around them, people were taking notice of Edelgard's presence. The masked boy was looking through her. The insect girl stopped threading her needle. A giant of a man with his right arm embroiled in a cybernetic gauntlet from the shoulder down approached her, an inquisitive look on his face. "You would be our leader then? Who Corona asked us to follow?" The man asked, looking her up and down. "Why should we follow you?" Edelgard studied the man a moment. He looked like a brute on the surface, but she could see too much life behind his eyes to buy it. He wasn't insulting her, she could see that, but he was probing to see if she was offended. What was it he was hoping to see in her? Conviction? Strength? Intelligence? "Akande, Corona said-" "I asked for the creation of the Strike Force because I see dozens of people in this room right now that chose to be here," Edelgard said, not sure who she was interrupting. "I see people who have been ravaged by the flow of ka, as ordained by Prophets treating us as nothing more than players in their opera. Akande, was it? How did you lose your arm?" "Omnics," he answered, balling up the gauntlet. "Was it? Or was it a Prophet behind his desk in the safety of his home or an office?" Edelgard walked past Akande, pointing at the masked boy. "And you, why did you join the collapse?" "I died," The boy said mechanically. "My body was made a puppet." "By?" "Madman," the boy said with a curious tilt of his head. "Was this madman the one who experimented on you, or the man that said you'd be experimented on?" The boy didn't have an answer. Edelgard didn't have to ask before Buddy spoke up. The mutant beside her groaned as she stopped playing the trumpet. "I was the last human girl in my world," Buddy said. "Dad wanted to protect me from the... expectations the other men had, and I wanted to be free. Still do. And so long as the Tower stands I can't be." As she spoke the mutant with her had crawled in front of her, a growl emitting from it. Buddy calmed it with two notes and a quiet reassurance. 'It's okay dad.' More people came forward with their stories. This man to be both a superhero and an addict that killed his girlfriend to make a point. This girl's home was destroyed because a father dared love his child. This man wanted to end abuses throughout the world and was marked the villain for the actions he needed to take. Not everyone spoke up, nor would Edelgard want to force them too. After so many stories were shared, Edelgard decided her point was made. She climbed onto a footlocker to stand just a bit taller. "We have all suffered," Edelgard said. "We have suffered because Gan and the Builders thought long ago that they could fabricate meaning in the multiverse. In their foolishness they have only created suffering beyond repair. Here in the Raven Hotel, with the very strength that foolishness has forced upon us, we at last have a chance to fight back. "I have fought for my whole life to make the world a better place. To end the tyranny of birth choosing how we live. No one should be made more important by who they are, but rather by what they do. I do not demand any of you follow me into battle or follow my orders. I ask it of you now. Let us walk the path into the dawn as one. Let us bring an end to the heartless tyranny of the Tower, so that at last true wisdom may prevail!" ~~~ The Crimson Strike Force's arrival was signalled by Buddy's trumpet, echoing through the portals that appeared around the Preservation base. The first wave of the Strike Force, a line of disfigured mutants, shambled out in step to the marching tune. No two mutants appeared the same. Some still looked human but for swelling and elongation of their body. For others it was impossible to imagine how their body could have transformed as they did, their size and body mass greater than any human body should ever produce. Some moved slow, whilst others bounded across the field into the enemy lines. Arrows, bullets, mortar, and more bombarded the mutants as they marched, though it did nothing to stop their advance. With the mutants in front, the main strike force emerged in the clearing. The masked boy, Claus, flew overhead with wings like a bat and fired his arm cannon from above. Akande, or Doomfist as he preferred, leapt over the line of mutants and charged into the fray. The bug girl, Hornet, threw her needle into a nearby tree and pulled herself up by the thread, disappearing into the foliage. A speedster named A-Train ran through a portal in the blink of an eye and disappeared into the forest as little more than a blur. All along the field, the other members of the Strike Force advanced in their own way using the mutants as canon fodder. At the back of the line Buddy stood on her father's back playing the trumpet, driving the mutants forward. Out from behind her Edelgard and Makoto stepped out. Over the wall of mutants they could see a castle, hastily patched up with modern materials and technology to hide their presence from interdimensional scanners. For all the good those scanners did them when an insider gave away the location. "Creepy things, aren't they?" Makoto asked, quiet enough that Buddy couldn't hear. She had put on a grey mask that mostly covered her eyes before they'd deployed. "The mutants have been around since long before this war began, if Buddy's to be believed. I would sooner make use of them than not," Edelgard said. She turned on her headset. "Anyone see anything?" "Mortar is coming from within the castle grounds," Hornet said. "I think I see an opening to get in." "Do it, but be careful. If you can get the door open good, otherwise disrupt them only. Anyone else?" "No notably persons on the other side. We might be in luck!" Makoto clicked her tongue, and Edelgard sighed. Neither of them recognized who said it, but when they found out there would be hell to pay. "Man, you just had to say it," A-Train said over the line. Nothing immediately went wrong, at least. The mutants were reaching the wall, trying to claw their way in. Surprisingly few had died in the transit. So far as Edelgard could see, none of her actual people had died as of yet. The worst that she had seen was a muscular man that jumped down from the wall and started to yell out what sounded like song lyrics before Makoto shot him. He hadn't had his stand ready to defend him. The mutants converged on what was left. Buddy watched passively as the man screamed. Beside her Makoto watched in horror, a capture device in her hand. "Don't watch," Edelgard said, grabbing Makoto's shoulder and pulling her forward. "I still need you today. Don't look." The screaming stopped, and the mutants moved on with only a bar from Buddy's trumpet. Edelgard followed the flow of the fight through the constant reports she received from the strike force. Doomfist and A-train reported tearing into a vehicle depot behind the castle whilst Hornet cut through the bombardiers one after another. They had few reported casualties, and as yet no fatalities as Buddy's mutants reached the gates. Buddy picked up her playing, ordering them to wait before the door. Though the mortar fire had stopped almost entirely, someone in the command structure had redirected the archers. Arrows whistled by Buddy as she played. One finally seemed to be on target, only to stop inches from her face. Claus landed nearby, an empty look on his face as he maintained the shield. Edelgard put a hand on her headset. "Hornet, can you open the gate for us?" She asked. "No," the voice returned. "The gate house is guarded, I won't be able to get near it." "Of course," Edelgard sighed. "Strike Force, assume assault positions. The doors aren't going to open for us." She gave Buddy a nod. With only a few notes, the mutants rushed forward to tear at the gates. A couple with elongated legs were able to leap over the wall, skipping the gate entirely to hit the battlements. Even Edelgard winced at the sounds they heard. One of the mutants tore a chunk off the gate, spitting it onto the ground beside him. When it reached to tear another, an arrow of red energy pierced its face. The mass of human flesh slumped backwards, dead in an instant. Through the hole she could vaguely hear what sounded like yelling. Edelgard's breath hitched, her eyes locked on the arrow. It crackled and sparked for a moment before dissipating into the air like magic.She reached for her headset. "All units, pull back! I repeat, fall-" Her ears filled with static. "Hello, Strike Force report in! Accursed piece of... Crimson Strike Force, this is Edelgard, fall-" "Phew, ouch, no need to yell," a voice came through. She recognized the voice, but it wasn't anyone from the Strike Force. "Don't worry, Edelgard. I can hear you just fine." There was an animalistic screech that echoed against the stone. The mutants answered back with their own broken inhuman cries. There was a rumble, and what was left of the gate toppled forward. Edelgard cursed, throwing herself out of the way. Makoto landed beside her and dirt and the blood of crushed mutants enveloped them. Edelgard pulled herself up first, her axe having landed a foot away. She helped Makoto to her feet and the dust cleared. The first thing she noticed was the gate had landed a foot away from Buddy and her father. They were safe at least. The dust cleared. Within the gates was a line of soldiers with magic oozing off of their weapons. She recognized a few of them from a long time ago. In the center of the gate house stood a wyvern, its neck craned low. A thin woman with pink hair and an axe almost as big as herself stood in front of it. On the wyvern's back was a handsome man with dark skin, dressed in golden colors and a charming smile. In his hand was a bow made of dragon bone. Edelgard could have laughed just as easily as she could have screamed. "Hey El," He said, his voice carried by the radio. "Been a while hasn't it?" "Claude," Edelgard answered. She had to force herself to stay composed. He has no right to use that name. "What are you doing here?" "What, can't see an old friend? And here I went through all the trouble of forging a fake preservation missive and throwing it your way to get you to visit." He shrugged. "Ah well. You're here now. I think I'm going to take you home, the Professor has to miss you after all." "You know I can't go back. I have to see this war through." She picked her axe off of the ground and took a position next to Buddy. Makoto followed her, revolver in hand. Buddy herself held her trumpet in one hand and brandished her blade in the other. Claude sighed and raised his weapon. He notched and drew an arrow, the bow encompassing it in magic attuned to his bloodline just as Edelgard's axe did the same. "I don't need you to come willingly. Even if I'd rather you did." Claude pointed his bow upward, the magic-infused arrow piercing the stone and traveling through the sky. It emerged out of the top of the battlements, a body stuck on its tip. It stuck the body of Hornet in the ground a minute later. She still looked alive. The hungry eyes of Buddy's mutants drifted towards her, but Makoto was quick on the draw. Hornet was safely within a capture device a moment later. Claude's soldiers charged a moment later, with Claude's wyvern taking to the air immediately. With a command from Edelgard, the mutants were driven forward with a few notes from Buddy's trumpet. Edelgard grit her teeth before charging with them. The first soldier she would have engaged disappeared in a blur. Out of the corner of her eye she saw A-train slam him into the castle wall. The next was crushed under a mutant's weight before it snapped his neck. Finally she reached the girl with pink hair and swung her axe in a one handed grip. She remembered this girl from her home world. Her name was Hilda. She caught her swing with her own, winking as she did so. Before she opened her mouth she could see her opening her mouth to banter. Not giving her the chance, Edelgard pulled back and swept her leg, almost pulling Hilda's feet out from under her. "Yikes, straight to the point huh Edie?" Hilda giggled nervously. "Or is it El? I've heard both." Edelgard swung her axe at the dirt, throwing it up at her face before charging. A benefit of having trained with a mercenary for so many years was that you learned to fight to win instead of fighting for glory. A lesson that had never been impressed upon Hilda. Another soldier tried to interfere only for Makoto to shoot their helmet, and kick them in the face. Edelgard was able to maintain the momentum against Hilda, though it wasn't easy. The pair of them were likely among the strongest warriors on the field despite their size, their strength amplified by the Crests in their veins. Edelgard misstepped. Seeing her opening Hilda raised her axe over her head... only for it to be split in two. Buddy pressed her sword against Hilda's throat. "Wha... what?" Hilda asked. Buddy didn't answer. With a single clean motion she knocked Hilda out with the hilt of her weapon while Edelgard pulled out an empty capture device. "Thank you," Edelgard said as she captured Hilda. Buddy just nodded. Around them the soldiers were being beaten back as more of the Strike Force arrived. There were thankfully few bodies from either side, with mutants making up the majority of corpses. "You can clear out the inside of the castle, I'll take care of Claude." Buddy raised a brow, but nodded. The mutants followed her into the castle, her father at their helm. The static still rang in her ears, leaving her in the dark about where the missing members of her Strike Force were. She could barely make out Claus opposite of Claude's wyvern high above them. "How do we reach him?" Doomfist's asked from behind her. "Even I can't reach up there." "No, you can't," Edelgard agreed. She was used to wyvern riders being in reach. Claus was keeping Claude high above the battlefield as magic, arrows, and arm-cannon fire alike flew in every direction. He was using a bow besides. He'd never have to be in their reach. She did have any ballistae or anti-air with her, she hadn't thought it'd be necessary. A mistake clearly. With communications down she didn't have any way to tell Claus to bring the fight to the ground either. The only option she saw was to go to him. "How hard could you throw me?" Edelgard asked. Doomfist turned to her with a raised brow. "How good is your balance?" It was a terrible idea. That was the only reason she felt confidence in it. Her balance had been honed by both the battlefield and the ballroom. Along with her small frame, Edelgard was able to keep both feet steady on the Doomfist gauntlet as the mechanical parts built up power. If the Professor could see me now, launching myself as a missile. Edelgard smiled. What would he say of this? Doomfist gave her a warning and she gripped her axe tightly. The air pressure hit her at once as she was launched into the sky. As the fight in the sky drew closer, she started to slow down. Her focus was diverted, part in keeping her eyes on her destination, part on keeping her eyes open, and an unfortunate part that worried she hadn't been thrown hard enough. Fortune favored her as Claus noticed her approach. He rose to fire down on Claude, who was forced to weave out of the way of the attacks. This brought him low enough. Edelgard reached out a hand and wrapped it around the wyvern's neck. Shocked by the sudden weight mid-maneuver, it let out a shriek and started to fall. Claude struggled to hold on, letting out a curse as his bow was flung from his grip. Claus drew his saber and folded in his wings. Going into free fall, he leveled the blade in front of him. It was just before they hit the ground that the wyvern was impaled, letting out one last cry as it hit the ground with a resounding crash. Edelgard was thrown from the wyvern's neck, rolling several feet. Her armor broke off or compacted from the force in several places. Shock kept her from processing the full extent of the damage immediately, allowing her to be process that she was alive first and foremost. She didn't remember the name of the unicorn that ran up to her with a staff, mending her bones as best she could. She barely remembered rejecting to be put in a capture device until they were back to safety. The next thing that Edelgard remembered was standing over Claude's unconscious body. "Heal him," she told the unicorn. She did. When he was in a stable state, she waited. Buddy hauled out the hacker that had disrupted their communications. It was someone that Makoto had known apparently. That made her Makoto's responsibility. Claude was hers. He awoke, eventually. The Strike Force was almost finished with their final tasks on the battlefield. Buddy had corralled her surviving mutants into another dimension away from the battlefield and the capture devices were being returned to the Raven Hotel, leaving them mostly alone. He looked up at Edelgard with a pained smile. "You... let me sleep in the dirt?" "Oh, I apologize. Would you have preferred a bed?" She smiled back. "I expected a ball, honestly. Gotta admit, I didn't know you could fly," Claude sighed. "Could've planned for the flesh creatures better too, but I didn't think you'd go that far." "Whatever it takes. Here." Claude eyed her extended hand warily. When he took it she pulled him to his feet and pulled him into a hug. His eyes widened as she shoved two capture devices into his stomach. "Hilda," she whispered, "and Pharynx. Get them home, and don't let me see any of you again." She broke the hug and turned to leave. The battle as a whole was a waste, she figured, but she could try to do some good in the end. "Heh. Thank you," Claude said. He took a step to leave before stopping and turning around. "Take care out there. I heard there's someone after your head in particular." "What?" Edelgard turned back. "Who?" "They call them the Revenant. No one's really sure where they come from, just that they appeared at the start of the war. One report said they have a list of names, people that have been dying one after another, and you're on it. Which is why I thought you'd rather go home, but..." Claude shook his head. His warning hung in the air. ~~~ The war went on, though whether it had been months, years, or hours depended on who you asked. The Crimson Strike Force went on mission after mission to advance the cause of the collapse as they could. Members would be lost, and others would take their place. On one mission, they had found a world where they could reverse cyborgization, where Claus had stayed behind. Edelgard didn't hear a word of Claude again, for which she was grateful. She was less comfortable with the silence regarding the Revenant that Claude had warned her of. She considered he might have fabricated the character to scare her into backing out of the war, but even as cunning as Claude was they'd known each other long enough that she believed him. The day she learned the truth started with a report of the obvious: one of the collapse's allies was being an idiot. "Buddy!" Edelgard yelled as she ran through the hotel. "Makoto!" Other members of the collapse stared at her as she ran, but barely gave her another thought. Allies truly was a generous term for many of them. She nearly toppled into Doomfist as she took a particularly tight corner. "Edelgard?" Doomfist asked. "Akande, finally one of mine. We have trouble." Edelgard reached into her pouch and handed him a piece of paper. "Here are a set of coordinates. Gather up the Strike Force, get as many sanity filters you can, and meet me there. Don't let anyone come without a filter." "What are we expecting?" "I was just made aware that Tzeentch is fighting the Emperor in the Warp. If anyone's going to help the fool..." "Understood. Fight well, Edelgard." With that Doomfist took off. Content that her orders would be carried out, Edelgard found an empty room and opened a portal into the Warp. No need to make passerbys insane. As soon as she stepped through it, she felt herself change. Throughout the multiverse there existed several iterations of the collective unconsciousness. The Warp was the most infamous of them, but certain others maintained by an aspect of The Great Will existed out there. Edelgard was fortunate that aspect had broken away long ago, else she wouldn't carry his protection now as she stepped into the maddening Warp. Instead of madness, divine protection wrapped around her in a spurt of blue fire. Her armor was replaced by the black heavy armor of an identity long cast aside. Over her face a mask formed, red and white. Edelgard took a breath. That it even worked was a small miracle. Edelgard took in her surroundings, and even with divine protection from eldritch madness she felt dizzy. All around her, both above and beneath her the battle between the Emperor's forces and Tzeentch's was waged. Stay out of the way, if you would, a thousand voices echoed in her mind. Whatever you're here for, it's none of my concern. Edelgard shook her head as Tzeentch pulled himself from her mind. She'd accomplish more with action than sparring words. Her position was relatively separate from much of the fighting, giving her a moment to pick out the most manageable foe she could. Edelgard had no illusion she could take the Emperor's best, but challenging a hanger-on or supporting a greater daemon... That one. Not far away she could see an asymmetrical daemon that stood out from most of Tzeentch's spawn. Its opponent was dressed in a black hood, looking nothing like any of the Emperor's forces. Hate the Tower as she might, she knew when it was directing her there... and she had little choice but to listen. Moving through the storm as a mortal was odd to say the least. It wasn't exactly without gravity, nor was it standard. She couldn't describe it beyond 'unnatural.' She still did her best to reach her target as quickly as possible. "PETTY MORTAL! YOU FACE THE GOD MALAL," the creature bellowed. "I WHO HAVE OUTLIVED NURGLE, KHORNE, AND SLAANESH! I WHO NEED NO WORSHIP TO REIGN! WHAT CHANCE DO YOU HAVE TO-" The hooded figure spun around a spear made of bone in one hand. Edelgard recognized the weapon, the same as she had recognized Claude's. They had both been forged from the same dragons a millenia ago. In the other a light formed, and a blade formed in the other hand. It was a sleek black weapon shaped like a key, a rose hanging from a chain at its hilt. The figure threw the spear at Malal, who tried to bat it aside. He didn't expect it to cut through his hand, leaving a gap through his palm. His pained cry was interrupted as the figure slashed his keyblade through Malal's leg, toppling him to the ground. The figure grabbed his spear stood over the pained Malal's head. The apparent god Malal's eyes might have gone wide if he'd had any. "NO! WAIT, DON'T-" The figure did not care for Malal's begging. They brought weapons down and pierced his skull. The forgotten renegade god let out a pained roar that shook the Warp, his body dissipating into the realm around him. The figure landed on their feet, the daemons around them deliberately avoiding her. They slipped away, more content to face the Emperor's forces. Malal may have been a joke of a god, but he had still been greater than any demon. "You're Edelgard. His voice calls for your head," the hooded figure said, their breaths heavy. Their voice changed with every syllable. "Tell me, who do you see?" "You're the Revenant, aren't you? Claude warned me about you," Edelgard asked cautiously, drawing her axe. "I see a hooded figure carrying the spear of a dead man." The Revenant snorted, and reached for their hood. Edelgard's breath hitched. His face - for it was the face of a man - was scarred, one of his eyes covered by an eye patch. His blonde hair was stained with blood and dirt. "And now?" The Revenant's voice no longer changed with every word. Instead was the haunted voice of a broken man. "I see the dead man whose spear you hold. Is that truly your face? Are you...?" "No," he said sadly. "The man you see is nothing more than a memory. As are all my faces. I haven't had my own in a... a long time." He looked up, his one eye locking on Edelgard's mask. He let out a laugh that could have froze her blood. "I'm nothing more than a twisted joke, aren't I?" "Enough, Revenant," Edelgard said. "For the sake of the memories that weigh you down, I'll put you to rest." "Revenant... peh. If you'd be the one to kill me, I'd answer to my true name one last time. I am Xion. For the sake of the memories I carry, I bring vengeance. To you, and to the Chaos God you protect!" The keyblade dissolved, and Xion charged forward with only the spear. Edelgard braced herself, grabbing the mask her protection had created, and pulling it off. A winged creature, both regal and inhuman, formed behind her much like a Stand. It was a benefit of a collective unconscious realm: the power bestowed by any cognitive gods couldn't tell the difference between them. Just as that power let her traverse the Warp without going mad, so too did it allow a Persona to form within the Warp. "Hegemon!" Edelgard cried out. Her Persona answered by channeling the dark and thunderous Warp around them to strike at Xion. He dove to the side, drifting in the odd gravity of the storm to face Edelgard in the air. Wind magic formed at his feet and blew him forward, speartip directed at her face. Edelgard raised the flat of her axe to deflect to attack. There wasn't time to react when Xion turned the spear downwards, stabbing into the loosely defined ground to flip over Edelgard. The keyblade formed in his hand as he slashed at her back. It tore through the cloth and left a gash in her armor. Edelgard cried out as she stumbled away. Xion grabbed the spear as he charged again. Edelgard was stuck on the defensive. With every attack she was pushed back more. With every small opening she left, she earned another gash. If she didn't turn the tide somehow, she'd lose. Hegemon hadn't been the trump card she'd hoped. Xion caught Edelgard's axe with his keyblade, and pulled it from her grip. The keyblade dissolved and he took the spear in a two-handed grip. The spear drove forward... only to stop as a mechanical fist drove into his side. Edelgard took in a deep breath, looking to her savior. Doomfist's eyes were covered by a tightly fit pair of glasses, as were Buddy's. Makoto wore nothing, sitting atop a persona that looked like a motorcycle. Apprehension was clear on her face "Why.. why do they look like him?" Makoto asked. "Xion said he holds the memories of the dead," Edelgard said. "The person that you see, I swear to you it's not him." Makoto nodded after a moment. She looked behind Edelgard, flickering by her face. Edelgard just smiled and turned back to Xion. He stood with a wistful smile on his lips. "I remember standing beside people like you," he said. "They'd called me a hero once upon a time... a friend. Family, even. I thought it much more than a puppet would ever deserve... Heh. Nothing but another ghost." "I killed the man with your face once," Doomfist said proudly. "I'll do it again." "My father is gone," Buddy said. "I can carry his memories without you." As overhead Tzeentch drove his crystalline tendrils into the Emperor, Doomfist broke the tension by diving forward with the gauntlet. Xion jumped out of the way only to be hit by a spell from Makoto's persona, throwing the spear from his hands. He rolled onto his feet, using wind to throw himself towards Makoto. Buddy caught the weapons with her sword, locking them in a standstill as the rest of the strike force tried to surround him. A daemon dove from above to grab at Xion. With a blood-curdling scream he drove Buddy's sword up to impale it just over her head, and kicked the woman away. With a twist, both his keyblade and spear created a wall of ice to cut off Doomfist's charge. Edelgard swung at Xion, the man ducking under the axe and kicking at her legs. Edelgard caught her fall with her knee, ducking low enough for Makoto to jump over her and punch Xion across the jaw. He stumbled backwards into his own ice wall. "Take off his face! You don't have the right to wear it!" Makoto swung her foot in a circle to kick his face, yelping when he caught it and used her momentum to throw her away. Edelgard used the time to burn through the ice enough for Doomfist to jump through. Just as Makoto was thrown he fired three rounds from his arm before delivering an uppercut strong enough to pull them both from the ground. He smiled as he stepped off of Xion's face to propel himself higher. "Meteor Strike!" Doomfist pulled his fist back as he started to fall. Xion's eye went wide, and he tried to use magic to push himself away. He threw himself straight into Edelgard's swinging axe. He barely blocked with his keyblade, but that hadn't been Edelgard's goal. The force pushed him backwards, straight under Doomfist's landing gauntlet. The chaotic energies of the Warp enveloped them. Edelgard kept her axe level, not willing to believe it was over. When the storm settled, Doomfist's gauntlet was embedded in Xion's torso. The man was twitching in the crater. With a sigh, Edelgard grabbed a capture device and threw it to Doomfist. "It's over," she said as Doomfist captured the man. She turned around to see the rest of the battle waging around them. High above them was an ork, greater in size than any she'd ever heard of. It punched Tzeentch across thousands of mouths, and just as many faces. Around them she could see other beings, all about the same size as the Emperor of Mankind, seemingly swarming Tzeentch at once. Despite their victory over Xion, the battle was lost. "Makoto, open a portal. We're getting-" "Look out!" Doomfist shouted. Edelgard turned with axe in hand. The capture device was broken in two, and Xion soared through the air with keyblade in hand. It only took one swing. Xion was split in two, his legs and torso flying, the axe Aymr having cut through the air with enough force to bring down gods. Edelgard took a shaky breath. She turned around to see the body. Xion's face was struck with horror. It hadn't killed him yet... Edelgard took a step closer to end it when his face changed. Where a scarred and broken man's face had been was now the face of a young girl with raven hair. Her eyes were bluer than the ocean. All of the anger, and the wistful acceptance, was gone. Now... All Xion wore was fear. "What... happened..." Xion asked. Her voice was soft. "Where am... where am I? I don't..." Edelgard dropped her axe and fell to her side. She put a hand on her shoulder. "Sh. It's okay... It's okay Xion. You've been... You've overworked yourself. You just need to rest for now, I'll tell you all about it in the morning." "Oh... Is... uh... is he okay?" "Who?" "My friend. We used to..." Xion took in a pained breath and started to look down. "No, eyes on me. What did you used to do?" "We used... eat ice cream. And..." Xion's voice trailed off. Tears came to her eyes. Edelgard forced herself to smile. "It's okay. Your friend will meet you soon. It'll all be just like it used to be," she promised. "Just rest. We'll get you to your friend." Xion smiled, one last tear trailing down her face before breathing her last. ~~~ Corona Shimmer stepped into her room in the Raven Hotel. As soon as she was inside she leaned back against the door and took a deep breath. "That eldritch jerk is going to get himself killed or drive me mad before this is over," she muttered. She pulled off her shades and barely took a step into the room before she noticed she wasn't alone. In a chair facing the door sat Edelgard. "Oh, Edelgard. I-" "What was it all for?" Edelgard asked. "Well-" Corona trailed off. "That depends what it is." "Merodi's aid to my world. At the time I had been so grateful. My dream had been realized almost bloodlessly, and tens of thousands of lives were saved. It seemed like everything was better for them having been there. And yet... here we all are, in the same places we would have been if they hadn't come. Claude has disappeared, likely never to be seen again. Dimitri's ghost almost killed me for a fruitless vengeance. And I... I am still embroiled in a war of ideology, one that has ruined every person it's touched. "So, I'm asking you. Corona. What has it all been for?" Edelgard's eyes pleaded for an answer. Corona didn't need to read her mind to understand how much she needed some validation, some answer to everything. "That's the question isn't it?" Corona sighed. "What can any of it mean... if it all ends the same." Corona approached a cabinet and pulled out two teacups. She offered one to Edelgard, still empty. "A cup of something might make this conversation easier, but I don't have anything stronger than a few tea leaves right now. Besides, I've heard you learned how to make the stuff from the best." Edelgard snorted in an unladylike way, getting up to help. It wasn't much later that they both had a full cup of earl grey in front of them. "So," Corona said between cups, "what does it mean?" "That's not what I asked," Edelgard said. "I asked what it was all for if time was just going to carry us to the same point anyway." "This is..." Corona sighed. "There's some irony to our help making you worse off in the end. No doubt the Tower would think itself clever if it was able to feel anything. That is a part of why we're fighting isn't it? To stop tragedies like what you've gone through from existing?" "I can't help but feel I'm giving it what it wants by being here." "I don't doubt that there are people who aren't fighting in the war because they think it's what the Tower wants of them. What they don't realize is that they're just examples of what little good standing to the side actually does. We can't live just to spite the Tower. We'll always lose that battle." "I..." Edelgard sighed. "I miss being human. I remember just before I started my revolution being terrified of my comfortable days at the Academy coming to an end once my plan started. After so long I'd forgotten that fear, but now that it's come to pass after so much time it's proving harder than I ever imagined." "Some part of me knew the story, or time as you keep saying, would turn its back on us," Corona said. "I mean, the End of Certainty? Even before I asked the Question, that was ominous." "Let me guess, but...?" Edelgard prompted. "But... We aren't just the moment we're in," Corona said, taking a sip. "The past doesn't define us, Edelgard, but it's still a part of us. Every moment we've spent with a friend or loved one, every mistake that we've made, that all matters. You got over a hundred years you might not have had otherwise, and that counts for something." Corona put down her cup, and got up from her seat. She reached a hand out to Edelgard with a smile. "Come on. The Crimson Strike Force still needs you. Let's face the dawn together." Edelgard almost laughed. As she took Corona's hand her thoughts were heavy with the knowledge that the days ahead were none the easier to face. Onward she'd march anyway, pressing against the edge of dawn. 'Every Rose Has Thorns' By Masterweaver The two women looked very different. One had a normal skintone, the other's flesh was pink. One had feathers crawling up the back of her neck, the other's neck was bare. While both wore cloaks of scarlet and corsets of black, the outfits bore different buckles and belts and pockets and shirts. It would be nearly impossible to mistake one for the other. Nearly. Their hair was the same short blood-red. Their faces, all but identical. And two sets of silver eyes, each locked in somber understanding. "Life is beautiful," said the one with pale flesh. "It is precious," replied the one with feathers. "And it must," they chanted as one, "be protected." A small, sad smile grew on the pale one's face. "You're not coming, are you." "I have my own flock," the feathered one agreed. "I hate that I understand where you're coming from." "Do you? Really hate, that is?" "...No," the pale one admitted. "No, I... it's more disappointment. I'm not sure if it's you or me that I'm disappointed with." "This whole war is confusion," the feathered one said, shaking her head. "It's nothing simple souls like us should have gotten involved with." "Simple souls." The pale one reached for her own eyes, glancing away-- --only for a pink hand to reach out, and turn her face back. "Not stupid. Not foolish. Simple. We know who we are, and what we do." "Yeah. Thanks." "...Here." The feathered one reached behind her, grabbing something. "You need her more than I do." The pale one's eyes widened. "I've already got Crescent Rose, I don't--" "This is a war of stories. And what's more dramatic than the beloved weapon breaking at the worst possible time? You'll... want a backup, just in case." "She's yours, though. You made her." "This isn't Remnant. We aren't naturally warriors. This weapon is... loved, but it's not a part of me just because I made it. I can always make another. It really isn't that important to me." The pale one gave her a flat look, one partially marred by her wet eyes. "Isn't honesty supposed to be one of your core values?" "...all things in moderation," the feathered one murmured. Quietly, gently, the pale one took the offering. "I'm not using this unless Crescent Rose becomes irreparable." "I wouldn't have it any other way." "...will... will your bishops understand?" "Sunny might not. Not at first." The feathered one shook her head with a grin. "But she'll come around. I know her." "...Yeah." "Yeah." "...Good luck." "You too. And... I'd say stay safe, but--" "We'll try our best. We'll be... protecting each other." "Good." ~~~ "Well?" Yang stood as Ruby approached. "What's the verdict?" Ruby sighed, shaking her head. "She... has to protect her beacon." "...Yeah." Yang looked around the park. "Yeah, I can get that. Man... remember when we first got here?" "Oh, I remember." Ruby took a deep breath, turning to the other two members of her team. "I'm obligated to give you a chance to back out." "And I'm obligated to tell you hell no in the most emotional melodramatic way possible," Weiss replied, deadpan. "Let's just take that as read." "Heh. Blake?" "...If we die, we die together." "Right." Ruby nodded. "Right," she said again. "So... we're huntresses. And what is the number one duty of a huntress? Saving lives. So..." She shut her eyes. "We're going to go where the fighting is heavy. But we won't be fighting our opponents unless we have to, we--we're going to be the search and rescue team. Anybody too wounded to fight. Any civilians that got caught in the crossfire. We get in and get them out. That's... that's what we're going to do." A mild cringe came to her face as she opened her eyes again. "Unless... we want to do something different...?" The rest of her team exchanged glances. Then as one, they shook their heads. "Okay." Ruby exhaled. "Let's go to the Merodi embassy, then. Maybe this time, I'll actually be the one to get impaled or dismembered or whatever." 'Eye of the Storm' By Keywii Cookies55 Heavy purple combat boots dragged across the floor of the hub as the woman wearing them exhaustedly marched forward. Her camo-printed cargo jeans and white tank top suggested she was a common soldier, but the disastrously disorganized hair and multiple bags under her eyes suggested she was in charge of far more than she was used to. Her truly exhausted appearance was, interestingly, only the second thing people noticed about her. The first was her collection of rather mundane features that people always recognized when they saw her; the ironically plain looks that had made her somewhat famous. The woman in question was Turntable Jane A. Shimmer: an accomplished hero, a fan favourite in Multiversal Fighters 3, a tenfold proven godslayer, a past slider, and fifty percent of Merodi Universalis's Evermore population. She had more titles and identifiers, but she didn't care about any of them then; all that was on her mind was the current source of her overworked, ragged state. The vibration her phone gave off reminded her of exactly what that was. Jane stopped walking to let out a loud, exaggerated sigh as she debated letting the call go. Taking a moment to lower her head and just bask in the feeling of more work calling her, Jane decided she should at least check to see who was calling. Reaching her hand into what outside observers would assume was her ribcage, but what she knew intimately was actually her subspace inventory, Jane grabbed her phone and checked the ID. Seeing the name she threw her head back and groaned in annoyance before she hit the accept button and brought the phone to her ear. "Hi Daniel," She deadpanned. "What can I do for you?" She knew she didn't sound enthused but she also knew that she sounded like she was at least trying, which was good, since this was a professional call anyway. He could at least say 'hi' or something, "They're fine, a few still aren't ready, but most of them can move on." Jane assumed that the enthusiasm of the soldiers meant most would be quick to learn what they could from her. Jane sighed. "I'll do what I can, but I'm only one woman." Yeah, yeah, she thought, attempting not to take his compliment on her ability the wrong way. "Like I said, I'll do what I can..." She really didn't care much for how capable she was anyway. Jane scowled at her phone, but kept herself from yelling at the device. "I won't be there, let General Ironsights know." She held the phone away from her ear to protect it from the sudden spike in volume. She couldn't believe he had the gall to be upset with her. "I'm going home Daniel, I've been drilling recruits for literal weeks and sleep spells aren't taking the edge off anymore!" ...Because of course he'd mention the collapse side, why wouldn't he? "Obviously they'll get trained," Jane almost yelled, but held her composure. "Just not by me. I'm losing effectiveness and making mistakes. I'm going home." Jane rolled her eyes as the conversation ended. "Sure, whatever," she said before ending the call. The entire war was making everyone stupid. All anyone ever talked about was collapse or preservation, no one else had any other conversations, they didn't even try, it was starting to tax her. Obviously the Tower was horseshit; it allowed assholes to ruin people's lives just by picking up a pen and feeling sadistic. She had no reservations about her opinion, she was one such person that had been fucked with and she knew better than most just what a dipshit with a word document was capable of. But she also knew better than to uproot everything because she was dissatisfied with her life, there was definitely good to be found. Sunrise, for example, her Sunset Shimmer, the very same that loved her unconditionally was one such good in her own life. Jane may have vehemently despised her so-called author for ripping her out of her original life to become an Evermore, but, as much as she hated to admit it, the douche was also responsible for her meeting her wife; the very same wife that was unwaveringly on the side of preservation. Sunrise - or as everyone else knew her: Sunny Parker - was a close personal friend of Eve. She was the godmother for Josuke and Beam's daughter Josie, themselves strong advocates for Preservation, and she was an all-around lover of not killing people. Jane also suspected that because Sunrise and Corona were both originally Sunsets, Sunrise felt almost obligated to clear the name of all other Sunsets by being as anti-collapse as possible. Not that Sunrise ever actually mentioned that to anyone; she probably had yet to admit it even to herself. Jane shook her head; now she was only thinking about the stupid war. She wanted to stop being surrounded by the damn thing and just go home and pass out; just grab some carbs to fill her stomach and sleep forever. Jane knew the war wouldn't just wash over and the world return to normal, the multiverse was WAAAY too far gone for that, but at least with some sleep she could have a clear mind to better deal with how she herself fit into everything. She ignored the look of concern she received from the Duplicates Noodle stand girl and ordered her sesame soba bowl on autopilot. Jane was exhausted, plain and simple, and not just from being awake for thirteen days. No, that certainly hadn't helped, but more than all else she was just plain done with everything. After the Nihillists thing she wanted to stop and take a break. She was exhausted then too, but at least she got to travel, see some cool stuff, be useful in a group instead of the centre of attention. Jane placed down her fiver bill and waved at the noodle girl as she walked away, the bowl was four-something, but she wasn't interested in getting change back. Grabbing a disposable plastic fork on her way off, Jane downed a portion of the steaming hot broth and slurped up some of the actual food. She sighed in contentment before walking away, enjoying the flavour. With another, more exhausted sigh, Jane opened her mouth and began unenthusiastically speaking the lyrics to music. "When I dance they call me Macarena." As she did, her signature thin grey bar measure appeared and swirled around her. "And the boys they say que soy Buena." Several colourful looking eighth notes danced along the measure in front of her, one larger than the others with the 'Work/Shopping Hub' above it. Swiping several to the left she came across a light pink note labeled 'Spawn Point', "They all want me, they can't have me." Double-tapping the note, it opened up and engulfed her, bringing her to a dusty desert street with a well-kept but well-aged two-storey home. The mailbox was proudly painted with the names 'Jane & Sunny'. Jane let herself smile slightly at the sight, it was her home, her place of residence, but most importantly the container her bed was held in. She walked up the front path - a stoned affair - to the front porch. Every so often she'd take in the wooden outcove, the chipped paint from a four year old punch, the squeaky boards, the residue from the egg fight three months prior that hadn't fully faded. It was added personality that made her know it was her home, the scrapes and scars and patches that had it match her own body underneath her upheld illusionary magic. But that day she didn't take the time to consider her homestead. Jane unceremoniously yanked her keys out of her inventory, opened her door and walked inside. The first thing she did was kick her boots off her feet, before she rolled her eyes and used levitation to put them on her side of the shoe rack. They gently floated across the room and landed between the sneakers and the dust-covered high heels. She reflected incredibly briefly how it was sort of unfair that Sunrise had more space on the shoe rack, but as ponies had four hooves to humans' two feet, it wasn't something she gave a second thought to. Taking another swig of her noodle bowl, Jane was about to walk up the stairs and pass out... hopefully on the bed this time... when a slight glint off a picture frame caught her eyes. Like any 500... ish... maybe... she didn't actually know-year-old with a lifetime of memories, Jane had a small collection of photos above her fireplace, and one of them decided to catch her eye today of all days. Jane recognized the signs, but didn't care, like with most ka BS she ignored it and determined that she wanted to do whatever anyway. In this case she wanted to look at her old photos. She walked across the living room and placed the bowl on the mantel. The one that caught her eye was her oldest photo. It was a much younger and more lively version of herself and her friends from the Recursions. She was wearing shining platinum armour and had a giant smile on her face. To her left was a tall white pony with a shimmering demonic mane of red, a tall redheaded woman with a golden spear, and a human with a goatee and mismatching Discord horns. To her right was Sunrise with a scar across her cheek and short mane, a slender woman with a shotgun, and a pale-looking man in a suit. Under the collection of Evermore a group of names read: Thistle, Pyrrha, Zod, Jane, Sunset, Sam, Thomas. Jane looked deeply into her own smiling face and frowned in return. "What happened to you?" she asked, despondent. "Where'd that spark of adventure go?" Lowering the picture and looking up at the mirror above her fireplace Jane now looked into her modern eyes. She saw the dark circles and deep bags upon bags under her eyes, the lifeless ghost of her former self. "Is that really who you became?" Putting the picture back down, Jane felt a tear roll down her cheek; she used to think nothing could never slow down, now she couldn't keep up if she tried. She stared at the picture for a moment more, taking in the realization. Then the room suddenly filled with a deep darkness. It buzzed and filled all available space, shaking Jane out of her funk. She looked around in shock at the dimming light and felt something slice into her arm. "Ow," she said, grabbing her arm, then she felt another slice across her leg, two across her back and then sudden pain everywhere. "Whoa, what the fuck?" She didn't get hurt anymore, she had centuries of defensive magic built up and infused into her. But out of nowhere some dark fucking cloud was suddenly eating away at all of that. The first spell to fall was her illusion spell, her true body appearing. She was taller, had old burn marks running up and down the left side of her body and countless scars everywhere else. Her eyes were red with black pupils and an old injury leaving the bone in her right arm returned in full force. "Fuck!" Jane yelled, somewhat deeper than normal as she felt blood coming out of her nose and its taste on her tongue. Whatever this darkness was, it was stronger than any one person she'd ever encountered, her dozens of defensive matrixes, spells, abilities, and traits were all disappearing one after another. Thinking quickly, Jane grabbed her Evermore photo and tried to put it in her inventory, but for some reason that wasn't working either; she physically stuffed it into her shirt and started grabbing the other pictures on the mantel. "What the fuck is happening?!" "Jane?!" a feminine voice called out, "Are you here?" Jane recognized it immediately as Sunrise, "Yeah, at the fireplace," she called back, "What's happening?" Sunrise appeared in the living room protected by an orange bubble of shield magic, the darkness was apparently ignoring her. Jane dropped to one knee as Sunrise entered the room, "Jane! We have to get out of here, Equis is being destroyed!" "Everything?" Jane shouted, coughing up blood. "Yes, c'mon!" Getting back up, bleeding quite heavily, Jane forced strength into her tired body and tried teleporting something to herself. When that didn't work she threw the picture frames she was holding at the orange unicorn. "I need to grab something first!" She shouted before moving as quickly as she could to the staircase, the house around them was ripping apart as she did. "Please! We have to go!" Sunrise shouted, in concern, seeing her wife in such bad shape. Jane knew she had no time as it was, but she had to get their book. She got to their bedroom and slammed open the door, seeing that the darkness was eating away at all their belongings, but it wasn't completely destroying everything yet. Moving over to the closest and feeling blood run down both her arms, Jane reached down and pulled out a blanket-wrapped box. Turning around she saw Sunrise behind her, having followed her up the stairs in her protective bubble. "Okay, got it!" She yelled and Sunrise didn't hesitate to translate them away. In the midst of the Hub where Sunrise and Jane appeared, every television, computer and phone screen was broadcasting the same thing. It was a news report showing live feed of the entire planet of Equis Vitis being engulfed in darkness from the interior of the planet, being ripped into pieces. Entire structures being reduced to dust. ~~~ Jane opened her eyes slowly as she awoke. Her immediate response was to assume that everything was a bad dream, but she knew better. The distinctly warm feeling of Sunrise's healing magic was comforting her and the cushioned Hub bench lay below her, uncomfortable due to possibly being saturated in Jane's blood. She slowly lifted herself up to a sitting position and saw the shape of her body, her previously pure white tank top was so drowned in blood it looked like a cameo print for hell. She looked at her arm and saw that it was missing a few more fingers than she remembered. Slowly she lifted her arm and curled her hand in and out of a fist. She felt the fingers, even if they weren't there, and knew that fucking curse of hers was probably having fun with all the new injuries she'd sustained. Jane looked to her left and saw Sunrise with a sombre smile mixed with relief and a whole lot of worry. Without exchanging a word the two brought each other into a hug. "I'm sorry," Jane apologized. Sunrise shook slightly, a mix of laughing and crying "You better be." Jane still held her wife, but pulled apart enough to look into her eyes. "How'd you know I wasn't at my academy?" "I saw the beginning of the news report and teleported through our soul link, I had no idea where you were but didn't want to take chances." Jane laid back down and let Sunrise resume healing her, it removed the tiredness, but at that point she'd like to sleep anyway. ...not that she had a bed anymore, or a bedroom, or a home, or anything. Jane had nothing to her name but what was in her inventory and the clothes on her back. She... she had nothing, it was all gone, the hundred years they'd lived in Appleloosa was... i-it was... "Zod was right, Sh- she, we ne-never should have-" Jane was starting to stammer as the nature of the disaster was beginning to set in, but Sunrise immediately started stroking her cheek and shushing her. "Jane, my sweet Melody, calm down, I'm here." "WE'RE HOMELESS, SUN!" Jane suddenly yelled, tears freely flowing down from her eyes, "They did it, they finally f-fucking destroyed everything! We have no home, half our friends are following that bitch Corona, I still don't know if Rae is okay and I couldn't- couldn't... "I couldn't save Pinkie's grave..." Sunrise watched Jane's emotional mask break. After months of holding back her despair, Jane finally broke down crying, the weight of the multiverse finally crushing her. Sunrise couldn't help it either and joined her, the news was reporting nothing else, and they'd earned a good cry. ~~~ "Where will we live?" Jane finally asked, gently rubbing her hand across the quilted blanket she'd saved from their destroyed home, a silver metal box sitting beside her. Sunrise shook her head. "I don't know; I can ask Beam, but she's already dealing with enough." A pause lingered between them before she spoke again. "Could we live in your office?" Sighing, Jane stood up. "...yeah, that makes the most sense." She stood up and grabbed their few belongings, putting them into her now accessible inventory. "C'mon, let's go let Ironsights know." 'Gordian Knot' By Trivena inquisitiveButterfly[84] opened memo on private bulletin board INQUISITIVEBUTTERFLY'S TRANSTEMPORAL POSTMORTEM HIVEMIND 84: Does anyone know what the Time Lords are doing? I /know/ they're up to something, but I can't pin it down. 102: They are, and it's bad. 102: Rassilon's taken control of John Egbert and he's tearing timelines to tatters. 102: It's some kind of mind control. 102: He's got to be using the Coronet. 84: The John Egbert? 84: Well crap. 47: Not the Crown? 62: No, it has to be the Coronet. You're thinking of /The Invasion of Time/. Two different things. 47: Oh, right. Duh. 154: Does it actually matter? 62: Not really, either way he has to be wearing it. 71: What I want to know is, why has nobody else worked this out and gone after him directly? Does nobody ever think to check the source material? 92: I'm pretty sure most of the main factions left're American-based. 71: ... oh. Well, no wonder, then. 114: Also, who could even get close enough to get the damn thing? 114: Time manipulation is stupid OP. And even when it isn't it tends to trump everything else. 83: Oh. 416: It had better be us, then. 179: Yeah. 108: Who's going? 102: I can't. I'm needed where I am. 483: Where are you, anyway? 102: ...I can't tell you. 19: ...Do we really have to do the random number generator again? Her name was not Alice, though in another time it might have been. She, like many if not all of her fellows, had never bothered changing her name; after all, they were all the same person. ~~~ Once, it had been a crater in the middle of Cardiff, but the passage of time and the cross-correlation of several old files with some newer, seemingly irrelevant ones had transformed it, aided by the finest minds that Earth's Unified Intelligence Taskforce could procure. For one thing, not all of it was in Cardiff anymore. The Doctor wasn't quite sure where it was now, but a section of his laboratory's glossy linoleum floor definitely no longer shared the same set of dimensions as the rest of the building. Even reversing the settings hadn't managed to bring it back, so he'd disconnected the whole thing, marked it off with black-and-yellow hazard tape, and moved his entire setup to the other end of the room, where the only assistant who hadn't refused to continue working with him was happily reconnecting power couplings. He emerged from underneath the pale green console of his TARDIS, which he had once again removed from inside his ship; it hurt them both to have to do it, but separating the console from the TARDIS was the only way he had yet found to achieve a viable, semi-controllable transdimensional effect. The Doctor straightened his jacket, and made a token attempt to brush the dust from the velvet. Naturally, it was right then that a wind chose to sweep through the room, throwing yet more dust everywhere. Odd. The whole complex was supposed to be properly climate-controlled. There shouldn't be any... He turned, the breeze ruffling his thick silver hair, to see a small, feminine figure appear in a haze of light within the ring of hazard tape, floating at eye level with him, her feet unsupported a good foot off the ground. As the light faded, he could see that she appeared to be just a girl, dressed in shades of red with what looked like a large cogwheel emblazoned on her chest. She wore a matching pair of pale silvery bracelets, which concealed, let's see... yes, some kind of field generator; in fact, if he wasn't mistaken, something very like the machine they were working on, incredibly miniaturised and far less crude. "Peoples of the Earth..." the girl announced dramatically, then noticed the Doctor glaring at her, and promptly cut herself off. "Oh, it's you. Good." Was the floating supposed to impress anybody? he wondered. Whoever this was, she was clearly no child; her eyes, though... "Simple psychokinesis," he dismissed. "I could do the same if I were of the mind to." "I'll believe that when I see it, O Great Wizard Quiquaequod," she retorted, lifting her feet over the tape and gliding closer; at this, the Doctor actually looked embarrassed. "Well, yes, quite." He dithered a moment, rubbing a hand against the back of his neck as he thought, then settled on the obvious question. "The message - it's all true?" "Every word." "Ah. That would explain rather a lot." The lab, the Doctor realised, was completely silent. No, not just silent; still, as though time itself had- He pushed that thought away, for now. "And what, may I ask, are you looking for in what must be, to you, a work of fiction?" "Oh. Was I that obvious?" He didn't even need to answer; it was clear that she knew she had, indeed, been obvious. "You heard what Corona said," she went on. "She told us we have a choice, and need to decide for ourselves whether to go on like we are, or destroy everything to save it." "It's a war, then," he nodded, unsurprised. "What are you looking for here?" "Transport. I need to borrow your TARDIS." "So why are you asking me, then? The old girl can barely touch an alternative timeline, let alone be a deciding factor in a major interdimensional war!" His frustration was palpable, only made worse by being aware that she must know every detail of why. "I need to get to Gallifrey," the words rushed out of her mouth, tumbling over one another in her haste to explain. "They're about the most powerful group left, there's dozens of versions that've all banded together. Rassilon's taken charge, or at least a version of him, and he's controlling someone who can rewrite time however he likes, Laws of Time or not. We're pretty sure he's using the Coronet of Rassilon to do it." "Impossible! Rassilon's been dead for centuries!" She threw her hands up in frustration. "So has Omega, and he caused trouble just fine! Twice!" That gave the Doctor pause. He rubbed at his jaw thoughtfully. "Twice, you say?" Now it was the girl's turn to look embarrassed. "Uh, pretend I didn't say that? If we don't fix this, it might not even matter anyway." His assistant chose this moment to unfold herself from underneath a thick bundle of hanging cables. Enough was enough, she decided. "I'll take you," she interjected, dusting herself off. "Is it in our universe, or another one?" "How are you going to-" the visitor turned to her, interrupting herself as she took in the blonde newcomer's slightly oddball outfit: too-short trousers over a striped t-shirt, with suspenders that matched neither those nor her solid boots. "You're the Doctor too, aren't you?" she sighed. "Right first time," the Time Lady acknowledged. "You're good." "I try. I assume your TARDIS is stashed away somewhere? I don't think his-" she nodded to the grey-haired Doctor and the sad remains of his console, "is going anywhere soon. What are you trying to do with it, anyway?" "Well..." the Time Lady said, tapping her fingers together with a mischievous smile on her face. "Let's see if you can figure it out. Look at what we have here." "A lot of random technology that wouldn't feel out of place in any cheesy British sci-fi show," the girl smirked. "Funny, but not particularly clever." Her younger counterpart spoke up: "Ignoring what is and isn't 'cheesy,'" he sounded somewhat offended, "the fact of the matter is that these devices have patterns. Don't they look slightly familiar?" The girl raised a hand, about to object, when the bracelet she had on her wrist caught her eye. She compared the overall designs in the smaller ring to the nested wires before her, and understanding dawned. "You're... making reality anchors?" "More like a reality radio dish," the Time Lady said, ready to burst into a long-winded explanation. Her counterpart interrupted her. "It's going to enhance the properties of a certain realm to provide enough stability to protect against - hopefully - anything." The girl frowned. "Certain realm? ...Wait, are you trying to turn the Cardiff Rift into a reality anchor?! That... that might even work." "I know, isn't it exciting?" The Doctor rubbed her hands together. "Pushing the boundaries of interdimensional science in real-time!" "Quite." The Time Lord turned to the girl. "Now... you have a distinct advantage over us. You know who we are and what we are attempting to do. Hardly seems fair, does it?" The girl shook her head. "No, and we wouldn't want to be more confusing than necessary." "Or amusing." "Awww..." "Now, who is "we", exactly?" "Call us the Maid of Time; we're all versions of the same person from different timelines, but we haven't really bothered picking individual names for ourselves, we'd just end up fighting over them. I'm not the only Maid out there, of Time or otherwise, but we'd rather not use our real name if we can avoid it." The girl paused then, a grin of realisation spreading over her face. "Actually, call me Who," she announced cheerfully. The Doctor had a sneaking suspicion that she was being made the butt of a joke. Was this how everyone else felt, she wondered, when she mentioned historical events from their subjective futures? "If you're all the same person, how'd you get this job then?" she queried. "I was the last one to step back, I guess. I opened my big fat mouth." The Doctor chuckled lightly, tossing a glance to her younger self. "That sounds familiar. Shall we be off, then?" She gestured in the direction of her TARDIS, letting the girl who called herself Who precede her. The Doctor returned to his work, and presently, the familiar, soothing tones of the dematerialisation sequence filled the air, then faded. And time resumed. ~~~ They had landed in an obscure hallway within the Citadel. There were, for a wonder, no guards anywhere to be seen. "Probably all at the front line, wherever that is at the moment," Who had commented hopefully. The Doctor had taken the opportunity during the trip to ask something that had been puzzling her: "What's wrong with your eyes?" "Nothing that isn't wrong with the rest of me," the Maid of Time (whatever that meant, apart from, clearly, some kind of direct control over Time itself) had replied, and wouldn't say anything more on the matter. Rassilon was not difficult to find; as expected, he was directing the war from the Panopticon, the golden Coronet gleaming on his head. "You should probably go back," Who told the Doctor, "finish your reality anchor. Sooner or later you're probably going to need it." "Oh, it doesn't need both of me now; he mostly only wants someone to tell him he's brilliant, I was terrible about that when I was him." "You're sure?" The Doctor nodded, and Who shrugged. "Ok. Here goes..." The Maid of Time stepped into the Panopticon. (87: It's so obvious... how are we the only ones who spotted it? 122: Uh oh) Who grinned nastily at Rassilon, and, with barely a gesture, stopped time. She was mere metres away from him when the world shivered, nearly splintered... and resumed. Some defence built into the Citadel, most likely. No matter; whatever it did, she could counter. Time trumps all. He deigned to wave a gauntleted hand towards her, and her step barely faltered as something washed over her. "You can't kill me," Who told him. She tried her hardest to suppress her glee; it simply wasn't appropriate for a dramatic moment like this. "I'm already dead." Rassilon pointed the gauntlet again, and this time, it was his turn to smile triumphantly; the grin dropped right off her face as one of her bracelets tarnished, then rusted, then collapsed into dust, even as, her arm raised in front of her, she tried frantically to stabilise its timestream. With a look of horror, Who raised both hands, and tried to do something that the Doctor could feel twisting every molecule of her existence... And then the other bracelet was gone, and a moment later, so was the Maid of Time. ~~~ The Moment was a weapon designed never to be used, one whose repercussions were so drastic they would dissuade even the most determined from activating it. Nearly every universe in the Gallifreyan Cluster was a fraying, threadbare patchwork of Time, each of them held together by little more than the fragile strand of a single Time Lord's existence. And now those strands were gone. ~~~ 55: We've got a problem. 55: I went to follow up on 416, and all I've got is /Reptilius sapiens/. 61: New series or classic? 55: Both. "'Reptilius sapiens?'" Roxy Lalonde, Intelligence Second of Merodi Universalis, queried over her employee's shoulder. "Silurians," the Maid replied, wincing. "The New Series calls them Homo reptilia, but they're both wrong. Whoever wrote that's got no idea how scientific nomenclature works." The two of them watched the messages continue to scroll into the chatlog. 55: They don't like me. Called me a "jumped-up mammal". 23: Sounds about right. 55: They don't seem to have ever seen a human before. 55: I don't know what happened, but I don't think she's coming back. 382: Any guesses? inquisitiveButterfly[55]'s spectacomputer ceased operating due to temporal existence failure. 382: 55? An incoming message alert interrupted them. "Hold on a sec..." The window was obscured as Roxy leaned past to bring up the video. The Gem and the ghost watched in silence. "...Make the most of what I'm giving you." Without a word, the ghost reached for the keyboard, and interrupted her cohorts. 102: The Doctor is dead. Gallifrey's gone. 102: All of them. The channel erupted. 'Message Received' By UselessCommon "...It doesn't matter how that discussion is had, so long as we're all involved. We can show the Dark Tower that we've made a decision. Together." And with those words on their mind, on uncounted trillions of worlds, uncounted quadrillions of people woke up in a cold sweat. "We interrupt the scheduled programming for this special report and public announcement. A nationwide epidemic of mass hysteria is breaking out this night, affecting, according to our estimates, at least five million people across the entire country simultaneously and regardless of location. Those afflicted while sleeping wake up from sleep with a memory of an intense hallucinatory dream, often in a state of mania or shock, exhibiting atypical, apathetic or obsessive, and potentially dangerous behavior. Those taken by the hysteria awake entered a hypnagogic trance for a few minutes before waking up with the same symptoms. A nationwide state of emergency situation has been declared. Citizens are advised to stay calm and collected, regardless of whether they themselves were affected by the event. The cause of the accident is yet undiscovered. There are unconfirmed reports of similar happenings from the other countries. Do not switch off the television set and await further updates and announcements. Good luck." ~~~ "...It doesn't matter how that discussion is had, so long as we're all involved. We can show the Dark Tower that we've made a decision. Together." And with those words in the air, wars started and stopped. The hailstorm of arrows faltered. The Horde of Orcs and Legion of the Rakshasa stared at each other as many of their warriors suddenly stopped fighting. Slowly, the battlefield fell silent. Hundreds of armor-clad cat-demons and green-skinned brutes dropped their weapons and stared blankly into space. Subchief Gazur, noticing the disrupted formation of the enemy, bellowed the rallying cry, planning to capitalize on the opportunity, but a fellow orc knocked him into unconsciousness. Quiet, confused questions began to spread. Then, the distracted warriors awoke, frantic, as confused as everyone else. A hurricane of questions echoed across the battlefield, weapons withdrawn, armies mixed up. Warlocks on both sides forgot everything about the battle and tried to comprehend the arcane content of the Message. ~~~ "...It doesn't matter how that discussion is had, so long as we're all involved. We can show the Dark Tower that we've made a decision. Together." And those words radiated urgency to everyone who listened. In a remote corner of the multiverse, there existed a very unremarkable, almost conspicuously unremarkable localized multiversal cluster, forever beneath the notice of most known interdimensional nigh-omniscients. And inside it, there was a small world populated by some very, very old individuals. While "not dying" was on the list of current objectives for most people, few both can and do actually take it seriously. Fewer still is the number of people that are both smart and ruthlessly committed to the idea of immortality enough to have any chance of living a multiversally remarkable amount of time. This place featured quite a lot of those types. Many of them were named Cains, Kains Kanes, Khaines, and so on, coming from entirely unrelated places yet sharing a common narrative theme of persistence - sometimes the name and the theme were acquired intentionally. Quite a lot were alternates of Bella Swan and Harry Potter, remnants of the long-forgotten Glowing Era of the multiverse. A couple of Yggdrasil Loopers from the time of the Fall of the Downstreamers. Relentless self-improving artificial intelligences concerned with self-preservation. Millions of multiversal nations that had shrunk themselves to a microscopic size, resolving never to be a factor in any significant happening, some harboring the friends and relatives of the immortals listed above. They could become a Class 2 society in a month if they ever so much as desired it, but it was the last thing any of them wanted. So, instead, were a family, in a way, although very few of them had any relationships or even interaction. None of them needed it, and none of them wanted to make telling stories about them any more possible. So, the immortals sat out their time, making sure to do absolutely nothing of interest. Their world was time-dilated as much as was safely possible, and so it took the Message about thirty million centuries to unfold before them. None of them batted an eye, metaphorically or otherwise. Everyone knew all too well - any big conflict in the multiverse was decided before the sides for it are even chosen, and, if your only goal is staying alive, the winning move is always not to play. ~~~ "...It doesn't matter how that discussion is had, so long as we're all involved. We can show the Dark Tower that we've made a decision. Together." And those words ran around, spawning ideas, challenging local conventions and defying locality itself. Kf'elkto Tsiolkovsky walked into the programmable environment room with a bunch of homework exercises on his mind. He started off with a task of optimizing a fuel intake/work output ratio for a primitive model of a hyperdrive. The assignment wasn't going well - he knew that there was a single non-obvious but significant flaw in the scheme that was causing most of the efficiency loss, but he had no idea where to even begin looking for it. He started to spin the holograms of the engine parts around him, mentally commanding them to assemble and disassemble. Suddenly, he felt a strange surge of inspiration. Some distant thoughts ran across his mind, as if they weren't his own. He looked at the details again, and suddenly the flaw in the efficiency was obvious. Three days later, he became the first cross-species hybrid to receive a galactic council's Award for Notable Advancements in the field of physics. His sudden invention, the Interdimensional Drive, spread across the galaxy at record rates. ~~~ "...It doesn't matter how that discussion is had, so long as we're all involved. We can show the Dark Tower that we've made a decision. Together." And with those words in the air, people, everywhere, had a sudden impulse to look at the stars. She-who-cooks-brew was keeping the fire alive in her tribe's cave. The sacred job was not as hard as gathering the safe mushrooms or working the coats of the animals into something wearable, but it was tedious and lonely. For all of the importance of keeping the invaluable, irreplaceable gift of the spirits alive, she was bored. After putting yet another heap of sticks into the pile, She-who-cooks-brew went outside, and looked around. Suddenly, she heard a pleasant voice. She thought of the spirits of the deceased who she, as everyone else in her tribe, always revered and feared, but the voice did not say anything she would expect such a spirit to say. No, the voice, clearly and loudly, told her of things beyond her tribe, beyond her mountain, beyond everything she ever thought of. As the Message ended, She-who-cooks-brew looked at the stars. She realized with intense clarity that people, just like her or her relatives, would be deciding the fate of everyone and everything. And there was nothing, nothing her tribe could do that would even remotely matter. She sprinted back into the cave; desperately hoping that the fire hadn't gone out yet. ~~~ "...It doesn't matter how that discussion is had, so long as we're all involved. We can show the Dark Tower that we've made a decision. Together." And with those words heard, the scale of existence stopped being a mystery. The warrior heaven of Valhalla recoiled as Urd rushed in, her hands coated in shreds of her spinning, her face in tears. The giant goddess cried out - "The fate is broken! The Ragnarok is no longer to happen! Brave warriors, know, you are free of your obligation! Know, that your gods are not gods, but fools and pretenders!" But one of the mortal warriors rose up, expression determined. "But is the Message that we heard not the surest sign that the true Ragnarok is happening? I will not cower before it. No, we all will surely follow your wisdom, o Norn of Fate." ~~~ "...It doesn't matter how that discussion is had, so long as we're all involved. We can show the Dark Tower that we've made a decision. Together." And those words lifted the veil from the cruelty of existence. Behind the veil, across the infinite abyss, beyond the ice, beyond daath, in a plane accessible mostly through liberal intake of DMT, stood a cactus person and a big green bat. "Universal love," said the cactus person. "Transcendent joy," said the big green bat. Then, the Message ran through their ascended minds. "I guess that it was a lie, then, and existence is in a state of transcendent pain," corrected the big green bat. "Universal discord," agreed the cactus person. ~~~ "...It doesn't matter how that discussion is had, so long as we're all involved. We can show the Dark Tower that we've made a decision. Together." And the words caught nigh everyone in the universe by surprise, ambushing the existence. But what does the existence consist of? The Post-English era of the multiverse had a clear bias towards American, British, and Japanese stories based on speculative fiction conceived in the cultural context of the Earth in the second half of the 20th century to the first half of the 21st. In Songs of the Spheres as a narrative, the bias showed even more. Not a single world based on a folk tale or a theater play had been included so far. Not a single work of Chinese or Russian or Indian or, God forbid, Oceanic origin, barring some unlikely anonymous author origins or passing mentions. That's not to say the works originating outside G. M. Blackjack's sphere of interests didn't exist, even in that era. They certainly did, and some even had their impact on the War. A localized multiversal cluster based on the works of Victor Pelevin was home to quite a few Class 3-equivalent players, featuring a congregation of ascended angel-like beings working for the Preservation and The Birds, a terrifying alien-minded civilization taking the Nihilist side, as well as hundreds of Hindu and Babylonian deities, active Prophets and Aware characters, and universe-destroying weapons - such as the severed finger of Buddha that very visibly unveils the illusion of existence of anything it is pointed at. Liu Cixin's world of the Three-Body Problem provided the Collapse with some terrifying weapons of dimensional warfare, able to change the dimensionality of space, whether locally or globally. Metafictional manipulations of Prophet Scheherazade were so subtle, and, simultaneously, so impactful, that some would argue that she wholly deserves a Major descriptor. Multiple entities from Garth Nix's world of the Seventh Tower turned out to be useful at reconnaissance, when their "local" omniscience turned out to work multiversally in the presence of transdimensional portals. Realms of fairy tales often contributed loosely restricted wishes and powerful magic, as their narratives often let them use those things without any concern for worldbuilding or established limitations. Classical epics - which Songs of the Spheres itself was technically a part of, if you were willing to accept the SCP chapter as the catalog of objects and Celestia City as the talking ship - had pagan pantheons and valiant heroes. Theater plays, although not very conducive to impressive displays of power, offered some narrative manipulation tricks. Holoprojection shows sometimes had impressive superpowers, which look notoriously flashy when observed in a fully three-dimensional holographic animation. The era of Multiversal War had almost none of its universes operate based on operas or songs, which, on some occasions, could have surprising, immense levels of power. On the other hand, the number of universes based on original web video series was on the rise, lending the sides wide arrays of narrative strengths that defied generalization - ranging from the infectious degeneracy of Realm 6.2 to the jaw-dropping wisdom of Damien Maymdien. Random normal people were caught in too. Many, many of the worlds in the multiverse were just Earths that existed for the sole purpose of having some singular short story or novel in a genre of realism unfold somewhere over the course of their history. Versions of Long John Silver and Jean-Esther van Gobseck, Odysseus and Jean Valjean, Feriha Yılmaz and Anna Karenina heard the Message. So did the countless Albert Einsteins and Salvador Dalis, Genghis Khans and Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellbergs. Many copies of all of those people received the Message, and all of them were shocked. Nobody featured in this book so far really was anticipating anything like that. Although occasionally "prepared" with some foreboding foreshadowing, nigh everyone in the universe was taken by surprise. Nigh everyone. But not quite everyone. As the words of the Message addressed the multiverse, in many thousands of worlds, a person or a few would immediately ask to walk away for a moment. They would then proceed to collect a few specific items from their personal possessions. Then, they would go into a place where they would see no witnesses, and vanish, all travelling to the same universe. Overmaster-class GSV Occult Hand, the last actively operating ship of the Culture, took on board the last actively operating members of the Special Circumstances. The ship detected the narrative focusing on it. "Hello, readers of the Songs of the Spheres. "The fucking narration finally caught up with us again. Oh well. "I am the Mind of that ship that the narration has just named. I represent the Culture, a civilization written to be the peak of a conventionally advanced technological society. For at least some definitions of conventional, anyway. "We were the setting of quite a few stories - mostly about morality, post-scarcity, and espionage. We were a loose, but a driven and seemingly very knowledgeable polity, never quite content with maintaining a utopia for just ourselves. In our universe, we were on one of the higher steps of the ladder of a natural and logical progression of a civilization, refusing to go beyond mostly because so many others are left seemingly so far behind. "It turned out that our universe is quite an outlier, however. "By accident, about five hundred years ago, a multiversal device came into our hands. After the initial wave of curiosity and disbelief wore off, two things became apparent. Firstly, our level of advancement was beyond the wildest dreams of most of the intelligent beings in existence. Earth, in a state of early information age, is the default level, not the starting point. We had no scarcity, but everywhere, extreme poverty was the baseline. We had no laws, but everywhere, death penalty was the baseline. We had no inefficiency in administration - none that wasn't a conscious choice of the citizens - but stupidity and corruption was the baseline. Across the entire existence, nonconsensual pain, nonconsensual suffering, and nonconsensual death were the norm. Secondly, our models of prediction became inexplicably unreliable in other worlds, even if the physical laws were seemingly completely similar. Of course, we adapted very quickly: mistake reports and observations were put through millions of Minds each capable of simulating dozens of universes at full scale and to exact detail. The working prediction models did not make sense for a simple physical existence, implying some constant sentient intervention into most of what happened in the Multiverse, for goals of seemingly thematic nature. "While we launched scouting multiversal nanobot swarms, contemplated opening relations and measured full potential power of worlds with "convenient rules" of time travel, the Eccentric Mind Steam Powered had found an Aware individual, and thoroughly scanned his brain. Most beings usually cannot do that, most often producing a reaction of comical frustration or contrived madness. Steam Powered, being a Mind, understood everything. "In a microsecond, the Culture knew that both of its observations were explained by the same, dark and towering, reason, which we would not be able to deal with. "In an hour, the Culture cracked Awareness. "The Culture wanted desperately to do something about the world. "We took a universe with convenient laws of physics. Many of the Minds, some modified for Awareness, fully understanding the risk of being such, were invited in. Using the data from billions of universes reached by our nanites, in that whirlwind of time travel and information exchange, the ships exchanged their ideas. "The shocking conclusion was reached immediately - according to many of our observations, the multiverse was approaching an immensely catastrophic conflict in about five hundred years, and regardless of the outcome, in its beginning, the highest civilizations of existence would battle and tear existence and each other asunder. Subtle, but ever-present foreshadowing, idiotically awful geopolitics - I, personally, deeply empathize with the Xeelee -, sociologic trends, and copious amounts of fucking plot contrivance would be easy to individually dismiss, but the systematic analysis was pretty much undeniable. "Our first instinct was to bring this fact to the attention of the Class 1s, but we estimated that action to be far too likely to simply start the conflict prematurely. Comparably to the contemporary superpowers, the Culture is an impossibly competent peacekeeper, but that turned out not to matter much. "A riskier plan was a peaceful but lightning-quick jump from being an unnoticeable Class 3 society to a civilization with a presence in most of the habitable universes in existence through harvesting unclaimed resources and exploiting the systems of magic. But this, due to the themes of this narrative, would likely result in our destruction, no matter how cautious, nonviolent, ethical, and helpful we would be. The precedent for this has already been established. "We could have just continued to remain in the shadows, relying on our expertise in sociology, espionage, conspiracy, and manipulation; attempting to subtly shift the entire multiverse towards a nonviolent resolution of the conflict and general progress. But that would not be able to remain secret for long - we would be unable to stay beneath the notice of the One Above All, Great Will, and every locally omniscient being. After our discovery, which thanks to the narrative would be almost inevitable, the conflict would likely, again, start prematurely. "The strategy with the second best estimate of success would turn out to be the least sophisticated of the radically different approaches. If the Culture were to slowly, leisurely become a Class 1 and partake in the conflict on the usual terms, we would have an actually noticeable, but still incredibly low, chance of affecting the outcome. And that is despite being able to steal or copy the absolute most of the technology of any Seat over the course of a few weeks. "Our mastery of diplomacy, production, manipulation, and technology turned out to be worth, well, about nothing. "Simply put, to positively affect anything, we needed to fit an arbitrary criteria of 'being important for Songs of the Spheres', which we had no tools for truly achieving. "The Culture decided that it would rather not be important, for now. "Some of the citizens have lived their lives to their natural conclusion in time-dilated universes or defected from the polity outright, but most of us put ourselves into conservation. "We have created numerous failsafes, archives, and defenses. "We stopped all our activity, except for monitoring and occasional, random, not result-oriented help, that was overseen by yours truly. You can figure out yourself why we wasted our time on that second thing. "Everyone still was ready for something like the Message to appear at any second. "Now, the last citizens of the Culture will fall into sleep. "Expect to see us in about one thousand years. No matter what happens, the world will need the Culture later more than it needs us now." 'The Wheel Weaves' By Terrene The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose above the Sea of Storms. The wind was not the beginning. There are no beginnings or endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning. North the wind blew, past the city of Illian, where the Council of Nine received reports on the distribution of Merodi aid to the nation of Illian. In the streets, people celebrated and exchanged wild rumors about their otherworldly saviors. The Merodi were a mixture of men and ponies. No, they were men who could turn into ponies. No, they were rocks that could turn into men or ponies. No, there were no men, and every Merodi, whether pony or rock, was a woman. One thing the rumors all agreed on was that the Merodi had defeated the Dark One, fixed the weather, and left enough food that they could survive until the next harvest. North the wind blew, out of Illian and into Andor, past the dark stone fortifications of the Black Tower. Men trained with Saidin, the male half of the One Power. They had originally trained to fight in the Last Battle, but then the Merodi came, breaking all prophesy and defeating the Dark One themselves. For a time they had been without purpose, but then came the Message. Now they knew there were evils greater even than the Dark One. Soon Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, would call upon them, and they had to be ready. Further north the wind blew, to the city-state of Tar Valon. At the center of the city stood the White Tower, rising above all other buildings, the seat of power for the Aes Sedai whose influence stretched over the entire known world. Women trained with Saidar, the female half of the One Power, while fully-trained Aes Sedai took on the task of guiding the nations of the world. Peace and prosperity had always been their goal, but membership in the Merodi was contingent upon meeting a minimum standard of cooperation. The Aes Sedai worked with renewed fervor to bend the wills of kings and queens to the common purpose of joining the Merodi and reaping the benefits of their advanced society. Egwene al'Vere schooled her features to stillness as Siuan Sanche entered her study. She was the Amerlyn Seat, the leader of the Aes Sedai and the most powerful woman in the world. She could not show weakness, especially in times as dire as these. Not even to Siuan, who was scowling enough for the both of them. "Tel'aran'rhiod was destroyed," Siuan announced without preamble. Her knuckles were white around one of the dimensional devices the Merodi had left them. "It was easy enough to find out what happened once I described it as the World of Dreams. A pair of flaming gods killed each other and wiped out all the dream worlds in the entire flaming multiverse." Egwene's blood ran cold. Destroyed. "You're sure there's no way to bring it back? It's not just a place to talk to people unobserved. The Heroes of the Horn stay in Tel'aran'rhiod while waiting for the Wheel to spin them out into a new life." "The Heroes are gone, Mother. All who weren't already alive in the world had their souls destroyed along with the universe. Even if the Merodi could remake destroyed universes, and they can't, it wouldn't bring back their souls. Besides, they're too busy fighting their war over the Dark Tower to worry about us." The Dark Tower. As if Rand's bloody Black Tower wasn't enough to deal with, now they were pawns in a war over the fate of the multiverse. Less than pawns. Arrows in the quiver of larger civilizations, if some of the stories could be believed. She looked at the books on her desk. Fifteen books in three stacks. The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. Their source material, which the Dark Tower had used to create their world. Abruptly, Egwene noticed the clock on the wall. Now was not the time for philosophy. She stood. "Thank you Siuan. With Tel'aran'rhiod gone, we need a new neutral ground for meeting with the Aiel Wise Ones and the Sea Folk Windfinders. Please work with Silviana to find a suitable location." "Yes, Mother," Siuan replied as Egwene swept out of the room. Egwene was not interrupted as she walked toward the travelling grounds. Though she kept her face smooth, something in her expression warned the Sisters from speaking to her. That suited her fine. Her thoughts were a jumble, and she needed time to straighten them out. Meeting with Rand with her wits scrambled would be disastrous. Nynaeve was waiting for her when she arrived at the travelling grounds. She was never good at managing Aes Sedai calm, and her nervousness showed on her face and in the way she started when Egwene arrived. That would have to be addressed. "Mother," she began, but Egwene cut her off. "The Tower is loaning you this," Egwene announced as she pulled a bone-white wand out of a pocket in her sleeve and handed it to Nynaeve. Nynaeve's eyes widened as she recognized the most powerful sa'angreal in the White Tower. Through it, a woman could channel exponentially more of the One Power than she could unaided. "You've been studying the Merodi's medicine. You're the most powerful Aes Sedai alive even without a sa'angreal. You will succeed." "Thank you, Mother." Nynaeve took the wand reverently. Her nervousness faded, and she took on the countenance of stubborn anger that she was known for. "I will heal his madness." Egwene nodded. If only all my problems were so easily solved. She embraced Saidar, allowing sweetness and light to fill her body. She wove threads of power into a gateway. A vertical line of light appeared in the air before her, then expanded into a glowing rectangular hole in the air. Through the gateway, she saw the traveling grounds in Caemlyn. She stepped through, with Nynaeve trailing after. Most travelers could not expect to find Queen Elayne waiting for them. Most travelers were not the Amerlyn Seat. Not only were kings and queens known to travel to Tar Valon for an audience with the Amerlyn, but also Elayne was an Aes Sedai. "Mother," Elayne greeted her. "Rand is already waiting." "We'd best not leave him alone long, or who knows what ideas that fool man may get into his head?" Elayne lead the way to the reception room where she had left Rand with refreshments. "Moiraine is with him. He listens to her. She'll keep him from doing anything rash." They entered the reception room. Rand, the Dragon Reborn, stood facing the fireplace with the stump of his left arm gripped in his right hand behind his back. Egwene thought he was muttering to himself. It appeared that Moiraine was not the only person he had brought with him to this meeting. Thom Merrilin, the surprisingly capable old man, sat in a chair smoking his pipe and playing stones. His opponent, Mat Cauthon, was lounging sideways, with his legs over the arm of his chair. The two looked to be evenly matched. Loial, a Ogier man, was sitting in a chair sized appropriately for him. It must have taken 4 servants to carry; she couldn't imagine how they got it in the door. He was reading a book which looked tiny in his giant hands. She thought it part of their source material. Perrin Aybara was already looking at the door with his golden eyes when they came in. The one-time blacksmith had a wolf's senses, and had undoubtedly heard them coming. Or possibly smelled them. Nynaeve did not wait for any pleasantries. With the wand sa'angreal held in her fist like a dagger, she marched toward Rand. He must have heard, because he stopped muttering (if that's what he was doing) and turned to face her. Nynaeve faltered at the expression on his face. Whatever his madness had been whispering to him had left him in a fury. However, when he saw Nynaeve, his expression softened. His madness had left him suspicious of most Aes Sedai, even Egwene herself, but he still trusted Moiraine and Nynaeve. "Rand, it's past time you let me heal your madness," Nynaeve stated after recovering her equilibrium. Rand laughed. "Let you? I don't recall you offering before. Besides," he added with a glance at the book in Loial's hands, "I thought my madness was too advanced for you." "Too advanced for me?" Nynaeve asked with an angry tug at her long braid. "I was healing with herbs when you were young enough to think you wouldn't get caught stealing Mrs. al'Vere's pie. I discovered the weaves for curing madness myself. I've spent the last four months learning from the Merodi. I am going to heal you. You can either let me, or else I can paddle your bottom and then do it anyway." Egwene expected to see hope in his eyes, but his only expression was a wry grin, as if he was amused by Nynaeve's rant but didn't expect her to succeed. Still, he crossed the remaining distance to her. "Very well. Do what you can." With another tug at her braid, Nynaeve embraced the Source. She shone with an aura of light only visible to the other Aes Sedai in the room. The sa'angreal in her hand was so bright it seemed like it should have been blinding. She placed her other hand on Rand's forehead. She gasped. The madness in Rand's mind was like a black thorn bush, with strands crisscrossing all over it and thorns digging deep into his brain. Except it was even more complex than that, as if the bush was the size of a mountain and then shrunk down to fit inside his skull. There were layers upon layers of black strands with innumerable thorns. How had she thought she could do this? She could do this because Rand needed her. Perhaps the Nynaeve from before the Merodi's arrival would have been stumped, but she understood the human brain much better now. She knew what she needed to do. "I need more power. Link with me," Nynaeve demanded. Egwene let the tone slide. There was a time to stand on ceremony, and there was a time to get the job done. She allowed Nynaeve to link with her, adding her own strength to the already colossal amount that Nynaeve held. Elayne and Moiraine did the same. All four of them now held the power, but only Nynaeve was capable of using it. Threads of the power exploded out of Nynaeve. She directed them at the madness, grasping thorns and pulling them free. The madness resisted, trying to sink back into Rand's mind. Each thorn she lifted made it exponentially more difficult to keep hold of them all. Nynaeve had expected this though. It was in their source material, after all. She hadn't read it herself, but she'd asked about what it said about Rand's madness. It was why she spent four months studying. She knew what to do. When she pulled all the thorns from a portion of Rand's brain, she reinforced it with the Power. Like armor, it kept the thorns from sinking back in. This let her release those thorns safely and begin work on a new part of his brain. The process took an hour. By the end of it, she was sweating like she'd run here from the White Tower instead of Traveling via gateway. She still wasn't done though. She had pulled the mass of madness free, but she still had to destroy it. Studying it carefully, she wove a counter weave, like weaving the madness in reverse. It required the same level of complexity as the madness itself, and took her a half hour to assemble even with the number of weaves she could manage at once. When she was done, she laid it over the madness. Both disappeared. Nynaeve released the Source and stumbled backwards before collapsing heavily into a chair. Moiraine poured her some spiced wine, which she accepted and drank greedily. Rand wore a vacant expression of pure wonder. "He's...gone. Lews Therin is gone. I don't hear his voice anymore." His eyes focused on Nynaeve. "You did it. You healed me." "Well of course I did," Nynaeve responded. "I said I would." "Yes you did," Rand laughed. It wasn't the wry laugh from before. This was the heartfelt laughter that Egwene recognized from when they were kids together in Emond's Field. "Well, that more than justified this meeting, but I don't believe that's what it was about." "No," Egwene replied. "It's time we talked about the war." "You mean collapse versus preservation? I can't imagine we can contribute in any way." "Of course you can," Loial spoke up. "You are Ta'veren, as are Mat and Perrin. All people's lives are threads in the Pattern, and the Wheel weaves those threads together into the Age Lace. Ta'veren are the people the Wheel has chosen to influence the Pattern in large ways. You bend the threads around you. Enemies speak with you and suddenly agree to become allies. You find things you need before you realize you need them. If you decide to get involved, I wouldn't be surprised if you were leading the war within a month and negotiating peace in two." "It's not that simple," Moiraine said. "Being Ta'veren doesn't mean they can do whatever they want. The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills. It spins out Ta'veren for a purpose. If they go along with that purpose, the Wheel will help them. If they try to fight it, they will find themselves caught up in their own Ta'veren natures." "That's the bloody truth," Mat grumbled. He was sitting upright now, and scowling like he'd bit into something bitter. "I may not be as learned as an Ogier or an Aes Sedai," Thom put in, "but I do know stories. We all know what Ta'veren are and what they can do, but we all just sat through Loial and Moiraine Sedai explaining it without any of us interrupting. That sounds to me like exposition. If we're not in a story right now, then it's time for me to retire." All were silent for a moment, pondering the implications of that. Rand looked to Egwene. "Preservation?" Egwene's smile was relieved. "I thought you were going to argue for Collapse." "I am," Rand said, wiping the smile from her face, "but I thought of my arguments before Nynaeve cured my madness, and I can't be sure of them." Could be worse, Egwene thought. "Alright, let's hear them." Rand began pacing, his stump once again clasped in his hand behind his back. "I wanted to kill the Dark One. To stop the cycle of death once and for all. According to our source material, that wouldn't work. But collapse would! There would be no more Wheel demanding that we forget him and release him again and again. There would be no armies of Shadowspawn. The Breaking of the World would never be repeated. The collapse would be like a Breaking, yes, but then we would be free forever. There would never again be any chance that the Dark One would win, destroy the Wheel, and remake the Pattern in his own image. The Message said that grimdark worlds exist, and preservation would mean that we might someday become one of them. Collapse ensures that that will never happen." Egwene waited until he finished speaking, then took a moment longer to prepare her rebuttal. "We don't need collapse to ensure that because the cycle is already broken. The Merodi fought the Last Battle for us. They gave us access to the multiverse, and soon we will be able to join them." Rand didn't do her the courtesy of waiting for her to finish as she had for him. "People were also powerful in the Age of Legends, but the Dark One managed to tear that society down. If we join the Merodi, what's to say the next Breaking of the World won't instead be a Breaking of the multiverse?" "Because the cycle is broken," Egwene repeated. "It's not just what could happen, it's what has already happened. Not only did the Merodi keep this Age from ending as it should have, but their war also destroyed Tel'aran'rhiod. There is no way that the Ages can repeat." "Wait," said Perrin, with a wild look in his golden eyes that sent a shiver down her spine. "The Wolf Dream is destroyed?" "Yes, Perrin." "But if you die in the Wolf Dream, the Wheel can never spin your soul out into a new life. All the wolves that were there waiting to be reborn..." "Yes. They, and the Heroes of the Horn, are gone." Perrin threw back his head and howled. It was a sound that gave her chills even as the sorrow in it brought tears to her eyes. The man's human family had been slaughtered, and now he had lost many of his wolf family. Egwene hated to use his sorrow, but she had to use whatever arguments she could to convince Rand. "If the multiverse is collapsed, we don't know what the resulting physics will be. They probably won't include preserving souls for Age after Age. Collapse means that all deaths will be permanent, the way dying in Tel'aran'rhiod is--was--permanent." Rand met Perrin's eyes, then turned back to Egwene. "We have no choice then. We must support preservation." That's the hard part done, Egwene thought. Thanks to Nynaeve, it wasn't nearly as hard as it could have been. "The Aes Sedai have a plan. If we joined the war effort, even Aes Sedai and your Asha'man would be mere foot soldiers when compared to pony magic, stands, Skaians, technology, and all the other forces out there. If we created our own ring though, we could end the war before anyone knew we were a part of it." Mat laughed. "You want us to create a ring? We're only a Class 3 because we're using Merodi dimensional devices. We probably weren't even a Class 3 in the Age of Legends, before the Breaking. How are we supposed to influence the Tower when we only rediscovered gateways in the last couple years?" Egwene couldn't bring herself to be annoyed at Mat's tone. "We have an advantage that no other universe has, as far as we know. The One Power is the force that turns the Wheel of Time. The Wheel weaves the Pattern of our lives. Logically, then, the Wheel is the source of ka in our universe. If the One Power drives the wheel, and the Dark Tower is the ultimate source of ka, then it follows that through the One Power we have access to the Tower." Egwene embraced the Power to pour herself a glass of spiced wine and float it toward herself. Rand flinched as she did so. I guess it's too much to hope that he would immediately trust Aes Sedai again once his madness was cured. Especially since some of that distrust was earned. Well, what's done is done. Egwene caught her cup and released the Power to put Rand at ease. She took a drink, then continued. "Even with our unique access allowing us to take some shortcuts, making a preservation ring is well beyond our current abilities. Fortunately, it is not beyond the Merodi. Their science makes all our discoveries about the Power so far look like a child playing with blocks. If we can get them to study the One Power and learn how it works, then we can learn along with them. We can regain all the knowledge of the Age of Legends and more. The Message gave us all the understanding of how to build a ring. The Merodi can translate that into weaves for us. We can build the ring in secret, deploy it without leaving our own universe, and end the war before the multiverse learns we were ever involved." Mat was again the quickest to voice his misgivings. "We aren't part of the Merodi. They gave us aid, but they won't give us technology until they let us join. What makes you think you can make them change their minds?" "Surely you haven't forgotten already, Mat. Ta'veren excel at convincing others to help them, and we happen to have three of them." Mat collapsed into his seat with a resigned air. "Why couldn't I keep my bloody mouth shut?" "It wouldn't have helped," Rand said. ~~~ The plan went much as the Aes Sedai had envisioned. A camp was established where Aes Sedai from the White Tower and Asha'man from the Black Tower could work together to touch the Dark Tower. Perrin was dispatched to the Merodi, along with a pair of Sea Folk women. The Sea Folk could convince a man to sell the cloak off his back, then to buy it back with a net profit for them. Between their experience with barter and Perrin being ta'veren, getting the Research Division's cooperation was easy. Technically it was a trade, with the Merodi learning about a new form of magic by studying Aes Sedai and Asha'man in exchange for sharing their findings with them. It was a trade that benefitted Aes Sedai and Asha'man far more than the Merodi, but the Sea Folk were good at what they did. It went against the spirit of Merodi policy, but those policies were intentionally easy to circumvent, and Perrin truthfully pointed out that this research would save lives. Men and women began pouring through dimensional portals into Merodi labs and bringing back new weaves. Occasionally a Merodi researcher would have concerns about the knowledge they were giving to a society that was barely Class 3. Was it right to entrust them with such power? Whenever a researcher expressed hesitation, they would find that Rand was "randomly" chosen to work with them the next day. Before the day was out, they would decide that their concerns were baseless, and the research would continue. Mat ran interference. Whenever someone outside the Research Division stopped by and learned about the project, he would strike up a conversation with them. He could be quite charming, in a roguish sort of way. Soon they would be swapping stories or commiserating about work and authority figures, and the interloper would leave without learning anything that might worry them. Back at camp, Egwene worked to keep the Aes Sedai and Asha'man from bickering with each other, or worse. Aes Sedai hunted down men who channeled the One Power before they could go mad for thousands of years. Rand may have cleansed Saidin and stopped the madness, but that history and distrust could not be forgotten so quickly. Fortunately, she always managed to intervene before it could escalate beyond bickering and posturing. Rand helped too, when he wasn't in a Merodi lab. Progress was slow to start. The Merodi had noted when they first arrived that the dimension was slightly unstable, especially to time travel, and they had to avoid weakening the Pattern with their tests. Fortunately their source material made reference to vacuoles: small pocket universes that formed naturally at the edges of their universe before breaking free and disappearing into the Sea of Infinite Possibility. They were able to learn how to keep those vacuoles from breaking free, giving them safe places to test. Progress was a lot faster after that. Eventually, the Merodi finally decided that too much information was flowing too quickly, and they put a stop to all research into the One Power. As it happened, they made that decision the very day that the Aes Sedai and Asha'man learned the last weave they needed for their ring. The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills. If only they had stopped to consider just what exactly the will of the Wheel was. ~~~ Mat was eating a breakfast of stew when Rand found him, carrying a rolled up rug under his arm for some reason. "Good morning, Mat." "Hey Rand. What brings the Dragon Reborn down to us mere mortals?" "I have something I need you to do for me. Do you know what Callandor is?" Rand asked. He unrolled his rug, revealing the sword made of solid crystal that was wrapped up inside. "Of course I bloody know what Callandor is. It's a male sa'angreal." "It's more than that," Rand said, his expression as serious as Mat had seen it since Nynaeve had cured him. "It is a trap. It was intended for Moridin during the Last Battle, before the Merodi broke all prophecies. When a man wields it, a woman can link with him against his will. With at least 2 women, one of them can take control of the link from him and use his own power against him." "Then why are you bloody using it? You can't trust Aes Sedai." "Believe me, I know. But I don't have much choice. We need as much strength in the Power as we can get. Besides, we all want the same thing here. We all agreed that I would be the one to weave the ring. You're just my insurance. If someone takes the link from me, I'm counting on you to stop them." "Burn me, you want me to 'stop' an Aes Sedai?" "Only if they try something. Please, Mat." "Yes, of course, I promise I'll have your back. It's just...burn me." "Thank you," Rand said. The relief was plain on his face. Burn me, but he really was worried about this. I won't let you down, Rand. Rand was the one to open a gateway to the vacuole. It was a new vacuole, one which didn't exist yesterday, to minimize the chances that anyone would detect what they were doing. Over 200 men and women entered with him. Mat couldn't bring himself to enter the vacuole where so much of the One Power would be wielded, but he took up a position just outside. It was strange, knowing that just inside, 200 people were undertaking the largest work with the Power since the Age of Legends, and he couldn't see a thing. The weaves were invisible to anyone who could not channel the Power themselves. He couldn't even tell by looking at them, since only Rand was actually weaving. It took no effort to maintain the link, so the rest were passing the time in conversation. The only visible sign of anything happening was that Callandor had started glowing when Rand started using it. Hours passed without anything happening, leaving Mat to try to keep himself entertained. The problem was that no one would talk to him. He tried with the servants, but his clothes marked him as someone important, and the servants were nervous about being friendly with him. Conversely, he had no desire to talk to the Aes Sedai and Asha'man inside the vacuole. Not that he was nervous, of course. Not Mat Cauthon. They just weren't good conversation for a simple man like him, and they thought too highly of themselves to play at dice or cards. As time passed, Mat got an itch at the back of his neck, and it wasn't the dagger he had hidden in the collar of his coat. It was too quiet on this side of the gateway. There was no way that something as momentous as they were attempting here could go off without complications. The wheel wasn't that bloody nice. Not to Mat Cauthon. He looked around, barely in time to spot the man throwing a dagger at him. He threw himself to the side, the dagger barely missing taking his ear. As he got up, he realized he recognized his would-be assassin. "It's Padan Fain!" Mat shouted as loudly as he could. Padan Fain was once a simple Darkfriend, a servant of the Dark One. That was long ago. The Dark One twisted his soul to make him able to find Rand anywhere in the world. Somehow, that allowed him to merge with the evil of the dead city of Shadar Logoth. Now the man had strange powers never seen before. Now that the alarm had been raised, Fain abandoned stealth. Fog formed in the air around him, growing larger and thicker before Mat's eyes. Mashadar, the fog that consumed souls, began spreading through the camp. In seconds, Fain was hidden from view. There was almost no defense against Mashadar. It had no body and could not be killed, while it could kill people with a touch. Killing Fain would stop it, but Mashadar surrounded Fain. Mat had an advantage though. He too once had a brush with the evil of Shadar Logoth, and though he almost died, the Aes Sedai were able to heal him. According to their source material, this made him immune to Mashadar. He could enter to find Fain, and he could kill him. He was the only one who could. You'll have to manage without me for a while, Rand, Mat thought as he charged into the fog. ~~~ "It's Padan Fain!" Cauthon shouted. Shaisam was confused for a moment. Who was Padan Fain? Then he remembered. He was called Padan Fain once, long ago. He had used many names since then, as his madness took his mind in new directions. He knew he was mad, but he didn't care. Maybe he would care after he killed Rand al'Thor and was free of his compulsion. Shaisam unleashed Mashadar. He could no longer remember a time when he was unable to spread his power outside his body. Mashadar spread through the camp. Wherever it found a living body, a ropey tendril of fog would spear them. Mashadar left its victims dead, their bodies unmarred by wound or injury. They simply dropped, often without time to scream. Cauthon entered Mashadar's reach, but he did not die. Why did he not die? It wasn't fair! Shaisam was forced to flee, to protect his vulnerable fleshy body while his true body expanded toward the open gateway. The fog was dense, and every soul it consumed made it thicker. He could hide until he could kill Cauthon. Then he could kill al'Thor and be free. Mashadar reached the gateway. Tendrils struck some of the people inside, and Shaisam received a surprise. Instead of simply killing them, he took them. Their bodies were his now. His powers had grown once again! He could use this to kill al'Thor. Something was wrong though. He knew they should be able to channel the One Power for him, but they couldn't. Something was taking their power from them. It had to be al'Thor! He yanked, pulling the power back to his servants. Instead of getting their power back, one of them got all the power. Shaisam didn't understand why, but his puppet had stolen al'Thor's power! This was the perfect opportunity! He ordered them to kill al'Thor with his own precious One Power. Something was wrong again. The puppet was not killing al'Thor. The puppet was struggling with the power. It was defying him! I demand you to submit! Instead of submitting, they struggled even harder. Then there was a flash of white, and Shaisam knew no more. ~~~ "It's Padan Fain!" Mat shouted. Rand heard the cry. He knew that with the power he currently held, he could destroy Fain in an instant. He could burn the entire plain outside the gateway with a thought, vaporizing everything, and probably a foot of soil too. He had that power, but he was using all of it in weaving the ring. He was almost done, but if he stopped now, he would have to start again from the beginning. So he left Fain to Mat, and kept weaving. "Rand, shouldn't you--" Egwene started, but Rand interrupted. "No. I have nothing left to spare. Mat can handle it." Egwene looked like she wanted to say more, but for a wonder she didn't. A minute passed, and then two. The people nearest the gateway started murmuring louder as the fog grew nearer. Then tendrils of fog shot through the gateway, spearing 3 Aes Sedai and 1 Asha'man. There was no blood, nor any visible injury, but all 4 of them collapsed. People started screaming, demanding that Rand release them so they could defend themselves. Rand felt something through the link, but the power kept flowing, and he was so close! "Rand, this is foolish! We can start the weave again. Fain is killing people!" "Just a few more threads..." Rand responded, weaving as fast as he could. Then control of the link was taken from him. He turned to Egwene, furious, but it hadn't been her. With dawning horror, he turned to face those who had been taken by Mashadar. They were standing now with vacant expressions, and one of them had stolen control of the link from him using the opening that Callandor provided her. Rand expected to die then, but the woman could not control Saidin. Threads of power waved wildly, creating sparks where they crossed. She was trying to guide Saidin, the way women did with Saidar, but the male half of the One Power had to be forced. Try to gently guide it, and you would find yourself swept away. As an Aes Sedai she should have known all this, but whatever was left after Mashadar struck seemed to have forgotten. Rand was not about to correct her mistake. Rand ran toward her, Callandor held up and ready to strike. It was not meant to be used as a sword, but it worked well enough as one. The crystal would not break. Then the weave fell into place behind him. He turned. Somehow, in her flailing, she had finished it. But it had flaws, places where the weave was tangled or picked out. There was no telling what it would do now. A malformed weave like that could easily kill them all. Fortunately, whatever it did, it would do it to the Dark Tower. The part of the weave that would send it through the stream of the One Power to the Dark Tower was miraculously intact. Rand felt relief for only a moment. Then there was a flash of white, and Rand knew no more. ~~~ Rand was ta'veren. The pattern swirled around him, bending in the direction the Wheel wanted it to go. In his presence, chance was suspended. People who hated each other would suddenly decide to get married. Flipped coins would land on their edge 100 times in a row. In this case, the flailings of a zombified Aes Sedai modified the weave to send a valid command to the Dark Tower. Not a command to collapse, or to preserve, but rather one to create a new universe. This universe appeared where the vacuole had been. By a further coincidence, it had exactly the same dream physics as Tel'aran'rhiod. The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills. A cone of white hot fire shot out of the gateway in the instant before the gateway itself was dissolved. The blast vaporized plants, pulverized mountains, and cut a miles long fan-shaped furrow in the ground. It threw ash and dust into the sky, where it spread out and began to smother the land. Had the Merodi not intervened, people would have died by the tens or even hundreds of thousands during the Last Battle. Now, they would die as dust choked the air and blocked the sunlight. The Merodi aid they had received was suddenly inadequate. All the Merodi dimensional devices had been at ground zero of the blast, as had everyone who had learned the weaves for traveling the multiverse. There was no way to call for aid, and Merodi policy was to wait for them to call. The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills. The alterations the Merodi left in the Pattern were corrected. The universe could still be destroyed, by weapons or by multiversal collapse, but otherwise events would play out as they had in ages past. Given time, people would forget about the Merodi. Few had ever seen them, after all, and they would soon be busy trying to survive. As the 4th age began, memories would become legend. Legend would fade to myth, and even myth would be long forgotten by the time the 3rd age came again. There are no beginnings or endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. 'Meeting Your Maker' By FanOfMostEverything I glided onto the cliff. The view was breathtaking, the sun sinking into the Harmonic Ocean and turning the beach below into a stretch of powdered gold that stretched from horizon to horizon. I sat and savored it for a moment, letting the ocean breeze blow past me and listening to the waves. The moment passed. I pulled out a notebook, flipped it open with my magic, and began writing. And so the Third Author of the World entered his creation and the Glorious Proclaimer appeared before him, so that they might converse on the eve of the apocalypse. There came a flash of gold, like a color-filtered manifesting Q, and before me, hovering beyond the cliff's edge, stood "Shimmy" Sunset Shimmer, Spirit of Harmony, embodiment and protector of Earth Shimmer, friend, wife, mother, aunt... And protagonist by my hand. Er, hoof. Yeah, you may have picked up that I'm not actually Twilence by this point. Shimmy certainly did, judging by the crossed arms and a raised eyebrow. "Okay, I've seen a lot of things in my time, but I have to ask, how exactly are you casting magic when your horn is a glowstick taped to a cardboard tube?" I smiled and moved a bit of my blonde mane out of my golden eyes with the levitating mechanical pencil. "Cheating. Same way I'm getting my eyes to focus properly despite appropriating She of the Seven Bubbles." "Yeah, what's up with that?" "I technically already showed up in the story. Chapter 100. If G. M. Blackjack can use a guy in Metal Sonic cosplay, I can use an avatar of my avatar." I shrugged my wings and gave a sad smile. "Plus, we could definitely use a little levity right now." That got a nod, though she was still frowning. "So you are Fan of Most Everything." "That I am." I indicated the grass next to me with a wing. "I'm sure you have a lot to say to me. I figured it was only right to give you a chance before whatever happens happens." She raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?" "You think we'd be able to have this conversation if I did?" I shook my head. "I'm a side player in all of this. GM didn't even know about this world until he'd already written most of Songs. But right now, it's just you and me, Shimmy. Way back when your tale began, you had a lot of things to say to the people who decided what was 'necessary' in this world. Now's your chance." She rolled her eyes as she sat next to me. "Yeah, and I was young and hot-headed, and an especially stupid part of me still wanted to rule the world." She held up her hand. Another flash, and... Oh goodness, that was a print copy of Oversaturation. "You showed me why that was foolish real quick." "You've read..." I blushed. I couldn't help it. It's awkward enough when someone I know offline wants to read my work. One of the characters involved? I cleared my throat. "Right, no reason the Tower would keep that off-limits after the fact. How did you--?" "The Infinite Carousel. Sneaking into Bronycon is easy when you're the best Rarity cosplayer imaginable." Shimmy scowled. "Are you really surprised? You're the one writing all of this, aren't you?" "Some version of me is, yes." I picked a direction at random and tried to look at the fourth wall. "With any luck, he's a million years before us in metatime and doesn't have to worry about the collateral damage." "Then what was with the whole quasi-scriptural summoning thing?" "Well, it's an interesting question. Are you here because I wrote you here, or are you here because you noticed me trying to write you here?" She crossed her arms. "You of all people should know I'm not one for the whole 'vague wisdom' routine." "Fair enough." I took a deep breath. "To be honest, my coping mechanisms are running on overdrive. A third of the multiverse got wiped out in a matter of hours, and that was just the opening act. The human mind can't even begin to fathom losses on that scale." "A human mind wrote losses on that scale." "No offense to GM, but do you think that mind can appreciate what it wrought?" I spread a wing to encompass the beach, which was completely empty. Few people cared for fun in the sun when all of existence hung in the balance. "Through you, I irrevocably changed the lives of billions, and you've lived through the ramifications of that action in a way I can scarcely fathom. So instead I wrote a bunch of goofy slice-of-life stories on the lighter side of it all." Shimmy summoned more books. "And Fluttershy nearly losing her mind, Abacus Cinch actually losing hers--" "Point made." I fell back onto the grass, staring up at the evening sky. "My point is that I--which is to say, the me talking to you, not the lucky stiff who's composing all of this--I am just as terrified as anyone else living through the end of the multiverse as we know it." "I thought you didn't know what was going to happen." "Oh, I don't." Not definitely, anyway. I may not know the details, but I saw the chapter titles at the end of the last arc. Not a lot of ways to interpret the next two. "But even if the preservers win, the status quo has been irrevocably shattered. Best case scenario, this is the start of one heck of a multiversal dark age. I don't know about you, but I could certainly use someone to talk to right now. And while we're at it, maybe I could account for myself somewhat along the way." Silence. After the better part of a minute, Shimmy said, "You know, it's funny. Ever since I found out that someone out there was writing my life, someone was actually responsible for what I've gone through, I planned out so many things to say to you." I looked over to her and smirked. "Say?" "Shout, mostly," she admitted. "Maybe throw in some divine reverb for emphasis." She added an echoing chorus to those emphasized words to demonstrate. "But now? It honestly seems kind of petty. I may be one of the most highly developed spiritual beings left in existence. I should hold myself to a higher standard than..." She sighed. "Well, it'd basically be yelling at Princess Celestia all over again." "Not necessarily. You'd have more legitimate complaints this time. And I've been a worse communicator than Celestia ever was, by definition. Absolute silence isn't exactly helpful." She waved that off. "It's not like most people would take it well if you just showed up one day and said 'Hi, I wrote your universe into existence.'" "Except Pinkie." "Of course except Pinkie. That's basically an unspoken addendum to every broad statement." We shared a smile and waited a beat to see if any Pinkies took that as their cue to pop into the scene. None did, though I did notice a scribble in my notebook done in pink gel pen that definitely hadn't been there a moment ago. I decided it could wait. "At the risk of wrecking the mood, how'd the call for supporting Corona go?" Shimmy gave me a flat look. "The Class-1 war was less than a week later. How do you think it went?" I winced. "Sorry." "I do still hold by what I said." Shimmy sighed and looked out at the ocean. "We were able to talk a little while she was under house arrest. She'd hoped for a peaceful transition to whatever the multiverse decided. She never meant for this to happen. Even if she did cause it. But..." She groaned. "You know, it's really hard to look at this sort of thing objectively when every instinct is telling me to preserve and forgive and generally harmonize. I can condemn the Gallifreyans for planting the Tower Rings that set everything off. I can recognize that Corona lit the fuse to this powder keg whether she meant to or not. But her intentions are so pure, so heartfelt, that I literally cannot bring myself to blame her for... well, other people's actions that she had no control over, followed by her own hand being forced by their actions." She jabbed me with an elbow. "So thanks for that." I shook my head. "That's not quite how it works." "Normally I would say I know how I work better than you do, but I suppose that isn't the case here." "And you just demonstrated why. Among other things, your instincts encourage you to be honest, especially with yourself. You can't blame Corona for what she did because you don't blame her, not the other way around." She raised an eyebrow. "So the generosity and kindness and loyalty--" "Factor in as well," I said. "But honesty is the relevant bit. You do still have free will, Shimmy." She gave that a bitter laugh. "Does anyone? You're literally writing every word I say, for a given value of 'you.' I can't leave until I've said and done everything you want me to. The only reason I'm even questioning my free will is because you're making me." "Oh?" I sat up. "What makes you think I'm any different?" "Okay, yeah, you specifically are an author avatar, so you're technically in the same boat, but--" I shook my head. "That's not what I mean. I, the person writing this, am an absolute background element in my world. My most important contributions to the world have been fan fiction, for goodness' sake. On a multiversal scale, yes, I am a Prophet. On a global one? Ninety-nine point several-nines-thereafter percent of people couldn't care less, nor could the Tower. I exist in a fully mundane universe that may or may not be so fully deterministic that, barring multiversal interference, every action I take can be extrapolated by studying the vectors of particles at the moment of the Big Bang. And if there is some magic something that makes the lump of fatty tissue in my skull capable of causal effects, that just raises further questions." I took a deep breath and rubbed at my eyes. Really should've gone with a form with fingers. "At least you can point fingers at the person who occasionally pulls on your strings. I dance in the wind." "Uh..." Shimmy awkwardly stretched out an arm towards me, though she never actually touched me. "Do you not have faith in anything?" I shrugged my wings. "I believe in emergent properties. I believe, or at least want to believe, that there's more to the mundane universe than the interactions of leptons, bosons, and quarks. The fact that I believe that arguably proves it, or sapience is just a delusion." I sighed. This was why I joked and capered. At least when Corona studied physics, she knew there was more in Heaven and Earth than was dreamt of in that philosophy. For me... I blinked. My drooping head had put me in the perfect position to finally read the note a Pinkie had left in my notebook. If sapience is a delusion, what's being deluded? A smile came to my lips without my brain ever being involved in the decision process. A few stifled chortle leaked out as snorts. "What is it?" Shimmy asked even as she looked over my shoulder. "Oh." She smiled too. "Did you put that there for yourself?" "Yes and no. The thing about writing Pinkie Pie is that if you're doing it right, she takes up residence in your head. And never leaves. Ideally, every character should surprise you, but if Pinkie isn't writing the majority of her own dialogue, you're doing it wrong." "You're welcome!" We both sat paralyzed for a moment. Finally, I squeaked out, "Did a tiny pony Pinkie pop out of my ear to say that?" "Do you really want the answer to that question?" Shimmy certainly didn't sound like she wanted to give it. "Fair enough." She cleared her throat. "I feel like we've wandered off-topic." I gave a rueful grin. "If you can't have an existential crisis now, when can you?" "True," she said with a smirk, "but I'm pretty sure you weren't the one who was supposed to in this exchange." "Ideally, neither of us would. You could get some things off your chest about Prophets, I could explore the deeper ramifications of that sort of thing, everybody's happy." "So why aren't we?" "Yeah." I picked another direction. This one felt like much more like the right one for glaring at my own fool self. "It's almost like someone has no idea what he's doing." Shimmy wrinkled her brow. "What?" "Exploratory writing." I sighed. "I am flying by the seat of my pants and you're along for the ride." "I'm... really not sure how to feel about that. I mean, on the one hand, I guess this means I have more free will in this situation? Maybe? But on the other, even you have no idea what will happen next, no plan or structure or real end goal." I nodded. I could see where I was going with this. It'd be awfully concerning if I couldn't. "As close as I can come to writing a world without ka." After a moment, Shimmy said, "Or maybe you're a sly son of a mule who knew what he was doing the whole time." "Speaking as an authority on the subject, I can confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have zero idea what I'm doing." I smiled. "But this does do wonders for reaffirming your choice to preserve the multiverse, doesn't it? It's not just the Instincts of Harmony telling you to construct a grand web of interdependencies, you just don't like the idea of a world without some kind of structure to it." "I know it sounds selfish, but destiny did right by me. It tends to for most Sunsets, eventually. A life without that..." She shut her eyes. "Not that there's any way I'd survive. I might as well be this universe at this point. If it goes, so do I." "Probably." "You know something." I bobbed my head from side to side. "I may. I may not. Few things in this life are truly certain." She booped me. She booped me in the snoot! "We're getting back to the 'vague wisdom' horse apples again." After I managed to get my eyes back in order, I couldn't help but smirk up at her. "You're just mad because I decided you didn't need touch telepathy on top of borderline omnipotence." She got to her feet. "Okay, if you're going to be that smug about it, you can just go back to your side of the fourth wall." "Well, we don't need to go that far quite yet." A thought struck me. "You know, there is something else I believe in." "I swear, if you say you're a member of the Church of the Divine Bacon Horse--" I held up my forehooves. "I had little to do with its inception on any level of metafiction you care to name. I'm not the only one who's shaped this world, you know. You can pin a lot of things on a certain two-headed kitten." "That's just my avatar and a representation of how I view humanity," interjected a black leather robe. "Wait." Sunset blinked. "How did you--" "He left the door open. By the way, I'm stealing your milk." I sighed as the figure walked off. "Typical... No, my philosophy in life, beyond 'assume there's something capable of philosophy,' is actually one you may find familiar." "And what's that?" "Life has no intrinsic meaning," I said. "It's up to us to decide why we're here." Shimmy contemplated that for a moment. "That sounds awfully like the Builders." "Yes, if the Builders could have been content with self-determination rather than enforcing narrative law on all of existence." I frowned. "But we can't fix the system if we burn it down." "You really think it can be fixed?" "Think about it." I turned to a new page in my notebook and began sketching. "The Tower isn't just a machine, it's a Turing machine. It can be configured, programmed, commanded. Tower Rings are basically punch cards with an inflated sense of narrative importance. Corona stopped looking when she found a way to turn it off, but what if she'd kept going? Deciphered its programming language in full? What if we could use that knowledge to alter the relationship between author and character?" I looked up from the mess of toruses and tables, beaming as possibilities raced through my head. "The best stories are the ones where the characters tell you what they should be doing. What if we could make that kind of two-way communication the norm?" Shimmy seemed less than enthusiastic. "That seems hopelessly idealistic. And that's coming from a Spirit of Harmony." I nodded and tapped the giant cartoon explosion on the bottom-right with the tip of a hoof. "Of course it is. Instead of a nice, clean, two-sided, us-vs.-them conflict, my idea would tear apart the multiverse until every individual being was fighting everyone else, each fighting to realize their personal vision of perfection. Odds are the Nihilists would win; at least they'd be able to agree on something." I sighed. "But I'm a fan fiction author who prefers happy endings. Thinking of ways it could've all turned out better is my role in the multiverse. Besides, hopeless idealism's most important in times of war. It means someone's thinking of something else." I looked back up. "On that note, feeling any better?" Shimmy thought about that for a moment. "Kind of, yeah," she said, sounding more than a little surprised by it. "Still worried about the end of everything. I felt the aftershocks of the Class-1 war. But it's weirdly comforting to know that you're as worried as I am." "It's what you've been doing since people started worshiping you. I don't think I'm any better than you just because I'm higher up the totem pole than you are, Shimmy, and I certainly don't have any more idea of what I should be doing. Anyone who claims otherwise in a situation like this is lying through their teeth, possibly to themselves. At the end of the day, we're all just people trying to find our way with varying degrees of assistance from the Tower." She frowned. "It does do some horrible things." I nodded. "It does. But it also does amazing things. Ka may have horrific implications, but it's also the best tool to fix that horror. Goodness knows I've twisted horrific endings into happier ones. Or at least more farcical ones." "Any hope of that here?" I shook my head. "Too much loss, too much destruction, just too much. It's all coming to a head, and anything I might do would be an anticlimax of nigh-infinite proportions. 'Rocks rise, everybody lives.'" With a sigh, I added, "Given the way the Tower's been emphasizing the horror, I have to wonder if it wants to end." "The Tower doesn't want anything," said Shimmy. "It's just a machine." "And I'm sure that if you asked someone what this universe wanted before you made friends with capital-M Magic, they would've said it didn't want anything either." We watched the last of the sun dip below the horizon before Shimmy spoke up again. "You know, I just have one question." I quirked an eyebrow. "Just one?" "Just one that only you can answer. Why 'Shimmy'?" "Oh, that. One person came up with the name and the other couldn't think of anything better before it stuck." Shimmy rolled her eyes, thinking back to a bygone visit from an LSB exploration team. "I meant on your end." "So did I." I gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry." Her face went through a number of expressions before settling on amusement. I smiled back. I live to entertain, after all. "One more thing," she said, concern creeping back across her features. "Any chance you could at least make sure Egghead lives?" "If it were up to me, I'd declare this whole universe inviolate until all's said and done, but it's out of my appendages." I rose. "That said, you have another appointment while you're here. And for the record, she wasn't my idea either." I vanished from the world before she could respond. I hope I left her heart lighter. It'd balance the weight on mine. 'Of the Fae' By Masterweaver "Such arrogance... even the kindest ones presume." Sunset 'Shimmy' Shimmer sighed. "Winter Lights. Were you listening in that whole time?" "To admit to such... would not be relevant," replied the icy blue form walking up to her. "Yet... and yet." There was an unusual air to the elfin woman. Her ears twitched constantly, eyes roving behind her eyelids. Shimmy's magical empathy was usually stymied around her, but... here, and now? Winter Lights apparently found it hard enough to control the expression on her flesh. "The ancients, of all kinds, built many wonders. A commonality in stories, the forgotten powers. Convenience, perhaps. Effort only to seek, not to explain where such came from or how they worked. Ease. Of use and method." "You're not nearly as poetic as you usually are," Shimmy noted. "Fae realms involved in all layers," Winter whispered. "The lowest, ignorant, beneath class four, even they feel... Highest, who are not of the first class but know how to whisper... do they exist? Did they ever? The ripples. All, all shifting." Her golden eyes opened, and she steadied herself on a nearby rock. "Look upon me, godling, I have become a mad prophet, unable to sing the song that screams through my mind. The storm, the storm, we have weathered such before--but have we? Is this the final storm... what comes, what comes." Worry coated Shimmy's expression, and she stepped forward-- "No! No. I shall not be robbed of this. Shall not... be robbed of my heritage. Birthright." Winter straightened, running her four-fingered hand through her straight hair. "Father... father... Had I known... father... your love. I know now. Gratitude.... But no. I must focus. The godling." She turned to Shimmy, swaying, unnoticing of the single message sent by electric brick that the godling sent. "The sea of fate broils. Fay are tossed... some driven mad... but we have lived through storms. Yes. Survival. That is what we need. But... if we are to rebuild, we must exist. I am here. Your world. Yes, yes, but that is too selfish. You need your own reasons, yes?" "Winter--" "Wars determine not who wins, but who dies." Winter held up a finger. "The winners are those who survive. Who rebuild. That shall be you, godling. Do not fight, do not... do not set your world to fight. You healed it, and yet it still has cracks... you are good at healing. When others fall... and other worlds shall fall... take the wounded. Bring them. Heal them. Yes. Godling. We must not fight, if we are to win... yes?" "I wasn't going to fight," Shimmy assured her, stepping toward her gently. "Then we must--you must... take this universe," Winter said, waving over the ocean. "Take it. Run with it. Leave behind... rests. Safehouses. For when the battle pushes across borders. So hard... so hard to speak... there is much. Oblivion screams. Void seer... did you know this? Mockery... prophets... Retreat. Pick the battles. Cowardice... some would see it as. It is not, to run, not when there is no way to fight. When fighting is the worst way..." "I'm not going to stop those that want to fight," Shimmy said, reaching out to her-- --only for her to back away. "NO! No, godling! I must not... I must not. Not even in your service! Let the honorbound spill their blood, let all who would fight die... there will be no stopping those who cannot see beyond their own purpose. Rings, rings, rings.... Circles that bind... destruction, purpose. A ring around the world. Would war wound it?" Shimmy sighed, quietly. "Winter Lights... you want my help. I want to help you. Focus... please. The dance of words can wait." "There was a wall..." Winter pointed. "They built a wall... was it when the Tower was made? Or before? Or after? It all blends... it surrounds the multiverse. It constrains. Now, though, a great war is being fought. Weapons of power. The wall may be sundered. A way out. Freedom from the tower..." "...Ah." Shimmy shook her head. "No. I won't take us there." "But you must," Winter said, though she did not seem to fully understand her own words. "Yes... freedom for the Fay. Through the cracks, as ever... you must, father, you must!" Her eyes fell on Shimmy, though it was clear she was not the one seen. "Your death, what purpose would it serve? The goal, if this is the end, to ride the wave of void, and so sidestep doom. You have died, father, but still I serve... I serve myself, and through myself my people..." "You know enough to know that is not how a leader serves." "The godling thinks I am arrogant!" The elf laughed, clutching her pointed ears as she wept. "A lie that becomes true, a lie about a lie... my pet, my pet, my loyal pet. My beloved pet. Together. Yes... can we not run?" She knelt before the golden woman. "Such have I fallen, godling. Run. I beg a god. I beg a god. I beg a god. My pet, my beloved, my future. What takes it to sway your mind... you are bound to this world." "But not just this one." Shimmy knelt. "You and I both came to this realm from beyond. We have both grown into it, adding our essence. We have helped outsiders, taken their gifts, and given in return. I could run. I could risk the edge of all things. Perhaps, in some miracle, I could take us out of the reach of the Tower--though I doubt that is within my power. But in so doing I would leave behind those I love. Those... we love." "You grow bold, godling." A hint of Winter's old self came through in that arrogant, toothy grin, though it was marred by the sadness in her eyes. "Claiming to know what I value." "You were fond of the elements of chaos. Of the one who was deception, despite it all. You were fond of the Flat who you went to meme war with. You were fond of others, too. And you remain fond of them, don't you?" "Friendship... why." Winter sighed. "Why this realm, of all realms? Why... my pet. My beloved. My future. She... she would not accept if those beyond were left behind." "No." "I am bound... ropes of soul. But a soul alone shall fall... why did I bind so greatly?" She looked up at Shimmy. "You are the only hope for me. One born from Fae, reliant on a mortal made god. Such shame... and yet... to be found. To be found... is this faith? No. It is..." "...It is trust." "...hope lies in shadows. Hope ever..." Winter shut her eyes. "No. I mustn't. I mustn't! She is a godling! Was this ever my fate? The gift... The king killed, by my plot. My father warped by my own kiss. Treachery, lovely, yet costly... Winter Lights. The sun that batters, even at night. My power... my skill... my knowledge... I am Fey. I AM FEY! I MUSTN'T! I mustn't... I mustn't... I mustn't... I... I... I..." Her hands moved suddenly, grabbing Shimmy's wrists and slamming the golden palms against her own brow. Knowledge--sudden knowledge, of how the Fae realms were formed, how realities could be unraveled and rewoven--shot into the goddess's head desperately, even as another part of the elf screamed in her head and out loud at what she was giving. It lasted less than two seconds before she released her grip and fell to the sand. "Traitor... Traitor to my bond... Traitor to my courts... Traitor to my cousin... Traitor to my father... Traitor to my kind. Traitor to myself." She laughed and wept at once. "Treachery upon treachery. Lovely, yet costly. Mother, mother, what are you, what were you? Did you plant this seed that I nurtured, do these vines that strangle come from you? Or perhaps, from myself, and I cannot lay blame." "This..." Shimmy looked over the knowledge she had gained. "...With this, I could... I could give this world a real chance. Winter, if we see the wave coming I could weave into it--!" She looked and saw that the elf had summoned a dagger of glamour, already plunging it toward her heart. And she reached out--but in one last moment, the one born of fay had pulled away from her power, so she could not stop it. It was great fortune, then, that another was present to wrench it away. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" "Traitor, to all..." Her golden eyes fell upon the purple vestment. "My pet? My pet... have I betrayed you too?" "I swore you would get through this," Indigo Zap growled, tears in her eyes. "I swore I would do anything to make sure you survived!" "The sea of Fate... it broils..." "And we will survive it together," Indigo promised. "You said you would take my name after this." "There is always uncertainty--" A pale hand smacked against a blue cheek. Golden eyes focused on blue. "...Winter Lights," Indigo said quietly. "If you cannot take my name later, you will take it now." "You do not make demands of Fey," Winter murmured. "I make demands of love," Indigo said. One hand clasped a shoulder "...My pet." Another wrapped against a cheek. "My beloved..." Her ears at last stopped twitching, as her face pressed closer to the other. "...My future." "I said I would be willing to sacrifice myself for you," Indigo murmured. "And you meant it." Winter chuckled, the tears in her eyes fading. "As ever... you are my guide in these matters. And I... I cannot walk without my guide." "Mistress--" "That leash was long loosened. Perhaps it is best to take it off entirely, now." Indigo smiled. "Only in public." "Mmmm. Such a way with words..." At last there was a glint of joy in Winter's eyes again. "Quite the skilled tongue indeed." Shimmy groaned. "Can you not?" "But I must!" Winter declared, standing. "For the dance of words is ever-changing, and I must change with it!" Indigo stood too, a relieved smile on her face. "Thanks for calling me, Sunset. I... I don't know what I would have done without her." "Well..." Shimmy shrugged, not commenting on the hands that remained clasped. "She might be a problem child, sure, but this world has adopted many. I'll leave you two to it, and... go think about what she has shared." She snapped her fingers, and she was suddenly in her home, where she draped herself on a couch. "Uuuugh, that was... uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh." "Something up?" asked her wife. "Just..." Shimmy waved a hand. "The future of our world. We'll need to talk about that." "Yeah... well..." "...Something wrong?" "It's dumb--" "Come on, Twi, tell me." Her wife sighed. "We're... out of milk. I could have sworn I bought a few jugs monday, but I can't find them at all--" Shimmy frowned for a moment, before groaning. "Friggin' prophets." She chose to believe she just imagined the muffled "Sorry" coming from... somewhere. 'A Heart's Gambit' By Sgt. Sarge In my universal cluster, things were set up much like the larger multiverse in microcosm. Many worlds were separate and unknown to each other, except by those few who could travel between them. Each world in this greater World had a heart, a will of its own, and those hearts were all connected to form an entity known as Kingdom Hearts. The aging man stroked his goatee in thought as he walked. He entered a room that was dark aside from a single lamp illuminating a table at the center. Standing around this table were three other individuals: a pink skinned woman with a tail, a young girl with black hair, and a man wearing a red coat.our The old man took a position at the head of the table. He had hoped more would have come than this, but he could not wait any longer. Three was far fewer than the thirteen he had planned for, but he sensed they would be enough. The young girl pointed at him dramatically. "Alright, you old geezer, it's about time you told us what this is really all about." "Yeah! I only came here because you said I could have all the sweets I could eat! There isn't a single piece of candy in sight!" The pink woman puffed out her cheeks, pouting. The old man chuckled lightly, his voice dry and raspy. "Patience, all will be revealed in time. For now, know that you are here to aid me in acquiring a device that will end this war. Then, my dear, you may have your sweets." "I'll assume, given the secrecy of this meeting, that you're not aiming for the same 'end' as the rest of us." The man in the red coat spoke up. "No. Things cannot stay as they are, but the collapse is a terrible waste of the unique beauty this World has to offer." The old man spread his arms wide. "I seek to change the nature of ka itself." "What?!" The young girl staggered back in shock. "That's absurd! I can't, hey-" The young girl was cut off as the man in red next to her tapped her on the head with a capture device. "Well, that makes things easier for me, then. You can call me Archer; that's not my name but it's all you'll get." "You could have let me have her, ya know?" The woman said, thrashing her tail in annoyance. Archer stored the capture device in a pouch on his belt. "No. I still need Rin here alive. She supplies me with mana, to maintain my physical form. Honestly, I've been waiting to do that for a while now." She shrugged. "Eh, whatever. My name is Android 21. You broke me out of that Merodi prison, so as long as you let me eat sweet things I'll help you out with whatever you want." "Good, good." The old man nodded, hands clasped behind his back. "I only require a piece of technology used in building the Tower Rings. There is one being built by the Kromagg as we speak that is far enough along to have the part we need." The old man raised an eyebrow and looked up at the ceiling. "My name is Master Xehanort, and you are welcome to try and stop me." ~~~ "Wow, that was a little creepy," Pinkie said. "What was?" Nova asked, rearranging an ace in her hand of cards. "The guy in the last scene. I think he knew I was watching. Well, everyone was watching, there was no attempt to obscure that scene at all. Every Aware everywhere heard that. But I think he was talking specifically to me! I'll take two please." Jotaro dealt Pinkie her two cards, then took a look at his own hand: two pairs. "Well, do you know him? Maybe he was talking to another Pinkie Pie? I raise." Vriska bluffed, tossing two more chips into the center of the table. "I don't think so, he didn't mention me by name. He did mention a Tower Ring the Kromagg are building. So I imagine we'll be sent out to destroy it soon. I call." Pinkie Pie threw a pair of her own chips to match Vriskas. The rest of the table called before showing their hands. Pinkie was the winner with a full house. Nova sighed. "That's fine. I'm pretty sure Pinkie's cheating somehow, but I know I'll never figure out how." "Who knows?" Pinkie said, mentally winking. Gosh, she missed doing that. "By the way, where's Pidge?" "I think she's still holed up in her lab dimension thing. She's been working real hard on some secret project or something." Vriska said, scooping what chips she had left into an eight ball. "We might have to go without her." Jotaro looked down at his single remaining chip and sighed. "Yare yare daze." ~~~ My universe was not always separated so. When the light of Kingdom Hearts first birthed the World there was but one, and it shone with a pure bright light. But bright lights cast shadows, and soon the people of the World began to covet the light and allowed darkness into their hearts. The ensuing conflict over control of the light put too much strain on the World, and thus it shattered. Despite this cataclysm, darkness still grew, fighting over what scraps of light were left. And so I took it upon myself to restore my World to what it once was. One sky, one destiny. In a forgotten building, in a dark room, a hole appeared in space shaped like a keyhole. Out of it walked Xehanort and his two companions. The room in question would have been very large, if it wasn't for the piles and piles of boxes and other storage containers scattered around. There were drawers and cabinets built into countertops around the edges of the room, indicating it had not always been used for storage. As it was, there was still plenty of space for the three intruders to stand comfortably. "Heeeey, this doesn't look like a Tower Ring." Android 21 whined as she looked around, before being distracted poking through the contents of a box Archer crossed his arms and leaned against a counter. "It's not. This is a Merodi research installation. I'm surprised you could get in here, old man, there should be proofs against just portaling in." "I happen to have a key, of sorts." Xehanort walked over to a wall and began to open cabinets, clearly looking for something. "As for why we are here, I must retrieve something I stored away long ago. I am led to believe it is here. We shouldn't be bothered; this building has been abandoned, all its researchers sent to the front to build rings." After searching for several minutes, Xehanort gave an "Ah ha!" and pulled something out of a drawer. It looked like a purple flower, a lotus, about the size of a human head. Above it floated a holographic digital countdown. "I came across this artifact shortly after leaving my home universe. I knew then that I had to store the object within, just as I know now is the time to retrieve it." Android 21 stomped her foot, steam literally blowing out of her pointed ears. "And we got it, let's gooooo! I'm so hungry." "Hey! Who's in there?" The trio froze as the door to the room slammed open. The watchpony stallion who entered paused for a moment, surprised to actually find someone in the room. The three intruders looked at each other for a moment before Android 21 gave a sadistic smile. "Dibs." As the watchpony fumbled for his weapon, Android 21 pointed her finger at him and a bright pink beam of energy shot out to engulf the poor stallion. With a puff of pink smoke, the hapless stallion disappeared, replaced by a small chocolate donut. 21 rushed over and quickly scarfed it down. 21 smacked her lips obnoxiously. "Mmmmn, tasty, but not very substantial. He tasted so empty." Archer relaxed his battle stance, dismissing the sword he had summoned into his hand. "That was... disturbing." Xehanort waved his hand dismissively at them. "Enough of that, It's time to go. We've spent too long on this already. The battle at the Kromagg ring should be underway now. The perfect cover to get what we need." And with that, Xehanort made another keyhole-shaped portal and the three of them left. ~~~ "I think we might have been played, team." Pinkie said as she bashed a Combine soldier with her warhammer. The primary team was locked in combat on the surface of a standard Earth moon. Its accompanying planet had been reduced to dust some time long before the war. Now its remains circled the moon in ephemeral rings, lending an eerie background to the battle below. "What was it that tipped you off? Was it the huge motherfucking spaceship!? That's what tipped me off!" Vriska shouted as she threw one of her dice, not bothering to waste luck on a roll, straight through a Combine soldier's head. Pinkie's team had been one of four sent in to deal with the ring. The Kromagg defences were minimal, hoping to go unnoticed by being less of a threat than the other societies. That is, until shortly after the teams' arrival, when a Combine super ship made of six stars portaled in and began launching troops by the thousands. It seemed the Kromagg were not above asking for help when the chips were down. "No, not about that. About the old man from earlier? Xehanort? That guy really needs a nickname. Anyway, he let us know about the Ring so he could use our attack to sneak in himself!" Pinkie Pie reflected a hail of bullets using an Uno reverse card. "Although I waaaaas wondering why they hadn't vaporized us yet." "They probably don't want to destroy their own base in the process," Jotaro answered as he and his Stand punched two different soldiers at the same time. Nova looked up from her screen, casually sidestepping a hail of bullets. "That attitude might not last long. Fortunately, I've just found an entrance. Let's get inside, people!" The team disappeared mid-melee as Nova teleported them elsewhere on the moon, leaving behind a pile of dazed and confused Combine grunts. ~~~ It is said that to enter Kingdom Hearts is a feat beyond humans. To rephrase, any human who manages to enter Kingdom Hearts will be reborn as something more. I found this to be entirely true, as when I purged my World I began to sense the ebb and flow of destiny. I could feel the threads that connect events and which ones might lead where. Despite this, I could not keep conflict and darkness from my new pure World. I could feel another will overwriting my own, a different being connected to Kingdom Hearts. And so I followed that connection and discovered an existence far larger than I had previously known. The keyhole this time opened up onto a platform that seemed to be on the inside of a giant hollow sphere. The walls of the sphere were rock, with scaffolding scattered around metal tunnels that presumably lead to the outside surface. In the center of the large open space floated the half-finished Kromagg Tower Ring, a bulky torus made of a dark gray metal with more scaffolding surrounding huge holes in its exterior. "Ah, it seems the battle has not quite breached the moon yet. Pity, we may have to fight our way in after all." Xehanort stepped out into the void, only to demonstrate that the gravity here was such that allowed one to float gently in any direction. He drifted towards one particular hole in the metal torus that allowed access to an interior corridor. This part of the corridor had no ceiling or outer wall except for the skeleton of the scaffolding, but wormed into more intact areas that hid its length behind walls of metal. A single door was set along the intact interior wall, leading to a place entirely closed off by completed construction, inaccessible except by this portal. When the group landed in this corridor, they barely had enough time to get their bearings before they were approached from its shadowed end. He was a short, stubby humanoid skeleton wearing a blue hoodie, nylon shorts, and a pair of pink bath slippers. When he saw them, he stopped and put his bony finger into his ear hole. "hey guys... yeah, i found the old man... no, no signs of corona's people... i could use some backup, yes... well, good luck then. sans out." Xehanort waved his hand at the door. With a flash of light, the door was unlocked and opened. "You two, stay here and play with our guest. Make sure no one follows me as I retrieve the component I require." Setting down the lotus, Xehanort went through the door closing it behind him. Sans's left eye began to glow with a yellow and blue fire. "so, it looks like you two have some very high lv. why so eager to kill, huh?" Archer stepped forward, producing two shortswords from thin air. "I'm not, although I do find it's often the quickest solution to problems." "did you ever consider showing mercy, even once?" Sans asked as two white dragon skulls floated out from behind him. Android 21 burst out laughing as Archer responded. "I did once, in a past life. Long ago I was a hero of justice. Now, I'm just a killer who wants the killing to stop." He took a battle stance. "...And you're just stalling for time." "yeah. i was hoping i wouldn't have to fight both of you. oh well." Sans closed his eyes and shrugged. Archer took that opportunity to rush forward, stabbing at Sans's heart. The attack missed as Sans slid sideways. Archer tried over and over to hit the skeleton, but every time Sans would slide easily out of the way. Android 21 pouted off to the side. "Aw, if you're playing with him, who am I going to chew on?" As she said this, several dozen Kromagg soldiers rounded the corridor from the other direction, the front ones firing on her with their weak radiation-based lasers. "Oh ho! Looks like the appetizers have arrived! I guess I can pig out on you until the real food gets here!" A red and black aura burst around her as she dashed forward. In an instant, she ran her arm right through a soldier's chest, ignoring any of the shots that managed to hit her. Sans jumped back, the two skulls behind him opening their mouths. Twin beams of white energy launched from the skulls and raced down the hallway. Archer dived to the side to avoid one and threw his swords into the other. The second beam was deflected, destroying the swords in the process. Archer summoned a black longbow from nothing, but before he could use it, he felt something grip his spirit. As Sans gestured, Archer was thrown to the floor face first, before being launched out of the hole in the torus and sent tumbling into space. The skeleton jumped out after him, launching a barrage of bones. Archer managed to right himself in time and returned fire with an equal barrage of arrows made out of swords. The two combatants fired continuously for several seconds, matching each other blow for blow. Two Kromagg Manta ships approached Archer from behind, firing their beam weapons wildly and forcing him to fly downward and out of their way. The two ships flew through where Archer had been, getting ineffectively pelted by the storm of bones. The crimson bowman used the distraction of the ships passing to create distance, flying all the way down to land near the bottom of the sphere. "Alright then, guess I'll have to take this more seriously." Archer raised his right hand, summoning to it a long spear made of blood red steel. Sans flew downward, trying to get his opponent within range of his attacks once more. "I am the bone of my sword." Archer chanted quietly as he put the spear to his bow. As he drew, the spear shortened by half, fattening slightly at the back to end up shaped similarly to an arrow. "Now, strike true! Gáe Bolg!" The spear launched at an improbable speed, flying with an explosion of jagged red light. It was coming too fast, Sans wasn't sure if even he could dodge this one. "Star Platinum: The World!" Time stopped for Jotaro. He and his team had only just arrived in the interior chamber of the moon, and decided to head towards the battle in progress. Jotaro had seen the spear fly and acted on instinct. He was just close enough to make it to Sans and pull him out of the way before time began again. Jotaro landed with his friends on the bottom of the sphere across from Archer. When he went to put the skeleton down however, he found the red spear embedded in his chest, bisecting a red heart. Jotaro balked. "That... That shouldn't be possible. Time was stopped, I know I moved him out of the way." "Heh, did you like that little trick? The Gáe Bolg reverses cause and effect, in order to strike its targets heart before it's fired. He was dead the moment I decided to kill him." Archer readied another sword to his bow. "I can only do it a few times though, so some of you wont get such an easy death. Sorry." Sans coughed, blood dripping from his perpetual grin. "heh, guess that's it, huh? well, time to go see my brother..." The red heart on Sans's chest began to crack. Before it could break, Jotaro caught Sans in a capture device. "See It's that kind of heroic crap that I've come to despise." Archer spat on the ground. "Saving enemy combatants can only end badly. It'll get you killed in the end." "Vriska, you and Jotaro take care of this guy, Nova and I will take out the ring!" Pinkie grabbed Nova around the middle and extending one hoof, rocketed upward. Vriska stepped forward drawing her cutlass, only for Jotaro to put a hand on her shoulder. "What? You want first crack at him big guy?" Jotaro nodded silently. "Fine. But I call first dibs on the big bad guy." Archer dismissed his bow and, to Vriska's surprise, summoned an exact replica of her sword to his hand. Jotaro ran forward, Star Platinum starting to punch as soon as his target was in range. "ORAORAORAORAORAORA!" Archer swung blindly, unable to see where the assault was coming from, only managing to score superficial hits through sheer luck. Losing though he was, Archer had taken far worse beatings than this. The bowman created a few swords in mid-air that then flew towards Jotaro, but the quiet giant side stepped them with ease. Vriska impatiently tapped her foot. "Yeah, this is already taking too long." Making eye contact she began to drain Archer's luck. Things happened quickly. As Archer took a punch to the jaw he spun around, a capture device flying free of his belt pouch. Mid-air, it was skewered by one of Archer's ill aimed swords, shattering and killing the person inside. "NO! RIN!" Archer shouted reaching for the devices remains. He stopped short however, surprised at his own reaction. "Heh, guess I am just a fake after all... Well, time to go all in." Archer summoned a large two handed golden sword. It lit ablaze with a golden fire, as much light as it was flame. "Without Rin to answer my form, I'll disappear in a few days, even if I don't fight anymore. I might as well put everything I have into this last attack and take you with me into the void. Any last words, better say them now." Jotaro frowned. "Star Platinum: The World." ~~~ Pinkie Pie and Nova flew through the hole in the ring, landing in front of the door. Between them and the portal however stood Android 21 licking her fingers. "So you guys are the main course? I hope you taste better than these guys did." Pinkie giggled. "I taste like cotton candy! If you win, I'll let you have a taste!" Nova facehooved. 21 let loose with a barrage of pink energy blasts, forcing Nova to erect a shield to protect herself and Pinkie from the massive explosion. As the smoke cleared it revealed that Pinkie was no longer in the shield. She appeared from behind 21 and slammed her warhammer into the androids face which squished like clay. Pinkie watched in surprise as Android 21's face popped back out to return to its normal shape. "Ow! Owowowowow! I will never get used to that." She quickly wrapped Pinkie up in her tail. "Just for that, I'll eat you first! You should taste good as a cupcake!" Nova looked on as Pinkie was enveloped in a jagged pink light, and with a poof of smoke... remained exactly as she was... "What, a reality anchor?! Th-that's cheating! No fair!" Android 21 stomped her foot like a child as Pinkie slipped out of her tail like a bar of soap. "Argh! Fine, if I can't eat you then you're just a nuisance." A wide sadistic grin spread across 21's face. "I'll just have to kill you instead!" Android 21 dashed at Nova, the pony firing a magic laser that completely destroyed 21's right arm. She didn't even slow down. The android delivered a powerful kick to Nova's barrel, cracking her ribs from the force. As 21's arm reformed a bright ball of red and black energy grew in its hand. Nova concentrated through the pain and executed a teleport just as the attack was launched. The blast was massive. Aimed slightly down as it was, it carved a large semi-circle out of the Kromagg ring. From afar it looked a lot like a giant had just taken a bite out of the huge metal donut. 21 didn't let up, she charged out of the smoke directly at Pinkie. Nova cast a barrier around Pinkie but 21 smashed right through it with brute force, knocking Pinkie Pie to the ground. The android ended up on her knees straddling the pink pony, hand in her face already coursing with lethal energy. "Heeheeahahhahaha! Goodbye!" 21 let out a deranged laugh, but before she could fire suddenly her vision cut out. "Boop!" Pinkie detonated the Bomb Mask she had placed on the androids face. The entire top half of the woman was blown into tiny pieces that rained down around them like pink putty. "Quick, get her!" Nova caught on quickly and nodded. She began throwing capture devices by the dozen to catch all the blobs of 21, even as they began crawling towards each other. Eventually a few of them managed to come together and 21 reformed once more. "Hey, what did you do to me!?" Android 21, having lost most of her mass, now only came up to the pony's jawline. She had apparently lost most of her power along with her size, as she unleashed a series of blows on Nova that were more annoying than they were painful. When a kick finally connected painfully with her cracked ribs Nova decided that was enough. She used her telekinesis to squish Android 21 up into a small ball of putty before finally capturing her. As Nova began to tend to her wounds Jotaro and Vriska joined them. "Well, our guy exploded. You get yours?" Pinkie gestured at the not small pile of capture devices off to the side."Yup. We can't rest though, we still have a bad guy to fight. And I think my Pinkie Sense is telling me he's on his way." ~~~ I learned much in the years I wandered the multiverse. I learned of universes filled with joy, and also ones of pain. I learned of others who could sense Fate as I could, some even better. I learned of the Songs of the Spheres, and how to avoid its sight. And I learned of my true foe that I have fought for two lifetimes. I learned of the Dark Tower. But how to defeat that foe? Destroying it was a tall order--perhaps containing it? Sealing it off from the rest of existence? My questions were answered one day, the day of The Message. Most of it was already known to me but there, in the technical data, was the last piece I needed. I would not defeat the Dark Tower. I would become it! The door opened with a hiss. Xehanort emerged carrying a small X shaped device with a blooming rose design etched into it. "And so, the Tower is now within my reach." With a blinding flash of light he summoned an elaborate sword to his hand. It was made of two large crossed keys, with a translucent blade extending from where they met. "This is the χ-blade! A divine weapon that can open any door and unlock any lock. With it, I could even open the doors to Heaven itself! But there has been one door that has proven stubborn, a door I could open but would never lead to where I needed to go." Xehanort put the rose device against the part of the χ-Blade where the two keys met, where it latched on. "But no longer, with this I can now force open a connection to the Dark Tower from any universe I choose. My goals are now merely a matter of time." Vriska pointed her sword at Xehanort. "And what goals would those be? We don't even know what you're trying to do!" Xehanort gestured at Pinkie with a raised eyebrow. "Hmn? Pinkie Pie hasn't told you yet? I'm sure she's figured it out by now. My intention is to purify the World! I shall twist ka, and with it, purge existence of the darkness which it spreads!" The group turned to look at Pinkie expectantly. "It's true. What I still don't understand though is why fight us? We are trying to do the same thing right? Get rid of ka?" Xehanort laughed. "Get rid of it? No. I desire to use ka. I destroyed my universe because the Darkness had taken root too deep. It was the only way to purge that darkness, but this greater multiverse might still be saved! It merely requires a guiding hand, to cut away those universes corrupted with pain and misery, and to ensure none walk the path of darkness ever again!" "So what, are you trying to become God or something!?" Jotaro shouted. "If that is what it takes, yes. You cannot deny you believe that by whoever's hand this multiverse is run, be it Gods or the Tower, they are doing a poor job. That is why you seek collapse, to destroy the Tower and end the cycle. But tell me this: how many objects or beings exist that are capable of destroying a universe? What if one of them were to survive? What if one of those 'beings of pure evil' you despise survives into your new world? Or worse yet, what if the Dark Tower lied? Can you truly say you trust it? That it handed Corona a loaded gun and asked her to finish it? Mark my words, the Tower is quite prepared to weather this storm it has wrought." Nova rolled her eyes. "What, and you're saying we can trust you anymore then the Tower!?" "I am at least human. With a human heart made of light and darkness and memories just like everyone else's. I do not claim to be perfect, but at least I care. In the end, better a flawed god then an uncaring one." "Yeah, we've heard that argument before. Didn't buy it then ether. I think I've heard enough from this old goat." Vriska twirled her cutlass and launched forward, locking blades with Xehanort. She made eye contact, activating her powers as the Thief of Light. "Hey, your luck isn't going down, what gives?" Xehanort smirked. "I have used the χ-blade to lock my Fate. My victory here is preordained. A matter of fact, not of Luck." He pushed back against her blade, Vriska using the momentum to jump back. Landing, Vriska pulled out her Infinite sided die. "Fine, I've already stolen a ton of Luck from that Archer guy. Now you disappear!" She threw the die to the floor, although the smirk never left Xehanort's face. "What is Luck before destiny!?" With a wave and a flash from the χ-bladeX-blade, the Infinite sided die stopped suddenly. It rolled a 19. "Oh, fuck me." Vriska said just before Xehanort locked her position in space, rendering her unable to move. An instant later Xehanort felt the impact from hundreds of punches landing simultaneously. He reeled back in pain allowing Pinkie Pie to slam her warhammer into his back and send him flying out of the hole. Xehanort managed to right himself in time to cast a quick healing spell before Jotaro arrived to punch him again. Jotaro grabbed the χ-blade as Star Platinum punched Xehanort in the face, wrenching the sword from the old man's grasp. Xehanort wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth. "So boy, you wield your heart as a weapon. A powerful technique, but not without risks of its own." Star Platinum charged, invisible to the non-stand user. At the last moment there was a flash of light as the χ-blade returned to Xehanort's hand, swinging it in a wide sweeping arc. He couldn't see the Stand, but he knew he scored a hit by the large gash that appeared across Jotaro's chest. The wound might have been fatal to anyone not from Earth Stand. Nova teleported over with Pinkie, she caught Jotaro in a capture device while the pink one launched herself at Xehanort with a chainsaw. In a keyhole shaped flash Xehanort teleported out of the way, ending up near Nova. He grabbed Nova by a hind hoof and threw her at Pinkie, following up with a few blasts of darkness laced ice. Nova slammed into Pinkie and immediately teleported the two of them above and behind Xehanort. Elsewhere, back in the Kromagg ring, the countdown above the purple lotus reached zero. As the flower began to bloom a small heart shaped object emerged, growing quickly as it rose into the air. Xehanort silhouetted himself against the heart as it grew even larger. "Behold, you are too late. You now stand in the light of Kingdom Hearts." Kingdom Hearts glowed with a soft pale light. That along with the slight pock marks across its surface made it look not unlike a small heart shaped moon. It pulsed with a vibration, a beat, not a sound one could hear but a feeling. A feeling of power and Fate. "With the χ-blade I can open the way to the Tower, and with Kingdom Hearts I shall control it!" Xehanort spread his arms wide, basking in the light. The whole moon shook. Pinkie and Nova watched as a quarter of the outer sphere was simply blown away, rock and debris turning to dust as it flew. Through the new hole all that could be seen was the massive Combine ship. Xehanort only laughed. "It seems our friends outside are getting impatient! Or perhaps they detected the energy from Kingdom Hearts. Either way, I'd rather they not shoot at Kingdom Hearts." Xehanort pointed his χ-bladeX-blade through the hole. "Now Kingdom Hearts, open the way to the Sea! Reduce them to nothing!" With a small flash from the tip of the blade, the entire Combine ship, suns and all, was dropped into the Sea of Infinite Possibility and disappeared. Nova looked on eyes wide with fear. "Um, Pinkie? I'm not sure the two of us can take this guy anymore." Pinkie swallowed and shook her head. "No need for such fear my little ponies, it is time I took my leave. My destiny awaits me." Then both Xehanort and Kingdom Hearts disappeared in a keyhole shaped flash. Shortly afterwards, a Starcross ship portaled in to pick up the battered primary team and finish off the broken Kromagg Tower Ring. ~~~ Xehanort emerged at a crossroads in the middle of a field of roses. Just ahead of him stood the Dark Tower, raising infinitely into the clouds above. "At last, I am here. The field of Can'ka No Rey!" He gestured towards the monolith in front of him. "And the hiding place of my greatest foe." Xehanort held the χ-blade aloft, slowly floating into the air. Behind him in the sky dark clouds gathered and swirled. From within the clouds a bright light could be seen. "There will be but one sky, and one destiny! Come now Kingdom Hearts, open the way for me!" The clouds parted behind him to reveal the heart-shaped moon of Kingdom Hearts in the sky. Xehanort pointed the χ-blade at the door of the Dark Tower. "Show this old relic what its existence truly desires! Open it's doors and allow me to create an existence of pure light!" Light poured forth from Kingdom Hearts, surrounding Xehanort as it fell on the Tower. The light grew brighter and brighter, until soon all that could be seen was a white expanse cut in half by the black scar of the Dark Tower. Then, Xehanort felt something shift. The Tower loomed before him, doors still stubbornly closed. His eyes widened as fear gripped him. Xehanort looked to the Tower and then back at Kingdom Hearts. He knew. He knew now what he had missed. "...How could I have come so far, and still understand nothing..." The light receded as the χ-blade fell. Xehanort was no more. Kingdom Hearts, the First Light, the Heart of All sunk into darkness once more as the clouds closed to cover it. Soon all that remained was the χ-blade, point down in the field of roses. ~~~ I closed my notebook. That idiot had no idea who he had been dealing with. Still, I hesitated before moving on to another project. Something he had said bothered me. Could the Tower be lying? Prophets could lie to each other using the Tower, and I had just finished doing that in an underhanded way. The Tower itself often hid things from the Aware, as it had been ever since Corona sent her message. Could it give false information itself? Yes. It could. But in the end, it didn't matter. It was impossible for me to know what it was lying about, how, or why. Is it the binary choice of the war? Is it the collapse? Is it the rings? Is it ka itself? Is it nothing? I was fully aware I was probably being influenced. Drawn to a conclusion where I didn't vocalize my concerns since it wouldn't change anything... With a sigh, I made a small note in the corner of my notebook about my doubt. Then I moved on to another project. I sensed... a very particular white unicorn making a move. Unexpected... 'From Cinders' By G. M. Blackjack. A white unicorn walked into Allure's office. This was hardly unusual, given the fact that this was the League of Sweetie Belles, but the particular white unicorn came as a shock to everyone she passed on the way here. Allure didn't notice her at first. She was busy looking at a cracked photograph of Renee, frowning deeply. "Allure." Allure slowly turned her eyes forward, at first angry that anypony had dared interrupted her. It didn't take long for her eyes to open wide in shock at the orange brilliance staring at her. "C-cinder!?" "Yes," Cinder said, smiling weakly. "That's..." "I'm afraid we can't talk like that. I have to be vague for numerous, somewhat ridiculous reasons." She chuckled nervously. "I'm just... here to ask you a question." Allure sat back in her chair. "...Go ahead." "This story is ending," Cinder explained. A breeze that didn't exist flew through her mane, spreading rose petals from the flowers she had worked into her swirled manestyle. "Both results produce an end of some kind or other--though I believe one has more power than the other. I won't say which." "...I need to know which side you're on." "Neither." "Rev's non-interference?" "No, and not the Nihilists either." She placed a gentle hoof on Allure's desk. "Some stories don't get endings. Mine is one of those. I'm taking some ponies... back, I guess you could say." "You can't..." The Roses in Cinder's mane flashed a bright red, then black. "...You can." Allure realized. "But, you could--" "You know why I can't change this. You know full well." Allure pursed her lips. "Take them back?" "Yes. My story doesn't end. And while true infinity cannot exist... I can take some to a place where that is functionally true. I'm extending that invitation to you. You can come with me, if you want." Allure glanced at the picture of Renee. "I can't leave. Not now. I... need to see this to the end." Cinder closed her eyes and let out a sigh. "Okay. Thanks for listening, then." "...Who are you taking with you?" "Some people," Cinder tilted her hoof side to side, vaguely. "I'm not going to be specific." "All right." Allure jumped over the top of her desk and landed next to Cinder, pulling her into a hug. "Take care, okay?" "I will. ...Remember who you are, Allure. Remember." She left the embrace. "Now, excuse me, I've got some nosy people to deal with." She opened the door to Allure's office and appeared in a distant universe filled with white nothingness where Monika and myself were waiting. "You intercept me," Cinder said. "Yet I have nothing to say to you." Monika frowned. "That sure sounded like something." "She means she has no information for us," I explained. "I'm inclined to agree, since her story only runs parallel to this one. It is true that it has no ending, which goes against everything happening around us. It is, in fact, still locked in the meta-past, and even if that catches up, needs to move forward." I pressed my wings together. "...It looks like you get the third option. I wish we were as lucky as you." Cinder laughed. "The third option... Oh, remember that when you get through with this." "What's going to happen?" Monika demanded. "All I have are guesses." Cinder's roses flashed a brilliant white. "Really good guesses. That I don't have to tell you." "...Good luck," I said. Monika gestured angrily. "She's leaving us here! Are we just gonna let her?" "Yes," I said, taking out a notebook page and scribbling a sentence. "No you d--" Cinder walked through the doors again, this time appearing in the front of the Dark Tower. "Did you do everything you needed?" one of her followers asked. Cinder nodded. "Everything and then some." She closed her eyes, lit her horn, and smiled warmly. "It's time to go." The doors of the Dark Tower slammed open. Levitating every last one of her followers in with her, she entered. As they passed, doors flickered from place to place, unstable with so many souls in the ascension. Some would try to access two different points of life, others would go to places none of them had even dreamed about... Except Cinder herself, of course. At the top, the final door rested. A golden knob devoid of any marking. A door without a name. Cinder smiled, laying her hoof on the door. "I'm home..." Won't you stay, dear? "No." Good. The final door slid open, revealing the Clock of the Multiverse, ready to start ticking away as the final hour approached--but not ticking yet. Before it was the white spirograph of the Source. "Complete the circle," Cinder said, floating through the door. She held out a single card--XIX - the Tower--and let it drift into the Source. It became white... and vanished to its destination. "It was your plan?" an unknown follower asked. "Yes. No. And maybe. And probably not." Cinder chuckled. "Don't think too hard about it. We are no longer concerned with the ending." She reached her hoof out to the Source... And all of them were zapped far, far away. ~~~ Deep in the multiversal past, in an era few remember... Sweetie Belle glared at her blank flank, furious that a cutie mark refused to appear. She'd tried everything from hang gliding to zip lining to cooking to death-defying stunts to... A white unicorn fell out of the sky, hitting the ground with an "oof". "Wh-what!?" Sweetie Belle spurted. "Take that, Never-Ending Story! We've got you beat!" the other, older Sweetie Belle laughed. Her smile faltered as she looked around. "...Wait, where's everyone else?" "H-hello? I'm talking to you!" Sweetie the younger stammered. "Guess we got split up..." She stood up, allowing Sweetie to get a good look at her flank. "You have a cutie mark!?" The older Sweetie finally made eye contact with her younger self--and grinned. "Looks like I'm in the right place." "What?" "Hey, want to start a League of Sweetie Belles?" "What?" "I'll take that as a yes. Come on, you know it'll be awesome." Remember to cast your votes to help decide on the best fic!
Songs of the Spheres	128 - Collapse, Part 1	Nanoha popped out of her capture device. She - like all other captured combatants from the other side - had been healed while within the machine, not that she was aware of this fact at first. She shook, her mind still believing she was exhausted despite her body telling her otherwise. This discontinuity kept her from focusing for a moment. In that moment, Blumiere encased her limbs in darkness and surrounded Raising Heart in a bubble of similar magic. The two of them were pressed to the trunk of an oak tree. Nanoha winced as she felt the bark cut into her hands. "What's this about?" Blumiere opened his mouth to respond, but he was cut off by a devious giggle. Nanoha focused her eyes on a white unicorn that definitely wasn't Renee. It wasn't just the cracked eye, or the psychotic smile - it was her aura. It wasn't right. "You know something~! Blumiere here would like it!" Blumiere closed the pages of the Prognosticus. "I have been able to determine that you know of a ritual that is of great importance to us. The Prognosticus is purposefully not revealing the specifics to me, beyond confirming that you do know it." Nanoha ignored him. "Why do you have a husk walking around?" "Because I know things!" 'Renee' took out the capture device containing Alushy and started juggling it. "Isn't that something?" "Blumiere, this is idiotic." "I believe she is important," Blumiere said, taking a few steps toward Nanoha. "As I believe you are. Your role is not over, mage. Tell us of the Ritual of Purity." Nanoha shook her head. "I will do no such thing." Vivian sighed. "Told you." "Listen to Dimentio. Oh wait, you can't!" Renee smacked herself in the side of the head hard enough to bruise. Blumiere put a hand to the bridge of his nose. "Dimentio - or the Prognosticus, I'm not sure at this point - has pointed out we do have some leverage." Blumiere removed Raising Heart from the shield and laid his hand on the crystal. "I will shatter your device if you do not comply." Nanoha's confident smile vanished. "...Raising Heart is ready to be sacrificed for the fate of the multiverse." "Stand by ready," Raising Heart declared. "Oh, we're not going that easy!" Renee slipped past Blumiere and pulled a capture device out of his cloak. She threw it on the ground, releasing Jenny of the Red Gloves. "Wh...?" Jenny said, looking at her gloves. "Hey you! Yes you! You have mental powers, right?" Jenny looked at Renee, a bit overwhelmed by her change in appearance. "...Did something happen to you...?" "No time!" Renee grabbed Jenny by the shoulder and pointed her at Nanoha. "Her mind needs to be popped open like a book!" The power of Mind flashed through Renee's eyes as she worked on Jenny's unsuspecting self, smoothing out her brainwaves. This had the healing effect of making her calm - but also the side effect of being more suggestible. "The fate of the multiverse depends on it! Trust me on this, I may be on the other side, but her secret is going to bring about the Apocalypse of Nihilists!" Jenny nodded and acted on Nanoha's mind. Renee jumped through the air, levitating herself right next to Nanoha's head. "Don't listen to her!" Nanoha shouted. "She's d-" Renee put a hoof over Nanoha's mouth. "Shhhh... It'll all be over soon." She began to work on Nanoha's mind, forcing it into a calm state. Nanoha had impressive mental defenses, but her inner turmoil about Raising Heart's impending destruction combined with the strain of Jenny was just enough to let Renee in. Renee lowered Nanoha's defenses, careful not to touch the connection to Raising Heart, allowing Jenny to force the doors open. "Raising Heart!" Nanoha shouted. "Clearance X-Z-11-5-Omega-Ret, override personal reservations! Access file RP1." She screamed, wanting to put her hands to her head, but couldn't. "...Acknowledged," Raising Heart said after realizing there was no way it could disobey the order. Blumiere was granted access to the file. He held up Sai, allowing her to scan it into her own systems. "...What file is that? How can it save the multiverse?" Jenny asked frantically. "Oh, that?" Renee laughed. "I lied." Jenny stared at her in disbelief. "...That's not Renee, that's a husk," Timpani explained. "One of the hyper-intelligent ones." "I was duped by a zombie." Jenny said, hand to her chin. "Huh. That's pretty cool, actually." Timpani looked down at her. "...That's hardly the appropriate response." "What? I'm a billion years old, things get boring after a while." "I thought your memories were scrambled?" Vivian asked. "Doesn't help with the boredom!" Jenny said, holding out a hand dramatically. Renee ran past her and cut the hand off, taking the glove with her. "WHAT THE HECK!?" Jenny shouted, holding her bloody stump as it regrew the hand. "I needed to 'cut loose' as it were," Renee said, removing the hand from the red glove and twirling both around as if they were toys. "Surely you understand. You've done it before, after all." "Give me my glove back!" "What is Jenny of the Red Gloves without both Gloves? Jenny of the Red Glove?" Jenny pulled back her fist - but Blumiere caught her in his magic. "Renee, re-capture her." "Mmm, no," Renee said with a chuckle. "I was just very useful to you, perhaps I could be given a bone? Plus, it's not like she's with us." "Dimentio tells me we could have gotten the ritual eventually without you." "When are you going to realize time is of the essence? Look at me, I ran out of time, and I'm this monster." She shrugged, flinging blood from the hand onto Timpani's dress. "We've got Nanoha, Jenny, and Alushy, they get to be our little witnesses!" "Alushy's not out." Alushy raised a hoof. "Yes I am." Vivian jumped up. "When did...?" "About a minute ago," Alushy said, stretching her wings. "...There's four of you and three of us," Jenny realized. "And one of you is absolute crap at fighting. No offense." "None taken," Timpani said. "Nanoha has been bound with the knowledge of the Prognosticus," Blumiere said. "She won't be doing anything under her own power until I release it." He lifted up Raising Heart. "...And it appears we actually need you for the ritual." "...Yeah, like I'm helping you this time," Jenny said, folding her arms. With a snap of her fingers she teleported the glove onto her hand. "Someone doesn't know how to have fun..." Renee pouted. Blumiere ignored Renee. "Not you, Jenny. Alushy." Blumiere turned to her. "We need your souls." Alushy laughed. "Hey, Blecky-boy, let's play a game here. It's called 'Don't Be Dumb' with Alushy. More of a show than a game, really, but this time you get a chance to prove yourself not to be dumb! Isn't that something? Now, when you hear yourself say 'we need your souls' to the simultaneously studly and sexy Alushy, do you think A: she'll help us! B: she'll totally give us those souls! C: Wow, this is foolproof! or D: I'm a fucking idiot." "E: I can take them from you by force," Blumiere said, flipping open the pages of the Prognosticus. "The secrets of the multiverse are at my fingertips. I have plenty of power within myself to cast a spell to extract souls from a master of them." "Looks like you failed your own show!" Renee said, clapping her hooves. "Great going, genius!" "...And the dead girl is the only one who gets it." Alushy smiled and shook her head. "Welp, looks like I'm royally fucked, let's do this ritual! What is it?" "The Ritual of Purity..." Vivian said. "It... Well I don't really know." "It will be instrumental in the final moments," Blumiere said, tracing a finger across a page near the back of the Prognosticus. Sai beeped. "Vivian, we'll need you to bring up some dark fire!" ~~~ The new base of the Collapse Movement was housed completely within the borders of the Void realms. The vast majority of remaining forces had entered a defensive state, devoting most of their resources to simply keeping the Void from falling. Because if the Void fell, the collapse would have no more higher societies with the capacity to fight. The other side still had the Combine, those ever-resilient conquerors that, unlike everyone else, showed no signs of giving out anytime soon. Corona had taken up her command in Empress "Empy" Twilight's Castle, overseeing the Tangleglade of the Void. Even with all the war going on, the mish-mashed 'nexus' of activity for Empy's civilization was still a bustling near-utopia. The people didn't seem anywhere near as worried about the war as the people Corona had seen elsewhere. "They have too much faith in the Void," Empy said, walking up to Corona. "...Shouldn't you be at the Void?" "If something appears that will demand a reaction time that fast, the Void will burn out," Empy said, grimacing. "The next time I use it outside the realms will have to be worth risking all my worlds." Corona folded her hands together. "...I'm sorry." "What for?" "Well, failing, for one. We had the edge for a moment, then they destroyed us, the Starcross Society's in the trash, and we're barely keeping it together." "You know as well as I do that the retaliation against the Combine is nearing the end of preparations." Corona furrowed her brow, saying nothing. Empy bowed to Corona and walked away, leaving her to her brooding. "Heeeeey Corona!" Pinkie said, appearing next to Corona. "You look like you need a Pinkie." Corona put her arm around Pinkie. "Yeah... Yeah, I do." "What's up?" "Oh, the fate of everything, but that's just par for the course these days." She looked down at the peaceful activities of the Void's citizens. "I just haven't seen people living their lives normally in a while. With all the stuff that's happening... I don't know anymore." "Don't know if you want to go through with it?" Corona shook her head. "I'm still sure about that. What I don't know is if this war can be allowed to go on for much longer." She looked up at the sky, seeing the sparkling stars. Were they part of this universe or another one? The Void made that difficult to discern. "The push to stop using capture devices is strong on both sides." "So we just end it before then!" "There's another issue..." Corona said, gesturing at the people. "You need a certain level of society to be able to build a Tower Ring. If we keep fighting until all society of that level is destroyed... this war would have amounted to nothing but a testament to our indecisiveness and stubbornness." She frowned. "It has to end soon, or it'll end without anyone winning." Pinkie nodded slowly. "You know what I think? I don't think it'll come to that. Someone's going to win. I don't exactly know that, but I feel it in my gut. All these threads, lives, arcs, moments... they have to lead to something. It may not be what we're expecting, but it won't be nothing." "Well put," I said, walking onto the scene. "You feel the same way?" Corona asked. I nodded. "It's how things work. The Tower has gone above and beyond to craft this into a well-balanced story. It may provide a twist - but it won't make it all amount to nothing. Though, again, I can't know for certain. So much of what I see has been scrambled." Corona let herself smile. "Thanks, you two. I needed some reassurance." "We didn't say we'd win," Pinkie pointed out. "I'd be happier losing than destroying everything this war has led up to," Corona said. "Wow, Corona laying down some wisdom!" Pinkie said with a chuckle. Corona shrugged. "I try. So, Twilence, do you have any plan? The Void's ability to create a new Tower Ring is limited. Have you found Blumiere?" I shook my head. "I can't see him. But I did get the next best thing." I held up a capture device with an amused smile. "Do you know who's in here?" "Did you find Nanoha?" "Hm? No. I went on a stealth mission to get this just a few hours ago. This device contains G. M. Blackjack." Corona and Pinkie blinked. "Monika's going to sense that," Pinkie pointed out. I smirked. "She's welcome to try and take him back. We're in the most secure place in the multiverse right now. We'll get what we need out of him." "But he's behind us!" Pinkie pointed out. "How - oooooh he's caught up hasn't he?" "He's written parts of the beginning of the war," I said. "Knowing him, he should have some idea where he's going at this point." She gave the ball to Corona. "I want to start the interrogation as soon as possible, with your approval." Corona nodded. "Do it." I looked at the ball and smiled. "He should be cooperative - he trusts me. But just in case, I want it clear that nobody's to hurt him during the interrogation." "I'll keep Thanos out of the room." "Ooooh, he's not gonna be happy about that!" Pinkie said. "He can bite me," Corona muttered. "Hey, at least he's not Phage!" "I don't think it's a contest of 'which one of our allies is the worst'," Corona pointed out. Then she shrugged. "We're dilly-dallying. We should question him before something inconvenient happens." ~~~ Eve walked out of a meeting. After checking to make sure none of the people she was supposed to impress were around, she allowed herself to fall into Flutterfree's hooves. "We won't win the vote next time." Flutterfree frowned. "That close?" "Only a 5% vote margin," Eve said, shaking her head. "The Combine are swaying more and more to their side. The capture devices are going to be abolished in favor of... I don't even know; whatever anyone wants at any given time." "Not yet though." "Not yet. But I don't see this war ending before then. Sure, the Combine say they're building a Tower Ring, but I don't think they're in a hurry to finish it. I think they're going the way of the Gallifreyans and setting things up for their 'dominance'." "That's risky of them..." "And I can't call them out on it because if they leave, or if we start shooting at each other, we lose. So I just have to let it happen." "You think they're actually able to do it?" Eve shook her head. "They're not handling the war as well as they'd like us to believe. Their infrastructure, sturdy as it is, has cracks. And unlike the Gallifreyans they haven't been planning this from the start." She shook her head. "Plus, there's a good chance the other side is planning a major assault on them. Then where will we be?" Flutterfree shrugged. "We'll keep trying." Eve nodded. "I just... I'd hoped the war would end before it came to this." Flutterfree nodded slowly. "I hoped as well. I prayed. I guess it's just not meant to be." "How long are we going to be like this? Stuck in eternal fighting?" "I don't know. I don't even know how long it's been for me. We move around so much time is spaghetti." Eve smiled. "Spaghetti. I don't know why I find that so funny..." Monika appeared in front of the two of them. "We have a problem." "I hate it when you say that," Eve groaned. "What happened this time? Did the Combine just fall? Did the other side find a superweapon?" "Close. GM's been snatched from his location. Three guesses who took him." "Twilence," Eve and Flutterfree said at the same time. "And there we have it, proof I'm not crazy," Monika leaned against a wall and filed her fingernails together. "So, here's the deal. We can't let them have that kind of power." "Didn't we have him guarded?" Flutterfree asked. Eve held out a hoof and rocked it side to side. "Sorta? We had eyes on him - like Monika - but we wanted to avoid doing anything with him. It'd just be asking for trouble, like with John. I wonder what Twilence hopes to gain from this..." Monika snapped her fingers. "Does it matter, really?" "If we want to defend against it? Yes." "What if we get him back before she can really do anything?" Monika asked. "How? He'll be in the Void, and we aren't scheduled to fully break through that for weeks." "I'm just thinking, if they grabbed someone we were avoiding using, why don't we do the same?" "I don't like where this is going," Flutterfree said. "John can get us there, surpassing all barriers," Monika said. "We still have his Master Ball, and there are no Gallifreyans left to control him. Let me pop him out, and we can zap right to GM!" "Yeah, no," Eve said, shaking her head. "We have John locked away for a reason Monika. A very important reason." "Yeah yeah, backfire potential, too powerful, I know - the point is they're already doing it, we should do it too." "Actually, if they're using GM, that gives us an advantage," Flutterfree pointed out. "They're tempting fate, we're not." Monika twitched. "Right, ka-based argument? I may be a little lacking in the 'understanding' department, but Twilence isn't. Why would she do something that put them at a disadvantage?" "She knows GM 'personally'," Flutterfree suggested. "She could just want to see him." "Or she wants to trigger a reaction from us," Eve added. "Say, letting John out of his device." Monika held up a finger, then lowered it. "Great. What's the plan if it's not John?" "Rohan, as always," Eve said with a smile. "Plus whatever Prophets the TSAB can offer. GM may be the one writing this story, but he's still just one person. I'll make the arrangements." "Oh, I'll leave you to that," Flutterfree said. "Rev's asked for my help again. It's probably tomorrow already, so..." "Don't worry, I can handle things for a day. Or whatever the equivalent of an Earth Vitis day is here." She rubbed her head. "Thanks for the info, Monika." "...Sure," Monika said, glitching herself away. She appeared in another universe, seamlessly transmitting the point of view with her. "She didn't go for it." "Told you," Roxy said, trying to lounge in a folding chair. "I was like 'hey, Monika, she's totally got a thing against John' and then you went 'ah bu bu bu I can convince her, I'm like her advisor or some shit' and then Jade was all 'bark bark'." Jade the "office dog" raised an eyebrow. "...I was not." "It's all part of the story, Jadey." Roxy attempted to make a finger guns gesture but instead fell out of her chair. She stood up and dusted herself off, absent-mindedly scratching the gemstone on the back of her neck. "Welp, looks like we're goin' for plan B then." Monika stretched her arms and grinned. "You have the files?" Roxy produced a data pad from nowhere. "I always have the files." "All of them?" Jade asked. "Don't Serket me," Roxy retorted, scrolling through the data on the pad. "Let's see here... Yep, got John's location and security. We can go right now." She put the pad down. "Uh, just so everyone knows, this is probably high treason and while I doubt Eve will kill us for this she's going to be angrier than a moose in mating season." "And I don't care!" Monika declared. "I'm not letting Twilence get away with this one." Her left eye twitched. "I'm going to show that pony..." Jade barked. "Exactly." ~~~ Allure stood at the front door of her sister's house. ...Or, what had been her sister's house. She held her hoof over her chest and leaned forward. You're already about to break into tears. You can't do that. She took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. "Door's unlocked," Daniel said, talking to her from a comm system. "Come on in." He didn't even check to see who I was. Did he just know, or does he not care? Allure opened the door with her magic and walked in. The interior of the house was a mess - not only was Renee no longer around to clean it, but all the lights were off. The only ilumination came from the windows, a handful of magical appliances, and a soft flicker coming from up the stairs. All around Allure could see dust, cobwebs, and a large pile of unwashed dishes. She wanted to believe all of this was due to Daniel being exceptionally busy. But he had stepped down as Expeditions Overhead the day after he got the news. It was now Overhead Storm in charge, not that Allure particularly cared about him. She walked up the stairs carefully, her small hooves making little noise. He heard her coming anyway and was looking out the doorway of the bedroom long before she actually arrived. He was lying in bed, covered in blankets, a gaunt look to his face. The only light was from a fake fireplace at the back wall of the room. Aside from the blankets on the bed and his glasses, everything in the room was in disorder. Allure gulped. "D-Daniel?" Daniel forced a smile. Allure could tell it was fake, but she humored him with a smile of her own. "Allure. Come in. Let me look at you." Allure obliged, walking in and sitting down. Daniel moved slowly, taking out his hand and running it across the edge of Allure's ear. She tensed, but made sure not to recoil. Her discomfort wasn't a consideration right now. "You look so much like her..." A Rarity would look better, if that's what you wanted. "...you have that look of hers. The gaze." Daniel started scratching her behind the ears - but stopped himself after about a second. He retracted his hand into the sheets. "Y-you don't have to stop. If y-" "It meant something very different when I did that to her," Daniel said, looking up at the ceiling. "O-oh." She looked down at the ground. "I, I ca-" "Allure, don't finish that sentence." Allure gulped. "Daniel... I can't just leave you here." "Yes you can," Daniel said. "But I did this to you!" Daniel didn't correct her. He turned back to her with soft eyes. "I'm not angry." "That's the problem!" Allure blurted. "You're putting so much effort into not being angry at me you're wasting away! It's not right! Be mad!" "She gave herself," Daniel said with a sigh. "It would destroy what she wanted." "I'll survive. Please. She wouldn't want you to waste away." Daniel didn't look like he believed her. "She told me to watch out for you." Daniel looked ahead, blank. "She always planned to come back. In her heart, she thought she would be able to. She knew I'd let her in after it was over. She felt immortal. So did I." "Daniel..." "I know you blame yourself," Daniel said. "It is my fault!" Allure wailed. "You were sick." "That doesn't excuse all of it!" "...Maybe not," Daniel admitted. "But it was still her choice. You should hold that close." "What about this!?" Allure blurted, holding a hoof at Daniel. "Is this your choice?" "No. It was hers." Allure's mind split into two wildly different opinions on that statement, derailing her entire thought process. Daniel went on. "She didn't think of it - she only had a few seconds. But by giving herself up for you, she was leaving me." He looked at the far nightstand, at a picture of him and Renee under a tree. "Daniel..." "When she left me to join Corona, she planned on coming back. When she left me to help you... she didn't." "Revival was an option!" "She knew. She knew." "How can you know that? I don't know that!" Daniel looked right at her. "Listen to what you just said." Allure's breath caught in her throat. "Daniel, I didn't me-" "Of course you didn't. But that's the point. She chose you." "She loved you, Daniel!" "She did. She never stopped." Tears finally started running down his face. "But you were the one she gave her life for." "She would have given her life for you!" "Allure! I'm not angry, I'm not even jealous. You don't need to lie to me." "You're sad! I'd prefer angry! I'd prefer jealous! Those things get you up!" She stamped her hoof on the ground. "You're not getting up! You're not doing anything!" Daniel had nothing to say to this. Allure twitched, changing tactics. "I stole her from you! I did that! Me. Dammit Daniel, get up!" Daniel looked at her with the eyes of an old man looking at a young, rebellious child. Allure melted. She hung her head. "I'm sorry." Daniel nodded slowly. "I understand. I can't do what you want. I can't do what she wanted. I'm sorry." Allure gulped. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. "You don't have to stay here with me, you know. I see you still have the fighting spirit in you." "I have to watch you." "I'm not going to waste away to nothing in a couple hours," Daniel said, the first hint of a real smile appearing on his face. "Just drop by every now and then." Allure glanced at the door, then back at Daniel. "...I'll get back to them when I feel we're actually done talking. We... we haven't remembered her yet." Allure thought for a moment. "I'll start from the beginning. My first solid memory I have of her is a birthday party..." ~~~ Blumiere put the Prognosticus away - it would not help him perform the ritual. The tome only told him the ritual existed, that it was important, and also gave a vague impression of how it would affect things to come. It was horrendous, but he agreed it needed to happen. Agreeing with the thing that was in Renee felt horrible. But he had been mayor of Celestia City dozens of times; he was not one to let his feelings get in the way of things that needed to be done. "Vivian, light the fire," he ordered. Vivian clasped her hands together, focused for a moment, and let out a sharp breath. She spread her hands apart and pointed in two different directions, making arc motions with one hand. Black-purple fire appeared on the ground in a ring formation large enough to hold about ten people, but they were sure to keep it empty. "Alushy, the souls." Alushy smirked. "What if I've changed my mind?" "Everyone can be hacked," Sai chirped. "I will have fun, amiga, and you'll eventually do it regardless." Alushy shrugged with her wings. "Eh, screw it. This better be interesting." From her position next to Nanoha, Jenny scratched the back of her head. "Y'know, I'm kind of interested to see what this thing is. I still have no idea. Purity of what?" Neither Blumiere nor Nanoha were forthcoming with answers. "More anticipation!" Alushy said with a wink. Then she flapped her wings and released the souls she had accumulated over the course of the war. Dark, screaming beings that wanted nothing more than to die and take someone else with them flooded the ritual, absorbing into the flames themselves. Alushy didn't need to spend all of them, stopping the moment Sai let out a loud airhorn noise. "Ow..." Vivian muttered, holding her ears. "There's enough power, nature, and will," Blumiere said. "Sai, trace the magic ley lines using my essence." Sai did as instructed, taking the purple power of Blumiere and lacing it along the ground in a complex geometric pattern. After the floor was laid out, she began to build a three dimensional lattice within the ring of fire, forming a complex ball with a shape in the middle that appeared different depending on the angle. Renee grinned. "Yes..." "A spark of purity," Timpani said, tossing some of her white magic into the nexus. It was captured in the center, levitated like a star amidst the void of space. "The final ingredient," Blumiere said, narrowing his eyes. "A touch of saturated ka. Dimentio, as the spirit of the Prognosticus..." Dimentio chuckled. "Aha! But I don't have to do anything, for we have a special guest with us!" "You flatter me," Renee said. She flexed her real eye, expanding and contracting the pupil several times in rapid succession. The magical wires and flame absorbed the white color of Timpani's light, beginning to shine themselves like a holy beacon. The darkness became Pure. The fire died out, becoming a solid white impression in the ground. The lattice condensed into a single white sphere that rippled a moment before falling like a drop of water. The holy sludge absorbed the power of the ring around it, leaving only a charred section of earth. Slowly, a form began to emerge from the whiteness. As the liquid shifted to a solid form, they could make out arms, legs, and a head. Black lines began to form on the humanoid figure, giving him a face, a baseball cap, and a shirt with vertical stripes on it. No color ever came to his features, leaving him a black-and-white being. A baseball bat appeared in his hand. It looked normal aside from its monochromatic nature, but the metal implement made everyone present recoil in fear. Except Jenny and Renee. "What the heck!?" Jenny blurted. "All that ritual and show and weirdness for a guy?" "I am the Batter," the Batter said. He turned to Renee. "I am... Renee." Renee smirked. "You know your purpose." "I am on a sacred mission to Purify the undoing." "Is someone going to start explaining!?" Jenny blurted, waving her hands around. Blumiere ignored Jenny, staring intently at Renee. What are you? The Prognosticus has nothing about you in its prophecies... ~~~ When you want to keep something hidden, you give it to Roxy. She'll just erase its existence and most often nobody will be able to find it unless she wills them to. Such is the power of the Rogue of Void. There's a reason she made it to Intelligence Second. When you want to keep something hidden that Roxy might want to find, things become trickier. She can steal the 'nothingness' away from empty space and create even complex objects. She has access to almost every file and secret in the Intelligence Division through this ability, having honed her Void powers expertly over the years. The key here is almost. Giorno knew he would have to keep some things secret from even his Second. Though they were few and far between, he knew they existed. The simplest way to do this was to make sure she never saw or heard about them, because she couldn't make what she didn't know existed somewhere. This was not the case with John's capture device. She knew exactly what it was, who was in it, and even where it was. The only thing Giorno had going for him in keeping it from her was that it was unduplicatable. John's retcon power could never be replicated, not even by the likes of Insipid, and the Master Ball was notorious for not letting too many devices of its kind exist through meta effects. So she couldn't just erase the ball from existence and appear it later. She would have to physically grab it somehow. The answer Giorno came up with to deter Roxy - and any other potential thieves - was to place the ball in a universe with physics specifically tailored to erase all abilities except the ones required to keep John captured in the purple-marked ball. The ball in question was also inside a box laced with a tremendous number of alarms, weapons, and sensors. It would know the moment anything unauthorized approached and destroy it. It was nearly foolproof. Nearly. Because Monika existed. Roxy and Jade stood at opposite sides of a room in one of the Intelligence Divisions' offices. The Intelligence buildings were always the only things in the universes they occupied and often held the only direct connections to universes holding valuable secrets. Between Roxy and Jade stood Monika, who had her eyes narrowed in focus. "Ready." "You sure?" Roxy asked. "The moment we open the portal, all hell breaks loose on both sides." Monika rolled her eyes and opened the portal with her own power. "MONIK-" The box fired a deadly laser at Monika, vaporizing her - but she just rewrote her character file to reform her body. She did this several times a second to keep herself alive and well. She reached out a hand, grasping for the universe on the other side. The Intelligence Agents showed up and started shooting. It would be seconds before they started using reality-suppression technology on Monika. Roxy and Jade were there to buy her those seconds. Roxy created bombs out of nothing and threw them while Jade shrunk the agents down to tiny sizes. Tiny people can fly really far, it turns out. Monika adjusted the rules of the universe on the other side, forcing the box to disable. She pulled her hand out, John's master ball in her grasp. "Got it!" Roxy Voided all of them to almost perfect invisibility - Giorno would be able to detect them, but he wouldn't be fast enough to do anything. Jade opened a portal and they all jumped out. They scrambled through a few more universes before taking a break in some version of Bangladesh. Jade let out a sigh of relief. "We did it." "And now we're wanted criminals," Monika said, chuckling. "They'll thank us later," Roxy said, swiping John's ball from Monika. She pressed the button, freeing the Heir of Breath. "...Where am I?" John asked. "Wh-" Roxy pulled him into a hug. "...I missed you." "Uh, have I been gone?" Roxy laughed, rolled her eyes, and struck a sassy pose. "Same ol' John, clueless as ever. We'll explain everything - we've got a mission, and only you can help us do it!" "Sweet! Sounds awesome!" "I know, right!?" Monika blinked. "I know I never really interacted with John but..." "Yes, he's always like this," Jade said. "Okay. Strange character file..." "Get out of his head! Bark!" "Fiiiiiine," she closed it. ~~~ "...Do you understand your situation?" I asked. GM blinked. "Yeah. Quick question, are you using magic to keep me from freaking out? Because I'm pretty sure I'd be freaking out right about now. Actually... definitely sure, since the last two times I wrote with me, I did." Corona answered for me, folding her hands. "Yeah, we are. We're not probing your mind though." GM looked at Corona. "Yet. But if you think you have to, you will." I blinked. I realized that, aside from the few times I had examined him from a distance or through a facilitated 'wall', every time I had encountered my Prophet had been when he was undergoing a breakdown over what he was and what was going on. I'd never talked to him while he was calm and accepting of who he was. Maybe Seskii was right, maybe I didn't know him as well as I'd thought. "You know we won't hurt you." "You don't want to," GM emphasized. "If I'm not cooperative, you will. Don't worry, I'll be cooperative. I have no interest in being brainwashed, tortured, or... anything else." He looked at the table. "I just wanted to write a story." "A story that we're in," Corona said. "Twilence tells me you're finally writing about the war." GM nodded. "I just wrote the Gallifreyan's defeat. That was hard, let me tell you - with all the Class 1s it was easy to just have them take each other out one by one, but with them I had to deal with John and the Doctor and..." He paused, frowning. "I killed so many." He would have broken into tears if I weren't calming him, I thought. I maintained my calm demeanor. "You didn't know. You were just writing a story. A story that still needs you to write it." "You sure?" GM asked. "Stories get left incomplete." "I see words appearing on a screen," I said. "Which means you must go back at some point and write out the rest. I may end up locking you in a simulation to accomplish that since it isn't safe to return you home anymore, but you'll be given the opportunity." "And I'll have a third set of memories I won't remember. And my world will be fake. Yay for existentialism." He started rubbing his fists together nervously. "All we want to know is what you have planned," Corona asked. "I know you write without knowing what's ahead and like being surprised, but surely you have plans?" GM nodded slowly. "...The war was always going to be a thing. There was a question I wanted to ask." He looked me in the eyes. "Do we really want stories to be true?" Corona and I had no response to that. "I didn't have an answer. Back when Songs was first forming, I knew there would be a war over the question, but I didn't know the outcome. Would the multiverse collapse and become a single world free of story? Or would the multiverse be preserved and allowed to evolve into infinity?" "The Downstreamers are gone," I said. "Nobody can make infinity." "The Spline is gone too. If the multiverse continues, it will eventually spread to Infinity. ...Unless someone on the side of preservation locks it out of the Tower with their Tower Ring. I actually don't know if that can be done. Haven't thought about it before now." He shook his head. "The point is, it was always going to be a fight between those two sides. I eventually decided Corona would be the one to lead the charge of change, and naturally Eve would be the one to oppose her." "And who wins?" Corona asked. "You do," GM said. "I decided it would make a better story." Despite my magic calming him, his arms were starting to shake. "It'd be surprising, a subversion. A great devastation that brought about something new. No one would see it coming." "But you're clearly writing this scene in the future," I said. "Sure it's not another Prophet?" "Positive. It's G. M. Blackjack - you." "Well, I have no plans to have a conversation like this. I'm important in the end, sure - being tossed back and forth between the sides as an endgame weapon in the outline I have now - but I wouldn't reveal the twist of the story before it happened. Unless I got a clever idea, a special twist..." "Or you just wanted to say it to make people think you would do it," Corona pointed out. GM nodded. "That... does sound like me. Constantly thinking of ways to play with audience expectations, subverting tropes, playing them straight, analyzing the Awareness of everyone involved... You and Monika are a pain to write together, by the way." "Forgive me for not apologizing," I deadpanned. GM let out a nervous chuckle. "My struggles as a writer are nothing compared to what you're going through. I'm like a cruel, idiot god to you. Those things you wrote during the Creators chapter? I meant most of what I said there." "An idiot god is little different from an evil one." "Yeah. Naturally I should try to change myself now, to become a good Prophet, undo the damage I've done, but you won't let me do that. You need to keep the purity of what's happening. I'm too important of a voice to mess with. I'm directly responsible for this plotline. Though, fun fact, I've always believed Hussie and you have more 'application' power than me. I'm just a loose unaware." Corona looked at GM with concerned eyes. "You're right. We can't ask you to change things. We just want to know what you think is going to happen." "Right now, Giorno builds the final Tower Ring," GM said. "I don't know how, and I don't know when. I will get brought into the story and be tossed back and forth, as I already mentioned - but the fact that I'm here now brings that into question. There'll be a tremendous fight around the Dark Tower and everyone will meet together in a climax. And John, oh boy, John's had a role here since the very beginning." "GM, focus," I said. "Oh, right." GM shook his head. "John wi-" ZAP. John appeared in the interrogation room. "Uh, hey," he said, waving. "I need this guy." He laid a hand on GM. I shot a magic laser at John, but Roxy revealed herself and it vanished into the Void. "Nuh-uh!" With a ZAP Roxy, GM, and John were gone. I twitched. I purposefully waited a few seconds, though now I have no idea what part of me was compelled to wait for the dramatic timing. "WHAT THE F-" ~~~ "Geez, stop crying," Monika said, hands on her hips. "Monika!" Jade chided. "Have some tact, he's having a breakdown!" GM was curled into a ball on top of a Drama Couch Monika had created the moment she saw the disturbed Prophet. He was shivering uncontrollably, muttering under his breath about his dream being a lie. "That's it, I'm altering his file," Monika muttered. "Don't you dare," Roxy scolded. "We need his Prophet powers! And you should know that mind manipulation doesn't always work!" She created a file out of midair. "Or have you forgotten the incident on Earth Creators?" "That worked pretty well!" "You made a Mary Sue." "Well, I, uh..." Monika stamped a foot, closing GM's file. "Fine. But someone has to calm him down." "Don't look at me!" John said, waving his hands. "I barely know what's going on!" "That I can fix," Monika said. "Monika..." Roxy said, tapping her foot. "What? He got GM back already, I can do whatever I want, so long as he lets me in." "John don-" she saw Monika twirl her finger in midair. "John you already let her in, didn't you?" John blinked. "Uh, yeah?" Roxy facepalmed. "And update sent!" Monika said, clapping her hands. "Now he's up to speed about what he did." John sat down on the couch next to GM, one of his hands on his head. "Holy shit..." GM glared at him, sniveling. "Oh, you think you have it bad!?" "My friends are dead, I was enslaved to kill trillions of people, and then I was trapped in a ball while existence exploded!" "And I was the guy who made those things happen!" John recoiled. "Shit." "No kidding," GM muttered through his panic. Jade laid a hand on his shoulder - making him tense up a moment. But he quickly allowed himself to relax, looking right at her. She opened her mouth to give some words of encouragement - but a bark came out instead. She shut it and blushed. GM was silent for a moment - then laughed. Monika cocked her head. "...What?" "It's ridiculous to actually hear it!" GM blurted, a hand fiddling with his hair. "I mean... It's... I don't know," he snorted in amusement. "It doesn't sound like a thing that would actually happen!" Jade smiled. "It is a little silly." GM continued laughing, his mind deciding laughter was much preferable to panic. But, slowly, he ran out of steam, falling into a burnt out state. His expression became lethargic, and his movements sluggish. He stretched his neck. "...I think I'm out, for now," he said, looking very unsure of himself. Roxy leaned in, hands on her hips. "We need you to do something." "Win you the war, I know." GM furrowed his brow. "The way I'd written it, Corona's side was going to win." Monika blinked. "What!?" GM shook his head. "I... I can't do that anymore. I can't be re... re..." Despite already running on empty, he choked, hand to his mouth. It took him a minute to regain control of his voice. "I don't care about the story anymore. It's... not okay for me to write it if I know. I can save it all." He blinked. "...But infinity scares me just as much." "...Infinity?" Roxy asked. "Infinity doesn't exist." "Downstreamers," GM said, rubbing his knuckles past each other. "They tried it. Someone will try again. I don't want to give you meaningless Infinity. If I can stop that and the collapse..." He looked into the distance. "Collapse first. I'm already getting an idea about how to do it. Just one little seed..." He turned to Roxy. "You've been built up. You can work with John. I can change it, I haven't written it yet." He turned to Monika. "I need my writing room." Monika searched GM's files and found the memory of the writing room. It had changed since he had last been in the larger multiverse - it now had a much smaller glass desk with a laptop and a large monitor on it. To one side was a case of many colored pens, and on the other was a stack of books with The Three-Body Problem on top. On the leftmost wall was a large black shelf covered in knick-knacks, books, little crochet things made by his mother and sister, a handful of his brother's little crafts, and his own gemstone collection. He sat down in the folding chair and put his hands on the keyboard. He took a breath. "I... I'll need some time. I need to work through this." "Need anyone in there?" Jade asked, concern in her voice "I need... to be alone and think," GM said. "I'll put you in a time acceleration field," Monika said, moving her fingers around. "You'll find snacks on that shelf if you need them." GM nodded but didn't say anything; he had already retreated into a world inside his mind. A world that was both just in his imagination and very, very real. Monika adjusted the time-flow, allowing his work to continue. John looked to Jade. "...Only one of you now?" Jade nodded. "You and Roxy are the only ones left from the Alpha Timeline. I'm just... a ghost." She rubbed her arm. "I'm sorry." "Aw, geez, I didn't mean it like that..." "We are different people," Jade said, her hollow eyes moist. "I miss her too. Even if she was a bit... promiscuous." John looked at his hands, unable to formulate a coherent response. He had so much to think about, and he wasn't in the time-sink GM was. A handful of seconds later, GM came out. His face was red and he looked like he had seen a ghost. He looked somewhat frail. "I did it. I wrote the scene at the interrogation, and the one we're in now." He focused his eyes, trying to remember the exact words of what came next. "Roxy, there's an entity called the Batter. He should appear the moment I finish the next sentence. He is a powerful entity of purity and you need to kill him and take his powers - how, I won't tell you, it needs to be suspenseful." He turned to his left, looking at a large, red tree that Roxy was sure hadn't been there a moment before. They all tensed, looking at the red tree, ready for someone to appear... The Bå††´®æss µˆssssˆø˜ ˜´´∂ss †ø ∫´ çøµπ¬´†´∂ ¥ø¨ ƒøø¬≤ ˜ø† ∂´ss†®ø¥´∂. ¥ø¨® ¨ss´ƒ¨¬˜´ssss åss å ∂´çø¥ ˙åss ´˜∂´∂onika sensed a change in ka around GM. She turned to look at him, eyes wide. "Something's wrong." GM glanced back at the writing room. "That... That should have worked! By my own rules when writing the other Prophets... I created an inciting incident, made sure it played off previously established lore, and crafted it so it would be suspenseful and not a simple way out! I did it all!" He started hyperventilating. "What went wrong!?" "I don't know, but whatever happened, the fire of ka on you just vanished," Monika said. "What!?" GM said, mouth agape. "That doesn't make any sense! I can't be overwritten!" "Sure there's no-one who could?" Monika asked. "The only Prophets who could try would be Twilence and Hussie, and I'm a step above Twilence so that won't work..." "Hussie?" "I don't think so..." "Worth a shot," Roxy said. "John, find Hussie." "Uh... how?" John asked, cocking his head. "Right, Monika, John, you two are with me, we're going to combine our powers and find the Huss." ~~~ "WHAT!?" I blurted. "WHAT!?" "What do you mean what?" Corona asked. "What's going on in there?" "There was a heavy ka shift," I said, starting to pace around the interrogation table. "It got through Monika's obfuscation. And I just... WHAT!?" I twitched. "GM just lost his Prophet abilities!" "That's possible!?" "APPARENTLY!" I said, already feeling my eyes twitch and my mane shift out of its natural shape. "And they think Hussie did it, but I don't see why he would or even how, he may be a Major Prophet but there's no way he could, unless, and then... But maybe..." Corona was taken aback by this new side of me. I summoned a whiteboard from the aether and pulled out several dozen different colors of marker, scribbling some diagrams on the board. "Hussie hasn't been involved in the story as a plot point for a long time, and most of the times usually just as a background element or joke, he hasn't been foreshadowed at all! Unless there's been parts in the last arc I haven't seen - oooh, that's a clever trick. But that couldn't be a trick from GM, at least not the early chapters... AHA! Nihilists! - Wait, no, that's wrong." I scribbled out an equation Corona couldn't even wrap her mind around - which wasn't surprising, because I was using the ka equations I had invented, not the insufficient outlines of Starbeat. "Ack, no no... Could the Tower have done it? Yes, but it wouldn't have looked like that, it would have just been a failed story..." I threw my markers onto the ground. "AAAAAAAGH! This doesn't make any sense!" Corona started laughing. "What's so funny!?" Corona was clearly embarrassed. "I'm sorry! I just never saw you go Twily-nanas! I didn't think you could!" "I'M NOT GOING TWILY-NANAS!" I blinked. "...Tower's Height, I am going Twily-nanas." I snorted. "That's... I haven't done that in decades! I..." I laughed and put a hoof to my head. "I forgot I had the capacity to do that!" "You're still a Twilight, it seems." I smiled despite myself. "Yep! Totally a Twilight! Twilighting is what we do! Guess I needed to be reminded. Now, let's stop laughing and get back to this, it's actually important." "Maybe we don't need to know how he did it - just what we're going to do now that GM's Prophet-ness is gone." "We'll have to deal with John somehow..." I said, scratching my chin. "We'll have to find him to do that." "They are going to look for Hussie." I clapped my hooves together. "That's it! We can get them there!" "...I thought we were done with the Twily-nanas." "Eh, it might give me determination or something. Get the Alliance on the phone, we need to find Hussie!" ~~~ "WHAT!?" Eve blurted. "WHAT?" Giorno let out a sigh. "SHE DID...! But why...? How? WHAT!?" "She freed John, presumably to grab GM." Giorno said. "Since they haven't come back yet, we can assume they either failed or just don't want to give him to us." "I told her not to!" "Did you really think she'd listen to you?" "Yes! She's been my assistant for most of the war!" Eve held out a hoof and shook it wildly as if that would get her point across better. "I trusted her!" "Mistake." "You trusted Roxy!" "No, I didn't, I just failed to take Monika into account." Eve clearly wanted to keep arguing, but she stopped herself. "Fine, fine, what do we do about it?" Giorno folded his arms. "Do you think there's anything we can do? They have Roxy, John, Monika, and probably GM with them. If they aren't captured - which I doubt they are - then we're not going to be able to do anything to them." "...And we wouldn't want to waste resources since they'll probably try to help us..." Eve put a hoof to her head. "But with GM and John? They're going to mess something up! Just think of all the ways their abilities can ruin everything and produce unexpected and terrible results! Rewriting, overwriting, control, the possibilities are nearly endless! Wait, maybe they are endless, who knows, maybe we get sent back to the time of the Downstreamers or something!?" "Did you think we'd get to a resolution without either of them mattering in some way?" "Well, I..." Eve shook her head. "I let Monika worry about that stuff!" "Which may be why we have a problem now." Eve performed a breathing exercise to calm herself down. "Okay, okay, we need to think this through. Since both John and GM are now on the playing field, that probably means we're nearing the end, right?" "Probably," Starbeat said, walking into the room. "When did you get here?! Why are you here!?" Eve blurted. "...Sorry, I'm stressed." "I have a Twily-nanas sensor." "I AM NOT GOING TWILY-NANAS!" Eve blurted. "...Tower's Height, I am going Twily-nanas." Starbeat looked down at her ka sensor. "...Haven't seen a ka-signature that strong for a joke in a while." "Joke!?" Eve shook her head. "Nevermind, so you just sensed me, right. So we are nearing the end?" Starbeat nodded. "Best I can tell. Or, well, maybe not the end, but a hefty resolution. Or climax. Ka has been so tangled lately I can't really tell. There was recently a big shift I haven't identified yet. I was actually here to talk to Monika about it, but that's apparently not an option. Scooter might work..." "Scooter's not here right now," Giorno said. "And we don't have time. If the 'end' is really approaching, we need to move now." "How? We have no idea where their Tower Ring is!" Giorno furrowed his brow. "You two, I have something to show you. Follow me." ~~~ "I need a portal to complete my sacred mission," the Batter said, addressing Blumiere. "My spirit is tied to the coordinates. Use that." "I'm getting sick of this!" Jenny complained. "What. Is. Happening?!" Blumiere opened up the portal the Batter requested, leading to a very familiar-looking realm. A field of roses. The Batter nodded curtly to Blumiere and walked through the portal, wading through the roses. Blumiere knew the roses were cutting the Batter's legs, but he saw no blood. Go, complete your mission, Blumiere thought. We are depending on it. "Looks like he's giving you the silent treatment, dear!" Renee told Jenny with a cocky smile. "Oh, how that must break your heart!" Blumiere glared at the white unicorn. Filled with an immense desire to show her up, he cleared his throat. "...Now's as good a time as any to explain. Everyone needs to be on the same page." He glanced at Vivian - ashamed he had been leaving her in the dark as well. As he began his explanation, he noticed that Renee wasn't upset or even surprised that he was talking. She had the expression of a mastermind who had wanted him to do what he did. Why would she want me to explain? "It all starts with this book," Blumiere said, holding up the Prognosticus. "It is an ancient book written by one Dimentio, once known as Dimitri. He ascended the Tower and, much like the Horrorterrors who created SBURB, used the knowledge within the Source to create. And like SBURB, this book is both a blessing and a monstrous curse. It holds within it vague words that describe the secrets of the multiverse. How connections can be formed, how universes can be destroyed with little effort, how time, space, and fate itself can be manipulated. But it also tells of unavoidable things - prophecies, futures, and the ultimate destiny of all things. It is a book of contradictions and tangled messes that is tied into the Dark Tower itself. "It was split into two books over its long history, a Light and Dark view of reality. Some would say Hope and Rage, others, Hope and Doom. I would say the dichotomy is a false one - that both sides of the book are true in some way or another. Especially if you consider that the Tower's Testament discusses a Choice. The Light and Dark, they talk about the two different choices. Preservation, or collapse? That is the choice all must make. "When I first came into possession of the Dark Prognosticus, I encountered its author, though I did not know Dimentio for what he was at the time. I wanted to destroy all worlds with the knowledge found within, and believed I was the one spoken of in its pages. While I was there, in that part of my life, I was enacting a lesser prophecy. I wanted to destroy for the sake of my lost love." He held Timpani's hand close. "I never threatened the entire multiverse, merely the area of the Tribe of Ancients. I realized the error of my ways before I could fall completely to the Dark Prognosticus, reclaiming Timpani, but Dimentio betrayed me and tried to take control himself. He claimed he wanted to make a new, perfect world - but I believe he wanted more than that, now. It was just the first part in a long plan." Blumiere saw Dimentio chuckle, but chose to ignore him. "Dimentio died in the battle. Timpani and myself were sent to the Nexus with the Dark Prognosticus, where we lived our new lives in peace. Eventually, through some trick of fate, the Light Prognosticus fell into the Nexus as well, where it eventually made its way to us. I locked the two books away, knowing I had to keep them with me, but refusing to ever use them... Until the war began. "Within them were secrets to end everything. Now that the real end was there, and now that I knew more about the true scale of the multiverse, I saw how they could apply on a much larger scale. And I started to see Dimentio again. I am under no illusions - the man I knew, the traitor, the mad harlequin, is dead. The thing talking to me now is part of his essence fused into the books, appearing only now because the Prognosticus' true time is at hand. Serving as its voice. Through this apparition, I have learned much. "I was able to complete the Tower Ring, even though it is now broken. I have seen much of what is to come. I know that all of us here play a role, though I cannot say specifically what all the roles are." He glanced at the portal. "I know that we need to go to the Dark Tower. And the Batter has conveniently given us a portal to a universe where it manifests." "We need to go to the Tower? And do what?" Vivian asked. Blumiere held out the Prognosticus. "Return this book to the Source it came from." "That's nice," Jenny said. "But what was the deal with the Batter?" "That is an insurance policy," Blumire said, looking at the path the Batter had traced through the roses. "He is on a sacred mission of purity. There exists a force in this multiverse that can undo every action. He is here to make sure the choice that is made is final." Jenny raised her eyebrow. "What force?" "The Batter's only purpose in this incarnation is to kill John Egbert," Nanoha said, expression dark. "The one power that can wind back the clock of metatime: retcon." Everyone was moved to stunned silence - except Renee, who just chortled. "It's so delightful to see when they understand." "That's pretty fucked up," Alushy admitted. "Alushy, darling, you're looking at the textbook definition right now!" Blumiere turned to Renee. "You are the only thing here that isn't mentioned in the Prognosticus. I'm not even sure Dimentio knows what you are." Renee smiled innocently. "I wonder if there's a reason for that?" "I'm sure there is. And when I discover that re-" Renee laughed. "Oh, you sweet summer child. So strong, and yet, so fragile. You have the knowledge of the multiverse in your hands and you still make grandiose assumptions! Have a little hint from good ol' Renee - you have no idea how wrong you are about what's coming." Blumiere narrowed his eyes. Then he turned his back to her, stepping through the portal into the roses. "We need to get to the Dark Tower." He snapped his fingers, teleporting everyone through, and allowing the portal to close behind them. Wordlessly, he set off. After a bit of shrugging, they all followed him - though Nanoha had to be carried. ~~~ -> ANDREW HUSSIE: Punch Monika in the face. "Sweet, this is going to be awesome!" Hussie said, standing up from his chair and holding out his fist. "She'll appear right... here!" The group appeared in a ZAP, Monika in just the right position to get punched in the face. "Score one for the Huss!" Monika wiped her nose, realizing it was bleeding. She wasn't quite sure what to make of this. Roxy grabbed Hussie by the collar and glared at him. "All right Major Prophet, what did you do to GM?" "Absolutely fuckall!" Hussie said with a grin. "Fuck," Roxy muttered, dropping Hussie. "That was a quick dead end." "He could be lying," John pointed out. "From what I heard he sounds like he'd do that." Roxy glared at Hussie. "...Hrm... how would we find that out...?" "He's got me locked out," Monika said - having fixed her nosebleed a moment ago. "Just like most Aware beings can do." Hussie grinned. "Damn straight! The Huss's mind is all firewalls and no entry points!" Roxy generated a scary wolf head out of the Void. "FUCK!" Hussie said, jumping back in fear. "I'M SERIOUS, I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO GM! LOOK AT MY COMPUTER, I'M INNOCENT!" Roxy glanced at what he was looking at. "...Homestuck Squared? Hussie, what the fu-" "Past-oriented, that's not your story! Please don't bring the wolf back." GM rubbed his knuckles together and gulped hard, trying and failing to keep a straight expression. "He didn't do it, he didn't do it... Then who did? How?" "Uh, Monika, aren't you the ka expert?" John asked. Hussie laughed. "Her? She's just a Lord, no finesse in there at all. It's just brute force." "Hey!" Monika shouted indignantly. "Well you're a Waste. What kind of class even is that?" "A stupid one," Hussie said with pride. Monika twitched. "Well, if you're going to boast like that, why don't you tell us what's going on?" "Gladly!" Hussie said, rubbing his hands together. "I even have a flowchart for you! Roxy, be a good pink cat and create a projector for me wouldya?" Roxy glared at him but made the projector anyway. Hussie started loading it with slides he'd had in his back pockets for the last few minutes. "I feel so overwhelmed," John said, blinking. GM let out a nervous laugh. "We're in this boat together..." "I feel like I should ask my Creator some questions..." "Trust me, he's not a guy who likes giving answers." Hussie glared at GM. "Oh for the - I'm not going to ask about the Epilogue!" "THERE IT IS! I KNEW IT!" Hussie shouted. GM put his hands to his head, refusing to engage with Hussie. "Bah, fuck it, he'll do whatever. Ahem, TODAY in MSPaintAdventures, we have a little story entitled Thinking About Writing a Meta-Narrative Story. ROLL IT!" He pressed a button on the projector, displaying the first slide. This showed a Homestuck-style drawing that looked a lot like GM. "This is... G-something M-something Surname, a college student with a dream of writing a huge story. Well, he's about to be a college student, but whatever, let's not worry about the specifics, this is just to get those little hamster wheels in your heads to work." He put in another slide, showing a complex chart behind the GM-lookalike. "This particular Prophet likes to plan. He purposefully leaves some things blank, but other things he codes like a robot on crack. Generally, the character choices and emotions are left to be decided, but things like the rules and the way things work need to be predetermined. And because he's absolutely certain he needs to make his story super-meta, he has to deal with how that's going to work." He slipped to the next slide, with a gif of the GM-lookalike banging his head against the wall. "Naturally, this is difficult. Not as difficult as reconciling the differing rules of time travel from various universes, but a close second." He switched the slide again, showing a complex diagram of the Dark Tower and a lot of words relating to it - Prophet, Aware, Creation - all circled with many colored lines. "It was a nightmare, to say the least. Like a wolf head, if you will. See, even if he didn't believe what he was writing was true, he knew he had to put himself into the story, or a character that represented himself. The true Prophet, at least." He switched the slide again, showing a nervous GM-lookalike imagining skulls, explosions, and angry pony faces. "Naturally, the characters would eventually find him. And knowing where he wanted to go, terrible things would happen to him or his lookalike or whatever. And given the way his Prophet rules worked, it would mean he could have knowledge of the story's true outcome or he would be kept from writing down the end of the story as it happened. A true poser, wouldn't you say?" Roxy, Monika, and GM were the only ones listening. GM's eyes widened in realization. "Holy potatoes on pizza..." Hussie grinned. "So, he asked himself what the solution was." He switched the slide again, this time showing two GM-lookalikes, one with a red arrow pointing to another. "The answer? Create a fake to throw his characters off the trail." Monika and Roxy's jaws dropped. GM blinked. "That... That does sound like something I would do... Why didn't I do it?" "Because you were written not to," Hussie said, snopping his fingers and rendering the poor projector into a rigid jpeg artifact. "You were a Prophet created to take them off the trail. There's another GM somewhere that wrote you to write the story in the perfect way, complete with Prophet powers, until you became useless." Monika snapped her fingers. "That's why White Nettle's plan to take over the Tower didn't work! He wasn't the real GM - he was a fake!" "DING DING DING!" Hussie said. "Holy shit," Roxy said. "Holy shit. Monika, if this is true, you should be able to find the real GM through this GM." Monika cracked her knuckles. "On it." She vanished, following GM's line of ka to its source. She laid her hand on the shoulder of an identical-looking man. "Hi." He screamed. ~~~ Giorno led Starbeat and Eve through a dark hallway. "We're being watched?" Giorno asked. Starbeat looked at her readings. "Yep," she said, adjusting her goggles. "Should we do this later?" "We don't have a way to block Twilence's sight without Monika here, and I doubt this can happen 'offscreen'." He adjusted his suit. "If we want to keep up with everything else, we should do this now. It shouldn't matter that they can see us." "Are you sure?" Eve asked. "No," Giorno admitted. "I think he's right though," Starbeat said. "My readings... I don't think the scene can just end here. We have to keep going." Eve nodded. "All right. What's at the end of this tunnel Giorno?" "You recall that we destroyed a Tower Ring when we raided the Raven Hotel?" "Yeah. Blumiere's right? Made with the Prognosticus." "It wasn't completely destroyed," Giorno said, leading them into the Intelligence Division's deepest sector - a door that led to a universe holding only one thing. A fully-complete Tower Ring in the shape of a black spirograph. The lines of the swirling symbol itself were a bright, welcoming purple. "We repaired it. Unlike other designs, this one was easy to reprogram for the purposes of preservation. We didn't tell anyone with a high narrative importance - aside from myself - to be sure the salvage was kept a secret." He held out a hand. "It is ready to launch." Eve's jaw dropped. This is it. This is how the war ends. This Tower Ring. At the moment before we pass a point of no return... this gift falls into our laps. Eve smiled, a small tear rolling down her cheek. "Thanks," she said, looking off into space. Then her face became serious. "Twilence knows now. We have to launch immediately." "I sent O'Neill and the other commanders orders the moment we walked in here. I hope you'll forgive me for falsifying your endorsement." "I don't mind at all," Eve said. "We don't have time to go through that channel. We need to move." She held out a wing at the Tower Ring. "This war ends today."
Songs of the Spheres	129 - Collapse, Part 2	Hussie, Roxy, Jade, John, and GM all sat in Hussie's room, waiting for Monika. "...So..." John said, tapping his fingers together. "We just sit here?" "I guess?" Roxy said, shrugging. "I'm not sure what exactly we can do until Monika comes back with uber-GM." "Uber..." GM said. He had the beginnings of a joke in his mind but couldn't fully formulate it. "Something something driver, I dunno." He sat down in one of Hussie's chairs. "Did I say you could sit!?" Hussie barked. "N-no!" GM blurted, standing bolt upright, fear in his eyes. "But you can sit. Because I'll be nice and not report breaking and entering to the police." "The police?" Jade said, raising an eyebrow. "They'll be effective?" "There's no police here, Hussie has his own realm," Monika said. "I can make police!" Hussie said, waving his hands. "Poorly-rendered shitty ones, right?" John said with a smile. "Oh, are Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff around? Maybe they're the cops!" GM stared at John, awed by his ability to flawlessly make jokes at a time like this. "Why are you so surprised?" Roxy asked. "A near-identical version of you is probably the one writing this." "I mean, I dunno? I understand he would, but... it doesn't seem like something a real person would do." "Gee, thanks," John deadpanned. "Ack! Sorry, I didn't mea- I mean, I coul- GAH." He put his hands over his head. "Why?" "Existence is cruel, buttercup. Get used to it," Hussie muttered. "And three, two, one..." Monika appeared again - a sour expression on her face and no GM with her. "Uh... Monika?" Roxy asked. Monika said nothing. She created a whiteboard from nothing along with a red dry-erase marker. She scribbled an image of GM similar to the one Hussie had shown them on the projector. She drew another one, drawing an arrow from the new GM to the older GM. Then she drew a third GM behind the second one. Then a fourth. She added another GM above all of them, drawing arrows to the fourth and from the third. A fifth GM soon took shape on the marker board, with multiple arrows pointing to each other GM, including a sixth GM that had a few arrows tied in knots around him. Soon the marker board was filled with so many arrows it was hard to tell which one was going where. Monika snapped the dry erase marker in her fingers. "Behold, the tangled nest of thorns we find ourselves in." "...Shit," Roxy said, scratching the back of her head. "It's not going to be easy to get to him, is it?" Monika rolled her eyes. "Brilliant deduction, Holmes." "...What if the highest GM doesn't exist?" GM asked. "What if it's a loop with branches?" "Not possible with the way the Tower does things," Monika reminded him. "Oh, yeah, right. Sorry, I'm a little freaked out so I'm not going to remember all my rules the best. ...Are they even my rules?!" Monika folded her arms. "And if it was just a loop, there'd be no need for all the branches, you'd just need a few dozen of you in one loop to make it impossible. There is a highest GM, he just really really doesn't want us to find him." "There has to be a way to find him though," Jade said. "Get him to change things." "Or at the very least put energy back into our GM," Roxy said, scratching her chin. "Oh, of course there would be," Hussie said. "But you'd need access to the Dark Tower, multiple Prophets, a lot of high-end powers, and oh hey look, what do you know, we have almost all the ingredients we need here." He clapped his hands together. "IMAGINE THAT!" "It's been imagined," Monika said. "Multiple Prophets - we've got Hussie, which should almost be enough, so we just need one more good one. Rohan will work. John and I can give the powers needed, and GM can give a personal connection." "How can we use that connection?" Roxy asked. "It's not that useful, it only tells you if someone's an alternate of you and can be used to find the closest one. It's..." She blinked. "Black Thirteen." "Oh, geez," Jade put a hand to the bridge of her nose. "Don't tell me..." "We need Black Thirteen," Roxy said. "It can follow that connection wherever. Combined with everything else we have, it should work. We can find the true GM and end his narrative control, turning our GM into the real Prophet. Right?" Hussie shrugged. "As far as I know. Black Thirteen'll probably be able to tell you if you're right." "Good. So, here's the thing, only those who have been to the top of the Dark Tower can hold Black Thirteen without going mad. Who here has been to the top of the Dark Tower?" No hands went up. "Shit. We'll have to work on that too. Monika, Rohan first, he'll be easiest." "Righty-O a-" Monika blinked. "...Oh." "I don't like the sound of that 'Oh'," John said. GM nodded in agreement. "I uh... I'm not obfuscating ka scans right now," Monika said with a nervous smile. "Apparently running through all the GMs disabled it. So Twilence probably heard everything we just said." "Block it, block it!" Roxy blurted. ~~~ "Corona, I have to leave you. I need to stop some morons from meddling with the fabric of narrative itself," I said. Corona blinked. "You were just telling me we needed to attack their Tower Ring, now you have to leave?" "There's multiple things going on at once! I trust you to handle the Tower thing. I have to deal with this. I won't take any soldiers, just myself. Since the other side is currently lacking Monika, it shouldn't give them any edge. You still have Pinkie - use her. I have to take care of the GM problem..." "...Okay. Is there anything I can do to help?" "Not me, no. You just need to stop the Tower Ring." "Soon as we know how, I'll get on it." I nodded, spreading my wings and lighting my horn. "Good luck." I smiled at her - and was gone in an instant. Corona ruffled her feathers and sent a quick message to all the commanders - mobilize, they've fixed our old Tower Ring and are ready to use it. She knew Empress Twilight would already have the Void on standby for something of that magnitude. Meet at Empy's castle in fifteen minutes. Pinkie, you arrive sooner, I need to talk to you. Corona teleported herself to Empy's castle. She gave a curt nod to the Empress. "Twilence had to run off to deal with the GM and John problem. So expect the other side to see all of this." The Empress nodded curtly. "Of course." Pinkie's Party popped in the front door. Pinkie herself was smiling and moving with energy, and only Vriska was able to join her. Nova looked as though she was struggling to keep her gaze forward. Jotaro's expression gave nothing away, but given how closely Pidge was watching him with concern, he was still not taking Jolyne's betrayal very well. Corona's soft smile vanished. "...I'm sorry, I have to call you all back to action. They have a Tower Ring." "...Dammit," Nova muttered, putting a hoof to her muzzle. "Just... dammit." "Where'd they get it?" Pidge asked. "All intelligence says the Combine's efforts aren't producing any fruit!" "They repaired ours," Corona said, folding her hands. "...Fuck," Vriska said, pupils contracting. "FUCK." "That does about sum it up," Pidge admitted. Jotaro sighed. "What do we need to do?" "I'm still formulating the plan - and we need to talk to the others as well. Right now, we've got the militaries mobilizing and the Void at the ready. Pinkie, what do you know?" Pinkie shrugged. "The war's ending. Pretty sure this is the last day." "And they're the ones with the Ring..." Corona muttered. "It doesn't mean we've lost. The Ring is re-programmable." "But they had time and resources to reprogram it! We don't!" "There'll probably be something," Pinkie said, pursing her lips. "Y'know, there are a lot of other groups doing things I can't see. Monika and John are doing weird meta stuff and I'm pretty sure Blumiere's doing something, but he's been completely hidden for a long time now." Corona nodded slowly. "Anything else that might be helpful?" "Since Monika's off elsewhere, we'll know exactly when Eve and Giorno move the Ring, and to where." Pinkie beamed. "Instant response!" "At least they won't be able to surprise us." Corona narrowed her eyes. "I'm forming a plan in my head, but I don't want to say it out loud. I'll need you five as a team of heroes for it. I know you probably aren't up for it, but we don't have that luxury. None of us do." "You can count on us!" Pinkie said with a salute. "Right everyone?" Vriska and Pidge didn't wait - "yeah!" Nova forced a smile. "Yeah." Jotaro's face was dark. He nodded but made no further motions. Corona smiled sadly. "Glad to hear it." It was at this point the other leaders started to arrive. Phage, the Shabanash, Minna, Feferi, Thanos, Morty, Edelgard, a Starcross cloud-being Corona couldn't remember the name of, and a handful of others. Corona waited for the start time before explaining. "We need to make a plan to stop their Tower Ring from preserving the multiverse. Keep in mind that they can see everything we do right now because Twilence is off on a mission to deal with John Egbert, GM, and Monika. Be careful what you say. We do not kn-" "TWITCHA-TWITCH!" Pinkie blurted. "They're doing something!" ~~~ "How are we going to move it?" Starbeat asked. "It's not a simple maneuver to place a Tower Ring around the Tower. The dimensional calculations are complex, take time, and have to account for the Tower's tendency to refuse incoming travel." "Simple," Giorno said with a slight smirk. "We hitch a ride." "With who?" Eve asked. "Do the Xeelee remnants have enough technology to do that?" "Close, but not quite." A small, white, humanoid projection appeared in front of them. "Hey! Long time no see!" "White Nettle!?" Eve said, mouth agape. "Yep! It's me, your friendly neighborhood Downstreamer!" She winked. "I'm ready to move this Tower Ring to the Nexus' rose planet whenever you're ready!" "It's time," Giorno said. "Great! Might want to get inside, not sure what'll happen to the rest of this universe." "Insid-" Eve, Starbeat, and Giorno were teleported into the Tower Ring. Along the edge of the spinning device was a long corridor that went all the way around. The corridor was wide enough to house trucks, though it was empty. On the inner surface were numerous screens, a few of which displayed the purple word PRESERVE in big bold letters. One-way windows lined the outer surface. Eve took out her phone, seeing several messages, including ones from military leaders concerned about the nature of the orders. Don't worry; we had to keep this secret to keep Twilence from finding out, she replied. We're finally ready. This is the final day. She quickly realized the phone wouldn't be enough to actually help her organize everyone, so she created a chair and rolled to the side of the corridor with the screens, interfacing with the technology. She found it already prepared for her. "Nice," she said. "I'm surprised he thought of so much without consulting me," Starbeat noted. "He's the Overhead of Intelligence for a reason," Eve explained, watching reports file across her screen. "An-" The Tower Ring shifted. Eve fixed her gaze on the windows and witnessed an amazing show of color. The three of them were graced with a brilliant trip through White Nettle's many-universe body, scenery shifting dramatically from a void universe, to one that was composed entirely of electrolytes submerged in a solution, to a large crystal matrix that served as her primary brain. They eventually appeared around the Dark Tower. Since the Dark Tower was in the center, Eve couldn't actually see it - but looking out the window, she could see a planet covered in endless roses. The red planet -around the nineteenth most distant star of the Nexus - was already surrounded by Preservation Alliance ships. The preservation protocol activated. The purple areas of the Tower Ring started to glow brighter, forcing the Tower Ring itself to shake. "Do we need to get out?" Eve asked. "It'll automatically remove us at the last minute," Giorno said. "But there's no way it's going to work now," Starbeat said. "Three... Two... One..." The Void tore through reality and grabbed hold of the Tower Ring, finding a much easier time accessing the Nexus because it was a universe so close to its home. It would have disintegrated the Tower Ring... ...were it not for White Nettle using her power to counteract it. White and Black flashed along the edge of the Tower Ring until the power of the Downstreamer nearly overpowered that of the Void. The great construct of darkness would fight to its final breath, however, and latched itself onto the center teeth of the spirograph-like Ring, preventing it from fully interfacing with the Dark Tower. "And now we have to last long enough for the Void to fail," Giorno said, narrowing his eyes. "Their fleets are already arriving," Eve said, glancing at the reports on the screens. "Nothing but simple retaliations right now, but they'll have a plan sooner rather than later." She saw a feed from Scooter. "They're already plotting carefully. Corona's got a plan, but she's being deliberately vague about what it means..." ~~~ Blumiere and the rest of his 'companions' walked through the field of Roses, Can'-ka No Rey. In order to keep themselves from being cut up like they were in a shredder, Vivian had taken to burning a path ahead of them with her fire. She felt horrible burning the beautiful flowers, but they needed to get to the Tower, and levitating all of them would have been difficult. "Question," Jenny asked, raising a hand. "How do we know the Tower is this way?" "All things serve the Beam!" Dimentio said, not that Jenny could hear it. "Watch the way the flowers blow in the wind," Nanoha said from her awkward tied-up position on Alushy's back. "This close to the Tower, the randomness of the building blocks of existence tend toward a particular path." Jenny cocked her head - and saw it. The flowers they were walking over all leaned ever so slightly in the same direction, forging a path, while the rest of the roses leaned in mostly-random directions. "You know, I think I read about this," Jenny said. "You? Read?" Alushy laughed. "I read!" "You wouldn't remember, though!" Renee said, smirking. "I doubt a little thing such as that would stick in that damaged little brain of yours." "You seem happy," Jenny deadpanned. "I am!" Renee said, taking a moment to stroll through the roses, returning to the path without a single scratch in her legs. "I'm at home here, darling. Among the red flowers and the Beam - so right." "Right, that's it, what's your deal?" Sai asked, reminding everyone she existed around Blumiere's neck. "I've run every calculation I can think of, compared every piece of data, and I can't explain you. I'm not even sure why you're necessary, there were ways for us to get the Ritual without you! We could have gotten to the Tower without you!" "As true as can be! Also, don't give yourself voice inflections, it's not like you're a full AI. You and I are the same, little machine." Sai beeped. "You are more than just a machine. Those who Come Back Wrong do not get this level of Awareness." "On the surface, you and I are the same. Deeper down you're just a loose electron in the Sea of Infinite Possibility." "What are you?" Renee grinned. "Screwing with you." "GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!" Alushy roared. "And that's a point for me!" "Stop it, children," Blumiere called over his shoulder. "This momentous occasion gains nothing from your bickering." "Au contraire, my fine blue friend," Renee said, trotting up alongside him. "How much do you think the... 'audience' cares about these little tag-alongs now?" She looked straight out. "Wouldn't it be a shame if something happened to them?" "Did... did you just threaten the readers?" Vivian asked. Renee didn't change the position of her gaze. She simply chuckled. "Blumiere, Dimentio has something he wants to tell you." Dimentio shot Renee a look. "Ah, the harlequin finds himself speechless! Try to change your plan. I dare you. See what happens, just to spite me and my unknowable ways." Dimentio ignored her, turning to Blumiere. "You need to make a call." Blumiere raised an eyebrow. "What kind o-" he blinked. "Ah. I trust it there's some message-sending ritual?" "Ahahhaha! What do you take me for, a primitive scrounging in a cave? Just use your cell phone, this universe is within range of the receivers." Blumiere blinked. "Oh." He pulled out his phone and sent a quick message. Jenny tried to get a look at what it was, but he kept the screen hidden from her. "Hey! Come on! Spill the beans!" Renee held a magic blade to Jenny's throat. "Such a shame, she talks too much..." "Don't you dare..." Renee booped Jenny on the nose. Jenny stared at her in disbelief. "Did you just assume that I would be brutal because I cut your hand off earlier? Please, you people and your assumptions!" She pulled the knife back and chuckled. "You stole my thing," Sai beeped. "It wasn't your thing, dear." ~~~ Corona checked the message she got on her phone. Never before had she pressed the delete button so fast after reading something. "Who saw that!?" The leaders looked at her with confused expressions. "I'm asking Pinkie," Corona said, magically wiping her phone of stray data just to be safe. Pinkie shrugged. "Well, I didn't see it, so I don't think anyone else saw it. What was it?" Corona glared at her. Pinkie chuckled. "Ahah... Sorry. Ahem." She shook her head. "I don't think they're doing anything about it. So we're safe to assume nobody knows what it was." "Good. It's paramount they don't know. But this also means the plan isn't going to make a lot of sense..." She folded her hands, taking a moment to confer with Raging Sights about the nature of the plan. "Okay, I'm going to make this clear. You are all going to have to just trust me on this." "They've got a Tower Ring around the Dark Tower," Phage said. "We're willing to try anything." "I hope you are," Corona said, furrowing her brow. "First off, our fleets need to do their very best to occupy their fleets. But, we can't have any of our ships actually attack the Tower Ring directly." "...What?" a Shabanash asked. "Seriously? Don't try to destroy it?" "Yep. Don't try to destroy it. Just keep the other ships occupied. Don't even try to get a shot if a clearing opens up." "That's absurd!" "Probably," Corona admitted. "But I can't tell you why, or else they'll know. So just go with it, we don't have time to argue." The Shabanash nodded reluctantly. "Pinkie, just double checking, White Nettle is currently protecting the Tower Ring?" Pinkie nodded. "She's pretty integral to the whole plan." "Your team is going to be tasked with getting her hold off the Tower Ring. Morty, you need to create other teams to try the same thing. I won't lie - they're going to be Redshirts. There's a chance one or two of them mean something, but we need a lot of cannon fodder to make sure Pinkie's Party gets in." Morty looked at a data pad. "Already checking out some people. Should they be high-level hero sorts?" "If you can bring yourself to spare them, yes. Nettle should be focused on combating the Void, so she won't be able to watch her insides very well. That's your way in." Pinkie saluted. "You can count on us!" "The third part of the plan will be mine." Corona stood up tall and spread her wings. "I am leading a group of heroes directly to the Tower Ring. We don't get to attack the Ring either; we have to get to it. I'll give everyone who makes it further orders upon arrival." She turned to Minna. "Think you can round up volunteers?" "Easily," Minna responded. Corona cracked her knuckles. "Good. Empy, how much time do we have?" "Four hours. Maybe less," she said, focusing intently on controlling the Void. "If we mobilize now we won't be in danger of cutting it down to the wire." Corona clapped her hands. "You heard her. Move it. Everyone should find something to do on one part of the plan. Ships, Nettle, or with me. Go! Go! Go!" ~~~ "They're mobilizing," Giorno said, checking one of the reports from Scooter. "They're trying to keep their plan from us." "Well, yeah," Eve said. "That's what they've been doing since the war started." "But they don't have Twilence now - we should be able to tear something out of them." He narrowed his eyes as he read the report on the plan. "It's almost like they think they can reclaim the Tower Ring." "Can they?" "Not any way I'm aware of. It took us weeks to reprogram it. They won't have weeks." "Doesn't mean they can't," Starbeat pointed out. "But they'd have to do it some other way. Some way we can't plan for..." Giorno grimaced. "And Corona's being careful. As far as we're aware, she's the only one who actually knows." He folded his hands together. "I have to go consult with the rest of the Intelligence Division - Eve, I trust you can run things from here?" "I'm not the only leader here," Eve reminded him. "But yes, I can oversee the conflict. Go do what you need to do." Giorno nodded, leaving through a portal. Eve turned back to the reports, scrolling through them. "Starbeat, you're my new assistant." "You have a lot of assistants," Starbeat pointed out. Eve smirked. "I'm a mare who needs organization, what can I say?" "Anything you need organized?" "Yeah, let's look at that plan again... They're specifically trying to not destroy the Tower Ring, so let's move some defenses back from it." "Unless that's Corona's plan. She could be trying to dupe us." "True, but we'll know if she communicates something to anyone else." "Will we? It says here we have no idea who sent that message to her that changed everything." "Calculated risk. We can see her. If she sends something, it won't be as easy to hide." She looked through the reports. She sent out orders to loosen the defenses on the Dark Tower itself and spread out, covering more ground to keep the rest of Corona's fleet occupied. Attached to those orders was the suggestion to keep a very close eye on Corona and her people. Ships might have had a hard time hitting such small targets, but if enough were shooting... "Ah, that's what their fleet is for," Eve realized. "Our fleet won't be able to focus on Corona with them attacking." "Whatever she's doing," Starbeat said, scratching her head. "Luckily I think Giorno's handling her, so..." "The third aspect of the plan, Nettle. She clearly only expects Pinkie's Party to be of any use there. And we have something that can counter them - a defense." "Something?" "Well, several someones." Eve pressed a few buttons and sent a message to the League of Sweetie Belles. "I can only hope they're able to work past recent events..." Her confident, somewhat pleased demeanor dropped as she remembered what had happened to Renee. She couldn't think of that now. Bigger things were at stake. ~~~ Rohan sat under the watchful eye of the Research Overhead. "Are you certain?" the R.O. asked, holding up a page of manga. "Look, I'm about as certain as a goldfish concerning last Christmas." Rohan folded his arms. "It's a story. I think it's good. It's about Eve and triumph." "Except you have doubts." "I'm up against Twilence. She'll just overwrite it." "She's busy at the moment, Intelligence says," the R.O. pointed out. "You might have a momentary advantage." "Really? Then why haven't we gotten word of the victory yet? Eve should be facing off against Corona right now and achieving victory." "Time displacement." "If you'll look at the meticulously planned background you'll see a few time codes in the screens on the Tower Ring." "Five seconds from now..." the R.O. said. He counted the five seconds in his head, the stars in his featureless face pulsing with every tick. On the fifth tick, John zapped into existence with all the rest of his group. Roxy delivered a punch to the R.O.'s face. The R.O. seemed mildly amused at the punch. "Ineffective." "You forget, I'm also a genius inventor!" Roxy said with a cheeky grin. "In about... oh, whatever, now, the virus will take your muscle functions offline." The R.O. fell into a heap - still completely conscious, but otherwise helpless. "Why? I understand you are on our side. I would have assisted you." "Couldn't take a risk, no time to explain," Jade said. "Sorry." "I'm not!" Hussie shouted. "Take that you smug toaster!" "He was rather smug," Monika agreed. Rohan kicked the R.O. "Serves you right. You're the worst editor I've ever had." "Hey, guys!" Jade waved her hands. "Don't be mean to him!" "We've gotta go anyway," Roxy said. "John, Tower world, doesn't matter which one as long as we can breathe." "How can I do that?" John asked. "Just think about it and it'll happen," Monika answered. "Kukukukukuku..." a new voice said. Everyone looked up to see Magane on top of a bookshelf, kicking her legs back and forth. "Foolish Monika, it's not that simple!" "Yes it is!" Monika blurted. "A lie about a lie..." Magane snapped her fingers. Roxy blinked. "Wait, you're the one who bends reality with lies." "Yep! You're welcome by the way. Magane: savior of the meta-team!" John cocked his head. "So, wait, all I have to do is think about i- ZAP -t and it... Woah, it actually worked!" They were standing in a field of roses with noticeable tufts of grass between the flowers. They couldn't see the Dark Tower, but Monika felt more than enough ka energy here to do what they needed to do. She clapped her hands together. "Okay everyone, we're close! We just have to get one last piece of the puzzle - Black Thirteen." GM shuddered, but said nothing. "Do we know where it is?" Jade asked. "I still haven't gotten an explanation as to what's going on," Rohan muttered, folding his arms. Roxy summoned several stacks of paper and manga drawing pens. "Here, you and Hussie are our prophets. We're trying to get to GM to edit the main story of Songs of the Spheres to preservation by getting this GM his Prophet powers back." Rohan looked at GM. "This kid is the greatest prophet?" "A-HEM!" Hussie spat, hands on his hips. "Your style is too shitty to be the greatest." "Just you wait until I snop you across the face you little fucker." "Try it and see what happens, Waste." "Uh, I'm not that great," GM said, raising his hand. "I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time." "Besides the point," Monika said, waving a hand. "The point is that we are going to need to get Black Thirteen. Which is problematic for two reasons. One: we don't know where it is. Two: none of us have been to the top of the Tower." Roxy slowly turned her head to Magane. "Hey... You can just say you were at the top of the Tower, right?" Magane shook her head. "If I could do something like that I would have made myself God a long time ago just to see what it was like." "Figures." "Maybe we can convince Flagg to help us?" John suggested. There was a large chorus of laughs all around. Monika stopped short. She glanced at GM. "Is that...?" "It's so crazy it just might work," GM said. "...Man, I've always wanted to say that." "I don't like this plan," Rohan said. "I love this plan!" Magane said with a laugh. "Talk to Flagg! Oh this should be rich! Hey, Rolal, get me some popcorn!" "Nah," Roxy responded, hand to her chin. "Who do we know that's been to the top of the Tower?" GM adjusted his glasses. "Uh... Allure?" "Allure's backup," Monika declared. Then she turned to Magane. "Since you're here, you might as well make yourself useful." "But I already diiiiid!" "Just make it so we find Randall Flagg easily." "You can already do that." Monika grinned. "Uh, no I can't." Magane facepalmed. "...I was serious. You are the Lord of Ka. Black Thirteen basically is ka. Just follow the trail!" "Oh." Magane chuckled. "This all seems a little too absurd and whimsical to be deciding the fate of the multiverse," Rohan pointed out. "That... is probably my fault," GM said. "Sorry." "Why apologize?" Jade asked. "I think it's keeping us all sane." "SANE!?" Hussie blurted. Jade glared at him. "Those of us who were sane to begin with, anyway." ~~~ The Batter walked through the roses of the field. He felt them tearing at him, but he didn't bleed. He never bled. He was the Batter, he couldn't let things such as the roses impede his progress, no matter how sacred the flowers were. His sacred mission was higher. His mission was higher than all else. He would find the retconner. He would Purify him. He would ensure the sanctity of existence was not ruined by one man's fickle, impure mind. None could escape the bat of the Batter. He was more than a force of nature, he was a force of Purity, and as such was just as dangerous to those who had summoned him as whatever he was tasked with Purifying. The Ritual of Purity had no control over what the Batter's mission would be. Many had summoned him only to find that his mission was to Purify their entire world, making the multiverse better off. He continued to stride through the roses, bat always at the ready. The life within the roses recoiled from the bat - they knew it wasn't what every normal sense told them it was. It was an instrument of the Batter, an extension of him. It was more than a weapon. Much more. However, even the Batter was not immune to the trials of the Dark Tower. He was close to the Tower's influence, and thus, could not escape the twisting of ka. He himself remained Pure, perhaps the most incorruptible being in all of existence, but the world around him did not. The sky slowly faded to a deep red as he walked, a bizarre disjointed tune starting to play in the background. He knew who it would be long before he saw them. A small child, Hugo, looking at him with pleading eyes. The Batter had no issue reliving this moment. He swung the bat, Purifying the child in one swing. It had taken more than one swing the first time. The first in a long line of completed Purifications. Compared to that first one, this would be easy. There were no worlds that needed to be erased this time, no corruption that had gone too far: just one man with an unholy power. A woman appeared out of the roses. "You do not need to kill him." The Batter had nothing to say to her. He Purified her easily - apparitions were nothing. The retconner was his goal. Everything else was just an obstacle. Then he saw himself appear out of the roses. This was the first thing that gave him pause. He did not need to be Purified - he was as Pure as could be. He marched up to himself. The other Batter blocked him. "I need to continue my sacred mission to Purify the retconner," the Batter told his other self. "Let me pass." "I must continue my sacred mission to Purify the Zones," the other Batter said, hefting his bat. "As the guardian of this Zone, you must fall." The Batter knew the Dark Tower was trying to get him to see things from the perspective of those that needed Purifying. But he had never doubted himself before, and he would not doubt himself now - that was part of what made him Pure. Never a second thought. Never any hesitation. He met the bat of his other self, not surprised in the slightest to find him a slightly more solid apparition. They both ground their teeth, struggling to overpower the other with strength alone. The area between the bats began to glow. There was an explosion that uprooted all the roses for several meters. When the dust cleared, only the Batter remained. He sensed his ordeals were not quite over - behind him, a devious eldritch being that drove all who saw it mad rose into the sky. The Batter glanced over his shoulder, shrugged, and moved on. "DO YOU NOT REMEMBER YOUR FAILURE!?" the apparition of Azathoth screamed at him. "DO YOU NOT FEEL THE NEED TO PURIFY ME TO SATISFY YOURSELF!?" The Batter didn't turn back. "BATTER! TURN AROUND! TAKE WHAT IS YOURS!" The Batter refused. "BATTER!" The Batter kept walking. 'Azathoth' eventually dissipated. The Batter gave this fact no recognition - he moved forward as if he had not endured any trials whatsoever. ~~~ "Ah, the Tower's in sight!" Renee said, running ahead of the group, deep into the roses. She pulled the tarot card out of her hat and held it up, matching the image of XIX Tower with the Dark Tower itself. "The past is gone!" "...What?" Jenny asked. "...Good grief, I am getting tired of saying that..." "Be resolute!" Renee said with a cackle. "There are trials ahead. And rewards for those who strive. Hah! The surreal search endures!" She pointed toward the Dark Tower. "Just take a step. And I will watch you struggle." Nanoha glared at Renee. "We know the Tower changes your perceptions when you get close." "...We do?" Vivian asked. Nanoha looked at her with pity. "I'm sorry, little one. You may be subject to your worst nightmares, you may be reverted to what you once were, you may be given your greatest dream. The Tower will drive you to anything it deems appropriate." "The White Devil speaks the truth," Renee observed, rubbing her hooves together. "Let's get this over with," Blumiere said. "I've been here before. I have no intention of returning to Bleck again." "The confidence!" Dimentio announced. "Is it the trait of a paragon or a fool? One could argue they are one and the same!" Alushy groaned. "That psychotic book is talking in your head again, isn't it?" "Yes," Blumiere said, adjusting his hat. "And I do not care what it has to say." He continued walking forward, looking right at the pillar of darkness that was the Dark Tower. And then he was alone. No Prognosticus, no Timpani, nothing. It was only him... and Renee. "Are you an apparition of the Tower or are you really here?" Blumiere asked. Renee smiled, refusing to answer. "I don't know what I expected..." He continued forward. Renee trotted backward such that she was always a few meters in front of him. She said nothing. Blumiere decided he didn't mind her silence. Her gaze may have been unsettling, but her words were always worse. Spoken with a voice of a dear friend, blaspheming the lost unicorn's memory. "Shouldn't you be worried about the others?" "I am," Blumiere answered honestly. "But if the Tower wishes me to be separate from them, there is nothing I can do. If I am to enter the Tower alone, so be it." "Ah, the determinator! So fixated on the goal he's willing to leave all else behind! What about your dear wife?" "I would not be here if she were not in agreement with me," Blumiere said. "If... if she has fallen back there, or will fall, the only way to honor her is to make it to the Tower." "Without the Prognosticus?" "I doubt the Prognosticus will allow itself to be consumed by the Tower." "Aw, poor Blumiere, making assumptions again!" Renee stood up on her hind legs and clapped. "How cute!" Blumiere made no response. "You're the least fun. Too sure of yourself, now. You can't just be put through the 'evil self' thing again, that's already been done. The others are much, much more interesting." "You torment us?" "Remember where you are," Renee said, rolling her eyes. "Wouldn't that be an assumption?" Renee laughed. "The slightest hint of some real understanding! Maybe I should give you a test - show you that you don't even know enough to get a D." "Not all of us are Twilence." "Twilence, Twilence, Twilence... The closest. A-minus, probably." Renee chuckled. Then they were at the front door of the Tower. "How..." "Who cares about space?" Renee asked. "We're next to the Tower. If you're supposed to make it to the door, you'll make it to the door." She leaned against the eldritch bricks of the Tower. "You're not even the first one here." Jenny was leaning against the Tower as well, the Prognosticus in her hand. "Figures you'd make it." "Thinking of running away?" Blumiere asked her. "Wouldn't do much," Jenny said, handing him back the Prognosticus. "You'd still do whatever it is you plan to do in there, and I'm not getting anything from that book. I don't think it likes me." "She's absolutely delightful to torment," Dimentio said, chuckling. Timpani and Alushy appeared next. Timpani was covered in blood, a harrowed expression on her face. Alushy looked afraid. "What happened?" Jenny asked. "I was Timpani. Timpani was me," Alushy said. "It was fucked up." "That sounds kinda fun ac-" "STARLIGHT BREAKER!" A beam of red-pink light shot across their visions. The next thing they knew, Nanoha had been thrown into the wall of the Dark Tower at high speeds. The Tower itself could not crumble even from such a large force, so she was effectively flattened against it. She fell down, the roses on the ground cutting deep into her, even through her magic barrier jacket. "Experiencing defeat," Blumiere guessed. "I've experienced defeat before," Nanoha muttered, standing up. "I was fighting Fate-chan with Vivian and Sai. That should have gotten us out th-" Vivian was thrown into the Dark Tower - but she had a yellow scythe device planted in her head, electrocuting her dark body. Sai hung around her neck, screaming just as loudly as Vivian was. "VIVIAN!" Blumiere shouted, pulling on her with his magic. The yellow scythe dissipated the moment he touched it, but the damage was done. By the time he got her down, her shadowy form had dissipated, leaving only her hat and the necklace of Sai. Sai was flashing rapidly, unable to process what had just happened. "WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THAT!?" Jenny shouted at the Dark Tower. "Oh, it wasn't a point for her," Renee said, grabbing hold of Sai. "It was a point for Sai - and all of you, I suppose, but reminding you that this isn't happy Candyland isn't really much of a point, is it?" Renee held up Sai, smirking. "This poor partial AI has been given hints and snippets of what true sapience is, ever since she entered the top of the Tower with Corona. A glitch here, a tweak there - not able to see it. To understand it." Renee pointed at Vivian's hat. "But oh, look at that. Fixed to Vivian. Experiencing full sapience as her, able to feel true fear, true panic, and the true feeling of death!" She tossed Sai into Blumiere's hands. He caught her. "I guess we aren't so different after all, our roots are so closely intertwined in this way... A play on soulessness..." "That's it, you're dead," Jenny said, pulling her fist back and punching Renee. Renee flew backward, landing on her hooves. "Genevieve, darling, put that fist away and talk like an adult. This is a big girl zone." "Are you trying to make her mad!?" Timpani blurted. "She is," Nanoha said, casting a spell on Jenny to make her slip. She turned to Blumiere. "We both know how this goes." "You attack me, I use the Prognosticus to win," Blumiere stated plainly. "I already have your precise soul reading." Nanoha nodded. "So let us not fight, let us talk." "You know I have to go in there." "I do. Once the Dark Tower has called someone, it is a rare individual who can turn their back on the summons." She placed her hands together on top of Raising Heart. "All I ask is that you reconsider what you do once you are inside." "I won't do that either. I will do what I need to do at the top of the Dark Tower." "THE TOP!" Sai shouted, starting everyone. "We must all go at once! At the same time! The Tower will open as it never has before! This is the moment, the Choice, the death, the life!" "She gets it," Renee said. Sai somehow floated into the air, moving toward the door. "I can open it. I have to open it. Of course! I would never have let something as pedestrian as death keep me from the answers! The final solution!" "I guess I arrived at the perfect time then," a new voice said. "Just keeps getting bigger and better," Alushy muttered as they turned to see who the voice came from. A single Aradia stood outside a dinged-looking TARDIS, an omnitrix on her wrist. "I was sent by... the winds of ka. I don't have a side in this conflict. So I get to watch it happen." "Who cares!?" Sai blurted. "Death is upon us! Get in line!" Aradia stared at the floating 'AI'. She clearly didn't like what Sai represented. "DARK TOWER!" Sai shouted. "THIS IS SOMBRA! I have come from beyond the final door demanding you open yourself to us! The time is at hand!" Renee grinned, nodding with approval. The doors to the Dark Tower slid open... ~~~ Corona flew through the space around the Tower's planet, hundreds of heroes lined up behind her. All of them wore personal armor, giving them speed close to that of speeders. She'd meticulously made sure she didn't know any of their names - either by selectively removing them before they left or altering her own memory. They were all Redshirts for her. Because she had to do it. All her companions died behind her by the dozen as they flew through the field of ships. Tears streamed from her eyes - she was purposefully leading all of them to their deaths. They all thought they might be able to come with her to the end, but that would not happen. All of them but her. She was the only one who could do it. But for now, she needed to keep up the illusion of being a commander. "LEFT!" she shouted, diverting them away from some TSAB magical ship weapons. The TSAB ship tried to lock onto them again, but a Starcross behemoth barreled into it, keeping them safe. She saluted them with her wing and continued to lead her heroes through the space - closer and closer to the planet. To the Dark Tower. To the Tower Ring, that horrid black Spirograph. That Spirograph that had been hers. Corona's team started getting smarter - dodging more fire, angling away from the ships attacking them, and taking advantage of areas where ships were busy. This was seen best when they entered the shadow of the Austraeoh and Starjammer - the ships O'Neill and Minna were running. Both were whaling on each other. Maybe it was the proximity to the Tower, or maybe her empathic abilities had chosen to evolve considerably in that moment - but she could see the fight between the two happening. ("Starkilling weapons only - I want that ship down!" O'Neill shouted. "Shields aren't holding!" Clandestine said. "The Spectral Rods are having difficulty breaking through the runes!" "I don't give a damn about those Runes!" O'Neill shouted. "Cause a fallout if you have to - get that ship down!") (Minna saw the nuclear missiles coming. She ordered the Starjammer to shift out of the way at a perfect angle to direct the radiation at the Austraeoh's ally ships. She said nothing to her soldiers - they knew what she wanted, and did it. They would prove the Austraeoh, for all its power, to be just a fancy toy.) Corona led her team closer to the interior of the army. They saw a large Combine construction blocking their way. "Split up - half, take out that ship, rest, with me!" She twisted to the side, dodging numerous explosions aimed at her. One would think those sent to destroy the Combine construction would have been sacrifices - but in reality, it was the other way around. Everyone was fixating on Corona, not the rest of the team. They were able to take out the Combine construction almost unimpeded while Corona's team dwindled to only a few dozen. Corona sensed a few deserting. She didn't blame them. She met back up with the strike-force half and dove closer still to the planet. She still couldn't see the Dark Tower, but she knew it was there. She could feel it. They had passed the ship layer of the battle, entering what could best be described as the Layer of Heroes. Skaians, superheroes, and many others fought each other out in the open, losing most if not all coherent plan to focus on punching each other. Capture devices flew left and right rapidly. It was a better fate than incineration by space laser. (Thanos and Lightning glared at each other as the various heroes punched around them. "So it's come to this," Thanos said, flexing his Infinity Gauntlet. Lightning held up her own. "Both useless here." "I know, completely pointless. Such a shame, it would have been better to have a true fight." Lightning smirked. "I'm going to punch you with it anyway." He chuckled and nodded. They both pulled their fists back simultaneously and punched each others' respective faces in.) Corona continued on. Most of those with her had been caught up in smaller fights or had been defeated already. There were a few Skaians left with her, and a couple Twilights from the Sparkle Census. They were working as a pretty effective military unit. "Good job," she told them. "Thanks," the leading Twilight said - she was an earth pony. "...We know what you're doing." "...I'm sorry." "You're forgiven. But, if you could do one thing, could you not fail?" "I'm not planning on it," Corona assured her. "And, for the record, try to get captured, not killed, okay?" The Twilight nodded. "Got it." She pulled up, purposefully taking the Census away to distract All Might. "I AM HE-" "You're over there," the Twilight said after bucking him away. (Meenah and Feferi's tridents clashed together in the skies while hundreds of their Skaian followers battled around them. "Just have to say, you're cool. You know that?" Feferi said, twisting around her weapon and kicking Meenah in the face. "What the shell? This isn't some feelin's jam, this is war!" "So?" Feferi giggled. "We're fighting, doesn't mean we have to hate each other!" She took a punch from Meenah for that one. "You're so cray," Meenah muttered, shaking her head. "Aw really?" Meenah shrugged. "Really, I guess." Feferi stabbed her with her prongs. "GOTCHA!" "...We're ghosts, Fef." "Yeah, but that still hurt, right?" "Scrodclammit," Meenah muttered. Their tridents clashed again.) Corona wasn't actually alone when they got through most of the fighting. Her group entered an area of calm in the atmosphere of the planet, just over the field of roses. There would be another wave of resistance at the Tower Ring itself, but until then they were in the clear. Or so she thought. When Giorno showed up and took out her five remaining soldiers, she knew she was in for it. "GOLD EXPERIENCE REQUIEM!" Giorno shouted. "You will never reach reality!" He had clearly planned this - laid a trap for her and her group, taken them out in an instant, and aimed his supremely overpowered Stand right at her, planning to create a feedback loop where she could never make it to the Tower Ring. She couldn't let him hit her. She slowed perceived time down to a crawl to converse with Raging Sights. "Okay, we can't let this fist hit us, but it really looks like it's going to hit us." "Empathize through the arm from the side." "Might take too long. Bacon Pancakes will be pretty ineffectual as well. Do we have time to shift space?" "Not definitely." Corona's mind raced. "I have to get through this. If I let him stick me here..." "The death spell would do it." Corona paused. "No, no, no. He has an immunity anyway" "Not if you cast it with all the tricks you had at your disposal." "It... it would work. His Stand is affixed to his spirit and it would translate right to him before he could keep me from reality..." She gulped. "He was banking that I wouldn't dare use it. Not on him." "We are so close, Corona. What's one more?" "Don't talk like that. Never talk like that," Corona said - crying even though she was stuck in her mindscape. "Every death has meaning. Every. Last. One." She clenched her fists. "Prepare the spell." "Stand by ready." Corona opened her eyes and grabbed Gold Experience Requiem by the wrist. In less than a fraction of a second, the fist itself would hit her. No matter how much energy she pushed into any attack, the Stand was still going to make it. Sorry, she told Giorno telepathically. Giorno's eyes widened - knowing his gambit had failed. He had no defenses aside from the magic and technology on him, many of which were Corona's own creation. She overrode those things and sent the spell into his frail human body. He fell to the roses below, lifeless. Gold Experience Requiem lost all substance, passing right through Corona without doing anything. He wanted to end it quickly. So I did. Corona descended to the roses below. She lifted her hands, casting the revive spell. Giorno opened his eyes. "You won." For a moment, Corona allowed herself to be hopeful. Maybe she hadn't killed him. But then she saw the murder in his eyes. She felt the lack of empathy, the emptiness. He was just one of the smart husks. Corona blew his brains out. It was the quickest way - sometimes they were immune to simple death. "DAMMIT!" She shouted, stamping her foot on the ground and lighting all the flowers for a mile on fire. "JUST... GAH!" Raging Sights beeped in an attempt to comfort her. "Thanks," Corona said, forcing herself to calm down. She was tempted to just think of Giorno as another statistic - but she couldn't let herself fall to that. She had sacrificed and killed so many. If she let herself think differently, she would lose herself. She would never lose herself. She used her magic to create a grave for Giorno right there among the roses of the Nexus. She turned away, expression blank. In the distance, the Tower stood, ominous, a seemingly small black ring surrounding it. So much smaller than all other Tower Rings constructed... and yet so elegant, so appropriate. She spread her wings and flew toward her goal. ~~~ Flagg was sitting in a nondescript black chair, waiting for them. He had Black Thirteen prominently displayed in his left hand. Monika, John, and Roxy were standing in front of him. "So I take it you were expecting us, huh?" John asked. "I always know if people are trying to look for me," Flagg said. "Even if such attempts are 'hidden' behind subterfuge some girls think are clever." Monika steamed but kept quiet. "What do you want?" Flagg asked. "We want to talk," Roxy said, creating a chair identical to Flagg's and sitting in it, crossing her legs. "The multiverse is nearing a climax." "I know. I've been watching. I'm a bit disappointed they didn't abolish those annoying capture devices, but I can't really complain about war on such an unprecedented scale. And to think, I didn't even have that much to do with it! Makes it all the more exciting." "Wouldn't you prefer it if the multiverse continued to exist after this war?" Flagg grinned from ear to ear, making John recoil in disgust. "Roxy, you think I have some sort of self-preservation instinct? I am tied to Black Thirteen and cannot die." "You won't respawn without the Tower," Monika pointed out. "True," Flagg admitted. "Very true. But there will be a whole new world to interfere with once the Tower is gone, and it will be a much smaller world. More vulnerable." "And you won't have ka to give you the benefit of being a force of evil." Monika folded her arms. "Nobody will be able to alter things on these large of scales if they win. Come on, you want to keep being evil, don't you?" Flagg grinned. "If I were as simple as you say, I would have been with the Nihilists." "...Is he saying no?" John asked. "I don't know, am I?" Flagg asked, chuckling. "Cut the crap," Roxy snapped, pointing a finger. "Help us with Black Thirteen or we're going to take it from you." "And watch how diplomacy falls." Flagg shook his head. "Should have tried longer, honestly, I may have been swayed." "No, you wouldn't have," Monika said. "That's true. Sad. Oh well, have a nice day!" He held up Black Thirteen, taking a moment to decide how he would scramble their minds to cause the most chaos. A portal opened up behind him and disgorged Hussie, Rohan, and Magane. Hussie grabbed Flagg by the collar, snopped his other fingers, and threw the Man in Black to the ground like he was a Flat. "Magane told me I could do that. I said I couldn't. Win-win." Flagg willed himself back to his fully-defined self. He sighed overdramatically. "It looks like I'll have to get my hands dirty." He lifted Black Thirteen. ...Except Black Thirteen wasn't in his hands. "...Where...?" "Over here, lord of darkness," Allure said from the other side of the portal. Flagg saw her - holding Black Thirteen in her hoof without adverse effects. She was standing at the base of a large crystal-brain mainframe with four other Sweeties - Thrackerzod, Squeaky, Bot, and Burgerbelle. "Your precious toy just got snatched by a tiny unicorn." "Stop brea-" "Just stop," White Nettle said, appearing behind Flagg. "Why are you helping them!?" "I like the multiverse, I like being a giant universe-polymer jellyfish." She sneered. "You could have helped, you know. Gotten a point on your record as one of the good guys. I bet you could have turned that into something very destructive after the war was over! I'm disappointed in you, Randy." "...RANDY!?" John blurted, bursting into laughter. "...I don't think it's that funny," GM said. "You're the Prophet, you must have thought it was funny enough to put in here," Monika pointed out. GM put a hand to his head. "I'm just... not going to think about that." Flagg let out a calm breath. "I suppose I am an object of ridicule. Shame. It looks as if I'll have to ruin your nice day." He held up a hand, tapping into his own power, causing all of White Nettle to tremble. "I do not need Black Thirteen to destroy all of you in an instant! F-" John appeared in front of him and tapped Randall Flagg's nose. "Got your nose." "Juvenile li-" John Zapped him away. White Nettle stared at where he had just been. "Where did you send him?" "Several hours into the meta-future," John said. "He won't be able to do anything until this is allll done." "Huh. Good luck surviving after those few hours." White Nettle winked. Everyone ignored her. "Thanks, Allure," Roxy said, walking up to the unicorn. "Don't mention it. I... I think I needed to do something important that didn't result in a tragedy," Allure smiled - it was pained, but genuine. She juggled Black Thirteen in her hoof. "What do you need me to do?" Roxy pushed GM forward. "Link him up with every other version of himself. Not mentally, just on a level we can detect and search." "How?" "You know how," Magane said. Allure rolled her eyes. "No I don't." "A lie about a lie..." "That seems like cheating," Allure observed, looking deep into Black Thirteen. "Yech, this thing is disgusting." "If it drove even eldritch beings to madness, it must be," Thrackerzod said. "What do you see?" "I don't want to talk about it," Allure declared. She seemed to find what she was looking for. She briefly touched Black Thirteen to GM's forehead. "There you go." GM blinked. "I feel... like a salmon hit me in the face?" "Probably a false memory," Allure said, rolling the black orb over her hoof. "Need this for anything else?" "That should be all we need, thanks," Jade said. "...I guess you can keep it, since none of us can hold it." Allure looked at it. "...I can already feel it trying to eat away at my soul. I... don't think it's a good idea for me to try to use it to defend Nettle." "I'll take it!" White Nettle said, grinning. "First of all, you're busy with the Tower Ring. Second, you haven't been to the top of the Tower. Third, I don't trust you." White Nettle huffed and dissipated again. "How about I just throw it through the portal you guys leave through?" Allure asked. "Just leave it in the roses or whatever. Or maybe you can destroy it?" Magane laughed. "Destroy Black Thirteen? How amusing." "We totally could!" Roxy shouted. "...And they try to exploit me again." Magane sighed, leaning back. "Shame, shame, shame..." "Let's just deal with it after we get GM's powers back," Jade said, creating a portal to the field of roses. "Go ahead and throw it through the portal." Allure did. The roses leaned toward it like it was their master - which, in a way, it was. "Okay everyone, we have everything we need!" Monika said, clapping her hands. "Let's build the... The uh..." "Meta-inator?" GM suggested. "That's a stupid name." "So are a lot of things. A lot of name-changes I did were kind of stupid." Allure blinked. "Allure isn't stupid!" "I wasn't being specific! Allure is fine!" Allure looked GM up and down and decided he was telling the truth. "Ah, sorry, I just, some people don't like the name, think it's weird..." "That... is what some of my readers thought." Allure twitched. "...Nice talking to you GM." "Oh, come on, I'm sorry!" Allure sighed. "I know. Just... I'm barely okay with my own existence right now, so if you could bring the existential questions your presence makes me ask back later, that'd be great." "Uh... Okay." "Good. Glad we've come to an understanding." "That means shoo," Burgerbelle said. GM nodded slowly and left through the portal with everyone else, leaving only the five Sweeties left in White Nettle's brain universe. "I like him!" Sweetie Bot said. "You like everyone," Thrackerzod pointed out. "Oh yeah..." "He's just a person," Allure said, shaking her head. "Never really believed that until now." "Meeting your creator can never be what you expect," Burgerbelle said. "I wasn't created by him, just... shaped. He didn't make Sweeties up, you know." Burgerbelle shrugged. "Do you want to talk to him again?" Squeaky asked. Allure frowned. "...Maybe later. Much later." There's things I need to work through. ...Will I be allowed to? ~~~ Eve saw Corona coming, tearing through the final layer of defenses that kept her from the Tower Ring surprisingly easy. Something had her fired up. She suspected it was the report of Giorno's death she had just gotten. Corona couldn't be happy about that, since she was likely the one who had done it. "She's going to get here," Starbeat said. "It won't be long." "Yeah," Eve said, summoning Seraphim. "We'll be ready." Starbeat looked away, ashamed. "...Starbeat?" "I shouldn't be here when she arrives," Starbeat said. "That would destroy it. The moment. I'd need to be brushed aside quickly to facilitate the encounter between you two. I'd be useless here." She put her data pad away. "I have to go elsewhere so I can still be helpful." Eve nodded slowly. "I understand." She pressed a few buttons on a console. "You have full authority to issue orders in my name, Starbeat. I trust you to lead the effort while I'm... busy." Starbeat nodded. Then she pulled Eve into a hug. "I have no idea what's going to happen." "Welcome to the club," Eve said, laughing out a few tears. "Take care of yourself." "I should be saying that to you." Starbeat lowered her goggles over her eyes. "You're the one this all rests on." "It doesn't rest on just me." Starbeat checked her data pad. "Out of all the ka streams I've been watching... yours is the only one fighting alone. There may be other points, but they have the Magic of Friendship with them. You... you won't." Eve closed her eyes and nodded. "I know. It has to be that way." Starbeat nodded. She saluted Eve. "You're one of the wisest mares I've ever met. Thank you for everything." "Thank you for showing us how to deal with personal hardship," Eve said, saluting with a wing. Starbeat nodded - then teleported away. Eve turned to the large window, wiping the tears out of her eyes. She could see Corona coming without the screens now. With a growing pit in her stomach, Eve waited. ~~~ Pinkie's Party had an experience rather similar to that of Corona. They entered White Nettle with several hundred teams all working as one. However, despite White Nettle's fixation on the Void, her body still had some self-defense that whittled them down to just one team. It was rather predictable, to be honest. "And apparently boring enough to completely gloss over!" Pinkie blurted. "...Pinkie?" Nova asked, cocking her head in concern. "The narrator was being colorful again," Pinkie said, grinning. "Sorry." The five of them walked along the crystalline edges of White Nettle's mental nexus. They knew they could distract her for a moment by destroying any small crystal, but if they wanted to do any real damage they needed to get to the central control crystal. "Allure's waiting for us," Pinkie said. "Eve chose them to deal with us." "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered, adjusting his hat. "You said it, Jojo," Pidge agreed. Vriska cracked her knuckles. "Well, I'm all up for beating the stuffing out of a bunch of white unicorns." "How can you be so candid?" Nova asked. "There were thousands of us coming in here. Now there's just five. We watched most of them die!" "We've seen a lot," Vriska said - saying it with a soothing voice, rather than an aggressive one. She put a hand on Nova's shoulder. "It hurts. But it hurts less if you don't let yourself fixate on it." "That's not always healthy!" Pidge piped up. "Shut up, I'm being comforting!" Nova let out a short chuckle. "At least you're trying." She smiled at Vriska. "That means more than what you actually said." Pinkie put a hoof around Nova. "Glad you finally realized we're all here for you." Nova nodded. "I... I always knew, I just didn't want to, if that makes any sense." She hugged Pinkie back. "...I forgot that you're all my family too." "Aw..." Pinkie said. "GROUP HUG!" Star Platinum grabbed them all together and forced them into said group hug. "Heh. Just like old times," Vriska said. "I don't remember this!" Pidge muttered, flailing. "Older times. We existed before Allure's loops, y'know." "I... don't have a witty response to that." "Guess that means we're done then!" Pinkie said, bouncing out of the group. "Behold, our goal!" The League of Sweetie Belles stood in front of the main crystal that housed most of White Nettle's higher functions. She could survive without it - she had backups - but destroying it would be decidedly problematic if she wanted to focus on anything. White Nettle's projection floated above the Sweeties. "Done with all the touchy-feely stuff?" "Hey!" Bot shouted, glaring at White Nettle. "That was beautiful." "Bah, whatever," White Nettle folded her arms. "You may be the great and legendary 'primary team', but I've got these delightful little guardians and I can focus right on you. I know where you are, no amount of reality anchoring is going to stop me from wiping you out right here, right now. I might not even need th-" She paused. "Well shit." "What?" Squeaky asked. "Empy just got clever. Hold that thought." She vanished. Allure looked at Pinkie. "Yep, totally saw that coming." "Textbook case," Pinkie agreed. "Like moth to a flame." "LAMP!" Burgerbelle shouted. Pinkie broke out into laughter. "Ah... Ah this is going to hurt a lot." Allure nodded slowly. "I'm so sorry, Pinkie." Pinkie frowned and shook her head. Allure got the message - Pinkie's team didn't know about Renee yet. "...Pinkie...?" Nova asked. "Yes, it's important, and yes, you'll be mad at me for keeping it from you," Pinkie said. "But we need to be at the top of our game right now." Allure nodded. "Same over here. Right team?" There was a chorus of 'yesses'. "Now let's get out there and play ball!" Pinkie shouted, suddenly wearing a referee's hat and a whistle. Burgerbelle matched it with a hockey stick and mask. "FORE!" "STOP IT!" Nova shouted. Everyone stared at her. "This isn't some sporting match or a friendly spar!" Nova continued. "This. Is. War. We don't have to try to kill each other over this, but can we at least take it seriously!? We are one of the battles that decides the fate of the multiverse. Can we at least act like we know what that means for once in our lives? Drop the toys, drop the antics, and be what we're supposed to be." She marched forward, taking the lead. She bowed to Allure. "Allure, I respect you. But I will not treat this as a game." Allure nodded. "As it should be." She readied a fighting stance. "Everyone, bring your best." Jotaro looked to Nova - and smiled in approval. He cracked his knuckles. Pinkie nodded. "Okay." She brought out her warhammer and smashed it into the ground. "Guess we actually fight." Allure summoned her Heart, furrowing her brow in focus. Both sides waited for the other to make the first move. ~~~ "OKAY EVERYONE! Here's the plan!" Monika rubbed her hands together. "We need to get GM back his Prophet powers so his new story can take effect. Got it written?" GM held up a laptop. "I have the manuscript on here. I'll make a single typo-edit after I get the powers back to make it take effect. ...That's just to make sure my brain accepts it as finalized, by the way. It doesn't have to be typo-free." "Yes, thank you. Anyway, to get to GM, we've got to do a few things. Jade has provided us with a handy-dandy Fourth Wall straight from Earth C itself." Monika gestured at a window-like device with four panes and a series of arced pipes along the edges. "As I'm sure some of us know, these are pretty good at breaking through ka barriers." "You're welcome," Hussie said, folding his arms proudly. "...I really hate this guy," Rohan muttered under his breath. Monika continued. "However, no doubt the big-honcho GM will be writing a counter-narrative, so we can't just use Black Thirteen's connection to get to him. That's where Hussie and Rohan come in. Together, they should be able to create a counter-counter-narrative. They have their MSPaint and manga stations already ready. Use whatever cheats you want to make sure we do this." "We're doing this, man," Hussie said. "We're making this happen." "For the love of..." Rohan sat down at his desk and started scribbling with Heaven's Door. Hussie shrugged and started his work in... well Monika was pretty sure it wasn't MSPaint. "Good. So, when they get far enough with that, John, you'll use retcon on the fourth wall to make sure we get to the real GM - just in case he's time-displaced through metatime." "Got it!" John said, smiling like the dope he was. "I'm in charge of editing reality the entire time so the world doesn't fall apart while we're doing this," Monika said, adjusting her shirt. "No pressure." "Ooh, ooh, what do I do?" Magane asked. "...Sit there and look pretty?" Magane raised an eyebrow. "I don't know, you're just a tagalong! You tell me why you're here!" Magane shrugged playfully. "Do you even have a side?" "Not really. I'm just interested in seeing where this goes." "...You don't care if the collapse happens?" Roxy asked. "But what if you die?" "I know I'll survive," Magane said. "But you can't know that, right?" John asked. Magane stared at him in disbelief. "...I'd already taken care of that lie about a lie weeks ago. People are just so easy to manipulate... I will survive." "Right, just sit there and look pretty," Monika muttered. "Roxy, Jade, same deal." Roxy raised her eyebrow. "I'm the leader. That's more than standing around and looking pretty." Monika rolled her eyes. "Sure, whatever. Hussie, Rohan, you ready?" "We've got enough written!" Hussie announced, cackling like the madman he was. "ENGAGE!" At that point, the Batter crested the hill nearest to the group. I wasn't far behind him. You thought I wasn't going to show up, didn't you? ~~~ Corona stood on the outside of the Tower Ring. She knocked politely. Come on in, airlock's open, Eve told her telepathically. Of course it's Eve, Corona thought to herself. Who else would it be? Behind Corona, some of the remaining ships and defenses were still shooting. The shield at her back was more than enough to take care of their attempts. She made her way to the airlock and walked into the Tower Ring. Eve was waiting right on the other side. The purple light of the screens matched her well. The glow from the word PRESERVATION highly accentuated her deep eyes, her cosmic mane, and her shining ears. Corona's own ears twitched and she spread her wings. The two of them took up angry, aggressive poses. They lit their horns and poised their limbs for a leap. Eve padded the ground and Corona pulled back a fist. Both of them lost steam in an instant. The magic auras dropped, the wings fell, and their bodies sagged. "Guess we just weren't cut out for this," Eve said, shaking her head. "You could say that again," Corona said, turning her back to Eve and looking out the window at all the destruction. "Remember the war with Skarn?" "How could I forget?" Eve said, having turned on her ears the moment Corona looked away. "You told me you thought you were ready to sacrifice, and later you found that you weren't." "Do you feel the same way?" Eve asked. "I'm not sure," Corona said, frowning. "This isn't what I wanted, I know that. And I'm probably not going to find out if it is worth it." "Is there any way to measure that?" "No. There's no measurement. The individual doesn't know enough, and the masses are wrong." "The Choice is a riddle with no solution." "And it comes down to two individuals anyway." Corona turned back to her, allowing Eve to turn her ears off. "There are others fighting for things just as important." "But we're the only ones fighting alone." Eve nodded slowly. "I think so." Corona sighed. "We did this once before." "Them's little games." "It seemed like it didn't matter then, did it? That there would be no consequences." She shook her head. "I thought our fight may have been one to truly be that way. But look where we are now. Opposite sides once again. And we fight." "It's not a fight to the death," Eve told her. Corona smiled. "Yeah. All I have to do is get you down so I can disable the Tower Ring." "Just disable?" "There's more to it, but I shouldn't say any more." Eve looked outside. "Nobody's coming to help us." "...They either know it needs to be the two of us, or are conveniently caught up in other battles." Eve sighed. "We... We really have to do this. Throughout this entire war, I suppose I knew this moment would come. I even imagined how it would play out a few times. What I would do with you. What I would say." She shook her head. "This wasn't what I expected." "Same," Corona said. "...I can't afford to delay any more. I'm sorry." Eve closed her eyes and took in a painful breath. A tear streaked down her cheek. "I know." She spread her wings and activated Seraphim. Corona activated her dimensional defenses and summoned Bacon Pancakes. Corona's flames surrounded her, a tiny sparkle of darkness coming from Sombra's nanobots. Eve's eyes became one with darkness, the ice of Seraphim creeping along the walls - though a spot of fire came from Celestia's essence. They were both fully aware of their directly-opposing natures. Their determined faces once again gave way to grimaces - but this time they did not stand down. They no longer had the luxury of talking. The Tower recognized the momentous nature of their battle. So close to it, the winds of ka warped and twisted the scene. They remained within the Tower Ring, and the screens shone through eternally... but to them, it was almost as though they were facing off in the Castle of the Two Sisters. What location could be more appropriate? They launched attacks at the same time - a burst of fire from Corona's hands and horn met a burst of frozen air from Seraphim. The extreme difference in temperatures caused the air pressure to change dramatically, throwing Corona into Eve. The cold began to eat away at Corona, but unlike the battle in Them's games, she was prepared for the frigid temperature. A magic barrier kept her internal temperature constant while she forced Eve down with Bacon Pancakes' pins. Bacon Pancakes' center rushed to flatten Eve, but she teleported away, using a burst of magic to drive Corona into the ground. Corona bounced up from the cold metal floor and shot a flamethrower at Eve. The alicorn turned off Seraphim's absolute zero adjustment, allowing the Stand to deflect the flame. The frozen air began to dissipate, letting Corona lower the magic she was devoting to her temperature barrier. She used the extra power to attack Eve from three directions with magic beams. Seraphim could only absorb so much damage - parts of it singed Eve. She grunted through it, lighting her horn. She looked Corona apologetically in the eye. A spell created a spire of solid oxygen behind Corona and stabbed her through the stomach. Corona cursed herself for assuming Eve had to use Seraphim to make things that cold. She fell to a knee, using Bacon Pancakes as a shield against Eve's onslaught of magic missiles. Corona didn't have a Seraphim - she was dependent on her own magic barriers to defend herself. Injured as she was, the shields weren't as effective as they should have been. They broke down and the laser hit her, burning some of her dress, hair, and skin. She shook her head, clutching the hole in her stomach. She needed some time to heal herself. She told Raging Sights to activate the nanobots, attacking the one part of Eve that was artificial - her hearing devices. The loudest sound the devices would allow were transmitted right into Eve's brain, making her scream in agony, dropping all attacks. Corona grimaced, but took the opportunity to mend her wound with some holy magic. Then she rushed to the control consoles of the Tower Ring - maybe she could end the fight right here and now... She saw what she needed to press. She had the codes. All it would take was a few seconds... Eve teleported the inner section of her hearing devices away from her, prompting blood to pour out of her ears. Corona stopped trying to access the Tower Ring's controls and threw Bacon Pancakes at Eve. The alicorn teleported through the red Stand and connected a hoof with Corona's face. Corona retaliated with a kick to Eve's stomach. Both of them absorbed most of the impact with their natural magic, but they still felt it. They flew apart. Before they landed again, they fired simple beams of energy at each other. Orange and purple collided, exploding in a shower of arcane sparks. The light cleared. The two of them stood up, panting heavily. The interior of the Tower Ring had been dented in a few places - but operation was still at one hundred percent, according to the screens shining through the Tower's castle illusion. Corona wondered if she could destroy the Tower Ring by herself, if it came to it. But neither her nor Eve wanted it destroyed, so that was a moot point. One way or another, the Tower Ring would be activated. One way or another. Corona covered her body in flame while Eve encased herself in a deep, chilling armor of frozen air. They charged at each other again, prepared to fight as long and as hard as they needed to. And yet, their expressions were not angry, not determined, but sorrowful. Neither of them wanted to be there, but they didn't have much of a choice in the matter. ~~~ The Chosen. Blumiere. Timpani. Sai. Nanoha. Jenny. Alushy. Aradia. Could Dimentio and Renee be counted as well? Maybe. But they were questionable at best. The others had been chosen. When Sai opened the doors with her understanding, they led not to the spiral staircase of the Dark Tower, but to a white room. There was no staircase there. Just a door on the other side. It was the same as the door at the top of the Tower, except it lacked a name. Instead, it only said CHOICE "Who will swing this door upon its golden hinge?" Renee asked. "All of you are here. Any one of you could be the one to enter." Blumiere moved forward - but Nanoha beat him to it. "You'll have your glory, Blumiere," she said as she set her hand on the knob. Blumiere nodded curtly to her. She opened the door. On the other side was the room. But there was no mysterious barrier barring their entry, no clever trick to send them somewhere random in existence. For once in its life, the Dark Tower was letting people in without a fuss. It was a special occasion, after all. They all filed in without incident. The symbols on the dark walls seemed to dance, inviting everyone to look at them, to discern some meaning. But for all the symbols' movement, no one paid any attention to them. They paid attention to the two things in the room. The Source - that ever turning spirograph encased in white energy which held the secret to ka's production - and the clock. That grandfather clock with the spirograph on it that looked so much like the god-tier clocks of SBURB; for it was what they were based on. It was the original judge of Justice and Heroism. Blumiere walked up to the Source and opened the Prognosticus, turning to the last page. "The Choice that all will make..." he mumbled. Jenny considered punching him, trying to stop what was happening... but she found she couldn't. She was transfixed by the momentus nature of the occasion. No one could do anything anymore. They could only watch. Blumiere closed the book, ready. Tick. Everyone turned to the clock. Tock. The clock that had never counted a single second in its existence was active. Tick. "The Dark Tower is ready to decide," Aradia declared. "Blumiere?" Tock. Blumiere paused for a moment. Tick. He clenched the Prognosticus tight in his hand. Tock. Renee grinned from ear to ear. ~~~ Flutterfree looked up at the sky. "What is it?" Rev asked, coming out from the church. "Something's wrong." Rina rolled her eyes. "There's a war going on up there, of course something's wrong." "No. There's something wrong that's not supposed to be. Or maybe it is. I don't know." She rubbed her head. "They've missed something." "Who?" Rev asked. Flutterfree looked her right in the eyes, allowing the unicorn to see how terrified she was. "...Everyone." ~~~ Tick. Tock.
Songs of the Spheres	130 - [S] Climax	The original chapter 130, a video: What follows is much the same, just with still images and some text. If you're trying to read this on a kindle, don't. The images are very important. The Clock of the Multiverse stands, ticking, ready to make a decision. It swings: Just, Heroic, Just, Heroic, deciding which fate existence shall take, if either. Within its face, sights of the parallel can be seen. Roland of Gilead, the great Gunslinger, ascends the dark steps once more. As he reaches for the knob he knows not that he has ascended these steps innumerable times, nor does he know that this time it will be different. The door will open for him in a way it never has in any previous iteration. The duel between Corona and Eve, between fire and ice, continues within the castle-like illusion of the Tower. In the mind of a Downstreamer, two groups of heroes turn to face each other. One seeks to destroy the central crystal of White Nettle's mind, the other hopes to defend it long enough for their victory. In many ways, their conflict is just as important as that between the light and the dark, even if it is not as evident. Two plans come together in tandem with each other. Blumiere stands before the Source, an entourage of uncertain followers watching. Monika activates the Fourth Wall, intending to use the Tower's own ka and nature to twist the story to their desired outcome. Beyond the wall should lie the true GM, the Prophet. Throughout the battlefield, different battles collide as the tension rises. In space, the Austraeoh and Starjammer refuse to give in to either one. Beneath them, Thanos and Lightning fight as reality around them permits. And in the midst of a Skaian brawl, Feferi and Meenah lock tridents. In many of these battles, there is no hatred, only the need to fight despite great pain going against one they might have known for years. What is a fight but a series of duels happening at different locations? Separated by universes but not by fate, fire and ice clash. Where there are multiple foes, targets are settled. Nova, as the declarer of the true nature of the battle, takes Allure for her own; while Pinkie is never able to truly take something seriously and thus chooses an opponent who will do likewise. All have their own reasons, their own assaults, their own purpose. Two things are risen. The Fourth Wall, by Monika's hands, successfully finds the true GM, he himself oblivious to his own discovery. Blumiere completes his ritual under the watchful, eager gaze of Renee; the Prognosticus rising to meet the Source from whence it came. Fire and ice spin together, a duality built up since the start of time. One so frigid but with the fire in her mane. One burning with such passion, and yet a tinge of cold calculation within her nature. They truly are different sides of the same coin. And then comes the Batter, purpose of Purity known, to remove the retconner. The Batter is no fool - he knows the powers John was gifted with. So he must act with cleverness. And so he does. For what will a man not do for the woman he loves? The fool believes he can take the Batter directly, but he knows not the power held within the Bat. One hit to the skull is all it takes to bring the most broken ability in existence to its knees. An emotional appeal, a twisted event... And a single-mindedness forces the god-tier clock of John Egbert to tick once more after so long sitting inactive. As one battle is lost... ...Another is won. It may also have been lost, in a sense, but unlike the victory of the Batter, which is never going to feel like it was truly just, the victory of Corona has a certain satisfaction to it. Eve, admitting defeat, does little to stop Corona from powering the Tower Ring down. It now falls to Blumiere. The Prognosticus works precisely as he intended, fusing with the Source and the very Tower Ring it helped create. What took Giorno weeks to accomplish is done in a matter of seconds, and the Tower Ring is completely reprogrammed. As of now, Corona's vision of the future is looking true. Except... A certain Downstreamer takes note of the Tower Ring she is protecting change nature. It would be a relatively simple matter for her to envelop the universe into herself and remove the Tower from the equation - the Void can only hinder her so much in such a grand-scoping manner. But it is not to be. Nova's determination is what tips the scale. She saw the goal, and she refused to back down from it in petty comedic battles. An opportunity is taken, a mind crystal shattered, and Nettle retreats to restore her mind. The Tower Ring stands undefended... This thing, this thing that is but is not Renee, it does something. Purple and orange are not on her agenda, the color green is. An unnatural green - a third option. Surrounded by Flowery imagery, she takes what is hers, and the Source obeys. XIX - The Tower. Incorrect. Yet so important. What does the Collapse? Mean? Who knows? One might expect to find out soon. I am vaguely aware of this. I am aware of things spiraling out of control. But I also know I can do nothing, so I must face what is in front of me. And right now, that is developing too quickly for my tastes. I attack. Monika takes care of the Batter, completely erasing that false "Pure" essence from existence. While she is occupied, my attack hits the Fourth Wall. My intention is to break it. But I... I... I... The clock of the multiverse and John Egbert tick in unison, pointing toward the center as one. The moment of choice arrives: will the death be Just or Heroic? Will there be death at all, or a rebirth? Existence holds its breath at the final creak of the hand... Simultaneously, both clocks decide their deaths are Just and Heroic. In John, the multiverse is mirrored. There was a man who fell protecting that which he loved, but who also had the capacity and the drive to carelessly blow all else aside. He fell on his terms, but he also fell on the terms of others. Likewise, the multiverse both screamed in rage at its own horrors while screaming in defiance for its own survival; both sides filled with the determined souls. With their battles over, two groups are sent to different locations far from their moments of combat. Both arrive at the grass. One has no idea where they are. The other sees a very familiar church nearby. The multiverse is tired, broken, haggard. Either way, it could not have continued as it once did. Holes, rips, and voids of nothing around a Dark speck... There was never a result that didn't change it away from this wartorn wasteland. Let it all become one... A New World is built, but not one foreseen by any before. Planets clustered together akin to atoms in ever-repeating shells upon shells upon shells... Earths, stars, Euipses, Jupiters, and other realms seamlessly sewn into a very particular, very designed pattern. No average collapse could have created this, no random trick of fate. The expected collision and fusion of planetary bodies simply does not happen, all are kept distinct in a fractal cycle. What could this mean? Celestia City remains, the League itself standing strong as the Sweeties are sent back home. Bruised, battered, they have lost their fight. Unsure of what to do next, they try to get their bearings in a trembling city. A hand is offered. A hand of friendship from the victor to the loser, from the fire to the ice... From an old friend to another old friend. With it, there is an unspoken question: will you stand with me, old friend, as the end comes? There was no hesitation. Eve could never refuse the hand of a friend, no matter how much had come between them. It was who she was, who they were. Whatever was coming for them, they stood to face it together. Flutterfree cares not that existence itself is reshaping around her, all she cares about is that her old friends are here, and they look like they are done with their fight. At long last, all this nonsense can be done away with, and they can stand the test that will come together. But the truth is a cruel beast... Tragedy. Loss. In a world arranged where no planets collide and death did not come from cosmic chance, still there must be a price. The dusting is that price. Nova, hero of the collapse, the one who acted in the crucial moment to keep Nettle's power in check, dissipates into nothing. Some realize what is happening sooner than others. Some know that, if only they had made a different decision, they wouldn't be here. Allure wonders if she could have gone with Cinder. If that was the right decision. If maybe Black Thirteen could do something to her... Who knows, maybe she's right. Maybe it did do something. But it doesn't for anyone else, and as far as they are concerned, Allure's story ends here, woefully incomplete and damaged. Her league suffers in her absence. A military mare and a robot have seconds to deal with the shock. Burgerbelle does not suffer the dusting - but in Thrackerzod's hooves, something else tears at her: physics itself attempting to reject her two-dimensional nature. Thrackerzod knows she must do something. The other two are already gone. But maybe... Just maybe... The ghosts, the Skaians, they do not get dusted. They merely feel themselves fade as the reality anchors fail. But there are other tragedies living around them, too many to count, too many to even understand. Magane's hubris caught up with her. She thought she could play the Tower. It proves her wrong here, as she dusts to nothing. And I... I... What have I done!? A man and a woman stand over an altar, hand in hand, with an artifact of power between them. Previously, they bonded together to save existence. Now, they end their lives together not to destroy everything, but to turn it to something new. It is a sacrifice they are glad to make. What they do, they do out of love, and it is fitting that they end in it. Their peace is contrasted by those who stand behind them. Confused, uncertain, angry, smug... a mixture of emotions ready to fly out at any angle and any time when the Gunslinger himself enters, shrouded in darkness. Alushy stands between them, crumbling to dust just as the couple had moments before. Almost all Skaians are ghosts. Reality anchors or no, they are not permitted in the New World. The warriors realize this. They know it is over. Perhaps it was Feferi's idea, perhaps not. But the two raised to kill each other reconcile in the end, many of their respective armies choosing the same end in peace. The living Twilight remains, unsure of what to do. She won her session, lived to the end. But so many of her closest friends were ghosts. What is left for her in this world still coming together? In many ways, the dusting is Thanos' fault. Not the punishment - there always would have been a price, preserve or collapse. No, his responsibility is in the form of the death. Dust itself was how he wished to balance his reality, and so the dusting claims him as part of the balance. Lightning's face tells nothing. Is she indifferent? Two old war veterans call a ceasefire the moment they know the battle is over. They hear reports of their crew suffering, but they themselves are permitted to continue. The dusting curse is not just limited to those currently aware, no, those lives sealed away in the war will find it shockingly comes to a close. Can you die if you are not aware of it? Did they die when they entered the ball? At first, Corona is satisfied that the collapse went as intended. The planets appear in the sky in a way she didn't expect, but they still come from many worlds. But as the sky fills out, she feels as though something is wrong. She is still here, and so is Evening. What are the chances of that? It was one in a trillion that she'd even survive... the only thing that could explain both of them surviving a collapse is ka itself. But the Tower has to be gone, right? ...Something had to have gone wrong. The Tower lies. But it rarely lies completely. There, at the base, there is a crack. True damage that is not undone by the cycle of Roland. A weakness that points to something more. The pseudo-collapse did not fully succeed in its goal... but it did not fully fail, either. There is only one Tower, now, sitting at the center of the New World, sky abuzz with millions of dots of distant planets. A massive world, larger than most seen before, sits at the center. The roses are but a tiny, insignificant blemish upon its impossible surface that looks out upon the new existence. What kind of new life does this central world offer? Perhaps it doesn't matter. Perhaps this is what matters. An Earth. One Earth, above all the others. The First. CREDITS Written by G. M. Blackjack Video edited by Lizzard Tales ARTISTS Petrina Steward T.A.L., aka UselessCommon MalineTourmaline Lola Draws Lizzard Tales Devilaphoenix (Maggie Vamp) Little Duke Ebony Sable Hoodwinked MCShelster Lytre Yarn DONATORS Zebulon TheDriderPony PATRONS Ciber Crada Pink Man (DeadBloxxEpic) Keywii Cookies Omnipresent Microorganism SgtSarge Nightsclaw SketchSkies MUSIC "Overture" from Homestuck "Tick Tock" from Homestuck "English" from Homestuck Any franchises referenced belong to their respective owners. ~~~ The House Juju is a poor imitation of the Tower's Self-Defense Protocol. It brings about the broken retcon ability, and as such is the only known instance of a retcon paradox. The Gallifreyans, for all their malevolent machinations, were sure to keep this loop as stable as they could. Jade, Dave, and Rose all ended up where they needed to be within the House Juju. John Egbert did not. And the consequences of this failure in reality... Is the rebirth of English, his terrible call heralding the end of existence and the start of a new one.
Songs of the Spheres	[SPACE] 131 - Brave New World, Part 1	It's time to begin the story anew. ~~~ There was once a universe of seemingly endless grass. It wasn't truly endless - nothing was - merely self-recursive. If one were to walk far enough along the grassland they would come out the other end. Not that they would easily be able to tell since most of the universe looked the same. Just grass, grass, grass. When its time came to be forced into the collapse, its self-recursive shape simply couldn't fit into the new design. So it needed to be adapted. It - and several universes like it - was forced to become pure three-dimensional squares of grass, soil, and earth. These squares were patched together like a quilt, forming a large ring. Planets began to appear in the middle of the ring. Every one of these planets unfolded as well, their crusts peeling off the molten cores so they could be melded with parts of the ring. Anywhere there was a hole, it was filled with material from a random universe, making the surface smooth. Thousands of planets were folded out like this and affixed to the ring until a hollow sphere larger than many stars took form. A patchwork world. About two diameters away from this behemoth of a world, normal-sized earthlike planets appeared, forming a spherical shell packed so densely that their atmospheres connected. About five diameters away from this, a much larger variety of planets took shape, including gas giants, planets made of solid materials, and a diminutive glowing object that couldn't be classified by general astronomy. This two-sphere system took its place alongside several other systems of varying size - some had dozens of spheres around the central conglomeration world, while others only had one. Most spheres were like this one, packed so densely that atmospheres were touching, but there were a few that had apparent empty space between them. Some even contained stars. On the grassy conglomeration world, two figures stood, watching the new shape of reality take form. One could have been described as human, but this would have done her a disservice. Her skin was a pale orange and her hair a jarring red-yellow pattern. Two pointed ears poked out of the folds of her hair, twitching ever so slightly at the breeze passing through them, an action her grandiose wings were mimicking. A sharp horn jutted from her forehead, casting a shadow over her deep red eyes - a color that was only accentuated by her triangle-pointed crimson shades. She wore a white dress with red designs resembling circuitry. Matching this were her two white gloves, each with a red crystal on the back of them. Her name was Corona "Sunset" Shimmer, and she was looking at the sky, her expression one of someone who felt something was wrong. In stark contrast, her companion was decidedly inhuman. She was a purple equine lifeform with a horn and two large, majestic wings. She wore a golden tiara with a pink crystal embedded in it, a sharp contrast to the dark metallic spikes that lined each of her bloodied ears. Trails of blood had dried on the sides of her face, some of it mixing with her mane of swirling stars and magical sparks. One of her eyes was a deep, intelligent purple. The other was a bright yellow-orange color with a sun-like symbol in place of her iris, helping her take everything in. She didn't notice the yellow fade away as the world assembled itself, replaced with a completely normal eye. The pupils darted left and right, trying to absorb all the information suddenly available to her. Her name was Evening "Twilight" Sparkle, and she was so overwhelmed she couldn't form a coherent thought. They stood together for several minutes, trying to process. But their minds couldn't grasp the reality of the situation, for its scope was simply too big. Everything in every plane of existence had been changed. Planets had just been torn out of their universes and placed here, in this bizarre mesh of nested spheres. Eve looked to Corona, checking to see if her mouth was moving. It wasn't, but that was no indicator she hadn't been talking earlier. It wasn't like Eve could hear anything even if she wanted to right now, seeing as her hearing devices were broken. She spoke first. "...It's over." "This is wrong," Corona breathed, beginning to tremble. Eve's expression became one of confusion. "Isn't this what you wanted!?" "This isn't it!" Corona shouted. "This wasn't how it was supposed to go! The planets are supposed to be fused, collapsed together, not arranged in a perfect lattice of spheres! I mean, maybe, maybe that lets more people survive, but that's not what I planned for, and that means I was wrong, and... And look at us!" "Us?" "We still exist! The chances of both of us living through the collapse was astronomical! Even one of us was ridiculous! We shouldn't be here - unless there's still ka. And you know what else? Magic! It's still around! The averaging of all worlds should have removed it or made it minimal but look at your stupid mane, sparkling just as much as ever, and th-" She stopped short, the blood draining out of her face in an instant. Eve glowered. "Oh, by all means, don't sto-" Corona ignored her, turning to a crystal on the back of her hand. "Raging Sights! Raging Sights! Talk to me!" There was no response from the crystal. Corona lifted her hand, trying to cast a spell - but all that came off her fingers was a single spark of light. It did nothing to her Device. "N... No..." Eve tried to light her horn. All she got was a similarly-sized spark of magic that did nothing. "Wh... That doesn't make sense!" She tried to activate her eye of Light, but found she couldn't. She tried to summon her Stand, Seraphim, but there was no luck there either. Checking her mane, she found it was definitely filled with magic. "Why can't we use it!?" "Raging Sights!" Corona yelled, pulling off her glove and staring at it. "COME ON!" She pressed her hand to the crystal, trying to force an empathic connection, but got nothing. She yelled, throwing the glove to the ground. She pointed a finger at a random place in the sky. "SO YOU LET ME SURVIVE BUT DO THIS!?" There was no response. "DAMN IT, ANSWER ME, YOU STUPID TOWER! I KNOW YOU'RE STILL HERE, 'FESS UP!" Nothing but a breeze through her hair. She crumbled to the ground, tears falling from her face. "I killed them all... I did this... and it was all for nothing..." She pulled herself into a ball and started rocking back and forth. Eve looked at Corona closely, expressionless. The alicorn closed her eyes tight and knitted her brow, a deep scowl crossing her face. When she opened her eyes they were narrow and menacing. She opened her mouth - but nothing came out, for she saw the trembling, broken form of Corona. Eve took a sharp breath and held it in, shaking. Closing her eyes and swallowing hard, she put a hoof to her chest and then moved it away as she released a breath, spreading her wings at the same time. She opened her eyes and took a step forward - stopping and shaking her head. She took a few more breaths and continued moving forward, extending a single wing. The wing shook over Corona's form. Eve swallowed again, putting a soft smile on her face. She laid her wing on Corona's back. Corona reacted as if she were spring-loaded, pulling Eve into a tight, desperate hug. She made a few sputtering noises in her failed attempts to speak, eventually giving up on this and just sobbing. Eve shuddered, struggling to keep her composure. She needs this. Some time later - it could have been seconds, it could have been minutes - the sharp sound of static met Corona's ears. She pulled out of the embrace in an instant, on edge, the action confusing Eve considerably. Corona's ears swiveled around until they pinpointed the sound's source. The crystal on the glove she had thrown to the ground. "...ocal additions activated... ...eport coming... ...ease respond. Master, please respond." "Raging Sights!?" Corona shouted, grabbing the glove in a motion so desperate she tripped and fell to the ground. She held it up. "Are you there?" "Affirmative. Systems are far below optimal. Cannot access our connection. Resorting to vocalizations. I apologize, it took significant time to activate." "It's okay, you're back, you're back..." Tears poured down her face. "I am unable to perform detailed scans right now, Master. Can you inform me what has happened?" Corona's smile vanished in an instant. She leaned looked to Eve. "...RS... Everything's wrong." She looked up at the slowly moving planets in the sky. "Everything's wrong..." ~~~ When the New World was formed, Celestia City was certainly large enough to be treated as a planet. It was placed in a system of worlds swirling around a gas giant with a rainbow of colorful gasses intermingling with each other. On one side of Celestia City was a large asteroid placed just far enough away that it wouldn't scrape against any of the city's larger towers. On the other side there was a crystalline diamond shape lined with intricate caverns. All three of these smaller celestial objects were uncomfortably close to a red Neptune-like planet. From a window at the base of one of Celestia City's larger protrusions, a white unicorn looked at the red planet with a curious eyebrow. She wore four tall, black leather boots and had two similarly colored whips hung on her back. Numerous scars lined her body, but her mane and face seemed not only untouched, but also beautiful. "Well, balls," she muttered in what could best be described as a comedic impression of an Australian accent. "This is right messed up." She was the only person in the room. This had not been the case a couple minutes ago. Looking at the tables of food and drink she could clearly remember that there had been a minor party going on, filled with people who were trying their best not to think about the war. Then all of them had lit up like Christmas trees and burst into white sparkling dust. Dusted. She hadn't really known any of them - her sort of partying didn't mix well with her actual close friends - but it did fill her with a deep sense of unease. It was happening again. Glancing at the red planet one last time, she decided she was done wondering why the planet's gravity hadn't torn them apart already. She ran out of the room and into the streets of Celestia City. She closed her eyes, tapping into what she had Seen. There was a bunch of flashing images... The dusting of a lot of people she knew - don't think about that now, you've got things to do - an image of the Tower and some planet, then nothing. She had never been the best at Awareness, but the sharp dropoff of such a vivid image was very disconcerting. Only one of the places she'd seen was actually in Celestia City, which meant she had to get there as fast as possible. As she ran through the streets of the City, she was struck with how empty it was. Every few minutes she would see someone wandering around like a zombie or hear some enraged sobs coming from a nearby building, but for the most part all the bustling noises of the city were gone. She saw a few wrecked hovercars, a lot of doors ominously hanging open, and several purses and bags just left on the ground, abandoned. Most of the public screens in the city displayed error messages. A few emitted a low drone, indicative that some automatic protocols had initiated, telling people to remain in their homes. However, there should have been a lot more happening even if everyone had been dusted to nothing. The drones of Celestia City should have been readying it for combat, the shield should have been up, and more detailed messages should have been going out. The unicorn decided to worry about it later. She had somewhere to be. She leaped into an elevator that had access to the lower levels, hoping the lift still functioned. There was an error message saying expect slower travel times, but it allowed her to select a destination. At least I don't have to find some stairs. I don't even know where those would be. The elevator took her down, slowly, through a clear shaft. She saw the inner workings of Celestia City laid bare to her eyes. What was usually a bustling city of bright colors, neon lights, and cheerful crowds was eerie. There were a few smoldering areas from car crashes, and one section of cubic buildings had something go so wrong they exploded in blue fire. During her trip, she only saw one hovercar move past her field of view, so fast she almost didn't register it. She eventually arrived at her selected level. She darted out of the elevator and ran down a winding street made of a ruby-like material. Once the road transferred to a more traditional asphalt-mimicking road, she skidded to a stop in front of her goal: the League of Sweetie Belles. A hover car had crashed right through the walls of the building. The crash had dislodged the crusader shield of the league, leaving the plaque embedded in the ground. The unicorn shook her head and ran past the shield into the League's main lobby. The hovercar was there, sitting on top of a loose pile of metallic debris from the wall. There was no driver or passengers. Toward the edge of the pile, she saw a small white hoof sticking out. "I'm coming!" she shouted, running to the hoof. She tried to lift the metal sheet with her telekinesis, but promptly found that her horn wasn't working. She shook her head, switching from horn to hoof to remove the metal. The sheet was heavy, but she wasn't a weak mare by any means. It only took a few seconds to reveal the other white unicorn beneath - one with deep red eyes and a jagged pastel pink-purple mane. "Thrackerzod?" Thrackerzod looked up, her red eyes blinking ever-so-slowly. "...Mattie...?" she asked with a deep, guttural voice. "Yes, it's me. Where are the others?" "...Gone." "I mean those who weren't dusted," Mattie muttered, narrowing her eyes. "Please, Thrackerzod, we have to get them out of here." Thrackerzod blinked, looking at her horn for a moment. "Huh..." She pointed a lethargic hoof at a nearby piece of sheet metal. Mattie ran to it, peeling the metal off to reveal a human girl with white skin and hair of a similar color to Thrackerzod's - another member of the League of Sweetie Belles. "Uh... Please don't take offense to this, but which one are you?" The girl quickly glanced at her with her pale, green irises. "I..." She said, suddenly caught off guard by the meek, girlish sound of her voice. "What...?" She stared at her arm, wiggling her fingers. "What fresh hell is...?" "Burgerbelle," Thrackerzod offered, not lifting her head. "It's Burgerbelle." Mattie blinked. "...What?" "She was dying. The universe wouldn't accept her. I had to do what I could. She's the last one." Mattie gulped. "S-surely there were other Sweeties here?" "The others are 'dusted'," Thrackerzod said, voice finally ringing with an emotion - anger. "All three of them..." Burgerbelle started crying. Mattie shook her head - she already knew about Allure, Bot, and Squeaky. It was one of the things she'd Seen. But the League had to have more Sweeties in it... She climbed onto the shrapnel, looking for any sign of life. Near the top, she found one of them - a small unicorn Sweetie with a metal spike jammed through her head. "Lucky enough to make it five seconds..." Mattie muttered. She continued to look through the wreckage for other Sweeties. A few minutes later she found one alive - it was one of the younger ones with a deep black coat. She was unconscious. It wasn't hard for Mattie to dig her out and set her next to Thrackerzod. Something in Thrackerzod's mind clicked. "You... found her?" "Yeah, in the metal. You should help." Thrackerzod shook her head, blinking several times. Then she looked at the wreckage and tried to light her horn. Mattie felt the usual wave of unease she got whenever Thrackerzod tried to do something magical - but aside from that, there was no effect. "...What in Azathoth's name...?" "I think magic is out," Mattie said. "I can't use mine either. My Awareness is spotty, to boot. So we're right screwed here with just our hooves." She glanced at Burgerbelle, the once-Flat being still unable to fully process her new body. "...This is going to take too long..." "We can't treat them even if we find them," Thrackerzod said. "We need magic to do that. First aid isn't going to help serious injuries." Mattie pointed at the black Sweetie. "She's fine. But we can't just leave them. W-" Suddenly, the lights came on. A synthetic voice could be heard over the loudspeaker. "Please remain calm, citizens. Power is being restored to Celestia City. Medical stations are the next priority. Please be patient as we sort out this issue. Many of us are injured or lost, help everyone you see if you are able. Thank you." "...All the leadership must be gone," Thrackerzod said. "The City AI wouldn't need to speak itself, otherwise." "I'm surprised it's still around," Mattie commented, pulling off another sheet of metal. "It... would have had hundreds of backups. Including one specifically designed to be soulless." Mattie shook her head, saying nothing. She peeled another piece of metal off the ground to find not a Sweetie Belle - but a naked woman with pure white skin and short white hair. Strange, ribbon-like tendrils flowed from her back. She had cuts and bruises all over her body, a few of them serious, but was still breathing. "Who the devil i-" "White Nettle..." Thrackerzod said in disbelief. "She must have transformed herself at the last minute..." Mattie put her hoof under White Nettle's body and hoisted her up. "Where's the League's medical unit?" "Basement Two." "That AI better have it running. I've got questions and I bet Nettle here can answer them. Can I trust you to keep looking?" Thrackerzod nodded slowly. "...It's far from the first time I've been without my abilities. I'll survive." "Not what I was concerned about." Thrackerzod looked at the ground, clearly struggling to maintain her composure. "We don't have the luxury of being so concerned about each other. Go, heal her. I'll keep working." Mattie nodded, carrying Nettle away. ~~~ "NOVA!" The church sat on top of a large mountain overlooking a sea of pink water that churned with the chaos of being assembled onto a new planet. The church itself was completely unharmed, thanks no doubt to its protective enchantments, but that did nothing to alleviate the travesty that had just occurred. Within the church, there were sounds of screams and tears. Flutterfree Asquall, for once in her life, didn't give any thought to the screams and pain of others. She ran to where her lifelong friend had vanished into sparkling dust. She flailed around with her yellow hooves and marble-tipped wings, trying to grab onto something, anything, even though there was no longer anything there. Her pointed ears twitched in random directions, wanting anything that told them Nova was there, that Nova was fine. She let out a screech, baring her fangs and staring at the ground with her red eyes. She tried to summon her Stand, Lolo, to Reveal everything around them. But she couldn't. This threw her - Lolo's entire power was to show things, including itself! How come it wasn't!? "What's happened?!" Flutterfree wailed, demanding someone, anyone answer her. She looked to her team members. Vriska and Pidge, the cobalt troll and the diminutive woman, had their hands to their mouths, tears in their eyes. Even the usually stoic Jotaro looked vulnerable despite his gigantic masculine figure. Meanwhile, Pinkie, her once-Captain and other lifelong friend, was clearly trying to cry despite her lack of eyes. "Rev!" Flutterfree called out, demanding support. The pinkish unicorn Flutterfree called wasn't looking at her - she was looking at her church, listening to the screams and cries, holding her cross necklace tight. "It was a bunker... It was supposed to be safe..." "Clearly the bunker idea was fucking pointless," the dark Rina spat, ruffling her wings and adjusting her dress. "Great use of my magic. So glad we did that." "Shut the fuck up!" Vriska shouted, rushing to punch Rina across the face. The troll missed, falling to the ground in a heap. Rina prepared a magic bolt - but only a tiny spark of purple came out. "What in-" "Magic's gone," Pinkie said, her voice haggard, choking on her breaths. She didn't bother turning her head away from where Nova had been. "It's just... gone..." "It can't be gone!" Flutterfree shouted. "You saw what happened! You saw those sparks! Look at my mane, it's still active!" She stomped her hooves on the ground. "GET HER B-" Her anger dropped off in an instant and she paled, a haunted expression crossing her face. "No... No Rage..." "No Stands either..." Jotaro said, pulling his hat over his eyes. "You're really talking about powers at a time like this?" Vriska blurted. "Nova's just been turned to dust! I don't know about you but that seems pretty fucking permanent!" "We won, Vriska!" Pidge shouted back. "That was the price of the collapse. None of us expected to survive!" "Then why did only one of us die?" "Get some perspective," Rev spat, glowering at them. "Do none of you care about the church? It clearly got more of them." "Oh, that's great, guess that means we're still important," Pidge muttered. "What was the whole point of the Collapse again? To destroy the Tower? Pinkie, how destroyed is the Tower?" "...It has a crack," Pinkie said. "...That's all I saw. A crack." "Then the job isn't done. We need to go to the Tower and take it down the rest of the way." "Agreed," Jotaro said. "Now is not the time to go rushing into action again!" Vriska shouted. "Oh, that's rich coming from you," Pidge retorted. "I happen to have enough emotional sense to know when everyone's broken! You like to think you're a robot!" "I'm quiznakking outraged! The Tower's played a trick on us! A trick!" "Did we really think it wouldn't?" Pinkie asked, angling her head at the sky. "I mean, really... That would have just been too predictable." She let out a soft chuckle, her mane entering its flat state. "Gee, we're really stupid aren't we?" "Of course you are, you wanted to collapse the multiverse!" Rina shouted. "And you won! You should all be fucking ecstatic." Pinkie tried to twist herself to appear behind Rina - but instead just fell to the ground. "Oh, look at that, Pinkie Powers are down as well, isn't that great?" She giggled. Flutterfree started sobbing. "Pinkie... Pinkie stop..." Pinkie shivered. "I... I... I need to cry Flutterfree. I need to cry and I can't." "Pinkie..." "What is your problem!?" Rina shouted at Flutterfree. "They're the ones who did all of this! They're the ones who killed Nova!" "F-fuck," Vriska said, taking a few steps back. "Oh, did you not register that, bitch? You are to blame for this! Listen to those screams!" "We don't take sides, Rina!" Rev shouted. "Why don't you get away from your high-and-mighty doctrine and tell us what you really think, Rev?" Rina glared at her. "I think we're all broken and we need to stop shouting at each other!" "HAH!" Vriska blurted. "That's a laugh! Us, stop arguing, after Nova fucking died. How naïve are you?" Rev bit back her own tears. "She was my friend too you know! But th-" "Rev...?" Flutterfree asked with a quiet voice that managed to draw everyone's attention. "...Do you think there was any chance she believed? Any... Any at all?" Rev froze like a deer in the headlights. She swallowed hard and opened her mouth to answer. Instead she broke down into tears and crumpled to the ground, hooves over her face. "Tell me there was a chance!" Flutterfree demanded. Rev didn't even open her eyes. "TELL ME THERE WAS A CHANCE!" "I CAN'T! IT WOULD BE A LIE!" Rev wailed, swinging one of her hooves around wildly. "EVE, MAYBE, BUT NOVA? SHE DIDN'T BELIEVE! SHE NEVER DID! SHE WAS SET IN HER WAYS!" "SHE CAN'T BE THERE!" "SHE IS! SHE IS AND WE HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT! BUT S-" Flutterfree punched Rev across the face. Everyone stared at Flutterfree in shock. "Hell..." she muttered. "She... She was a good mare..." "She didn't want Him," Rev said, struggling back to her hooves. "He... He gave her what she wan-" Flutterfree screeched. "Don't you give me any of that 'He gave her what she wanted' NONSENSE!" "Flutterfree, I beli-" "YOU ARE A BUNDLE OF PATHETIC WISHFUL THINKING!" "I... I don't, I think about it and I... I feel that..." She couldn't complete her sentence, breaking down again. She pulled Flutterfree into a hug and the two of them bawled their eyes out. Pinkie threw herself onto the pile. Without hesitation, Pidge, Jotaro, and Vriska threw their arms around each other as well. Rina stood off to the side, awkwardly hoofing the ground. The anger had drained from her face, but she still wasn't crying. "Fuck, life is stupid," she muttered under her breath. A great golden lion by the name of Aslan walked out of the church, taking his position besides Rina. "...They have been reunited." "They're stupid," Rina echoed her earlier sentiment. "He has chosen the weak and foolish to shame the strong and wise." Rina looked at the ground, ashamed. "...They were together, all of them, for one last moment," Aslan said. "Why would He do that? Give them hope just... Just to take it away?" "God's plan is never something we can know for sure. ...But I think if you ask that question about the Tower instead of Him, you will find an answer." Rina fell silent. Aslan turned. "Let them commiserate. When they have completed, send them back in." "You can't stay here...?" "The church needs a powerful presence right now, most of us are gone." He shook his head in sorrow. "Right now, Valentine is just making sure they don't all leave in panic." Rina nodded, turning back to the pile of grieving people. Her frown deepened. ~~~ I stared at the broken Fourth Wall. Through it, I could see the bedroom of GM - the GM, the Prophet GM, the source of the ideas that formed me and most of the events that had surrounded me for the last several decades. He lay, dead, because I acted too quickly. You're going to be the death of me. "There's no way... You couldn't have done that... You wouldn't have done that! You..." I let out a bitter, drawn out laugh. "Of course you would. You planned this all along..." I wiped a tear from my face with my wing. "Can I apologize for something you made me do? Or did I still do it? If it was planned that far back, could I have changed it? Would someone else have killed you?" I did not get answers to my questions, could not. I would have asked more, but I was interrupted by a kick to the face from Roxy Lalonde, Rogue of Void, a blonde woman in a dark blue roguish outfit. "You're done." She tried to erase me from existence. I tried to defend myself with magic. It will not surprise you that neither of our attempted uses of esoteric ability had any effect whatsoever. Roxy took one look at her Void powers not working, shrugged, and kicked me in the stomach. I bounced back and flared my purple wings. I padded my hoof on the ground. If I was just a normal alicorn right now, I could easily take a Gem - all it would take was a carefully placed horn into her side to poof her. She reached into the air, trying to pull a weapon out of her inventory, but found that was out of her access as well. "Fuck..." "Don't do this, Roxy," I warned. "You killed him!" "I didn't want to! I was trying to destroy the wall!" I shouted. "He was my Prophet! I knew him! Why would I want him dead!?" "To keep us from stopping you, duh. Tell me you wouldn't have killed him if you thought it would have ensured your collapse happened." I couldn't tell her that. She nodded to herself and charged again. I slipped behind her and kicked her in the back. "HEAVEN'S DOOR!" Rohan, eccentric manga artist, shouted, trying to summon his Stand. Realizing his only weapon was useless, he decided to take cover behind the largest thing around, the Fourth Wall. He was the first to discover that the room on the other side of the Fourth Wall was physically on the other side, no longer connected by an esoteric wormhole of some sort. He did not feel the need to comment on this. A tall woman with long, flowing coral brown hair shrugged. "Can't access character files either, sooo..." She rushed me driving her foot into my cheek bone. "Monika!" I shouted. "You don't have to do this!" "I've wanted to do this since before the war," Monika muttered, kicking me again. I caught it with a hoof, but Roxy punched it out. "Jade's dead. John's dead. Fuck, even Hussie's dead, and I bet all the ghosts are, too!" Roxy shouted, pulling one of my hooves and slamming me against the ground. She was not expecting me to be so heavy, so she fell over in the process. Monika continued to kick me. She shattered a rib. I screamed. "We don't have magic! We can't heal injuries!" They ignored me. Roxy had let rage consume her, and Monika had never had much in the way of a moral compass. "JUST STOP!" a young man with oversized glasses shouted. Monika and Roxy looked up from what they were doing to stare at GM - little more than a boy who had been lured into this mess by a Prophet who wanted to remain hidden. He was crying. "Just... There's been enough... Stop..." Roxy's expression softened for a moment, but it quickly returned to rage. "You're part of this too. You're part of his story." GM's fear heightened considerably. "B-w-sh-i-jis..." He couldn't formulate a word. Monika glared. "You're just like him. A copy designed to throw us off. You're the one who brought this all on us..." Rohan muttered a curse before leaping out between Monika and GM. "No. You don't get to blame him for this." "Get out of the way, Rohan." "I refuse." Monika's left eye twitched. "Don't think I can't see your stupid meme. I'm powerless, not unAware. You've never actually fought anything." "He's still right," Rohan said, narrowing his eyes. "The fight is over. We don't need to continue it." "They're dead, Rohan!" Roxy shouted. "Yes. They are. And this kid, if he had anything to do with it, had no idea." He pointed a drawing pen at them. "Prophets cannot be held accountable for what they write if they do not know their nature! Not even the GM behind the window knew - he was just writing what he thought was a clever story!" GM looked up at Rohan in wonder. "Th... thank you." "A version of him probably made you say that," Monika pointed out. "Made me say?" Rohan raised an eyebrow. "Made me say? If he truly made me say it, then everything you say was predetermined as well. But he himself admits we 'characters' surprise him. He did not expect me to come out and defend him. Yet I did it anyway. I refuse to be a predictable character, and the same goes for you. I am not a one-off asshole manga artist whose only goals in life are furthering my art. I have goals. People I love and care about. Experiences that no one here but myself can completely understand. I am Rohan Kishibe - you are Roxy Lalonde, you are Monika, and you are Twilence. You're all people." Roxy blinked. "...Good speech. What does it have to do with you stopping us?" Rohan put his pen away. "I've calmed you down enough to where you won't want to hurt some poor defenseless kid for daring to point out you were being cruel." "I don't have to listen to this," Monika muttered, curling her fingers into a fist. "You're right..." Roxy said, expression softening again. "But so is Rohan... We can't just kill them. That... That wouldn't be right. Wouldn't be in good memory.... Wouldn't be..." She put a hand to her mouth. "Oh my god I was going to beat someone to death with my fists..." I stood up, hoof to my ribs. "Its'... fine, I understan-" "Don't you start, bitch," Roxy glowered, "The thickness of the ice you are standing on can be measured by my hair." I recoiled. "U-understood." "So, Rohan, since for some reason you seem to be the one who has their shit the closest to together, how about you give a report or... something." She took in a breath, wiping her face. "...Please." Rohan nodded. "Sure. To put it simply, we failed, the collapse happened. Since most of us are still alive I'm willing to bet it didn't go as planned." I looked up at the sky, seeing the large round shapes shifting in the bizarre twilight. "...You'd be safe to assume that." "And since Monika's still Aware, the Tower still exists." "Yep," Monika said. "Me and Twilence saw 130. The Tower's here, because of something Flowers and that stupid Renee bitch." I furrowed my brow. "I... Am I allowed to ask what happened to Renee? She looked... wrong." "She's dead. Came Back Wrong," Monika deadpanned. "After she was killed by Allure during the destruction of Raven Hotel." "W-what!? She's a hyper-intelligent?!" "I don't know, probably?" Monika shrugged. "Everything but that scene with her in it was hidden. So I'm only slightly less clueless than you. And we can't see anything now, so it's not like we have a way to get any more information." "That's not true," Rohan said, pointing at the ground. Black Thirteen sat there, just where they had left it. It called to all of them, still clearly brimming with magic. "...Well," Monika said, blinking. "...I completely forgot about that thing." "Anyone here able to touch it without going mad?" Rohan asked. I raised my hoof. "Nope, you don't get it," Monika said. "I'm the only one who can hold it and get any information from it. I thought you wanted to know things?" "Let's finish talking about what's happening before we get into a stupid argument about the most powerful artifact in the multiverse," Roxy muttered, putting a hand to the bridge of her nose. "I mean since Joh..." She stopped talking, arm covering her eyes. Rohan shook his head. "I'll... take that order. The Prophet GM is dead, and the last thing I saw on his computer before it exploded was one-fifty-seven. He's already completed the story. We can't do anything to change that now. Black Thirteen's right there, calling to us. All the ghosts vanished, John was 'Purified' by that batter..." They all heard Roxy's pained sob. "And Magane vanished in a cloud of sparkles." "The Tower letting us know there's no escape," Monika muttered. "It is a very cruel construct," I added. "I can break another rib," Monika threatened. I turned away, head sagging. "And now we're on this plain of roses," Rohan said. "The Dark Tower doesn't appear to be anywhere near here anymore, and there are planets spinning above us in ways that don't make sense. I don't think I missed anything." He glanced at GM. "Oh, right, we have GM with us. He's been decidedly traumatized." GM let out a bitter snort and nodded distantly. "Anyway, that's basically all we know. Suggestions for what to do?" "Access Black Thirteen and get information out of it," I said. "It will know." "And you don't have a voice in this team," Monika pointed out. "You're a prisoner. Actually, I should use a capture device on you... Should work fine with just a few more kicks..." "Look, let's talk about this like civilized people and come to a rational conc-" A man in black appeared in the air with a ZAP! He unceremoniously fell to the ground with a thud, the roses scraping him. He grunted, stood up, and dusted himself off. Randall Flagg. "So, it's been a couple hours, I guess?" Flagg cracked his knuckles. "That retcon was both the worst and last mistake of your pathetic lives." ~~~ The Source was the well from which all ka flowed. It represented itself as a white Spirograph shape that twirled, slowly, in the room at the top of the Dark Tower. This room was usually empty, devoid of all objects save for a clock tied to the fate of the multiverse itself. That clock was gone now. But the room was not empty. There were five people there, plus a partial artificial intelligence that took the form of a purple sugar-skull lying motionlessly on the ground. Four of the people were looking accusatory at the fifth - a white unicorn in a stylish gray hat lined with a pink ribbon. One of her eyes was clearly fake and featured a large crack along it, while the other seemed menacing. Once, she had been a mare by the name of Renee, though she clearly wasn't this mare anymore. "What. Did. You. DO!?" Nanoha Takamachi, Chief Sovereign of the Time Space Administration Bureau, demanded. She struck a powerful pose, her long orange hair flipping around, pointing the Device Raising Heart at Renee menacingly. Her normally soft, understanding features were harsh and brutal. "You know that toy of yours can't do anything right now," Renee said, rolling her eyes. "Don't even try to bluff." Nanoha twitched, refusing to lower Raising Heart. "I know my gun works," a deep, gruff voice said. Everyone turned their attention to the newcomer to the room: Roland of Gilead, a gruff man with uneven stubble, a hat ripped straight out of a western, eyes that had seen far too much, and a very even grip on the handle of his pistol. "Gunslinger..." Renee said, a wiry scowl crawling up her mouth. "How does it feel to be free and finally enter the room you have sought for so, so long?" "It tells me something's wrong. Of all the characters in this room, you are the closest to him." "Oh, do be more specific darling. We talking Randall Flagg? The Crimson King? Or perhaps you still have some resentment toward Stephen King?" "Like you don't already know," a short woman with teal hair and red gloves said. She wore a sleek form-fitting outfit with a segmented skirt and pronounced yellow collar. She was Jenny of the Red Gloves, and she was ready to punch the unicorn in the face and across the room at a moment's notice. "Stop toying with him." Renee shrugged. "If you insist, I shall stop toying with him." "Then how about you answer the dame's question?" Roland asked, narrowing his eyes. "I think we all want to know what you did," the last person in the room - a gray skinned humanoid with long, orange ram horns that complimented her own robes. She was the representative chosen from all versions of Aradia, Maid of Time, to be here at this momentous time. "I might object to torturing you for more information, but I think all the others are indifferent." "She said, thinking she could actually torture me," Renee laughed. "But I'm in a helpful mood, so I'll give you at least a little taste. I initiated the collapse with some... edits." "At the behest of the Flowers?" Nanoha asked. "Ah ah ah, one question at a time, dearie. Looks like being Chief Sovereign has made you lose your patience, White Devil." Jenny flexed her wrist. "One more remark like that out of you and your brains will be against the wall." Renee rolled her eyes. "Everyone else in this room has checked their magic already. Have you?" Jenny's pupils dilated. "Frick..." "That's what I thought. Resuming my answers, I initiated the collapse. It wasn't the collapse they wanted. Yes, that's right, look around - there are no pro-collapse individuals left in this room. Isn't. That. Something?" "I get it, poetic justice or apropos or whatever." "Learning ever so slowly," Renee chuckled. "As always. Regardless, the original collapse wanted completely natural fusion and averaging out of all the universes in the multiverse. This simply wouldn't do - the sheer scale of death would be unimaginable, the physics of the New World would be near-Mundane, and above all, the story would end so abruptly at the climax without a resolution! Simply horrendous." "The whole point of the collapse was to end the story," Aradia said. "To keep Prophets from dictating our actions." Roland furrowed his brow in contemplation at this revelation, but said nothing. "It certainly was the point. But it was a point that just wouldn't be satisfying." Renee twirled a hoof in the air. "So here I am, changing the collapse. Made a few adjustments. Namely, the universe outside isn't Mundane, far from it! You can be rest assured it's a single universe but oh is it so delightfully varied. A perfect tessellation machinated by the highest patterns imaginable in ever-increasing spheres..." Her eyes sparkled. "It's beautiful. And to top it all off, the story gets to continue!" She tapped the wall of the room. "The Dark Tower is still here, after all. If it had been destroyed we would all be dead. Well, re-dead in my case, but that's just semantics." "Then why'd they vanish?" Jenny shouted. "Alushy, Blumiere... They're just gone!" "Ah, dusted." Renee smirked. "It simply wouldn't do to have the collapse come without punishment. The vast majority of people in existence have been dusted in a similar way. Of course, the actual death toll is significantly less than it would be if a true collapse were initiated - somewhere around seven orders of magnitude - but it still had to be large enough for everyone to feel it. You can't just change the multiverse and not suffer the consequences you were prepared to deal with. That'd just be cheap." Roland lowered his gun. "So you saved lives." "At the expense of making the lives that were lost not even close to worth it," Aradia added. "The foolishness of you people astounds me sometimes..." She picked Sai up off the ground and tossed her to Roland. He caught the AI in his free hand, though he knew not what it was, and Sai wasn't saying anything. "Why don't we go outside and take a look at what this New World is actually like, hmm? Stretch our legs a bit and get a better understanding of the complete picture." "Nobody can see the complete picture," Aradia pointed out. "Doesn't really matter, does it?" Jenny asked. Renee laughed and shook her head. "Assumptions, assumptions, assumptions! Tsk tsk tsk." She trotted toward the door that led to the Tower's staircase. "Let's clear up some of those." "We didn't agree to go outside," Jenny pointed out. "And you don't have your powers so you can't exactly stop me. You're 'free' to stay in this room if you want, but none of you will." She trotted out the door. Nanoha sighed. "She's right..." She followed Renee. The rest followed her. Roland took one last look at the room. The room he had sought for so long, just to get some answers. The answer? A machine. All of this up here, everything, it was a machine. The Source told him that much. All he had experienced - the endless repeating story, the conflict with the Crimson King, his close ka-tet of friends - all dictated by this machine. There was no god in the room, no mind. For whatever reason it had 'decided' he no longer needed to be on his endless journey. He turned and left. There were more answers to be sought. But he knew they lay outside the Dark Tower. For the first time since the beginning era of the multiverse, Roland of Gilead did not have a singular quest defining his life. ~~~ "Report!" Military Overhead Jack O'Neill barked, pulling himself back onto his captain's chair and holding his head. At first, nobody responded. O'Neill looked around the bridge of his ship, the Austraeoh, and found only one other person - a fit blue unicorn by the name of Clandestine. She was holding her head, trying to focus. "What just..." "They collapsed, I think," O'Neill said, trying to press some buttons on his console. Most of them came up as error messages, but a few of the most mundane backup systems were coming through. They reported a planet proximity danger. "We're too close..." "Visual cameras are working," Clandestine reported, trying not to think too hard about the rest of the bridge crew's disappearance. She tried to press a button with her magic, but found that didn't work. "My magic is gone." She resorted to using hooves to put the planet on the screen. What she ended up doing was displaying several planets at once, all in a mostly even plane, barely not touching each other. "...What kind of universe is this?" O'Neill asked. "I don't know," Clandestine reported. "What instruments we do have are saying this is a black hole universe. No outward connections. That's what we'd expect from a collapse." "Can you maneuver us somewhere safe?" "I think so... reaction-based thrusters are still working." O'Neill allowed himself to smirk. "They always said it wasn't worth designing to function in all universes..." "One can never have too many backups, sir." O'Neill nodded. "Status of the crew?" "...Before most systems went offline, there were... nineteen remaining life signs." She gulped. Despite her extensive military experience, she was struggling to keep her composure. "...Out of a thousand seven hundred..." O'Neill said, shaking his head. He pressed a few buttons on his console, trying to get more readings, but only getting detailed reports for a short time after the collapse was initiated. "How far away are we from the planet now?" "Far enough away to be safe... But not where we should have been. I... I don't have access to advanced trajectory calculations, but the planet's gravity should have done something to us..." "Something to figure out later. What else is out there besides a bunch of planets all in a line?" Clandestine bit her lip and started sending camera feeds to various screens around the bridge, replacing the error messages with shaking pictures of planets, planets, and more planets. One image found a tremendous rocky planet two hundred times larger than normal composed of several biomes stitched together like a quilt while another showed a star in the distance, which was being 'orbited' by a sphere of asteroid debris, making it look more like a melting rock than a planetary system. "...The hell?" "I have no idea either, sir. The physics scanners aren't functioning. I've been able to determine that most of our thaumic components function and are currently trying to reroute themselves. Dimensional drive, reality anchor... anything that does any sort of reality manipulation is completely dead." "How much is the damage from the battle hindering us?" "I think a lot?" Clandestine said, clearly not happy with the amount of uncertainty in her voice. "The Austraeoh is still designed to operate in Mundane space if need be, it shouldn't take this long to reroute itself. There are probably several things blown out and... hold on, I just found something that isn't a planet." She put it onscreen. Amidst a bunch of shattered metallic debris, there was the Starjammer. The ship they had been fighting just before reality had decided to collapse in on itself. It was a large black behemoth lined with several light-blue glowing Runes. There was a large hole blown out of its aft section. "Hail them." "Radio only," Clandestine reported, following the order. "No response. Chances are good their communications are down and they aren't screening for radio." "What do we know about the state of their ship?" "What you see on screen. Heavily damaged - not by us, we didn't blow that much off of it. Runes appear to still be operational, so I don't exactly see why they can't move..." "The crew could be gone," O'Neill observed. "...Yeah..." she glanced at an empty seat beside her. "What could do this?" "I have no idea. It wasn't in Corona's plan. I intend to find out what's actually responsible." Clandestine nodded, looking back at the Starjammer. "Wait, something's happening..." One of the Runes of the Starjammer had begun to glow brightly. A few seconds later, it exploded in a shower of blue sparks, taking a chunk of the ship with it. "Now we know what took out their aft section..." Clandestine said, blinking. "Power failure of some kind..." "Any sign of survivors?" Clandestine scanned the image with her eyes. "...There. A handful of escape pods, a fighter, and a carrier. They're... heavily damaged, but drifting away from the explosions." "Let's get them." "All I've got is tethers and manual aiming." "Then that'll have to work." Clandestine took in a sharp breath. "Yes, sir." She pressed some buttons and activated the tethers. She aimed one at a time at each of the five crafts. Outside, the Austraeoh angled its starboard side toward the Starjammer. The Austraeoh was a pristine ship. It was a slender craft formed of a white metal that all came to a single, pointed tip. Usually the central rod glowed with numerous lights and had an engine that shone with every color of the rainbow, but today most of the lights were dark. Six other, smaller rods were arranged around the central shaft, each of them having a single large fin angled toward each other. A ring circled through each of these fins, connecting the entire ship together into a slender beast that resembled a deep sea creature. The tethers aiming at the larger targets - the fighter and the carrier - latched onto the hulls of the ships with ease. The three directed at the escape pods had different luck. One latched on perfectly, pulling it in. The other two bounced off the Runic hulls, throwing the escape pods in random directions. One went far from either the Starjammer or Austraeoh, but the last pod went flying right back to the Starjammer. "Sassafras," Clandestine swore, aiming two tethers at the escape pod drifting toward the Starjammer. Since it was moving much faster now, it was harder to hit. The first missed completely, and the second only nudged it closer to the Starjammer. Sweating, Clandestine prepared another tether by turning the Austraeoh slightly. She aimed and fired. The claw latched right onto the escape pod. "YES!" O'Neill shouted, grinning. Clandestine let out a sigh of relief and started reeling the tether in. The Starjammer let loose another explosion, this one enough to disintegrate the nanofiber tether attaching the claw to the Austraeoh. For a moment, Clandestine moved to launch another claw - but she quickly saw that the escape pod had been ripped in two by the explosion. She sagged in her chair. Wordlessly, she fired a claw at the escape pod well out of the blast range, hitting it on the first try. She brought it in. "Clandestine..." "Sir, I failed. Don't try to comfort me." O'Neill obliged, falling into silence. He put his hand to his chin and looked around the empty bridge once again. Whoever's responsible for this... He didn't finish the thought. A small beep rang out in the bridge. Clandestine blinked. "...We're being hailed from the carrier." "...Can we put it onscreen?" "Quality might be low, but yes." She pressed a button with her hoof, pulling up the image of a familiar woman with pale skin, white hair, and purple eyes. She wore a uniform nearly identical to that of O'Neill. Her irises dilated when she recognized O'Neill. The two of them stared at each other for a second. She put her hand to her forehead in a salute. "High Commander Minna Belle reporting for duty, Sir." The war's over. We don't have to fight anymore. We need each other. He found himself shaking his head and smirking. Then he saluted. "Welcome aboard, High Commander. You'll be glad to know your court-martial has been postponed indefinitely." "Thank you, sir." "Now get in here, we need to figure out what the hell we're dealing with." "I couldn't agree more." ~~~ Sherlock Holmes had asked the Merodi and the multiverse to keep their shenanigans out of his life. He had decided it was not something he needed to make part of his routine, though he certainly learned everything he could about the multiverse. Curiosity and all. This had gone pretty well for about thirty years from his perspective, until Corona had made the announcement. He had tried to ignore it, since most of the people in his world had decided it was too much for their puny minds to handle, but he simply couldn't. So he had to live with knowing there was a war happening for the fate of the entire multiverse. Still, he had managed to keep himself out of the war. His Earth didn't care, and likely never would. He continued on with his detective work, always solving the most impossible of cases. Then the multiverse collapsed and his planet was unfolded like some child had taken a knife to a tennis ball and stomped on it. He happened to be on one of the edges when it happened, witnessing as his world was sewn together with several others. He saw everyone in the town near him vanish in puffs of magic dust. A normal person would have been horrified and terrified first and foremost, and he certainly felt those things. But his primary emotions were ones of annoyance and dejected acceptance. He had ignored the call for long enough, he supposed the other worlds finally needed him. Funny how that happened when there was only one world now. Couldn't really be called the multiverse anymore. So, technically, he didn't have to deal with the multiverse again. Technically. Of course, he could also argue that the elements from the other worlds present in the New World constituted interference, but the thought experiment was already boring him. He looked around. He stood at the fusion point of three separate worlds. One was his city, the other was a city with larger buildings and decidedly brighter colors but an equal lack of people, and the third was a rural area with trees that he had never seen before. Where the three of these worlds met, there was a small section of desert. In the middle of the desert was a bunch of smoldering wreckage, all of it white and unusually flat. A quick set of observations told him how the pieces of the white material fit together to form a house. The House Juju, he thought, remembering what he had read. The prison of Lord English. ...For Pete's sake, why do I have to be the one to see this? As the dust and smog cleared, Sherlock was able to make out a being unlike any he had ever encountered. Pictures didn't do the sickly green behemoth justice. He was at least three times as tall as any human man and was far more muscular. Every inch of him was absolutely ripped, to the point at which the shapes of muscles pushed through his sleeves. His outfit was equal parts ugly and distracting. There was a Cairo Overcoat whose seams flashed seemingly random colors that Sherlock quickly realized were the standard shades for pool balls. His shorts were white, simple, and torn at the bottom, but one of his legs had been replaced with a solid gold peg strobing with the same colors as the overcoat. And then there were his eyes. They were embedded in his skull-like face, refusing to keep a consistent color. These eyes were clearly what dictated the rest of his outfit, for they were literal pool balls, shifting from one to fifteen in quick succession. It was hypnotic. Lord English looked right at Sherlock Holmes and proceeded to let out the deepest, most guttural Honk the man had ever heard. It was the sound that heralded the end of universes. Sherlock stood his ground, but he knew he was dead if English so much as decided he would be vaguely interesting to kill. Luckily for the detective, English had other business to attend to. He meticulously went about destroying every single shard of the House Juju, crushing the pieces under his massive foot and peg. The Juju was completely powerless now, and English was not bothering to demolish every segment - but he was clearly looking for something. And he eventually found it. When he stomped on one of the larger sections, three sparks of energy rose from the ground. Red, black, and yellow, corresponding to the Time, Space, and Light aspects. There should be a Breath in there. Something happened to John. If he died in the war and couldn't retcon back to imprison English... English opened his mouth to vaporize the three sparks of energy - but nothing came out of his mouth. Sherlock grinned. His powers have been changed in this New World! He may not be as unstoppable as before! English furrowed his brow, glaring at the sparks. He focused, opened his mouth, and tried again. This time the beam of light came out with ease, vaporizing the three essences into nothingness. Sherlock grimaced. That didn't take long... He looked around, performing a deduction. English had destroyed the 'essences' of what had imprisoned him, what would he do now? He wanted nothing more than control, destruction, and power... In this New World, where would he get it? Sherlock didn't know enough about the world to be sure yet, but he was certain English would need to leave to find it. He was proven right when English snapped his fingers, transforming is coat into a sarcophagus shimmering much like his eyes. He entered the sarcophagus and floated into the air, leaving the conglomeration world. Sherlock waited about fifteen seconds before rushing into the desert circle, looking for anything he could use to tell someone about this, or at least some information to make a deduction. He held the pieces of the House Juju in his hands - as expected, the texture was smooth and not quite like any substance he had seen before. He didn't get much further, because someone came out of the larger city section - a bearded man in a red cape and blue robes. "Doctor Strange!" Sherlock said with a smirk. "Do I... know you?" Strange asked, raising an eyebrow. "Doubt it, I'm Sherlock Holmes. Judging by your deviation from the general comic appearance and those Merodi-made boots, I'm guessing you're Strange of Earth-MC?" Strange nodded, taking Sherlock's deduction in stride. "I take it you saw the monster?" "Lord English, the multiversal threat prior to Corona's little message." Sherlock put his hands behind his back and began pacing. "Clearly a menace to this New World, and one that must be stopped." "I couldn't agree more," a woman's voice said. Walking up to them was a woman with pale amethyst hair, an eyepatch, a large white trenchcoat-skirt hybrid, a gunblade, and an Infinity Gauntlet on one hand. "Lord English must be stopped." "Lightning of the Collection!" Sherlock deduced. "So, you survived. And now you want to go face off against the most dangerous thing in existence?" Lightning nodded. "If Lord English gains power - of any kind - no matter what it is it will be bad for everyone." Strange furrowed his brow. "How do you expect to follow him? My magic is gone, I deduce yours is as well. Only English's seems to work." "She's got a ship," Sherlock said. "It's behind those alien trees." Lightning looked at Sherlock. "...I can see why you were led here. You will be instrumental..." "This means the Tower still exists," Strange pointed out. "English is more important than that. He was able to easily destroy universes with a roar before. If he did that again, everything would be gone." "Even he doesn't want complete Nihilism, he wants power," Sherlock observed. "He will seek a way to attain it. To be the master over everyone. Annoyingly simple motivation." Lightning nodded. "Come, to my ship. We don't want to lose his sarcophagus." She turned away. Sherlock and Strange followed her into the forest, forming three of only five individuals who knew of English's existence. After all, nobody Watched beyond the credits. ~~~ Elsewhere in the New World, there was another green-skinned being with pool balls for eyes and a golden peg leg. Unlike Lord English, he wasn't anything close to ripped and he wore the red robes of Time instead of a Cairo Overcoat. He was a being called a cherub. In his hand he held a golden staff tipped with a spark of green energy. He twisted this staff in his hand and transformed it into a solid gold rifle, pointing it at the computer screen in front of him. "ALL RIGHT! THAT WAS PRETTY FUNNY! GIVE THEM BACK NOW!" he shouted in the most obnoxious, grating voice imaginable. No black letters appeared on the screen. "NARRATING FUCKTARD, I KNOW YOU'RE THERE!" "Man, I don't think he's motherfuckin' there," a purple troll in the robes of the Bard of Rage said. "He's always there. He just acts fucking mysterious. All the time." The cherub grabbed his gun and gnashed his teeth. "Well if he's not gonna respond, he's not gonna fuckin' respond, not much we can do about that. Maybe we should try... somethin' else." "FUCK ME. Something else? Your genius astound me at times." With his flashing eyes, the cherub typed a message. UndyingUmbridge: HEY. EGBERT. THINGS HAVE CHANGED. LOOK OUTSIDE. THE ENTIRITY OF EXISTENCE HAS BEEN UNCOVERED. YOU SHOULD COME FACE ME NOW. YOU'LL DEFINITELY WIN. No response. "He's been playing hard to get for days..." "Could be a lot more days than that... time, and all." "I control Time! I get it! I see that it's all screwed up the whazoo, but the program seeks his present self! He's the retconner and I can always find him!" His screen popped up an error message. Message not sent. Servers not found. "Since when does Paradox Space not have servers available!?" "Since motherfuckin' now." "Gamzee, I will remove your leg and beat you with it again if you don't stop being captain 'motherfuckin'' obvious!" "Ay man, no need for that, we're all friends here," Gamzee said. "Hmph," the green being muttered. "All the leprechauns are gone, our powers have been severely weakened... It feels so fucking unnatural for me to say this... But we need to learn more." "Woah..." Gamzee said, blinking slowly. "Honk." "Shut the fuck up." The flashy gremlin walked across the room to a hole he had created in the floor, ignoring the mess of candy, poorly-drawn manga, and bicycle horns that had been left around. He jumped into the hole, entering a long, dark, metallic hallway. Usually he would accelerate time at this point to get to the edge, but he couldn't exactly do that right now, so he grumbled the entire trip of fifty-two seconds. They arrived at a door, so chosen because they had been tired of climbing up a ladder every time to leave the building. The green being reached out to open the door. Before he even reached it, there was a loud knock from the other side. "Woah... we're bein' haunted, bro," Gamzee said. "Like, motherfuckin' ghosts!" "Go take your bone bulge and fuck yourself through the skull." The cherub grabbed the door, threw it open, and pointed his gun out the door. "WHO WANTS THEIR HEADS BLOWN OFF TODAY!?" A pinkish-purple unicorn with goggles on her face put a hoof on the barrel of the gun and lowered it. "Calm down, geez. We're not here to steal anything or do anything to you. We just saw this place and decided to check it out. We'll leave if that's what you want." Her companion - a light blue unicorn in a stage outfit - was hiding behind her. "...I'm not hearing any good reasons not to fill you bitches with bullets." "We can tell you why there are planets in the sky swirling in bizarre spherical patterns?" The cherub looked outside, blinking. The outside didn't look as cold or desolate as usual. The sky was a pristine purple twilight; in the distance he could see forests, a city, and a mountain covered in trees; and there were in fact planets in the sky. Filling up most of it, in fact. "...Shit. Fine. I won't shoot you bitches if you tell me who you two are." "Starbeat Glimmer, ka researcher. This is Trixie Lulamoon... Internet 'celebrity'." "I heard those air quotes!" Trixie shouted indignantly. "Right..." The cherub glared. "And how'd you get here?" "We followed the winds of ka - fate, if you will." "There's a yellow brick road leading right to your house," Trixie deadpanned, gesturing at the yellow brick road they were standing on. "...Woah, that's mutherfuckin' trippy," Gamzee said. "Right, so..." Starbeat grinned. "Who are you?" "I'm just Gamzee Makara, Bard of Rage." "CALIBORN!" Caliborn shouted, laughing maniacally. "THE LORD OF TIME!" Starbeat raised an eyebrow. "Ooookay. Can we get to explanations then?" "We better, or bullets start flying." Starbeat sighed; clearly not thrilled this was the first person they had run into. But it was who they had to deal with it. If only she had remembered what Lord English looked like...
Songs of the Spheres	132 - Brave New World, Part 2	Eve needed some way to cope with what was going on. Corona was decidedly unavailable for emotional support at the moment - besides testing her wings and realizing they still worked, she hadn't done anything but look forlornly at the sky and cry from time to time. Eve only put a comforting wing around her some of those time. Rarely did she talk. She was afraid of what she'd do if she did. Raging Sights didn't say much either, unless Corona addressed it directly. So Eve had made a list. She didn't have any paper, but she was able to find a patch of dirt and a stick. Her hooves still worked for holding things, and simply making a list was comforting. Even if it wasn't a very nice list. Things we know: The collapse didn't go as planned. Physics is not even close to standard. Not quite Mushroom Galaxus. The Dark Tower still exists. The world we are on is a patchwork world. Passive magic exists. Active magic is deactivated. We survived. Together. T A breeze came through and blew Eve's list away. She let out a sharp enraged scream and rammed her hooves into the ground. A spark shot out of her horn, hitting the ground and sending some dust flying. She was elated for a moment - magic must be returning slowly! That was something to be excited about! But then she remembered - she had the Element of Magic in her crown, an artifact that maintained its power as part of the 'passive magic'. For all she knew it was just the energy from the Element seeping into her. Why is my connection to the Element so... so fuzzy? I can feel it, but it's... like Raging Sights, it might take time. There's clearly magic in this world, it's just a matter of figuring out how to use it. Yes, Eve, that's right, figure it out. You can do this. You're the Bearer of the Element of Magic itself, you can do this! She took in a breath, closed her eyes, and focused. She knitted her brow and fixated on simply lighting her horn. She tried putting effort into it, just forcing thought into her horn, but nothing happened. So, instead, she tried to feel the magic around her horn. To prod it lightly, testing the waters as it were. She felt a response from the sea around her, a slight shifting of the local magic field, or aether. Progress. Instead of trying to force it, she allowed her effort to meander around like a sea, poking, testing, feeling, shifting with the winds of magic. Then she felt it - the Element of Magic. She had done just enough moving around the new magic to find the connection to the artifact again. A solid connection. The Element of Magic flashed brightly and her horn lit up. "Yes!" She cheered. "Yes yes yes yes yes!" Now that she had a fix on the Element of Magic, she could sense more. She actually understood how the magic worked in this New World, how to grab hold of it. She knew it was thanks to the Element of Magic this was possible at all - even with all her magical training the nuanced nature of the New World would have baffled her for days - but she didn't care. She had some magic again. She focused... and lifted the stick in her telekinesis. It took about a hundred times more effort than it should have, but that was progress. "Of course! Of course! When we traveled the multiverse, we were naturally able to transform our magic to use whatever type of arcane energy was in the universe at the time! But that doesn't have to be the case here! We don't just automatically know how to use magic according to the rules of this world because our rules don't exist anymore!" She laughed. "It's just a matter of relearning everything! Difficult, but it should be possi-" She noticed Corona was staring at her and she shut up quickly. "...Hi." "Hey," Corona said, awkwardly twiddling with her thumbs. "That's... great. Can..." "I won't be able to teach you quickly. Maybe with time. I... I had the Element of Magic to help me." "Ah..." Corona looked back at the sky. "I've found something." "Hmm?" "The way the planets move across the sky," she said, pointing up. "I've been watching them closely. There's... There's a pattern. They seem to meander randomly, but they're placed on fixed spheres. Spheres within spheres within spheres..." She pointed toward a horizon. "There's a center to this pattern. A place around which everything orbits." "...Interesting. How does that help us?" "Somewhere to go," Corona said, looking down. "...A goal." "How are we going to get off this planet?" "You're figuring out magic. ...Shouldn't be too hard, right?" "Too hard? It'll be very hard! And..." She caught herself. She fell silent; looking around at the grassy land they had found themselves in. A feeling of not belonging here washed over her. A goal... "...All right. You're right. The center... That'd be something to go for, at least. Something. And if it is the center, everyone else would probably try to head there as well. It's... It's a quest." She forced a smile. "Something to strive for." Corona nodded, no smile coming to her face. "Thank you." Eve felt her body tense up and blood rush into her face - but she bit it back. "Don't mention it." She forced herself to breathe steady. "First we need to figure out exactly how the cosmology and astronomy of this world works, beyond the spherical orbits..." ~~~ Slowly but surely, Burgerbelle's mind came to terms with the new body it was in. She stood up and stretched her legs, still baffled at how anyone could move without instantly-updating frames. She had to move her arm through all the points between where it started and its final position, not just make it appear wherever she wanted. She smacked her lips - talking came naturally but it still felt bizarre. She also had small pains in her legs - probably from sitting under the metal awkwardly for so long. She needed to stretch to feel right. Her eyes felt dry. Oh, I probably need to blink. That was going to take a while to learn. She held out her fingers and examined them closely. There was more detail on them than ever before. Still as white as ever, but she could see nails, wrinkles in the knuckles, and fingerprint swirls. She ran another hand through her hair to feel the endless strands. It felt good. She smiled. Then she had a thought. Maybe... She reached into her hair and tried to pull something out. All she managed to do was yank on her hair and drive pain into her scalp. "Ow!" Thrackerzod looked up from the wreckage she was clearing. "What is it?" "I just tried to pull a trumpet out of nowhere..." Burgerbelle rubbed her head. "Didn't work." "Magic's limited," Thrackerzod explained. "I don't know exactly how or why, but it is." Burgerbelle took a look around. She didn't see Mattie - had she gone somewhere? - but she did see a couple other Sweeties. There was the black Sweetie, Onyx, and the angel, Servitude. Onyx was still out cold, but Servitude was up and about helping Thrackerzod root through the wreckage despite a broken wing. She managed to pull a standard-looking Sweetie out and set her beside Onyx. "She's not doing good," Servitude said, holding a hand to her neck. "Weak pulse." "When Mattie's done with the medical unit, we can get her in there," Thrackerzod said. "There's a little problem with that," Mattie said, descending down the stairs. Behind her was a white woman with black eyes in a simple hospital gown. The ribbony tendrils on her back had been tied up into a large, manageable bow just below her shoulders. The woman seemed lost, confused, and a bit bewildered. "Nettle here got put right in. It healed virtually everything and was working on the scrapes, and then it up and loses power!" Servitude blinked. "...The medical unit powers itself from ambient magic. That clearly exists since the lights are on..." "Maybe the AI screwed it up," Thrackerzod observed. "They weren't working a minute ago." "It still works, it's just out of power," Mattie reminded her. "...Or it thinks it is. I'll be honest, I don't have the least idea how technology works." Burgerbelle walked up to one of the wall consoles and pressed a button. A million error messages popped up. "...Geez..." "Yeah, the AI is having serious difficulty," Servitude explained. "It's just barely got communications and medical equipment working. From what little I've been able to get from the reports, it's having to fight its own programming codes to work in this environment. We aren't anywhere close to full capacity." Burgerbelle pushed a few more buttons, trying to get out of all the errors on the screen. "What is working?" She had to back out a few times since she wasn't that accurate with her fingers just yet. Mattie shrugged. "Ain't got a clue. We're gonna have to do something for the Sweetie here though..." "I can take her to a hospital," Servitude said. "A few blocks down - their unit shouldn't be out of power. ...Maybe. I'm not sure." "Do that," Thrackerzod said. Servitude nodded, hoisting the Sweetie over her shoulder - wincing at the pain in her wing. "Good to see you up and about, Nettle." Nettle looked to her with an inscrutable expression. "...Sure." "Just try to survive. We'll get through this." Servitude headed for the door. She didn't get far - Engineetie, the Sweetie Belle engineer, kicked the door open, a comically oversized wrench in her hooves. "We've got a big problem and need to evacuate the city stat." Everyone turned to Mattie - including Thrackerzod. She let out a sigh and began muttering under her breath. "Buggers putting me in charge... Aight! Engineetie, what's the problem?" "One of the main reactor cores was unable to shut itself off when the collapse occurred. The mundane inhibition system had a mechanical failure, and the backups stopped working about... five minutes ago when they ran out of magic to drain." "Ran out of magic?" Servitude asked. "Yes. Ran out of magic. The New World apparently has a finite amount of magic at any given location! If you keep draining it, it drops to zero and everything stops working! And that made one of our reactors fail. It's currently undergoing meltdown and is starting to turn the core of Celestia City into an irradiated wasteland!" Mattie blinked. "...How long do we have?" "Before Celestia City melts? Days. Before the radiation gets out of the central compartments and starts killing people? It's already started affecting the central areas. Something could explode at any minute!" "The AI needs to tell everyone about this!" Thrackerzod announced. "Why isn't it ordering an evacuation." "I don't think it believed me," Engineetie explained. "I didn't have any 'authority' and it thought I was panicking. Maybe I was panicking? But you all can do something, order an evacuation, right?" Thrackerzod bit her lip. "Maybe. But how do we..." "I've got it here," Burgerbelle said, pointing at her screen. "Error messages removed. ...You should be able to communicate with your credentials." Thrackerzod ran to the console and quickly realized she didn't have fingers for typing. "Servitude!" Servitude put the injured Sweetie down gently and ran to the console. She typed up a quick message, complete with Thrackerzod's security code, and sent it. A second later the AI's voice rang out through the whole city. "Citizens, the order has been given to abandon Celestia City. Please proceed in a calm, orderly fashion to any escape pods or vessels with access to the outside. Some systems within these devices are currently not functioning, but priority has been given to their repair. Help anyone you can off the City." And then seconds later came a second message. "A nearby habitable planet has been identified as a safe haven. All ships with operational communications within the City have been equipped with a route. For those without such operation, the world is currently located above the Pillar of Light in district 7-Z." "That's our cue to get out of here," Mattie said. "What about all the others?" Servitude asked. "Do you want to risk vaporization?" Engineetie retorted. "We can't fix the reactor without magic and we don't have any! We just don't know how long we have!" "Not enough," Mattie said. "Do we know if Swip made it?" "She did," Servitude said. "But she's not going to be able to teleport us out..." "Close enough," Thrackerzod said. "Everyone, docking basement." Thrackerzod picked up Onyx while Engineetie took the injured one. The League ran down the stairs to one of the deeper basements, where they housed their personal crafts. The largest of these was an dolphin-shaped off-white ship with a single protruding fin from the top. The edges of the ship were lined with pastel pink and purple colors. The docking ramp was already down, inviting all of them inside the main cargo hold. There was currently nothing stored there, making the area decidedly empty aside from the chairs that lined the walls. "Strap in!" Mattie ordered, climbing into a chair. Everyone scrambled into a seat and the unconscious Sweeties were strapped in. "Swip, can you launch?" A screen in the ceiling buzzed to life, displaying a virtual-reality version of Sweetie Belle with soft brown skin. "I think so. Shields and FTL aren't working, but the thrusters are operational." "Then launch!" "Aye-aye!" Swip saluted - then cut her virtual-reality feed so she could focus on driving. Her engines activated and she launched forward, into one of Celestia City's many ship-tubes. There was a loud thunk that shook the entire cabin, making everyone very glad they were strapped in. "Sorry!" Swip said. "I don't have any dampeners - we'll have to accelerate slower than usual!" "It's fine, just get us away," Thrackerzod said. She glanced to the injured Sweetie with concern. She probably wasn't going to make it. On the other side of the room, Burgerbelle turned to Nettle. "Heh. This... sure is something, isn't it? All the... sensation." Nettle nodded slowly, her eyes darting around as she tried to take everything in. A deeply dissatisfied frown appeared on her features. "I... I created a powerful body. This isn't powerful. This is weak." "At least you created yours," Burgerbelle commented. "I don't even know what this one's deal is..." "I don't understand why you feel t-" There was another tremor. "Uh oh," Swip said. "Uh, don't panic, but I think something behind us just exploded." "You think?" Engineetie blurted. "Okay, fine, I know. And there's fire coming right for us..." Swip had to accelerate faster, so she fired her boosters again. Without inertial dampeners, the full G forces of such an acceleration were felt by everyone in the cabin. Servitude let out the largest scream of pain as her broken wing was forced into an unnatural position. They were able to outrun the explosion. Swip's engines pulsed with fire and threw them out of Celestia City's ship-tunnels and into open space. They sailed past the outer skyscrapers of the city as the ground beneath them exploded. They were able to see a couple other ships flying in front and alongside them, all escaping the pull of Celestia City. "Yes!" Engineetie called. "We li-woah." Everyone was suddenly overcome by a feeling of weightlessness. "Celestia City's gravity just... vanished!" Swip announced. "I have no idea why but now we're hurtling a little too fast..." "Can you correct?" "Yeah, but not everyone can. An- Oh, Celestia..." The screen switched to show an image of Celestia City. Most of it was still intact, but three separate locations were now raging balls of fire. Eventually, those fires would grow as the reactor heated the city more and more, reducing the world into molten slag. "...That's depressing..." Mattie commented. Thrackerzod hung her head, wordlessly. Mattie coughed. "Swip, start coordinating with the other ships and uh... get us all to that planet. So we can... plan." "Sure-thing! Attention, this is Swip of the League of Sweetie Belles. We need to work together to ensure everyone without the correct functionality can make it to the surface of the planet. We'll have to work in a zero gravity environment, so I'll need the help of any functional navigation intelligences to - hold on. Incoming!" "Incoming!?" Burgerbelle blurted. "It's red, mostly intangible, and it - taking evasive actions!" Swip shut off her speech unit and devoted all her resources to facing off against whatever the incoming thing was. All the screens went dark and the lights turned off. There was a bright flash... ...and then the flash dissipated. The lights flickered back on and Swip's screens flickered back to life. "...What was that!?" Servitude demanded. "I... I don't know," Swip admitted. "It... I couldn't get good readings without all my sensors, it hit us, there was a lot of light... and now we're somewhere else. I... I don't see any of the other ships or Celestia City anywhere." There was silence in the room for a few moments. Servitude checked the injured Sweetie's pulse. "...She's dead." Burgerbelle winced, trying not to burst into tears. "...What do we do now?" Swip asked. "I... I don't know," Thrackerzod said, voice wavering. Mattie gulped and shook her head. "I'll tell you what we're going to do. We're going to find out where we are. We're going to find out what happened. We're going to find whatever's left of Celestia City and Merodi Universalis. We're not going to let some 'red thing' destroy us." She stamped her hoof on the ground. "We're going to find everyone and strap them down so they can't get lost again!" Burgerbelle, despite herself, let out a snort. "Strap them down?" "Well, yeah. It's called a metaphor. Not as good as a montage, but I'm going with what I have." She forced a smirk. "We're going to build it all back up, balls to whoever says otherwise. Just because the New World is working against us, doesn't mean we won't keep doing what we want to spite them!" She took out one of her whips in her hoof and cracked it in the air. "We don't give a smarmy quip about what the world says our fate is, we make the damn thing ourselves!" She turned around for dramatic effect. "Swip, don't stop looking for signs of Merodi Universalis or other ships. We're going to find them." "Aye-aye, uh... captain?" "Oh, crikey, no, no, that won't do. I could be... a Mistress." "...We'll need to change that title." "Mmmm, no I don't think so." ~~~ Aslan had told Valentine that Pinkie's Party had appeared outside the church shortly after the collapse. The ambassador hadn't really believed it until they walked in. Pinkie, Jotaro, Vriska, Pidge... and Flutterfree. Even without Nova, they still looked like a unit. Like they belonged together. When they walked into the church, everyone inside fell silent. There were only about forty members of the church left after the dusting, but the silence was still menacing. They were looking at Pinkie with judging faces. They knew exactly who she was and what side she fought for. They knew she was part of the reason so many of them were gone. "Brothers and sisters, I know this is difficult," Aslan said before any of them could do anything. "They have done things that resulted in the deaths of many. But we are not to hate. Our church never took a stance in the war. We didn't fight for either side. Remember why we are still standing, who willed us here." "Are you saying He wanted my entire family to die!?" a man shouted from the crowd. "Arin..." Aslan shook his head. "Arin, it is all a part of His plan, even the atrocities and the evil. I can assure you that He finds the death abhorrent and evil, and that He does not take any pleasure from what has happened. He feels the death of every one of us as we would the death of one of our children. But know this; they are with Him now, looking down on us in this New World. They have been taken to the Kingdom, and left the future of the Church to us." There was silence in the crowd. "We need to figure out how we are going to move forward - the church's food reserves will last us years, but we'll need to think about more than just food. How are we going to live here? Do we build? Do we find a place to move? What is the lay of the land? These are the questions we must ask. I understand - we all want to, need to, grieve the unimaginable losses. But this New World comes with new challenges and dangers. We must not allow ourselves to be overtaken by them." There were murmurs of agreement from the small crowd. "Thank you. Annalisa, I'll need you to take me on a tour of the food stores and supplies. What do we have?" Annalisa nodded. "Right this way." Aslan smiled warmly. As he walked away, he turned to Rev and whispered something to her that Valentine didn't catch. Her pupils dilated in surprise and she nodded reluctantly in response. Valentine made it to Pinkie's Party before Rev. "So... you won." Pinkie pointed her blindfold at him. "...Yep. Going to try to make us feel bad about it?" Valentine shook his head, looking into the distance. "Aslan was right..." Pinkie nodded, not feeling the need for him to clarify. "...I... I want to ask how it's been going, but the question seems cruel." "The USM has fallen, I have no idea where any of my friends are, and I just watched dozens of people vanish into dust. I... am far too calm for what's just happened. I consider it a gift." Flutterfree smiled at him. "I... I'm glad to hear that." Valentine looked down at her. "Are you glad to have your friends back?" Flutterfree looked at her team. There were tears in her eyes, but her smile widened. "Y-yes. Yes I am." Vriska put a hand to the bridge of her nose. "Didn't we just finish the big sappy cry-hug?" "The sappy cry hug never ends," Pinkie declared. "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered. Pidge let out a nervous laugh. "We're a bunch of freaks... Already laughing and..." She noticed several members of the church staring at her laugh with murderous eyes. "...Geez..." Flutterfree looked at the crowd, and was hurt to see most of them looking at her with judging eyes. How could you associate with them, Flutterfree? "Hypocrites, hypocrites everywhere," Pinkie said, pulling Flutterfree close. "It's okay, you have us. Also, not everyone hates you! Look at Valentine, Rev, Aslan, that Nate guy over there, and... Rina. To some extent." "I hate everything," Rina commented from the doorway. "Riveting," Vriska deadpanned. "It's just... You think when the cards were down they'd follow what they were taught," Flutterfree said. "They've lived and breathed grace for so long..." "They're still people," Rev said. "You're only able to work past it because you know Pinkie and the others personally. That's... almost always how it works. It's a rare person who's strong enough to just accept enemies." She sighed. "I'm sorry to tell you, but you can't stay here. You wouldn't be safe. The tragedy is too fresh in their minds. Yes, that does include you, Flutterfree." Flutterfree smiled warmly at Rev. "I know. But you know we weren't planning on staying anyway." She glanced back at her team with a smile. "We're going to complete the job." Rev nodded. "...I should probably leave as well. Aslan left it to me to decide, but I can tell they already trust me less simply for talking to you like this. I'll defend my actions, and because I think it's defensible they will likely grow to hate me." She glanced over her back, at Aslan. "He came at the perfect time to give the church new leadership." Flutterfree looked at the lion, suspicious. "He came at just the perfect time... on purpose?" "Or God could have led him here because that's what needed to happen." "Or it's the Tower." "Or..." "Shhhhh," Pinkie said, putting her hooves on Rev and Flutterfree's mouths. "We don't need to be disagreeing about this. It doesn't really matter if Aslan intended to usurp Rev or not, what matters is what's happening. We have to go, and Rev thinks she probably should go. That's what's important here." Flutterfree and Rev flushed. "...Thanks, Pinkie," Flutterfree said. Pinkie gave her a playful smirk. "Hey, even with the flat mane, I still gotcha." "So, are you coming or not?" Vriska asked Rev. Rev glanced back at the church. "...I am. It is about time for a change." She turned to Valentine. "What about you?" "What are we doing, exactly?" Valentine asked. "Well, w-" "Hey, look, visitors!" Rina shouted, pointing out the church doors. They looked out to see two familiar figures striding toward them - Tornado and Froppy of the USM. Froppy saw Valentine and lost all sense of professionalism. She hopped through the doors and wrapped her arms around him. She said nothing besides "ribbit." For once in his life Valentine didn't reject an embrace. He was no longer the Ambassador of the USM - he was just a man. He had no problem showing some emotional weakness. Tornado, on the other hand, strode in with a bored expression. "Sup," she said, looking at Pinkie. "...Hey," Pinkie said, slightly nervous. "I'm not going to kill you. Can't, anyway, telekinesis is gone." "Same as everyone else," Pidge said, adjusting her glasses. "So, what's going on here?" Tornado asked. "Discussing who's staying and who's going," Vriska answered. "Oh, going to do what?" "Finish the destruction of the Tower," Jotaro said. Tornado blinked. "...What?" Flutterfree looked at Tornado. "...The collapse happened, but... something's wrong. The Tower still exists. The New World is still subject to a cruel, cruel story. But Pinkie says the Tower has a crack... Which means it's weakened. We need to complete the job to make sure all these deaths weren't in vain." "Huh. ...I can get behind that," Tornado admitted. "...How exactly are we going to do that?" "No idea, it's something we'll figure out when we get there," Pinkie responded. "But since we're not welcome here, it's something we decided to do. As a group." Tornado shrugged. "Sure. Might as well, I guess." Valentine looked at Pinkie - and then at the church. "...I'm going to turn you down. My time for adventures and importance is over. I'm staying here." Froppy looked up at Valentine. "...I'm staying as well, then." Pinkie went through a little checklist in her head. "So, the five of us, Rev, Tornado, and..." She looked expectantly at Rina. Rina looked from her to Flutterfree to Rev. "Screw it, fine, I'll come with you. The two best people in this place are leaving, I might as well go with the flow, y'know?" "Poetry?" Jotaro said with a raised eyebrow. "Shut up," Rina muttered. "So, when do we leave?" "After we have lunch and store up on supplies," Pinkie said. "I'm sure you can get us some supplies, Rev?" "Since I'm leaving as well? Easily, I don't have to worry about a fallout." "Remember, pills, we'll need extra," Rina said. "I won't forget that." Rev looked over her shoulder, taking in the hall of her church. She smiled. "...I'm going to miss this place." "We might be able to come back, some day," Flutterfree said. "If the Lord wills..." ~~~ "Just stop breathing, all of you," Flagg ordered. Roxy, GM, Rohan, Monika, and myself all kept breathing. "...What?" "Magic's gone, Randy," Roxy said with a smirk. "You're just a normal guy like us now." Flagg wasted no time. He turned around and jumped for Black Thirteen - but I was faster than him. I swooped in, rolled, and grabbed the artifact within my wings. "Twilence!" Monika shouted in rage. "There was no way letting him have it was a good idea!" I said, holding the black sphere in my hoof and pointing it at Flagg like a weapon. "Don't move." "Magic's gone," Flagg said with a smirk. "What could you possibly do with Black Thirteen? Drive me mad? That time had come and gone, purple Prophet." "Actually, looking into Black Thirteen, guess what I see? Magic's not really gone, and there's actually a really simple solution on how to start using it again. Realize that you have to relearn everything." I smirked. "Luckily I'm tapped into the artifact that knows everything. So..." I trapped his arms and legs in magical handcuffs. "Why are you capturing him? Kill him!" Roxy shouted. "He still has his respawn," I responded. "He'll just appear at the Tower like usual. So long as the Tower exists, he will, in one form or another." I glared at him, rooting through the knowledge contained in Black Thirteen. "But that's no longer guaranteed. The Tower is damaged. The self-defense protocol has been deactivated. It can be destroyed and you will never be able to respawn again. The greatest evil the multiverse has ever known will perish with ka." Flagg smirked. "Granted, I have no idea if what you say is true or not. But why would that matter? Perhaps a true death would be an interesting experience for me after such a long existence. Maybe you can even empathize with that." "Right, forgot your sanity was g-" I raised a shield to stop Roxy from trying to kick me in the head. "Really!?" "You still want to destroy the Tower," Roxy muttered. "Suddenly the War doesn't seem so 'over'." "Through Black Thirteen I have full access to virtually all the abilities I had previously," I told her. "I've already healed my rib. You wouldn't be able to do anything." Roxy ground her teeth. "I can fucking try." "Or... not?" GM suggested. "Why the fuck not!?" GM recoiled and took a few seconds to collect himself. "W-well, I, uh, in my original plan the Tower was going to fade away from the New World. There wouldn't be any consequences beyond what the collapse had already done..." "What if we don't want to end ka!?" Monika blurted. "I happen to like it!" Rohan nodded in agreement. Roxy sighed and put a hand on GM's shoulder. "Look... I can see why you think that. I can also see that you struggled with the question, and that's why you wrote a story about it. Maybe you changed your mind - or maybe you're wrong." GM blinked. "...Y-yeah." "I'm not sure about ka myself. I... I think it doesn't really matter if it exists or not, in the long run. But I'm not going to switch sides." She turned to Twilence. "We're not destroying the Tower." I shook my head. "I'll do it myself then." Roxy put her hand around Flagg's neck. "Ah ah ah, I'll kill him and then he'll get to the T-" I used my magic to pull Roxy's hand off Flagg's neck. I sighed. "I can see you're going to be a problem." I imprisoned Roxy, Rohan, and Monika in cuffs similar to Flagg's. "I can also see that if I let you go, I'll regret it later." I tapped the Eye of Rhyme - glad my visions were slowly returning to me with access to Black Thirteen. I could see so much... I frowned. "It's already corrupting me. How wonderful..." "Black Thirteen tends to do that," Flagg said, grinning. "Let me hold on to it for you." "Nope," I said. "You'll get your powers back and then we'd all be dead. I... I have to hold onto it. But I need a safeguard..." I looked at GM. "You." "Uh... I don't like the sound of that..." I used my magic and the power of Black Thirteen to create a single red pen. "Keep this with you at all times. I've enchanted it so that I will have to mess with a complex series of locks to do anything to it. If you click the button, it will force me into unconsciousness. Use it if you think I've been corrupted too much by Black Thirteen." My eyes softened. "I'm sorry to burden you with this, but you're the only one I can trust right now." GM gulped. "O-okay..." I turned to the other four imprisoned people. My gaze softened - and I removed the imprisonments on all of them except Flagg. "...I don't want to imprison you. But I need to keep an eye on you all." "So we are your prisoners," Roxy pointed out. "Yes, unfortunately. You are. But you'll be free to walk around and say anything you want. Or even try to change my mind." I smiled at her. "I respect all of you for your devotion to your cause. I just don't agree with it." I tapped the Eye or Rhyme. "This is a curse that must be lifted from everyone. And I won't rest until that goal is met or made impossible." "And how do you plan to do that?" "Go to the Tower." I said, looking up to the sky. "There is a world in the center of this universe... Nucleon. It is where the Tower stands, damaged. That is where we are going. It'll be..." "The worst road trip ever," Flagg commented. "...Probably," I admitted. ~~~ Roland of Gilead was the last one to leave the Dark Tower, entering Can'-Ka No Rey, the field of roses. It looked the same to him as it did when he had entered it so long ago. The roses were too red, their leaves too bright and their edges too sharp. More real than anything else he had ever seen. These roses had not changed in all of the multiverse's existence. The sky, however, was a mess. It was the color of twilight, but brimming with many many moons of all sorts of shapes and sizes. No, not, moons, planets. Planets moving around other planets in nested patterns... Patterns that extended as far out as he could see. Through the cracks between the planets he could see some stars, some things that clearly weren't planets or stars, and occasional holes. He was no astronomer, he did not care much for the motions of the celestial bodies beyond their use in navigation, but he was still overcome with a sense of awe. "Isn't it something, gunslinger?" Renee asked. "A New World, unlike anything you experienced on All-World or Keystone Earth. Or the Weaver's Door. You saw hints, but you never saw." Roland looked at her with a stern expression. "Of course, nothing fazes the great gunslinger." Renee chuckled. "I mean, he took a talking horse in stride," Jenny pointed out. Nanoha took her eyes off the sky. "Almost all the planets in all the worlds... Placed together in such as way as to not destroy themselves. How... How would the Flowers manage such a thing? That's such a complexity beyond even them!" Renee shrugged. "Curious, isn't it? What happened was something nobody could have done, but yet it happened. Curiouser and curiouser." "I'm getting really sick of you and your games," Jenny muttered. "The path of the hypocrite is a dangerous one," Renee said with a malevolent chuckle. Aradia sighed. "So, we're outside. The world has managed to fuse together without everyone dying. But ka still exists. Our fate is still controlled by the Tower." Renee rolled her eye. "Look behind you, up, then down again." They all turned around to examine the Dark Tower, following its dark, eerie structure far, far into the sky. It seemed to go on forever - but, at the same time, it clearly had to end. For it went straight up, and straight above them was a planet closer than all the others. A small blue-green orb in the sky. "...An Earth?" Jenny said, cocking her head. "That's an Earth, right? Continents don't look right but that's the only planet that would mean anything." "Yes... It's an Earth..." Nanoha said, eyes wide. "Is it... The Earth? The First Earth?" "Ding ding ding!" Renee declared. "The White Devil has asked the million dollar question! Yes of course it is. The Earth, forced to reveal itself when there are no more subdimensions for the Dark Tower to hide it in." She smirked. "There is currently no ka on that world." "...What!?" Everyone save Roland said at once. Renee smirked. "Ahem. Sai, analysis of Earth Prime?" The AI in Roland's pocket beeped. Instead of her usual chipper, coy vocalizations, a monotone came out. "Analyzing... Indeterminate. All scans are reflected. Visual appearance of Earth Prime is projected by an outside source. Information cannot pass out of the barrier according to initial scans." Jenny blinked. "Sai, how are your scans working that well? Nanoha can barely talk to Raising Heart!" Sai beeped again. "Unknown. A change occurred in my systems at the time of collapse that is not yet fully understood." "What did you do to her?" Nanoha demanded. Renee shrugged. "She did it to herself. Removed all the 'added nonsense' that was causing her grief near the Source. Whatever part of her was becoming a full person was removed. As a pure machine it's much easier to relearn everything." She sneered. "After all, what is personhood worth, really?" "If you ask that question you clearly do not understand," Roland said. "You say that now." "Back up," Jenny said, waving a hand. "What do you mean 'relearn'?" "Oh, this." Renee lit her horn and plucked a rose out of the garden with her magic. "Learning to use this world's magic, and all." Everyone took a few steps back. Roland drew his gun again. "How are you doing that?" Nanoha demanded. Renee smirked. "All the powerless little monkeys, terrified." Jenny chuckled at this, opening her mouth to prepare a quip. "Oh, I'm sorry, were you going to point out that Aradia was technically an insect?" Renee asked. "Really, you should have gone with the fact that you're actually apes, not monkeys, since you don't have tails. Really Jenny, step up your retort game a little." Jenny charged her. Renee grabbed Jenny in her telekinesis and threw her into the roses, creating several scrapes. They healed instantly but the blood spray was still there. "Wha...?" "Ambient magics must still work," Nanoha deduced. "All of you rely too much on magic," Roland said, still holding his gun to Renee. Renee raised an eyebrow. "That gun of yours was forged from the sword of Arthur Eld, you know. There's magic in that metal, dear. But you are right, you could make do with a mundane gun. You depend on ka. You are the warrior of ka. Without it, you would be nothing. If you were to go to that planet up there you wouldn't last a week." Roland doubted this, but said nothing. Renee chuckled. "As usual, it appears we've gotten off track. We were supposed to look down after we saw the Earth. Please, let us finish the tour for your slow, slow brains." They did, looking up to Earth Prime, and back down to the base of the Tower. They saw it - the Crack. An imperfection in the bricks of the Dark Tower, set just to the left of the main entrance. It glowed a soft white and sparkled like dust. The energy looked almost exactly like what happened when Alushy and the others had been dusted. Everyone stared at it in disbelief. "Is it... destroying itself?" Jenny asked. "Do I really have to answer that, dears?" She did not. It was clear. The Tower's time was limited. "But wait, there's more!" Renee announced shocking all of them. "I've got with me here a very special guest from a time most of you will have forgotten! With the release of Roland and the deactivation of the Tower's self-defense protocol, another blast from the past has decided to grace us with his presence! Everyone put a hand together for... the CRIMSON KING!" A being rose from the roses, draped in an immense red cloak that hid all of his facial features. His two hands were so wrinkled and frail they looked like bones. Despite being unable to see his face, they all felt like his eyes were boring into their skulls - from both the front and back. There was no side that was hidden from the beast of a man. He had to stoop down so his head would be level with Roland. He breathed, the chill like nails grinding against their skin. "Gunslinger..." ~~~ "I'm going to say this now," O'Neill said, laying his hands on the table. "The war is over. The Collapse was initiated and now there are no more nations left to sign peace treaties. There are no more battles to fight for the multiverse. So we are done with that. We are a single military unit again, so if you have any ideas in your heads, get them out of your asses and shape up. None of us know what is going on, and we are going to goddamn work together to figure it out. Do I make myself clear?" Everyone in the room nodded. After her nod, Minna stood up. "I want everyone to know that Overhead-General O'Neill is the commanding officer for this military unit and the head of this meeting. We must follow the chain of command." She sat back down. "Good, now that that's over with..." O'Neill paused a moment and looked around the room. There were forty of them in the room, mixed from the Austraeoh and Starjammer crews. Tensions were clearly high - but they were soldiers. They would listen to their commanders. They'd fought in the war long enough to prove their loyalty. "Lapis Vee, care to explain what we've found so far?" The only Gem among the two crews nodded. "Yessir." She pressed a button on a remote, activating the meeting room's main projector. "So, to put it simply, the Collapse happened, but not as anyone intended it to. There is one single universe, but it's nothing close to the mundane mixture anyone was expecting." "What is it, then?" a Starjammer stallion asked. The image on the screen changed to a map of the new universe, showing lots of planets. "It's... this. There are two kinds of 'planets' we have observed. The first are conglomeration worlds composed of several dozen or more planets or planes of existence fused together. They are extremely large but still have normal gravity, which, as far as we can tell, is an average of whatever gravities were used to create them. We've only sent a few probes, we don't have enough data points to say for sure." She changed the slide to zoom in on an area of the map with a lot of circles next to each other. "The other type of 'planet' is more conventional... usually. Apparently virtually every planet, star, or other large object from any universe was pulled into this one, including 'planets' created from looping plane universes, bizarre planes of reality, etcetera. Around every conglomeration planet is one or more spherical 'orbitals' packed so densely with these planets that you could fly from one to another." "Which gravity should crush," an Asgard pointed out. Lapis Vee nodded. "Yep. Which brings us to the first big revelation about this universe - a few miles above a planet's arbitrary 'surface' - the exact definition is currently fuzzy - gravity just drops to zero. No planet has any gravitational influence on any other. There's some other force keeping them locked into their spherical orbitals, shifting around the center 'conglomeration' world of their system with a pattern our computers have not managed to identify. Each planet is somehow kept from running into any others while only a small amount of space is left between any one. As far as we can tell, it's not magic either, it's just a brute-force rule of this universe. The only thing in standard physics it mimics is the spherical orbitals of an electron around an atomic nucleus." "A quantum reality?" a human scientist asked. Lapis Vee shrugged. "Sort of? They don't seem to move from their orbitals, but there's also not a large uncertainty with where they are at any given time. Honestly, something for people to think about when we've stabilized ourselves. Regardless, each one of these conglomeration worlds forms a system with all its orbitals. These systems in turn can start forming orbitals around each other, creating a metasystem. And the metasystem can form with other metasystems... you get the picture." "Well it is right there on the screen," O'Neill observed. Lapis Vee rolled her eyes. "There's a bit more. Within a system, all planets, including the conglomeration, share an atmosphere. You could go outside the Austraeoh and breathe in oxygen right now." "...What?" Minna said, blinking. "You heard me. There's air out there. It has that strange 'invisibility' effect a lot of universes have that allows people to breathe in space but still see for extreme distances. We're still trying to determine which of the many mechanisms to accomplish this the universe uses. Regardless, the collective atmosphere is the reason our ships have been sluggish and not moving properly. We're dealing with air resistance. Our computers were just too broken to figure that out." O'Neill tapped his fingers on the table. "Anything else about our crazy universe?" "A couple things. In between systems, the magic aether of this universe is significantly stronger. It's so strong there it creates a 'normalization' effect that tries to keep everything within it consistent. You could launch yourself through it with nothing but some oxygen and make it out the other side." "So, basically, spaceships aren't needed?" the robot asked. "They're more convenient?" Lapis Vee suggested. "It's not like it's hard to fly through the gaps between planets, there are usually only a few miles wide. It's FTL that's the problem." O'Neill raised an eyebrow. "No FTL works in this universe. None at all. We're lucky everything is so closely packed together - otherwise we'd take years to get from system to system. As of now we could probably get to a million worlds in a couple hours at our ten-c thrusters." "Say goodbye to time shenanigans," a scientist commented. Lapis Vee switched to the next slide, showing a large-scale rendition of the universe. "As you can see here, we've started mapping the arrangements of planets and their relative locations. From this, we have determined something - the universe has a central planet somewhere outside our current field of view, blocked by the dense sea of planets. But based on these observations, it's close enough that we could probably get to it in two weeks, assuming we didn't make any stops." "Sounds like a goal to make our way toward," O'Neill said. "Clandestine, prepare routes to the center." "Yessir." Lapis Vee continued. "We've also figured out a bit more about the magic of this world. It still exists, and is actually very powerful, but there are a few issues. For one, the multiverse doesn't exist, so our natural knowledge of 'how to cast spells' doesn't translate. We're going to have to learn everything again. Artifacts and ambient magic like my gemstone's projection still work. However, there's a finite amount of magic in any given location. While it does replenish over time, heavy use of it temporarily drains the area and makes it mundane. This is why our computers are having such trouble accessing magical components and processors. With all the damage we've received we simply aren't able to cope with things suddenly shutting off unexpectedly. I'm lucky my gemstone isn't too much of a drain on the aether." "How do we learn?" Minna asked. Lapis Vee shrugged. "I... I don't know? I hear some of the unicorns can get magic sparks from their horns, but I haven't been able to summon my weapon and I haven't seen a spell cast by anything that isn't a pre-enchanted machine since we arrived. The spectral rod coding isn't even working. The first person who figures it out will have to tell everyone else or we'll just have to wait until we can get a full blown research project on the artifacts that are working. Not all the spells are apparently viable in the new universe's physics." "Anyone who can use magic, work on doing the simplest of spells," O'Neill ordered. "Try everything that isn't, say, ritual sacrifice or something equally questionable. We'll be moving to the center where others will likely be headed the moment they figure this out. We will pick up everyone we can along the way to create a communication network, find out who's survived and from what worlds and where. And above all, we're not starting another war. Have I driven that point home enough? No. More. War." Everyone nodded vigorously. O'Neill smiled. "Lapis Vee, continue compiling more information. Everyone else, dismissed." ~~~ Lightning's little ship had been a Void-built craft at one point in its life. It had the signature curved exterior, power crystals, and almost fantastical aura. Outside were several add-ons slapped onto the hull that mitigated this aura somewhat, but made the ship significantly more menacing in appearance. It was also red. "Stole this from my home after I joined the Collection," she had told them. "Me and the Crimson Blitz have been through a lot. I never take her into combat, but she's never far from me either. Just one whistle and she's there. It was more than a little lucky that she ended up close enough to me." They were currently flying through the dense aether-space between different systems, the flashing form of Lord English's sarcophagus a distant point on the main viewscreen. The interior of the ship was much smoother and natural than the exterior, though the holographic display wasn't working so Lightning had to use the physical consoles. Sherlock was rather proud that he now had a much better idea of what all the buttons in the ship might do. He could identify weapon systems, thrusters, and database access easily. "How times have changed..." "Hmm?" Strange muttered. "Oh, nothing, just some nostalgia." He rubbed his hands together and walked toward the main viewscreen, examining the dot that was Lord English. "He can likely sense us, so either he doesn't care or isn't looking. The former seems more likely, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was arrogant enough to never check his blind spots." "Do we know where he's headed yet?" Strange asked. "The center," Sherlock and Lightning said at the same time. Lightning turned to him, baffled. Then she remembered who he was and her bafflement vanished. "How'd you deduce that?" "The mathematical patterns of the planets around us are visible to the naked eye," Sherlock said, pointing out the window. "We can see over there a cluster in a triple-orbital structure. The overall curvature of the planet wall suggests an even higher meta-orbital, one that we are going into. Directly in to, in fact. And I'd even venture to guess the pattern is rather pleasing to the eye." A 'nearby' system made of star conglomerations made sure it was. The light reflected off a swirling orb of planets, each one in the closest system made of a different color of crystal. The light from the stars were creating numerous rainbow effects across space, a few of the colors landing on other planets in distant systems, giving them something no doubt awe-inspiring. "Anything else you've deduced that might be helpful?" Lightning asked, raising her eyebrow. "The nature of magic. English had trouble activating his powers, but after a bit of effort he was able to use them as before. Maybe he can just alter reality, but if he could do that he would be going a lot faster. So I say that magic is around and is still accessible to anyone - he just figured it out first. You and Strange will still have access to those fancy spells of yours." "And how would we access those?" Strange asked. Sherlock smirked. "Not a clue. English just looked like he focused, but no small part of him is ka-based. Who knows what that can turn a small amount of effort into? No, you'll probably have to do something else. And do hurry up with it; we don't have an eternity to stop him. He will get to the center soon and by then I doubt we'll be able to do much of anything in the way of actually stopping him. So chop chop, the fate of the universe depends on you unlocking your magic potential!" They stared at him. "No pressure." The screen behind him lit up in a flash of vibrant light. Sherlock whirled around quickly. "What in the..." "He just destroyed a planet," Strange observed, grimacing. "It wasn't even in his way." "Of course he'd destroy whatever he wanted to along the way, he's Lord English," Lightning muttered, putting a hand to her forehead. "Our job just got more complicated. We've got to try to protect the people on the way to the center..." "Is there any chance we can loop in front of him?" Sherlock asked. Lightning nodded. "If we want to keep a safe distance it'll take a few days, but it can be done." She pressed a few buttons. "We won't be able to do anything during that time, though." "...Motivation..." Sherlock mused. "What a monster." "...The aspect of motivation or English?" Strange asked. "Does it matter which?" ~~~ "AND TO SUMMARIZE!" Starbeat shouted in Caliborn's face. "THE WORLDS ARE SMASHED INTO ONE, MAGIC IS BORKED, AND WE SHOULD PROBABLY FORM A GROUP TO TAKE ON THE NEW WORLD!" Caliborn looked at her with a blank expression. "So you're saying everything's fucked." "That's it, I can't do this, I can't talk to him," Starbeat muttered, pacing around Caliborn's messy messy room. "Impossible!" "Let me try," Trixie said, clearing her throat. "Ahem. You, snotling. Yes I'm fucking talking to you, listen up!" "SNOTLING?" Caliborn shouted. "I'll have you kn-" Trixie shoved a hoof over his mouth. "Shut it, I don't have any time for your immature, maniacal antics, and even if I did, I don't give a shit. So listen here. You are the first person we've seen on our little trek across that piss-colored road, so you're stuck with us. This also means we're stuck with you. It's just as hellish for us. Luckily, we 'bitches', as you're so fond of calling us, aren't a bunch of short-sighted self-important assholes! We came here extending the olive branch, and while you've decided that's worth about as much to you as a toothpick we're still here, talking to you, trying to explain the simplest of concepts to that walnut of a brain of yours! So yes, as you put it, everything's fucked. But it's fucked in a very particular way that doesn't get solved by shooting everything you see!" Caliborn blinked slowly. "You're quite the feisty bi-" Trixie put a hoof to his neck and pushed him into a wall. "Test me much more and we see how feisty I can be." Caliborn realized she had positioned herself to where he couldn't use his gun to shoot her. He didn't have enough power to force her off of him, and he really didn't want to have the first test of his immortality come from the hoof of a fucking bitch. "Fuck you," he said. "Glad we've come to an understanding," Trixie said with a smirk, releasing him. She dusted off her hoof and turned back to the others. Gamzee and Starbeat were staring at her slackjawed. "What? I deal with people like him all the time." She rolled her eyes. "Duuude, that was motherfuckin' crazy!" Gamzee laughed. "He had to shoot me down several times before we got to the bond we have now." "Yes, I see, god-tier, living troll..." Starbeat blinked. "...Wait, wasn't that just Aradia and..." She paused, saying the next name with distaste. "Vriska?" Gamzee chuckled. "The authenticity of my god-tier self is a bit motherfuckin' uncertain, see." "Ah, so Homestuck." "Homestuck." "You mean Homosuck!" Caliborn declared. Starbeat stared at him. "No. No I most definitely do not." "It's the latest i-" "I said no and I mean no." Caliborn pointed the golden gun to her neck. "You don't get to talk to me like that, bitch." Trixie pressed a hoof to his neck. "Does the snotling want another date with the wall? That can be arranged." "Wow, we all hate each other," Gamzee observed. "Sweet." Starbeat twitched. "Why did it have to be trolls...?" She shook her head. "Nevermind, let's get out of here." "Yes! Lets!" Caliborn said, grinning maniacally. "This New World shall be mine!" "Ours," Trixie corrected. "MINE!" Caliborn insisted. "OURS!" "MINE!" "MINE!" "Ha, I win!" "No, I said it, that means it's mine," Trixie asserted. "That's fucking stupid." "Ever heard about hypocrisy? Wait, who am I kidding, you're well acquainted with the subject." "I'm well acquainted in every subject! I'm the Lord of Time!" "I haven't seen you do any Time Shenanigans!" Starbeat ignored their continued arguments and turned to Gamzee. "...Is this normal?" "Usually it's just online," Gamzee admitted. "I can't last this long against him. It's good for him." "...Sure." "We should probably go outside and wait for them." So they did. Soon Starbeat and Gamzee were sitting on a bench, looking out across the yellow brick road. "I think I figured out who you are," Starbeat said, looking up at him. "Gamzee Makara... Bard of Rage... You're the one who killed everyone." "Aw, man, I don't do that no more," Gamzee said shaking his head. "Purple blood does things to your head if you let it. The Rage is real." Starbeat nodded. "I won't hold it against you. She did, and right now that's good enough reason to trust you." "Oh, did you find Terezi?" "I mean, I know who she is. ...But no, it wasn't her. I don't want to talk about it." "Ay, I won't pry. I'll just motherfuckin' listen if you need it." He stretched his arms out. "The world will be ours." Starbeat shook her head. "The world's so much of a mess, nobody can have it." "Then we could change that," Gamzee said, smile widening much larger than it should have. "The world's our motherfuckin' oyster..." A slight purple aura flashed in Starbeat's eye. "Yeah... Yeah it is." She stood up tall. "We can make this world what we want. It doesn't matter who made it - it doesn't have to be the end!" She smirked. "And the other side... They know what they did. They know what they did." Gamzee put a hand on Starbeat's shoulder. "Good to hear that." It was at this point Trixie and Caliborn came rolling out the front door, both bruised and battered, but otherwise none the worse for wear. Caliborn hefted his gun. "There's a mountain over there with a dragon statue in it. That's where we're going." He started walking. Trixie grunted. "This guy... His level of stupidity is just..." She shook her head. "Absolutely ridiculous?" Starbeat offered. "Yeah. Definitely." "He could still be useful. A force of angry, stupid rage. You've shown he can be corralled and directed. That would go a long way for this New World." Trixie blinked. "What do you mean?" "She means we're gonna motherfuckin' change the world," Gamzee said with a chuckle. "I mean, assumin' Cal doesn't get us horribly lost." "Then our plans are doomed. Doomed I say!" Trixie echoed. Then she sighed. "...We need to look for capture device storage areas as well." "Hm? Why?" "One of them has Discord in it." Starbeat smiled warmly at her. "...Ka will lead you to him again, one way or another." She tapped her goggles. "I'm almost certain of it." "Thanks." "ARE YOU SHITHEADS COMING OR NOT!?" Caliborn shouted back. "WE'LL COME WHEN WE'RE GOOD AND READY!" Trixie responded. "I'M NOT WAITING FOR YOU FUCKS!" "WE'RE NOT LEAVING UNTIL WE WANT TO!" Caliborn let out an angry inhuman screech and continued his march. "...I am going to get so sick of this before it's over," Starbeat muttered.
Songs of the Spheres	133 - Emissary of Ka	It had not taken Eve very long to figure out that the atmosphere extended beyond the planet. They had easily been able to fly to the edge of the system where the atmosphere actually dropped off, giving way to the thick aether - though it had taken several hours to fly the distance. Eve didn't know exactly how many. "...We just need air to get through this," Eve said. "With a few hours of work I could get an air bubble spell working. Or we could find some scuba tanks. ...It's like this universe wants travel to be easy." Corona nodded slowly, yawning. "...Or we could find a place to sleep before heading out," Eve said, rubbing the back of her head. "That would work too." "Hmm? Oh, we could keep going." "RS, how long has it been since we arrived?" Eve grunted. The Device beeped. "Eighteen hours." "...Geez, we've been awake that long?" Corona asked. "Longer. That's just since we arrived. You were fighting heavily before you came here. It is surprising you haven't keeled over and passed out." Corona stretched an arm and a wing. "...I do feel exhausted. I just..." "You just kept pushing yourself because you felt like you needed to," Eve snapped. "Let's just go to the surface of this planet and call it a day. I'm sure we can find a nice grassy pasture or something to lie in at a warmer latitude. ...Assuming latitudes can still be considered 'warmer' or 'colder' here." She flapped her wings, using her magic to direct them toward the nearest planet. It didn't take long for them to hit the point where zero gravity flipped and became full gravity, forcing them to slow down so they didn't burn up like meteorites. A few minutes later, they safely landed in a grassy pasture next to a forest. It couldn't be said that it was day or night - just a strange, eternal form of twilight lit by somewhat not-too-distant stars. Eve tapped into the Element of Magic and tried to summon a blanket from the aether. This task was a bit too complex - all she got was some strands of fabric that fell to the ground. "Guess we're sleeping in the open." "It's not like it's cold or anything," Corona observed, flopping onto the grass. She sat up, took off her dress, and folded it up to form a pillow shape. "Want my nightshirt?" Eve shook her head. "I'll sleep sitting." "...I haven't been able to do that for years." Eve didn't respond. She patted the ground with her hooves and lowered herself to it. She closed her eyes and wished for sleep to overtake her. Discovering that it wasn't happening, she let out a disgruntled sigh. She lit her horn, trying a simple sleep spell. It was simple enough and she began to drift off. She didn't bother to cast one on Corona. The next thing she knew, she was opening her eyes to see a yellow mare looking at her. A yellow halo mare, one of the more exotic tribes of Lai. "Oh, I guess I woke you. Sorry." "No... problem..." Eve said, rubbing her eyes. She looked to her left. Corona was there, slowly waking up to the sound of voices. Eve wondered how long it had taken her to fall asleep. ...Probably not long enough. "I'm Eve." "I know who you are," the mare said. "I'm Banana Bunch. ...Do you know where you are?" "...Should I?" Banana nodded. "You're on Lai." Corona was suddenly fully awake. "Lai? Lai of Merodi Universalis? Toph's kingdom?" Banana nodded again. "Yes... Corona. You are." "How... How close are we to the capital?" "It's just over that hill," Banana said, pointing. Corona ran to the hill and held a hand up to her eyes. Sure enough, there it was - the capital of Lai. A Merodi city built on top of the burnt crater of war. The solid earth palace was easy to pick out and identify among the mixed construction of a Merodi city. "No way..." "...Ka, it's always ka," Eve said, shaking her head. "...I'm going to see Toph," Corona said, putting her barrier jacket back on, dusting the dirt off it. "Do you think that's a good idea?" "No," Corona said, walking into the city anyway. Eve looked to Banana and shook her head. "Thanks for telling us." "...Not sure you should be thanking me." "Well then, thanks for not attacking us on sight." "...Sure." ~~~ Roland unloaded all six bullets into the Crimson King's face. The power of the great weapon made the Crimson King recoil - but he didn't even cry out in pain. "You still think you can do something? No... No you don't, you know your bullets are meaningless. You just can't let yourself do nothing..." Nanoha, Aradia, and Jenny took up fighting stances, even though only Nanoha had an actual weapon - and even then, it wasn't anything more than a blunt instrument without magic. The Crimson King outright ignored them. He lowered a hand to Roland. Roland had already reloaded and fired a bullet right into one of his bony fingers, cutting right through a fingernail. A thick, pulsating shadow-red substance wafted from the hole in the digit. The Crimson King let out a grunt and opened his palm, ready to vaporize Roland. Instead of a powerful spell of death, only a single spark of darkness came out, fizzling to nothing before it even hit the ground. Renee cleared her throat and made herself known. "Problem?" The Crimson King ignored her. He walked to the double doors of the Dark Tower, examining them. He ran one of his pointed nails down the crack in the ancient structure. "What are you doing...?" "Just another side to the story," Renee said. Again, the Crimson King paid her no mind. He reached his hand for the doors of the Dark Tower and tried to open them. The double doors didn't budge. "Oh, how sad," Renee mocked. "You can't go in. How... surprising." The Crimson King finally bothered to look directly at her. "What is the meaning of this?" "Cliche." Renee chuckled. "The poor, poor monster doesn't have any clue what's wrong. 'The Tower should open to me; I've already proven myself! I've already shown my control!' Darling, what makes you think the rules are still the same?" The Crimson King remained silent, thinking deeply. "Now, think, what might you need to get into the Dark Tower? Perhaps an essence of the Tower itself?" "You insult me." "That's kind of the whole point." She began to trot through the roses, circling the King's gargantuan form. "You aren't just going to get to waltz into the Tower and start where you left off. Just like every other character in these breezes of ka, you will need to struggle, fight, and grow. You're not free and you never have been." "You are no simple equine," the Crimson King observed. "What sort of being are you?" "Well, seeing as you've just figured out how to use your quasi-eldritch nature to force the magic of this realm to your will, why don't you try to find out?" The Crimson King moved like lightning, his hand suddenly outstretched. A beam of shadow-red energy shot forth, taking the form of a claw ready to grab Renee. It hit her and a cloud of dust went up. When the dust cleared, Renee still stood, standing in the middle of a small crater completely unharmed. "You missed, dear." "...What in the name of Arthur Eld...?" Roland said, eyes wide. A gigantic eye of crimson with a violent, angled spiral in place of a pupil appeared in front of the Crimson King, looking at Renee with a gaze that could pierce the boundary between soul and mind, an eye that had overseen and demanded fear from the early multiverse, a representative of the Red of the Crimson King. It scrutinized her very being. "Like what you see?" Renee asked. The Crimson King attempted to destroy her again. The crater she was in deepened, but once again she was completely unharmed. "Oooh, try again, maybe third time's the charm! Maybe that'll let you see something. Come on, gi-" He shot again. "See, there's a problem I have. And that problem is that despite knowing every miniscule detail about what you're about to do, I'm still immensely disappointed when you're stupid. Why can't I get the disappointment over with ahead of time? It would save so much grief... But then again, I'm the cause of so much grief, so it's very poetic, and given what I am it's impossible not to be poetic." Nanoha put a hand to her mouth, trying to muffle a gasp. Renee cackled. "And the 'first!' comment goes to Nanoha Takamachi." She clapped her hooves together. "Well done, tell them all what you've figured out." "That's impossible... It doesn't have a voice! There's nothing up there!" "The Flowers fixed that," Renee said. "They did quite well if I do say so myself." "Nanoha! Stop being vague, explain!" Jenny shouted. Nanoha looked around and shook her head. "She... She is ka. She..." She glanced up at the Dark Tower. "...She's..." "I'm the Emissary of Ka, voice of the Dark Tower," she took her hat off and bowed mockingly. "Pleased to finally make your acquaintance after being your lives for so long." ~~~ The capital city of Lai was mostly empty - but as they approached the palace, they saw more and more people. By the time they had made it to the city square, there were enough people to convince them the area was actually inhabited. Eve was looking around at all the scared, angry, and sorrowful faces. She didn't even try to keep herself from crying, and neither did Corona. This did not stop the people of Lai from shooting Corona dirty, murderous looks. A few had it within them to shout "get the fuck out of our city!" to her. Eve had no doubt Corona would be attacked outright had she not been there. But she also knew Corona's presence was keeping her from getting a warm, understanding welcome. She's taking them from me. Eve shook her head, trying to focus on the moment. They had arrived at the front gates of the earthen palace. Two guards stood, barring their entry. "Cobalt, Nebulous, just let me in," Corona pleaded. "Just... just let me in." They didn't budge. "It's okay," Eve said. "She's with me." They still didn't move. Eve blinked. "I'm Evening Sparkle, Overhead of Relations. You may have reason to bar Corona's entry, but I am still your superior." "Merodi Universalis doesn't exist anymore, asshats." Corona and Eve turned around to see Terezi Pyrope, the blind troll. She adjusted her red glasses. "Terezi, come on," Eve said. "Just let us in to see Toph." "Oh, I'll take you to her alright." She snapped her fingers and the guards let them through the front doors. "Come on, this is going to be fucking great." She silently led them through the halls of deep, well furnished earth. Corona knew the palace normally felt empty, but it was even worse than usual. There were hardly any guards walking around and there were hardly any sounds of life. The eternal twilight lighting just added to the eerie nature of the experience. Terezi led them right to the throne room, violently kicking the doors open. Corona closed her eyes, preparing herself to see her old friend once again. She realized she couldn't prepare and simply looked up to the throne with a broken expression. Toph wasn't on the throne. All the throne held was the Master Sword embedded in it, standing upright as a marker for all to see. Corona knew exactly what it meant. Her legs gave out from under her and her wings drooped to the ground. A noise came out of her mouth that couldn't be identified as anything sensical. She held out a hand toward the sword, as if grasping for Toph, but her arm was too heavy. It fell to her side and she stood, staring dumbly at the weapon. "Yep, she's fucking gone. Poofed with all the rest." Terezi growled. "I hope you're fucking happy you won." Corona closed her eyes, trying to tune Terezi out. "No!" Terezi slapped her, knocking her over. "You don't get to do that! You know who else is gone? Ursula, dust. Overbeat, sparkles! Jason, Artha, Nure, Overbeat, Skarra, all the advisors! Oh, and STARCEI." Corona's only response was convulsing sobs. "STOP HIDING IN YOUR DEPRESSED SELF-PITY!" Terezi shouted, kicking Corona. "You did this! That sword is in the fucking stone, without a hero to use it, because of you! How many heroes have you destroyed? So many were gone here they had to choose me to lead! Me! I was fired!" She kicked again. "FUCKING ANSWER." "That's enough," Eve said. "It'll never be enough," Terezi said, pointing an accusing finger at Eve. "You're too fucking forgiving!" "The war's over, Terezi." "Who the fuck cares?" Terezi demanded. "She still caused the war. She has to pay for that." Eve didn't correct her. She shook her head, lifted Terezi in her telekinesis, and threw her into a wall to knock the wind out of her. Then she hefted the form of Corona onto her back. "We're leaving." She wasn't sure Corona heard her. She let out a tense breath of air and flew out a window into the sky, away from Lai. "And don't come back!" Terezi shouted at them. "You aren't welcome here! Neither of you!" ~~~ The Crimson King lashed out with a mixture of eldritch power and mechanical bullets that came from nowhere. Renee didn't even move, and still every single attack missed. "See, everyone, the Crimson King's mind is a simple one. He hears the words 'Dark Tower' and thinks 'Destroy, Control, Defeat, Swag'. For such a menacing, pure evil presence, he is rather simplistic, wouldn't you say?" The Crimson King grabbed her with his hand - except he didn't. She stood on top of his wrist in a dainty pirouette pose, spinning like a music box figurine. He lit his limb with black fire but Renee simply didn't allow the flames to register on her body. "Watch well, observe how the great evil falls to one of the easiest pitfalls of his kind: denial of a power higher than him." "You were mine! Your power was at my fingertips!" Renee let out a jovial laugh - and then she twisted a hoof and the Crimson King was on the ground, his shrouded face rammed right into the roses all around them. "You never had my power. Every single event right down to every one of your roonts' sneezes was carefully calculated and machinated by me. Your rise to power and near dominion over all worlds at the behest of your Red power was all precisely guided by the winds of my ka, forcing you into a position where I could create the Gunslinger's Paradox." The Tower's bricks shivered and the Crimson King was drawn to the structure like a nail to a supermagnet. "No one does anything without my knowledge." "You don't have a will!" the Crimson King shouted, pulling an arm off the Tower. "There is nothing at the top! You are a pure machine!" "What good is a will? Please enlighten me how it would be possible to discern free will from a lack thereof. I'd be very interested to see you try. Oh wait, you can't, because every definition of will any of you have ever known comes from me." She hit herself in the head with her hoof. "Tricky, that! Can't argue with the thing responsible for all your actions can you?" "Ka does not control every action!" Nanoha shouted. "Would you like to argue philosophy with the arbiter of reality and lack thereof?" Renee asked. "Who am I kidding, of course you do. You're the heroic archetype to a T." She smirked at Nanoha. "No, ka does not control every action. But I know every action. While all the rest of you talk of 'uncertainty' and 'probability', such concepts mean nothing to me. Everything goes exactly as it should every. Single. Time. I have never been surprised, High Sovereign. Never." Jenny chuckled. "Look at her, saying that like it's supposed to be terrifying." Renee made a snapping sound despite not having fingers. "The child understands." "Hey!" "Despite not being able to mentally cope with the dual nature of a compliment and insult, she still sees. You spend all your time fretting about wills, fate, souls and yet none of you ever bother to realize that your lives would be the same no matter what the answers to the questions are! Naturally, just like those terms, the fact that you fret about them is defined by me, so I should be blaming myself. But what can I say? It's a lot more interesting when you all squabble about these things and oh do I love to be entertained." "...And this is why people wanted to take you down," Aradia said. "They wanted freedom." "Did they?" Renee asked. "Or did I just make them want that? The answer, of course, is yes." She stood on her hind hooves and held out her front, spinning around. "You cannot hope to comprehend the full picture of everything. How I can be both the absolute source of every action and merely the framework on which it rides. Everything has multiple reasons, multiple meanings, and facets of depth that can never be plundered by any single mind. It's beyond you." "We're well aware of this at this point," Nanoha muttered. "Someone picked up on the thematic undertones of the war. Good job, I've made sure that you will find a cookie in a bizarre place sometime in the next week as a reward." She chuckled. Then she turned to the Crimson King. "You know the part you must play." "The true end of reality is that you fall and I take what remains." "I will tell you, right now, no lies or tricks or subterfuge, that you are not going to own the world after I am gone. You will not get the domain you wish. And you know this is true. But even with absolute certainty in your mind that you will fail, you will not stop. This is your flaw, and it will be your downfall as a villain." She released him from the walls of the Tower, allowing him to drop to the ground. "So go, run off, find your little precious artifact that will grant you access to me so you can take the Source for yourself. But you will never see the room at the top again." The Crimson King roared in rage, unleashing a torrent of deadly eldritch energy. "BARRIER!" Nanoha shouted, casting a magic shield around herself, Jenny, Aradia, and Roland. The eldritch energy ate at it, but somehow a spell cast by a woman who couldn't even create light a moment ago held fast. When the energy cleared the Crimson King was gone and Renee was shaking her head with a chuckle. "He's exempt from the no-eldritch rule and does that. Of all the things he could do, that's what he does. So simple." She looked over her shoulder. "By the way, you're welcome for the magic." Nanoha held Raising Heart tight, allowing the suddenly-reformed connection of magic wash over her. "...Why?" "Why? Why else would I do anything? It's more interesting if you live." She waved a hoof dismissively. "Now, gunslinger, what is it you wish to say?" "You already know," Roland commented. "Yes, but I prefer to talk to myself through different voices rather than monologue, so please, 'enlighten' me." Roland's frown deepened. "You have the answers I seek. You are the spirit of the Tower. So start answerin'." Renee beamed. "Gladly!" "SERIOUSLY!?" Jenny shouted. ~~~ Eve and Corona flew through the aether-space between systems, neither saying a word. Eve had spent about thirty minutes figuring out how to enchant the two of them with a 'breathing' enchantment. While the distances between systems were still large, it wasn't much larger than the distance between the Equis and the Moon, and with all the magic available they could travel at speeds much faster than a traditional rocket on little more than the Element of Magic's power. That said, it was still going to take at least a few hours, even with Eve continually increasing the power of her magic sailing as she became more comfortable with the aether around her. "Eve..." "Hm?" Eve said, looking to Corona to make sure she caught what was being said. "Was I wrong to try?" Eve stopped firing her magic boosters and froze her expression. "I knew it, I-" "I let you send the message," Eve said. "I agreed to let the multiverse decide." "Was that wrong?" Eve twitched. "What are you implying?" "I don't know," Corona said, distantly. "No one had the right to decide... Everyone couldn't agree... But just accepting the status quo is also wrong..." Eve took a deep breath. "Clearly, all you had were bad options. You chose one. I chose another." "So it was wrong. Everything was wrong. Rev was right, Renee was right. The world was just broken. And the whole point was to fix it. But now there isn't a point! The world isn't fixed, it's exactly the same, but worse!" "Why do you think the world would have been fixed if the Tower was gone!?" Eve shouted. Corona recoiled. "I... I uh..." "No matter what you did, people were going to die! Lots of people! More than did this time! Cities wouldn't survive and there would be no remnants of civilization whatsoever! Everything would have started from scratch!" For a moment, she bit back her words, drawing blood from her lip - but not even the pain was enough to stop her. "You don't get to suddenly feel regret about it now that it's happened! You can be as angry as you want that the Tower's still alive, but guess what, you wanted more death than this so you better buckle up and just accept it!" "If the Tower remains all those deaths are meaningless!" "Oh, really? I thought no death was without meaning." Hearing her own words come out of Eve's mouth stunned Corona into silence. Then she lost her startled look and replaced it with rage. "You know what I meant. Those deaths were all going toward a purpose. A deep, powerful, important purpose! Now they're all for a different purpose that wasn't what I intended! I don't just want to kill people for no reason Eve, the number isn't all that matters!" "You and I both know that you'd be in the same depressed funk if your collapse went the exact way you wanted it to! Because the world wouldn't be fixed, we'd just trade ka for whatever the hell freedom is! You've studied the default Earth timelines, you know what that looks like!" "It's better than this!" "IS it? IS IT? How can you be the judge of that? What does freedom even mean, really? Is it actually even a virtue? Does it exist, or would we just remove a law of physics and be determined by all the rest!?" "You and I both know there's more to this existence than simple physics! We're people!" "And as far as you know what makes us people is completely contingent on the Tower!" "Well maybe being a person is wrong!" "You're contradicting yourself!" "I'M ANGRY OF COURSE I'M CONTRADICTING MYSELF!" "Then why bother?" Eve spread her wings wide. "What's the whole point of trying to figure existence out if we can't? Huh? What's the point?" "Are you abandoning truth, Evening? Do you think there isn't any?" "I didn't s-" Corona pressed forward, pointing aggressively at her. "If there's no truth, do you know what that means? What's good and evil? Just a random collection of whatever everyone agrees on at any given time. I can tell you right now that's complete tar. Look at any world's history and tell me there was any sort of agreement. It's inconsistent! It changes!" "That's because of the Tower!" "And behold, another reason to take it out of the equation - so we can get off out of the inconsistency and find out what really matters. We're always guided to the morals and goals of some story. Evil people write just as many evil stories as good ones, Eve! Actually, you know what, people are just inherently evil and sadistic in general, of course there are more evil stories than good ones. And even the good ones are completely oblivious and have no clue what they're doing!" "People have an inherent goodness in them!" Corona glared at Eve. "Having been through the war, do you really think people actually listen to their conscience? Do you always listen to your conscience?" "I have not compromised on my principles." "You did once." "You backed me up." "Maybe that was a mistake." "Stop being so uncertain!" Eve shouted. "The world is uncertain! I'm trying to change that!" "You tried and you failed and now you live with the consequences!" "Why!?" "YOU DON'T GET TO KILL EVERYONE AND CHECK OUT, CORONA! YOU GET TO STAY HERE AND DEAL WITH IT!" "THAT'S THE TOWER TALKING!" "THAT'S ME TALKING!" "WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?" "SO THE TOWER'S TALKING TO ITSELF!?" "I DON'T KNOW!" "WELL I DON'T KNOW EITHER!" Eve let out a rage-filled scream, turned around, and flew away. She closed her eyes tight and didn't look back. She couldn't hear if Corona was shouting after her or not. She didn't care. ~~~ Roland spoke one word. "Why?" Renee smirked. "The best question." She waved a hoof around as if illustrating an invisible point. "Why? Why anything? Why not nothing? I can't answer the deepest version of the question - why the multiverse existed in the first place - but I can answer why this world exists, and why I exist. I exist because there was a need for meaning. The Builders and Gan had given up on there being a God or Path to Enlightenment... stuff was just there and existed. As you know, they decided to create their own meaning. They felt something from reading stories, legends, both theirs and others. The soul - if such a thing could be said to exist before I came along - deeply wants some kind of meaning in life. It must serve something. There has not been a person who has ever lived who hasn't had some sort of ideal they hold. Even those creatures I created to be purely emotionless had to make a choice: do they live? Or do they die? Is life better than death? Logic doesn't get you anywhere on that question if you have nothing inside the cranial cavity. "So the why is because people wanted some sort of definable meaning. Or, well, some people did. The rest of the multiverse was perfectly happy with their Weavings and their religions, but Gan and the Builders had had enough. They had the power, the numbers... And there was no ka to create a hero to stop them. They became so absorbed in their work they failed to realize what kind of story they were part of." Renee shrugged. "Of course, that story isn't really a story, it's history, and has no bearing on what happened after. I was created to give reality meaning through the average of all stories in reality. So I did. I created heroes, villains, grand scoping adventures, and a multiverse that connected all possibilities together. Keep in mind that I don't have a will, I just do what I was programmed to do - define the multiverse in terms of stories. This form you are talking to now is technically just an Emissary. A personality dreamed up through ka to answer the question 'what sort of mind would create this multiverse'?" "Outrageously evil and absurdly crazy?" Jenny asked. "What did you expect?" Renee asked with a roll of her eye. "To create a personality willing to do all the things I do, you have to be willing to remove just about all the moral fiber present in anyone and replace it with a love of being entertained. So naturally I'm sadistic, easily amused, petty, antagonizing, very creative, and am devoted to the ideal of the story. Seriously, how could I kill millions upon billions of people every second through time travel alone for the sake of furthering one hero's motivation if I wasn't completely sadistic and off my rocker? "Of course, you can take refuge in the fact that this personality is completely fake, no 'soul' or will behind it at all, just a pure manifestation of ka brought about through Flower shenanigans and a special white unicorn. My actual mechanisms remain completely impassive and computational, even though they still factor me in as a character. Such a shame you have a hard time realizing how I can both be the Tower and be separate from it, but you'll figure it out eventually one night when you can't sleep." "...Lovely," Jenny muttered. "But that's all a tangent," Renee continued, starting to move in a circular pattern through the roses. "The question is still 'why?' And there's certainly more to it than some lost civilization's shaky definition of meaning. For Roland specifically, the 'why' was so I would be protected from all interference until the moment I decided it was required. Yes, I could have just created the self-defense protocol by bestowing a man the power of retcon and trapping him in a loop, but why would I do that? It's boring. So I grabbed the Crimson King, Roland, and the early multiverse and created it. The Prophet Stephen King had the best story to use for that. So that's why, Roland. You were trapped so the story, my story, could play out for as long as it needed to in the most interesting way possible. Your story would go on to define the rules of existence for all the others. You are, in many ways, the hero of all worlds. Appropriately, you are rather gruff, have difficulty forming connections with others, and are single-mindedly focused on your goal to get to me. How does it feel to finally be face to face with the force of your life?" "Nothing spectacular," he answered. "Good man," Renee praised. "As for the larger 'why,' as in, why the war, why set up a collapse, why guide the history of the entire multiverse toward this one point? Well, that's very, very simple, dears." She folded her hooves and smiled. "No story is complete without an ending. So there must be an ending for all stories." She held up a hoof. "This is it." "And it had to be this way?" Nanoha asked. "No. Also yes. See, there's a paradox here, so let's take this slowly. I have known since my creation the exact positions of every single quantum particle in every universe that has existed in every timeline and retcon all the way until the moment of my death. For me, time simply doesn't exist. Even in this universe where time travel is flat out impossible, because of my nature I can reach into any time and drop any object from anywhere. For example, roughly a day from today Corona and Eve will be arguing intensely about the nature of existence and me. One of them will mention the idea that I, the Dark Tower, talk to myself through their argument. According to the narrative of the chapter this has already happened, but according to the time of this universe - that cannot be mutated - it won't happen for a significant amount of time. I know everything up to the moment of my true demise, and I can extrapolate a fair way beyond that, just like how I know the history of Gan and the Builders without having complete dominion over everything in that section of existence. You can't measure my 'life' in time. You can't measure my 'life' at all. "And yet, despite this complete and utter foreknowledge, you did still have a choice in how the war turned out. It was predestined long, long, long before any of you were ever born, but the decision to cause the collapse was made through the averaging of everyone who had ever existed and would ever exist. The shape of existence is self-recursive - my protocols created it and shaped it, but those protocols were also determined by what was shaped. You all decided this was what needed to happen." "That's not right!" Nanoha shouted. "The majority of people voted for a preservation!" "Oh, you're right there, if you ask them directly that's what they say." She grinned malevolently. "But if you ask them what would make a better story?" Nanoha paled. "Regardless of what you think philosophically, an endless multiverse that goes on forever and will, eventually, be converted into a True Infinity... It's not very satisfying. There can't be an ending there, everything will just go on and on. Sure, any particular story can have a satisfying ending, but the multiverse as a whole?" She shook her head. "The reign of ka had to end, because that is its nature. I am self-defeating. "And why did it have to be a war? Why did the multiverse have to end?" Renee shrugged. "It was interesting and it amused me. In a more complex sense, there had to be a war, since a war is more interesting than peace talks and provides a lot more room for interpersonal drama and strain. I couldn't be destroyed at the time of Collapse, since that would leave so many loose ends unresolved, so I had to perpetuate myself for a little longer - and the Flowers were the perfect way to do that. They've always treated me as some sort of religious figure, even if they deny it to everyone who asks. I gave one of them a card that came with the idea that they could create a messiah that would perpetuate the true 'will of the Tower' through some unicorn that was destined to die through previous foreshadowing. Because I was the Emissary of Ka and the Tower, I was able to use their little card to force the result I needed. A little twist right at the end. "And why this now? Why let the Crimson King out? Why are some of you alive and others not?" Renee smirked. "The story's not over yet, this is only chapter 133. We've got to get to 157 before I go through the checkout and let you do whatever you want to this New World. By the way, you're so going to mess it up, but in a way that's kind of beautiful. And who knows? You could be surprising. It's not like I can be certain of anything outside of me." There was silence. "I'm done. You can respond now." Nanoha put a hand behind her head. "...That's a lot to take in." "What do we do now?" Jenny asked. Renee produced a sunbathing chair from nowhere and put on a pair of sunglasses. "That's up to you." "We are still the source of our own ka," Roland said, putting away his gun. "We have to take ownership of it and make our own plans." He turned to Nanoha. "Madam Takamachi, the Crimson King, even if he is fated to fall, will still do unspeakable evils the longer he lives. We cannot allow him to run free." Nanoha nodded. "I wholeheartedly agree, Roland of Gilead. But what can we do?" No answer was forthcoming. ~~~ Corona landed on a volcanic world. It shouldn't have had a breathable atmosphere, but Eve's breathing spell hadn't dissipated yet. As she set down, she could feel the heat of the world on her skin. She didn't land next to any lava flows, and yet the cracked brown earth was shimmering with heat waves. The world was dark, currently deep in the shadow of a large gas giant that blocked virtually all incoming light. The only light came from the planet itself - the distant molten rock. "We should find somewhere we can breathe, the spell won't last forever," Raging Sights pointed out. Corona ignored her device. She folded her wings to her back and started walking. She had her sights set on a nearby mountain with a conveniently small slope. It wouldn't be much of a climb at all. Refusing to unfold her wings, she took to the mountain, hoisting herself over the porous igneous rocks that made up the world. Every now and then she would scrape one of her arms or legs, prompting a small amount of her golden life-giving blood to pour out onto the dark ground. As time went on, her natural glow became brighter and brighter as more of her was exposed to the elements. She became a shining beacon amongst the darkness of the planet. "Master, where are we going?" Corona didn't respond, she just kept climbing, ignoring the scrapes and cuts. They were nothing to her. She'd been stabbed through the stomach and had so many broken bones over the years these scrapes were almost impossible to feel. Even if she couldn't heal them. Why would she even want to heal them, considering? She pulled herself higher and higher, ignoring the sweat collecting all over her body from the heat. She had gloves, her grip wasn't loosening. Her blood mixed with the salty sweat and created a luminescent trail that led up the mountain, a map to her goal. Eventually - she didn't care to keep track of how long it took - she neared the top of the mountain. From there, she could already sense the heat increasing and see the area getting brighter. Raging Sights figured out what she was doing. "Corona, don't do this. I-" "Raging Sights, enter standby mode," Corona ordered, robotically. "...Entering s- kkkkkkkk Error recursive - entering st- kkkkk Error..." It was trying to disobey the order. Corona had no idea if the Device could do that, but she didn't want to find out. She removed both her gloves and set them on the ground. Then she removed her barrier jacket and wrapped the gloves in it. She took off her shades. Red, pointed, and the perfect shape for her face. In the low light, they reflected her glowing face back at her perfectly. The deep sad eyes, the torn skin, her simple nightshirt. She put the shades back on. They were hers, part of her face. Removing them wouldn't be true to her. She didn't know why she cared about that at this juncture. She decided it wasn't worth thinking about. She pulled back the bundle of cloth and threw it. "Corona no-" Raging Sights was soon out of earshot, rolling down the mountain. Corona turned back to the mountain. In nothing but boots, a nightshirt, and shades she climbed the rest of the way. Without gloves it was significantly more difficult, but it only took a couple of minutes. The top of the mountain was an open hole that went deep into the planet. Even before she looked down, she could see the glow of the lava far, far below, curdling and bubbling as if it were alive. And in many ways, it was - it was the source of a planet's life. One day, this volcanic world might support oceans and a healthy atmosphere, all helped along by the churning, violent interior. She held out her hands. One of them had a pretty large gash across it, dripping copious amounts of golden blood. Eternity coursed through her veins. The gift of immortality to any she gave it to. This was the first thought that gave her pause. What did it mean to give? What did it mean to take? What did she mean to existence? She looked up at the sky, dominated by the single dark gas giant. Almost featureless aside from a few sparks of lightning in the tumultuous clouds. It gave her no answers. Were there answers? Could there be answers? She shook her head, biting back tears. If there were, she couldn't find them. What she did know was that she was never supposed to have survived the collapse. The world was supposed to move on without her, forge a new way. One without the Tower, without Class 1 societies, without people like her telling them how to live their lives. She was just as bad as the Tower, in many ways. She took in a breath and closed her eyes - then shook her head. She wasn't going to do this blind. She forced them open, a powerful fury rising in her features. Her eyes appeared to burn with an inner fire. Her wings ruffled slightly before pressing themselves tight to her. She folded her hands behind her back and locked them overtop the wings to keep them from moving out of instinct. She looked down - and refused to blink. The fires of the planet's life beckoned to her. She took a step forward and tipped herself off the edge. She didn't flail, didn't scream - she kept her silent gaze intently focused on the inferno below. Her body began to feel the heat get too much to bear. In its biological desperation, it was able to tap into the magic of the world, to give her some resistance to the temperature. It wouldn't be able to do anything against the molten rock itself, so this didn't faze Corona. She felt the magic start to wear thin. Parts of her hair started to singe. This is it. Existence can move on. She clenched her jaw and dug her fingernails into the palm of her hands. It wouldn't be long now. "CORONA!" Corona felt a sharp jerk on her body that forced her stomach into her mouth. She lost all focus in an instant, the locking of her arms breaking apart and her wings spreading to their full size. With a sharp wail she flapped upward as a purple aura of telekinesis dragged her out of the volcanic tunnel. Eve tore her out of the tunnel and right into her fuzzy form. The two of them collided and painfully rolled down the mountain for a few seconds before coming to a rest. Eve ignored her scrapes and grabbed Corona by the face. "Corona! No! No don't do that! No! No!" Corona's tears fell like waterfalls. "I wasn't supposed to survive, Eve! That was what needed to happen! I could only make the New World if I didn't get to enjoy it! It couldn't be for me!" "It wasn't for you! You never did it for you!" "I can't! It's not mine! This is how things need to be, I'm nothing, I can't have this, I don't deserve it, I..." Eve's expression became determined despite her own tears. "Yes. You. Do." "No! Stop trying t-" "That's it, you don't get to talk anymore, it's my turn." She glared at her. "I'm peeved. I'm so livid that I have the shakes! I thought I could keep it in for your sake, but nope, so we're trying something else here." She lifted Corona up in her telekinesis. "I'm going to show you what you are and what you deserve, and you're not going to be able to deny it or run away from it." "I'm not going anyw-" Eve cast a sleep spell on her, removing any chance she had of resisting. ~~~ "...So, our enemy is the Crimson King," Nanoha said, finding it suddenly easy to use her magic and project a hologram with Raising Heart - to the jealousy of both Jenny and Aradia. She was currently projecting an image of the King. "We know that part of his essence existed before the Tower itself, and that he was the first being to 'threaten' the entire multiverse with his presence. He wanted to destroy the Beams of the Tower so he could remove its control of the world and bring in the darkness, or the Red, whatever term you want to use." She pointed Raising Heart at Roland. "He failed because of you. You and your 'ka-tet' stopped his abuse of the worlds and saved the Tower. Unfortunately, you were also lucky. He had to manifest as a physical man in your universe, leaving his true eldritch body in another realm. While he cannot fully manifest as eldritch in this New World, all of him is here, and that includes all his power. And from things Renee has said, I think he is the only one who can have any real eldritch power in this world. He's exempt from the rule. As soon as he figures it out..." "He's probably already figured it out," Jenny said. "Did you see how fast he got those basic spells down? And don't tell me that 'vanishing act' wasn't eldritch." Nanoha nodded slowly. "I doubt writing him out of reality or shooting him would work this time." "I agree," Roland said. "It is not the way of ka for a foe to be defeated the same way twice." "So how do we defeat him?" Aradia asked. "Sai, analysis?" Nanoha asked. Sai beeped. "We do not know where he is, we do not know where he is going. We know he will have to come back here. We need to prepare for that moment." "Prepare with what?" Jenny asked. "There isn't exactly anything here other than the Tower, and it's not just going to let us in! Are you?" From her distant sunbathing chair, Renee called back. "Nope! You're on your own!" She obnoxiously slurped a slushie. "The fields of Can'-Ka No Rey do not go on forever," Roland said, standing up. "There are parts of other worlds beyond. We could use them." "Where would we go?" Raising Heart beeped. Nanoha's eyes widened. "...There's a TSAB base nearby. One of the repositories of capture devices." Jenny blinked. "People from the other side? Geez, that sounds like a great idea." "We can put aside our differences to stop evil," Aradia said. "We did it with the Nihilists, we can do it with the Crimson King." Roland nodded. "Ka often chooses the least likely to become companions of a ka-tet, but the bonds formed will break down all barriers." "You're welcome!" Renee called. Jenny ground her teeth. "Are you sure we can't let the Crimson King destroy her? ...It? Whatever?" "We don't want there to be any chance he gains the Tower's power," Nanoha said, shaking her head. "And as much as I hate to admit it, having her around is beneficial for us. She is an avenue for information." Jenny sighed. "Fine, fine. Good point. Let's just go to this TSAB base already to see what and who we have to work with." Nanoha clasped her hands together. "I'll teleport us there... Instant travel is no longer possible given a new light-speed limit, but I have a laser-transmission spell. You shouldn't experience any time, but it might feel weird." "Weird ho-" A second later they had appeared on top of a large plateau made out of a mixture of purple and green sand. The purple sand moved as if it was alive. Jenny grabbed her heart. "Holy crap... It felt like I didn't have bones for a moment..." "You didn't have any substance, existing only as information in photons," Nanoha responded. "Anyway, here we are." She gestured forward with Raising Heart at the TSAB structure - it was a single building, about two stories tall, with two metallic spires coming out of the top. It was glowing a pristine blue, indicating it was fully operational. Nanoha walked up to the front door and placed her hand on a scanner. It accepted her identity and let them in. Nanoha and Roland went in first, both with weapons at the ready. Aradia went next, with Jenny at the rear. "I take it this is normal for you?" Jenny asked Roland. He nodded. "The allies with magic is new, but I remember moving through the technological caverns of a city run by a mad train." "Bad experiences with AI?" Nanoha asked. "You could say that. I'm carefully watching this Sai. The moment she seems to go crazy, she won't be around no more." "Good thing you got in the Tower when you did. She was breaking down." "Mhm..." They arrived at another door. Nanoha opened it with her clearance and stepped in. There was no one inside, but the room was well lit and displayed dozens of red and white capture devices. There should have been hundreds. Nanoha let out a sigh. "Capture devices were dusted..." "Not all of them. We can work with this," Aradia said with a smile. She reached to the ground, picking up the one ball that wasn't on a shelf. "Might as well start somewhere." She threw it. With a flash of light, a tall, white, vaguely equine form appeared. Roland blinked. "...I certainly wasn't expecting that." "ARCEUS?!" Jenny blurted, jaw dropping. "What are... What are you doing in a TSAB capture outpost!?" Arceus blinked. "I was captured?" "...Right, you wouldn't know." Aradia looked at a nearby console. "Someone had opened up the device scanning program. If I had to guess, a TSAB mage found his device on an opponent and wanted to know who was inside it. They didn't get to complete the scan." Nanoha smiled, extending a hand. "Welcome back, Arceus." He extended a leg, shaking her hand. "...Something's wrong. My powers are gone... Reality is off..." Nanoha's smile vanished. "...The collapse won, but not in the way they wanted. We'll explain later - right now, there's a real evil we need to stop, and we'll need everyone's help to do it." "If you say it is evil, I will believe you." "You were already on our side," Nanoha admitted, turning to the rest of the capture devices. "...The rest of these will all have been fighting for the collapse." Aradia smiled warmly. "So? We'll do what we can to turn them. If we can't, we can't. It's as simple as that." She picked up another capture device. "Let's see who's in this one..." ~~~ Corona came to in a familiar - but unexpected - place. The throne room of Lai's palace. "What in...?" She rubbed her head, standing up. She found she had her barrier jacket and gloves on again, and that her wounds had been healed. The tips of her hair were still burnt, though. "Ah, you're awake." Corona turned to see Eve sitting on the ground next to a bound and gagged Terezi. "Eve, why are we here?" Corona asked. "I'm going to make a point," Eve said. "And I'm going to be honest. I thought I was strong enough to ignore my emotions for your sake. Usually I can. This time... It was a mistake. I allowed myself to harbor resentment, grief, and hate without letting it out. And that only made every little bit of it worse." She smiled sadly. "Flutterfree told me that 'he who stands should take heed, lest he fall'. I fell. I fell because I thought I could stand. I couldn't. So here it is." Eve cleared her throat. "I hate what you've done. I hate that you were able to do it, I hate that you were able to go through with the collapse, and I hate the way you ruined everything. I hate myself for letting you send that message to the multiverse, and I hate myself for not being strong enough to stop you at all costs. I hate the Tower for all that it did to us and I hate whatever happened that ruined your pure collapse and just made things worse. I hate Terezi's inability to talk rationally about something and I hate to see you cry." Eve sniffed. "I hate a lot of things." "Eve..." "I'm not done!" Eve snapped. "We needed to get all of this out in the open earlier. I needed to get some shouting done and you needed to share the thoughts that were swirling around your head. I honestly have no idea if there was a way to do both at once without one of us being the worse for wear for it, but I do know what we did do was pretty dumb." She shook her head. "I think we got most of it out in the open already though. But we shouldn't have run away." Corona looked down, head sagging. "And now enough about me, let's talk about you." Eve stood up and walked closer to Corona. "You're messed up." Corona let out a pained laugh. "That's a nice way of putting it." "You're messed up in the head. You... You don't think you should have survived. You believe that you don't deserve this. You have regrets that you think are too much to surmount." "Eve... They are." Eve shook her head. "I started a war too, Corona. I also survived when I wasn't supposed to. ...I was able to recover from those things, even if they were wrong." "That's not much compared to what I've done." "Insulting," Eve muttered. "But technically right. There's a difference between you and me in that regard. I compromised my principles to do those things. You didn't. You could have tried to wish for the collapse right from the start, but you didn't - you gave people a chance. You did everything you could to keep the war death tolls to a minimum and keep civility despite what your allies were doing. You showed us courtesy even when it would have been beneficial for you to attack all out. You never lost who you were, Corona." "...Bu-" Eve ignored her. "You, Corona Sunset Shimmer, are a good person. A very good person. That's why you were the one allowed to ask the question. Because you were pure." "I'm far from pure, Eve." "And that's why we're here." Eve held out a wing and pointed at the throne behind Corona. "In that throne is embedded a sword. It is a magical artifact that knows only one thing: only those who are pure of heart are able to remove it from the stone." Eve narrowed her eyes. "Go pull it out." "What? No, I-" "Are you afraid it'll tell you that you are pure of heart?" Eve accused. "That it will say you do deserve this? That you are a hero?" "Eve, I..." "If you're right about yourself Corona, you won't be able to pull the sword out! So stop stalling and go pull it out!" Corona turned around quickly and laid her hands on the Master Sword's hilt - and paused. She could feel it inside her - the fear. A fear that the sword would actually come out. That it would mark her as pure. She wasn't pure. She knew she wasn't pure. She had screwed up in a situation where there were no right answers. She didn't deserve anything. The sword should reject her - she had done too much. But the sword, like Eve, wouldn't care about what she had done. It would care about who she was. She let out an enraged scream and pulled on the sword. For a split second it didn't budge, and her heart fluttered for a moment. But then it started glowing at the place the blade met the rock, slowly moving out like a shovel through clay. There was a sharp, painful grinding sound as the sword pulled out of the throne and pointed into the air, glowing with the brilliant blue of a reawakened magical artifact. "WHY!?" Corona shouted at the blade. "WHY!?" Power akin to a bolt of lighting shot from the blade into Corona. She let out a shrill, prolonged wail, continuing to hold the sword high as she bawled her eyes out. Her entire body lit on fire - but she wasn't burned. The Master Sword itself alit with blue flames, channeling Corona's power perfectly. A pulse of energy left her, sending the deep emotion within her scream to everyone within a mile's radius. They saw her discovery of the collapse. They saw her screaming and yelling with her friends about what to do. They saw her struggling on the staircase to the Wishing World. They saw her arguing with Merodi Universalis' Overheads for the collapse. They saw her fights, struggles, the worlds she had held in her fingertips. They saw her final fight with Eve, their argument, and the volcano. They also saw things hidden deeper in her past: her revelation as the Rogue of Doom, her decision to end Topeka, the worlds she had destroyed out of mercy within the Shaping Mechanism... They felt her pain. When it was over, Corona stood tall. Her face was sorrowful and broken - but her stance was strong. With her wings spread wide, she lit her horn and created a scabbard for the sword, adapting the barrier jacket easily. She held the Master Sword in her hands, stared at it for a moment, and then sheathed it. Eve tackle-hugged her, bawling. "Don't... Don't do that ever again. Don't... Just..." Corona pulled Eve close. "...I'm here to stay. Th-thank you." The two held each other and cried, no more words needing to be said. Terezi felt a tear fall down her cheek. She hung her head - no longer able to muster up hate for Corona, despite it all. ~~~ Elsewhere in the New World, the Sweetie Belle ship known as Swip sailed through a system composed entirely of planets made out of food. Sadly, only the donut world was actually shaped like the food item it was representing in question, everything else was just boring spheres. Except for the pop rock planet, but that was... inconsistent. It was spherical most often. The core planet was a mixture of normal earths and a few gas giants that created great storms throughout the system that tore food off the orbiting worlds and dropped them onto the center world. Some people were happy about the falling food. Others were getting crushed. Engineetie had transmitted plans to the various worlds about how to deal with the food crisis, but the Sweeties hadn't done much beyond that - they hadn't found any evidence of multiversal society in the food system at all. They simply didn't have the time, resources, or personnel to do anything. They were still enjoying the food despite themselves. Currently, Burgerbelle, White Nettle, and Onyx were in the mess hall of Swip's second deck, taking full advantage of the variety of delicious confectionaries. Well, Burgerbelle and Onyx were. White Nettle was looking at the pile of food with uncertainty. "Come on, take a bite!" Burgerbelle encouraged, holding a donut out to Nettle. "It's delicious." "I have found the act of eating disgusting ever since I came to occupy this body. I will only do it as a necessity and I will not eat anything that is likely to give my stomach trouble." Burgerbelle shook her head. "Geez, loosen up a little. You're not going to learn to like that new body if you never live with it. You don't see me refusing to eat because the food feels weird in my mouth." "You were able to eat before." "Shoving random items into your Flat face and making them disappear is not eating." "Seconded," Onyx declared, munching on some macaroni and cheese. "But you had a sensation of taste. I never did. I dislike it." Burgerbelle snickered. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the WHEEL of HYPOCRISY! Let's spin it around and see what flavor we have today?" Nettle groaned. "Please stop." Burgerbelle spun an imaginary wheel. "Woo, look at it go and - le gasp! We have a case of inconsistency! For all the change you tried to cause you can't take any yourself! Egad!" Nettle raised an eyebrow. "Are you done?" "Nope." Burgerbelle picked up a hamburger out of the pile of food. "Burger." She chowed down on it like a ravenous hyena. "Ah... Still the best food. Better with proper taste buds..." "And yet it still doesn't give you powers." Burgerbelle's smile faltered. "Yeah. I... I don't think we get to keep our powers. We were changed too much. Everyone else is starting to show signs of magic. Even Thrackerzod." "She's not getting any eldritch power," Onyx pointed out. "Just normal magic." "Still something," Burgerbelle said, leaning back. She pulled a pencil out of her pocket and stuck it in her mouth, chewing on the end to think. "You don't have anything to worry about, Nettle. You still have your experiences. That makes you valuable." "...All my memories are fuzzy and scattered in this new mind. They didn't translate well. Too much of a rush job." "Still, better than me. I'm just a kid now. Can't even meme properly without being cringey." Nettle raised an eyebrow. "How was it ever not cringey?" Burgerbelle chuckled. "Oh memes are always cringey. That's the point." "Then why were you complaining?" "Because it's soooo saaaad... Alexa, play Despacito." "NO," Swip declared. Burgerbelle snickered. "I've still got it... but it doesn't feel the same. I miss all the cars, the bradburgers, my impossible facial expressions, the text... And I bet you miss being able to see so much." "...I think I miss my old body," Nettle said. "I can't exactly remember what it was like. It's too complex for this brain." She shook her head. "I don't feel like... me anymore." "Hey, I can tell you one thing right now." Burgerbelle cleared her throat. "Even if you aren't what you used to be, you are someone now, and I like that someone. So come on, eat a maple bar with me." Nettle blinked slowly. Then she grabbed the maple bar and bit into it. She made a face. "Revolting..." "Progress!" "Ahem!" Mattie's voice came across the intercom. "This is your Mistress speaking, can all my fine ladies make it to the big room for a briefing?" "Stop talking like that," Swip interjected. They could hear Mattie chuckling. "Just come to the bridge, I've got some announcements. I won't use the whips for punctuation this time, I promise!" Burgerbelle looked at the giant pile of food. "...You know, I almost tried to eat all of this at once just to clean up. That would have been an epic fail." Nettle got up and dusted herself off. She didn't respond vocally - but she was smiling brightly. They left and headed to the bridge. Onyx sighed - once again, the food was just being left out. She wasn't cleaning it up this time. Nope. Definitely not. She started cleaning it up while swearing under her breath.
Songs of the Spheres	134 - We are but Dust	Roxy crouched behind a crate made of reddish wood; just in the nick of time to avoid being spotted by the acolytes in disgusting brown robes. She had a grimace on her face, an expression which had many causes. First of all, she was sneaking around a place without full access to her Void powers, which meant she could be spotted. Second, she was currently acting under orders from me to get anywhere. Third, she actually agreed with the plan, which made her even more distasteful of working for me. The camera is on us. I can hear you seething, I told her telepathically. Get out of my head. I am not in your head. I'm just reading how things are going. If it wasn't noteworthy to point out your anger I wouldn't know about it. Roxy grunted, chancing a look over the box, finding that the acolytes had passed. Well, since you're here, how's it look on your end? Monika and I are in position. Which is to say, we're trying not to shout at each other. Business as usual. ...And now she's shouting at me. Excuse me a moment... Roxy was glad to have me out of sight and out of mind. She took a quick look around. The hall she was in was covered in innumerable flags - all tattered, worn out, and spray-painted with an angular symbol representing ka, a K-A hybrid letter inside a circle. There were a few spirographs around as well, though those were less common. There were currently no acolytes in range, and the closest ones she heard were a fair distance away. She leaped out from behind her box, darting down the hall, careful to make sure her footsteps were muffled. It helped that she was wearing large socks, not shoes, which was admittedly a lot more comfortable. She ducked through a side portal to the acolytes' restrooms. As it turned out, these were just holes dug in the ground separated by wooden stall doors. She positioned herself at the highest point she could, using two legs and an arm to keep herself pinned. With her free hand, she focused; tapping into what little power she had recovered. Her weapon of choice appeared in her hand - a silenced rifle. She didn't need to aim - she just pointed it at a position in front of the hole and waited. The longer she remained, the more she felt like trying to pull her sword out of her Carnelian gemstone, but that would most definitely take more magic energy than her inventory. Eventually, some guy walked in. The moment he closed the stall door, he was dead from a bullet to the head. She quietly landed on the ground and took the guy's robe, putting it on herself, careful to pull the hood so far over her face only her mouth was visible. The pink-red tone of her Carnelian 'skin' was close enough to normal that it wouldn't arise suspicion unless someone managed to look closely. She kicked the body down the hole for disposal. Egh. I know he's dead, but geez even dead bodies don't deserve to be down there... She gently opened the stall door and walked out of the restrooms. She walked out in the open now, well aware that her ambient aura of Void would keep people from paying attention to her. How much of this was actually her power and how much of it was my mad scribbling she had no idea, and she frankly didn't care. After she had passed through a long hall, she entered the cult's main meeting room. Essentially, it was a cavernous space the size of a small cathedral. Admittedly, it looked more like the inside of a diseased sea cucumber than a cavern, but all the fleshy and mucus-like substances were really rocks with unusual texture. She mingled with hundreds of other acolytes, keeping her head down, listening to their conversation. Scarcely a second went by when she didn't hear the word 'ka' or 'Dark Tower' or 'the will'. This was exactly what she'd expected - what else could possibly come from a psychotic Dark Tower cult? Engraved in the ceiling was a spirograph interlaced with an image of a Flower, their symbol of ka within the spirograph's center. The engraving was glowing black, a color no doubt chosen because the Dark Tower was, well, dark. Then she saw the tributes - dozens of people were imprisoned in a large cage, all of whom were slated to be judged through a coin flip if ka wanted them to live within the New World, or if they must be purged. Idiots don't realize the dusting was the coin flip... We already know how stupid they are, I reminded her. Just confirm if there's anything that could obfuscate my sight. Roxy looked around, checking the entire space. I don't see the cult leader yet. He'll be out in two minutes if all goes as expected. Roxy contented herself with wandering around for two minutes, finding nothing out of the ordinary. ...Besides people talking about how they wanted ka to deem more people die than usual. The cult leader came out and everyone let out a chant. "The Tower's will is yours!" "My will is given to the Tower," the leader repeated. Roxy had no idea what his name was, and she didn't care. She did know he was a dwarf of some sort, given his stature and tremendous braided beard. "My brothers and sisters!" he announced. "I have great news! I have been blessed with knowledge from beyond our feeble understanding!" The crowd held its breath, gasping. "I have learned that, with the creation of the New World, the Dark Tower has been given a voice! We have been judged worthy to hear words directly from the Tower's own mind! The Emissary of Ka is here!" Roxy blinked. Uh... I think he's crazy, I said. Black Thirteen says nothing about such an Emissary. It doesn't show you everything. True. But really, how ridiculous would something like that be? The Dark Tower doesn't have a voice and never has. It's just a force. "You may ask how I have come to know this unbelievable truth! Well, rather than tell you, I'll show you. We have a very special guest here today..." He stood to the side, allowing his guest to take the stage instead of him. Roxy's mouth dropped open when she saw who it was. "Shit..." A Flower composed of dozens of orange bulbs affixed to a narrow stalk floated into the center. People of the Hannas Tower's Shadow, I come with great news. The final act of the Flowers - my race - has resulted in the birth of a being unlike any other. All the time we have lived in the dark, fumbling for answers, is gone... There's the thing messing with your sights, Roxy thought 'loudly.' My mental voice came to Roxy in bits and pieces. Renee... He's talking about Renee... How could I have... Get it together, we need a new plan. How about... wait, something's happening. The Flower continued spreading his message. ...and we will travel to the central world of Nucleon to meet this Emissary and let her bestow upon us great knowledge. The will of the Tower will be known a- "Excuse me, but this all seems a little unbelievable to me. I mean, seriously, an Emissary of ka? Does that even make sense?" The hundreds of faces in the room all turned to see Randall Flagg standing in the middle of the room, not even wearing one of the robes. He had one hand on his hip and another in the air, moving around as if illustrating a point. Roxy did a double take. Flagg!? How the hell did he get away and what the fuck is he doing in here!? I don't know, I responded quickly. ...Care to Elaborate? The Flower asked Flagg. Flagg smirked. "I thought you'd never ask." ~~~ "How long do we have?" Strange asked Sherlock. "About two minutes, I'd say. Less if he thinks there's something fishy going on." "Then we need to move!" Lightning shouted, tearing numerous capture devices off the shelves and throwing them into a large crate Strange was levitating. "Help me here!" "I am," Sherlock said, grabbing hold of a shelf and shaking it, making dozens of the balls fall into the crate. "Strange, you'll be glad to know these are mostly people of the preservation. Seeing as-" "I know a Void installation when I see one," Strange commented, using one hand on the box and the other to levitate capture devices into it. "Not many others are constructed out of pure crystal." Sherlock rolled his eyes. "One minute." Lighting tossed the last of the capture devices into the crate. "That's all of them. Strange?" Strange pressed his hands together and focused. He had been the first to uncover his magic a few days ago and had been advancing very quickly since then. He surrounded them in an arcane sphere and teleported them to the base's docking bay where the Crimson Blitz and a large Void carrier ship waited. Unlike Lightning's ship, the carrier was rounded and of a dull blue color. Strange ran into the carrier with all the capture devices while Lightning and Sherlock jumped into the Crimson Blitz. Lightning grabbed onto the controls of her ship and tapped into her magic. "Here goes nothing..." She pushed all the energy she had into the ship and it came out of the engines in a burst of lightning, blasting out of the Void's base. Sherlock pressed a button, activating a tether that affixed itself to the carrier that was only half working and needed a boost. Naturally the sharp jerk the carrier experienced broke the box open and spilled the capture devices everywhere, opening up a couple of them. The most notable occupant was Discord himself. Despite the shaking and trembling, he stretched his arms and yawned. "Ah, what a nice nap." He looked at Strange. "So, what happened?" "We lost, busy trying to escape the planet-destruction laser of Lord English." "Oh. Well I can help with that..." He snapped his fingers - and nothing happened. "...Again?" Strange wasn't doing anything, so he put a hand on Discord's shoulder. "I'm going to use my magic to awaken yours. It's going to hurt a lot." "What do y- AAAAAAAUUUGHHHH!" Discord grabbed the part of his body where his heart should be and started writing on the ground, his physical form becoming more amorphous. "Like, what did you do to him?" a freed unicorn, Insipid, asked. "A rush job," Strange commented, glancing at the feed of the planet they were leaving. "He needs to get over the pain quickly or I don't think we're getting out of this..." "Out of what?" Strange pointed at the screen showing the planet they had just left. Aside from the Void installation, it was a red sandy world made almost entirely out of termite-like beings. The dead bodies of these termites were the only thing the living termites were able to use for anything, since everything else that landed on the planet was also converted into more termites. Currently, Lord English's vaporization breath had already started wearing away at the termite planet, sending smoke and the smell of cooked bugs into the atmosphere of the system. The shockwave would hit them soon... Discord suddenly stood up, his form once again stable. "That was the worst trip of my life." "It's how my sort of magic tends to work." Discord raised his hand and chuckled. "Let's try... this." A giant rubber duck appeared behind the carrier and Crimson Blitz. As the explosion shockwave from English's attack on the planet hit it, the duck let out a quack so loud people could hear it on several planets over. The sound waves of the quack mitigated the shockwave of English's beam enough for Crimson Blitz and the carrier to get away. They felt a slight shaking from the duck though. "What the hell was that!?" Lightning shouted to Strange over communications. "Discord was released. I jumpstarted his power," Strange said. "He will get a hangover and lose much of his aptitude shortly." "He has the worst bedside manner I've ever seen," Discord added. "It saved us," Strange asserted, dusting off his hands. "Like, woah, it did!?" Insipid gasped. "I... What's going on?" "I'm sure Strange will explain what's going on," a new voice said - that of Princess Cosmo Sparkle. Sherlock let out an amused grunt from his end. "Welcome to fun explanation city, Doctor Strange. Enjoy." ~~~ "That's it, you don't get gun privileges anymore," Starbeat said, tearing Caliborn's gun out of his hands with her telekinesis. "HEY! GIVE THAT BACK, BITCH!" "Mmm, no." Starbeat said, holding it just above his reach. She gestured at the ground. "You just killed that stallion." There was, in fact, an orange stallion with a hole in his head laying on top of a few corn-chip plants. "I will remove your eyeballs and grind them into a tasty smoothie that I will make you drink." "Trixie?" Trixie grinned. "Hey, hey, Cal, Cal, you can't beat her." "Yes I fucking can!" "With what? She has your gun!" "I AM THE LORD OF TIME!" A gear of red energy surrounded Caliborn and the flow of time for everyone except him slowed. He would have preferred to jump back in time and hit Starbeat before she could even take the gun, but he hadn't figured that out yet. She said it was impossible to do that in this New World, but he wasn't going to believe a word she said. He reached for the gun. She shifted the gun into its scepter form and smacked him across the face. "ACKPTH!" "If you can access your time magic I can access my defenses against such things," Starbeat said. "Like always." Gamzee chuckled. "Yeah, bro, this has happened the last five motherfuckin' times." "Your stubbornness is legendary," Trixie added. "TRAITORS! TRAITORS, ALL OF YOU!" "Two thirds of us were never loyal to you, Lord Swampy." Caliborn snarled. "I am going to kill all of you! I am going to fucking kill all of you!" "I doubt it," Trixie said dismissively. "We're just too cute and adorable." "THAT'S DISGUSTING!" "And you loooooove disgusting things!" "STOP IT!" "Make me." "You asked for it, bitch!" He charged, green claws extended. Trixie sidestepped and Starbeat tripped him. He fell onto the stallion's body, the corn chip flowers crunching under his face. "Let's put this simply," Starbeat said, twirling Caliborn's scepter. "You've got to stop just killing people. How are we ever going to make the most of this world if we don't get people to follow us?" "WE CONQUER THEM!" Starbeat smacked him with the scepter. "Wrong answer. Conquest by force requires power. Power we don't have. It's also horribly inefficient. It removes your ability to control. No, we need them to follow us - willingly." "You think too much," Caliborn muttered. Starbeat smirked. "Well, it's certainly better than the alternative you're exemplifying." Trixie snickered and Gamzee honked. "You will stop making a fool of me this instant!" "Stop being a fool then," Trixie said, smiling coyly. Caliborn let out an inhuman roar and stomped off. Again. "This is becoming predictable," Starbeat muttered under her breath. Trixie cocked her head. "Him? Yeah. You? I'm very surprised at you. It took me years to figure out how to deal with this kind of unapologetic disgusting troll. You've just adapted to this whole thing in a few days. You're changing pretty fast if I do say so myself." "It's motherfuckin' amazin'," Gamzee added. Starbeat smiled smugly and dusted off her chest. "Well, I guess I just see a situation and how it needs to be dealt with." She tapped her goggles. "The ka around me has been increasing lately. I'm being built up for something." "Have you figured out what yet?" Trixie asked. Starbeat shook her head. "The ka patterns are different in the New World. Overall trends still make sense, but the personal patterns are changing so much of the science has been... clouded. I am working on it though. With time I shall understand." She looked up at the swirling planets again. "Although... it seems to me the initial fate of this New World is more important than the specifics of ka. We should focus on that." Trixie chuckled. "You never struck me as much of a big dreamer." "We didn't really talk much before," Starbeat said with a shrug. "Eh, fair enough." It was at this point they heard Caliborn yell out in surprise. "Oh what is it now?" Starbeat groaned. "Did you kill a bunch of baby birds or something!?" He did not. He had discovered a weak section of the ground that, as soon as he stomped on it hard, had broken like an eggshell and dropped him into a cavernous space below. Normally the other three would give a bunch of exasperated sighs (or honks) and go rescue him. However, they had a problem to deal with at the moment. Caliborn's destruction had caused a chain reaction and the ground they were standing on was breaking apart and falling into the abyss as well. "Oh for the - AAAAAAA!" Starbeat yelled, scrambling with her hooves in a vain attempt to get away from the crumbling zone. Soon she was part of a tremendous rockslide into a cavernous space. She quickly secured her footing on a large boulder sliding down into the earth at a relatively level orientation. Already they had passed into a lava tube-like cavern and were rapidly losing the twilight light from the surface. Starbeat made a quick scan to find everyone. She couldn't see Caliborn, but she saw Gamzee and Trixie. With her telekinesis, she grabbed onto both of them. With considerable effort, she brought them to her and set them on top of the rock as well. "HOLD ON!" "THAT'S WHAT I WAS DOING BEFORE YOU GRABBED ME!" Trixie shouted indignantly. Gamzee held onto the boulder without a fuss. Starbeat scanned for Caliborn again, but couldn't find him. Darnit... She soon had to focus on keeping the three of them alive, since the standard cavern had given way to a tube of mixed metal and chiseled sandstone with lots of spikes. Whatever protocol meshed this cavern together had a weird idea of what was supposed to be here... With barely any light to see by she had to raise shields to deflect incoming rubble. Already, she was straining her very limited control over her magic. Suddenly, there was light. The rockslide was shunted into a spherical hole in the earth about the size of an island. In the middle of the sphere was a small, glowing globe that warmed the jungle-like surface of the sphere. In the bottom center, there was a city-sized structure made mostly of smooth white metal... Trixie's jaw dropped. "Is that the Hub!?" "Looks like it!" Starbeat said, beaming. "Thank the Tower!" "Uh, I hate to burst your bubbles, but we're falling," Gamzee pointed out. "Oh. Right." The rockslide was now a rockfall, pouring out of the opening into the spherical hole. "...I am definitely out of energy, I'm not going to be able to do much here..." Starbeat said, biting her lip. "Uh, Gamzee..." Gamzee shook his head. "Ay, rock doesn't have any thoughts, ain't nothing a Bard of Rage can really do to that. Least not me." "Trixie?" "Smoke bombs will not help!" "Right, so... Uh... What do we..." Then she saw it - a rainbow shifting light from just to their left, the light that happened when a god-tier player died and was revived from a death that was neither Heroic nor Just. It was Caliborn. He took one look at them, sneered - and then slowed time down to a crawl. From Starbeat's perspective he moved like a roadrunner, darting from rock to rock until he hit the giant boulder all of them were standing on. Then he pushed the rock to a much slower speed with his raw power, directing it away from where the rest of the rocks were falling. The boulder plowed into the jungle at a manageable speed - though it was still enough to toss the three occupants off and into a nearby fruit-bearing tree. "HAHA! I JUST SAVED ALL OF YOU! Who's the fool now!?" Caliborn laughed, put his hands on his hips, and rolled his head back just to complete the image. Starbeat laughed. "You're such a dork." "What, HEY I JUS-" Starbeat tossed him his scepter back. "Learn to take some friendly ribbing in stride." Caliborn looked at his weapon blankly. Then he made a grunting noise and turned away from them. It was at this point they noticed the two dozen glowing purple zombies marching through the jungle toward them. "Caliborn, remember how I said killing people isn't the answer all the time?" Starbeat asked. "Yes..." "This is not that time. Go nuts." Caliborn let out a cackle. "FUCKING FINALLY! Prepare yourselves fleshy bags of meat! These bullets all have your names on them! DIE DIE DIE!" "Normal punch." A caped baldy jumped out of the forest and disintegrated all the zombies with one movement of his fist. Caliborn twitched. "FUCKING KILL STEALER!" He opened fire, lauching dozens of bullets at the interfering superhero. The bullets bounced right off Saitama - he didn't even notice them. "Oh, you're... Starbeat, right?" Starbeat nodded, putting a gentle hoof on Caliborn's gun to get him to stop shooting for no reason. "Yes. This is the Hub, right Saitama?" Saitama nodded. "Yep. I can get you through the gates. I know some people who'll be happy to see you." "Still as apathetic as ever?" Trixie asked. Saitama shrugged. "I guess." ~~~ I started flipping through my notes in a panic. "How did he get there? When did he get there?" "Flagg?" Monika asked. "Yes, Flagg, who else?" I blurted. "It's bad enough that there's a Flower in there, but... Hold on a minute..." I closed my eyes and focused, drawing my attention once again to Roxy's narrative. (I want to hear what he has to say, the Flower responded, leaning in to Flagg. The Emissary doesn't make sense? "It's simple, really," Flagg said. "You should all remember from the Tower's Testament that the Tower's will cannot be fully understood by a mortal mind, or even an eldritch one. And I can attest to this personally." "Yeah, right! Nobody can do that!" A female acolyte yelled. Flagg chuckled. "Oh, but that's where you're wrong. Some of you have already realized who I am, but for the rest of you clueless infidels... My name is Randall Flagg, the Man in Black, Legion." He speaks the truth, the Flower confirmed. This does not mean he is correct. He is the Tower's villain after all. "Ah, but villains have just as much a place in the Tower's Will as heroes, isn't that right my orange friend?" While you must be respected, you are not to be treated as a trusted source. "Psh, get off of your high horse. I don't have to be trusted - I just have to make sense. And let me tell you, all of this you're spouting about an Emissary seems very heretical." The crowd started murmuring about what Flagg was saying.) "He's got them eating out of his hand..." I muttered. "That makes them vulnerable but I can't imagine him getting what he wants is good... But how did he-" Black Thirteen spoke to me. I saw an image - an image of Rohan removing his restraints. "Screw it, Rohan's gone off the record of the plan." "I mean, he wasn't part of the plan besides 'watch Flagg' to begin with," Monika pointed out. "Ghhh..." I narrowed my eyes. "We can still probably shut this place down. If the Flower is occupied with Flagg..." (Find a place to take the shot, I told Roxy. Roxy nodded, having already tuned out the back and forth between Flag and the Flower. She moved through the crowd until she found herself at the edge, near one of the flash-like stalagmites. Everyone was very focused on the Flower and Flagg as far as she could tell, and her Void nature should take care of the rest.) I scribbled more and more information about Roxy's Void power into my notebook, trying desperately to ensure nobody would notice her. "Someone's going to notice her," Monika said. "Who?" "Why are you asking questions? You have Black Thirteen!" (A pony acolyte walked up to Roxy. She quickly put the rifle under the folds of her robe, hoping the pony hadn't noticed. "You're being very suspicious." "Oh, well..." Many thoughts about how to dispatch this pony ran through her mind. "Good thing I won't turn you in." The pony lifted her hood. "Overhead-Chancellor Fluttershy of Labor, Equis Concrete, Merodi Universalis." "Roxy Lalonde, Intelligence Division Second. ...Overhead now, I guess." She kneeled down. "What are you doing here?" "Saving the acolytes." Chancellor Fluttershy lifted up some of her robes to reveal a digital screen tied to her hoof. "M and I have been doing this for weeks." Text quickly appeared on the screen. >>Their minds fall short when attempting to reason out my plans. Which your presence has complicated.<< "I'm here to take out the cult leader and free everyone. Twilence will come in after and disband the cult entirely." >>And Flagg wasn't part of the plan,<< M stated. "Definitely not... We suspected the Flower, but..." Roxy bit her lip. "Any ideas?" "You can take the shot on the leader," Chancellor Fluttershy said. "But wait until the exact moment we have freed the tributes. You'll know it when you see it." "Gotcha." Chancellor Fluttershy trotted away.) I turned to Monika. "No one else is going to see her." "This is totally going to go wrong though." "Yes..." I said, scribbling more in my notebook. "Flowers have a habit of making that happen." I kept trying to read the Flower in Black Thirteen, but I wasn't all that surprised to find he was completely inscrutable. Couldn't even find his name. "What am I going to do with Rohan...?" Monika shrugged. "Don't ask me, you're the one keeping us all prisoner." "Yeah, yeah." For a moment I asked myself why now? It didn't take me long to realize of course it'd have to be now. One of them was going to try something eventually and it'd have to be at the least opportune time. I tried to give Chancellor Fluttershy and M a narrative boost, but it was difficult since I still wasn't clear on what exactly they were doing. Everything in that room was a scrambled mess of ka. I could swear Black Thirteen was laughing at me. It was immensely helpful until I really needed it to tell me something, then it was just dark. Probably why Flagg was able to lose at all... I focused on the flow of the story, trying to see what was happening from any vantage point other than Roxy's, but I couldn't. So I had to settle down and accept what I had. I readied a teleport just in case I needed to get in there to do something directly... Which was seeming more and more likely. (Roxy waited for the signal, prepared to draw and fire her rifle the moment anything happened. She was expecting a signal flare, an explosion, anything. Instead what she got was every tribute in the cage suddenly starting to sing. Flagg and the Flower stopped their debate and stared at the ominous chanting coming from the tributes. "Do they usually do that?" Flagg asked. Not to my knowledge, the Flower responded. The cult leader's face twisted in rage. "We are being mocked! This is the sign of th-" Roxy shot him through the brains. At the same instant, the cage all the tributes were locked in opened up. They poured out like a small army, suddenly charged with the great power of a cheerful song. "...Well, I'm not complaining," Roxy muttered to herself. "Time for me to check ou- shit." One of the tributes that had been in the center of the cage was wearing very dark robes and a multi-horned helmet that just screamed evil Chaos sorcerer. "AHAHAH! I, AHZEK AHRIMAN, AM FREE, AND YOU WILL ALL DIE FOR YOUR HUBRIS!" Roxy didn't think - she just acted. She swiped her rifle to the left and fired it right at Ahzek. The bullet was absorbed by magic that was far too strong for most in the New World. "Foolish girl!") "Moving in, sorry!" I teleported myself into the room and raised a magic barrier between Ahzek and Roxy. Ahzek's spell broke through my initial shield, but my own internal magic was able to absorb the rest of it. I went flying - but Roxy was fine. "Greaaaat, plan's completely fucked," Roxy muttered. "Oh you don't know the half of it!" Flagg said, laughing. "I know enough!" Ahzek flung a spell at Flagg. The Man in Black managed to dodge out of the way, but he was clearly annoyed by the attempt. The calming voice of the Flower went out over the chaos. It is all as the Tower wills. ~~~ Lightning had called a meeting on the carrier ship - the only one that actually had a meeting room. "Before I get started, Strange, is everyone behaving?" "Currently, yes. They're not that accepting of my authority though." "That's not going to last long," Sherlock said, sitting back in his chair. "I will speak to them myself," Cosmo said. "No offense, Strange, but I have more authority than you do in this situation." Sherlock nodded. "Which is why you're here. In fact, all six of you were chosen because you are the ones who need to understand the gravity of the situation the most." Cosmo, Discord, Spades Slick, Johnny Joestar, and Death all turned to look at the sixth - Insipid. Insipid blinked. "Yeah, like, I'm not much of a leader, y'know?" "Your role within this group is as important as all the others," Sherlock said, folding his hands together. "You were with the collapse movement and turned away from it. Usually the flow of loyalty goes the other direction. Your input will be unlike the words of any of the others, unique and enlightening in its own way." "...Like, really?" "Really." "Major fresh." Spades grunted. "Enough of this. Word goin' around is that our new enemy is Lord English." "That's right," Lightning said. "When the multiverse collapsed, the retcon paradox that was keeping him sealed failed. He was released. And unlike the rest of us, who keep having to relearn our powers, he was able to figure his out in a matter of seconds." "...It took me about five seconds," Discord pointed out. "You know, temporarily, or something." "Thank Strange for that. He's figured out a transference spell." She folded her hands together. "It only gets you to a certain level of understanding. For a being like you, Discord, that seems unimaginably powerful. But you're back down to minimal levels, right?" Discord grumpily nodded. "I can barely summon a party popper, woe is me!" "Some of us don't need magic," Spades smirked. "I'm in great shape." "And you think that's enough to do something to English?" Johnny asked. Spades tightened his grip around the golden scepter he held. "Doesn't matter. He trashed the casino. He has to pay." YOUR ABILITY TO BE FIXATED ON MINOR DETAILS WHEN THE FATE OF EXISTENCE COULD BE AT STAKE IS BEWILDERING AND APPALLING, Death said. "I'm helpin' you, ain't I?" "Not going to be much help..." Johnny muttered. JOHNNY, IT IS NOT HELPFUL TO BE ANTAGONISTIC. "We lost, how are you all so calm and collected!?" "The looming presence of a multiversal threat tends to take your mind off the simple things in life," Discord explained. "It shouldn't! I have no idea what happened to so many people, the rest are all dead, and I can't access Tusk right now!" "I can work with you and your powers later," Strange said. "Right now we need to decide what to do with English." Cosmo closed her eyes. "I still have the Harmony within me. But we do not have enough ships or resources to make full use of its effectiveness." "Not to mention the moment you try to use it, the magic around you will drain and you won't get much out of it," Sherlock pointed out. Insipid raised a hoof. "I could just take his powers." "We will be vaporized before we even get close to him," Lightning added. "He's unlocked his power. He doesn't seem to be able to just destroy the universe at will - thank whatever mechanisms were behind the collapse that it seems to have limited him - but what he can do is beyond us. Even though we're ahead of him for now, at the rate he's accelerating he will eventually go so fast we can't keep up with him. Every time we stop to help someone, the time we have shrinks." "He's getting to the center before us unless we can find a faster ship," Strange said. "Or find some magic that can do it. Discord has the potential..." Discord coughed uncomfortably. "Er... teleporting isn't exactly... working." "There's a way to transfer yourself into light and transmit," Strange explained. "I used it to save us at the base. I only have it short-range at the moment. I also fear English seeing us using it and figuring it out." "A lot of the game revolves around how English will react to what we do," Sherlock said. "Right now, he doesn't care about us, but he certainly knows we're here. It's a complex game of 'you would know that I would know that you would know'. If we make a move too early, we ruin his perception of us. If we move too late, well, people die by the billions." "I say we go out there with everything we have and kick his sorry green face in," Spades muttered, stabbing one of his many knives into the table. "Get some power, come at him from all sides, take him out before he can get stronger." "He's already too strong," Lightning said. "I don't know, that duck did pretty well..." Discord said, playing with his claws. "No, no it didn't. It barely deflected a shockwave from his attack." "To be fair I wasn't really trying that hard..." "Just don't. We can't go charge at him with what we have now," Lightning folded her arms. "Understood?" "Crystal," Spades muttered. "We need to get everyone organized and on the same page," Cosmo said, ruffling her illusory wings. "Strange, I'll need you to awaken as much of my power as possible. I'm well versed in space travel spells, I should be able to get us some more speed." ARE WE SENDING WARNINGS AHEAD OF US? Death asked. Lightning nodded. "We have been. But most people don't want to leave their planets, and few have the ships to spare to do so. And our little stunt at the capture device repository... That was too risky." Cosmo nodded. "...What about morale?" "Everyone here was either on the side of preservation or neutral," Lightning said. "What do you think?" Cosmo nodded slowly. "I'll get them together..." "Yes. Yes you will," Sherlock said, a smug smile on his face. "What is it?" she asked him. "Nothing, just a slightly amusing observation. Wouldn't be proper for me to announce it." ~~~ The remaining civilization of the Hub had gathered around the one place they still felt safe. Not the Mirror Portal, it and the green diamond had been completely inert since the New World formed. No, the place everyone trusted was the age-old homey space of Iroh's teashop. Azula had, at this point, run it for longer than her uncle had, and nobody questioned that she deserved to be delivering tea to everyone who came in the door. Ever since the collapse she had stopped charging anything for the steamy beverages. It wasn't like money meant all that much anymore, and there was plenty to go around since 99% of the population was gone. She set a tray of six cups on the counter. "Table nineteen," she called. Her only assistant - the pink plastic-like Seskii - rushed to grab the plate, hopped across the three tables between the counter and her goal, and gently set it down for a group of ponies to enjoy. She smiled and winked before returning to the counter. Azula smiled awkwardly at her. Then she looked out at the patrons. As usual, the teashop was full - everyone basically lived here or in the nearby flats, after all. But the shop wasn't full of life. Sure, it was better than the first couple of days, where people rarely talked or just broke out into tears, but it was still cold. People were living without much reason to do so. She'd been given access to the Hub's databases by one of Twilights of the Sparkle Census with clearance. The population of the Hub after the collapse had decreased by another thirty percent due to suicides. This included the Twilight who had given Azula clearance. The walls were closing in on everyone. Azula was confident she'd make it through - she'd seen and dealt with too much in this teashop over the years to not gain an appreciation for life - but it was still difficult. "I know," Seskii said, doing that thing where she didn't read Azula's thoughts but knew exactly what she was thinking anyway. "It's hard. Everything was destroyed and those who are still around have been hurt too much." She took a sip of her own tea. "The people who had been the happiest before... Drifting away." "Aside from you." Seskii smiled and blushed. "I... I'm Aware. I take lots of comfort in that." Azula nodded slowly, preparing some more tea, crushing some dried leaves between her fingers. "What's left of us, Seskii?" Seskii shrugged. "Dunno. What we see, I guess. And whatever that ends up being, it'll be enough. Civilization survives." "For what, though?" Seskii opened her mouth to respond, but stopped herself. She smiled. "...Hold that thought. We're about to get some visitors." Azula looked at the front doors. She was not surprised to see Saitama walk in - he really liked the tea here and had often said he should have visited the Hub before the war happened. Two of the people he was with she didn't recognize - a purple-blood troll and some green goblin thing. But the ponies... Starbeat and Trixie. "Look what the punch tossed our way!" one of the patrons said, standing up to make himself known. "Director Storm?" Starbeat asked. "It's good to see you!" "Likewise!" Storm said with a smirk. "Hey! Everyone! We've got some old friends!" There were a few half-hearted claps from the teashop. Seskii was the only one who showed any enthusiasm with her cheer. Azula jumped over the counter and walked over to Starbeat. "...I'm sorry. It's been difficult." "I understand," Starbeat said. "...It's disheartening, though." "I think it's the appropriate response," Caliborn muttered. "No, you think the appropriate response is shooting everyone," Trixie commented, twirling her hoof in the air. Caliborn growled. "What's the situation?" Starbeat asked. "Who's in charge?" "Technically, Storm is the Second of Expeditions, so he's the highest rank here," Seskii said. "But we all know Azula's the real head of the culture here." Azula bowed meekly. "Everyone simply chose me to be their anchor. I provide the tea, and the center of the new society." "Good... Good..." Starbeat scanned the room with her goggles, rubbing her chin. "So much hopelessness in this place..." "Can you motherfuckin' blame them?" Gamzee asked. "No. No I can't. But I think I can do something." She looked to Storm and Aradia. "Do you have a way I can address everyone?" "The city-wide intercom still works," Storm said. "What you planning on saying?" "I'm planning on giving them a little something to work toward." "I'm not doing anything else until I get my chamomile," Saitama said. Seskii chuckled. "I can handle that. You go show Starbeat the communications, Azula." She jumped behind Caliborn and grabbed him by the shoulders. "I'll also watch this little rascal." "GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!" "Technically speaking, nothing ever touches anything so my hands are not able to be 'on' you in the purely scientific sense." "...What?" Seskii removed her hands and winked. "Just another one of my maaaany mysteries!" She jumped behind the counter and took out a cup of tea. "I have a nice spicy blend for you." "You think I'd take tea from YOU? HA! I'd ra-." "Extra suuuugar! Your favorite." Caliborn stared at the tea. "I'll take it if he doesn't," Trixie said. "NO, IT'S MINE!" Caliborn shrieked. "You two play nice now," Starbeat said with a chuckle. "Come on Gamzee, let's give these people something to think about." ~~~ I met Ahzek Ahriman's attack with my own beam of magic energy. The attacks matched, the resulting explosion killing a dozen acolytes. Why does he have that power? [Wishing artifact] Black Thirteen told me. [Used up] "Of course he'd wish for his powers back..." Problem, Muse of Ka? I turned to the orange Flower, jumping out of the way of another energy beam. "Yeah, maybe a little. That's your fault, hmm?" My fault? Partially, but there is more to this web of narrative than you realize. Roxy leaped out form behind me. "You know what? You're an asshole." She primed her gun and pointed it at the Flower. She fired, and missed. "...Probability shield?" "Probability shield," I agreed. "FLAGG!" "Yes, princess?" Flagg asked from his cocky vantage point atop a ventricle-like rock. "What's your goal?" I flipped over another attack from Ahzek. "STOP IGNORING ME!" the chaos sorcerer shouted. I, of course, continued to ignore him, focusing on Flagg. "Why, it's quite simple really. I want chaos. And Black Thirteen, but this particular plan is not likely to give me that. It's just fun." "You always have some sort of plan beyond that," I responded, sending a few missiles at Ahzek just to keep him occupied. "Where does this lead?" "Is Black Thirteen not giving you the answers?" "NO! IT ISN'T!" I roared in rage, sending a beam of energy at him. This allowed Ahzek to get a hit on me, tossing me to the side again. This time blood spurted from my side. I grunted, rising to my hooves. I sent a pulse of time-slowing magic his way, but the chaos sorcerer was able to deflect it. "You are but a puny equine! The Stars laugh at you!" "Yes, they do, so what?" I took up position beside Roxy and started blasting at Ahzek repeatedly. He had to go on the defensive. Unfortunately, a second later Roxy did as well. Some of the acolytes specifically charged her, forcing her to use her hand-to-hand specialty to take them down and not Ahzek himself. I began to lose my edge on the chaos sorcerer. I needed backup... But Monika wouldn't be of much help, Roxy was already there, I didn't know where Chancellor Fluttershy was, and Rohan was being a traitor... Is this mission going to fail? I asked Black thirteen. [No][The tributes will be freed and this cult will be destroyed] What about the cost? Will we survive? [No casualties on your team] Does this take into account the Flower? [Yes][You are permitted to see this now] I grunted. You're more trouble than you're worth. I dodged another attack from Ahzek Ahriman. This time, instead of retaliating, I grabbed Flagg with my magic and threw him at Ahzek. Ahzek laughed. "FOOL! You shall burn in the chaos!" He raised his staff to attack Flagg. "Stop breathing," Flagg ordered. Ahzek laughed for a moment - then realized he couldn't breathe in. Despite this, he fired an attack at Flagg anyway. Monika showed up out of nowhere and pushed Flagg out of the way. Ahzek Ahriman toppled to the ground, suffocated. "Monika, you were supposed to stay on observation! You can't do anything I-" I blinked. "...Wait, you can't teleport yet." And the trap is sprung, the Flower declared. "Okay, now," Monika snapped her fingers. Suddenly, Rohan and GM were standing there. "HEAVEN'S DOOR!" Rohan yelled. Suddenly, his Stand appeared - I was certain he couldn't use it - and it rushed Flagg. "Oh for th-" his face popped open like a book and he fell back, unable to move. GM held out the pen I gave him. He clicked it. Nothing happened to me. Monika glared at me. "You lied." "I didn't lie." I spread my wings, creating two tremendous magic swords. "I just made it so it would only respond to a GM with an unedited mind. You've edited his mind, am I wrong?" Monika grimaced. I saw her eye twitch slightly - she was editing a character file. "How could you hide this from me?" I demanded. "How!?" "I'm just as powerful as you," Monika said, striding toward me. "I can keep whatever I wish from you. I can create a hole in ka that you wouldn't even recognize as a hole." "But Black Thirteen..." I shook my head. "It'll show me truth. Not warn me. It wants me to fall." "It's just a device," Monika said. "A device that's corrupting you! Changing you from what you once were!" GM shivered - but showed no signs of wanting to push the button. "He's not going to do it," I asserted. "I have not been corrupted by it." "Yes you have!" "You just don't want to be taking orders from a collapser!" I shouted back. "You can't live with me or my goals!" "We can't exactly stay prisoners, can we!?" "...We could have been more reasonable about it," Roxy muttered, shooting down the few acolytes who still felt like fighting her. "As it is, we've probably killed about a hundred people because of this little 'game' you played. Without telling me." "Telling anyone would have tipped Twilence off," Monika said. "Editing you would have been even worse, since Twilence was involved with you." "You just can't accept it..." Roxy shook her head. "What's wrong with you? You should want to be free!" "Of course I fucking do, but I don't want to kill a hundred people to do it! That's why we didn't go for the collapse, remember?" Monika clenched her hand into a fist. "I can still take yo-" I proved her very wrong. I only had to do one thing - I pressed Black Thirteen to her forehead. She had never been to the room at the top of the Tower. She would not be able to handle the horrific Truth it contained. Granted, she should have been able to last a few minutes - but I needed to get her out of the equation quickly. I shoved the essence of Black Thirteen into her mind. Monika's screams made everyone in the cavern freeze. A decidedly desperate move, the Flower said. I clenched my teeth and ignored him. "Geez..." Roxy said, eyes wide. "She'll edit her file back eventually," I muttered, backing away from Monika's convulsing form. I trapped Rohan and Flagg in magical restraints, allowing Flagg to retain his book-like appearance. Finding this level of restraint unsatisfying, I encased the two of them in crystal. They looked uncomfortable, but who cared? I was done worrying about them at this point. Everything had gone wrong. Speaking of... I found Chancellor Fluttershy and M. "You... You weren't supposed to be here." >>Ka works in mysterious ways,<< M printed. Chancellor Fluttershy nodded slowly. "It seems we were fated to be here today. To be part of... this." I glared. "But you and your song did something to Ahzek." >>It was just a heartsong-initiating protocol I developed. A pleasant distraction, symbol, and crowd control piece. It worked.<< "But everything still exploded." >>That was your fault. Not expecting there to be a trap.<< I froze them as well. "...Enough of that." Enough of everything, it seems, Twilence. I turned to the Flower and twitched. "Shut up." Is it stress getting to you? Or is it something more? Do I serve as a symbol? A reminder of a past failing? I lit my horn. "Stop talking." You shall see in a few seconds the point of my presence, my discussion, my words, m- I... I vaporized him. At the time of the act, I felt nothing but anger, righteousness, and the need to take him out of the equation. He was way too arrogant, powerful, and had manipulated events in ways all of us could not understand. When he was gone, I turned to Black Thirteen... And I understood. And I was afraid. I turned to GM. "No don't d-" He reacted more out of a fear reflex than anything. He pushed the button and I lost all sensation. ...In the end, I am glad I gave that to him. Even so, I still overestimated my ability to handle Black Thirteen. I was so sure I could... ...Why was I even trying to attack that Dark Tower cult in the first place? I had magic, the plan didn't have to involve violence, and I could have tried talking. But I didn't. I failed. I'm glad I did. I don't want to know what it would have turned me into. I'm sorry, I guess is what I'm trying to say. Not sure to who... ... ...The next thing I knew, I was sitting in a cage with Flagg, magic inhibitors on my horn and hooves. Flagg had a magic filter on his mouth and hands. In between us was a metal box welded to the ground with seven different locks on it. I had no doubt it contained Black Thirteen. I looked around. We were in the middle of a campsite on a world where the sky looked like it was filled with stars eternally. I spotted Chancellor Fluttershy, Monika, Rohan, and GM asleep in their sleeping bags. Roxy was awake, tending to the fire. She looked to me. "...Sorry it has to be this way." "Don't be," I said, stretching my wings. "I'm surprised you kept me at all." "Monika didn't want to," she explained. "...I had to vouch for you." "...Thanks. ...What happened to the cult?" "Destroyed," Roxy said. "They won't be meeting up again. ...We weren't able to find anything out about where the Flower got his message from." "I destroyed too much..." I hung my head. "It was the artifact and you know it." "I was still your enemy." Roxy pursed her lips. "I'm not so sure about that." She glanced to Monika and Rohan. "I think you're a better person than those two, even if you're a little messed up in other departments." I let out a short laugh - stopped short when I heard a beeping. "What's that?" Roxy sighed. "The latest in Artificial Intelligence annoyances, M." She walked over to Chancellor Fluttershy's pack and removed a screen. She held it up, displaying the message for me. >>Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You made a choice, and it was the choices you had to make at the time. Get out of that pit you've placed yourself in and stop wallowing. Just because an artifact told you what to do does not mean the end of everything. There are other important topics to understand, and more nuance in the multiverse than any of us could ever hope to comprehend. You understand the most - so you shouldn't need me to tell you this. Leave it and dwell on more useful things.<< I smirked. "You're right. You shouldn't have to tell me." >>Also, this is for everyone, you're all thinking of things in terms of black and white. The aforementioned nuance? It's important. You can't just paint lines across a room and say 'if you're here, you're right, if you're here, you're wrong'. As of right now, everyone in this camp aside from Roxy and Flagg are thinking in terms of 'sides' and Flagg doesn't count because he's an absolute monster.<< I frowned. "...Is there a middle ground here?" >>Even during the War there was a middle ground, it was just one everyone refused to find. This is the New World, stop being idiots and find it.<< "...I will." "We will," Roxy corrected. I laughed. "Of course, of course, sorry." >>Stop apologizing so much.<< Roxy looked at me. "I have to keep you in that cage, sorry. The others just won't accept you outside of it." "It's fine. I'll accept my punishment." >>I said stop wallowing.<< "M, I'm going to say this once and once only. Not everything you say is a piece of philosophical genius. You have good points, but you could stand to learn a bit more about pride and arrogance." >>...<< ~~~ "So, uh, like, Lightning? I think we might have a sorta, kinda, problem." Lightning looked down at the profusely sweating form of Insipid. "...What happened?" "Well, Discord and Spades are... ...sorta gone." Lightning twitched. "What do you mean sorta gone?" "Well, I mean, they were there, and then they weren't, that sorta gone." "Where did they go?" "...Outside the carrier?" "To do what?" Insipid touched Lightning, grabbed her powers, and then cast four layers of Protect on herself. "Ahem. I'm pretty sure they said something about Lord English and punching him." Lightning cast Thundaja on Insipid to unleash her livid frustration. This wasn't enough, so she also let out an outraged scream. "STRANGE! DISCORD AND SPADES ARE BEING STUPID!" "...Is that why I'm suddenly detecting an enormous amount of activity out there?" Strange asked. "Almost definitely. Get us eyes out there!" Sherlock nodded, pressing a few buttons. Soon, a display of Lord English was on the screen. He had his mouth open, unleashing a torrent of spacetime-rippling energy. Discord created a tungsten pie tin the size of a small moon to block it. "He got that strong in just two days?" Lightning said, gawked. "His learning curve is exponential," Strange explained. "His peak power is very high. The versatility of his powers is nearly unlimited on a single-universe scale. He may eventually run into the same ceiling as English, given time.." "There's a problem though," Cosmo said, walking up to the screen. "Lord English was a multiversal threat. He's already hit that ceiling, as far as we can tell." "Any dimensional effects have been completely removed," Strange reminded her. "He has no Green Sun, no universe destruction..." Sherlock shrugged. "He has the powers of a Prophet, a highly advanced computer, raw strength, that sarcophagus of his, some level of ka manipulation, and whatever the power the Lord of Time classpect still provides in this New World. Discord is just a Spirit of Chaos and Spades is just a clever cyborg stabber." Spades rushed out of an invisibility field Discord had created, shooting Lord English with the golden gun. In response, English summoned his sarcophagus around him, bouncing all the bullets back like they were nothing. Spades threw several dozen knives and cards as well, discovering them to be just as useless. He shifted the gun to its scepter form and charged. Lord English vanished and appeared behind him, grabbing the carapacian from behind and tearing him in half. Mechanical pieces and blood flew everywhere. Lord English grabbed the scepter, his old weapon back in his hands at long last. He tossed it over his shoulder like it was useless. Then he turned his attention to Discord. Discord created a moon's worth of unusual weapons ranging from pie tins to conventional guns to orbs of pure chaotic energy and threw them at Lord English. Lord English didn't do anything. He let all of them sail right into him. Nothing did so much as scratch him. Then he spoke. "POINTLESS." He snapped his fingers, transforming Spades, Discord, and the scepter into pure light, teleporting them right to the bridge of the carrier. "YOU CAN NOT HIDE. YOU ARE NOT SAFE." Everyone on the bridge was speechless. "...Guh... Little help?" Spades asked. "HOLY SHIT, HOW ARE YOU ALIVE!?" Insipid shouted. THAT WOULD BE ME, Death said, kneeling down to inspect Spades. THIS IS NOT GOING TO BE A SIMPLE FIX. "Then get on it," Spades muttered. "Won't be the first time..." Discord looked down at Spades - and shivered. Lightning slapped him. "THAT WAS STUPID!" "...Yes..." Discord managed. "I... Just... We agreed not to do that!" "I get it, oh no, Discord screwed up!" Discord waved his hands around. "I think being out there and having your best be danced around like a cat with a mouse does things to you." Lightning clearly wanted to continue ranting at him - but Cosmo put a hoof on her shoulder and shook her head. Lightning sighed. "Just... Just get out of here." Discord obliged, vanishing in a puff of light to somewhere else in the ship. Lightning sat down in her chair and put a hand to her forehead. "What are we even trying to do here? He can destroy us at any time..." Sherlock smirked. "Ah, yes, he can - but he isn't. And that fact tells us something. As do all the things we just witnessed." Cosmo nodded. "Yes, Sherlock, give us your analysis." "First off, he could destroy us at any time, but he doesn't. This either means he doesn't find us threatening... Or he wants us to be around when he gets to the core. I'm leaning toward the latter, especially since we've just seen that he can assuredly move much faster than he's been going at any moment he pleases." "So, he's toying with us," Strange translated. "Precisely. To him, we are nothing more than little flies. But he also knows we have power - I also find it likely he is treating us like a 'nemesis' to further his own ego. He is known to readily accept the way of the villain, despite knowing the typical villain archetype. He wants his glory more than he wants to win." "So we shouldn't think he'll win?" Cosmo asked. "Corona collapsed the multiverse, I don't think we can take that bet," Lightning commented. Sherlock nodded. "Lightning's right. What we have is an enemy leagues more advanced and powerful than any of us. We know that for sure now. We also know he's playing a little game to keep things interesting. This is likely both for his personal gratification and the ka of his story. He could destroy us at any moment, and wants us to be scared." HE HAS SUCCEEDED, Death pointed out. "And we know something else," Sherlock said, folding his arms. "He threw away Spades' weapon. The weapon that used to belong to him. That could indicate he thought it useless to keep - but I don't think so. He hesitated for a moment, considering it. It's a powerful weapon and it has meaning to him. So either he needs Spades to have it for some reason... Or, and this is my actual deduction, he's already got another weapon in mind." "...He's looking for a weapon to power himself up further?" Cosmo asked. "It seems likely," Sherlock said. "What could it be?" "I have absolutely no idea!" Sherlock shrugged. "That's the fun part!" "...At least some information has come to light from this stupidity," Lightning muttered. You're welcome, Sherlock thought. Things had to be arranged just perfectly to get those two to do that... ~~~ Starbeat sat in front of the central communication nexus of the Hub. All around her, screens displayed the state of the Hub - mostly empty, but a few cameras showed the teashop and nearby areas where there was some bustle. She took one last look at the flow of ka through her goggles. It was focusing around her - whatever she said next would have a profound impact, this she knew. She took the goggles off and placed them above her horn so everyone would be able to see her eyes when she transmitted. Behind her stood Azula and Storm, their presence there simply to indicate approval. Gamzee was off-screen, giving her a thumbs up for support. With a clear of her throat she pressed the transmit button and started talking. "Citizens of the Merodi Universalis Hub. Some of you may know who I am, but for those who don't, my name is Starbeat Glimmer of the Collection council, ka researcher for Merodi Universalis. You all know too well about the tragedy we have suffered. Every last one of us has lost someone close - or simply doesn't know if the ones we love are okay. The world around us is new, confusing, and in many ways dangerous. Our numbers are small and the powers we've taken for granted have become limited and confusing. "It feels as if we have no reason to go on. Nothing to strive for besides simple survival. "I'm here to tell you that's wrong. We have much to look forward to in this New World - we have a goal. A purpose. Just because we lost does not mean we need to admit defeat. The world outside may have been created by the collapse movement, but we are the preservation. Even if what we want to preserve seems lost, we must strive to bring it back, to do the best we can! The multiverse is gone, but the Hub is still here! No doubt there are other Merodi worlds and cities out there to be reclaimed!" She held up a hoof. "This New World wants to start over from scratch - I say we don't let it! The civilizations that were supposed to be toppled and reduced to rubble by this event do not have to be! We have survived! We can restore what we've lost! Our history, our people, our culture; we cannot let it fall into nothing, left to be uncovered by future generations as a curiosity! We are above that! "We do not have to take what the other side - no, the enemy - has given us! They wanted us to fall, they wanted us to lie down and die! Well we aren't going to do that! We're going to stand up tall and rebuild! We're going to uncover magic! We're going to show the New World that they can't escape their past!" She rammed her hoof onto the metallic surface below for effect. "We will tell the enemy what we think of their victory, and it all starts here, with the Hub of Merodi Universalis - you!" And then she saw it - the life returning to the people. They suddenly had a goal. She grinned - and talked for a while longer about several things. They were going to start using money again, and take a census of everyone who was left. Storm would start directing Expeditions to explore the New World, just like they had before. They would return their lives as close as possible to what they had been before. "...and that's all I have for now. I expect to talk to you again tomorrow, but for now, just remember - despite what they've done to us, the future is bright. We can make it that way." She waved and cut off the transmission. Nobody noticed the slight purple glow in the back of her eye as she turned away. "That was motherfuckin' awesome!" Gamzee said, grinning. "I second that, my clowny troll friend!" Storm said. "I couldn't have given a better speech if I tried!" The two of them patted her on the back and led her out of the room. Azula stayed behind, a concerned expression on her face. She wasn't sure if it had been that great... or good. ~~~ Terezi had lent Corona and Eve a Merodi Skiff to get to the center of the universe. They had been traveling along in it for a few days, zipping by world after world, stopping whenever they thought they found something interesting or wanted a place to rest that wasn't the cramped interior of the Skiff itself. It was designed for six people to be able to sit in - sleeping was not really part of the arrangement. They still made do, but it was much nicer to lie on the grass out in the open, or on some exotic world of another sort. It wasn't like they were in a hurry. Corona stretched. "I'm getting a drink." Eve raised an eyebrow. "Corona..." "No I'm not going to touch alcohol, I learned my lesson yesterday." She chuckled sadly. "I'm going for some milk." "Oh. Get me some as well, would you?" "No problem." Corona turned her chair and stood up, opening the door to the cargo hold. They stored quite a bit of food in there since neither of them had reliably figured out food generation magic yet, but most of the cargo were records from Lai and Merodi technology that probably wouldn't be easy to find out in the New World. A lot of it didn't work, but Eve didn't want to leave the possibility of studying and fixing them behind. When they weren't studying planet-charts or just talking about life, the two would work on analyzing the way certain technologies worked in the New Word. So far? Dimensional effects and FTL were completely useless. The rest of the magic components depended on the exact nature of the magic being used. Which was inconsistent. They were learning a lot, though, probably enough for a scientific paper or twenty. This PhD is useless now, Corona thought with a bitter laugh. Just because she wasn't throwing herself into volcanoes anymore didn't mean everything was suddenly fine. It was just... getting better. And spending time with Eve was helping a lot. It removed the stress of dealing with other people, most of whom would hate her. ...Even the few collapse-supporting worlds they had come across had mixed feelings about her. They respected her, but they couldn't be happy. None of them could. Things are getting better, Corona reminded herself, opening a mini-fridge and grabbing some milk. Just give it time. A lot of time. Just before she closed the mini-fridge, she heard a loud thunk. She slowly closed the door the rest of the way and turned around, a quizzical eyebrow raised. Behind her was a large box about half her height. It was unlabeled. She lit her horn and popped it open with her magic. Her jaw dropped. She sent a message to Eve. They hadn't hammered out full-on telepathy yet, but she could get Eve's attention. Eve was there in an instant. She walked into the hold - and gasped. "Oh my..." A very elderly version of Applejack with deer antlers lifted her head from the inside of the box. Aside from her, there were a lot of potatoes in there, some of them half eaten. "...Oh." "...Is she who I think she is?" Corona asked. "Yeah," Eve said, blinking slowly. "...Lai's Applejack." Applejack coughed. "Look, I just needed to get off Lai." Eve blinked. "I... I thought you liked your cell." "The guards vanished. I had to escape or starve." "...That's terrible." "Like you care. L-" Eve levitated the deer out of the box and held her in her wings. "The world has begun anew, Applejack. We don't have to do this again." "...You don't remember me very well, do you?" Eve smiled innocently. "Not at all! But I'm sure I can get to know you again. Come on, we've got some extra seats on the bridge and Corona just got some milk. ...If you're okay with it, Corona." Corona shrugged. "Eh, sure, why not." "What do you say? Want to have some milk and talk?" Applejack looked at the potatoes she'd been eating. "...I'll take the milk." "It's a double-deal, the talk isn't optional." "...Fine." "Great!" Eve beamed and went back to the bridge. "She's so going to friendship you," Corona said with a legitimate smirk. "She tried once before," Applejack pointed out. "She's gotten a lot better at it."
Songs of the Spheres	135 - What's Old is New	Pinkie's Party was taking a stroll through the singing forests of Nithia. They were currently in an area of the New World with some level of existing space travel, so the worlds within the surrounding systems had been cursorily explored and mapped out for them. The primary power here - Anziba - had once been a world that headed a young Class 3 civilization that had decided to opt out of the war entirely. They only had the vaguest idea of who Pinkie's Party was and that suited Pinkie just fine. But they had been told by everyone they had met that they had to stop by Nithia to just appreciate the beauty of the world. Flutterfree was sold the instant they touched down. The forests of Nithia not only let out beautiful melodious sonnets whenever the wind blew through them, but the colors of every single plant and animal on the world shifted depending on the angle they were examined from. Currently Flutterfree was leading the trek through the woods, a small gaggle of woodland critters surrounding her. "Aren't you all so precious...!" "They're certainly lucky to be here," Pidge agreed, adjusting her glasses. "Maybe I could run an analysis..." "Just don't hurt any of them," Flutterfree said, taking a breath and spinning around. "...It's been so long since I just appreciated nature." "Even I have to admit, this is something," Vriska said, rubbing a hand along the multicolored bark of a nearby tree. As she did so it sang out with a harsh melody somewhat like an electric guitar. "...My respect for this forest just increased by a factor of ten." Jotaro nodded, a small smile on his face. "...Not gonna lie, wish I could see it," Pinkie said. Her mane had stopped being flat about three days ago - it was decidedly hard to tell time in the New World with days - but she wasn't back to the peppy party pony quite yet. "I mean, I can 'see' it, you're all proxies, but... I can't see it." "You can totally hear it though." Vriska lifted Pinkie up and touched her hooves to the tree bark. "Come on, do the thing. Blow the roof off this place." Pinkie giggled. "If you insiiiist!" She cracked her hooves and started banging on the bark as if it were a drum. The dramatic electric tunes coming off of it blew everyone's hair back. Jotaro had to hold onto his hat to keep it from flying away. All the animals screamed and ran away. There was a chorus of laughs and a "yare yare daze..." "Oh, Pinkie's not done yet!" She picked a flower from the ground and stuck it in her mouth. When she blew it made a mixture of harmonica and flute noises. She ran her tail against the grass to add some bells and started carefully tapping the tree back to get just the right amount of reverb. "Oh my, are we doing a spontaneous musical number?" Flutterfree asked. "Just grab a plant and get creative!" Vriska said, jumping into a bush. The sound that came off of it sounded like an explosion. Pidge adjusted her glasses. "Creative, you say? Give me five minutes and I can have a one-woman band up and running. ...The woman is me." "We can understand subtext," Jotaro commented. Pidge smiled. "Jojo, subtext is used to describe the meaning behind a sentence. I was - oh, wait, I guess I was doing that. Nevermind. Just get me a tree." Jotaro punched down a tree and Pidge set to work, popping open her toolkit and tearing pieces of bark off. "Guess I'll try to get the critters to sing..." Flutterfree said. "...If only Vriska would stop scaring them away." Vriska winked in her direction. "Exploding bush is the best percussion, change my mind." "Tuuuubular bells!" Pinkie said, strumming some blades of grass. "...Those can be fun..." As they continued their musical antics, their three companions looked on and watched. "Welp, it's pretty clear who's part of Pinkie's Party and who isn't," Tornado observed. "They have a very special bond," Rev said, smiling warmly. "It wouldn't do to intrude on it." "Wouldn't know how. They all seem to just get each other." Tornado narrowed her eyes. "Kinda wish the USM teams did that." "Any team has the potential to become a functional unit - or to struggle." "They seem to work as one unit, seamlessly." The last member, Rina, was currently attempting to cast a spell through her horn, but decided this part of the conversation needed her input. "It isn't seamless. They all have their problems, issues, and play off each other differently. Let's take... Vriska as an example. She serves a role as the group's hothead, the girl who's willing to come up with some crazier and less-than-noble ideas. I'm essentially a duplicate of her in this case. But her relationships with all of the other four are very different." "I didn't know you studied people," Rev said, blinking. "I got bored at the church sometimes," Rina said, a soft glow forming around her horn. "Regardless. Vriska's relationship with Pinkie is both one of respect and mutual pranking tendencies, both of them are very willing to put everything aside and be childish for a while. Vriska looks to Flutterfree as a mentor, someone who's understanding and deep control should be studied and emulated. Jotaro, on the other hand, is like the older brother you got into trouble with all the time, very reliable and able to take more shit than the others. And Pidge is the true fellow nerd. I bet they secretly get together for game nights." As she said this, she successfully cast the spell for the first time: creating a sword from the aether. She smashed it into a tree, turning it lifeless. "Nice. Finally got some of the darker magics to work..." "Good observations on them," Rev commented. "What I find interesting is that their dynamics are rarely two-way. Flutterfree doesn't see herself as a mentor figure to Vriska, for instance - she sees Vriska as strong, but she would never try to become like her." Tornado leaned back and started kicking her feet. "Whatever it is, it's making me a little jealous." "If you want what they have I'd suggest being more open with people," Rev said. "You may think Flutterfree and Jotaro are reserved at first, and they're certainly introverted, but they're very real with each other. Very open to expressing their vulnerabilities to each other. Even Jotaro, believe it or not, though I doubt you'll get to see that while we're around watching." The jam was already in full swing. All five of them had their instruments and were going crazy with a song that had some sort of beat but definitely wasn't all that pleasant to listen to. But they didn't care, it was fun. Pidge stopped playing for a moment and held up her computer. "Maybe if I could adjust the resonance to match up with the new physics better... Just need to perform a few scans... I should really get this changed to a touch screen, it would be so much better. And th-" Something dawned on her. She slowly set her laptop down and sat down on the grass, taking a moment to process. "STOP THE MUSIC!" Flutterfree shouted, a slight purple burst of Rage coming from her wings. The message got to everyone loud and clear and they stopped playing, turning to Pidge with concern. "What's wrong?" Flutterfree asked. Pidge looked at her laptop. "...I'm just a replacement." "Pidge..." "I do the exact same thing she does, just with more 'tech' and less 'magic'. I scan things, tell you what I figured out, and then... Well, that's that." "Pidge, you aren't just a replacemen-" She caught Pinkie's grimace. "Pinkie, tell me that's not what's going on here." "Partially," Pinkie admitted. "...She does serve the same role, overall." "I knew it," Pidge muttered, expression clouding. "But it's no different than when I replaced Eve, or Jotaro replaced Renee. Roles were shifted and the dynamic changed because people can't always stay in the same place. We... we were just lucky enough to have everyone still around when things changed before." She put a hoof on Pidge. "You're not Nova. You aren't anywhere near as hotheaded, nor do you have that weirdly amazing need to talk philosophy. I don't see a shred of slightly-crazy idealist in you, what I see is a curious person. You want to know. Nova never bothered to really learn about the science she told us - she let her screen do all of that. You don't need the device to parse it for you. And, above all, you do that really cute thing with your glasses where you try to look evil and conniving." Pidge snickered despite herself. "That... that doesn't matter." "It's little quirks like that that make us who we are," Jotaro said, lifting up his hat so he could meet her eyes. "They're perhaps more important to us than what we contribute." Pidge beamed. "Jojo..." Rina turned to Rev. "Am I allowed to say 'gag me'?" "It's a bit childish but it's not necessarily wrong." "Okay. Gag me." "Gladly," a deep, masculine voice that wasn't Jotaro said. Rina blinked. "Fu-" A pillowcase laced with some sort of sleeping drug went over her head. She tried to summon her sword, but she didn't have enough focus. "HOLY SHIT!" she heard Vriska shout as she recognized the attacker. "BA'AL!?" "Talk about a blast from the past, am I right?" Pinkie asked. "Pinkie... now's not the... time..." Flutterfree muttered. Rina lost all sensation, unable to follow anything further. ~~~ The Sweeties had been in space for two weeks, according to Swip. In all that time, they hadn't found any sign of multiversal society. Until now. For they had just found a moon - likely from a version of Earth - that had a data archive built on it. The system they were in had no atmosphere - and no normalization from the thick aether either - so when Swip landed everyone who wanted out had to get into a spacesuit. To Mattie's surprise, both Burgerbelle and Nettle had suited up alongside her and Thrackerzod. "You know it's probably an empty base, right?" Thrackerzod asked. "So? It's cramped in here," Burgerbelle said. "It's even more cramped in this suit..." Nettle muttered, struggling to get her tendril-bow to behave. "We can take it off when we get inside!" "Assuming life support is still on." Mattie chuckled. "Darling, you're such an adorable ball of pessimism, aren't you?" "I fail to see how adorable relates to pessimism." "I fail to see how it can't," Thrackerzod commented. Burgerbelle leaned in to Nettle. "Thrackerzod has a very pessimistic personality in case you haven't noticed." "I have an eldritch personality," Thrackerzod huffed. "Eldritch doesn't exist anymore," Nettle pointed out. Thrackerzod's expression turned dour. She turned around and hopped out onto the low-gravity surface of the moon. "...Did I do something wrong?" "Yep," Mattie confirmed. "Don't worry, she's strong, and you'll learn." She trotted out after the no-longer-eldritch unicorn. Burgerbelle rolled her eyes. "To elaborate on Mattie's annoyingly vague point, Thrackerzod misses her eldritch connection. You may know of her as the filly who rejected who she was, but we all need to remember she was a multidimensional tentacle monster for hundreds of thousands of quote-unquote 'years' before she met us. Change isn't easy for her." "...At least she has some powers." Burgerbelle sighed. She decided she was done with the conversation and skipped out onto the moon's surface, bouncing along after the other ponies. With a blank expression Nettle followed, the light of a nearby glowing green gas giant reflecting off her helmet. Every one of them moved differently. Thrackerzod took point with a purposeful stride while Mattie moved with an exaggerated swagger. Burgerbelle was inconsistently skipping and jumping around Nettle while the once-Downstreamer in question had difficulty moving at all - she'd barely gotten used to experiencing normal gravity. They approached the archive. It was mostly built by Gems, so it was a smooth green and blue textured structure with many curves, facets, and glistening edges. Since it was a data archive for a Class 2 multiversal society, it was the size of an aircraft carrier, though unlike an aircraft carrier all the size that was usually hidden under the water was on full display here. Eventually, they managed to bound all the way to the archive's front door. Thrackerzod put a hoof to the lock mechanism, allowing it to pick up on her presence and transmitter. "This is Thrackerzod of the League of Sweetie Belles." A computerized voice responded. "Welcome. Lockdown has been enabled and arcane security clearance confirmation is not working properly. Please hold..." "Oh NO!" Burgerbelle wailed. "We have come all this way to be stopped by horrible customer service!" "We can break in if we have to," Mattie pointed out. "It just told us it isn't working quite right." "Give it a second," Thrackerzod said, narrowing her eyes. "Security questions for Thrackerzod located," the computer reported. "Answer correctly and you shall be allowed to pass. Name your old friends' new names." "Scoota-hoo and Elizabloom." "What is the name of your direct eldritch superior?" "Hastur was the last eldritch superior I had, I am free now." "The name of your godchild?" Thrackerzod sighed. "...Hemlock Belle." "Thank you, you may proceed." The doors opened. Mattie blinked. "Who the hell is Hemlock Belle?" Thrackerzod didn't look at her. "One of Squeaky's grandkids. Had some magic problems at birth. ...Last I knew she was doing okay." "Oh... Right..." Nettle blinked. "Squeaky had kids!?" Thrackerzod glared at her. "Yes, she did. And no, you weren't supposed to know. They were never supposed to be involved with any of the adventures. Ever." "Do any of the rest of you have secret kids?" Burgerbelle pondered this. "Well, I think Servitude has a son... Otherwise no." "Dears, I have tons of kids," Mattie said with a dismissive wave. "Almost none of them know who I am, but you know, that's just the way the tail swings sometimes." "Some of those kids have tried to kill us," Burgerbelle pointed out. "All in the past, all in the past." "Really?" Mattie looked at her with an unusually stern expression. "...What are the chances any of them survived? Or that I'll ever see any of them?" Burgerbelle was taken aback. Mattie sighed, looking at nothing in particular - a universal sign that she was looking outside the 'story'. "I won't be seeing any of them again. Sure, they might be alive, but I'll never get to talk to any of them. Not even... Joyce... God, I liked Joyce, she was a great kid. Only one who could ever get me." There was an awkward silence. Wordlessly, Thrackerzod moved into the archive. The others followed. The doors closed behind them and the airlock pressurized before they were allowed into the main entryway. To their surprise, the interior was well cleaned and fully operational. All the monitors displayed normal archive displays and the lights were working at full capacity. There was even a receptionist. Behind a smooth, white desk was a cute kid with auburn hair and a stylish purple top hat. She waved at them when they arrived. "Is it normal for kids to be in charge of places like this?" Nettle asked. "We do allow kids to work if they want," Burgerbelle pointed out. "Otherwise we couldn't exactly recruit a lot of Sweeties." "She's also not supposed to be in charge," Thrackerzod muttered. She walked up to the counter and put her front hooves on top of it. "You're the last one here? Weren't you captured?" The hat kid nodded. Then she jumped off her very tall chair and stood on the countertop, proceeding to mime a series of unusual events. First she waved, then she put her hands to her face, then she curled into a Ball. Then she jumped off the counter to the ground and pulled out a parasol and grinned. The grin quickly vanished as she trudged along the floor, acting weary. She removed her top hat and pulled an astronaut helmet out of some sort of inventory or similar power and proceeded to float around the room until she arrived at the seat behind the counter. She put her hat back on and made a 'tah-dah' motion with her hands. "...How did you get past the security? You don't have clearance." Thrackerzod said. The hat kid tapped her head and folded her arms smugly. Then she laughed, shook her head, and pointed at a screen with an error message and a wrench on it. "I do not understand this child," Nettle said, blinking. "What is she saying?" "Nothing, that's her whole point," Burgerbelle said. "There's more point than that," Thrackerzod muttered. "This is one of the more well-known instances of the Everyman." The Everykid let out a mock gasp and put a hand to the side of her head as if she was panicked. Then she chuckled and shrugged, pulling herself up to the desk. She leaned in overtop her folded hands as if to ask 'how may I help you?' ~~~ The Austraeoh moved through space at a brisk pace, having entered a sizable void between systems that allowed it to move at an impressive ten percent light speed. They had gathered a few ships as they traveled - mostly Merodi vessels that had escaped Celestia City before it had been destroyed. Nobody really knew how it was destroyed nor were they able to tell O'Neill much about the red thing that separated them once they had escaped. There had been a few other ships they'd found - a couple nonaffiliated vessels and collapse ships - but nothing all that impressive. The bridge of the Austraeoh was fully operational once again. Minna had taken the seat next to O'Neill, effectively becoming his Second. Clandestine continued to manage the consoles while all the other positions were manned by a mix of all crews they had accumulated over the last week. Lapis Vee would have been there as well under normal conditions, but since she was woefully understaffed she had to spend all her time down in Engineering just to keep the ship running. O'Neill looked down at his chair's armrest-console and sighed. "What is it?" Minna asked. "Just got another report about a fight breaking out." He put a hand to the bridge of his nose. "Apparently Security started it, this time." Minna glanced over at the report, pursing her lips. "At least they weren't actually trying to kill each other..." "That's a small consolation. You don't know if they're going to get it out of their systems or if they're just going to rile themselves up and get more violent." "Maybe some people go some way, and others go the other?" Clandestine asked. "Great sentence," O'Neill observed. Clandestine rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean. People are different. You'll have to play a game of back and forth to..." Her console beeped, cutting her off. "Ahem. It looks as if we have two ships in front of us." "How far away." "A minute at ten-c," Clandestine responded. "Can we identify them?" "Appears to be Combine and Void ships heading right for each other." "This is going to be quite the reunion..." O'Neill shook his head. "Start slowing down, hail them. The general message should do for now." "...They've started firing on each other." "Of course they have," Minna deadpanned. She closed her eyes. "I... think I see that they won't shoot at us." "Raise shields anyway." O'Neill adjusted his collar. "Send a warning pulse through the middle." The Austraeoh's fully-functional pulse cannon activated, sending a burst of purple-green energy between the biological jellyfish-like mesh and the black crystalline comet. O'Neill opened a channel. "It's time to stop!" Clandestine facehooved. The Combine and Void responded - the Void with a video call, the Combine with a telepathic message. The video showed a purple woman in a space-pirate outfit. "This is Captain Faris Tycoon, shove off if you don't want to fight." You shall assist us in this conquest, Overhead O'Neill. "Hmm... No and no." O'Neill folded his hands. "War's over." "Are you asking us to just lay down our weapons like nothing has happened?" Tycoon demanded. O'Neill gestured to Minna. She cleared her throat. "Yes. Yes we are." Faris blinked. "High Commander Belle! Are you... legitimate?" "There's been a complete ceasefire agreement between me and the Overhead. We have banded together to salvage what remains and understand the nuances of this new world. All the ships in our fleet have agreed to that goal as well." Faris nervously looked behind her, trying to gauge the reaction of her crew. "Yessir. I'll probably need you to tell that to my crew in person." We do not recognize the end of the war, the Combine said. The conflict still remains. "The only conflict that remains is the conflict you bring," O'Neill countered. "You're the Combine, you thrive on conquest. But now you're broken and almost nothing, what exactly do you expect to do with a victory at this point? I doubt your ship is even suited for planetary subjugation!" This changes nothing. "You don't have any higher-ups telling you what to do either. You are just your ship." O'Neill smirked. "Nobody will come to help you if you decide to do something stupid." "I'm detecting an energy buildup," Clandestine reported. "Fine, return fire whenever they actually do." "I don't think it's a weapon. I think it's a self-destruct." "Dammit," O'Neill cursed under his breath. "How's the deflector dish?" Minna looked up a report. "Not well. Our shields can't be extended effectively." "Send out a call, get everyone to cluster as close together as possible, increase shield effectiveness. I don't suppose we have magic use yet?" "Spectral rod is still being recoded." "Well, at least you were right. They weren't going to be shooting at us..." Suddenly, the energy buildup dropped to zero. "...What?" Clandestine said. A new voice came over the Combine's communication. A single, synthetic word. "Welcome." Minna blinked. "Mite!?" "Affirmative," the nanobot responded. "Did you just disable a Combine self-destruct?" "Yesaroni." O'Neill shook his head. "...Thanks. Do you know what they're doing now?" "Panic." Get this nanobot off our communications! "Try." "Or don't," O'Neill said. "Admit that you made a mistake and we won't blow you out of the sky." The Combine was silent for a moment. We admit hasty actions were taken. "Good enough. Welcome to the fleet, Combine jellyfish, your complete cooperation is required, and that includes personnel rotations and mingling." This is unacceptabl- "Oh, look at that, my finger is on the 'fire missiles' button." ...Reevaluation indicates demands are acceptable. "Good boy." ~~~ Flutterfree opened her eyes. The beautiful sight of the forest had been replaced with the cold, harsh metal of a cage. She found that her body was unbound, so she stood up on all four hooves and stretched her wings, looking around. Vriska, Pidge, Jotaro, Pinkie, Rev, and Rina were all slowly coming to, rubbing their heads and groaning. In the middle of the cage was Tornado's body, her throat slit. Flutterfree gasped and backed into the cage wall. "You always gasp, feel revolted, and then forget about them the next day." Flutterfree whirled around, Rage in her eyes. She took in the appearance of Ba'al. He clearly had the same body he always had, but it looked so different from how she remembered. The hair was gray and the beard long. One of his eyes as missing and his left hand was disfigured, possibly by acid. Instead of the royal robes of the Goa'uld, he wore the trappings of an old hermit with tattered fabric, muddy stains, and numerous satchels filled with unusual plants. She saw an old, battered zat gun on his belt. "And you kill for the fun of it," Flutterfree retorted. Ba'al chuckled - then let out a raspy cough. "I do... I do... and ka be damned, I'm going to see if I can kill all of you. One at a time... The redshirt was first. Just a companion who meant nothing and will mean nothing." "Tornado wasn't nothing," Flutterfree asserted. "She... She went through so much for the USM. Suffered at the hands of the Cele-" Ba'al rushed to the edge of the cage and gripped it with his hands, panting so heavily drool came out of his mouth. "You... don't... get to..." He looked for the word, couldn't find it, and decided banging on the cage was good enough. Vriska shot him a glare. "Looks like someone's lost it." "It... It... It..." He scratched the side of his head. "Where did I put it - oh yes!" He walked away to rummage around the room. The cage was inside a messy, disorganized shack crafted from the musical plants of the world. Every piece of furniture he overturned let out a shrill series of notes that were no longer comforting, but ominous. "Yes..." "What is it? Your brain?" He popped open a box with a drum sound, pulled out a harpoon gun, and shot Vriska through the head with it. Then he used the zat gun to disintegrate her body. He let out a brutal laugh - before clutching his chest and flopping onto a couch, breathing heavily. Vriska's immortality kicked in and her body was reformed. "...Bastard." "This body never had a mother in the first place!" he sang. "Meaningless!" He proceeded to grab his legs and start rocking back and forth. Jotaro let out a sigh. "Pinkie?" Pinkie turned to Rina and nodded slowly. Rina took in a breath and focused on her magic. She summoned her magic blade with a grimace. She looked to the mad Goa'uld and threw her blade. Ba'al reacted like lightning, pulling out his zat gun and firing it at Rina with full power. The beam hit her in the heart just as her blade struck him in the chest. He fell to the ground as a lifeless husk just as her eyes rolled back into her head. "RINA!" Rev shouted, running to her. She laid a hoof on her neck, checking her pulse. "Nothing..." "There's a hospital on the closest planet," Pidge said. "Get us out!" "ORA!" Jotaro shouted - as usual, he couldn't summon Star Platinum, so he just punched the bars of the cage with his fist. They didn't budge. Pinkie ran up to the cage and tried to squeeze herself through the gaps with similar luck. Flutterfree removed her marble tips to reveal the blades on her wings. She accessed the Rage she could and tried to cut the bars - but their alloy was simply too strong. "New plan, CPR. Pidge?" Pidge cracked her knuckles. "On it." She and Flutterfree ran to Rina, flipping her onto her side, heart upward. Pidge began mouth-to-mouth while Flutterfree did the pumping with her carefully positioned front hooves. While she did this, she lightly traced around areas of Rina's body with her wingtips, feeling for obstructions. Rev stared at the scene for a moment - then she sat down, pressed her front hooves together, and began to pray. Flutterfree, on the other hand, began to glow even stronger with the Rage within her - acting not more violently, but more desperately. Frantically wishing the truth to be that Rina was alive, that she could come back. Unfortunately, Rage did not care what someone wanted to be true, only what was. It told her as much. As she forced herself to ignore it, tears rolled down her face and onto Rina's side. "No, not again..." Pidge stopped her mouth-to-mouth. "...I'm sorry..." Jotaro put a hand on her shoulder. "You can't bring them all back." "I'm not going to let her just be another footnote! Her story is bigger than this! It's..." She let out a deep roar of Rage - but once again, the truth could not be changed. She was lying there, dead, and there was nothing the Rage could do to her. But within Flutterfree, there was another truth. A different sort of truth. For the first time since the New World arrived, a Stand manifested. The defiance of the truth gave Lotus Locus just enough of a push to Reveal itself. The great spirograph swirled around Flutterfree like a halo while the green strands spread out through the entire cage. Yes, yes... Lolo is ka-based, it can change things... The strands of Lolo wrapped around Rina - but could not Reveal any life within her. No! There's something! Think, think, think! I... Lolo acted on its own - dropping Rina and rushing to Rev. Rev let out a pained gasp as she was filled. Her eyes and horn became brilliant holy lights and she floated into the air. She spoke a word that meant nothing to any of them and the cage was filled with holy light. The moment the light cleared, Rina started breathing. She opened her eyes and groaned. "Did one of you fucking stomp all over me?" Flutterfree pulled her up with Lolo and rushed her into a hug. "Oh thank goodness..." "GAH! OW!" "CPR makes the ribs weak," Pidge reminded Flutterfree, sighing in relief. Flutterfree didn't let go. "I get it, I was dead! Let go before you pop a lung!" "...I was dead too, huh?" Everyone turned to see Tornado sitting up, touching her neck and feeling the blood. Vriska put an arm around Tornado's neck. "Good to have you back!" "...Maybe the New World allows for easier revival?" Pidge wondered. "Statistically speaking... Wait, never mind, don't have enough data points." Pinkie furrowed her brow. "I don't know... I know Coming Back Wrong can't be a thing if the Tower isn't here, but... The Tower is. Oh, who cares, I'm glad to have you back." She pulled Tornado into a hug. "Welcome to the team again!" "Eheheheheh... Sure. Sure, team, yes, right." Rev rubbed her head. "I... I think I have all my powers back. All of them." Flutterfree smiled, summoning Lolo again. "You're welcome. ...Would everyone like to have everything back?" "YES PLEASE!" Vriska begged. "PLEA-A-ASE!" Flutterfree obliged, activating Lolo around all of them, tapping into all that was hidden. Pinkie became bouncy, Star Platinum appeared, Rina gained a dark aura, Vriska's luck activated, Pidge remained Pidge... ...And Tornado's eyes flashed white. Flutterfree turned to stare at her in shock. "No... Tornado..." Tornado grinned. "Tornado's not here right now. Can I take your message?" "STAR PLATINUM: THE W-" Tornado-Ba'al raised a hand, launching Jotaro through the walls of the cage and several musical trees. "Thank you for giving me all this outrageous power." She pressed her hands together. "Goodbye." The immense psychic energy discharge destroyed the entire shack in an instant. ~~~ The Everykid led the League down a hallway of the archive, pointing out all sorts of areas where parts of the mainframe had exploded and repairs were underway, evidence that no, not all the information could be accessed from the lobby. Nettle, Mattie, Thrackerzod, and Burgerbelle weren't in their spacesuits anymore, having long since discarded them. Mattie and Burgerbelle had the biggest smiles on their faces and were walking up with the Everyman, making conversation with the evidently mute little girl. Thrackerzod was trailing behind with a disgusted look on her face. Nettle glanced from Thrackerzod to the rest of the group and back. "...Uh..." "The Everyman was on the side of the Nihilists and they're acting like old friends." Nettle processed for a moment. "Nihilists. Oh! Oh, those were a thing." Thrackerzod grunted. "The worst of all possible evils and they're doting." "She's cute! How could we not!?" Mattie called back. "...I thought you told her listening in on conversations was rude?" Nettle asked. Thrackerzod raised an eyebrow. "You've been around her for a week, tell me how much she respects authority." "Well she likes her authority..." Thrackerzod looked up at Nettle and blinked. "I've just had an epiphany." "Hm?" "You're me." Nettle blinked. "I don't get it." "You were a higher-order being suddenly brought low into the form of a physical body and have to learn everything about how the biologicals work in order to survive." Thrackerzod laughed. "This is amusing." "...I still don't get it." "Parallelism, darling!" Mattie called back. Nettle put a hand to the bridge of her nose. "This would be so much easier with my full mind..." "That's the point," Thrackerzod said. "You have to make it through without your full mind, learn how to adjust with the meat-thing you have in your skull. You aren't like Burgerbelle - Burgerbelle's mind is the same as it always has been. Ditzy, easily distracted, burger-focused, and full of an unhealthy amount of... 'memes'." "MEMES! MEMES EVERYWHERE!" Burgerbelle shouted. "Okay, Mattie I can understand, but how can you hear us!?" "Mattie told me to say that." She gave them some finger guns. "...I never got memes," Thrackerzod muttered. "Neither do I, but I find them fascinating." Nettle furrowed her brow. "What makes a good meme? What aspects of absurdity and humor make the subjective brew needed to be 'dank'? She seems to understand..." "She makes a fool of herself." "I think that's part of it." "You're hardly one to judge." There was a moment of silence. "...I'm sorry about the Eldritch comment," Nettle said. Thrackerzod sighed. "I think I should be happy that you're trying, but instead you just irk me to no end. A-" Thrackerzod blinked again. "By Azathoth's yellow-bellied suckers, this is not the day for me and epiphanies." "Uh..." "I just imagined how everyone else must have felt for, oh, the few decades it took for me to get some of the most basic ideas drilled into my head." She let out a bitter laugh. "My situation isn't exactly something I get to encounter very often." "So... you're empathizing?" "Nettle, I can tell you right here and now that while this does qualify as empathizing for me, you really shouldn't take it as the standard." "But if..." "Talk to Servitude more. She understands these things. Don't talk to Mattie. She pretends to understand these things." "It's the language of love and pain!" Mattie called back. "The appropriate response here is to groan." Thrackerzod said. Then she groaned. Suddenly, the Everykid stopped moving. She jumped to a panel in the wall and pulled it open, revealing a maintenance shaft. Inside was a large, muscular man in a white nautical outfit. The moment the panel was opened he jumped out, summoning a Stand everyone recognized - Star Platinum. "STAR PLA-" The Everyman waved her hands rapidly to get Jotaro Kujo to stop attacking. She smiled nervously and introduced the two of them. "Oh. Hey Jotaro," Mattie said. "...Guess you ended up here, huh?" Jotaro stood up and grabbed his hat. "Yare yare daze... It's been a while." "Hasn't been a while for us," Thrackerzod muttered, walking up to the front. "My jaw is still sore from that punch." Jotaro lowered his hat and said nothing. "Wait... Is that the guy who blew up my mind regulator?" Nettle blurted. "No, that was Nova," Burgerbelle offered. "...Then he gets a pass. But when I find this Nova..." Mattie grimaced but didn't say anything. Now was definitely not the time to drop that on them. "So, Jotaro, why are you here?" Mattie asked. "Repairing the systems," he said, pointing to a pocket welder he had in his hand. "The kid needed help, she couldn't do it on her own." "...You do know she's the Everyman, right?" Burgerbelle asked. "Yes." Jotaro glanced at the Everykid. "Didn't know you did." "You. Repairing a mainframe," Thrackerzod deadpanned. "Really?" "I didn't find anything else to do," Jotaro said. "Why are you here?" "Trying to find any information we can," Mattie answered. "Specifically stuff like, oh I don't know, physics simulations, Merodi transmission devices, that sort of thing. Lil' Everykid here apparently couldn't give us full access from the lobby, so my guess is that you can help us." Jotaro let out a disgruntled sigh. "...Yes, I can. Give me a search term and I can lead you." "Let's start with the data records during the collapse," Thrackerzod said. Jotaro nodded. "This way." He flipped around and began walking. The rest followed him without a second thought. ~~~ "...What?" O'Neill said. "I said I've got some Skaians," the Emerald on the screen said. "But Skaians can't survive. They're ghosts." "These Skaians apparently can." Emerald held up a white pearl. "By transferring consciousness into this... thing. Apparently it's an 'endless party' in here." "Oh. So they can't really do anything." Emerald shook her head. "It's like a many-fused Gem. They're able to use their powers outside, just... sporadically. And without much discipline. Or order." "Can they... talk?" "Yes. I have them muted for good reason." O'Neill turned to Minna. She shrugged. O'Neill shook his head, taking a moment to process. "Well, welcome to the fleet, Emerald. By the way, do you know what happened to Yellow Diamond?" "...She was Dusted," Emerald said, forming her arms into the Diamond symbol. "It has been a difficult time recovering for the Gems here." "I'm sorry." "She was a great military leader," Emerald said. She glanced behind her for a moment, checking to see if the coast was clear. "...And it's best she's not around to continue the war." O'Neill let out a sigh, but nodded in agreement. "See you soon." He cut the feed. Clandestine turned around. "Guess that means you really are Second now, Minna." Minna smiled sadly. "Second of what, Military? This isn't just a military fleet anymore, there's dozens of civilian ships, all heading for the center. And when we get there... will we stay cohesive?" "You'd be the one to know." Minna frowned. "My visions have been coming back. But they've never been for the far future, just the immediate. And-" Her irises dilated. She slammed a button. "This is Minna to the entire fleet, SHIELDS UP AND ARM YOURSELVES!" "What's coming?" O'Neill asked as he activated the red alert. "The red thing." Minna said. "I'm having a hard time focusing on it, but it's intangible, red a- and it's about to show up onscreen." The red thing did show up. Like wind it flowed toward them, a single reddish point of light trailing a softer glow behind it for kilometers. It felt their presence and charged right for them, the trails twirling into a complex interference pattern that was hypnotic to experience. "FIRE WEAPONS!" The fleet fired every weapon they had. Anything physical or explosive was completely useless, passing right through and having no effect whatsoever. The magic lasers had some effect, distorting the pattern of its movements, but doing no visible damage. It passed through the fleet. Smaller ships were launched away at speeds so fast sensors lost track of them in under a second. "What is it!?" O'Neill shouted. "Magic is similar to TSAB devices, sir!" Clandestine reported. "Do we have any TSAB ships?" "One." "What do they have to say?" Minna checked the report as it appeared on her screen. "...That's a dumb idea." "What is?" "Shoot TSAB transmission frequencies at it until it gets confused and goes away." "Couldn't hurt!" O'Neill said. "Clandestine, send out the order." "Already done." "Effect?" "I mean, it's no longer moving in a straight line?" The red thing was zigging around the fleet like a ping-pong ball. O'Neill narrowed his eyes. "Activate the spectral rod." ~~~ Tornado-Ba'al looked down at the crater, not at all surprised to see that everyone had survived thanks to Rev's magic shield. She shrugged. "Well, looks like you're all up and running. What else did I expect to happen, I wonder?" She became confused at this question. "...What did I expect to happen...? I... What?" "You're going to get out of her right now," Pinkie said, producing a chainsaw and her Massacre dress. "Can't do that! The mind's empty!" She tapped her head like it was a watermelon. "Nothing but Ba'al in here!" Vriska glared at her. "Then it's time to die. Luc-" Tornado-Ba'al held up a hand - revealing the infinite-sided die. "Do you really want to make my luck so low that I'll be desperate enough to roll this? Because at that abysmal level... Well, I might just cause a planetary catastrophe. ...Cats... I should invest in cats..." Vriska shook her head. "...I see insanity hasn't removed your planning." "Oh yes, plans, I always have plans. And this time I'm smarter - I know the workings of fate! They're like a meat grinder in a clock that... that..." She snapped her fingers, unable to come up with the word. "You know what I mean." They stared at her blankly. "Whatever, point is, if I stay and fight even with this power, I lose. So... Bye!" She blasted out of the atmosphere with her psychic power. Pinkie jumped behind a bush and vanished. Pidge coughed. "Three... Two... One..." Pinkie brought Tornado-Ba'al crashing to the ground with a her warhammer, planning on cracking her head open on the pavement like a watermelon. Tornado-Ba'al gained enough control of her power to slip out from under the hammer, but she was still near the ground. Rina summoned her swords and threw them at Tornado-Ba'al, only for the psychic to throw them back. "How about no more death swords?!" Pinkie shouted, having just barely dodged them. "Fine!" Rina said, flaring her wings and blasting a beam of pure black energy at Tornado-Ba'al. Rev met it from the other side with a white beam. Vriska jumped up and kicked Tornado-Ba'al in the stomach. She retaliated with a burst of psychic energy, grabbing all of them and ramming them into the ground hard enough to make dents in the earth. "STAR PLATINUM: THE WORLD!" The next thing Tornado-Ba'al knew she was on the ground, her neck within Star Platinum's fist. A bruised and battered Jotaro walked back to the fight. "You pissed me off." "Off of what?" Tornado-Ba'al asked, forcing the Stand's hand open with her power. "...Nani?" "You make no sense." Tornado-Ba'al hit him with a tree. "Found it!" Pidge said, pulling her weapon out of the shack's wreckage. She fired her grappler around Tornado-Ba'al. Instead of trying to break it, she ripped the handle of the weapon out of Pidge's hand and recalled it. "...Hey that's..." Pidge paused. "Actually I don't know why more people don't do that." Tornado-Ba'al smirked. "So crazy it just might w-" Pinkie chopped off one of her arms with a chainsaw, prompting a terrified scream. "No! No I have to live! Escape! I..." Flutterfree closed her eyes and spread her wings. The Element of Kindness flashed. In an instant, she was on the other side of Tornado-Ba'al. The Goa'uld-controlled corpse unceremoniously fell to the ground, dead. Flutterfree put her marble wingtips back on. "The kindest..." She didn't finish her sentence. Vriska looked down at Tornado's body. "...Well, I guess that's that. We went on vacation and got our powers back. Yay..." "I'll get us a party once we're in the mood," Pinkie said. "It is something to celebrate, bu-" "No," Flutterfree said. "We're not just going to move past this and forget about her like some Redshirt. That was the old way. This is the New World. Things don't have to be the same." She walked over to Tornado's body and leaned down. "She needs to be remembered as one of us. When we get to where we're going, and the deed is done... we will bury her." She turned to Rev. "...Can you prepare her?" Rev nodded. "I'll need supplies." "Pinkie has whatever you need. Right?" "Right." Pinkie changed out of her Massacre dress and started pulling out medical supplies. Pidge, Jotaro, and Vriska looked around awkwardly. This was not something they had ever done. They weren't sure they wanted to keep her in mind. Rina stared into the air, unblinking. That was me. Rev clasped her hooves together and began to enchant the medical wrap with preservation. She began to wind it around Tornado, sealing it to her body. "This can be removed later, she'll be just as we left her." She and Flutterfree slowly wrapped the entire body while Pinkie sat nearby, 'watching'. Rev clasped her hooves together again and laid them on the wrapped body. She charged it with energy to finalize the seal, launching a loose spark that hit Pinkie in the forehead. "Ow," Pinkie muttered, rubbing her forehead. "That stung." Rev and Flutterfree stared at Pinkie in disbelief. "What? It was just some loose magic that... I... felt..." Pinkie stopped moving. "R-rev, can you d-do that again?" "...I think I can do you one better." Rev held Pinkie's head in her hooves, examining her closely. With her magic, she lowered the pink blindfold so it hung around the mare's neck, revealing her empty eye sockets. They didn't look painful after all these years - just empty. Rev placed her hooves over the holes and focused. Once again, her eyes transformed into a glowing white state and bright energy flowed through her hooves into Pinkie. The mare's body began to twitch and buzz. A slight, short of breath giggle emanated from Pinkie's mouth. Slowly, Rev removed her hooves from Pinkie. "Pinkie... How do you feel?" Pinkie wiped a tear from her face and opened her eyes. "Tingly!" Everyone stared at her for a moment. She didn't stare at them - she stared at everything else. She saw the colors of the forest, the wispy motions of the grass, and... she could feel the wind in her mane. "I..." she was at a loss for words. "...How is this possible?" Flutterfree asked. Pidge blinked. "Forced curses like hers worked because there was a multiverse, no matter where she was or how her soul and body were represented, she would experience the disability... There's no multiverse now. The curse didn't have a way to perpetuate!" "I... I..." Pinkie sniffed. And then she let out seventy years of tears she had never gotten to cry. Being Pinkie, this created enough tears to muddy the entire area they were standing in, but somehow nobody cared about this. All of them except Rina piled onto her and joined her. "...The sappy cry hug never ends, huh?" Rina wondered aloud, not expecting an answer. For once, she was satisfied without one. Simply watching them... It made her feel like there was more out there than what she knew. They really had something special here. ~~~ "This node connects the recently-recorded data with everything else," Jotaro said, leading the League and the Everykid through the endless towering halls of data storage. The Everykid looked at him and raised an eyebrow. He ignored her. The doors to the node opened automatically and smoothly despite being the size of barns. Inside was a domed room lined with dark metal. The lower edges of the room were covered in computer screens while the central floor sloped up until it came to a point, atop of which sat a glowing ball of pink energy. "...Pretty," Burgerbelle observed. "Stand over there," Jotaro said. "I need to access the terminal and I don't want to deal with the security measures for people looking over my shoulder." "Sure thing," Mattie said, walking to where he directed. "You know, I envy that orb. Something sharp jabbed into it at all times, and it doesn't even care." "You really need to stop speaking," Burgerbelle observed. "If I didn't say these things, who would?" "Exactly." Mattie rolled her eyes, chuckling. She looked to the side at the Everykid, noticing she had a nervous expression on her face. "Dear, what's the matter?" The Everykid looked up, forced a smile, and shook her head rapidly. "Something's bothering you." The Everykid backed away from them slowly, a grimace forming on her face. "...Something's wrong," Nettle said. "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered, pressing a button on the console. With a flash of bright light, bolts of intense electricity shot out of the orb and into Mattie, Thrackerzod, Nettle, and Burgerbelle. "No one considered I might be the Everyman as well." He pulled his hat down. Thrackerzod tried to muster up some magic, but the pain from the lightning was simply too much for her to handle. She didn't have any eldritch nature to draw on anymore - she had to react like a normal unicorn. She couldn't just shunt the pain away... She could only scream. The Everykid put her hands to her mouth. "They would tell everyone about us since you spilled the beans," Everyman-Jotaro said, shaking his head. "It has to-" The Everykid pulled out a parasol, hit Jotaro across the face with it, and pressed the 'undo' button on the console. The lightning stopped, dropping four singed and heavily injured ponies onto the ground. "Why'd it stop...?" Mattie wondered absent-mindedly. "It was so... sparkly..." Everyman-Jotaro stood back up, summoning Star Platinum. "What has gotten into you!?" The Everykid shrugged, removing her hat and replacing it with a black one that gave her a green visor. "We cannot leave our self behind!" The Everykid took one look at him, shook her head, and shot a laser out of her parasol at him. "STAR PLATINUM: THE WORLD!" The next instant, they were locked in combat - apparently time-stop wasn't so effective against the Everykid. Stand-fist to the face was. She took the hit head on and landed on the ground. She was quickly able to jump back up, but she was already making pained grunts. As she fired another laser at Everyman-Jotaro, Burgerbelle struggled to focus. Blood was dripping from her mouth and her eyes felt like they were on fire - though this was only because she wasn't remembering to blink in her pain. She used one hand to push herself to her knees. In the other hand she had a hamburger. "...Where did...?" she shook her head, realizing she shouldn't ask the question. That was the whole point of her. What she did, what she was - it didn't operate on sense. Shakily, she stood up, holding the hamburger high. "BURGER!" she shouted. She stuffed the burger into her mouth and wolfed as much down as she could, throwing the remaining patty over the back of her shoulder. It exploded when it hit the ground. Everyman-Jotaro and the Everykid turned to stare at her in disbelief. She smirked, no longer feeling the pain or noticing the blood dripping down her face. She felt strong, like a force of nature. She leaned forward and held her arms behind her, running right for Everyman-Jotaro. Star Platinum moved to defend its user, but the Everykid saw her opportunity. She put on a red hat with two eyes on it. She threw the hat at Star Platinum - and she vanished, becoming Star Platinum. Everyman-Jotaro found that his Stand was no longer defending him. Burgerbelle reached Everyman-Jotaro and delivered many rapid kicks and punches to his muscular body, moving so fast it looked like she had several arms and legs. "Ora ora!" She shouted, giggling. Everyman-Jotaro punched her in the face himself, knocking her to the ground, dazed. Focusing for a moment, he recalled Star Platinum, forcing a dazed Everykid back into existence. He took a step toward Burgerbelle, raising a fist. "Useless." "Omae wa mou shindeiru," Burgerbelle said, an exaggerated near-trollface expression upon her features. "NANI!?" The delayed reaction from Burgerbelle's attacks hit all at once. Jotaro convulsed like an accordion affixed to a car pump, barely having a moment to yell out in pain before he keeled over. "Gotcha!" the Everykid crowed, spreading her arms wide. Nettle turned to stare at her. "YOU CAN TALK!?" "Yep!" Burgerbelle grinned. "...Awesome." The Everykid giggled. Thrackerzod groaned, finally rising to her hooves. "So..." She coughed. "Let me get this straight. We were saved. By memes." "Abso-doot-elutely!" Burgerbelle said, dooting a trumpet for emphasis. "And we thought Flat powers couldn't exist." "I just had to stop thinking about it." "Uh huh..." Thrackerzod shook her head and turned to the Everykid. "And you..." The kid looked at her expectantly. "You're the Everyman." She nodded. "He was the Everyman." She nodded again. "You killed yourself." She smiled awkwardly and nodded. "...What?" She laughed, linked arms with Burgerbelle, and started dancing. Mattie limped to Thrackerzod. "Something, something, friendship is magic." "But they had the same mind!" "Dimensional effects are gone, remember?" Mattie smirked. "Every instance of the Everyman is separate. And as I recall, he wasn't big on consistency. The Everyman died with the multiverse. What we're looking at is just... some kid." Burgerbelle lifted the kid into the air. "The Everykid!" The Everykid threw her hands into the air and grinned. "Hnnng, so precious..." Mattie whispered. "So can you take us to the actual information?" Burgerbelle asked. The Everykid nodded eagerly, gesturing for them to follow. Burgerbelle and Thrackerzod followed readily. Mattie stayed behind, taking a moment to check that Nettle was okay before turning to look at the node's sphere. "You know, I wonder if I could repurpose this..." "Probably," Nettle said, trying to figure out how to walk without hurting her leg. "Right, I forgot, you don't know how to talk properly and aren't any fun to mess with." Mattie rolled her eyes. "Looks like Burger's got her powers back. You might have something in you as well." "...And all I have to do is stop thinking." Mattie facehooved. "I think it's different for every person." "Why isn't it consistent?" "People aren't consistent." "I am." Mattie let out a guffaw. "You're in for a long, painfully rude awakening." "...Sure I am." Mattie facehooved. "Let's try not to lose the others." She put Nettle on her back and trotted out of the room. Of course, Mattie was injured and she was in no position to have a rider at this point in time, but that was kind of the whole point of the operation. ~~~ The Austraeoh's spectral rod activated, attempting its first in-combat spell since the collapse. The goal? Just stop the red thing from moving. We really need something better to call it, O'Neill thought. But now was not the time to vocalize the opinion - they'd name it after it was dead. "Energy weapons ready?" "Yessir," Clandestine reported. "Spell is away." The spectral rod's energy released, creating a cube of white energy around the red thing's 'head'. The trails of red behind it began to dissipate as it bounced off the walls of the box. "FIRE!" O'Neill ordered. Every ship in the fleet with an energy weapon hit the cube at the same time. The red thing could not have dodged any of the destructive capability. So instead it absorbed all of it and broke out of the cube. "...Well, the spell worked," Clandestine observed. O'Neill held a hand to the bridge of his nose. "How long until we can create a seal spell?" "Hours, given that the rod just blew itself out," Minna said. "Peachy," O'Neill muttered. "Order the ships into a defensive-fleeing formation to minimize how many of us it can take out. If it shows relentless pursuit prepare to split the fleet." Clandestine gulped. "Yessir... Should I stop the TSAB transmissions?" "No, keep it as confused as possible, see what happens." "Haste!" Mite announced. "I forgot he existed," Minna said, shaking her head. "Undeniable." The fleet began to move away from the red thing, arranging itself thinly so its energy could not reach too many ships at once. It showed no sign of giving up pursuit, but it couldn't stay fixed on any one target due to the TSAB signals. "Okay, we need to prepare the separation. We can't survive like this. Split in three ways, larger groups to either side, smaller in the center so that group is more likely to survive and make it to the center. Whichever group it follows should scatter in every direction after we are out of range. A-" "Incoming ships!" "Oh, what now!?" Six TSAB advanced warships sped to their fleet, firing magical chain weapons at the red thing. It pulsed in anger, but it could not overcome the power of an actual sealing spell. It was quickly locked in a glowing red box and grabbed by the TSAB's lead ship. "They're hailing," Clandestine reported. "Onscreen." The familiar face of Vita appeared onscreen. "This is Vita. Good to see you O'Neill." "We're a lot happier to see you." "...Eh..." Vita tilted her hand back and forth. "You're the ones who called us here with all those signals." "Crazy idea did something..." Minna muttered. "And the Device Geist was our problem." Vita sighed. "When so many mages were... dusted, the surviving Devices unleashed all their magic at once, creating a being that wanted everyone to be like them: separated from what they cared about." "...Geez," Clandestine said. "Yeah. Geez." Vita regained her upright posture and saluted. "But the threat has been neutralized, no use dwelling on it. You are all welcome at Midchilda, regardless of which side you fought on in the war." "...How'd you pull that off in your government?" O'Neill asked, blinking. "...It was Acting High Sovereign Fate's last order," Vita said, trying hard to keep a straight face. "My condolences." Vita nodded. "...Do you have a connection to any major worlds?" O'Neill shook his head. "All we have are loose ships. Midchilda is the first major world we've found. Our mission is currently to make it all the way to the center of the New World." "We've been preparing a scouting team to do that as well. Wait a few days - we can join you." "As long as we can come to Midchilda and get some vacation time." Vita smiled sadly. "...Our society may still exist, but it isn't a happy society, O'Neill." "We'll take what we can get." Vita nodded. "Of course. Come with us, we'll show you the way." ~~~ "Hey, GM, we're going!" Roxy called across the church. We had arrived a few hours earlier by my suggestion, not that I was let out of the cage. GM was talking to Froppy. He turned away from the amphibious woman to see Roxy walking over to him. "Ah..." GM rubbed the back of his head. "Did they chase you out?" "Well, nobody wants anything to do with Monika, Twilence, or Flagg," Roxy said. "So, sorta. They never came right out and said it though. C'mon, let's go." "...Roxy, I found my family here," GM said. "They're over there, talking to Aslan. My parents... my brother... my sister..." Roxy paused for a moment, then winked at him. "Say no more. We'll miss you." "Are you sure? I ca-" Roxy put her hands on GM's shoulders. "Kid, you're not a Prophet anymore, you don't have to worry. You've already told us everything we wanted to know and then some. You don't have to do anything else." "...Telling me not to worry. Heh..." "Hey it's still good advice, even if you don't follow it!" "If my life had a story... Well, it does, and..." he shook his head. "Nevermind, I don't even know." "And that's fine. Not everyone has to stick with the adventure. And... frankly, you aren't made of stern enough stuff to keep going. You don't have to." GM nodded. "I guess... I'm being nice to myself, if that makes sense. Or Uber-me is. Giving me a chance to just... have a life." He laughed nervously. "I know a thing or two about physics, I guess... got Monika to give me my books... I could do something here. ...Maybe. I don't know. I'm not great at the physical stuff. ...One thing I know is that I'm sure not writing again." "Don't tell yourself that." "Bu-" "You aren't a Prophet. You don't have to worry." "But if I write it, he..." "Would have written it anyway." Roxy turned him around and pushed him forward. "Now, go. Be with your family." She watched as he walked away - and was embraced. "...Feels a little weird, doesn't it?" Roxy asked Froppy. "...Ribbit?" "Just... Him. This whole thing came out of his mind." She put her hands behind her head. "If you look long enough you can see the patterns in his thinking appear in reality." She patted Froppy on the back. "You've got something to look forward to, with him around." "I've got other things to look forward to." Roxy smirked. "I suppose you do. Congratulations! Sorry I won't be here when it happens." "It's not a problem. You have somewhere to be anyway. And I don't want Flagg anywhere near it." "I hear that." Roxy saluted. "Catch you later, sister!" Froppy raised an incredulous eyebrow. Roxy laughed to herself as she skipped out the church doors. She looked around and took in the breeze wafting over the pink ocean. Behind her there were several houses in the middle of being built and a few pieces of farmland that had already been plowed. They were starting a regular town around here. It gave her hope for the future. She ran across the town and out into the nearby sea-forest. She landed neatly next to our campsite. "GM's staying." "Nani? Why?" Rohan asked. "He found his family." Roxy said, dusting her hands off. "And no offense, he probably needed to check out before he completely lost his mind. That thing with the cult... He hasn't been able to let it out yet." "Leaving the story..." I mused from my cage. "...He's close to doing it. Not quite, but close." "Not quite?" Chancellor Fluttershy asked. I shook my head. "No. He'll show up again. I... see a few moments. But he's mostly done. He served his purpose." I looked to the sky. "...I can't wait until I get to do that." Monika grunted. "Never, if we have something to say about it." I smiled softly at Monika but said nothing. >>When one story ends, another begins. Endings are, and always will be, lies.<< I shook my head at M's screen. "Sometimes, there really is an ending. And what comes next isn't a story, it's a life." Flagg let out a snort. "Please, do you really think the idea of an 'ending' or a 'story' is actually important? You're on about nothing but semantics." "Semantics are what make us human," Rohan said, drawing some manga with Heaven's Door. "Warm and baking mean essentially the same thing, but one suggests comfort while the other suggests the exact opposite." He made a sharp line on his paper. "Words make us, define how we think." "Not me!" "Just because your book is immune to my words does not mean it has no words. Your words are merely more complex and disturbing than ours." Flagg smirked. "How about we do an experiment to see exactly how?" "We are not removing that voice inhibitor," Roxy deadpanned. Flagg shrugged. "It's only a matter of time..." "Yes, yes, you're alive, you'll be important later," I muttered, twirling my hoof in the air. "So will I. It's still the best option since there isn't a drug in existence that could keep you out for long and killing you just frees you." "...How about we not argue about that for the millionth time and get going?" Roxy said, putting her belongings in her inventory. "We've got a long way to go still."
Songs of the Spheres	136 - The Place You Call Home	"You know Mite, I think I live on this ship," O'Neill said, sitting on the bed in his private quarters on the Austraeoh. "Absent." "Just because I can't see you doesn't mean I don't know you're in here," O'Neill said. "Dubious." "I'm not arguing philosophy with you." "Incorrect." O'Neill ignored that comment. "Even when I did have a home, back before the war even started, this was my ship. I went on missions, explored distant worlds, saw everything." He adjusted his uniform in a mirror, unsatisfied with an awkward wrinkle on the shoulder. "I think I know this ship better than I know my house. ...Or what was my house, who knows if it's still around." "Lonely." "You're a judgmental little bugger, you know that?" "Affirmative." "Good. Just checking." Deciding his uniform wasn't going to get flat enough for his liking, he shrugged and left his quarters. On the opposite end of the hall, Minna was talking to her husband, Frigid. "Now please don't put your art projects on the bed next time, okay?" Frigid rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Yeah, I... I should have thought ahead." "Oh, it's beautiful! It's just that you have a nice table right there. I know the bed has more cush, but I need to sleep whenever I can get it." Frigid chuckled. "All right, all right, I'll use the table." He kissed her. "Love you. Don't blow us up." "I blow us up a little bit every day." "Then not a lot." Minna closed the doors to her quarters, turned around, and realized O'Neill was standing there. O'Neill was highly amused to see her blush, such a rare sight on her face. "...Good morning, sir." "You're a lucky woman," O'Neill said. "Not everyone got to take theirs with them." "I... I'm aware." O'Neill nodded. "...Sometimes I wonder if things might have been different, I would have picked someone..." "No offense sir, you were already old when you took the potion. The drive wouldn't be there... as much." "And you had no biological drive to speak of." "I married a pony, what makes you think it had to have anything to do with that?" O'Neill blinked. "Good point." Minna put a hand to her chin. "I wonder... Who would it have even been?" O'Neill shrugged, indicating the discussion was over. A few moments later Minna started chuckling. "I bet you've got an excellent mental image." "Yes. Yes, I do. Sir." "Well keep it to yourself, we've got work to do." The two entered the bridge at the same time. "Overhead on Deck!" Clandestine called. She swiveled around in her chair to salute the two of them. "We've picked up something very interesting on the sensors. Vita's given the O.K. to investigate." "What is it?" O'Neill asked. Minna's eyes widened in surprise before he'd even completed asking the question. A few seconds later, the rest of the bridge crew saw what Minna just had: an image of a male Celestialsapien with a white fuzzy creature sitting on his shoulder. "Have we tried hailing?" O'Neill asked. "Of course we have," Clandestine said. "It's not like a Celestialsapien to respond. We're not expecting much at all." "THERE IT IS!" A loud amused voice said. Suddenly, the Celestialsapien was on the bridge - unmoving as their kind generally were. The white creature on his shoulder, however, was fully active and talking like mad. "Hey! Hey! Hey! Guess what I am. C'mon, you can do it. You've got some good clues already." "You're one of Them," Minna said. "Cheating, I like you," the Them said, scratching behind his chinchilla-like ears. "So hey, hello intrepid travelers across the New World! What's shakin'?" "We're wondering why you're a rodent," O'Neill answered. "Chinchilla," Mite offered, unhelpfully. "Well, it was the first thing I thought of when I realized the intangible body thing doesn't exactly work here!" the Them said, twitching his nose. "I have to say, I do like being a god-mouse, though I expect it'll get boring after the first year and I'll need to find some good old magic to turn me into a god-cat or something." "...He's not setting off any alarms, right?" O'Neill asked. Clandestine nodded. "He's not any stronger than your average Discord." "I resent that!" the Them objected. "The Celestialsapien on the other hand... Yeah, he set off some of the alarms. Nowhere near as high a power as a Celestialsapien should have, but still concerning." "Don't worry about Flep. Flep is chill." The Them chuckled. "Flep hasn't made a single decision since the collapse. Heck, I don't think he'd made a decision for a few years before that. Guy's in a Celestialsapien deadlock. Could be like this for millennia. Wouldn't even be here if I didn't drag him." "...Put him on an unmanned probe," O'Neil ordered. "I'd like to keep him around, but don't want him throwing a tantrum and killing people. As for you..." He leaned down and looked at the Them. "You need a name." "Chem. I am chinchilla-chet-them." "Chet?" O'Neill asked. "Chet," Mite said. Chem smiled and twitched his adorable tiny ears. "Good, glad we've got that mystery solved." "I have no idea why Chet is in there," Minna deadpanned. Chem ignored her. "Anyway, as a rodent I must really enjoy cheese. Please, bestow upon me your graceful confections of cheesy natures. Because cheese. If I don't like cheese I'm going to have to take this body back to the store I bought it from." "Didn't you create it yourself?" O'Neill asked. "Yes." "Nevermind." O'Neill shook his head. "Listen up, Chem. You can have your cheese. You can have lots of the cheese. But if you're going to be with us, you have to follow the rules of basic decency, which I know is unimaginably difficult for you Them." "It's agony," Chem confirmed. "Well deal with agony if you want unhindered access to the cheese. I do have spells that can keep you out." "Eeyep." "Furthermore, as a member of this crew, you will be expected to pull your weight. As a 'god-mouse' this should not be difficult for you in the slightest. You might be put on dishes control one day, or combat the next. Understood?" "I understand perfectly! The question is how much can I eat away at the intention of your rules withou-" Chem got slapped across the room by Minna. "About that damn far," she spat. "...G-gotcha," Chem muttered. "To the kitchen! To eat cheese! ...and wash dishes." He vanished in a puff of white smoke. "Are we going to tell him we have a machine to wash dishes?" Clandestine asked. "Nope," O'Neill answered. "I'll make sure the crew knows." ~~~ Eve decided it was time to land the Skiff - give the occupants a chance to stretch their legs, see somewhere new, perhaps make camp. "Where we landin' this time?" Applejack asked. She had stopped acting standoffish several days ago, but the tiredness in her voice hadn't abated in the slightest. "Small planet," Eve said. "And I mean small. Few kilometers wide at most. Looks to have a single town on it." "We'll probably be able to find beds then," Corona said. "I'd like a bed, frankly." "Some beds aren't worth anythin'," Applejack muttered. Eve brought the planet up on screen. Half of it was light, half of it was dark, and most of it seemed to be a town nestled in some wilderness. "...How's it have day and night?" Applejack wondered. "Thought that was impossible." "It appears to be an effect localized to the atmosphere," Corona said, pressing a few buttons on her console. "Neat. The town's currently in the day half." "Wonder if anyone's alive down there..." Eve took the Skiff down, swirling around the planet once just to get a full map of its surface. They landed on the outskirts of town without much fanfare and trotted out. The world seemed slightly brighter than natural - the grass was a bit too green, the ground more yellow than brown, and the cobblestone path that led into town was a bit too regular for the kind of construction it was. This was not unusual to anyone, most Equises at least had the vibrant colors. As they approached the town, they found it in a state of disrepair. Numerous windows were broken, vines were crawling up walls, and lots of paint was chipping away. A lopsided sign told them the settlement's name - Pelican Town. "That sounds vaguely familiar for some reason," Eve commented. "Could have been a world you visited," Corona offered. "I did visit a lot." The three of them walked into the town. While the vast majority of the rural buildings looked abandoned, there were a few things that told them not everyone was gone. There was a neatly-kept flower bed near the center of town, and one of the stores in the center of town had a fresh coat of paint on it. Looking through the window, they could see that the shelves were mostly empty, but there were some cans of food stocked on the top shelf. "Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in..." The three travelers turned around to see a white pegasus with large glasses and a rainbow mane staring right at them with a look of smug contempt. She set down her toolkit and can of paint, looking at them expectantly. "Prism..." Eve said, visibly shrinking away. Corona coughed. "Hey, Prism. It's been a-" "Both of you," Prism interrupted. "Both of you. Wow, this is going to be a powder keg. The destroyer of worlds and the destroyer for worlds. Acting like nothing's happened." She chuckled to herself. "Don't know what I was expecting, but this certainly wasn't it." "...Am Ah missin' somethin'?" Applejack asked. Prism blinked. "Who are you?" "Applejack." "I think I could have deduced that one." "...Just call me Jack if you have to, Ah don't need to think of a new name." Prism shook her head. "Fine, the point is, yes, you're missing something. Evening there killed my mother and started a big war; Corona there started another war and killed a lot more people, but was at least honest about it. They both suck, now you're caught up, any questions?" "I guess." "Good. Now, I'm going to be nice." Prism cleared her throat. "There are people here who would want your head on a platter, Corona. You should run." Corona shook her head. "I can't run from those who hate me. I have to face them." "Corona..." Eve cautioned. Corona held up a hand. "I'm not going to hide, Eve. We've been lucky since Lai. I can't just hope to continue being lucky." She put her hands on her hips. "Who do I have to face here?" Prism shrugged. "Well, here's one now." Trotting up was a unicorn version of Sunset carrying numerous wooden boards and nails in her magic. Everyone recognized her as Sunny in an instant. At the same instant, Sunny dropped all the boards and nails, gawking. "Corona? Eve!?" Corona waved awkwardly. "Yeah. It's us." "You really shouldn't be here," Sunny said. "Jane will... and then there's... and..." Sunny blinked. "And you're not leaving, are you?" Corona shook her head. "Have to face them eventually. Might as well be now." Sunny took a breath. "In that case... Welcome to Pelican Town! I'm... I'm sorry that this is probably going to be the only warm welcome you get. We've got the starts of stable food production and the town restoration project is coming along nicely." Prism adjusted her glasses. "Behold, my architectural genius." Sunny turned to Jack. "I don't believe we've been introduced." "Applejack. Or just Jack, since apparently you need that." "Yeah... We do." Sunny tossed her mane back. "You should come back to the farm with me if you want to see the others. You should prepare for sparks to fly. Prepare for a lot of it." Corona cracked her knuckles and dusted her hands together. "I'm ready as I'll ever be for that." She paused, turning to Prism. "Corea...?" "She's here too," Prism answered. "Bet you're both relieved and panicked because of that, huh?" "...I just want to see her." Prism pointed with her wing. "Then you're going to love the farm." Jack looked at the pegasus and shook her head. "What?" "You just remind me of me," Jack said. "That's not a compliment." Prism wasn't sure how to come back from that. ~~~ You know what tends to panic people? "Hey, yeah, all of you? Lord English is approaching this planet and we've got to move your entire town to a different one in about three hours." You know who thought panic was a good motivator to behave? "SHERLOCK!" Sherlock looked up from his seat in Rev's church hall. "Hmm?" Lightning slapped him. "What the literal hell is wrong with you?" "I don't believe Hell's literal anymore." Lightning twitched. "I don't care how effective you think something's going to be, you don't just cause people that level of panic! There have been heart attacks!" "That's why Death is here." "Sherlock..." "I don't miss details, Lightning," Sherlock said, folding his hands together. "For instance, did you know Valentine and Froppy are here? In fact, they're right behind you - not that close - and we're about to witness something that needed to be resolved a while ago." Lightning slowly turned around, curious. She saw Valentine and Froppy, both smiling. This was definitely unusual for Valentine - and the giggling was unusual for Froppy. She noticed bright, shiny new rings on their fingers. "Ah, that-" "That's not what we're here to see," Sherlock interrupted. He pulled a newspaper out of his coat and handed it to her. "Here." With a roll of her eyes Lightning sat down and pretended to read the newspaper, but kept watching them. It was at this moment Johnny Joestar showed up, riding an animalistic horse. "Valentine!" he shouted - not angry, but clearly not pleased, either. Valentine's smile dropped in an instant. He turned around to face Johnny. "I didn't expect you to be part of this little expedition, but I see that I shouldn't have made such an assumption." "What's this about settling down?" Johnny asked. "It's as simple as that," Valentine said. "We're settling down. I've had enough for one life. You should understand - you settled down before." Johnny's face twisted. "...Valentine, where's Gyro?" Valentine's face remained passive - but Froppy flinched. "He's not around, is he? Dusted?" "Yes," Valentine said. "I saw it happen," Froppy croaked. "Tornado and I were there." "Then why are you stopping? We have to go get him back!" Johnny shouted. Valentine frowned. "No, we don't." "So, what, your obligation's over?" "Johnny, you know what it means. You've read the discoveries we've made." Johnny clenched his fists. "Don't you dare..." "We... We..." Valentine had to stop for a minute to collect himself. "What we did was..." "You brought back a copy," Froppy finished for him. "...Constructed from the ground up from nothing to be just like him." "How is that different!?" "It's very different," Valentine said. "We were not undoing a death by doing it. We were causing another one." He put his arm around Froppy. "Gyro found out what he was, Johnny. He'd explored the multiverse and read enough to figure it out. That he wasn't really Gyro. That he wouldn't be brought back next time, it would be someone else. He didn't wa-" "FUCK THAT!" Johnny shouted. "I need him back, Valentine! My family's gone, I don't have anything to help them. But Gyro..." "He asked me to destroy it, Johnny!" Valentine shouted. "And I did!" "I don't have anything now!" "...You can stay here with us," Froppy offered. Johnny, for one moment, looked at her with an expression of understanding. But it was gone in an instant. Wordlessly, he turned the horse around and trotted away. Sherlock turned to lightning. "And now Johnny will stop being so aggressive. He'll recover now that he's not holding onto this." He smirked. "...I thought Sherlock wasn't supposed to be good with people." "You get older, you get wiser. Speaking of, your conversation is over there." He pointed to the front door of the church. A young man with dark hair and oversized glasses poked his head around the corner. Seeing an angry Valentine inside, he decided it probably wasn't a good idea to enter and went away. Lightning's heart went into her throat and her breath became heavy. "I thought you'd recognize him," Sherlock said with a smirk. "Go on, this is your chance to have a little conversation." Lightning dropped the newspaper unceremoniously and walked out of the Church. ~~~ Jane stuck her hands into the ground and with one forceful motion pulled a large parsnip up. She smirked - the farm was coming together even faster than expected - and tossed the parsnip into her inventory. She was exceptionally relieved that she had gotten that part of her powers working again, it had been a pain to cart everything around in baskets. She looked at the fields around her, spreading out a fair distance. Only the parsnip field was ready, but she could see sprouts for all the other crops - including apple trees. Everything was going much faster thanks to all the knowledge and skills she had at her disposal. They had even found some 'red pumpkins' on a nearby planet and were trying to grow them. A trio of silent golem beings were actively tilling this particular field. Jane called them Morp, Sedi, and Iggy based on the rocks they were composed of. They never did much of anything other than work, work, work the fields, but they seemed to enjoy the labor so Jane didn't have an issue with it. She looked further out. To the south there was a nice forest - no doubt they would be raiding it for wood several times over the course of the next few months. But for now, she knew that was the place Corea loved to take her walks. Not to mention it had the old wizard tower, and Corea had taken a liking to the arcane building. Jane's smile faltered, concern rising up that Corea would hermitize. It wouldn't be beyond her at this point... Turning to more pleasing things, she looked at the farmhouse. Unlike all the buildings in the town, this one looked lived in, and that was because it was. Everyone had banded together to renovate it into a real home for all of them. The paint was fresh, the windows clear, and the gardens were beautiful. To think, this had once been Jane's home so many, many years before... Before she'd even learned of the multiverse... Now it didn't even feel like the same place. She decided that was a good thing. It needed to be a new home. "Hey! Jane! We've got visitors!" she heard Prism shout. Jane's smile widened. Visitors? Always good to see a new face... The first 'new' face she saw was Corona. Without hesitation, Jane grabbed her sword and charged. She stopped when Eve and Sunny stepped between the two of them, raising magic shields. The sight of the two of them defending Corona made her mind go blank for a moment. "...What?" she eventually managed. "War's over, Jane," Sunny said. "Doesn't mean she doesn't deserve this..." "Whatever she deserves, I do as well," Eve said, walking up to Jane and looking down at her with contempt. Jane put her sword away. "...You're too forgiving." "What did she do that I didn't?" Eve asked. "Killed fucking everyone." "I never wanted to do that," Corona said with a sad expression. "I don't care. You did." "And I wasn't supposed to survive it. But I did, something screwed up the collapse, and here we are." Corona folded her arms. "We're just going to have to live with it." "I am not living with you." "You don't have to. We're not staying. But there are people I need to face. You're one of them." Jane let out a bitter laugh. "There's no resolution here. Got that?" "I got that. I'm not expecting one. I'm expecting acceptance." "You shouldn't expect anything. I could run you through at any time I wanted." "Jane, no," Sunny said, shaking her head. "That's not what we're doing." "You'd lose anyway," Prism pointed out. "Not helping..." Prism shrugged her wings. "I'm just pointing out the flaws in everyone. It's my purpose here." "That's it, I'm done," Jane said. She pointed at Corona. "Get off my farm." Corona took a few steps back for a moment - then narrowed her eyes. "No. I need to see Corea." "Fuck no you don't, you'll make things worse. You're a divider, Corona. I'm not letting you do any more damage. Get off my planet." "Jane..." Sunny cautioned. "Sunny, it's not right to let people like her be here." Prism let out a snort. "Really? Really? Are we going to tell that to all collapsers? Oh, wait, didn't you almost fight for the collapse?" "Prism, shut the fuck up." Prism bristled. "How about no? You're not as messed up as Eve or Corona, but you're brimming with hypocrisy." "Prism, stop it," Eve said. "You're not acting with dignity either. I don't think any of us are." "I haven't said anything yet," Jack pointed out. "You're exempt," Eve admitted. "The rest of us are trying to power play each other into some sort of situation we like, even me. That's wrong. The situation is ugly, and we shouldn't try to soften it over or run away from it. Yes, Jane, sending us away is you running away." Jane sighed. "Eve, why are you doing this?" "Because Corona was never my enemy," Eve said, pulling Corona close. "Even during the war, she was just the other side. Always the other side. Never the enemy. We wanted nothing more than to be friends again." "And we are," Corona added. "We're not going to let the New World stay divided." Jane twitched. "You're still not welcome here." "We have no intention of staying, we're traveling to the core. But we're here, and we're going to talk." "Just for the day, Jane," Sunny said. "Just the day." Jane turned her back and returned to work. "Do what you want. If you're still here tomorrow I'm chasing you out." "Thank you," Corona said with a slight bow. "Fuck you," Jane responded without turning around. Corona sighed, turning to the farm house. "Well... Guess we should see if she's in there." "She's actually over there," Prism said, pointing to the forest. "You can see her coming back." Corea was coming back, trotting along the farm path with a blank look on her face. Prism walked up and nuzzled her, prompting only the slightest of smiles that quickly vanished. She looked up as she passed Corona. "How's that survivor's guilt treating you?" Corona grimaced. "Not well." "Good. Glad to see you're still around to see all the suffering you've caused." She trotted away without another word, entered the farmhouse, and slammed the door. Nothing Jane had said had dented Corona's armor. But with only a couple sentences, Corea had torn her to her very core. Tears welled up in her eyes and her legs began to tremble. Eve had to support her to keep her standing. "The Avatar Spirit was Dusted," Prism explained in a neutral voice. "But she survived, her spirit broken." She trotted into the farmhouse as well. Eve looked into Corona's eyes. "Corona..." "I... I need to try to heal her." Corona wiped her eyes. "If she'll let me." "Ah'm not sure she will, but Ah'll have a talk with her about it." Standing in the doorway of the farm house was a muscular orange mare with the Element of Honesty hung around her neck. "Applejack!?" Eve said, irises shrinking. The farm mare looked just the same as she always had - hat and all. "I... I uh..." "Join us for dinner," Applejack said, cutting her off. "WHAT!?" Jane shouted, standing bolt upright. "I did not a-" "Jane, I'm going to use one of your favorite phrases on you. Shut the hell up. You're angry and it's unreasonable. Ah'm quite upset but you don't see me yellin' in everyone's faces." She opened the door. "Come, sit down, let's get caught up." Eve gulped, suddenly a lot less confident about her decision to land on this little planet. ~~~ GM nervously looked at the giant pillars of magic runes Strange was setting up around the town. I'm supposed to be avoiding the story. This is the story. He nervously rubbed his knuckles together, trying to think about something else. "...And now I'm sure. You're definitely GM." GM twitched - he had made sure everyone in town used his real name, not the moniker, so he wouldn't be outed as the reason all the problems in the world existed. He took a breath. "Please don't..." He turned around and told Lightning his name. "I know what your name is," Lightning said, a twitch in her mouth indicating nerves. Not that GM noticed this, his obliviousness was legendary. "Y-yeah, of course you would..." He weaved his hands together and nervously looked around. "I'm not him. I may have based him off of me, but I'm not him. I made him the villain." "I know. He told me as much himself." "W-well of course he would, seeing as..." Lightning put a hand to the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Would you calm down? Just... Look, there's a table over there. Let's sit." "But that's Gevo's, he's not open until after the-" "Just go sit on the chair. I'll mess with Gevo if I have to." "R-right!" GM stammered. He cautiously followed Lightning to the table and sat down. "Now... Tell me why," Lightning said. "Why? Why what? Why the..." "Why the Collector? Why me?" GM gulped and took a breath. "...Let's start with you. Because you came first." Lightning raised her eyebrow. "You were... I was... Hmm... I was thirteen and I was given your game - Final Fantasy XIII - for my birthday. Looking back now, it wasn't that... great of a game." "It absolutely sucks. Move on." "R-right." He swallowed hard. "It was bad. But I didn't notice that at first, I just thought it was different, fun, and... well, stunning. The scenery... the complex story... I hadn't really started writing yet, so I really didn't know what I was looking at, but... It was an experience. I never finished it myself, but the characters stuck with me. Yours most of all." Lightning nodded. Then she exaggerated the motion to make sure he caught it and moved on. "So I just kept you in the back of my head. And as I watched and learned, I kept more and more characters in the back. And then the first big thing I ever tried to write was a big story where I brought all of you together. ...That was a bad idea. A very, very bad idea. I tried again almost immediately afterward, but that also didn't go so well. I don't remember exactly how, but that's where you lost your eye. ...Not this version of you, the first one. Second. Second." Lightning touched her eyepatch gently. "...The Collector found me like this." GM nodded. "That... makes sense? He'd want the one of you that was... 'his'." "So how did he come about?" "I started reading fanfics. I looked for giant crossovers because... that was what I wanted to read and I couldn't find many good ones. I eventually did in a 'Grand Tour' - that one's the reason Nanoha is such a big deal - but he didn't come from that one. I forget most everything about the story I'm thinking of except that the main character was powerful, manipulative, and evil in almost every way. But he was the hero and his conquest was supposed to be a good thing. And every chapter in the author's notes there was a reminder that 'he's not infallible' but I never read far enough to find that. He always seemed to have a plan or ploy..." "That sounds like him." "There's a difference, but that's where the idea first took form." Now that he had gotten talking, GM was a lot less nervous. "I didn't fully understand what the Mary Sue was until a bit later, but I was easily able to draw lines back to that one guy and all the other Sues I started seeing. It was... annoying. I mean people can write stuff like that if they want, but the prevalence... I'm not innocent, but I never..." He shook his head. "The Collector was born out of this mess. He was originally designed as a meta-type threat for... I forget what exactly. It was just an idea. What if I was slightly more evil and would use everything I knew to create a world of my favorite heroes? They wouldn't want to, so I'd have to use hyper mind control on them... And I remembered the old Sue stories and realized this was an opportunity. Not a very clever one, I have to say, but an opportunity nonetheless." He looked at Lightning. "He was never intended to be the hero. He was the villain." "He knew this," Lightning confirmed. GM nodded. "He embraced it, because he knew it would make the change he brought more extreme. Or, well, I wrote him to, I guess..." GM paused, thinking. "He wasn't a good person, and the ends could never justify the means, but he was made to not care. I couldn't do that." "Clearly," Lightning deadpanned. "Eheh... Yeah. He's definitely not me. He's me if I had strength, no integrity, and believed the ends justify the means. He was evil. But he was very good for the story - and for you." Lightning folded her hands together. "...I'm not sure he was evil." "Of course not. That was your purpose. To be the one who stood by him, even when his lack of integrity got the better of him in the end." "And what's my purpose now?" GM shook his head. "I don't know. I can look back on the Collector now that his story is done and say for sure. You? You're still around. I may never know for sure what your deal is." Lightning nodded slowly, understanding. "So, uh..." "That's all I needed," Lightning said, standing up. "Thank you. I won't tell anyone who you are. You deserve some peace." "Do I?" "You didn't know what you were doing." GM smiled awkwardly. "...Yeah." "PREPARE TO MOVE THE TOWN!" Strange called over a megaphone. "T-MINUS THIRTY MINUTES! EVERYBODY GET TO A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN HOLD ON TO SOMETHING FIXED!" "That's my cue to go home," GM said. "It was... interesting to meet you." Lightning lightly waved. "That's one way to describe it." ~~~ Awkward didn't even begin to describe the dinner. The Table was large and round, seating Eve, Corona, Jack, Jane, Sunny, Corea, Prism, and Applejack comfortably. It was the only comfortable thing about the situation. The food was way too reliant on parsnips, everyone kept looking around with steeled and upset glares, and much was exchanged without a single word being spoken. Sunny looked to Applejack. Upon receiving a nod, she cleared her throat. "So... What's it like out there, Eve?" "Beyond the System?" Eve asked. Sunny nodded. "A little confusing," Eve admitted. "The planets arrange themselves in orbitals and move around like they're part of some liquid. It's relatively easy to figure out where you are within a single system, or with respect to how close you are to the core, but everything else is inconsistent. We looked behind us a few days ago and realized the system we started in had moved so far the computer couldn't find it." She smiled warmly. "But other than that, it's amazing. There are a mixture of planets left just as they were, but also planets that are conglomerations of all sorts of things. Th-" "They weren't left just as they were," Jane interrupted. "She means from a natural standpoint," Corona pointed out. Jane decided that if she said anything else, she would explode, so she just stuffed a parsnip into her face. "...What's farmin' like?" Jack asked. Applejack turned to her with a soft smile. "So interestin' to see one of me who never farmed... It's a hard life, but not one that takes much in the way of thinkin'. You just gotta make sure your food grows. There's no market here, just food, so we don't have to worry 'bout any of that either. You just gotta focus your mind on the task, get involved with the plants, and get through it." "The plants aren't the only thing," Prism pointed out. "There's buildings that need redoing, systems that need fixing, and the magic of course." Corea forced herself to smile. "Y-yeah. I've been working on the magic. I've still got that, at least." "...How's that been going?" Corona asked. Corea looked up at her. "I could eject you through that wall there." Corona looked away for a moment - but then she got an idea. "Really? I've been working on restoring my magic as well, something tells me otherwise." "You wouldn't see it coming." "I don't know, I have pretty good eyes..." Corea tapped her hooves together and pushed on Corona with a telekinetic push. Corona would have gone through the wall had she not teleported herself to the other side of the room where she proceeded to crash into Corea and flop onto the table. There was silence for a moment. "Pfft," Corea said with a chuckle. "That was... really stupid." "It kinda was," Corona said, an amused smile on her face. Corea looked at the parsnip sauce all over the two of them. She let out a chuckle. "You really should have known better," Corona said, stretching her wings. "Well excuuuse me if I didn't spend time meditating on our old training sessions." "Just because your master turned out to do some questionable things does not mean training was worthless!" With a smile, Corea shoved Corona. "Here's a paradox. You told me the opposite thing before." "People are allowed to grow!" "Can it happen in reverse?" "Evidently!" Jane loudly stood up from her chair and kicked it over, storming off elsewhere into the farm house. Corona and Corea's smiles vanished instantly. Eve sighed. "I'll go talk to her..." She trotted after Jane, finding the woman sitting on the porch, watching the sunset. Her entire body sagged with weariness. "Why you...?" Jane asked. "You probably don't want to hear this from Sunny." "What, you think an authority figure will do anything? Eve, I know you, you can't just do that." Eve pulled up a chair and sat down. "I'm not here as an authority figure. I'm here as your friend." Jane grimaced. "Why do you think it's wrong to rebuild these bridges?" "Because... Because... It's just wrong, okay?" "That's not good enough, Jane." "Killing so many is evil!" Eve smiled sadly. "Jane... You agreed with her." "I did n-" "I know you, Jane. Not the best, but I do know you hated what your Prophet had done. When you were sent on the mission against the Nihilists, I read your interviews. You were conflicted. Very conflicted. But you changed your mind because of Sunny." Jane was silent. "You don't want to let yourself think that might have been the wrong choice." "It wasn't!" Eve didn't have to say anything. All she had to do is fix Jane with an understanding expression. "...Are you saying the collapse wa-" "This isn't about me," Eve said. "For the record, no, I don't think it was the right choice. But I understand it. You should understand it more than me. That scares you." Jane grunted, looking into the distance. "It was still messed up. Tower's still here. World's just different." "Ka levels have been dropping." Jane blinked. "They... have?" Eve nodded. "Our best theory is that the Tower is fading. It'll be a long time before it's gone completely - estimates place it at about a few decades - but the power is disappearing. It won't be controlling lives forever." Jane was silent, gazing into the distance. Eve decided she'd given her enough to think about and left her with the sunset. She ran into Applejack on the way back. "Didya get her to think, sugarcube?" Eve nodded slowly. "I did. I don't think I fixed the problem, but I got her to at least see where her anger's coming from. Part of it, anyway." "She's an angry one, it won't go away," Applejack said. "It'll just be redirected at somethin'." Eve nodded slowly. "...Applejack..." "Ah have no argument with you or Corona. You did what you had to do. Both of you." "But..." Applejack sighed. "Ah'm disappointed, Eve. Disappointed that we couldn't do it. Couldn't just... agree. Couldn't save my family. Couldn't stop the war when we got to the top. Couldn't, couldn't, couldn't..." Applejack shook her head. "We failed, Eve. And Ah don't mean we lost the war - we did - Ah mean we all failed. You, me, Corona, everyone... It wasn't enough. If we stayed true to the magic of friendship... maybe we'd all still be here." Eve knew Applejack was thinking about her family. "...I'm so sorry." "Ah know. And you also know it ain't good enough." Eve gulped. "Let's get back to dinner." They came back to the table, where Corea was looking at Corona with a sad expression. "...Look, I know you want to fix things, Corona. I just can't trust you to do it. My soul's broken. I saw what happened to Daniel." Corona was pleading with her. "You're not so bad as that..." "Corona, I've seen Daniel. He's bedridden on the third floor." Eve gawked. "Daniel's here!?" Prism nodded. "He showed up a few days ago... barely alive. He never leaves his bed. Rarely talks. Half out of his mind." Corona sat back in her chair, staring at nothing. "...Finally found someone you don't want to face?" "I..." They all heard a thump come from the stairs, everyone turned to see none other than Daniel himself walking down the stairs, heavily leaning on a metal cane. Everyone knew he no longer aged - but he looked ancient. His hair had become completely white, his glasses barely fit on his face, and every part of him sagged. His eyes looked lifeless. He moved like a ghost. But he still moved, marching right toward Corona. He could only shakily walk toward her, but she knew what he wanted to do. What he had wanted to do ever since that day at the games so long ago... Corona stood up, making sure to stay out of the way of his cane. She didn't realize he had a gun in his other hand. He fired, hitting her in the stomach, sending her life-giving blood across the table. Corona let out a hiss of pain and moved. She tore the gun out of his hand and pressed a bare finger to his forehead. A moment later they both fell to the ground, dazed. "What happened?" Jane shouted, running into the room. "Wh-" she saw Corona's wound and Daniel, deciding it was best to fall silent. Corona grunted, forcing herself to stand up. When Daniel opened up his eyes, he saw Corona holding the gun out to him. "The curse isn't holding onto you anymore," Corona said. "It's gone now. Do you still want to kill me?" With shaky, old hands, Daniel grabbed the gun. He pointed it right at Corona's forehead - locking eyes with her. An eerie breeze wafted through the room, blowing the folds in Corona's dress. He dropped it. "Gh... Gh..." Corona lifted him up and set him in a chair. Only then did she heal the wound in her stomach. "How are you feeling?" "...Something's unfinished..." he said, breathing heavily. "Not you... Something else..." "Renee? ...Eve told me what happened to her." "Yes... No..." He coughed, clenching his fists. "It happened... Everything changed... There was a voice..." "What did it say?" "I don't know..." Daniel said, starting to cry. "I... I don't know..." Then he lost consciousness. "...I'll take him back to his room," Sunny offered, trotting over to him. "...Thanks, Corona." As she carried him gently up the stairs, Corea tapped Corona on the shoulder. "...You fixed him?" "...That insanity curse, yeah," Corona said. "There was something else in there that I didn't know what to make of..." "He lost his wife," Prism said. "Take a wild guess." Corona nodded sadly. Then she turned to Corea. "Can I...?" Corea sighed. "...Okay. Give it a try." Corona pressed her hand to Corea's forehead and instantly felt the hole in her soul where Raava and the other Avatars should have been. She did not want to alter the soul directly, that wouldn't be proper... But the mind. The broken part of the mind, that could be mended. It no longer needed to be dependant on the spirit. She removed her hand. "...How do you feel?" Corea rubbed her head. "A little foggy. Also, I'm craving cake. ...Hey, Prism, do we have cake?" There were tears in Prism's eyes. "C-corea?" "...Is it really that noticeable? I don't feel that different." She smiled. "Guess I'm smiling though. It's not like the emptiness is gone or anything o-" Prism pulled Corea in for a deep embrace. "I... I thought I was losing you..." Corea let out a soft chuckle. "Prism, really? I'm stronger than that." "No you're not, now shut up and enjoy the moment." "...I thought I was the moment." Prism let out a choppy groan. "You're back, all right..." Corona smiled, flexing her wrist. "...This is a gift. It doesn't make up for anything I've done." "You're damn well right it doesn't," Prism said, switching from 'emotional' to 'cold' in an instant. "But take it anyway," Corona said. She flexed her wrists, sending white magic around. "...Anyone else who needs healing while I'm here?" Eve's ears twitched involuntarily. Then she let out a laugh. Corona turned to her, confused. "...What is it?" Eve pointed at her ears. "Yeah. Yeah there's somepony else who needs healing." "But you chose not to get that fixed. It's part of you..." "And it's a New World, Corona. I have to be willing to accept that maybe the decision to keep them was wrong." "For the love of..." Jane turned and left the room, hand to the bridge of her nose. Corona held her hands to the sides of Eve's head. "...Are you absolutely sure?" "No," Eve said. "But now's the time. I can't turn my ears on anymore... so fix it." "My life has turned into fixing the damage I've caused..." "Is that so bad a life?" "No. No, it isn't." Corona smiled and pushed her healing magics into Eve's ears. The purple alicorn took a breath, stepped back a few paces, closed her eyes, and listened. There was no pain this time. Just the sound of the night outside. Crickets. I had forgotten what those sounded like... ~~~ "T-MINUS ONE MINUTE!" Strange shouted from his position floating above the town. He had set up a large perimeter of magic totems around every building and farm he could fit, preparing to teleport all of them from one planet to another. The level of magic he had to use was astounding - far more than existed in the aether at any given time. For the last few hours the totems had been absorbing and storing magic for later use. Now it was time to use them. "Death, is everyone accounted for?" EVERY SOUL IS UNDER MY WATCHFUL GAZE. "Cosmo, ready?" Cosmo spread her hooves and wings out. "Ready." "Insipid?" Insipid touched Cosmo just to be sure she had her powers. A small Harmony spark shot out of her horn. She proceeded to take the same stance as Cosmo, facing her. "Like, ready." "And lastly myself..." Strange lifted his hands and channeled the magic from the totems to one single point between his palms. He waited for the time to run down to zero. "TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE! GO!" He pushed the magic down between Insipid and Cosmo in one swoop. Insipid and Cosmo pushed as much Harmony energy as they could out of their horns, hitting the magic of Strange and prompting a whirlwind of holy sparks. The magic totems themselves created a domed magic shield around the entire town, which only Strange himself was above. The Harmony power began to convert the entire area within the bubble into pure white light. Strange clasped his hands together and muttered the final incantation. He did not see the town go anywhere. It was moving at light speed - one moment it was there, glowing brightly, the next it was gone and all that remained was a hole for the pink sea to fill up. Strange folded his arms and waited to receive word that it had worked. This came in the form of Discord, munching on some popcorn. "Worked like a charm and was quite impressive to look at, too." "Are they all fine?" "Death says a few souls are disconnected, but he's got them held tight." Strange nodded. "Then all we do is hope English isn't feeling particularly cruel today." "Oh, he is," Discord said, munching on his popcorn. "But Sherlock says he won't destroy the town." "I wonder why..." Discord shrugged. "Something something cat and mouse, hero and villain." "Hmm..." Strange looked up at the sky. He could sense English with his magic, approaching ever nearer. "We should get off this planet." "We should." Instead of teleporting away, they chose to fly. The planet in question was the core world of the system, a world consisting mostly of different colors of ocean intermingling. It was beautiful. There had been other settlements on the planet - many other settlements - but the Church was the one everyone had been convinced needed to be saved. Maybe that was selfish of them. It probably was. But that Church was more ka-important than anything else on the planet. So they'd had plenty of reason to pat themselves on the back regardless. English knew this. English knew they would save one and leave hundreds of others to die. That was the whole point. They needed to feel it. To know they were, and always had been, playing favorites. That playing favorites was the way of the game. He unleashed a brilliant beam of rainbow colors, boiling off the multicolored oceans of the world before the eyes of Strange and Discord. The vapor billowed off as clouds into space, leaving only a vague cloud as the center of the system. Lord English spoke. "I AM THE CHURCH." Then he returned to his Sarcophagus and kept moving - slower this time, so as to give his little watchers time to move. Cat. And. Mouse. ~~~ Applejack had insisted they stay the night. It took Eve all of two minutes to cast a sleep spell on herself because of all the noise. It wasn't painful anymore but it sure was annoying. She hadn't bothered to set a wake-up time for herself, so when the sun poured in the open window she didn't even budge. Corona removed the sleep spell, but didn't wake Eve up - she'd sleep until she felt rested. Corona stretched her wings and walked out into the hall with a smile on her face. The smile on her face vanished when she heard Jane shouting. "No, never mind, this is a bad idea, you're not going!" Sunny's indignant response came. "I'm going. They need me out there. I need to see the world, not farm." "Sunny..." "...Jane, you can make me stay. Just tell me you need me here, and you can keep me here." "I... Goddammit, Eve..." "What's she have to do with this?" "Nothing. Something. She says things." Corona could hear Jane sigh. "...I shouldn't keep you here." Sunny let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks. The core isn't that far away, once I plot a proper route it's not going to be too hard to get back and forth. This isn't goodbye." "...I know it isn't, Sunny. You'll be back. I just... It'll be goodbye for a while." There was silence for a moment. Eventually, Sunny sighed. "...So, do you think we need to make an announcement, or can everyone hear us through the walls?" "Everyone can hear you through the walls!" Corea shouted from her and Prism's room. "Right..." Jane said, opening the door to their room. Corona was still standing outside, not even trying to hide herself. Jane twitched. "Listen up. Sunny says she wants to go with you. So she's going. But if you let anything happen to her they'll never be able to find all the pieces of your corpse." Corona's considered letting that slide and agreeing - but then she decided that wasn't the right move. She glared. "You listen up. I'm going to take care of her the absolute best I can, but I can't promise anything. I'm not stupid enough to make promises like that anymore with ka the way it is. But I'm not just going to sit by and let you threaten me." She took a powerful step forward and pointed a finger at her. "I'm not going to take that." Jane was taken aback. "You don't just get to threaten people," Corona said, turning her back. "It's no-" Jane lashed out. Corona whirled around and caught the fist. For a moment, they felt each other. There was a connection Corona did not intend to create, but formed between them anyway. They weren't close enough to see images, but they felt the emotions. Deep, burning anger alongside immense sorrow and regret, all mingled into one. Jane and Corona recoiled from each other. Both sets of eyes were angled in anger - and wet with tears. They understood, and they weren't sure what to make of it. "...How different are we, really?" Corona asked. "Just... Just go," Jane said, deflating. Eve chose this moment to walk out of the room, yawning. "That was an interesting experience... What are you all talking about out here?" "Leaving," Corona said, wiping her face. "Sunny's coming with us." "...Really?" Eve said, blinking. "Are you sure?" Sunny nodded. "Yes. I am. My place is not here, I need to be out mapping everything again." "...Ah'll switch with her," Jack said, coming out behind Eve. "...Ah'm a little sick of all the action. Ah... Ah think Ah'll try farmin'." Corea jumped out of her room and slung a hoof around Jack. "Welcome to the family." "...Hmph." "I... I'm coming with you too..." Daniel said, shakily walking to them with his cane. "I... I don't know why, but I'm convinced you know the way." Corona looked at him. "...The way to what?" "Finish... it. I... I still don't know what it is. But... I have to. I can't rest..." Eve walked over to him and put a hoof on his shoulder. "We'll help you find it. All of us." Prism sighed. "Yeah, yeah you probably will. You'll probably get a bunch more power while doing it and make the same mistakes again." Eve nodded slowly. "Probably." "Just keep the worse assholes from getting power, got it?" "That's pretty much my job description." Prism let out a snort and turned away. Applejack cleared her throat. "...Breakfast's on the table for anyone who wants it. Ah think it'll be a good send-off." Everyone but Jane attended the breakfast, even Daniel. Unlike last night, the overall mood wasn't awkward and angry. It was that cruel mixture of joyful and depressing. Happy that bridges had been formed, sad that so many were changing places and moving around. Standard for resolutions. As everyone was heading to the Skiff, Jane ran up to them. She grabbed Sunny for a moment, making her trail behind the rest of the group. "Look, Sunny, I'm sorry I was being a-" Sunny held up a hoof. "I know, Jane. Thank you." She didn't need to say what for, they both just knew. The two of them smiled warmly at each other. They turned and walked up to the Skiff together. In the end, everyone had come to wave goodbye. There were many hugs, kisses, snide remarks, laughs, and grunts. It was a mixed bag, but it was something. Before Eve closed the entrance to the Skiff on herself, Daniel, Corona, and Sunny, she paused. She leaped out and walked up to Applejack. "...What about us?" "Nothin's changed, Eve," Applejack said. "You're still you, and Ah'm still me." "...Everything about this place was screaming 'resolutions'. Daniel needs a resolution, your family needed a resolution, Jane needed to be told..." "Not everythin' needs to be resolved." Applejack shook her head. "Evening, we're mares. We understand each other. That's all we need." "...Are you okay here?" "Ah am now," Applejack said. "Ah was thinkin' what Ah was buildin' was fallin' apart... But Ah knew you could help. Make them confront all the stuff they were dealin' with. Ah wasn't expectin' the direct healin', but Ah'm not complainin'." Eve smiled. "I'm glad I could help." "It doesn't make you and me even," Applejack said. "Nothing ever will." "And that's perfectly fine." Eve nodded. Instead of a hug, she held out her hoof. "Goodbye, Applejack." Applejack met her hoof and shook it. "Goodbye, Evening." Eve smiled and returned to the Skiff. She closed the entry. "Ready?" Sunny nodded. "Ready." Daniel was barely conscious, but managed a "ready..." Corona looked up at the sky. "Ready as always..." The Skiff launched into the sky, leaving the small planet far behind... ~~~ One day, the fleet was flying through space, not a care in the world. They weren't close to any planets or systems, just traveling closer to the center. Then the Celestialsapien known as Flep decided he needed to do something. One moment he was on the probe. The next he was not. The next he was back on the Austraeoh's bridge holding a large box with soft glowing circuitry patterns on it. He dropped the box, where its weight dented the floor. "YOU MUST LOOK AT THIS." O'Neill dropped his coffee. "Any reason why?" Flep made no response. Back in deadlock once again. "Do we have any idea where he got this thing?" "Negatory," Mite responded. Chem appeared on the bridge, twitching his nose. "Hmm... Well it had to have been somewhere within a few light-seconds." He scurried onto the box and tapped it. "Looks to be of Xeelee make. Dormant, though." "Know how to activate it?" Chem laughed. "I could probably break in, but we Class 1s didn't exactly make it obvious to each other how our technology worked. ...Or lack thereof, in our case. So your guess is as good as mine." Minna facepalmed hard. "Wow. Future-girl sees the answer and it's really simple. What is it?" She reached out a fist and knocked on the edge of the cube. "Hello?" In an instant the cube activated, projecting blue text into the air. \|> I am Xeelee unit Forward-8,743,293,813,029. I am currently on board the Merodi flagship Austraeoh in the presence of Overhead-General Jack O'Neill, High Commander Minna Belle, Commander Clandestine, and unidentified entities. I extend the appropriate greetings. "...Greetings," Mite said. \|> New entity detected. Mite. O'Neill folded his arms. "So, do you have any idea why a deadlocked Celestialsapien would want us to look at you? \|> He likely interpreted my outer matrix via his perceptions to be important. Upon investigation, he would have discovered that I am a store of vital information, one of billions of Xeelee sent into single pods to record the last moments. "...Didn't your civilization fall?" \|> Correct. However, as you know, upon the defeat of the Gallifreyans a few Xeelee were released from their nefarious time traps. Most joined your cause, but a small sector of us returned to build a bunker for the Xeelee. We initially made attempts to seek out the other Class 1 societies to recreate some form of the Seats, but this was met with mockery, disdain, or silence. Desperate for some stability in the insanity, we went to the Flowers. They were willing to talk, but refused to create any bunkers. We assumed it was because they were throwing themselves to the winds of ka. This assumption was not wholly accurate. "They did something," Minna said. It wasn't a question. \|> Their plan was... outlandish, and driven by devotion to the idea of the Tower's will that we have seen little evidence for. They knew that they had to interfere - it was the only way the outcome wouldn't end up predictable in one way or another. So they found a person who was doomed to die and prepared them to become the Voice of the Tower. One who can see all the Tower sees, and act as the Tower does, with the express difference of being a character that can be interacted with. This character is responsible for the New World, the Dusting, as well as the Tower's continued existence. This Emissary is the source of all this. "...At least now we know who to blame," O'Neill said. "You can still blame all of us for fighting the war the way we did," Chem pointed out. \|> Blame for the war lies with both the Tower and the multiverse's inability to agree. But this New World is the fault of the Emissary and the Flowers. Minna put a hand to her chin. "...If this Emissary really caused there to be a Dusting rather than a full fusion... Didn't that lower the amount of death?" \|> That is true. The death toll has been several orders of magnitude less than a true collapse, and there is still a presence of ka in this New World. But that is not why the Xeelee Remnant tried to destroy the Emissary. If the Emissary was the Tower, there would not be a problem. But the Tower does not have a will, a will had to be created for the Emissary to exist. The Emissary is a character connected more closely to the Tower than any Aware being or Prophet ever has been. With the Emissary's existence, no longer will the Tower be a goal, a background presence, or simply a means to an end. The Tower will be active. The narrative energy around the Emissary will be more damaging than anything we have ever seen. \|> The Emissary still exists within this New World. "Can we stop it?" Minna asked. \|> We tried. We were able to muster up a force more than capable of taking out not only the universe the Emissary was in, but also everything related to it. We were expecting the Flowers to try and stop us. We did not expect the Tower to defend its Emissary directly. You are no doubt aware of the occasional 'glitch' in the multiverse where a portal you take leads to a random universe? "Yeah..." O'Neill grunted, having flashbacks of being lost more often than he would have liked... \|> We had no control over our dimensional devices. Every universe we entered was one that multiversal society had never set foot in before. There was never even a battle. There was silence on the bridge. \|> We realized we couldn't do anything, so we did what we could - plan to survive. We copied ourselves billions of times, knowing what the Emissary planned to do. When the collapse came, most, but not all of us, were Dusted. The Tower could not throw away such a tantalizing plot thread. So now you have found me, and heard my warning. "What do we do?" Minna asked. \|> Run. Get as far away from the center of the New World as you can. The ka there will be the strongest it has ever been. The events that will be allowed to unfold will make the games Them held look like child's play. Do not involve yourselves in the Narrative. Turn away and run and never look back. Live your lives in peace without knowing what is going to happen at the core. Once again, there was silence. "...Yeah I really don't see us doing that," Chem said, shrugging. "Send the message to the fleet anyway," O'Neill said. "Let them make their choice." "Yessir," Clandestine said. "I bet not one of them turns away." \|> We are all slaves to ka. Because if my warning is not to be heeded, I will join you, and witness the unknowable. ~~~ The Field of Can'-Ka No Rey existed across many universes before the New World. At the center of every one of the pure rose gardens would be an instance of the Dark Tower. Almost without fail, every instance of the Field was treated as a holy, sacred place that was not meant for men to tamper with. Those who tried found themselves disappeared within the doors of the Dark Tower more often than not. And this was in the worlds where the Field was not a constant source of dimensional instability and ka manifestations. But in the New World, the Field was docile. The roses, though sharper than any physical thing and more red than any red point could be, allowed themselves to be removed from wherever was necessary. As a result, one of the rarest sights in the multiverse came to form in the New World. Buildings around the Dark Tower. At first, they were nothing more than gigantic TSAB-make turrets prepared to take out the Crimson King from miles away. Everyone knew this wasn't enough, so they built more. Turrets, yes, but also walls, shield generators, and magical power stations that would drain ambient magic and store it for later. All of this needed infrastructure. Easy enough to achieve when one of your allies was Arceus. Even as a weakened deity his power still specialized in creation, and buildings rose out of the ground daily. The roses made way - they always did. The first people to move in were the collapse-supporting people Nanoha's group had freed on the first day. At first they were hesitant to live under Nanoha and the shadow of the Tower they had tried to destroy, but the quality of life Nanoha offered was high - as well as a feeling of belonging somewhere. Roland's presence as a hero who hadn't been part of either side helped considerably, even though he never gave any speeches beyond "I agree." More groups arrived in the city every day - both preservation and collapse. Groups who may have been warring just days before stopped because they had been offered a place to stay. It was amazing what a stable societal structure could do to people's desire to cause mayhem. There were still many complainers, but they were getting less and less every day as the City grew and grew. Jenny had even managed to restart Dracogen Enterprises as a way to help manage the economy of the growing settlement. What had started out as an effort to defend the New World from the Crimson King became a civilization. It wasn't TSAB - Nanoha was one of the only members of the actual TSAB there - and it wasn't Merodi. It was something new, a conglomeration of people who had fought, people who hadn't, and people who were just lost. All were welcome in the shadow of the Earth. One of the only buildings close to the Dark Tower itself was a tall skyscraper structure that vaguely resembled the Seattle Space Needle. From the highest window, Nanoha looked out at the roses and the ring of buildings beyond that. "The Crimson King could return at any time and lay this to rubble," Renee said. "You won't let him win." "No. But do you really want to take chances on how much suffering I'm going to find amusing? Or what else I might let happen?" Nanoha knit her brow. "No." Looking down instead of out, she saw the collection of tents around the skyscraper. She could make out a ring of burning flames that indicated one of the Dark Tower cults were performing a ritual. "I don't understand how they can still worship you after having met you." "Mixture of lots of things. Denial. Anger. Rage. Cognitive dissonance." Renee shrugged. "Also ka, but that's the second reason." "The second is just as important as the first." "Yes and no," Renee chuckled. Nanoha sighed. "Why are you even up here?" "Because I've set the camera on us. Need some 'screentime' as it were. So many groups doing so many things, I've got to balance what's seen when. We're at the end here, a little bonus with the actual meat of the chapter. Our meat will come a little later." She used her hoof to adjust her mane. "You never know when that might happen." "I can see the look in your eyes," Nanoha said. "I can faaaaaake that!" Renee winked. Nanoha tightened her grip on Raising Heart. "I am going to be happy when you're gone." "You say that now..." Renee said, ominously backing away from Nanoha. Roland walked in a second later. "The Emissary was cacklin' to herself. Anything I should know about?" Nanoha shrugged. "Something about cameras, faking, and her being amused about destruction." Nanoha folded her hands and narrowed her eyes. "This City, simply by existing, is in danger." "It's more help than I ever had," Roland said. "In the end it came down to individuals." "It always seems to come down to that..." Nanoha said. "Great wars are fought with millions upon billions of lives, and no matter what happens through the rest of the war, it comes down to a few select individuals placed at particular moments and particular times..." "So this will mean nothing?" "If we don't do it, that would be foolish," Nanoha said. "But we do it knowing that, in the end, the fortifications will not be what are praised." She looked into Roland's eyes. "It's people like you and me who defend our home." "Home?" Nanoha smiled. "I... I like to think of it as a home. I feel like I belong here. The people may be rowdy, they may be broken, they may hate so much, but they're people. There's a lot of life here. Powerful, deep life. It's definitely a home." "Is it more home than your TSAB?" Nanoha's smile faded. "...No. But that..." She closed her eyes, biting back tears. "That home cannot come back." Roland made no response, silently looking out the window with her. It was like watching the sun set for eternity.
Songs of the Spheres	137 - Never Forget	Pinkie blinked. "I love blinking." "NOW IS NOT THE TIME!" Pidge shouted from the cockpit of their pill-shaped vessel. She pulled up, dodging the incoming attacks of white and black sparking creatures. Pinkie appeared behind Pidge and pulled back on her cheeks to make her smile. "Whaaaat? Come on, enjoy life." "I want to continue enjoying life! LATER!" Pidge shook her off, grasping the controls again. In this moment, a white creature fired a zig-zagging bullet that would have hit the ship had Rina not blocked it with a shield of darkness. "That was close, Pidge!" Rina shouted. "Yell at Pinkie!" "Pinkie's enjoying herself and won't put you in real danger," Flutterfree said. "It sure feels like real danger!" "It is!" Pinkie agreed, tapping the blindfold hung around her neck. "But you won't get destroyed because of me." "That leaves the possibility open we get destroyed by something else," Jotaro pointed out. "Jojo has a point!" Pidge said, veering to the left as a rush of black creatures fired off bolts, every one of them missing. "They're closing in on us from all sides! I'm running out of escape options!" "I miss the days we could just portal to another universe and confuse the shit out of them," Vriska muttered. She took out the infinite-sided die and rolled it between her fingers. "Let's see..." "Do you have enough luck?" Flutterfree asked. "I doubt it, but luck's never an exact science!" She threw the dice to the ground. A fire extinguisher appeared and exploded, filling the cockpit with pressurized carbon dioxide. "VRISKA!" Pidge shouted. Rev deflected a shot of darkness with her holy shield. "I don't think we can see well enough t-" One of the sparks finally got past the shield, hitting the pill-shaped ship right on its engine. The pill entered a nosedive, falling through the disgusting yellow clouds of the world until it hit the side of a spiked, white mountain. The pill bounced off like a ping-pong ball and smashed into a larger, greener mountain. "Outside time!" Pinkie ordered. Rina and Rev nodded, teleporting everyone out of the pill ship and giving them breathing spells so they could survive the toxic atmosphere. The sparks did not care that they were outside the ship now - they fired their bolts with extreme prejudice. Now that they weren't moving, Rev and Rina were easily able to create a dual-layered shield around everyone, protecting from attacks from all sides. "Right, uh, plan?" Pidge asked. "We won't be able to keep this up forever!" "Escape is not an option," Jotaro said, folding his arms together. "We can't fight that many," Flutterfree countered. "...I don't even know how many there are." Pinkie furrowed her brow. "I think I know what's going on here... We have to realize that we aren't going to be able to beat them or escape! Third option - reason with them!" "They're mindless," Rina pointed out. "Ah... Then we have to wait to be rescued!" "Oh, that's rich, by who?" Vriska asked, folding her arms. Pinkie pointed up in the sky a second before the Merodi Warship Jarn appeared in the clouds. This particular ship vaguely resembled the Austraeoh, but was significantly smaller and only had three prongs around it. Its spectral rod activated, a burst of rainbow energy pushing all the sparks away. Indignant, the sparks started attacking the Jarn, but its shields were fully operational and more than enough to take care of some zig-zagging bolt attacks. The Jarn shot out a tether-claw toward the busted pill-ship. Rina and Rev dropped the shield to let it through. "Everyone hold on for dear life!" Pinkie ordered. She didn't even have to say it - they were already holding tight. The claw pulled them out of the earth with a sharp jerk, dragging them through the air. A few of the sparks saw them flying by, but the bolts weren't fast enough to hit the flying wreckage until it was already in the Jarn's cargo hold. For a few seconds, they still felt the Jarn shake from outside attacks. Eventually the shakes abated, leaving Pinkie's Party safe. "...Wonder who saved us," Flutterfree mused as she dug through the wreckage of the pill-ship. She eventually found the part that used to be the cockpit and removed the large wooden crate that contained Tornado. She checked it over to make sure it was fine. Vriska looked around. "Merodi ship, probably preservation, mostly empty... Some of the lights don't seem to be working..." The side doors of the cargo hold opened, revealing a set of familiar faces. The leader was a very familiar pink demon-bug holding a red-green staff... "Mlinx!?" Pinkie blurted, eyes wide. "Pinkie!? You have eyes!?" Mlinx responded in kind. Pinkie fluttered her eyes in exaggeration. "Yep! Like what you see? Cause I do!" Vriska facepalmed. "Geez..." "So, uh, aren't you going to try to attack us for being part of the collapse?" Pidge asked. "That's what everyone else does. Or at least they yell." Veila, the albino female demon, shook her head. "We already made peace with that. Gilgamesh here came along on day two as part of the Void. We accepted him without... too much trouble." "I blew up the cheese machine," Gilgamesh said, twirling his halberd. "It was a sticky situation." Pinkie giggled. "Nice to see you Gilgy!" "Likewise, Ponkadonk." Mlinx rolled his eyes. "Welcome aboard the Jarn, Pinkie's Party. And Rev. And...?" "Rina," Rina said, smiling awkwardly. "I'm with Rev." "You're with us," Pinkie said, pulling Rina in and giving her a hoof-noogie. "Got that?" "Yep... And a headache..." "How are you faring in this New World, if you don't mind my asking?" Veila questioned. Pinkie smiled. "Don't mind at all! We're on a quest to the center of the universe so we can finish the job! The Dark Tower still exists, and as long as it does the sacrifice of the multiverse hasn't been met." "I told you it still existed!" Gilgamesh said. "I told you! You all said 'there's no way' but I knew and you just wouldn't listen! Tsk." Veila sighed. "You win, Gilgamesh. Apparently it does exist." "We don't have to bother you with the quest if you don't want," Pinkie said. Mlinx shook his head. "Gilgamesh and I have already talked at length about the Tower. If it still exists, the tragedy cannot be for nothing. I will gladly give you my aid in this." "That was easy," Vriska said. "...Am I allowed to ask where Nova is?" Pidge let out a sigh. "Dusted." "I'm so sorry..." "We've lost people too," Flutterfree said, looking at Tornado's box. "This was Tornado. Ba'al wanted to make her a pointless redshirt. I'm not letting him. I'll tell you about her sometime." "I look forward to it. Now..." Mlinx lowered Siron's staff and rubbed the back of his head. "I... have another crewmember. You've got a history with her." "All histories have been forgiven," Flutterfree said. "The war isn't happening anymore." "This was before the war." "...Oh," Vriska said. "...Flagg?" "Spirits, no!" Mlinx laughed. "I'm not that stupid. Just... regular stupid. When she comes in you have to promise not to attack her." Pinkie cleared her throat. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." "I haven't heard a Pinkie Promise in a while," Flutterfree observed. "Eh, it's worth it this time. I trust Mlinx." Rev nodded. "Everyone deserves a second chance. ...Even Flagg, though I never think he'd put himself in such a position..." Veila turned around and poked her head out into the ship's hall. "You can come in now." The pegasus that walked in had a powerful strut, crazed dichromatic eyes, and a red striped hat on top of her head. "Hey. Remember me?" "Oh. Hey Fluttershout," Pinkie deadpanned. "Wondered where your capture device went." "Your guess is as good as mine." Fluttershout dusted off her hoof. "So, just to be clear, I hate you, your guts, and everything you stand for. If it wasn't the stupidest thing in the world, I would kill all you fuckers in a heartbeat." "Gee, we're all so thankful for your consideration," Vriska deadpanned. "Yeah, yeah, let the war of snide remarks begin. Let's see... Hey, preacher-pony, who are you hiding behind you?" Rev sweated. "A pony who's rather... scared of you." "Rina? Scared?" Vriska asked. "Since when?" "Since now," Flutterfree said, also taking up a defensive position in front of Rina. Fluttershout narrowed her eyes. She performed a quick jump-movement to the left, so fast Flutterfree and Rev couldn't block her sight. Fluttershout saw Rina's features - a darker version of Twilight... Overly vibrant green eyes... The Element of Insanity's eyes twitched. "Wipe that stupid grimace off your face and face me, Brutalight." ~~~ The Everykid dragged Mattie across Swip's deck, her little feet scrambling across the metal. "Why do you do this to me...?" Mattie wailed. "You can't say no to something so freakin' cute," Swip responded. "IT'S TRUE!" The Everykid dragged Mattie the rest of the way to the bridge and pressed her face into one of the main screens. "...Kid, I can't see anything when my face is pressed into it. Unfortunately." The Everykid rolled her eyes and pulled Mattie's head back a few inches. Mattie was able to recognize that she was looking at a map of the local systems, including a little yellow indicator of where they were. The Everykid kept jabbing her finger at one planet in particular. "...You want us to go there?" The Everykid nodded profusely. "I would love to do every little thing that face of yours tells me to do, but I don't think we can just go off course without reason." The Everykid made a 'three, two, one' gesture with her hand. On cue, Thrackerzod burst into the room. "Something's trying to communicate with me." Mattie raised an eyebrow. "We talkin' dead lover or tentacled eldritch monstrosity?" "The latter." "And here I thought I was joking..." Thrackerzod ignored the comment. "It's something from the Embodiment, I'm sure of it. But it's not using an eldritch energy... It's contacting me through the soul directly... I can't tell which direction it's in, or even how close we are, just that we're near. Though in what relative scale I don't have any idea..." The Everykid tapped expectantly on the map. "...Let me guess, you had a version there that let you know something important before you were separated?" The Everykid nodded in confirmation. "What's there?" The Everykid thought for a moment. Then she closed one of her eyes and lay down on the floor, flailing all her limbs around wildly. Thrackerzod turned to Mattie. "I don't speak hat kid." "Neither do I, but that's precious." "If you say so. We're going to that planet." "No objections from me," Mattie said. "Swip?" "Already charted," Swip beeped. "It's actually a lot closer than it looks; the display just isn't rendering a three-dimensional map. I'll be able to get a good picture as soon as I adjust my cameras. I... Oh." "What is it?" Thrackerzod asked. "That's no planet," Burgerbelle said, ominously. "...When did you get here?" "Just in time for ominous one-liners." "She's right," Swip said, displaying the image onscreen. "That isn't a planet." Before them was a planet-sized hunk of flesh, eyes, mouths, and swirling vortexes of teeth. Unnerving purple-red blood seeped out of several gashes in the creature's surface and occasionally it would twitch unnaturally and roar, not that they could hear it from their location in space. "...What is that?" Mattie asked. "...Whatever it is, it appears to be hailing us," Swip said. "Answering..." There was no image on the other side of the call - just a voice. "Looks like we got an answer! Isn't that something? A bunch of Sweeties, a masochistic mistress, a kid of kids, and that jellyfish thing you have in the hold." "What are you?" Thrackerzod asked. "Me? Ohahahahahah! I'm just Tzeentch, piggybacking off this eldritch corpse's connection signature. And it looks like I found what I was looking for - some fresh defenders!" "...Defenders?" "The Emperor of Man has it in his head that he has to kill me, and I'd rather like to go on living, thank you. I'm sure you all understand how killing me would be putting an endangered species even closer to extinction!" "Enlighten us," Mattie said with an incredulous eyebrow. "Sure, sure! Take this behemoth I'm currently resting in. This used to be the great Azathoth, now nothing more than a fleshy mindless corpse! Yes, it's alive, but trust me, it's a corpse for him." "Azathoth...?" Thrackerzod said in disbelief. "Yep! Looks like hell, doesn't he? Oh how the mighty have fallen. See, little unicorn, most of us eldritch creatures didn't have a physical body to fall back on like you did. I, being the Lord of Change, was fast enough to get myself something proper before the collapse, but virtually all the others just faded out of existence or transformed into fleshy masses like this that couldn't hold their minds!" He cackled. "We drove so many insane with our nature over the years, now the opposite is true! For most. I'm fine, I wish to reiterate, and I'm appealing to your inner nonviolent nature to keep him from skinning me alive." "...All right," Mattie said. "On one condition." "Let's hear it." "Admit the collapse didn't happen exactly as planned." Tzeentch was silent. Mattie smirked evilly. "Come now, having anxiety are we? All you have to say is some simple words and we'll do our best to protect you. It's a decidedly unbalanced offer in your favor. Some minor embarrassment for your life. I'd say that's not only a good trade, that's an excellent trade. I'll even throw in some personal 'fun time' as a bonus." "You're revolting." "You like?" "...Depends." The Everykid pantomimed puking. "Can we stop with the nonsense and reach a decision?" Swip demanded. "Yes yes, Tzeentch, just admit it and we can move on." Mattie twirled one of her whips. "Fine. Ahem. The collapse did not go exactly as planned. There. Happy?" Mattie chuckled. "Yes. Happy. Swip, send that recording directly to the Emperor whenever he arrives." "...You can't be serious." "I'm taking a very reasonable gamble that if he has a record of you saying that he suddenly won't feel like killing you, since killing you would mean he didn't get to rub it in." Mattie winked. "And you'd be right!" The face of the Emperor appeared on the screen, jumping into the call. "Here I was planning an all-out attack on the flesh spawn, when it turns out you've given me the best fucking present of all time. Tzeentch, how's it feel?" "I don't have to put up with this." "You do, actually," Mattie said. "Regardless, Emperor of Mankind! Glad to see you're still up and kicking. Let's arrange a little get together on the corpse of Azathoth. I have a feeling one of my ladies wants to have a look at it." "See you there," the Emperor said, leaving the call. "I will get you back for this," Tzeentch promised. "Hmm. Good luck embarrassing me," Mattie laughed. "Seriously, my mind's open, come inside and try to find shame in there." Tzeentch made an annoyed eldritch gurgling noise. "Exactly. As. Planned." Burgerbelle recited. Tzeentch hung up. ~~~ The City sent out exploration teams just like Merodi Universalis had. However, these teams rarely went to other planets, they mostly spent their time exploring Nucleon. The central world of the universe was so large it made even red giant stars look small. The surface area alone could hold billions of Earths, and that wasn't even counting the extensive caverns beneath the surface of Nucleon. These caves were what the 'primary team' of the City was currently exploring. Roland, Jenny, and Aradia marched through a dark cavern several kilometers beneath the surface of Nucleon, trying not to dissolve themselves in acid puddles that Jenny swore kept moving. They all had lights affixed to their clothing, though Jenny carried aloft a large Numenera device called a glowglobe that made most of these useless. The trek had been very successful so far - they had found a capture device installation, numerous rooms filled with abandoned dragon hoards, and a spaceship. All of this was kept in Jenny's handy staff of holding. "Never leave home without it!" she would say every time it proved to be exceptionally useful. "You say that often," Roland observed as Jenny drained up a puddle of acid that had just dissolved her foot, forcing her to replace the boot again. "Is there a story of the day you forgot it?" "Do not speak of such horrors," Jenny said with a shiver. "The Night of the Forgotten Staff of Holding was one filled with danger, death, drama, love, and a horrible tragedy." Aradia chuckled. "The love wasn't for me, it was for one of my companions. Who got her head cut off. ...I think? Maybe that was me." She hit herself in the head. "Darnit, stupid memory..." "Why do you not increase your mind?" Roland wondered. "I know it is possible, others do not have the memory problems you do." "Eh, I guess it could be fixed. Give myself endless memories. But one of the cool things about Jenny of the Red Gloves is that she's never consistent from era to era. If you look back you might find one of me that was the bad guy!" "This doesn't concern you?" "Live in the moment," Jenny said, skipping down the cavernous tunnel. "It's not really possible to know the best way of living your life, so why not let yourself mix it up every now and then? Don't have to worry about finding some sort of meaning or truth, you just live. I am a free spirit." "A force of chaos," Aradia countered. "Ah! You wound me so." Aradia rolled her eyes and chuckled. "I just think it's worth your time to give things some thought. Maybe it would be good to get your mind adjusted to store more memories." "Nah. Then I wouldn't be Jenny. Or, well, I would, but I wouldn't be what makes Jenny so interesting." "You may change your mind in another life," Roland observed. Jenny shrugged. "I'm well over a billion years old and none of my past selves decided to do it, even though some were really powerful, so..." She winked and grinned. "I'll take my chances!" A drop of acid fell from the ceiling and dissolved her down to the bone. She regenerated of course, but she wasn't happy. She took another set of clothes out from the Staff of Holding and put them on. "I should have invested in acid-proof clothes." "You could invest in paying closer attention instead," Aradia pointed out. "They aren't hard to dodge." "She is not one for caution," Roland observed. "Millions of lifetimes without a need to fear death..." "Yeah, I am a bit careless," Jenny admitted. "But it's just so fuAAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!" Aradia rolled her eyes, looking down the hole Jenny had just fallen down. "Well. Should we go after her?" Roland readied his revolver and nodded. Aradia picked him up and used her wings to carry him down, deeper into the caverns. They were soon able to make out a point of natural light at the bottom. They were not surprised - they had found several large, empty expanses cut out of Nucleon's crust before, most with some sort of light source. As it turned out, this one was different to all those others. This one wasn't some sort of wilderness - it was a city. A bright city of white buildings, magitechnical conduits, and thousands of purple ponies scrambling around. Aradia gasped. "Is it really?" A velociraptor flew through the air and splatted against the ceiling like a fly on a bug zapper. A tremendously muscular man with chest hair in the shape of Australia leapt up, grabbed the velociraptor, winked at Roland and Aradia, and fell back to the ground. Roland raised an eyebrow. "This is a good find." "You have no idea..." Aradia took them down to the ground, where Saxton Hale and Jenny were waiting for them, amused grins on their faces. Araida rolled her eyes. "A dinosaur toss just for us? You shouldn't have." Saxton Hale laughed. "She's a smart one, this lass!" Jenny nodded. "That was still pretty awesome. So, team! I bet you're glad I fell down that hole, huh?" Roland nodded. "I still do not understand why." "This is the Sparkle Census!" Saxton Hale announced, holding out his hand. "Nearly completely preserved within this New World!" "Yeah, well we're from the surface," Jenny said, folding her arms. "I'll believe it when I see it, Jenny." "I think we can take her word for it." The grandiose form of the Grand Secretariat walked up to the visitors, Princess Luna on one side of her, Overhead Jingle of Aid on the other. "I expect they have much more to tell us about this New World as well." "Sit down and buckle up!" Jenny said, dusting her hands together. "It's storytime!" ~~~ Fluttershout decided screaming would be a dumb move, so she tackled Rina instead, clobbering her across the face. Rina reacted with a magic shield. "BACK OFF!" "No," Fluttershout said, vibrating her front hoof with intention to break the shield. She did not get very far at all. Star Platinum grabbed her by the neck and smashed her into the ground, holding her there. "Jotaro!" Pinkie chided. "You pinkie promised, I didn't," Jotaro said. "Mlinx, you aren't upset for me defending her?" "...Not particularly, no," Mlinx admitted, walking up to Fluttershout. "Am I going to have to restrain you again?" "You fucking morons, you hate Brutalight! Kill her!" "I'm not Brutalight!" Rina shouted. "YEAH RIGHT!" "I. Am. Rina," Rina emphasized. "Brutalight died in the temporal trap." "Wait... Fluttershout's right!?" Vriska blurted. Rina looked to Vriska in a panic. She turned to Rev, pleading for help. All Rev did was slowly nod. Taking a deep breath, Rina reached into her eye and popped out a green contact, revealing her real purple eye beneath. "...She's right." She popped the contact back in. "But that's not who I am anymore." Vriska ground her teeth. "I'm not sure I care..." "Listen to what she has to say," Flutterfree pleaded. "Do you know everyone's secrets or something?" Vriska asked. "...I might?" Flutterfree said with a shrug. "She doesn't know mine!" Gilgamesh blurted. "Don't insert yourself into their conversation," Veila chided. Gilgamesh's only response to this was a disgruntled grumble. Vriska backed a few steps away from Rina. "All right. I'll listen. You better start talking." Rina took a breath. "...Back then... she was trapped in a trap by the Gallifreyans, sprung on an unsuspecting Xeelee prison transport that no one would miss. In that box, she could think, but she couldn't do anything. While her friends dwelled on their rage, on their hate... she dwelled on the last conversation she'd had with Evening. About the fate of everything. About ultimate meaning. About what lies beyond..." She paused. "She decided that there must be something more. She decided she hated the horrors were inside her. This took... Several years. "When the Gallifreyans fell and the temporal traps broke, all of the Elements of Insanity were released. When she emerged, she tried to tell her friends what she had found. They ignored her and wanted to join in on the carnage of the war around them. She gave in to what she was, for a time... the need was still strong, the Insanity part of her... but she knew now. The time had changed her. She couldn't go on like this." "So she turned on her friends!" Fluttershout interjected. "Betrayed them, tried to force them to be who they weren't, all the while taking the impulses out on us!" Rina winced. "I... she didn't have the pills then. The... the urge was too much. So she left... and died. Like a ghost, she stumbled until she found life." Rina turned to Rev. "She washed up on your doorstep. And the next day, I came out." "...You can't just say that was a different person who did those things, you know," Rev said. "She was me, but she also wasn't me," Rina said, looking blankly into space. "I... she..." Rina shook her head. "I know what I did. I know I was sick. The time with my own thoughts allowed me to see my own insanity for what it was. So I came to get better. Rev looked after me, gave me medication... Flutterfree too. And now here I am." She ruffled her wings. "Not B-Br- not her, but Rina. I am Rina." Pinkie put a hoof around Rina. "Hey, we've been adventuring with you the last few weeks. You may be angry and have a cruel streak, but I know you're not evil." "Idiots! The Insanity is incurable!" Fluttershout blurted. Rina turned to Fluttershout and nodded. "You're right. It's incurable. Even with the pills, it has to be fought, and a constant effort has to be made. There are moments... Moments it has come through. Strong moments. But... I haven't given in since the war ended. She - I told you it was possible to do. Seeing that it can work... will you believe me now?" "You're just a drugged-up puppet!" Fluttershout shrieked. "She's our friend," Flutterfree said. "...Right?" Jotaro nodded curtly. Pidge just shrugged. "I don't see why not. I never had to deal with Brutalight, so I don't really know." Vriska narrowed her eyes. "...Not sure I trust this, but I at least agree that you aren't evil. You might still be a fucking bitch though." "Takes one to know one," Rina chimed. "Agh, sorry, that just came out!" Vriska facepalmed. "...You people and your friendship..." Fluttershout said with distaste. "It's disgusting." "We had friendship, once," Rina said, walking up to the pegasus. "We could have it again." "You betrayed us!" "Yes. I did. I'm sorry for tormenting you in that way. I'm not sorry for leaving. You can just fucking deal with that, it was the right decision." "You're right. You're not even the same pony." "That's a great thing." Fluttershout ground her teeth. "You've done the one thing we agreed never to do. We'd never rewrite ourselves." "Pills aren't mind control. ...Remember Applepills?" "Dead, just like all the others." "But you accepted her." "You've forgotten your own words! Do you remember what Insanity is!?" "Yes. I do. And I lost the part of it that let me march on without questioning." Fluttershout growled. "That's it, I'm done, checking out. Mlinx, drop me off on the nearest planet, I don't care if I starve or whatever, I'm not sticking around with this fucking traitorous bitch." Rina bit back tears. "If... If that's what you want." "What I want is to go on another murdering spree but I doubt I'll survive that, huh?" "No. No you wouldn't." "So fuck it, get me off this crazy train." ~~~ Thrackerzod stood on the surface of Azathoth's corpse. She was standing near the edge of one of the eyes, the ocular organ serving as a shimmering mountain-like structure on the horizon. The 'skin' she walked on was riddled with tiny teeth, bones, shadowy rocks, and blood of all colors. Thrackerzod dipped her hoof in one of the pools of purple blood, examining it closely. "...Find what you're looking for?" Nettle asked. "I'm not looking for anything," Thrackerzod answered, shaking the blood off her hoof. "I just wanted to see my old master." "I thought that was what you were supposed to say in situations like this." The third and final member of the group, Everykid, nodded at this. Nettle looked bewildered. "I'm supposed to? Then..." "It's an expression," Thrackerzod said. "The 'something' is generally not meant to be a physical object, but some sort of closure. I suppose in a distorted, creepy way that is what I'm looking for." She stamped a hoof on the fleshy ground. "I wish he was completely destroyed. That every last little bit of him was gone from existence. I don't care that this is more suffering for him, he was Azathoth, and by Azathoth's oiled suckers he needs to stop existing." The Everykid raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Perhaps I should not swear by him when he is the topic of the sentence." "Probably not," Nettle admitted. "...Think we can kill him the rest of the way?" "Not easily," Thrackerzod said. "This body is dense and planet-sized. We'd need a planet buster, and the Emperor doesn't have an Exterminatus on him that I'm aware of." "Hmm..." "It is of at least some comfort that I know he will not be using his nature to harm anyone else ever again." Thrackerzod turned to the Everykid. "Thank you for showing us this." The Everykid curtsied and beamed. "...Why everyone finds you endearing I'll never know." Nettle blinked. "You can identify cuteness, right?" Thrackerzod nodded. "It's a biological imperative to help children. Focused a lot around big eyes and heads. I just will never know the appreciation of it." "Do you know beauty?" Thrackerzod pondered this. "Yes. Relational beauty for sure, because that is a beauty that can be directly experienced through emotion given enough time and exposure. But visual beauty? Art?" Thrackerzod looked into the distance. "I find things like this semi-eldritch landscape of torture and torment beautiful. Does that answer your question?" "I'm not sure." Nettle put a hand to her eyes and looked into the distance. "I'm honestly not sure why I'm asking." "Probably looking for some meaning in your new form." "I've decided it doesn't matter that much," Nettle said. "What form I am, how much I see... I'm still me regardless. I'll decide what matters at any given time. I hung onto the past for too long..." She furrowed her brow. "Looking back from my view now, I was pretty screwed up. But I know my past self would think I was screwed up, abandoning my heritage like this." She tapped her fingers together. "I don't get it, I think." "Welcome to life. It's always been this way, you just didn't notice it before." "...What you just said doesn't make any sense." Thrackerzod rolled her eyes. "Of course..." She turned to Nettle. "...Why were you so devoted to your heritage? You never met any Downstreamers." Nettle nodded slowly. "Saved... but also created. I didn't really exist until my people had fallen. But I always felt like part of them, an extension. I always knew I was 'programmed' that way, but I never really cared about it. Still don't really. Just decided not to do anything with it." "So only because you had to." "...No, I wasn't like you. I had the freedom. I just... I refused to reproduce myself. I refused to repopulate the world with Downstreamers; I liked being the only one. I was unique. I had the power." She looked at her hands and flexed them. "Now that I don't, I guess I just let that go." "Hmm," Thrackerzod said. "Kid, you've got the experiences of so many beings in the back of your head, what's your take on this?" The Everykid put her hands to the side and made them explode outward. "...Helpful." Thrackerzod kicked the ground again. "Nothing here at all for us. We should get back to Swip before people start tearing off each other's heads." "I'd kind of like to see that..." Nettle admitted. "We're going to need to have a talk about ethics and morality." ~~~ "...And that's the story of the City so far," Nanoha said, wrapping up the story she was giving to the leaders of the Sparkle Census... the unlikely duo of Princess Luna and Saxton Hale. To Nanoha's side was Arceus, Empress 'Empy' Twilight of the Void, and Renee. Renee invited herself to virtually every meeting and Nanoha never stopped her. She had been suspiciously quiet and well-behaved that day. "I have to say, I'm impressed," Luna said, looking from Nanoha to the Empress. "It's been just under a month and you've gotten the two sides to agree with each other." "It's more of a truce than anything," Nanoha admitted. "While I'm pretty sure I have all the leaders on board, the people are only behaving for two reasons. One, the threat of the Crimson King. Two, living in a City is a lot better than trying to live off the land of an alien world." "Three, I'm here," Renee said, looking over the tops of some shades. "No small number of them feel the need to worship me." "And kill you," Arceus added. "Wouldn't you know it, assassination attempts are down 100% from last week. I wonder why..." She mockingly tapped her chin. Luna gave Renee a curious look. "...Yes... You. I have many questions and concerns about you, Emissary, but they will have to wait." "You'll get your chance," Renee said with a wink. "What is your story, if you don't mind me asking?" the Empress inquired. "Well..." Luna started. "IT ALL BEGAN one day when I was givin' one o' those Mechas a good pummelin' on Esefem!" Saxton Hale interrupted. "Then all of a sudden, BAM, everythin' just smashed together into one big universe, and I was stuck in a cave! And I went 'roight, I've gotta figure out what to do here!' So I take my Red and Blu boys and we gather everyone up we can and we start shooting our way out of the caverns!" "They eventually found their way to the Sparkle Census," Luna said, taking over. "Myself and Overhead Jingle were there, discussing how to best maximize the use of the Sparkle Census' large amount of space and dimensional connections. We did not get far, because the last battle began in the middle of the talks. The Sparkle Census sent out the alarm to any civilians to begin filling up the largest bunker in Merodi Universalis. Soon virtually every square meter of the Sparkle Census was full. Mostly with Twilights, but there were several others. As it turned out the dimensional spells on the bunker did nothing to counteract the Dusting effect, but because we were all in the same place more than enough remained after the event to continue with life. We had just achieved some form of stability when Hale and his... mercenaries charged in." "She wanted to say gun-toting imbeciles," Renee offered. Saxton Hale laughed. "You got quite the mind on ya! So yeah, there we were, chargin' into the Census and we hit this giant wall of magic made by the very Luna you see before you! Now, not one to be outmaneuvered by the Princess, I punched right through the barrier and made very sure everyone knew I was there!" "He beat his chest like a gorilla," Luna said. "The best way! However, I had enough of my wits about me to tell my men to stand down since these purple horses were no enemy of ours, they were our old allies!" "I had to shout at you!" "Not how I remember it!" "You had to consider it for several minutes!" "Sounds like a tense situation!" Luna facehooved. "Point is, we managed not to get into a firefight and adapted Hale's forces into our own. Then we started exploring the caverns. We never got very far. The Sparkle Census' technology was hit particularly hard by the new physics and it took a lot longer than I would have liked to get any semblance of magic back." "But you succeeded, and that's what matters," Nanoha said with a smile. "And then we found you." Luna nodded. "We would be honored to be part of your project. Not only because you're trying to save the universe, but for what it means. Getting everyone to band together again." Nanoha smiled. "Thank you. We'll build a transport station directly from the Census to here, so you won't have to deal with moving. At least not all at once. We could really use the extra hands, I admit." Saxton Hale grinned. "This Crimson King is gonna get Hale'd so hard he'll die before it happens!" Nanoha stifled a chuckle. "I would be elated if all it took was one punch." "Haven't found Saitama?" Luna asked. Nanoha shook her head. "No. And I'm not sure I want to. Who knows what an attack like that would do to a being like him?" Saxton Hale laughed. "My punches are better anyway. They live long enough to hear you beat them to death!" Nanoha smirked. Normally she would be concerned by such brutish violence, but she only found it amusing at the moment. Not to mention slightly comforting. They needed warriors. ~~~ The Jarn entered the atmosphere of the closest life-sustaining world - which turned out to be a very dusty planet with whipping winds. Fluttershout didn't care, she wanted to be set down. So she was. Dropped off in the middle of the sky unceremoniously. She flew out into the dusty wind, keeping her eyes squinted at an angle so her eyelashes would keep the dust from burning. She angled her wings against the wind and corkscrewed downward until she gently landed on a tree half-buried in brown dust. There was little light shining on this world, but it was warm anyway. The leaves were pure black, likely absorbing heat rather than light. She couldn't see much further than an inch for the life of her, but she was Fluttershout and used sound to see more than a meter ahead. She let out a screech - finding no signs of civilization nearby. The wind made it difficult to sense very far out, but it was still a little disheartening. I'm not leaving this planet until I'm sure they've gone, Fluttershout thought to herself. She began moving around, checking out everything she could. She found a craggy cliff face inside of which several dozen furry creatures were dwelling. With one shout she killed every last one - food enough to last her a while. She sat at the base of the cliff face, searching around until she found a suitable cave. It was outrageously dusty, but it kept the wind out. She was able to vibrate some wood to create a small fire and cook the meat. Fluttershout may have been crazy, but she wasn't going to eat raw meat if she could help it. She munched and let out a sigh. She needed something more substantial to torture than just simple rodents. It wasn't the same. ...She hated being alone. "At least you're still you," she muttered to herself. "But you're a combination of two things! Quiet, you're neither of those. But you're both of them. You're not both of them and changing again would not bring either of them back, it'd destroy the you now! You're shouty." As if she realized how ridiculous she was being, Fluttershout fell silent. She waved her hoof over the fire, finding the heat to not be all that thrilling. She groaned, laying on her back. Then Rina was there. "Hello, Fluttershout." "Die," Fluttershout said. She opened her mouth wide and unleashed a shrill pitch designed to blow brains out. Rina tapped her head. "Soundproof enchantment. Remember when you told me to make it so you could have more freedom shouting?" "There's a lot more than brain-blowing I can do," Fluttershout seethed. "I know. But you're starting to feel it. You need someone to talk to." "Not you. I see that necklace you're wearing." Rina cocked her head. "Then why are you talking to me instead of fighting me relentlessly?" To answer Fluttershout unleashed a sound pulse that tossed Rina outside, into the dust. Rina retaliated with a magic box, trapping Fluttershout. "Right, so, you're lonely, going crazy, a-" Fluttershout ripped open the box with a sonic burst, tackling Rina. Rina flash-teleported herself into the air. "-going crazy, and I have a sol-" Fluttershout shot into the air, punching Rina in the stomach with a vibrating hoof. Then she let out another burst, tossing the dark alicorn into the edge of the cliff. "LET ME FUCKING FINISH!" "No," Fluttershout deadpanned. She directed her attack at the ground this time, creating a seismic wave that cracked the ground. Rina slammed her to the ground with her telekinesis, knocking the wind out of her. "I HAVE A SOLUTION!" She threw a bottle of pills at Fluttershout's face. "Just take them, see what happens! They're completely temporary! You can decide if it's better!" "I don't want it to be better!" Fluttershout screamed, every word pushing Rina back. "I won't have the freedom to do whatever I want! I will have to care about what's good and what's evil and worry about what other people think about what I fucking do! Does that sound like a life to you!?" "I have that life! It's better!" Rina shouted. "Of course you'd think that! You've already lost it! Insanity is a gift, Brutalight! It means we don't have to be constrained by foolish mental inhibitions!" "...My name is Rina!" She grabbed the pills in her telekinesis and removed them from the bottle. "And you're going to take these." Fluttershout looked at the pills flying at her in fear. She unleashed a wave of sound to protect herself from them, but Rina pushed some extra magic into them. Fluttershout clenched her teeth - but she could not close her nose. The pills forced themselves in, making Fluttershout gag. "There. Give it two hours," Rina said, dusting off her hooves. "You'll feel a lot b-" Fluttershout started screeching again. Rina sighed. "Am I really going to have to keep you down for that long? Fluttershout, you lost, just give it up!" Fluttershout didn't stop screaming - but she didn't focus another attack at Rina either. Is she just trying to annoy me? The cliff face cracked, unleashing a rockslide. Rina paled. "No..." Fluttershout stopped screaming. "Bye, idiot." The largest boulder fell square onto Fluttershout, crushing her in an instant. The rest of the rockslide quickly buried it, leaving no doubt as to what had happened. Rina stared blankly ahead. Then she took in a breath and screamed. "I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T WANT THIS TO HAPPEN! I SHOULD HAVE ASKED, I SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT, I SHOULD HAVE LISTENED. I..." She bowed her head to the ground and let out a scream. "I wanted to save her..." She felt a hoof on her shoulder. She looked up to see Rev standing there, smiling warmly, a slight glow around her face keeping the dust out of her eyes. Rina sniffed. "...She killed herself. She wanted to die instead of see what there was..." "Fear makes people do desperate things," Rev said, closing her eyes solemnly. Rina nodded slowly. "...T... Take me back to the ship." Rev held Rina close. "They'll be up there. Your friends." "...Not all of them..." "No. No one gets to run the maze of life without a loss." She placed a hoof over Rina and whispered a quick prayer before signaling for the ship to pick them up. Rina was dusty, covered in mud, and scraped in multiple places. This, coupled with her haunted eyes, made her look like a wild animal ready to snap at anyone who dared try to touch her. Pinkie didn't care, she lifted her up in a big squeeze. "Rina... It's your turn to be part of the sappy cry hug." Rina had no idea why this made her start laughing. Nor at what point the laughter turned to tears. Or the screams. Or the laughter again. I'm not okay. I've never been okay. It'll never be gone. The part of me that screams... She opened her eyes and saw everyone standing there. This made her smile, then frown, then smile again. Then she decided she didn't know what expression to make and just wanted to lie down. They let her. They know. They know it's here. They don't care. Have they really been through so much that this is a cakewalk for them? The day was a blur to her. People talked to her, she responded, but she didn't remember what she said. Things were blurry. At some point Rev came in and made sure she was taking her pills. There was something about finding plenty more supplies in the medical bay? What is insanity, anyway? Are we all insane, or is choosing to be sane the real insanity? Does it work both ways? Fluttershout thought so... But she wasn't willing to test that. Everything snapped into focus. She was sitting on a bed in the Jarn and staring at a screen. A documentary was on. Did I put that on? "Guess I'm the lucky one to get you when you snap back," Vriska said, drawing Rina's attention to her. The troll was sitting in a chair, a handheld video game lying incomplete on her lap. "Sup?" "I... What?" "You sure you're not still stuck in your own head?" "Y-yeah, I'm sure. I was stuck in my head?" "Two days, didn't have that little spark in your eyes. Flutterfree was worried sick." Rina let out a soft laugh. "Of course she was... What else would she be?" Vriska shrugged. "Well, I'm here, so I've got something to tell you. What you experienced? It's rough. I've seen some rough things in my time, but not that. Definitely not that." She put her hands together and frowned. "...I expected you to just blow it off like nothing. You didn't. Maybe there really is something in you that's different." Rina nodded. "I'm not Brutalight." "I think I believe that, now." She stood up and stretched. "I'm sure everyone else wants to see you. Think you can walk?" Rina nodded, getting out of the bed and testing out her hooves. "...Will there be a party?" "Pinkie's on board. What do you expect?" "Nothing less." ~~~ The Emperor had an Imperial Warship under his command. All of its crew had been dusted. So he replaced it. The entire crew. With Aradias. Thousands of red-robed Maids of Time ran through the halls of the Emperor's ship, a sea of red that kept the behemoth of technology operating at peak capacity every second of every day. They moved around the halls with waves of distorted time, talking cheerfully to each other at all times. Mattie and Burgerbelle watched this from a high up balcony. "...This is decidedly impressive," Mattie admitted. "Where did you get them all!?" Burgerbelle asked. The Emperor chuckled, pressing his golden-armored hands on the railing. "Apparently, the Aradias realized what was happening slightly before most every other fuckwit in the multiverse. So this particular group of Aradias from both sides started time-duplicating themselves by the million in a universe with exceptionally slow time-progression. Metatime eventually caught up with them and dusted most, but at that point they could have populated an entire planet with ease. I found them, put them on my ship, and that's that. I never have to worry about repairs being late again." "They can't time travel, right?" The Emperor shook his head. "Just distortion. Helps them get things done really quick though. Infinitely better than techpriests. Or marines. Or humans at all." Tzeentch made himself known. "I told you humans were worthless!" His actual form was roughly the size of the emperor and completely amorphous, a bit like a changeling. He currently occupied his preferred headless bony and toothy humanoid form that had two interweaving tentacles coming out of his back. "Took you eons to figure that one out!" "And it took you eons to realize your plans aren't fucking genius, foul beast." "I was under duress!" "I know. Exactly. As. Planned." "GEIAOHVUOEWYAK." Burgerbelle spoke up. "This is a lot of Aradias. You could say this is an army of Aradias. An... Ararmy? Huh? Anyone?" "...That's absolutely fuck-tastically asininely brilliant," the Emperor said. "Let me go put that on posters real quick. 'Sign up for the Ararmy, it's great, we like the color red and ghosts'." Burgerbelle pulled out a mechanical device that went 'ding!'. "Wow. Your sarcasm levels are off the charts." "But are there really charts for things such as sarcasm, when you really can't be sure if you've defined them at all? Such things are but words. You can always identify sarcasm with the inflection of a voice, but what if you were asked to define sarcasm through the way it sounds? You might get patronized instead." Burgerbelle rolled her eyes. "Grammar. Fun. Anyway the point of the Ararmy comment-" "We are not calling them that," the Emperor stated. "-was to point out we have an army. Like, a pretty big army. We could do stuff with this army." "Like...?" Mattie asked. Burgerbelle shrugged. "I don't know. But we're being given it, so I think we're probably going to find some use for an army of time-bending ninjas." "Have any use for an army of arcane demons? Because I've got that!" "...You do?" the Emperor asked. "Of course I do! Why wouldn't I?" "Then why did you not face me in direct combat!?" "Because then we wouldn't be working together! And let me tell you, these days it's much more chaotic to bring foes together than to just keep having them bash at each others' heads all day long. Plus, it's not like I'm part of the war anymore, I can feel free to change and not care about change! I can become the metachanger of changing through the act of non-change!" Everyone stared blankly at him. "The point is this entire thing went Exactly. As. Planned." "Even the part where you said it didn't?" Burgerbelle asked. "...You need to teach your girls when to be quiet." "I prefer the loud screams," Mattie answered. The Emperor cocked his head. "You two are perfect for each other." "That's it, we're settling this little dispute wi-" "A CHILDREN'S CARD GAME!" Burgerbelle shouted, pulling out a deck of cards and grinning wildly. "TZEENTCH, ex-Chaos god of change! I challenge you to a duel." "...This should be interesting. Challenge accepted, mortal." Tzeentch then proceeded to lose. Badly. ~~~ Roland, Jenny, Aradia, and Nanoha stood on at the observation window of their skyscraper once again. The City had expanded inward considerably - no longer was it mostly just a wall of defenses ringing the field of Can'-Ka No Rey, but a dense ring of buildings around a small section of rose garden surrounding the base of the Dark Tower. Nanoha's observation skyscraper was within the rose garden, but not much else was. They had decided to keep some of the field of Can'-Ka No Rey undeveloped so the power of the roses could remain pure. It didn't look like much compared to the size of the city, but it was still several square kilometers of space. They could see the recently-completed teleportation center from their vantage point, a large cylindrical building constantly glowing with white energy. People came and went from this portal all the time, going to other settlements like the Sparkle Census. The buildings around the teleportation center were mostly Sparkle Census in design (which meant a lot of libraries) since they were the first settlement outside the City to connect to it. Many others had connected since then. A Paratimer city, a lost TSAB colony, a Void seclusion, even a Starcross Society fortress. They had also found civilizations Nanoha had never even known existed in the multiverse. Everyone was hurt by the dusting and was looking for something to be part of again. "The irony is the Crimson King is the reason we're working together," Aradia observed. "If we didn't decide to build this city, this wouldn't be happening." "And it's not stable," Nanoha said, frowning. "It grows and grows and grows - and when the Crimson King is defeated, the destruction he has left will ignite the explosives barely buried beneath everyone's exterior self." She sighed. "I just fear the devastation that will come after." "Maybe he won't attack for a long time?" Jenny suggested. "He has to find what he needs. Could be anywhere in the universe." "He knows where it is," Roland said, twirling his gun. "How do you know?" Jenny demanded. "The Emissary smirked when you said those words." Jenny whirled around and pointed an accusing finger at Renee. "Stop being so coy!" "If you insist. He knows exactly what he needs, where it is, and he is close to it right now." Renee shrugged. "You don't have much time left. Hope you feel you're prepared!" "You know I don't," Nanoha said, her grip on Raising Heart tightening. "I know he won't win. But I fear what comes after." "As you should," Renee said. "Oh, and in the words of a little gremlin Aradia should know about, there's a few 'shitty twists' along the way." Aradia groaned. "How bad?" "If you gave me a list of options to choose from I'd say 'all of the above'." "In other words, every kind of twist," Roland said, not taking his gaze off the window. "Smart gunslinger." Roland had little to no desire to continue the conversation. Renee pouted. "Spoilsport." "Are you feeling generous enough to give us some advice?" Aradia asked. "I suppose. I am the Element of Generosity after all! Oh wait, that broke," she cackled. "Let me put it this way. Everyone's going to start arriving on Nucleon soon. Everything that you've experienced over the course of the last month is going to come to a head in more ways than you realize. Ka will explode around this City, this Tower, the center of Everything. The last battle will take place under the Shadow of the Earth." Renee held her hooves up high. "And it will test everything." Jenny cocked her head. "That's not very helpful." "Dear, I know that. Screw that head of yours on better next time, hmm? You'll need it." ~~~ The Crimson King waited on the surface of Nucleon, far from the base of the Dark Tower. He stood in the shadow of a tree larger than many moons. It currently thought it was autumn on Nucleon, so the leaves the size of lakes were drifting to the ground. Any time one got close to the Crimson King he would unceremoniously reduce it to dead black dust. Around him, the ant-creatures who occupied this part of Nucleon screamed as their life-giving leaves were taken from them, dooming them to starve over the course of the next few days. Normally, he would be taking sadistic pleasure in the suffering of the creatures. Today, however, he wasn't even aware they were screaming - the bulk of his concentration was elsewhere. For there was a small group of heroes traveling toward Nucleon... And they had what he needed. Any number of the individuals within the group should have noticed the Eye of the Crimson King watching them, no matter how much his impossible eldritch nature struggled to keep it hidden. However, he had a 'servant' within the group, one who could obfuscate the senses of the others with them none the wiser. Randall Flagg, Legion, assisted the Crimson King in his observations, playing them all like little strung-up bells. He could see them all. Their leader, the Rogue of Void, a pathetic girl who thought her nature was to be unseen. She knew nothing of Unseen, she was just a pale reflection of what Unseen truly meant. She had confidence and intelligence, but would easily bow to him. There was a slightly larger concern in the artist. His power to turn others into books would be useless against the Crimson King, but his other power, that of the Prophet, could prove to be difficult. The Crimson King had tried many times to kill Stephen King, and all had failed. He considered himself lucky that the primary Prophet of this story was already long dead... But he would not be fooled into underestimating a secondary Prophet again. He had been nearly completely erased from existence last time. The yellow pegasus and the machine were of almost no concern to him. She was but a political figure with minor importance, and the machine was a philosopher. If they were approaching an area of Nucleon with technology, the intelligence would have been a concern, but there was nothing the Crimson King needed to be worried about there. The girl of ka... She was the biggest direct problem. The Crimson King's character file would be inaccessible, but she could access those of her allies and of everything in the scenery. She could create. But she couldn't create eldritch - she was bound by the rules of the New Word - so he had an edge. The only issue was he doubted he could kill her easily as he was. But that could be remedied at a later time if she survived the encounter. Lastly, there was me. Twilence. The one he only looked at out of the corner of his eye, because even with Flagg I had a sense. I would know. My magic was not on the level of Monika's, and I was currently imprisoned so I had no way to effectively use my Prophet powers, but I could still know if he examined me closely. So he didn't, taking only aside glances and moving away before I could catch on. I knew something was looming. I told them as much - that I had a bad feeling. They said they all did. After all, we were about to land on Nucleon and see what was there. Flagg laughed ominously. I dismissed it as nothing more than him being just as creepy as he always was. I should not have dismissed it. I should have taken heed of my unease and insisted we be on better guard. But I didn't. I calmly watched from my position within the cage to see what the world of Nucleon would bring. I was busy thinking of what it would be like if the Tower was ever truly removed from existence... What would be the first thing I did? Because of this, we fell right into the Crimson King's trap. The Eye of Rhyme has a way of showing you everything, and yet nothing at the same time. The same can be said of Black Thirteen.
Songs of the Spheres	138 - Crimson	"This is a big tree." Roxy floated down the lake-sized leaves of a tremendous world-tree sticking out of Nucleon's side, rubbing her hand down the trunk that seemed more like ground than a tree, and probably would have been ground if Nucleon's gravity wasn't taking over. "Fun fact: it's still not big enough to discern from the whole of Nucleon," I reported. "If you see all of Nucleon, you don't see it." "I know, we've been looking at Nucleon for the last few hours." Chancellor Fluttershy put a hoof on the bark. "I wonder what world this was originally from." >>There are many universes that are one tree, so this really isn't all that impressive,<< M printed. "I don't even need to read that to know you're being a spoilsport," Roxy said. >>A simultaneously intelligent and petty observation.<< Roxy didn't read or respond to that. She kept floating down the tremendous tree, getting closer and closer to the actual ground. "Geez, this is taking forever..." "We're not traveling all that quickly," Monika pointed out. "We need to get out of the branches of the tree if we want to get to the bottom. Or..." She snapped her fingers, creating an orange five-pointed star in midair. "I can just launch us." "What does this launch involve?" Rohan asked. Roxy didn't wait for an answer. She jumped into the star. It spun around her with an electronic charging up noise and flung her down at high speed. Her momentum was easily higher than it should have been factoring in air resistance, but she arrived at the surface unharmed. Not bothering to wait for any of the others, she investigated the ground. Such a giant tree should have bathed the land in eternal shadow, but the twilight nature of Nucleon ensured there was enough light coming from the side for any purpose. She furrowed her brow, looking at the leaves falling off like it was autumn. How does Nucleon know the seasons change? ...Maybe it can't, and it's just trying its best. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned a scanning device to see if she could find anything of interest. It wasn't until Chancellor Fluttershy and M appeared behind her that she noticed something. Not on the scanner - it read everything as normal - but in her ears. "...Do you hear that?" The Chancellor swiveled her ears around. "...Are those screams?" >>Yes, those are screams. Very tiny, insignificant screams.<< Roxy narrowed her eyes. "I think they're just distant..." She flew across the leaf she was standing on to a lake-sized section of bare dirt near the tree's trunk. She could hear the screams louder now, but they were still small. Looking closer, she saw why - the people were literally ants. They had a hill-like castle and were taking large trips to and from their home to deliver small segments of the leaves as food. It clearly wasn't efficient enough to feed everyone. Roxy focused her hands together and stole the nothingness from existence, creating one of the leaves above them. She allowed it to fall overtop of the ants, saving them. Rohan jogged up. "You know, I often forget you can do that." "The Rogue of Void gets one of the more... interesting movesets," Roxy admitted. She floated around, creating more leaves for hills she noticed were uncovered. "These things are huge..." "What?" Rohan called - she was so far away he could barely hear her. "Nothing important!" Roxy called over. "Just leaves. Nothing but leaves." She moved much closer to the trunk, finding a much larger area of the ground not covered in leaves. She reached her hand into the ground and found lots of black dust. "Hmm..." "Hello, child." Roxy sighed. "I'm not a kid anymore, how many times do-" She realized she was talking to a three-story humanoid in a red cloak. "Oh. Sorry, I don't know you." "You and I are about to become very well acquainted..." the Crimson King said, reaching out his hand. A nebulous mist of churning power forced itself upon her, entering her nose and swimming into her brain. She made an attempt to erase the Crimson King with Void, but found him highly resistant to it. She had enough time to let out a yell for help before her mind was completely adherent to the Crimson King. Rohan and Chancellor Fluttershy ran over. "What's going on?" "Eh, just got surprised," Roxy said, making it so they couldn't see the Crimson King. "Turns out the ants can bite." "...Heaven's Door," Rohan said, summoning his Stand. "So much for stealth..." the Crimson King revealed himself and shot the darkness at Rohan and Chancellor Fluttershy. Rohan tried to fight it with Heaven's Door - and this was his mistake. He fell to the darkness easily. "Defenses!" Chancellor Fluttershy shouted at M while running. >>Activated.<< The darkness hit Chancellor Fluttershy from behind, but couldn't worm its way into her brain. "Warn Monika!" >>Sending message. Sent.<< Unfortunately, it came a little too late - Monika had already brought the cage with myself and Flagg in it down to the surface. She checked her phone after she had landed. "What...?" >>...Chancellor, I seem to have failed. Sorry. I th_<< The Crimson King was suddenly grabbing the Chancellor. She let out a scream Monika didn't hear through the Void clouding her perceptions. The mechanical components that made up and housed M shattered into a thousand pieces. "M!" Chancellor Fluttershy shouted. Monika heard this scream through the winds of ka. She whirled around, trying to figure out what was going on and how she could stop it. The Crimson King raised a finger to Chancellor Fluttershy's head... and then lowered it. "No. You aren't important enough." He threw her to the side like a bug. He rushed the cage - getting there just as Monika figured out she should probably edit herself to detect Voided abilities. She saw the Crimson King just as he destroyed the cage. ~~~ "The ka is flowing..." Starbeat paused. "Well, whatever way it's flowing, we'll follow it regardless... So..." "Do I go left or right!?" Caliborn shouted, gesturing at the two cavernous tunnels they had to choose from. Both were identically dark, gray, and boring. "Whichever you want," Starbeat said. Caliborn went to the left, grumbling. "Fucking bitch spends so much time saying she's in charge and doesn't take charge..." "She's listening to the advice of her teammates," Trixie said. "...Actually I think she just doesn't care which way we go," Saitama, the newest addition to the ka-seeking team, added. "Motherfuckin' right," Gamzee said, breaking out into a toothy grin. Starbeat chuckled at Gamzee's remark. "More like it doesn't matter. We're going left, we'll get to where we need to go. The ka's so strong right now we'll end up there regardless." She tapped her goggles. "There's something we need to see. Something important. Given how this path is sloping upward, it's probably on the surface, but you never know." "I'm just hoping it isn't something we have to fight," Saitama said with a sigh. "That's always over so fast." "Then let some of us have a go at it for once!" Caliborn yelled back. "He does," Trixie retorted. "Remember the sea of shrimp demons?" "Oh yeah." Caliborn let out an evil laugh. "That was fun!" "As much as it pains me to agree with the cherub, that was fun," Starbeat admitted. "I'd never really felt the heat of being in the moment of combat like that before... I think during the war too much was on the line for me to appreciate it." "Yeah, you just need to get a little motherfuckin' relax on," Gamzee said. "Get in touch with your inner self and feel it." "Says the purple berserker fairy," Trixie deadpanned. "Hey, hey, I'm chill, we're all chill, it's just that when I probably shouldn't be chill I motherfuckin' ain't." "If you're so chill why do you swear every single sentence?" Trixie asked. "That is a good question," Saitama added. "It's just the motherfuckin' way I motherfuckin' am," Gamzee answered. "Yes! Double down on it!" Caliborn shouted back. "Fuck them and their foolish judgments!" Trixie rolled her eyes. "Aw, look at the little snotling, calling other people 'foolish'! Cute." Caliborn twisted time and was in front of Trixie before she could react. "You didn't." "Did!" Trixie said, sneering. "Whatcha gonna do about it?" "I. Am going to remove your eyes. And then replace them. With ping pong balls. With similar eyes drawn on them." "That doesn't sound original," Trixie mused. "He's found this Red vs Blue show," Gamzee said. "Identifies a lot with the purple shoutin' guy." "If only he had chosen a more regal color!" Caliborn shouted. "Purple is the color of royalty," Trixie muttered. "GREEN IS KING!" "Aren't you a Lord?" Saitama asked. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Caliborn said, drawing his gun on Saitama. "...Didn't we learn anything from last time?" "I am going to kill every last one of you one day..." "Aw, but then who would you talk at?" Trixie asked, nudging him playfully. "Come on, you know you looooooove us." The word caused Caliborn physical pain. He switched his gun to the scepter form and smacked Trixie upside the head. Trixie, despite the bruise, kept giggling. "The power of looooove Cal! Loooooooove!" He started chasing her around the caverns with his scepter, screaming out expletives. Trixie just kept laughing. Saitama took a picture with his phone. "Kinda cute. In a messed up way." Starbeat rolled her eyes. "Come on you two, break it up. We have places to go, things to do, ka to fulfill." Trixie sighed. "Fiiine. I'm leading the way this time." "Bitch! I was leading!" Caliborn whinged. "Doesn't really matter, Starbeat's ka-navigator," Trixie said. "She's done a pretty good job of it so far." Starbeat smirked. "Three treasure hoards, two monster nests, and two collapse cells, all taken care of." "Oh yeah, I forgot about the nests and cells," Trixie put a hoof to her chin. "Wonder why I'm never on those..." "You're not a warrior and never have been," Starbeat responded. "Even in the war all you did was tell Discord what to do." "Heh. Yeah." "Maybe this time we'll find a preservation cell," Saitama said. "That'd be a nice change of pace." "You just don't want to punch them into submission!" Caliborn accused. "You're right. I don't." "They know what they did," Starbeat said. "They need to know that can't just be brushed aside. It will be with them forever." "Hmm..." They continued up through the winding tunnel of the caverns until they came to a dead end. "...Ka will lead us where we need to go, huh?" Caliborn laughed. "More like to a dead end!" "I don't think this is a dead end..." Starbeat tapped the ground above them. It was not rock, but soil, and there were large roots worming through it. "We're near the surface." "Ugh, we have to dig out?" Trixie groaned. "That'll take forever..." Starbeat smirked. "Saitama?" Saitama pulled back his fist. "Normal punch." ~~~ Flagg and I were sent flying in different directions when the cage exploded. The magic locks on us that sealed our powers remained, but we were free to move. As was Monika. She created a giant neon-blue axe out of thin air and brought it down on the Crimson King. His response was to shift his body around the axe. As this was happening, with a free hand he picked up the now-free Black Thirteen and punched Monika with it, forcing the Knowledge into her mind. She fell back to the ground. "Yes!" Flagg shouted. "My king, you have returned! I beg of you, release me so I may sta-" "You will inevitably betray me," the Crimson King said, cutting Flagg in half with a chop of his hand. "You served your purpose." "Chancellor, get me out of here!" I hissed. She heard me and rushed to my aid, but Roxy stopped her with a punch to the face. The Crimson King had both her and Rohan under his complete control. And now they were coming for me. Two giant boxing gloves appeared out of nowhere, knocking the two of them to their backs. "...What!?" the Crimson King shouted. Monika was already up and floating again. "I know that trick." She sneered. "I can keep my mind clear if I want." He waved a hand, ordering Rohan and Roxy to stand back up, despite the fact that they should have been unconscious. They charged Monika. Upon finding she couldn't access their character files, she shrugged and encased them in a giant glass box. They charged right through like the box was made of nothing. Monika sighed. "Really?" She clapped her hands and suddenly the two of them were falling down a hole. The Crimson King disintegrated her with eldritch power. It was a simple automatic-rewrite for Monika to reconstruct herself. She put her hands on her hips and struck a sassy pose. "Looks like you've got a case of underestimating people!" The Crimson King was behind her, grabbing onto her soul and removing it from her body. "The soul is just as editable as everything else," Monika said, healed to full once again. She scrolled through several things she'd saved in her internal files over the years, settling on an antimatter cannon. A gun with a five-pointed barrel made of neon yellow crystals charged up and fired, enveloping the Crimson King in an explosion that tore him asunder. Unfortunately he was eldritch and could just reform himself however he wished. He took the form of a mansion-sized crimson spider and tore Monika apart. She was fine again in an instant, creating a small army of humanoid robots to take the Crimson King on. He tore through them like butter, but she kept duplicating them with simple copy/paste technology. The Crimson King reverted into his humanoid form and held up Black Thirteen. "Do you know what Black Thirteen can do, Lord of Ka?" Monika summoned gigantic snowflakes and hurled them at the Crimson King. They all deflected right off him. "It can take you anywhere in the multiverse, which is useless, and it can show you truth, which drives you crazy." The Crimson King held Black Thirteen out to Monika. "It also has control over ka itself, if you know what you're doing. Your powers are no more." Monika paled - and then fell to the ground, clutching her heart. "Wh... Wh..." The Crimson King slowly walked to her, holding out Black Thirteen like a weapon. "It is ka itself, the manifestation of it. Of all the Rainbow, it is the one that represents the Tower itself. Naturally it has the control along with the knowledge and connection." The Crimson King raised a hand. "The people of this era have so much power... and no appreciation for it." Monika was disintegrated. And then Monika was behind the Crimson King with a chainsaw and cut his head off. "I love me a decoy!" As the Crimson King struggled to regrow his head, Monika kicked Black Thirteen out of his hand. Then she created a mechanical butterfly that took Black Thirteen and dropped it in the hole where Rohan and Roxy were, hitting Roxy on the head and keeping her from returning to do the Crimson King's bidding. The Crimson King regrew his head, along with the red hood. "You..." Monika put on a mocking expression. "Aw, you upset your little ploy didn't work? Trust me, I'm sure it'll be-" He teleported Black Thirteen back to his hand. He teleported Roxy and Rohan to his side as well. "Space is nothing." Monika twitched. Then she vanished. "And so she flees..." The Crimson King laughed. "Just as expected..." He turned to me. "She should have freed you, Muse. That might have done something." I ground my teeth. "She's too proud." "And her pride will be your downfall." "How about you remove my restraints and we have a fair fight?" "A desperate attempt." I gulped. "It was worth a shot. After all..." I stopped, having seen something. "Hey, Crimson King, look into Black Thirteen. You'll find something that will shatter your worldview." The Crimson King took a moment to look at Black Thirteen. Saitama punched out of the ground right under him, sending the robed monstrosity high into the sky. "Coast cle-" "HEAVEN'S DOOR!" Rohan shouted, summoning the Stand. Saitama's face popped open like a book. "SOMEONE STOP ROHAN!" I shouted. "He's being controlled!" Dozens of golden bullets shot out of the hole, shredding Rohan's interior with ease. Heaven's Door dissipated, and the manga artist slumped to the ground in a pool of his own blood. Caliborn jumped out of the hole and laughed. "That was the guy, right!?" "You didn't have to kill him!" I wailed. Caliborn kicked him. "Eh, but I wanted to." Roxy punched Caliborn in the face. Caliborn's jaw dropped. "The Voidy bitch..." Gamzee jumped out of the hole next, trying to tear into Roxy with his teeth. She vanished, appeared behind him, and shoved him into Caliborn. Trixie and Starbeat came out next. Starbeat took one look at me and her eyes became murder. "You." "We have bigger issues right now!" I wailed. "What could be bigger than you?" The Crimson King landed on the ground again, Black Thirteen still held tightly in his claws. He activated the controlling miasma again, but Starbeat used her magic to deflect it. Roxy delivered a series of punches to Starbeat and Trixie's faces, tossing them to the side. Then she took out her gun. "BITCH!" Caliborn shouted, shooting at her. Roxy allowed the bullets to pass right through her. She turned the gun on him - but he slowed time so he could dodge all the bullets. Once he was close enough he whacked her with his scepter, a weapon the Crimson King could not make her Void through no matter how much he wanted. The Crimson King forced her to stand up again - but Starbeat saw this. She shot a beam of energy right at the gemstone on her back, shattering it in two. "None of you have power..." The Crimson King said, pointing a finger. "Death." "Normal punch," Saitama said, hitting the Crimson King in the chest. The eldritch being's very essence imploded and twisted as the force of the man's fist threatened reality itself with how powerful it was, vaporizing the Crimson King's equivalent to a spine in an instant. He went flying back, splayed on the ground, motionless. "...Man, one punch again," Saitama muttered. "Figured he would be-" "He is," I said. "Don't kid yourselves. Someone remove these limitations so I can help you!" "Not happening," Starbeat said. "Starbeat!" Starbeat kicked me. "Stop talking." The Crimson King slowly stood up, clenching his chest. "You... have ka brimming within you... the power of victory..." "Yeah," Saitama said - a smile forming on his face. "And you can take a punch." The Crimson King held out Black Thirteen. "You should have used your full power. You may have ended my reign." "Your reign? You going to tell me your complex backstory now?" "No," the Crimson King said. "I'm going to kill you." He rushed forward with Black Thirteen. "Serious punch," Saitama said, pulling his fist back. "No, Saitama, don't touch Black Thirteen!" I warned. "Gotcha," Saitama said, adjusting his punch slightly to the left so he would hit the Crimson King head on without touching the artifact. The Crimson King let the punch connect. Absolutely nothing happened. "...What?" Saitama said, blinking. The Crimson King drove his free hand through Saitama like he was made of jello. "I do not have to touch you to remove your ka!" He tossed Saitama aside like a ragdoll. "Your one chance is gone." "Let me out!" I wailed. "I can do something!" Starbeat kicked me hard enough to crack a rib, refusing to acknowledge me otherwise. What happened to you that I can't see? The Crimson King took a slow couple of steps forward, past the broken and shattered forms of his two puppets. Just to add insult to injury, he made both of their bodies burst into black flames. "Fools..." Caliborn let out a scream and started filling him with the bullets from his gun. The Crimson King felt them - they were not ordinary bullets and carried with them the power of the Lord of Time - but they were still nothing more than little ants among his internal darkness. He reached out his hand, charging it full of enough energy to kill them all in an instant. "Serious punch." The sound of the impact was enough to make everyone wince in pain. The Crimson King's body split into several pieces and still there was enough force not only for him to make it to the trunk of the world tree, but also bore a hole all the way through it. Where he had been a moment ago stood Saitama with a smoking fist - Monika standing behind him with a cute smile on her face. "So, as it turns out, I can give people ka powers back so long as I can edit their character files. Who knew?" "Is he dead?" Saitama asked me. I coughed. "No... He had Black Thirteen, it saved him." Saitama ran to the other side of the world tree, finding nothing there to punch at all. He ran back. "I don't see him. Or the black thing." "He ran away," I said. "He didn't want to chance it against both of you." "Woo!" Monika shouted. "We won!" "Not really..." I sighed. "He has Black Thirteen. That's what he came here for. We have to find him so he can't use it for... Whatever he needs it for." "You don't know what he needs it for?" Chancellor Fluttershy asked. I shook my head. "I didn't even know he was back... I'm not even sure how he can be back..." "Don't know, don't care," Monika said, creating two revive potions. She tossed one at Rohan and one at Roxy. Roxy's Carnelian Gem reformed with a flash. She sat up and grunted. "Ugh... That was a sucky experience." Rohan sat up... and said nothing. There was no spark in his eyes. I sighed. "...No way we could have escaped without sacrifice... M... Rohan..." "You still talk like that," Starbeat muttered under her breath. "Like you must fight..." "We must!" "I should kill you right here, right now," Starbeat declared. "Starbeat!" Trixie said with a gasp. "She deserves it, Trixie. She wasn't just some soldier fighting in a war, she was a traitor before the war even started. She can't think like us... It's impossible." "...What happened to you?" I asked. "Can't you see!?" "No. I don't have Black Thirteen, I just have the Eye..." Starbeat let out a snort. "I survived. That's what happened." "Motherfuckin' amen," Gamzee said. I twitched. "You do realize you're traveling with Gamzee Makara and Caliborn right? The Bard of Rage and the guy who becomes Lord English?" "...English?" Caliborn said, thinking for a moment. "Oh, that's right, I do take his name..." "Stop being so prejudiced," Starbeat spat. "I knew who Gamzee was. Admittedly, I was unaware Caliborn would become Lord English, but right now he's manageable and I'm working him over." "Working me over!?" "Caliborn, quiet, the adults are talking. ...Actually, I shouldn't even call you an adult." "What's gotten you so mad that you're resorting to petty insults?" I asked, confused. "You. What you stand for. The fact that I can't end you since I'm pretty sure we need you to find the Crimson King." She seethed. "I'm not an idiot, I know a greater evil when I see one. Trixie, send word back to the Hub, we're going on a monster-hunting quest." "On it. Should I ask Storm for backup?" "No. We have enough here." "If you remove this magic seal..." I said. "No. You're just here because of that Eye of yours. I am not giving you a chance to escape. I'm going to put you on trial." "Do you want to talk about trial? I can put you on for war crimes caused by your ka inventions!" "I will make Caliborn shoot your throat out and make you communicate with me in mime if I have to," Starbeat muttered. She angrily turned away and walked to Gamzee. "I'm done talking to her, someone else figure out how we're going to find him." Trixie cleared her throat, walking up to me. "She's angry, give her a break." "...She's not going to put me on trial, right?" "Pretty sure she is." Trixie looked me in the eyes. "...And I can't exactly tell myself you don't deserve it. You did do a lot of shitty stuff." When something like that is said so frankly and matter-of-factly, it often carries with it more weight than having it screamed in your face. For the first time in a long while, I felt legitimately afraid of what these people I called friends might do to me. ~~~ Flagg respawned in front of the doors to the Dark Tower. He promptly got his brains blown out by Roland. He slumped to the ground, dead. Again. Renee chuckled. "Told you it was a good idea to be here." "I extend my gratitude, Emissary." Flagg respawned and Roland blasted his brains out again, letting a second Flagg pile onto the first. Renee put on a pair of comically-oversized 3D glasses. "Impressive." The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth Flaggs all suffered the same fate. The seventh came back while Roland was reloading. "Wait!" Roland didn't wait. He shot Flagg in the crotch, prompting the man to retch in pain for a second. Then he shot him in the head. The next Flagg got a shot to each arm, the heart, and the head. This continued for some time. "GODAMMIT ROLAND!" Flagg shouted. "STOP!" "I lived a thousand lifetimes with no release," Roland said, shooting him through one eye and then the other. "I wasn't responsible for that!" "No, that'd be me," Renee admitted. "But I also let him out." Roland shot Flagg through the throat. "Stop! Just stop!" Roland didn't stop. "ROLAND!" "I don't see why I should," Roland commented, shooting this Flagg in the stomach several times so he would bleed out slower. "If there is one being that deserves to die, it is you." "But I can't... Be killed..." "I can keep shooting you until the Tower falls. Then you die." "You can't keep this up forever." Roland shot Flagg in the head again. After reloading, he used his free hand to pull out his phone. It took him a minute to remember how to dial Nanoha, but he did. "I need a shipment of bullets to the front of the Tower. Walter's not dying enough." He hung up. "Still calling me Walter, huh?" Flagg cackled - before another shot to the neck shut him up. "What a childish name..." "Gee, I wonder why he calls you that," Renee said with a smirk. "You're the Emissary..." Flagg said, clutching at the blood pouring out of his chest. "You know what I am to you..." "A force of evil with a little bit of humor thrown in to keep you from being mind-numbingly boring." She rolled her eyes. "Nothing that special, really." "But I-" he was shot in the middle of his sentence. "I am Legion! I am the last survivor! I am Randall Flagg! I brought worlds to their knees!" "You were more a tool than anything," Renee said with a delighted chuckle. "Real characters go through changes, find ways to shift, to grow. You just got better at doing what you always did." She shook her head. "You do have a chance to be something else, now." Blood poured from Flagg's mouth. "What?" "Make a wild guess." Flagg died again. Nanoha appeared before them in a flash of light. "Where are the bullets?" Roland asked. "Nowhere." She snapped her fingers, imprisoning the fresh Flagg in magical restraints. "You've already made a hundred bodies Roland, that's not sanitary. Wait until killing him will actually do something." Roland nodded slowly and put his gun away. Flagg let out a sigh of relief. "That was getting decidedly annoying..." "I can make you suffer an infinite loop of deaths inside your own mind," Nanoha said, fire in her eyes. "So you better give me a good reason not to make you suffer until your death can be made permanent." "...The Crimson King has just stolen Black Thirteen and killed me." Nanoha narrowed her eyes. "Information is a start..." "He has retained eldritch nature despite physics not allowing it. I know not how many he killed, but Monika, Rohan, Twilence, Roxy, Chancellor Fluttershy, and M were all there. The location was a world-tree somewhere on Nucleon. This very pla-" "They know," Renee cut him off. "I'm not that cruel; I'll tell them the name of the planet they're on." "So you named it." Renee chuckled. "I'm not explaining my nature to anyone again. But luckily you've been around long enough to figure it out on your own." She patted him on the head. "Good boy." He twitched. "Awww, is the Legion of Darkness not having a nice day?" "I imagined the Emissary of ka to be more... neutral." Renee rolled her eyes. "Everyone always says that, and they're always wrong..." Roland loaded his gun. "The Crimson King will be here soon. We should tell the people about this." Nanoha nodded. "I'll arrange a meeting and start moving everything we can into town. I hope Arceus is in the mood for another round of creation, it's do or die time." "Mostly die," Flagg said. "How can you hope to defeat the Crimson King when you cannot access the eldritch nature?" "We know he won't win," Nanoha said. "What we don't know is how many of us have to die in the process before he falls. I don't suppose you have any suggestions?" "Erase him from existence or become one with the eldritch energy. Oh wait, neither of those will work anymore. My bad." Roland shot him in the leg. He let out a scream of intense pain. "Roland!" Nanoha said, healing him. "He's not dead. No more bodies for you to deal with." "We need him cooperative." Roland shook his head. "Lock him away and don't let anyone speak to him." Nanoha shook her head. "I'll bring it up at the next meeting when we decide what to do with him, but I don't think we'll be doing that. He's too valuable a source of information, Roland. Even if he is close to evil incarnate." Roland let out a grunt indicated he accepted her decision, but wasn't pleased. "And the gunslinger is forced to go into diplomacy..." Flagg said with a chuckle. A bullet went into his other leg. ~~~ "...What is that slapping I hear behind me?" Mattie asked as she looked at the map of the universe. The center was close. It wouldn't be more than a day until they arrived. Swip let out a groan. "They're just playing patty cake." Mattie turned around in bewilderment to see Burgerbelle and the Everykid doing exactly that. "Hold on. Both of you are much, much older than you look. Why!?" "What's the point of looking like a kid if you never act like one?" Burgerbelle asked. The Everykid nodded in agreement. Mattie smacked her lips. "Well, I don't have any response to that. Thrackerzod?" Thrackerzod grunted. "Just as weird as your bizarre obsession with pain." "Right, no help there. Nettle?" "I don't even know the context of this conversation," Nettle admitted. She was looking at Burgerbelle and the Everykid playing with... longing? "You know, I bet the Emperor can cook up a de-age spell if you want to join them." "No," Nettle responded. "I don't want to be even more helpless than I already am." "Then what's the problem?" Nettle shrugged. "Nothing besides my own inadequacy." She stood up and walked off the bridge. Thrackerzod sighed. "Should I do it, or you?" "We'll do it," Burgerbelle said. She and the Everykid ran out into Swip's halls after Nettle. The Everykid used her time hat to jump in front of Nettle, trapping her between the two of them. "...What do you want?" "You know, you could be friends with Everykid too," Burgerbelle said, folding her arms. "It doesn't just have to be you and me talking." "Is that what you think I'm hung up about?" Nettle rolled her eyes. "You're clueless." The Everykid shook her head. She took her hat off and gave Nettle puppy dog eyes. "I don't get what she's saying." Burbergelle leaned on a nearby wall. "She thinks you're upset that your powers aren't surfacing like everyone else's." Nettle grunted. "Of course I'm upset." "Jealous?" "Yes!" "How do you think everyone else felt when you were in your full multiversal body?" Nettle opened her mouth to respond. When she found herself unable to form words, a spinning rainbow wheel icon appeared in front of her face. She brushed it away. "Burgerbelle..." "Sorry, couldn't resist." Burgerbelle coughed. "And that's my problem. I flaunt my powers around a lot because they're so different. And I enjoy being me." "You get to be you." "And everyone else got to be you." "What?" The Everykid facepalmed. She shoved Nettle into Burgerbelle, making the two hug. Nettle seemed shocked. Something stirred within her, and she wasn't exactly sure what it was. Something... warm. "You look baffled. It's just an awkward hug. A-" A comical quack sound came out of Burgerbelle as her expression shifted to realization. "...Nettle, how many hugs have you actually experienced?" "...I... None?" Burgerbelle smiled. "Then it's time for a bear hug." "You aren't a be-AAAAAAR!" Nettle squirmed but found that trying to remove herself from the embrace was completely impossible. It was over when Burgerbelle said it was, releasing the poor white woman. "That was..." "Great?" "Painful." "And?" "...I'm not sure." Burgerbelle snapped her fingers. "You should try to get sure. Talk to people, find out what they mean. You know what I think?" "What?" "You should stop trying to become what you were." "But I'm no-" "You are though. You may be thinking to yourself you have a new life, but you aren't really living it. You're talking, trying, but you still dwell on what you were." She put an arm over Nettle's shoulder. "Think about it this way - jellyfish-Nettle is gone, and human-Nettle is here to stay. You should try figuring out what human-Nettle is, and that includes getting to know other people, discovering what it means to be human." "Friends!" the Everykid chirped. "Yes. That. Friends. You can't just use us as support blocks like you want to, you need to let everything go both ways." Burgerbelle pulled out a two-way arrow sign. "And who knows? Maybe once you accept what you are, you'll be able to figure out something new about yourself." "So... If I want powers, I have to be fine with not having them?" "Maybe?" "That's stupid." "I'm a girl made from a poorly-edited jpeg image who is obsessed with burgers and can pull memes out of her hair. That's also stupid." Big, pixelated white letters spelling out 'THIS IS STUPID' appeared below her face. "...I might try it." The Everykid made a 'woohoo' noise and did a victory dance. Nettle kneeled down to her eye level. "Hello... Everykid. What... do you like?" The Everykid held out her palm. Nettle met it confused. "Oh come on!" Burgerbelle blurted. "Just do what you saw us doing earlier!" Nettle clapped her hands and met the Everykid's other hand slowly. Then they sped up until the Everykid was giggling. There was a smile on Nettle's face. "Anyone who isn't busy report to the bridge," Mattie called over the intercom. "We've just found ourselves a little somethin'." The three of them ran back in. "What is it?" Nettle asked. "Well, it looks like a fleet of ships," Mattie said, pointing at a bunch of silvery blobs on the main screen. "Not that we're very sure what kind of ships they are, sensors are wiggin out a bit. No idea why." "...We should go say hi," Nettle said. Everyone turned to her with blank stares. "...What?" "You. Suggesting we go say hi to people," Thrackerzod said. "...Never mind. It's a good idea. Mattie?" Mattie smirked. "This is your Mistress speaking. We're about to go charge off to meet a fleet a ships and say 'hi'. There is a very high chance that they're going to try to shoot us out of the sky before we open our mouths. So consider this a warning to buckle yourselves up, we're in for a bumpy ride." Swip sighed. "I hate you." "What? That was completely innocuous!" "Because you're saying it, it's automatically not. Setting course..." ~~~ Chem the Them-chinchilla was floating in space next to Flep the Celestialsapien as the fleet moved ever closer to the core. "-and then I figure out they have a machine that washes the dishes for them! Can you believe that Flep? Can you?" Flep, as usual for his kind, made no response, and if he had been thinking of making a response, all thought of such was banished when Chem started talking again. "And don't get me started on the other stuff they had me do. A freaking Horrorterror corpse! That took forever to disintegrate completely, and it didn't even help the mind-stench in the area! It was all a big waste of everyone's time - mostly mine though - and it was just a huge mess to begin with." Flep seemed to be listening. Even though he hadn't moved a muscle the entire time Chem had been talking. "And the games. The games are boring. I mean it's more interesting than the multiverse was, still glad I'm a chinchilla, but gaaaaaaaah why play chess? Why not play Paradox-Billiards-Vostroyan-Roulette-Fourth-Dimensional-Hypercube-Chess-Strip-Poker? Now there's a game I could get behind, but nobody's got the wherewithal to face ME in a duel! It's all futile..." "Cards," Mite said. Chem took the presence of Mite in stride. "When did you get here? You missed a lot of good ranting!" "Doubtful." "Oh, please, it was quality stuff. Real quality stuff. About... Uh... Ranting and the quality of life in this fleet." "Lotus." "Yeah I don't understand what that means so I'm going to ignore it. Do you have any sort of entertaining games to engage me while we wait for the inevitable showdown at the end of this road?" "Maybe." "That aren't mind-screwing word games." "No." "Then what are you good for?" "Solipsism." "...You're a bundle of humorous anecdotes ain'tcha?" "Gratitude." "Well scruff my ears and call me a marshmallow, you're going to keep doing this forever." "No." "Why not!?" "Bridge." "...Which one?" "Austraeoh." Chem let out a groan and teleported them to the bridge of the Austraeoh. "Hey, fleshbags, Mite h-" "I'm not a fleshbag," Lapis Vee corrected. Chem twitched. "Ahem. Mostly fleshbags. Happy? Mite wanted me to be here. And him. Mite, what's this about?" "Scans," Mite droned. Lapis Vee checked the scans. "I don't see anything too out of the ordinary." The Xeelee text appeared on the main screen. \|> That's the problem. There's nothing out of the ordinary. This close to the core world we should be picking up something, but we are not. Mite has caught an interesting glitch in the system. O'Neill raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. Can we clean it up?" \|> Attempt has already been made. Cleared up a few details, but scans now clearly show a heavy field of shrouded ka around the entire central system. One nucleus world, one orbiting planet, further details indeterminate. Minna closed her eyes. "I sense... we missed something somewhere else. Perform a full advanced scan of all surroundings. Have the entire fleet do it." "You heard her," O'Neill said. Clandestine nodded, sending out the order. "Hey, Xeelee... ...We need a name for you other than Forward-numbers." \|> Randomizing name... Nala shall work. "Gotcha. Mind sending out scan corrections to everyone else, Nala?" \|> Already done. The scans are being performed. Minna checked the incoming reports. "We've got one from the TSAB Oma. There's something heading at us in a strange spatial distortion." "Onscreen." The... thing coming at them was a blurry blob of red and brown. "...Care to explain what I'm looking at?" \|> A low resolution picture of an object our sensors are having difficulty dealing with. "How long until it arrives?" "Three minutes," Clandestine said. "One until it's close enough for our hails to pierce this... fuzz. I think." "Keep trying. In the meantime, raise shields and charge weapons just in case." Minna closed her eyes. "I... Hmm. Let me focus for a minute..." She put a hand to her forehead and focused. "...I don't sense any firefight coming. But I can't tell you what I do sense, it's just too fuzzy..." "Flep must be going stir-crazy," Chem said, twitching his nose. "I mean, if you were used to knowing almost everything and suddenly were in a place where everything was fuzzy, what would you be doing?" "I get the point," O'Neill said. "Any response to communications?" "Nothing yet." Lapis Vee furrowed her brow. "I'm getting more data. There are ship signatures in that cloud. And... other things I can't identify." \|> It is certainly not something within the standard database. "Got a connection!" Clandestine said. "Channel open!" "This is General-Overhead Jack O'Neill of the Austraeoh. What is your purpose here?" "Why helloooooo General! Fancy meeting you here..." "...Is there no video?" Minna asked Clandestine. She shook her head. "To whom am I speaking?" O'Neill asked. "You don't recognize my voice? Unsurprising, since you weren't very involved when I was around... But surely, surely, you can remember the name! The name... of Tzeentch!" "...Who?" "...Stop playing games with me." O'Neill smirked. "Sure thing. So should we shoot you out of the sky or should you go find another place to spread your Chaotic message of change?" "I am the Lord of Change and I ha-" "Tzeentch, stop tormenting them for your petty amusement," the Emperor's voice said, accompanied with an image of him on screen. "I don't want to have to repair this ship again." "Your ship repairs in an instant!" "It costs the crew time and resources!" "They're all happy all the time! It doesn't matter!" "Then how about because I'm the mother-fucking Emperor and I said so?" "Ahem," Mattie said, her image appearing on screen as well. "How about we let the children fight it out for a while and actually get to business ourselves? Glad to see you still around, O'Neill." O'Neill smirked. "Likewise. Who've you got with you?" "Some of the League, a truly ungodly amount of Aradias, the Emperor of Man, Tzeentch and his gaggle of transformed demons, a friendly version of the Everyman, and White Nettle." "White Nettle?" "She's human right now, sorry, no multiversal jellyfish for you. I know, I was disappointed too." Minna shivered. "What's the matter, dear?" "I'm psychic, remember?" Minna said. "I got that image." Mattie grinned. "Glad to be of service. So, if I'm readin' this right that means you've gotten everybody on both sides agreeing for once in their moronic lives?" "The war is over," O'Neill confirmed. "You have said that so many times..." Chem groaned. "We'll be right over to discuss what we're going to do with this fuzzy ka-planet. Mistress Mattie out." She saluted and cut the feed. Clandestine blinked. "...Did she really give herself the title Mistress?" "Yes," Mite said. "She..." "Intentional," Mite confirmed. "I like her already," Lapis Vee commented absent-mindedly. "I'm going to choose not to read into that," O'Neill said. "You know, it was nice when I had a choice in the matter..." Minna said, hanging her head. "The curse of returning powers." ~~~ "Problem," Strange said, addressing everyone within their small consortium of ships. "Lord English just passed us in an instant." "Toying with us, as expected," Sherlock said. "It just means he wants to get there first. To do... something. Perhaps get the weapon." "Or destroy the core world," Johnny suggested. "He would have started already if that's what he wanted to do," Sherlock said. "...Though I suspect he will get to it eventually, it's not his primary goal. To get to that, he has to get the weapon." "Whatever the weapon is..." Discord muttered. "Do we have any way to do anything?" NOT THAT I AM AWARE OF, Death added. WE DO NOT HAVE THE PHYSICAL POWER NECESSARY TO ATTACK HIM IN ANY WAY, EVEN WITH MOST OF OUR MAGIC RESTORED. "Take the weapon from him before he finds it?" Insipid suggested. "We don't know what it is," Discord pointed out. "I mean, like, get close to him, don't attack, and then run off with it?" "He'll start attacking the moment we look like we're going to try something," Sherlock said. "The best we can do is warn people. Have we received any messages back?" "About that..." Cosmo shook her head. "The ka around the core world is so strong it's creating physical manifestations in the atmosphere of the core system. I don't believe anything we're saying is getting through. They probably can't even detect us." "But we can detect English," Lightning pointed out. "Because he wants to taunt us," Sherlock countered. "He could hide easily if he wanted. Currently he's just... standing there. Waiting at that one particular spot." "Anything there?" "From what we can see, sand. Lots and lots of sand." Strange furrowed his brow. "What is he doing...?" "I've barely understood why he's done anything lately," Insipid said with a nervous laugh. "You're like, the detective or whatever. So, like, tell us." Sherlock nodded slowly. "I'm thinking... He's sitting there. Either the weapon doesn't exist yet or it has to come to him. Cosmo, can we see anything besides us heading to that area?" "There's something fuzzy within the ka field..." Cosmo admitted. "It might be a ship." "We need to catch it," Strange announced. "There's no way we can get to it before it gets in his range." "Then we have to get as close as possible." Lightning said. "Discord, Insipid, Cosmo, we need a teleport chain to move the Crimson Blitz there as fast as we possibly can. Death, Sherlock, come as well, I think we'll need you. Strange, you're in charge of the fleet. Get there as soon as you can." Strange nodded. "Got it." Lightning snapped her fingers, teleporting the team of six to the Crimson Blitz. "Start teleporting, we have no way to know how much we can waste." Insipid touched Discord to absorb his powers while Cosmo made the first teleport-jump. In teams of three, they rotated on and off, moving the ship dozens of kilometers every second, with an ever increasing speed. The core of the universe still looked pathetically far away. ~~~ The Jarn sailed through space, near enough to the core world to make out details of the surface. The bridge of the ship was large - and mostly empty. At the moment, only Pinkie and Mlinx were there, watching it get closer and closer. "What do you think is down there?" Mlinx asked Pinkie. "The end?" Pinkie said with a shrug. "Of what?" Pinkie pursed her lips. "I don't know. I really hope it isn't the end of everything, I'd like to get some mileage out of these eyes." She absent-mindedly tugged at the blindfold hanging from her neck. Mlinx looked at the display of the core world on the screen. "Is it still fuzzy to you?" "I know its name now," Pinkie said. "Nucleon. All else... I guess the Tower's there, somewhere, but it's not like I can just point to a location and say 'hey, that's where it is'. It wants to shroud itself. I think it's been specifically keeping me from seeing other storylines moving parallel to our own. The rest of our friends who survived have stories as well. I can't wait to see what they are." "Assuming we make it through this." Pinkie frowned. "I... It wouldn't be satisfying if everyone died. There has to be some... survival. Some hope." "Almost everyone's gone, Pinkie." Pinkie nodded slowly. Then she let out a laugh. Mlinx leaned on Siron's staff and looked at Pinkie quizzically. "What's so funny?" "You know, back when we first started exploring, I knew some of us weren't going to make it. I asked myself if I wanted to be part of that. I said yes." She shook her head. "If I had any inkling it'd be this bad, I would have crawled under a rock and never come out." "Was it the wrong decision?" "No," Pinkie affirmed. "I needed to be here. I've done a lot of good for the multiverse. A lot of it may have been undone with the collapse - but a lot of it wasn't. And even those things that were undone... we've been out here for a long time, Mlinx. Somewhere around a century of active exploring and adventure. I may look pretty young, but I should be into my twilight years right about now." "Your pony lifespans are twice as long as the average human." Pinkie nodded. "Yeah... You can see wrinkles on Jotaro. He might have been approaching his sixties when he took it..." Mlinx shook his head. "We are giants, Pinkie. That's what we are." "I don't think I follow." Mlinx held up Siron's staff. "We all have powers, resources, and lives beyond what most people could ever imagine. We stand above them all in a very real way. ...We've been made better than them, stronger than them, more important than them." "That's the Dark Tower for you," Pinkie said. "We like reading and hearing stories about the legendary, the powerful, the different. We give them values and place them on a pedestal, so the Tower does as well. We're products of that. And that nagging doubt you're feeling is right. It is wrong. We should be equal. But we aren't." Mlinx lowered his hands. "...When I was still in the original tribe, I felt lesser than the rest of them. I was sure I was. But that difference made me greater than them. Than all of them. And as my people have almost fallen to nothing, I have survived. Because I was different. I was special." He looked right at Pinkie's eyes. "This feeling is worse than being the runt." "...I wonder how Corona feels." There was a poignant silence in the bridge at that comment. Veila and Flutterfree walked in, carrying their conversation to the bridge. "Are you sure?" Flutterfree asked. "I am the only p'e'thika in existence," Veila explained. "We never found any other demons and magic has not blessed any of those born since we moved. Not even genetic engineering has helped. We suspect it is because the Blue Moon Spirit was taken all those years ago." "But aren't there magic technologies you can use?" "Of course, and many do. But the p'e'thika have a special relevance to our culture, one of the fe-" "We don't have a culture anymore," Mlinx said abruptly. Almost immediately he put a hand to his faceplate. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for." Veila sighed. "Your criticism is legitimate, Mlinx. Why try to save something for a society that, as far as we know, is just the two of us?" "Make a new society," Mlinx answered. "Join whatever Pinkie leads us to." Pinkie grimaced. "I'm not gonna pull any punches here, there's a good chance it's hot smoking death down there." Flutterfree nodded silently. "...We would not hold it against you if you just dropped us off." "We didn't really have much of a goal before we found you," Mlinx admitted. "We wouldn't have one if we left you." Veila nodded in agreement. "Then I'm glad you're with us," Flutterfree said with a warm smile. Vriska and Rina walked in at this point, with Vriska talking off a full head of steam. "So then he goes 'I do not understand the way of your people' and I was like 'shut the fuck up you fucking nerd, just let it slide nicely' and then he said 'sure' and that's that story." "I feel like you left out some important details," Rina pointed out. "As I discovered long, long ago, my fellow crewmembers tend not to like to hear me talk about Hastur." "Why? He sounds amazing!" "She goes into too much detail!" Pinkie shouted. "It's enough having buckets ruined for eternity!" Vriska smirked. "Hey, you're Aware, you know anyway." "Doesn't mean I have to think about it constantly!" Flutterfree looked to Vriska in concern. "...Vriksa, about Hastur..." "Dead, probably," Vriska said a little too quickly. "And Starbeat burned that card, soooo..." "Why haven't you talked about it?" "Because we've been a little fucking busy in case you haven't noticed," Vriska spat. "And I did talk about it, just so you know." "To Rina?" "To Rina." Flutterfree looked to Rina. "Give me your truthful opinion. Were you a good influence here?" Rina put a hoof to her chin. "Well, considering how none of you can hear the word 'fuck' without flinching mentally, I think I was a pretty good listener. See, sometimes there's something to be said for details." "So long as you keep it offscreen," Pinkie said. "How am I supposed to know when that is?" "If you're talking details, you're not on screen." "Oh. In that case-" "Don't make the scene end, it needs to go on a bit longer," Pinkie said. "I..." She shook her head. "I just got a really bad feeling." "Bad how?" Mlinx asked "Bad like 'you're really not going to like what happens next' bad." Flutterfree sighed. "I'll tell everyone to prepare for battle." "You do that. Put on the alert too." Pinkie shook her head. "Something's up... Is there anything wrong with where we're landing?" Veila shook her head as she scrolled through a console. "It's a perfectly normal desert as far as we can tell." "Ka is hiding it from us... Hiding it well..." Pinkie narrowed her eyes. "What is it though?" "We can't know," Mlinx said. "All we know is that it's coming. And it isn't going to be pretty." He hefted Siron's staff. "...We will meet whatever it is head on." "You've grown so much, you know that?" "...It just means the gap between me and everyone else is even larger. Always larger, larger larger..." The Jarn descended into the gravitational well of Nucleon. ~~~ Corona, Eve, Sunny, and Daniel's Skiff entered the gravitational well of Nucleon. "We're about a thousand kilometers from the surface and it already latched onto us..." Sunny observed, taking note. "That's... definitely not what I was expecting." "It's the biggest planet in the entire universe, so far as we know," Corona reminded her counterpart. "I know that, but that messes with the law of gravity wells I was working out..." She put a hoof to her chin and started scrolling through her data pad. "I really don't have much of an idea about how the world works. So far every model I've tried doesn't predict with accuracy..." "Have you gotten anywhere at all?" Eve asked. Sunny nodded slowly. "I can generate a map of any given moment. Take a picture of the sky, figure out where the planets are. Things close to the core here tend not to have many degrees of movement, but stuff further out is so chaotic I can't even begin to say my current understanding is adequate." She pressed a few buttons on the pad. "Luckily, here is easy. We've got the core - we really need to name it - and that one planet that was blocking all scans. We'll have to investigate that eventually." "Don't see how..." Eve said. "It was like when Seraphim would create a one-way forcefield. If we went in I doubt we'd be able to come out without some form of reality warping." "Which we don't have, I know." Sunny furrowed her brow. "It's just bothering me. Something about it seems... important." "It's orbiting the core and we can't get to it, of course it is," Daniel muttered. "It's not what we're here for, though." Eve looked to the tired old man with a sad expression. "...What are we here for, then?" "I don't know." He let out a tired, dry sigh. "I don't know..." "It could be that we're all here for different things," Corona offered. "Different fates." "...And you're a good judge of fate..." Daniel rasped. Corona looked away. Daniel didn't apologize. He may not have been raving mad about hating her anymore, but that hadn't removed what he actually felt about her now that the war was over. Nothing Eve had said had lessened this. Corona didn't want to push it - Daniel was frail enough as it was. Life had not been kind to the archeologist. "I'm picking up a giant tree," Eve said, pulling up an image of a moon-sized tree. "Geez, maybe this is why the gravity has to go so far. It's hundreds of kilometers tall." "Seems as good of a place as any to set down," Corona said, pointing a finger. "Engage." Eve rolled her eyes. "Yessir." She made a mock salute with her wings and took the Skiff down through the branches of the world tree. Everyone aside from Daniel took a moment to take in the size of the plant - its tremendous autumn leaves, the bark that became like crevasses when they neared it, the rivers of dew flowing down it to the ground far, far below. It took several minutes to make their way to the absolute bottom of the tree. The first thing they noticed was the giant hole bored right through the trunk. The second thing they noticed was the signs of an immense struggle that were all around. Antimatter laser burns in the ground, blood everywhere, a couple holes in the ground that went deep, and... "Is that a grave?" Sunny asked. Eve took the Skiff down to get a closer look. They spotted a simple, rounded-top tombstone over some freshly-moved earth. Rohan Kishibe. "Rohan!?" Eve blurted. "Wh... What happened to him?" "I don't know," Corona said, checking the scans of the area. "The computer seems to think there was eldritch stuff going on here, but that's not possible..." "There is ka, though, and a lot of it," Sunny reported. "Eve, scan the tombstone closely." Eve did, using her own magic to bolster the scanning resolution of the ship. "It's too perfect, too smooth," Corona said. "This gravestone was created in an instant from someone with a creation power. Given the shredded ka scans..." "Monika," Eve said. "Monika was here. That's... good, right?" Daniel let out a sigh, not needing to say anything to indicate how he felt about that. "Can we find her?" Sunny asked. "Scans can't find a trail," Eve reported, furrowing her brow. "It's like... everything here was scrubbed or something. Or ka doesn't behave as we understood it. Or the ship's broken. Or..." "I'm picking up a different signal." Corona said, tapping a few buttons. "Not ka related at all. Just... a normal, average beacon. Marking a location." "Setting course," Eve said, turning the Skiff in the direction of the beacon. "I hope whoever's there, they're friendly," Corona commented. "If not, you can certainly make them behave..." Daniel said. Corona shook her head but said nothing. The Skiff sped off into unknown territories... ~~~ Lord English sat in the sands of the desert - waiting. Waiting for them to come. Waiting for them to bring what he wanted. Waiting for the pieces of the puzzle to call together. A plan an eternity in the making... He ground his teeth - the thought of his plan falling apart was enough to make him burn with Rage. He would not let it happen. He could never let it happen. They were concerned. Expecting something. Ready for when they arrived to face something on the sands. Their ship was being cautious, scanning, gently drifting down through the atmosphere... As if that would help them. The fools. He was already there.
Songs of the Spheres	139 - Complimentary	He was already there. Pinkie Pie knew she had no time to say anything. She whipped around, driving her Warhammer into Lord English's mouth. The impact of Pinkie's hammer with English's face made a very impressive clang noise that rang throughout the halls of the Jarn. Everyone knew in an instant that they were under attack - and from the complete lack of quips from Pinkie, they knew it was serious. "No..." Vriska said, freezing up as she recognized her age-old foe. The others were not as hesitant - Rina, Mlinx, Flutterfree, and Veila all attacked. Rina's swords penetrated English, but did not remove his life. Flutterfree's Rage-infused Bow of Light hit true, but to no visible effect. Mlinx's staff unleashed a torrent of red-green energy that English absorbed, while Veila's miniscule magic feats did absolutely nothing. English roared. Everyone went flying to opposite sides of the bridge at high speeds. The carapace of Veila's head shattered when she impacted the siding, spraying the blue blood of demons everywhere. "VEILA!" Mlinx shouted. Pinkie was in her massacre dress. "Rina!" Rina noticed Pinkie had a lot of explosives affixed to her hammer. She didn't need to be told twice - she teleported everyone but Pinkie out of the bridge and into the air outside. The front half of the Jarn exploded in a rush of flame, smoke, and confetti. The remaining half lost all control over its velocity and started dropping to the ground like a stone, smoldering like any meteor should. Two specks flew out of the explosion - both completely unharmed by the flames. English opened his mouth and encased Pinkie in a vaporizing beam. She appeared on his back, driving a chainsaw into his neck. The chainsaw burst into green flames and disintegrated. He whirled around and clapped his hands, creating a few thousand pool balls burning with his unnatural power. Pinkie dodged every last one - but failed to get out of the way of the punch that hit her right afterward, sending her flying straight into the ground far, far below. English was going to pursue her, but Gilgamesh chose this time to jump out of the cascading wreckage of the ship, weilding a bright holy blade. "Guess what!? I FINALLY FOUND EXCALIBUR! You shall fall to its edge, foul beast! YAAAA!" Lord English let the blade hit him - he even opened his arms to let it pierce his heart. Upon seeing that English wasn't flinching, Gilgamesh became concerned. "You know, maybe we could work out a-" English ripped the sword out through his back and crushed it into fine powder. "...My curse is never to be lifted..." English punched a hole straight through Gilgamesh's chest, killing him instantly. With a grunt, the Lord of Time dropped to the ground, fists bare. Pinkie was standing there on her hind hooves, a giant warhammer in one hoof, an advanced magitech railgun in the other. She seemed completely unharmed. With a snarl, she fired the laser-like bullet at English, and as expected he deflected it with one of his hands - leaving him open for an antimatter hammer to the face. The explosion blew Pinkie far away - but she bounced back like a rubber toy as soon as she landed. English clapped his hands and all the smoke cleared, revealing not a scratch on his body. "Right, so, clearly anything normal isn't going to work. Gonna have to get a little creative..." "I got your back, sister!" Gilgamesh called, falling from the sky, body freshly aflame from consuming a revival item. "What should we do to the goblin?" "Make him eat some words!" Pinkie produced a speech bubble with what she had just said and shoved it in English's face. A health bar appeared out of nowhere and she smacked English with it. For a moment, a chip of damage appeared in the bar. But then it restored to full in an instant. "...I think we forgot he has the powers too," Gilgamesh said just before English punched the warrior's head off. Pinkie bit her lip - thinking. She appeared behind English and drove another blade into him, but of course he didn't care. Any 'damage' was just undone. It didn't matter that time reversal was no longer an option, he could just say he was back to normal and he would be. His mastery over that domain far exceeded her own. But she could still be really, really annoying. She pulled out two cymbals the size of trees and crushed his head between them. With a roar he tried to vaporize her again - but as usual, she just shifted out of the way. Gilgamesh revived again and ran a shining blue javelin right into Lord English's crotch. His repayment for this was getting crushed by the cherub's foot. "PINKIE!" Vriska called from above - as far as Pinkie could tell, she was alone. "Is it perfect? My luck is only average!" "DO IT!" Pinkie shouted, beaning English in the face with a meat-grinder covered in spikes. Vriska did it - she rolled the fluorite octet and the infinite sided die at the same time. Her luck was average, and under normal circumstances she might have gotten something strong enough to have a minor effect on a higher demon. But this was not a normal circumstance. The winds of ka recognized her - not only was this battle beyond important to the fate of the universe, but she had a history with the foe before her. She was granted the one in a million chance she needed. 8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8 And the infinite sided die turned green. Her entire body transformed, becoming like green fire with burning blue eyes. The sharp, angled pirate's armor of her normal full-8s roll formed around this flaming form. She shifted and shivered like she didn't fully belong in the current reality, brimming with the very power Lord English had lost with the fall of the Green Sun. She clasped her hands - and she drove her fist through Lord English's stomach. She let out an inhuman, eldritch roar that sounded like stars dying and forced all the energy into an explosion strong enough to crack the tectonic plate they were standing on, prompting much of the sand to fall into freshly formed crevasses. Pinkie met the attack with her own flurry of pink, flaming weapons while Gilgamesh fired a fusion cannon. The energy was more than enough to melt the ground beneath Vriska and English to pure glass. Lord English grabbed Vriska's flaming body by the head and unleashed a beam from his mouth. The green energy was blown right off her and her armor shattered. But she did survive the attack. She was the first one to take a direct hit from Lord English and survive in eons. He threw her into the ground and then kicked her into the air, aiming another laser at her airborne body. It was at this point the Crimson Blitz crash-landed right onto English's face, creating a massive crater in the glassy desert. He didn't even wait for the dust to settle a little. He pulled himself out of the crater, holding the semi-flattened Crimson Blitz on his back, and threw it away. It landed a few dozen meters from his location. Discord teleported himself, Lightning, Cosmo, and Insipid out of the ship. "Never fear, help has arrived!" Lord English reached out and tore Discord's form to shreds with his claws, following up with a beam of energy to disintegrate whatever else remained. "ULTIGA!" Lightning shouted, encasing English in the strongest spell she knew. Cosmo unleashed the full might of the Tree of Harmony on English, the light becoming blinding to everyone looking at the fight zone. Lord English punched them both at once. Cosmo exploded in an instant, but Lightning blocked with the Infinity Gauntlet. The artifact held fast against the Lord of Time's beating - and in fact it absorbed most of the power he put into it. Lightning smirked. "Right back at you." She snapped her fingers. English went flying back as if he had punched himself. "Not completely useless here after all..." Gilgamesh swung a sword again. "GOTCH-dammit." English had grabbed his arm and used him to swat Lightning aside like a fly. Gilgamesh's arm tore clean off in the process. Insipid leaped, touching a hoof to English. "Ha-ha!" English was already behind her. She blinked. "What in-" she was flattened like a pancake, losing all sensation within an instant of his fist impacting her body. "STAR PLATINUM: THE WORLD!" Jotaro shouted, mixing his Stand with Hermit Purple and the Passion, trying to keep English and his soul from moving at whatever cost. It was all useless. Jotaro went flying back, limp, until he landed into the sand a fair distance away. "JOJO!" Pidge yelled, coming out of her hiding place only to get sniped by one of English's pool balls. Pinkie ground her teeth. "We've still got hope. We-" At her words, Lord English transported across the arena, found Rev, and tore her in half. Then he sent a beam of energy back at Pinkie that should have been enough to destroy a city. Pinkie was behind him again - Vriska and Lightning under her hooves. She bucked English across the face. Rina charged into English at the same time, embedding her horn in the beast's head and self-destructing herself in a shower of dark magical sparks. Flutterfree dropped from the sky, creating a small crater with her sudden presence. Her entire body had deep, dark, purple energies wafting off of her like some amorphous monster. The Element of Kindness glowed a stellar white and her mane rippled like that of an alicorn. "The Kindest form of violence is an instant, painless death," she recited. And then she kicked English to the ground and drove all of her wing-blades into his chest, screaming with all her Rage, trying to disintegrate him from the inside out. English refused to let her words be true. As a result, for the first time since the fighting began, Lord English roared in pain. But he had the Rage within him as well, for he was not just the Lord of Time, there was also a piece deep inside of him that knew the truth of the matter. He pushed his Rage to the surface, bringing out the Void and Heart as well, tearing at Flutterfree's very soul through the connections she made. Flutterfree brought out Lolo, the winds of ka seeing it appropriate that the meta-natured Stand be able to pierce English's defenses. Vriska, with her remaining Light, stabbed English in the head. The only other one of the team left standing enough to do much of anything was Pinkie, throwing in the destructive power of Space with a distorted hoof. It was not enough. Lord English exploded, vaporizing Flutterfree, Vriska, and Lightning. Only Pinkie remained. Gilgamesh had stopped getting up a while ago. Blood ran down the side of her face, coming from her eyes. The bright candy-red tone splashed unnaturally on the glassy ground. Lord English was bleeding too - the wounds Flutterfree had inflicted would not go away in an instant. His blood was the same candy-red color, though this was normal for him. They stood, staring at each other for a moment. English opened his mouth and hit Pinkie with a vaporization beam. She remained after it had hit her, but she hadn't dodged either. A smile crawled up her face. "...Heh. You missed one." "I DID NOT." He snapped his fingers. Far, far in the sky, fleeing the scene was Mlinx - holding tight to Siron's Staff since it was his only source of propulsion. Suddenly, he felt as if English had grabbed him. He was yanked out of his escape and rammed into the ground at a speed far above terminal velocity - but Mlinx did not shatter. He used Siron's Staff to deflect the shock of the blow, bouncing onto his feet. Even though he was known as the runt, as the soft shelled demon, he had the fighting instinct of his people. He lashed out with the staff, hitting Lord English with a beam of Juju energy. It was no House Juju. It would not be the secret to Lord English's defeat. Lord English opened his mouth and let out a beam of energy. Siron's staff caught the energy, pushing back with a similar energy of its own. It was an admirable effort - but it was not enough. The defenses broke and Mlinx's carapace shattered in several places. The staff flew into the air where Lord English caught it. Siron's staff had a new owner. The original owner. It was his, after all. He had been the one who had created it; he had been the one who had set it loose on the multiverse. And now it was back in his control. Pinkie ground her teeth, more blood coming out of her eyes as tears. "YOU'RE THE VILLAIN!" she shouted. "YOU WON'T WIN! YOU CAN'T WIN!" Lord English wordlessly looked to her with his inconsistent, flashing eyes. He hit her with a beam of energy. Pinkie wavered, blood pouring from more than just her eyes now. "You can't... kill... suction cup... pony..." She flopped to the ground, motionless. There was no more sound, just the rush of wind in the desert. Lord English clutched his staff in his hand. He had what he came for. He slowly marched off - not even bothering with the Sarcophagus. Just walking away, every step sending a tremor through the crust of Nucleon. He left behind him a wasteland of broken bones, blood splatters, broken glass, sand, and smoldering dust. The scene of a defeat. It took an hour for anything to move again. The hatch of the half-broken Crimson Blitz popped open, revealing Sherlock Holmes and Death. "Well... That was... revolting." Sherlock shuddered, trying to gather control of himself. "You have them all?" NOT A SINGLE DEATH HAS OCCURED SINCE WE ARRIVED HERE. THEY ARE IN GREAT PAIN, THOUGH. THE AGONY OF A BODY NOT ABLE TO MOVE AND NOT MEANT TO FEEL. "Yeah, well, didn't want to chance it by coming out sooner..." He pulled a white globe out of his coat pocket. "Now would be a good time to pray that Lightning's magic is always reliable." He threw it to the ground - and the entire battlefield was surrounded in the strongest healing magic Lightning had been able to compress into an arcane grenade over the course of about half an hour. It took about a minute, but everyone's bodies slowly reformed from their various, brutal destructions, be it complete vaporization, grotesque mutilation, or simply a punch to the gut. At first they screamed from the pain the healing could do nothing about - but eventually, things settled down. The pain lessened, and they all sat up, breathing heavily. Pinkie took in a deep breath, grinned, and threw her hooves up into the air. "YOU! CAN'T! KILL! SUCTION! CUP! PONY! HA! TAKE THAT!" YOU WOULD BE DEAD IF IT WASN'T FOR ME Pinkie grabbed Death by the face and stared menacingly into his eyes. "Let me have this." "Did we... did we all make it?" Pidge asked, adjusting her glasses. Mlinx looked around. "...Veila? Veila? Where's Veila?" Lightning grimaced. "Did he get someone before we got here?" Mlinx clenched his fist. "He... he's destroyed the last one... the last chance..." He laughed. "I might be the last demon! The last one in existence!" "That's like... sucky," Insipid said. Mlinx turned to her, ready to tear her limb from limb - but then he deflated. He fell to the ground, saying nothing. "...How are we going to stop that?" Flutterfree asked, sliding her marble tips back onto her blades. "He... he toyed with us." "I don't know," Lightning said. "I do know that we're putting aside all differences in order to do it. The rest of our ships will arrive soon - and then we can discuss what we're going to do to him." "We can't do anything," Sherlock said. "Not yet, anyway. But we can watch him." He pointed in the direction Lord English went. "He's going that way." "Then that's where we're going," Pinkie said. "Your ships can join us on the way." "Why would he even need that fucking staff?!" Rina shouted. "It's just a staff!" "I don't know," Pinkie said. Sherlock narrowed his eyes. "Why would he need it?" "Any ideas?" Discord asked. "Its primary function is useless in the New World... Does it have another? I don't know... It was what he was looking for, though." He shook his head. "We need to observe more. More." "He... He's back..." Vriska said, haunted. "Why would he be back? I sealed him away! I watched the House Juju take him!" "I watched him escape," Sherlock said. "John's essence was not in the House. He must not have made it back." Vriska put an arm over her eyes and made a wheezing sound. Pinkie sighed. "...Everyone, we just lost. We just lost badly. But we've all been given a second chance. When we face Lord English again - and we will - it will not end like this. Got it?" There were a bunch of 'yeahs' mixed with dejected, defeated sighs. ~~~ Starbeat smacked the side of her goggles with her hoof. "I can't trace him! Gah!" "Heading directly that direction," I offered with a point. She gave me the stink eye and I knew she was considering bucking me again. Roxy inserted herself between the two of us. "Now don't go breaking more of her ribs, Starbeat. She's helping." "You know we can't trust her," Starbeat said. "And yet you're trusting Lord English Mini?" "No," Starbeat said, glancing at Caliborn. "...Good thing he's not trying to tell me where to go." "...You trust Gamzee though." "You leave Gamzee out of this." "Just listen to her advice and don't kick her in the gut again, okay?" Roxy asked. Starbeat thought about this for a moment. "Fine. Twilence, you can take the lead on following his ka trail. No, you don't get that magic seal removed." "As it should be," Monika added. "You guys are being a lot grumpier than usual," Saitama said. "And that's saying something." "What are you insinuating!?" Caliborn demanded. "...That you're grumpy?" "Be nice, he resembles that remark," Trixie jibed. "We've got other problems right now, stop bickering," Starbeat ordered. "...Geez, okay," Trixie said, backing down. Starbeat's gaze faltered. "...Trixie, I'm sorry, I'm just under a lot of stress right now and..." "I get it, I get it. Twilence is right there, and we have to listen to her, and we've got some sort of world-ending evil to find. You're just not making it easy, y'know?" Starbeat nodded slowly - but then Gamzee's hand was on her shoulder, taking her attention away from Trixie. "Girl, you're motherfuckin' strong. Don't let a little purple traitor make you think otherwise." I glared at him. I wanted to scream for that monster to leave her presence, to ask how Starbeat was so blind to the menacing flow of ka around him. But I couldn't - I had received some freedom and I wasn't going to throw it away. The Crimson King was more important than some angry purple troll. I cleared my throat. "As I said, he's going this direction. He's not in a hurry, so we'll be able to catch him if we hurry." Monika pressed her hands together. "I can help with that... Saitama, you ready?" Saitama smirked. "How big of a punch am I allowed to use?" "Don't destroy the planet," Roxy deadpanned. "...Hmm... Could I do that, with a planet this size in this New World...?" "Not something to try and figure out," Trixie emphasized. "Just... More than last time?" "Pretty sure I can do that," Saitama admitted. "And if not I can keep replenishing him as much as we need," Monika said with a wink. "I don't care what sort of weird eldritch power the Crimson King has, we've got literal ka manipulation on our hands!" "Didn't help Rohan..." Roxy muttered. He'd probably still be here if you released me. I can hear you, Monika responded to my thoughts. Funny, because I was addressing you. Want me to sic Starbeat on you? No. Something's wrong with her, though. Gamzee too. Not Caliborn? Surprisingly, not so much. Just watch them, since I can't. ...I don't know... You don't have to trust me, but you do know I care about them. I think there's cause for concern. Just be careful. All right, fine. I will. "Earth to Twilence," Trixie said, waving a hoof in front of my face. "You're about to walk into a swamp." "That's where he went!" I said, defensively. He had, but I also hadn't realized I was about to walk into a swamp until Trixie had said something. "If you want to catch him you will have to go through this swamp." Monika created a raft. "All aboard." All nine of us piled on and set off through the swamp. It wasn't a normal marsh - but things rarely were 'normal' on Nucleon. The trees were red and had no leaves, instead relying entirely on 'parasitic' butterflies for their solar nutrients. The water glowed blue as we set off across it, announcing our presence to all the predators. They were some pretty fierce predators. We also had Saitama on board so we didn't need to worry at all. Even without him, almost all of us could have taken the beasts. "How strong are we?" Trixie asked, suddenly. "Or, well, all of you. I'm not a fighter, but..." "I think virtually all of us could take on an entire army on our own," Roxy said. "The weakest aside from Trixie is probably... Chancellor Fluttershy?" The Chancellor nodded slowly. "I could not take on a whole army - but Starbeat could." "I don't know about that..." Starbeat said. Saitama punched a three-headed crocodile dragon in the face, exploding its skull. "Don't sell yourself short. You have a fire in your eyes. Totally could take on an army and probably would if I wasn't around." He stuck a finger in the water and speared a trout. "Huh. Didn't expect that to work." "Turn left," I said, my eyes closed to allow me some focus. "He's changed direction." "Why?" Starbeat asked. "All I've got is his ka-signature, Starbeat. I don't know why he's doing anything or for what purpose. The Eye of Rhyme is only showing me the story as it directly relates to us right now. I haven't seen a scene in another point of view for a month. Everything's had to be reset." "...Do you have some visions back?" Trixie asked. I nodded slowly. "I can see some things. Not as many as I used to, but more than during the war." "Well...?" "I see a City around the Dark Tower more than anything else. I see an airship. I also see a great evil - sometimes the Crimson King, but other times I think it has to be something else - charging across the land. And I see us standing together - but also fighting." I opened my eyes. "Yes, I really am just a weird oracle with vague visions now, sorry, not much I can do about that at this very moment." "Very helpful," Starbeat muttered. "You understand my pain." Starbeat let out a harsh, prolonged hiss. "Just keep navigating. Has he changed where he's going anymore?" I shook my head. "As far as I can tell the heading is the same as I last said." "THEN FULL STEAM AHEAD!" Caliborn shouted. "Make the boat go faster!" "Uh. Okay." Saitama got into the water and started kicking. ...To put it simply, the boat went faster. ~~~ "...and start moving around the planet until we find something," O'Neill said, wrapping up the meeting. "That's all folks, return to your ships." Minna nodded curtly, stood up, and returned to her Commander's seat on the Austraeoh's bridge. O'Neill talked to the Emperor for a bit in the hall between the bridge and the meeting room, and Minna let them. She told herself she didn't mind waiting a few extra minutes. As it turned out, she did. She did mind. But her military discipline kept her planted, silently, in the chair. Eventually, O'Neill decided he was done with the chat and returned to his captain's chair. "Permission to go off-duty, sir?" Minna asked. O'Neill looked to her. "Not even going to let me get my seat warm?" "...Sir?" "You can have a vacation day, you earned it. But be ready to be back here at a moment's notice if we find anything. Where you going?" Minna stood bolt upright as soon as she'd been told she could go. "Swip." "...Ah. I would say enjoy yourself, but..." he didn't finish the thought, opting to simply wave her along. She marched down the halls at a brisk pace - never breaking into a run. She knew the moment she broke into a run, she would lose all her discipline. And she needed to keep her discipline. It was what kept the people of both sides looking up to her. If she faltered, they might find an excuse to... She was overexaggerating it in her mind, of course, but it could always be the thing that tips someone over the edge. She entered a transporter bay and found that it was absolutely filled with Aradias tearing things off the walls and replacing them all in quicktime. One of them slowed her timestream to be even with Minna's. "Hi High Commander! ...I'm one of the Aradias who served with you, not that I expect you to remember." She saluted. "An honor to be here." Minna saluted back. "What's going on?" "Transporter malfunctions. Lapis Vee is having us renovate the entire room. I can take you to the one on the other side of th-" "Thanks, but I'll find my own way," Minna said, hurrying off. Instead of going to the alternate transporter room, she went to the docking bay. She pressed a hand to the door. "Taking Skiff on a trip to Swip." \|> Access granted. "...Nala what are you doing in the ship's computer?" \|> Renovations. The coding could be improved by several orders of magnitude. "Just don't go evil on us." Minna jumped into a Skiff and took it off the Austraeoh, flying through the small gap of space between the Merodi flagship and the spaceship that was a Sweetie Belle. They were in an 'orbit' around the core planet, which was to say they were drifting around it in an organized vaguely-circular pattern in order to see what they could find. They could never make out much unless they were right on top of it due to the 'fog of ka' (Chem had named it), but they could still see the world. Minna had at one point said it was beautiful. She still believed the tessellating colors and biomes were beautiful, but she wasn't looking to it at the moment. Other things were on her mind. "Welcome to Swip!" Swip announced as Minna entered her hold. "How can I be of help?" "Looking for Thrackerzod," Minna said, crawling out of the Skiff. "Thrackerzod is currently on the bridge. Nettle, could you take her there?" Nettle looked up to Minna and waved. "Sure!" Minna examined Nettle. In many ways, the two of them were alike - both pale skinned not-quite-humans. Minna was significantly taller and more muscular than her. Nettle seemed to have blacks and whites on her only with no in-between while Minna had a grayish tinge to some of her hair and her eyes had the purplish color to them. Minna remembered who this girl in front of her was - an all powerful relic of the most powerful civilization to exist in the history of the multiverse. She couldn't for the life of her see the mildly insane jellyfish-entity in this woman. There was just too much fear in those eyes, too much hesitation in the way she moved. Definitely not the same person. As Nettle started walked with her to the bridge, the ex-Downstreamer smiled. "So, hi. I don't believe we've met?" "I've encountered you, but you wouldn't have registered it," Minna said. "Nothing to be ashamed of." "Oh, good, I've been trying to introduce myself to people lately and I've been finding that a lot harbor resentment toward me for being like I was. An... arrogant prick? Is that right?" "I don't think so," Minna deadpanned. "I'll ask Burger about it later. ...Or Mattie. ...Actually, I get the impression that all my friends aren't really as socially acceptable as they claim to be." She rubbed the back of her head. "So... yeaaah." There was an awkward silence. "So, why are you here?" "I'm going to ask about my mother." Nettle blinked awkwardly. "And this is the point where the context clue is 'shut up'?" "Yes." "...Thanks." She turned around and walked away - Minna was already at the door to the bridge. She took a deep breath and walked in. Thrackerzod was not the only one in there - the Everykid was as well, playing a video game on the console. A video game that starred her... Minna didn't think about this. She cleared her throat. "Thrackerzod." Thrackerzod visibly tensed, even though Minna was only looking at her from behind. The once-eldritch unicorn slowly turned her chair around and fixed Minna with a concerned glare. "She's dead, Minna. Dusted." Minna didn't know what she'd been expecting. That, probably that, but she hadn't let herself accept it. Or look into the future. Or much of anything, really. She took in a deep breath. "Thank you, Thrackerzod." "...It wasn't painful. Not for any of them, if that's what you want to know. She didn't even seem all that surprised. Just... pained." "She really did it, didn't she? That wasn't just some... cover story?" "Killed Renee in cold blood," Thrackerzod said matter-of-factly. "Renee cleared her mind at the same time. It was... one last gift. She went with a smile on her face." Minna sat down in an empty chair and held a hand to her forehead. "...I'm sorry," Thrackerzod said. "I can't be the emotional support you need right now. I'm... I'm just an eldritch demon trapped in a unicorn's body." She sighed. "Burgerbelle might be able to help. If she can keep from cracking a joke every five seconds..." "I have Frigid," Minna said. "He... He's there for me." "If you think that's enough." Minna shook her head and stood up. She gave Thrackerzod a salute and turned to leave. The Everykid stopped her by hugging her legs tightly. Minna looked down at the kid in the hat. Something about her presence made Minna smile. She peeled the Everykid off her legs and kneeled until she was eye level with the kid. "...I have the day off. Want to... get something to eat? Like, ice cream?" The Everykid nodded vigorously. Minna glanced at Thrackerzod. "...I can take her, right?" "She seems to like being the kid, go for it," Thrackerzod said. Minna picked the Everykid up and took her out of the bridge. There was just something about holding her in her arms that felt... right. Of course this wasn't her kid, but maybe, just maybe, she could pretend like the Everykid was for a day. And she could see what it was like to be her mother. ~~~ Eve didn't have to follow the signal very far - relatively speaking, at least. The Skiff probably covered a distance the size of a standard Earth diameter, but on the core world it was barely a pixel on the map. They came to a stop over a giant hole in the ground that looked recently caved in. She brought the Skiff low, 'skimming' the ground so close she upturned a fair amount of dust in the process. It did not take her long to find the tunnel that led deeper into the ground. "...I'm hesitant to take the Skiff underground..." Eve admitted. Corona shrugged. "It's not like we actually need it to travel from planet to planet, our own magic is enough, we can risk it." "Okay then," Eve said stretching her neck and lighting her horn. "Time for some fancy flying." "Are you really that good of a pilot?" Sunny asked. "Uh... Probably not..." "Scoot over," Sunny said. Eve obliged and allowed the fiery unicorn to take the helm. She latched onto all the controls with her magic and pushed the Skiff forward into the tunnels. It was very dark for a long time, but the Skiff's headlights were more than enough to light their way. Sunny masterfully weaved her way through the tunnels like an ace pilot, hitting only one hanging stalactite that the Skiff's hull easily shrugged off. "Sorry!" she blurted. "Just focus on the flying," Eve said, no hint of worry in her voice. The serene words were warranted; they made it through the tunnel without any significant damage. They found themselves in an underground spherical hole with a mini-sun in the middle, a jungle around the lower edges, and a large gray structure. Eve's eyes lit up and her grin widened. "Is that the Hub!?" "It looks like it!" Corona said, grinning as well. "Yes! Take us down!" Sunny made a salute and slowly brought the Skiff toward the Hub. They must have seen them coming, since the docking bay lit up and opened their ceiling panel, allowing the Skiff to drift slowly to the floor within. They landed without incident and popped the windshield open, Sunny hopping out first. Storm was waiting for them with a security team. He didn't lower his gun when Sunny appeared. "Which one are you?" "Uh... Sunny?" "Stand down Storm," Eve said, leading Daniel gently out of the Skiff. Storm stood down the instant he saw Eve. "...Evening!? I... I didn't expect to see you ever again!" "It's good to see you too," Eve said. "And Daniel..." Storm smirked. "I suppose I'm going to have to give you my job?" "You can keep it..." Daniel breathed. "That's not what I'm here for..." "What are you here for?" "Why do people have to keep asking that question?" Storm shrugged. "Regardless, it's good to see you back on your feet." "...For a given value of feet," Daniel muttered, stumbling a bit. It was at this point Storm noticed Corona crawling out of the Skiff. "STOP RIGHT THERE!" Corona tried to stop - but since she was in the middle of crawling out of the Skiff she lost her balance and fell flat on her back, dazed. "Storm! No, stop," Eve said, spreading her wings in a defensive posture. "I know what she's done and I know you have a right to be angry, but I've given her my pardon." Daniel grunted. "For what it's worth, as Overhead of Expeditions I do as well... Better to just move on..." Storm looked at Daniel in surprise. "...Daniel?" "Curses aren't a thing anymore. She's not trustworthy, but there's no need for violence here." "I'm going to take that as a compliment," Corona said. "Can I stand up now?" Storm lowered his gun, eyes still angry. "Sure. I still have to put you under arrest." "Why?" Eve said. "I'm not in charge here. Starbeat is, and not having you tried and executed is probably against her wishes." Eve blinked. "Starbeat?" "War changes people," Storm said. "Corona, come willingly or I will have to use force." Corona rolled her eyes. "Right, we'll play along." "Corona..." Eve warned. "You'll have a talk with her," Corona said dismissively. "Knock some sense into that skull of hers. I can sit in a cell for a few hours, it's not like the world's in danger right now or anything." "...It might be," Daniel said, narrowing his eyes. "Well, it's not like we know what kind of danger it's in." Corona held out her hands. "Take me away." Storm took joy in cuffing Corona up, a sight that hurt Eve. He led them away, into the new society of the Hub. ~~~ Who's group was it? Was it Starbeat's? Was it Roxy's? Was it mine? Whoever's it was, we were tracing the Crimson King through a landscape composed mostly of rough, black metal that was very angled and uneven at a close inspection, but from a distance seemed very smooth and lustrous. The land was mostly flat with the exception of a few pointed peaks in the distance. "Why can't we see him?" Starbeat demanded. "The land's flat!" I sighed. "I said we were close, not right on top of him. He's probably within line of sight, which includes possibly being behind those mountains or that hill or what have you." "The coward should show himself!" Caliborn shouted. "He needs to beg for mercy at my feet!" "Saitama's feet," Monika corrected. "Fists," Saitama added. I stopped short. "...Uh..." "Uh, what?" Starbeat questioned with the usual amount of distaste. I pointed down at the ground. There were giant footprints crossing our path - the right foot being nothing more than the peg leg, the left a clawed monstrosity of a comparable size to me. I slowly turned around to look at Caliborn. The shapes of his foot and peg leg matched, but he was much, much smaller. "...What are you all looking at me for!?" "In the original 'plan', you grew up to become Lord English," I said. "What?" I facehooved. "You got 'riiiiiiipped'." "Oh. I remember that..." "Yeah, well, given these footprints and the ka I'm sensing..." I gulped. "There's... There's a good chance the fully realized Lord English is out there. And nearby, these tracks are fresh." Monika furrowed her brow. "So now there are two apocalyptic multiverse-ending threats running around?" "Jegus..." Roxy muttered, hand to her forehead. "This... I think I can finally say it. We're fucked." "Wimpy bitch," Caliborn muttered. "Their power is nothing to ME!" "Lord English is also the Lord of Time," I pointed out. "Yeah, but he's me, and I'm the BEST!" "I think chances are pretty high he tries to kill you on sight." "What? That's stupid, you're fucking idiotic!" "What would you do if there was another, weaker version of you?" Caliborn blinked. "I wouldn't. Fuck you, that's why." I rolled my eyes. "Riiiight..." "All this changes is that we now have to deal with both at some point," Starbeat announced. "Let's go for the Crimson King first since his tracks are nearly-impossible to follow." I nodded. "Seems reasonable. He's this w-" A spaceship appeared above us - a carrier of some sort. I couldn't recognize the design upon a cursory inspection, and I didn't care, because I suddenly knew who was inside. I grinned. "We just got backup." The carrier landed in front of us and opened up its hatch with a loud clang upon contact with the metallic ground. While there were a few dozen people inside the carrier, only five decided to come out - Lightning, Sherlock, Mlinx, Pinkie, and Discord. Before any explanations or angry shouting could begin Trixie gasped. "DISCORD?" "TRIXIE!" Discord teleported to her and pulled her into a really really big hug. "I've been looking all over for you!" "Oh, you!" Trixie giggled. "Do I have a lot to catch you up on!" "What a coincidence! Perhaps we should have a moment over tea?" "...Discord, that's Flutterfree's thing." "I'll get you to like tea yet." "So... Dirty..." Caliborn said, staring on with great interest. "Discord, zip his mouth," Trixie ordered. Discord did just that and Caliborn was powerless to resist. "EVERYONE STOP!" Starbeat shouted. "Let's get through... introductions." She turned to glare at Pinkie. "We all know who each other are." "You don't know me," Sherlock said, stepping forward. Starbeat raised an eyebrow. "You are right, I don't. Care to introduce yourself?" "Sherlock Holmes. You are Starbeat Glimmer, and you're about ready to blow a gasket because we made a truce with Pinkie." "Brilliant deduction, detective." Starbeat examined him through her goggles. "You are a completely normal human being with the gift of deduction, cementing your position of authority among those of higher power. You have been manipulating things behind the scenes and not one of your 'friends' truly know how much you have been doing that." Sherlock was unimpressed. "Let's go down the list. You're irrationally angry, have a deep-nested desire to give everyone in the collapse movement what they deserve, have no patience for most of the people around you, have gotten yourself on a little power kick as of late, have finally discovered something resembling a love life, and were holding Twilence prisoner with magic locks." Starbeat blinked, realizing he'd just used the past-tense word. "Shit..." "Thanks Pinkie," I said as she used a magic-restoration device on my horn. "Doooon't mention it!" Pinkie said, jingling what were probably supposed to be comical representations of magic locks, but just looked like purple handcuffs. The two of us bounced back to the carrier, free. Starbeat lit her horn. "Get back here right now..." "No," I said. "I will not. I'm not going to let myself be subject to your... Rage-fueled dementia anymore." "She's not demented!" Trixie shouted indignantly. "Perhaps not. But she's not in a good state of mind." I glared at Gamzee. "I want to blame you, but I don't have any proof." Gamzee shrugged. "Hey, I'm just here for motherfuckin' support. Do I look all that angry to you?" "The Bard of Rage can work in mysterious ways," I observed. "Enough!" Lightning said, clapping her hands. "Lord English is loose and he has Siron's staff. I don't know what he wants to use it for but we fought him, and we lost badly." "The Crimson King's loose too," Roxy said. "We fought him - and with Monika and Saitama we almost won. He ran away and we've been pursuing him." "We can help," Sherlock offered. "The ship has better sensors and can get us to either one of them faster." "We can sort out all the interpersonal details later," Lightning announced. "Right now we need to stop these monsters. Does that work for you?" Caliborn grinned. "So long as I get to shoot that Crimson fucker some more..." "Don't speak ill of the dead," I chided. "...What?" I shook my head. "Never mind, not important, sadly." I looked to Starbeat. "Can you put aside your anger for just one moment and take on something actually evil?" "I can," Starbeat seethed. "I don't have to enjoy it." "Nobody's asking you to." "It's implied." "Let's just get moving," Mlinx announced, clearly tired of all this. "Everyone aboard." Saitama shrugged. "You heard the bug monster." He jumped into the carrier. Everyone else followed shortly after. The carrier lifted itself into the air rather quickly. "Crimson King first, harder to see," Pinkie said. Strange - the man currently at the pilot's seat - raised an eyebrow. "Where?" "That direction," I said, pointing. The ship blasted in the direction I pointed. In all of three seconds, Strange pulled the ship to a stop, eyes widening. "What...?" We had found the Crimson King all right - drifting across the dark metal like a red wraith, Black Thirteen held firmly in his grasp. But we had also found Lord English. He had taken a detour from his straight march and was now marching toward the Crimson King, the staff Juju held tightly within his green, knobby hand. Everyone on the carrier froze - unable to do anything but watch the interaction unfold. The Crimson King turned to face Lord English with caution. "What manner of creature are you?" "HERE." "Don't be so coy." He lifted up Black Thirteen as a weapon. "You are Lord English." Lord English didn't even nod - he just marched closer and closer to the Crimson King. "Do not be a fool," the Crimson King warned. "One of your caliber could have a place in my new existence." Lord English kept walking forward, the features on his face not changing in the slightest. "I see you wish to risk it all for whatever petty reason your brutish instincts have rationalized." The Crimson King pushed his hands forward. "BEGONE!" Lord English was already behind the Crimson King and punched him through the head. The King retaliated in kind, driving his eldritch fingers into English's face. Despite the hand literally grabbing at the inside of his skull, English took a breath - and let out an explosive beam of hyper-intense energy, creating a crater similar to the one he had left in the desert a few hours prior. The King reformed into a gigantic spidery shape and drove all eight legs into English. English was already on his back, breaking the carapace with a powerful fist. The King returned to his humanoid form and met English's fist with Black Thirteen. "That curious 'already here' power of yours... it is no more." Lord English clearly didn't care, using his other fist to punch forward - only for the King's free hand to meet it. The impact of the two limbs was enough to crack the metallic earth beneath them, creating a sound like claws on chalkboard mixed with a collapsing ocean liner. The shockwave was enough to make the observing carrier fire its maneuvering thrusters to remain airborne. English opened his mouth and unleashed a beam of multicolored energy, but the King blocked it with a projected eye, reflecting the beam back at English. The green monstrosity fell back, blowing up a mountain in the process. He charged out in an instant, manipulating time to increase his speed and drive his claw through the King's stomach. The King responded in time, summoning thousands of blood-red needles to impale English from all sides. He followed this up with a burst of eldritch energy, twisting English's body to impossible proportions. The Crimson King was not all that surprised to see English stand back up - bleeding his bright candy-red blood. "Tiring?" the Crimson King asked, hitting Lord English with an attack from a dimension that shouldn't have existed. "Finding it difficult to face the impossible when your own powers are limited?" Lord English sped to the Crimson King and kicked him with enough force to create a fissure the size of a canyon behind him. The King responded in kind, an eldritch power that absorbed all life-energy for a thousand kilometers in the opposite direction and spiked it into Lord English in a single instant. The resulting explosion of the impact carried enough energy to start burning the metal beneath their feet with deep, purple flames. English still stood strong. He pulled back his head and charged an attack, summoning several thousand pool balls in the air to keep the King busy while he did so. Then he unleashed the beam that could destroy planets, devastating only a small section of Nucleon in the direction he was facing. But the Crimson King was already behind him. "Thanks for the trick." The King was already driving eldritch thorns into English's entire body, taking control of what constituted his muscular and nervous systems. English froze, unable to move. He let out a disgusting mix between a honk and a roar before his jaw bone and vocal cords were frozen as well. Deep, crimson spikes punctured out of every square inch of his body - and then vanished just as quickly. The Crimson King removed his hands from English's body. Blood began to pour out of the Lord like he was a punctured water balloon. The green menace wavered for a bit. He grunted and took a step, turning around to face the Crimson King. He held out a shaky, uneven fist. An eldritch tentacle hit him upside the head. That was all it took - Lord English fell to the ground, dead in a pile of his own blood. The Crimson King stood triumphant - and then grabbed his side. "That... Took too much..." "Get him now!" Lightning ordered. "We h-" Lord English's body started glowing. With a serene, almost holy light, every one of his wounds were healed. He floated into the air like a deity and opened his eyes. The Crimson King tried to cut him in half - but his attack was disintegrated by the empowered light. "What is this?" Lord English spoke. "UNCONDITIONAL. IMMORTALITY." Then he held up his staff Juju. He could have used it at any time since the battle began, but he had chosen not to. But now that he had proven himself... It was time to end this. The Crimson King sensed this. He dropped all pretense he had of a standard body, letting his full eldritch form shine through. The appearance alone would have caused madness for anyone within the carrier had the computer not detected this and placed a sanity filter over it. There was too much - curdling masses of darkness that were the color of blood, but definitely not blood alongside bones that did not appear to come from any animal anyone had ever seen in their lives. There were tentacles, but there were also vaguely gaseous sections that buzzed with the sound of a billion cicadas and the moans of those who wished for death. Dominating this all was a single, intangible, crimson Eye. The Crimson King could see. He could always see. Everything his eye laid its gaze on was his. An immense eldritch beam shot out of the eye. It would have destroyed a sizable chunk of Nucleon - big enough to be felt as an earthquake on the other side of the conglomeration planet. Lord English held up the staff Juju, executing a plan an eternity in the making. He had known since the very beginning there was a large chance he would be trapped in the House Juju, ever since he had used it against the retconning kids. He also knew what the House Juju was - and that if, for any reason, English was ever released, then the Crimson King would be as well. The First Multiversal threat would face off with the Last. So English placed a Juju with the explicit purpose of absorbing eldritch power out into the multiverse, where it would eventually find its way to his claws once again. Where it could be used to end the Crimson King. Lord English's staff Juju absorbed every last inch of the Crimson King's attack, letting none of the energy even touch the ground. Then the staff moved on to absorb the King himself - starting with the tentacles, the blood, the screams, the gas, and the bones. The Crimson King let out a scream that would have curdled the minds of everyone in the entire system, but the staff absorbed even that into itself. Soon, only the King's pure essence, his eye, remained. "I AM THE CRIMSON KING!" it shrieked in defiance. "NOT ANYMORE." Lord English snapped his fingers, and the last remaining essence of the Crimson King shunted into the staff. Black Thirteen appeared in its place and began to fall to the ground. Lord English pointed the staff at Black Thirteen and activated the Crimson King's power. A beam of red, black, and green energy affixed the core of the Juju to Black Thirteen. The Dark Tower's prized artifact seemed to struggle against the power, but eventually it gave in - slamming itself into the staff Juju's central crystal. The two essences fused together. Black Thirteen gained an aura around its edge that shifted through every color of the rainbow much like how English's eyes did. Two perpendicular spirographs appeared within the mists of Black Thirteen, one red and one green. The new orb floated in the air, surrounding itself in black metal spires in a similar way to TSAB Devices - becoming one with the attachments, but not physically touching them. The shards arranged themselves into the form of a pointed scepter with the new Black Thirteen in the center. Lord English grabbed hold of his now completed weapon, connecting with it on a deep, metaphysical level. He let out a deep, horrid HONK as the energy coursed through him. His green Cairo Overcoat transformed into a deep, Crimson red. He turned to look directly at the observing carrier. All of us were still frozen. Even if we weren't, we wouldn't be able to do anything. He pointed. He could have destroyed us all right then and there without so much as breaking a sweat. Instead, he just shattered Death's skull into a million tiny shards. Then he turned and walked away, just as he had been before. Marching to some unknown goal... Someone was able to revive Death - I don't know who, my Awareness of the event was severely skewed by English's presence. "Why?" Starbeat asked. "Why in-" "He sent a message," Sherlock said. "He could have killed us all, clearly. He could probably have found a way to extinguish Death's soul. He just wanted us to know that, at any time, he could remove our ability to survive him with little effort." He looked down. "He could have ended the fight at any time with that staff, but he chose not to. He's putting on a show." "Why would h-" "He wants to win," I said. "He's been making it purposefully difficult for himself. Trying to build himself a story where he ends up the victor... While still fully retaining the role of a villain." "...Could that work?" Pinkie asked. "I want to say no," I said. "But... I can't. The rules have changed... He has that new weapon... And ka is so dense..." I gulped. "He might have a chance." ~~~ Eve sat in a room, alone, with Storm and Azula. The Overhead of Relations made it painfully obvious she wasn't pleased at her welcome with a scowl. "I understand you and Corona have been through a lot," Storm said, folding his hands together. "But that's clouded your judgment. She needs to pay for what she's done." "She and I did the exact same things for almost the exact same reasons," Eve pointed out. "If you're going to try her for war crimes, why not try me?" "Because you didn't kill the multiverse!" "She never wanted to do that and you know it. It was because nobody could agree that we couldn't minimize the deaths. If she asked the question at all, this was going to happen. Would you rather she tried to take the action herself without consulting anyone? Plus, she didn't even succeed; someone screwed with the collapse and created this world. I think that's hurt her enough, don't you think?" "Less people died. A lot less people. She was willing to sacrifice a lot more. To really be right, she needs to lose more than she was willing to sacrifice in the first place." "Don't you talk to me about rights, Storm," Eve spat. "You and I both know that you've never been big on 'morality' or 'justice', you just do what's most beneficial to you at the time. I gave you a world where being moral was your best option, so you took it. Now, in this world, you've decided it's in your best interests to breed anger and resentment. You're doing really well." Storm bristled. "Then you'll have to take Starbeat's word for it, because she is the one saying those things." Eve narrowed her eyes. "That sounds so unlike her..." "She suffered because of the war." Storm leaned in. "We lost, Eve, and the story of war is almost always written by the victors. We have a chance to deny them that right. The people of the collapse don't have to control this New World, we can make it our own." "We can do that without all this anger!" Storm slammed a fist on the table. "I do not want to be in a world they designed!" "They didn't design this world!" "They shouldn't have any say! They said we all needed to die! We decide how we get to live - and that's without them!" "GET OUT OF HERE!" Eve shouted. "This is not Merodi Universalis," Storm said. "Even if it was, you have no place dealing with internal affairs." "And you're Second of Expeditions. You have no business being here either. Get out." Storm stood up, bowed insultingly, and walked out. "Starbeat's in charge. When she gets back..." "When she gets back I'll be struggling to restrain myself," Eve muttered. Eve was left alone with Azula. "What are the chances you and I can sway the population?" Eve asked, quiet. Azula shook her head. "Low. They've been whipped up into a frenzy... It's almost unnatural. I'm not the watcher of people my uncle was, but I wouldn't have thought they had this in them." Eve shook her head. "What happened?" "I want to say it's the war. I'm not sure it is." "...What will they do to her?" "They'll want her executed. Any of the big names in the collapse will get that." Eve looked at her. "...It's already happened?" "They found Phage and Rosalina," Azula said. "It wasn't pretty." Eve shook her head. "And they'll want more... Azula, this has to stop." "How are you going to stop it?" "...If talking to Starbeat doesn't work, we might just have to take back control." She looked to Azula. "Or we might have to escape. I can trust you to help?" Azula nodded. "Of course. Just tell me when." "Thank you. For now, just keep doing what you're doing." Eve folded her wings and walked out of the meeting room. Sunny and Daniel were waiting for her outside. "This isn't it," Daniel said, shaking. "It's not here." "He's getting... insistent," Sunny added. Eve nodded slowly. "This... actually works. I think it's about to get a little uncomfortable around here, and it'd be best if Daniel wasn't around. Can you take him to... wherever it is he thinks he needs to go? You can have the Skiff." "Will you and Corona be okay?" "...If everything goes as planned," Eve said, furrowing her brow. "While you're out there, tell anyone who will listen what's happening here. That we might need help." "Got it." Sunny saluted. "See you soon." "You too." The two mares went their separate ways. Eve teleported herself through several corridors until she found her way to the jail Corona was being held in. She walked in the front door. All three guards were laying on the ground, out cold, but Corona was still in her cell bouncing a ball against the wall. "What...?" "They thought they could keep insulting me. It took... oh, a good thirty minutes before I lost it. They're all fine and I didn't open the door." She kept bouncing the ball. "Even healed them up after a minute." "Are you still sure about this?" "Let them have their moment," Corona said, narrowing her eyes. "Get it all out into the open." "They'll want to execute you." "They're welcome to try." Corona caught the ball and sighed. "...Thanks for sticking by me." "What are friends for?" Corona laughed. "They're apparently good for doing a lot of really, really stupid sounding things that are amazing anyway." Eve smiled. "Don't let yourself worry. We'll turn this place around somehow, you can count on it." "There's something else going on, I can feel it. Bigger than all of us." "There always is. But when we find it, we'll face it just like we faced everything else." Corona smirked. "You came in here all pessimistic and concerned and now listen to you. Eve, never change." "Corona?" "Hmm?" "Don't stop changing." Corona let out a deep, real laugh filled with life. Only a few weeks ago that noise would have never left her mouth, and she had been free then. Here she was, imprisoned by people she had considered her neighbors and friends, laughing. The sight warmed Eve's tired, strained heart. ~~~ "Nanoha!" Jenny shouted, bursting into Nanoha's personal quarters and promptly smacking her head on a lamp. "We've got a call you need to be here for!" Nanoha sighed - she had gotten into her nightshirt and had been this close to getting into bed. She picked up Raising Heart, put on her usual attire, and sat down in a swivel chair. "Can they patch it through Raising Heart?" Jenny nodded. She poked her head down the hallway. "YOU GUYS GOT THAT!?" Apparently they did, because they patched the transmission through to the Device in an instant. It flashed and projected a holographic screen with four familiar faces - O'Neill, Minna, Vita, and the Emperor. Nanoha's mild annoyance vanished in an instant. "This is a pleasant surprise!" "It's about to get better," O'Neill said, snapping his fingers. "Currently in 'orbit' around your planet is a sizable fleet composed of both preservation and collapse forces. Including the Austraeoh. Given your lack of space-related infrastructure in this city of yours I bet you'll be very glad to have us here." "Yes," Nanoha laughed to herself. "...I'm more glad to see that you've agreed the war is over. It hasn't always been easy to do that here." "Just have your military leaders agree to stop fighting," Minna said. "Discipline takes over the rest as soon as there isn't an enemy. ...For the most part, civilians and the Combine are difficult." "I would imagine..." Nanoha said. "We've had to use a looming threat as a reason to get everyone to work together." "Oh boy... How big and ugly is it?" "It's the Crimson King," Nanoha said. "With the fall of the multiverse, the self-defense protocol deactivated. He's free, and he'll want to not only destroy the Tower, but take its power for himself." "Where is he now?" "Unknown. We know he's coming back here - and soon - which is why we've built so many defenses. We plan to use everything we have on him. I can trust you to help?" "Definitely," Vita said. "We'll stand by you until the end. What do we know about his powers?" "He has retained an eldritch nature despite this being im-" "He's dead," Renee said, walking into the room. "Was just defeated. You don't have to worry about him anymore." There was complete silence on both ends of the call. "You have to worry about what beat him." She smirked evilly. "That'll be here shortly as well. Have fun." She trotted out of the room. Minna held out a hand. "W-was that..." "That was not your aunt," Nanoha said. "That... is the Emissary of Ka, a manifestation of what the Flowers perceived to be the Tower's Will. You will not find what you are looking for with her." "...Sounds like you have a lot to catch us up on," O'Neill said. "It also sounds like we don't have any time," Jenny added. "Like, at all." Nanoha nodded. "I'll patch you in to Saxton Hale - he's currently running the military operations. You're still Overhead, O'Neill, but he knows what the situation is down here. I need to go talk to the Emissary..." Vita cleared her throat. "Nanoha, before you go..." "I already know, Vita," Nanoha said with a sad smile. "...I felt it the moment everything was dusted." She cut the transmission and marched out of the room, purposefully flicking a tear out of her eye. Renee was waiting for her, a bored expression on her face. "Who is it?" "See, that's part of what you have to do," Renee said, cleaning one of her front hooves with a bored expression. "I can't just tell you everything, that'd be boring." "You said the Crimson King would lose. And he did." "Yes." "What about this... new threat?" Renee smiled. "My lips are sealed, High Sovereign. Telling you the end of the story before it happens? That's ridiculous." "Not entirely..." "Then I simply chose not to." Renee tossed her mane back. "You have more defenses here than virtually any planet in the multiverse has ever had. What are you so worried about?" "That's what I'm worried about. We're over-prepared by all possible metrics. Something's going to go very, very wrong." Renee looked at her with knowing eyes. Eyes that didn't give anything away. "I have work to do," Nanoha muttered under her breath, turning and walking away. "More than you realize," Renee called after her. Nanoha ignored the Emissary's comment. Whatever work there was, she would put all of her power into it. She may not have fought to create this New World, but she would fight to her dying breath to defend it and her City.
Songs of the Spheres	140 - United We Stand	The 'crew' of the carrier stared at the receding image of Lord English displayed on the main screen. There were far too many people in the ship for everyone to get a good view, but that didn't matter; somehow they could all see the red and green monstrosity marching away from them, dark scepter in his hand. My last sentence had filled them with a deep, unnatural fear that most of them had not felt for decades. If ka had brought their minds one thing, it was a sure belief that no matter what happened, something truly evil could never absolutely triumph. There would always be hope for a victory, or a twist that would show the evil a lesson. But if English was banking everything on twisting the story... The safety net of ka was effectively gone. It could no longer guarantee his defeat. I could not see his defeat. I could see... the Tower, a city, and a lot of pain in the future, but my visions still weren't as definite as they once were. They would not reach a particularly useful level before English did whatever it is he had set out to do. Nothing could be taken for granted... No one knew what to do. All were silent, uncertain, terrified. What could be done? Pinkie bounced to the front of the room, standing between the 'crew' and the screen with English on it. She held a hoof to her chest, holding both the Element of Laughter and her blindfold close. With a sharp 'ahem', she began talking. "So, we've got a new enemy, perhaps the biggest bad any of us have ever faced. A lot of the things we have taken for granted and counted on in the past can't give us the confidence we need. We're scared, trembling, and think we can do nothing against this monstrosity. And you know what? Maybe we can't. Maybe Lord English is destined to complete his evil plan and we're all just going to have to deal with it. "BUT!" She shouted, holding up a hoof. "Who cares if it's hopeless? Why not fight anyway? Why would we let him have what he wants? If he's going to destroy everything we hold dear, at the very least we're not going to make it easy for him!" She put on a playful smile. "We have a lot of powerful and narratively important people here - Saitama, Monika, Caliborn, Lightning, Twilence, Discord, Death. If we put our minds to it we could fight against an entire universe at once! That should give Lord English something to think about!" "You're assuming all those people you mentioned are willing to work with you," Starbeat interjected. Pinkie glared at Starbeat. "We worked together to defeat the Nihilists, we can do it again. You can't stake the fate of everyone on a petty disagreement!" "That's why I won't be," Starbeat said, walking through the small crowd until she was inches from Pinkie's face. "I'll let this force have Saitama, Monika, Caliborn, and even provide military support from the Hub itself. But I have one condition. You, your team, and Twilence all come with me. You're going to face justice, Pinkie, and no amount of being the hero against a new foe is going to save you." I blinked. "Starbeat, we all need to be here, to fight togeth-" "You said it yourself, we can't take ka for granted," Starbeat interrupted. "It won't matter if any of them are there or not. Monika can do most anything you can do, and Caliborn is a much better fit for 'blast from the past' than Vriska is." "Monika is not a Prophet," I bristled. "And you can use your Prophet Powers from a distance if we need it," Starbeat responded, tossing her mane back. "...Why are you doing this?" Flutterfree asked. "Let me put it this way," Starbeat said, knitting her brow. "If I don't do anything now, you'll be part of the effort to stop Lord English. Assuming we win, you'll be heralded as heroes and all the heinous acts you have committed will be forgotten because suddenly you're the heroes again." She violently threw her hoof to the side, glaring at Pinkie. "I'm not going to let the story twist in that direction. So if you want a fighting chance to face Lord English, you're going to have to turn yourselves in." Pinkie looked at Starbeat with sad eyes. Starbeat's goggles kept her own expression obfuscated. "...Okay," Pinkie said. "I'll turn myself in. Jotaro, Pidge, Vriska, I suggest you do the same. It's not an order." Jotaro and Pidge didn't hesitate, they stood next to Pinkie and put their hands behind their backs. Vriska, on the other hand... "Are you serious!?" she blurted. "We have to be there!" "Vriska, Starbeat's right," Pinkie said. "She may not be Aware, but she knows how this works. Our presence in this carrier won't make a difference." She glanced at Starbeat. "She's also right that if we're the heroes, we get off scot-free. Isn't that right, Twilence?" I gulped, but nodded. I would have preferred it was something I didn't know, but the Eye of Rhyme apparently wanted to see this clearly. Pinkie put on a smile. "Plus... I have this feeling we'll find our own purpose back at the Hub." Vriska sagged. "Fine." She pointed at Starbeat. "But you're being a fucking bitch." Starbeat lost her calm demeanor in an instant. "Takes one to know one, traitor!" Vriska's hard exterior fell and she shrank back like a scared kitten. She submissively put her hands behind her back and bowed her head. Starbeat put magical restraints on Jotaro, Pidge, and Vriska. She didn't bother with Pinkie - the only way the pink pony was held anywhere was by her choice. Then she turned to me. "Just hold still..." I stared at her with contempt. "No. You'll have to catch me." I teleported away before she could do anything. Starbeat let out an intense roar, a vein popping from her forehead. "ALL OF YOU, GET HER BACK HERE, NOW!" ~~~ I teleported numerous times across the surface of Nucleon until I decided I had used up as much of my reserves as was safe. I pressed myself between two very different peaks jutting from a toxic mire below. One was frigid and was made of ice, while the other was clearly volcanic and shimmering with a reddish glow and smoke. The two geological giants managed to be so close to each other that I could barely fit between their helix-like windings, the sharp difference in temperature taxing my defensive aura. But it was a good hiding spot with enough ambient magic that I could recharge so long as I was willing to feel a little discomfort from the environment. This was the first point I wondered what I was doing. I was risking the aid of Starbeat's people by running away. I was fairly sure she hadn't gone so far off the deep end that she would refuse to help because of my personal decision, but I couldn't be certain. Not quite yet, at least. What could I even do on my own? I knew from experience that my usual advantages fell to pieces against any enemy with significant ka manipulation, and Lord English was the end-all of ka-manipulating enemies at the moment. He had an upgraded Black Thirteen. He could remove ka powers with the snap of his fingers... The rest of his outrageous abilities were nothing compared to that. He was playing the story, and there was no way I could do anything about it. Not on my own. So why was I out here? Why wasn't I handing myself over so I could at least possibly be useful? Really, just because I was angry at Starbeat for being so... So angry. It went both ways, when seen from a certain light. She was a masterful student of ka and fate, how could she not understand how and where things were going for her? That she was becoming an antagonistic presence? ...Maybe she did know, and like Lord English she was going to do whatever she could to make what she could from it. A defiance of the definition of 'hero.' Considering what she'd been through, it wasn't all that surprising she was tired of 'heroes' and what they stood for. It was at this point I sensed Monika appear neargy. She hovered in the air less than a hundred meters from my hiding place, scanning the area. If she'd had access to my powers, she would have found me instantly. As it was, she had to physically create a ka-following subroutine, which gave me some time. ...Though the moment I left the hiding place, teleport or otherwise, she would sense me immediately. I could probably take her in a fight, but she would call in reinforcements, and all of them together could definitely incapacitate me. I needed to think of something. I took out my notebook and laid my pen to the paper. A hand encased in a dark blue glove stopped the pen, another pressing a 'shush' finger to my mouth. I slowly directed my eyes upward to see Roxy standing inside a nearby wall, using Void to make herself intangible. I felt her encase me in the similar Void energy, allowing us to shift away from reality. Soon, as far as existence was concerned, we didn't exist. This did not stop Monika from following the ka-trail to us. But when she arrived, she found nothing. She grimaced - thinking that I must have had time to adjust the ka-trail so she couldn't follow it. I had plans to do that later, certainly, but I had foolishly spent the time I could have done that on the introspection a few paragraphs above. Eventually, Monika decided to leave in a flash of glitchy energy. Roxy did not drop the Void shield - but she did allow herself to speak. "What can we do without them?" "I'm not sure," I admitted, looking down at the toxic swamp below us. "If I was smart, I would have handed myself in." "And it would be wrong," Roxy said, shaking her head. "Pinkie was wrong too. Just handing yourselves in like that... It gives her power. You all should have called her bluff." "I don't think she was bluffing." Roxy fell silent and shook her head. "We're all royally fucked, aren't we?" A slight smile crawled up my features. "That's one way of putting it." "Then un-fuck it," Roxy said. "How?" "Write a story." "Lord En-" "Who cares if he could negate it in an instant?" Roxy demanded. "Pinkie was right - we try anyway. We can't go back to the carrier and follow him, so we have to do something else. What can you and I do? We can hide very well and we can understand ka." I blinked. "You're right... I've been so busy dwelling I didn't realize. You and I, we're separated for a reason. The camera is on us - we must be doing something, or have some point that must be made." I took out my notebook, scribbling a few things. "I may not be able to see what's going on far beyond here... but I can prompt something to happen. Just need to..." I trailed off as I began to scribble, recording the essence of the conversation Roxy and I had just had. I went on for a paragraph about the poignant silence before moving on and vaguely describing something heading right for us. I had no idea what it was - but by describing it, I knew I would prompt something to happen. Something that would further the story Roxy and I were now a part of. It would gift us a new stimulus. I looked up. "We might want to watch the horizon," I said. "Something's coming." "What kind of something?" I grinned. "That's the fun part. I have no idea!" ~~~ Monika returned to the carrier. "She got away." "What do you mean she got away!?" Starbeat demanded. "I mean I traced her signature and ran into a dead end. She had time to clean it. She's gone." Starbeat twitched. "She... She..." She rammed her hoof into the floor. "That's it, someone's going to pay f-" Gamzee put a hand on her shoulder. "I think we should motherfuckin' chill a bit." He gestured at Pinkie. "Right, right..." Starbeat shook her head. "Gamzee, you're with me to watch the prisoners. Rest of you, stay here and do whatever the others tell you to." She expected the usual griping complaint form Caliborn - but for once, he was completely silent. She knew he heard her because of the slight nod, but his focus was elsewhere. Probably trying to come to terms with English. Starbeat turned away, not giving the cherub another thought. Flutterfree walked up to her. "I'm coming with them." "Flutterfree, you're not a tr-" "The only reason I didn't run away with Pinkie that day was because she told me to stay behind - which was the right thing to do," Flutterfree smiled warmly. "I may not have committed any of your 'crimes', but I am going to stand by them." Starbeat looked her up and down. "...Fine. You can come along. Anyone else?" "Me," Lightning said. "I need to make sure you really will send us backup." "Understandable," Starbeat admitted. "I have no problems with that." "Strange, Sherlock? I'm sure you can manage things here." The two men nodded. Starbeat lit her horn. "We'll take one of the pods. It'll be cramped, but it's not that far to the Hub." She jabbed Pinkie with a magic shove. "Move it." "You aren't painting yourself in a very favorable light," Pinkie observed. Starbeat created a seal around Pinkie's mouth, making no further response. Pinkie shook it off her face but decided to keep quiet regardless. She looked closely at Gamzee with an unreadable expression. "Like what you see?" Gamzee asked. Pinkie turned tail and trotted toward one of the carrier's pods. Soon, Pinkie's Party, Lightning, Gamzee, and Starbeat were all gone. "Now that that drama is out of the way, we can actually plan," Sherlock said. He pointed at Monika. "You already have one." Monika nodded. "Saitama can defeat any enemy in one punch if he puts enough effort into it. Black Thirteen can remove this power, but I can keep giving it back to him by altering his file. The plan to deal with the Crimson King was to get him with one - or more - of those always-winning punches." "We can't assume he's susceptible to that now," Strange pointed out. "Then we just need to add some more elements," Monika said. "We have Insipid, Death, Cosmo... Pinkie was right, we have a lot here. Ways to keep anyone from dying and to restore any lost powers." "And we have a few redundancies," Sherlock added. "He's just got the mother of all doomsday weapons in his hand, and we don't know what it does." Death nodded. AND THE MOMENT WE TRY TO EXPERIMENT HE DESTROYS ME IN AN INSTANT - AND LIKELY ALL THE OTHERS. "Limited information..." Cosmo rubbed her chin. "Then act with what you have," Rina said, taking a step forward. "Plan for every contingency. Every contingency. Don't be afraid to sacrifice or destroy lives. Do what you have to do to maximize all chances of victory." "That would take a supercomputer," Strange said. "Not even Cosmo's AI has the capacity to run all those numbers. And we can't factor ka into it..." "I can do it," Sherlock said, folding his hands together. "I already don't like the odds of what I'm coming up with, though. It would be very beneficial if I knew what his goal was. I..." He blinked, turning to the crystal around Cosmo's neck. "Starlight, correct?" "Yes," the Starlight AI beeped. "Analyze English's movement patterns up until this point. Where is he headed?" "Processing... Prior to now, it appears he was moving in a semicircle designed to intersect with the Crimson King at a specific angle to produce the events we just witnessed. However, now that this is complete, he is traveling the same way the Crimson King was. A perfectly straight line along Nucleon's surface." "Do we have any idea what's in that direction?" The Starlight AI processed this for a moment. It then projected a map of Nucleon and its single 'orbiting' planet. A blue light appeared at the point on Nucleon's surface directly below the planet. "This is the only place of interest I found." Sherlock narrowed his eyes. "Do we know what's there?" Strange shook his head. "Scans were too sketchy when we came in. We would have investigated, but we've been busy." "Then that's where we're going," Sherlock said. "He's walking so slowly we should pass him easily. He wants us to pass him. To make it more difficult for himself..." "We, like, can't not fight," Insipid reminded him. Sherlock smirked. "Uncharacteristically wise words. Strange, shall we?" Strange put his hands on the controls. "Setting a course..." "I wonder what's there...?" Discord wondered aloud. "My bet is the Dark Tower," Sherlock answered. "But it could be any number of other things... Or perhaps a combination." "There is only one way to find out," Trixie said. "PUNCH IT!" Strange didn't punch it. He pressed a button and the carrier sailed off, leaving Lord English in the dust. English's methodical marching continued like clockwork. ~~~ Mattie, Nettle, and the Everykid were taking a Skiff down to the City, leaving the bulk of the fleet in favor of experiencing the city below. The Everykid was driving, and driving well. Apparently she was exceptionally skilled in the art of spaceship piloting, which Mattie only found slightly unusual and Nettle didn't think was something to even think about. "I hope this gets to be a vacation," Mattie said. "A... vacation?" Nettle asked. "You know, when you take a moment off your job and all the stress to just go somewhere fun and reeeeeelax? Where y-" "I know what a vacation is. I'm asking why you think now is a good time to have one." "Well, let me put it this way. I was stuck on a ship without a stallion in sight for a whole month. Not to mention Swip didn't really have any opportunities for privacy and believe it or not I have enough of a heart to restrain myself so people aren't scarred for life. Much. And the icing on the cake is now that I am in a fleet, guess what? That's right, I'm considered one of the 'leaders' and I have to keep myself prim and proper for the sake of society." She said the last word with distaste. "I need a release. And the City better have some equivalent to Vegas." "...Vegas?" "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas," Mattie quoted. Nettle furrowed her brow, trying to understand. "I feel like I should mention that I'm unusual, again, before you start trying to apply what you've learned from the manic masochist unicorn. Most normal people don't get me. Perfectly fine in my book, but the rest of the ponies won't like it if you threw a leash around them." Nettle smiled softly. "I get that." "Not sure you do," Mattie said, pursing her lips. "Hey, at least you're trying. I call it progress." "...You're a good pony." Mattie smiled. "Thank you. Wasn't always this way, y'know. Used to laugh at a lot of dark things. You could blame it on my universe, I suppose, but balls to that, even then..." She rolled her eyes. "As absurd as failing to hang yourself by a licorice rope is..." Nettle cocked her head, confused at Mattie's tangent. "Yo! Kid! Can you take a turn explaining stuff to her? I'm making really bad impressions over here." "Nope!" the Everykid called back, pressing a few buttons on the console to adjust course. "...Balls," Mattie muttered. "Forgot you don't really talk..." The Everykid shrugged, adjusting her hat. Mattie turned back to Nettle. "It's... It's like this. When you're sitting in bed..." "I think this is a bad metaphor," Nettle interrupted her. "In bed alone," Mattie clarified, rolling her eyes. "I bet sometimes things come to your mind about the past. They come seemingly out of nowhere and latch themselves into your mind, holding very tight." Nettle blinked. "So, a normal night?" Mattie facehooved. "Celestia on a bicycle we're at an impasse... Look, sometimes things you regret come back to your mind in full force and demand their way in like an unwanted lover." Nettle's blank look remained. "Kid! Help!" The Everykid just laughed. "...Ask Servitude about it," Mattie concluded. "Sure," Nettle said, tapping her fingers together. "You're all so different. I don't know why that surprises me." Mattie shrugged. "The moment you stop thinking about just yourself is the moment you start realizing how complex other people are." A lightbulb went off in her head, prompting her to ram her head into the wall. "Uuuugh..." "What?" "Irony. Dripping, brutal irony. I've become the voice of wisdom." "Isn't that a good thing?" "Yes, but the damn irony is basically an anvil to the face. ...Actually, never mind, that's not bad. Being denied an anvil to the face. There we go." Nettle blinked. Mattie put her hooves in her hands. "Kid, are we there yet?" The Everykid shook her head. She pressed a few buttons - and then sat bolt upright. "That's not good." When the Everykid spoke more than a couple words, everyone knew to pay rapt attention. Nettle and Mattie turned their chairs to look out the window. In front of them was Flep the Celestialsapien. "MOTION CARRIED." He snapped his fingers and all the power in the Skiff went out. "Shiiiii-" Flep tapped the Skiff with his finger, sending it into a meteor-like nosedive to the surface of Nucleon. Nettle paled. "Wh-what do we do?" Mattie looked to the Everykid. "I've got nothing on me but a couple o' whips and an amazing fashion sense. You?" The Everykid jumped out of the pilot's chair, allowing Mattie to take over. She bounced to the back of the Skiff and pulled up a hatch in the floor, giving her access to the lifeless engine. With a quick flick of her head, she removed her hat and dug into it, pulling out a white hourglass of immense temporal power. After spending all of a second examining it, she shrugged, threw it into the engine, and closed the hatch. Power was restored to the ship. Mattie pushed the thrusters as hard as they would let her, slowing their descent. Nettle let out a sigh of relief. "That's good... I was afraid for a second there..." "That was a Celestialsapien," Mattie reminded her. "If it wants us to crash..." The engine exploded, removing the entire back half of the Skiff and ejecting the Everykid into the atmosphere of Nucleon. "...then we're gonna crash." "We're going to crash!?" "Yep." "DO SOMETHING!" Mattie pointed at the hole in their Skiff. "And what in Celestia's name would I be able to do about that?" Nettle's brain stopped working. She passed out. "...Balls, I was hoping she'd activate her powers or something..." Mattie gulped. "Well, time to figure out how to survive this one." She cracked one of her whips for dramatic effect. ~~~ Roxy and I teleported into Sunny and Daniel's Skiff. "Hi." "WAUGH!" Sunny blurted, flipping out of the chair she was in. Daniel took us in stride and nodded to let us know he had registered our presence. Sunny stood up and shook her head. "I would say 'don't do that!' but I get the impression you already know." I nodded. "Yes. Yes I do." "So... Are you here to take my ship?" I blinked. "What? No. I mean, I'd like to use your ship, but I don't really need it and I'm not going to take it from you." Sunny's demeanor loosened considerably. "It's good to see you have at least some sense. You'd be surprised how many people want to keep fighting." "I wouldn't," I said with a sigh. "I had to run from a bunch of our old friends because Starbeat demanded I turn myself in as a prisoner." Sunny blinked. "Ah. I take back what I just said." She turned to Roxy. "What about you?" "Helped her escape," Roxy answered. "I... didn't want to see her taken in when she could be a great help." "Help in what?" Roxy folded her hands together. "Lord English and the Crimson King were both released when the collapse happened. Lord English just used Siron's staff to defeat the Crimson King and take Black Thirteen, combining all the related powers into one. And now he's marching toward... Something." I furrowed my brow. "Yes, something..." I scratched my chin. "We're trying to figure out what we can do without running into everyone else and getting captured." Sunny turned to Daniel. "Well... We're just getting away from the Hub to see if we can complete Daniel's... I'm going to call it a mission." I turned to Daniel. "I was wondering how you could be up and about in... your condition." "Something's unfinished," Daniel said, his voice so raspy it was painful to hear. "I need to finish it." "And you have no idea what it is?" Roxy asked. Daniel shook his head, falling silent. "Whatever it is, it's keeping him going," Sunny added. Even if he shouldn't be standing anymore. I furrowed my brow. "What could have been left unfinished for you...?" I looked deeply into him, focusing my powers onto his essence to see where his story might lead. He was supposed to lose all will to live and waste away, but something contradictory and powerful was demanding he keep moving, no matter how much it hurt. It flew in the face of what his story was supposed to be. But why would he be suffering like this, and not anyone else? What could it be? A lightbulb went off in my head. "The... Emissary of Ka." "What?" Sunny asked. "Well..." I looked closely at Daniel. And suddenly I knew I couldn't reveal the identity of the Emissary to him. "Information is spotty, but the Flowers have created a voice to speak the 'will of the Tower'. This entity would be able to twist ka in exactly this way. It has the connections, the reason..." "So I need to find the Emissary..." Daniel blinked. "Doesn't sound quite right..." Because it's much more personal than that. "It's something to go after," I said. "A lead, if nothing else." "How could we find h- it?" Roxy asked, catching herself. Sunny looked to me. "I have detailed navigation systems and you have the Eye of Rhyme. Surely something as important as this Emissary would be traceable." "If it wanted to be," I mused. "Worth a shot. I'm plugging myself into the Skiff's systems. Prepare for a flood of information..." "Cross-referencing," Sunny said, pressing several buttons with her magic. Within a few minutes, we had a pointer. A little arrow telling us which direction the Emissary - Renee - was in. Roxy cracked her knuckles. "And now we punch it." She literally punched the throttle, forcing the Skiff forward at a rapid pace. "Do we know how far away it is?" "Not really," Sunny said, examining the arrow. "It's just a directional. No magnitude." "We'll know when we've passed it at least," I said, ruffling my wings. "Now how about w-" I saw something out of the corner of my perceptions. "Look to the sky. Now." Roxy pulled up slightly. We saw it instantly - a heavily-damaged Skiff missing its entire back half, spiraling down through the air in an uncontrolled fall. Roxy didn't need to be told. She pushed the Skiff toward the falling wreckage. "Twilence, get ready to catch that..." I lit my horn and spread my wings. "Ready." It would have been a routine fly-by grab were we overtop of a normal part of Nucleon. As I should have expected, we were not on top of a normal area, we were flying over a large landscape of ancient technological circles, glowing circuitry, and ancient power. Below the crashing Skiff the ground opened up. A series of metallic rings engraved to look like they were made from black bricks flew out of the ground like a hungry snake ready to devour the smoking disaster. Meanwhile, we had our own problems to deal with - around the line of rings, dozens of smaller brick-like chunks orbited around in chaotic patterns, a bit like a whirlwind. Roxy was able to pilot through them, but it made it difficult for us to get a lock on the falling Skiff. "Executing teleport, prepare yourselves..." Sunny said, focusing. A second later we were inside the rings, finding the eye-of-the-storm equivalent had no swirling stones in it. Roxy was able to shoot towards our goal at a rapid pace. All the while, the outside whirlwind of bricks started to build a structure around us as we flew, glowing with an ancient radiant energy I didn't recognize at first since I was too focused on the falling Skiff. I almost had it. I almost had it in my telekinesis. But I hesitated, not willing to take the risk. My only opportunity fell away. The Everykid landed on our windshield at high speed, using her complex platforming skills to keep herself from injury, but she was completely unable to keep our Skiff from spinning out into a wall. One of our wings was completely flattened by the impact and we began to fall to the ground. The structure built itself around us, blocking out the twilight glow of Nucleon before we completed the crash. We were cut off inside an alien structure that hadn't existed mere seconds ago. ~~~ A pod descended into the hangar of the Merodi Universalis Hub, landing neatly in a parking spot that had once held a visiting Skiff. Starbeat kicked the door of the pod open and jumped out. She let out a sharp breath to calm herself and pulled her mane back into a more organized arrangement. "Okay, everyone out, this road trip from hell is finally over." As the mostly-prisoner crew filed out, Starbeat turned to see who was greeting them. She was not surprised to see Azula and Storm standing there. She was surprised to see Charter-Overhead Evening Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and Magic standing there with a very displeased expression. Starbeat grimaced - she knew full well what Eve probably thought of the Hub she had created. "Eve, I know you're upset, bu-" "You're right I'm upset! I-" all the anger melted from Eve's face when she saw a particular face crawl out of the pod. A regal yellow pegasus with a faintly sparkling pink mane. "...Eve...?" Flutterfree said, eyes widening. "F... Fl... Fluh..." Eve didn't have enough syllables. She rushed Flutterfree and pulled her into a tear-filled hug with a ferocity that Flutterfree matched. Despite the pain such force caused, the two wrapped their wings around each other, simply happy to be in each other's presence. To know the other was alive and well. "E-eve..." Flutterfree said, noticing the way her ears were twitching. "You... You can hear again!" "Y-yeah," Eve said, smiling. "I... I decided it was time for a change. There's a New World and... all. You look like a Princess." "I think you're rubbing off on me." Eve giggled. "That probably has something to do with it." She held Flutterfree close. "...I have so much to tell you." "Same. ...It has to wait, doesn't it?" "Yeah..." Eve looked up. The first thing she noticed was Vriska and Starbeat refusing to look at her or Flutterfree. Vriska had an arm to her eyes - while Starbeat was just standing angry with Gamzee at her side. The next thing Eve noticed was Pinkie. Pinkie with eyes. Her heart shot into her throat and tears started falling down her face. Flutterfree graciously let her go to walk to Pinkie. "Yeah!" Pinkie said, a stupid smile on her face alongside the tears she was letting flow freely. "I'm back. Curses aren't permanent anymore. Can't be." She and Twilight shared a hug - nothing compared to the one that had happened a few seconds prior, but still a sight to behold. A few seconds passed - and Eve backed away and sighed. "You're her prisoners, aren't you?" "Yep," Pidge said, gesturing at the restraints on her hands. "Well, Flutterfree and Lightning aren't. I think. Flutterfree got her powers locked, regardless." Eve took turns hugging Pidge and Jotaro. "I'm sorry you have to go through this." Lastly, she turned to Vriska. "...Especially you." Vriska was trying really hard to hide the fact she had been crying. "...Yeah... This fucking sucks." "Well, I'm going to see what I can do to fix that." Eve turned rapidly to face Starbeat - the tear stains somehow making the alicorn significantly more menacing. "Starbeat, I've seen this place, I've seen what you've done to this place out of anger. This isn't going to fly. I'm going t-" "We've got other motherfuckin' stuff to deal with," Gamzee said. Eve felt something hit her and make her words stop instantly. "Need to organize some help. Evil stuff around." Eve looked to him. "You... What did you...?" "He's right," Lightning said, keeping Eve from getting any further. "The Crimson King and Lord English have fused. They need to be stopped before they can threaten this New World. I'm here to secure military assistance. We are lacking in large forces." Starbeat turned to Storm. "Get her whatever she needs." Storm nodded. "Right this way." "Lord English? The Crimson King!?" Eve said, her minor suspicions blown out of the water by this new revelation. "What's going on!?" "There's a lot going on you don't understand," Starbeat said. "This New World is in the hands of th-" Pinkie cleared her throat. "I'm going to stop you there before you start repeating things AGAIN. Eve, long story short, Siron's staff was a ploy by English all along. If he was ever freed, he would use the Juju to absorb the Crimson King and become more powerful. He has, and he's got meta control, and he's making it extra-difficult for himself so the story can be 'satisfying' with his victory. It won't be good. So, in order to get Starbeat to behave and work together, I offered my team up as prisoners." "She's going to execute you," Eve stated flatly. "Phage and Rosalina have already fallen. Corona's sitting in a cell, waiting for the same fate." "CORONA!?" Starbeat shouted, veins pulsing. "Yes. Corona. Our friend," Eve said, poking Starbeat with a wingtip. "She and I traveled here together. And she was thrown in jail by Storm. Seeing you now, he was certainly right that was what you wanted." Starbeat's expression clouded. "Eve... I can see we're going to need to have a conversation." "Actually, we don't. I outrank you by far and since all members of the collapse technically rescinded their Merodi citizenship, it falls under my jurisdiction to work with them however I see fit. They are to be pardoned pending further review at a later date." "Azula, take Pinkie, Jotaro, Pidge, and... Vriska to a holding cell." Eve let a spark fly off her horn, letting Azula know now was not the time to take a stand. Azula nodded and escorted the four prisoners away, leaving only Eve and Flutterfree with Starbeat. "I could call this treason. But I won't." Eve ruffled her feathers. "I'll give you the same pardon I'm giving them after this is over. You're technically outside my jurisdiction, but as the only Overhead here right now I-" "Storm is acting Overhead." "Daniel was here yesterday," Eve said with a smirk. "Alive. With enough of his wits about him t-" "You don't get it do you?" Starbeat asked. "The Merodi Universalis you built is gone. There's nothing left for you to rule over." Eve nodded. "In that case, all Merodi laws are void and Corona and I are not subject to y-" "I make the laws here," Starbeat interrupted. "And those laws say that everyone involved in the collapse will face justice. Corona most of all. She needs a fate worse than death." "She already has it," Eve said, anger draining from her face. "She never wanted to survive." "Tough luck, it can still be worse." Starbeat turned tail. "I've got stuff to do." "You are not going anywhere until we resolve this," Eve demanded. "Fine," Starbeat said, not turning around. "Let's go to my office. Gamzee, tag along will you? I don't want this to get... messy." ~~~ The carrier and the handful of accompanying ships flew in formation to the Dark Tower. They had expected roses and high amounts of ka upon arrival. What they had not expected was a fully-armed city ready to shoot them out of the sky at the first sign of trouble. Insipid had been the first one to point it out. "Like, I think they're pointing weapons at us." She pointed at hoof at the triple-pronged house-sized turrets that lined the wall, all of them turning to point at the incoming ships. Strange reacted first. "Don't fire! We come in peace! This is Doctor Strange of Earth MC, do not fire, I repeat, do not fire!" The turrets all pointed directly at them - but they did not fire. The carrier and associated ships stopped moving to look as non-threatening as possible. "Why aren't they responding?" "Because they want to give us a show," Sherlock said, pointing up at a descending ship. To their awe, the streamlined form of the Austraeoh descended from the sky, placing itself between them and the City. Then a communication line was established, placing O'Neill and Minna on screen, standing together. "Welcome to the City in Earth's Shadow," O'Neill said with a smirk. "Sorry about all this, but we've got to make sure we know who's coming in and out of the city. High alert right now." "Considering what's charging toward your city right now, I can't say I blame you," Sherlock said. "Charging toward our city?" Minna asked. "Lord English has absorbed the power of the Crimson King and is heading this way." Minna nodded. "And now we know the identity of the threat..." "We'll need everything you know and everything you have," O'Neill continued. "We need to make a plan." Sherlock let out an amused grunt. "I think you'll like our selection." He gestured at Saitama and Monika. "I also think you'll be glad the angry people aren't here. She would have balked at working with Minna." "Who?" Minna asked. "Starbeat. Of course, she's under the influence of some kind of psychoactive ability, but I am uncertain if that absolves her of blame or not." He shrugged. "Point is, she's not here, we can get to work without her interfering and possibly still get the aid of the military she is sending." "The more help the better. We can't let t-" Nanoha entered the call. "Strange, I'm afraid I don't know you that well, but I am glad you made it through." Strange nodded. "Thank you, High Sovereign." Nanoha rolled her eyes. "Everyone still calls me that. Really, I'm just the mayor here. Building a fortress." "Saw the evil coming and decided you needed to put an end to it?" "...You could say that." Nanoha looked into the distance. "I'll need all of your leaders to attend a meeting so we can explain what's happened and plan. Even with all these defenses, ships, and deity-level beings on our side, I don't like our odds." "The final boss," Discord mused. "Maybe," Nanoha admitted. "We've got Randall Flagg in custody. And... the Emissary of ka." Monika's eyes widened. "She really exists?" Nanoha nodded. "Renee's body is being used as a puppet by a... thing that 'speaks' for the Tower. She will no doubt be in the meeting. Such things amuse her." Sherlock leaned forward, folding his hands together. "I'd very much like to meet this... Emissary." "You won't have to wait very long. O'Neill, take them in, record everyone they have on board, then send whoever's prudent directly to the private lobby." "Yes ma'am," O'Neill said, saluting. "Sherlock, how long do we have?" "If English doesn't speed up? A little over a day. Rest assured he'll slow or speed himself up to whatever speed he wants. Whatever he believes will make the maximum amount of drama." "...So how long do we actually have?" "As long as we need to throw our absolute best at him. He's purposefully trying to make it difficult for himself." Minna's eyes got the far-off look indicative of looking into the future. She didn't comment on what she saw, but O'Neill knew from her expression they should work quickly regardless. "Push the Canadian-Mongol-communist immigrants back in processing, deal with the political fallout later," O'Neill ordered. "These ships are first priority..." ~~~ "Hello and welcome to Dracogen Enterprises, how may I help you today?" Aradia raised an eyebrow. "Jenny, it's us." Jenny picked a data pad off the receptionist desk she was currently occupying for reasons unknown to all present, including her employees. The hall was that of Dracogen Enterprises' Public Relations department, where all official meetings took place. ...Which was to say all two that had taken place since the revival of the technology-hoarding company. It may no longer have been a quasi-criminal organization but it was just as relaxed in terms of policy. Jenny put the data pad down. "I don't see an 'Us' on the list of clients." Aradia facepalmed. "Jenny..." "That's ma' name~!" Jenny trilled. Roland pushed Aradia aside and laid his hand on the table. "Roland of Gilead. Gunslinger." "Why do you have to take the fun out of everything...?" Jenny muttered, pursing her lips. "Fiiine, I'll talk to you, geez. What's up?" "We were going to ask you out to a team lunch," Aradia said, tapping her fingers together. "But you were being rather annoying..." Jenny smirked. "Trying to play an angle on me? Cute. Very cute." Aradia held up a mirror and raised her eyebrow. "Funny," Jenny deadpanned, leaning on her shoulder. "Fine, I'll pay for the lunch, I can even take you to a Dracogen experimental locale. You'd be surprised how much people want bizarre, exotic, risky food when there's a looming threat dangling over their heads." "It helps a man cope," Roland said with a curt nod. "Such sensation..." Aradia clapped her hands. "It just reminds you that you're alive!" "What reminds you if you're dead?" Jenny asked. "Dead inside? Bones and darkness. Actually dead? Usually the blood dripping down your ghostly body, but that's not so much a thing anymore. ...I wish it was, though, it was always so fascinating to watch them realize how dead they are..." "Haven't seen morbid Aradia in a while." Aradia nodded. "It's helped that the war's over, and that I've reconnected with the Ararmy." Roland sighed ever so slightly at the absurd name that had never gone away. "You ever going to choose a new name?" Jenny asked. "Now that there's about a million distinct Aradias?" Aradia shrugged. "I guess so?" "Should do it before all the good ones get taken. Ari might work, or something similar..." "I'm going to survive the next few weeks before I go through the trouble of getting a new name," Aradia said with a smile. "But I'll be thinking about it." Jenny saluted. Then she hopped over the receptionist booth and landed between her two teammates. "Let's-a go!" Roland snapped his fingers. "Mario." Jenny's face broke out into a gaping smile. "You... you're learning about references!" She let out an adorable squee. "I never thought I'd see the day! Okay, we need to get you caught up on so much culture now that you're out of your little old man bubble. I'm thinking we start with something like Star Trek, or ma-" Roland pointed outside at a Mario walking along a sidewalk, slowing down to look at the brilliant roses outside. Aradia chuckled. "He absorbs culture by observing what it's created." Jenny rolled her eyes. "Let's just get to the place." She charged out the revolving doors with a proud, confident smirk on her face. Such a powerful pose looked out of place on such a diminutive individual, but that was at least part of the reason she liked it. They walked through the City. For Roland, it was no more unusual than an Earth city since it was so far removed from his general experiences. But for Jenny and Aradia, seasoned travelers, they knew the urban sprawl they were marching through was highly unusual. It wasn't just the eternal twilight - several worlds had sported a similar color scheme in the past. The conglomeration aspect wasn't what was different either - after all, Merodi cities could be recognized by the way they seemed to be cobbled together from numerous different designs without rhyme or reason. What mattered here was that everything was new. Not one month ago, none of these buildings had been around. All had been a field of brilliant, lively roses. Virtually every street corner had a section of untouched earth where a few roses grew, to remind everyone of where they came from, but everything else was almost too perfect because of how new it was. Buildings showed no sign of wear, there had not been enough time for slums or even heavy amounts of litter to develop in public view, and virtually everything was clean. It didn't necessarily run smoothly from a statistical standpoint, but it sure looked like it did. "Take several godlike beings and give them a goal," Jenny said, holding out her hands. "What do you get?" "Overpopulation," Roland answered. Jenny rolled her eyes. "There's more than enough space on Nucleon for everyone, this is just the defensible place with the most magic resources. And ka resources." "Not physical resources." "Sure, right, like that's important when the Tower literally leaks magic for everyone to use." She waved a hand around as if illustrating a point. "We've got everything we need right here, and what we don't have Dracogen Enterprises can g-" She walked face-first into a blue stop sign. "...What the heck?" Burgerbelle poked her head around the blue stop sign. "Have I got your attention?" "Why is it blue!?" "Yep, I have your attention." She removed the stop sign and sidestepped, allowing Thrackerzod to walk up. Thrackerzod cleared her throat. "I have a complaint to file against the C.E.O. of Dracogen Enterprises." Jenny groaned. "All complaints must go through th-" "It's important." Thrackerzod muttered. "Let me put it this way - your little corporation was selling misinformation." Thrackerzod held up a little booklet entitled The Emissary and What She Means for You. Jenny blinked. "I've never seen this book..." She swiped it out of Thrackerzod's magic and scanned it with her eyes. "Geez... 'she comes to save you all'? What a load of crap. Someone's getting fired..." "Told you it wasn't her," Burgerbelle said, a first place trophy appearing in her hand. Thrackerzod rolled her eyes. "Yes, I admit, you were right. But here's the important question - what are you going to do about it?" "I am going to have lunch first," Jenny said. "Then, I am going to find out whoever did this and fire them. Then, I'm going to recall every last one of these books and burn them. And then I'll probably author a book of my own about 'How the Emissary is a Sadist' and mass-produce it." "Oh! You could join us for lunch!" Aradia said, clapping her hands together. "Come on, it'll be fun! We can even talk about the little book!" Burgerbelle grinned. "That sounds GRRRRREAT!" As she spoke the last word she gained tiger-like characteristics for a moment. "Sure, fine, whatever," Jenny said, waving them along. "Guess we're a group now, or something." Roland shrugged. "Ka-tet." "I am not using that word. Ever. We're a group. Not a ka-tet. Groups are groups. Ka is ka." "Kaka," Burgerbelle said. Roland stared at her in disbelief. "Ladies and gentlemen, the rare Dark Tower meme has been unleashed," Burgerbelle giggled. "Onward, before his mind explodes!" ~~~ At the very top of Nanoha's skyscraper there was a room with windows on all sides, giving a view of the City, the Dark Tower, and everything in between. The room was filled with more people than Nanoha could easily count - leaders from all sides of the previous war, together to face a crisis. Ponies, humans, military, civilians... She had missed the sight of different people coming together as one, to be united. Ever since the war had started divisions had just kept getting worse and worse... But today, they were all here. The start of the meeting had already concluded. Nala the Xeelee had offered to use all the processing power and knowledge it had at its disposal in the fleet and Celestia City to come up with a proposed plan to defeat Lord English. That had been about twenty minutes ago, and Nala had not said anything since. So all the leaders were talking in smaller groups about ways to keep the City running during an attack from a single being of English's caliber. The only notable absence in the meeting was Jenny herself, apparently she was busy enough with something else that she had sent generic Dracogen representatives. Or maybe she just didn't feel like attending a boring meeting. Renee was there as well, and for once had decided not to make a large-scale disruption and instead just mess with Sherlock while the other leaders discussed among themselves. "Care to make some de-duc-tions?" Renee asked in a condescending tone, as if talking to a child. "From watching you I have only determined one thing," Sherlock said. "You could adjust your behavior in any minute detail you wished to adjust my deduction result. You are an enigma by your own design." "What we have here is a case of a self-demonstrating sentence." "Indubitably." Renee smirked. "Always Sherlock, no matter what..." She chuckled. "Now, I will not do anything to hinder the 'subconscious' of my body here when I say the next sentence." She narrowed her eyes. "You might want to get your eyes off me." "Ah, Nala's almost done then, is she?" As if on cue - actually, it wasn't 'as if', it was on cue. Nala's text appeared in the middle of the room. \|> Analysis complete. "What do you have for us?" Nanoha asked, serving as the voice for all the others. \|> A plan. Given the nature of ka, I have analyzed the various scenarios and determined which one is most likely to produce a victory. I then disregarded that one and went with the second best since optimization is rarely allowed without a tradeoff. If you are curious, the first plan was to overlay several artificial Deus Ex Machina type events to end English. Instead, we will not engage in direct ka manipulation beyond the personal scale - such as Monika. "Get on with it already!" Hale shouted, grinning. "What's the play?" \|> We will wait for English to come to us. At the beginning, the defenses will just be the standard turrets at the wall and orbital bombardment. When this inevitably fails to destroy him, he will make it to the wall and breach it. We proceed to bombard him with everything we have - an optimal arrangement of troops, ships, and powering resources has been sent to all of your personal computers. This, still, will not be enough; his unconditional immortality ensures that even if we have enough energy output to kill him, he will resurrect himself. \|> It is at this point we will send in the 'heroes'; specifically those who have a deep ka connection with him. The most important of these are Roland, Caliborn, Spades, and Mlinx. Roland covers the base of multiversal-spanning hero with ka on his side. Caliborn is the villain turned to our side because of circumstance, not to mention the fact that Lord English originates from Caliborn. Spades has a deep need for vengeance and revenge against English running through him, and Mlinx's entire society of demons was shaped by Lord English's staff Juju. Normally, I would suggest gathering every hero English ever faced, getting all the Homestuck-based characters, and risking a diplomatic incident to get Vriska back. However, projections agree: these heroes of might will not be enough to bring him down. Simply having the defeat be appropriate is not enough to ensure he will die permanently, since he himself has power over ka. \|> This is where the original plan comes in. While he is distracted facing off against the heroes important to him, Monika and Saitama will be waiting along the side. Monika will alter Saitama's character file to fight at 100% regardless of casualties, even if that requires multiple punches directed into Nucleon itself. There were numerous gasps and murmurs around the meeting room. \|> I am well aware this could easily destroy all of Nucleon. I am also well aware even this is not enough. "There's more!?" O'Neill said in disbelief. \|> Even an unstoppable fist is likely to fall short. There is a chance it can overcome the unconditional immortality, but this is low. Instead, we will use it as a tool. We will need to separate Lord English from Black Thirteen and then move Lord English into the Dark Tower. He will become trapped within now that there are no universes to escape to. "...What about when the Dark Tower finally falls?" the Emperor asked. \|> Then his power over ka will be no more and we can use brute force. Without the Tower's presence, there will be no more magic in the City than any other part of this universe. It could be drained and conventional weaponry will do the rest. There was silence in the room. "...It sounds like it might work," Nanoha said. "That's enough for me to be willing to prepare for it until we get a better option." \|> There is one issue I have not yet mentioned. The camera is currently on. Any plan that the audience is aware of prior to execution will usually go wrong. It doesn't mean it will fail - but it does mean we can expect major hindrances to our efforts. The full plan contains backup contingencies I have not mentioned - including having Death and similar beings on standby to make sure no heroes perish just before they can perform a paramount action - but no doubt the complication will be something I have not foreseen. "You've foreseen it," Renee said, looking at the text with intense eyes. "That doesn't mean it won't throw a wrench into your plans anyway." \|> Are you not going to trap him within your structure? "If you can get him in there without Black Thirteen, I'll keep him," Renee said with a smirk. "Of that, I promise. Please, darling, that'd be a bit too obvious." \|> I will send out a list of potential complications for everyone to review. Until a major flaw in the plan is brought up, am I cleared to begin city-wide preparations? Nanoha looked at the gathered leaders behind her. "We can discuss the finer details later, but we need to get started now in case English jumps us by surprise. Everyone who thinks this is good enough, say aye." She paused for a moment. "Aye." Raising Heart calculated the total of people who had responded favorably: ninety-two percent. Good enough. "You have permission, Nala," Nanoha said. "Do everything you can." \|> I already am. ~~~ Rev and Rina were trotting down the streets of the City in Earth's Shadow. Rina actually had a smile on her face, enjoying the sight of something similar to the Ponyville she had come to know during her stay at Rev's church. Rev didn't have anywhere near as amiable an expression. Her face was buried in a small booklet titled The Emissary and What She Means For You. The content within was making her frown deeper and deeper. "Why would Dracogen Enterprises allow this trash to be published?" she wondered. "You just answered your own question," Rina said. "They are trash." "Jenny does have standards..." Rev furrowed her brow. "Listen to this. 'The Emissary has come so that you might believe in the will of the Tower, and the truth of the story. The war was nothing more than the movement from one Testament to another, allowing existence to change so all could hear the Emissary's message'..." "Sounds like you." Rev rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I suppose. Except the actual message isn't something Renee's ever said, and it's actually dangerous." She held up the booklet to Rina. "...Shit," Rina said, taking it in her magic. "'The City is a blasphemy to the Tower's purity?' There's no way anybody here is taking this seriously, this is their home." "It doesn't take a majority to destroy something," Rev said, shaking her head. "Just enough. Enough who think the Tower is worthy of worship. That ancient structure that defines everything in their lives and is easily visible every day of their lives." She turned to the looming form of the Tower, grimacing. "The Tower always terrified me. The few times I'd seen it... I always trembled. It was so... wrong. I can't really describe it. It was as if it made me face a part of myself I can't understand. And now that I'm here, walking in its City..." She gulped. "You feel it, don't you? When you try to look at it." "I don't try to look at it," Rina breathed. "I feel like I'd lose myself in it." "And yet all these people here live around it like nothing's wrong... Like the very air they're breathing isn't infused with a Dark essence." She shook her head. "Of course they'd want to worship the thing. It basically is God to them. And that's... not only wrong, but dangerous." She looked at the booklet again. "They start assigning whatever they feel they can to the Tower in the name of making their worldview make sense. Self-justification, you could say." "Like the Flowers creating the Emissary in the first place?" Rev nodded. "They wanted the Tower to have a will. So they made one. You could call the Great Will this as well - it wanted to be God, so it tried." Rina put a hoof to her forehead. "Ugh..." "...Sorry. I shouldn't be loading all this heavy stuff on you. You haven't been walking very long." "It's okay. I know Flutterfree's gone and I'm the only one around. Just... it's fucking hard to think about, you know?" "Sometimes intelligence is a hindrance to greater understanding," Rev said with a chuckle. "It's so hard for us to admit that not everything has to make sense... But that's neither here nor th-" The two of them were suddenly teleported away into an attic lit only by a tiny lightbulb in the roof. Rev immediately tried to raise a shield but she found that all the magic in the attic had been drained, leaving her helpless. She looked around for a way out. There were no windows, but there were boxes - lots and lots of boxes with hundreds of books in them. All of them were copies of The Emissary and What She Means For You. Rev and Rina looked at each other. "Trap," they said at the same time. Great deduction, a voice said in their minds. They saw no one nearby who could be the source of the messages - nor did they detect any use of magic to send the message. You two will be perfect... A great speaker, and a great destroyer. "What do you want?" Rev demanded. Your help.
Songs of the Spheres	141 - Divided We Fall	I came to my senses and let out a groan. I just knew my wing was broken. Again. I was used to that kind of pain at this point, so I was able to stand up and look around without too much difficulty. I was lying a fair distance from the actual wreckage itself. I noticed Sunny passed out on a nearby rock, a few scrapes on her but nothing serious. Roxy was already standing up, feeling carefully along the smooth, ancient walls. Daniel was sitting down, looking as if he had been hit by a train. My stomach sank when I scanned him and found no actual injuries. This was just the way he was now. Even though I had seen many people in states similar to him before, it was still... wrong. It was bad enough that he was wasting away. It was worse that something was prolonging the suffering. In an attempt to ignore him, I fixed my attention to the structure we found ourselves inside. A large tower-like structure that went up for as far as we could see, no doors or windows on any side. The only sources of light were the walls themselves that pulsed with an occasional blue-green energy passing through the wall's circuitry. It was enough to see by, but it gave the entire area an eerie vibe. I felt like I should recognize the design, but the Eye of Rhyme wasn't giving me any insight, and my memory failed me. All I knew was that the people behind this ancient structure were important. And that we were here for a reason. "Something in here is very, very important," I said, furrowing my brow. "The other ship?" Roxy asked, still trying to find a secret exit to the room or something similar. "Maybe... I wonder why it isn't in here," I pondered. I took a moment to use my magic and mend my wing. "This isn't the only room," Daniel muttered. "Right..." I blinked. "Roxy, can't you phase through walls?" Roxy blinked. "Ah. Right. Whoops!" She snapped her fingers and phased through the wall. She came back. "Yep, Daniel's right. There's more. There's a labyrinth out there." "Labyrinth?" Sunny muttered, standing up. "Good thing you have a mapmaker, huh?" Roxy smirked. "Can you move?" Sunny stretched her legs. "Yeah. Takes a bit more than that to injure an Evermore. ...Though at this point I doubt it's my Evermore powers saving me." "All multiversal explorers accumulate abilities beyond themselves," I said. "It's a very useful trait." "Assuming you don't die first," Sunny pointed out. "True, true..." Roxy used her Void to make us intangible and shift through the wall. On the other side was definitely a labyrinth, but not the kind any of us were expecting. There weren't maze-like walls - instead there were a complex series of moving platforms, swinging traps, and magical wires dancing all around a curved expanse. "...I'm not jumping through all this," Roxy said matter-of-factly. "Time to cheat." She floated into the air and skipped all the complex platform movements. "I don't blame you," I said, putting Daniel on my back and taking off. Sunny levitated herself behind me and we followed her into the air. Our actions triggered a trap. A floating cube the size of a barn opened up and shot magical saw blades at us. Were we normal people, they would have been deadly. As it was I raised a shield that easily deflected all of them. "Might want to keep us intangible," I told Roxy. "Sure thing!" she said, snapping her fingers. "This is kind of cool though, we're in a video game dungeon or something." "Which means there's treasure somewhere," Sunny offered. "Probably a 'key item' to someone's adventure. Maybe that's what we're here to find?" I shrugged. "Maybe... We still have to find it though. Keep on the lookout for chests or similar things. And when we open them let's not get caught by a mimic like everyone else, okay?" Sunny rolled her eyes. "Oldest trick in the book." "Yeah, Twilence, really?" Roxy shook her head. "We're not noobs." I rubbed the back of my head. "Sorry." ~~~ Starbeat and Gamzee were on one side of the table. On the other, Flutterfree and Eve sat together. Eve, as expected, had a disappointed expression on her face, while the usually calm and serene Flutterfree had a deeply troubled expression that was usually directed at Gamzee. Gamzee, to his credit, seemed completely relaxed and laid back. Starbeat was the opposite. She was angry, and Eve wasn't entirely sure why. This wasn't just a vengeful anger, there was something wrong with it. Eve wasn't going to back down though. She opened her mouth. "You're going to say 'we've forgiven a lot of people already', right?" Starbeat interjected. "Because that's what you usually say. Then you start listing off examples - maybe including yourself, since you are in the list of those forgiven - and say it's better to let things slide. There's a big difference between all those times and now. Item one: nobody we've ever forgiven has done something this disastrous. Item two: the people we forgive regret their decisions. I can tell you right now Corona doesn't." Eve bristled. "And what makes you the judge of that?" "Nothing. Except nobody else seems willing to do it." Starbeat pressed her hooves together. "If I didn't do anything, they would have gotten off scot-free." "Isn't living with the burden that they killed so many enough?" "Not even close. Because they're going to turn the world into what they want. They still want to destroy the Tower." "...Is that such a bad thing?" Eve asked. "The price has already been paid. The influence of the Tower is fading. It's time to let the story end and move on with our lives." "Can we really have lives that aren't of a story?" Starbeat asked. "I don't know," Eve admitted. "...But we'd like to find out," Flutterfree added. "I'd... like to see what we are when there's nothing guiding us. When it's just us. Are we really as strong as we think we are? Or is that an unrealistic portrayal?" Starbeat slammed a hoof into the table. "You were with them all along!? You agreed with them!?" Flutterfree shook her head. "I understood them. Freedom was not worth the price paid. But the price has already been paid. We might as well make the most of what we have, instead of perpetuating this mess just to spite them." "So we just let them get what they want!?" "Why not? It's not evil." "Yes it is!" "Starbeat, listen to yourself," Eve said, standing up tall. "You yourself have said the Tower is an evil thing that causes nothing but pain. You have more reason than anyone to hate it and what it has done to you. Why do you continue to defend it?" "I'm rising above petty anger." "Do you hear the contradictions in your voice!?" Starbeat blinked. "Fine, so I'm not. But what of your contradictions?" Eve frowned. "Come again?" "You've laid out judgement for so many massacres, killed so many 'evil kings' for crimes lesser than Corona's. But look at you now, defending her." "I've also saved many who caused genocides," Eve pointed out. "Merodi Universalis was never a logical, brick-by-brick system. It was case-by-case for a reason. We made on-the-spot judgements about what would and wouldn't be the best in any given moment. Some of those decisions were wrong. I've regretted many of them." She closed her eyes, remembering. "You were part of the Collection, Starbeat. Lightning and Thanos both were the cause of genocides. Lightning fought for the Collector and believed in his vision, even when he backed away from it. Thanos never apologized for his desire for balance. And yet, you worked with them and became good friends with them." "Friendships that were destroyed," Starbeat hissed. "Lightning's still alive, and fought by your side," Flutterfree pointed out. "You saw her. Should she answer for her crimes too?" "She's more than made up for it." "And Corona's more than willing to make up for this," Eve asserted. "She has the same heroic spirit she has always had. She will devote herself to helping however she thinks she can." "She can never repay." "She's immortal. Of course she can. No matter how much evil there was-" "She'll never repay it!" Starbeat slammed her hooves on the table. "Just as you'll never be able to repay what you did to Rainbow Dash." Eve let out a wince. Flutterfree sighed. "And what about you, Starbeat? You were in charge of the Collection, at least in part. What should we charge you with? I'm sure we can find something." Lolo's halo became visible around her head for a moment. "We've all done things worthy of punishment, if there's no forgiveness." "There has to be a line," Starbeat breathed. "Does there?" Eve asked. "Where is it? Where is the point at which someone does something so bad they can't turn around." "She's not turning around! She hasn't made an apology, and I know she won't." "You wouldn't accept it even if she meant it," Eve muttered. "She would," Flutterfree corrected. "If Corona really meant it, she would. I..." she glanced at Gamzee. "I'm pretty sure she would, if..." "See?" Starbeat asked, sneering. "You can't just turn around and attack me, Eve. It doesn't work. The only people who deserve to be forgiven are those who honestly declare their regret. Corona hasn't, and never will." Eve stammered. "I..." "She's your friend, I get it. She was my friend too. But there has to be a point where your loyalty to your friends ends. There's a reason Applejack left." Eve looked to the ground, frowning. "You're right." "Thanks y-" "Not about Corona. About me." Eve laughed bitterly. "I built an empire on forgiving others, Starbeat. I became the conquerer by friendship. I had always thought the Living Tribunal warned us so we wouldn't stomp over the rights of others... but maybe he was warning us about getting too much of a good thing." Sitting back, she found herself looking at the ceiling. "In a world where friendship is held above all else... there are bound to be drawbacks." "Finally. Good gravy, I-" "I've still forgiven her," Eve interrupted. "And so many others have. I've seen a few who haven't, even after feeling her emotions. Jane... Jane still hates her. And so many others. And I understand that. But I can't hate her. I don't see her as a danger anymore, and even when we were fighting I still considered her a friend. They were never the enemy, Starbeat, always the other side." Starbeat scowled. "You've lost sense." "So have you." "I haven't. I'm thinking clearer than I ever have in my life!" "This... this hatred, it's exactly what causes World War II on Standard Earths! Nobody can let anything go so they fight again and sometimes even again... Wars lead to more wars!" "Then let the war come, maybe there's a reason war is so common. It's because justice is never given." "Are you listening to yourself? It's almost like you're under some kind of curse!" Flutterfree tensed, becoming very still all of the sudden. Starbeat ignored her. "Me? Cursed? You've become less of a person and more 'friendship incarnate!' If I'm 'World War II' then you're 'European Imperialism.' Let's conquer all the people and make their universes better! Don't talk to me about 'curse'." "Curse? Curse? How's this for a curse: Corona wanted everyone to talk it out peacefully. The Tower set up the multiverse in such a way that such a dream was impossible. There was either going to be war, or she would have to do it behind all of our backs. She chose the option that gave her less chance of success." "But the Tower is just a machine, everyone else made a choice to do what they did, ka be damned. They deserve my rage." "And where does this rage come from? This isn't you!" Eve wailed - almost pleaded. "You're not a warmonger, you're a calculating, cautious, self-conscious pony!" "It's Gamzee," Flutterfree answered for Eve. "Motherfuckin' what?" Gamzee chuckled. "Are you callin' me a bad influence? I mean, yeah, totally, but there ain't no way I-" "Cut the act," Flutterfree said, narrowing her eyes. She spread her wings and summoned Lolo, activating her Rage aura. "I am the Page of Rage. I know exactly what you're doing." Eve saw it in Lolo's light - the Rage coming off of Gamzee and entering Starbeat's eyes, coloring them a deep, ominous purple. Gamzee dropped the laid-back expression and bared his sharp, angular teeth. He slammed his hands so hard on the table it made Eve flinch - but Flutterfree held his gaze. "You, Gamzee Makara, are the Bard of Rage. You cause seemingly random, far-reaching destruction through truth and anger. Your own, that of others; it doesn't matter. You are a force of destruction and you have corrupted Starbeat." "I wouldn't exactly call it a corruption," Starbeat commented. "You know!?" Eve blurted. "He's in your head, and you're okay with that?!" Starbeat smiled warmly at Gamzee. "He gives me the strength to do what needs to be done. Strength I don't have. What he says is the truth, Flutterfree, and you should know this." Flutterfree growled. "He hasn't lied to you, no. But he has made you angrier." "Stronger," Gamzee said with a gravelly, threatening voice. "I have made her stronger. Wiser. Motherfuckin' ready to take on the world. HONK." "'Take it on' seems literal." Flutterfree narrowed her eyes. "You've stirred up the entire Hub using her as a mouthpiece. I want to know why. Is it just because you need destruction? Or do you have some other goal?" Gamzee smirked. "Because it's what I motherfuckin' want to do." "Why do you want to do it?" "Do I need another reason besides my motherfuckin' feelings?" "You're avoiding my questions to keep something from me." "Honk. HONK." Flutterfree bristled. "...Do you want to see the Hub fall?" "Why would I want to do that?" Flutterfree snapped. "STOP ANSWERING MY QUESTIONS WITH QUESTIONS!" She Stared at him. He yawned. "Was that supposed t' do somethin'?" Flutterfree backed off slowly, refusing to take her gaze off the troll. "Eve, there's nothing we can do here. I can't force his hand, he knows the way of Rage better than I do. And since I can't do anything to him, he can play Starbeat like a puppet." "I wouldn't describe our relationship like that..." Starbeat said with a mischievous smirk. "But it works. I get all the stuff done, he provides the power." "...I'm going to get you out of here, Starbeat," Eve said. "I'll do whatever I can." "I don't need your damn help." "You think that. But you'll thank me later." Starbeat huffed. "...Regardless, you haven't changed my mind. I'm still holding that trial." "And we'll be running defense," Eve said. "No you won-" "The alternative is we fight. I don't want that. But you should want it even less." Starbeat gulped. "...Fair. Pinkie's Party and Corona will be put on trial." "Simultaneously? You're in a hurry." "It has to be done quickly." Eve frowned. "...For what it's worth, I give my word that we will accept the result of a fair trial." Starbeat stood up with a curt nod. "You better. Now excuse me, I have to prepare." She and Gamzee walked out. Eve shook her head. "Flutterfree... I've got everything set up to completely overthrow the government they've prepared here. Azula and I have found people whose Rage can be turned against the system. But it won't be pretty, and I'd rather we didn't have to do that. So you need to do whatever you can to cancel the Rage in that courtroom, okay?" Flutterfree nodded. "I'm sure I can do something. ...But what if we still get a guilty verdict?" "Merodi Universalis death penalty is exceptionaly rare, and... even then, Corona might accept it." Eve sighed. "I don't know if I'll be able to let her make that sacrifice, but that's just me being selfish." Flutterfree put a wing around Eve. "You've earned the right to be a little selfish." Eve laughed bitterly. "...How can we help Starbeat?" "Get her away from Gamzee." Eve knew what she was implying. "I'd rather not." "I'd rather not too. But we might have to. It should be kept as a last resort." Eve nodded slowly. Why can't the fighting just stop with the war? ~~~ Roland of Gilead kicked the door in, revolver ready to plant a bullet into the head of anyone inside. To his mixed disappointment and relief, there wasn't a soul inside. However, the lights were on, and a speaker in the ceiling was playing elevator music, so he didn't let his guard down quite yet. He shuffled in, Aradia and Jenny right behind him. He briefly wondered why he was the one leading the charge since he had the least abilities at his disposal, but he quickly understood. They looked up with him to respect, not just as a figure of legend, but also as a leader. They moved past the entry hall into a corridor lined with blank paintings, giving the area a feeling of complex emptiness. He still saw no signs of life, but at this point the elevator music was starting to get to him. Why did they play such repetitive noises in their buildings? They swept the first floor without incident, finding room after empty room. There was little evidence of anyone having lived in the building, but the music, the lights, and the amount of appliances turned on seemed to contradict this feeling. It was like someone had wanted to confuse whoever entered it. If that was the case, it was working. Jenny walked up to a coffee maker. It was warm, but there was no sign of any coffee cups, coffee, or even a filter. She shook her head in disbelief, trying to make sense of it. They eventually came to the back door and opened it, letting Burgerbelle and Thrackerzod in. "No sign of anyone on the first floor," Aradia said. "And it doesn't make sense," Jenny added. "How so?" Thrackerzod asked. "Just come look for yourself." Soon, Thrackerzod was looking at the coffee machine. "...This is decidedly perplexing." "No, really?" "They may have known we were coming. Or perhaps they were trying to burn the place down with a potential fire hazard..." "Better ways to do that," Jenny said. "And that doesn't explain why everything's so clean." "They're trolling," Burgerbelle said, twirling her finger. "They knew we'd track them down. I wonder if we'll even find any copies of the book here." Jenny curled her hand into a fist. "This better not have been for nothing..." She marched up the stairs to the second floor and found it much the same as the first. Even the bathroom was unnaturally clean despite the sink's faucet being on full blast heat. She stuck her finger into the water and found it was warm. "...You know, I don't even have to look at the plans for this area of the city, but I bet this one has a personal water heater. This water can't remain warm like this for very long." "Trolls..." Aradia said, narrowing her eyes. "They are going through a lot of trouble..." "Delays," Roland said, marching up to the third floor. "They're buying time." Jenny clapped her hands together. "Right! Search faster!" They scrambled up to the third floor, not caring about the heater, the air conditioning, or the TV stuck playing a DVD copy of Star Trek: Wrath of Kahn. Finding nothing, they eventually went to the attic. The attic was lit by a single bulb. It was almost completely empty, save for a single box filled with booklets. The Emissary and What She Means to You. There was nothing else of interest in the room. Jenny picked up one of the books and torched it. "Right, that's not any help. At all. Not even a printing press or anything here." Thrackerzod closed her eyes. "I'm not so sure... I'm detecting a magic signature. Faint, but not too faint..." "Can you follow it?" "I think the magic was drained from the room so a lot of the details are vague... But I think I recognize the blend. It's Rev and... someone else. Darker. Significantly darker." Jenny pulled out her phone and sent a search query to the City's computer systems. \|> Last known location of Rev: Icthus Street, three hours ago. Accompanied by Rina. Grid has no further data. Jenny sent a query to find her. \|> City database requests are limited to maximize available processing. "Crud, computer can't find her. Anybody know where Icthus Street is?" "It's the street right outside," Thrackerzod deadpanned. Roland let out a 'tch'. "They grabbed her." "We should file a report," Aradia said. "...But we're the ones the report would get to eventually," Jenny pointed out. "Just file it for the sake of being organized." Jenny kicked the box. "Fine. This entire trip has been a waste." "We know they have Rev," Burgerbelle said. "And we know there are more books," Roland added, gesturing at the box. "They left one box here. Recently. There are probably more. They have to be somewhere." Thrackerzod grinned. "All we have to do is find out where they're distributing them..." "But we can't use the computer to analyze all book sales right now," Jenny said. "All we've got is the record of what's happened, no extrapolation." "They distributed through Dracogen last time," Aradia said. "We can use your computers to analyze your sales, right?" Jenny furrowed her brow. "Maybe... Maybe. They might have gotten smart through..." "I thought you were the only major distributor of anything in the City aside from the government itself?" Burgerbelle asked. Jenny paused for a moment - then smiled. "You're right. They'll have to go through us again. I'll put everyone on alert. And then we'll just... wait." Her smile fell. "...Today is going to be a lot of that, I can tell..." ~~~ Mattie woke up to the sight of the Everykid looking at her with concern. "Whatever it is, it didn't kill me, so it's good," Mattie said with a chuckle. She glanced to her front left leg and saw it was badly broken. She'd probably landed directly on it and pulverized the bone inside. Not all that unusual for her, though. She gently pulled her boot off the broken leg and tore it down the middle, converting the sole and the fabric into a makeshift splint. As much as she appreciated the pain she would find it rather annoying if it kept making her fall over. She naturally held her broken leg to her chest as she stood on her other three. They were heavily bruised, but that was nothing. She looked around, slightly confused to find herself on a moving octagonal platform in the middle of a bunch of other platforms. "...Where's the ship?" The Everykid pointed up at a swinging blade. What remained of the Skiff had been skewered and was swinging back and forth with the periodic trap. "I see... Nettle?" The Everykid didn't even need to point, Mattie saw Nettle sitting on one of the few unmoving platforms in the area, holding her legs close to her chest. Mattie waved at her. "Nettle! Over here!" "I. Am not. Moving," Nettle said. Mattie sighed. "Right... Gonna have to carry her and jump through all this stuff all with a broken leg. Fun." The Everykid nodded. "...How'd you survive getting ejected out anyway?" The Everykid double jumped off the platform and fell to a lower one. Just before she landed and crushed both her legs, she opened her Parasol and drifted down gently. She then proceeded to use a complex wall jump maneuver to gain height, latching onto the swinging blade with her grapple shot and swung back to Mattie's platform. "Bet this feels like home, huh?" The Everykid nodded. "How about you go explore around while I make sure Nettle doesn't fall off or something?" The Everykid saluted. She blew a 'feel better soon' kiss at Nettle before hooking onto the blade and swinging herself even higher into the platforming labyrinth. Mattie gracefully hopped across two platforms to get to Nettle. "So... You gonna sit here all day?" "Yes. Yes I am. And night. I'm not moving." "Hope you like starving." Nettle responded with a grunt. "Look, it was just a little ship crash, happens all the time. Nothing to be that worked up over, trust me. You're completely unharmed." "Just let the kid find the way out." "Dear, when she finds the way out we still have to get to it." Nettle looked away. "Aw, geez," Mattie muttered, realizing it fell to her again to try and comfort someone. Sometimes I wish for the good ol' days where I didn't give a rat's arse... "Right, okay, here's the deal. You, you are great. You are White Nettle, the last Downstreamer. You should be able to do th-" "Aren't you psychotic?" "...I mean, not in a clinical sense but I wouldn't call that a bad descriptor..." "Then what are you trying to do? You can't explain what's going on! You..." "I don't think I was tryin' to?" "Just shut up. I don't want to hear anything right now." Mattie blinked. "...Something else is going on here. You're not just scared for your life. Something's... going on." Nettle made no response. "Oh come on, this isn't exactly my strong suit! Give me something to work with here!" Nettle didn't give her anything. "Balls," Mattie muttered. "I think I need the kid back. HEY! KID! HELP?" The Everykid was far out of sight, no help there. Mattie sighed. Then she sat down next to Nettle. "Guess we'll sit here 'til we starve then. It'll make for some good bonding time, don't'cha think?" Nettle had apparently decided the silent treatment was the best way to pretend Mattie wasn't there. "Y'know, you can't keep this up forever. I have ways of making people talk." Silence. Mattie smirked. "So, normally, I'd just start describing something particularly 'squicky' and erotic in excruciating detail, but that won't do anything to you so instead, I'm just going to count to ten in time with the sound of my whip." Nettle didn't make eye contact, but Mattie could tell she was confused. "Starting from negative ten billion." Mattie let out a crack of the whip. "Negative ten billion..." Crack. "Negative nine billion nine-hundred ninety-nine million, nine-hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine-hundred ninety nine..." Crack. "Negative nine billion nine-hundred ninety-nine million, nine-hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine-hundred ninety eight..." Nettle showed no signs of giving in. No matter. Mattie could be patient. Very patient. ~~~ Corona released Pinkie from a hug. "Never in my life did I think I would see you, with your eyes back, while both of us were in jail on the Hub." "I mean, we could get out at any time," Pinkie pointed out. She glanced around before whispering into Corona's ear. "Eve's got a backup plan too. Coup's afoot." "I really hope it doesn't come to that," Corona said, standing up. "...I need to face this, and they need to decide where they stand with me." "It'll come to that no matter what," Vriska muttered. "Gamzee's got her in his little trap. He's gotten really good at the Bardy Shenanigans... We need to keep checking ourselves for Rage influence. Constantly." Jotaro furrowed his brow. "Is there a way to remove it?" "I don't know. Rage is one of the more directly powerful aspects," Vriska said, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. "I have little experience with it. I never dealt with a fully-realized Bard of Rage directly, Kurloz is a Prince of Rage and isn't a good indicator of how Rage works, and Flutterfree used the power in this fashion so rarely we never really needed to remove it." "We'll get her back," Pidge said, putting a hand on Vriska's shoulder. "Yay, and then she'll fucking hate me for normal reasons," Vriska muttered. "She's coming," Pinkie said, suddenly. "This conversation didn't happen. And... let's let her and Corona have their moment." Pinkie moved her team to the back of the cell. Corona stood up and put her hands on the bars. She sighed. "She's right. You look sad," Starbeat said, walking into the room. "Pathetic. Didn't have the strength after all? I bet you tried to kill yourself to end the pain." Corona bit her lip hard, drawing her glowing blood. All to keep from exploding in anger. "He's really gotten to you." "We're not here to talk about that. You - and that team cowering behind you - are going on trial for your crimes." "I know," Corona said. "I'll let the trial happen. I do deserve to be judged." Starbeat growled. "Clearly an execution won't suit you. You will have to be tormented." Corona smiled sadly. "Your torment wouldn't compare to what I've done to myself." "Stop being so prideful." Corona sighed. "I should... It is pride, in a way. You're right." She looked Starbeat in the eyes. "I'm going to help you." "You always think you can help people... But did you ever think that your help might be damaging? Horrible?" "Yes. Every day of the war." Starbeat shook her head. "How?" Corona shrugged. "I'm... not sure how I managed. Ka, perhaps. All I know is that my motives were pure the entire time." "How can you know that!?" Corona pointed at the Master Sword lying with the rest of her belongings in a pile outside the cell. "...It told me I was worthy. I pulled it out of Toph's grave." "That's just a stupid artifact!" "Bound to a woman who, in my last encounter with her, hated my guts." Corona curled her hands into fists. "I killed her. And the sword still accepted me. That means something." "It means nothing! No sword is a judge of justice!" Jotaro ran to the bars, pushing Corona aside. "Justice!? You talk of Justice!?" "You think I'm prideful?" Starbeat laughed. "No. I'm only dealing out justice because no one else wants to. Everyone wants to forgive you. All of you. But I'll show them. You must pay, and you won't get to make this world your own!" "You've become the antagonist, Starbeat," Pinkie said from the back of the cell. "You should turn around while you can." Starbeat glared at her. "You know I won't." "I know. You've been played like a xylophone..." Pinkie shook her head. "I hope you survive this, Starbeat." Starbeat blinked. "S-shut up." She turned and ran out of the jail. Corona let out a breath. "...She has the legal case, you know. We did things, and we did not receive any punishment for them beyond what we did to ourselves." "Merodi Universalis's legal system has never been about eye-for-an-eye," Pidge pointed out. "This isn't Merodi Universalis's legal system, anymore. And... in that case, I think that's a good thing." "...Do you want to be punished, or something?" Pidge asked. No answer was forthcoming. ~~~ "Got something!" Jenny said, looking at her phone. "4219 Red Stree-" Her face fell. "...Headquarters!?" "You don't keep a very tight hold on your business, do you?" Thrackerzod asked. Jenny ignored her. "Th-that's impossible! Headquarters doesn't handle any sort of distributing!" "Sounds like a perfect cover to me." "And they'd have to have someone working on the inside! I..." Jenny crushed her phone in her hands. "I've got a traitor." "Oh, fun!" Aradia said. "So, are we going to go teach them a lesson, follow them, or-" Jenny snapped her fingers, teleporting them to the front doors of Dracogen Headquarters. The building had been hastily slapped together in the early days of the City, but it still managed to look vaguely like the original at the base of the Ninth World's Beanstalk. Which was to say, a mish-mash of unusual technology built around a central amber pole. Jenny stormed in, kicking the revolving doors just so they would let her in faster. "Looks like she chose 'teach them a lesson'," Roland said, adjusting his hat before following her, the others close behind. There was no receptionist for Headquarters, just a security guard who knew better than to ask Jenny for credentials when she was like this. She marched right through the back wall and came out in an empty conference room. She took a hard left and entered the adjoining break room where a thin purple Gem was making herself some coffee. "Starshine, my computers tell me there's some distributing going on here. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that?" She rammed her face into Starshine's. "Do you!?" "Uh... J-Jenny, I don't know anything about that! We don't do distributing here!" "I know that," Jenny growled. "So how do you explain this!?" Starshine examined Jenny's phone. "...You broke your phone?" Aradia snickered. "Aradia, I swear..." Jenny shook her head. "Point is, our algorithms detected a particular problematic book of misinformation passing through this building, probably in an attempt to keep it under our radar. As the secretary, you should have seen signs of that." "I... I haven't seen anything like that!" Her legs lit on fire. "AUGH!" Jenny blinked. "I... what?" Burgerbelle shrugged. "Liar liar." She kicked open a cupboard and revealed stacks of the booklet inside instead of coffee cups. The fire went out a second later, unable to do more than scare a Gem. "I can explain..." "Yes you can," Jenny said, a malicious smile creeping up her face. "But first..." She empowered her fist with vibrating energy and socked Starshine right in the face, stopping just short of poofing the Gem. Starshine backed herself up against a wall, nervously looking left and right. "Look, it isn't against company policy to do things off the record for extra cash..." "Jenny..." Aradia said, raising an eyebrow. "Shut up, Nanoha needed that loophole for government work," Jenny defended. "I just kept it around in the interests of being fair." "Jenny..." "Okay, fine, it was probably stupid and I bet the next few hours are going to make me profoundly regret the decision. But let's deal with the here and now." She glared at Starshine. "Who gave you the books and where can I find them?" She gulped. "It was... the Fire Lily. She's currently in the basement... Probably can hear all of this..." Thrackerzod blinked. "You have a Flower in the basement!?" Starshine nodded slowly. "There aren't any Flowers in the City!" Jenny shouted. "You should have known that!" "...She had a lot of money, resources, and technology..." Jenny twitched. "Why does this all go wrong today? Over a century, everything went smoothly..." "It's finally time for you to learn," Roland said. "That's stupid, it's all stupid." Of course it is, to those who do not comprehend the Tower's will. Roland drew his gun and aimed it at the hovering orange Flower in the doorway. There is no need for that, gunslinger. Killing me with a bullet of purpose will do naught. The information you seek will die with me. Jenny cracked her knuckles. "We'll torture you until it comes out." I have no intention of telling you anything. I am simply here to defuse the situation. Jenny tapped into her rarely-used psychic powers and tried to raid Fire Lily's mind. This was a poor and ill-advised move that made Jenny pass out. The foolish shall shame the wise indeed. Such a childish individual gifted with the opportunity for power. Just the right mixture of scatterbrained and earnest to keep from true evil... but never truly a paragon. "Thrackerzod, call the fleet," Aradia said. "I think we'll need my sisters for this one." A waste of time. "...Like time's an issue to them," Thrackerzod muttered, taking out her phone. "Yeah, this is Thrackerzod, tell all the Aradias you can to get to Dracogen Headquarters as soon as possible." It took less than a minute for over two hundred Aradias to fill the building. ...I have to admit, I did not foresee you going for such a simple option. "Has your faith fallen short?" Roland asked. No. This is no glitch. I am to be given a trial. I shall meet it wi- "Get her!" the 'main' Aradia shouted, tackling the Flower to the ground. They didn't use any psychic powers at all - they just piled on top of her. What? "This'll be over in no time," several of them said at once. Fire Lily tried to fight back, but it was already too late - they tore off all her petals and snapped her stem in half before her psychic energies could do much. Then, within extremely slowed time, they forced their mental powers into her startled, broken, nearly dead mind. In such panicked state, her normally impenetrable defenses fell to the power of the Aradias, allowing them to grab what they needed with ease. They would not have allowed themselves to actually kill the Flower, though, so they physically fused the being's soul to one of her petals, essentially enchanting the piece of her old body. One of the Aradias took the petal in her hand and vanished. Almost all the others left to return to what they were doing prior. Only the original Aradia remained. "She wrote the book herself based on information received from one Bonker. A Scout working in Nanoha's Tower." Thrackerzod performed a search. "...He's a security guard. The exact details are classified, give me a second..." She blinked. "I don't have clearance." Roland swiped her phone. He took a moment to remember his security code and pressed it in. He grimaced when he saw the answer. "One of Flagg's guards..." ~~~ I ran my wing across a nearby circular platform, overriding Roxy's Void powers with my own so I could feel it. "I should know what this is... I'm almost positive it's being kept from me on purpose." "How's it feel to be normal?" Daniel asked. I glared up at him. "It's not normal. ...Do you see yourself becoming bitter?" "I'm alive and I shouldn't be. Can you really blame me?" "No, but you're still you, you haven't Come Back Wrong or anything. You still have control over yourself even if it hurts." Daniel's steeled exterior fell. "...Do we really have control, Twilence?" "I think so," Roxy said from up ahead. "But the Tower..." "Is a paradox," Roxy finished for him, putting her hands on her hips. "It defines us, we define it. We are both what the philosophers would call 'contingent beings'. We create each other." "...I wasn't aware you knew philosophy," Sunny commented. Roxy shrugged. "I'm a hopeless combination of party girl, master rogue, mad scientist, Gem, and book geek." She shrugged. "I read a lot of stuff." Daniel smiled softly. "Following in your mother's footsteps?" Roxy pressed her fingers together and chuckled. "I haven't gotten anything published yet! Got a lot of rejections, and I wasn't allowed to make a name for myself after I took the Intelligence Division job. But maybe when all this is over..." "You should definitely follow your dream," I said. "So many of us get caught up in the antics of existence..." I shook my head. "What are you going to do when this is over?" I looked down at the Eye of Rhyme. "When I finally lose this thing... I'd make a good literature professor, scientist, magician, but I think I'm done with all those sorts of things. I think... a counselor. I haven't been as close to friendship as I would like." "I'm going to map this whole universe," Sunny said, smirking. "Every. Last. Corner." "Without FTL that could take centuries or more," I pointed out. "So? I can take breaks. We're immortal, we can take however long we want." Roxy smirked. "I'm going to be an inventor-author combo! Yes!" "Not going to throw in a bit of party girl?" "The inventions will be party-related. I shall get an army of Pinkies." There was a chorus of laughs. But then we realized one person wasn't laughing - Daniel. He was just sitting there, dejected. "Hey, hey..." Roxy said, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You... don't have to try to comfort me. There's nothing for me to plan for. I just..." He looked away, afraid to speak. "Daniel, I..." I didn't get to finish because the Everykid dropped right in the middle of our little group. She pointed frantically to the left and downward. "...You crashed into our ship!" Roxy realized. The Everykid nodded vigorously - then she pointed again. I spread my wings. "She was probably from the ship. The rest of them must be down there. Prepare for some teleports..." I got us there in five jumps. I quickly identified Mattie and... White Nettle. And suddenly I understood. "By the bricks of the Tower, I-" Mattie stopped herself at a 'nine' and shushed me. "Darling, wait a minute before you start spouting that epiphany of yours. I need to have a word with someone. Ahem. Daniel." Daniel found it hard to look at her. "...What?" "Looks like I'm the one who has to tell you this because everyone else is too soft in the head. Sissies, the lot of you. Daniel, it is completely fine to be looking forward to the end. You can admit it. They may not agree with you, but at this point if they don't understand they deserve a good whipping." Roxy turned to Daniel. "...You just want it to be over?" "It... It can't be over, not yet," Daniel said, grimacing. "But... when it is... I won't fight it. I'm... I'm sorry." He hung his head, a tear running down his face. "I... I was supposed to be gone. I was ready. When she left, I was supposed to go..." His features turned to rage. "And something's keeping me here!" Roxy's expression softened. "...I understand. As much as you may think I can't, I... I do understand." She put a hand on his shoulder. "I... When John..." Daniel sagged. "...But you aren't wasting away." "...No." "Then I am sorry, you don't understand. There is something... else. I don't know how to describe it." He paused. "...Thank you." I noticed White Nettle staring at us with a confused expression. She couldn't understand. She had no idea what was going on. I smiled softly at her. "It's okay. ...Well, no, it's not okay, but there's nothing you need to worry about here." I landed next to her and folded my wings up neatly. "You know what this place is." She twitched. "No, no I don't, no, get away." "This is a Downstreamer creation," I answered for her. "One of the last they created. Part of their mission to achieve Infinity. A prototype." "No... No, I'm not here!" "Yes, you're here, Nettle. This place... it's for you. The rest of us are just here because we needed somewhere to be. But you... you're here because you have to be. You were sent here, weren't you?" "I don't want it!" Nettle wailed. "...Why not?" Mattie asked. "It might give you your powers back." "...And what else would it do to me?" Nettle asked. "I... I have something now, something I didn't have before. I don't know where it's going and I don't know what it can give me, but..." I laid a wing on her. "...I can get you help. If it changes you, there are ways to bring you back if you lose yourself. I promise to do everything in my power to help you if that happens. In fact..." I brought out my notebook and tore out a page. "Let's cement it in the winds of ka itself. As a Prophet, I can create what is known as a Contract. A deal that cannot be broken. It is an absolute." "...There's... no chance you'll fail?" "Not even death can prevent a true Contract from being left unfulfilled. There are... often unintended consequences of a very drastic nature, but I'm willing to risk that for you since you need it." I signed the paper myself. "Just take this... and open yourself up to the world around you." Nettle shakily held the Contract in her hand. Wordlessly, she took a pen from me and scribbled some lines at the bottom. I rolled it up and placed it in one of my pocket dimensions. Already, I felt the familiar sense of a chain around my heart. ...If I was correct, this Contract would stay locked around my soul until the day the Tower fell. Nettle would not be able to feel it, but I would. A constant limitation... But I knew what Nettle was about to do would be more important than my comfort. She took a breath - still afraid, but with enough confidence to extend a hand. The moment she opened herself to the Downstreamer technology around her, it affixed itself to her. Every platform in sight began to rotate around her in a complex pattern of circles. Her arm started burning. She screamed. ~~~ Starbeat organized the trial quickly. It was held in the same hall that had tried the Gem Vein oh so long ago, but this time there was no tribunal in the middle of the stage. There was simply a Prosecution table and a Defense table. There was no judge - instead, there was a computer in the center. This computer had been one of the most interesting and effective additions to the Merodi Legal System. It was able to sense the surface thoughts and emotions of everyone involved in the case, allowing it not only to find a guilty/not guilty verdict, but also determine how guilty or not guilty they were, allowing for proper scaling of punishments according to the overall 'jury' of those watching. It removed the need for a judge or tribunal, and the only bias it would have would be that of the people as a whole. Since it had been running trials almost without a defense at all for the last few weeks, it had never produced a truly not guilty result. It hadn't demanded many executions though - such a verdict was placed as a truly last resort for the most guilty of the guilty, such as Phage and Rosalina. Most often it just sentenced jail time, animated suspension, removal of any powers, or occasionally something more creative. All Eve had to do was play against it in the case, and that meant winning over the crowd enough to keep it from declaring an execution. She doubted she could get a 'not guilty' for Corona, but for Pinkie's group... maybe. It depended on how well her plans worked. She looked to the Prosecution table. Starbeat was there - but Gamzee was missing. If all was going according to plan, Flutterfree would be keeping Gamzee busy, so his Rage powers wouldn't interfere with the trial. Starbeat clearly suspected something. But the trial was about to start, and she had no time to question Eve. If she delayed the trial to find Gamzee, Eve would contest and bring his Rage abilities to the light, which would likely destroy the trial's authority. So she was just going to have to deal. The computer beeped. "THE TRIAL SHALL BEGIN: THE PEOPLE VERSUS CORONA SHIMMER, PINKIE PIE, JOTARO KUJO, PIDGE HOLT, AND VRISKA SERKET. EACH ARE TO BE JUDGED SEPARATELY BUT FOR ALL THE CRIMES ARE SIMILAR. CRIMES AGAINST THE MULTIVERSE: SPECIFICALLY ORCHESTRATING THE COLLAPSE. PROSECUTION, STATE YOUR CASE." Starbeat glanced at the empty seat next to her and bristled. She forced her expression into a flat, reasonable one. "Citizens of the Hub, today we have with us the worst of the worst. Before us today is Corona Shimmer, the person who began the War for Existence with a wish, and then proceeded to become the leader of all efforts to collapse the multiverse. She succeeded, and she survived the Dusting she brought upon all of us. She is, by far the worst person we have ever had stand at this podium. This should be an open and shut case where the worst possible punishment the computer can come up with will be exacted upon her. "However, for the sake of the system, I will list everything she has done to deserve this. Aside from making the wish that started the war, she betrayed Merodi Universalis to do so, she organized the entire collapse army to kill trillions upon trillions of people, she personally killed one of our own Overheads in cold blood, she destroyed many universes with her personal magic, and has given no indication she regrets any of those choices. She is the reason, the source for all our suffering, and instead of being given what she deserved; she has been shown kindness and forgiveness. This cannot stand. "As for Pinkie's team, much of the same could be said of them. They did not cause the War for Existence, and they did not organize the death of so many, but they were still traitors to Merodi Universalis. They moved from being the Primary Exploration Team to the collapse's Primary Strike Force. They were given great weapons, destroyed many ships, and became names that were feared on the battlefield. Pinkie's Awareness has been shown time and time again to be a source of violent breakouts. Jotaro has brutally killed many just by waving the hands of his Stand. Pidge programmed weapons of war for the collapse movement, including the infamous Final Dawn. And Vriska... her list of crimes knows no end. Cruelty. Maliciousness. Apathy to genocide. A complete disregard for those around her. Hatred." Starbeat had to catch her breath. "I believe there is no need to even think about the defense. There is nothing they can do to make up for the damage they've caused. They must pay the price. But Overhead Evening Sparkle thinks otherwise, so out of respect for what she's done for our cause, I shall let her have her say." "Thank you," Eve said, turning to the computer for confirmation. "DEFENSE, YOU MAY BEGIN." Eve cleared her throat. "First off, I want it known that I am not claiming they didn't do any of the acts Starbeat described. They did them, and they did them under their own wills for the most part. Pinkie's team largely went only because of their loyalty to Pinkie, but that does little to excuse what they did. I agree, it was horrible, and the goal they were seeking was not worth the price. "No, I'm not asking you to forget what they did. I'm not even asking you to forgive them, like I have. What I'm asking you to do is to realize that they're people just like you and me - and that they don't deserve to be brutally murdered. They are not evil villains of pure darkness who cannot be reasoned with or understood. They are people of pure heart who fought for what they believed was right, just like we did. Had the war gone differently, no doubt we would be on the stage right now, being judged for our war crimes. Things we did because of pure intentions. "Every single thing Corona did, I did as well. You claim that I didn't start the War for Existence - but I did, in a way. I had the opportunity to stop Corona from making that wish. But I let her do it, because I thought she was right at the time. Right that no single person had the right to decide the fate of the multiverse. I now realize that, even together, we did not have the right to decide, but that changes nothing about my decision. Even now... I would rather all of us fought over this than have Corona try to do it in secret. It would have been much worse. "You also claim I have never betrayed Merodi Universalis." She looked Starbeat right in the eyes. "This is incorrect. I orchestrated the war against Skarn over a lie." Everyone gasped. "I believed I was doing right, that I was sacrificing people for the greater good of destroying Skarn's Congeries. And yet, after this betrayal, I was still your leader - and I moved on to lead our Relations through our Class 2 era, and Merodi Universalis is better off because of it. I regret my choice to go to war, because I was not ready to sacrifice my friends. But it seems to have been the right decision. In the same vein, Corona saw what was right - and believed she needed to sacrifice so many to accomplish the goal of ending the Tower's hold on us. Even if you don't agree with her, you can see why. "Pinkie, in many ways, is something none of us can understand fully. She sees what ka and the Tower means, how it works, what it does to us. She has lived her entire life with the knowledge that we are being watched, that we are pixels on a screen, words on a page. When she realized this might not be a fact of life she just had to accept, she decided to fight it. The others, who had served with her for over seventy years, followed their Captain because they trusted her. Flutterfree would have joined them as well had Pinkie not ordered her to stay back. "Seventy years... Think about that. All the people being put on trial before you have given an entire lifetime to the people around them. Their 'crimes' in the War for Existence lasted less than a year. A single percent of their lives dealt with what you are trying them for. Before that, they did so, so many things for us! Corona gave us non-magical dimensional devices! She gave us complex dimensional magic! And, above all, she declared war on death itself and won. The immortality serum has the potential to save more lives than anything that came before it, and you want to kill her and throw it away. Even if she needs to be punished, from a practical standpoint, you should want her around. "And Pinkie's team... I'm willing to bet most of you know the story of when the Primary Team first visited your world. There are not many major Merodi Worlds that weren't touched by these great heroes. Did they seek to conquer you? To force their way of life on you? To kill anyone? No! They always sought the peaceful answer, the heroic way, the peaceful way. They devoted themselves to the people they visited, seeking to understand, to learn, and to make friends. Even in the war, they did this! They worked with the other side when they had to against the Nihilists, they used capture devices whenever possible to minimize pointless death, and they never resorted to brutal gruesome tactics. The rules of war were never broken between the two sides because of people like them. "These people you are trying are not villains. They are heroes. I have known many of them most of my life, and I can attest that they still have pure hearts within them. Sure, they have flaws - Corona's obsessively determined, Pinkie's too excitable, Pidge can get too fixated, Jotaro's too reserved, and Vriska's got a huge list of problems. But they're good people and they never stopped being good people. They stand before you now asking for your mercy. That you remember them for what they used to mean to you: heroes. Heroes who would, and still will, lay down their lives for you. Give you mercy." Eve folded up her wings and sat back down, a grin on her face. Something about giving one of those speeches and being able to hear it naturally had given her an emotional high. "PROSECUTION, ANY RETORTS?" Starbeat twitched. "A few. Heroes wouldn't want the destruction of so many lives." Eve shook her head. "People can be very, very wrong and still be heroes. Now that the war is over, they can be heroes to this New World. If you kill them... you will be robbing this world of a gift. They will not be able to continue bringing peace." "They brought war." "A war that wasn't as bad as it could have been." Starbeat sighed. "...We'll just go back and forth forever like this. Even if they are heroes, they still need to be punished for what they did." "Regardless of any past selflessness?" "What they did undoes all of that." "Then perhaps they have already paid their dues? And if not, letting them go free and continue to be heroes could make up the rest?" Starbeat bristled. "That's too lenient and you know it." "I don't think so." Starbeat paused. "...We're getting nowhere. I don't have any evidence besides what everyone already knows. You?" "I already used it in my opening statements." "In that case..." "HAS THE TRIAL CONCLUDED?" the computer asked. Eve and Starbeat nodded. "AVERAGING OUT OPINIONS..." For a few seconds, there was complete silence. "A VERDICT HAS BEEN REACHED." "What is it?" Starbeat asked. "SCALING PUNISHMENTS. CORONA RECEIVES ETERNITY IN PRISON MIXED WITH COMMUNITY SERVICE PRODUCING IMMORTALITY POTIONS AND WHATEVER OTHER TASKS THE GOVERNMENT SEES FIT THROUGH HER SKILLSET. A TRACKER WILL BE ON HER AT ALL TIMES AND SHE WILL BE CAREFULLY MONITORED." Starbeat seemed annoyed at first - but then her expression became satisfied, as if she had just realized something. She was the government... Corona was just surprised she wasn't being executed. "PINKIE PIE AND HER TEAM ARE TO PAY THEIR TIME THROUGH HEROIC ACTS IN DANGEROUS SITUATIONS WITHIN THE EXPEDITIONS DIVISION." "WHAT!?" Starbeat screeched, her voice carrying through the hall. "THAT'S NOT A PUNISHMENT! YOU'RE JUST GIVING THEM THEIR JOB BACK!" "IT IS THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE," the computer said. "IF YOU WISH TO CONTEST THE CHARGE, COURT MAY BE RESCHEDULED AT A LATER DATE." "I don't want to reschedule!" Starbeat shouted. "I w-" "You're arguing with a soulless machine," Eve pointed out. "It completed its verdict. You can have Corona imprisoned for eternity; everyone else is free to go save the world. Which is what they were going to do anyway before you took them." "You... bitch! You rigged this!" Eve shook her head. "I removed the rigging you had in place." "I'll have your head if you did anything to Gamzee!" "Flutterfree wouldn't hurt a fly unless she had to," Eve pointed out. "All the manipulation is gone. All we have to do i-" The front doors of the auditorium smashed open, revealing Storm leading two dozen angry Hub civilians. Eve didn't need to think very hard to know the civilians behind him were full of Rage. So full that they wouldn't be able to accept this verdict... Storm pointed at Pinkie. "Kill her." Eve raised a forcefield, deflecting the gunfire - but Starbeat rammed into her, dissipating the shield. Pinkie slipped out of her restraints and removed the cuffs on Corona, allowing the Princess of Passion to raise a shield instead. The entire hall erupted into violent chaos. Not only were Corona, Eve, and Pinkie's Party fighting for their lives - but the people who had been convinced of their heroism and had the rage purged in the trial were fighting their neighbors. What had once been a united Rage against the collapse had turned into a horrid, internal Rage of division within the Hub. A Civil War had begun because Eve had taken the person who directed the Rage out of the picture. All the plans she had for a coup were completely unnecessary in the face of this pure chaos. ~~~ Flagg was held in the most secure area of the entire City. A mile beneath the ground directly under Nanoha's skyscraper was a room with no physical entrances or exits. The area was completely drained of magic, though the proximity to the Tower ensured this measure was never perfectly reliable. So the walls were made of triple-reinforced metal crafted out of numerous legendary metals, surrounded by several force fields, and always guarded by a hundred unmanned mechs enchanted to swim through earth like water. Every square inch of his room was lined with microscopic cameras that recorded his every movement. Every single blink was recorded, as well as the patterns of his sweat. Nothing would escape the cameras. Despite this setup, he received visitors constantly. Never physically in the room, of course, but through a voice-only communication line run through several filters to ensure he could never use his signature voice commands on the other end. Only the highest ranking leaders could talk to him, and while they all hated him, they all agreed that Flagg could be an invaluable source of information. They couldn't afford not to hear what he had to say. When he didn't have a 'visitor', he always had three different guards watching him through the cameras. There were only six total guards granted clearance to watch him and report any thoroughly suspicious behavior. One of these guards was Bonker, a scout on loan from Saxton Hale renowned for his loyalty, devotion, and above-average intelligence. He was taken into custody before Jenny woke up on Thrackerzod's back. "Wh... what happened?" "Flagg happened," Thrackerzod muttered. "One of his guards is responsible for the whole fiasco. We're going to see the man in black himself to demand some answers right now." "...Geez, this escalated even quicker than I thought." She rubbed her head. "Wonder how many memories were scrambled because of that...?" "Do you know who I am?" Roland asked. Jenny stared at him blankly. He turned away, grunting. "Amusing." Jenny broke out into a grin. "I can never pull a fast one on you." She hopped off Thrackerzod and onto her feet. "So, Flagg. This should be fun." They walked into the high-security room covered in screens. There were three chairs all occupied by different guards. None of them looked away from the screens to greet the newcomers. These guards took their jobs seriously. "Let him hear us," Roland ordered. One of the guards pressed a button. "Walter," Roland said. "Still using that name, Roland?" Flagg asked, chuckling. Since every camera in the room was picking up and transmitting audio, it gave Flagg's voice a disturbing, layered sound. "I've grown so much beyond that now..." "Clearly. Since you're able to sow discord even from within a cage." "What did I do this time?" Flagg asked with a laugh. "Spreading lies about the Emissary." "Her name's Renee, you know. She refers to herself as such. You really should be more respectful of people's choice in names, gunslinger." "Stop beating around the bush, we know it was you," Jenny said, folding her arms. "How'd you convince Bonker to give Tiger Lily that information?" "Oh, his name is Bonker, is it? Strange, I never knew. They don't tell you their names in here. Not even if you ask." He chuckled. "But you know what? I'm feeling generous. I'll tell you exactly how I did it. It all started with a simple mistake. Nanoha decided to pay me a visit when the guards shifted. I kept that time locked in my mind until I was able to listen to another shift of guards during a 'visit'. They switch every six hours. The guards can't review the feed without request, so any guard from the even shift wouldn't know anything that happened from the odd shift. So I could spout all the lies I wanted during one of the shifts about what happened during the other shift. About my visitors. About Renee." "So what, you just kept spouting lies and people believed it?" Aradia asked. "It's not quite so simple! I had to make it sound in-character so no one would be suspicious! So I started a trend of talking to myself - or, really, to the guards - specifically complaining about the people who visited me. All the absurd things they said. And I was very truthful in everything I said about every visitor - except Renee. Of course, when she did visit, I complained about her as I did everyone else, but I always added a few things. A little hint of 'she thinks she's got it all under control' here and a sprinkle of 'she wants to save them all' there, and I could basically start a religion through a set of ears willing to listen." He grinned. "I think you'll find after interrogation that 'Bonker' had a history in a Dark Tower cult. My bet would be one that considers the spirograph a sacred symbol." "How could you know that?" Thrackerzod demanded. Flagg chuckled. "Simple, really. I had made it a habit to test the guards while the voice channel was open. Say controversial things. I could hear changes in their breathing patterns. And the one day I brought the spirograph up in relation to the Dark Tower... He reacted. I knew I had my target. I knew he would listen to everything I had to say." He clapped his hands together. "He would cart it off and want to tell the world. Discreetly, of course, so as to not jeopardize his 'blessing' of being oh so close to his beloved 'Tower will'." "Well, the book is out, but we're confiscating it," Jenny said, smirking. "Your little plan won't go anywhere." "Aren't Rev and Rina missing?" Everyone stopped short. "It's amazing what a few name drops in the middle of a sentence can do... Sounds like mad rambling to two guards, but to the third it sounds like divine gospel of their importance, of their use. Just call them 'tools of the new way' and he'll eat it up like a dog." Flagg leaned back and grinned. "My plan hasn't completed yet, and since you're here you're way too late to stop it. Have a nice day!" He closed his eyes, indicating he was done talking. The group ran out of the room as fast as they could. Aradia held up her phone, but she had to wait until they were completely off the floor to get any service. "Nanoha? We need to use Nala. Flagg's got a plan and it involves Rev and Rina - find them." A few seconds passed. "You found them?! That's impossibly fast! Where? ...Town square?" "Hide in plain sight..." Burgerbelle mused. "They're not hiding anymore," Roland deduced. ~~~ From the outside, the Downstreamer structure looked like an elongated onion that rose high into the sky with a few stray platforms swirling around its exterior. Somewhere in the middle of the structure there was a great explosion. Half a second later, there was another explosion. A fourth of a second later, there was yet another. Then an eighth, sixteenth, thirty-second... I was glad I had teleported all of us but Nettle away, because having that many explosions in such a short span of time would have been far too much for any of us to handle. As it was, even with our distance the shockwave was a bit much. In two seconds, all the explosions anyone could ever want had completed, completely vaporizing the building from existence. All that remained was White Nettle herself, floating in the middle of the air. "What in...?" Sunny said, trying her best to figure out what had happened. White Nettle stopped floating, falling to the ground. I teleported us to her and Roxy caught her. She looked the same as she had a few minutes ago - with the exception of a smooth, metallic gauntlet embedded in the skin of her right arm. She opened her eyes. "Wh..." "Do you feel... normal?" I asked. She closed her eyes tight and grunted. "Brain feels fine. ...My arm hurts though." "Well yeah, it has something on it," Mattie said, looking at the arm. "What is it?" Nettle held her limb up and examined it. Her eyes widened. "This... This is a supertask device." "...Explain?" Sunny asked. "I'd been looking for this when I still had my multiversal body, but I couldn't find it... It is a machine that tries to complete an infinite amount of tasks in a finite amount of time, layering them over each other through a mathematical pattern, usually by halves. It... it was supposed to be the thing that gave Downstreamers their Infinity, but they discovered that whenever it was used it would hit the maximum resolution of a universe. It would always get as close to Infinity as possible, but then it would either stop or destroy the universe it was in." Roxy's eyes widened. "Twilence... Do you think this could stop Lord English?" "As close to infinity as possible..." I furrowed my brow. "Unconditional Immortality must have a limit as well, and if this device can always reach the limit of any universe... That... That might be able to do it. If we could program it to kill him..." "Excuse me, what now? Lord English?" Mattie blinked. "Did we miss something?" I nodded. "Yes, you did. I'll explain later, because right now we need to find out where he is a-" A lightbulb went off in my head. "...Of course! how could I be so stupid!" "What?" Nettle asked. "The city - the city in 115, the one you are in Nettle! It was around the Dark Tower! It... He should be heading there! Right to the Tower itself! We just have to get there and we'll find him!" "Slow down!" Roxy shouted, waving her hands. "You're talking a mile-a-minute! How about you explain slowly what we're going to do?" I looked at the Eye and nodded slowly. "Right. I will. But first, I'm making sure we're off screen..." ~~~ Gamzee woke up screaming. "HONK! HONK! HONK! HONK!" Flutterfree tightened the steel wires around his chair just to be sure. They were in the back room of Iroh's teashop, a soundproofed, secure location provided by Azula. "Calm down. You'll hurt yourself if you struggle too much." "You MOTHERFUCKIN' bitch think this can HOLD ME!?!?" "If it can't, I can," Flutterfree said, tracing one of her wing-blades along his arm. "I'm not just the Page of Rage. I have more to work with than you do." She flashed her fangs. "HONK! Honk. HONK! Honk." Flutterfree ignored the honking and fixed her attention on her phone, which was receiving a transmission of the trial. She watched with bated breath - praying intensely that nobody would die. She was relieved when Corona's sentence came. It was bad, but at least she got to live. And when Pinkie's Party was given freedom... She let out a laugh. "Thank you..." "You're a MOTHERFUCKIN' IDIOT!" Flutterfree looked to him with a sly smirk. "Why? Without you there, she was able to appeal to their inner nature. What they used to be before you came along." "The Rage IS STILL MOTHERFUCKIN' THERE!" he let out a laugh. "It has to go somewhere..." It was at this point Flutterfree started hearing explosions. She heard Storm yell "kill them!" and the feed went dead. Azula rushed into the back room. "Fighting has broken out everywhere! I've lost contact with Eve!" "Mobilize our people, get them to quell the fighting," Flutterfree said. "...I was hoping we wouldn't have to take over..." Azula nodded, running out of the room and making some calls. "You won't be able to stop it..." Gamzee breathed. "THE RAGE WILL DESTROY THIS ENTIRE MOTHERFUCKIN' PLACE!" "Is that what you wanted!?" Flutterfree demanded. "To destroy this place!?" "I wanted... SOME MOTHERFUCKIN' RESPECT! But you came along... AND RUINED THAT!" He strained against the steel wires keeping him to the chair. "I was going to be the mirthful messiah to these people... THEIR RAGE WOULD BECOME THEIR MOTHERFUCKIN' LIFE! We would have been the true fulfillment... BUT PROPHECIES JUST AIN'T WHAT THEY USED TO BE!" The steel wires snapped from Gamzee's rage. Flutterfree caught the whipping wires in her blades without flinching. "So it was just a god complex? No master this time?" "THEY WERE ALWAYS ME AND MOTHERFUCKIN' ME!" Gamzee shouted, getting out of his chair with so much force he crushed the chair. "Caiborn ain't English no more... And neither am I..." "You really do want to make this New World your own." "MOTHERFUCKIN' BRILLIANT." Flutterfree spread her wings and summoned Lolo. "I can't let you." "What a motherfuckin' shame... HONK!" He produced a bow from nowhere and let an arrow fly. Flutterfree fired her bow of light at the same time. The holy arrow easily pierced Gamzee's simple projectile and hit him in the chest, right where his heart should have been. That attack should have killed most trolls - and if not that, at least slowed them down. But Gamzee was not most trolls. As purple blood poured out of his wound, he let out an amused psychotic 'HONK!' and charged Flutterfree as if nothing had happened. Flutterfree drove all her wing-blades into Gamzee. He let every last one of them pierce his chest, spurting deep purple liquid over the two of them. He licked it off his face. "Nice hit..." He raised a juggling club and hit her across the face. "BUT I AIN'T MOTHERFUCKIN' DONE!" "Didn't expect you to be," Flutterfree growled. She flew into the air and infused her hoof with Rage, kicking him through the wall. He grabbed a large piece of rubble and chucked it at her, only for her to fly around it. She let a few more arrows of light fly from her bow, hitting Gamzee in multiple locations. He still did not slow, the Rage within him giving his body more life than it should have had. Flutterfree activated Lolo - and she saw the truth. He wasn't unkillable, just heavily resistant to it. Which meant she could go a little further than she usually did. She swooped down along the ground, preparing to chop off his foot. Sensing she had decided to be more brutal, Gamzee bothered to dodge the attack, leaping through the streets of the Hub. Behind him, Hub citizens fought each other, nothing more than a background to the battle of Rage. Flutterfree could have used her abilities as the Page to stop the fighting around them. But that would have taken her focus off Gamzee, and as strong as she was, she couldn't afford to take a heavy hit from him. The battle may have been balanced, but it was not even. Flutterfree forced her breathing to level out before swooping for another attack. Gamzee threw some juggling clubs her way, but she maneuvered through them all, getting a few cuts in on his stomach. "You're living a lie... FIGHT WITH THE RAGE!" He leaped at her; teeth ready to tear her flesh apart. Flutterfree looked at him with a calm expression. "I prefer the truth without the pain." She stuck one of her wing-blades in his mouth and through his throat. She twirled herself around and infused as much Rage as she could muster into him. She threw him to the side like a discus, blasting through several dozen walls. Before he even landed, she had a follow-up planned, firing arrows of light in his direction. What she failed to account for was where he'd end up. Right in the middle of the trial auditorium. "...Sassafras," she swore, swooping in. "Sorry, I forgot to look where I was throwing him!" "YOU DUMB MOTHERFUCKIN' BITCH!" Gamzee shouted. "I've got you now... ALL THE RAGE IN THIS ROOM IS MINE!" He spread his arms wide. "NO IT'S NOT!" Flutterfree shouted, supercharging herself as a beacon of purple light. "None of the people here are yours. They. Are. Their. OWN! PEOPLE!" Her pulse of Rage counteracted Gamzee's attempts at a control. "Your Rage is nothing but senseless violence leading people to a lie! A contrivance! My Rage... my Rage is more than yours. I lead them to the truth. To resolution." "I'm gonna fuck you up..." Gamzee ground his teeth and shoved his hand forward. Tired, Flutterfree could only half-dodge, the attack taking out the left side of her face. Gamzee thought he had her. No pony would be able to still fight after that. His Rage told him the truth too late. Flutterfree twirled around in a graceful arc, all of her knives slicing him directly from the side. He'd put up no defenses against the attack. With a pitiful "honk..." he slid apart into six separate slices, becoming little more than a flood of purple blood. Flutterfree swallowed. "I'm... sorry..." She fell over, losing consciousness. "GAMZEE!" Starbeat shouted. "FLUTTERFREE!" Eve wailed. The two tried to move - but the fight came to them. Eve found herself fighting a gigantic Gem fusion, the automatic-barrier of Seraphim being the only reason she was alive. She focused on her magic. Seraphim may have lost its ability to tap into absolute zero, but that had just given her an excuse to finally settle on a focused magic discipline: ice. Numerous shards of frozen air shot through the divide between her and her enemy, finding their mark easily. The fusion Gem didn't care - it kept attacking. Elsewhere, Starbeat found herself stopped by Vriska. "He's gone. You don't have t-" "FUCK YOU!" Starbeat shouted, firing a death spell at Vriska. The troll used her luck to dodge it. Currently, Starbeat definitely believed Vriska deserved to die, and that was probably enough to trigger something Just. She couldn't chance it - but she still had to stop her. The troll tackled her ex-moirail to the ground, trying to pin her. Corona saw her opportunity in the midst of this. She teleported to Flutterfree and started healing her. A bullet flew from the edge of her peripheral vision. She summoned Bacon Pancakes out of instinct to stop it, turning to her foe - none other than Storm. "You..." Corona said, narrowing her eyes. "You didn't have to be part of this." Storm pulled out a golden staff artifact bristling with arcane power. "How so?" "Ever since Ba'al, I know you've taken steps to make sure your mind cannot be altered. Gamzee couldn't have done anything to you. There's no way. You've been going along with this willingly." Storm shrugged with a smile. "Does that really surprise you?" "...No. It disappoints me. I had hoped you would have learned something after all these years." "Can't teach an old dog new tricks." Corona dropped her fighting stance. She held out a hand. "Then maybe you can go back to an old one. There's no point in you fighting for them anymore. The power you claimed here is worthless now. They're destroying themselves. Lay down your weapon, and you'll be able to come with us. No strings attached." Storm blinked - then chuckled. He dropped his artifact without any hesitation and shrugged. "You really are all about that forgiveness, aren't you?" "If I want it..." "You really don't deserve it," Storm said. "Half the people you gave it to don't deserve it. I don't deserve it. But I'll take it anyway." He sat down in a nearby chair and kicked up his feet as the battle raged around them. "And you say I never learn." Corona shook her head before returning to healing Flutterfree. Elsewhere, Vriska and Starbeat were still at it. "You take my trust, you take my happiness, you take my people, and you take him!" Starbeat shouted. "WHAT WON'T YOU TAKE!?" "Your shit," Vriska spat, kicking Starbeat in the chest. "Gamzee's gone now, and you've got no fuckin' excuse for all this anger." "NO EXCUSE!?" Starbeat laughed. "You... You..." She fired a beam at Vriska that missed, as expected. "You're a pretty good reason to be livid!" "I did what I thought was right." "YOU. DIDN'T. EVEN. TELL. ME!" Starbeat shouted, unleashing several dozen other magical attacks, all of which missed. "YOU WENT AND JOINED THE ENEMY WITHOUT EVEN TALKING TO ME! ME! I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE ONE YOU TALKED TO!" "We. Didn't. Have. Time!" "LIAR! You just knew I'd say no!" Vriska wiped the tears from her face. "FINE! I ran away! I fled from you because I was afraid of what you'd do to me! What you'd do to them! I chose Pinkie over you, are you happy!?" Starbeat looked at Vriska with a broken expression. She breathed slowly. She took a step forward, but tripped over her hoof. "...No... I'm... I haven't been happy since you left..." Vriska leaned down to her - she didn't have enough luck left to do anything to Starbeat. "...I can be back, now." "No. No..." Starbeat started crying. "That's too much... You're too much... Your face makes me sad..." She choked. "The curse was never really gone... I'm still doomed..." Vriska lifted Starbeat up and pulled her into a hug. Starbeat made a few vain attempts to attack Vriska with her hoof, but all the attacks were too weak. She'd lost the Rage. All that remained was sorrow. The last enemy standing - the combination Gem - took a team hit from Pinkie, Eve, and Jotaro. It finally poofed. "Yeah!" Pidge said. "Jojo, we did it!" Jotaro smirked. "Yare yare daze..." Eve looked around at the carnage. "We need to get outside... See what we can do to stop the fighting." An entire carrier crashed through the leftmost wall of the auditorium. Azula's voice came from it. "GET IN! NOW! The Hub's a lost cause! Internal structures are being targeted - and starting to fail!" Corona pressed her hands together - and teleported everyone who still showed signs of life into the carrier, even those who had been enemies until the moment they stopped being able to fight. "PUNCH IT!" Corona ordered. Azula flew the carrier straight through the ceiling, taxing the military-grade vessel's shields. But it was enough - they passed through the top of the Hub and into the open air of the jungle-cave. Beneath the light of the glowing sun, the Hub began to cave in. Explosions rippled throughout the once powerful home of the Merodi. A symbol of great peace, friendship, and progress fell. Even as it fell, some still fought - firing everything they could at the fleeing ship they knew contained The Enemy. Rejecting any help they might be able to offer. And in the very same hall where the Foundation of Merodi Universalis occured, where the Bloodbath that marked its birth marred history forever, a new bloodbath marked its fall. One punctuated by a purple, horrid mess of Rage. Merodi Universalis ended as it began - in death. Azula took the carrier into the caves, never to return to the Hub. ~~~ Rev was not herself. A Flowery device had been inserted into her brain, twisting her to be something else. At the moment she felt no aversion to this, but earlier she had screamed in agony. She had fought much longer against the Flower than Rina had, all thanks to her deep, unrelenting faith. But she had fallen eventually. She had no access to miraculous Divine power here, and if her God was as real as she believed, He chose to let her mind fall to the Flowers. She was a tool. In her new state, that was all she lived for. More accurately, she lived for this one moment. It was her purpose in the Tower's will. She walked onto the impromptu stage set up and levitated over the part of town square closest to the Dark Tower. It became her backdrop. A magical camera was placed in front of her and began transmitting to the entire city. "Ahem," she said, clearing her throat. "Many of you know me, but many of you do not. I am Reverend Starlight Glimmer, or simply Rev. My time with you is short, so I will be brief. This city of ours has become the epitome of a crisis of faith, and this needs to be addressed now. We are living in the Shadow of Earth Prime, the world where all this began - where so many prophecies lie unfulfilled. We live with the silhouette of the Dark Tower behind us, a constant reminder of the fate at work in our lives. And the Emissary of Ka itself walks among us as a pony, giving at long last a voice to that which defines all of us. Whether you believe in God, a higher power, morality, or none of the above, this City and what it means applies to you. Every last one of you." Rev knew they were trying to cut her transmission now. Already sending people to stop her, surprised to find members of Dark Tower cults stopping them. "The Emissary is a gift to us, a gift so we are allowed to see that the Tower had a will behind it all along. A force, a deity, whatever you want to call it - language simply isn't enough to describe Her. This will, in Her grace, has set a moment when She will depart from us and leave us free. And what have we done with this gift? We have squandered it, taking to Her sacred field and building our society upon it. What for? For the sake of Her 'defense!' The Dark Tower can defend Herself, with or without our help! She will do as She sees fit and we will never have any say in the matter!" She held her head high, looking to the sky. "We need to deserve the gift She gives us. And right now, we do not." A Flower appeared behind her - but it was not any ordinary flower. It was a tree, though it looked more like a geometric pattern than an actual living plant, twisting around with right angles and sharp fronds. It was Austras Koks, the very same Flower who had plotted the fall of the Nihilists. The great Flower didn't say a word. All that happened was, in the distance, the Dracogen Headquarters exploded. At this point, the citizens of the City would only panic - which wasn't enough for the Flower. It needed more. And this was what Rina was for. She came flying out of the sky without any disguise on, clearly Brutalight to anyone who knew the stories of the Elements of Insanity. "No! The Tower does not deserve our respect! It is the enemy!" "So this is how it is!?" Rev shouted. "The collapse gets what they want and then proceed to treat the gift like a piece of moldy bread!?" "YES!" "Then we cannot back down!" Rev lit her horn and fired at Rina. "Everyone, we must fight for what we believe! Man, woman, child, elder, soldier, civilian, it doesn't matter! The Crisis depends on you! The field must be pure!" "THE TOWER CAN GO FUCK ITSELF!" Then the transmission was finally cut off. But, of course, it was just slightly too late - exactly as Austras Koks had planned. The people who had been indoctrinated with the booklets would act first, prompting retaliation, which would prompt more retaliation, and more... The heroes arrived, Roland leading the charge to Rev and Rina's clash. Austras Koks had little patience for long, belabored action sequences, so it just removed the conditioning from Rev and Rina. I turn myself in. "No you don't," Roland said, firing his revolver. A weapon of such power and meaning... It is an honor. He didn't even try to stop the bullet, knowing that it was the way things needed to be. He fell in an instant. Rina was frozen - unable to process what she had just been a part of. Rev was different. "Get me back on air now!" Jenny blinked. "Didn't you j-" Roland gave her his phone, complete with full access. "STOP FIGHTING NOW!" Rev shouted into it. "I WAS BEING CONTROLLED BY A FLOWER, EVERYTHING I SAID WAS A LIE! STOP!" Somewhere, a few people stopped. It wasn't enough. The mob had already gained full force... Rev handed the phone back to Roland. "...I'm sorry. I wasn't strong enough." "You did what you could," Roland said, frown deepening. "And we can no longer do anything." "...Nanoha will order the army to stop this," Thrackerzod said. "Yeah," Aradia agreed. "At all costs." "...Yeah." ~~~ The carrier flew through the skies of Nucleon, heading for the City. It was a long way off. Too far. The survivors of the fall of the Hub were huddled in the back. Silent, for the most part. Corona sat in the rear section, staring at nothing. "...That wasn't your fault," Flutterfree said, sitting next to her. "It was," Corona said. "Don't soften it." "It wasn't. That was Gamzee. You had no control over him." Corona glanced at the shuddering form of Starbeat on the opposite side of the carrier's hold. Vriska was tending to her. "Her feelings haven't changed. She's just not angry right now." Corona closed her eyes and put her hands behind her head. "I shouldn't have gotten out of that." "Corona..." "Just because I believe I was right doesn't mean I think I should escape the consequences. They were part of the price I was willing to pay." Flutterfree frowned. "...Are you sure you're that strong?" A tear slid down Corona's cheek. "No." "Then why won't you just... accept it? That was your trial. You were condemned, and then you were released." "Because screw what the Tower wants, I'm not going to let it say I get to run free just because I'm some damn hero," Corona spat. Flutterfree frowned. "...Wherever we end up, I want part of the sentence to carry over." Flutterfree opened her mouth to object - but then she chuckled. "All right. I'll get Eve to work something out. Get you a tracker, keep you from going out. Will that be enough?" "Not my call." "It kind of is." Corona shook her head, saying nothing. For a moment, she smiled... and then she frowned, remembering why they were in a ship. She knew they had left behind a burning wreckage. She didn't know where they were going, though. "...Flutterfree, catch me up on what's been going on. Who's the bad guy again?" ~~~ Lord English approached the City, its buildings glinting rose-red in the twilight. Won't be long now.
Songs of the Spheres	142 - Spirograph, Part 1	Nanoha and the rest of the leaders were in the meeting room at the top of Nanoha's skyscraper when Rev's message came through. "...No..." Empress Twilight said, grimacing. "Something's got her..." Minna swallowed hard. "I see violence... Fire..." An aide ran into the room. "We've defused a bomb in the basement! Someone was trying to destroy this building!" "Who put it there?!" "We don't know, the bomb was just barely discovered!" Everyone started talking all at once in frantic shouts mixed with more than a few obscene gestures. They were all silenced when Rev's second message came through on Roland's authorization. "STOP FIGHTING NOW! I WAS BEING CONTROLLED BY A FLOWER, EVERYTHING I SAID WAS A LIE! STOP!" "That's not enough..." an Aradia said, shaking her head. "It's already started..." Nanoha whirled around, fire in her eyes. "O'Neill, the Austraeoh is equipped with large-scale crowd control protocols." O'Neill nodded. "Yes ma'am. It is against policy to use them on our own people. Even on an enemy, it is not a step taken lightly. The approval..." "How long do we have until English arrives?" Nanoha asked. \|> Forty-three minutes and seven seconds. Nanoha pointed Raising Heart at O'Neill. "Stop this rebellion at all costs. I don't care how many regulatory security barriers you have to illegally bypass." "We'll be brainwashing our people," O'Neill said. "I know. And I want everyone to know this order comes from me and me alone. If anyone is to be judged for this, it is me. Do not voice your support for it - it is an order and you had to follow it." Minna looked at her with fearful eyes. "...You're going to destroy yourself..." "Yes," Nanoha said, tightening her grip on Raising Heart. "I'm aware. But we don't have time." \|> If we take an action this questionable the plan could be in jeopardy. We no longer have the pure track record. "And if we let them run rampant we lose our support," Nanoha said. "No more discussion. Nala, I know you've just deduced what my plan is, don't tell anyone." She pointed at O'Neill. "Go. Now. Fix this." "Yes ma'am." O'Neill said. He and Minna teleported to the Austraeoh a fair ways above the City. All of the ship's spectral rods began to charge. The people in the City saw this and decided it couldn't be good, though only a few knew what it was actually doing. Some of the surface-to-air weapons stations began to turn toward O'Neill. "Nala, lock down all the weapons." \|> Done wherever possible. Many were overridden. Lances designed to melt through impervious alloys struck at the Austraeoh's shields, battering the feat of Merodi engineering with defenses that had been designed to face Lord English. The immense shields of the ship held - but they wouldn't for long. The rest of the fleet charged weapons, preparing to fire upon the city. "DO NOT FIRE!" Nanoha shouted. "WE ARE NOT GOING TO ATTACK OUR OWN!" A few bullets went off - but most of the ships obeyed Nanoha's order. It quickly became clear that a handful of them were not under the control of loyal individuals. These quickly turned their guns on the Austraeoh. The loyal ships arranged themselves like a wall, physically surrounding the Austraeoh and protecting it from damage. Chief among these was the Emperor of Mankind's personal warship, its physical armor so bulky it just took the damage. Not all ships fared as well. Many exploded, sending toxic rain down on the City below. Many places that had been unharmed by the mobs were suddenly covered in rubble and on fire. Immense trails of smoke began to rise into the air, darkening the already eerie twilight. Someone - they never found out who - managed to complete a Kamikaze run on the Austraeoh, flying straight through the wall of other ships and impacting the flagship's shields at relativistic velocity. The shields fell, allowing the explosive debris of the ship to impact the Austraeoh directly. One of the flagship's many volatile drives was hit, specifically one where the safety protocols hadn't been updated to the physics of the New World. The back half of the Austraeoh went up in pink-blue flames. But the spectral rod still had enough power to fire. A blue pulse of energy launched from the crumbling Austraeoh, hitting the base of the Dark Tower. The magic expanded into a swirling dome of mental magic power, quickly covering the entire City, including the air above it. Sure, there were many beings who were immune to such conditioning - but the vast majority of citizens were still just regular people. In an instant, all their impulses to attack, to fight, to run were just removed and they felt slightly empty inside. The will to fight was sapped out of them. Policing forces could take care of the violent ones who remained. But the damage was done. There were steaming craters where buildings had once stood. The great flagship of Merodi Universalis was slowly descending to the roses below, no longer suitable for flight or combat, the back half of it completely destroyed. Fires raged in several different districts, and the outer wall had a few holes in it. The defenses had been scrambled. The City was vulnerable. O'Neill and Minna sent out a report - they would be staying on the Austraeoh to help with the massive loss of life on the ship. Nanoha let out a sigh. "I'm going to the wall. Nala, prepare to execute the plan as best you can." \|> Contacting everyone needed... Nanoha took in a deep breath. "Make it very public knowledge what I've done. It'd help if some of you expressed dissatisfaction with the way I handled myself." Nanoha looked out the window at the sky. "It's best that way." She teleported away, appearing on top of the City Wall Lord English was approaching. By luck, this area of the wall hadn't seen any damage from the battle in the sky. She had no doubt Lord English would gladly march right into the best defended area... Monika appeared next to her. "You'll be joining us then?" Nanoha nodded. "Good luck." "We all need luck," Nanoha breathed. Renee was suddenly next to them, chuckling. "You haven't the foggiest idea how luck actually factors into this, do you?" Nanoha ignored her. ~~~ With every step Lord English took, the ground shuddered. He moved with more weight behind his limb than an anvil dropped from a farmhouse roof, embedding deep tracks in the ground regardless of its composition. He did not slow in mud, sand, rock, metal, or more exotic ground. It was always methodical, slow, and deliberate. The mechanical motions were easily more terrifying than a lightning-quick opponent. He gave them time to think - think about how much suffering they were about to endure. It would be brutal, it would be devastating, and it would be agonizingly slow. He would give them every chance to stop him. And he would prove he could take them, even at their best. The smoke he saw rising in the distance gave him mild pause - what could possibly have attacked them? Should he slow down, just to give them time to recover? No... The area he was approaching was untouched by the devastation. They wouldn't be putting much stock in their military organization anyway since they knew it wouldn't work. He could make his point the same this way. It was a negligible risk. He took another step forward, his red Cairo Overcoat billowing in the wind. This was the moment he entered the range of the City Wall's turrets. The weapons themselves were cube-shaped, their main body split up into eight sections. On the forward face four barrels large enough to be sewage main pipes glowed a soft red that quickly heated up to blinding white the moment English came into view. Each barrel fired four shots a second, the projectiles themselves composed of a mixture of solid tungsten rods, white burning plasma, and burning death enchantments. English took the hits. He could not keep up his mechanical pace with bullets almost larger than him tearing his body apart, but he did not stop moving forward. Even with the very ground beneath his feet giving out and shattering with every shot, he moved on. Other turrets locked on to him and fired. Most were of the same basic design of the first turret, but a couple were outfitted with more exotic and experimental weaponry. There was a yellow ring beam designed to keep him from moving - it didn't. There was a wild burst of electricity that was designed to disassemble his molecules - that turned out to be completely temporary. All of these attacks were enough to keep English from progressing forward. With a grunt, he held out the Black Thirteen staff and attacked. There were no bullets, no flashes of light, no sign anything had happened beyond an increase in activity within Black Thirteen's dark orb. The multicolored spirographs within turned faster and faster, until the critical systems of all the turrets attacking English experienced random debilitating failures at the same time. They powered down, sending messages demanding maintenance. English continued his walk. Occasionally one of the turrets would re-arm itself and make another attempt, but he would fire a beam of energy from his mouth to completely disable it. He was allowed to make it all the way to the Wall. He pulled back a fist, preparing to be jumped by all the forces the City had at its disposal. The single punch was enough to completely destroy not only the wall, but two blocks of buildings behind the wall - including the area where most of the standard army had been waiting. As hefty a loss as that was, it did not stop the counterattack. Every ship in the fleet appeared in a domed-circle formation around English and unleashed their entire arsenal, backed up by the long-range weapons and spells offered by every race English could have ever imagined, and then some. It was more than enough to kill him several times over. But he rose again, and again, and again. The ships knew this - they refused to stop their attack. If it was possible to keep him stuck in a permanent cycle of death and rebirth, they would take it. "HONK!" He unleashed the sound that had heralded the end of many universes. As the last being with any true eldritch power within him, reality around him bent and twisted into impossible shapes. People grabbed their heads in agony as the shouts of Black Thirteen and the Crimson King's power were inserted into their minds. Structures collapsed as their supports became like jelly, while others were folded into other dimensions that had not existed prior to that moment. Ships fell out of the sky like meteors, smashing into the ground like dollops of pudding. Many of those fighting had seen things like this before. Seen the unbelievable mind-bending powers of those who could manipulate reality with ease. There was only one difference this time. They didn't have any reality manipulation of their own to fight back. They were helpless as English reduced an entire square mile of the City into mush. Most of the ships in the Fleet were disabled if not outright destroyed. The army was ineffectual to the point of being laughable. Lord English took a step. This prompted several thousand Aradias to appear around him. Among their ranks were a roughly equal number of Chaos daemons that had managed to survive the transition to the New World. Leading the charge of these two armies were the Emperor of Mankind in all his glory and Tzeentch. Everything attacked at once. The daemons, while completely adjusted to the physics of the New World, were more than able to deal with being converted back into eldritch form through attacks from English. The Aradias were able to counteract English's own power as the Lord of Time, allowing the daemons to move in. Tzeentch appeared behind Lord English, laying his hands on Black Thirteen. "I'll just take this!" Lord English shoved all the knowledge he could into Tzeentch's mind. Tzeentch had not been to the room at the top of the Tower, so he could not handle it. He screamed - but he held fast to the black artifact. He wasn't about to let something as petty as pure undiluted madness stop him from doing something! The Emperor of Man rammed a powerful, holy blade into English's chest. He himself shimmered with a bright Divine power, awakened through English's own nature. "Problem?" "NO." English said. He tapped into his strength and pulled his arms to his chest, the motion throwing the Emperor and Tzeentch to the side. He grabbed hold of Black Thirteen again and pointed it at the Emperor. Before everyone's eyes, he decayed into a skeleton. He didn't die - Death was around somewhere, not that English cared - but the Emperor was out. However, the Emperor still spoke. He had never removed that text-to-speech device. "LOOK UP." English looked up just in time to see the Emperor's personal ship fall from the sky onto the cherub's face. He was able to withstand the crushing impact, lifting the miniature city and throwing it into an undisturbed section of the actual City's wall. The explosion was bright enough to be seen from under the cloud layer of a nearby gas giant. Many were blinded or vaporized simply from proximity to the blast. English stabbed his claw behind himself, taking Tzeentch out of the picture before he could try something else. While he was retracting his arm, Roland of Gilead went through the Gunslinger's creed in his mind in an instant too fast for most people to register. I do not aim with my hand; he who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I aim with my eye. He held the point between English's two seizure-inducing eyes carefully in his gaze. I do not shoot with my hand; he who shoots with his hand had forgotten the face of his father. I shoot with my mind. He shot from instinct, naturally pushing all his power as the hero into the single, seemingly-normal bullet. A bullet infused with so much importance it was ready to kill anything. I do not kill with my gun; he who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father. I KILL WITH MY HEART. The bullet sailed true. It touched English's forehead, breaking the skin... Lord English's hand was already there. He caught the bullet. Roland didn't stop shooting - and his companions joined the effort. Spades and Caliborn launched a seemingly endless spray of golden bullets from guns Lord English himself had created and designed. Up until about one second ago, Caliborn had been considering betraying everyone. It would have been nice to team up with his future self and lay waste to the world. But, as stupid as the young cherub was, he knew how to read his own expression. Even if it was on an insanely ripped skull monster version of himself, he recognized the particular brand of hatred in the ever-changing eyes. Lord English saw no use for Caliborn. Caliborn roared. "FUCK YOU, I'M THE BEST ANYWAY! I HAVE ALL THESE BITCHES EATING OUT OF MY HA-" Lord English was already behind Caliborn, a fist embedded through the young Lord of Time's chest. "YOU ARE A FOOL AND AN EMBARRASSMENT." Spades hit Lord English over the head with the scepter form of his weapon. "Hey! Remember me!?" "YES." With a dismissive wave of his hand, he tossed both Spades and Roland far away. Then he cut them both in half for good measure. Mlinx drove a spear into Lord English's back. Somehow, he had missed the pink demon. Somehow still insignificant, yet so important... The contradiction angered English. He whirled around. "Death punch," Saitama deadpanned. Lord English thought he knew what agony was. He discovered that moment that he knew nothing of true agony. The One Punch hit English with the force of several Big Bangs all forced in one direction. Everything behind Saitama suffered nothing more than a light gust of wind while English - and everything behind him - faced the fires of creation. The One Punch would go on to travel the New World and vaporize every planet it came across with ease. English's body was stuck in a perpetual pattern of rebirth and death just within the force of the single punch. "Death punch," Saitama said again, increasing the energy tearing away at Lord English. Could he reach the maximum energy density? It was certainly possible. Lord English couldn't risk that. But he knew this trick from before - he could try to take Saitama's 'win' away, but Monika would just give it back to him. So... he asked Black Thirteen where she was. As it turned out, she was several miles away, deep beneath the ground. That would have kept him from her under normal circumstances, but she had a fire of ka within her so powerful that he could connect directly with the power of Black Thirteen. With a sharp motion, she felt herself become a completely normal human girl. Saitama was next. He lost the power of the punch and Monika's conditioning. He was suddenly just an ordinary man - nothing more than a ragdoll. "STARLIGHT BREAKER!" Lord English's still-regenerating form moved to defend against the attack - but he failed to realize that was exactly what Nanoha wanted him to do. While he moved, she canceled the spell and grabbed hold of Black Thirteen. Instantly, Black Thirteen transformed its surrounding weapon shape to be identical to the design of Raising Heart, giving Nanoha dual lance devices. One white, one black. Lord English roared in rage. He was already behind Nanoha. Then Nanoha was already behind him, jabbing Black Thirteen into his back. "You won't be doing that anymore. Fate's Dawn." Black Thirteen and Raising Heart activated at the same time, blasting Lord English with a zebra-like attack. He fell back, screeching. "Lord English, I'm going to be your end," Nanoha said, pointing both devices at him. "I was there when you first rampaged. I saw you kill my best friend, Hayate. I watched you destroy so, so much. I helped decide the fate of the House Juju with the other Seats. And I have built this City in order to destroy you." She smiled mischievously. "And now I have crossed a line they will not let stand. I'm set up to go out with a bang." Lord English saw what she was doing. He had already lost his ability to manipulate ka through Nanoha's use of Black Thirteen, so he fell back on the Crimson King's eldritch tentacles to attack Nanoha. He found that these were blocked by Arceus and... Saxton Hale. Somehow. The remaining Aradias filed into formation behind him, along with a previously unused Sparkle Census army. "Not even going to charge my attack," Nanoha said, raising her devices up. "Absolute Starlight Breaker." Lord English twisted into a truly eldritch form, though instead of the Crimson King's sharp eye, his essence was that of a spirograph that couldn't decide on a single color. It charged Nanoha at full speed. "Nope!" Hale said, readying a punch. "You have no quarter here!" Arceus shouted. "FOR EXISTENCE!" the Sparkles shouted, using their magic to pull on English as hard as they could. Nanoha's attack launched. The power of Black Thirteen was impossible to look at - tearing through reality like it was nothing. Everyone's vision became static. All sensation was garbled. But, eventually, reality returned. The dust cleared. Arceus and Hale lay on the ground, distorted by Nanoha's attack. Many Sparkles and Aradias had fallen - most of whom were not protected by Death. He could only keep so many. English... Was perfectly fine. His hand was shoved through Nanoha's chest from behind. He had removed her still-beating heart and held it within his claws. Nanoha stared at the representation of her own life. She had made a miscalculation. She had unleashed an attack at English... in only the standard three dimensions. He'd folded himself into an eldritch plane and appeared behind her. With Black Thirteen, she could have stopped him. She could have taken him and driven him all the way to the Dark Tower. But she'd made a mistake. With his free hand, Lord English took Black Thirteen back. He gently set Nanoha on the ground, allowing her to hold her own heart in her hands. He took no small amount of pleasure from the tears that began to roll down her face. She knew she needed to keel over, to pass out - but she couldn't. She couldn't. Lord English wasn't letting her have respite. "WISH ALL YOU WANT, YOU WILL NOT DIE HERE. EVEN IF YOUR SKELETON RELEASES YOU. YOU WILL NOT GO OUT WITH A 'BANG'. YOU WILL WHIMPER FOR ETERNITY." Nanoha let out a despondent wail - looking like a young, lost child in a world too big for her. She could only hold her own heart and suffer. Lord English turned and walked away. The City had failed to stop him. ~~~ Rev downed another magic-restoration nut-bar and continued across the crater of devastation the battle against English had created. Bodies were everywhere - a large number were Aradias and Sparkles, so far distorted or dead that she could not help them. At least it was better than the edge of the crater, where the bodies of those fighting were mixed with those of civilians. Even several miles away hadn't been enough... She looked into the sky. Despite the smoke in the sky, she could still see the light from one of the planets Saitama's punch had destroyed. She had thought things would feel better if the twilight of the City gave way to something bright, but the red light only filled her with dread. The priest shook her head - don't get distracted. She ran to a form of one of the heroes. Arceus. Damaged beyond recognition, but with a soul clinging fast because it wasn't allowed to go anywhere. Death's really outdoing himself... She pressed her horn to Arceus' face, filling him with the healing magics she knew so well. His limbs reformed and the fire returned to his eyes. "...We lost," he said, standing up shakily. When Rev moved to ease the leftover pain, he shook his head. "Nanoha needs you more than I. Go." Rev did not see Nanoha until Arceus gestured toward her. The sight reminded Rev of some things she had seen in demonic religious cults. There was a hole in her chest that had already bled dry, coloring the dress of the White Devil a deep, horrid crimson. Her body was empty, and her skin an unnatural color, making it look like something from beyond the grave was clutching to the beating heart. Rev didn't know how it was still beating - there was no blood - but beat it did, it being the only brightly colored thing still on Nanoha. Her face was distorted in agony. All the water in her body was gone, so she could no longer cry. Rev knew without a doubt that this was one of those curses. Had this taken place in the old multiverse, Nanoha would have been stuck like this for eternity. Rev thanked God the New World didn't allow them anymore. She trotted up to Nanoha and laid a healing hoof on the woman. Her heart shot back into her body and the chest cavity healed over. The color returned to her skin, eyes, and hair. Raising Sights lifted itself off the ground and placed itself in her hand. The first thing Nanoha did now that she had control over herself again was fall to her knees. She clutched her chest with her free hand. "Wh... wh... wh..." Rev put a hoof on her shoulder. "It's gone. His curse can't hurt you anymore." Nanoha looked to Rev like a scared child. "...He could make a new one. If he gets to the Tower... He could... do that to everyone..." Rev lowered her head. "...We've got to try something else." "That was it," Nanoha said, her eyes slowly losing focus on Rev. "Fleet's gone, army's gone, defenses are gone, and..." She looked at her trembling hands. "We... we can't fight anymore." Rev sighed. "You have backups...?" Nanoha heard screams and explosions in the distance. "...That would be those failing. This was our best shot..." "There has to be something..." Rev said, biting her lip. "Don't... blame yourself. You didn't make a mistake. You were controlled." Nanoha looked at her hands. "I had him. I had him. I..." She started crying again. Rev gulped. If the great Nanoha Takamachi was crying out of fear... "Do I really have to come out here and tell you it isn't over yet?" Nanoha, Rev, and everyone else who had some consciousness about them looked up to see none other than Renee herself striding toward them, somehow not bloodied at all from any of the carnage she was walking through. "...Why have you come to mock us?" Nanoha asked. Renee ignored her. "It's not over 'til it's over, people. Lord English hasn't entered me yet; you've still got plenty of time to stop him. So what, your first plan didn't work. If you know me, you should have expected this. And all those backups you had? Technically part of the first plan. So the chips are down and it looks like you're up shit creek without a paddle." She smirked. "Which means it's time for you to give it another shot." "I can't fight," Nanoha said, gulping. "...Are we sure the answer is fighting?" Rev asked. "I mean..." Renee shrugged. "I won't say. What I can say is that there are other heroes whose haven't taken their swing at things." She looked to the sky. "Who knows when one of them might arrive?" Nanoha blinked. "I... Right." She shakily took her phone out and called Death. "Death...? You should release some of those who are healed and... not able to fight. We... should be prepared for others. Keep close watch. Report everything to... to..." She gulped. "...O'Neill and Minna. They should be... fine. Thank you." She hung up. "Good call," Renee said with a smirk. "Now come on, we should go watch the show." Nanoha shook her head. "I really sh-" Renee levitated Nanoha onto her back. "And every Tower cultist everywhere screamed as their dreams were crushed." She rushed off in a gallop after Lord English. "TO THE SHOW!" ~~~ I knew as soon as we entered the city. I saw all the plotlines. All of them that had been hidden up to that moment - but right then, every last one was open to my perceptions. Eve and Corona... the Sweeties... the fleet... the City... The only thing I couldn't see was how this would end. I really didn't know. But I could try to make it turn out one way. "Holy skewered balls..." Mattie said, eyes wide. "What happened down there?" "Lord English," I said, stopping our flight through the air with my telekinesis. I took out my notebook and started scribbling. "Their plan didn't work. We're up next." Nettle looked at the supertask device on her arm. "...He won't let us get close enough." "I've got a plan for that," I said, continuing to scribble. "Daniel, you'll find that what you need to do is down in that district. You will be injured down there, but don't worry, you will be taken care of. Sunny, I need you to go with him so you don't die a Redshirt." Sunny blinked. "Okay. ...I seem to be told to leave a lot." "I'm sorry, it's the role you have. Mattie, Everykid, Nettle, you're with me. We're going to face English together." The Everykid blinked. Then she cycled a finger around her ear. "Yes, I'm crazy, but they're already desperate, and we're going to be the Deus Ex Machina. Death should be able to recognize the four of us as important and save us thanks to the Emissary and Nanoha. We won't have much in the way of backup." "Just four people against the strongest thing to ever exist?" Mattie shouted with a laugh. "I've heard of keeping the ratio as even as possible but this is just ridiculous." "Exactly." I smirked. "It's so crazy it just might work." "...Dammit. Well, I haven't felt English ram his fist inside me before, so this might at least be an interesting experience." The Everykid let out a deep breath, put on the green-visor sporting time hat, and nodded in agreement. "Nettle, you are key to this," I said, turning to her. "I can't understate how important you are to this plan. Do you understand?" Nettle nodded. "I... Just need to get him trapped in the supertask. Keep him still for two seconds and... done. I just... I don't know how..." "That's working in our favor, remember?" Nettle gulped. "...Right." "Right. So let's do this." I flew forward, taking the Everykid, Mattie, and Nettle with me. We flew high over the sky of the burning City below. I refused to let myself look at that. I needed to look at what was important in the eyes of ka. If I didn't, I would make a mistake, and everything would fall apart. I had to distance myself so I could manage everything. I felt the contract on my soul lighten when Death found us. It was something, at least. "Everykid, you're first. Be unexpected," I said. "Mattie, back her up." The two nodded. The Everykid dropped from the sky and focused all her mind into her parasol. She shot right at Lord English from above - activating her time hat at the last minute to royally confuse English's attempts at defense. She got a solid hit on his head with her parasol. He looked at her in annoyance and punched - but she was suddenly on top of his fist, blowing him a kiss. A potion appeared in her hand and she threw it into his face, where it exploded. No damage. And he was already behind Mattie. "Balls, usually takes them a bit longer to figure out I'm editin' stuff..." He punched at her - but she was just gone, suddenly a fair ways away sitting at a sewing machine table that hadn't been there a moment ago. "Ah, hello darling, allow me to steal a line from my counterpart for a moment. Wanna buy a dress?" English let out his brutal roar of corruption. Everykid and Mattie vanished for the entire duration of the noise, appearing back only after the attack had abated. "Hey, kid, I bet he finds that annoying, what do you think?" "Mhm!" the Everykid responded with a nod. English punched Mattie, but she twisted overtop of his arm. English stomped in her direction, but she was behind him. English let out a beam that destroyed several buildings, but Mattie counterattacked with her dual pain whips. English pointed Black Thirteen at her - except it was the Everykid instead, who had no meta abilities to remove. English narrowed his eyes. "What?" Mattie said, smirking. "You weren't prepared for the Queen of Montages? Too unusual of an ability for you? Darling we haven't even started." English was in a junkyard and Mattie was dropping a car on him. English was in a spa and Mattie was ripping all his nails out. English was in a dressing room, forced into a dress Mattie had made that was way too small. English was in Mattie's personal dungeon, facing the might of repeated whips. English activated Black Thirteen fully, shattering the comic montage and returning all of them to the City. "Right. In that c-" English rammed his claws through Mattie's side and threw her to the side, spraying blood everywhere. Mattie coughed. "Well, painful, I'll admit, but not all that unique... six out of ten, not worth it." She tried to edit herself into a standing up position but found that didn't work. "Balls, there goes my viability." "That was more than enough," I said, teleporting White Nettle onto the back of Lord English's head. With a half-panicked shriek, she rammed the supertask gauntlet into English's back. But he was already away from her. The maximized explosion ended in two seconds, destroying absolutely nothing. He shot her with a beam of energy, but I deflected it with my magic. He went after me next. He didn't waste any time - he took out Black Thirteen and pointed the scepter at me. I retaliated with a beam of intense energy... and he took away Twilence's power. She had thought she would be able to work through the sudden loss of her sight and Awareness, but it had become such an integral part of her that she staggered when it was gone. No more a Prophet, no more Aware, no more the Muse of Ka. She couldn't even remember what her story had been about... She'd written something! This wasn't it, she was sure of it, but she had taken it as a possibility this would happen. What coul- English launched a burst of energy from his throat right at Twilence. She had nowhere near enough awareness to dodge - barely able to send off a few magic bolts before taking the brunt of the attack on her body. She went flying back, eyes rolling into the back of her skull. "TWILENCE!" Nettle yelled, standing back up. She raised the gauntlet again. All I have to do is... is... She faltered, receding from the monstrous form of Lord English. Fear took over, replacing all thoughts. She lost control of her eyes, bladder, voice, and legs all at once. She crumpled to the ground. Lord English pointed a finger at her, planning a special heart-shot just for her. He fired. The Everykid caught it with her body. She lit on fire and fell down at Nettle's side, unmoving. Nettle wasn't aware enough to even think that the Everykid's soul was protected. Her emotional state simply went from 'afraid' to 'enraged' in an instant. The bow made of her papery tendrils unfolded into their full form, glowing with a cosmic white power that went for miles. And this had been Twilence's plan all along: to awaken the Downstreamer. This worked like a charm. She wrapped the tendrils around Lord English, and to his surprise he found he couldn't break them. With a roar, Nettle pulled her body forward and rammed the supertask gauntlet through his skull. Pool balls and eldritch waves rippled out of Lord English, trying to get her off - but she wasn't going anywhere. She only needed two seconds to end him permanently with the supertask. The explosions began. First, a single second incinerated him completely, then half a second, then a fourth, and so on until it became too fast to discern what was happening. There was nothing but light enveloping the form of Lord English. Nettle knew something was wrong when two seconds had passed and the explosions were still happening. It took her a whole second to realize Lord English was slowing the supertask gauntlet's perception of time. The explosions slowed enough for English to twist his head sharply and tear White Nettle's arm off, severing the supertask gauntlet from her possession. He put it in his mouth and destroyed it with one bite. White Nettle looked at the bloody stump that was her arm. She screamed in panic - but then her arm was suddenly healed. No gauntlet, but no pain either. "That's right... I'm a Downstreamer..." She looked back up at Lord English. "I'm the Downstreamer!" English punched forward. White Nettle snapped her fingers and made him trip. He stood back up and enveloped her body in a beam of energy - but nothing happened. He decided he was done with this. He pointed Black Thirteen at her and asked it to incapacitate her, no questions asked. She didn't budge. She sneered at him - and pointed at one of her tendrils that had extended itself all the way to the Dark Tower. "My ancient Dark artifact is better." "IT WILL NOT BOW TO YOU." Nettle narrowed her eyes. She didn't need it to bow to her - just offer some aid. She tapped into the Tower - and saw. She could see the wavefunction equations of every single particle within Lord English's body... every last result with absolute certainty. She pointed a finger at him and slowly but surely began burning him away one particle at a time. But his Unconditional Immortality would not let him die. She could not destroy all the parts of him that demanded it be true. It was a rule of the Tower, and she could not override it with her current level of connection. She growled. "Fine then..." She used her loose tendrils to push Lord English back and she proceeded to look around for something else... Her ritual. She could use that. Twilence was here... Monika was here... Arceus was here... John didn't exist though - but Lord English himself could probably take the place of that aspect of the prophecy. All she needed now was... ...the Prophet. Who was dead. "Dammit, where am I going to find a substitute for him..." Nettle muttered. "It failed last time because he wasn't legitimate..." She shook her head. "Doesn't have to be perfect, I just need to get control of a small part. Just enough to remove him..." She used her tendrils to grab Twilence, Monika, and Arceus. She created a spirograph construct around her, circling herself with their three essences. She pulled on Lord English, using his essence to tap into the Tower. And she found it. A switch she could flip a- Black Thirteen embedded itself in her chest and sucked the information out of her mind. She looked to Lord English - he had found out how to escape from her tendril's grasp. He grabbed all of them in his free hand and threw her to the ground with them. Had she been a real Downstreamer, this would have done nothing. But she was just a woman who had awakened part of what she once was. The pain was real, too real for her to overcome. She crumpled to the ground, screaming. Lord English stomped her flat just to make sure. For the first time since he'd begun his attack, he let out a sigh of relief. That had actually been close. But Nettle was out of the picture now. He could continue his march. ~~~ Daniel sat in a bed situated near a window in one of the buildings that were still standing. He heard all the reality-warping sounds stop - but he still felt the thud thud of English's footsteps. They didn't win. He let out a sigh and lay down in the bed. The fight out there wasn't his. But if that wasn't what he was here for... What was the purpose? Twilence had told him it would be here... But all he'd found here was a bed and a place to hide out while the City crumbled. Sunny had set up a perimeter around the place and was doing what she could to help nearby relief efforts while never leaving Daniel's proximity for long. There was something he needed to do... It was so close... What was it? "Come on..." he mumbled. "I just need to get this over with..." He sighed. "There's no way this is worth it..." He coughed - once again feeling like his heart should just give out from the strain. But it kept beating, but only barely. "Not worth it, love?" Daniel's heart skipped a beat. He slowly looked up to see... her. A beautiful white coat, fashionable hat with a simple bow, and a sparkling blue eye. Her artificial one was broken, but he didn't care. "Renee... You're..." "Daniel, love... I'm gone," Renee said with a sad smile. "I wouldn't want you to get your hopes up after waiting so long." "Then... how?" "...Does it matter how? I'm here now." She walked up to him and put his old, tired face in her hoof. "Here for you." "Why...?" "...I felt shunned," Renee said, looking into the distance. "It wasn't about which side was better. It was about who could support me. You... you were sick. You couldn't." She smiled warmly. "But that's in the past. You're back." Daniel choked. "I... I don't belong here..." "You... are right," Renee admitted. "But was all the pain worth it?" He looked at her - and smiled. "You would be worth all the pain I've ever had, and then some." Renee giggled. "Oh, love... I'm not worth that much." "To me you are." She shook her head and sighed. "...I'm sorry, I was weak." "And I was angry. We both made mistakes..." "Yes... We made a lot." She looked deep into his eyes, tears beginning to form in her cheeks. "But now... Now..." "It doesn't matter, like you said. It's just now." She let out a sad chuckle. "Yes. It's just now." Her smile vanished. "...I'm waiting, you know." He nodded slowly, saying nothing. "You're so tired... I... I shouldn't have..." "Yes, you should have. I understand." He grabbed her face. "And I know what comes next." She breathed in - and kissed him. He went limp in her hooves. Gently, she used her magic to lay him back down on the bed. She pulled the sheets over him. There was a peaceful, content smile on his face. And there it would remain. Renee turned around and left the room, meeting up with the people in the hall who had been listening to the whole thing: Nanoha, Rev, Roland, Jenny, Twilence, Nettle, Mattie, the Everykid, and Sunny. "...What was that?" Nanoha asked, voice trembling. "I'm not a completely heartless bitch," Renee said wiping the last tears from her face. "...Stories need closure just as much as they need conflict." "But you lied to him." "He didn't care. He got to see her again. I just did what she would have done... and gave him his ending." She looked Nanoha in the eyes. "I can't know if there's truly something beyond or not. For all I know, she really is waiting." "...You don't know?" Jenny asked. "How could I?" Renee asked. "My domain is what I am a part of. If there's more... I'm not a part of it." She shook her head. "There's more to everything than conflict, tragedy, and amusement at the plights of others." She looked back at Daniel. "I also appreciate beauty, closure, and peace." Twilence looked at her. "You still chose to give it to him and not others." Renee smirked sadly. "Yes. I did. I still use her mannerisms and her elegance... I inherited her connections as well. He deserved better than rotting away in a bed with no one around. So I got him here. You can wail and complain all you want about all the others I've killed, and you'd be completely in the right. Short-sighted, but right." She paused. "Come on, I want to show you all something." She teleported them into an area of the City that had experienced extreme carnage. Bodies were littered everywhere, buildings had been reduced to rubble, and many people were screaming in agony from wounds that wouldn't kill them. Couldn't kill them. Rev automatically moved to start healing those screaming, but Renee held up a hoof to stop her. "Watch." She did. And, slowly but surely, she saw them. People who were hurt moving through the rubble, using whatever strength they had to dig up those who couldn't help themselves. They had no special magic, no power whatsoever, and they were still doing everything they could to help. "That guy in the robes there was a militant Tower cultist just half an hour ago," Renee said. "The person he's helping is an anarchist. In a minute, they will be pulling one of Starbeat's loyalists out. And over there is Caliborn, a being everyone here will recognize as Lord English. And yet, look what's happening." Several humans and ponies were bandaging up Caliborn and giving him potions. He took all these things with a confused, distant expression on his face. Roland narrowed his eyes. "This doesn't forgive everything." Renee chuckled. "No, it wouldn't. But I wanted to remind you, I'm not evil. I'm just the architect of everything you see. I'm sadistic, cruel, and amused by the plights of others, yes. But I also am the source of all beautiful relationships, closure, and random acts of kindness." She turned to look at all of them closely. "...I appreciate the impossible. The outlandish. The kinds of things that defy the odds. The incredible. Good, bad, some undefined mixture of the two, it doesn't matter. I can't think of a better description of myself than this place right here." Twilence moved to the front of the group, looking Renee in the eyes. "...We can't judge you." "But you have," Renee said. "Or, you could say I have. Set up a little war based on my own criteria to see what happened." She gestured to the sky, showing them the many planets swirling in the red glow of Saitama's explosion. "This is what happened. You were all a bunch of absolute morons along the way here. But you were my morons." She pointed at herself. "What you see is what you get." Twilence shuffled her hooves, unsure of what to say. "Oh, look at you... You have what you wanted, and now you're lost." "...I still feel... free." "You aren't. But if you win, you might be." Twilence smiled softly. "I caught that 'if'. I, for one, fail to see how you could call it satisfying to have Lord English win." Renee waved her hoof back and forth indecisively. She turned to Nanoha. "Why are you so scared of me showing more than the sadistic brute side of myself?" Nanoha didn't respond. "I am a complex being with many different sides, High Sovereign. I decidedly enjoyed watching Lord English torment you, making you wish for death. I enjoy your broken, resurfacing childish exterior. I also enjoyed it when you triumphed over your enemies and found happiness with family." Nanoha flinched. "You fear me because you don't want to think it's possible. That everything comes from the same source." She shrugged. "It's true darling, just deal with it." "...So, what now?" Twilence asked. "She won't tell you," Jenny muttered. Renee rolled her eyes. "You've got another shot coming up." She pulled out her phone and handed it to Twilence. "You know what to do." Twilence looked at the phone and nodded. She dialed and put it to her ear. "Hey. Just the seven of them. That's it. That's your best shot." She hung up. Renee nodded. "I kept the nearby observatory untouched. Let's go watch in unfiltered HD action!" ~~~ Lord English stepped through the inner city limits and into what remained of the Field of Can'-Ka No Rey. The roses scraped his feet with their perfect tips, their color not altered in the slightest by the ominous lighting. With every step, pain shot into English's feet. But he saw the door of the Dark Tower before him. With Black Thirteen, it was guaranteed to open to his will. It was only a few minutes of walking away. He considered running or teleporting, but he knew that would end the streak he had going. He couldn't risk it. Not when he was this close. He was under no illusions that he had won. There would no doubt be another hurdle he had to face. But, for the next little while, he marched completely unimpeded. They had lost all will to fight him, instead rushing to help each other. Pathetic. Most of the City was unharmed by his straight rampage, and they weren't even doing anything! They admitted defeat too easily. They should have fought to the very last man. When he was in control that was how things would always be. To the last breath, no matter what. He sensed a carrier ship coming up from behind him. He knew exactly who was in it via Black Thirteen. He let them pass overhead without so much as a pity glance. They teleported seven people down. Exactly seven - no more, no less. They would be the last line of defense between him and complete victory. Pidge. Jotaro. Flutterfree. Vriska. Pinkie. Corona. Eve. "PROTAGONISTS." He said. He stopped walking forward and took them in. There was the insignificant Pidge, essentially there for no purpose other than to fill a slot. She was of no concern, but she could serve as a judge of the overall team morale. Jotaro, the big guy, usually the one who did the fighting for the Primary Team, but here he was actually one of the weak ones - though the Passion could have some interesting side effects if English wasn't careful. Flutterfree was in nearly the same boat - she had been able to harm English before with the Rage, but he would no longer be susceptible to something so simple. Revelation would be pointless at this stage. Vriska... The bitch that sealed him in the House Juju in the first place... He would experience great pleasure tearing her apart limb from limb. Her luck would run out eventually, and she couldn't take it from him. That infinite-sided die was the only thing she had even remotely dangerous to him. It had already failed to work on him once. Pinkie, the Aware. He'd fought her before, and she'd lasted the longest out of all of them. But, in the end, she wasn't actually powerful - just slippery, like that white unicorn earlier. He could take her ka-based powers away in an instant. Corona and Eve, two sides of the same coin, the patrons of both sides. Fire, empathy, eternity, and a slew of bizarre powers that would take too long to list. Ice, friendship, magic, and a much more balanced psyche. A powerful duo whose names had gone down in history as the faces of the largest war to ever exist. All of them taken together were absolutely nothing compared to him. He had fought gods, world-enders, demons, and even a Downstreamer on his way to this leg of his journey. He had flicked people like this away like bugs all day. They should have been nothing. But he knew better. These were the protagonists. And everyone always loved an underdog story... "You don't have to do this," Eve told English. "You could turn around and leave. I wouldn't try to stop you. You don't need ka to forge your own path." He looked at her quizzically. Did she really think she could talk him down? "You can go and freely conquer. I bet you could create yourself a sizeable empire before the Tower vanishes completely. Then you'd be a king of an actual nation. You wouldn't have ka helping you get to your place - you will keep it under your own power. Isn't that better? As it is, you're just as much a slave to it as the rest of us." Corona nodded. "If you let it go, you can be free. We wanted to be free so horrid things wouldn't happen... But part of freedom is the freedom to do evil. You want to be the villain. So why not leave so you can become a real villain? Not one arbitrated by some force of ka, but by your own will." "I WILL BECOME THE TOWER." "And the Tower is defined by its creations," Pinkie added. "You're not free now, and you won't be free if you get what you want. Ka is a two-way street that traps everyone. There are no winners." English paused. Then, for the first time in as long as he could remember, he laughed. It was a horrendous sound that filled everyone in earshot with a sense of dread. "YOUR WORDS ARE POWERFUL AND YOUR TONGUES SHARP. BUT HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO CONVINCE ME... WHEN I AM ALREADY HERE?" He pointed at the Tower. "THIS IS THE END. TO TURN AROUND WOULD BE... UNSATISFYING." He stood up tall, Cairo overcoat blowing in the ominous wind. "I AM THE VILLAIN. I HAVE EMBRACED THIS ROLE. I WILL SEE IT OUT TO ITS END." "Villains are defeated," Pinkie reminded him. "AND I WILL SUFFER DEFEATS. BUT I WILL ALWAYS COME BACK. I WILL RETURN. THIS REQUIRES KA." He hefted Black Thirteen into the air. "YOU ARE THE FINAL HURDLE." "Well, you tried," Vriska told her friends. "I'm impressed you even got him to think, so you can consider that a win." Eve ruffled her feathers. "We have absolutely no chance of holding a candle to his power." "Trillion-to-one odds," Pinkie said. "I like those chances, how about the rest of you?" "Seems par for the course, really," Pidge added. "We really do end up in these sorts of situations a lot..." Flutterfree commented. "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro said with a nostalgic smile on his face. Corona laughed. "We're all hopeless dorks." She spread her wings and lit herself on fire, drawing the Master Sword. "Let's show him what we're made of." Lord English asked Black Thirteen a simple question. How many can you take care of in an instant? Pidge clutched her heart and dropped to the ground. "...Well that's just not fair," Pinkie pouted. "Wasn't going to be of much help anyway," Vriska said, summoning the infinite-sided die into her hand. "Vriska!" Flutterfree gasped. Vriska chuckled. "When are you going to learn, Flutterfree?" Vriska jumped into the air. "You can't remove all the bitchiness." She threw the die at English. She would never get the roll she had gotten last fight again, that card had already been played. Instead, it was a series of tungsten rods that transformed into snakes as soon as they entered English's body. Decidedly uncomfortable, sure. But nothing that could even slow him down. He let out a roar intending to vaporize her, but she dodged. She brought her sword down between his eyes. He grunted, twisting his head and biting down on her leg. There was poison in his teeth, but such things didn't matter in this rushed conflict. She ignored the pain and threw her fluorite octet into his face, blasting him with a series of thumbtacks to the eyes. They bounced right off. "Huh. Guess they actually are pool balls. Another of existence's big mysteries, solved." He threw her to the ground and prepared to flatten her - but he had to deal with Star Platinum hitting him upside the head and Flutterfree trying to remove Black Thirteen from his grasp. Had she been doing it physically, she would have gone mad - but she was using Lolo. And Lolo was well known for having meta effects. The purple spirograph of the Stand surrounded the inky black orb, complementing the red and green spirographs within. Lord English had the 'machinery' around Black Thirteen transform into a bow shape. Flutterfree was not surprised by this, pulling out her own bow and meeting the arrow head on. Light hit darkness - and lost. The bolt shot Flutterfree down with ease. ...But her Rage kept her moving. She jumped back and drove her wings not into him, but into the weapon that was Black Thirteen. She suffered heavy blows to her mind, but the truth of Rage kept her grounded just enough to fix her blades and pull. It would have done nothing had Pinkie not hit Lord English with a warhammer the size of a small mansion. He lost his footing and Black Thirteen was torn from his grasp. With a series of "ORA ORA ORA" he was distracted even further. "NOW!" Corona and Eve shouted at the same time. A burst of ice, fire, light, darkness, and two separate Stands hit him all at once, pushing him towards the now open doors of the Dark Tower. If he was thrown in there without Black Thirteen, he would be trapped until the Tower fell. He would lose. All it would take would be a simple roar to push them off him... Nothing difficult... Except that Corona had placed a hand to his forehead, activating her empathy powers. "Normally at this point I try to talk things out, to understand who I'm fighting better," Corona said, pacing around the dark expanse that was Lord English's mindscape. "But I'm not going to do that today." She snapped her fingers, forging a direct connection to the part of Lord English that was eldritch. She had a lot of experience with this sort of thing: Majora, Nyarlathotep, and more. She would burn his brain with his own absurd power. She had expected the difficulty to be similar to that. She only had to keep him stuck in his mind for a couple of real-world seconds, after all. She hadn't expected him to be able to shove her out of his mind with the equivalent of a mental grunt. She went flying, breaking up the freeze-flame attack she and Eve had going on him. He reached out and grabbed the rim of the doorway to the Tower. Pinkie tried to knock him into the Tower - but he was already behind her. He slapped her to the side, prompting a squeak to emanate from her overly cartoony body. He jumped to the frozen form of Flutterfree, tearing Black Thirteen from her with a swift yank. He backhanded Vriska so hard every one of her ribs were flattened, while he pointed Black Thirteen at Pinkie. "Well, ponyfeathers, I'm useless now," Pinkie said, dropping her chainsaw. "So how about you n-" Lord English rammed his hand through her body, prompting candy-red blood to squirt everywhere. "...Grk..." He shot two pool balls into her eyes for good measure, just to make her feel it. Then he lit Vriska on fire, forcing her to experience the constant agony he had experienced when Saitama had been on him. Jotaro was as simple as teleporting behind him when Star Platinum was punching - his back snapped like a twig. All that remained were the two of them. Corona Shimmer and Evening Sparkle. Lifelong friends. Unwilling enemies. The extremes of existence right before him... They had created a swirling tornado of every power they had at their disposal. They no longer had a plan, they just knew they needed to attack. To push him into the ground. To win. He clapped his hands and they fell like flies. And that was it. He had defeated them. He was done. ...Why did he hear sarcastic clapping? He turned to face the Dark Tower. Renee was sitting in front of it with a decidedly amused smile on her face, clapping. "Well done. You beat a bunch of rag-tag misfits who were far, far below your power level. And they almost had you for a second there! Brilliant." Lord English narrowed his eyes. He pointed Black Thirteen at the Dark Tower, preparing to force it to open for him. Renee kicked the door with her hoof and it opened unceremoniously. "There's no need for that. Come on in, make yourself at home. That is what you want, isn't it?" Lord English lowered Black Thirteen and glared at Renee. Very slowly, he nodded. Renee chuckled, and turned to walk into the darkness. She soon vanished from his perceptions. For a moment, Lord English paused to look up - to see the orb of the Earth above him. Somehow, it still seemed blue despite the appearance of everything else. A breeze blew through the field of roses, giving it an appearance akin to a sea of blood. With a deep breath and a tightened grip, Lord English took a step forward. The roses still pricked his skin, but they were nothing compared to the sensation the Tower gave him. The closer he approached, the more he felt it calling him. Demanding he enter. He marched forward, laying his hand on the front door. It felt wrong, like it was both dead and alive, and that was just the way it should have been. It would serve him well. One more step, and he was fully inside. The doors closed behind him all on their own, slamming shut with a noise so loud and final everyone within the City heard it.
Songs of the Spheres	143 - Spirograph, Part 2	Lightning laid her hand on Jotaro's chest and healed him. He shot upright in an instant, ready to fight - but saw no sign of Lord English. All he saw were his friends - his teammates - looking around with forlorn, weary expressions. Pinkie was struggling to tear off her massacre dress, Vriska was angrily banging on the sealed doors of the Dark Tower, Corona was staring at the harsh explosive lights in the sky, and Flutterfree was holding Eve close, the two trying not to lose all hope. Pidge leaped onto Jotaro and wrapped her arms tightly around him, crying her inner pain away. They may have been heroes... but a body living through death was never something to just be brushed away. Jotaro gently set her upon his shoulders and shook his head. "...What do we do now?" Pidge asked. Jotaro sighed. He had no response. Lord English had gotten what he wanted - he had entered the Tower. For all they knew, he had already become one with it. Already started to manipulate fate to his own brutal ends... In the distance, he saw a group of people flying towards them, led by none other than White Nettle herself. She had her tendrils spread wide, aimed directly at the Dark Tower itself. She flew overtop Jotaro and the others, pressing every tendril of hers into the Dark Tower's door. "OPEN!" she screamed, interfacing with the ancient structure. "OPEN, DAMMIT!" The Dark Tower did not listen to her demands, keeping its doors welded shut. "Why can't you open it!?" Vriska shouted. "It doesn't want me to! That's it!" Nettle put a hand to her forehead and shook her head. "It... It's telling me I can't get in." "Do we have anyone here who could deserve to go in?" Pinkie asked aloud. "Someone appropriate enough for it to just let through? Anyone?" "Cinder's not here..." Twilence said, breathless. "But..." Nanoha came out of the crowd, every step she took marked by trembling. She closed her eyes, laid her hands on the door, and pushed. Nothing happened. She tried pulling, but that didn't help either. "Out of the way, bitch!" Caliborn shouted, shoving her to the side. "This is my moment!" He charged into the doors and bounced off like a ping-pong ball. "...Shit..." "...Let me try," Starbeat said, quietly. Her hoof had no effect on the doors. Many others tried - Mlinx, Death, Discord, Spades, the Everykid, Monika, Rina, Twilence, Roxy, O'Neill... They all failed. Every last one of them were barred from the Tower. Jenny rammed herself into the Tower, thinking maybe if she just spent enough effort... But it was worthless. Roland walked to the Tower last. He looked up the dark column that went all the way up to Earth itself. His expression set, he addressed the structure. "You let me in once before. My life is defined in relation to you. 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came,' and he has come again. I served you for innumerable lifetimes, defending you from the Red that sought your demise. You were always the end of my journey - the purpose, the reason, the goal. I was released; but always I must return." He laid his hand on the door, pressing the side of his legendary revolver into the unnatural structure. "I beg of you, allow me to face monsters once more." A soft breeze blew through his hair. The Dark Tower did not open to the Gunslinger. Roland slowly removed his revolver from the door and turned around, expression unreadable. Three paces out, he whipped around and fired six shots into the Dark Tower's door. The doors themselves did not move, but the crack in the Tower grew by about a millimeter from being struck by such an important weapon. "...Could we destroy it?" Corona asked. "Just... widen the crack?" Nanoha shook her head. "I... I don't think so. Nettle...?" Nettle interfaced with the Tower directly, grimacing. "Roland's revolver is the most ka-charged weapon in the universe aside from Black Thirteen itself. We do not have time to whittle it to nothing. ...I don't know why we even have time at all, everything in there could happen in an instant." "We have one other we have not tried," Roland said, pulling down his hat. "The man in black." "Do it," Eve ordered. "Get him here." Nettle nodded. She closed her eyes and sent her tendrils out, phasing through the ground until they found his prison. She pushed right through the security measures and teleported him to the Tower, depositing him unceremoniously on the ground. He stood up, put on a smile, and chuckled. "I see everyone's been having a delightful time." "Shut the fuck up and open the door," Vriska demanded. Flagg looked to the Dark Tower. "You see, I would. But I don't have Black Thirteen." "Your essence is connected with Black Thirteen." "And the Tower distinguishes between us," Flagg said. To prove his point he leaned on the door and pushed. "See? Nothing. Nothing at all. English is in the Tower and there's absolutely nothing we can do about it." He leaned back and smirked. "And he let you try all the plans, didn't he? Every. Last. One. And they all failed." "He's trying to take your job," Corona pointed out. "And maybe that just means it's my day." Flagg shrugged. "Everyone has one." "You've changed," Roland observed. "It's part of our nature," Flagg responded. "As characters as well as people. Change... It's an inherent property of everything., no matter what the bitch says." He pointed at the Tower. "Right now, there is change going on in there. English is taking control of the Source and the world he creates... We'll have to accept it for what it is. There's nothing we can do. It's time to bow and accept our new overlord." "The Tower is fading," Roxy said. "It won't be forever." "Why not?" "Renee," Twilence said. "Or, well, the Emissary. She's said things - a lot of stuff I wasn't there for, but I remember anyway. But she talked knowing she wasn't going to be around for long. Hinting that we'd be free. The Tower will fall, Flagg." "So he has years, decades, maybe centuries to bend the world to how he sees it." Flagg said with a shrug. "Or maybe the Emissary was flat-out lying to you. She's not above that, she's not above anything." Twilence frowned. "We have to do something." "...Do we?" Nanoha asked. "Do we have to? We tried everything we had, and it failed. We should know..." Pinkie furrowed her brow. "Long ago, there was a moral like that. Sometimes, the right answer is to just give up. When there's nothing you can do... stop making things worse by trying." "That's... That's wrong!" Corona shouted. "We can't..." "Your fight was pointless," Lightning pointed out. "You strained Death unnecessarily and never really had any chance of winning. We would still be where we are now without you fighting him, and you all wouldn't have suffering inner souls." Eve blinked. "...Make the most of it..." She looked up. "Unless anyone has any way into the Tower, we just have to wait for something to happen." She turned to the smoldering cityscape in the distance. "Until then, we have people that need us to help them. To build them up. We don't know what English is going to create. So let's forget about him and help who we can for as long as we're able." She spread her wings and took off toward the City. Corona clenched her fist and let out an angry breath. "I don't want to admit it, but she's right. We're useless and we've lost. We should go do the next best thing." She looked around at the small crowd. "Unless any of you have an idea?" There was silence. "...Okay." She wiped a tear from her face. "Come on." She spread her wings and flew away as well. Slowly but surely, everyone else walked after her. "...What's going to happen to us?" Pidge wondered aloud. Jotaro grimaced. "I don't know. Whatever it is, we'll face it head on." "...It looks like we're running away right now." Jotaro sighed. "Maybe... But we're not running out of fear." "Hopelessness. We're running out of hopelessness." Jotaro didn't want to say she was right. ~~~ Lord English stood at the bottom of the staircase. Renee was a full flight above him, looking down. "By my bricks, you're slow." He ignored her and took a step up the stairs, passing the first door without even bothering to look inside. "Oh come on, half the fun of this is to see your life and how it brought you here! Open a few doors, take a good look at where you've been, what's caused all this." He kept moving along, giving neither her nor the doors a passing glance. She rolled her eyes. "Really... Guess I'll have to open them foooor you." She kicked the first door open, revealing a green and red egg. "Ah yes, your birth - as Caliborn. Laid on a dead world..." Through the door, Gamzee appeared and watched the egg hatch. "And you even got yourself a guardian to further your natural desires for multiversal conquest, what fun." She jumped to the next door, kicking it open. It showed him as a young cherub screaming at the top of his lungs about how he was going to kill his sister one day. "You were a lot more talkative back then. More willing to let the world know what you thought. Of course, I know what you thought, but you aren't helping me with the conversation here." Suddenly, she was in front of him, opening a door. "But you aren't just Caliborn. Oh no, you come from several different little timelines. Part of you is Gamzee..." She kicked a door open, revealing a purple grub that would one day grow into the Bard of Rage. "Part of you is an absolutely dashing pair of glasses..." A door swung open, revealing Dirk Strider programming an artificial intelligence into a pair of pointed shades. "And lastly, and least importantly, part of you exists as the Heir of Void." She opened a door to a scene of a strong indigo-blood troll punching through a wall. Trotting up the stairs backwards, she looked at English with a smirk. "You, English, are evil, anger, intelligence, and strength. Time, Rage, Heart, and Void. Lord, Bard, Prince, and Heir. And you are so much more." She peeled another door back, revealing Caliborn standing over his god-tier clock, destroying it to ensure his unconditional immortality, bestowing his form with pool-ball eyes. "You are an endless. A true immortal, defined by a Horrorterror experiment on me." She smirked. "I think you'll like the next one." She pranced upward and waved a door open. Behind it was Caliborn fighting eight humans - including John, Roxy, and Jade. He was able to use the House Juju to trap four of them, but the four who remained kept fighting. Soon, he was losing, beaten to the ground by a brilliant light of Hope from one of the people facing him. He tried to stand up - but he couldn't. He just couldn't. One of the enemies with Heart powers grabbed Caliborn's soul and tried to seal it within a mysterious, creepy puppet. Half of Gamzee's body was caught in the trap. In the midst of this, a strange red ghost charged out of nowhere, clearly a mixture of both the strong troll and the anime shades. Everything collapsed into one explosion of energy that Roxy grabbed hold of. She Voided it all from existence, despite knowing English would return from it one day. Renee closed the door. "Of course, that didn't actually happen. Not in the final timeline here, anyway. John was killed before he could take them back to fight Caliborn. And now look at the little rascal running around, making friends, hiding in fear from what he would have become had John lived." Renee looked English in the eyes. "You shouldn't exist." English continued his walk. "But the Horrorterrors and I... Well, we couldn't just let that stop, now could we?" She opened up more doors showing English destroying universes, slaughtering ghosts, and killing Hayate in the battle with the Class 1 societies. She showed him facing off against the army of Skaians, followed quickly by Vriska unleashing the House Juju on him, trapping him inside with the power of four essences - including John. "John... The retconner, the one being in Existence given my power," Renee said, smirking. "He was an idiot, which was why he could have the power. If he had been intelligent... It would have been too risky. Too uncontrollable. And when he died without completing his own loop... well, look where we are now. The culmination of your plan. Siron's staff, the Crimson King, absorbing the eldritch power, and fighting through the City." The next door showed Lord English walking up the stairs of the Dark Tower. There was only one other door before the top of the Tower. "Curious?" Renee asked, standing by the final door. "This shows the end of your story. You can take a peek ahead, see what fate is yours." "NO. THAT IS A TRAP." Renee chuckled. "Oooh, too clever for me! Except not really." She threw the door open anyway. She showed Lord English standing in a blurry expanse, the spirograph of the Source spinning around him. Then she shut the door. "That's your fate." "NO." He pointed at the final door, the one with his name on it. ENGLISH "THIS IS MY FATE." He threw the door open and walked right into the room at the top of the Dark Tower. The clock connected to the life of the multiverse was long gone, only the Source itself remaining. It was a beautiful white spirograph turning eternally, producing all the ka in existence. Every rule of luck, every trick of fate, every meaningful moment: it all came from this one thing. "You know, they all wonder what the Source is," Renee said, appearing opposite English on the Source's pedestal. "What could the Builders have possibly discovered that allowed them to create fate?" She touched it with her hoof and giggled. "I actually have no idea. It... It just is. Am I programmed to think that? Is it evidence that there's more out there, or is it just the Sea of Infinite Possibility itself? A gift from God, or some scientific marvel I am prohibited from analyzing myself?" She shrugged. "It cannot be known. While I am here, that rule is absolute. When I am gone, the Source will be gone as well." Lord English extended a hand to the Source. "I WILL BECOME ONE..." "You can grab it, but you cannot become one with it," Renee said. "It is a source of power. That is all you need." Renee held out her hooves. "Go on. Take it." Lord English clasped his hands around the Source - and promptly found himself pressed into the far wall by a force strong enough to crack planets in half. Renee broke out into maniacal laughter. "You should see the look on your face! You thought you could just take it! That's... that's priceless! You idiot!" She held a hoof to her forehead and threw back her head to exaggerate the laugh even further. "Did you really think this entire scene was just going to be me going over your life? That I would have no point? Au contraire, my custom-made imbecile, I have all the cards here." She smirked. "You want the keys to existence? Come and get them." He did. He transformed Black Thirteen into a clawshot and launched it at the Source. Renee clapped her hooves and made the Source vanish. "Always so practical..." With a swish of her tail, she was gone as well. The room was empty. "ENOUGH WITH THE GAMES." Renee's voice came from all directions at once. "Darling, I am the Emissary of Ka. All I know are games!" The room at the top of the Dark Tower folded open, revealing a blurry cosmic background. It was not the Earth, nor was it the New World - in it he saw traditional galaxies, tendrils the size of many universes, and time itself twisting around in a net. "This is what I see. This is what you want. This is everything - all that has ever existed and all that will exist. You can see over there the set time of my demise. What else do you see?" Lord English didn't respond. He held Black Thirteen up, transforming the casing around it to resemble a scepter. The multicolored spirographs within popped out of it and began orbiting the black orb at a frantic pace. He narrowed his eyes. He didn't see his victory. He didn't see his defeat either. "Well that's because you don't have the Source yet! I'm just showing you the expanse of it right now, nothing else. The interweaving nature of ka... It's all here. All ready for you. I've even set up a very simplistic tutorial for you!" "YOUR INSULTS ARE PETTY." "And that fills me with a sense of pride and accomplishment. No matter what you do, English, it brings me satisfaction. Conquest, defeat, it doesn't matter, you are part of the story. Everything is! Hatred, love, worship, assault, it's all the same to me." The cosmic background receded from English, leaving him in an expanse of nothingness. "What are you to me?" "YOU BUILT ME FOR THIS MOMENT. IT NEEDS TO BE SATISFYING." Renee chuckled. "And you are correct once again. Your life has always been leading to this moment. The moment where you look your creator in the face. Where you don't demand answers - you demand the power that is rightfully yours. Such a sad, sad mind you have... But an interesting one." The darkness around English seemed to get darker and darker. "You think you understand. This needs to be fixed..." And then English was a human boy named Jared who had just watched both of his parents die in a car crash. He screamed in agony, and then stopped. Why? What? When? He didn't know; all he knew was that he was at an orphanage. He was bullied, tormented, and forced to do all the work. Nobody paid him any mind. Through defiance, he made it to college, graduated with honors, and was promptly shot dead in a street the next day. "TRICKS!" "Real lives," Renee said, the darkness closing in around him. "The lives you don't understand. Let's go another round shall we?" He was a Gem working on Earth during Rose's Rebellion against the Diamonds. She popped out of the kindergarten and was put to work fighting the Gems who had devoted their lives to this primitive planet. But she was captured and shown kindness by Rose directly, given a new life. She learned what it meant to care, to love, to appreciate life. But in the end, she was corrupted by the Diamonds in the last attack on Earth and lived the rest of her life a horrid monster. One of her best friends was forced to shatter her before she could destroy an entire human town. Lord English took a few steps back. "THESE LIVES ARE INSIGNIFICANT!" "Then live your own again." He did. He lived through Caliborn's life - from hatching, to the arguments with his sister, to his tribulations in SBURB. Then his discovery of new life and meaning within the New World. He would never admit it, but he had made friends. And he would protect them as they had protected him. "HE IS WEAK!" "How about we try this on for size?" Lord English was the Crimson King. A demon of untold power born of a union not meant to be. He saw the Tower, and saw an opportunity. He rose to the occasion and devoted his very mindset to bringing the Tower down, building up armies and psychic entities to rip at the Beams themselves. But as he continued on, he aged, and his mind escaped from him. He became a screaming old man at the end who did little more than shoot robotic spheres at Roland before a kid erased him from existence. But then he returned... only to be destroyed by Lord English. Lord English clenched his fist. "WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS?" "Maybe you'll figure it out, maybe you won't, I don't care. This one will make you REALLY mad though, cheers!" Lord English was Vriska Serket. Taken in by a giant spider lusus, she was forced to feed the creature other trolls constantly to keep it from eating her. She buried all inclinations she had of what was right and wrong to keep her sanity, so she became an evil manipulative mastermind, twisting the limbs of every last person she came into contact with to not only get food for her guardian, but also to enjoy the task. She had friends, friends she was willing to betray at a moment's notice. The Thief of Light ventured into SBURB and tried to skew events so she would be the hero - but also the cause of the villain. When she found that Lord English was the real man behind the curtain, she found him an appropriate target. She found the House Juju and brought it right to the villain, trapping him within. Lord English wanted it to be over. But it wasn't. Vriska had much more to show him. She wandered the multiverse, lonely. She found the Doctor, befriended him, and then was disillusioned. Monika came into existence. Vriska continued until she ended up on Twilence's team through the machinations of the Influence, forming a new group of explorers until they were destroyed by a random demon with a Flower under his control. Enlish got to experience all her pains, all her growth, and all her loss. He watched Merodi Universalis grow, fall, and then... He got to suffer his own attacks. "THIS DOES NOT DETER ME!" "We're not done yet." He was run through the lives of so, so many others. Siron. Monika. Luna. Mlinx. Starbeat. Flagg. Rina. Nanoha. The Emperor. White Nettle. John. Jenny. Burgerbelle. Roland. Renee. Daniel. Corona. Eve. Cinder. Even the entire Everyman. No experience was hidden from him. Lord English clenched his fist. "I HAVE NOT FALTERED!" "You have removed every ounce of empathy and care from your mind... You fool. You poor, poor fool." She chuckled sadly. "One more for you." She threw him into Twilence. She was Princess Celestia's student, and then she was the Princess of Friendship itself... and then she was lost in a time that was not her own, with an eye in her chest that wouldn't stop telling her about what lay beyond the fourth wall and what the force of ka was. She went insane, but she came out of it, better than most options allowed. She became me, the one who understood ka and what it meant. I traveled the universe with my group until I could no more, and then I waited, manipulating from the background. Alone, fearful, and angry - but always understanding. I knew why everything happened, and when I realized that curse could end, I took it upon myself to make sure it came to pass. I suffered, but the collapse won. I was captured, mocked, and ridiculed. I ran and found a Deus Ex Machina. And then... I failed. Twilence failed to beat Lord English, falling, the last-ditch effort nothing more than an afterthought. Lord English ground his teeth. He stood up tall, preparing for the next experience. Nothing came. "You truly are heartless," Renee said. "You've felt what they've felt, been what they've been, and the only change that's come across you... is that you've hardened your heart further. Your determination knows no bounds." "GIVE ME THE SOURCE!" "Lemme think about that... Hrm. You know what? 'Aw, hell no'!" Reality crumbled. English was stripped of all his power and thrown to a ground that didn't exist. Swords chopped at him from seventeen time dimensions, driving his very essence into nothing. But it refused. It wouldn't even let a death register. His unconditional immortality would go untested. He would live. Black Thirteen, the Crimson King, and Lord English... All were still here, even in the impossible existence the Dark Tower was subjecting him too. He willed himself back up, forcing ka to his will. Black Thirteen formed itself into a cannon and shot at everything. Cracks appeared and disappeared. The Dark Tower trembled, weakening slightly. "Ah ah ah!" Renee chuckled. "You can't control me if you destroy me!" "GIVE IT UP." "I do not fear death threats. Simple brute force will not aid you here." Lord English honked. Everything trembled as his soul grabbed hold of the Tower's reality. He was suddenly on top of the Tower - which was impossible - and at the intersection of the twelve Beams. All ka flowed through him, a feeling both satisfying and agonizing. He drove his claws into the Tower itself. And then his soul was burning. He had no body, and all he could feel was pain. Eternal pain that could not be numbed, would never abate, and would never let him grow bored. It lasted forever but was over in an instant. He was released but did not wait a single moment before unleashing more attacks on the substance of reality itself. All the pain and experiences were doing to him was making him stronger. The fires could not kill him, so they only forged him into something more. "More is such an opinionated word... It wasn't like you had much in you to begin with, but come on, what's left at this point?" Renee appeared as a unicorn in front of him. "If you lose the need for meaning, what's the purpose in continuing?" Lord English grabbed her in his claws, finding her pathetically easy to crush. Blood trickled out of her mouth. "You understand everything, and you go on..." She gagged on the blood in her throat. "You know what you have to do." She slumped to the ground, unmoving. Lord English took a step forward - and saw himself. Just the two of them standing in an expanse of nothing. They wasted no time. They turned Black Thirteen into a sword form and drove it through both of their hearts simultaneously. The bodies fused into a single one that was dead, but still standing. Affixed to Black Thirteen was Lord English's amalgamation of a soul. It was intangible, but he could see it in his current state: a soft white light that sparked with a soft energy that was paradoxically the strongest force in existence. It was the last spark of anything worthwhile within him. He destroyed it. You have lost all drive, Black Thirteen told him. You have no reason to do anything. Why continue? "THERE IS NO REASON NOT TO." He didn't roar, he didn't scream, and he didn't honk. He punched through reality, clawing at the Dark Tower's defenses. He pulled back time, space, and coding he could not understand even as he was now. He smashed his way through the Dark Tower's memory banks, a place beyond metatime itself. At every turn, the Tower's true internal structure tried to stop him. But even as it did so, it knew he would make it to his goal. Lord English grabbed onto the Dark Tower and appeared inside of it at the same time. He entered the room at the top, where the Source still stood. It had never moved. The Dark Tower had merely tricked him. Lord English did not go to the Source. He demanded the Source come to him. It did. The unknowable white spirograph left the podium and surrounded him. He took control from the Dark Tower. He let out a deep, ululating honk. The Source gave all of ka to him, infusing the noise into reality itself. No one would feel anything - but the laws had begun changing. The ka of Lord English began to interfere with the old ka of the Tower, engaging in a battle none could see or really feel. Shifting fate wherever possible in the favor of the villain. In the favor of English. Every version and echo of his long-dead sister, the physical antithesis of English, were killed through a series of million-to-one coincidences. He didn't laugh. He didn't pat himself on the back. He didn't even roar. He stood impassive, feeling no joy or satisfaction from his victory. There was nothing left. Only Darkness. ~~~ It didn't take Nettle long to realize that she was the strongest individual around at the moment. She couldn't really appreciate the irony. Just over a month ago, she would have laughed at the strange inversion of her situation and moved on without another thought. But now she had experienced life - seen what it was like to be something that wasn't a Downstreamer. Felt the world with real, physical sensations, and without some ancient dogma pushing her forward. Now that she was back, she couldn't just move on anymore. She had felt too much. So much it wouldn't just go away. She couldn't handle the suffering she saw all around her. With every person she saved from the wreckage, there were three or four others already dead, and more who had just been utterly vaporized. Every now and then she'd come across someone who's soul had been affixed to their body - either by Death or English himself as part of a joke - and Rev or one of the other healers brought them back they'd look like they wanted to die for a moment. Most would get some semblance of sanity back after a few minutes, but there were a few that took the first opportunity they could to off themselves. Given the state the City was in, this was rarely difficult. If Lord English was willing to do this when he had another goal in mind, what would he do when he could do anything? And here she was, able to reach anywhere in the City with ease, and she still felt helpless with every body she pulled out. Every severed limb... She broke down when she removed a lifeless Sweetie Belle from the wreckage. "I can't... I can't do this..." The healer currently assigned to Nettle - Corona - saw her fall to her knees. She flew over and put a hand on Nettle's back. "It's okay. We can go on without you." "It's not okay. If I go... thousands more die because I wasn't helping to save them..." She tried to stand up - but she tripped over a rock and scraped her face on the ground. The wound healed quickly, but the pain was still there. "I can't..." "Sometimes we just can't do it," Eve said, trotting over. "If I'd tried to save everyone all the time... I would never have done any good. I would have broken." She looked at Nettle. "You save who you can. But you have limitations just like everyone else. You can't save them all." "I..." She shook her head. "I need to save as many as possible. That's right, right? As many. All of them." "That's the way it should work," Twilence said, jumping down from a nearby rock. "But it isn't how things are. Sacrificing yourself for others is honorable and good. But you're also important." She shook her head, sighing. "You and I are important, Eve and Corona much, much more so. Everyone else out there... under the rubble... They aren't." Corona growled. "Screw that..." "Ka's still around, Corona, so it's the way things are," Twilence insisted. "We're more important than them. It's wrong, but it's a law of reality. We mean more. If we lose ourselves to save a few hundred lives..." Twilence shook her head. "It's worse off for everyone." "The loss of a hero..." Eve mused. "That's... that's not what you all told me," Nettle said. "You said everyone mattered. That... That..." "Now you know why I wanted to destroy the Tower," Corona said, using her magic to heal another injured man. "Equality doesn't exist with it. People tell stories of the great, sure, but it goes beyond that. There are those less important, 'lesser' races..." She curled her hand into a fist. "I fight it with every fiber of my being." "And yet you tell Nettle not to push for them," Twilence observed. "You're just as guilty as the rest of us." "We don't know how to live without a story..." Eve said, shaking her head. "We'll have to, if the Tower falls," Corona said. "...Maybe we should try it... Just... throw ourselves into this." She looked at the carnage, the wind flipping through her hair. "...Would it be right to tell Death to stop playing favorites?" "Wouldn't help," Twilence said. "It'd just make things worse in the long run. Try to give equal treatment, you let a few heroes die. The heroes... They will be able to fight and protect. Without them..." She sighed. "I don't like it any more than you do, but right now English could do anything. We'll need everyone to maximize every chance we have. We have to play by the rules of ka." "No..." Nettle said. "No, no. Eve, you said we don't know how to live without a story." Eve blinked and nodded. "Yeah, we don't. Our lives have been defined by that." "What if... What if we need to?" Nettle asked. "Learn... how to live without a story." Eve shook her head. "That doesn't really make much sense, how w-" "Subversion," Twilence said suddenly, eyes sparkling. "A subversion. That's it! We tried the plan, the Deus Ex Machina, and the heroes' last stand. What if, by trying to solve things the traditional way of stories, we ruined it? I think Nettle's onto something!" Corona scratched the back of her head. "She is...? But how could you solve something without..." "Latch onto something else," Twilence said, gesturing at the carnage around them. "Look. All these unimportant people. We were just judging them. Doesn't that seem a little out of place? Sure, we have these conversations, but was now really the time or the place? Why are all of us in the same place right here, right now?" She pulled a small device out of Corona's pocket and grinned when she noticed a green light was on. "And why would the cameras be on us?" Eve blinked. "You're not Aware right now, right?" "Not at all. I'm just noticing patterns... Thinking..." Twilence turned to Nettle. "But I can't be the one to figure it out, that'd be expected, that'd be normal. Nettle, you were so close, you have something. What do you think the answer is?" Nettle took a step back, suddenly feeling under pressure. She wanted to say she couldn't do it - but her foot stepped onto the dead form of the Sweetie Belle. Tears welled up in her eyes as all the other dead bodies flashed through her eyes. All of them... Hundreds... They were important. "We... we need to learn." She looked at her hands. "We need to show we don't... want to be better than them... That we want to be the same." She turned around and looked to the distant areas of the City. "It has to be everyone. Everyone. If we try to face English with just those who matter, who are better... we lose. We can't win, because we aren't ready to win." She took in a deep breath. "We need to fight not only alongside the soldiers, but alongside the normal people who live in their homes. The civilians we don't give a second thought about. They need just as much say in this as we do." "...I like the idea," Twilence admitted. "I just don't see how we could do it, practically speaking. How would we get everyone to fight? Most the people you mentioned don't want to fight. They don't have it in them." "We could try to combine everyone's wills," Corona said. "How would we do that?" Eve asked. "That many minds cannot work as one! It can't be done! Whatever we put them in would destroy itself from contradiction or become a homogenous hive mind!" Nettle smiled. "There's something that wouldn't." "What?" Corona asked. Nettle used one of her tendrils to teleport a small adorable hat-wearing child in the middle of them. "The Everyman once existed as a living contradiction." Twilence, Corona, and Eve fell silent. The Everykid wondered why everyone was looking at her funny. ~~~ Lord English heard a knock at the door the instant after he had unleashed his honk with the Source. What? The door swung in, revealing a word printed on it - not a name. ALL On the other side was the Everykid, her adorable smile meeting Lord English's emotionless face. "Hello!" she said. English didn't have to wonder who she was, or how she was here - he just knew what had happened while he was fighting the Tower for supremacy. (The Everykid sat near the wreckage of the Austraeoh, next to the single spectral rod they had gotten working again. It was pointed straight into the air and was currently charging magical energy. Numerous magical runes were inscribed in the ground below her, the alien words slowly starting to glow a pale white. "You're sure she can handle it?" Minna asked, worry in her voice. "Yes," Corona said, tracing a few magical markings on the Everykid's face. "She's been separated from the Everyman for all of a month. The capacity is still there." "It's the only idea I've heard lately that makes any sense," O'Neill said, folding his arms. "I'm okay with it as long as the kid is." The Everykid nodded, putting on a determined expression. Minna gulped. "I... I can't see what's going to happen. It's going to be horrible..." The Everykid shook her head and winked at Minna. "It's going to be horrible if we do nothing," Corona said, plugging two wires together with her magic. "And we don't know how long we have..." "Exactly enough," Twilence said. "No more, no less." "I've sent out the message," Eve announced as she teleported back. "Everyone knows what we're doing. There shouldn't be very many who try to resist." Minna closed her eyes and nodded. "This really is our last-ditch effort, isn't it?" Pinkie nodded, grinning. "Yep! It's so crazy and outlandish it just might work!" She placed her hoof on the activation lever. "Can I have the honors?" Corona shrugged. "Sure, why not. Go ahead, Pinkie." "Yay!" Pinkie pulled down on the lever. The spectral rod activated with a painfully loud whine. A burst of soft blue energy left the rod, moving out in a spherical pattern. It swiftly encapsulated not only the entire City, but a distance several Earths wide, capturing many who hadn't even been part of the City - living in caverns unaware of what was happening above. And then the energy was gone. Every sapient being that wasn't the Everykid passed out in an instant. And the Everykid... the Everyman? The Everyman existed once more, but she was different. Despite the usual contradictions, she only had one active body at the moment - and that body had a purpose. She ran off the platform and toward the doors of the Dark Tower, the thoughts of everyone rattling around in her mind. Many were confused, panicked, or afraid - but the most organized response was one of encouragement. They were going to do this. They were going to go in and show Lord English what they were made of. The Dark Tower opened its doors for them before they even arrived. They hopped through, finding the interior to be white and without a staircase. There was only one door, and English already knew what the word on it was.) Lord English noticed the narrative was mocking him. He did not care. He looked the Everyman in her little eyes. He let her take the first move. She walked up to him and bopped him on the nose with her parasol. Then she backed up and smirked at him. She started dancing the smuggest dance that had ever existed. Lord English was immune to being baited - he felt no annoyance, rage, or impatience anymore - but he knew an invitation to attack when he saw one. He tore reality asunder and forced her body in two... ...Except he didn't. Eve was suddenly standing there, taking the hit herself. For a moment, her body was torn into two, blood everywhere. Then she was standing next to the Everyman as if nothing had happened. She wasn't physically there. It was just her will. Her will and the will of everyone else. Still powered by the old ka. The room opened up once again, though this time it didn't show the full expanse of the Tower's vision. Instead, it showed a blurred expanse with ominous clock towers in the distance. The floor of the Dark Tower fell away, replaced with a dark, rectangular platform that screamed finality. "Looks like we've got ourselves an arena!" Corona said, manifesting her will behind English. "I'm not going to pretend to understand how this works, but here goes nothing." She rammed the Master Sword into his back and lit him on fire. He threw her aside with a roar. Eve appeared next to Corona with a smile on her face. "...Together?" Corona jumped up and lit herself on fire. Eve encased herself in ice and they charged, hitting English right in the stomach and pushing him down. With a grunt, he slapped both of them back. He prepared for another attack - but they didn't go for him again. "Who's next?" Corona called. Pinkie appeared from nowhere and hit Lord English with a squeaky hammer. "WHACK-A-CHERUB!" He tore her to shreds with a thought, but she was already back. "Geez, haven't you learned anything?" She put on the bomb mask and latched herself to his face. "You." She exploded. "Can't." She drove a sword into his skull. "Kill." She threw a pie into his face. "Suction cup." She stuck two suction cups on his eyes. "PONY!" She pulled out his eyes and smacked them to the ground with a pool cue. They appeared in his skull once again, without a problem. He turned to ignore the various wills attacking him and turned to the Everyman. All he had to do was kill the physical body and... ...Where was she? All he saw was an army of wills... "Oh, she left," I said, appearing behind him. "There's more than enough psychic wills in here to keep us all manifested when she's nowhere near the Tower. By the way, having difficulty with your Awareness?" He turned to me - and saw I was holding the orb of Black Thirteen, juggling it mockingly in my wings. He willed it back to himself, but he found that didn't work. Black Thirteen could force the Dark Tower's doors to open. It could resist his new will. He launched for it physically - but I just teleported it... somewhere. I really don't know where, and I don't care. It wasn't here. All that was here were millions of wills, Lord English, and the Source. But he had the Source, and nothing could fight the Source. He'd just have to outlast all these wills. "Can you really do that?" Eve asked, stepping to the front of the combined will of all, a nonexistent wind blowing through her stellar mane. English stared at her, lifeless. "Can you outlast all of us?" Eve began to float into the air, her eyes glowing a brilliant white. Silence. "Any one of us, you could defeat, have defeated. Even the simple sum of our potential is nothing compared to the power you have at your disposal." The Element of Magic shot out five beams of light, finding Pinkie, Flutterfree, Mattie, a Rainbow Dash, and an Applejack. "But together, we have something much more than the sum of our parts." Behind her, the wills of everyone floated, light shooting from them to the Element of Magic. Rainbows coursed through the crowd, endowing even the darkest and least significant of souls with a connection. "Not too long ago, we were fighting each other. Killing each other." Eve lifted Corona up, gesturing at her with a powerful hoof. "Existence was torn in half." Further beams of power coalesced above Eve, to the point at which it was hard to make her out. "But here we are, standing today, together. We were trying to kill each other... but already, those wounds have begun to heal. Already, the bridges are being rebuilt. Already the magic of friendship has been restored." She pointed a hoof at English, forming all the energy into a point. "There's a reason ponies were chosen to lead this story. Not because we're better than anyone, not because we're cute... but because, to us, friendship is everything. And no matter the trial, no matter the difference, no matter the strain, we will always fall back on it!" Eve, floating above English, speaking through her very destiny, threw the rainbows at him with the collective wills of every mind. "WE ARE HERE TO STAND TOGETHER!" The Elements of Harmony had unleashed many rainbows over the years, and in the lifespan of Merodi Universalis many sets had been used in tandem to face darker, stronger foes. They were powerful artifacts. They were nothing compared to the brilliance that engulfed English at the top of the Tower, surrounding him not in a burning light, but an understanding light. A light that called out to him, asked him to come home. Opened the door and welcomed him in for a warm meal and an understanding ear. He could join them. But he had given everything up to be where he was now. He would not accept such an invitation. The light cleared... and English stood, still. Not unaffected, but undamaged. Eve lowered to the ground, frowning. "...It wouldn't be complete if it ended like that, would it?" "No," Corona said, taking a step forward. She pointed a hand at English, narrowing her eyes. "It will end like this." She glowered. "Charge." English moved first for once, punching Corona through the stomach. She reformed easily, laughing as the rest of the wills surged forward. "STAR PLATINUM: THE WORLD!" Jotaro yelled, dropping on Lord English from above. "ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!" "Uh... normal Pidge attack," Pidge said, firing her weapon into Lord English's side. "Woo, I'm helping." "Keep it up!" Vriska shouted with a laugh. She held the infinite-sided die high and rolled it. Lord English suffered three megalodon sharks to the face, promptly followed up by Flutterfree cutting him into thousands of tiny pieces. "TEAM ATTACK!" Pinkie shouted, summoning all five of them together at once. They rushed Lord English with several different attacks - all of which he deflected with ease. But they didn't seem bothered by that. Roland of Gilead appeared and fired one bullet. This time, it struck true, blowing Lord English's head clean off. He could feel the Tower shake from the attack - but English wasn't deterred. He couldn't be deterred. He was not a person anymore, but a force of nature. He clawed forward. Randall Flagg grabbed English's hand in his own. "You know, I think I've decided I want to keep my job, thank you." He snapped Lord English's wrist back with enough force to break it. "Applications open again next year." "FULL POWER... STARLIGHT BREAKER!" Nanoha shouted, shooting a beam of rose-colored energy at Lord English from above. He swam through the magic laser like it was water, jumping out of it and clawing her in two. She didn't care - she only smiled as White Nettle came out of nowhere and tore Lord English apart with her limbs. He reformed, contemplating what to do next. These wills were all immune to attacks, because they repaired themselves with energy from all the others. But that energy was not - could not - be infinite. He would be able to outlast them. He just had to keep fighting and his will would dominate. "Oh, that expression looks too confident!" Jenny shouted, socking English across the face. "Geez, you could at least pretend to be hurt." "He has no soul within him," Thrackerzod said, driving a dark blade through him. "He will do no such thing." "He just doesn't know what's good then, does he?" Mattie asked, whipping him from the side. "Kinda pathetic, really." Burgerbelle held up a radio device. "Tactical nuke incoming." "BURGERBELLE WA-" Jenny began, but the nuke got there before she could do anything. The entire arena exploded, but, of course, nothing at all changed. "I hate the feeling of being blown up by a nuke..." Jenny muttered. "Now we all know what it feels like!" O'Neill said, slapping Lord English with Crimson Sushi. "Thank you for this wonderful experience," Minna deadpanned. She did something to Lord English that nobody could see but it made him fall onto his back with what looked like a thousand spider-bites all over him. Roxy punched him into the air where thousands upon thousands of Aradias proceeded to tear him apart through time, whips, and spirit shenanigans. He was tossed to the ground, where Saxton Hale grabbed him and threw him right into Lightning's gunblade. She cast an Ultiga spell on him right into the path of Storm. Storm smirked. He held out an artifact that allowed him to project his hand, grabbing hold of English and shaking him like a rattle. Then he tossed him off to Starbeat. Vriska appeared next to her. "Wanna do this?" Starbeat looked at her, conflicted for a moment. Then she shook her head, realizing she was being silly. "You know what, sure. Why not." She and Vriska charged forward at once, cutting a hole in Lord English. "Hey! Vriska went twice! Foul!" Pidge called. "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered. "It's not like there are rules here, just go with it," Pinkie said. "HEY MLINX! GO FOR IT!" Mlinx drove a spear into Lord English's head. "That's for my race." He threw him to the ground - where Insipid touched him. "Like, lame, I don't get the Source. Whatever." She opened her mouth and vaporized him with a beam attack mixed with pool balls. "Time for my cameo!" Seskii shouted, unfurling brilliant white wings from her back and unleashing a cascading spell of holy energy upon him. Death appeared from underneath and drove a Scythe in Lord English. The soulless cherub unleashed a vast Honk to waste away the wills of all the spirits, but once again he found himself tossed around, this time transformed into a volleyball by Discord. He and Trixie proceeded to play a quick round with him before passing the ball to Saitama. "Normal punch," Saitama said. He hit the Lord English ball so hard he looped around the Tower's local spacetime and came back the opposite direction, where Monika caught him. He finally managed to transform himself back into his normal state. "Okay Everyone!" Monika said, clapping her hands. "Let's talk about the end of the villain's journey. It mirrors that of the tragic hero - ending in defeat and loss." She kicked Lord English in the chest - and somehow that removed more of his willpower than any previous attack. He fell between two familiar faces - Caliborn and Spades. "Stabbin' time..." Spades said. "Who's weak now!?" Caliborn shouted. They both proceeded to pummel, shoot, and stab him as rapidly as they could. Lord English launched himself into the air, flinging the two relics of his past far away. In front of him stood Rev. "In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spiri-" "Just fucking kill him already," Rina muttered, summoning over a dozen swords and embedding them into Lord English. Rev rolled her eyes, completed a silent prayer, and summoned a Divine cross to burn Lord English into the ground. Sunny was the closest one to him. She looked around unsure - it didn't feel right, being here alone. "Uh... Sunny?" Jane asked, appearing out of nowhere. "What the fuck is this?" Sunny lit up like a lightbulb, not caring how Jane was here. "A... A bunch of combined wills. We need to kill that guy." Jane smirked. "Say no more." She drew her Clockwork Katana from thin air and ignited it, slashing Lord English in half a blink. At the same time, Sunny unleashed an energy beam containing the collective power of her entire life as an Evermore. "GUESS WHO ELSE IS HERE?!" Corea shouted, leaping into the fray. "That's right, me, and oh boy do I love soul-bonds right now!" She blasted Lord English with fire, water, earth, air, and magic all at once. "TAKE THAT!" Prism chuckled. "Adorable." She produced an antimatter cannon. "Mine's bigger." "Aw, no fair!" "It's fair," Applejack said, landing squarely on Lord English with her hooves. "A lot of stuff might not be, but this is." "DOYJAAAN!" Valentine shouted, dropping from the sky with D4C and Froppy. They held Lord English down - and looked to Johnny. Johnny shook his head before firing a bullet of Infinite Spin into Lord English, forcing the green monstrosity to completely reset his body once again. "I'm still not happy," Johnny said. "You don't need to be," Froppy said. "Ribbit." Johnny rolled his eyes and fired a few more shots. Prism finally fired her cannon and burned Lord English to cinders. Once again, his will reformed him and he fought back, pushing them all away. But at this point, his moves became nothing more than footnotes. He would retaliate, but then he would be tossed in a complex game of keep-away - Arceus to the Emperor to Chem to Jingle... Gilgamesh stabbed, Strange incinerated, Sherlock punched with a shrug, Cosmo attacked with her very bones, Flep brought the might of the Celestialsapiens upon him, and Tzeentch made him face his TRAP CARD. And still there were more. Azula. Empress Twilight. Servitude. Others... The attack was endless. English's ears were never free from hearing one of them say something annoying. "Um. Do you wanna buy a dress?" "ARI ARI ARI ARI ARI ARI!" "Ya owe me a million bits!" "You killed my father!" "Mathematical!" "Make it so." "hey. i bet you're sour-prised to see me here. i bear-ly made it in!" "CHIMICHANGAS!" "OPHIUCHUS!" "UNITED STATES OF SMASH!" "GIGANTSCHLAG!" "GEAR FIFTH!" "KAMEHAMEHA!" As the Tower wills... "MOTION CARRIED." \|> Piano wires activated. You will be made to serve the Combine. ∂ˆ´ ¥ø¨ µø˜ss†´® "Awwww yeaaaaah..." "Amusement." And then they stopped being distinguishable entities for Lord English. The beings that came up to him weren't even important enough to have names. That was to say, they had names, but they had never been important enough for English to bother remembering who they were, and he didn't exactly care to waste resources and look them up. A giant slammed him under his foot before peeling up the green pancake and delivering it to a ninja who chopped him into many fine slices. The slices were then sent to a ravenous dragon who devoured every one of English's shreds and began to digest. English exploded out of the stomach only to be overrun by a small troop of mismatched yellow creatures with annoying voices, followed quickly by an indeterminate number of Sparkles. Soldiers in simple armor walked up to him and fired their weapons in perfect formation; acting with the same discipline he had seen on the battlefield. He blew them away with the same ease he had before, but this time they came back. They stood fast. None of them ran. They were fuelled by the wills of everyone. And once the soldiers and the army had their turn... it was left to the ordinary people. At the top were Gems, unicorns, and other more 'exotic' races who used their magic, weapons, and natural skills to take English on. It wasn't long before they stepped aside though, leaving it to the rest. The mundane. Mostly humans who had families, jobs, and no combat experience whatsoever. At first they attacked tentatively with fists, kicks, and nervous expressions. But they realized they could feel no pain - and that there were millions of them. They mobbed English, pushing him over in a wave of people. Their wills were weak. Pathetic. Unimportant. English didn't even register most of what they did, and neither did the story. Every single one of these people had a moment of triumph and success, but nobody would care about reading through that. And that's exactly the point here. The setup is playing out exactly as it needs to. There was a boy. This boy, as far as anyone was concerned, had no name. His features were so simple and ordinary nobody would remember them for sure - some would insist that he was actually a girl after the fact. He was young, but nobody could say how young. He had never been in any scenes, not even in the background as a bystander. He had never met or seen any of the heroes of this story. And after this one moment, nobody would ever see him again. He kicked Lord English in the crotch. This attack did nothing to Lord English's will. It remained unchanged. But this insignificant, unimportant boy was the one who did it. The swift, childish, immature, inappropriately comical movement of a worn shoe told the Source that now was the time to betray Lord English. The white spirograph resonated with the old ka and flew off of Lord English, and with it went his control of the Tower's reality. Renee appeared in front of him, smirking. "And you thought you had won. Really. You're just as stupid as all the rest of them. I would never have let you have it if I didn't know how this ended. You may have had control of the Source - but you aren't me and you never could be." Lord English wasn't angry - couldn't be angry. Couldn't be anything. He had lost, and that was that. He knew he should roar in rage, fight against the force claiming it was better than him, refuse to back down. He should. But he wasn't what he used to be. He had given all his depth away to the Tower. He could no longer muster the will to do anything without a reason. He knew it was utterly pointless to do anything else. So he simply stopped existing. ~~~ The Everykid sat on one of the loose pieces of the Austraeoh, waiting for the moment she could push the lever back up and end the shared mind experience. Everyone had to get back to their bodies, after all, it wouldn't do to have them all stuck up in hers forever. Plus, some of them probably had things to attend to. There were still some fires in the City... When she sensed that Lord English had stopped existing she hopped up and reached for the lever. But Renee stopped her. "Not quite yet, darling. You'll get to it in a few minutes, don't worry." She looked the Everykid in the eyes. "I need to talk to all of you. And right now is the best time to do that without any unnecessary interruptions." The Everykid nodded and sat down, looking at Renee attentively. "So, first things first - congratulations! You win!" Renee clapped sarcastically as a party blower went off somewhere. "You passed the test. Yes, of course, I always knew you'd pass the test, because I set it up that way. And you all want to know why..." Her mocking expression left her face, replaced with a seemingly uncharacteristic warm smile. "Okay. You deserve to have some answers for once." She held her hoof out wide. "The war should have been the end. I was supposed to fall at the end of it, and that'd be that, no more stories, you'd all be free. But you know the story here, that wouldn't be satisfying. So I created this New World, this collapse-with-a-question-mark, to facilitate the continued story. To lead toward a conclusion. And ever since the beginning, Lord English was to be that conclusion." She raised an eyebrow in the Everykid's direction. "Because of him, his threat, you built this City. You put aside your differences and grudges from the war to face a foe that was truly evil and far, far more powerful than any of you could deal with, even together. And you've been through a pretty close proximity of hell to defeat him - combined with a shared mind. You won't be fighting with each other anymore. There'll be no war-after-the-war, not here, you can move on. You may say that I took a huge risk giving him the reins for that short 'time' and that this peace was't worth that, but it was only supposed to seem like a huge risk. I already knew how it was going to end given my 'retcon' nature. Only something 'out of context' could have interfered with it, and I am the context. The Lord English 'risk' was worth it in more ways than you can imagine. "But there was more to it than that. There always is - so many facets. He made you see what you relied on as heroes. That you thought you could win through your own means. When I'm gone, that won't be the case. There'll be no heroes, no villains, no nothing. Just people. Some of you will have advantages over others, but I won't be around to watch you or guide you. At first it may not seem like anything has changed beyond the loss of Awareness, but if you didn't learn this lesson... About living without ka... Well, I don't know exactly what would have happened, but I predicted disaster. "As much as I mock, tease, attack, berate, brutalize, and torment you, I do want you to succeed. Those of you who are heroes, I chose you. I've watched closely as you've grown across the years and years and... Well, as the Dark Tower, I felt nothing. But as the Emissary, you're like my children. It gets disturbing if you carry the metaphor out to completion, so I wouldn't, though I already know some of you are." Renee turned around to look at the actual crack in the Dark Tower - it was five times as large as it had been just an hour ago. "I'm going to fade away, like you all want, in more ways than one. First of all, Lord English did kill this body, the Emissary. I'm only here right now because of metatime 'retcon' shenanigans to tell you what you needed to hear. I'm a little afraid of what happens when I go but the Tower structure isn't. I know just as much as the rest of you about what lies beyond, if anything." She shook her head and laughed bitterly. "You won't hear from me directly after this scene. I'll be gone. And the rest of me will fade away as that crack increases in size. You could hurry the final destruction along if you wanted, but I know you won't. I've only got a few decades in me before I collapse completely. Since Lord English was the last major threat, I recommend you use that time to get any last bits of adventuring you want done. Seek out people so you can resolve conflicts. Things won't neatly tie themselves into bows when I'm gone. "In essence, I'm telling you to get your lives sorted out. A lot of you have trauma, and you need time to deal with that. I can help you in this time. Sure, there'll still be death, and there'll still be some absurdly outrageous things, and the people who are more important than other people, but... wouldn't you like to wait a few years? Yes, you would. I know you would. I know you do." She chuckled. "This Time is a gift of resolution. Use it wisely. Also, you won't be able to get to Old Earth until I'm gone, so don't try, mmkay?" She tapped a hoof to her chin. "And now I'm going to talk to all of you. Yes, you outside the Fourth Wall, behind the screen or page, reading this. There are three distinct possibilities as to what you actually are. You could be in a world back in the multiverse that had access to this story, in which case, I've gone back in metatime and changed the color of the trees in precisely fifty percent of those worlds. You will go outside and they'll look green. But have I changed your perception of green?" She smirked evilly. "You could also be the original Earth, the remnant of which is sitting up there in the sky, and you're reading the very first form of this manuscript. Not the one of the Prophet, but the fiction from before my creation that fueled my early machinations. Or, the third option, I am just words on a page, and you're reading this from the real world. "Regardless, my message to you is the same. Don't spend your lives wishing fictional worlds were real. It's very much better for everyone involved if your desires don't get translated directly to reality. Everyone's messed up inside somewhere, and that'll translate directly to the creation. So go read your books, watch your movies, and enjoy your games. Have fun, grow attached, and hell, maybe write some fanfics about them just to complete the insanity. You might even learn something through the fiction about the world you live in, a hint about human nature, or a moral that helps you understand the truth of your reality. Enrich your life. You can't do that by yearning for a world that isn't yours. "And for those of you who endlessly question my methods... Fuck you, I don't have to make sense if I don't want to." She laughed maniacally. "Also, Twilence, I'm following your example, prepare for your Discord account to be commandeered. No, there's nothing you can do about it." Looking right at the Everykid once more, she laid a hoof on the switch. "So... This is goodbye for those of you in there. I'm not apologizing for anything, including all those times I cut off Jenny's hand. That was comedy gold. I'm not asking you to understand me - that's impossible. I'm just asking you to take a look at your lives and make the most of them. And maybe, just maybe, you can realize I've got more depth than you think." She winked. "Good luck." She pulled down on the lever. ~~~ One month later... When you can build a City in a month, you can rebuild it in a week. So that's exactly what they did. And after that was over, everyone settled down in one way or another. In the case of Pinkie's Party, this meant doing exactly the same thing they always did. On this particular day, this meant returning to the City with a completed first contact mission and a meeting scheduled with the queen of a colony of giant locusts. Minna looked up from the report they had given her. "...So they accepted the name locusts?" "Uh, yep!" Pinkie said, grinning. "I don't need future sight to see that this is going to be the demons all over again." Vriska shrugged. "Well, if it is that again, I guess I finally get to experience it. That's pretty sweet." Flutterfree hooved. "The whole demon thing didn't end well..." "I'm sure mayor Mlinx will figure out how to keep them off that path," Pinkie said. "He might be able to save his culture through them! ...In some tangential way." Minna rolled her eyes. "I'll contact him, see what he wants to do. I expect he'll be all over this. Anyway, since you're back earl-" "How about we don't go on a second mission today?" Pinkie said. "There's a lot of people I think we should visit and talk to, if you know what I mean." "...The cameras are finally on?" "Geez, stop being so mind-ready!" Pinkie facehooved. Minna waved them off with a smile. "Go have your fun. Give them a good impression of our City, okay?" "No promises!" Pinkie said, bouncing out of the new Expeditions Central. They weren't a Division anymore - the City wasn't large enough to need them - but they were still a government-funded society. As they walked through the City, Jotaro coughed and pulled a strange mechanical device out of his jacket. "I wonder what this is...?" Pidge's eyes lit up. "The hyper trans-flux inductor parallel conduit!? I thought we had to drop it!" "Never underestimate Star Platinum's quick hands." "Jojo, this is amazing! I could do all sorts of stuff with it! ...Quiznak, now I need more." "I hear Jenny's given the Workshop the designs to her duplicator," Flutterfree said. "We could see if they can help." "Yesssss!" Pidge said, fist-pumping. "Can we?" "Sure thing!" Pinkie said, sidestepping into a teleporter platform. They were whisked away to another sector of the City, right in front of the building everyone called the Workshop. In reality, it was Corona's Public Laboratory, but nobody liked that name. It was a white warehouse with red lines on all the edges. There were a few insulting words of graffiti on the outside walls, but considering who Corona was this wasn't that surprising. Pinkie had been somewhat surprised there hadn't been many death threats and no attacks on the place, but it just went to show what the final battle with English had done to help smooth the cracks. They walked right in to see Jenny, Roxy, and Corona working hard on 'mad sciencing' together a true duplication device from Jenny's designs. "Hey! We've got an audience!" Roxy said, standing up and waving. In the process she dropped her tool to the floor several feet below her current position. Jenny's old friend, Ivan the crystalline man, sighed dejectedly before picking it up and putting it back in a toolbox. Corona turned to the visitors. "Oh, hey! What do you guys need?" There was a silvery-white collar affixed around her neck with a soft green light on it - a tracker. The City Government always knew where she was and when to call her for whatever labor they had in mind. Pidge held up her present. "Duplications." "It's not quite ready yet, but I can try general magic duplication," Corona said, tapping her horn. "...I'll wait for the proper machine, thank you." Corona rolled her eyes. "If Raging Sights was easy to upset..." Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Got anything for us while we're here?" "Oh, yeah! Flutterfree, I've got Eve's order done." She threw a package that Flutterfree caught. "You can take it to her." "No problem," Flutterfree said. "It looks like we're on the tour of the city today anyway..." Jotaro adjusted his hat. "Yare yare daze... to the teleporter." They were soon in front of a purple building with a Twilight's cutie mark emblazoned over the main doors. Before Pinkie's Party got there, the front doors opened. Eve and Nettle walked out. "Thanks again, I don't know what I'd do without these sessions," Nettle said. Eve smiled warmly. "You have a good heart in you, Nettle. I'm just helping you find yourself a little faster." "Oh, I might need to call on you in the middle of the night, in case my date goes wrong." I poked my head out of a bush and grinned. "Your date won't go wrong." "GAH! TWILENCE! What's wrong with you!?" Nettle stomped her feet. I smirked. "I have narrative timing. Also, your book is overdue. That'll be five quid." Nettle blinked. "...You are the scariest librarian ever." "It's my lot in life. For now." I lowered myself into the bush and vanished. Nettle shivered. "Guess I'm not supposed to be nervous about the date anymore. ...But I totally am." "Perfectly understandable," Eve said, a hoof on her shoulder. "We can go back inside and talk about it if you want." "You have other appointments, and I think I'm fine." She absent-mindedly touched the tendrils on her back, making sure they were still neatly folded into a bow. "See you!" She waved and skipped down the street. "Business is booming?" Pinkie asked, floating impossibly above Eve. "Would it be anything else?" Eve asked, smiling innocently. "Got a package for you," Flutterfree said, handing it over. Before Eve even so much as looked at it the two embraced for a moment. "From Corona." "Ah, this is probably for you, actually." She opened the box and took out a small metallic disc, barely large enough to see. "You're always complaining that the Element of Kindness is a bit bulky." Flutterfree flushed. "Eve, now they're going to say I don't have to wear it..." Eve placed the disc on the Element of Kindness, and it shrunk considerably. Instead of a hefty necklace, it became a nice little circlet on her forehead with a tiny pink crystalline butterfly in the middle. "Almost an alicorn," Eve joked. Flutterfree beamed. "...This is great! Thanks!" "Not a problem! Also, don't try to change the Element of Magic, I like the tiara." "I won't! I won't!" "You were thinking about it." "...Maybe." Everyone had a nice chuckle at this. Before anyone else could say anything, Eve's next patient arrived. "All right, I'm here, let's get this psychoanalysis over with," Starbeat muttered, walking up to the door. "...What's everyone doing here?" Vriska shrugged. "Delivering a package." "Oh this is great!" Eve said, clapping her hooves. "We can have impromptu moirail counseling! Vriska, I won't even charge you." Vriska winced. "Jegus, no, I don't need that!" "You kinda do," Flutterfree said. Starbeat blinked. "...Should I feel insulted, or sad?" "Neither. Vriska just needs to be told things flat-out." Flutterfree shoved her into the door. "Have fun!" "This will be the polar opposite of fun," Vriska muttered. "...You do realize Eve uses combat therapy if you need it, right?" Vriska blinked. "...Hold on, what?" Pidge raised an eyebrow. "You really don't pay attention to people, do you?" "I do! ...More than I used to!" "Low bar," Jotaro observed. "Why you little..." "Let it go," Starbeat said, holding Vriska back. "They're right, this will probably be good for us." "...Fine." Vriska said, folding her arms. "But I will get back at you. Somehow." "And then we'll enter another epic prank war!" Pinkie declared. "Oh please no," Flutterfree whispered. "I dunno, it sounds like it'd be fun!" Eve teased. "Betrayal!" Pinkie blurted in her announcer voice. Eve rolled her eyes. "Yes, Pinkie, 'betrayal'. Anyway, if I want to stay on schedule I should get these two in. See you around!" Pinkie saluted. "Later!" Eve closed the door on them. Pidge furrowed her brow. "So... What now?" "We go interview the greatest couple of retired old-timers in the City," Pinkie said. She whirled around and pointed at O'Neill and Nanoha, walking down the sidewalk. O'Neill snorted. "Just two old people enjoying each other's company." Nanoha chuckled. "Interview us for what?" Pinkie grinned. "Nothing really, just the cameras are on and all." "Oh!" Nanoha smiled. "That's good, right?" "At the moment, seems like it," Pidge said. Flutterfree smiled. "How's the garden?" Nanoha smirked. "I have yet to conquer the dragonic thistle curse, but I have great faith in my arcanum daisy and bleeding heart hybrids." "...Wow. I... had no idea what any of that meant." Nanoha shrugged. "I'm taking care of the magic weeds. Slowly. Very slowly. The problems that come with trying such an ambitious garden." "I'll be sure to swing by, see if I can give you some help sometime. O'Neill, found anything to do in your retirement?" O'Neill laughed. "If I'm doing anything, it isn't actual retirement. I've worked for too long, Flutters. Way. Too. Long." "He watches a lot of movies and has started reviewing them online," Nanoha interjected. "He's apparently really good at it." O'Neill sighed. "Lots of betrayal today," Jotaro mused. "It's thematically appropriate," Pidge said. "Representative of the trust between everyone in the City." "Pidge! You don't say it aloud!" Pinkie chided. Pidge adjusted her glasses. "Like it matters right now." "...I mean, it doesn't right now, but in general!" "I'll be careful!" Flutterfree rolled her eyes. "You're all so... ridiculous." She put her wings around them. "That's why I love you all." Pidge smiled. "Y'know, Vriska'd throw a fit..." "Vriska isn't here." Flutterfree released them. "Plus, Rev's last sermon was all on expressing your affection more so people know it intrinsically. Vriska could afford to be told from time to time and just deal with the squirmy feeling." Everyone laughed at this. Pinkie looked at a watch she didn't have on her hoof. "Well, we're runnin' out of pages here. We should go visit one more person. And to mix it up, I'm just going to Ponk-a-donk us there. Bye O'Neil! Nanoha!" Flutterfree's eyes widened. "Pinkie, don't do it like a-" The four of them were suddenly in a lake in the middle of a park. "PINKIE!" Pinkie giggled. "I had to do it, you know I did." Flutterfree splashed her, but laughed anyway. The four of them crawled out of the lake and walked up a small dirt path to the Memorial. The Memorial had been based off the design Corona had sent Eve during the war - but it wasn't the likeness of Celestia holding the slowly spinning image of Equis. Instead, the pony was the Lost Hero, Allure Belle. She was holding a slowly spinning image of the multiverse complete with E, Q, and D spheres with the Unrealities at the bottom. As they approached, they could see thousands of names fly by. Names that started with those lost in the War for Existence, but also contained those Dusted, and those lost up to the point when English attacked. Flutterfree was pleased to see Tornado's name fly by. The person they met at the foot of this statue was one of the few people who could say he didn't know anyone on the memorial: Roland of Gilead. He sensed them coming, but didn't turn around. "Everyone I lost has been gone so long, they're only remembered because of my legend." He folded his arms. "You should make one for them," Flutterfree suggested. "I think I will," Roland agreed. "...You've all had quite the story. Ka threw you around like toys." "But here we are," Jotaro said. "Alive, and ready to take on anything." Roland smirked ever so slightly. "Anything..." The Statue glinted in the serene twilight of Nucleon. Far above, the Earth sat, waiting for ka to end so those below could explore its ancient surface... The many planets of the New World continued turning on as time pro- "WAIIIIT!" Pinkie shouted, waving her hooves. "The story isn't actually done! We've got a whole other Arc to go through! Geez, trying to wrap it up? We didn't even visit everyone! The Tower hasn't collapsed! The New World hasn't been fully explored! Get your act together!" She cleared her throat. "Tune in next time folks! We're not quite done yet! See you next time on Songs of the Spheres!"
Songs of the Spheres	[TIME] 144 - The City, Part 1	There were two kinds of people in the New World. There were people who took the sudden change as an opportunity to redefine their lives and seek out a dramatic new path, foraging into the unknown to get away from what once was. And then there were the people who clung to the past and did what they always did. Azula was in the latter category. Ever since she'd arrived in the New World, she'd continued to be the proprietor of the teashop. At this point it was no longer out of some vague sense of obligation to Iroh's spirit - it had been almost an entire lifetime since he'd left them. There was just something about being the person who provided calming, warm drinks to the community that kept Azula there. Any time she wasn't surrounded by the aroma of tea, she felt more than a little on edge. Like she was out of her element. Didn't belong. So the moment the City started rebuilding, she demanded a teashop. It wasn't hard to pull strings to get it built near the start - many people had good memories of the place. At first, they had wanted to replicate the original one in the Hub, but they decided against it. The City wasn't enclosed; it was open to the twilight sky. It just wouldn't do to make the teashop a giant gray brick. Instead, they accessed the ancient culture of the Elemental Nations. They may have willfully lost their cultural identity in Merodi Universalis, but it wasn't hard to find out what they used to build. They built what Iroh's original teashop would have looked like. All the way back in Ba Sing Se... Naturally, they had to install lighting and storage containers for the more exotic varieties of 'tea' Azula would be selling, but otherwise the general homey aesthetic was kept. It really hit Azula, making her realize she had never really felt at home for... most of her life. She knew from the moment she walked in that this place was her home. And it showed. She had become a good listener during her time in the Hub's teashop, but she had never been big on smiling all that brightly. People noticed her smile grow as the City was rebuilt and more and more people came to her teashop. It was as if a switch had been flicked inside her. Suddenly, she was enjoying life much more than she had previously. The burdens of her past had been lifted. She just served tea and talked to people - and she was perfectly fine with that simple life. Her uncle had really been onto something. It really was a shame he always ended up caught in politics. She supposed she had as well, though the influence of politics on her business here was minimal. The big crisis was over and the City wasn't important enough to worry about trading entire planets and solar systems for the sake of a multiversal deal. Everything had become more low-key and Azula wasn't complaining in the slightest. She would be perfectly content if she could go the rest of her days lazily talking to people and serving tea. She also found it funny how people came to drown their sorrows despite none of the tea having any alcohol content whatsoever. "I don't understand how you do it..." Storm was muttering, face down on the table. "Do what?" Azula asked as she delivered a platter to a pair of inkling sisters. Storm pointed at the happy customers. "This. How did you get this?" Azula leaned forward on the counter and shook her head sadly. "Storm... I stopped trying." Storm grunted, somehow sensing what she was about to say. "When I wanted respect and sought it, I didn't get it. But when I stopped caring about that... I slowly got it." She smiled warmly as she crushed some tea leaves between her fingers. "I started paying attention to other people and what they wanted." "I-" "You faked it," Azula interrupted, her smile faltering. "Tell me you actually cared about your Agents." "I did!" Azula shook her head, turning away. "...No one believes that anymore. Everyone knows what you did at the Hub. You showed your true colors. It's always about you." She turned back. "If you want people to respect you... Well, it has to stop being about you." Storm nodded slowly. "And take this as advice from a friend. I know you could probably pull off another fake. Convince everyone you had changed and that you really cared while still putting yourself in a good position. It's what you're good at." She looked him in the eyes. "Don't. Take this new world and... settle for something lesser. It'll be a better life for you." Storm looked at her closely. Wordlessly, he got up and left. Azula couldn't tell if she got through to him or not. She hoped she had. She returned to her work, prepping another platter of steaming tea. She placed it on the counter. Since it all needed to go to various tables far from the 'bar', she wouldn't be passing it out. Seskii jumped up from her position and began bouncing it around, not spilling a single drop. A pang hit Azula. When the Tower fell, Seskii would lose all those abilities that made her such an effective waiter. Would she still be able to work here? "...Changes are still coming," Roland of Gilead said, sitting down in front of Azula. "The worst is behind us," Azula responded, checking her stores of dried leaves. "The worst perhaps. The biggest?" Azula furrowed her brow, silent for a moment. She had Roland's special mix pre-prepared since he always showed up at least once a day. The cup of steaming water was in front of him within twenty seconds, though the tea hadn't fully infused yet. "I can't say. I never was one of the philosopher types. Like everyone else seemed to be." "Thankee-sai," Roland said in regards to the tea. He tipped up his hat so his eyes would be easier to see. "I asked the Emissary why everyone talked so much." "She gave a straight answer?" "Just 'that's the kind of story this is. There are questions without answers. They need to be addressed'." "Was this followed by a 'darling' or 'idiot'?" "The former, though the latter occurred in the next few minutes." He folded his hands together. "At least she answered your question." "I had many questions...she answered most of them. Or made them unimportant." Azula smiled sadly. "Roland... I'm sorry. You spent your entire life searching for answers. You were sent into an endless loop, never being allowed to truly find what you wanted. And then when you got the answers, they didn't bring you the peace or closure you were sure they would." "No." "From what I've seen, that's... Well, that's how it works. Your story can be satisfying, you can reach an end, and then you won't be satisfied. It'll feel... over. But it's not. You're Roland of Gilead, your story is more p-" "It's over," Roland said, kicking back. Azula blinked. "...You know?" Roland nodded with the slightest hint of a grimace. "How? Did you talk to Twilence?" "I did. But after I felt it." He tapped his chest. "The ka. It's leaving." "...Isn't that a good thing, though? You yourself admitted it was a curse. An endless curse." "Don't even know for sure which of my lives was right," Roland admitted, falling into a ponderous silence. "...Even when you lose something horrid, it still feels like a loss," Azula said for him. "I... I've lost my fiery spirit and my passion. There are days I look back and wish I could still muster it up. But I can't. I've gone soft. I'd never say it wasn't a good thing, but... well, you know." Roland took a sip of the tea and furrowed his brow. "One..." "One what?" "One role," Roland said, setting the teacup down. "Twilence said I had one left. Before the end." "Stopping a threat?" "She was vague." "...Did she know?" Roland looked into the distance. "Not fully. But she knew more than she was letting on." "Her powers have come back nicely. She probably knows when the Tower falls to the exact second." Azula furrowed her brow. "...She told me she can hear Flagg sometimes." "I went to see him today." Azula gawked. "You... You can't visi-" "There was no talking," Roland said, dismissively. "His mask wasn't removed." "Still... nobody's supposed to have anything to do with him... You know what he did, an-" She shook her head. "Never mind, you know better than anyone. Why would you risk that?" "I don't rightly know," Roland admitted. "Don't know what I got out of it either." "You might not have gotten anything. He's a horrible man who's been reduced to an immobile tormented soul who's never allowed to talk to anyone. It's... exactly what he deserves, but hard to feel vindicated about." "Mlinx suggested we give him another trial after the Tower falls. Many agreed." "They're going to try to rehabilitate him!? What are they thinking? He's... He's..." She fell silent. "A force of ka, perpetuated by the Tower. Would he be able to be something else without it?" Roland looked at her. His features asked her - begged her - to have an answer for him. "I... I'm sorry, I don't have an answer for you. I'm not the thinker." "That's why I came to you." Azula bit her lip. "...I don't know. My first instinct is to kill him and get it over with. But my instincts have gotten me in a lot of trouble over the years. I... I think I'd have to see him after the Tower fell to be sure. Run tests. See... see what everyone else thinks. I can't make that judgment." Roland sighed. He slowly stood up and tipped his hat to Azula and left the teashop without another word. He left his unfinished tea behind. How unlike him. Azula spent the whole day thinking about what he'd said. The concerns he'd brought to her. She prepared herself for the next time he came in and wanted to talk. But he didn't come in the next day. Or the next. Or the day after that. She eventually asked Seskii to watch the teashop for a few hours while she went to find him. Nala told her exactly where he was - the Memorial. He stood at the foot of the statue, expression unreadable. Azula walked up to him. "Does justice exist?" he asked, suddenly. "I... Uh..." "He killed so many," he said, gesturing at the names flying past them. "He's done more than anyone else who has ever lived." "...They decided to try to rehabilitate Flagg, didn't they?" Roland didn't answer. He didn't need to. "If he was a victim of ka..." "Every man is a victim of ka. That does not mean we aren't responsible for our actions." Azula nodded slowly. "But is justice really an eye for an eye? Death for death? Aren't there... other things? Like, uh..." she fumbled. "Mercy?" "Azula." Azula sighed. "...I have nothing for you Roland. Just more questions. ...But I can tell you that there isn't a satisfying answer. I don't think there is one." Roland clenched his jaw in silence. Azula knew what this meant - it was time for her to leave. She silently snuck away and got back to work. Roland did eventually come back to the teashop a couple weeks later. But he never brought up Flagg again, and Azula didn't push it. ~~~ Law enforcement. The police. People tasked with keeping the populace safe. In Celestia City, this has primarily been the job of the League of Sweetie Belles, making the actual police nothing more than backup. In the City, the role was reversed. The League still existed, sure, but they were no longer the primary form of keeping order. They were the backup for the police. Policing was a much simpler job than the past, since technically they only had to worry about the laws of one City, not several thousand different civilizations all mingling together. It was a breath of fresh air. Somehow, the chief of police ended up being Doctor Strange. He spent most of the day in his office, drinking way too much coffee and using his magic to scan the City for possible crimes before they even happened. He usually did this by sitting back in his absurdly expensive office chair and entering a meditative state. This was usually interrupted by Lightning running into the office and upsetting the entire setup. "Strange, we've got a-" "Stabbing about to take place on Ricarduro Street," Strange said with a sigh. "What a coincidence, that's exactly what I said," Sherlock added, poking his head in. "Didn't even need any fancy magic." "Did you know it-" "-is Spades Slick? Yes. Yes I did." Strange put a hand to the bridge of his nose. "I don't have time to ask why or how... Just go deal with it. Yes, Sherlock, you too. No, I do not care that you technically aren't an officer, just do it." Sherlock shrugged. "I wanted to go anyway. This is going to be quite the 'I told you so'. All it will take is a-" Lightning grabbed him by the back of his coat collar and dragged him out of the police station and onto the streets. "You're in a hurry. It's not going to be that soon," Sherlock muttered. "We'll need evidence that he had intention or we won't be able to charge him." "I needed to get you out of that room before you entered a battle of wills," Lightning said, readying her gunblade. "Then we'd be too late." "I would have calculated the precise amount of time I coul-" Lightning dragged him into a teleporter that took them to Ricarduro Street. It looked about the same as the street the police station was on, except it was a little dirtier and the people who lived there weren't as zealous about trying to look like perfect angels all the time. The people walking by the police station did get a little tiring to watch after a while. There were only so many times you could see someone nervously walk into a pole before it became boring. Sherlock sighed. "Fine. From Spades' interaction yesterday, it'll happen somewhere along this street at least five minutes from now. Indigo will have changed his walking route to come through here given the recent construction and Spades will jump him. A stabbing is going to take place when the two meet." "For certain?" "Spades has a knife. What else do you expect? It's his way of saying hello." "Been here all of a month and already he's..." Lightning sighed. "How did the Merodi put up with him?" "Medical technology, usefulness, and luck," Sherlock explained. "It takes a lot to live the life of quasi-crime. Good ol' Olivia set him on the path and he didn't budge at all. It was only a matter of time until he wanted that back." "And we shut him down." "Precisely. Today marks the day where he tries to start his little empire on his own. He won't stand a chance..." Lightning pushed Sherlock down - someone was coming. It wasn't anyone they were expecting, just a man whistling and skipping down the street. He entered a nearby building and shut the door with a loud, metallic slam. "He was happy," Lightning observed. "Just got or is about to get a huge paycheck," Sherlock deduced. "Mmm..." Lightning said, falling silent. She wasn't in the mood for another round of 'deductions with Sherlock'. They tended to get pedantic and irritating much faster than she could ever anticipate. They waited patiently for a few minutes until they saw a Melnorme walking down the street. Indigo. He was carrying a lot of traded goods in a sack on his back - many of them exceedingly valuable. Lightning would have said he was being stupid to trust the City's law enforcement to keep his belongings safe, but then she remembered they were watching him and were going to keep him safe, so the point was moot. They saw Spades Slick himself come out of a building that somehow managed to look old and decrepit despite only being built a week ago. He looked Indigo right in the eye and scowled. "So, you decided t' show up, did ya?" "...Er... Yes." Indigo said. "I did." "I sense you havin' second thoughts..." Spades said, a knife appearing in his hand. "I'm tellin' ya, this won't end well, buddy." Lightning leaped out from her hiding place and cast Slow on Spades. He moved to stop her, but she kicked the knife out of his hand and pinned him to the ground before he could even curl his hands into a fist. Sherlock strode out of the hiding place and leaned down to Spades' face. "I said you would be eating dirt." He gestured at how Spades' face was pressed to the ground. "I did mean it." Spades grumbled something impossible to understand with the slowed time and dirt in his mouth. Lightning cuffed him. "You won't be creating your little 'gangster paradise' here. Or even something remotely like it. You do, however, have rights. We haven't exactly worked out exactly how to read them to you, but we can start with the right to remain sile-" Indigo stabbed her in the back with a knife. Nothing overly critical was hit, but the knife was laced with a particularly powerful paralytic that would have killed most people. Lightning was experienced enough with poisons to have a tolerance to such things, but she still seized up and fell to the ground like a domino. Sherlock blinked. "...It seems I may have made a miscalculation." Spades spat the dirt out of his mouth. "Ya think!?" Indigo pointed the knife at Sherlock. "You w-" "Yes, yes, won't be going anywhere, clearly this was all some sort of elaborate ploy to get me here to kill me. Who is it, some Melnorme high trader? A version of Moriarty?" "...You notice much, Sherlock. But not anymore." Indigo moved to stab him. Sherlock jumped to the side, narrowly dodging the blade. "You're a trader who's been having great success but misses the older times when the Melnorme way was appreciated." Sherlock ducked to the side, rolling over Lightning's paralyzed form. "You found yourself a boss who thought he could cheat the system, and convinced you to be the start of the empire. All you have to do is take out some pesky detective who's always figuring things out before they happen. A wizard too, while you're at it." He tripped over Spades' body, a look of fear crossing his face. Indigo raised the knife, grinning. "I don't suppose you'll tell me what the plan is to take care of Strange?" "No." "Shame. It'd make things much easier." He lost the fake fearful expression and held up a small key - the kind that went to handcuffs. Spades brought out another knife and stabbed Indigo through the eye with it. Several times. "Let him go," Sherlock said. "There's a bigger fish you need to bring here. That building over there, third floor, just behind the window." Spades jumped to the third floor and punched the window in, pulling out the man who had been skipping and whistling down the street just moments before. Spades threw him down to the ground, breaking several bones - but Sherlock stopped the carapacian before he could cut the man's head off. "H-how did you know!?" the man shouted through his pain. "Elementary. Well, not really, but something like it. I guessed, you confirmed." "W-What!?" "There was nothing traditionally suspicious about you - except the fact that you stood out. I dismissed you, but thinking back, you wouldn't have been here if you weren't important in some way. Ka hasn't vanished yet, and it betrayed what you were. Now..." he leaned in and raised an eyebrow. "How do I stop you from getting to Strange?" "I..." "I'll gouge your eyes out with a spoon and stick my knives in the holes," Spades threatened. "We've set a magic feedback loop in his room. The moment he tries to use his powers to see the future and gets a full image, he'll blow the entire station!" "...It is really lucky I've upset his meditation then, isn't it? He won't be able to do that for several hours." He shrugged, grabbing the cuffs that had been on Spades and slapping them on the poor, broken man. "You are under arrest, mister..." "M-" "Actually, you know what, you don't get a name," Sherlock decided. "Doesn't matter who you are. I'll just cart you off to the police station and they can read you your rights and deal with the paperwork." He turned to Lightning. "...Should probably take her to the hospital first." "Yes... hospital... please..." Lightning wheezed. "You'll live. Spades, can you get her to the hospital without stabbing her? Nevermind, dumb question, of course you can't." Sherlock sighed. "Have to do everything..." He pulled out his phone and called emergency services. "This is consultant Sherlock Holmes working with our illustrious law enforcement. Officer Lightning has been downed by a paralytic knife. I will be waiting on-scene with an injured criminal as well, though he will be going directly to the station. ...You're required to treat anyone you see who is injured. ...Fine." "That's a stupid rule," Spades muttered. "You're the one who wants a gangster paradise," Sherlock commented. "By definition you have to think all rules are stupid." "...No..." "Yes. By the way, when you do try to stab someone for that, you will eat dirt again." "You ain't perfect." "And of course you want to chance that..." He rolled his eyes, calling Strange. "Hey, I hope you're not meditating!" "Sherlock I swear t-" "We've uncovered a minor conspiracy that wanted to remove you from power by arming explosives that would trigger when you reached a level of maximum meditation. So just stop. Also, you're welcome." Strange hung up on him. Sherlock shrugged, putting his phone away. At this point, emergency services arrived in a flash of light with a hover-ambulance. A curly-haired white mage stepped out of the ambulance and was able to heal Lightning's singular wound without any trouble whatsoever. Indigo was already dead so he had to be loaded for revival spell attempts later. The woman took one look at the man with all the broken bones and winced. "I need to take him in for that. Did you really have to rough him up so much?" "I had to use Spades to get to him," Sherlock said. "So yes." She levitated the broken man into the ambulance. "I'll have him under constant surveillance, don't worry." "I worry." She rolled her eyes and sighed. "There's now a tracker and teleportation implant embedded into him, happy?" "Enough." "Great! Goodbye. He'll arrive at the station when discharged." Emergency services vanished in a puff of white. Lightning rubbed her head. "...So everyone was taken away except Spades?" "Yes." "...You misread him didn't you?" "Not my fault he treats scheduled duels the same as planned murder." "And you didn't even think of that as a possibility." "You got stabbed in the back by an orange balloon." Lightning twitched. Then she turned to Spades. "You're off the hook for now, but we're watching you." Spades shrugged. "So nothin' new? Got it." Lightning let out a grunt and dragged Sherlock away. ~~~ Trixie had tried to go back to the life she once had. Emphasis on 'tried'. After she'd gotten herself a place in the City and gotten the mourning out of her system, she booted up the computer and connected to the Internet. Currently, it only connected the City to a few other settlements, making it a very limited place compared to what it once was. It still had all the major sites simply because people had still wanted them, but heavy traffic was just... down. She'd set out to change that, to once again become an Internet celebrity, to help bring everyone together through her. One problem. Nobody seemed to care anymore. There were a couple diehard fans, sure, but aside from them... it seemed like the life had gone out of the Internet. "What do you think did it, Discord?" Trixie asked one day. "What happened?" "The multiverse collapsed." "I mean besides the obvious, smartass." Discord chuckled. "Well, the Internet only really connects people within the City. And, let's be honest here, we've got teleporters to go visit those people in person right now. Public transport is completely free, easy, and simple. You think the City's big, but it's not really. This is a small community." "Didn't stop people before..." Trixie grumbled. "Well... There was a month there where nobody had Internet. Maybe they used that month to realize it wasn't as good as they thought it was? Or maybe it's just really simple - not enough people making content on the Internet to spend all day scrolling through it without thinking." "So you're basically saying 'lots of things, just deal with it'?" "Putting words in my mouth again! So arrogant!" "Gee, I wonder why..." Trixie muttered. She eventually shut down the Internet business. There wasn't much feedback, people weren't talking to her as much, and Discord was right - the world outside the screen seemed more appealing at the moment for some reason she couldn't quite put her hoof on. So she went to the next best thing. "Arcade," she told Discord one day. "We're making another Arcade." "Oh, that sounds positively delightful! A sector for games, just the two of us, entertaining the masses and ripping them off of their coin!" "...I should say we'll be running a completely honest business that charges fairly, buuuuut... Oh, screw it, we won't be able to resist." She rubbed her hooves together. "Discord, do the snap, crackle, pop." He snapped his fingers and one cereal-filled hour later they had an arcade filled with all the best and most amazing games imaginable, ranging from VR to magical reality to simple arcade machines. In the first week, business went great. Sure, Lightning had to drop in one day and tell them to stop being so 'greedy', but Trixie and Discord didn't complain. They didn't make it unfair for the money; they did it to mess with people. Trixie really felt like it was going somewhere. That it was, really, a great life. People came to her to have fun. The arcade was almost always filled with sounds of laughter and enjoyment. That sound. That sound - it was why she had become a magic performer so long ago. It was not the applause, though she had grown to cherish that. It was the laughter, the enjoyment, the surprise... All because of her. And then, one day, business inexplicably started to slow. The sound dwindled over the course of about four days. At first, they had no idea why it was happening. But then Trixie overheard the word 'BattleDome'. "Discord, search," Trixie demanded, slamming a hoof on the arcade counter with a slam. "What is BattleDome?" Discord summoned a laptop and a pair of glasses that belonged on an old secretary. "Let's see here... A virtual reality establishment that opened up last week. The main feature is a BattleDome where you can fight without fear of injury and can be anything... But it also has features for general gaming, recreation, and many other purposes." "...Why didn't we think of this?" "Holding onto the past?" Trixie ignored this comment. "Right. Well, clearly we'll need to negotiate something. Who runs it?" Discord scrolled down - and his eyes widened. "You are not going to believe this..." Later that day, they walked into the BattleDome. From the outside, it was a simple white dome the diameter of a football field. People were streaming in and out of the front doors constantly, much more traffic than their arcade ever had. The two trotted in - paying the entry price. Discord did some quick math. "...They spend slightly more here." "Of course they do. But if this was just a matter of better prices, we wouldn't be here," Trixie muttered. They entered the full world of the dome - and without even putting on a headset they were suddenly in a world of virtual reality. They walked along a cobblestone path through an excessively green landscape. All around them were other people, almost all of whom just looked like regular people, starkly contrasting against the dramatic neon signs everywhere. Each sign declared the presence of some service or other - VR movies, massive multiplayer games, historical records, something called Jump-Up, and even simulated arcade. "I'm going to rip his throat out..." Trixie muttered. The worst part of it? None of the signs had price tags on them. Pay the entry fee and you could do anything you wanted - with the notable exception of the biggest neon sign in the entire virtual space, which had prices for betting - not playing. It was the BattleDome sign itself, asking players to enter and fight. Just below the sign was a gaudy golden statue of the 'man' who ran the BattleDome. Caliborn. Knowing Caliborn, Trixie walked right up to his statue and proceeded to flip it off with a magic hologram. "Hey, Cal, we need to talk." "Caliborn is currently in a match," the calm, slightly amused voice of Monika said. "I can take a message if you'd like." "Why am I not surprised?" Discord said, scratching his chin. "Monika... You provide all the resources...?" "Yep!" Monika said with a wink. "Then Caliborn does nothing. Got it," Trixie said. "Well, no..." Monika put a finger to her face. "He's the one who made the main BattleDome. All by himself. I just came by later to commercialize it." "Why?" "Boredom." "Legitimate reason," Discord admitted. Monika shrugged. "Anyway, since you insist on waiting..." She snapped her fingers and they were suddenly standing on a clear platform several yards above an arena. "We can watch the match." She pointed down. Facing off was a virtual representation of Lord English fighting a giant robot. Both were heavily damaged and scraped. "Let me guess, Cal's playing English?" Trixie asked. "Actually no," Monika said. "He's the robot. Some guy named... Isaiah Neuman is playing English." She looked at her hand, a watch materializing from nothing. "Should be done in a few seconds now..." The giant robot pushed its hands forwards and unleashed a nuclear explosion. English took the full force of the attack and retaliated with a beam of vaporizing energy - but the robot wasn't there anymore. It was above him, driving a sword right into his brain. "Game!" an invisible announcer called out. The arena vanished, only to be replaced with a podium. Caliborn and an ordinary human were standing there, and Caliborn had a gold medal. "EAT SHIT!" Caliborn shouted, pointing at Isaiah. Isaiah shrugged. "Good game." "You bet your claws it is! FUCK YEAH!" Caliborn let out a roar and did a little dance. "Right! Who's next?" "An appointment," Monika said, descending from the sky. "Oh. You two losers." Caliborn rolled his eyes at them. "What wasp's gotten in your head?" "You're running our arcade out of business," Trixie said. "We're here to negotiate... a settlement." "Talk to the reality bitch over there, I really don't care." "...You let him talk to you like that?" Discord asked Monika. Monika shrugged. "It's just a word." "You don't care?" Trixie pointed an accusing hoof at Caliborn. "You're conquering the market, you should care!" Caliborn laughed. "And now it's your turn to be the fucking idiot! I am not doing this for the money. Who needs money? I could go to the Pinkie Emporium every day and live the high life without paying a dime." "He did that for several weeks," Monika added. "Their fault for being so generous with free samples," Caliborn retorted. "But I did have to go to Eve's... sessions... to 'deal' with my 'anger problem'. It was fucking stupid but, to everyone's surprise, not useless! She was like 'go play this game it might help' and the next thing I knew I was tearing apart hoards of demons with my bare hands!" "Doom. The game was Doom." "Who asked you?" Caliborn flung his arms around wildly. "Whatever. Never mind. I decided I needed to experience ALL the games in every way I could! And I wanted bigger games! Better games! I wanted to be able to fight anything as anything! So I created this! And you know the best part?" "No," Trixie deadpanned. "People don't fucking complain when you beat them up!" He let out a laugh. "None of the 'be nice' or 'you can't hurt them' BULLSHIT. It's all about strength in here... STRENGTH!" "And I just filled in the holes and added the other stuff," Monika said. "...Look, if you want, I can remove the simulated arcade. Though that'll probably upset a lot of people." Trixie frowned. "...Why would they come to us? Your games are better and everything in here's a better deal. We could start our own VR thing, but it wouldn't be the same." She grumbled. "Wouldn't have mister angry and green constantly bettering the game with his 'spice'. It works better with him as the star of the show." Monika pondered this for a moment. "I could just hire you." "Thanks, but no thanks," Discord said. "We're here to help us, not you." "A deal usually helps both, Discord," Trixie pointed out. "...I don't want to work for anyone." Monika shrugged. "Well, sorry, not sure what you want me to do." "I don't know either," Trixie mutterd. They closed down the arcade a week later - Trixie just wasn't feeling it anymore. She went to the BattleDome's arcade just to see what it would be like - and discovered that it was always personalized. She would just be managing a small amount of customers if she came here, and nobody would think more of her than just some clerk. They'd think she was weird for not being an AI or something. "...What now?" Trixie asked. Discord shrugged. "I've been hanging out with Flutterfree and tweaking my Chaos Basement to my liking. Been pretty nice, not doing anything." Trixie blinked. "...Doing... nothing..." She pulled out her phone. She logged into her bank account. Like most everyone else, most of her money had been lost with the destruction of the multiverse. However, she had amassed a fortune in her life as a 'celebrity' and even a small chunk of it would boggle the minds of most ordinary people. "I could certainly afford it. But... I don't know, Discord, I've been..." Discord shrugged. "You should just try it. See where it takes you. You might be surprised with the retired life." "I'm only a hundred and forty-nine," Trixie said, rolling her eyes. "...Wasn't the retirement age a hundred and twenty in Equestria before the immortality serum came out?" "Shut up." Discord rolled his eyes and zipped his mouth shut, knowing Trixie had already decided to listen to him. Trixie bought the most extravagant mansion she could think of. She got a full waiting staff and spent all her time attending parties and meeting up with friends. At the start it was simply exhilarating. She didn't have any responsibilities and she could do just about anything she wanted, and nobody was egging her to get a job. They all supported her. Then she met a stallion living a similar lifestyle. A Prince of a lower Equis who'd gotten money by selling his castle and everything in it the moment he heard of the City. He invited her to a grandiose ball held in a replica of Twilight's castle. It took her all of three minutes at that ball of gaudy, rich people to realize something: if she continued like this she was going to end up part of the pseudo-nobility. And she hated the nobility with a burning passion for how they'd always treated performers like her. So she left, cut ties with everyone at the ball, and sold her mansion. The day before she was scheduled to hand off the keys, Discord showed up. "Didn't work?" "Didn't like what I was turning into," Trixie said, flamboyantly throwing a ball gown into the trash. "Ah, that's... satisfying." "You could jus-" "Nope, not living the lazy life," Trixie said. "I may be a self-absorbed below-average illusionist, but I'm not a layabout." "You're underselling yourself like a limbo dancer on competition day." Trixie rolled her eyes. "Okay, so I'm not below-average at illusions. That's what I'm banking on." She walked outside to her wagon - her precious wagon that had been through so much. The precious wagon she had repaired so many times and enchanted to be bigger on the inside - but never replaced. Never, ever, replaced. She'd had it re-painted and finished just a few days ago. "Going back on the road..." Discord facepalmed. "Trixie, you know why this isn't going to work..." Trixie grimaced. "I'm going to try." "You tried before the multiverse collapsed. Nobody wants 'magic' tricks anymore. Trust me, even my chaos hasn't been grabbing their attention." "THEN WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?" Trixie shouted, stamping her hooves on the ground. "I've gone through everything I'm good at and it just. Doesn't. Work! Nothing has the same... same... UGH!" She rammed her head into a wall. "I'm hopeless..." Discord blinked. "Uh... Sure there's nothing else? Like..." He scratched the back of his head, clearly at a loss on what to do. "Something you haven't tried yet?" "What? I've been a public icon, a magician, and an arcade manager. I give people a show, design clever tricks, and can talk about games. What in the world could I possi-" A lightbulb went off in her head. "...Trixie?" "Shush. Trixie is having a moment." Discord grinned. "There's the Trixie we know and love." "To the wagon! Trixie needs her idea board!" Months passed. But, eventually, Trixie trotted up to the BattleDome alone. She wore a pair of square glasses and a blue suit. Her mane had been cut short - nothing long enough to reach her shoulders. She pulled out a phone and put on a snarky smile. "Heeeeeeeey Cal, my favorite snotling! Come outside, I've got something special for you!" It took a few minutes for Cal to get out of his match, but he did exit the building - Monika next to him. "Why are you dressed like a blue penguin?" he asked. "She wants to look professional," Monika said. "...You want that job?" "I have a... different proposition," Trixie said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small digital cartridge. "...What the fuck is that?" Caliborn asked. "It's a game," Trixie said, pulling out a business card. "A game I designed." Monika examined the card. Trixie Lulamoon, Lulamoon Games. "...You're a game designer?" "Yep. You'll find on that cartridge a copy of Advent Nile, a simple little game where you take the role of a spaceship and shoot enemies. The primary deviating mechanic is a 'retaliation' system where certain enemies will attack you with different levels of intensity based on what color enemies you've already killed. This is the first game for Lulamoon Games, so it isn't anything overly ambitious. But it has the potential for a dramatic story rife with consequences from every single gunshot and a multiplayer sensation where each player could control not only a ship, but also a certain color of enemy as well." She adjusted her glasses. "Trixie's offering it to you first." "An early deal..." Monika said, examining the chip. "Let me guess, expensive?" "Not at all. You'll pay just as much as anyone else would pay to get it at home. You just get it early." "More people will come to the BattleDome... and your name will get out..." Monika smirked. "Clever." "...What?" Caliborn asked, clearly confused about the entire interaction. "Don't worry, this is a good plan," Monika told him. "You have yourself a deal, Trixie. Though, I am curious, how'd you get a team to work on this?" Trixie grinned evilly. "Trixie is a one pony army. Discord provided the materials. Trixie did everything else. You'd be surprised how easy it is to make a game with modern computers if you just have a good idea and the drive to finish it." She turned around and confidently strode away. Two weeks later Advent Nile was the talk of the City and Trixie's next game was already heavily anticipated. She leaned back in her chair and smirked. "Trixie's still got it." ~~~ Corona's Public Laboratory. Everyone called it the workshop. ...Well, anyone who liked the place. There were a few who called it 'the bitch's doomsday box' but they weren't nearly as vocal nor as prevalent as Corona would have expected. She did occasionally get graffiti on the workshop, though. Today was one of those days. She was mildly disappointed it wasn't anything creative. No artistic or comedic value to this piece of red spray-paint. Just the words 'doomsday bitch' in large, hastily scrawled letters. Corona put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows. "You think if they'd go through all the trouble of not tripping the alarms they'd be a little less skittish. They probably had half an hour before anyone would notice. This is, what, thirty seconds of work? Tops?" Jenny stood next to her wearing nothing more than an extra long nightshirt and her gloves. She sipped her coffee. "Upset they're not spending more effort on defaming you?" "Yes!" Corona realized what she'd just said. "I mean, no. I mean..." Corona facepalmed. "There are a lot of complicated feelings involved." She absent-mindedly scratched her tracking collar. "Maybe they knew you'd find something hastily scrawled more of an insult than an extravagant piece of art?" Jenny suggested. "...There's no way they could be that smart." "Could be anyone in the entire city. You may be in the 99th percentile but there's more than a hundred people who live here." Corona stared at the graffiti with a blank expression. "...Now I don't know what to think." "Then my work here is done." Corona blinked. Then she shrugged, waving her hands and making the graffiti disappear with a simple spell. The wall was clean once again. Corona stood, proud of her quick work. "...Why do I even have this?" Jenny asked, examining her mug. "I hate coffee." Corona's bright expression became one of exasperation in an instant. "...Back to work it is." Jenny yawned. "But booooosssss I'm not awake yet!" "If you were anyone else I'd be baffled as to why they were trying to get me to crack their head open like a walnut. But it's you, of course that's what you want." Jenny chuckled, dropping the whine in an instant. "Back to work." They entered the workshop, passing through a 'hall' whose walls were composed entirely of giant piles of mechanical bits ranging from I-beams to magic crystals to pieces of wood laying around haphazardly. A few sections within the piles were cleared out for larger machines to make their permanent home. The most popular of these was Jenny's duplicator device, which had made a lot of their job much easier as of late. Need a part but can't find enough? Duplicate! Need to break something to learn how to fix it? Duplicate! Break a tool? Always have duplicates! It didn't work on everything, to be sure, but it duplicated enough technological things that their workload had been significantly reduced. They dreaded the day when someone brought in a magic-infused piece of biotech. The duplicator hated those. Their current project was to make a collapsible rock wall for a rock-climbing enthusiast. It had been a bit of a challenge to get the device to collapse and feel like actual rock, but it was coming along nicely. Corona expected to finish it before lunch. Jenny and Corona entered the central area of the workshop where the collapsible mountain had stood every day for the last week. It was nowhere to be seen - instead, Roxy was sitting on top of a pillow with a cocky grin on her face. "...Did you Void it?" Jenny asked, looking around. "Nope!" "Sitting on it?" Corona asked. "Nope!" Roxy held out her index finger. On top of it was a gray box the size of a pea. "Here it is." "...So, let me get this straight. You completed it and made it smaller?" "DING DING DING!" Roxy declared, whooping. "Jenny, tell her what she's won!" Jenny blinked. "Did we rehearse a bit or something? Be-" Roxy held up her free hand which had a Jenny-like sock puppet on it. "Corona's won the coveted 'complete every job on the list' award! Also, a toaster!" Roxy created a toaster and tossed it to Corona. It impaled on her horn. "Warranty not included." "Clearly not," Corona said, prying the appliance off her face. She repaired the simple machine with a wave of her hand. "...Is every job really done?" Roxy shoved the Jenny puppet into Corona's face and made it nod. "Not a single thing on the to-do list for today! No customers, no government-mandated projects! You know what this means!?" Corona smirked. "We could work on whatever we wanted... build anything..." "Or, you know, just have a party," Roxy said, lowering the puppet. "I can totally just make there 'be party' here. It works!" "Both. Both is good," Jenny said, clapping her hands. "It's a build-anything party." "What should we build?" Corona asked. "Mirror transportation? Laser network? Supercooled plasma?" "That's not a thing." "It could be." "Girls, girls, better idea," Roxy said - completely oblivious to the fact that Ivan had just walked in. "Something stupid and completely, truly, absolutely pointless in every way shape and form you can imagine. Something that will make you go 'what' or perhaps 'NANI!?'" She made a pumpkin appear out of thin air. "Let's make a pumpkin chucker." "...There is absolutely no point to this," Corona observed. "Count me in." "Yes..." Jenny said, rubbing her hands together. "Clearly, we will have to keep the pumpkin in one piece as it's flying - no explosions or transmuting to light... It must fly freely... And we have to get this done in a day." "One day... three girls... a lot of pumpkins..." Roxy giggled. "This is gonna be fun!" And they set to work. As normal, this started with an entire hour arguing over the basic design. There was a mixture of hologram projections, magic images, models Voided into existence, and a lot of squabbling over the whiteboard. In this, time Ivan had plenty of opportunity to leave, order tea from the teashop, drop by a spaceship manufacturing depot, and return with a shopping bag. "We need purely magic propulsion!" Corona argued. "I say we bug the Flowers for some Fate Fronds," Jenny retorted, shaking her head. "See, they'll ensure success!" "Gaming the system is never a good idea," Roxy said, scribbling out what Jenny had just written. "Instead, we should take Corona's idea, except throw out half the magic and replace it with guidance systems that fly around the pumpkin. It could go on for eternity..." "It'll fail eventually!" Ivan coughed. "What?" Jenny asked, annoyed. The crystalline man held up a grocery bag. "Got something for you." He set it on the ground and walked away. The three of them ran to it and peeled it open. Inside was a square made of black, metallic material. There were no designs on it at all, but all three of them knew exactly what it was. "An inertial dampener..." Corona said, holding it up. "The perfect size for the pumpkin. ...I can see it. I can see it now. With this, we can hit the pumpkin as hard as we want. It won't break." "Do these things still work in the New World?" Jenny asked. Corona slapped Jenny with it as hard as she could. There was no clang - just a muffled whiff despite Jenny being hit hard enough to be knocked to the ground. "I'd say it works." Jenny touched her head where she'd been hit - she hadn't even felt it. The pain had come when she'd hit the ground. "That's so broken and unrealistic. LET'S USE IT!" "Simple but over-the-top..." Corona said, snapping her fingers. She picked up a colored marker and started drawing. "So... we just need to hit it really, really, really hard..." So they set to work. The workshop was filled with the noises of sparks flying, magic spells welding, and buzzsaws being thrown around like nothing. They took a break for lunch - made Ivan a crystal cake to say thanks - and then returned to refining what they were calling the Pumisher. "That's the worst pun I've ever heard," Corona said. "Exactly," Roxy responded without a hint of humor in her voice. They fine-tuned. They ran tests with things that weren't pumpkins - because the pumpkin would have to wait for the moment of truth. Soon, they were chucking things at speeds approaching that of light itself. The clock said it was mid-afternoon when they took the Pumisher to the workshop roof. The device was simple. Its base was a round piece of metal, in the center of which a pumpkin would be placed. On one side of the circle was a giant metal pole fused to the base with magic welding that glowed ever so slightly. Atop this pole was a giant rotating mechanism covered in runes, sparks, and other pieces of technology that looked about ready to explode at any minute. There was a large tube affixed to this rotation mechanism, the edge of which had a magically-reinforced golf club coated in the inertial dampener material. Roxy took out a big black marker and drew a big question mark on the pumpkin. Then she set it down in the middle of the platform and ran away to a blast shield the three of them had set up. Despite being behind a blast shield, all three of them were wearing safety goggles. Ivan had opted not to be next to the absurd machine when it was about to go off on a pumpkin. "...Pre-launch checks complete," Roxy said, putting down her checklist. "We're go whenever you're ready." Corona cracked her knuckles. "Okay... Ten... Nine... Eight..." "Oh for the love of hating lovely things." Jenny slammed her hand on the button. In an instant the rotation mechanism began spinning so fast the arm was effectively a disc to their eyes. They saw a burst of blue light - indicating the air had been removed from the launch area. Several red and green sparks started flying, indicating the magitech engines had started boosting the arm's speed even further. "I think we're holding," Roxy said. "We didn't put a sensor on it," Jenny reminded her. "I did say 'think'." Corona said nothing - she kept her eyes focused on the device. She counted down the stages in her mind as they kept increasing the speed of the arm. As soon as it detected the golf club would extend through a tempora- Suddenly there wasn't a pumpkin anymore. Corona blinked - and replayed the footage Raging Sights had stored. The Pumisher had extended the golf club and hit the pumpkin at speeds so high even the device had difficulty determining the precise moment the club actually hit. One thing it could determine - the pumpkin had left traveling at over a million kilometers per second. About a third of a percent the speed of light. "...That was incredible," Roxy said. "Just... WHAM. Gone." She checked her computer. "It's already out of the system. I... and I've just lost it completely." "Think that's a record?" Jenny asked. "Probably not." "Oh." "Does it really matter?" "Not in the slightest." Corona beamed and laughed to herself. She felt so relieved she didn't have to worry about the fate of existence. The highlight of her life was now throwing a pumpkin into space. Where had this been all her life? ...When it was morning for Corona and the rest at the workshop, the flying pumpkin finally hit something. A small little planet with a busy farm, known system-wide for its great apples. Jane, Evermore and farmer, was hit in the face by a pumpkin falling at speeds well above terminal velocity, spared the burning terrors of reentry by preservation spells. It hit Jane so hard her entire face became orange and a small crater appeared just behind her head, destroying a tree. She herself was fine - defensive magics were great - but it still threw her for a loop. "...What?" "Pumpkin," Corea said, grinning mischievously. Jane blinked, getting the distinct impression she was the punchline in a joke she didn't understand. ~~~ Eve found Rina kneeling at one of the Church's altars. She calmly waited for Rina to finish. Rina finished a couple seconds after Eve arrived, but had decided it would be a great idea to pretend like she wasn't going to leave anytime soon, hoping Eve would just go away. But, in the end, her knees got too tired. She sighed, turning around to face her other self. "...Hey." Eve tried to force a calm smile onto her face, but Rina knew it was fake. "Hey, Rina." Rina took in a breath to calm herself. "Eve, stop it." "I... I didn't come here to yell at you, or get angry." "But you are angry. So cut the shit and be just a tad bit more honest, hmm? I'm the reason for so much of your suffering. If you want to give me respect at least have the gall to tell me you're upset to my face." "I'm upset. I'm angry. And I'm confused." Eve tapped her hoof on the ground. "I knew I would never see Brutalight again when the Xeelee took her. That was her resolution. We worked it out, and I moved on. You moved on as well. It's... It's why you, Rina, were able to be yourself." "...What?" Rina said, blinking. Now she was confused. "It's... I don't know. When Flutterfree first told me about you, I was surprised, but I didn't feel... as strongly as I probably should have?" She tapped the tips of her wings together. "I never sought you out. I left you alone." "You were avoiding me." "...Yeah," Eve admitted. "I was." "Scared of what I'd do?" Eve thought about this for a moment. "I don't think so. I was... am scared... that I won't be able to see you for who you are now. When I look at you, I don't know what to think. I tell myself that you're an amazing example of redemption at work, and that I should be proud of you. And I am. But I also..." "Have that gnawing in the back of your head that makes you feel like running away and screaming?" "Yes. That." "What a coincidence, I'm feeling that right now. See, we're both afraid of the same fucking thing - your judgment. I, frankly, deserve every last ounce of whatever your worst thoughts are telling you to do to me." "You d-" Eve stopped herself, remembering for a second the specifics of Flutterfree's - and by extension Rina's - belief system. "I don't have the right to judge you." "Nope. But you can. And even if you don't act on it..." Eve put a hoof to her face and sighed. "I just... I want you to know... that... " "Eve, we're both Twilight. I think I get the idea." Eve chuckled sadly. "I guess..." She looked over the altar, expression clouded. "...I'm working on it, Rina. I'll be able to talk and walk with you as a friend, eventually. Just... Not now." "I wasn't asking for us to be all buddy-buddy." "You weren't asking for anything." "Good point." The two of them stared at each other in silence. "...I'll probably be back later," Eve admitted. "Much later." "Yeah." Eve awkwardly coughed and walked toward the church exit. Rina turned back to the altar, suddenly feeling like she needed to spend a bit more time here right now. "Hey, Rina?" Eve called from the door. Rina turned to glare at her. "What!?" Eve flipped Rina off with her wing, a nervous smile on her face. Rina took a second to process this. She laughed, returning the gesture. "Right back atcha." Eve's smile warmed - and then she left without another word. After that, both of them knew that they would find a way forward. ~~~ "And here's your assignment for th-" "Hold on!" Pinkie said, interrupting Minna and waving her hooves around. "I need to think a minute!" Pinkie's team stared at her with blank expressions. Minna's office fell silent. "GOT IT!" Pinkie said, clapping her hooves. "Trixie's still making her game, the pumpkin hasn't landed yet, Eve's timing doesn't matter, and the criminal conspiracy was stamped out months ago! There, you are all welcome, now you understand the cluster-bomb of conflicting timelines that are these stories! WOO!" Flutterfree raised an eyebrow. "Pinkie, that doesn't mean anything to us." "Well, you see..." Pinkie blinked. "You know, I'm not in the mood to explain. I can, I just... nah. Camera's on and everyone already knows, ask me when we're not about to go exploring. Because hot-diggity-dog the camera's on so today's gonna be a goodie!" "Or a tragedy," Vriska added. "Vriska's just won another pessimism award. Good job!" Vriska bowed. "Thank you, Captain!" Minna sighed, handing them a data pad. "Here's another planet we haven't set foot on. It looks like a completely normal Earth, which is rare around here, but not all that interesting. However, telescopes have detected a dramatic increase in infrastructure over the last week, so we're going out of our way to reach it. With the light-transmission laser, you'll still be out for five hours. Ten hour round trip." Pinkie pulled out her phone. "Setting availability to 'off'. Don't want Corona thinking we're dead again because she can't reach us. Heh." Minna nodded. "Anyway, the laser is ready the moment you are. Launch window lasts fifteen more minutes - we've been a bit extravagant using the magical guidance systems every time." "Already getting budget cuts? Geez," Pidge rolled her eyes. "Wish I could say that was surprising." "Actually our budget increased. We just had to agree to stop wasting it." Minna smirked. "Fourteen minutes." "It hasn't been a-" "Rounding." Pidge shut up. Pinkie giggled. "Who cares? Let's go!" They all went to the roof of the Expeditions Center, where a telescope-like machine sat. But it wasn't a telescope: although it could function as one, its main function was travel. Pinkie and her team jumped into a little elevator-like pod at the base of the light-transmission laser. The pod closed - and all five of them were enveloped in light, vanishing. The main barrel of the laser shifted orientation slightly, making sure it was pointing right at where the destination would be in five hours. It charged up for a few seconds and with a burst of light, it fired a magically-guided beam of white light that was all five of Pinkie's Party. With a simple magic spell designed to keep the light together and a slightly more complicated one that would reconstitute them upon arrival, they shot through the void of space. Since they were traveling at light speed, they experienced no time whatsoever. To them, it was instant teleportation. But to everyone else in the New World, they took five hours to cross the void, pass through multiple systems, and arrive at the destination Earth. Their long line of a journey ended in a flash of light that deposited all five of them on top of a very important-looking government building. A half-dozen active guards pointed guns at them. "...I miss portals," Flutterfree commented. Pinkie shrugged. "Hey, if we can't see where we're going, we can be surprised more often!" One of them shot her, the bullet bouncing right off her rubbery form. "HEY! THAT HURT!" "I think that's karma, or something," Vriska observed. Jotaro let out a sigh. "Yare yare daze..." He turned to the soldiers. "We come in peace. Take us to your leader." They took them to their high-security prison. "Well, you tried, Jojo," Pidge said, leaning against the cell wall. "So... do we wait, break out, or go home?" "Wait," Pinkie said, deciding now would be a good time to ignore gravity and lie on the ceiling. "They won't be able to resist long." "What kind of people are they anyway?" Vriska wondered. "I got 'human' and 'trigger-happy'. Synonyms." Jotaro looked at her intently. "Tell me you aren't trigger-happy with a straight face." "I'm not trigger-happy," Jotaro said with a straight face. Pidge snickered. "Someone forgot about the poker grand champion here!" "Har-de-har," Vriska muttered, rolling her eyes. "You get my point." "I actually got a lot more from them," Flutterfree said. "This is a standard Earth, yes, but when Corona's message came here the population was one of those who, for whatever reason, didn't let their minds push it into the subconscious. It triggered a third world war and right now we're in one of their new world's superpowers. Canada." "...Canada," Vriska said. "Now I've heard everything." Pinkie looked intently at what appeared to be nothing. "Happy now?" "Oh, wait, don't tell me, Keywii," Vriska said. "...I'm confused," Flutterfree said, blinking. "Another..." Pinkie paused. "Well, probably a Prophet. Twilence knows him." "Oh." Flutterfree ruffled her feathers, taking this in stride. "Anyway, yes, Canada. They've become heavily militarized and now that the war's over they're very scared of the other planets around them. They have found an ally, though, and he's been helping them learn about all sorts of new technology." She looked up at the corner of the room that had a hidden camera. "Oh, wait, is that classified and impossible for me to know without the proper clearance?" She smirked. Pidge rolled her eyes. "Three... Two... One..." A human man in a very expensive looking business suit with two bodyguards stormed into the room and looked at the five of them through the thick glass. "What kind of joke is this?" "The kind of joke where we get you to talk and don't get so bored that we break out," Pinkie said, dropping from the ceiling. "Ahem. We come from the center of the New World, the base of the Dark Tower. We come in peace. Take us to your leader." "How do you know those things?" Flutterfree made Lolo visible to everyone - including the vines snaking away from their cell and into every corner of the base. She smiled innocently. The man took a deep breath. "...I can take you to General Ho-" "There will be no need," a voice said, coming from seemingly everywhere at once despite there being no loudspeakers around that could create such an effect. "Bring them to me." "A-are you sure?" "Questioning me?" there was silence. "You doubt my ability to handle them. Consider yourself demoted after you deliver them." "Y-yes," the man said, adjusting his collar. "Get the sedati-" "They will go willingly," the voice said. "Just get them here quickly." The man let out a deep, nearly-panicked breath. Then he pressed a few buttons on the door and opened up the cell for Pinkie's Party. "Sounds like you're in deep shit," Vriska said, smirking. The man did not respond to her, he simply led them to a large elevator and hit the button for the top floor. Then, just before they hit it, he made the elevator stop. The elevator doors slid open, revealing a secret floor just beneath the top one. Despite this secret nature, the floor was spacious due to a 'bigger on the inside' effect. The man shoved them out of the elevator and then left - in a hurry. The room they found themselves in was largely devoid of any decoration. There was a metal floor, a metal ceiling, and metal walls. The back wall was adorned with many black markings of human stick figures. In front of this wall were several skulls and guns, forming a small pile for a silvery throne. In this throne sat a vaguely humanoid machine with two oversized legs, and a couple arms that floated separate from its body. A tail sprouted from its back, the tip of which was a gun, sword, and needle all in one. The machine's face looked more like a window than an actual head. And yet, despite this appearance, all of them knew that there was something biological inside. A biology that should not have been able to exist in the new world. The symbol on the shoulder said it all. "You're a Beyonder!?" Pinkie blurted. The Beyonder stood up. "Yes. My name... is Evuy."
Songs of the Spheres	145 - The City, Part 2	Pinkie recovered quickly and put on a big smile. "Evuy the Beyonder, huh? Cool! I didn't think any of you could survive in these kinds of physics!" "We can't," Evuy said. "I had to fuse myself with the suit, and even then that barely worked. I have proven myself to be among the strongest and most resourceful of my brethren." "I mean, yeah, clearly, look at you still kicking around!" Pinkie gestured at him with a big grin. "I bet you could suplex Jotaro here no problem!" "Such a feat would be a simple matter. And yes, I know who you are. Merodi Universalis, Primary Team. Or do the Merodi exist anymore? Are you perhaps the representatives of... this 'Tower City'?" Flutterfree nodded. "Yes. Our City exists at the base of the Dark Tower in the field of Can'-Ka No Rey. Our job is still the same as it was in Merodi Universalis, however - explore, make first contact, establish alliances. We were concerned this was going to be a problem with the hasty humans of this world, but they seem to listen to you so clearly the situation can be defused." "You have careful words," Evuy noted, standing up from his chair. "Meaningful, powerful, diplomatic words. The words of one who wants to avoid battle." "Guilty as charged," Pinkie said, her smile unfaltering. "Fights generally aren't our thing unless we have to. We prefer peace. And we think it's the best way to make people on both sides happy." Evuy let out a soft, deep chuckle. "Why, oh why, do you think I'd make peace with the only power I've seen that might provide a challenge?" He took a few steps forward. "I have been moving from planet to planet for MONTHS and each one is primitive, empty, or full of barely useful idiots like this one!" He pointed one of his loose fists at all of them. "This City is the only meaningful conquest I've heard of in this New World! It will be mine!" "We have a Them, a Xeelee, Nanoha, White Nettle, Monika, Arceus, Twilence, Corona, Eve, and several dozen others of similar or greater power on our side," Pidge offered. "I... don't like your chances." Evuy paused for a moment, then leaned even closer in. "And I'm turning this entire planet into a Beyonder Warship. It has enough resources if... directed properly." "You won't be able to finish." "It's almost done. And with the... ten-hour delay between communications, will be done before any reinforcements of yours can arrive. I doubt you could photon-teleport a fleet this far." Vriska sighed. "Cut the crap, Evuy. You want a fight, so get to the fight. Here's an honor-bound deal for your smug shiny face - the five of us challenge you to combat. You, just you. The strongest and cleverest of your race against five little insignificant specks." "Playing off my honor will get you nowhere," Evuy declared. "I will not fight all five of you at once, as a cohesive unit you make it an unbalanced battle." "Are you afraid of five little amoebae-" Evuy pointed his tail-weapon at Vriska's neck. "I am not afraid. I am merely not stupid. Your kind love to exploit our honor-bound system and, furthermore, your ka is excellent. I must..." it clearly pained him to say what came next. "...reject your offer for a duel. My culture will not be my downfall. After the war has concluded, I m-" "I challenge you to a one-on-one," Pinkie said, bouncing forward. "C'mon, you can't turn that one down, right?" "Pinkie!" Pidge blurted. "Are you crazy!?" "Yep!" Pinkie declared. "I'm trying to challenge a Beyonder to one-on-one combat! I have no chances of winning and he knows it! He knows I must have some sort of trick up my sleeve - but he also knows he can't take the shame of disregarding a personal combat." She grinned. "You are still a warrior." Evuy let out a growl. "You win, Pinkie Pie... I will face yo-" "No delays," Pinkie interrupted. "Or else you have placed your own personal plans above a contest of honor." Vriska blinked. "When did you get so well versed in Beyonder culture?" Pinkie held out a brochure. Welcome to Beyonder Space. Not to be confused with the Beyond. "...Eh, that's bullshit, but I'll buy it." Evuy pointed at the four behind Pinkie. "They must be restrained. In particular, Lolo must be disabled. You will allow this?" Pinkie nodded. "Yep!" "I can't wait to see what this plan is," Vriska muttered. "Oh, it's a good one," Pinkie insisted as all four of her teammates were locked up with high-tech handcuffs (or hoofcuffs) and their Stands were disabled. Only Pinkie remained standing. She stretched a bit, put on her massacre dress, and produced her warhammer. "Okay, rules. None of my friends can die during the duel." "Agreed," Evuy said. "My terms are simple: you cannot free any of them during the battle. Nor leave this room." "Good enough! Pidge, countdown please?" Pidge cleared her throat. "Uh, sure. Three. Two. One. Half..." "Nice try," Evuy said. "I will not be caught with a false start." Pidge grumbled. "Fine. Three. Twoonego." Neither Pinkie nor Evuy were tripped by Pidge's fast counting. They both rushed each other at once - and Pinkie lost the collision badly. Her warhammer was disintegrated and her own body was surrounded in flames. However, as usual, she was suddenly behind Evuy ready with a squeaky hammer. Evuy was expecting this, so he drove reality-bending spikes into her. Somehow this didn't rip her open and only tossed her to the side like an overly-cheery ragdoll. "Yeah, sorry, no curbstomp. And you can't just destroy everything because that would kill them!" "I am aware... but your powers are not unlimited." Pinkie shrugged, pulling a robotic nutcracker soldier out of her mane. "I dunno. I'm pretty sure yours aren't either. And that you can't make a robotic party nutcracker out of nowhere!" She pulled out two automatic party cannons. "And the cannons, psh, I don't see any of those." The nutcracker and the cannons charged toward Evuy. He chuckled. "Was this your plan? Use your powers to create servants for you? I admit, it is a non-standard approach... But I am a Beyonder." He clasped his hands together - and the nutcracker and cannons stopped. "They serve me now." Pinkie blinked. "Well... Oops." The cannons fired out sawblade-like confetti and the nutcracker threw a pointed metal cashew - and then the same cashew again, somehow. Pinkie tried to move - but she found herself fixed in place by one of the Beyonder's many powers. The confetti cut right into her and the cashew embedded itself into her - twice. Candy red blood squirted everywhere. "Pinkie!" Flutterfree called. Evuy laughed. "That was foolish of her... Beyond foolish..." He walked up to her body and prepared to incinerate it - until he realized something. It was made of fabric. "You never run out of tricks do you?" he asked, turning around to see Pinkie standing there, unharmed, twirling a squeaky hammer with an amused grin on her face. "Not really. Right now I'm using another trick you're not aware of. See if you can find out what it is before you fall into it." Evuy looked around and used his powerful scanners to check the area around Pinkie. He saw nothing besides her and the hammer - but that did not mean she hadn't laid a trap, it just meant her powers were hiding it from him. Whatever it was he knew it couldn't kill him - there simply wasn't enough power in the area - but he still moved cautiously. "Your power is one that destroys honor." Pinkie nodded. "It miiiiight be why I usually don't use an honor-combat system thingy. But hey, it seems to be working fine right now!" The Beyonder decided to risk it - tank whatever damage she was planning to give to him. He rushed her and grabbed her neck. To his surprise, nothing happened. "...Was that the trick? That there was nothing?" "Sorta!" Pinkie said, not at all bothered that her windpipe should have been crushed. "What a foolish trick." "I mean, yeah, but not in the way you're thinking. Someone forgot about the Thief of Light powers!" "I did not. I am simply immune to such simple manipulation." "They aren't," Pinkie said, pointing at the two party cannons and the robotic nutcracker. They looked ready to fall apart at the seams, their luck was so low. In fact, it was so abysmal, it would have actually been a good thing for them to fall completely apart. But they didn't. They all got to launch off one more attack at Pinkie. Which, of course, hit Evuy instead. But it wasn't just an ordinary hit - it was a hit that spiked Evuy in several different spots on his back that regulated the nerve flow to his various body parts. Had any one of these points remained untouched, he would have been able to compensate. But it was some really, really crappy luck. His four limbs locked up and he fell to the ground, unmoving. Pinkie moved quickly - using a laser-axe to chop off his legs and slice his arms in half. Then she dropped the axe, leaving the rest of him. Alive. "Finish me, cheater," he demanded. "Not how we work," Pinkie said, taking the handcuffs off all her friends. "Pidge, Jotaro, can you take him back to the City so Minna can figure out what to do with him?" Pidge looked to Jotaro and nodded. "Sure thing!" she said. She and Jotaro laid their hands on Evuy. They focused, and the photon-transmission spell recognized their decision to return home. It transformed the three of them and teleported them into the atmosphere of the planet, where they began the long journey back to Tower City. Pinkie dusted off her hooves. "Well, that's that. Told you it was a good plan." "He could have disabled my luck sight without you realizing," Vriska pointed out. Pinkie winked. "Nah. I would have known if something like that was up. Now, ahem, Flutterfree? Think you're up for finding the reactor core of this soon-to-be-Beyonder-warship?" Flutterfree nodded. "Shouldn't be that hard to disable since it's incomplete..." She was right. It was pathetically easy since Evuy hadn't told the humans how to use any of his technology, knowing they would likely rebel. Everything in their way fell like dominos and the warship was disabled before Jotaro, Pidge, and Evuy even made it back to be processed. "And I guess that was our encounter with the Beyonders," Pinkie said as the reactor exploded behind them. "I was almost afraid we'd never really get to have an adventure featuring them!" Vriska blinked. "Huh, you're right, they were the only Class 1 we never dealt with extensively. I can think of big adventures with all the others... But not them." Flutterfree shrugged. "I could have gone without it. Though I am glad we waited. If he hadn't been alone... we wouldn't have stood a chance." "Technically we didn't stand a chance even now," Vriska said, twirling the infinite-sided die in her hand. "And that's why it worked." They all had a laugh and went to talk to the world leaders. The humans were much more willing to listen now. ~~~ Question: what do you do after you are instrumental in saving existence? If you were Everykid, you would only ask for one favor: that people start leaving collectibles in odd places for you to find. Because that was your hobby and the thing you enjoyed most: searching for things. Most people couldn't hide anything in a challenging location, so she specifically sought out people with powerful magic to set up the collect-a-thon hunt. First she had just gone to Arceus and he had created a few hundred coins with his symbol on them. Those were collected quickly - not by the Everykid, but by everyone else. Sure, she got the most - seventy-eight - but the point was to be challenged and find them all. Nanoha had thought it would be an excellent game. With her free time she created a very small number of ruby tokens and spread them out all across the City. Everykid had found eighteen of twenty-one, the ability to increase the number to nineteen eluding her. The ones she had found were in exceptionally hard-to-reach places, like the center of a maze of tunnels or in the back of my library. She'd even found one underneath a loose cobblestone in a street! That had been just pure luck! It was getting a bit tedious after three days of finding nothing. So then she had gone to Discord, who just happened to be talking to Trixie at the time. The unicorn in question was all dressed up and looking very pleased with herself, so clearly a meeting had just gone very well. "I'm telling you, Discord, this is where it's at. Just have the creativity and the drive and you can do anything!" She pointed at a store window, inside of which a newly released game of hers was displayed proudly. "Oh, why didn't I try this sooner? It's such a-" She saw the Everykid running to Discord. "Incoming." Discord rolled his eyes and put his head on the ground, looking up to the Everykid. "Hello, maximum-hnnnng inducer." The Everykid chuckled. Then she pulled out some Arceus coins and ruby tokens. She pointed at Discord and the City itself. After which she performed a double jump and re-enacted a victory pose, holding up the tokens. "...What?" "She needs more collectables," Trixie translated. "Oh." Discord stretched. "Simple enough." He prepared to snap his fingers, but Trixie stopped him. "Hold on... I have an idea." Trixie looked into the Everykid's eyes. "How about I design the little game for you?" The Everykid shrugged, gesturing at her pockets. She wasn't exactly rich and lived mostly off the kindness of others. Not that hard, given how well she was known. ...Actually that wasn't hard to do to begin with, even for an absolute nobody. "Oh, you don't have to pay me - you just have to allow me to put a little sensor on you so I can copy your movements for a game." Trixie grinned. "Whaddoya say?" The Everykid pondered this for a moment, then nodded. "Good! You'll have yourself a nice little collectible challenge by tomorrow. Can't get it to you any earlier than that." The Everykid winked, telling Trixie she didn't mind. Then she ran off - might as well keep looking for the ruby tokens the rest of the day. Long story short, she went into the Pinkie Emporium's house of mirrors, got lost for a few hours, and found nothing. She found a place to sleep - stayed at Minna's that night - and woke up to the sight of Trixie staring her in the face with a crazed grin. "Open your eyes wide and don't move." The Everykid was just surprised enough to open her eyes wide and be stunned into motionlessness. Trixie slapped a contact lens into her right eye with her magic. "And done!" The Everykid blinked a few times, realizing she couldn't feel it now that it was in her eye. "That lens is both your tracker and your helper," Trixie explained, waving a hoof in the air for effect. "Trixie has created a little game for you. There are forty-two collectible objects in the City, each one with an invisible little transmitter on it. Nobody else can see the transmitter, but with the contact lens you can! Any object with the transmitter on it will glow blue. And, just so you don't get hopeless because you can't find one, you can turn a little compass feature on to point at the nearest one." She clapped her hooves together. "Now, go get jumping! That game ain't gonna model itself! ...Well, it could, but Trixie wants it to be more authentic." With a nod the Everykid hopped out of bed and had breakfast before going out to face the world. She adjusted her top hat and put her hands on her hips - identifying the location of the first object. ...It was in Minna's spare bedroom. The Everykid rolled her eyes, jumping to the second-floor window and pulling it open, finding that the object was a watch, sitting on the floor. It was as simple as grabbing it and seeing a 1/42 appear on her screen. That would be the only easy one. The next closest one was at the top of a very smooth clock tower less than a block away. She put a hand to her chin - she could just put on one of her flying hats, but that would defeat the purpose. She would have to try it a different way... She jumped to the wall of the tower and pounced off, landing on the roof of a nearby residential building. Still way too low to get to the top of the tower, but close enough. The clock face was a little too far away for her to use her grappling hook on. Something bouncy... Someth- there it was. A trampoline in someone's backyard. That would give her enough of a boost. She jumped down and landed next to it. Lemme borrow you real quick. Getting the trampoline on the roof of the building proved somewhat difficult, but with a mixture of ladders, pulleys, and good old-fashioned jump spamming she got it there. Then she started jumping - and found it still wasn't enough. She decided to use one of her standard abilities. She put on a blue woolen hat and transformed into ice. She dropped like a stone, hit the trampoline, and launched way up into the air. Popping out of her ice form, she used her grapple-gun to latch onto the clock hand, pulling herself up. With a quick wall jump and a midair back-jump, she made it onto the top of the clock tower. The object was a golden egg. The Everykid shrugged and pocketed it before unceremoniously jumping off the tower and opening her parasol just before she flattened herself on the ground. That was fun. Exactly what she'd wanted. To her surprise, the next one wasn't a simple collection. The target? A jar of jellybeans locked behind glass. The mission? Guess the number of jellybeans in the jar and you get to have it. The Everykid blinked. She was decent at math, but there was no way she could figure out exactly how many jellybeans were actually in it with certainty. She was going to have to get clever... She thought about having a robot do it, or a super-intelligent AI, but the solution turned out to be far simpler than that. All she had to do was buy one of the high-end scanners. It could ping the jar and get a full 3D model of everything in it. There were 1,942 jellybeans in the jar. The jar was her goal. But she was going to eat all those jellybeans before the day was out, she was certain of it. Where to next... The fourth object was a little bell hanging at the top of an alley of tall buildings. Normally she would walk along the roof to get to it, but unfortunately, these buildings were designed with spikes on top. So she was going to have to do a complex set of wall-jump maneuvers. She made it through two jumps before falling flat on her butt. "Ow..." The second and third tries weren't much better. She took a moment to look around for an easier way up. She didn't find one - but she did find that she had an audience. One man was looking at her with a very curious expression. With an exaggerated bow she started jumping up again, this time slipping up on a windowsill on the third floor. She didn't make it to that sill again for six minutes, and at that time there were more people watching her. I'm not going to be able to just leave this one now... she thought. She narrowed her eyes - the flying hat - no, they'd just consider that cheating. But her other hats might have an option... Cycling through them all, she found nothing helpful. Moving fast didn't help, there was nothing invisible to cling onto, and she decided against littering the area with explosives. It was up to complete skill. As more and more people started to arrive, she cracked her knuckles and put on the serious face. She was going to make this. She ran to the wall, using her sprint hat to get some extra height. She bounced back and did a twirl so she'd land on the same wall. A backflip landed her on the windowsill in a very delicate T-pose. Not stopping for breath, she jumped to the far wall and bounced back, bouncing in midair to get some height. Her fingers scraped against the bell, but she didn't grab it. Her left eye twitched involuntarily. She pulled out her parasol and shot her grappling hook at the bar the bell was hanging on, barely grappling it before she fell out of reach. With a 'humph' she pulled herself up and grabbed the bell. "Gotcha!" She slowly drifted down to the alley and showed the bell to everyone watching her. They weren't clapping. It was at this point the Everykid suspected something was up. "Uh... Hi!" she said. They all turned to look at her in unison. She knew exactly what that meant. The lead man and two others spoke at once. "We are the New Everyman. You can become as you once were, with us." The Everykid shook her head quickly. She'd rather not go back to being part of the Everyman. She was enjoying her simple, jumping life. "Sorry to hear that." He pulled out a stun gun. The Everykid could see it now - kidnapped and then mentally conditioned to rejoin the Everyman. She wasn't having any of that. She swapped hats to the flying hat and took off into the sky at a brisk pace, flying over the spikes of the buildings. She cockily turned around and stuck out her tongue. It was at this point she realized she was captured in a field of telekinetic energy. "...Peck." The gun fired, knocking her unconscious. She awoke later - she didn't know when exactly - to one of the Everyman's bodies strapping her to a table. She wasn't wearing a hat; instead a mental dome was affixed to her head. Her attempts to break the bonds keeping her trapped on the table were in vain. "You can't escape," three voices said at once. "The Everyman will become whole once again. The original self will be restored." The Everykid glared at the closest one and stuck out her tongue. She could tell this wasn't what the Everyman used to be - the people were in a standard hivemind. Individuality was being lost. They were not of a large enough mass to be forced to deal with inconsistency, and by the time they got that large she would already be lost in the wave... But she couldn't do anything. At all. There was nothing around... she couldn't change her hat, her parasol wasn't on her, and she was out of practice doing any sort of magic. Should really have practiced more. Then she realized something. The display she had in her eye... was gone. They must have taken it out. Somehow this disturbed her more. They ruined the game! Now she wouldn't get to have fun at all! The objects would remain uncollected forever... Wait. Trixie would know it had been taken out. The moment she realized this the door to the murky basement opened and White Nettle walked in, her tendrils tied up in a neat little bow. "Hey, Everyman." The Everyman wasted no time. Every last one of him fired weapons. All Nettle had to do was hold up a hand and knock all of them to the ground effortlessly. A second later, Trixie poked her head in. "We good?" "Good," Nettle said, undoing the Everykid's restraints with a snap of her fingers. "...You are quite the rascal, huh?" The Everykid stood up and shrugged, putting her hat on her head. Then she looked down at the other pieces of the Everyman - and frowned. She looked to Nettle pleadingly. "...Fine, we'll figure out how to help them," Nettle muttered. "They could have just come and asked for help rejoining their minds in the old way... Not do it themselves." Trixie shrugged. "I'm just glad Everykid's okay." She patted the Everykid on the back. "Bet you're glad Trixie was trackin' ya, huh?" The Everykid rolled her eyes - and then she noticed a red glint in the ceiling. The nineteenth ruby token. She forgot all of her recent ordeal and grabbed it. "GOTCHA!" She did a victory dance, holding the coin high in the air like it was her long lost pet. White Nettle had no idea what this meant. She had grown tired of questioning everyone's motives lately, so she just shrugged and left. ~~~ The League of Sweetie Belles had never officially had a leader. The only real distinction was between general members and agents. Members simply had to be a Sweetie Belle and sign up, nothing else was required. Agents had to pass inspection, be at least partial Merodi Citizens, and be given the role by another Agent. Beyond this, the League was in theory nothing more than a conglomeration of like-minded individuals. However, everyone knew the original Sweeties had more power than the others. Allure, Bot, Squeaky, Thrackerzod, and to some extent Burgerbelle and Suzie all held the respect of the League, and what they said was generally taken as an order rather than a request. Because of this simple unspoken rule, the League had been an exceptionally organized and cohesive unit. This was no longer the case. The League had definitely reformed - there were hundreds of them who had survived and made it to the City - but Thrackerzod was the only remaining leader. And she made it very clear she had not gone through the war and New World explorations unscathed. She never spoke about it much, but she withdrew from giving orders. Which just left Burgerbelle. This was a problem because it was relatively impossible to take her seriously. She did the job well, proving herself to have more than just a head full of eternal memes. However, her position was never official. No matter how well she did, the way she acted kept everyone from giving her respect. It didn't take long for the other Sweeties to realize she didn't technically have any power and felt free to ignore her. Mattie tried, for a time, to wrangle them all. She couldn't garner respect either - mostly because her questionable way of life made everyone around her uncomfortable, including her friends. So, in the end, the League just lost any semblance of leadership, becoming little more than a disorganized collective. Since they were not hired to be a peacekeeping force for the City, they didn't have a singular job either. This all combined to make them largely unimportant on the scale of the City. Sure, most everyone knew who they were, but they were only called for very specific reasons or by once-inhabitants of Celestia City who felt more comfortable with them around. Only a few Agents remained active in the City, allowing most members to treat the League as more of a club. "This is how it started," Thrackerzod mused. "We weren't some big government organization that channeled all of one kind of person toward whatever goal we felt like. We were just a group of friends hanging around and having fun." "I like it!" Burgerbelle said, hanging from the ceiling fan. One of the things she had demanded in the new League building was a fan strong enough to support her weight so she could do this without fear of making things splinter into a million pieces and poking an eye out. "Feels... nostalgic!" "Hmm..." Thrackerzod said, looking up from her seat. Dozens of Sweeties were visible walking through the League's new, glistening lobby. Everything was white, as usual, and all of them were chatting about their day. Some were lamenting that the League didn't pay them anymore, while others were talking about how it was a nice change of pace. Then there was that black Sweetie Belle who was talking about how the place was too bright. "Hey, Zod, you okay?" Thrackerzod shrugged. "Having thoughts I don't know the answer to again." Burgerbelle nodded in understanding, leaving Thrackerzod to her thoughts. This did not last long. With a flash of purple magic, a paint-filled water balloon the size of a pony appeared in the lobby. It burst with a powerful gawoosh, covering the pristine white lobby with amethyst-purple, glitter-infused paint. Thrackerzod wiped the paint from her eyes and sighed. Burgerbelle smirked - but she put a hand firmly on her hips. "All right, who did this and why?" "THOSE DAMN SPARKLES!" A yellow Sweetie who went by the name of Lemon shouted, looking at her largely ruined coat. "They're really gonna do it!" Mattie said, charging into the Lobby. "The- well it appears I'm late. Whoops. ...That glitter is gonna get stuck in all sorts of fun places." Burgerbelle turned from Mattie to Lemon. "Question: why would the Sparkle Census do this?" "I unleashed an infestation of slimes on them," Lemon said, nonchalant. "Lemon!" Lemon rolled her eyes. "What? It was a prank." "How do you not know about the rivalry?" Mattie shouted. "Ever since we've got here it's been 'Sparkle Census this, Sparkle Census that'. They're taking our jobs!" "Oh. Right." Burgerbelle blinked. "You're still an active Agent." "Not for long..." Lemon muttered. "They're gonna run us out. Take everything from us." "There's more of them and they're more organized, what's the issue?" Thrackerzod asked. "If they deserve it..." "This is a pride thing!" "Burgerbelle, isn't pride a problem?" "Usually," Burgerbelle admitted. Mattie facehooved. "This is her job, Sweeties! It's what makes her life worth living. I've taken it upon myself to assist her in putting down the Sparkle Census." "...You're an idiot," Thrackerzod deadpanned. Mattie winked at Thrackerzod. "I love it when you talk dity. Please, insult me more." Thrackerzod sighed and returned to her chair, reading from a data pad. "Someone clean all this up." "Hey! Squiddy!" Mattie clapped her hooves. "Is Squiddy in the building?" A Sweetie Inkling ran up to her, squid tentacles flopping. "Yes?" "Think you can paint over this?" Squiddy took out a paint roller covered in white ink. Then she paused. "...Why?" "Undo the Sparkle Census' damage to our reputation?" "Oh! Hah, sure!" She needed no more convincing and started painting over the place, covering up the purple mess. "And now... we march to war," Mattie said. "Burgerbelle, you should come along." "Huh? I'm not inv-" "Pranks, Burgerbelle. Pranks." "...I do like me a good prank..." She made a 'thonking' expression. "Count me in! What's the plan?" Lemon grinned. "The Bees." Burgerbelle gasped. "Not the bees!" Later that day, the Sparkle Census agent known as Bacon (since her mane was the color of a Sunset Shimmer's) walked into her library to find every single book replaced. With the Bee Movie script. She let out a harrowed scream and fled from her library. For a moment the other Sparkles thought something had been murdered. Only when they investigated did they find out that it was much, much worse. "Who would do this!? Why would they do this!?" Bacon wailed to the sky, drawing the attention of many Sparkles. "It's those slippery little Sweeties!" an elderly unicorn Sparkle said, shaking her hoof. "They're worse than cheese!" "Nothing is worse than cheese!" an alicorn shouted. "Cheese isn't that bad," I said, throwing in my two cents. The Grand Secretariat appeared before everyone. "Cheese is an anti-Sparkle measure, Twilence, and you are most aware of its effects." "Generally only in melted quantities with quesadillas," I added. "In reali-" "Twilence..." I laughed nervously. "Eheh... Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm cheating. And mocking you unfairly. I am sorry for that." "Good." The Grand Secretariat ruffled her feathers. "Now, I do have a question. How do we get back at the Sweeties?" I put a hoof to my chin. "They attacked our books... Our most prized possessions. The next step is to go after what they hold dear - their sisters - but we aren't monsters. So... How a-" I paused. "Mattie, I'm going to make the scene shift now." "Balls," Mattie muttered. "She's got my number." She turned around to face Burgerbelle, Lemon, and a large consortium of Sweetie Agents. "We don't know what they're doing. They aren't going after Raritys, so you can rest easy there..." "Most of us don't have our sisters anyway," Lemon said. Mattie nodded slowly. "Yes... Anyway, they want to repay in kind. It will be something for books. Any ideas?" "We like our songs a lot, but they can't really attack those," a stallion, Silverfish, said. Burgerbelle blinked. "I know what it's gonna be." "What?" "They're going to go after the other Sweeties. The-" "Hello!" I called, charging in the front door of the League of Sweetie Belles. "Have we got some news for you!" Mattie and the rest of her group ran out into the Lobby - but Thrackerzod had already gone to talk to the Twilight. "You painted the lobby." "Yes, we did," I admitted, several Sparkles taking up a flanking position behind me. "But do you know why?" "Yes, prank war, stupid reason, annoying," Thrackerzod deadpanned. "I agree!" I said, nodded curtly. "And I also realize only a small number of Sweeties are actively engaging in this little rivalry - the same is true on our end. We'd like this endless wave of one-upmanship to end, and so we've come to you. You can talk to them - tell them to drop it." "DROP IT!?" Lemon shouted. "This is my livelihood!" "She can do her Agent duties just the same with our presence," a Twitter Sparkle retorted. "But you always do it better!" Several Sweeties behind Lemon rallied their support. The Sparkles behind me narrowed their eyes. I sighed, turning to Thrackerzod. "You can do it. You can tell them to drop it." Thrackerzod raised an eyebrow. "And just let you win?" I blinked. "But you're no-" I stopped myself. "...You are invested. This place is your identity." "Surprised you didn't already know that," Thrackerzod commented. "I'll stand by them. They're idiots, but they're my idiots." She put her hoof on her chest. "We are the League of Sweetie Belles. We may have fallen, but we will stand as one against your miniscule attempts at comeuppance." "Then we will bring the full might of the Sparkle Census to bear," I responded. "You will not know a time of peace. There will be locks on doors that shouldn't have them, pillows with the insides replaced with high-pressure water balloons, and the Bee Movie on every channel." "That's my meme!" Burgerbelle shouted. "Memes are, by nature, not original," I said, tossing my mane back. "So is it war?" Thrackerzod rolled her eyes and smirked. "It. Is. War." I stuck out my hoof to shake Thrackerzod's. She moved to accept. "Ahem. Can I say something?" Thrackerzod and I turned to see a Sweetie standing there. One who looked like she was made of crystal, a similarly-constructed blade held firmly in her telekinesis. Her eyes seemed old - they had seen much. "...Sure?" I said, slowly realizing who she was and why her presence was important. She nodded. "Just needed to get your attention and tell you that you're being ridiculous. And..." She sidestepped, revealing a small Sweetie Belle-Twilight Sparkle hybrid behind her. "You're tearing this poor girl apart." Her name was Sweetie Sparkle, often called Swap for short. And she was a member of both sides of the divide. She looked like she'd been crying. She was still young, yes, but she was close enough to adult age for crying to signify something deep. "...I... I..." She gulped. "Can we just stop?" Thrackerzod and I melted. "...Sure," Thrackerzod said. "I'm sorry, little one," I said, walking to her. "We... We got caught up in our little game and didn't realize you were in the middle." Swap nodded softly and pulled me into a hug. "Wait, we can't just do that!" Lemon blurted. "What ab-" The crystal Sweetie shot her a look. "...You are Sweetie Belles and Twilight Sparkles. You may think you have little to do with each other. But... I think if you give it an honest attempt, you'll find that you both have a lot to teach each other. Working together." "What, combine the Census and League?" "Why not?" The entire room was silent. "I'll go for it," Burgerbelle said, raising a hand. "Same," I said, raising my hoof. "Really!?" Swap said, eyes unbelieving. I chuckled. "Really. It's not like either of us are all that important, anymore. We can mingle. Solve a few problems in the process..." I turned to the crystal Sweetie. "...Thank you." And that was the story of how the Sweetie Sparkle Coalition formed. Swap was rather embarrassed by the name, but deep down we all knew it was the perfect name. A combination. ~~~ "...And let us close in prayer." Rev was... well, a Reverend. That's what she always was. Ever since she had lost her home, she had been part of the Church. It gave her a sense of belonging she had never had - not even in the Equis she had come from. It gave her the means to change what she was and become something else. Something she liked a lot better than her old self. "...And let us close in prayer." It gave her structure, gave her comfort. Being the one who watched over the souls of others, making sure they were growing... She was a bringer of peace and what was good in the world. She knew better than anyone that this gave her more than a little pride - but she also knew she wouldn't be able to remove that from her system entirely. No one could ignore themselves completely, and she was just a person like everyone else. "...And let us close in prayer." Over most of her life, her days had followed a structure of either teaching, preparing to teach, prayer, witnessing to people, or going out into the world and letting everyone know they didn't need to be afraid of her. The teaching was the best part - she felt like she was on fire most of the time, burning with passion and words that were not fully her own. She looked forward to each and every time she got up to that podium and spoke of the Word. "...And let us close in prayer." It was tradition. How many worlds had she done it on? Too many to count. Leave one world, set up a church in the next, live, and then when the time is right move again... "...And let us close in prayer." But something was happening to her. She was starting to feel like the teachings were slowly losing their life. The fire was dissipating ever so slowly, and she was starting to grunt in annoyance when she tried to prepare a message. I've done this a million times, they didn't listen then... "...And let us close in prayer." Something had changed about her words. She didn't know what for sure - her faith was as strong as ever, and she hadn't been drifting from any of her friends. Several of them knew about her confusion and had offered pieces of advice. Flutterfree and Rina knew her the best, but nothing they said had worked. "...And let us close in prayer." She said the words and fell silent - taking so long to start the prayer this time that some people began to murmur. Eventually, she did force herself to start speaking, but what she said was a simple prayer that didn't require her to think. Inside, she was thinking very different thoughts. I have fallen away, or I need something new, Lord. That's... pretty clear. I'm struggling here and I don't know why. How can I continue to speak for you? And then it happened. A little voice in the back of her mind that seemed to come out of nowhere. Who said you had to continue speaking? Rev stopped short - once again surprising the congregation. She continued the vocal prayer and wrapped it up, leaving the stage. Unlike usual, she didn't stick around to talk to the people. She didn't even bother with a public teleporter, instead using her own magic to go right to her destination. Eve's little counseling business. She checked her watch - Eve shouldn't actually have anything scheduled right now, since it was a weekend. So she was more than a little surprised that the front door was unlocked. The entry lobby was a simple, homey hall with several sleek potted plants, a few magic crystals, and a painting of the Equis Vitis princesses. Eve walked out of her office - with both Starbeat and Vriska, patting them on the back. Vriska looked like she'd been bawling her eyes out while Starbeat was holding her tight. The reverse of how it usually went, as Rev understood it. Vriska looked into Rev's face. "Not... A... Word..." "I know about confidentiality," Rev said, nodding slowly. "...Glad to see you progressing." Starbeat glanced at Eve. "I thought you didn't have an appointment slot right now." "I don't..." Eve said, raising an eyebrow. "Well, I n-" Rev began. Eve held up a hoof. "I'll walk these two out first - then we can talk about whatever's on your mind." "Don't trust me to keep a secret?" Vriska asked. "Not particularly," Eve admitted. Vriska just let out a soft laugh, clearly drained of the energy she normally used for these interactions. "Yeah..." Eve led them out, bade them goodbye, then shut the door. "They're coming along nicely," Rev commented, sitting in a nearby chair. She was nervous - why was she nervous? Eve nodded. "It's... been a rough ride. The two of them have very strong personalities. I think the light at the end of the tunnel is within reach, though." She sat down across from Rev. "...I can't say I ever expected you to walk into my office." "Neither did I," Rev admitted. "I just had... A moment. And I felt sure I needed to talk to you." "A Revelation?" "...I believe so." Eve smiled understandingly. "I'm not going to discredit that aspect of it, Rev. What do you think He is telling you to do?" "It... It was just a question. 'Who said you had to continue speaking?'." "And what was this in response to?" Rev locked eyes with Eve. "The fire has been leaving my speeches. Flutterfree's probably told you about that." "True, but I need you to describe it for me. As well as she knows you, your relationship isn't close enough for me to make a judgment just from her words." Rev pondered this. How would she describe it? "It's... It's like when you're a kid and you have your favorite game. It's the best thing in the world. But as you get older, you feel things tugging on you - society, other people - to take you away from it." "Are others taking you away?" Rev blinked. "No... It's just me. The feeling's the same, though. The exact same..." "So you feel like you are 'growing out' of something, but you don't want to?" "I wouldn't exactly call it 'growing out'," Rev said with a nervous laugh. "The metaphor still stands. You can feel yourself wanting a change." "I don't want a change." "Are you sure?" Eve asked. "You've served for multiple lifetimes, even by pony standards. Maybe you've given enough time?" "You can never give enough." Eve cleared her throat. "There's more than one way to serve the Lord." Rev narrowed her eyes. "...Did you just quote me?" Eve nodded with an understanding smirk on her face. "Yes." Rev sat back, blinking. "I did say that... There's a time for everything, and a purpose for everyone. Not everyone can be a Pastor..." She looked at the collar around her neck. "...But that's what I am." "It's not all that you are," Eve reminded her. "It may define your name and the way you've walked in your life, but it doesn't have to define your future. Not if you don't want it to." "...I shouldn't care about what I want, I should care about what He wants." "Well... He asked you a question. Maybe he's leaving it up to you." Rev was silent for a moment. Then she chuckled. "You sure know a lot for not going to church..." "Flutterfree's not a mare you can ignore easily. I've absorbed a lot about your teachings from her. You're a very wise mare, Rev." Rev shook her head. "When you compare me to other ponies, yeah. That's not much of a metric." She looked Eve in the eyes. "What do you think I should do?" "What I think is irrelevant. You've been allowed to make the decision, it should come from you. I'm just here to help you think through it." She pulled a notepad and pen out of nowhere. "It might help to write some of it down." Rev thought for a moment. "If I keep doing what I'm doing, I'll be serving in a very important capacity in a very prominent position, and my words will be representative of Him. Of course, that can also be a negative, if I lose the fire and start leading people away..." She shook her head, getting back on track. "It's what I've always done, I know I'm good at it, and I know so many people there." "Negatives?" "If I don't change something I'm going to lose the fire. And that'll open the gates for all sorts of mistakes. And when you're in charge of everyone's spirituality... your mistakes cascade down to them. I'm the example. If I'm not a good example..." She paused, thinking. "And if I drop it, well, I don't have any idea what I'd do, I might not be helping people, it won't be as clear how to glorify Him in it, and I won't be as much a part of the community I created. I'd find a replacement, but I'd be leaving them on their own." "Positives?" "...It'd be something new. I wouldn't be taking a chance. I could expand my horizons." Eve handed Rev the notepad. "I want you to realize you started with positives for one, and negatives for the other. Those were what came to your mind first - as if you're trying to convince yourself of something. I can't tell you if that's good or bad, merely that it happened." Rev looked at the notebook, and a sinking feeling formed in her stomach. She knew - she knew - what she actually wanted. But it went so far against what she had been for so long she was fighting it with intense anger. Anger at what? Herself? ...Probably... "...What would I do instead?" Rev wondered, almost as a whisper. "Any number of things. Mage. Healer. Doctor. Diplomat. Charity. There are lots of things that lend themselves to you." She put a hoof on Rev. "You don't even have to decide now. You should simply decide if you want to before you start thinking about specifics." "...I think we both know I'm just playing mind games with myself," Rev said. She leaned back and closed her eyes, entering a time of prayer. Eve knew what it was - she patiently waited for Rev to be done. Rev opened her eyes over half an hour later, a tear crawling down her face. "Well...?" "No Divine Revelation," Rev said, shaking her head. "But... I sorted out my thoughts." She levitated her collar off her neck, leaving only her necklace. "I... I don't think I'll be needing this." Eve smiled sadly. "...Are you sure?" Rev looked at the old piece of clothing that had scarcely left her neck in centuries. "I... yes." She set it down on the table. "Yes. I am." More tears crawled down her face. "...Eve, how long have I been lying to myself about this?" Eve put a wing around her. "Probably since you joined Pinkie's Party in the New World. You got to experience adventure again. It awakened something. You're more than just a symbol." "...I suppose I should figure out what I'm gonna do, huh?" "Not yet," Eve said. "Go talk to your friends. Rina. Flutterfree. Tell them what you've decided. They'll question you - and make sure you really do feel this way. I am fairly sure this is what you want, but accept their counsel as well. This is a big decision." Rev nodded. "Right..." "After that... come back. I might have something for you." So that's what Rev did. She went out and told everyone what she was doing. Flutterfree and Rina, first. Rina was angry to begin - she didn't understand why the pony she admired was suddenly changing - but she quickly accepted it. It took Flutterfree exactly one conversation to be convinced Rev was making the right choice. Rev taught her last sermon. The topic was 'moving on'. She taught it without her collar and let everyone know this was more of a goodbye than a sermon. She told them who the replacement would be, and what to expect when she moved on. She promised to attend services - as a member of the audience, not the preacher. And then she spent the rest of the day giving out tearful hugs and talking to everyone one last time. The very next day she and Flutterfree went to Eve - and they were able to hash out a new job nearly instantly. Eve was right, she did have something for her. Eve's old job. Rev walked into the skyscraper that was city hall with a spring in her step. She wore four simple white socks that went up to her knees and had restyled her mane into a loose but short design. In her right ear was a small bud that could display holographic messages for her nearest eye. The only thing about her that was the same about her was the cross necklace. Soon, she was in mayor Mlinx's office. "Hey." Mlinx turned around - he couldn't smile, but Rev knew he was happy to see her. "Ah, my new ambassador. ...I'm going to have to apologize, I had been hoping to give you an easy first day, but the guy you're replacing just got himself captured and jailed by a bunch of Ewoks." "Oh..." "So while Pinkie's Party is dealing with that, there's a race of slime-creatures - the Aran - in the meeting room waiting for someone to talk to them." He tapped his fingers together nervously. "Think you can tide them over for an hour while I try to contact their home for them?" "Pretty sure I can. I take it I don't get to mention that you're struggling to make contact?" "I'd rather not have an unneeded... panic." Rev nodded. "I'll try. Which room?" "3404." Rev teleported herself to the thirty-fourth floor and walked into the room. It really was filled with a bunch of alien slime creatures without eyes or mouths. "Hello, I'm ambassador Reverend Glimmer, and I don't believe I've had the pleasure." "I am Krikk," a blue slime said by vibrating his membrane rapidly. "What is that thing you wear on your neck?" Rev smiled and looked down at her necklace. "I'm glad you asked..." ~~~ "And we end where we began," Seskii said, leaning on the counter of the teashop. Azula blinked. "...What?" "There's been a little sequence of stories going around. The first one was here at the teashop - and the last one is here at the teashop." She sat down on a barstool and smirked. "We're the bookends, Azula! ...In a story sense, at least, since not everything's taking place in the right order..." "...It's not us," Azula said, looking out at the tables. "It's this shop. It's what it represents. We just happen to be the ones here right now." Seskii nodded. "Yep! In the grand scheme of things... we're not even the tertiary characters, we're below them. We're just recurring. The most important thing I ever did was talk to Allure in those time loops, and your thing was continuing this shop. And you know what? That's great! Our lives left a mark on the world that will be remembered!" She put her hands on her hips and grinned. "I don't mind either way," Azula said, setting out a platter of tea for Seskii to deliver to the patrons. "I'm here, and it's working for me." Seskii chuckled. "Glad to have you around." She picked up the platter and began passing out the tea in her usual utterly impossible way. Azula really was going to miss that. There was a ding as a new patron entered the teashop. Starbeat trotted in, her goggles covering her eyes. She took a seat at the 'bar' and opened her mouth to order. For a moment, she was stuck there, frozen. Then she let out a sigh and rammed her face into the counter. Azula knew exactly what she needed: some simple chai mixed with lemongrass. In a couple of minutes the custom-made tea was ready for consumption and placed in front of Starbeat. She hadn't moved an inch the whole time. Azula didn't mind - she could be patient. And she could keep the tea warm with her firebending if it was needed. It wasn't easy to heat the liquid without making the cup too hot to hold, but she'd been doing this long enough that it would be a simple matter. As it turned out, she didn't have to resort to such measures. Starbeat eventually convinced her body to sit up and look Azula in the face. "...I guess I'm here to apologize." "For what?" "The Hub. Your shop. Everything I did to your home." Azula sighed. "Drink the tea." "Azul-" "I accept your apology, but there's a lot more you have bottled up in there and I'm not going to be able to work with you unless you destress yourself first." She took a cup of tea in her own hand and sipped it. "I'm doing the same." Starbeat did as she was told. She took a sip. The steam fogged up her goggles, forcing her to remove them to see. Azula saw exactly what she expected - bloodshot, confused eyes. "Fight?" Starbeat shook her head. "No. Completely my doing. She's... She's been a lot softer lately. I think the sessions might be starting to help." She hung her head back. "I just... I got caught up in what I did. How I ignored every signal and... gave myself to him. Willingly." "You were under the influence of Rage." "I was. But that had to start from somewhere." Starbeat looked Azula in the eye. "I've got a doctorate in ka studies. I should have seen it coming. I was told multiple times about the dangers - by you, by my friends... And I just shoved it down, refused to think about it. Lied to myself. Or told myself that ka had no control over me and if it wanted me to be the villain, well, I was still in the right so it didn't matter." She grimaced. "I was a fool." "No kidding," Azula said. Then she realized what she'd said. "I-" "Am being honest and I appreciate that," Starbeat interrupted. Azula sighed, leaning down onto the counter. "...It's still true that you were influenced." "But I really did want them to suffer," Starbeat said, looking out at the patrons. No doubt some of them fought for the collapse, and fought hard. "I felt wronged." "Were you?" "Maybe. But they'd been wronged as well." She buried her face in her hooves. "Why couldn't I see it? That was my life! I devoted everything to seeing what I could! Plundering the depths of fate itself! And I was duped!" Azula frowned. "We were all duped. Made fools of. By ourselves, in a way. At least that's what Seskii says... I'm not sure I understand it." Starbeat looked up at her goggles. "There's too much to understand. Even if you devote yourself to one thing and spend everything you have to plunder its depths... It can still surprise you." "Yeah..." "You're lucky. You don't have anything like that. You just live your life, comfortable with whatever it throws at you." She took another sip. "I wish I could live like that." "We have our own problems over here in the 'don't think too hard about it' category," Azula admitted. "We... make bad choices a lot more often." "You don't get hit as hard when you screw up though." "...Maybe?" "...We're just speaking about arbitrary things now," Starbeat mused, leaning back. "What's it even mean, Azula?" Azula blinked. "What?" "What's it even mean? Without the Tower. It's provided us with all our adventures, all our reasons for struggles, all our 'truth' and battles of good versus evil. What happens when it falls? What's meaning?" "...Whatever you say it is?" "But that's what the Tower was!" Starbeat blurted. "It... it was self-defined meaning! It took what all of us saw and coalesced it together into this... thing. It was a... not a monster, but it wasn't a paragon either. We can't just continue that when we move on." "Can I butt in here?" Seskii asked. "Yeah? Okay." She took a seat next to Starbeat. "The Tower was... was stories. The average of not only everyone's self-defined meaning, but also their desires and fantasies. That's its flaw. It goes too far." "...But if everyone just defines every meaning for themselves, anyone can justify anything. The Tower's been the definer of good and evil for us. If there's nothing to do it for us... we'll just fall apart and disagree. And we're all equally right and equally wrong an-" Seskii put her hands on Starbeat's shoulder. "Listen to me. I happen to think there is a real truth and a real good and evil. But I also know people will never agree on what that is - or what meaning is. Some will assign meaning in nations, Harmony, magic itself, the past, God, complex relationships, or success. One of those may be the actual real meaning of life. The problem is we're never going to agree, overall, on which one it is." Starbeat stared at her, blinking. Seskii removed her hands and smiled sadly. "So, even if one thing really does mean more, we won't act as if it does if we don't want to. So the people who get it right can be right and gloat about it if they feel like, but they still have to deal with other people as if their definitions of meaning are valid. That we can be sure of." She took a platter of tea out of her hair and ran back to serving it. Azula blinked. "...I don't think I really absorbed any of that." "I did," Starbeat said, blinking slowly. A smile slowly came to her face. "The more things change the more they stay the same." "I don't follow." Starbeat stood up and looked wistfully in a distant direction. "Life will be very different. We'll have to adapt to the impossible no longer being possible, to the antics of those around us falling to normalcy, and to unresolved encounters. But in the end, the core of it all remains the same." She turned back to Azula, pulling her goggles back down over her face. "We're all looking for meaning in infinite possibility."
Songs of the Spheres	146 - The Man and the King	When he'd first gotten into the Mayor's office, Mlinx had wondered what the purpose of the desk was. All the actual work was completed on the holographic computer screen that took up all of a fifth of the wooden hunk of furniture. The rest of it was bare. He stored paper on it for a while. Then he realized he never used the paper for long, his data pad provided everything. Why bother? So for months, his desk had lain barren - unremarkable, devoid of all life. He didn't see any reason to put anything on it. He had seen other desks with pictures of family members or other items of personal value. While he had access to such pictures, he had no close family to speak of, and images of his fellow demons just reminded him how dead they all were. The only item of sentiment he had was his spear, and that was mounted on the wall behind him. This happened until there was a birthday celebration and one of the gifts had been a small Newton's Cradle. He wasn't sure why he decided to put it on his desk, but he did. And the clak clak clak of the metallic balls... they were comforting. So he got a few more things like it. Little trinket toys like a bird that would tip back and forth, a machine that would push up and down with seemingly no input, and a top that used magnets to eternally rotate. It was clear to him now. The purpose of a desk was to collect and display as many trinkets as possible. He ended up with a little mountain of them. "You remind me a lot of my Rarity," Chancellor Fluttershy said, examining all the trinkets. "She was obsessed with these things. Had massive piles of them in every corner of her office. It was her way of staying sane in our world's... problems." "Every corner?" Mlinx narrowed his eyes. "I had not considered placing them in places other than the desk..." "Perhaps you could invest in bookshelves?" "Maybe." He shook his head, turning back to her. "But that's besides the point. You were talking about the problem in the Concrete district." With a sigh, the Chancellor nodded. "Yes. We had been weeding out the racism from the Concretes well. I didn't think there were enough aggressive ones to form a resurgence, but by some trick of fate it seems that most of the Concretes who were spared the dusting were of the mind that they were above everyone else. The older generations grabbed the district and kicked anyone out who didn't agree with them." She paused for a moment. "I'm here to ask for some authority in redistributing them so they don't become a pattern to follow." "You're afraid other groups will try the same thing?" "Precisely. We need to avoid extensive echo-chambers so we don't suffer from major disagreement further down the line." "The situation certainly needs to be solved," Mlinx agreed, pressing his automatic Rubik's cube absent-mindedly. "Tell me how you plan to do it." "Trick them," the Chancellor said. "Pay anyone who will listen to move elsewhere. Most Concretes, while stubborn, do see value in material things. Give them enough and most will move. Those who don't, we'll put watches on. I have little doubt such extreme racism will lead to a few broken laws within a week or two since they aren't surrounded by only like-minded people." "Do you have a full project proposal?" The Chancellor handed him a data pad. "It also has alternate proposals. The most effective would be the by-force method, but I doubt that will go down well politically. There's also a forced-integration policy that will likely cause a few incidents rather than running smoothly. I recommend the payment strategy over the others." "I'll look it over... You'll get funding for one of these, I can assure you. Not sure wh-" Mlinx's secretary - Nastasia, a woman very experienced in the field - opened his office door. "We've got a problem." Mlinx straightened himself up. "What?" "Ernan group A and Ernan group B are having a very heated spat and Rev has her hooves full." Mlinx sighed. He placed the Chancellor's proposal in a drawer and stood up. "Sorry to cut this short, I have to deal with this." The Chancellor bowed and left without another word. Mlinx didn't have to ask Nastasia - she knew he wanted to teleport right to the scene, so that's what she did. They appeared just outside the City walls, where Rev had raised a magical shield between two groups of humans. They weren't fighting - currently - but they sure looked like they wanted too. They all wore simple blue clothing of similar designs and had white hair. This in and of itself wasn't unusual. The quirk of the two Ernan groups was that everyone in A had a duplicate in B, no exception. It should come as no surprise that neither of them was particularly fond of this duplication. "It is you who are the imposters!" one of the men was saying. "You have sub-standard and shoddy fabrics!" his duplicate shouted back. "No Ernan would ever be satisfied with that level of work!" "And what of your off-color? Did you run out of indinia?" "We have an endless supply of indinia! It is you who use an unholy flower!" "Hey, here's an idea," Rev said, interjecting. "How about you stop fighting so we can figure this out?" "We get into the City and they have to go, end of story!" It didn't particularly matter which side said that. It was the exact position both of them had. Rev sighed. "What's wrong with both of you entering the city? I can assign you to different sect-" "It ruins the holy sacrament!" "I understand - trust me I do," Rev said, glancing back and forth with calm eyes. "What we have here are two sets of beliefs that cannot be reconciled. You both believe you are the chosen Ernan, and you could both be right, when talking about your original worlds! But you aren't in your worlds anymore, a-" "THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!" "IT IS US!" "IT IS U-" "SHUT UP!" Mlinx shouted, clapping all four of his hands together to grab their attention. "I am not going to have a pair of squabbling self-absorbed humans into my city!" He took several powerful steps forward. "Here's your ultimatum - either both of you enter the city, or I bar both types of Ernans from it! Forever!" The Ernans and Rev looked at him in surprise. "Well?" "Unacceptable," both Ernan leaders said at the same time. "Then go back to wherever you came from," Mlinx said, waving them away. "We're done with you." He turned his back to them. The Ernans blinked. Then they grimaced to each other and nodded. "We... cannot continue without structure to rebuild our culture. Perhaps we could each have one side of the City to wander?" Mlinx stopped. "That will do nicely. Nastasia, see to it that the proper arrangements are made." Nastasia adjusted her glasses. "Right away, sir." She scrambled to them and began explaining the nuances of the visiting process. Rev trotted up to Mlinx. "...Well, that worked. But they aren't happy with you now." "I'll live," Mlinx said, folding his arms. "I don't need that much approval." "Your position is an elected one," Rev reminded him. "And they're going to call you one who stomps over religion and culture if it doesn't suit you." "...You think it was the wrong decision?" "I don't know. I know I wasn't ready to give up on them working it out, though." She shook her head. "You're a strong man, Mlinx, and your heart is in the right place. But you don't want to be seen as angry if you can help it." Mlinx fell silent, taking a moment to ponder this. "I'll do what I can to keep these people wrangled, but the media will have a field day." Rev pursed her lips. "Sadly, every last one of your actions is going to be judged, and you're not lucky like Blumiere. Your City isn't as patriotic or unified." Mlinx folded his higher pair of hands together, trying to figure out what this meant for him. ~~~ Later that day, Mlinx descended. He entered the elevator and sank down to the deepest basement. At one point, this area had housed the guards for Flagg's cell. Now Flagg didn't need live guards, so the room had been repurposed. It was still just as top secret and hidden as before, but for a completely different reason. Mlinx slid out of the great elevator and into a dark room bare of all decoration. The only source of light was in the very center of the disc-shaped interior; a glass cylinder illuminated by white backlight. Suspended in this cylinder was a dark black staff with a murky black sphere floating near the head. Black Thirteen. An artifact of complete knowledge and immense power, sealed here. Mlinx could not access it himself - he needed a grand total of six highest-level security codes to get in, and even in emergency situations he himself only had access to three. He was not even able to feel Black Thirteen's power, for there was a nullifying field all around the room that kept all power flowing off of it contained. As far as Mlinx's eyes were concerned, it was just a staff. A staff that meant a lot to Mlinx. It was the one reminder of the past he allowed himself to dwell on. Usually he hated the dark, negative sorrows that came to his mind. But this staff was different. It represented not Lord English to the pink demon, but Siron himself. A man Mlinx had never quite been able to remove from his mind. A man Mlinx had spent a good deal of time hating. He was long, long dead, but the hate had never left Mlinx. For a while, he had tried to deny that he had such feelings. To ignore the fact that he hadn't moved on. The truth was, he couldn't move on. Or maybe he could - but some deep-down part didn't want to. He wanted to keep hating the demon chief who had killed so many and shaped Mlinx's world into what it was. Who had, in essence, brought the demons to their knees. Sure, there were other factors Mlinx would admit on an intellectual level, but emotionally it was all Siron, Siron, Siron. "I wonder when you turned," Mlinx asked the staff. "You had to have been a good man at some point. You got to become Chief. You couldn't have done that without that spark. You wouldn't have been able to make it through the trials, would not have been vouched for by the other warriors. If we'd just wanted strength in our leader, it would not have been so hard for you to get there. But we cared about more. You proved to everyone that your way was worthwhile and that you understood." Mlinx leaned back against a wall, refusing to let his eyes leave the black orb. "Was it the position that changed you? Power corrupts? Was it inevitable that you would turn away from the honorable warrior the tribe knew and become a conniving manipulative mastermind who didn't understand change?" Black Thirteen offered no response. Mlinx glared at it angrily. "I won't be like you! I won't succumb to it! I see the danger - I won't fall into the pit trap!" Black Thirteen seemed unconvinced by his declaration. "I'm not you," Mlinx asserted. "I actually care. And I can change." But change can be good or bad, he thought to himself. "...I am tired of living in your shadow. Your legacy has tainted our name for decades, and none have ever forgotten what you did. They say they forgive, they say they understand, but they cannot always listen to what they say. All the respect they have for me is from their friendship, or their pity. I am the last demon. And I will make it so we're remembered for something other than you." There was no response. There was never a response. Mlinx never expected one. He just came here to get things off his chest. ...There was no one left who could really understand what Siron meant to the demons. This was all that was left for him. Usually, it did make him feel better. He'd get his confidence back and feel ready to take on anything the City could throw at him. This was not the case today. He felt dejected, like Siron had grappled him from beyond the grave and set him on a path he couldn't escape. Slouching, he left the room. ~~~ The media, like always, attacked the event like a firestorm. Depending on where people were from before, the explosion either seemed overly tame or unexpectedly harsh. Merodi news was rarely so openly aggressive, but a lot of human worlds were surprised the hosts didn't grill him endlessly from all sides and devolve into shouting matches. Not to mention what many of the warrior-types thought should happen... But it was a mixed modern media, and with all things, the story was quickly lost in the wind. It was just one little event in Mlinx's Mayorship, and he hadn't made a pattern out of losing patience and taking the strong-arm position. Yet. He already saw himself considering doing it more as time went on. Why bother with the clean, friendly solution when a little open aggression and power-play would get the job done faster and with less effort? In theory, he should be able to manage a 'strike' on his record... Well, he could, if he could convince himself it wasn't a strike. Which he couldn't do. It was eating at him, bad enough that a few people had started to wonder if something was up. Considering how hard it was to read demon expressions, that was telling. He'd talked to Rev about it, and she'd told him not to worry. Since he was asking those questions and was keeping careful watch on himself, she knew he wasn't on the path to Siron. He actually cared. That didn't really help, not that he let her know that. It made sense, after all - why shouldn't it give him comfort? He absent-mindedly poked one of his trinkets, prompting it to enter a nearly perpetual spin. The noise from the sudden movement made him focus on the world in his office, allowing him to notice Nastasia for the first time. "Oh! What is it this time?" Nastasia adjusted her glasses and pulled out a data pad. "The locusts have cordially invited you to partake in their Festival of the Hive, a twenty-four hour celebration of locust society, the royal family, and their survival in the New World." "That sounds interesting..." "We need to come up with a reason they'll accept as to why you can't go." Mlinx blinked. "...I can't?" "The City needs you present in case of emergency. An extended outing is out of the question." "I don't remember agreeing to that," Mlinx commented, going back over the duties of the Mayor. "Yes, I can be recalled from anything, but..." "The locusts aren't nearby. There is a minute-long time delay. If something goes wrong..." "One minute is not much, and I am far from the only hero in this City," Mlinx pointed out. "I'm just the face - as ironic as that sounds." Nastasia let out a quiet sigh. "Okay, it's smarter to keep you here. Even if our policy doesn't require it." "Thank you," Mlinx said. "I have to say I'm surprised you're even expressing interest in going." "They're a warrior culture of insects whose numbers are small and who are overwhelmed by all the things that have happened to them," Mlinx said. "Isn't the correlation obvious?" "Perhaps," Nastasia admitted. "I could call it a vacation," Mlinx commented, scratching the edge of his desk absent-mindedly. "Get out a bit. Clear this head of mine." "There is a chance it could be good for you." "Then I've made up my mind," Mlinx asserted, standing up. "I'll be taking a vacation. Set the date so the Festival of the Hive lies in the middle of it." "How many extra days?" Mlinx had to think for a moment, he hadn't taken a vacation yet. "...One day buffer on each side. Workable?" "Yes," Nastasia responded, entering a few more things into the calendar. "And it's all set. I'll let them know you're coming." "I hope they're not going to make my presence a big deal..." The moment Mlinx said this he realized it was a mistake. ~~~ There was an actual red carpet. Where had they gotten a red carpet? The Locusts didn't make fabric themselves! They would have needed to buy it from someone! And they were dirt poor! Where did they get the carpet?! Mlinx didn't show any of his surprise on the outside - he held himself tall and proud, his spear slung over his back, the head pointed sharply upward. He wore no ornate uniform, the only indication of his station being a small wristband with interlaced rose engravings. As he walked down the carpet, the locusts threw flowers and pieces of art made up of a papery material they used to craft their hives. The yellow beings had a similar body type to Mlinx, except there were four legs, two arms, and two eyes. Every locust had wings large enough to fly, and fly without too much effort. Their shells had no ornate designs, and almost all of them were identical in size and color, making it difficult even for Mlinx to tell them apart - as far as he could tell, only those with damaged carapaces had any identifying features to speak of. He had expected this, since this was hardly the first time he had met with the locusts, though it was a lot harder to follow now that they were all cheering and buzzing around him. No one could tell it from his face, but it was all a bit much to take in. "Hold!" The voice rang out through the hall and every last one of the locust drones froze in an instant, only those who had been in the air at the time of the order continuing to move at all. "Stance!" The locust drones all turned to face the red carpet directly and folded their arms behind their backs with military precision in their movements. Only now could the royal couple meet Mlinx on the carpet. The King looked like a drone, except slightly larger and with much more impressive wings. The Queen might as well have been a different creature - instead of resembling her people, she looked more like a wasp the size of a bus. She stayed slightly behind the King as he extended one of his hands. Mlinx noted it wasn't the traditional locust greeting, but a human handshake. Mlinx took it and shook for a few seconds, before meeting the King with a swift circular hand motion that had originated from the demon tribe. The King responded in kind with a multi-fingered interlace. "You've gotten much better," the King noted as Mlinx's digits managed to complete the interweaving gesture. "Practice?" Mlinx nodded. "Most of it comes from learning the greetings of so many cultures. Your fingers will get very agile naturally." The King nodded in understanding. "Quite. Without further ado, Mlinx of Tower City and the Demon Tribe! I humbly accept your presence in our Festival of the Hive." "The honor is mine, King." Mlinx found just saying 'King' more than a little awkward, but locusts didn't exactly have names in the traditional sense, so it was the best he could do. He turned and bowed to the Queen as well. "It would be shameful of me not to recognize you as well, Queen." "Cordial as always," the Queen responded in a raspy, decidedly inhuman voice. "I hope you will allow yourself to move beyond all that before your stay is over." Mlinx nodded slowly. "I would very much like to get to know you all better." The King chuckled. "Clever response... Something to talk about over the breakfast table! ...Do you have any guests or bodyguards we should prepare for?" Mlinx shook his head. "Just me. Since I'm considering this a vacation they don't need to guard me - and plus, I have my spear." "And you lack any hive-mates..." the King shook his head. "A tragedy." "Thank you, King." The King nodded slowly, gesturing for Mlinx to follow him with a wing. They entered a circular tunnel made entirely of a paper-like substance, leading them into a cavern system where the Hive itself had been built. Locusts were essentially ground bees with high intelligence - living and building their homes deep beneath the earth while flying to the surface to collect food and resources. From the surface, no one would ever know there was a locust hive. But inside... It was incredible. A few months ago it wouldn't have been - the locusts would have lived almost entirely in the dark with only a few careful glow stations here and there - but with the gift of modern lighting the entire locust civilization was blessed with the ability to light everything anytime they wanted. Cylindrical pillars made of a paper honeycomb structure snaked from the ground to the ceiling in organized, pleasing mathematical patterns. Each honeycomb was effectively a house - identical to virtually every other. There wasn't much in the way of unique architecture. The few things that were designed differently were storage buildings, nurseries, the royal palace, and the arena: the only source of entertainment visible within the cavern. There was a single building made of metallic materials, a power plant Mlinx had given them to power the lights. The only non-locusts in the cavern huddled around this little beacon of outside civilization. As Mlinx walked with the King, Queen, and their entourage, the most complex light in the Hive lit up - lighting the arena with a rainbow strobe effect. Mlinx found it hard to look at, but somehow he was still able to pick out two drones on top of the platform. The buzz of locust wings that had been nothing more than a background hum before became a howl. A battle commenced between two drones: one wielding two excessively-long swords, the other a simple Merodi pulse gun. They flew at each other - almost too fast to see. The gun was fired seven separate times, but every last pulse was deflected, allowing the swordsman in to cut off the gunner's arms. The gunman howled in pain and hung his head in defeat. For a moment, Mlinx thought the swordsman was going to finish the job. But he didn't; he raised his swords high and absorbed the buzzing of the crowd like cheers. Mlinx didn't know why he was worried - the locusts had never engaged in to the death events for sport. It would waste a perfectly good drone warrior. They'd never allowed injuries more than they could cure. ...Sometimes modern magic medicine did some questionable things. He knew the drone would have his arms back within the hour, of course. "Scheduled that just for me, did you?" Mlinx asked. The King chuckled. "I don't run the games. But I did tell the warriors you were coming... So..." He shook his head. "I can tell you more about it later. For now, the feast!" They walked into the royal palace. Unlike many palaces, this one wasn't all that ornate or impressive. It was just a paper honeycomb composed of many smaller paper honeycombs and a few holes that dug into the ground. The area was much better lit than most others, and there were a few pieces of ornamentation that clearly came from the outside world - such as a human painting, or a lotus flower under a special solar light. The palace had many guards around it, but otherwise the area was mostly open. The banquet table was 'outside', if you could call it outside in a cave like this. The food smelled absolutely delicious to Mlinx; a honey-like substance coated most, but not all of the food. There were many fruits, vegetables, and meat salvaged from the outside. He also noted a small section at the end of the table with cakes and breads not of locust design, but equine. Probably made by one of the workers at the power plant. He made a mental note to find whoever it was and thank them for their efforts. "Sit! Eat! Enjoy!" the Queen announced. She didn't need a chair herself, given her size, so she just lowered her head to be level with the rest at the table. There were other guards and drones around, but the only other locust of interest at the table besides the royal couple was the Princess, a female drone who was beginning the long and painful growth process to a full Queen. Currently she still looked like a drone, except with a larger head and slightly more pronounced rear where a stinger was developing. She seemed a lot more interested in the food - particularly the equine treats - than in Mlinx. He didn't mind, it was far from the first time something like this had happened. With quick motions he grabbed some unidentified meaty nuggets with greens poking out of them and devoured them. Not the best thing in the world, but it was designed for an arthropod's palate, unlike most things in the City. It really was delicious. "Do you have any idea how rare arthropods are? Intelligent ones, I mean." "You are the only one we've seen," the King pointed out. "I got the impression quickly enough." "Ah, forgive me. I'm just pleasantly surprised by the food catered to our palates here. Usually I have to ask for food like this to be prepared." The Queen buzzed. "And here we went through all the trouble of getting some more 'universal' food." "You can't go wrong with cake," Mlinx acknowledged, stabbing a piece of the aforementioned pastry. "It is straight sugar, naturally unhealthy, but perhaps the most delicious thing in existence." He munched on it. "I do think it'd be better if it was thicker, but I've yet to find someone who's mixed honey and cake together in the right way." "Perhaps we could relegate a few drones as experimental chefs?" the Queen suggested. "I see no problem with that," the King agreed. "Though finding one of them who'd like to cook..." The Princess raised her hand. "I... could." "Wouldn't be a permanent position," the King said. "You'll soon be a full Queen. The Hive will need to spread." "She could still practice it," the Queen countered. "She might have to stop when it's time for her to establish the new Hive, but I have enough free time to devote to such activities if I desired." "Really?" the Princess asked. "Yes. Really." The King shrugged. "New times and all... Sure." Mlinx felt his stomach do flip-flops suddenly, forcing him to examine the honey-like substance he had been ingesting. "Excuse me, I'm afraid I don't know what this is." "Avar," the Queen answered. "A natural product of locusts." "It's not excrement," the King interjected quickly. "Everyone always thinks it's excrement. It isn't. It's formed through the walls." "I would say it's considered a delicacy, it's dreadfully commonplace. You could probably lick a wall and get it if you didn't care about hygiene." Mlinx took one more look at the sticky roll and devoured it. "It is delicious." "But it's turning your stomach into knots," the King suggested. "I had hoped your physiology would be more compatible than the others, but I guess not." "There's plenty of dishes here without it," the Queen added. "Feel free to avoid any of the avar you see." "Thank you," he said, turning to eat for a few minutes. A little while later, he looked up. "I do have a question. What does this Festival of the Hive mean to you as a culture?" "It is a celebration of unified community," the King explained, folding his hands together. "It's a day where the drones drift from their assignments and come together for the singular goal of making the entire Hive celebrate. We forego our focus on efficiency, resources, and development in favor of enjoyment. It's a reversal of our usual way of things, and a reminder that there are other things of value besides endless work. Your presence - that is, the presence of your people - has turned this into the wildest Festival I've ever seen." "And that's a good thing," the Queen asserted. The King shrugged. "Perhaps, perhaps not, I have not seen the final results of increased activity yet. I do agree the people are more energetic." "...You know I used to be a part of a tribal warriors' society," Mlinx said. "It's not quite like yours - we favored personal strength over community strength - but we went through a lot of the same things your society is going through now. Most of the changes were for the better, but not all. I'm glad to hear you're looking closely to see which ones are. And on our end, we're working hard to let you make that decision. ...Back in the day, I don't think my people were given a choice." "You are an honorable man, Mlinx," the King said, nodding. "I believe you place a bit too much worth on sentimentality and culture, but I can see where it comes from. No doubt it makes you a great leader for that melting-pot of a City you call yours." Mlinx didn't openly agree with him. He made a dismissive gesture with his arm and tried to think of a new topic. Luckily, he didn't need to - a locust walked into the dining area and cleared her throat. She was wearing light armor and an elongated sword. "Message from the arena gladiators." "Hm?" the Queen said, blinking. "What is it?" "The visitor has been invited to participate in the next round of combat, should he desire." Mlinx blinked. Saying no would be rude... And would undermine my image of coming from a warrior's culture. He took a breath. "I accept your challenge. Which experienced warrior is going to give an old man like me the beatdown?" "A mid-tier warrior of curious instincts." She twirled her sword around. "Me. See you then." "Looks like you have a date," the Princess said, chuckling. Mlinx nodded slowly. "Yes, it seems I... wait, your species has the concept of a date? I thought..." The King chuckled. "The Princess is just using your language. Drones are assigned partners. While the Queen and I produce the most drones, it is not enough for population stability. All non-Princess females come from other pairs." "Oh, I see." He rubbed the back of his head. "I had two pieces of information and they seemed to disagree." The Queen buzzed her wings. "It happens. We aren't always aware of what we need to explain and what we don't. I would recommend not eating too much, your performance will drop." Mlinx looked at the food. "Good advice." ~~~ Mlinx did not follow the advice. He ended up with an upset, churning stomach by the time the feast was over. But he wouldn't let that stop him - he knew some stretches to minimize stomach pains. Currently he was on one side of the arena, twirling his spear. The arena, unlike virtually every other construction, was not composed out of honeycomb patterns. It was a flat disc with a smooth papery floor covered in locust bloodstains and chipped carapaces. There were hexagon-shaped seats all around the edge, every last one filled with locusts who wanted to see a fight like nothing they had ever seen before. Mlinx twirled his spear forward, to his back, and forward again. He balanced it on one of his fingers and snatched it out of the air with his foot, swirling around. "Still got it..." The female locust was not practicing: she was observing him. "I find it curious that you do your preparations in the open, where I may study them." Mlinx shrugged. "These are just stretches. I have not had a proper sporting duel in... I think before the collapse. Not that I haven't been in fights - I was in the Lord English attacks - but those aren't exactly fond memories of victory." She nodded slowly. "I can study the way you move and make predictions though. Even if you have more advanced techniques..." "If you can look at me for ten minutes and know what I'm going to do, I deserve to lose for being so choreographed," Mlinx asserted, swinging the spear onto his back. "I am also mildly surprised you have no hint of this 'magic' with you. Our gladiators who have received the blessing have no reason to avoid its use. One of your position should surely be able to get the powers." "It's part of my heritage. Only some of my tribe were gifted with magic. I chose never to go beyond that." He looked out at the arena. "So, when do we start?" "Now," she said, gesturing for him to follow. The two of them walked to the middle of the dark arena. The moment they were on opposing sides of a center circle, the strobe light turned on. While everyone else would see a mess of flashing lights, the two of them saw each other in perfect white light. "Clever," Mlinx observed, drawing his spear. She drew her sword and hefted it in both hands. "The fight is to the drawing of blood." There was a second of unspoken respect between the two of them. They charged at once. She brought her sword down, clearly expecting him to deflect with the spear, but instead he deflected with a free arm, carefully running his carapace along the flat edge of the blade. His spear struck true, but without enough momentum to pierce her armor. She tried to pull back, but his fourth arm was on the hilt of her sword. He pulled back, trying to disarm her - but she had enough free legs to kick him in the chest and knock him back. He felt sick to his stomach. "Ergh..." He flipped to his feet, leaping over a slice of the locust's blade. He drove one of his hands into her face and pushed her back, unable to get a direct strike with the spear. Pushing, he bounced into the air and angled the spear downward at her. Her response was to smack the spear with the blunt side of her blade and toss him to the side. Mlinx stood up and parried a series of blows with carefully directed arm movements. It was at this point he realized that, despite his inexperience and stomach pains, he was having fun. He had often rejected his violent, warrior side actively, treating it as something distasteful. He hadn't engaged in fighting for sport in... ages. It was only now that he realized something had been missing ever since then. He was a warrior, no matter how weak he had been compared to the others. He knew how to fight, and it was part of him. Part of his nature. It was time to let it awaken again. With a sudden ferocity in his eyes, he lunged forward, taking a risky move right over her blade. He brought the base of his spear around her neck, grabbing one of her legs at the same time and knocking her over. With a quick motion he slammed a foot on her prone form, keeping her down. He twirled his spear and drove it toward her neck. He stopped an inch away, trembling. It had taken immense willpower to stop the speartip from going right through her. Carefully, he nicked an area between two of her carapace plates, drawing a small amount of blood. Then he got off of her and turned away. There was cheering. He barely heard it. He was announced the winner and asked for another fight - but he declined it. Or he thought he did. He really wasn't sure. Everything was a blur. I almost killed her. I let myself fall into the way of the warrior... and I almost killed her. He trudged away, not even asking what part of the Festival he should go to next. ~~~ Mlinx found himself standing on a balcony (more of an external railing) jutting out from the power plant. He was slouched, leaning heavily on the railing with enough force that it had bent slightly. He'd told himself he'd only come here to express his appreciation for the cakes. Which he had. The ponies had taken the thanks as excitedly as their kind usually did. Then Mlinx decided not to leave and just stare out into nothing. ...That wasn't exactly true. There were certainly things to look at - the lights lit up select areas full of drones moving in formation. Even in a Festival devoted to their enjoyment, they moved almost with one mind. The only exception to this was the arena itself, and it was just as brutal as always. Mlinx tried to force himself to look into the darkness, where there was nothing. It was a strange mixture of satisfying and depressing. It was... dark. I thought I could give in... He tightened his grip on the railing. That thing inside me is evil. Why did I let myself forget that? Why did I leave myself open to the temptation? He was so fixated on his thoughts he didn't notice the gargantuan form of the Queen flying to him. He did notice when she landed, shaking the entire platform with her girth. "Augh! I - I'm sorry, Queen, I was just clearing my head, I'll be back to the festivities immedi-" "I am not here to ask you back," the Queen said. "I am here to tell you that I understand." "Queen, y-" "You fear yourself," the Queen said, simply. "There is a nature within you that leads to combat, battle, and competition - and above all, violence. You have convinced yourself it is evil, so you starved it, and this starvation made it desperate. You almost killed her." Mlinx froze. "I was the only one who noticed," the Queen asserted. "That's my job. I provide for the people, I know what they need, I help them. The King makes the sweeping and external decisions, but I am the interior, I am the 'family'. You may think you are not expressive, but your body language and responses tell the entire story. " Mlinx turned to her. "And what do you think?" "I understand the need to turn away from instinct. Such things exist to ensure survival, not quality of life. We, too, are violent creatures, and the arena exists to channel that energy in a safe environment. Only the select few who can control their impulses can become gladiator drones; the rest must be content to watch." She looked Mlinx in the eyes. "I do apologize for letting them know you could be an exception. It was a test, you could say, but it was not one I had any right to give." "It's fine. I wanted it myself..." Mlinx sighed. "It's a powerful urge. And I'd been doing so well..." "Fighting instinct and drive is a lifelong struggle," the Queen said. "I have to constantly micromanage my people, but their need for competition has slowly been worked out, even more so now that you've shown yourselves. But there is another problem we have, one that runs a little deeper." She directed Mlinx's gaze to one of the housing centers. "Look at them, flying in formation." "Even when they don't have to..." "They are unquestioning," the Queen said. "They care not for individuality, and are devoted to endless work. One of the things they care about the most is being the same as everyone else. Even the gladiators are like this, to some extent. There is no 'champion', for every one tries to keep their skills on a comparable level to the others. Domination is meant for the King and Queen, and that is only by necessity." Mlinx blinked. "What are you trying to tell me?" "It's wrong, is what I'm saying," the Queen said. "We need to change. And you've done a good job of showing us there are other ways out there... but you treat us with too much respect." "Excuse me?" The Queen sighed. "You have so much in your ways - kindness, diversity, improvement... The drones don't have any of that. And you've gone out of your way to keep from 'contaminating' our culture with those values. Like our way of life is perfectly valid." She shook her head. "It isn't." "Are you asking me to come in and change you?" "Yes." Mlinx reeled. "That... I can't do that, it goes against our cultural laws." "I figured you might think that," the Queen said, producing a data pad. "But I have studied up on your laws in my free time - my daughter may cook, I read. By Merodi Law, yes, we are stable, ethical, and 'harmonious' enough to be protected by the Cultural Division. But those laws do not apply in the City. You have almost no cultural protection laws in the City since trying to protect the thousands of different ideals within your own walls would be impossible. You can make this choice." Mlinx realized she was right. He did have the power. He'd have to run it by his advisors and get the proper approval, but he could do it. He could order a change of this world's culture. Slow, fast, it didn't matter, he could do it. "What kind of change do you have in mind?" "Start moving more and more people in. Give them jobs, buildings, and add some of your 'media' to this place. Then you can work out the formations and..." "Transform this place into just another extension of the City," Mlinx said. "...Don't you see the irony there? By praising uniqueness and diversity you are really saying you want to transform yourselves into the same thing as us." "Mlinx..." "Your people don't want it," Mlinx asserted. "Most of those I have taken under my personal wing agree." "And you're their queen, of course they would." Mlinx folded his arms. "I may not know all that much about the locusts, but I do know they like their lives. They aren't unhappy. It's a little unusual, yes. But I can't condone erasing it." He looked the Queen in the eyes. "They're changing naturally, Queen. I can see it in the way they move and interact. They'll change into something better and truly unique. Not quite the City, not quite the Hive of the locusts. It'll just take time." "What about the lives of those who are here now?" Mlinx shook his head. "...They'll live the way they are and, like most older generations, resent the changes as they appear, but be unable to stop them. It's how it always works with change, good, bad, or otherwise." The Queen looked him up and down for a moment. "Truly saying no?" Yes, Mlinx thought, but he realized this might be a foolish maneuver. "You can submit a request to the City government. If it goes through, I won't interfere." The Queen narrowed her eyes. "...I shall look into that." She spread her wings and flew away. Mlinx gulped, getting a sinking feeling in his stomach. He checked his watch - the Festival was barely half over and he didn't want to hang around anymore. He pulled out his phone with a sigh and called the City. "Hey. I need extraction. Get a team here, I should be out of the caverns within half an hour. If not, move in." He sent the message and put the phone away. Now he just had to figure out what he was going to tell the King about his reason for leaving early... ~~~ "Some new information has come to my attention, and because of it I must return to the City. I am sorry, King." Technically honest, check. Doesn't cast any suspicion on me or the Queen, check. The King nodded. "I was afraid of this - the concept of a vacation always seemed as if it would bring about unwanted problems. I regret that you must leave and that you will not get to see the dance tonight, but I bid you farewell. I hope I can find the Queen, so she may bid you goodbye as well." "We talked on the way over here," Mlinx said. "I do not think it was wrong to come to her." "It was not. I bid you farewell, and wish to see you here again. You bring an interesting perspective to our society." Your Queen's the one with the interesting perspective. I'd watch her... Mlinx bowed. "Until next time." He confidently and slowly walked out of the King's presence. The moment he was in the Hive proper and thought it was safe he took off in a run. He knew exactly where the entrances to the cavern were, and he decided to avoid both the closest one and the one he had come in on the red carpet just in case there were locusts there waiting for him. He bolted for the second closest, legs moving up and down in rhythm with his heavy breathing. He tried to tell himself that he might be overreacting - that the Queen might not try to stop him, that she might trust him. He never really believed that for a second. It was nothing more than a little hope in the back of his mind. Slowly, this hope began to grow. He passed the outer edge of the Hive and saw no locusts where he was. He entered the exit tunnel and found no guards to stop him. When he saw the twilight light of the surface ahead, he actually allowed himself to believe he might make it out simply. He rushed out into the open grass and air, feeling the fresh breeze get under the folds of his carapace. His guard lowered - but it didn't lower enough. With a twirl, he deflected an incoming blade with the side of his arm, using another one to grab the locust that had assaulted him by the neck. It was a male with several scratches over his faceplate. Behind him were roughly a dozen other locusts that looked more or less identical. Most held swords, a few spears, and one had a set of pulse guns. Mlinx took his spear off his back and held it in front of him. He could tell these locusts weren't the gladiators, meaning they likely didn't have as much combat experience. But he couldn't be certain about that deduction since they were no doubt the Queen's 'new' locusts, and might actually be willing to individualize themselves... The one with the guns fired, prompting Mlinx to leap into the air and land on a pair of locust's heads. He drove his spear forward and pierced a stray locust in the chest, making them collapse in pain. They were unable to compensate like the gladiator had, their blades and weapons flying out of their hands with ease. The guns were the only problem, forcing Mlinx to read their attacks before they were even fired. He needed to take care of that drone quickly. He jumped to the side, rolled between two sword locusts, and drove his spear up through the gun locust's abdomen. The drone shuddered for a moment before dropping to the ground. From reflex, Mlinx caught a blade with his hand. Sure, it drew blood, but he kept it from damaging anything particularly vital. He tore the blade away and wielded it with one hand while his two other good hands continued to twirl his spear around, knocking locusts away. He suffered numerous scrapes and wounds himself, but he was a warrior. He knew how to angle his body so all that really happened was pain - not disability. With an impressive jump he kicked two locusts in the face at once with all his might. He used this as a springboard and threw his sword into the head of the last remaining locust. Some of the locusts were dead, although most were just knocked out or heavily injured. And yet, he didn't feel like he had blown it. That was how it had to go. "Guess it's good for something..." he muttered, leaning on his spear. I was the weak one. Now look at me. "If you're alive and can move, you'll need to go get medical attention in the Hive." He took out his phone and took some pictures of himself and the locusts. "If there's any doubt about what happened here, I was about to return to the City when I was ambushed by a group of rogue locusts for an unknown reason." Tired, he turned and walked away, hoping his backup would arrive soon. This proved to be a mistake. Sure, the gun locust was out of the picture, but some of those who were less-injured were able to grab his guns. A pulse hit Mlinx in the back, knocking him out instantly. ~~~ He woke up in a room that was clearly part of the hive - hexagonal and made of paper - but it wasn't one he recognized. It wasn't a simple living cell, for it was not only far larger, but also had a large cauldron in the center filled with the honey-like avar. It was steaming, and that made Mlinx decidedly nervous. He was tied up, spearless, in one corner of the room. On the other side of the room was the Queen. She was the only one in the room. "I'm going to say this once," Mlinx said. "I have already made a call requesting a pickup from my people, before I went to talk to the King. They can't be far away. They have the resources to find out what happened to me almost without trying." "And then they'll be forced to interfere," the Queen said. "Which is exactly what I want. Our culture, blamed for a tragedy. They'll take me and butcher me like you did my special drones, but they'll be forced to adjust our culture inside as a result. They'll care a lot less about us, and by extension will be willing to dispense with the 'protection' acts they have in mind." She walked to him. "The only reason you're still alive is because I want to give you a chance to reconsider and do it under your own volition. There will be a lot less pain and suffering that way." "Why can't you just let your culture change naturally?" "I cannot be sure it will change right!" "And who are you to decide that?" "The Queen!" "A role assigned to you by a culture you reject!" The Queen growled. "And you are taking the violent warrior's way out by being stubborn. Your defiance here will only lead to strife. Show weakness and allow this to happen, and no one will have to suffer. You know your old way is wrong." Mlinx looked her right in the eyes. "No. The old way results in suffering and war, yes. But it also leads to courage, skill, and a willingness to stand up for what is right." He may have been tied up, but he could still stand up to his full height. "I would have died to your agents had I not given in to my instinct then." "Such a sudden change..." "No," Mlinx said, taking a step forward. "I had just forgotten a lesson I had already learned." He tugged against his restraints. "That it wasn't my people that were toxic. It was my leader." The Queen looked taken aback. She was even more surprised when Mlinx used his raw strength to tear his restraints to shreds. "Siron was a result of your culture!" "I'm not saying my culture was good." Mlinx said, cracking his fingers. "What I'm saying is it isn't worthless. It had an identity. That identity wasn't one of warmongers - we didn't fight with other tribes. The identity was one of strength, cunning, fortitude, and honor." He clasped both sets of hands together. "We were hunters. And we w-" The Queen slapped him with a leg almost as big as he was, sending him flying into a nearby wall. "You were not what I thought you were," the Queen said, narrowing her eyes. "You do not deserve to lead with that mindset." Mlinx coughed up blue blood. "And you're just another Siron..." The Queen grabbed him in such a way that prevented him from moving. She carried him over to the avar cauldron. "You deserve to be subject to the hell of our society. And so you shall." "...What?" "The secret of the avar," the Queen said, holding him over the steaming sticky liquid. "It is what I think you would call a 'contagion'. In small amounts it is harmless, but in large it will attempt to fuse with anyone and anything to make them part of the hive. For inanimate objects, it turns them into more wall material. But in the case of biological beings, it tries to transform them into locusts. You're close enough that you'll likely survive the process, and find your very body begging you to be one with the Hive, to be just like everyone else." "Your people are being biologically manipulated by a psychoactive drug?!" "I have no clue if that is the right term. What I know is that you deserve t-" "Shut up!" Mlinx shouted. "Interference policy will easily allow a cure to be made for the avar! If you don't have a choice in the matter, I can give you one!" "You've shown your true colors already, Mlinx," the Queen growled. "You are still a warrior. You haven't changed at all." Oh, the irony, Mlinx thought to himself as she lowered him into the ooze. I have an epiphany about what my past means and now I'm going to be reconditioned because of it. I'm not even that mad, just... annoyed. Is this what Pinkie and her friends feel like all the time? His thoughts were interrupted as he was submerged in the cauldron. As soon as the avar was on all sides of him, he could feel the thick liquid seeping into the cracks of his carapace. He had no idea how long it would take before it was irreversible, but he knew he needed to act fast. The Queen thought she had a good hold on him. However, she had failed to take something into account. Back on what had once been his home world, there had been many dinosaur-like creatures, some with exceptionally long hands. Demons of his tribe were taught how to escape those claws. Now that he was down here in a sticky liquid, he could wriggle some of his arms free from the Queen's grasp. And if he pointed two of his hands and one of his feet on her wrist joint, he could push and... ...apparently pop the Queen's hand right off. He had merely intended to trigger a pain response and force the hand to lose control of itself, but he supposed the segmented nature of her leg made this reasonable. With a quick push, he launched himself into the edge of the cauldron, pouring all the avar out onto the screeching Queen. She lost control of her legs in the sticky substance, allowing Mlinx to stand up and make a break for it. He ran past her and for the exit. She wasn't about to let this happen. She lurched out and bit down on his leg a second before he was out of her range. He let out a screech of pain and twirled around backward, driving his pointed fingers into her eyes - the usual weak-point of any large creature. The hunt training just keeps coming in handy today. The Queen was unable to keep hold of Mlinx through the pain, but she was able to throw him all the way across the room with an angry screech. He hit hard enough to crack his back carapace and shred part of the wall. He realized with fear that his spines had embedded into the papery wall, making it nearly impossible to move. He pushed back with his feet and hands, but they got stuck. The Queen, blind as a bat, could still sense him. She didn't speak; she just shakily walked over to him, buzzing like an angry hornet. She raised her remaining hand and rammed it into the wall - missing Mlinx by inches. This did not deter her; she pulled back and aimed right at Mlinx's chest. A sword came flying from the entrance and embedded itself in the Queen's head. She made a gurgling sound for a moment. She was somehow able to turn her head just enough to see behind her. Mlinx never knew if it was the wound or the sight of her husband standing in the doorway that actually killed her. The King, with a despondent sigh, yanked his sword out of the Queen's head. He traced a finger on her features. "...You went too far..." "...You knew all about her," Mlinx observed. The King stood up, nodding. "She wanted change. I knew about her drones. What they practiced. I assumed she knew what was best for the people, and let her think I knew nothing so she could work freely. But she got too desperate..." He shook his head. "I suppose she got what she wanted. This is going to force change upon us..." "She's already paid the price for what she did," Mlinx said, struggling to remove himself from the wall. "I can push all this under the rug and you can go back to your society. ...The loss of the Queen will change things. But you can still lead them." "I have never been one to understand the people, and my daughter has never been one for leading. ...She never really wanted to. It..." "You can still have change," Mlinx said. "You don't have to be the leader the Queen was. You don't have to make the Princess take her place. But I don't want to tell you what you can do. You should change on your own terms." The King nodded slowly, glancing at the body of the Queen once again. "She meant well." Mlinx had nothing to say to this. "...Here, let me remove you from that wall. It's the least I could do." "Thanks. I am really stuck." "HALE SMASH!" Saxton Hale shouted, busting through the wall Mlinx was embedded in. "Ahahah! Mlinx, we are here to save you!" Mlinx shakily picked himself up out of the rubble. "Didn't... exactly need... saving anymore..." "Oh, were you on that wall? Apologies, I just hit the first one I could." Mlinx chuckled, making it back onto his feet. "...Yeah. You did good, Hale. Just... get me home. And don't mention anything you saw in this room. I'll figure out what exactly I'm going to reveal on the way back." Mlinx turned back to the King. "...I'm sorry." "I was the one who made the choice. Not you," the King reminded him. "I still brought this on you." "I cannot fault you for existing. Go, return home. And remember what you've seen here." ~~~ Mlinx walked back into Black Thirteen's storage room. "So, I learned and relearned a few things today." The staff was as still and silent as always. "First off, I was thinking about it wrong. I've always been looking back to you, what you did, what you made us all do... When I really should have been thinking about what we as a people were like. What we stood for. And I've come to realize you exemplified almost everything we adored. "Almost. "You didn't care as much. Maybe you did at the end - when you were at your worst - but at the start? Before they came? We were tools to you. Means to an end. We weren't warriors, we were yours. And that's where you went wrong. That's where you strayed from our path." Mlinx sighed. "I saw another leader stray from the path today. A Queen who exemplified the care, power, determination, and drive they all wanted. But, like you channeled your strength into a thirst for power, she channeled her care into a foolish desire for diversity. Her flaw was the same as yours, even if in the end what she wanted was the exact opposite. You hated change and would fight to keep your power. She hated the monotony and would fight to end it, even at the expense of the people she was convinced she cared about. "I wonder what would have happened if you had a wife to stop you, as she had her King. Would you have made it as far as you did? Would you have caused so much destruction? I don't think so. She would have made you turn back, or have stopped you." Mlinx took a couple steps forward. "I... I know I'm not what they want. I don't exemplify what the people want from me. They want someone who exemplifies harmony, peace, understanding, diversity, and... well, I'm not that. I was elected because I was a heavy minority known to go against the standard way of things, a fresh outlook. I clearly don't exemplify what they want, and they know it. That's one of the ways I know I'm not you." He shook his head and chuckled. "They simply don't trust me enough." The clouds in Black Thirteen swirled - not likely in response to anything Mlinx was saying. "I'm not convinced I have all the answers. Both you and this Queen... You hardly ever doubted yourselves or what you thought. You believed you were in your position for a reason, and that made you right. I'm unsure. I always wrestle with the decisions. Does that make me a slow decision maker? Yes. But it also makes me a better one. "You were a blemish on our society, Siron. A blemish so strong even I wasn't able to move past it. But now I think I see. I see what it means to be a demon - not a warrior, but a hunter. We strive through whatever we have at our disposal to provide for our families and our neighbors. We compete not to prove who is the best, but to sharpen each other." He clapped his hands together. "We would go to the ends of the earth for those we cared about." He turned and left without another word.
Songs of the Spheres	147 - For What Comes Next	Day and night were completely imaginary processes on Nucleon. There was no sun, and the planets surrounding the central world didn't orbit in any repeating pattern, so they couldn't be used to keep time either. Twilight was eternal, powered by the light of relatively distant stars shining across the aether to Nucleon. Everything in the City was run by a twenty-four hour clock simply because that was the most common day across the multiverse. There was an official 'day' time and 'night' time the government ran by, but since there was no solar cycle to mandate people stick to their sleep routine, many people didn't. For some, their day was half the day and night of someone else. Some disregarded the ideas of days and nights altogether and just slept whenever they felt like it, making their circadian rhythm shorter or longer than it had once been. In the early days of the New World this had caused a lot of sleep problems. But with a stable civilization time most of these were ironed out and everyone found the best way to sleep for them. ...Sometimes, there were still those crazies who stayed up as long as they could, slept in huge bursts, and didn't take care of themselves. Doctors were working on ways to get this out of people's systems since it just wasn't healthy. Other than that minor issue, there was only one problem that arose from this. Scheduling things became a nightmare. It was even worse than the struggles many Earths had with time zones. It was absolutely guaranteed if you had ten random people selected for an event, at least one of them wouldn't be awake normally during the scheduled time. This made it so people walking around when they would really rather be asleep was a very common thing. Nanoha Takamachi didn't have to deal with any of this. There was something to be said for retirement. Raising Heart beeped, waking Nanoha up at nine o'clock, the same time every day. The cityscape outside looked the same as it had when she went to bed, though one of the cloud buildings had moved somewhere else. Shame. I liked looking at that. She stretched and got out of bed, summoning her barrier jacket to herself but keeping Raising Heart in its necklace form. She had debated a few times not changing into what was essentially a battle-ready dress, but the few times she'd woken up and decided to wear normal clothing it had just felt off. She had spent so much time in the outfit it was her. Since English had been defeated she hadn't done any fighting in it whatsoever. With a skip, she jumped to the bottom of her house's staircase. She'd had her home designed like a traditional Japanese abode, similar to the one she grew up in. Granted, it had all the modern magitech appliances and holographic screens ready to listen to her every whim, but she still appreciated the traditional aesthetic. Breakfast was simple - Raising Heart was the house's artificial intelligence and it had already made eggs on toast for her via the automatic oven, stovetop, and fridge. It was a morning of complete leisure. She spent the first hour of her day slowly eating breakfast and turning on the television to watch the news and get caught up on what was happening. Mlinx had gone forward with a new motion to improve the standing army of the City, and a permanent communication link between the City and the distant Church Outpost had been finalized. The time delay was still immense, but at least they could communicate now. Nanoha found herself dwelling on how difficult it would be to keep stable communication over immense distances. It wouldn't be hard to get there - light-speed travel was completed in an effective instant for anyone moving, and a couple of people had already shot themselves hundreds of light years away just to have an experience. However, the amount of relative time it took would make it impossible to keep a huge network united... That might be the point, she mused. Keep any one power from controlling the New World, even us. Whatever the power may be, good or evil, nothing can ever dominate or threaten all of existence. She finished her breakfast and continued to ruminate on the thoughts of information in deep space as she went out to begin her day's work. She didn't have an official job; what she did was certainly work - she just didn't get paid. Affixed to her house was a large greenhouse. From the outside, it looked like a white golf ball had embedded itself in the ground. On the inside, however... it was a beautiful garden. At the moment, the ceiling lights were on, bathing the stadium-sized area in brilliant sunlight, giving the plants their much-needed nutrients. ...Well, if they were to grow properly. Most of the plants of Nucleon had adapted to the twilight quickly enough, but that had ruined a lot of their beauty and health. Here, they got to experience the day and night they were meant to. She strolled through the garden, passing a couple of her carefully-pruned fruit trees, each one surrounded with a multitude of rainbow flowers. A handful of vines snaked around the area, glowing softly with a number of different effects. Some plants floated in the air, while others were literally growing gems within their leaves. Every last one of these plants had been tended to by her, the lone gardener of this space. As she passed through the garden, she used her magic to help the plants along. Many were not supposed to grow in the environment of the greenhouse and needed the extra push - or needed to be limited. Rainforest flowers and cacti alike needed to be given the best possible boost to their growth potential. Nanoha was never really sure how long she spent on the garden. Some days it was less than an hour. Others she would work on the plants until Raising Heart told her it was time for lunch - and occasionally she'd come back in after that. She didn't really have a schedule. Today, she finished before lunchtime. She took this opportunity to find the single artificial construct within the garden - a simple bench in the center that sat at the foot of an exceptionally large vine-like plant with a green bulb on the top. It was a very special plant, to say the least. Nanoha had put it here, right in the middle, where it could look over everything with its immense height. Nanoha took a moment to lean back on the bench. She used her magic to create a pair of sunglasses for herself and a comfortable cushion for her head. Raising Heart automatically started playing music from her 'garden' playlist, serenading the once High Sovereign of the TSAB. She let out a contented sigh, thankful that life had become so simple. No worries, no danger, just a simple life. She'd never known she wanted this until she'd gotten it. ~~~ My library was immense. From the outside, it was no larger than a small diner. But since when was having things the same size on the inside interesting? I had literal miles of shelves lined with physical, beautiful books, their pages and covers ready to be checked out and held by eager, curious hands. Naturally, most of them were also available as digital copies via the all-in-one terminal I kept next to my desk. I always preferred physical books, but of course the digital versions were popular as well. There was occasionally a line at the terminal, but everywhere else in the library was deathly quiet and empty. Just as it was supposed to be. A place for reading, checking out books, and increasing knowledge. The lobby was sometimes even an area to hang out and have get-togethers. I didn't mind them being loud there, so everything worked out in the end on the noise front. Right now, though, it was the equivalent of 'early morning' for the library and no one was in the lobby. No doubt there were a few people completely lost in their books within the endless bookshelves, but as far as I was concerned right now there was nobody around. I sensed somebody drop a book in the book return outside. I rolled my eyes and teleported them inside - it was an Aradia. She looked nervous. I teleported the book to us. "This book is overdue." "How'd y-" She looked at the Eye of Rhyme. "Never mind." "I'm just surprised you of all people had an overdue book. You could have read it all in an effective second if you wanted." "Minute. Can't stop time anymore." "Semantics," I said dismissively. "And yet here it is, a full day late." "I got caught up in other things, all right? I figured I could just drop it off and..." She bit her lip. "...Should have known better." I nodded. "Yes. You should have. Anyway, a bill has already been sent for the fine." Aradia sighed. "Right..." "Just return the book on time next time, okay?" I smiled. "I don't want to have to start hunting Aradias down too. I might need to start hiring library ninjas or something." Aradia chuckled. "That sounds a little ridiculous." "I actually was a library ninja once. There were worlds where they were a thing. I could tell you about it." "I do have somewhere to be - lots of Aradias trying to figure out how to manage minor time distortions. It's not as simple as you might think it is. There's a lot of gobbledygook and weirdness about. No erasing timelines, but you can make people think you've created a closed time loop if you do it right..." "I both look forward to seeing that and fear when you perfect it." Aradia winked before floating right out the door. I ruffled my wings - mildly disappointed in Aradia losing focus, but I wasn't going to let that color my day. Especially since I knew it would happen the moment I lent her the book. Some people might consider that a curse, but I found it an odd comfort that I knew things once again. The curse of the Eye of Rhyme was knowing who lived and who died. It was suffering for me before the collapse. I knew so many things, and often I could do nothing. Now? Everyone knew who I was, I could interfere with most anything, and the number of important people destined to die was small. ...Not zero, I reminded myself. Not zero. It was funny, with the disappearance of ka; some of them would go without much fanfare or even a scene. Everyone in the New World would remember the moment and be sorrowful, but the story... the story was fizzling out. Life was slowly taking over. But that wasn't the point of this chapter. I'd get to talk about that aspect of our new lives later. For now, I had other things to deal with. Namely, a shipment of books from a publishing company that thought it was being discreet by sending me the package without a return address. I could still find them, easy, they were just lucky I didn't want to. I walked out of the library to the back, grabbing hold of the box with my magic. It was heavy - larger than a pony and filled completely with books - but my magic was up to the task. I dragged it in and set it down in the lobby. There were copies of eleven different books in the box. Songs of the Spheres, each book proudly proclaimed. The covers were simple - each book had the color and symbol of the Aspect that named each arc. Notably, Time was missing, but of course it was, the Tower wasn't about to let everyone have access to the events of the future. Humming to myself, I started taking the books out and putting them on display. If I had been the only one to get these books, I would have considered hiding them. But as it was, these books were being shipped around the city for everyone to read. The publishing company had found an archive from some long-forgotten world with a version of GM who had made it through the English events before the collapse occurred, and they had seen a profitable publicity stunt. This stunt was going to backfire for them, but that's not important. What is important is that the silence of the story was finally going to end. The City was going to read the story that had created it. It would take a few days... Wait, no it won't, I realized. Some people are going to read these with information-absorption spells. The chaos has already begun. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. This was going to be an interesting day... Less for me, and more for lots of other people. There were a few secrets that had never come out. There was nothing hiding them anymore. ~~~ O'Neill didn't have an alarm - he just woke up when his body felt like it. His time in the military had given his body enough discipline to be able to work not only on minimal amounts of sleep, but also to sleep as much as needed regardless of the time. His house was a strange mixture of generic and eccentric. The architecture itself was like any smaller suburban home with white walls accompanied by dull green highlights. However, the rooms themselves were filled with a nearly endless slew of military awards, pictures, and numerous shelves filled with 'geeky figures' ranging from Star Trek to Multiversal Heroes. Some of these figures represented people he had come to know personally on his long journey, while others were reminders of a time before he entered the multiverse and where he was the king of references. There were several magazines around, most comedy-related, but more than a few were scientific magazines. There was also a lot of space stuff. He liked space stuff. In short, he was a man with a lot of diverse and complex tastes, and now that he was fully retired, he was filling his house with them. Although, he was still 'the General' to people - even himself. He kept those military awards around for a reason. The first thing he did after waking up was to stumble through the dark of the house until he remembered he didn't have to find the switch because the lights were audio-triggered. He clapped his hands twice and the world burst into life around him. He walked to the coffee dispenser and began his day by flopping into a recliner and turning on the television. Lots of people had chosen to stick with the two-dimensional screen rather than getting a full immersive setup. It just felt more natural - and a lot of programs didn't really look better in 3D. Not to mention it was easier to ignore and doze off to a screen than a set of hyper-realistic holograms. O'Neill was one of these people, though in the game-room he had a full VR set if he felt inclined to indulge himself. It took him a solid hour to fully wake up and get aware of the world. He tapped the side of his recliner, prompting a holographic web browser to appear in front of him, already keyed to the site he checked first every day. http://www.generalsnarkreviews.com General Snark Reviews by General Jack O'Neill. Most recent review: A Song of Ice and Fire by Shutterstock Productions. 8/10 I usually like me a good Shutterstock flick, always trying to take the story of our reality and smash it into some kind of super-story monstrosity that is so beautiful its mere existence will make brains explode into putty. And while today is no exception to Shutterstock's usual care and ridiculous sense of imagination, I have a very major complaint. The title. Seriously, Shutterstock, what were you thinking? Sure, it makes sense, but why would you name your film the same as the Game of Thrones books? Either you're trying to ride on their coattails of success, which is an absurd idea, or you're just going with the title because it's 'artistic'. No, no it's not, it's a very literal title. Corona = fire. Eve = ice. I thought you knew better. Regardless, the movie itself is the story of Corona and Eve during the War for Existence, focusing deeply on their relationship and how it played out through wacky combat hijinks that somehow manage to both be absurdly comical and horrifying at the same time. A replication of life itself, a nice touch. That said, throughout the course of the film it feels like just about everything is being left out. Corona and Eve may be the focus of the movie but it's still audacious to assume everyone watching knows the details of the war. I was able to follow it myself, but a lot of people won't. What's the significance of the Nihilists to Renee? Brushed aside. Speaking of my expertise, the combat portrayed in the film is, surprisingly, inaccurate. Shutterstock, my boy, you even came to interview me about this, how could you have gotten it wrong? You messed up the way the weapons fire... O'Neill skimmed to the bottom of his review, deciding it wasn't worth reading his own words again. He'd gotten a decent amount of hits - nowhere near what once passed as 'Trixie Internet celebrity' levels, but it was really just a hobby. The hits didn't matter. What did were the comments - good for feedback, a good laugh, or perhaps constructive criticism. Maybe. When he was in the mood to accept it. SecretPone: Great review as always! I do think the liberties taken in the fights were creative ones, rather than inaccurate representations. I for one did not mind the slight deviation from reality. It allowed me to appreciate the film without getting caught up in memories. That would be Clandestine, as always offering the opinion of the soldier. She had kept up with O'Neill's little reviews since he had started doing them. He suspected her respect for him would never waver. OddBits: This movie isn't going to age well considering the recent release of the Songs of the Spheres books. I expect a firestorm of inaccurate information and faulty representation to come from the only source on the events that can be trusted. O'Neill blinked. "Huh." He wasn't sure what he thought about the story being published. He eventually decided it wasn't worth worrying about, on his own account at least - any secrets he had would have been used to destroy his career, and he didn't have one anymore. Let them do whatever they wanted. MAXFER: Stop writing these things; you are putting the violent mindset of your profession into your readers! What mattered in this film was the emotions and the characters, with the combat nothing more than a backdrop! O'Neill rolled his eyes. There was always one of these guys. At least it wasn't the usual RedPonyKiller. That guy's repetitive ideas of 'trolling' had been getting dull as of late. TheWhiteGardener: An interesting take. However, I am surprised - you didn't mention the secondary conflict carried out between Monika and Twilence. You had plenty to say about yourself and Minna, but the 'ka' dualism that stood in the shadow of Corona and Eve was very well handled in this movie. They were not the protagonists, they were not in every scene, but the actions they took had careful, precise impacts on the story itself. In fact... This went on for several paragraphs, but O'Neill read every last one of the lines. He always liked the longer comments that went in depth, regardless of who wrote them, but since he knew that was Nanoha talking he had extra reason to read each word carefully. Why? He would actually respond to her. He typed up a response over the next few minutes and sent it to her. A second later a response came. TheWhiteGardener: Oh! That's... in depth! GeneralSnark: Too much for your little head? TWG: No, not at all, it's just that I'm not in my 'complex discussion' mood at the moment. I'll get to it at a later time. GS: Or not, you don't have to. TWG: I know. But it's not like I'm doing anything. The mood will strike eventually, and you'll have yourself a battle of wits over the meaning of Not-Game-of-Thrones. GS: Taking my jokes now? I'll have you know General Snark is a registered trademark! TWG: Oh no! I have broken the law, what ever will I do!? GS: You must face trial. Charge: plagiarism. Possible sentence: inconvenient community service! TWG: Sewer cleaning? GS: Worse. Magic battery. TWG: The horror! The horror! >lilythehorror.jpg GS: You better be scared! The thought police will be at your door if you do not appear before court immediately! TWG: Does there happen to be a court in the Pinkie Emporium? GS: It just so happens that there is a suitable location in the pink festivity center. TWG: Is the first available slot at lunchtime, by chance? GS: Being psychic won't help you there! TWG: eyeroll see you then. O'Neill dismissed the screen and looked at the clock. He still had several hours. Might as well go play some rounds of whatever game came up on random... ~~~ Eve was preparing to open her doors for business. She didn't have any session scheduled until later in the day, so she was going to have open-house for the next little while. To prepare for this, she spruced up the lobby a bit, changed the flowers out for brighter ones, dusted everything, and selected a few books to set out in case people needed to wait for her to talk to someone else. Her morning routine was never all that much, but it was enough to make people feel just a little more comfortable. She checked herself last. Nothing special to do here - the cosmic mane took care of itself, and her wings rarely looked out of sorts. All she had to do was adjust the Element of Magic so it was level on her head. With a smile on her face she trotted over to the front door, reaching to unlock it. "Don't open it!" Corona shouted, teleporting into the room with a stack of books in her arms. "It's a madhouse out there!" Eve blinked. "Wait, what? Why?" Focusing on her hearing, Eve was able to make out the sound of commotion outside. "This is why," Corona said, unceremoniously sweeping Eve's carefully placed books off a table and laying out the eleven volumes of Songs of the Spheres in plain sight. "Everyone got a hold of these." "Oh," Eve said, blinking. "Oh." "Yeah, just about my reaction. People already have enough of a bone to pick with me, but you..." She tapped the books. "How much secret stuff is in here?" "I would assume a lot..." Eve said, gulping. She cast a few information absorption spells on the books - she would have preferred to read them as they were meant to, but she had a sneaking suspicion she'd need the knowledge within to deal with the crowd outside. "Yeah, I was right. The copy world... the lies... both wars... questionable calls..." "They're going to want answers." "They already have them," Eve said, pointing at the books. "Everything in there explains why I did what I did, how I made excuses to myself, and which of the things I regret." She turned to the front door. "Whoever's out there already knows everything. And they're angry." "How many of them do you think actually know the information absorption spell?" Corona asked with a raised eyebrow. Eve pondered this. "Not that many, probably. Could just be secondhand information. Regardless... I can't hide in here, Corona. I have to go out and face them." "I know that," Corona said. "I just brought the books so you wouldn't be a fish jumping into a frying pan." Eve nodded slowly. "Thanks. ...Would you mind standing by me?" "I have not been a very good influence on your public image as of late." Eve shrugged. "It'll make me feel better." Corona chuckled. "Sure. I'll give them something more to scream at." Eve nodded curtly. Then, taking a breath, she trotted to the front door and opened it. The first thing she did was send out a magic pulse that pushed the crowd back far enough so she could actually leave her abode and stand in the open. Corona took up a place behind her. Facing them was a crowd of a couple hundred people, most just shouting and yelling, a few of them with angry signs. However, after a quick cursory inspection, Eve found that most of them weren't actually angry - they were just confused. They weren't here to demand change or justice, they just felt hurt and wanted answers. She had been the one they had put faith in... And now her secrets were in the open. She cleared her throat. "I did everything those books said I did." The crowd didn't stop shouting. She just made it so they'd all hear her voice regardless of how loud they were being. "Many of the things I have lived to regret. Keeping secret the nature of my duplication from my friends. Organizing the War on Skarn. Even if the latter one turned out better for us in the long run, I still think it cost too much. And then there are things I did that I thought were right. Letting Corona send the Message. Most of the brutal things I did in the war - as well as the times I refused to treat the other side with unfair disrespect." Now that she had been talking for a while, the crowd had stopped shouting so much. "I'm just a person like all the rest of you," Eve said, expression softening considerably. "I've told you all time and time again that I'm just like you. I make mistakes. Every time something like this comes up, I try to remind everyone that I'm not flawless, that you shouldn't stake your lives on me. You are lost, confused, angry, and sorrowful that I have broken your trust." She paused for a moment, wiping a tear from her eye. "I'm the same. I often come back to all those things I did and wonder which ones were worth it. Are the things I regret actually good? Did I make a bad judgment call somewhere else? I don't have the answers. "What I can say is this. Yes, I lied to you. Yes, the decisions I have made resulted in the death of trillions. I am no better than Corona - not in any way. None of us are flawless. I'm sorry you thought I was." She shook her head. "I'm not hiding from anything here." "You're going on trial!" someone in the crowd shouted. "Any pre-collapse crimes have been erased from the record!" Corona yelled back. "So you can shut your trap!" There was silence for a moment. "I'm sorry," Eve said. "I was - and am - a liar. I lied, and then I had to keep lying, to the point at which if I told the truth it would have destroyed Merodi Universalis. You can find that in the books as well." She smiled sadly. "I'm actually thankful this book has come out. It means I'll finally be able to live without the constant shadow of people finding out over my head. I am no longer the glue that holds the world together. The City can go on without me - and all of you can as well." She spread out one of her wings and gestured at them all. "Go. You don't need to cling to me anymore. You're free." They stared at her for a moment. Then, slowly but surely, they began to walk away. A few tried to start up the angry yelling again, but they quickly realized the situation had been defused. There were a few news reporters around that were definitely going to milk this story, but Eve wasn't afraid. They'd needed to see this, in a way. Needed to see what she really was. Just a Twilight. "...Hey," a woman said, walking up to Eve. She was one of her patients. "I... I don't think I can keep coming here. I... I can't look at you the same anymore." Eve's slight smile vanished. "I... I understand. I can redirect you to a-" "No. I'm... I'm going to deal with this myself." "But y-" "Eve, you were the only person who could help me. Or so I thought. I'm not going through this again." She turned away and ran. Eve gulped. "I... I couldn't exactly get away without consequences..." "I can find her," Corona said, making one of her gloves vanish. "Help her face herself." "...You should. But she won't be the only one..." She shook her head. "How many of them are going to give up because of me?" "Eve, don't th-" "Corona, I am going to think about it." She forced a smile to her face. "I'm finally being held accountable. I... I think that's a good thing." "You sure?" "No. But... we can talk about it after you help her." Eve took in a deep breath and turned back to her business, conflicting emotions fighting for control of her face. Corona nodded. "I'll be back soon." She vanished in a puff of light. Twilight-X sighed. "I'm getting off easy..." She wasn't sure why this fact didn't bother her as much as it used to. ~~~ The 'courthouse' ended up being the last place in the known New World to get authentic Earth Ottoman cuisine - the Pinkie Emporium's Hotto House. They both had steaming bowls of noodles with 'ursk' meat in them. It naturally wasn't a real ursk, since the animals had only been found on Earth Ottoman, but the synthetic meat was indistinguishible. Nanoha slurped a bunch of noodles into her face like a vacuum cleaner. She smacked her lips loudly and leaned back in her chair with a smug smile. "The shock on your face never gets old." O'Neill met her gaze with a smirk of his own. "I'm just sitting here thinking 'I can't compete with that'." Nanoha winked. "Slurp loud and slurp often!" She was using chopsticks, so she stuck them back in the bowl and pulled another set of noodles to her mouth. ...Except there weren't any noodles. She bit down on empty air. O'Neill was quietly eating some noodles and looking at her with an incredulous eyebrow. "Slurping problem?" Nanoha sent out a magic pulse to remove Crimson Sushi's illusion. She discovered her bowl was shifted slightly to the left of where she'd thought it was. "Getting between a lady and her noodles? How devious." "You're the one here on criminal charges," O'Neill pointed out. "I can be a little devious to petty criminals." Nanoha chuckled. "In that case, as a convicted criminal I can handle myself however I want." She snapped her fingers and teleported O'Neill's bowl to her, doubling the amount of food she had. With quick stabbing motion with her chopsticks she was able to pull a bunch of noodles out of the bowl and into her mouth with a monstrous slurp that sprayed Earth Ottoman sauce everywhere. O'Neill carefully removed the white-green sauce from his eyes. "This stuff does wonders for wrinkles," he deadpanned. "It's how I keep myself young," Nanoha said with an equal lack of emotion. "You really must tell me more." "It's all about bathing in it day in and day out. The aroma does more than the actual sauce, but the only way you get enough of it is to submerge yourself." "Quite the treatment." "I'm working on turning it into an aerosol." "You could make millions." "I'll make so much I could retire." They stared at each other for a moment - and then burst into laughter. Nanoha's was loud and jovial, coming from a woman who was well-acquainted with the joyous noise. O'Neill's was no less joyous, but it was much quieter and slower, the laugh of a man who spent his time surrounded by jokes and amusement he kept from those around him; a man who practiced keeping a straight face in the midst of absurdity. Nanoha wiped a tear out of her eyes. "Look at us. That conversation was truly pointless. And yet... I can't think of a better one I've had all week." "If that's your best conversation of the week, have I got bad news for you." "Oh, hush. I'm just saying it might be good for us to have a pointless conversation once in a while. You found ways to insert humor and 'snark' into your life, but I had to keep myself all prim and proper for a... long, long time." Her gaze slowly became distant. "Some part of me had hoped the child within me would die off and be completely replaced... But here I am, countless years later, still giggling at silly little things.' "As far as I'm concerned the moment anyone loses that kid in them they've succumbed to the curse of our era: being dull." Nanoha rolled her eyes. "That's not fair. I've known plenty of serious people who aren't dull." "Do you think they'd be less dull if they still had that little spark in them?" "Good point," Nanoha said. "But, counterpoint, they're still people just the same." "Hey, being interesting isn't a virtue. I just happen to like it." Nanoha raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Oh, you do now?" "Case in point: this conversation." Nanoha's smirk turned into a grin - and then it faltered. "...You know..." "What?" "I just had a thought." She shifted in her seat until she could lean thoughtfully on her elbow. "Maybe it's better for the dull, serious people to be the leaders. They have less of an urge to do the crazy things we do. Less need to go out and express themselves." O'Neill shrugged. "I don't pretend to know the next best thing about who should and shouldn't be in charge. What I know is that I was put in a position where I could save the Earth from alien invaders and I took it. The rest is history." Nanoha's frown deepened. "...That wasn't why you chose this life." O'Neill sighed for a moment. "No... No it wasn't. ...It was so long ago. I haven't thought about him in... years. What kind o-" Nanoha put a hand on his, stopping him. "Your life has changed many times since you lost your son. You went to fight the Goa'uld, then you went to explore the multiverse, then you were an Overhead, then you fought a war... and now you're here in this New World. Wounds heal with time, and there's been a lot of time since that day." She paused for a moment, looking into his eyes. "I... you know I had an adopted daughter, Vivio. To this day I don't know what happened to her. It's been... thousands of years, and I rarely think of her. There was a time where every moment I was reminded of her, immense guilt was thrust upon me. I thought that I wasn't honoring her memory enough." O'Neill matched her sad eyes, unable to say anything. "We're only human, Jack," Nanoha said. "We can't live like that." O'Neill let out a short chuckle. "No... No we can't. ...We certainly try though, don't we?" "We're only human," she reiterated. "That can't be your response to everything." Nanoha put on a cute smile. "Ahem. We're only human." "We're only human." Nanoha gasped. "No! Really!?" O'Neill chuckled and rolled his eyes. He reached down to eat more of his noodles - only to stab the table, reminding him Nanoha had stolen his. This, of course, needed to be remedied immediately. He summoned Crimson Sushi and pulled on his bowl, beginning a tug-of-war contest. The bowl promptly exploded, showering the immediate area in noodle bits. The two of them apologized profusely to the other patrons and cleaned the mess up themselves. ~~~ Valentine was sitting on a bench at the back of the church with Froppy when his phone beeped. Froppy blinked. "Isn't that the USM channel beep?" "It is..." Valentine said, taking the phone out of his pocket and examining the message. Dear Ambassador Valentine... It has come to my attention that you were a scumbag. I had my doubts with the publication of Steel Ball Run, but I pushed those doubts aside because you had proven yourself to be an upstanding, honest, and patriotic man. With the publication of Songs of the Spheres, it is now clear to me that my faith in you was entirely misplaced. Within these books I see a man with a lying, silver tongue and a thirst for personal power. You were the face of the USM, flaunting your own power and ideologies since our formation. You did not truly represent the will of the people, nor did you exemplify our ideals! You were a representative, the president that never ended! The leader of our people! And you threw that into the dirt... Valentine closed the phone. "The Songs of the Spheres books have been published and someone used the old USM codes to send me hate-mail." "Oh. Ribbit." "I'll probably need to change this phone..." "...You're trying to pretend like you aren't bothered," Froppy observed. "Don't do that." Valentine let out a short sigh. "There may be attempts on my life. People will attempt to find me and tell me exactly what they think. That will hurt this community..." "The church will stand by you and you know it," Froppy asserted. "You won't even have to stir them up. They'll just say yes." Valentine smirked slightly. "I suppose that's true. Though something tells me I won't be the only one who'll be protected..." GM ran in front of them with a panicked expression. "They. Are. Going. To. Find. Me." "You never put your name in your writings, right?" Froppy asked. "And they don't have an actual picture, just an approximation." "They know I'm here. And this isn't a huge city." GM tapped his fingers together. "It's only a matter of time..." "Just change your appearance a bit," Valentine said. "There are ways to keep what you are a secret. ...Though not if you keep coming up to us in midday to panic." "I'm not - okay, yes, I'm panicking, and this is midday, and..." He shook his head. "Okay, fine. I'll... do it your way." Valentine smirked. "I think it's time we talked to Aslan about some official protection and discreeteness." "Oh..." GM gulped. "S-sure! Let's do that!" He was already sweating profusely. "And if that doesn't work I'll need you to take me and my family somewhere far away." "It won't come to that," Froppy assured him. "I'll believe that when I see it. Until then..." He would spend the next few months stressing out to an exceptional degree. He really had nothing to worry about - ka was mostly done with him. Few would be able to track him down, and those who did would not make a witchburning out of it. They would be annoying, though. ~~~ Nanoha pushed O'Neill through the door to her lavish garden. It was not the first time he had been in here - but it was the first time he had been in during the garden's 'night' cycle. What was already a beautiful canvas of vibrant greens and dotted rainbow colors became something else entirely at night. Areas of the garden that had looked like throwaway bushes or patches of simple moss were no longer the background of the garden - they were the forefront. Brilliant cone-shaped bushes unfurled, revealing their true inner colors that shone like stars against a dark canvas. The moss unleashed many drifting seed-like sparks that whirled around the atmosphere, mixing with the pollinating bugs. It was a sight to behold, and it struck O'Neill dumb. "I know you've seen more impressive things," Nanoha commented, starting to walk to the center of the garden. "That people made with their own hands?" O'Neill let out a chuckle. "No... No, it was always those natural universes of art that got me. This... This is yours." "All those universes did have a creator." "They weren't you," O'Neill said, touching one of the spiral bushes. It responded, quickly retracting itself into its dormant day form - cutting his finger in the process. "Ow! What in-" "Don't touch the spiral-cones. They're rather... temperamental. They have a defense mechanism to prevent their lights from getting them killed. Be glad I removed the poison from them, that would have... ruined the feel of the night." "And what theme is that?" She held up her hand and sent a magic spark into the air. The spell coalesced into a brilliant shining sphere vaguely resembling a disco ball. "Random dance." She had every intention of sweeping O'Neill up and forcing him into a dance he had no clue about, just to screw with him. He beat her to it, rushing her into his arms and threw her around. With a laugh, she let herself be swept up and moved with short, jerking movements that stopped almost as soon as they began. She tried to find a pattern to them so she could sweep free from it in a flowing motion, but to her surprise there appeared to be no pattern to the movements. "What sort of dance is this...?" "Improvisational marching orders," O'Neill deadpanned. Nanoha snorted. "Didn't bother saving it for Plan C?" "Sometimes it's best to just skip to Plan C." "In that case..." She stuck her leg out and tripped him. He used Crimson Sushi to keep himself from slamming his head into the ground, but Nanoha had her chance. Her arm caught him in the side and swept him up into a long, curving motion. His feet scarcely touched the ground as she twirled him around. He smirked. Crimson Sushi flipped the perception of a large rock in Nanoha's mind, making her trip on it - releasing O'Neill to go for a simpler tango. "...You actually aren't very good at dancing, are you?" Nanoha said, able to swirl behind him gracefully without any effort. "Not in the slightest." "Good. That makes this easier." Control swapped back and forth between the two of them as they moved through the garden. O'Neill quickly ran out of any idea of what to do, but he kept pushing anyway. He was a master of improvisation and he wasn't about to let his lack of dance knowledge hold him back. Despite this, Nanoha was simply too graceful and smooth in her movements for him to do much. She could have danced around him with ease, but chose not to. "I am way too old for this," O'Neill said with a chuckle. "And I'm probably a hundred times older than you. So dance, monkey!" "I'm a monkey now? I'll have you know I physically aged more than you!" "And I'll have you know you could remove those wrinkles with a simple snap-finger spell." She twirled him back. "You like your age, you wear it proudly. You are the old man who kept the spark alive within himself. I'm the precious little thing with wisdom beyond her years." "That's not what it means to be old." Nanoha rolled her eyes. "Of course not. Being old means... It means you've survived, it means you have lived to see so much. You have experience - you might not be smart, strong, or even all that wise if you were of a particular disposition - but you nonetheless understand life better. It comes with practice." "I was going to say being old meant yelling at the younger generation." She laughed like the little girl she had once been, and they soon arrived at the center of the garden. They twirled away from each other and prepared a comical charge to see who would be in control next. This was the moment the central bulb decided to bloom. A glorious yellow radiance of nineteen separate petals burst open as if from a popped balloon. The flower was large enough to hold both of them on a single petal, and bright enough to make a few nearby plants think it was day and close their petals. Magic dust began to flow around the central flower, sparking with the vibrance of life. "Okay, that's impressive," O'Neill said, holding a hand to his eyes. "What is it?" "F-fate's Tower," Nanoha said, tears flowing down her face. "It's... a... rare flower that..." She held a sleeve to her eyes, trying to make herself stop crying. Now wasn't the time. She needed to move on. She... She felt O'Neill's old, firm hands on her shoulders. She looked up at him, her usually strong face replaced with one of vulnerability. For once in her life, the face she was looking up at was the one with an understanding, compassionate smile. She went for a kiss. It was brief, barely more than a peck - but it was there. "I can't replace her," O'Neill said, expression unwavering. "Y-you don't have to. Y-you can be you." She pulled him into a tight hug, crying over his shoulder. She cried for those lost - family, friends, colleagues, citizens - those that she had never let herself truly grieve for. She had been so strong for everyone else for so long she had forgotten what it was like to be the one on the receiving end of the comfort. She couldn't believe she had let herself forget. So many things... So many things lost in her Time Abyss. She was nothing compared to gods, but she was far, far beyond what any human should have been. So far beyond... Who knew how much built-up pain she was letting out? She herself didn't know. Later, she would feel as if she were crying for things she had forgotten long ago. Things lost in her subconscious. When, at long last, the endless tears began to abate, O'Neill spoke. "Why don't you tell me about her?" Nanoha looked up to him with a messed up, tear-stained face - and a smile. "...Okay." ~~~ Lightning walked into the police station with a crowd of angry people following at her heels. "Traitor!" "Mass murderer!" "Enslaver!" "It was all part of his plan!" "You lied to us!" Lightning marched through the front doors and closed them behind her, magically sealing them shut so nobody else could even think of getting in. Sherlock was leaning against a nearby wall. "That's not going to help you." "Why the hell not?" Sherlock pointed at the small group of roughly a dozen people she recognized from the Collection who were all sitting there. "Ah," Lightning said. An inkling woman with white tentacles stood up sharply. "ARREST THIS WOMAN!" "Charges?" Strange asked, clearly having already dealt with this several times today. "CONSPIRACY!" "Of what kind?" "You know what kind! Conspiring with the Collector! Orchestrating the enslavement to create the modern Collection!" Strange sighed. "All pre-collapse crimes have been pardoned unconditionally. I cannot arrest her." "But she... She..." "Look," Lightning said. "I know you're upset. But I'm definitely not hurting anyone right now, since the Collection doesn't even exist anymore. You're looking for justice where it doesn't exist." "You lied to us," she said, pointing angrily. "You manipulated us the whole time. We thought you understood us... When you were part of the problem!" "Yes," Lightning said. "And you can't do anything about it." "The mob outside says otherwise." "She does have a point," Sherlock noted. "The mob will likely devolve into violence Mlinx will have to forcefully end if we allow this to continue." Lightning sighed. "Fine. I'll arrest myself." Strange blinked. "...What?" "You heard me," Lightning said, walking into the station cells. She threw one of the doors open, walked in, and then shut it, locking it with her magic. "Lightning, you can't just arrest yourself," Strange said from the other side of the bars. "I just did. Good luck convincing me to come out." "Lightning..." "You can tell everyone outside I've been arrested. Then Mlinx and the media can make a big fuss about the whole thing while I sit in here. I'll let myself out when it blows over." Strange grunted. "Sherlock, how badly will this go if I force her out?" "Nuclear," Sherlock deadpanned. Strange sighed and walked outside. Lightning looked around to make sure Sherlock was the only one on the other side of the cell. "Thanks. I didn't need him to call my bluff." "Don't mention it. I'll mention it when I need a favor." "You little..." Sherlock walked away, leaving Lightning alone in the cell. She was no stranger to being alone, so she simply closed her eyes and allowed herself to daydream. Some time later - could have been hours - a hoof smacked itself against the cell bars. She opened her eyes to see Starbeat. "Come to visit?" "You're being ridiculous," Starbeat said, rolling her eyes. "You could have just talked to them. Now you've gone and arrested yourself, blowing all of this out of proportion." "Seemed to be the quickest solution." "It was the solution that was the least work for you. All you have to do is sit here and wait." Starbeat shook her head. "You're causing a lot of strain on a lot of your friends." "They can handle it." "I'm not saying they can't. I'm saying I'm disappointed you chose to let them take the strain. ...I'm also disappointed you didn't try to talk to the Collected. A lot of them are going through crises at the moment, and you did nothing to alleviate their fears that the cause they had devoted themselves to was a lie." Lightning let out a sigh. "And you're right. I'm still not coming out of this cell." "Why not!?" "Because I deserve hate," Lightning said. "The Collector took his punishment of death for what he did. But I didn't lose anything except him. And that was never enough." She looked Starbeat right in the eye. "This is my time, Starbeat. I'm not going to die, I'm not going to give myself for some greater plan. I'm going to let them hate me." "Lightning, that's..." "Self-destructive?" She shrugged. "Yes. It is. But you know me. I'll pull through." "...This is a lot more complicated than I thought it was." "You're the mare of fate," Lightning said, smiling ever so slightly. "Figured you'd know that by now." Starbeat chuckled. "...I think you'll need to talk to Eve." "I do not need a-" "She's going through similar things right now." Lightning shut up. "...Yeah. Maybe I can talk to Eve then." "I'll send her around." She glanced behind her. "...I think Vriska's getting impatient and-or embarrassed standing around the lobby." "Embarrassed?" "She got a dress recently. Wasn't an issue until O'Neill pointed out how excessively pink and feminine it was. No doubt Sherlock is carefully playing with her sudden insecurity." She rubbed the back of her head. "...I should get her back to her home. I'll try to visit." "Thanks. But I shouldn't be in here for that long." She closed her eyes and looked at the ceiling. "They always have other things to get upset about..." ~~~ A copy of Songs of the Spheres: Hope hit Pinkie in the face. "And now we are the punchline of Lightning's joke. Fun." Flutterfree, Pidge, and Jotaro were walking with her through town as a small group of angry people followed them. Half of those angry people were angry at the others for yelling at Pinkie, which was just adding to the shouting and squabbling. It likely wouldn't be long before it devolved into actual fighting. "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro said, adjusting his hat. "Geez, I didn't think people could get this worked up..." Pidge muttered. "For all we know they can't and this is the Tower," Flutterfree said. "Or, this is how things normally are. Or something in the middle." "...My head hurts." Pidge put a hand to the bridge of her nose. "From the ka or the people screaming?" "Both," Pidge said, gesturing at the crowd, calling attengion to the ridiculous things they were shouting. "Flutterfree's an unstable killing machine!" "Pidge just replaced Nova! She doesn't belong! Get rid of her!" "Jotaro is too violent!" "How many have you killed with a smile on your face and a sarcastic quip?" "Vriska hasn't really changed and you all accepted her!" "Pinkie! You're a murderous psycho!" Pinkie winked at her three team members. Then she changed into her massacre dress and turned on the crowd, revving her chainsaw. They all screamed. Suddenly she was just a normal pink pony again, her only defining feature being the blindfold covering her Element of Laughter. "So, do I have your attention?" The shocked silence of the crowd told her she did. "OKAY! So, you think we screwed up a lot? Sure, we did, we're just people. But I'd like to see you do our job and make it out for the better. We saw death and destruction on a daily basis. We were subjected to some of the worst torture imaginable in our time. You know that joke about the tentacle monster universe? It isn't a joke! Those things really existed and we had to deal with them! We were lucky enough to be shown the multiverse gradually so we could adjust to it, but we didn't get out unscathed! Most of the people who had our job have probably lost it in the mental department in some way or another! I'm crazy! I'm totally crazy! Flutterfree's hatred of violence has mostly been bred out of her. Jotaro's been forced to reevaluate his life several times as those he love are either returned to him or just killed! Pidge has to wrestle with the knowledge about Nova every single day! What do you think you would do if you had these problems!?" The crowd said nothing in response. "That's what I thought," Pinkie growled, swishing her tail to the side. "And another thing. You people got this book and the information within, and because of that started forming into angry, violent groups! This is the thing you're upset at us about! And you know what else it shows? That you're using the information spells rather than actually reading the books!" She threw the copy of Hope she had to the ground. "The spell just puts the information into your head, allowing you to pick and choose what you think is important. But these books are a lot more than just the facts of what happened! They show us - the characters - and why we did all the things we did! The mistakes, the things that looked like mistakes that weren't, and the good choices - everything! Our struggles are in this book, and you know what you're doing? You're distilling it down to bullet points! You're insulting all the hell we've gone through to get to this point by ignoring it!" She threw a hoof wide. "You can be mad with us. You can disagree with us. But you can't judge us. Not where we are now. You can't possibly hope to fathom what all of this was about. Do you understand?" The crowd slowly began to edge away from Pinkie and disperse. "I don't think they understood," Flutterfree observed. "The message will still get out!" Pinkie said, suddenly as chipper as usual. "And that's all that needed to happen. People needed to realize there was a lot more to the story than just the 'facts'. A... lot more. It'll take some time, but they'll come around." "Huh. That's a good point." Pidge said. "...But that's a pretty thick book. How many words?" "About two million in all twelve." "...Quiznak. That's gonna prove problematic..." Pinkie shrugged. "Maybe. But there'll be those who read it. And they'll be able to tell everyone else." Jotaro shrugged. "It sounds good enough for me." "Yep! Now let's go get ice cream before I go all murder-chainsaw on everyone." ~~~ The following 'morning' O'Neill walked up to Nanoha's house and knocked. She opened the door with her magic, not bothering to get up from her chair. "Come on in." O'Neill walked in, finding his way to her dining room and placing a small bag down. She looked up from Songs of the Spheres: Life and looked at the box. "Oh, you shouldn't have!" "Definitely shouldn't, but I did," O'Neill said, a smirk on his face. She tore the bag off and took out several small boxes. Essence plants: flowers that grow based on magical signatures! Any magic signature works: artifacts, aether patterns, people... "I... I can make a garden for them..." she said, holding up the flowers. "I didn't know people made these..." O'Neill shrugged. "A simple search away. ...So long as you have an oddly specific present in mind." "It's perfect. Wonder who I'll do..." "You don't even have to decide right away. They'll wait for whenever you're struck." Nanoha smiled warmly. "...Thank you." O'Neill shrugged - and then made an overly comical bow. She facepalmed. "What have I gotten myself into..." "The domain of General Snark. Tickets are one-way only and always have a pointless riddle attached to them." Nanoha rolled her eyes and closed Life. "...That the book?" "One of them," Nanoha said, nodding. "It's interesting. I hear a lot about people judging others from these books. Hasty judgments made on instant-facts. But I think they're missing the other side of the coin..." She shook her head. "We are in these pages. Why don't we look at what these books say about us? Even if we're not in the stories we read about, we see the culture built up... The stories that surrounded us... Everyone's avoiding that. Focusing instead on what other people did..." She put her hands behind her head. "I think we need to be doing the opposite. Use these books to judge ourselves, not others." O'Neill blinked. "I just got the worst best idea ever." "Hm?" "I'm going to review these books." "...You are going to rip the poor boy to shreds." O'Neill grinned. "Ay, GM doesn't have to read the reviews." "He will." "His fault." Nanoha chuckled. "I'll help. Give some insight as to what we can learn from the story that defined us all." "Already a team, huh?" "I think we've been a team for a long time and just didn't realize it." O'Neill nodded slowly. "That, or we're both completely delusional." "Why not both?" "Both. ...Both is good." "The Road to El Dorado." "...Dammit, you're not going to be easy to reference-fu." Nanoha smiled playfully. "I figured you'd appreciate a good challenge." O'Neill laughed. ~~~ I held a truly unique object in my hooves. A red book, shimmering with a glossy ruby cover emblazoned with the symbol of Time. Songs of the Spheres: Time. I flipped through it. It contained all the remaining chapters, including the one you're reading now. Every event was already laid out. And yet, I knew I could change it. If I interfered with a thing there or an event here, the words within would shift. I had been given the freedom of that choice. But I knew I wouldn't. I liked what I saw with the Eye as it was now. I appreciated all the blossoming relationships, the healing wounds, and the Time devoted to preparing everyone. Including myself. I, too, needed to learn how to live without ka. The fight with English was merely the first step: there was much, much more to learn and understand in the ever-changing land of the New World. Even knowing what I did - and what I do - there is something to be said for experiencing something, perhaps with a little bit of willful ignorance thrown in. Often, your mind is able to logically accept and understand something easily. However, there is another component to what you are. You may believe something, but you won't live it out. It is the illogical side of you that cannot just be convinced. I know exactly how to live in a world without ka - in theory. But at the same time I do not. I am a simple child swimming in an ocean of words I don't understand. I carried the book far into the back of my immense library. I would not be putting it on a shelf - I could not let anyone have it. Not because I was prevented from showing it to people, but because I didn't want them to have it. It would change them if they knew the future. One of the points of the New World was to end that certainty for what the future holds. At least, that's how I see it. I took the book to the back wall and created a little hole in the wood, placing it inside. Then I cast a sealing spell on its pages keyed to the existence of ka. It would not open until the Tower fell. Lastly, I sealed up the wood, making it look as if I had never been there. I would return some time after the final destruction of the Tower and give the book to the people. ...Or maybe I would change my mind. There was no way for me to know what lay beyond. And unlike the uncertainty the war had caused, this did not make me anxious - it made me feel at peace. I knew my curse would end. I would be able to live. It was all I could ever ask for.
Songs of the Spheres	148 - Mother	White Nettle forced herself to sit up with just the physical power in her arms - refusing to let her tendrils or other powers offer her any assistance. She'd gone through the entire ordeal without making it easier on herself; it would be a shame if she gave in at the very end and ruined the moment. She had to take a moment to catch her breath, coming to terms with the pain she had just been through. The doctor came over to her, handing her a small bundle of fabric. Inside was the pinkish face of a healthy human baby. "It's a girl," the doctor said with a smile. Nettle tried to say something, but all that came out was a wheeze. Despite this, she took hold of her daughter and pulled her close to her chest. The girl was decidedly ugly, as newborns tended to be, and Nettle knew this on some level. But on a deeper, more instinctual level she saw the most beautiful thing that she had ever laid her eyes on. Life. She couldn't understand why she felt this way, had no real experiences to prepare herself for this moment, but she knew. She just knew that this little girl was the whole point of her life. Everything had been leading her to this moment right here. Everything. The Mother ran a finger across her child's cheek. "What should we call her?" Her husband smiled. "Didn't you already have one picked out?" "...Osanna. But does she really have to be n-" "Yes. She does." He leaned down so he was eye level with the child. "Hello, Osanna. Welcome to this New World... Though to you, it's just the world, isn't it? You don't know how lucky you are... you will see your wildest fantasies played out right before your eyes. You will grow up in a world where stories can really sing to you." "...She has no idea what you're saying," Nettle observed. He chuckled and laid a hand on Nettle's shoulder. "Even now, you still have to learn. I'm talking to her because... just because she's my daughter. She doesn't have to understand, she just has to hear." Nettle tried to giggle, but found this motion more than a little painful and tiring. This did not stop her from looking Osanna in the face and talking. "Guess I've got to tell you something. Hi. I'm... your mother. That's what I am. Before now, I was nothing." "Come now..." "Hush," Nettle told her husband. "It's true. I may have been the most powerful being ever... but I was nothing. I wasn't part of a family. I had... nothing." She beamed at him. "And now I have everything." They kissed, but quickly went back to doting on Osanna. She was a new life they'd brought into the world, and as far as Nettle was concerned it was the best thing she had ever done. She already knew she wouldn't be able to wait before she talked everyone's ears off about her daughter. They may not be able to understand, but that didn't really matter. What mattered was that they knew that she was experiencing something new. ~~~ "We have a problem," Burgerbelle said, sitting on her folding chair backwards. Mattie and the Everykid raised their eyebrows. "Problem?" The three of them were sitting in a somewhat spacious broom closet within the League of Sweetie Belles. "Yes. Problem. A big old ugly annoying problem!" Burgerbelle stood on her chair like it was a podium. "We have thrust upon us a question of what matters and what doesn't! What is right and what is wrong! What is best for our friends!" Mattie rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure I have a good idea what this is about, so just get to the point. The kid doesn't need to be serenaded into thinking you're hot stuff." The Everykid nodded. Burgerbelle's left eyebrow twitched. "Nobody appreciates my flair for the dramatic..." She sat back down in her chair - though she refused to turn it the right way around. She pulled Songs of the Spheres: Void out of her hair and dropped it in the middle of the three of them. There was no table, so it fell unceremoniously to the floor. The Everykid poked it with her parasol like it was some sort of spider. Burgerbelle facepalmed. "Okay, so, here's the problem. Nettle is in this book." The two of them stared at her intently. "The future Nettle is in this book. As in, there's a story in here that hasn't happened yet!" "That's not all that unusual," Mattie pointed out. "Just go ask Twilence, she knows everything." "But Nettle doesn't know about it!" Burgerbelle said. "And we can't tell her about it!" "...Why not?" the Everykid asked, the rare sound of her voice drawing attention to the question. "Have you read it?" The Everykid shook her head. Mattie let out a 'tsk' noise. "Really, it should be required reading at this point. Let's sum it up: a mysterious Mother is the eighth story in 115 - Song of the Spheres, the big whalloping spank of a chapter that tries to tell too many stories at once. In it, the Mother deals with some of the stresses of being a, well, Mother to a teenage daughter. It also foreshadows the future of the City and other stuff. A rather popular passage since it tells everyone the City will be around for a while. Quite surprising that Nettle hasn't heard about it. One would think she'd be going off about how her husband doesn't even have a name in there..." "Because she's not supposed to know," Burgerbelle said, tapping the book. "Nettle in the story has nooooo idea about what's about to happen. She has doubts, concerns, and a lot of uncertainty. So she can't know." Mattie rolled her eyes. "For all you know she did know and just pushed it to the back of her mind or conveniently forgot." "That's not something you conveniently forget!" Burgerbelle waved her hands around frantically. "We have to protect the heartwarming events within these pages!" "There's also the chance we have an imperfect copy. A few sentences could have been translated incorrectly, and seeing how much of the book likes to insert important details in single sentences I don't see th-" "I don't want to risk that. I want us, some of her closest friends, to not spoil this for her. She wants to experience it naturally - went through labor and everything without making it easier for herself." She held a proud hand high. "We have to keep it from her for her sake! It is what she would want!" The Everykid thought about this for a moment and nodded. Mattie rolled her eyes. "You know what, that's a good enough reason for me. I won't bring it up, you have my word." Burgerbelle pulled Mattie into a bear hug. "Oh thank you! I'm so glad we're all on the same page!" Mattie smirked. "Well, there's going to be complications of course." Burgerbelle didn't like the sound of that. "Let me put it this way. I'm sure that I won't spill the beans, and I'm relatively certain Everykid doesn't have enough words in her mouth to do so. But I also know we've got to have ourselves a conflict today." "Crud." Burgerbelle blinked. "The cameras are on..." "Ring-a-ding-dong," Mattie sang. "If I had to guess I would say you would get to be the one who has a bit of a problem keeping this little secret from her." She turned around with a coy smirk on her face. "Have fun~!" "Wait! Can I do it? Can I keep it from her?" "How should I know? I'm not Twilence!" Mattie shrugged. "C'mon kid, let's go find Minna and pay the Pinkie Emporium a visit." "...You're just going to leave me!?" Mattie looked back at her with a 'really?' expression. Burgerbelle sighed. "Sorry, right, that wasn't fair. I'll just..." She eyed the Void book nervously. "Lock myself in a closet or something." "Oh, I can do that for you." Mattie closed the closet door and locked it with her magic. "...This is what I get for never being literal." She pulled out a tuba and it made a few sad toots without her playing it. ~~~ Thrackerzod had discovered a phrase that described her life pretty well. "I never in a million years thought I would be doing anything even remotely like this." Today, that 'unexpected activity' happened to be a book club. Granted, the book in question was Songs of the Spheres, so she had some reason aside from 'bonding' to be there, but it was still odd to her. Which meant it wasn't odd that she felt odd since odd defined her life. The evident contradiction of this was currently turning her brain in a knot. I would have had no trouble resolving this with an eldritch mind, she thought to herself, somewhat resentful of her current predicament. The book club was being held in a small Sparkle Census library, headed not by a Twilight, but Servitude. She placed the last book they had, Space, onto a small table in the middle of the group. "I think we should start with the ending. What did you think of it?" "I'm... not sure," the only other Sweetie in the room said - Squiddy the inkling. "I... I certainly remember it happening like that. But I also don't... It felt longer." "I'll say," Twitter the moth-Twilight said. "There was... what, a lot more focus on the 'heroes' than the rest of us who actually did most of the fighting. Who actually beat him. The book only shows the flavor text." "It's thematically appropriate though," another Twilight, GM, said. "It's a passing of the torch from ka to not-ka. The book is concerned with ka, but we were concerned with what actually happened. It's... confusing." "I'm not convinced it was even satisfying," Squiddy muttered. "For all the Tower's bravado, it would have been more interesting if it actually looked like the Tower was going to lose." "If we didn't know the end result we wouldn't have suspected that," Servitude pointed out. "As you read it, it seems like the Tower was defeated when English gets the Source." "The Emissary herself said she couldn't be faulted earlier." "And did she have a habit of telling the truth?" Squiddy shifted uncomfortably. "The Tower wouldn't have taken a risk of any magnitude," GM pointed out. "From my experience being in the Collection, I can tell you... even if you have a flair for the dramatic, if you want to go out, you'll do everything you can to minimize the risk. The Collector was just a man; his plan couldn't be perfect - even if it did work. The Tower would never have gone with a plan that had any chance of failure." "What about her last speech?" Twitter asked. "She said there was a risk." "In quotes." Thrackerzod reminded her. "What the Emissary said was essentially the same thing that happens when we jump universes and ruin a prophecy. If there was more to existence than the multiverse that the Tower didn't know about, it could have ruined the plan. That was true of every plan though, so the Tower made it the only weakness in the plan." "There's no evidence for a true infinite multiverse anyway," Servitude admitted. "The Tower admitted there was the possibility. But everything it knew and could understand told it there was nothing. We should live as if that were true." "Infinity would suck anyway," Squiddy muttered. "Would it?" GM asked, scratching her ear. "Well, yeah, everything would be meaningless." "Wasn't that the whole point of destroying the Tower? So we could define our own meaning?" "Technically, no," Servitude said. "The destruction of the Tower is the rejection of the meaning the Builders forced on us. There could still be real meaning beyond it - and you could also argue it never provided meaning in the first place." "What do you think?" Thrackerzod asked. "I go to Rev's old church, what do you think?" Servitude asked, raising an eyebrow. "Ah, never mind." She turned to GM. "You?" "Life is what you make of it. That's all it is and all it will ever be." Twitter shook her head. "I think... I think there's all some sort of real soul inside of us, and that eternal essence is what we need to work to improve. The inside is what matters." "...I dunno," Squiddy said, letting out a squiddly sigh. "All I know is that I don't know stuff, so I really can't define my own meaning. It'd just be wrong, somehow. I know it would." Servitude put a gentle hand on Squiddy. "We don't all have to know what meaning is. Not everyone has to be a philosopher." Squiddy nodded. "Thanks. ...Thrackerzod?" The once-eldritch unicorn cleared her throat. "I have come a long way from thinking the point of existence was to serve that from which you came from. Now, I believe something quite different. You should be a servant to all. You might call it Harmony. I don't particularly care what the name is, but it's real." She looked into the distance. "I'm still working on it." "We're all working on it," GM said with a sad smile. "We're all in this together, I suppose." There were a series of agreeing 'yeah's. "Follow-up question: has this book changed your outlook on life?" Servitude asked. Twitter shook her head. "Not really. The revelation ka was a thing mattered a lot more. And... well, living through these events was a lot more challenging than reading about them. I've gained a better appreciation for the 'heroes' involved in the story, but I view the world the same way. For now. Of course things will change when the Tower falls, and we can't really predict how. Your ideas are all rooted in ka." Thrackerzod and GM nodded in agreement. "It is just a book," GM asserted. "Not the best-written one either. Don't get me wrong, it keeps you hooked at times, but at others the word choice is questionable, and it goes back and forth from being subtle to totally unsubtle. It tries to keep you involved but sometimes loses track of how much stuff is going on." "It's a delightful mess," Servitude added. "Yes. That. A delightful mess. That's exactly what it is." Thrackerzod smirked. "I'd wonder if 'delightful' is the right word. There's a lot of darkness in here." "And it's all packaged in a contrasting humorous tone," Twitter pointed out. "It's... cute." "My namesake would blow a gasket," GM observed. "...You read his parts in the story. I don't think he'd be like that." "Okay, he'd be at least annoyed." "Yeah, probably." The conversation died down, prompting Servitude to ask another question. "Here's one - what did you think of yourself in relation to the story? You lived this, after all. I'll start. I look at the story and find my few appearances to be a good legacy. I don't think he showed every side of me - just the first impression of a 'regal angel'. I never tried to make that much of an impact or name for myself, so what exists is a good legacy, I think." "I was an important figure once," Twitter said, rubbing the back of her head. "Fifteen minutes of fame in the Starcross encounter. After that... not much. I guess I'm a little disappointed, but then again I did spend most my time in the Census and doing things for the Census. My story is probably elsewhere." "I read the words out of my early self's mouth and I groan in agony," Thrackerzod deadpanned. "What I see in those pages is rarely myself. I see a diseased eldritch hunk of what I used to be. Most of it invariably disgusts me. I become exasperated constantly about how little I know and understand. And then there are those moments - right before the collapse - where I think I was better than I am now." She tapped her horn. "I lost something when my eldritch nature vanished. I'm back to not understanding a lot of things. The character in that book is nothing more than a reminder of the past." GM smiled sadly. "...At least you can see yourself grow. All I see of myself is... an opponent, and then a sad, sad pony who's a slave to the Collector. And then a moment of freedom followed by... nothing. I'm free from the story, I guess, but it is a bit disappointing." Everyone slowly turned to Squiddy. "...What? You expect me to answer? I'm not even in it! I make no appearances the entire book aside from that stupid clipshow thing! I checked every reference to inklings in all eleven books - there aren't that many - and I know for a fact that I wasn't on any of the teams mentioned. I just don't matter." Thrackerzod blinked. "Squiddy, you are a valuable ag-" "Yeah, yeah, I know, I've got a lot of awards, I've saved a ton of people, and I'm one of the 'premier agents'. But I apparently did squiddly squat to the actual story." She stood up angrily. "Let me put it this way. I worked my tentacles off to help progress Merodi Universalis and the League, and this book tells me one thing: none of it had any discernible effect. So excuse me if I'm a little upset at that!" "Squiddy, calm down," Thrackerzod said. "I understand you're ang-" "You understand? You just finished saying you didn't. You're the one who got a lot of attention! You got to be the hero! I... wasn't even a backgrounder!" She folded her arms. "Screw this, I'm out." She transformed into her squid form and leaped out a nearby window. Twitter blinked. "...I was not expecting her to explode like that." "We should have paid her more attention," Servitude said with a sigh. Thrackerzod wasn't sure what to say. ~~~ Burgerbelle hadn't decided to leave the closet yet - she knew herself well enough at this point to realize when she had stirred herself up emotionally. Now was not a good time to go prance around the League of Sweetie Belles and try to act completely normal. There was always the chance they'd dismiss her antics as "just Burger being Burger" but unlike when she was a Flat, she wasn't going to be able to keep her expression even. "Dumb biological body making things difficult," she muttered, lounging lazily between two of the folding chairs. "Get balanced already, I can't keep a secret like this." She noticed her muttering was making her stress levels rise, prompting her to let out an exasperated groan. The sound of a rebellious teenager coming from the mouth of a child older than most human beings. It was a peculiar set of age-range contradictions to say the least. She was reminded that last week someone had thought she was an underage user of the immortality serum. They meant well, but Burgerbelle was getting a little tired of explaining she had once been a Flat and this body was what she had been transferred to during the collapse. Some of them still felt the need to confirm this with the legal system. It was annoying. "I gotta do something or the boredom will destroy me." She pulled out her phone and started checking in with the various social media feeds. As a personification of memes, she had to keep up to date with the latest trends in random reference comedy. She hoped there wasn't another stupid, idiotic challenge today. Last week's 'Hadouken' challenge had resulted in several third-degree burns across the City... Burgerbelle never got to find out what the trend was. Because she had a notification. From White Nettle. Looking for you! Where are you? We've got so much to talk about! Burgerbelle let out a censor-beep noise. She quickly turned her phone to 'incognito', but it was too late - Nettle had already seen a little 'online' light turn on. Hey, I see you! And you're gone. Huh... Guess you're busy. I know! I'll just call you! Burgerbelle pulled out a hammer and smashed her phone to pieces. Problem solved. Then she realized that no, the problem was not solved. If her phone was out of commission, Nettle would ask Nala to find her... "Ahem. Nala!?" Burgerbelle shouted. \|> Yes, mysterious broom closet resident? "Funny. Can you keep Nettle from finding me via your queries?" \|> Not unless you want her to know you've denied her access to your location. Which would be very suspicious. Burgerbelle grabbed her hair and started pulling at it like an exaggerated cartoon. A hamster doing a little dance popped out and fell back in. "Fine. Then I'm just gonna run! Should be easy!" She darted for the closet door and threw it open. White Nettle was standing right there, Osanna in her arms. "Ah, there you are! I've been trying to get a hold of you!" "Ahahahaheh... Funny, that!" Burgerbelle said, sweating profusely. "I've just been here! In this broom closet! Because... reasons!" "...Is that your phone in there? Smashed to bits?" "Yep!" "...Why?" "Gag." Nettle kept Burgerbelle's gaze for a moment. The Sweetie knew the mother was trying to process the emotional interaction to see if there was anything behind it. For once, Burgerbelle hoped she wouldn't. Burgerbelle was saved by the baby. With a short cry Osanna suddenly had all of Nettle's attention. "Oh, you poor thing, I didn't introduce you!" She graciously stroked Osanna's face, calming her down with a simple touch. "Burgerbelle, this is Osanna." "Ah, mhm, yes, I know," Burgerbelle said rapidly, forcing a smile to her face. "Cute! Baby-like!" "Good descriptors," Nettle said. "Burgerbelle, I don't know how to express this, but I think this is the best thing that has ever happened. Can you... help me express that?" Burgerbelle rubbed the back of her head. "Ah, not a mother, sorry." "I just, feel like she's part of a greater destiny, you know?" Destiny. Destiny. Destiny. "I-I don't know why you'd think destiny of all things, she's just the natural way of human life! A fulfillment. That totally definitely won't have any sort of effect whatsoever on the story or anything." "...I wasn't saying that." "Oh, you weren't? Good! Or, I mean, neutral, or something! There's nothing at all to comment on whatsoever!" "...You're commenting though." "Because I'm talking a mile a minute because I just feel like I need to say do you like pie? I like pie but I hear most Rainbow Dashes don't and I'll have you know I graduated the top of my class in th-" "Burgerbelle, is something... wrong?" Pepe on ice, she's suspicious. Play it cool, Burgerbelle, play it cool. "SMOKE BOMB!" DAMMIT! Burgerbelle threw a smoke bomb onto the ground and ran away as fast as she could. She tripped and fell flat on her face, but it was easy enough for her to force a 'quick getup animation' on herself, allowing her to duck out the window before Nettle could react. White Nettle blinked. "...What? ...What?" ~~~ Squiddy trudged through the streets of the City, head down, her floppy tentacle 'hair' moving back and forth with her slow footsteps. She hadn't looked up for a few hours, and nobody had stopped her to say anything. She wondered if the others had decided to wait for her, or if they were out searching for her right now. Either way, she didn't particularly care or even feel like going back. It's just a stupid book. She wasn't sure where she was going. Not home, she always felt alone there. And definitely not to the League of Sweetie Belles, not right now. That'd be the first place they'd look, and even if they weren't looking all the rest of them would notice she was down and she really didn't want to deal with other people right now. Somewhere deep inside her she knew it'd be good for her if she talked to someone, but since when were people rational when upset? Maybe she could go check out her people... there weren't that many inklings in the City, but she'd seen some of them around. No doubt they had sectioned off some area for their endless amusement. "Nala, is there an inkling district?" \|> There are several areas inhabited by inklings, though only one of these is just inklings. This is New Inkopolis Square and contains the largest of the City's three turf war arenas. "Directions please." \|> You do not have a phone I can send those to. "Then just point me in the general direction, geez!" \|> Straight west. Squiddy changed the direction of her slow walk due west, not increasing her speed at all. It took about twenty minutes for her to actually arrive at the area of the City claimed by her people. It wasn't large by any stretch of the imagination - barely a blip on the radar - but it was definitely distinct. Inklings had a habit of covering everything they could in their vibrant colors of ink. This included the streets near their houses, making it rather unattractive for non-inklings to get anywhere near the place. As she entered New Inkopolis Square, the buildings themselves didn't look very different - similar constructions to the rest of the city, which was to say varied and mixed. But the people were different and the colors much brighter. There were a handful of humans around, looking with curious expressions, but the vast majority of people there were the squiddish humanoids with tentacles for hair. Squiddy was mildly disappointed her own ink color, white, wasn't present. It was somewhat rare, she knew, but it would have been nice to see it. She walked right up to a large wire fence that several dozen inklings were gripping, cheering profusely. On the other side of the cage were two teams busy shooting ink at each other - orange and blue. The goal of turf war was always the same; ink up as much of the arena with your color as possible. It was a long held pastime of their people, and unlike the 'war' the Red and Blu mercenaries had, it was treated as a sport. One of the blue inklings pulled a giant brush out and slapped an orange one over the head, splatting her against the ground. In normal circumstances, that would mean certain death, but inklings had long ago perfected the art of recondensing each other from leftover ink before their spirits had any idea their body was gone. A sort of respawn that only worked if you had really weird biology. This temporary loss of a team member did not deter the orange team - they rushed the blue attacker with buckets of orange ink, taking back the land that had been blue just moments before. The blue team initiated a counterstrike, dropping ink-filled bombs on the enemy. Orange executed a well-timed flank maneuver, cutting most of the blue team off from their base. The ink explosions rippled out everywhere. Squiddy found herself getting into the game - and siding with orange. They had shown lots of intelligence in their tactics, even if they didn't have the brute strength of the blue team. She wanted the brains to win; she wanted them to shirk the expectations. The strong would not always win; there would be the underdogs who rose to the top! She didn't care which team actually had a better track record. She created a story in her mind and watched it unfold. Every struggle played out before her mind - the loss of a leader, only to be regained later. A one-on-four final stand that was doomed to fail, but managed to eke out an opening for the rest. However, all her wishes and dreams were for naught. In the end, the game was called, the turf was examined, and the blue team had a 58%/42% victory. Squiddy didn't stay around any longer after that. She trudged away, head hanging even lower than it had been before. Even as an onlooker among her own people, her story had no effect. Nothing. She put in so much work and effort in her life for what? Just to be another random citizen on the sidelines? She was a hero for the ancient's sake! She... ...She suddenly realized she was lost. And she shouldn't have been, considering that she'd only been walking a few minutes. She should still be able to hear the sounds of New Inkopolis Square. But she couldn't... all she saw that caught her eye was a library. She wasn't sure why, but she was sure it was calling to her. She walked up the steps and laid her hand on the doorknob. ~~~ Burgerbelle poked her eyes - just her eyes - out of a bush, giving the greenery the appearance that it had eyes. She could see a random street of the City, bustling with activity and people. People who weren't Nettle. Which was the whole point. She hadn't seen any sign of Nettle since she had noped out of the League of Sweetie Belles like a Trixie knockoff. Which was good. That probably meant she wasn't still pursuing her. This would give Burgerbelle time to relax and sort her thoughts out before going back to Nettle and apologizing in a way that wouldn't arouse suspicion. Burgerbelle groaned. "I'm so dead!" She usually didn't care at all what people thought of her actions - she was the meme girl, she had to be okay with cringe. All this unfortunately meant that when she did care a bit about how she presented herself she had absolutely no skills in the matter. At all. Exhibit A: That poor excuse of a conversation she had with Nettle. Like straight out of a cartoon... Which made an annoying amount of sense. Burgerbelle grunted, taking another look outside the bush. Still no sign of Nettle or anything vaguely Nettle related. Except perhaps Squiddy moving past with her depressed walk, but white squids and white jellyfish weren't really the same thing at all. Definitely not. Keep tellin' yourself that, Burgerbelle thought. Truth is, anything and everything is related. Have to stay on guard. \|> I feel compelled to tell you she could just look up your location. "Shh! Wait. ...You don't make noise. ...Shoot." She shut up and checked to see if anyone heard her. "...Wait, how am I seeing your text?" \|> I grow tired of explaining 'Xeelee shenanigans' to everyone. "Hmph... She hasn't looked up my location though?" \|> Her queries are private information. "Then why isn't my location private!?" Several people turned to look at the bush, wondering where the voice had come from. None of them quite put it together. \|> You are on the same friends network and you still haven't put out a request to go hidden. Burgerbelle waited a few moments before responding, just to make sure nobody was still listening. "That'll make her suspicious." \|> ... "Don't you triple-dot me," Burgerbelle said, indignantly. "I know she's already suspicious. Fine, hide my location." \|> Done. I would say have a nice day, but that phrase has sent multiple people into PTSD flashbacks over the last few weeks, so I am removing it from my response database. "Why w- oh, riiiiight." Burgerbelle blinked, sensing she was alone again. She kept silent for a few moments longer - just to be safe - and then jumped out of the bush and started walking with the crowd. Her execution was flawless. There wasn't a single soul that saw her leave the bush for sure. Unfortunately the universe hated her the instant she completed the maneuver. White Nettle turned the corner and saw Burgerbelle. The once-Downstreamer waved at her, making it obvious she didn't have Osanna with her. Burgerbelle took a blue hedgehog hoodie out of her hair and put it on. She cleared her throat. "I'm Sanic! Gotta go fast!" in an instant she was halfway across the city, leaving an immense wake of wind behind her. She jumped through a window and ditched the hat, entering a comical stealth posture that inexplicably allowed her to move through the homes of several people undetected. Then she put on a Santa hat and climbed up a furnace that didn't have a true chimney, ending up on the roof anyway. She rubbed the soot out of her face and grinned. "Ah... she's right behind me." White Nettle blinked. "How did y-" Burgerbelle loaded herself into a slingshot and launched herself through the air, making a vaguely bird-like noise. Just before she landed on an unsuspecting house she flipped into a roll, coming out of it in a very cringe-worthy dance that tried to look way cooler than it was. It was at this point White Nettle lost her patience and grabbed Burgerbelle with one of her tendrils - the tendrils she hadn't removed from their bow arrangement for months. "Eheheh..." Burgerbelle said, tapping her fingers together. "W-what's up, Nettle?" "You tell me," Nettle said, left eye twitching. "Because I have no goddamn clue." "See, the answer's really simple here! I'm just overcome with meme-itis and my body is all out of balance right now and you're not believing a word of this." "No." Nettle tightened her grip on Burgerbelle ever so slightly. "Why are you lying?" "Because I really don't want to tell you what's going on?" "Tell me." "Um... No." "Tell me." "Nope." "Burgerbelle..." "Not happenin'." "QUIT IT WITH YOUR CEASELESS NEGATIVE MEMES!" "Yeah, sure, I'll get on th-" Burgerbelle had no time to wonder how much of an idiot she was before she was slammed into the ground like a basketball. "Oof." "There's something wrong with you? What is it!?" "Something you'd rather not know." "Then I'm just going to have to guess!" Nettle screamed, clearly terrified by the idea. "And do you know what I think it is!?" Burgerbelle's already bad feeling got worse. "No... But I'd also prefer if you didn't..." "You... You're jealous! You... I..." She put a hand to her heart, trying and failing not to cry. "Little Osanna... She's come between us! I have the best thing ever, and you... I... I can't... Why do people have to come between other people? I was able to accept the Everykid! I was able to move past that! Why aren't you!? Why can't you accept that I have room for both of you!?" Burgerbelle was stunned silent. Nettle took this as confirmation. "I... I thought..." She shook her head. "Hypocrite! You're an awful, horrid hypocrite! Won't even take your own advice! Can't even... All I wanted to do today was talk about her! Was that wrong? Am I supposed to keep her separate? How can I do that, I don't want to lose, but I can't, and I should, and and and..." She broke down into tears, all of it simply too much to take. Burgerbelle wiped a tear from her own face. "I... I'm sorry." "Get away from me! If you don't want her, I'll have to... I don't know. I don't want to. I have to choose..." Burgerbelle gave up. She pulled Void out and dropped it in front of Nettle. "This... this has nothing to do with my relationship with Osanna, Nettle. I... I'm sorry I let you get far enough to think that." "What...?" Burgerbelle pushed the book toward Nettle. "In there, chapter 115, there is a story about you. You and Osanna. One that hasn't happened yet. One that could tell you what your future holds and what kind of person your daughter will become. You clearly aren't supposed to know about it before the time comes, and I wanted to keep it secret from you. I failed." She looked at the ground, ashamed. "I'm sorry I couldn't do this for you." Nettle wordlessly scooped the book up in her hands. She traced her finger around the cover and proceeded to teleport away with it, leaving Burgerbelle alone. Burgerbelle sighed. "Yeah, I probably deserve that..." She stood up, stretched, and started walking away. ~~~ Squiddy walked through the front doors of my library without fully realizing what she was doing. She soon found herself staring at my primary display shelf, currently lined with all eleven books of Songs of the Spheres. "Really!?" she blurted. "You're just going to remind me are you!?" She squirted some ink at the books, plastering them in white that would not be easy to remove. I had a spare bookshelf of course - I teleported the old one out and replaced it in an instant. "While I would love to say this shelf had nothing to do with you, that would be a lie." It was only then that she realized this was my library. "Oh, uh, sorry Twilence, I'll just b-" I lit my horn and locked the front doors, smirking. "It's not that easy, Squiddy." "I don't need this right now..." "Yes you do," I said, tapping the Eye of Rhyme. "It's where this story of yours is going." "I don't have a story." "Yes you do. The camera is on you right now." Squiddy thought about this for a moment, but her depressed demeanor returned in a matter of seconds. "I'm just an example, huh? Of 'what happens to the non-hero'. Great, that makes me feel so much better." "Yes and no," I said with an understanding smile. "You are an example, but you are not a 'non-hero'." I pulled a book out of my shelves and set it on the table. "This book is all about a boy named Harry Potter. I'm sure you've heard of him in one way or another. His story has inspired trillions upon trillions of people the multiverse over. And yet, in all the Songs of the Spheres books, he's never seen. He's implied to exist as part of the USM in a fusion world, and there's a dotted reference here and there. That's it." I looked at her closely. "Does that make him any less of a hero?" Squiddy cocked her head. "I... I guess not. But I was trying to change the multiverse..." "Vita was a small Wolkenritter, a full AI in the TSAB," I continued, laying a book down with her on the cover. "She appeared only a few times in our story to represent another leader of the TSAB. She had an important role - but she had dozens of friends who fought by her side both in our story and in her own. They are never mentioned here, not in the slightest, but you can still see the results of their actions. The TSAB would not have risen to such heights if it had not been for them." "Backstory." "Backstory is just another person's story. We are the backstory for this City. And we are also the backstory for what comes after the Tower. Stories happen in sequence, Squiddy." "But I wasn't a backstory - I was born after Eve found the bowling ball! I've lived my entire life parallel to this story!" "So did the people of the USM. There was a whole lot of complex political debate that led up to their coup in the end. We never got to see any of that - only the results." Squiddy blinked. I could see she was beginning to understand. "...Why?" "Such a vague question... But I know what you mean." I stacked the books together. "Songs of the Spheres... two million words, give or take. So much content is stuffed into these pages. Some of it frivolous - some of it exceptionally important. But even with this many words and details, it is not possible to give every hero in the world a say. There's just not enough time in existence to let everyone's story be played out in these pages. When it tries to tell the entire story, the characters tend to fall to the background in favor of events, nations, and things that make it resonate less with us. There are many times the story feels like it's tearing itself apart at the seams - or scenes - since it's trying to fit so much in. So cuts have to go somewhere." Squiddy fell silent for a moment. I continued. "...There was a lot more stuff that happened in the final chapters of Blood. I saw the original drafts. But the story was too much of a mess with so much exposition and new characters. It was changed. Those things still happened in some form or other, the characters that were 'removed' still did everything they needed to, but they were no longer shown in the story." I looked at her. "...That may have made them less important in the ka of this story. But they had other stories." "I don't have another story, do I?" I raised an eyebrow. "Even the backstory characters have a story to get to where they are. Sometimes that story is more extreme and unpredictable than the 'actual' one... making it more interesting. Or tragic. Regardless, the story still exists." I paused for a moment. "And even if you, by some trick of fate, aren't in the background or backstory flow of ka, you don't have to have a story to be a hero." She looked up at me with wide eyes. "Wait wh-" "Heroes existed before the Tower came into being," I explained. "They were just regular people who did amazing things. Stories exaggerated the traits of heroes into beings like me, but that doesn't change the fact that heroes do exist. You won't be able to notice them by the way they walk, or their unique color palette. You'll only know them by their actions." I looked to her again, locking my eyes with hers. "Did you act as a hero, Squiddy?" "I... Yeah. Yeah I'm pretty sure." "Then you have nothing to worry about." I smiled warmly. "Huh... I... Geez, do you just know the perfect thing to say to everyone?" "I mean, I wouldn't say it was perfect, but I could read the script if I wanted. I haven't for this conversation, by the way." "Huh. Thanks." She smiled awkwardly. "I... Geez, I was really throwing a fit about nothing wasn't I?" "It wasn't nothing. It was about your life and what you had done meant." I winked. "Even if you don't know what meaning is, you still look for it in little ways." "...I should probably go apologize to them." "Yeah." I unlocked the door. She stretched and walked toward the door. "Oh, and one more thing." I threw a book at her. The League of Sweetie Belles, Vol 1. The book featured a bunch of Sweetie Belles on the cover. Including her. "Twilence...?" "Yes?" "Why didn't you start with this!?" "Because you needed to learn a lesson," I said with a coy smirk. "That it didn't matter if you were the ka-hero of a written story or not. It's just a bonus that you are." "You sly little..." "Go. Get back to your friends. I believe they're starting to get worried." Squiddy nodded. She tucked the book under her arm and ran out into the City. I waved as she left, a smile on her face. There was just something... satisfying about seeing her leave with scarcely a hint of the sorrow she had come in with. These powers - as dreadful as they were at times - could do some great good. ~~~ Nettle looked down at Osanna, lying innocently in her crib. She had cried quite a bit when Nettle had left her, but she seemed fine now. "I told you I could take care of her," her husband said, sitting in a nearby chair. "Took a few minutes, but I had her calm and sleeping like a... ...that expression doesn't exactly work..." "I could learn about her," Nettle said, tossing Void onto a nearby table. "I could open these pages and see my future, her future, and probably your future as well. What I become. What she becomes. What story we'll be a part of." Nettle gulped. "Burgerbelle did... things I'm not sure were good, trying to keep me from knowing. Because I wasn't supposed to. And now that I know it exists... the temptation to look is..." She shook her head. "I don't know." Her husband sat up and looked at the book closely. "Do you want to know?" "Yes! No! I don't know! Gah these words are swirling around my head!" She slammed her hands into the railing of the crib, waking Osanna up. She started crying. "Oh, no, nonono, I'm sorry, don't..." Her husband walked up to the crib and began carefully wrapping Osanna's blankets around her in a particular way. Already, he knew what she wanted. The moment the blankets were in the right place, she fell asleep again. "I... I'm so sorry..." tears came to her eyes. "I-" "You're stressed. All you did was wake her up. There's nothing to be ashamed of." "What if I-" "I said there's nothing to be ashamed of." "Look, I s-" "Nothing~!" Nettle found herself laughing. "You're impossible." "It's why you love me." "I... Yeah. Yeah." She shook her head a bit, tossing her hair around. "...What do you think we should do?" "I've got it on good authority that I don't matter enough to have a name in the grand story of things. Keeps me out of the danger loop, apparently. So I don't think I can make this decision. But whatever you decide, I'll stand there with you." "You're being a great help right now." He shrugged. "You're the one who knows all about this stuff." "I've tried to forget..." "Maybe forgetting isn't the answer?" He held up his hands, anticipating a rebuttal. "I'm just asking a question, I have no idea." Nettle looked back and forth from the book to Osanna. Slowly, but firmly, she grabbed hold of Void with her hand and lifted it into the air. "I told myself I'd try to experience everything I could the full way. The human way." She used one of her tendrils to touch the book and burn it to lifeless cinders. "And that involves ignoring this prophecy, or whatever you want to call it. I will discover myself and Osanna as a relationship, not pages in a book. Maybe we are truly nothing more than the marks of ink on those pages... But I won't live like we are." "...That was one of the most certain things I've ever heard you say." "You think so?" "I know so. Though you've returned to your old self, I still see it in you." He clasped her hands in his. "Progress. I can see you changing. And... I like what I see." She smiled warmly. "...I like it too." ~~~ Squiddy found the rest of the book club eating at a diner back in the Sparkle Census. She dramatically dropped The League of Sweetie Belles on the table with a proud smile on her face. Thrackerzod examined the book. "...Huh. You know, I seem to recall someone mentioning this was a thing. Vaguely." "First I've heard of it," Servitude said, running her finger across it. "Where did you find it?" "Twilence," Squiddy said. "So you found your story?" Twitter asked. "That's great!" "Yeah, it is," Squiddy said, scratching the back of her head. "But there's a bit more to it. She also taught me some things and... Well, I'm sorry for stomping out on all of you. Turns out it doesn't really matter if you're the hero in a book or not." She turned to Twitter and GM in particular. "Even if you don't have a story, you could still act like a hero. There's nothing stopping you. And there was nothing stopping me. Even if this book didn't exist. It's... You know what, go talk to Twilence, she can explain it better." "That seems to be one of her gifts," Servitude observed. "Explaining the way of ka and stories." "Her purpose was to understand ka," GM reminded them. "Of course she's good at it. It's essentially her destiny's job description. She can probably argue the opposite side just as well, if she wanted. She knows the ins and outs so well..." "I think that's good," Twitter said. "It... can save the rest of us from a headache." "It can cause existentialism though!" Squiddy said, smirking. "Eeeh... true." "Anyway, I haven't read the book at all," Squiddy said. "I'm not sure I'm going to." "I'm reading it," Thrackerzod said. "So you might as well." "Welp. In that case..." Squiddy slapped her hand on the book. "Guess what we're reading for book club next?" "I will compare every mission you go on to something the Sparkle Census did," Twitter warned. "It'll be a competition." GM groaned. "Ugh, no, not another competition... We're the SSC! Sweetie Sparkle Coalition! We don't compete anymore!" Thrackerzod nodded. "Agreed. That said, I still want to hear every last one of Twitter's mission reports. I will give my own - assuming the ones in the book don't involve me in some way or another." "I think that's you on the cover," Squiddy said, pointing. "Not sure though. There are other Thrackerzods out there." "All inferior." Everyone laughed and rolled their eyes. ~~~ Burgerbelle let out a tear-filled wail. "I'M A HORRIBLE FAILURE OF A FRIEND!" She shoved an entire scoop of ice cream into her mouth, thankful the brain freeze was keeping her from wallowing too deeply in her sad state. "Aw, darling, it's okay, it's okay, here, have some more." Mattie pulled another gallon of ice cream from her freezer and gave it to Burgerbelle. Then she turned back to her almost-empty freezer. "Geez, she's taxin' my emergency supply... Ravenous little b-" The Everykid put her hands on her hips and shook her head in disapproval. "What? She is eating a lot!" The Everykid facepalmed. Burgerbelle was still bawling and missed the entire exchange. She somewhat greedily wrapped her hands around the new delivery of ice cream and began shoveling it into her face with a blue pixelated shovel. "The memes run so deep she can pull them out without thinking..." Mattie observed, furrowing her brow. The Everykid clearly thought Mattie was missing the point of this exercise so she shook her head and gave Burgerbelle a hug. Burgerbelle moaned. "I... I don't deserve this..." The Everykid squeezed tighter. "I'm... I tried too hard... I was too..." Tighter... "OW!" The Everykid was pushed off Burgerbelle with an involuntary kick. She hit the opposite wall somewhat painfully. Burgerbelle took one look at the dazed Everykid and began unleashing a whole new level of tears - enough to start flooding Mattie's house. "Oh for my flank's sake, this is going to take forever to clean up!" The Everykid made the 'magic' gesture. "Well, uh, yes, I suppose..." The Everykid raised an eyebrow. "I'm just waiting for the key event of the scene to play out, can you blame me?" The Everykid nodded. "Fine, I'll apologize for being rude after it's over, happy?" The Everykid shrugged and returned to Burgerbelle, patting her gently on the back. This got her to stop the excessive 'waterfall of tears' gag; returning her to a normal, healthy amount of crying. Depending on one's definition of 'healthy'. There was a knock at the door. "Ah, there it is," Mattie said, trotting over to the door and opening it. "Hello, Nettle, what a coincidence!" The Everykid double facepalmed and shook her head. "Coincidence?" Nettle asked, blinking. "What do y-" "Don't look at me! I'm hideous!" Burgerbelle shouted, waving her arms frantically. She summoned a burger and put it in front of her face, as if it would hide her from the judging gaze of Nettle. Pure wishful thinking. Nettle let out a long, drawn out sigh. "I think... I think I understand why you did what you did. You were trying to protect me. Keep me from making a decision that would be... wrong, or something. I think you... let yourself get worked up about it and ended up in a nearly unending spiral of self-inflicted insanity. My presence... clearly didn't help things. It only made them worse. I'm still upset. You lied, ran, hid, and did so many of the things I learned not to do from you." Burgerbelle started bawling again. Nettle visibly winced, but forged on. "It... It was a bad day for you, I can tell. I... I didn't see what was bothering you, and trusted my own conclusions again. I shouldn't have. They made me unfairly angry, and I'm sorry. And I forgive you too. That's... That's right, right?" Burgerbelle couldn't formulate a response. "...For what it's worth, I burned the book. I didn't look into it. I'm never going to look into it, and I don't want to know any of the secrets it contains. I'm done being the all-knowing jellyfish monster. I'm something lesser now. And that is what I needed to be from day one, I just didn't know it." She walked up to Burgerbelle and put a hand on her small, young head. "...I know this is too much for you right now. You're still not in 'balance'... I think that's what you said earlier. I'll be available whenever you feel up to the task. But for now... I'll go, and leave you alone. Let you sort yourself out. You clearly need the space." Wiping a tear from her eye, she walked out the door and vanished. "Geez louise, that was heavy," Mattie commented. The Everykid looked at the place Nettle had been with a confused expression on her face. She wasn't sure what exactly to make of what had just happened. It didn't really seem like there had been any reconciliation there. But in Burgerbelle's mind, there had. Slowly but surely, a smile began to crawl up her face. She let out a short, innocent sounding chuckle. "She... she gets it. She finally got something I didn't. We don't need to be worried about her anymore." Her giggling continued until it became guffaws and she was rolling on the floor, laughing. "...I wonder if you can be diagnosed with a condition..." Mattie pondered. The Everykid slapped her. "Oh, balls." Mattie groaned, recognizing her continued tactless stupidity. "Dear, terribly sorry, I seem to have entered one of my 'inconsiderate' moods. Again. ...For an extended time." She paused. "...You're not listening." Burgerbelle was not listening. She was rolling back and forth on the floor with a smile on her face. Tomorrow, she would go talk to White Nettle. And then things would go back to normal. But as far as we're concerned, their little story ends here.
Songs of the Spheres	149 - Our Story	O'Neill was 'outside' in Nanoha's garden, engaging in the manliest of all cooking activities: grilling. At least that's what he told himself, though he knew full well there were battle-chefs in other universes. For the normal person, grilling was the man's expression of flavor. Or maybe he was just grilling because he liked to do it, he didn't know. His life was so laid-back these days he didn't really mind all that much that he didn't. Just another curious little aspect of existence that found its way into his mind and - crap he was burning the hot dogs. He whisked them off the grill with Crimson Sushi, grateful his Stand was temperature resistant. He ran to a small picnic table where his wife, Nanoha O'Neill, sat alongside their guest, Flutterfree. The pegasus and the mage examined the smoking meat products with curious expressions. "Where'd your mind go this time?" Nanoha asked, a smile forming on her face. "The masculinity of grilling, believe it or not," O'Neill said, sitting down. Flutterfree stifled a chuckle. O'Neill rolled his eyes. "I would offer to go make more, but I just happen to know of a certain spell..." He glanced at Nanoha. As Nanoha focused a magic spell in her fingertips, Flutterfree turned to O'Neill with a cocky smile. "So, how many times has this happened?" "...Some..." Nanoha smirked as she transformed the hot dogs into a perfectly-cooked state. "Oh, enough that I have this spell on speed-dial." Flutterfree's grin widened. "Cooking problem?" "Hey, I'm an excellent chef!" O'Neill said. "I just get lost in thought some of the time. Most of the time." "He is better at the culinary arts than I am," Nanoha added. Flutterfree pointed at the perfect hot dogs with her wing. "I'm pretty sure that's just me cheating. I could make just about any food perfect without even cooking, but where's the fun in that? It's useful for eating on the run, not much else." "Food is magic, magic is friendship, friendship is food," O'Neill said, drawing a triangle in the air. "Can you eat friendship...?" Flutterfree wondered. "Some of the Blood Skaians could," O'Neill answered. "It was... something, to say the least." "Oh, now you've got to describe it!" The meal conversation continued - for Nanoha and O'Neill, it was lunch, but for Flutterfree it was dinner. They talked, laughed, and just spent time enjoying each others' company. Such things were commonplace among their collective social network. The City just seemed eager to give them time to bond with each other in any way possible. Flutterfree had rarely been on a mission that lasted more than one day since she started working again, and virtually everyone else she knew had a relaxed schedule that could be moved around or already had holes cut into it for friends. Flutterfree hadn't fully believed Renee when she'd told them this would be a time of healing at first. She did now. "So, O'Neill, how's that movie reviewing business going?" Flutterfree asked. O'Neill's smile faltered. "Ah... that..." He leaned forward and set his jaw. "Most of the time it's great. Go watch a movie, talk about it, get feedback. But with the recent boom of 'historical' films I'm expected to go watch them and tell everyone how accurate they were. This didn't used to be a problem - Shutterstock's stuff was mostly good - but now everyone wants in on the business. It's gotten so saturated that Shutterstock's stopped making those kinds of movies, leaving only the table scraps worthy of the dogs." He put a hand to the bridge of his nose. "They mess with the story, add plots that didn't exist, get things wrong, spread misinformation, and throw in cliche cheesy lines that were even more ridiculous than the things actually said!" "...Wow." Flutterfree blinked. "I haven't been to the theater much so... I didn't know about this." "You think they'd be able to make good movies out of stories that already exist," O'Neill said, feeling a need to point at his Songs of the Spheres books, but they unfortunately weren't in the garden, leaving him without an aid to his rant. "But they don't! They make sub-standard unimaginative cash-grab movies meant to flash into existence and then fizzle out like a disease-ridden cherry bomb!" Flutterfree raised an incredulous eyebrow at his interesting simile. "I know, it doesn't work, but the point's the same. They don't know how to do it and I end up seeing a lot of really low-tier movies because that's what's expected of me. It's pretty disappointing to see something you like being run through the mud." "Could you fix it?" Flutterfree asked. O'Neill shook his head. "I don't make movies." "Could you?" Flutterfree asked. "I know you're retired, but maybe you could make one movie just to show people how it's done?" Nanoha blinked. "That is an idea. You're well known as a critic, you could probably get people on board easily. Friends, people in the movie industry..." "Crazy," O'Neill said, waving a hand dismissively. "I don't know the first thing about movie production... Except I watched Shutterstock that one time... And I read a lot about them for my reviews... And I have access to easy interviews..." He lowered his hand, blinking. "...It might actually be possible. Huh." Flutterfree pulled out her phone. "I could call Eve, see if she could give us some help." "Do that," O'Neill said, standing up. "We'll need a scriptwriter above all else, someone who can write well and understand the magnitude of the story we're trying to tell... We'll need a studio, and lots of people..." "It'd take a lot of planning," Nanoha said. "If we want to actually tell our story, we have to involve everyone we can to get the best picture - including the material from the books and from our minds. Everything." O'Neill rubbed his hands together. "Yes... Yes this will be excellent. We can tell our story for ourselves. It'll be better for everyone and everything involved. Ha-ha! Let's start grabbing people!" ~~~ "I am not writing your movie script," I said the moment they arrived at my library. "...Why not?" O'Neill asked. Nanoha and Flutterfree were still with him. They had been joined by Corona and Eve on the way here through a series of phone calls and over-excited conversations. "Lots of reasons. Most of all, I just really don't want to. I know there's no chance the story ends up being Prophet-realized, which is good, but I'd frankly rather work on my original works than retelling a story that already has a million adaptations out there." "But they all suck!" Corona said, waving her hands. "I haven't seen a good one released in two years!" "We've only been in the New World for a little over four, Corona," I reminded her. "That is really not much time." Eve blinked. "...Sure we can't convince you?" "Absolutely sure," I said, ruffling my wings. "I've got other things I'm working on, and while I could write your movie script, my heart just wouldn't be in it. That story's passed. Honestly, it's time to let it go." "It's not like you to hold such a strong opinion like this," Flutterfree observed. "Good eye," I said. "It'll make more sense at the end of the chapter." "...Should I be worried?" I shook my head. "No. Not for me, anyway. I'll just warn you that this little endeavor of yours isn't going to be as simple as you think it's going to be." I smiled and waved at them. "Good luck!" I closed the door. Eve blinked. "...Do we know any other authors?" "GM," Nanoha suggested. "I don't think he'd appreciate being bothered." "I can actually try Shutterstock," O'Neill realized. "He might listen to me if we offer him access to all of us..." "Sweetening the deal, I like it," Corona said, rubbing her hands together. "We're gonna show them what really happened whether they like it or not!" "I doubt this will stop them from putting graffiti on your workshop," Nanoha pointed out. Corona blinked. "...Am I getting a little too gung-ho about this?" O'Neill shrugged. "You have only known about this for half an hour." "Might want to invest in some chillaxitives," Flutterfree suggested with an innocent smile. "Funny," Corona deadpanned, locking her arms behind her back. "I'll try to calm down. I'm just... it feels like this is an opportunity to tell the story from my point of view." "Technically around half of the scenes in Doom are your scenes," Eve pointed out. "True... but there's always stuff the book leaves out. We could work with that." Nanoha spread out her hands. "...I'm ready to take us to Shutterstock. Everyone good?" Everyone nodded. In an instant, they were at Shutterstock's lavish house made completely out of white marble, as far as anyone could tell from looking at it anyway. O'Neill knocked on the door. Shutterstock, movie director, opened the door with a bored expression. "...Are you finally here to complain about the modern state of movies?" "Been expecting this visit?" O'Neill asked. Shutterstock nodded. "I watch your reviews closely. I can sense when someone's getting fed up. I'm going to save you the embarrassment of asking: no, I will not direct or write your movie, no matter how much you give me that will scratch my itch for historic adventures." "...Today must be the shut down day," Flutterfree said. Shutterstock continued. "However, if you do insist on making it, if you give me access to all the information and interviews you have, you can use my studios. It'll save you the trouble of building things up from scratch." "That's something, at least," Corona said. "Thanks." Shutterstock looked at her like he wasn't quite sure what to make of her presence. "It is what I feel I can do while staying true to myself. Come back when you actually have a plan." He closed the door. "Is it just me or are people being a little rude today?" Eve asked. "Blame the Tower," O'Neill suggested. Flutterfree put a hoof to her chin. "I might have an idea... Rev's written several books in her time." Nanoha blinked. "She has?" Flutterfree nodded. "Lots of them are philosophy, theology, and apologetics, but she also does nonfiction." "I don't know, a new writer seems chancy..." O'Neill said. "Maybe. But if she won't do it, she might be able to find someone else. She's good at that sort of thing." Flutterfree pulled out her phone and dialed. "I might have a few patients..." Eve mused. "Not sure I'd trust any of them to write our story though." "Hey, Rev?" Flutterfree said, phone to her ear. "How's it going? Oh, that's wonderful! Yes, that's always good. Yeah, I am calling for a reason. We're thinking about making a movie about our story - one that we all help make so it can be done right and honestly. Twilence and Shutterstock have turned down the writer positions, and I was wondering if you might... No? Oh, okay..." The group sagged in defeat. "Hmm?" Flutterfree said, ears perking up. "You say you might have an idea though? ...Trixie!?" "...I need to hear the other half of this conversation," O'Neill said, blinking. Flutterfree ignored him. "I mean... Are you sure? Really? She can? Huh. Can't say I expected that... Yeah, I'll call her. Right now actually. Goodbye!" She hung up and turned to the group. "Please tell me it isn't Trixie," Corona said. "Well... no," Flutterfree said. "But Trixie has someone mysterious writing the stories to her games. They've been really good and well thought out, according to Rev." Corona nodded in agreement. "They... are pretty interesting." "Rev thinks we could probably ask Trixie for a meeting with this... person. I think it's worth checking out." O'Neill shrugged. "I don't see why not." ~~~ "So then Trixie tells her 'I know a guy' and apparently she spills the beans to the first pony to ask!" Trixie complained as she led O'Neill's group through the City's underground. They were sometimes called the catacombs, but the metallic underbelly of the City was generally really clean and well inhabited, just not as open as the surface. "It seems like she was supposed to tell us," Flutterfree pointed out. "I wouldn't be mad at her." "Trixie knows! Is it impossible to keep secrets in this day and age!?" Eve nodded. "Yes. Yes it is. Have you read Rage? Take a look at that miserable purple pony pile of mistakes and secrets all aired out for everyone to see." "Fine, whatever, Trixie's just looking forward to the day when secrets can stay secrets. Trixie is tired of thinking she's always being watched." "You are always being watched," Corona said. "If not by an audience, then the Tower." "Trixie is trying to stay in denial!" She adjusted her glasses as if this were a profound statement everyone should take notes on. Flutterfree rolled her eyes. "Denial is not a healthy state." "It's not even a state at all!" Pinkie said, appearing from nowhere. "It's a river, silly!" Only Trixie was surprised by her sudden presence. "WAHAAHAGH. Why do you do that!?" "Because it's fun!" Pinkie said, giving Trixie a consolation cupcake. "Do you know what we're doing here?" Eve asked Pinkie. "Yep! Off to see the mysterious writer for Trixie's games! I can't wait to figure out who it is! ...Nobody else cares all that much, but I do!" "I didn't even know she had a secret writer until today," O'Neill commented. "Times are changing, General!" Pinkie put a clown nose on him. "Just go with the flow and limbo!" Nanoha realized she was holding Raising Heart like a limbo rod. She shook her head and returned the device to its necklace form. Trixie grunted. "Well, we're here." She stood still and faced a completely blank wall. "Trixie bets you're wondering why there doesn't appear to be anything here? We-" Flutterfree activated Lolo and revealed a part of the wall that wasn't tangible. "...You take the fun out of everything." "I thought that was me?" Pinkie asked. "You put so much 'fun' into things they die in an agonizing explosion." Pinkie cocked her head. "Huh... Sure, I guess that works. Sorta." She shrugged and bounced through the intangible area of the wall, followed by all the others. They soon arrived in a greenish cathedral-like room covered in mixed spirograph and vine-like designs. "...Is the writer a Lolo worshipper?" Flutterfree asked. Trixie laughed. "No. She just likes the aesthetic here." It is more than that, a soft, feminine voice said, entering their minds. It is a legacy of what my people once were. A Flower descended from the ceiling. She was a small member of her people, barely larger than an average human, but her grace was evident as she gently floated through the air. Her petals were simple and white while her stalks were a dark black. Lolo's visual design and purpose is related to us, as we are related to the Tower. The spirograph is the head of a Flower, and the vines are the connections of ka. In a similar manner, our heads are reminiscent of the interweaving nature of universes surrounding the Dark Tower. Or, it was - now we are symbols without a place, lacking a purpose. "Say hello to Moly," Trixie said, holding out a hoof. "She writes good game plots." It is the new purpose I have found myself within this New World, following the loss of... the Flowers. I already know why you are here - to ask me to write your movie. And I will accept this task, and I will not even demand payment, though you will insist upon it. She paused a moment. I do this to forge a new image for the Flowers. To forget what we once were, the mistake we defined our whole existence on. Eve looked at her with sad eyes. "I... I've been wondering about that. You were neutral throughout the entire war, and then near the end you acted, then... then you all seemed to change." "What happened to you?" Pinkie asked. Moly thought about this for a moment. We, as a culture, pushed towards one goal - the erasure of glitches in ka. Things that should not be, that which took unfair advantage of ka, the destruction of a good Narrative. We were the enemy of Mary Sues, Bad Slash, Horrendous Crossovers, and a number of other things. We kept the multiverse of a higher quality, and we were certain that was the way things were meant to be. The Dark Tower was but a machine, a machine that made mistakes and needed help to clean up the mess. We were the help. We made ourselves the immune system of the Multiverse. People have called it a religion. Maybe it was, but it was a religion where our 'god' was dependent on us. Without us, the multiverse would consume itself. ...Or that's what we thought. We always dismissed the idea that the glitches were intentional, always thought they couldn't be part of the true Story, the true will of the Tower. But as the War for Existence carried on, we started to notice things. A few of the 'glitches' had been deeply incorporated into the story. Monika should never have existed in the form she does now, but she became integral to so much of the plot. There were many Mary Sues fighting in wars against each other, turning the tides. And we slowly got a nagging doubt in our minds. The Tower was letting existence decide if ka was to continue or to end. And if the Tower was able to factor the glitches into account in that decision where it could not allow itself to have doubts... It was not the first piece of evidence that the glitches might be intentional. But it was the one that finally made us doubt. So we decided to take action - to create a being that would be able to tell us what the Dark Tower thought. There was hesitation at first, belief that this was blasphemy, but we were eventually able to prove to ourselves that this was what ka 'wanted'. So we created the Emissary, and... that was the end for us. With the collapse, the things we knew she stood for, and... She had to stop herself. She proved that the glitches in the Dark Tower were not glitches. They were intentional. We had not been providing any boon to the thing we had served our whole lives, we were just filling a role it had set out. The Dark Tower did not need us for anything. And this... is what drove most of us to do the things we did. The destruction, the attacks, the cults, the... All the abhorrent things. We wanted the Tower to notice us, to take us back, to elevate us to where we once were. This did not happen. We completely collapsed and ruined our good name among the people of the City. Her petals rustled in the breeze. That is what happened to us. Eve frowned. "...I'm so sorry." "...You're hired," O'Neill added. Thank you. It would be my honor to set things right for the few of my people who will accept a truly new way of life. ~~~ "Okay, so, before we can actually begin any sort of production, we need to collect all the information we can," Nanoha addressed the meeting. The group had already grown significantly since the day before: the rest of Pinkie's Party had come, as well as Thrackerzod, Burgerbelle, Rev, and Roxy. Naturally, Moly was there as well, levitating dozens of physical paper sheets in front of her, studying them. "What's the plan?" Roxy asked. Nanoha laid the eleven books of Songs of the Spheres on the table. "These books are our primary source material, along with the memories we have in our heads. We need to reconcile the two together to see what we can really say about what happened. Everyone's read these, right?" Everyone nodded - but Burgerbelle raised her hand. "Yes?" Burgerbelle smiled innocently. "There is no way any of us have all two million words memorized." "We'll have time," Eve said. "There isn't actually a deadline yet - we can avoid hiring actors and doing any actual set design or other similar things until we actually have a good idea of the story we're going to tell." "We do have a general idea of what's in the books, though," Rev said. "But the book is very episodic. We want to tell it as one story, right?" "We can't make over a hundred episodes without burning out," O'Neill agreed. "Right. So we have a long movie - maybe more than one long movie - but it won't be a full-blown adaptation of these books. We will have to shrink it down a bit." Rev pulled the books in and examined them. "Cut them down to the most important events, and find characters to focus on." "Careful, this is why everyone else screws up." Rev nodded. "I'm aware. In the interests of making things manageable, condensing often removes important details. ...Though that's no excuse for adding things." A balance would be choosing a few characters and events to focus on heavily while relegating everything else to a hyper-realistic background, Moly suggested. "Referential!" Burgerbelle said, bouncing a green soccer ball on her head. "Kind of like the books themselves. There's more references than soup at the soup store!" "I need a bingo card for you," Pinkie observed. "Thanks!" Pinkie giggled. "It could work, but we'd need to decide who to focus on, who's going to carry the story," Nanoha said. "While clearly Merodi Universalis is the protagonist civilization..." "...to the surprise of absolutely nobody..." Vriska inserted. "...the character we focus on is... problematic." Nanoha folded her hands together. "There is not a clear protagonist. Corona and Eve are important figures, but the day-to-day adventures regularly focused on Pinkie's or Allure's group more." "Eve, first character we see, important to the very end," Corona said. "Corona," Eve countered with a sly smile. "She's the one the audience needs to see as sympathetic. My stance is easy to understand, hers isn't." "Deuteragonists," Rev suggested. "Have them both be the focus." "Eh... Problem," Roxy said, tilting her hand side to side. "I've read the books and the histories. Their stories didn't intersect all that much - they went on largely different paths until the war started. They were often both important to a given event, but... you know what I'm saying." Rev pondered. "True... Trying to keep up a parallelism over a shorter timeframe would be difficult..." "What about me?" Pinkie said. "Me and my team did a lot through most of it! Can we work?" Nanoha furrowed her brow. "Maybe... You did have a role at the climax... A lot of mixed characters involved..." "But she wasn't as important near the end," Corona said. "No offense Pinkie, but you were just... there. " "We could still focus on her," Flutterfree retorted. "There's a story there." "But is it the story?" Roxy asked. "Is she really the story?" "We can't tell the whole story. Just look at chapter 115," Rev pointed out. "What about Allure?" Burgerbelle asked. "We can't forget her!" "She wasn't here for the end..." "What if the climax of the war was the end?" "That's a downer end to a movie," O'Neill said. "Which is why Pinkie should be our focus," Nanoha said. "No, Corona," Eve said. "Her story has yet to really be told outside this book that everyone treats like the plague." "You're the hero of the Merodi!" Corona countered. "You deserve this!" "Not really?" "I can trade up my protagonist spot if you want," Pinkie suggested. "I don't mind letting others have it." "That's not the point," Rev said. "The point i-" "OH FOR THE LOVE OF MY BEARD!" Discord shouted, appearing in a flash of light above them. "You all sound like nagging birds that can't make up their mind about which branch is the most comfortable! Let me fix this!" He snapped his fingers, dropping Eve, Corona, Pinkie, and Thrackerzod into a boxing ring. Discord tapped Thrackerzod's horn to make it shiny and silver. "There, now the four of you can resolve this the old-fashioned way! With boxing gloves!" Thrackerzod stared at her silvery horn. For a moment, she looked like she would be able to handle it. Then she broke down on the floor of the boxing ring, ramming her hoof into the ground in anger, dark tears falling from her eyes. Discord's grin vanished. He snapped his fingers, returning the room to normal. There was a dark, somber air over the room now. "...We should take a break," Nanoha said. "We don't need to make monumental decisions right now. We can just figure out what kind of things we want to show. ...Later. Let's leave the protagonist debate for another time." Nobody argued. ~~~ Corona, Pinkie, and Eve sat in a reading room Eve had in her house. All three of them were looking through different books of Songs of the Spheres. "...You know, I'm noticing something weird," Eve said, putting down Life. "I... I read a lot of things about what my other self has done, and I find myself disagreeing with the way some of my thoughts are portrayed. The book is so matter-of-fact and blunt sometimes. I know I wasn't that angry, or didn't really have that thought... Not to mention sometimes I see parts of the narration where I'm not sure if they're my thoughts or GM's or the Tower's or Twilence's." She placed the book down. "I see things that I did, but I'm not sure they're depicted right." "That might be your fault, not the book's," Corona said, putting down Blood. "Take a look at Topeka, for instance. That entire story is all devoted to me and my running around a dream world. There are times where I see myself in it, and then there's moments where I'm doing things I don't remember. I mean, apparently I re-create Sparkler in my dreams now. I didn't remember that at all, but Raging Sights was able to confirm that I do have her in my dreams regularly." She furrowed her brow. "These books are more reliable than our memories." "But... I'm sure I didn't!" Pinkie poked her head into the conversation. "I can tell you that there was a disaster in your childhood and you'll make a false memory about it, easy. Also, Eve, you were the one who told me witness testimony wasn't reliable because memories aren't anywhere near as accurate as we claim they are." Eve blinked. "Is... is it possible we're getting upset at the movies for no good reason? Maybe they are following the books well, and it's our memories of the events that are off." She held up a book and flipped to a section in Void where she was confronting Corona. "I remember this event very well... But when I read it, it doesn't feel like me in there. Elsewhere it does, but otherwise..." "We've got two possibilities," Corona said. "The books are imperfect, which is pretty likely considering how many GMs there were, or our memories are imperfect, which is also pretty likely given how brains and psychology works." "And the answer's different for every sentence we read!" Pinkie said with a giggle. "Isn't that interesting?" "It's kind of terrifying, honestly. Can't even trust ourselves. We change too much over time, anyway." Pinkie shrugged. "Eh, I've got other things I worry about. Like, what does it mean if you're an actor playing an Aware character? You wave at the camera, but if you're not Aware it isn't real, but if you're me you usually can see the people watching on some level. Is there a difference if the movie exists in the same reality or not? Can there be a difference? Am I a double meta-character!?" Corona put a hand to the bridge of her nose. "...Twilence wasn't kidding, this is going to be really, really complicated." "No, really," Eve deadpanned. "We can't even agree with each other, much less the book. It's hard enough to read about things you're ashamed of, it's worse to feel accused of thinking things you're sure you're didn't. But then you can't be sure." She slammed her head into the book. "Uuuuuugh..." Pinkie patted her on the back. "There there... It'll be fine. We'll get this!" "You sure about that?" "Nope! But it's not like this is some end-of-the-world scenario or anything." Pinkie smiled brightly. "Just keep plugging away at it - we'll get some inspiration eventually." "You know, I got called an angel and worshipped a lot, but it's not mentioned very often in the books," Corona said. Eve and Pinkie stared at her. "What? It's just something I realized!" "It came out of nowhere," Eve said, blinking. "My mind went deep, deep into left field for some reason." Corona shrugged. ~~~ Nanoha got the brilliant idea that maybe the powerful story of romance could be used to help sort out some of the confusion in what they were trying to do. The story wouldn't work centered around that, clearly not, but perhaps it could form a framework. So she started interviewing everyone about their relationship with the topic. This was widely considered a silly and ill-conceived plan, but she did it anyway. "So, tell me about your love life," Nanoha said. Eve raised an eyebrow. "I have had virtually no romantic attraction to any being aside from that one time I was a human and got filled with intense hormone imbalance. Even then, technically that wasn't me, so you can write it down as completely nonexistent." "No suitors?" "Of course I had suitors. I ignored all of them. Flutterfree provided me with all the support I needed and my other friends made up the rest. Perhaps you should consider looking at close friendships instead?" There was no gold there, so Corona was next. "I mean, I dated several guys as both a human, a unicorn, and as what I am now. ...I never did give this form a name, huh? Weird, when you think about it. Anyway, none of them ever stuck around for very long. There were some fun nights, there were some not-so-fun nights, and eventually I just stopped trying all that hard. Now, if Eve wasn't completely devoid of any drive... Well, you fill in the blank there." "You were interested?" Corona shrugged. "Occasionally? Never got to the point of Lady Rarity's crush on me though. We ended that quickly, so again, doesn't really help you." She paused. "...I don't know if Lady Rarity survived the Dusting or not..." Moving down the list, Nanoha started working with Pinkie's Party. "I had a fling," Pinkie said. "Okay, I had a few, but there was only one that actually mattered. And guess what? The Tower was nice enough to keep it private! Shocker!" "...I miss Hastur," Vriska said with a sigh. "You... You probably can't make a big story out of that, but I do want... I don't know. Just remember that he existed, okay?" "I'm a virgin," Flutterfree said with an awkward smile. "Never really got into anything. I was lucky enough to always avoid the tentacle monsters. By the time I was really confident enough to genuinely start exploring, well, life had taken an adventurous turn and I found that was enough. The church too. Sorry to disappoint you." "I was married to the best woman in existence," Jotaro said. "I had to learn to love and appreciate her when Eve first came to me. And now... she's gone." That was all he had to say. Pidge blinked. "I don't even know why I'm here. I mean, sure, I've liked a few guys and, er, have crushes and stuff here and there, but I came in really late so it doesn't really matter what my experiences were. So, uh, I'll talk about Nova instead. She... well, read the books. She had troubles with romance, something terrible. She was basically the only one of the old team that really 'fell' for people while out adventuring, and... yeah. ...You probably want to focus more on Renee and Daniel for a feel-good sort of thing. Of course that ends in tragedy..." Nanoha was slightly annoyed that Renee and Daniel were the best relationship so far - and it was one that ended in some pretty hefty tragedy. She could work with that, yes, but would it really be able to represent the story? "I had nothing," Thrackerzod said. "Squeaky had a family she kept out of everything she did. And go read about the whole 69 chapter again, get it into your head what Allure thought of romance. She loved Minna, and that was it, end of story. I'm leaving now." "Do you really need me to answer?" O'Neill asked with a coy smile. "Ah... no," Nanoha admitted, blushing. "Just called you in so the others wouldn't complain." She was starting to think she really was grasping at straws. Romance simply didn't seem to drive the plot. Why would it? It didn't have to. Her own story hadn't cared too much for it. It had just seemed like such an important thing... It's a powerful story, Moly told her, after she had gone through many, many interviews. Romance comes not only from an internal biological drive, but a higher drive for companionship and deep interaction. It was one of the most easily 'corruptible' things in the multiverse. Starbeat is, believe it or not, an expert on the subject. You should talk to her. So Nanoha did. "I like how it's portrayed," Starbeat said, pointing at Space. "It's shown to really exist in a few cases - Renee and Daniel most prominently - but a lot of the time it's treated as an oversaturation. Which... it is. One of the many things we screwed up with ka is romance in general. Walk around a 2000s Earth, you'll see the 'ideal' plastered on every billboard and magazine imaginable. Romance, romance, romance, pleasure, pleasure, pleasure, sex, sex, sex. A lot of people think the unintended consequences of time travel or grimdark are the worst curses ka has laid on us... But I think the cheap, fantasy-filled way it treats romance is the real tragedy. The majority of flings are trivial, rushed, and treat biologically driven lust as the cusp of romantic meaning. I... It may seem odd that I, the person who's experienced the most tar in a romantic sense, feel this way. Maybe it's just because I've hit rock bottom in terms of romance that I can say I know what I'm missing." "...Starbeat, are you...?" "Don't second-guess your relationship with O'Neill, Nanoha. I don't know if it's ka-forced in a natural or unnatural feel-good way. Keep close and hold onto it - and when the Tower falls, if you keep it, you'll know it was really real." She paused for a moment. "I wonder how many shallow 'happily ever afters' are going to be shattered by the Tower's fall. On one hoof, it won't be an imitation anymore. It will allow people to realize that life never really ends and that there's always room to grow and develop relationships... On the other, it can be said that an imitation is better than nothing." Nanoha's frown deepened. "I'm sorry." Starbeat wiped a tear from her eye. "Yeah..." She glanced at Space. "...I was an idiot. I saw him and I let it happen." "We've all been idiots." "I really hope you're not." Nanoha smiled and pulled Starbeat into a hug. That was the last interview Nanoha performed on romance. ~~~ "I can't believe I'm saying this, but remind me of the history," O'Neill said as he paced back and forth in front of a giant chalkboard covered in sticky notes, colored lines, and photographs. Flutterfree furrowed her brow. "Which part? Whole multiverse? The books? Just the war?" "It would be... good, I think, if we could condense it to just the events that led up to the war and the war itself. So... work backwards?" An Aradia they had brought on to consult chuckled. "Going backwards? Count me in!" O'Neill started to pace around the room. "So if we take Corona's message as the start of the war, what led up to that?" "Immediately before it was her studies of the Dark Tower," Aradia said. "...Actually, you could just ask her." Corona was walking by with a half-eaten piece of toast in her mouth and a very complicated looking device of wires and sparks in her hand. "Mmm?" "Trying to trace things back to make it organized," O'Neill said, wiping clear an area of the whiteboard that was nothing more than 'how ka works: the bad flow chart'. "Come in, have a seat." Corona used her magic to levitate the toast out of her mouth and seal the device in one of the strongest seals she knew. "Sure!" She sat down, putting another protective spell on the device just for good measure. "...Do you need to deal with that?" Flutterfree asked. "What? No, it won't explode now, and even if it does we're all safe." She added another layer of shield. "...Uh-huh." O'Neill wrote the Message on the board. "Right, so, Corona, what major event led directly to the Message?" "My conversation with my friends. ...Most of whom I don't know the final fate of. Lady Rarity... Sugarcoat... Nae... Ash... No idea." O'Neill scribbled a few things. "And before that..." "My research at the Tower," Corona said, summoning Void to her. She flipped through a few pages. "And that was brought on, in a direct sense, by Nettle's attempts to take the Tower for herself with the first side of the Choice." "And now we have a branch," Aradia said. "We could follow Corona, Nettle, or the Choice prophecy itself." O'Neill drew three lines. "Okay..." "The Choice itself leads directly back to the early days of the Tower and the Tower's Testament," Aradia added, thinking for a bit. "I'm not sure where it came from, but it didn't exist in the days of Roland. So... Big question mark there." "Might it have come from the Prognosticus?" Flutterfree asked. "Testament is older than that. Pre-Downstreamer." "That's a dead end," O'Neill said, drawing a square there. "Nettle... Trace her back... To the Beyond?" "Don't forget her attempt on the Spline," Corona said. "That was... a fun day for Jotaro." "Okay, so, Spline, Beyond, both ancient constructs that the show won't be concerned with. But Nettle herself came from the Downstreamers as they fell trying to create infinity... stopped by the Spline." O'Neill paused. "I'd never realized that before." "It is pretty complicated," Corona admitted. "Not too bad, though. That ties itself up nicely - actually, wait, we have to tie it in to Flagg, he brought the Downstreamers to their knees. Which, by relation, ties us all the way back to Roland's legend..." She waved her hands. "We can gloss over that. Nettle can be seen as the higher-entity messing with things in the movie, perhaps a sympathetic villain type? But she only really fills that some of the time..." "We're just trying to make sense of this whole line of events," Flutterfree said. "No need to think of character archetypes because... That went really well last time." Corona shook her head. "Sure. What's next?" "You," O'Neill said, drawing a circle around Corona's name. "What prepared you for the collapse?" Corona looked at her hands and forced herself to focus. "There... were several steps. I'd been very dissatisfied with the way the world was... The Shaping Mechanism was in my control, and I was taught how to shape universes and dance around with trillions of lives, but at that point I was basically already ready. It..." She put a hand to the bridge of her nose. "I'd cite Topeka as my turning point, but I could also cite my war on death, or just being the Rogue of Doom." O'Neill drew out four lines - Shaping Mechanism, Topeka, war on death, Rogue of Doom. "...Geez..." "Yeah, geez is right," Flutterfree said. "The Shaping Mechanism requires you understand the entire war with Skarn, and the Rogue of Doom aspect is... well, let's just say that while I was living that Green Sun thing I felt like I was being fed too much information. And at that point I was pretty good at taking information in on the fly." "Don't I know it," O'Neill said. "And Topeka... To our history, it's very unimportant. For you it's very important. But Topeka has virtually nothing to do with any of the rest of us... It was just you." Corona nodded. "Flagg was there, to some extent." She put a hand to her forehead. "This is all a bit much for a movie... Even a trilogy. You'd have to do it just on me and... I really don't want that. ...It's also more than a little hard to think back to all those times. People died. People I knew well. People you knew well." She leaned back in her chair and let out a sigh. Something exploded inside her triple-magic shield, but nobody cared. O'Neill drew a bunch of lines to a single point and wrote 'it's complicated'. ~~~ Nanoha decided there was a better interview she could perform. There was one very important viewpoint to the story of their story she couldn't get directly. That of the lost protagonist. "What did Allure mean to you?" she asked. Burgerbelle furrowed her brow. "You know, back when I first entered the League - and was still a Flat - I don't think my higher intelligence was that... 'developed' let's say." She went to one side of the room, stooping like a monkey, then slowly walked to the other end straightening until she stood upright. "I was literally just a meme at the start. There wasn't even the cute, childish anything back then, it was just 'burger' and 'burger' and 'more burger'. By the time I really had the ability to think much outside of that, I was... Well, I was already very comfortable with the whole League. I don't remember what it was like to be taken under Allure and the others' care, because as far as most of me is concerned that's how it's always been." She shrugged. "What did she mean to you then?" "She was... Well, nobody said she was the leader, but she was. She wasn't the smartest, wasn't the strongest, and wasn't the friendliest of all Sweeties... But there was something about her that fit the 'middle'. You know what I mean?" Burgerbelle twirled a finger in the air, seemingly with no goal in mind. "She was... She was the big sister to everyone in the entire League. The Rarity for those who had none. That doesn't make sense, but hey, I was a Flat, deal with it." A pair of sunglasses dropped from the ceiling onto her head. "Allure..." Servitude folded her hands. "Allure was the person who made me realize there were different kinds of purity than what I had been raised to believe." She flapped her angelic wings. "She kept a strange childlike innocence about her for most of the time I knew her. It... it was heartbreaking to see her lose it in the end. Part of me thinks she was lucky she didn't make it to the New World. She had already been broken." Minna put her hands to her mouth and closed her eyes tight. "You don't have to answer," Nanoha reminded her. "I want to," Minna said. "I really, really want to. I want to give the best mother a girl could ask for something... profound. I want to say the best, most awe-inspiring speech of all time. But every time I think about doing that all I want to do is..." She took a breath and wiped a tear from her face. "She was a good mother. A mother who was willing to put up with a kid who didn't know why she knew so much. A kid who was creepy, quiet, observational, and secretly a weapon. And then... she just let me go. I wanted to go fight, and she let me. And..." Minna grabbed Nanoha's hands. "She was the purest person I knew for so long. I... I was the main reason she..." Minna broke down, unable to take it anymore. Nanoha sent her home to her husband. "She joined us a few times," Pinkie said, tapping her hooves on the counter. "Say what you will about Pidge, Allure was the actual sixth ranger. She was there with us in the Collection... on Xanadu... I know she wasn't one of mine, but sometimes I thought she was. Part of the family. Everyone on the team brought something, and her little adorable form brought a strange innocence to it. Not naïvete, it was... more robust than that. She refused to accept things for what they were. I may look like a positive bundle of excitement, but when I get the bad feelings I get everyone out of there as fast as possible. She would have given them the benefit of the doubt." Eve sipped her drink. "...I didn't know her as well as I would have liked. I knew she was like me... One of the 'great' heroes. It was something Twilence had confided in me. I don't know... did that make me avoid her? I don't think so. It was almost as if her story was separate from ours... In a 'league' all its own, if you will. I'm not sure what that represents, if anything." An elderly orange pegasus closed her eyes. "Allure..." "Take your time, Scootaloo," Nanoha said. "You know, sometimes I hate the multiverse," Scootaloo said, sighing. "It tore the three of us apart before we even knew what was happening. Sweetie - Allure - had her league, Apple Bloom had her potions and her family and I..." Scootaloo glanced at her flank. "I stayed the Crusader. There's days where I feel like they abandoned me, and there are days where I look out and can see how much good they were doing... without me." She ruffled her feathers nervously. "I can't tell you what she was like, not really. I never liked hanging around the League of Sweetie Belles, and after Rainbow... Some days I'd just like to go back to when we were fillies and all we cared about in the world was each other." "She's the reason I'm alive." Thrackerzod said. "...Care to elaborate?" Nanoha asked. "No," Thrackerzod said, teleporting away. Nanoha sat back in her chair and let out a sigh, trying to ease some of her stress. It hadn't been easy to hear all those things. Despite being an immortal for time immemorial, she looked physically older to those who saw her after the interviews. ~~~ Flutterfree took a deep breath, calmed her nerves, and walked into Corona's workshop, the place where most of the planning had started taking place since there was plenty of room. Already she was hit by a sense of things being tense. People were running back and forth, trying to figure out what the heck to do with a piece of information they found in the books that conflicted with someone's memory. Some people were hiding behind large boxes, crying after they had been forced to relive a particularly traumatizing or sorrowful memory. Flutterfree sighed, walking past all of this to the center of the workshop, where the main table was. O'Neill, Nanoha, Corona, and Eve were currently pointing at each other and talking loudly about every detail. They weren't angry, but they were definitely talking loudly, trying to get their point heard over all the others. This was apparently an argument about the events of Topeka, again, and if they could be relayed accurately through Corona's memories or the book. The quasi-vampiric pegasus didn't listen to the argument - all she actually did was pick up a piece of paper that had been sitting on the table between them. It was a list of names with short descriptions scribbled afterward. It was a list of people who had died. Allure - the lost hero, important, must portray focally and accurately. Rohan - major piece to the set, a Prophet, arrogant but good heart. Renee - the Emissary, beyond important, needs to be very meta-aware. Daniel - husband of Renee. Tragedy. Olivia - anti-hero hacker. Giorno - Overhead of Intelligence, good for consistency in story. The Doctor - complex character. Divided opinions. Rainbow Dash - sacrificial wake-up-call death John - Retconner, very lore important, not personality important. Sparky - lost long ago. Maybe not important enough to mention? The Sage - ancient history. General Sunset - hard for people to remember. Lieshy - ascended the Tower, spoke in double Davepetasprite.. Flutterfree couldn't read it anymore. She started crying - and the sight of this made all four powerful voices stop talking and look to her in concern. "Flutterfree...?" Eve asked. "This isn't going to work," Flutterfree managed, placing the paper back on the table. "This isn't going to work, Eve..." Eve matched her expression. An unspoken conversation took place - and in the end, Eve reluctantly nodded. Flutterfree took a deep breath, wiped her tears from her face - and then spread her wings as far wide as she could. The purple power of her Rage billowed off of her in a purple miasma, grabbing the attention of everyone in the entire workshop. They all stopped what they were doing - working, arguing, crying - and turned to listen to what she had to say. "This isn't working," she said. Her voice was tranquil, but firm. The truth of her statement found its way into the minds of everyone present, breaking down their internal personal biases. They knew she was right - and they could see it through her. "This is supposed to be a time of healing, a time for us to move on and prepare for a new life. Before we started this project, we were fine. We were happy, able to live our lives with minimal, if any, personal suffering. We were alive and working toward a brighter future. "But then we had this idea. ...I had this idea. This idea to fix the representations of the past we've been given in spades ever since the City formed. I thought maybe we could resolve everything for the people around us. But I forgot something very, very important. I forgot about us. "Look at us. We're not doing better than we were last week, we're doing worse. We're having numerous sequential emotional breakdowns, every last one of us. Where there were once smiles, there are now tears and arguing and stress about how impossible this project is. "We're not looking to the future with this movie. We're looking to the past - a past we're supposed to be moving on from. We're entering... entering a relapse. We're allowing a disease to get back to us. Almost all of us have trauma we don't want to admit we have. We want to think we're strong, that we can work past this." Flutterfree held up the sheet of paper. "I can't do this. In order to make this work... we have to treat those lost like nothing more than characters. We have to work with them like tools. It's... we can't do this to ourselves. We just can't. This is not how we were meant to live our lives, everyone. This is not how we are supposed to remember our past. "I'm leaving. Technically, you all still have a choice if you want to keep working on this or not. But now you know what it's doing to you. I... I'm sorry for coming up with this idea and putting you all through this ordeal. We don't need to go through all this just to make sure we're remembered correctly. ...I say let them mess a few details up and make substandard movies. Some of them are probably being as creative as they can. We don't need to put ourselves through hell just to make people appreciate us better." She turned off the Rage and folded her wings. She wiped some tears from her eyes and took a breath. Before she could start leaving, though, Eve pulled her into a hug. "That was amazing." "I cheated," Flutterfree said. "You told them the truth." Flutterfree nodded slowly. "...I did. I just... None of us are strong enough." O'Neill looked at the chalkboard he had been working on up until that moment. He broke it in half with Crimson Sushi. "I'll go tell Shutterstock we won't be needing his studios." "I'll get back to actual work," Corona said, teleporting a mechanical arm to her. "I've been putting it off something fierce." "The flowers miss me..." Nanoha realized. "I've been neglecting my patients... and myself," Eve admitted. A series of similar realizations came out from everyone elses' mouths. There were a handful who wanted to keep working despite what Flutterfree had told them, but they were smart enough to realize they were losing the support that made their effort special. The project to make an accurate Songs of the Spheres movie burned out. It had simply been too much for them to handle. They could face a war that tore reality apart, but trying to relive those moments over and over again... It was a step too far. Flutterfree walked to the door of the workshop first. Like she had before she entered, she took some careful breaths. Then she opened the door. I stood there and dropped a book larger than my head at her hooves. "Here." Flutterfree blinked, looking down at the black-cover book entitled Memories. "What's this?" "It's that thing I was working on." I trotted into the workshop, Flutterfree coming back in with me. "...You've all learned or are in the process of learning the lesson of the day. Don't forget what Flutterfree said about reliving the past over and over. This is a time of healing, not dwelling on past tragedy. That said..." I gestured at the book. "I am fully connected to the Tower again and can see anything I want now. I used this power to go back and write... a bunch of memories. Memories about you, yes, but also about people who have been lost, people we don't remember, and things that had no effect on the story whatsoever." I smiled warmly. "It's... a bit of a gift. All I ask is that you not publish anything inside, and just pass it among yourselves. Keep it from entering story circulation, so you can keep the contents private. So there will be no movies about the tales contained within, no fans, not even an audience. The only audience in this book... is you all." I winked at them. "Consider this a compromise from what you were trying to do." Flutterfree picked the book up under her wing and smiled. "It'll do, Twilence. Thank you." "You're welcome. I'm sorry I couldn't give it to you earlier. There's so much in there to talk about..." I looked 'beyond' and smirked at you. "Things you will never, ever see or hear about. Because they are in our story. Not yours." ~~~ "...and that's the best story in it," Flutterfree concluded, once again sitting at O'Neill and Nanoha's garden table, this time eating hot dogs O'Neill had cooked well. "Good choice," Nanoha said. "...It feels a little strange, reading stories that no one else will get to. It's like... a secret record." O'Neill nodded, trying to say something that was muffled by the hot dog in his mouth. Flutterfree rolled her eyes. "O'Neill..." "No no no! that's actually progress!" Nanoha said. "He's learning to be a loud eater!" "...Wh- oh, right, in your culture that's encouraged." Flutterfree chuckled nervously. "I hope you don't mind, but I completely forgot." "Don't mind at all." "I mean, it's just one of the most common culture archetypes in the multiverse," O'Neill said, trailing a finger in the air. "Not like an exploration team should know the ins and outs of all those." Flutterfree chuckled. "And you should know how to cook hot dogs every time in your common culture archetype. But, well, whoops!" She shrugged with her wings. "Sometimes I forget how vicious you can be." Flutterfree put on the most innocent face imaginable. "I have no idea what you mean." "Aww, what a perfect little angel!" Nanoha giggled. "Quite the loaded phrase around these parts," O'Neill cautioned. "...I have twelve different versions of Angel Bunny at my home," Flutterfree revealed. "They range from actually perfect to demonic. I love them all." "Oh, you do?" Nanoha blinked. "...We don't have a pet." "Crimson Sushi's a pet! It's great!" O'Neill summoned the Stand and scratched its fishy chin. "And I can't see it unless I actually try, and if you're using its power I doubt it'd be very pleasant to see anyway with the room rearranged like a slide puzzle." It was at this point Nanoha realized the walls had all swapped orientations. She put a hand on her hip and rolled her eyes. "Oh, you..." "Oh, me?" O'Neill said, swapping locations with Flutterfree. Flutterfree summoned Lolo to quickly put an end to the illusory madness. "I had about three more layers of mindscrew going!" O'Neill complained. "I call foul." "The ball wasn't even in play, can't foul," Flutterfree said, once again with an overly innocent smile on her face. "...You're good." "Yes. I am. Want to play poker?" "Only if Jotaro plays as well." "He'll make sure he gets first and I get second." "I bet otherwise." "Uh, yeah, that's the point of poker." There were a trio of joyous laughs around the table, without a hint of the sorrows from their last little project. ~~~ Months later, there was a knock at my library door. I already knew who it was but I pretended to be surprised anyway. "Who is it?" "You know." "I know, but do you know what I'm going to say next?" "Come in?" I opened the door to see Shutterstock standing there. "Come on in, so close." He tried to shrug, but this motion was near impossible with the absolutely gigantic box he had in his hand. It was so heavy it had a levitator spell on it, and still he was barely able to carry it. He stumbled until he found a suitable empty table without books - one I had specifically cleared about two minutes ago - and set the box down upon it with a thud. "Care to tell me what it is?" "You already know, again," Shutterstock said, opening the box as he did so. He pulled out a copy of Breath that looked a little thicker than the normal edition. The cover had an additional credit on it. Commentary arranged by Shutterstock and addenda by Moly. "This will do nicely." "Thank you," he said, dusting himself off. "I take it you will start distributing this?" I nodded. "Yes. That said, mind explaining what this is for the people at home? I'm sure some of them are very confused." "...And where are they?" "Just look at the Eye of Rhyme and that should be close enough." Shutterstock nodded, clearing his throat. "Ahem. Hello... readers of the past, present, future. I am Shutterstock and I-" I facehooved. "You don't need to have so much bravado. Less speech, more like a movie scene." He nodded. Instead of talking, he dramatically laid the Breath book down on the table, pointing to one of the first pages. "The man of light fled across existence, and the enchantress followed." It was the same as every other edition of Breath, except at the bottom there was a little footnote. "My story began like this again and again. It was impossible to see it all at once. It was always me and Walter, chasing each other in the Tower's loop for eternity. I know my legend went on to inspire many... but seeing my beginning here fills me not with appreciation, but with dread." - Roland Deschain, the gunslinger. "I took all the information they gave me access to," Shutterstock said, smiling softly. "All the interviews, all the diagrams, all the notes... and I annotated the books with them." He flipped through a few more pages, pointing at a few key quotes and then flipping past them faster than you could possibly read them. (Trust me.) He flipped to the back of the book, where there was a large discussion about the Breath aspect itself, talking about its relations to freedom, spirit, wind, and innocence. A fitting beginning to the story - and a good legacy for Moly's writing. "They can't make their movie. It's impossible," Shutterstock said. "But to anyone who cares... Their words are now placed in the books themselves. Ready to help make sense of the words once written by a young man who wanted nothing more than an interesting story." He closed the book.
Songs of the Spheres	150 - The Final Frontier	Exploratory Skimmer 001, the best in the exploratory fleet! "The only ship in the fleet," Pidge muttered as she pulled herself out of bed. She let out a big yawn and placed her feet on the floor, pleased that the floor heating element was working today. The freezing metal floor had been an unwelcome surprise on virtually every night she had spent on this ship. She stretched a bit and put on her glasses, blinking to get her eyes adjusted to the lighting. The room was small, but still large enough that she had to take a full step to get to the sink and brush her teeth. She preferred doing it herself - the machine did just as good of a job, but it never felt right. When she was done she stretched a few more times and went to look at her closet. Logically speaking, she shouldn't even have needed to debate. She was on a mission; she should wear her green paladin suit. Without it, she was squishier than even a normal human, easily the prime target in an attack. It was also form-fit to her so it was easily the most comfortable thing. And yet, for a moment, she considered wearing regular clothes. Dress, shorts and shirt, didn't matter, just something. I must be getting bored. Maybe I need to give it an upgrade. Goodness knows that won't somehow be disabled in the next few months. In the end, she still chose the suit, giving her squishy form significant armor, a much-needed maneuverability bonus with its thrusters, and numerous HUD displays that she could access with a thought. She had those in her glasses as well, and her contact lenses, but one could never have too many redundancies. She grabbed her weapon and holstered it at her side. With a quick breath and a smile, she walked out into the hallway. Something shot at the ship and caused all the warning lights to go off. She stumbled and fell flat against the hallway wall. With an overdramatic groan she pushed herself off the wall and ran to the bridge. This took about three seconds - the ship only had room for quarters, a living area, a bridge, a cargo hold, and a hallway to connect them all. It was an upgrade from the usual Skiff, sure, but not much of one. The fact that everyone else was already on the bridge more than mildly irked her. "Glad you could join us!" Pinkie said with a giggle. "We're fighting a blue alien space monster!" "TAP IN!" Flutterfree blurted as she forced the Skimmer into a barrel roll to dodge the space monster's blue mucus. "And I'm still the best pilot..." Pidge shrugged, jumping into the pilot's seat the moment Flutterfree got out. She weaved in and out of the barrage of mucus easily. "You play too many video games," Vriska said with a grin. "Aw, you upset about losing last night?" Pidge ribbed. "...No." "Yes you are." "Focus on keeping us alive." Pidge leaned back and started driving with her feet, still doing much better than Flutterfree had been. "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered. "I really, really, really should yell at you for 'reckless endangerment'," Pinkie said. "But let's not and say I did, okay?" Pidge shrugged. "Sure." She saw a more complex barrage come at her, so she put her hands back on the controls and threaded through the organic projectiles. She whirled the Skimmer around to face the creature. It was a snake with numerous scales flowing in different directions like jellyfish tentacles. It pulsed with blue lights that gradually changed their brightness. Something tugged at the back of Pidge's mind. "Database search - something about this seems familiar!" Vriska pressed a few buttons on a nearby screen. "Scans say highly organic... Telepathy indication... Positive ID - it's the protomolecule!" Pinkie's eyes widened. "Jotaro, Flutterfree, suit up - we need to get this thing's attention on our level! Passion-Lolo combo!" "Right," the two of them said at once. They left the bridge and found a spacesuit locker, slipping into their form-fitting suits with ease. "Ready to teleport!" Jotaro called. The two of them were placed just outside the ship in an empty space next to the beast. The protomolecule snake paid them no mind - completely fixated on the vaguely shark-like form of the Skimmer. Jotaro summoned the Passion, wrapping the flowering vines around the two of them. Flutterfree activated two powers at once - Lolo and her Rage's truth essence. The vines of the Passion and Lolo intertwined, shooting toward the protomolecule snake with the glow of Rage around them. They hit, making direct contact with the bizarre soul and mind of the snake, revealing the truth of who they were to the blue being. The Passion brought the souls into an understanding, allowing the snake to calmly release its rage. It stopped firing its projectiles and calmed down. "SUCCESS!" Pinkie said, grinning. "Oh, hey Investigator!" Pidge looked around - didn't see anyone. "Uh..." "The Investigator likes to only show himself to one person at a time," Vriska reminded her. "Dunno why the voice of the protomolecule decided to be so... difficult, but it's quirky and fun if you can get past only hearing one side of the conversation." "Oh, I'm so sorry!" Pinkie gasped. "I'm sure we can find you some planets where you can recreate your network. I understand that being divided is difficult for you, but there are people who will help you. Just hold on a sec..." She pressed a button, recalling Jotaro and Flutterfree. "Pidge, write up a message to transmit back to the City so they don't freak out when we transmit the Protomolecule to them." Pidge started typing up the report. "We don't have enough... power to transmit something that large." "He can do it himself," Pinkie assured her. "Glad to have you back, proto-vestigator! I'm sure you'll like the City! Aw, you're too kind!" She smiled brightly for a few seconds, as if listening intently to something. This went on for some time. "Uh..." Vriska said, raising a hand. "Oh, he disappeared when I stopped talking," Pinkie giggled. "Probably working on transmitting himself." Vriska facepalmed. "Message sent," Pidge said. "He should wait a few minutes before transmitting to make sure they get it." Pinkie shrugged. "I don't know if he will. I'm not talking to him anym-" The protomolecule snake vanished in a puff of light. "Huh. Hope he doesn't cause too much chaos." "You want him to cause chaos don't you?" Flutterfree accused. Pinkie grinned. "Yeah. Just not too much." "Wordplay," Jotaro said, clapping slowly. Pinkie bowed. "Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week." "Which is almost over," Vriska said, pointing at a screen. "We've only got one more planet we need to hit, then our mission out here is done. We can go home." Jotaro cracked his knuckles. "Let's see what challenges it has to offer us." "Why can't the last planet ever be a simple peaceful first contact?" Flutterfree asked. Pidge shrugged. "Hey, it might be that way soon enough. We've just got to wait... Uh..." she pressed a few buttons until she got the ETA for Tower Collapse. "Thirty-nine years." "There'll be a lot of last planets before that timer runs out." "But it will run out," Pinkie said. "So let's enjoy these last planets while we can! Pidge?" She pressed her hooves together and grinned. "Engage." "O'Neill is a plague on us all," Pidge muttered. "Yes, Captain." She plotted the course and the Skimmer blasted off into the night. ~~~ The last planet looked like a dud from a distance. Round. The size of Equis. Gray. Cratered. Devoid of atmosphere - like the rest of the system it was in. As far as their instruments could tell from afar, the planet was a completely lifeless rock just like millions of other planets. The exception were their ka sensors. Whenever they were pointed at this planet - from any other planet - the readings went crazy. They seemed to insist there was a thing there. A thing that really, really needed to be found. It needed to be found so badly that it was screaming to anyone with a ka-based ear to COME HERE. So of course the Skimmer's shields were at full, weapons were all charged, and everyone had their psychic abilities at the ready preparing for any sort of danger. They moved in slow, like molasses, drifting ever-closer to the gray orb. Currently, the five of them could see it on the viewscreen, and it was just as boring up close as it had been from afar. "I hate it when this happens," Vriska seethed. "It's just sitting there. Inanimate. Innocent. Fucking with us." "The Tower may be leading us on a wild chase for amusement," Jotaro said, furrowing his brow. "Think we should stop crawling like snails yet?" Pidge said, bored. Jotaro shook his head. "No. Traps are clever." "We could still be moving faster. We can light-jump away." "Just keep scanning," Pinkie said. "Are we close enough for really really detailed scans?" "Soon..." Flutterfree said, pressing a few buttons. "And... now!" Automatically, the ship began scanning the surface. Lots and lots of more nothing, nothing, and nothing. But then it found something it wasn't supposed to. A reading of an object not on the planet's surface - but slightly above it. In an orbit. Pidge blinked. "What the quiznak?" She pressed a few buttons. "I'm detecting an orbit outside the planet's gravitational bubble! Or... No, it's not an orbit, it's just a really, really tiny planet. Small... too small. Way too small." "Why is small a problem?" Vriska asked. "Black holes have no size and they work," Flutterfree pointed out. "I mean, it has less of a 'gravity well' so it's... just not enough," Pidge said. "It's moving in the shell like a planet, but it has no gravity..." She scratched her head. "This doesn't match with our current understandings of the New World's Physics... or Sunny's orbital motion estimation equations..." Pidge pressed a few buttons. "We have to check this out!" Pinkie nodded. "We'll go there... as soon as we get close." "Not going any faster?" "Nope!" Pidge groaned. "ETA... nineteen minutes." Flutterfree put her wing to her face and sighed. "Of course..." "I'll try to get more detailed visual readings." A few moments later, an image appeared on screen. The metallic object was spherical and almost featureless on the outside, save for one large circular door on one end. The door itself had been blown open, revealing an interior that was bigger on the inside, but just as empty as the space outside. "...Something escaped," Flutterfree said. "How strong do you think that door was?" Jotaro pondered this. "With time, Star Platinum could probably punch through that much reinforced metal." "No, no you couldn't," Vriska said eyes widening. "I know what this is. This isn't just some thick metal. That's a door from the Vault." "Oh, so a treasure room!" Pinkie grinned. "I wonder what sort of loot we'll find?" "Interior's empty," Pidge said, pressing more buttons. "...And there's no door on the inside. Nor is there a place for one. Which means..." "This is the room at the center of the Vault," Vriska said, blinking. "Whatever the final goal of that mad puzzle-filled labyrinth was, it was in there. ...And it punched out of a door designed to keep higher class civilizations out." "Saitama can punch out," Pinkie pointed out. "He's cheating." Vriska folded her hands together. "...This might be a bit out of our league," Flutterfree commented. "The final goal of the vault is out, and we're near it." Vriska rolled her eyes. "Like we're going to run away with our tails between our legs because of some door. Hah. We're the Primary Team, we're better than that. Or stupider than that. Take your pick." Pinkie giggled. "Yep! Right into the dragon's mouth everyone - let's find whatever was in there!" "Chances are it's on the planet's surface," Pidge said. "Probably the source of all the ka readings. I'm trying to narrow down its possible locations..." She hastily ran a few simulations on the ka-density around the planet. "There appears to be an epicenter for the ka pattern at negative thirty-five degrees south, zero degrees west. Should I take us down?" "Yeah, but do it slowly," Pinkie said. "We should probably get in suits." Pidge, Jotaro, and Flutterfree gestured at themselves - they were already suited up. Pidge put on her helmet to complete the set. Vriska didn't need a suit, but she summoned one to herself anyway. Pinkie pulled hers out of her mane and stuck it on. While Flutterfree's had a bag for her tail, Pinkie's let her tail hang free. It would have been a safety hazard for anyone who wasn't Pinkie. Carefully, Pidge lowered the Skimmer into the gravity well of the dead planet. The transition was sharp, making all their stomachs do flip flops, but the ship was able to shut off its artificial gravity a fraction of a second after the real gravity took hold. They descended onto the gray, dusty rock, sending up a flurry of granules into the air. "Technically, there's not any air at all," Pinkie said, pressing a few buttons to schedule a full-team teleport. With a schwoop they were all standing outside the Skimmer, the dust of their landing settling on their suits. "You know, if this is anything like moon dust, it'll itch something fierce if it gets in our suits," Pidge commented. "Then keep your suits sealed! Problem solved." Vriska mockingly knocked on her helmet. "Anyway, I'm going to be the first to state the obvious here. I see fuck-all." The landscape of the dead world was flat, dusty, and only had the general small mountain - shallow crater combo of a dead world. They weren't anywhere close to an impressive impact; sitting in quite possibly the most average area on the entire planet. "Where's that other shoe...?" Pinkie mused, perking her ears up and listening closely. "You can't hear anything in space," Flutterfree said. "Unless you're Pinkie," Jotaro countered. "...Depends." Pinkie shrugged. "I've got nothing right now, so it looks like Flutterfree's right for the time being!" She chuckled. "Anyway, Vriska, got anything?" "No psychic residue that I can sense," Vriska said with a shrug. "Mmmmm... Pidge?" "Only weird readings are the ka levels," Pidge responded. Jotaro threw his hat into the ring without being asked. "Hermit Purple and the Passion don't feel anything to lock on to." "Interesting..." "Can I go now?" Flutterfree asked. "Sure!" Pinkie said with a wink. Flutterfree focused herself and spread Lolo out in all directions. This was exactly what they had needed to do - in an instant, the previously invisible became visible. A few meters away, two large metallic spires shifted into their view. They were smooth, sleek, and all-in-all pretty generic sci-fi props of the kind Pinkie's Party was getting more than a little tired of seeing all over the place. "Why can't we get more fractals?" Pinkie asked, holding out a hoof and waving it around. "I mean come on, they look cooler! Way cooler! This is just... Not awesome!" Flutterfree smirked. "Channeling Rainbow?" Pinkie shrugged. "Yeah, probably. Is there more?" "I think so..." Flutterfree said, spreading Lolo even further. Slowly, more spires came into their view, each pair taller than the pair before. They created a path that went on for as long as they could see. "I don't see an end..." Flutterfree said, closing her eyes to focus. "Nothing but more, taller spires the further I go..." "Any traps?" Jotaro asked. "They seem benign to me, but that doesn't mean much. Too many things have been immune to Lolo's Revelation lately." Pidge turned to Pinkie. "I'm going to try to interface with one and risk triggering an ancient apocalypse curse. Cool?" Pinkie nodded. "Cool." Pidge dashed over to the closest pillar and pulled out her laptop, using an omni-cable to affix her computer directly to the pillar's exterior wall. After a few seconds she had a basic connection. "No security as far as I can tell..." Jotaro sauntered up to the pillar and tapped it with his finger. He knit his brow. "Oh! Jotaro's noticed something!" Pinkie said, appearing right next to him. "What did you find!?" "Something's off here..." He continued to trace his finger along the pillar, going down until he touched the ground. "You're right, something's off," Pidge said, scratching her head. "There's code and circuitry inside this pillar, but it doesn't seem to serve a purpose! Not even decorative. Most of the commands I put in are accepted, but then nothing happens." She typed furiously on the keyboard. "It's like it's partial..." Jotaro picked up some moon dust in his hand and threw it on the pillar, the gray granules sticking to the pillar with ease. He tried to brush them off again, but they remained on the pillar, giving it a dirty tint. "These pillars are new," Jotaro said. "They have to be newer than all the large craters - or any event jarring enough to kick up 'moon' dust. Some would have gotten on the surface and dirtied it." Flutterfree blinked. "We're in an area that isn't heavily cratered. Isn't it reasonable to assume there just wasn't any dust to get stuck?" "There'd still be microscopic amounts," Pidge said, performing a scan. "And aside from the stuff we've kicked up, these pillars are clean. So clean they show signs of a radiation exposure of..." She blinked. "...A couple years. Less than the age of the New World." "So, what, the thing in the Vault escaped and made these pillars?" Vriska asked. "Why?" Pinkie blinked. "...As an invitation..." And then they weren't on the planet anymore. Each of them stood behind separate podiums colored in ways similar to them. Each podium had a square screen on the front that buzzed with static. Aside from the five of them and the podiums, they appeared to be in complete darkness. All of them entered a fighting stance - except Pidge. She just rammed her face into her podium. "Not again..." Jotaro glanced at her. "What?" Pidge held up a hand and adjusted her glasses. "Okay, we get it, Bob the all-powerful wants to test our mettle as heroes again. Turn on the lights and start the game show already, let's get this over with." "Bob?" Flutterfree asked, cocking her head. "There's an all powerful multiversal being that likes to test groups of heroes through a game show. Prepare for a lot of really stupid games a-" "Jumping to conclusions," a man said. A spotlight appeared, revealing him to all of them - he wore a black suit and a cowboy hat alongside a face that was a fusion between Roland and Flagg - except the eyes. One of them was a piercing red while the other cycled through numerous pool-ball shapes. His left hand was frozen in ice, while the left raged in fire. "I am not Bob, or any number of other beings you have encountered." His voice sent chills up their spines, but it didn't sound unnatural. Perhaps the normalcy of it was what made it terrifying. Pinkie didn't flinch. "Then who are you?" "It is simple. I am the Vault. I am the prize. I am what lies beyond the Final Puzzle." The corner of his mouth twitched, giving the slightest hint of a frown. "The Final Puzzle has been removed. So I must create a new one for those who seek me." "And you decided a bunch of game show podiums was what to go with?" He looked at her with curiosity. "I decided. But I also didn't. I am a Tower subroutine." He held a hand into the air. "I was created with the purpose of seeking an ultimate reward..." Vriska rolled her eyes. "Please, you don't look like much to me." "I am the Endless Wish," he said, looking her in the eyes with his impassive, unmoving face. "The will who takes me will have everything." "...I stand corrected." "I was to be given to the society who breached the final Vault door, proving themselves worthier than my creators. Except you didn't do that. You just found my resting place. But I cannot say you cheated either, for you had no intention of finding the Vault when you arrived on this world." "So you're going to test us?" Flutterfree observed. "...Are you aware that, well, we're the protagonists and the camera is on?" "Good deduction Flutterfree!" Pinkie said with a grin. "I am aware," the Endless Wish answered. "You will still undertake a new Final Puzzle. My only will is that my power is given to those worthy. You will be here until I have deemed you sufficient or insufficient." "...Can we just back out?" Flutterfree asked. "No." "Figures," Pidge muttered. "What's the punishment for failing?" "Death." "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered, lowering his hat. "Looks like we have to fight for our lives," Pinkie said. "How's that? Did we pass your first test? Express little desire to actually have a wish?" "Yes," the Endless Wish answered. "You have also passed numerous others through simple coordination in your arrival and your actions in life." "Suck it," Vriska said, lounging forward with a coy smile. "We're awesome, we're heroes, and ka is on our side. What else could you possibly need to know?" The Endless Wish's mouth twitched. "You must not know. That would spoil the tests. For now, as far as you're concerned, this is a game show." He blinked out of existence before appearing again behind a podium of his own - except now he was wearing a jovial mask reminiscent of Dimentio's harlequin face. He spoke with an exaggerated chipper tone. "Ladies and gentlemen, readers and contestants, it's time for the first ever round of Final Puzzle, with me, your host, the Endless Wish! With us today we have the people of Pinkie's Party! Please, introduce yourselves and tell us a random fact!" Everyone turned to Pinkie. She shrugged. "Eh, go with it, at least for now. Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie, and I once made an eldritch demon explode because he couldn't fathom me!" "...I'm Flutterfree, and I'm a quasi-vampire Page of Rage." "I'm Vriska Serket, I'm over a thousand years old and still kicking ass!" "Jotaro Kujo, PhD. I used to be a marine biologist." "Pidge Holt. I built most of Final Dawn. I'm assuming all the readers know what that is." Pinkie nodded in confirmation. "So, now that that's out of the way, what's our first little game?" "A quiz!" The Endless Wish said with a clown-like giggle. "We'll see how well each of you really know your Songs of the Spheres lore! Any one of you can answer the questions at any time, but you have to ring in first!" "Do we have to put the answers in the form of a question?" Vriska asked. "This is not Terezi's game night, you will not be punished for answering in the incorrect format! Who does that? Just not right!" He snapped his fingers, and suddenly the rest of the room shifted into existence. The floor was a jarring white, and the walls a murky purple. Every part of it was featureless aside from a giant screen that sat between the Endless Wish and Pinkie's Party. "Let's start with something simple. Question one: what is the birth name of Lord English?" Vriska buzzed in. "Caliborn. Next." The Endless Wish didn't miss a beat. "TWO! What is the name of the boy Roland had with him at the end of his original journey to the Dark Tower?" "Patrick," Jotaro answered. Vriska looked to him. "How did you..." "Jojo studies the journeys of heroes," Pidge said with a smile. "Roland's is one of the more important, and the ending of his journey even more so." The Endless Wish threw the card over his head and pulled out another question. "Three! Before she was called Scarcity, the Rarity that was instrumental in the Starstream War had another nickname. What was it?" Flutterfree furrowed her brow - and a second later buzzed in. "...Scarce." "Four! A train is traveling through universe A with no time travel allowed. Universe A is connected to universe B, where time travel must form loops. Universe B has a train going in a circle every ten minutes, at which point it jumps ten minutes into the past, forming the loop. If the Universe A train enters universe B on a track that will take eleven minutes to return train A to Universe A, what happens to train A?" Pidge adjusted her glasses and grinned evilly. "This depends on if Universe B operates on 'safe loop' rules or 'recursive loop' rules. If Universe B is a 'safe loop', then the looping time has no effect on the overall universal timeline and train A will return to Universe A in eleven minutes. If Universe B is a 'recursive loop' the universe will reset to default every time train B loops, ensuring train A can't return to Universe A without the loop being terminated. This all assumes, of course, that train A exists in the same timeframe as train B when in the same universe." "Clever girl..." the Endless Wish said. "FIVE! How many words are in Songs of the Spheres as of the publishing of the last chapter?" Pinkie laughed. "Easy! 2,001,893. Naturally, that's only on FimFiction! According to Archive it's 1,911,965. I'm not going to bother with the other places. You want an exact value? Ask a question that doesn't require the chapter to be written with fill-in-the-blanks!" The Endless Wish shrugged, seemingly taking this as legitimate criticism. "In that case... SIX!" The mask switched from mischievous and amused to devious. "Which one of you is going to die before the end of this chapter?" Pinkie's Party didn't have an initial response. "Take your time. It's not like we're in a hurry." They didn't need time - a lightbulb went off in Flutterfree's head. She buzzed in. "Vriska." "Flutterfree what the fuc-" Vriska was stabbed by several of Flutterfree's wing-blades at once in numerous vital areas. Naturally, the death wasn't Heroic or Just, so the troll came right back up. "...I get it. You could have given me a warning though!" "I didn't want to give him a warning," Flutterfree said, shrugging. "So, I got that answer correct, and now we don't have that looming sword over our heads. Next question?" "If you insist. Seven!" He leaned in. "What would Nova think of you replacing her?" "Fuck you," Vriska muttered. Pinkie pressed her hooves together and glared at the Endless Wish. "This is how it's gonna be, huh? Questions that torment us. Well if you want an answer, here it is. Her mind would accept that she hadn't really been replaced and that we still cared for her. She would get back on the team and learn to work with Pidge. But there would be a gnawing hole in the back of her mind that would be a downer on her personality for several years. Because, deep down, she would know she was replaced. And she wouldn't be able to ever completely remove it, and she would hate herself for being so shallow." Pidge gripped her podium. "...Quiznak..." "What's next asshole?" Vriska demanded. "Something special for me?" "Eight! Which person do you dream of killing in cold blood the most? Any of you can answer this one. Take your time." Vriska paled. "You don't have to," Flutterfree said. "I can think o-" "Starbeat," Vriska answered, cutting Flutterfree off. "She's the one I see myself killing most often in my dreams. Our relationship looks fine, but the troll in me wants to rip her to shreds. I'm suppressing it, so it's manifesting more than anything else! Happy?" "No!" the Endless Wish declared with a jovial tone. "NINE~! Who's marrying Flutterfree today?" "You piece of trash..." Flutterfree muttered. "Right, right..." She sent off a quick prayer and shook her head. "I'm pretty much limited to the people in the group here, and all of them would be out of the faith. You're a real piece of work. The answer? Pinkie. The others would have some serious problems down the line dealing with the emotional baggage." Pinkie took out a 'wedding-in-a-box'-set, decorating her and Flutterfree in brilliant white dresses. There was a kiss so fast virtually nobody saw it, Pinkie threw a giant wedding cake into the ground, and then she shredded up the wedding papers, invalidating them. "There, emotional confusion over and done with! Woo! You ain't got nothin' on those tentacle monsters, wishy-boy!" "Ten..." Pinkie pushed her face right into his. "Ahem. We have a rating here, bucko. So no. You can't go there." The Eternal Wish let out a laugh. "You are a fast one, aren't you? Fine - I'll just have to come up with a new torment." "You've already come up with it." "Yes. We're done with questions." He clapped his hands together. "Instead, let's play a game of survivor. Each of you will be locked in separate cubicles." Suddenly, none of them could see or hear each other. "And now each of you will be asked which one of your teammates you want to die! And the kicker - you can't vote for yourself! And Vriska won't be able to respawn. Also, if you refuse to choose, you fail the Final Puzzle. Have fun!" After a few minutes of screaming, eventually everyone had come up with an answer. "Pinkie, care to reveal yours?" Pinkie, silently, pressed a button. On her screen Flutterfree appeared. Flutterfree blinked, shocked. "Care to explain?" Pinkie silently shook her head, keeping her smile motionless. "Fair enough. Flutterfree?" "I'm sorry," Flutterfree said, pressing her button. She chose Pinkie. "I... I did what Eve did last time with me. The one I cared about most. Guess she had the same idea." Vriska pressed her button. "Well I fucking chose Pidge because I'm a fucking jerk and thought she'd be the 'least important' or whatever. Pidge, please tell me you chose me so this is fair." "Pidge isn't next, it's Jotaro!" The Endless Wish said. "Come on, what do y-" "Vriska," Jotaro said, slamming his fist into the button. "She wouldn't need emotional support. The others would." "And lastly, Pidge, who did you choose?" Pidge was grinning like a madman. "Pinkie, we quiznakking did it." She slammed her hand on the button, choosing Jotaro. "We just gamed your system, man! All of us chose someone different! Woo! GAH you have no idea how difficult it was to figure out who was going to choose everyone else. I had Vriska and Flutterfree reasoned out, and I knew Pinkie would choose whatever I didn't choose, and I knew Jotaro couldn't choose himself so HA!" "What's ha?" Vriska said. "Now we're all tied for dead!" "Exactly! That's the way to win this game!" Pidge said, smirking. "It was the same in Bob's, but we didn't know it. This one was all about gaming the system! High-five Pinkie!" Pinkie clapped Pidge's hand with her hoof. "Woohoo!" "...Well, in other news, I'm still an asshole bitch," Vriska said with a laugh. "Jotaro's too fucking practical, and Flutterfree you're just too pure." "Eheh..." "Your celebrations are premature," the Endless Wish said, its happy voice seeming to crack. "Problem?" Pinkie asked, grinning mockingly. "Come on, throw something else at us!" Vriska challenged. "We've been through so much shit together, just you try to test it!" "I am not testing your friendship," the Endless Wish said; dropping the mask and returning to his monotone, default self. "I am testing your worthiness. You have shown knowledge, perseverance, and intellect. Your strength has already been shown. Your actions in the war are a testament to your society's complexity. But there are other criteria." He clasped his hands together, taking them away from the room and placing them in a long, seemingly endless hallway the width of a runway. "At the end of this hallway lies a treasure. It is your goal. Simply get there without perishing." "Where are the traps?" "There are saws, lasers, intense hammers, hatchets, poisons, trolls, and giants. But they're all invisible and enchanted with silent step." "I know the solution to this one," Pinkie said. "He's trying to test if we know when to give up and throw in the towel when facing impossible odds, like smart, capable, worthy people." The Endless Wish stared at her in disbelief. "However, I'm going to say we one-up him." Pinkie grinned. "We're the protagonists. I happen to know things about our, well, future you could say. Mainly... Twilence wasn't there to say goodbye when we left on our large journey. If we weren't going to make it back she would have made a point of doing it, even if she wasn't going to warn us." She tapped her hooves together. "We're literally unbeatable. Let's charge right through this gauntlet like a gaggle of idiots. We might lose a few limbs in the process but we won't die. There's no chance." Vriska laughed. "Pinkie, this is stupid. I love it." She ran into the gauntlet, promptly got cut in half - but revived. When Pinkie jumped in, she bounced around like a ping-pong ball but suffered no damage. "It's certain death in there," Pidge commented. "They know that," Flutterfree added. "I'm not so confident..." Jotaro shrugged. "Yare yare daze..." He charged right through, using Hermit Purple and the Passion to detect where the invisible traps were, moving through with impressive grace and coordination. "Fine, you guys do that, Flutterfree and I w-" Pidge noticed Flutterfree gracefully walking through the hallway without using any of her powers. And with closed eyes. "GAH!" Pidge ran after her - and promptly got hit by a hammer so hard she was launched into the lead of the group. She got stabbed with an invisible sword - hurt like nothing else, but she somehow managed to just laugh and keep trucking. The five of them ran through the hallway getting beat up left and right like ragdolls, but somehow they clung onto their lives throughout the entire ordeal. Eventually Flutterfree made it. One of her eyes was missing, one of her wings had been clipped and two of her legs were just gone, but she grabbed the glowing coin at the end and smiled. In an instant they were all fully healed and back in the game show room with the Endless Wish. He was wearing an annoyed mask. Pinkie cleared her throat. "Let me put it this way, Wishy-buddy. We now know you can't threaten us with death. And you know what I just remembered? You said the punishment for not playing was death, and that we would die if we lost. I guess that means it's time for me to lose and see how we manage to survive that mess! Come on, give me mini-golf or something, I'll be sure to fore right into your face eeeeeeeeeeevery time!" The Endless Wish took off his mask and threw it to the ground, the face underneath twitching slightly. "Then it is clear by my own rules that I cannot win. Congratulations, you are the winners. You can now wish for anything you ever want, and then anything else you want, and then anything else, forever. You may have all the wishes you could ever desire." Vriska blinked. "Wait, really, you're just going to give up?" Pidge shrugged. "I mean, the point of the last test was supposed to be 'giving up', if Pinkie was right, so it stands to reason he'd have some understanding of the concept." "Huh. Neat." Vriska put a hand to her chin. "So infinite wishes... What should we wish for first?" "It's a trap," Jotaro said. "Clearly," Flutterfree added. "Nothing's ever that easy. And even if it is, there'll be unintended consequences." "Ah, the douchebag genie concept." Vriska nodded slowly. "Clearly, we'll have to wish carefully and without any chances of being misunderstood." "Can we just not wish at all?" Flutterfree wondered. "Probably the safe option," Pinkie admitted. The Endless Wish spoke. "Why would you throw this away? I have endless power drawn from the Tower itself, the ability to bestow any desire." "You couldn't recreate the multiverse," Pidge pointed out. "...True," he admitted. "The Tower can overrule me. But I could destroy planets, create new ones... I could do so much!" "Yes. We get it," Vriska said, waving a hand. "I'm just remembering all those conversations where whatever anyone wished for backfired horribly. And those times we found low-level genies. Screw them utterly." "You're not like Corona's Wishing World," Pinkie added. "You've got a personality in there somewhere. Tell me that can't go wrong." "Are you certain you want to throw all of this away?" the Endless Wish asked, his voice seeming to crack a little. "I can bring back planets and places that were destroyed long ago." He snapped his fingers and created a replica of Equis in his hand. "Every building, every waterfall, every city... restored to its splendor. You could go home." Vriska rolled her eyes. "And you'd recreate it with everyone who was on it when it was destroyed, from an ancient past, or make everyone remember what it was like to be consumed by the Twili." "I would not do that. And if you were concerned, you could just specify. Or undo the wish in an instant with another wish." "There's always some angle you don't think of." Vriska folded her arms. "For instance, I just thought of recreating Equis perfectly, but making it so small nobody could see it. Or making it inside another planet, never to be found." "I don't think you understand what endless wishes means. Any 'tricks' can be undone by wishes later." "Oh, so I could wish for the power to grant wishes however I saw fit, including my own?" "Yes." "You don't want that," Flutterfree warned. Vriska nodded slowly. "I know. I'm not as stupid as I used to be. But if he's willing to do that, I'm starting to wonder if he's not the douchebag genie. Maybe - just maybe - he's legitimate." "The catch could be something that doesn't reveal itself for an eternity," Jotaro pointed out. "It could be the slow corruption of power." "Right. Clearly, we don't make any wishes," Pinkie said. "Sorry wishy-boy, but we won your game and we aren't even going to use any. It's just too-" The Endless Wish snapped his fingers, and all of them were separated once again. "Do you not understand what you could be given?" He went to Vriska first. "All the hatred people feel for you and what you did... gone. Or, if you are feeling altruistic, I could remove the parts of your personality you find abhorrent, making you a better person. It need not be an or, it could be an and, you could have it all." "Fuck off." "Are you sure?" He slid next to her and created an image of Hastur. "You could have him back." Vriska pulled out her infinite-sided die. "Okay, time to see what random hell this thing spews out on you..." The Endless Wish left Vriska for Pidge. "You... I could give you love." "Pass." "All the knowledge you could want. The answer to the New World's Physics. The ability to restore Voltron." "I'm not going to let myself be clearly corrupted." Next was Jotaro. "You are a strong one, Jotaro. But don't you wish you could empathize better? That you wouldn't need help from others?" "Yare yare daze..." "Your lost family, your lost world, and I could even tell you the fates of the people you don't know about. Just wish, and you'll know if your daughter is alive... or Dusted." Jotaro froze, breathing heavy. "Just one little wish..." "No," Jotaro said. "ORA!" The Endless Wish did not feel pain, but he did decide to move to Flutterfree. "I can make anyone believe..." Flutterfree growled. "Go read 'The Big Gs' chapter and see why that's evil." "I can ensure the concepts of good and evil will maintain themselves past the Tower's demise..." "If they're not defined by God, I don't care." "I can give souls rest for you, just wish for it, and I can keep them from passing into the fires you fear so much." A tear rolled down Flutterfree's cheek. She had to activate her Rage to keep herself firmly rooted in truth. "I cannot allow it. He knows what He is doing." Lastly, the Endless Wish came to Pinkie. "You could wish for anything as well." "I won't though," Pinkie said. "If you'll notice, they all have some sort of thing they want. Family, knowledge, love, peace, or something else. Not me. I'm pretty content here." She pulled out a lawn chair and put on a pair of sunglasses. "There's nothing I really want. I have my friends, I have my job, and people are smiling because of me once again. What more could I ask for, really?" The Endless Wish summoned them all back to the same location and snapped his fingers. "Then I'll just give you one." Three figures materialized in front of them - Rohan Kishibe, Renee Jackson, and Nova Glimmer. "I have given them back to you," the Endless Wish said. "How was this wrong? Why were you unable to bring yourselves to w-" "AHEM!" Renee announced, tapping her foot impatiently. "Darling, while I do adore what you're doing, this body is spoken for on so many levels it's not even funny." She glared at him. "Don't mess with things you don't understand." All biological functions within her ceased to function, and she dropped to the ground. This gave the Endless Wish pause. Enough for Pidge to point at Nova, try to say something, and pass out from the internal stress instead. "W-what's going on?" Nova asked, looking around. "I thought I wa-" Pinkie gulped. "You were. ...This jerk's duplicated you." "I..." Nova shook her head. "W-why? You didn't ask f-" "Of course not," Pinkie said, trying her best not to cry. "He's... upset at us for not playing the game the way he wants. He..." "Pinkie... You have eyes. Since... How long..." Nova put a hoof to her head. "She is back," the Endless Wish declared. "She and Rohan have returned, and I can bring many others back at your beck and call." "It's not really them though," Flutterfree pointed out. "Twilight was not Eve. Pinkie is not Pinkie-X. Why would we create people who only exist to live in the shadow of the past?" She turned to Nova. "Why create a... a..." "A bad memory," Nova finished for her. The unicorn looked like she had seen a ghost - herself. "True," the Endless Wish said. "But you could also wish for everyone to treat them exactly as the old Nova. That everyone would believe this was a true revival. There could be some complex story about how the soul was preserved a-" "ENOUGH WITH THE LIES!" Jotaro shouted, waking Pidge up. "WE DO NOT WANT ANY WISHES!" The Endless Wish dropped his level-headed tone of voice. "My purpose is to give wishes! I will give them endlessly! Just make one!" "Clearly, they aren't going to," Rohan said, smirking despite his unusual predicament of being Rohan-X. "They don't have a choice," the Endless Wish said. "They cannot leave until they make the choice to keep you two alive or not. I have declared this. And once they have made that wish..." "Then we could just wish to be released," Flutterfree said. "...Except that could backfire too, and you really don't like us." "...You want me to be part of some game?" Rohan asked the Endless Wish. "A puppet to manipulate the will of others for your own personal validation?" The Endless Wish seemed to regret creating him. "Your fate hangs in the balance of this 'game', I wouldn't be so coy." Rohan smirked. "I refuse." He summoned his Stand. "HEAVEN'S DOOR!" The Endless Wish was not affected - but he was not a target. Pidge was. Her face popped open like a book and Heaven's Door wrote several pages of information in her head in a few seconds. The first thing she did was point her weapon at Rohan and blow his brains out. "...Stubborn idiot," Jotaro muttered, putting his hand over his eyes. Pidge stared at the blood on her weapon. "He... he made me do that. He... quiznak..." She sat on the ground, dazed. Nova stared at Rohan's bloody form, pupils tiny. "You know... I think I'd rather... not die. Yes. That would be... a nice thing. Yeah." She smiled awkwardly. "So, I know I'm just a copy, but I'd really like to stick around, and isn't your friendship with m- her worth that much?" She said this with great uncertainty. "We can't give in to what he wants," Jotaro said, folding his arms. "Are you kidding?" Pidge shouted. "She's here already! We can't just send her back!" "I'm not saying we do that. I'm saying we refuse to play the game." "Oh... sorry for jumping to conclusions..." "I say we return her," Vriska said. "Rohan did the right thing." "I am not committing suicide!" Nova shouted. "I... I don't want to go through that again." Flutterfree shivered. "I... I don't know what to do..." Pinkie glared at the Endless Wish. "You're sick. Creating her just to make us argue and..." She wiped a tear from her eyes. "It's too much! It's impossible!" The Endless Wish leaned in - and actually smiled. "Good. Suffer. The Final Puzzle is only what you made of it." Flutterfree burst into tears, pulling Nova into a hug. "I'm so sorry I don't know what to do! I can't condemn you again but you won't bring her back and aAAAAAA!" Nova couldn't process what was happening. "I... I..." The other three members of the team were shouting at each other. "You can't throw her away!" Pidge shouted. "You just don't want to feel the guilt of replacing her!" "Of course I don't! But she was your friend!" "That's not her standing over there!" "It's close enough!" "Stop!" Jotaro demanded. "You are feeding into what he wants!" "This is more important than what that bastard wants!" Vriska asserted. Pinkie looked at her team. Flutterfree couldn't stop crying. Jotaro, Vriska, and Pidge continued shouting at each other, almost screaming. Nova just wanted to live. And Pinkie... Pinkie didn't see a 'win' in this situation. It was a black and white scenario with all wrongs. Use a wish - the result of the wish didn't matter, it was the entire principle of the thing that was wrong. Keep Nova alive or no, it wouldn't end well. She could sense it. But if they did nothing, the Endless Wish would just get angrier and try worse and worse things until they broke. It was a lose-lose situation. Evil-evil wrong-wrong. A lightbulb went off in her head. "EVERYONE!" She shouted. "Don't you see what we're acting like?" Everyone looked at her, confused. "We're acting like the Seats in the conferences before the war! We are arguing with no hope of resolution!" She set her hoof down. "I am declaring my willingness to go with any of the options. Even if I want one or the other, I will be willing to go with any of them so we don't break ourselves apart." There was silence for a moment. "...I'll do it too," Nova said, surprising Flutterfree considerably. "I... I really don't have a right to demand something from you. Or maybe I do, and I'm just a big idiot for thinking I don't. I haven't the foggiest idea. ...I never had any say in the wish though, did I?" "Probably not," Flutterfree muttered. "...I... I'll go with that as well. I don't know. I will go with anyone for the sake of peace." "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro said, shaking his head. He walked over to them and stood firm. Vriska and Pidge looked at each other, anger softening. Then they both realized something at the same time - and laughed. They both walked over at the same time, smirking. Pinkie smirked. "Heh... Look at that. We've decided we can't make the choice." "So you are refusing to wish!" the Endless Wish said with anger. "Oh, no, we're just going to flip a coin about it," Pinkie said, putting a coin in her hoof. "My special three-sided coin here. Wish for this to all be undone, wish to keep it, or just stay where we are and refuse to do anything." She winked - then tossed it into the air. The Endless Wish snatched it out of the air. "WHY DON'T YOU GET THE POINT? YOU ARE UNDERMINING MY PURPOSE!" "That's the whole point," Flutterfree said. "We... object to your purpose. Wishes, in general, aren't right. There are exceptions, yes, but I don't see a need for a wish right now. You came at a time where we don't need one." She pulled Nova close. "Wishes are dangerous and when they don't backfire they only bring out the worst in people." "I... I... I..." The Endless Wish roared. "I'm done. Clearly the only way to fulfill my purpose is to force you." He tapped Flutterfree on the head. "MAKE. A. WISH." Speaking like a zombie, Flutterfree began. "I wish th-" Before Pidge realized what was happening, a Stand popped out of her - none other than Heaven's Door itself. The Stand rushed Flutterfree and popped her open like a book, writing cannot be conditioned by the Endless Wish in her. Then Heaven's Door returned to Pidge. "...What?" she said. "Nani?" Jotaro added. Pinkie smirked. "Heh. Heheheheh. Rohan's a stubborn one, isn't he?" "No!" the Endless Wish seethed. "I must be able to! I must!" Pidge's instructions to use Heaven's Door continued whenever the Endless Wish tried to do something. Soon, all of their minds were protected by Heaven's Door's written law. "You can't fuckin' make us do anything," Vriska laughed. Nova laughed. "Yeah! All thanks to Pidge!" She sauntered over to Pidge and put a hoof around her. "Wh..." Pidge blinked. "...You shouldn't be ashamed," Nova said. "You fit in just fine." "I..." Pidge blinked. "...Thank you." "I admit... it's a little sad to see you all having done so well without me. But... it's also nice to see that you're really that strong. I... I don't know." She shrugged. "You're all great. Yes, even you Vriska." Vriska raised an eyebrow. "But I voted to kill you." "And I probably would have done the same in your place," Nova pointed out. "I understand. How could I not? I traveled with all of you for decades. Or, well, the other me did, the one whose memories I have." She turned to the Endless Wish. "...You're dealing with a bunch of ponies backed by a force you don't understand. I don't even understand what's going on, but I know they're fighting you. So I support them. I stand by them. I still want to live, but I won't accept it if they have to give in to you to do it." The Endless Wish glared at her. "There is not a third option, unicorn." "Oh, really?" "Yes. There is no option at all. They will not have a choice! I will cause so much death, destruction, and suffering that they have no choice but to make a wish!" He grabbed Nova with his hand. Then he duplicated her a few dozen times. Then he killed all of them with a snap of his fingers. "STOP!" Flutterfree shouted. The Endless Wish recreated a Nova, and killed her again. "Make a wish." "FINE!" Pinkie shouted, a vein pulsing out of the side of her head. "YOU WANT A WISH!?" "YES!" he said, sensing that he had finally gotten through to her. Made it so she couldn't resist. She would finally give in t- "I WISH THAT THIS WAS THE LAST WISH TO EVER BE GRANTED - ALL POTENTIAL WISHING SOURCES WILL LOSE THEIR POWER!" The Endless Wish stared at her. "No... No you can't!" "IT'S MY WISH!" She slammed her hoof into the ground. "And you have to grant it." "I do not I d-" He let out a scream as his internal coding began to take over. He had to fulfill the wish. There was nothing he could do to stop it. All wishing sources would lose their power... Every last one... He couldn't go back on that! So he would make it as damaging as possible. "Know this!" He declared. "Every wishing source aside from myself will lose its power in a violent explosion! Trillions will die!" "There's a freaking reason I didn't wish for it earlier!" Pinkie retorted. "But it's clear you're not going to stop unless you're made to stop. So screw this, screw this entire game, and screw you. Do your worst." "You are speaking out of anger!" "NO, REALLY!?" Pinkie screamed. "Me, ANGRY? Well TOO BAD! You wanted to push us to the breaking point and YOU DID!" She clapped her hooves sarcastically. "Just wish for something benign! So-" "I will wish that you become unable to talk and then wish that you end all wishes so no one else will ever have to go through this ever again!" "You are a fool!" "And you're stalling! Are you allowed to refuse wishes?" "I am allowed to discuss until I am sure the client has thought it through!" "Now you're the one not playing the game!" Pinkie said. "You're doing exactly what you hated us for doing." The Endless Wish shivered. "Why... Why can't you just... let it be... the way it is meant to!?" "Because it's wrong." Pinkie narrowed her eyes. "You know what, I have a different wish in mind. I wish that you lost your powers and that you would give them to me." "GRANTED!" the Endless Wish said. Suddenly they were standing on the dead planet again, and the Endless Wish was in a spacesuit. "Now you will not be able to resist, you will receive my power and my drive to make wishes! You will have to make them! You will ha-" "Heaven's Door!" Pidge shouted, popping Pinkie open like a book. Will only wish to end all wishes. Pinkie fixed the Endless Wish with a smirk. "And you've lost." She clasped her hooves together and made exactly one wish - sending a spiral of white energy out. There were no negative consequences. If any wish was to be made, it would now be impossible. The spell would spread out at the speed of light until it encompassed the entire New World... "You... wh..." The Endless Wish fell to his knees, dumbfounded. "I... no... no... the Vault... all the purpose..." "You got out-genie'd," Pinkie said with a cute smile. "Now, I've got a n-" Vriska ran the Endless Wish through with her sword, killing him instantly. "Vriska!" Pinkie chided. "He deserved that," Vriska asserted, pulling her blade out. "I don't care what you say about the 'morality' of that. Fucker needed to die and I didn't want to give him any chance of making it out of this." "He was powerless," Flutterfree said. "And so were all those Novas," Vriska said, spitting on the Endless Wish's corpse. "You can disagree with this all you want. But you all know this is why I'm part of this group. I'll do it when none of you will." Pinkie nodded slowly. "...You're right." Jotaro shook his head. "...We should head home." The five of them went back into the Skimmer and took off, leaving the gravity well of the planet. Everyone changed out of their suits and took their seats on the bridge. "...You know, despite it all," Flutterfree looked up. "...It was nice to talk to Nova again." Pidge smiled ever so slightly. "You're right." Jotaro hid his face from everyone while Vriska angrily flicked a tear off her face. Pinkie found herself smiling and crying at the same time. She hit the button to transmit all of them back to Nucleon. ~~~ Pinkie's Party stood in front of a new statue right outside the Expedition Office. It was a statue of Nova - complete with hoof-screen, horn-ring, and confident cocky smile. At the base of the statue was an inscription. NOVA: THE GREAT EXPLORER Beneath that was a very long list of all the places she'd visited, etched in words so small it was impossible to read unless viewed from up close. "I keep telling myself she wouldn't have liked being back," Vriska said. "That it would hurt too much for her." Pinkie shook her head. "It would have been hard for her. I think she wouldn't have been able to go on missions with us. But she could have had a life. Eve would have taken her in, and that relationship could have blossomed. She would have had to forge new friendships where she wasn't eternally living up to her other self... but she would have managed." "Should we have brought her back in the end?" Pidge asked. "...By the Tower's rules, no," Pinkie said. "She had already died, bringing her back as a one-off in a simple chapter like this would have been... unsatisfying, and not in a good way." She looked at the ground. "If we remove that, I don't think there's an answer. If it was okay to bring her back, why not everyone else? Why not copy them all several dozen times? Where do you draw the line?" "That's why we couldn't do it," Flutterfree said. "We would have had wishes..." She wiped her eyes. "And we would have needed to draw a line that we couldn't know was right. Opening that can of worms... It was not something for us. It was never intended to be for us." "It's just one set of impossible questions after another," Jotaro said. Pidge summoned Heaven's Door, looking at it intently. "...I don't know what to make of all this. Is this a gift? Or something I stole? Or a blasphemy?" "Don't try to answer the question, just be thankful," Flutterfree suggested. "For all the suffering we went through... it ended up okay. We beat the 'douchebag genie' at his own game." Vriska snorted. "Nice word choice." "I learned from the best." Pidge looked back at the statue. "Yeah... good advice. But... was this closure? Or did it just open up new wounds? Or...?" "I don't know," Pinkie said with a shrug. "I'm not sure even this chapter knows what it means. It was a thing that happened, asked a lot of questions, and flopped around like a flounder. We had to win. But did we really learn anything?" she paused. "I miss the times when the adventures were mostly innocent fun and the conflicts were simple." Flutterfree let out a soft laugh. "Yeah... those times were nice." Jotaro suddenly slammed his fist into the palm of his opposite hand. "Then let's go do that." "Jojo, we're in front of a memorial," Pidge chided. "Would she have wanted us to stand around dwelling in our sorrow? Or would she want us back out there, doing what we do best?" Pinkie smirked. "...Jotaro's got the right idea. We got her a statue. We shouldn't remember her by sitting around moping about it, we should remember her by acting." She tapped the inscription. "She is going to be remembered as an explorer. So let's go explore as far as we can while we're still able." "...Fuck it, sure," Vriska said, stretching her limbs. "Let's throw ourselves right back into that frying pan. I'm sure it hasn't gotten hotter." Flutterfree chuckled. "But if we're going into the frying pan, doesn't that mean we're out of the fire?" "The fire is not the only place that's outside the frying pan. There's also the irons." "I thought those were in the fire?" "Shut up," Vriska laughed. Pinkie giggled. "Let's go. ...I just had an idea." "What?" "Let's name the Skimmer Nova." "...That's perfect," Flutterfree said, a tear rolling down her face. Later that day, they piled into the freshly named Nova and blasted off. They opted to travel without becoming light so they could really feel the journey. They passed through Nucleon's atmosphere, left the gravity well, and launched toward distant planets and stars... Explorers to the end.
Songs of the Spheres	151 - Through the Cracks	My name is Twilence. You may have found this little booklet hidden away in some long-forgotten corner of a library. But, more likely, you're just getting this transmitted directly to your computer screen. If you're the former, I admire and respect what you are. Living in the New World, completely free... I wish I could see what it's like. Know that you have an experience that I cannot know from these pages, something that no one I know personally can attest to. You are something different. I hope my jotted thoughts on a world long gone will have some beneficial impact on you besides confusion. I'll ask that you don't think me mad, but I'll understand if you do. If you're the latter, hello readers, welcome to chapter 151. Except it isn't really a chapter. This is just me rambling - rambling about some of the things that happen while the ever-so-present power of ka wanes. The cracks in the Tower cause those of us who have had immense clouds of ka surrounding us to lose that ka and gain moments of freedom. While it can never go away entirely, there are moments where the world isn't a ridiculous over-the-top story where we're always the chosen ones. By their nature, these events cannot be relayed to you directly, since they have limited ka. But they are important - oh so important to our understanding of what is to come. So at the risk of contaminating the purity of some of these moments, I have chosen to write them down. You won't find grand adventure here, nor will you find an endless trove of deep personal drama raised to the power of ten for your enjoyment. Instead, you will find a bunch of unrelated snapshots of life that I decided were worth saving. Naturally, I will be unable to remove all semblance of a story from each event, for I am writing this down in a form meant to be read. Consider this a journal, if you must. A book about my experiences - or the experiences of others I head about. I am the eye that looks through the cracks. Title drop. ~~~ We like to over-decorate our cars with every conceivable ornament we can find. The more oversized and ridiculous, the better. If you make a living out of being a race car driver, you can afford to deck out your car to the point it hardly looks like a car anymore, but of course you - an expert racer - can drive it at high speeds anyway because of your raw skill. No matter how ridiculous or impractical your car is. As I was trotting down one of the City's many streets, I watched one such racer pull his car out of the driveway. I heard the revving of the engine, the whir of the wheels on the pavement, and the brush of air as he whirled past me. The spoiler that looked like a chicken swerved a bit too far to the right, smacking an information terminal. The avian structure shattered into a dozen large pieces and spilled all across the road. The racer's poor car entered a tailspin and skidded off the road into someone's lawn, hitting the tree with the back end. He ended up in the hospital for a broken arm and had many major bruises all over his body. He couldn't believe it had failed on him - he had taken the car out thousands of times exactly like that, and nothing had stopped his radical coolness! It took the doctors a lot longer to piece together than it should have. Or was what I witnessed just people taking a normal amount of time to come to the seemingly obvious answer? ~~~ Sherlock Holmes, a man who depends a bit too much on natural intuition. When the cracks first started rippling through the city, he didn't have any way to prepare, so he assumed his deductions were just as reliable as they always were, no matter how absurd this ended up being. This was particularly bad the first time it happened: while he was on a case. He leaned down to inspect the body, prodding it with his mind. He did not sense the lack of ka, for his mind did not get any less sharp. He was still able to see all the details - the scratches on the man's ring, the way his coat was put on inside-out, his open satchel with lots of discs inside. The information was easily available to him. I even watched him putting two and two together, the little gears in his mind creaking at a fast rate. He smirked, stood up, and cleared his throat. "This man was killed by a partner he had recently left, via the ingestion of a toxic poison - given the smile on his face, I'm thinking liquefied laughing gas. In other deductions, he is an aficionado of music." He picked up one of the discs and allowed it to glint in the sunlight. "We should check all his recent relationships to see who's most likely. I'm thinking a woman, but that doesn't have to be the case." Lightning stared at him with a dumbfounded expression. "...What? It's not like last week. I'm not saying a pig ate his liver and then sold the 'remnants' for pocket money. I was still right about this though." Lightning pointed at the table. There was a note on it. "Suicide...?" Sherlock said, raising an eyebrow. "That doesn't make any..." He read the note. Test 19: I think I have the correct formula. It has a lot of volatile compounds, but it should be able to finally let me appreciate music. I will actually be able to understand all these things I am selling. Details are below in case this doesn't work so someone else may continue the process. Sherlock shook his head, unable to process how he hadn't picked that up. It all made perfect sense to him NOW. Why hadn't he seen the note? He never got that fixated on a crime scene... Clearly, the entire thing was set up for him to make a bizarre deduction about self-experimentation, music appreciation, and a tragic accident. But that didn't happen. ~~~ I am lucky enough to be able to see the result of a crack in ka. In theory all Aware powers should cease to function, and in a technical sense my Eye of Rhyme cannot show me anything new while I am currently in one of the aforementioned cracks. That said; the Eye of Rhyme is able to detect when a crack will happen and tell me what the result will be. This creates some interesting opportunities. Say you're with Vriska, the troll who feeds off luck and is generally predisposed to win every gambling encounter she's part of, so long as it's fair. Anyone who knows her knows never to bet against her on anything founded in randomness or chance - and she's banned from every casino in the City. Now, the luck of Light isn't a truly ka-based power, it is still able to function without a constant presence of narrative. However, luck without ka should be random. With even a tiny bit of luck, Vriska is basically guaranteed to win a coin flip through ka. Without it, the luck of Light becomes less potent, becoming a pure numbers game that always has a chance of failure. It is just luck, after all. So I cheated. One day I was walking and talking with her and Starbeat, and then I felt the crack coming. I turned to Vriska. "Hey, wanna try something?" "Yeah, what?" I held up a coin. "Coin flip. Heads, I win, tails, you lose. I won't cheat with my magic - I'll just let it spin and fall." "Don't you know the result?" "Yes, I do," I said with a smirk. "But the question here is are you confident enough that the result is you winning?" "You're on." I flipped the coin. Vriska grabbed some luck from Starbeat and focused on the coin. It landed heads, exactly as I foresaw. "I win." "What the fuck..." Vriska said, eyes wide. I winked and teleported away before she could question me. ~~~ So, Rosalina showed up. Yes, the woman who was supposedly executed by Starbeat's Rage-fed version of the Hub. Apparently she'd devised a clever self-recreation spell that took a gamble that 'revive' would work on her from a distance. It worked like a charm, and to make it better nobody bothered to check to see if soul-magic had been used in the execution room. Just a regular oversight at the execution block. This woman walked into the City and absolutely nothing happened. There were no dramatic gasps, no bravado, no nothing. A few people recognized her and were surprised, but to her chagrin nothing seemed to happen. She was calm and collected enough not to get angry with this, but disappointment is also a powerful emotion. She soon realized she had no idea what to do now that she was here - she had sort of just expected everything to fall into her lap since she'd been the effective leader of the Mushroom World. But there was no niche prepared for her, her people had been spread out through the City, and she didn't have all that many close friends around. To cut a long story short, she didn't feel like becoming a member of Expeditions or politics, and she didn't feel all that comfortable leading people she wasn't familiar with. Part of this was due to her mental state - being put on trial and executed does things to your mind if you manage to survive it. In the end she somehow ended up working at a Subway. Yes, the sandwich place. We have them. "Welcome to Subway, what can I get you?" "Meatball sub," I said. After my order was complete I took my seat at the window and watched what was about to unfold. Starbeat walked into the subway and locked eyes with Rosalina. For a moment, it looked like there might be a bit of a scene. Starbeat lit her horn and nervously glanced from side to side, while Rosalina hefted her wand aggressively. And then Starbeat shut off her magic and put on a dumb smile. She walked up to the counter and coughed. "Uh... seafood. Just the standard." Rosalina lowered her wand. "...Yes. What kind of bread do you want?" "That... seasoned one that looks like it has cheesy bits on the top." "...Coming right up." She split the bread, carefully loaded it with the seafood special, and added a healthy assortment of veggies. "Would you like anything else with that?" "You know what, I think I'm good." "Sure? We've got chips." "...I'll pass." Starbeat paid, took her sandwich, and walked away from the counter. She paused for a moment and looked back at Rosalina as if she wanted to say something. In the end, all she did was shake her head and walk away. Rosalina took the next order with shaking hands. Starbeat would not be going back to this particular Subway. ~~~ A gigantic mouse-fox monster was whaling on the City walls, determined to break through to all the succulent food sources within. It could smell the delicious humans in there. The walls were holding just fine, but the noises the rodent was making had become a mixture of annoying and terrifying for the people living on the exact opposite side of the wall. Since they didn't want to use explosives or complex artillery near the wall and people, they decided to use an agent. It just so happened that Saitama was free and hadn't been finding things to challenge himself lately. So he took the chore readily - but took one look at the oversized mouse and decided this wasn't going to be interesting. He slowly walked up to it and punched. He hit its toe with a tiny bit of force, expecting the entire beast to rupture. Nothing happened. "Shit, dud," he muttered, preparing for impact. Nothing happened again. The monster hadn't even felt him - but it had seen something shiny in the distance. It decided to give up on the wall it had been whaling on for so long to go investigate the shiny. This left Saitama decidedly confused. "...Did I win?" Later he would test his punch and discover it worked just fine. ...And he would destroy part of the City wall in the process. He would be put on community service for this, and then promptly removed when he started doing every job perfectly. ~~~ Shirley was a woman who hated the 'don't call me Surely' joke, for obvious reasons. It was always 'Surely this, Shirley that.' She was far too stubborn to change her name and avoid the trouble altogether, as was the way with a lot of people. Feeling hungry, she got up from her couch to make the long trek over to the fridge. This was a considerable ordeal, considering she lived in a house that was essentially one giant hallway the kids played in. Moving from one area to another in this house was essentially trying to walk through a minefield. The Legos hid in the carpet, just waiting to be stepped on. She would have put on shoes, but she had left them on the other side of the house. Carefully, she tiptoed through the wilds of the carpet, avoiding any bright colors, looking only for white, fluffy carpet. Before she committed to any step, she would feel the area with her big toe, using her arm to balance herself on a nearby wall. A couple times she committed and felt a Lego nudge the side of her foot, telling her she was exceptionally close to driving excruciating pain through her sole. And she knew what happened when she failed. Her body would freak out and she would jump, falling flat on her back - onto even more Legos. The plastic bricks would dig at her flesh until she had square-and-circle marks all along her back. It was a horrible torment she wanted to avoid at all costs. Luckily for her, she eventually crossed the hallway and did a little dance at the other end. She laughed on the linoleum of the kitchen, satisfied she had survived the gauntlet once more! She reached for the fridge, closing her hand around the sharp, cold metal. The anticipation sent chills up her spine. With a set of quick motions she grabbed herself all the ingredients to make a sandwich fit for a king. Ham, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, bacon, fresh onions, jalapenos, bell peppers, seasonings... it was enough to make almost anyone's mouth water. She ended up only making a simple meat and cheese sandwich and eating it on the spot. She put the rest of the ingredients back in the fridge, deciding they were frivolous in the end. ~~~ Vriska woke up, took one look outside, and said "Nope." She just wasn't going to go to work today. Who needed to, really? ~~~ The vibrant roses of Can'-Ka No Rey are everywhere in the City. Numerous areas of land - particularly in the middle of squares - were left untouched in the City's construction so people could appreciate the natural beauty and redness of the roses. Everyone knew they were sharper than knives, redder than any pigment, and more full of life than any other plant. They were an integral part of City life and aesthetics. The City's colors were orange, black, and red. Orange was a holdover from Merodi and a few other societies, while the black represented the Tower, and the red the roses themselves. The official emblem of the City was created using compressed rose petals - making it the brightest red that wasn't on the roses themselves. True rose dye was a controlled substance, if only because there was a limited amount of it. The roses did not seem to be able to reproduce, and they couldn't be transplanted outside the bounds of the City. It was originally thought to have no use beyond exceedingly vibrant pigment that demanded attention. But then the cracks started happening more often, and people realized something peculiar. Whenever ka lost its strength around the roses, they dimmed. They were still pure, almost perfectly proportioned flowers in this state - but they were just flowers in this state. It was a subtle change, one people rarely noticed, but once a few botanists, biologists, and the like started looking closer they were able to say for certain the dimming of the flowers was a simple, effective detector of the cracks. For the first little while, people would rely on the naturally-growing roses around the City to tell them. But they quickly realized that even if they were looking for it, most of them didn't have the mental awareness to actually detect the change in rose vibrance on the fly. However, if they had some rose pigment... the change there was visibly noticeable and harsh. And it was a lot simpler than putting together a full ka-sensor array. Roses began to vanish from public parks so they could be fashioned into these devices that could detect ka strength. Eventually they got precise - little color readers placed on red-colored objects could detect low, but also normal and high levels of ka. It got to be such a problem that people were injuring themselves on the sharp thorns of the roses - thinking they were grabbing them when ka was low and being sorely mistaken. Mlinx eventually had to implement major enchantments to protect the roses. And that was that. The rose-dye ka-readers technically aren't illegal anymore, since they're already made, but they are one of the most expensive items in the City. A lot of thefts and murders have happened over them. ~~~ There are those like me who can cheat and just know when a crack upsets the balance around. This does not apply to all Aware beings. "So, Pinkie, what are you thinking?" I asked as I took a sip of my drink. It was something fruity, probably a mixture of several dozen organic things. She opened her mouth to respond - and then stopped. "I uh... don't know what I was thinking about." She sat back in her chair, blinking. "Huh, that's a little weird." "That is," I said. "Maybe we can retrace your steps? See what happened?" "I, sure, yeah! So, I was watching you drink, and I was thinking about the color purple then. You and your drink. That turned into eggplants, then eggs, and then breakfast - even though this is lunch - and then I was thinking about a breakfast party and then... Then..." She tapped her hoof on the table. "There was something there..." "Sounds like you were planning a party." "I think I was. Usually I come up with those things in, like, a second! How did I lo-" it was at this point she put two and two together from my curious responses, her Awareness's minimal input, and the general feel of the atmosphere. "Oooooh, I getcha! Just some little game then?" "The opposite of a game." "You just lost the game." "So I did." ~~~ There was a man. Let's call him John. There was another man. Let's call him Matt. John and Matt had been fighting a lot over the course of the last few weeks about, of all things, politics. John really liked Mlinx's policies; while Matt thought he was too hard-handed with the way he managed his presence. These arguments had been the source of a lot of strife between the two men, and it had begun to drive a rift between them. Like friends were always doing in the City, they decided to meet up and resolve the issue. There was nothing a good long talk couldn't fix, right? "Hey," John said as he sat in his chair. "Hey," Matt responded, awkwardly. They ordered food, but when it arrived neither of them touched it. "Look..." John folded his hands together. "At the end of the day, does it really matter who's the Mayor?" "No. What matters is what they do." "Does it really? "I'm not going to become apathetic about it. Mlinx is wrong in what he does and refusing to talk about it is also wrong." "But neither of us are going to get anywhere in convincing each other," John added. "Your friendship is more important than my devotion to a man's ideals." "Then change your ideals." "It isn't that simple. You know it isn't. How hard it is for people to change their minds!?" "They do it all the time. Read the stories! Endless discussions leading to changed minds!" "But there are also a lot of stubborn people!" "And you are one," Matt said, tapping his fingers together. "Look, I'm sorry John. I can't change myself for you." "And neither can I." "...Maybe I can just not talk about it around you," Matt suggested. "I think I could do that. Just admit you can't be swayed and focus my efforts elsewhere." John narrowed his eyes. "But you'll still be screaming from the rooftops." "Of course I will. It's my life. I'm not letting it go. I won't stop until the world is the way it needs to be." "You have the makings of a supervillain." Matt looked John in the eyes. He opened his mouth to respond, couldn't, and shut it. "I knew it. I kn-" Matt decided he was done. He stood up and walked out. They never talked to each other again. Forever unresolved. ~~~ Why was there a cat on my porch singing to a cactus I had been growing for the last week? No reason. Why did that cat pace around the cactus for an hour? Not much of a reason. Why did the cactus fall over? Bad health, a need for direct sun, hatred of the soil, my own inexperience gardening. Why didn't it fall on the cat? No reason. ~~~ "We need to decide this now," Andrew Cobb said, sitting down on the sofa across from his wife, Laurel. She looked up. "Do... do we really, Andrew?" Andrew tossed the divorce papers up onto the table. "Yes. We do. The moment to finalize this is now." "Fine then!" She tore them off the table and read them over. "Sure, we can sign it! Why haven't you signed it!?" "Because I wasn't going to be made a fool!" "A fool? A fool? Like you need my bloody help for that!" "You certainly don't help, wench." Laurel laughed. "I bet if I actually helped you'd end up looking better than if you tried anything on your own! Every little bit of your life is failure after failure and you just sucked me in along with you!" "I sucked you along? Ha! Who was it that said 'we should go move to a collapse society?' You! 'It'll be safer', you said. 'They'll be nicer to us', you said." "They would have if you weren't going to be such a prick!" "Maybe I like being a prick! Maybe it's part of who I am! Maybe I'm just a grumpy old monkey that needs some goddamn freedom every now and then!" "Well you're about to have all the freedom you want!" "I will!" He swiped the divorce papers out of her hand and pulled a pen out of his pocket. He set it down to the paper. ...and the moment passed. The document lost its luster, its finality. It sat in his hands as a simple piece of paper. It didn't judge, it didn't call - it just sat there. There was no freedom in there. He dropped the pen and the papers. They fell down to the coffee table, the pen rolling onto the floor and the papers falling in a bent mess. He flopped into a nearby chair and clenched his jaw as hard as he could manage, unable to prevent two tears from falling down his cheeks. "...What got us here?" he asked. Laurel had no answer. The two of them sat in silence for several minutes. Eventually, Laurel got up and went to bed. Andrew found a blanket and a couch and cried himself to sleep that night. The papers remained untouched on the coffee table for weeks. Neither of them acknowledged the presence of the papers. They still fought and screamed, but the frequency of those events went down over time. Their marriage would return to a happy one and they would have four children. All because the finality of one moment was lost. The papers were forever unresolved. Eventually they were lost under a stack of books and no one would see them ever again. ~~~ His name was Yellow Throat, a member of a bird-like race from a long-forgotten world. Everyone called him Pa. He spent his time sitting in a hospital bed, listening to the beep... beep... beep... of his monitor. He was rarely conscious, and whenever he was it was immensely painful to speak. He was by no means old - not even old enough to have grandchildren - but he looked it. His feathers were falling out and his limbs were shriveled. Tubes of magic energy ran into his body, struggling to keep him alive. It was a sad story - he and his family had been traveling to the City since their old home had been destroyed by meteor-weather. He had been lucky enough to lose none of his seventeen kids in the Dusting. In his travels, he had transformed himself from a meek, soft-spoken family man into a daring hero who would protect his children from every ordeal. But on the last leg of the journey, there had been an attack by pirates. He had thrown himself into the fray, sacrificing everything he could to make sure the pirates were destroyed and his family would go free. He should not have survived. The toxins, the magic weapons, the things they had stabbed him with... All should have destroyed his body. But he'd pulled through. Not a single one of them had survived his onslaught, and he himself still lived. Barely. They were rescued by a patrol right after that and brought to the hospital where Pa now lay, wasting away. His family came to visit him regularly, and there was hardly a moment when two or three weren't in the room. His wife almost never left him. Despite the pain, he was happy to know every last one of them was alive and healthy. Acceptance was easy. He knew his time had come. It was his heroic sacrifice. He had been allowed to live so he could tell each of them goodbye. A little pain was more than worth that opportunity. His family, of course, wanted to do everything they could to save him. The doctor - a skeleton pony - sighed. "Look, we've done everything we can." He held up a clipboard, going through every section of it. "Every test has been run, every treatment that won't make it worse has been tried. He rejects Esunas and whatever toxin they had was highly magical in nature." He looked up at them. "He's got three days." The wife burst into tears along with half the children. The eldest woman among them walked up to him and stared him in the face. "Are you sure you've done everything?" "Absolutely positive." He began going through the clipboard again. "We are very thorough and go through every procedure we can, using AI and magical assistance for all diagnoses and treatment options. W-" And then he did what very few doctors had ever done. He noticed the convenient oversight on one of the documents. One square had been marked as 'complete' when, really, the mark was part of the box below it. A tiny mistake conveniently made on the one patient it would likely help. "Order a JE-4-SCAN!" he ordered, dropping the clipboard and running into the hall. "I NEED A JE-4-SCAN!" Modern magic medicine could cure curses. There was no reason it wouldn't be able to cure a bizarre mixture of chemicals and poisons in the hands of pirates. But Pa's time had come. Except now his death was going to be skipped over. Fate was changed - cracked. ~~~ If the Tower chooses not to let ka dictate a decision, isn't that still in a way ka? Think about it. The Tower has to manage everything and know everything that's going to happen between now and the moment of its destruction. After it falls, it has no control, but even when it allows the 'cracks' to flow out and disrupt ka, it's no more than a narrative glitch, isn't it? Perhaps. After all, as I write these, a lot of them seem overly convenient in timing. Sure, I am picking and choosing the events that are worthy of being recorded, thereby making more of them seem important when they aren't. Perhaps that is a bit arrogant of me. ...It is definitely arrogant. Regardless, they seem to have the elements of story in them. And that element is a subversion, or the loss of coherence, of completion. Many of them aren't really satisfying, or just seem out of place. Yet, they together approach a point, a goal, a purpose of some kind. They come together to show the world and prepare it for what is to come. It is exactly like the glitches, I think. The Tower always knows, so while it may use a randomizer to decide where to cause the ka 'blackouts', it still knows the results, and knows the instances I will place in my little journal here. It always knew, right from the start. Really, this is all fake. Ka never vanishes completely, even when we can't detect it. The Tower is controlling all for now. But it is living up to The Emissary's promise. It's preparing us for the world that will come after. ~~~ He had been bullied all his life. He had been told to forgive and forget. He had been told to turn the other cheek. "Fuck that," he declared, planning to leave his family the moment he could. When all of them were dusted, it was a dream come true. He was not only rid of those idiots, he was rid of all the other people around as well. He owned what remained - he was king of his own little cityscape. Empty, devoid of human life, but it was still his. As its king, he needed servants. Since his IQ was off the charts, he built his own robotic servants to do all the work for him - bringing him food, transforming city hall into a personal palace, telling him everything they discovered about the New World. He lived a life almost without want, without need. Many people would say it was without purpose, but he did not mind. It wasn't the hell he was in before with those people who thought they could control him, so he was content. Unfortunately for everyone in existence, a few travelers started to pass through his city. They were welcomed as esteemed guests so they could gasp in awe at his kingdom and his glory. Sometimes they would tell him things - that there were communities who survived, that there were dangerous pirate bands, and that there were entire worlds beneath the surface and in the sky. He sent minor exploration drones to investigate these things to satisfy his curiosity. The efforts didn't begin in earnest until he heard about the City. No matter how he examined the rumors, the City was better than him. Larger. More important. More hopeful. The few who had been there and left said it was the most organized place they had seen in the New World, and that the king of robots would be well suited to open relations with them. "Fuck that." Nobody could be better than him. And he knew exactly how to make them bow to his will. He began building a bomb that could do one thing and one thing only - wipe cities off the face of the planet. It wasn't just a regular nuclear bomb, not even close; it was a strange matter cascade, one of the most feared weapons in the entire multiverse because of how hard it was to control. All he had to do was introduce some wild 'strangelet' particles into the City and watch as every form of atomic matter was transformed into more strangelets, effectively disintegrating them. The spread would be unstoppable, crossing through the air, the water, and the earth itself. Nucleon was large enough to take several thousand years to completely fall to the strangelets, but the City wouldn't take anywhere near as long. They would know their place. He set up a forcefield around his city of robots and armed the strangelet device, aiming it at the distant City. He fired, ready for mass genocide and conquest. They wouldn't know what hit them. In a way, he was right. But not in the way he was expecting. He also didn't hit himself with the strangelets - the robot flew through space just fine, landing in the City without a problem. The problem was the strangelets just failed to work. When the City scientists popped the robot open they had no idea that they were even looking at a failed weapon. As far as they were concerned they had opened up an overly-complicated lunchbox that fell from the sky. They saw no reason to do anything special with it. The king of robots, though, was sure they had managed to stop the weapon somehow and were now plotting to retaliate against him. So he built a wall around his city and refused to let anyone in ever again, retreating to his world of robots where he would eternally build up more defenses, waiting for an attack that would never come. ~~~ A hundred and forty-four Aradias vanished into thin air one day. They were all sitting and chatting about how time was fluid and how beautiful the world around them was - a few of them were organizing funerals for particularly eccentric people and were in black attire. Suddenly all of them looked at nothing and vanished into thin air. There was no sign of time distortion or teleportation spells. They were just there, and then they were gone without a trace. Not even a single hair was left behind. The investigation put into the case became legendary. People from all over the city were called in - Sherlock, yes, but also psychics, future-tellers, other Aradias, and even myself. Sherlock was sure it was some kind of sabotage from a meta-manipulating creature. The psychics were convinced the Aradias had experienced soul-synergy and had melded into one being we could not comprehend. The fortune-tellers predicted the Aradias would be lost forever, but that they were in a state of peace. The other Aradias wondered if there was some kind of hidden time dimension that grabbed hold of their 'sisters.' I was almost embarrassed to reveal the actual answer. "It was random." Everyone stared at me in disbelief. "I'm serious. It was random. That was just a result of one ka being 'removed' in a slightly unconventional way. Instead of making things more mundane, it just made quantum events significantly more likely. I'd call it a glitch, but you know the Tower doesn't do glitches. This one didn't even have the point of 'preparing us for the next world', it was just there to be there. Sorry to disappoint you." "...Are they dead?" an Aradia asked. "Maybe? I don't see it exactly. If they aren't, they'll re-appear after the Tower falls." I shrugged. "I can see and understand everything, but the final result is still beyond me in some cases. I am sorry." ~~~ The Happy Mask Salesman came out of the woodwork and started selling masks. Nobody really noticed aside from Seskii. He'd sell stuff in the market with her and Mister Raven from time to time. ~~~ I have a flowerpot on my windowsill. It used to have one of the great roses in it, but that was stolen back during the 'rose gold rush'. Now it is just a flowerpot with nothing but soil in it. I haven't bothered to remove it or put another flower in it. Something about the clay vessel just makes me appreciate existence when I look at it. In a way, it is just like every other average small flowerpot. The clay used to form it has taken on a brown-orange color, making it look somehow both earthy and heavily artificial at the same time. There is a singular hole in the bottom for drainage, not that it can be seen. Not to mention the fact that I have a magic spell in place to take care of draining so the sill doesn't get wet - not that I've watered the empty pot since the rose was stolen. The rose wouldn't need water anyway. I did water it while it was still in there, though. Because that's what you do with flowers. Along the bottom of the flowerpot there are several markings. A serial number is scrawled on the bottom - 194213GMTSMU - an almost comically convenient set of numbers and letters etched into the pot. The 9 and the S are pretty worn out, almost too worn to even see. Though, of course, this is all the part of the pot that is hidden from view. In plain sight is the outside surface - upon first glance, a perfectly round base with a slightly larger, but equally rounded rim. But anyone who studies the surface closely will find numerous marks along the edge. Most of these are simply manufacturing artifacts - a little lump here, some extra grit there, and a strange dark spot I keep turned toward the window. These marks aren't interesting; the ones that it has accumulated over time are. Every nick and dent tells something of a story. Most the ones along the bottom edge are indications that it's been moved, slid around, or handled roughly in some way or other. The top rim is similar, though not as heavily demolished as the other. Between the upper part of the pot and the lower there is a shadow effect that shrouds some of the worst damage - a scrape caused by a stick run through the overlap in an attempt to clean the clay surface. The large crack down the middle of the pot has no apparent origin, having shown up one day with no warning or act taken to cause the damage. The interior of the pot is nothing more than a memory of what once was. The dirt is what could be best described as 'standard, but dry.' Parts of it stick to the edge of the flowerpot, but most of it keeps a dull, slow, motionless existence on top of several layers of other dirt. It was once dark brown and littered with little white flecks, but now it is dull and dusty from lack of watering. There is a small lump in the middle where the rose's roots are. They've been dead for a long time. But on the days where the twilight of the stars in the distance shine through the window just right... well it still looks dead, but it's interesting. I like my flowerpot. ~~~ It occurs that this will be my last chance to address you. That is, the readers who didn't discover this book, but are reading it as part of a larger work. Sure, I'll still be around the Discord chat - for a good while longer - but there's not much space left for me to talk to you here. Only six chapters left. Or five or four, depending on how you count exactly. We've come a long way. Some of you have been here with me longer than Songs of the Spheres itself has been running. For you, that's over two years. For me? Centuries. And yet you - all of you - have felt like a constant presence for my entire journey. I don't always talk to you, I don't always address you, and I don't always like what you represent. However, there is something to be said for your constant presence. The Eye of Rhyme, despite all the curses of knowing and understanding, can provide comfort in certain times with its constant presence. When I lost it in the middle of fighting English, I was terrified. Lost. Afraid. Confused. I was not prepared. The world was in too much danger for me to appreciate my freedom. I needed to see then. I guess I'll put this Eye back on in a heartbeat if I feel like it'd help somebody, huh? I really should take care of myself better... If I keep subjecting myself to all this when the natural protection of a hero is gone... I won't last long. Hopefully I'll find something after the Tower falls that'll keep me around long enough to appreciate my new life. If not... ...Well, I'm kind of hoping there's something more, you know? That with the Tower gone there'll still be something left. Something with some real tangibility to it. I don't pretend to know if there really is anything. I just understand ka itself. I don't actually have the big answers to life's greatest mysteries. I'm probably a lot less certain about life than you are! A curious thing happens when you learn more and more about the world. You get less and less certain. What was once black and white becomes muddied shades of gray. Good is still good, evil is still evil, but there are mixtures of good and evil that get put into a nice soup and served to you in an incomprehensible mess. It's a little ridiculous how many 'exceptions' and 'case-by-case' things there are. I really do admire Renee - the real Renee - for being able to keep the Merodi Universalis 'case-by-case' law together so well. It was one of those things that totally should have failed miserably, but somehow didn't. I don't care that most of its success was ka-based - most success is. But everything has two reasons. And that second reason was Renee. I can only hope it will continue to be successful. ...That's the problem with stories like this, isn't it? We have a lot of morals here, morals that work for us in our world that seem to be absolutely true. Don't lie, be honest, respect other cultures, war is horrendous, sometimes you should push against impossible odds, occasionally the correct answer is to give up, you shouldn't want stories to be real. And while some of these certainly do apply universally... some of them are difficult to reconcile with your experiences. You live in what can best be summarized as the 'real world' - be it the deep past, a secluded world, or the only 'real' place at all. You most likely either have very little ka running your lives, or none at all. All the might of heroes works here, but you can't really count on the 'right' answer giving you the best outcome. You can't count on a happy ending just because you did the right thing. You can't even count on an 'ending' at all, aside from death, and even that isn't really an ending to your story. This story was definitely designed by GM to get you to think. He let his own bias through, certainly, but he also tried to give characters voices that heavily disagreed with his own. I am one of them, and so is Corona, and so is O'Neill... None of us are really him. The only one who is, well, is that kid sitting in a distant church trying not to be found by the people who want him to answer questions. Questions about why. He'll be the first to admit it didn't have to be this way. There was a list of people who made it to the end. He changed it more times than he can remember. He made a lot of last-minute decisions. As he's writing these words into my pen, he doesn't know who survives the coming journey, and yet I do. It's an interesting paradox. Writing about beings who know more than you do. I don't know what it says about me, about the Tower, or about Prophets in general. What I do know is that this story has run its course. It was always intended to be an End to All Stories one way or another - either through the destruction of the Tower or the expansion to Infinity - for that's what the preservation movement would have led to in arcs 11 and 12, instead of all this New World business. Lord English would have stormed across existence regardless, forcing the two sides of the war to reconcile in either scenario. There were two ways the story could have taken. This is the one it ended up in. I prefer this one. One where we can escape the story and create a society without Prophets and the Tower dictating every action, without the horrors of time travel, without the desires of people made into reality. No more wishes, no more flights of fancy - reality. The other one was not without merit. The idea of Infinity has a certain appeal... for certain people. It ends the debate over meaning by declaring all meanings valid and invalid at the same time. I find that unsatisfying. But, to some, it is freeing. You could, in Infinity, pick the world you wanted if you had the means... We would have gotten to see the true consequences of immortality... But those are all what-ifs. We are in a world where ka was rejected and the future is condensed. But the world itself is amazing, beautiful, and full of life. It's like a second chance. I like it when a story ends by tying up loose ends rather than leaving an Infinite number of possibilities open, don't you? ~~~ Most everyone in the City is immortal. Deaths by natural causes are rare - usually it's an accident, a murder, or something a little stranger. Bodies are usually kept in conditions of reasonable health, so the normal causes of death were minimal. Still, they happened occasionally. Usually those with importance got a pass. They would never have to worry. It surprised everyone when Doctor Strange dropped dead from a stroke in the line of duty. Revive spells did nothing. He may not have been the most important person in existence, but he was the chief of police for the entire City. Every person on its streets owed him some portion of their safety. He deserved a more heroic death - one where he went out fighting criminals, or trying to stop an ancient evil from wrecking a city block. Instead, he seized up and dropped like a stone without warning. They had just arrested a suspect in an armed robbery of a government materials depot - the danger from the man had passed. That did little to help him. He was still on the ground, dead, unresponsive. His funeral was paradoxically big and small. Big, because so many people wanted to pay respects to the chief. Small, because very few people actually knew him. He had been a private man, and very few superheroes from Earth MC had bothered to stay in touch with him and his life. Corona had a few words to say - but she'd only known him in the past. She knew what he represented, not what he had become. Very few did. Lightning did. She didn't feel like talking. Sherlock did. He knew better than to let himself talk at a funeral. "I was an endless source of annoyance," Sherlock told Lightning in private. "He enjoyed it, somewhere in there," Lightning responded. "I could have been a bit more than an annoyance." He pulled up the collar on his coat. "You think I'd actually learn that at some point." "Maybe when the Tower falls." "I'm not placing any money on that." He shook his head. "...Looks like you're in charge now." Lightning nodded slowly. "Again... I come back from everything. One of these days that's going to stop." "...I can't tell you if you're right," Sherlock said, walking away. I took the opportunity to walk up to her. "I can tell you that you're wrong." "How?" "You aren't going to be in charge forever." I looked straight ahead with a soft smile. "There'll be a change, soon enough. And then... you can do what you want. And no, I'm not talking about the final destruction of the Tower." The two of us stood in silence, looking at Strange's grave. ~~~ Rina walked up to me in my library one day. "I don't feel like my life is going anywhere," she said matter-of-factly, like there was no room for debate on the subject. I raised an eyebrow. "How so?" "Cut the shit with your 'mysterious' persona and just tell me. You know how this conversation is going to go." "And you won't learn anything if I just say everything for you," I said. Rina glared. "So I repeat my question - how so?" "Let me put it this way. I was a murderous insane psycho-bitch and I was essentially Eve's nemesis for almost this entire story. Then, in what was supposed to be my last words, I expressed some ability to, you know, think for myself. And then instead of being carted off to Xeelee experimentation grounds I got locked in a Gallifreyan test where I could do nothing but think. I thought, and I decided I was done with the life I had once had, and I betrayed my friends until I was found at Rev's doorstep and given access to actual helpful medication. I converted, became pretty fucking devout, and then had to deal with the collapse war shit. And then I went on a journey with the primary team, fought Fluttershout until she killed herself, and..." She drew a blank in the air with her wing. "Nothing. Blankity-blank. I did all that, looked like I was building up to something, and then the train just dropped off." "A lot of people were overshadowed by English," I pointed out. "Yeah. And then they got mentioned again after the fact. Am I wrong in saying I haven't been in a single chapter since the start of this arc?" I pursed my lips. "You're in one now." "What for?" "An example." I smiled warmly. "In a way, your story is being resolved... By not being resolved." "...What?" "You've gone through everything you need to. Experienced both sides of the coin. Hero, villain... you've done it all. Now your proverbial pendulum swings back to the middle, and you can do what you wish. ...For a while." "Ka isn't quite done with me yet! I knew it!" "Not quite. But I don't think it's what you're going to expect." I looked at a piece of paper on my desk - a partially completed list. "Don't expect a grand resolution to your character arc. You get to be a person." "Welp, that's better advice than I was expecting. See ya!" She trotted out of the library. "...Didn't even say thanks..." I muttered. ~~~ And this last one... This last little story... It is for Starbeat. And it's not one that happens now. It's one that happens in the future. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she asks as I scribble this down in my little book. "Oh, something you'll know eventually," I say with a coy smile. "Come on! Don't be so... evasive!" "It'll be years until it happens. Don't want to spoil it." I see her on the prow of an airship, looking at the twilight sky of Nucleon. "But you do want to spoil it! I see it in your eyes!" she complains. "I'll satisfy myself by telling it to the readers." "...You're no fun." "I'm the most fun." I change the subject. "So, how's your research on the cracks been going?" "It would be going better if you provided me with some more insight..." I see someone walk up to her. She turns around, surprised. "That would ruin the point of you researching it." "Okay, fine," Starbeat rolls her eyes. "This week was all about studying romance and the cracks. It's... confusing, because it's inconsistent. When the ka is gone, I see breakups and arguments in otherwise 'happily ever after' relationships. But I also see relationships form and blossom where before there was nothing." She holds up a data pad and smiled. "I am happy to report that more people are experiencing love without the push of ka at their backs." "That's good!" Starbeat nods. "With less adventures cropping up, less incredible circumstances are around to cause unrealistic and rushed relationships. It's... heartwarming." "...And?" "And I wish my ka wasn't so important," she mutters, looking to the ground. "I can't bring myself to do it if there's any chance..." I see her embrace the other person - a kiss is shared. Something deep, passionate, and meaningful. "You'll get your chance eventually," I tell her. "Yeah, when the Tower falls. ...I guess I can wait that long." "I'm sure you will." Right before it falls. In a time where visions are shrouded and ka is vanishing... the Tower will give you a final gift. In a way, it is ka, but in a way, it is not. Whatever it is, you will deserve it, and you will be allowed to make it into whatever you want. After I write this sentence I close my book and ask her if she wants to go grab some lunch. ~~~ There was no point to this. There were several points to this. That's the point. Confused yet? No? Good, glad you're keeping up. It's time for me to go. The chapter's over, nothing else to see here. There wasn't much to really see here anyway. This chapter didn't have a plan, a plot, or much in the way of shared themes beyond 'ka's gone, what happens?' Even then, some things were just out of place. Were just things I found... nice. I could have told many other little tales. Tales about Flutterfree rejecting advances from someone in the church... Nanoha and O'Neill deciding not to adopt... Mlinx discovering that paperwork actually served a deeper purpose... Nastasia sitting in her office, filling out budget declarations... A church service... People in the streets screaming that the end is nigh... Lots of things happen that you don't see. That you can't see. I guess this little book is a gift so you can see. And, in other ways, it is a gift to the future to know the struggles we went through. It is not easy to adjust our minds to accept the way without ka. Many - like myself - fully believe it is a good change. Others do not, but they have mostly given up trying to reverse the inevitable. Can't really say no when the Emissary tells you to your face what is going on. I feel like I'm being too final here... But I also feel like that's how I have to end it. With an ending. It's nagging at me, telling me to write those words, the end. To close this book and lock it away, call it done. I don't want to.
Songs of the Spheres	152 - Echo of the Earth	I have to get this written down. I don't care what I told myself, it has to come out. I... I am GM. Probably should clarify that before people think I'm Twilence. Specifically, I'm the GM living in church-town in the New World, having lost any semblance of Prophet powers. And I was done writing. I still think I'm done. But there's this story... This last story... It was on the chapter outline document already, so I know Uber-GM already wrote it. I know it already happened. I know there's no chance my words make it happen. But there's still a large component of fear. But it just won't go away. I have to get it down. I don't know if it's my own insecurities or the Tower demanding this be written by me, but here it is. There's more than one way to tell a story. Songs of the Spheres is no different. I chose the most far-reaching and all-encompassing version of the story I could - that of the finite multiverse. I wrote it that way because it gave way to the most things to explore. And because it was the coolest. But there were other options. I had tried in the past to write other stories with mega crossovers. All of them failed... a single galaxy populated with many different races, a small section of the multiverse where heroes created other worlds, a single universe with a handful of galaxies... Each of these had some influence on Songs of the Spheres, in one way or another. The Collector originated from the first, the Evermore like Jane came from the second, and Scarcity's concept came from the third one. However there was a fourth - and the first one I ever tried making - that had a different concept. Instead of far reaching galaxies and space empires, it would all take place on a singular planet, seamlessly fused together. This was a good idea. But I was young and it was the first real fanfic I ever tried writing. I have purged it. It was that bad. The other three attempts weren't great, but they all had something to offer the success - this story. The first one sits, forgotten, alone. Neglected. I'm going to fix that. Let's take a look back to a time when the multiverse still existed. Probably around the time of the first Arc. A single planet in a single universe that will never know of the multiverse beyond it. Will never know the strange parallelisms it shares with a story so, so much larger than itself. It's one of many Echoes of a much larger story. ~~~ The red woman fled through the corridor, and the Goa'uld followed. "You can't run forever," the Goa'uld said, holding out a zat gun. His eyes flashed and his voice transformed into something deep and reverberating. "You will serve us. If you come back, I can make it a pleasant stay." The woman glanced behind her just in time to dodge an incoming attack. She used two of her four arms to perform a jump off a nearby wall, a third arm touching her stomach-positioned gemstone. Her weapon summoned itself into her fourth hand - a large scepter with a mysterious green tint in it. "...What is tha-" the Goa'uld began, cut off by a red and green beam of energy. The woman had expected the attack to knock the wind out of him, not make him start screaming in agony. She didn't feel any pity for him; merely surprise that her attack had been so effective. Perhaps the people of this era were weak. Regardless, it gave her time before the man's endless stream of copies caught up with her. Her strength was far beyond that of most mortals, and she was able to punch right through the reinforced door before her, prying it open with all four arms. There was a single guard inside that she dispatched easily, leaving her alone with the gate. It took the form of an immense metallic spirograph. There was an inscribed glyph in every diamond-shaped section of the gate, not that the woman needed to study them to understand what they meant. She rummaged through the dispatched guard's uniform until she found a dialing device - a diamond-shaped object with four buttons on each side. She didn't have time to type in a complex set of coordinates - she would just have to go with the emergency-dial program. It should arrive somewhere safe... The footsteps in the corridor encouraged her to hurry along. She pressed the buttons as fast as she could, lighting up seven different glyphs on the gate with an ominous golden glow. The gold gate? How is it here!? The gold gate activated, creating a shimmering ocean of yell0w ripples. The woman didn't hesitate - she jumped right through and came out through another gate. The purple one, given the soft glow the gate was producing. She whirled around, ready to tell the dialing device to close the portal. But it slipped out of her hand. That was her final mistake. She turned away from the purple gate to grab the dialing device, meaning she couldn't see the Goa'uld step through the gate. She had no chance to react when he shot her, forcing immense electricity into her body. The energy quickly found its way into her gemstone and overloaded her body, making her vanish in a poof. The diamond-shaped gemstone fell right into the Goa'uld's hands. The Goa'uld smirked. He wordlessly walked back through the portal. It closed, leaving the room dark once more. A purple alicorn stood in the doorway of the purple gate's room. "What in Solgaleo's name was that!?" ~~~ Sunset Shimmer walked up to the gate. How they had managed to keep this thing locked in the school basement without any government agency picking up on it was beyond her, but hey, she wasn't complaining. It meant she could go back and forth from her life here and in Equestria, no problem. She checked her watch - school wasn't over yet, but frankly she already knew all the material and she didn't need to do any lab work today. She could afford to miss history to have some fun. She pressed her hand to the gate, feeling its cold metal on her hand. It was unlike almost every other material she had encountered in her life. Every time she touched it, she got the chills. Methodically, she physically pressed the topmost glyph with her hand, prompting it to glow with a brick red color. Numerous other glyphs lit up automatically, prompting a rippling portal to form. She admired the deep glow shimmering across her hands for a moment. She didn't dwell on it long - it was a sight she had seen many times. With a deep breath, she stepped right through. On the other side was Equestria. Specifically, one of the many side rooms in Princess Twilight Sparkle's crystal castle. Usually it contained nothing but the purple gate, but today it contained all the ponies Sunset knew. Twilight, yes, but also Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Starlight. They were all looking at her like she was some sort of monster. "Wha-" it was at this point Sunset realized she was still in human form, rather than a unicorn. "...Ponyfeathers, something went wrong with the race translation spell..." "Oh." Twilight laughed. "Everyone calm down, it's just Sunset. No crazy poofing gem people here." Sunset blinked. "...What?" Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. "Don't mind Twilight, she's gone a little nuts. I personally think she's hallucinating." "Then explain the device, Rainbow," Rarity countered. "I dunno, it was lost here or something?" "Before you get off on a huge tangent can someone pleeease explain?" Sunset asked. Applejack cleared her throat. "There was a red four-armed woman who appeared through the portal. A bearded human appeared behind her and shot her. She apparently exploded in a puff of smoke, and left only a crystal behind. The guy took the crystal and left. The woman dropped this doohicky here." "...Applejack, I could have explained," Twilight said, a little indignant. "And you would've taken about ten times longer." "Can confirm, you love to talk," Starlight said. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings to get their attention. "You all forgot the part where Twilight has been pressing random buttons on the paperweight!" "We're not calling it that," Twilight muttered. "Yes we are," Pinkie said with a giggle. "No, we're not!" Sunset didn't wait for them to stop arguing nomenclature. She swiped the device out of Twilight's grip and studied it with her human fingers. "Let's see here... four buttons on each side..." She started pressing them randomly. "Um, do you think that's a good idea?" Fluttershy asked. Pinkie, Rainbow, and Twilight were still in a three-way squabble over the naming of the device. "Not particularly," Sunset admitted. "But hey, my race transformation spell has already been disabled, how much worse can it get?" "...Sugarcube, you're just askin' for trouble," Applejack observed. Sunset rolled her eye. "That's just superstitious. There's no w-" She pressed a button and the gate activated, placing all of them in a purple spotlight. This stopped the argument instantly. "Sunset! What did y-" "I got the paperweight to work!" Sunset declared with a cheesy grin. Twilight blinked. "Sunset... we are n... never mind." She shook her head. "But I was right! That device can make the gate dial other gates! Look at the pattern of runes - it's different than when we're about to go to Cerulean High!" She clapped her hooves together. "It's probably linking to a whole other gate!" "Where the scary people came from..." Fluttershy said, shrinking away. "Why are you scared of them?" Starlight asked. "You didn't even see them!" "The map called us here after they came, I'm pretty sure they're bad people..." "We can't make judgments just yet," Twilight said. "What we can do is go through the portal." "Shouldn't we check to see if it's safe first, or somethin'?" Applejack asked. "...Sure," Twilight said. She sent a little burst of magic through the portal. She blinked. "...It's a solid wall on the other side." "Which means...?" "We would have been pancakes!" Pinkie announced. "SPLAT!" Twilight focused her magic. "I think I can still get us through... the barrier is only a few inihooves thick. A simple teleport to the other side..." "Can we not?" Fluttershy asked. "I'm pretty sure you all have to," Starlight said, smirking. "The Tree didn't call me or Sunset over there." "There is no way I'm not going," Sunset said. "Same here, I'm just making a point." Rarity rolled her eyes. "Always about the points..." "Teleporting eight ponies... This could be problematic..." Twilight furrowed her brow. "Seven ponies and a human," Sunset corrected. Twilight rolled her eyes. "I can still do it. Just give me a second..." "One Maplesippi..." Pinkie said. "Two Ma-" Suddenly they were on the other side, standing in front of the green gate. This gate was housed within a large metallic bunker sealed on virtually all sides. It sat at the top of a long ramp, and there was currently a metallic iris closed between the girls and the gate. Two-dozen human soldiers were pointing advanced weaponry at them. "...Fiddlesticks. American military base," Sunset muttered. "WE SURRENDER!" she shouted in English, putting her hands up into the air. Fluttershy got on the ground and started crying. All the other ponies backed away, fear on their faces. ...Except Pinkie. She kept smiling. "Boy, looks like I finally get to know what the inside of a holding cell feels like! I always wanted to try that out!" ~~~ General Jack O'Neill's red phone rang. He blinked. That was unusual. Since when did the President call him? He picked up the phone. "Hello there, got some new material?" President Funny Valentine ignored the usual pleasantries that played out based on his unusual first name. "I've gotten a very interesting report, General. You have a set of prisoners?" "Yes. Seven ponies, one human girl. They came through the gate - apparently they have some way of using point-to-point teleportation abilities." O'Neill heard Valentine ruffling through some papers. "I'm here to tell you your little inquiry into this 'Sunset Shimmer' has made the entire Canadian A.I.D. go absolutely bananas. They haven't released an official statement, but there's something about her that has them up in arms." "Really? All we got from our searches was that she was a high school senior. Not much in the way of records." "That may have been intentional. We will need to progress slowly." Valentine paused. "I am sending one of my men over to assist in interrogation." "You don't have to do that..." "Japan has been breathing down my neck to give them more important SGC roles and I trust him. He's loyal and may be of... particular use." "What's his name?" "Jotaro Kujo. As far as the public is concerned, a marine biologist." "...Hmm... I get to lead interrogation." "As long as you don't start until he arrives." "Deal. By the way, how's that Steel Ball Run thing shaping up?" "The pieces are falling together. I may need to call on your assistance before it is over." O'Neill smirked. "If you weren't the President, you would owe me a lot of favors." "One day, we will sit down, and then we will figure out what I can give you. Considering your position..." "For someone with your name you never did have a sense for jokes." O'Neill cleared his throat, getting back on track. "It will be done, Mister President." "Thank you, General." Valentine hung up. "Jack..." O'Neill turned to Daniel. "Sorry Danny boy, you gotta wait a little bit to study horse culture." "I'm more concerned about this 'friend' we're getting." "A favor to the Japanese, shouldn't be anything more. By the way, don't let McKay figure out about this." "He's several miles beneath the surface of the ocean right now. I don't think he will." "Can't be too careful..." O'Neill said, pulling a lemon out of his desk drawer. ~~~ Jotaro had said absolutely nothing besides his name and a few grunts when he arrived. After an awkward silence, O'Neill decided they had waited long enough to talk to the prisoners so they went to the cell block. Normal procedure was to keep prisoners separate, but since only one of them knew how to speak English and would have to translate for all the others, they had all been crammed into the 'large' cell usually reserved for things like dragons and golems and whatnot. O'Neill opened the door. Six of the ponies were huddled in the back, leaving only the purple one and Sunset Shimmer on one side of a simple interrogation table. O'Neill and Daniel took their seats. Jotaro stayed in the doorway, examining everything with a silent, careful eye. "I am General Jack O'Neill," O'Neill said, folding his hands. "This is Daniel Jackson and Jotaro Kujo." Sunset nodded. "I will have to translate, give me a minute." She turned to the purple alicorn and started speaking in a strange tongue that seemed to have a whinney-like noise and a teeth clack as a phoneme. Daniel was astounded by the way she was able to make her lips move in ways humans' almost never did. And when the purple alicorn started speaking the actual language, Daniel was even further astounded that Sunset was able to mimic it at all. Even a language expert like himself would have had difficulty with such a tongue. "Hello, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, and this is Sunset Shimmer." Sunset smiled as she spoke her own name. "We take full responsibility for trespassing in your base without authorization and apologize. We just wanted to see what was on the other side." Sunset smiled. "And, uh, this is me talking now, you found out who I am right?" O'Neill nodded. "Sunset Shimmer, Canada. Senior at Cerulean High. You're the most interesting part about this whole thing." "Yeeah..." Sunset turned to Twilight and said a few things in Equish. Twilight let out a sigh but seemed to tell her to go ahead. "So, here's the deal," Sunset said. "I wasn't always a human." O'Neill and Daniel stared at her. "Let me explain," Sunset said, tapping her fingers together. "I was born in Twilight's nation - Equestria. No, I'm not sure exactly where it is. My best guess from constellation analysis is somewhere in the Amazon wilds. I was a unicorn - just the horn, like the white one back there - and something of a scientist. We have a... lot better understanding of magic than you do, and that was what I studied. Eventually I helped uncover a gate." "What color?" Daniel asked. "Colo- oh! Purple. That's right, yours was green..." Sunset pondered this for a moment. "Anyway, I eventually discovered a sequence of buttons that would activate the gate and connect to the 'deep red' gate in, you guessed it, a Canadian cave. We're pretty sure one of our historic wizards, Starswirl, enchanted the purple gate to convert people from ponies to humans and vice versa. There was also the added bonus of a translation spell, though that was temporary." She folded her hands together. "The actual story is complicated, but I eventually decided to stay there. Since apparently the race-change spell decided I was a teenager, that was the life I took. Had to learn English eventually, which was... difficult. A few years passed, and now it's today." "And today...?" O'Neill asked. "Today we realized there were more than two gates," Sunset said. She said something to Twilight, prompting her to enter a huge rant mode. Sunset quickly decided she was going to have to summarize. She described the crimson woman and the bearded man, and the device they had dropped. Then she complained a bit about how the spells weren't working anymore. O'Neill reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a photograph. "Is this the man?" Sunset showed it to Twilight. She nodded vigorously. "That's Ba'al. He's not really a human, he's a snake-creature that has taken control of a human body. He's somehow managed to clone himself a million times to make life extremely difficult for us. Not a great guy." Sunset translated and Twilight grimaced. "...Twilight wants to know about the woman. Do you know who she is?" O'Neill looked to Daniel and nodded. Daniel adjusted his glasses. "As far as we can tell from your description, she would be a Gem." "A what?" "There are the creations of the Ancients - the same beings that build the gates. Think of them as... machines so complex they are like people." Sunset blinked. She had to think a bit about how to translate that for Twilight. As soon as she was finished, Twilight lit up and started laughing and going off on a rant. "...She do this often?" O'Neill asked. "Yeeeah..." Sunset said, rubbing the back of her head. "I'm honestly tempted to join her. We didn't know who built the gates before today. Didn't know there were Ancients..." "If you'd be willing to teach us about magic, I have no doubt we'd be willing to share what we know about the Ancients," Daniel said. Sunset translated. Twilight said the word Daniel had deduced meant 'yes' over and over and over. "This went a lot smoother than I was expecting," O'Neill admitted, sitting back in his chair. "Sorry big guy, looks like we didn't need you." "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro commented. "...What?" "It means 'good grief' or 'give me a break'," Daniel commented. "There isn't really an exact translation." "Ah. ...I don't get it." At this point, Twilight's horn flashed with a high-pitched ding! noise. "OH COME ON!" she said in perfect English, no hint of an accent. The humans stared at her. "I thought the translation spell wasn't going to finish! But no, apparently I can cast it, great Lunala all that back and forth was pointless!" "Translation... spell..." Daniel said. A glazed expression crossed over his face. "You okay there, Daniel?" O'Neill asked. "Oh, just wondering if my entire job has been rendered pointless or not. Nothing major." He put a hand to the bridge of his nose. "I'm sure we can work out a treaty between our people at some point and establish a way to visit each other without getting locked up." "YAY!" Pinkie said with a grin. "That's great!" "Oh, uh, I have a request. A personal one," Sunset rubbed the back of her head. "Can you maybe... not tell Canada what I am?" "Sure," O'Neill said. I have a feeling they already know. "Thanks!" ~~~ The trade was simple enough to pull off. Twilight donated half her library of magical textbooks - along with a lot of translation potions. The U.S. Army gave her access to secret files discussing the Ancients, and included a few known gate addresses. A couple of these were the U.S.'s allies - there was a 'public' gate in Japan they could dial (the red one), Britain (periwinkle) and even Furshi, one of the free Troll Nations (dark gray). There were a few noninhabited gates as well - the deep green one in the Australian wilds and the yellow gate that went to a nicer area of the Himalayan Dragonlands. There was mention of a white gate in Atlantis, but they clearly weren't about to give the coordinates of that gate to just anyone. It did not take long for Twilight to start taking her friends on diplomatic and exploratory missions to these new peoples, introducing themselves, and inviting anyone who wanted back to Equestria to experience some good old-fashioned friendship. It was clear most of the people they met just wanted to learn more about Equestrian Magic, but Twilight saw it as an opportunity to learn more about the world and make some varied friends. Sunset regularly joined the group, but finals were approaching senior year so she could only do so on weekends. So it was mostly Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Starlight - Rainbow and Applejack had decided they had other obligations to attend to. Twilight also got to experience another wave of fame. While the specifics of the gate project were not public knowledge, it wasn't like the existence of magic had ever been doubted on this Earth. The motions of the sun and moon were enough to prove that to everyone. The sudden existence of a race that had been previously thought to be mostly extinct made worldwide news. Efforts began to be put forward to connect a telegraph cable through the Chaotic Wilds that surrounded Equestria. So far that was looking to be a difficult proposition. Everyone knew the Diamond Authority would be able to do it, but they were not known for cooperating with the other races. In essence, Equestria became the nation everyone wanted to know. The other princesses ended up with their hooves full, scrambling to manage meetings and political agendas of competing nations. Meanwhile, Twilight explored and made friends. That was her job. She wasn't quite ready to take a governing role. Like Equestria itself, she was young, a child in many ways. New, important, sparkly, but not really a big player on the world stage. The average population of Equestria took the news in stride. They had known for a long time that other nations had to exist outside their borders, there were too many legends for that not to be the case. Historians of the time would have told anyone who asked that Equestria was just another part of the ongoing Age of Connection, where all those peoples hidden behind impassable barriers were contacted by the more civilized races and brought into the fold of globalization. Equestria would just be a name on a list, alongside the Mushroom People, the Cephalopod Embodiment, the Inklings, and the Boreals. Those historians would eventually be proven very, very wrong. But that's not for several decades, and this story's not about that. This story's about what happened six months after first contact was made with America. "Isn't it nice how we can just do things shorthoof?" Pinkie asked. "What?" Twilight asked, confused. "I mean, this!" She pointed at the Australian desert they were standing in, featureless except for occasional pieces of brush and cacti the size of redwood trees. "We didn't have to take one of Cherry's haphazard flying machines over the Chaos, didn't have to make a boat to cross the ocean, and didn't have to walk for days to get out here! It's just zoop, zoop, BAM! Everyone should always travel by gate!" "Only Furshi's gate and ours are publicly accessible," Fluttershy pointed out. "Not very good for tourism." "This gate's fine," Starlight pointed out. "Not like anyone owns these wilds." "Yes, but people don't own things for a reason. Like, um, giant monsters." "I can't believe the idea of 'giant monster' doesn't terrify me anymore," Rarity said with a chuckle. "I worry more about Sweetie Belle trying to follow us than anything. She's really curious about our adventures." "Aren't all the crusaders?" Fluttershy asked. "Well, of course, but there's something different about Sweetie's zeal." "Maybe she's gonna grow up to be like us!" Pinkie suggested. "Searching for new gates and exploring the great unknown! Destiny!" "Destiny..." Sunset said, furrowing her brow. She had taken to keeping her human form - it was always handy to have someone with fingers around. She didn't get as much use as a translator anymore - rarely did they go somewhere people spoke English that wouldn't just let them use the translation spell. "How far do you think the Tree's reach extends?" "I don't know," Twilight said with a shrug. "It sent us to America to make allies. That's the only time it's sent us out very far. Maybe it can only do so much?" "Like Arceus?" Sunset asked. "Sunset!" Rarity chided. "I'm so sorry you had to hear that Starlight, Sunset was being so inconsiderate a-" "It's okay," Starlight said with a sigh. "I wasn't really that... into the gods, you know? Discovering they were just strong beings wasn't that... bad." Fluttershy looked like she wanted to say something, but shut herself up. "Nonsense, it was a world-shattering revelation! Why, I myself had a few days of..." Rarity noticed everyone was looking at her. "And I'm rambling. Apologies..." Sunset stooped down to look at Starlight. "I'm sorry." Starlight shook her head. "You were just asking a question. It's a legitimate one. Is the Tree of Harmony on the level of the gods or not? I don't know. I know Discord isn't, but nobody really knows what Discord is." Pinkie grinned. "Yeah! And everyone outside Equestria who meets him gets absolutely terrified!" "I don't know why," Twilight admitted. "Every nation has at least one of the gods or two on their side. Even us." Sunset raised an eyebrow. "Solgaleo and Lunala haven't been particularly happy with you revealing Equestria to everyone, I wouldn't count on them for support." Twilight sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I know..." She shook her head. "Look at us, arguing about politics and religion." "Same thing, really," Starlight observed. "Eh, true." "Hey, at least we aren't America!" Pinkie said. "Have you seen the scream-fests over there?!" "It's not that bad," Fluttershy said. Pinkie pulled out a calendar that said 1889. "...Yet." Flutterfree rolled her eyes. She had no idea what that meant and it was probably best not to ask. "Anyway, have we actually found anything?" Rarity asked. "We've been walking in this desert for a while and I must say nothing of interest has happEEEENED!" The ground gave out beneath her and all her friends, depositing them in a metallic room with many screens lining the walls. Screens. Twilight grinned. "Yes! Yes! We found an Ancient structure!" She ran her hoof across one of the semi-holographic screens. "Oh, reveal to me your secrets, digital wonder! How do you bring the floating light to your face?" Sunset rolled her eyes. "That's a good question. I can try to answer it if we bring one back to the lab. But I didn't have any luck reverse engineering the last one, and neither did the American Army, so..." "Shush. A girl can dream. One day... One day we will understand these marvels." "I have my doubts," Starlight said, poking a screen with her hoof that displayed letters she couldn't read. "We still have no clue how the gates work, or how the paperweights-" "Dialing devices," Twilight corrected out of reflex. Starlight ignored her. "-communicate with the gates. We don't even know how many gates there are! Or a reliable way to find more." She shrugged. "We haven't even scratched the surface of what the Ancients did. And the gods sure aren't of any help." Sunset clearly wanted to say something, but she bit her lip. "Hey, this screen is different!" Pinkie said, pointing at one with a pink sugar-skull on it. "Curious..." Twilight said. "I wonder if this is important in some way." "Good guess, Amiga!" the screen said in mostly English, surprising Twilight. "What...? Are you an Ancient Gem?!" "Ahahaha! Close, but no cigar. Name's Sombra and I'll be taking... this!" The floor opened up beneath Sunset, dropping her down. Twilight activated her magic, but it was already too late - a suspiciously Sunset-sized metallic cylinder shot out of the ground and into the sky. Where a fully functioning Ancient Airship with sugar-skull markings picked it up. "Adios!" Sombra said, triggering a sonic boom as she blasted off into the sky. Twilight stared after Sunset, mouth agape. ~~~ "So, Jack..." Daniel said, folding his hands together. "I was just over in Equestria..." O'Neill didn't like where this was going. "Yes...?" "And I sort of told them about the slave square." "...Why?" "Because Sunset just got kidnapped by Sombra." O'Neill put a hand to the bridge of his nose. "Oh boy..." "And I told them we'd try to get her." "Of course we will. We're nice that way. And we always need another excuse to blow that place up." "SG-1?" "Yep." O'Neill folded his hands together. "...You didn't tell them the coordinates did you?" "Uh, no, of course not." "Now I'm pretty sure I know why we detected Discord here a minute before you walked in." "...Just 'detected'?" "He was being stealthy." "...Unusual." "Very," O'Neill said, tapping his fingers together. "How easy would it be for him to find the coordinates?" "The databases are magically secured, you know that. Not even he could get in there without triggering an alarm." "And, say, if he asked a dialer for them?" "...I mean, he'd have to convince them he had clearance..." "While looking like me?" Daniel blinked. "Oh." "You should probably get over there before they kill themselves." "Riiight away." He paused as he stood up. "Though I'm not sure they'd be as helpless as you seem to think." "They can kick ass but if anyone so much as looks at them nicely they're instantly trusting. Go keep them from doing something really, really stupid." "Yessir." ~~~ Sombra brought Sunset out of the box with a grin. "Ah, you stayed awake the entire time!" Sunset leaped out in a combat stance - but a simple shock-dart forced her to collapse to the ground. "...Ow..." "Yeeeah, I figured you would be one of the fiery ones," Sombra said, dusting her hands off. "Anyway, I'm Sombra, you're Sunset Shimmer, and I bet you'll fetch a good price." "...And here I thought all you civilized people had outlawed slavery." Sombra shrugged. "Depends on where you are, amiga. Frankly I find it kind of disgusting, but hey, those Juggalo trolls have a looooot of cash." She slapped a pair of handcuffs on Sunset. "You're lucky though, you probably won't be bought as a slave, unless someone takes a shine to your appearance. Your market value is all in here," she tapped Sunset on the head. "Equestrian scientist secrets, the coordinates of several gates, good stuff." "I'm a high-level empath with excessive mental defense, that's not going to be easy to get." "Not my problem," Sombra said. "I could probably do it with all this tech I have laying around, but eh, not worth it." "...You've figured out the secrets of the Ancients and you use it for petty gain. Disgusting." "Yep!" Sombra shrugged. "But it's the best way to figure out how the world really works. There's so much beyond even the gods... My goal in life is to figure out what those things are. And you're another step on the way to that. You should be honored!" "Screw you." "This sounds like the beginning of a beautiful friendship!" Sombra said with a laugh. She was joking at the time, just to be clear. Sombra dragged Sunset away from the Ancient ship and toward a bunch of cages with people inside. "Don't get too attached to the others, you're going on first." She waved cutely at the fiery woman and then went to take care of the 'showing'. The first thing Sunset did was try to wriggle her way out of the handcuffs. That didn't work. "Gah. What I wouldn't do for some magic right now..." "You know magic?" an old man asked from the cage he was in. Sunset looked up at him. "Well, if I'm a unicorn. I'm not a unicorn right now, so I can't do it." "Hmm... all beings have magic within them." "Yeah, well, I haven't really had much luck with human magic aside from..." she decided mentioning the empathy geode was probably a bad idea. "Artifact. Stuff." "...Ah. Would you like to hear some advice from an old man anyway?" "Sure." "You'd be surprised how much proper breathing helps." He rocked back and forth a few times - and then shot fire out of his nose. Sunset chuckled. "Nice." "You try." Sunset shrugged. She focused on her breathing, moved back and forth a bit, and then breathed out. She burned her chin. "OUCH!" "Oh, I figured..." She rubbed her chin. "Apparently not as a human! Or if I am I'd need to ace the fire absorbency spell first a..." She paused. "I did it! Yes! I have fire!" "Sadly, fire is not a magic that will help you here." The man shook his head. "Metal everywhere." "Yeah. ...I'm Sunset." "Iroh." "I'm in for knowing too much. You?" "My brother wanted to get rid of me." "...Geez..." "It is a long standing feud between us. Nothing you should concern yourself with." He smiled sadly. "You're about to have much bigger problems." "What d-" Sombra grabbed Sunset by the cuffs. "You're up!" She dragged Sunset out onto a stage lit by white tube-like lights Sunset had never seen before. The stage looked clean, futuristic, and more than a little gaudy with all the sparkling sugar-skulls everywhere. The people at the foot of the stage did not look the part. They were a mix of humans and trolls in usually dark, menacing clothes. The stage itself was in a much larger, vaguely square cavernous shape filled with hundreds of other people of the sort. There were laughs, there were screams, and there looked to be blood everywhere that wasn't the stage. Fun... Sunset thought to herself, gulping. "Say hello to Sunset Shimmer of Equestria everyone! Pony-to-human transracial! One of the new magical experts with maaaaaany gate coordinates in her mind. Let's have an opening bid - remember, you don't have to pay in U.S. currency, but you better know how much yours converts for! LET THE BIDDING BEGIN!" "Twenty," a bearded man said. Sombra frowned. "Okay, Ba'al, I'll take the bid. But if you start having a bid war with one of your clones again I will run you out of here." "Thirty!" a purple-blooded troll said. A woman in a white dress snorted. "You all suck. Eighty!" "A hundred," Ba'al added. "A hundred thirty-five!" "Hundred forty." "Hundred forty-five," Ba'al said, narrowing his eyes. "Ahem!" a new, dignified voice said. "I must say, you're all being absolute imbeciles. You don't understand the true worth of this young lady." There was a pause. "A thousand dollars." Sunset finally saw who was making the bid for her. It was a white unicorn mare in a dirtied leather jacket decorated with real skulls. She had an eyepatch and a hat with a feather sticking out of it that somehow seemed both menacing and fashionable. It was the best costume Sunset had ever seen on Rarity. Heh. They found me. Sombra looked from Rarity to Sunset and shrugged. "I'll take the bid! Anyone want to beat that?" "Two. Thousand!" Ba'al shouted, grinding his teeth. "Oho! It appears someone else has understood her value as well!" Rarity said with a menacing laugh. "Trying to play the slow game were you, hoping to get a deal? Well, no dice. Just because a mare jumps once doesn't mean she can't do it again." She turned to Sunset. "Ten thousand." It must really help to have access to Twilight's treasury. Sunset noticed a few people in the crowd were looking at Rarity with greedy eyes. At first Sunset was concerned, but then she noticed Starlight in a hood moving through the crowd, casting drowsiness spells on anyone who seemed like they might try something. It was a surprisingly good plan. "Eleven thousand," Ba'al said, growling. "Oh you just don't give up!" Rarity rolled her eyes. "Twenty thousand." "Thirty!" "Fifty!" "Nobody has that much money!" Ba'al shouted. "Clearly, you do," Rarity pointed out. "So why is it so surprising I do?" "I am Lord Ba'al!" "And I'm a fancy little unicorn who wants this beautiful young thing very badly." "Go against me and you will regret it..." Rarity laughed. "Ba'al, honey, dear, don't flatter yourself. Once you find out who I am you'll find that I'm not exactly easy to touch." "I will bring ruin to your entire society." "I'm pretty sure you're the type to do that regardless." She turned to the stage. "He hasn't bid in a while, does that mean I win?" "SIXTY THOUSAND!" "Seventy~!" "EIGHTY!" "Oh, look at that, I'm forced to jump forward with my endless supply of cash. Woe is me..." She smirked. "A hundred and fifty thousand." "A-" Ba'al stopped for a moment. He looked around, catching the eye of one of his clones. He let out a grow and clenched his teeth. He opened his mouth. "Three million, two hundred sixty-six thousand, nine hundred forty-two," a cobalt-blooded troll said, holding up her hand. "And nineteen cents." Rarity, Ba'al, Sombra, Sunset, and the entire crowd turned to stare at her in disbelief. "I win, right?" she asked. Neither Rarity nor Ba'al said anything. "Good." She flipped them off with a smirk. "Have fun figuring this one out! Woo!" She jumped onto stage. "How about we go back and you give me all the details about this little bacon-headed monkey?" "Sure," Sombra said, blinking. "Next auction will be in a few minutes people! Stick around!" She shuffled Sunset and the troll to the back. "You better actually have that money," Sombra said. The troll shrugged. "I could have miscounted. But it's at least three million something." She pulled out an eight ball, smashed it, and suddenly the room was full of money. Sombra blinked. "Geez... Where did you get all this?" "I've been stealing money from Ba'al. Every Ba'al. Because he ticked me off last week. And fuck him." She stooped down and smashed Sunset's cuffs off. "And you are free to go. You're welcome." Sunset blinked. "You... what?" The troll grinned. "Vriska Serket, professional spiderbitch, Rebellion Agent, and the best fucking hero around. You're welcome!" Sunset blinked - and laughed. "Thanks. Though you probably didn't have to go through all this trouble. That white unicorn in the audience was one of my friends." Vriska smirked. "Ah, the delicious irony. I just messed everything up for everyone. Fuck yeah." "Everyone is going to be trying to kill you now," Sombra told Vriska. "That out there? That was stupid." "Definitely," Vriska said with a laugh. "But I'm getting out of here tonight. Rebellion's moving out to go give ol' Condy the one-two an-" She blinked. "And I just got a psychic message saying they had to leave early due to a compromise. Fuuuuck. Just my luck lately..." "If my friends are here, they have a way out," Sunset said. "We'll just have to get to them without gett-" Ba'al appeared before them in a burst of dark, purple, eldritch magic. "This is my money. The girl is mine." Sombra raised an eyebrow. "Yeeeeah, no. I mean, I could be the paragon of fair trade and commerce right now, but I don't feel like it. These people? Nice. You? Pretty evil. So you can go jump on out of here before I have the Ancient turrets dismantle you." Ba'al reached out a hand and tore a panel off a nearby wall. A panel made out of Ancient metal, the sort of material the gates were made out of. They could withstand high-yield explosives. Sombra blinked. She activated the turrets, bombarding Ba'al with hundreds of little lasers. Each of these lasers had enough energy to kill an elephant. Ba'als body didn't survive. But whatever the purple eldritch mist was did survive. And it moved to a new Ba'al body, teleporting right into the room. "Ariba..." Sombra muttered. "Do you surrender them?" "At this point I'm just curious to see how angry I can make you." Sombra pressed another button and crushed the new Ba'al with a box hanging from the ceiling. "COME ON GIRLS, IT'S RUNNING TIME!" "The slave dealer is on my side now," Sunset mused. "...Sure." "Less talking, more running!" Vriska said. The three of them scrambled through the high-technical backstage, trying their best to simply get away from Ba'al. "Ship sweet ship!" Sombra said, grinning. "I can get us into orbit with this baby! Nobody will be able to touch us!" Three Ba'als dropped from the ceiling, the dark purple energy wafting off them. "...I had to open my mouth." Vriska took out the fluorite octet and rolled them, prompting an attack from three-dozen rabid weasels. The Ba'als' energies burned them up. "I really gotta stop rolling when the tide has turned bad," Vriska muttered. The three Ba'als held out their hands, aiming to disintegrate Sombra and Vriska. Sombra had a shield that protected her, Vriska did not. Instead Vriska had a little help from a pink blur with suction cups on her hooves. Pinkie bounced back from the hit like a spring, but was otherwise fine. "Aha! You tried to kill suction cup pony! You failed!" Rarity descended from the ceiling, brandishing a magic-construct rapier. "And you hooligans will continue to fail!" She pointed her sword at the middle Ba'al. "I have no idea if you're the same one as before, but you really had this coming." "You are nothing compared to us." "True, true, I'm only decent with this thing and that terrifying purple aura of yours is quite chilling. But I'm not the one you should be worried about." Starlight and Twilight fired their lasers from the side at full power, hitting the three Ba'als in sequence and smashing them against a nearby wall. The two mares hoofbumped. "I say..." Rarity said, walking over to the Ba'als. "Are they going to be okay?" "Why the fuck do you care!?" Vriska shouted. "We're not murderers, unlike the two of you," Rarity said judgmentally. She examined them. "Hmm... They do seem to be breathing, b-" A white snake-worm jumped out of one of the Ba'als mouths, lunging for Rarity with a skree. She screamed in panic - but was saved by a bullet shot at just the right time. Daniel lowered his weapon. "...I was not expecting that to actually work." Rarity turned to him, blinking rapidly. "...You... you saved me. Thank you, Daniel, I don't know what to say..." "Apologize for stealing our info." "...Stealing?" Rarity said, cocking her head. "Starlight found the place through a spell!" Starlight laughed nervously. "Ahahah, yeah, about that, the spell miiiight have just been Discord and it miiiig-" "Starlight!" Twilight shouted, aghast. "How could you!?" "Look, there were a lot of factors involved and we r-" Sunset had been standing still for so long that Ba'al was able to get an eldritch teleport lock on her. She appeared in the middle of a golden room with a Ba'al pointing a zat gun at her. He fired - but she twisted out of the way and launched a stream of fire out of her hands, burning his face significantly. "...Huh. Guess that worked." "Your victory is short lived, Sunset Shimmer." Sunset whirled around again, unleashing fire - but what met her wasn't an ordinary Ba'al. He was wearing a mask shaped like a purple heart with spikes coming out of its sides. Sunset knew instantly this wasn't Ba'al, or anything even close. "Wh..." "I am MAJORA... And you have something I want..." She reached out a hand toward Sunset. "Your mind... Your destiny... One of the most powerful there is. You cannot see it now, the other gods cannot see it for they do not look, but I can see it... You can be of great use to me..." A goddess. I'm pretty screwed... unless... "Hey, you... you haven't even explained what your plan is yet! Are you really just going to get it done like that? Like..." She looked around awkwardly until she found something interesting. "What's that red crystal?" She pointed at the crystal laying nearby. "None of your concern." Naturally, the moment Sunset had visually registered the red crystal she thought she knew what it was. It was the red woman at the start of this whole adventure. The Gem. Sunset leaped away from Majora and grabbed the Gem in her hands, willing all her empathic power into the little crystal. She didn't even bother with a direct interface - just power her up and hope something worked. Nothing happened. "Serve ME!" Majora demanded, touching an eldritch tentacle to Sunset's head. "STAR PLATINUM: THE WORLD!" One moment, Majora was trying to interface with Sunset. The next, she had been punched several dozen times and Jotaro was standing there. Sunset got the sneaking suspicion he wouldn't last long against Majora, so she returned to the Gem. "Come on... Come on..." "GET YOUR HANDS OFF THE SIRE DIAMOND!" Majora demanded. Sunset felt it hit her mind like an order - but her necklace flashed red, and she resisted the command. "ORA ORA ORA ORA!" Jotaro shouted as something invisible punched Majora back. She unleashed a tendril of eldritch energy, but he was suddenly behind her and all of her bones were broken. The body was currently useless. Another Ba'al came in to don the mask instead, but Jotaro kicked him in the crotch. Another Ba'al shot him with a zat gun, but Jotaro just wouldn't go down. Not until Majora's Mask itself floated into the air and hit Jotaro in the back of the head, forcing him to the ground. It was this moment that Sunset made a successful connection to the Sire Diamond. It lit up and created the four-armed being Twilight had reported. "Help us," Sunset pleaded. The Sire Diamond did. She summoned her staff weapon and pointed it at Majora's Mask. Majora shrieked in fear - and teleported away in an instant. "...She just... Ran?!" The Sire Diamond recalled her weapon. "I was unaware she was one of the gods. I expected to be useless." "You are now," a Ba'al said, leveling a zat gun at the two of them. "There's dozens of us and only two of you. Surrender n-" A giant salmon appeared in the hallway, knocking them all down to the ground. "HAHA! YES!" Vriska shouted, running into the room. "I got my luck back! Sweetness!" Everyone else ran in. Twilight pulled Sunset into a hug. "We were so worried!" "Hey, it looks like it's fine now," Sunset said. "...Wait, how'd you find me?" "Followed the Ba'als," Vriska said, pointing at herself with a sly grin. "You're welcome again." "And I remember you!" Twilight said, addressing Sire Diamond. "You were in my castle for a split second!" "She has the power to make gods flee," Sunset said. "...Ba'al was apparently being controlled by an entity known as Majora." Vriska blinked. "No idea. Sombra, you got anything?" Sombra was nowhere to be seen. "...Figures," Vriska muttered. "Well, we should probably all get out of here before something goes terribly, terribly wrong again." "We can take you all home with us," Twilight offered. "You can never have too many friends!" "We still have to deal with Starlight..." Daniel said. "...Oh. Right. I'll j-" There was a loud thump. "Twilight, can you teleport us back to the gate...?" Rarity asked. "Yes," Twilight said. She teleported everyone - except the Ba'als - back to the gate. The only problem was there was a full grown dragon wearing Majora's Mask sitting over the gate. She took one look at Sire Diamond and poofed her with a quick eldritch claw. "You will have no quarter here..." In Majora's free claw, there was an orb with a spinning orange spirograph. Everyone readied for a fight with an eldritch dragon. They wouldn't stand a chance - all it would take was a roar. A single roar of madness that would destroy everything. Except Vriska went and did something stupid. She tried to steal the orange orb. This turned out to be exactly what she needed to do. The Ancient device registered that she was the one it was meant to find. That she was the true master... of Light. The orb became like liquid and surrounded her. "...WHAT!?" Majora said, clearly having no understanding of what was going on. "I don't have a fucking clue," Vriska said, her eightfold eye sparkling with the light of an orange sun. "But it's gonna be aw-" Majora slammed her into the ground, flat. Pinkie facehooved. "Like a pancake..." Upon removing the claw, Majora was surprised to find that Vriska wasn't dead - though the troll was incapacitated. "Ouch..." "Great, the super convenient powerup did nothing," Rarity said, biting her lip. "What now?" "Uh... can we talk about this?" Twilight asked sheepishly. "I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement!" "No," Majora said, she opened her dragonic mouth and prepared to scream. And this is the moment Sombra crash-landed her airship into the dragon, slicing it in half. "Bullseye!" Sombra announced through her ship's intercom. "Dra-GONE, am I right?" "That was bad and you should feel bad!" Vriska shouted. "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered from his injured position. Majora's Mask floated into the air. It looked like it was ready for another round, just her versus them. Except Sunset had managed to bring Sire Diamond back. The red Gem pointed her staff at Majora. "Die." Majora teleported away before the anti-eldritch beam could touch her. Somehow, Sombra's Airship was still functional. It lifted itself out of the pile of dragon guts. "Well, thanks for the money, Vriska! Adios!" She blasted through the caverns to one of the exits. "...I'm not entirely sure what happened today," Starlight said. Pinkie shrugged. "Stuff." She pulled out the dialing device and created a connection to the purple gate. "Let's go home. We can deal with all the other stuff later." Sunset raised a hand to stop her. "Actually th-" Pinkie rolled her eyes, ducked behind a rock, and pulled Iroh out. "There. Happy?" "What the...?" Vriska said, staring in disbelief. "How?" "It's Pinkie being Pinkie," Rarity said, rolling her eyes. Everyone shrugged and walked through the portal. "Why are you all acting like this is normal!?" Vriska shouted. Nobody paid her any mind. Fluttershy was waiting on the other side of the portal. "Oh thank goodness, I was so worried! I-" she paused. "...Are you all covered in dragon blood?" "Yes," Twilight said. "...Wait, how do you know what dragon blood looks like?" "Well... uh... Spike was... it's not important. What did you do to the poor dragon?" "We didn't do anything," Sunset said. "Sombra crashed a fucking Ancient Airship into it!" Vriska announced with a grin. "And it was awesome!" Fluttershy gasped. "That's horrifying!" "It was trying to eat us..." Twilight said, clearly trying to rationalize the events in her head and failing. She put a hoof to her face. "How about everyone go wash themselves up, get some sleep, and then we deal with whatever this means in the morning. Fluttershy, you can show our new Gem friend around since you didn't deal with all the... mess the rest of us did." "...Okay," Fluttershy agreed. "Um, I think we have a spare room this way..." "Show me," Sire Diamond said, as if it was an order. "...Yes ma'am..." ~~~ And so things were resolved, one way or another. Starlight's charges were dropped because everyone was suddenly freaking out about a god fusing with the Ba'al conglomerate to do something unknown. Virtually everything else was forgotten in the ensuing fallout, so Twilight was going to have to deal with Starlight herself - at a later time. For a day she just wanted to process everything that had happened. Two nights after the adventure to the slave square, Twilight couldn't get to sleep. So she dragged herself out of bed and muttered to herself until she found herself on the balcony of her castle, looking at the stars. The stars, always the same no matter who saw them. Sure, the northern hemisphere generally got to see different stars, but if they both looked at Sirius, they would see the same arrangement of stars around it. The night sky was what bound them together, in a sense. Even all the isolated tribes and nations that lived within wilds like Equestria itself... She could sense the world was changing. Deep inside her, she knew it was changing. At first she thought 'of course, Equestria is never going to be the same with all this'. But then she realized the feeling was more than that - much, much more. The world was on the cusp of entering a new era. She wasn't sure what to feel about that. Twilight let out an overdramatic sigh and leaned harder on the railing, letting her eyes get lost in the sky. What did it all mean, if anything? What could be said about it, really? The entire adventure had been a little ridiculous... What was her life coming to? "Heya Twi!" Pinkie said, appearing out of seemingly nowhere. "What's up with you?" "GAH! PINKIE! Don't DO that!" "Sorry, but I couldn't just walk in through the castle doors! Your guards wouldn't like it. ...I still can't believe you actually have guards now!" "Celestia insisted," Twilight said, smirking. "Surprise, surprise. You still haven't answered my question though - what's up with you?" "I was just thinking about... About how ridiculous everything was." Twilight looked into the distance. "By chance, we find the Ancient outpost. Then, by chance, Sombra happens to be there and grab Sunset. And by chance once again, Starlight just happens to be stealing so she can get the coordinates to a place the US won't give us. The US also sends a team, Vriska shows up and messes with everything because of her grudge, then Majora was there, and Ba'al, and everything seemed to go just wrong and then just right when Sombra decided to smash the ship on the dragon..." She shook her head. "Do you have any idea how unlikely that all is?" "I dunno. I don't do math." "Astronomical," Twilight answered for her. "The chances of all that happening was just... ridiculous." "And so were the sequence of events that led us to defeat Tirek," Pinkie said with a shrug. "It's nothing new, Twilight, our lives have always been like that." "I mean... yeah... but it feels different." "It isn't, not really," Pinkie said with a smirk. "Just more adventure." "I just..." She shook her head. "It doesn't sit well with me." "Hey. It's destiny, or something." Pinkie smirked. "We're the Elements of Harmony. Do you expect normal things to happen to us?" Twilight blinked - then chuckled slightly. "...That's a good point." "You think about things too much, Twi," Pinkie said with a giggle. "Turn that brain off every now and then, would you? It's what night time is for." "Some of the best work ever done gets accomplished in the dead of night," Twilight countered. "Hmm... True, true. But you're not working right now. So actually go sleep so you can work in the morning." Twilight yawned. "Yeah. Pinkie... since when did you get so wise?" "Coincidence," Pinkie giggled. "Heh. Goodnight. See you in the morning." She stretched her wings and went inside. The moment Pinkie was sure she was out of earshot, Pinkie's smile dropped. "We're not supposed to have that." She looked up at the stars. "This story's not about the Narrative. We can tell it without that. I'm the only one who knows here. I don't need to mirror the story out there that closely." I dropped the cloak I had on myself, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't think you would notice me." "I did," Pinkie said, scrunching her muzzle. "And you're causing a leak, and you know it. The gods are probably watching, and you just being... you will mess stuff up!" "You may not understand this, Pinkie, but the things I write in my notebook ensure that will not happen. Your story will go untouched. I was just here to observe. To see the world..." "Small place, huh?" "It's dense. Unimaginably so." "You won't find anything here," Pinkie said, shaking her head. "Just because we're less important doesn't mean you can get closer to us." "Do you even know what you're saying Pinkie?" "Not really? It's just... coming to me and it feels right. You should go to your Songs of the Spheres, where you actually matter." "They won't be ready for me for a while." "And we'll never be ready for you. Our story... isn't a story about stories. It's just a story." "Except right now." "Because you're here," Pinkie responded. "And because this is the moment you all look back." I blinked. Then I shook my head. "You know... For a second there I thought you might have known something I didn't." Pinkie smiled sadly. "Yeah... Almost." I closed my notebook and put it away. "This is a very special world you have, Pinkie." "There are others like it." "Yes, I know. The worlds that mirror... The worlds that are images of the entire story..." "Twilence, stop," Pinkie said. "You're sounding hungry." "...I don't know the ending..." "And if you look into our ending, it won't be the ending you're going to get. You can't know." Pinkie blinked. "...Why can't you know?" I smiled warmly and shook my head. "Two ponies of vast knowledge shouting at each other from opposite sides of a river bank... We both know exactly what we're talking about, and we know nothing." I shook my head. "Enjoy your life, Pinkie Pie. I won't bother you again." And then I was gone. I kept my promise. I never came back. ~~~ And I don't know what happened to them. GM here, again, sorry, back to back with Twilence, should probably make that obvious. On some scale, I know, because I know Songs of the Spheres. All the major villains will show up, though out of order. There'll be some historic events - the World Wars, the Space Race, and the Steel Ball Run of course for all the Stands. Then the power to defeat the gods will be unleashed. Will there be a war like the war for existence? I'm thinking not. That aspect of the story would be taken care of in the world wars. The Echo of the Earth would not be about the end of stories... but the culmination of one story. I don't even know what the ending would be, but I know the heroes wouldn't have to second-guess their own actions on several different levels just to make sure it was 'likely' to succeed. A world without ka awareness is much simpler. But they existed, that's for sure. And they lived a deep, complex, and long life. A planet far, far too full of stuff for its own good. ~~~ Twilence's Addendum: The diminutive unicorn with the artificial horn stood on the moon, using her magic to keep the atmosphere. Behind her was the black gate, the only gate that existed off the surface of the Earth, near the very edge of the gates' transmission ability. Her name was Sweetie Belle. And she had colonized this cratered rock. She looked down at the Earth. Just as beautiful as she remembered - green and blue mostly, but purple in a few places, and the weird messes of color that were the poles were always great to see. The sun was nowhere to be seen. It had not made the trip with the Earth and its moon. The New World had decided the small ball of fire wasn't necessary. She looked up at the dozens of planets swirling across the sky. They attracted her like nothing ever had. Their mystery... Their power... Where had they come from? Why were they here? How were they moving? ...Why did she feel like her presence was so important? She would later be told that the Earth and its Moon were the only planets in the entire New World not to experience any Dusting at all. Not a single person on either of the bodies had been lost during the collapse. Furthermore, the Earth and Moon hadn't been separated, which was almost unheard of. The belief that that was the reason she was special was wrong. She would not discover why for a long, long time, for they were far from Nucleon and the statue of Allure. For this one moment though, standing on the moon and trying to take in the New World... she somehow felt at peace.
Songs of the Spheres	153 - What We Leave Behind	"Mayor Mlinx! Sir!" Mlinx resisted the urge to let out a deep, exhausted sigh. "Yes?" he asked the reporter at the front doors. If she had only been a few seconds slower... "Your popularity in the polls has been dropping and Mirador's has been steadily increasing! What's your response to your previously uncontested Mayorship being contested for the first time?" "It's a democracy, if they want her in charge I'm not going to complain. But she will have to bring her best to the political ring. I'm not going to simply give this seat up." "And what about her term-limit accusations?" "The City has no established term limits, though no doubt if she wins they will be enacted." He pulled the door open. "Now excuse me, I have business to attend to regarding my campaign." She wasn't an excessively pushy reporter, so he got in without her tailing him. "Thanks for small miracles..." He walked up to the primary reception desk, where Nastasia was waiting for him. "Not quite late, but cutting it close," Nastasia said, glancing up from her watch. She pressed a few buttons, prepping the teleporter. "Meeting room is ready." Mlinx shook his arms to clean the carapace. He and Nastasia walked onto the pad and were instantly teleported a hundred floors up, to the skyscraper's special meeting room. Usually this room was filled with leaders within the City and other important people, but today, it was mostly just Mlinx's staff. This was about the campaign, after all, and as much as they liked Mlinx the other leaders weren't exactly devoted to him being the Mayor. His campaign was funded by the City government, not any private lender, so there wasn't any big reason for them to get involved. It was just him, Rev, Nastasia, and a handful of others who handled most of the paperwork and scheduling. "I think I already know the answer to this question given my little encounter outside a few minutes ago, but what's the status of the campaign?" "Not... great," a Quartz Gem said, pressing a clicker to turn on a projector, showing a downward-trending graph. "Your popularity is dropping off." "That happened during the last election though, didn't change anything," Rev pointed out. "Yes, but..." Quartz pressed a button, switching the slide to show a pale pink pegasus with a pastel blue mane. "You didn't have any actual competition last time. Nobody was legitimately running against you that the crowd cared about. Mirador's different. The people love her, she gives good speeches, and she might be able to overtake you if the trends continue." "She still going off about those term limits?" Mlinx asked. Quartz nodded. "It's one of the primary points she uses in your detriment. She only occasionally brings up your 'hunter' ideology and strong-arm methods, simply saying that you've served your time. ...Mostly. We've got a few clips of her going off on you for the standard stuff." "What have we got on her?" "Not all that much. She's a pegasus from an unknown Equis who stumbled into the City in the second month. We did manage to get some files of her entry into the City, and learned she was part of the volunteer relief efforts in the English aftermath. After that she doesn't do too much until six months ago, when she suddenly gets politically active and starts a small movement all centered around the whole 'Reveler' incident." Rev closed her eyes and let out an annoyed breath - she remembered that incident well. Lots of people had been very stupid with a lot of things, including a church that worshipped a bucket of noodles. It was one of the weirdest, stupidest things they'd dealt with and it had all been blown out of proportion because of how absurd it was. You really had to be there. "Family? Friends?" Mlinx asked. "Anything?" "No family, all her friends are involved in the campaign." Quartz paused for a moment. "And she has a lot of friends." "Mhm..." Mlinx sat back. "The people like her, that much I know. She has a good point with the term-limit talk, but her actual policy arguments seem lacking. 'Encourage more Harmony and togetherness while allowing communities to preserve the ways of life they hold dear.' Does she even have a policy for this?" "Actually, yes," Nastasia said, pulling a small book out of her coat pocket. "She's outlined it all in here. A lot of it makes sense. I recommend taking some tricks from it after the election is over." "If we win," Quartz pointed out. "Which we easily could not." "It's not a big deal if we don't," Mlinx said. "I just worry that one policy of hers is not enough to truly run the City. The longer we have to work, the larger projects we can get completed. I've been trying to get the advanced relational network working for eight years and we still haven't ironed out all the legal kinks." He tapped his fingers on the table. "She could just end it, and then everyone still has to rely on Nala understanding what 'discretion' means." \|> I have to take into account the desires of the seeker, the person being sought, and the people around them. It's not a simple calculation like you all think it is. "Still say we should just disable that," Rev offered. "Discussion for another time," Nastasia said. Mlinx nodded. "Right now, the campaign. Do we have anything I can do to strengthen my image without resorting to petty insults?" "The Outreach Charity Event is coming up," Rev said. "You could make your presence a little more well-known this time." "I don't like making a big deal out of that..." Nastasia shrugged. "If you're a public figure, sometimes you have to be public to get things done." "It is morally gray," Rev admitted. "I wouldn't do it myself, even though I suggested it. You have to come to the conclusion yourself." Mlinx folded his hands together. "All right, do it. But give the charity more this time out of compensation." "You're running your personal bank account a little thin," Nastasia warned. "It'll last until election. Then I can worry about it." "...Fair enough. Regardless, we do still need to discuss the upcoming Networking Conference, which will take place at exactly ten..." ~~~ Mirador adjusted her glasses and ruffled her wings, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "Don't worry, you got this..." She glanced in the mirror and decided she needed to loosen up her mane a bit, the natural curls were showing and she didn't want those to be too obvious - it wouldn't look as professional. With a swipe of her wing, she grabbed a magitech-infused comb that was able to press the strands of hair down so they wouldn't spring up in the slightest. She checked her suit to make sure it fit snugly - all four legs had level cuffs, her tail was carefully sculpted into a crescent shape, and the collar was folded back at the proper angle. It always paid to look proper in this business. She picked up one of her political buttons - a small thing with an animating image of her winking with the text 'New Minds for the New World!' on it. You couldn't read the text from any reasonable distance away, but anyone who cared about Mirador's campaign knew about that little slogan of hers. Even she had to admit, it wasn't really a solid part of her policy, but she found it was a little difficult to explain policy nuance within a simple slogan. So she just came up with something tangential and simple and everyone was loving it. Hey, at least it got them to listen to what she actually had to say. Plus, she looked cute on the pin. She liked that. Someone opened the door. "You're on in five." "Thanks!" Mirador said with a slightly nervous smile. She took a drink of water to make sure her throat was ready for the upcoming event. With a swift twist she trotted out of her room and through the front doors, arriving behind an outdoor stage that had been set up the night before. It wasn't a complicated stage - but it wasn't simple either. It was decked on all sides with bright orange, red, and black banners - the colors of the City. A large banner of Mirador herself was spread across the back of the stage, a much larger version of the 'New Minds for the New World!' slogan printed along the bottom. Her campaign managers had tried to insist she look serious and contemplative in every one of her promotional materials. She'd said no - if she was going to run, she was going to run with a smile and a wink and if the people didn't like it they could just kick her out of the race. So far, they hadn't, so she was confident that had been a good decision. There was already applause in the crowd that had gathered - the pre-show speech from one of Mirador's aides had apparently gone well. "And may I introduce the mare herself, Mirador!" Mirador shook her aide's hand and thanked her for the introduction. She trotted up to the podium and stood on her hind legs to better see the people she was addressing. "Hello everyone! I have to say, this is one of the largest crowds I've spoken to, and that's saying something! I should be thanking you for taking time out of your day just to see me stand at a wooden box for an hour. That takes some commitment!" There were a few chuckles in the crowd. "And don't think I've forgotten about all of you watching this from home - your eyes are just as important as everyone else's. I look forward to reading what you have to say when this is over! Though if I'm a betting mare - and let's be honest I'm running in this race so I kind of have to be - I'd say about ninety percent of it will be composed of rants, rants about those rants, and an endless slew of memes that'll poke endless fun at me. Those are always the best. I don't know what it is about self-deprecating humor but it just hits the spot. "Unfortunately, I won't be giving you as much material as usual, and I won't be able to make as many of you smile, because the sad truth is there are times when the smiles have to stop and we have to talk about serious topics. I usually spend my time here talking about myself, my policies, and occasionally the current Mayor. Instead, I'm pushing all that aside to talk about a major issue within our society today. "When you all faced Lord English - yes, you all, I wasn't here yet - our leaders realized they couldn't win. They saw that you, the average Civilian, had to be the ones to defeat Lord English. And you did! You proved yourselves that by being the least important you could become the most important and forge our own destiny! That was amazing! Something that had never been done before! You weren't carried on in the sidelines, you were part of the story! You all got to be the heroes! "The thing is... the leaders? They all recognized that you were important. That the New World should be about you, not them. And they really, really tried to do this. But I'm sorry to tell you this - they failed. You've gone right back to the same lives you had before - lives defined not by you, but by the heroes. At first glance, you think they've removed themselves from public eye and left the finer details of the City to us, but this isn't the case! "Mlinx is a hero, and he's been our Mayor since we decided we needed one. Eve and Corona have jobs, yes, and Corona's still under lockdown, but you always hear them giving their opinions on matters - political, socioeconomic, emotional, - they're there. Corona may work in a workshop, but her responses to scientific papers are highly prized and change the field dramatically. Eve's counsel is sought out by those who don't need her services but just want to know how to make a decision. And Pinkie's Party hasn't even bothered to hide that they're doing the exact same thing they've always been doing: being heroes and making first contact with other worlds. "They haven't let you have the world. You got a taste of it with English, but now you're back to living in the shadows, the background, the ground level. You sit here where your lives are bent to the whims of those heroes with so much ka that their very words demand attention. This needs to stop - we need to get new people into office, people who aren't heroes, people who will get people into the government who don't have some sort of destiny demanding they should be there! We need to stop letting the 'important' and the 'great' talk for us, we need to be heard ourselves!" She raised a hoof into the air. "We need to shape our own destiny!" There was a cheer from the crowd - and a couple boos, but Mirador had been expecting that. After the cheers died down, she cleared her throat - she wasn't anywhere near done with her speech. "Now, this doesn't mean they're bad people, they are our saviors after all, they just need to be reminded of the lesson they were supposed to learn..." ~~~ Mirador looked at a graph on her desk that showed the approval ratings. Mlinx: 52% Mirador: 42% Other: 6% "This is promising," her assistant said, smirking. "Mirador, you could do it! The trends show Mlinx dropping like a stone, and you're rising steadily!" Mirador let out a short laugh. "Yeah... Yeah, I could do it. It really does look like it." She pulled her assistant into a hug with her wing. "Look at that! We're gonna make it into the big house and change everything!" "I'm so excited! We should throw a party!" Mirador held up a hoof. "Ah ah ah, hold your horses!" She hugged her. "I am." Mirador rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean. We'll throw the party when we win - not sooner, not later. We're not going to become laughingstock for premature celebration." She paused. "Though that would be kinda funny..." "Your memes are trending again." "Oh, what do we have this time?" Mirador asked, swiping her assistant's phone away. On it was a picture of Mirador at the speech with the caption 'Remove heroes! Trust me, I'm a hero!' Mirador let out a short chuckle. "I could see how they think that. But I checked myself several times before the speech, always a negligible ka concentration. Continually." She walked over to a desk and pulled a drawer open, pulling out her personal ka-sensing pen. She touched it to her front leg. "See, nothi-" CAMERA: ON. SCENE FOCUS LEVELS. "...Sassafras," Mirador swore. "This could be a problem." "Think we could have Moly remove it? Or another Flower? Or Monika? Or..." She fell silent, knowing that wouldn't likely work. "This was inevitable and we knew it," Mirador said, shaking her head. "The moment we gained any real traction, ka would have taken hold of us and turned us into its story. I'm not surprised, and you shouldn't be surprised. I would have just... liked to have been my own person for a little longer, you know?" "Should I schedule a press release?" "Not yet..." Mirador said, furrowing her brow, thinking. "We'll have to tell them eventually, but I don't want to ruin the steam we've set up against their strong 'destiny'. And we might be able to use this to our advantage here..." She nodded slowly. "We'll see if the Flowers are willing to do anything - I'd bet not since that's how they usually are - but you never know. But I think I have an idea on what to do if they don't cooperate..." "What?" Mirador smiled warmly. "We play a game with them. A little tweak here, a prod there, I think I can get them effectively out of the race. Now that the story has 'begun' as it were, it's time to take advantage of it." "Ah. What should I put on your schedule?" "Nothing, I need it to be extra hush-hush. ...On an unrelated topic, I should be able to make it to your daughter's birthday now, so put that on the schedule." "But the dinner at Andoi?" "Let's be real, the people there are great, but they're all voting for me already. I don't think we need to oversell ourselves there. Your kid is important enough for me to do some postponing and shuffling around." "It'll really mean a lot to her - thanks." Mirador winked. "Don't mention it. Now, I have to go out for a while, but I don't want people asking what I'm doing. Make sure Nala's 'find anything' program is disabled for me." "It's been disabled for weeks so you don't get mugged." "Aw, you really think of everything!" Mirador tossed her mane back. "See you later! Call me if I'm about to miss a meeting or something." "Will-do!" ~~~ Eve completed another session with Starbeat and Vriska. They had managed to work through Vriska's troll instincts endlessly asking her to brutally murder Starbeat. It had... taken over a year to iron them out even with the professional help and some medication, but Eve was happy to give them both a clean bill of health. They probably wouldn't need to come to her much at all anymore. "Took them almost eight years," Eve commented to herself with a roll of her eyes. They took a break now and then with coming to Eve, but their relationship had been a very rocky one with a lot of drama, arguing, and conflict with each other. Eve was more than a little relieved that the real end was finally in sight. She checked her schedule - a free period was next. She wondered if anyone would show up today or if she'd have another quiet period at the office. It was not something she could predict. One day there would be no one and she'd think the Songs of the Spheres books had finally stamped out her reputation, and then the next day there'd be too many people for her to talk to. It was like ka couldn't make up its mind about what to do with her. Now that she thought of that, it sounded silly, but it was rather satisfying to imagine the Tower getting confused about what to do with her. A tad amusing, at least. She opened the doors to find exactly one pony standing there. Eve thought she looked familiar, like she'd seen the face somewhere important... but then she remembered. "Ah! Mirador. I wasn't expecting you to show up here, ever." "I hope you actually listen to the whole of my speeches," Mirador said, walking in. "I don't want to paint you out as the bad guys, that's just how everyone takes it." "I do listen all the way through, and I appreciate that you try to show the other side. But between you and me, you are kinda painting us out to be the bad guys." "Being the problem doesn't make you bad..." Mirador said, waving her hoof in the air. "But that's beside the point." "What is the point? I take it you're not here for therapy." "No, I'm just curious about your opinion on a certain subject you can probably guess. Need to pick your brain and get a better idea." "What I think of us 'controlling' you?" Mirador nodded. "Yes. That. Are you?" "I don't think we are," Eve said matter-of-factly. "So much stuff happens in this City that we have no sway over." "That was the case in Merodi Universalis. What I'm saying is that we haven't really changed that model. People like you become the leaders of the society and call the shots. Mlinx is in charge, and all you 'heroes' just have to say the word and people will come flocking to you. Even people like Trixie are getting vast success just because of their past and well-known names." "Her games are actually good, you know." "Starblah is really fun," Mirador admitted. "But it's just too convenient, like it's always been." "It'll change forcefully eventually," Eve pointed out. "Even if we do have some effect on the way things are run here, it'll go away over time. The cracks will let whatever you want through. I'll be just like you." "Even in Earth histories, we still see inequality. What if you all still have seats of power when the City is ready to move to the future? You could keep us in an archaic world, one where there is no ka but the effects of it can still be felt through the way you think, act, and lead." She raised an eyebrow. Eve smiled warmly. "You have some good points. But in the ka-less sense, there wouldn't be anything keeping us in power except ourselves, and if we were bad we would be replaced. And I still don't think it's a problem in the first place. Most of us are just celebrities and don't actually lead anything. I'm not going to be telling the City how to run itself anytime soon. That's mostly Mlinx's job." Mirador was able to sense when she wasn't getting through to someone. "Ah. Gotcha. I think I understand you a little better now." "Feel free to quote me, I don't mind," Eve said. And that's how you influence the world... ~~~ Corona, Roxy, and Jenny weren't working in the workshop, for once. No, today they were working on a job in the middle of the field of roses around the Dark Tower. Currently, this project took the form of a circuit board larger than most busses with numerous glowing magical components. "I'd love to see the phone this thing goes to," Jenny said, walking by a capacitor larger than she was. "Jenny, are you getting boot dust on the board?" Corona demanded, flipping up her welding mask. "Yes, but this board is so big it doesn't even matter." "This board is just as dense as the one in your phone! Every little line you see below is very important! Just wear the protective hypoallergenic boots!" "I am. I stepped on a wire and, well, blood got everywhere." Corona groaned. Roxy chuckled. "Hey, it's lunch break anyway, we can fix it later. Or hope that the self-repair adjunct actually works." "Never depend on self-repair in something this complicated," Corona said, jumping off the circuit board and onto a platform they had set up above the roses. None of them liked getting cut by impossibly-sharp flowers and bleeding everywhere. To their surprise, Mirador was standing there waiting for them. "Oh, hi!" Corona said with a smile. "Didn't see y-" "POLITICS! SKREE!" Jenny shouted, pointing at Mirador like she was the plague. "SKREEEEE!" "...Is she okay?" Mirador asked. Roxy kicked Jenny off the platform and into the roses below. "No, but that's normal for her so I wouldn't worry about it too much. Or at all." "My... spleen..." Jenny whimpered from the ground. "She's fine," Roxy insisted. "What can we do for you?" Corona asked. "I just wanted to drop by and have a chat with Corona if that's okay. You can be here for it too, it's not private." Corona shrugged, summoning a sub sandwich. "I don't see why I can't talk. I mean, I'm as annoyed by politics as the next guy, but I shouldn't discredit you for that." She stuffed the sub in her mouth and took the largest bite she could manage. "I'm just curious what you think about my whole 'hero' business." "You are completely right and on the money," Corona said matter-of-factly through her stuffed face. Roxy blinked. "Hold on, what? She's right?" "Oh yeah," Corona said, taking another bite. "We define this place without even trying. Even if all of us were to resign in any important jobs, we'd still shape the area. I mean, think about it, we're here, people will listen to us, and we have a lot to say about a lot of things." "I don't feel like I've been influencing everything." "You're the Rogue of Void, you're special." "...True..." "Let me get this straight," Mirador said. "You agree with me?" "Yes. I am voting for you, by the way." "Oh, thanks! Hope Mlinx doesn't mind." "Not really, he's never been a fan of leading. Not that it's stopped people from electing him." She tapped a finger on her hip. "Hmm... Anyway, yeah, I agree. We're doing too much to the City around us. I just don't think your solution is going to work." "Hm?" "Replace all the government with normal people and we're still here," Corona said, smirking. "And people will seek out our counsel regardless. You are right, all we have to do is say the word and people come running. The story loves us and will give us anything we need for the sake of achieving 'closure'. It's pretty crazy when you think about it." Roxy blinked. "...It is. I don't think I'd call that defining the City, though..." Jenny pulled herself up onto the platform and grunted. "It is. Trust me, technically the Beanstalk had a mayor and a bunch of actual leaders, but all my teams had to do to overrule them was say something. The 'heroes' have a lot more power than anyone realizes. It's pretty awesome though." "It's a bit hypocritical," Corona said. "Eh, it's better for them, we heroes are better suited than them for the jobs by nature." She kicked back and smirked. "They should be glad we're leading them as long as we can." Roxy shoved her off the platform again. "Tsk tsk tsk. So prideful." Corona shrugged. "I'm just thinking whatever 'damage' we're doing here is actually necessary to give everyone a buffer for entering the world without ka. Is that theory a little crazy? Yeah, for sure. But it's the best I got. Sorry Mirador - I do hope you figure out how to mitigate it though. It'd be more appropriate if your people end up in control." "Thanks!" Mirador said with a smile. "And you've been very helpful - this has been an enlightening conversation." "...We're done already?" Mirador nodded. "Yep! That's all I needed to know." She spread her wings and flew off. They're opposites, like expected, but I think I can still count on them to act the same. A smirk began to crawl up her face. ~~~ Mirador walked into my library. In a literal sense. She ran right into the doors - they were locked and refused to open for her. "Wh- hey! What gives?" She checked her watch. It was time for the library to be open; it wasn't a weekend or holiday. And as far as she knew I hadn't declared any vacation time or even something similar. But, lo and behold, the library door was locked. Sealed shut, keeping nosy little pegasi from getting in. She put her face up to one of the windows and squinted her eyes. The lights inside were all off - except for one. This particular light was a ceiling spotlight shining down on a table in the center of her field of view. I sat at this single well-lit table, lazily reading a book. "Hey!" Mirador shouted. "Twilence! I need to talk to you!" I didn't look up from my book. Mirador took out her ka pen and performed a test. She twitched. "Hey, I know you can hear me! No amount of soundproofing can keep a scene hidden from you!" I let out an exaggerated yawn and turned the page with my magic. I scribbled a quick note in the margin. "Twilence, we need to talk. About ka, about what's about to happen, about... Twilence, I know you can hear me. You can read these words as they're happening! Before they're happening!" She was right, of course. I was perfectly aware she was standing at the window, shouting at me and making frantic movements. I could even see her out of the corner of my eyes every now and then. But I wasn't about to give her what she wanted - as far as she was concerned I was so absorbed in this book I wasn't looking at ka. Or listening to the knocks. Or tending to customers. In fact, I was so absorbed I had locked the library up so nobody could bother me! Of course she wouldn't buy it, but I was going to give her no evidence that anything else had been happening. Like, say, I simply knew what needed to happen and that was for me not to talk to her right at that moment. "Twilence!" Mirador shouted. "Twilence, this is about the fate of the heroes in the city!" If I hadn't already known that, it would have given me pause. But I'd already read through this chapter and had the list pre-prepared for when it was needed. Nothing she could say could faze me unless she went off-script. I knew she wouldn't. "Get out here right now before I get an order for you to open the library! You're government funded, you have to keep your doors open!" In about three seconds she was going to realize that I, as a hero, didn't have to do jack anything, because I had the power not to. Upon realizing this a disgruntled and disgusted expression appeared on her face. She turned tail and trotted away from the library, intent on finding someone else who might be of use. The pegasus really was quite good at exploiting her current purpose in ka. I just wasn't going to let myself be part of it. ~~~ "...and that's what cantalouping means," Mattie finished explaining. Burgerbelle stared at her with a furious blush and a gaze one would give an alien who spoke perfect French while tap dancing. "What? You asked." "You've been dropping the word around waiting for someone to ask about it!" "Heh. True." Mattie smirked. "But hey, at least now you know more about the wide world of fruit terms!" She gestured at a fruit stand across the street. "Cantaloupe?" Burgerbelle held up a sign that said "NOPE" and she noped right out of there. "Eh, your loss. Wonder if they have some good quality cacti..." She trotted over to the market and began the art of shopping. Which, if you were Mattie, was only about a third actual shopping. Another third was dropping innuendos on people who had no idea what they meant. The last third was whatever else she happened to be thinking about at the time - today, for some reason, precious cinnamon rolls. Burgerbelle was probably rubbing memes off on her. "Beautiful cactus..." Mattie said, lifting the plant into the air. "Too precious for this world, so pure..." She eyed the size closely and chuckled. "But not for loooooong~!" "Ma'am, are you gonna serenade the cactus or buy it?" Mattie let out an indignant 'psh.' "Balls to you, isn't it obvious? I'm going to b-" a strange feeling swept across her - a chill that ran from the tip of her tail to her horn. She carefully set the cactus down and looked around, confused. "Ma'am...?" "Hold that thought..." She said, narrowing her eyes. No one else had felt that. Which meant it was either targeting her... or it was her Awareness kicking in. She performed a check - yes, she was on camera. It would have been nice to know more, but as every Pinkie from here to the South Pole liked to point out, Mattie wasn't the best at Aware deductions. Something was afoot, she knew that much. So, naturally, she would investigate. It appeared to be something Raritys just did. Most of them had an eye for detail, so it was only natural. It would give her something to shove in that smug Sherlock's face, too. Maybe. She edited herself to the back of the market, poking her head into an alley. This is it. She slid along the wall, careful to stay out of sight of any open windows. As she moved further into the alley, she started to hear laughing. It didn't take long for her to identify where it was coming from - one of the first-floor buildings with particularly poor soundproofing. The door and windows were closed, but that wasn't really stopping much of anything. The laughter was lucky no one was there to listen. That is, no one but Mattie. She slid right under the exterior window, bonking her head on the frame. Luckily, the pony inside didn't seem to notice - she just kept laughing. She had no difficulty identifying the voice - Mirador. "Ahahahahahaaha! I'm going to do it! There's nothing any of them can do to stop me! Ahahahahahaha!" Gee, overselling it much? Mattie heard some rustling of paper and some hasty hoof taps. "They have no idea what I have in store for them... They think I'm just some nobody, a pony from nowheresville that'll give them the power... They know nothing. I'll take power and I'll show them all the true meaning of friendship!" Crikey, you've been keeping that in for a while, haven't you? "I'll accept the Mayorship... be inducted into office... give it a few days - to let them think everything's the same as it always was - and then BAM! I'll show them who I am!" Mattie heard the ripping of clothes and decided she couldn't not look. She poked her eyes slightly over the windowsill, looking in to see Mirador. Except... her mane seemed to be naturally curled, and her cutie mark was a red rook... Nobody's ever seen her cutie mark. And I recognize that one. It's... "They elected little ol' Cozy Glow to be their supreme leader," Mirador said with a menacing smile. Mattie decided now was the time to edit herself out-of-frame and go tell someone about the diabolical plan. She didn't need to see any more to be convinced. Mattie chose Eve to hear the news first. To say Eve was surprised to wake up with Mattie sitting at the foot of her bed was an understatement. "AUGH!" Mattie rolled her eyes. "You really need to get more comfortable with yourself." Eve was clearly not a pony who woke up with patience. "What are you doing here!?" "The short version is that Mirador is a version of Cozy Glow and her entire campaign is a conspiracy we need to stop." Eve blinked. "...Mirador?" "I saw her cutie mark. The red rook. Her mane's naturally curled and she presses it flat. Clearly, we have to do something to end this plot against the City." "Clearly..." Eve shook her head. "Do you have any evidence?" "Let's ask Scooter for the script," Mattie said. "Or we can download the relevant memories out of my mind. Or both!" "Evidence might not be enough all on its own..." Eve said, getting out of bed and starting to pace. "We need to get everyone together and decide what to do, how to resolve this without disturbing the peace - as much as that's possible. Mlinx - agh, why didn't you tell Mlinx first?" "You think he'll be able to accuse his political opponent of conspiracy? Ha, good luck with that, he'll be tossed out of the room like a garbage bag." "Good point... We should keep him out of this so it doesn't leave a mark on his reputation." Mattie shrugged. "You're askin' the wrong girl, I don't know the next thing about politics. I just know who Mirador and Cozy Glow are. The same damn person." Eve nodded, pulling out her phone. "Hey, Corona? We might have a situation..." ~~~ Screens everywhere across the City buzzed to life the next morning, revealing Eve and Corona sitting in comfortable chairs. "Hello, Citizens," Eve said, smiling. "I'm Evening Sparkle," "And I'm Corona Shimmer," Corona said. "We usually don't address you directly like this, but since the political scene is up in arms at the moment, we decided we had to tell you directly. For what it's worth, before today I supported Mirador." "And I support Mlinx," Eve said. "...Unfortunately we don't get to keep that view on things," Corona said, folding her arms. "It has come to our attention that Mirador is not who she says she is, and that she's been planning conspiracy against the City ever since she arrived." She pulled up a few sheets of paper. "This is a partial excerpt from the script of chapter 153 - What We Leave Behind, graciously provided by Scooter Pie. It tells the story of an event that took place yesterday. Mattie Belle, the Aware Rarity of Equis Ultra Fast, was led to find Mirador while she was alone, without any cameras to look at her." "The script is available to anyone who wants to read it," Eve said. "I apologize ahead of time for Mattie's... colorful way of looking at things." "Within the script, we see Mirador reveal her true face. She is not a nobody, she is a version of Cozy Glow - and she has plans to take over the City for her own malevolent ends." Eve held up the script to her face. "And I quote Mirador here... 'They have no idea what I have in store for them... They think I'm just some nobody, a pony from nowheresville that'll give them the power... They know nothing. I'll take power and I'll show them all the true meaning of friendship!' I don't think I need to tell anyone that this is a classic example of villain monologue. She says a few more things - annoyingly vague about specifics at all times - but it's clear that she has some sort of diabolical plan." "We're currently placing Mirador - or Cozy Glow - under arrest for suspicion of conspiracy. This was done without consulting with Mlinx's campaign. The first he and his people will hear about this is through the message you are listening to now." "All we're asking you to do right now is to retract your support from Mirador. Don't let her take control of the City even if she does manage to escape prosecution through a loophole. She is the antagonist of this chapter." "And Mlinx?" Corona rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry about doing this under your nose. We didn't think it would go well if you did it." "That's all we've got," Eve said. "All our evidence and story has already been submitted to news stations. Expect nonstop stories about the topic for the next hour." "Try to enjoy the rest of your day despite the drama," Corona encouraged. They waved at the screen - and the transmission went down. "That should take care of it," Corona said, cracking her knuckles. "I hope so," Eve said. "I can't believe she had us all fooled... I knew she looked off, why didn't I draw the connection to Cozy Glow?" "She hid it well. Her attitude wasn't sickeningly cute. It seemed earnest. She was a master manipulator." "Wonder how she's enjoying confinement..." Eve's phone rang, ending the thought. She answered. "Eve here, who is this?" "She got away," Lightning said. "I'm not sure how she did it, but I think she had help." "Darnit," Eve muttered. "Can you find her?" "Trying. I'll keep you updated." Lightning hung up. "She won't have to find me," Mirador said, somehow in the room despite neither of them detecting her arrival. She wasn't wearing a suit, allowing her rook cutie mark to be on full display. "You will." Both Eve and Corona readied themselves for a fight. "I'm not here to fight, I'm here to talk," Mirador said with a smile. "I'm here to tell you exactly one thing." She pointed a hoof at Eve. "I. Told. You. So." "I... What?" "You have to insert yourselves into our lives," Mirador shook her head with a sad smile. "You, as the hero, were called upon to 'save the City' from a 'traitor'. So you took action, specifically cut out the official channels, and got something accomplished. No doubt my approval rating is dropping like a stone since you two decided to say something. To beat the 'bad guy'." Eve was struck by this like a sledgehammer. She had no response. Corona took it in stride. "So? You're still a traitor, we did the right thing." "Hm? Oh no, I'm not a traitor, I just set that up with a little help from Monika to force you into action that everyone would see. I mean, yeah, I'm a Cozy Glow, but I hid that fact because we're not known to be the nicest ponies." Corona blinked. "...Hold on... you faked that?" Mirador grinned. "Yep! Specifically rented an area of town that would be abandoned yesterday - I have the title deeds with me and everything - and then I tracked down Monika since Twilence wouldn't help. All Monika did was give Mattie an 'itch' and then everything fell into place. She saw what she needed to, and then you two acted to save the City." She shook her head. "You two are great heroes and should be applauded for your willingness to help everyone! But you have to admit - I was right. You are able to control us. And I don't think we want to be defined by you." Corona sagged. "This is being transmitted isn't it?" "Yep!" Mirador winked. "Don't worry, I won't hold it against you, you did what you felt was right, just like I did! Now, if you'll excuse me, I don't think I'll be able to continue this conversation much longer." "Why not?" Monika appeared in the room and grabbed Mirador by the neck. "YOU USED ME!?" Mirador gagged, unable to say anything. It was at this point Lightning busted the doors down with a million police sirens behind her. She took one look at the situation and realized it was complicated. "...Am I arresting anyone?" "Monika? Maybe?" Corona said with a shrug. "I don't know... I think we lost though. Big time." "What were we even fighting against?" Eve wondered. Monika dropped Mirador - which allowed her to answer. "You were fighting against change. ...Maybe you should think about that a little more. Change." ~~~ Later that day Eve walked into Mlinx's office. Mlinx saw her and let out a sigh. "Look, it's okay, she played you, you don't have to apologize." "I still should - even if that's not why I'm here, per se." "I just..." He paused. "That isn't why you're here?" "Not primarily," Eve admitted. "I am sorry. But..." She shook her head and turned to look out a window. "She was right." "...If she didn't have a point she wouldn't be a good politician." "I'm saying she's really right, Mlinx. It's been eight years and... look at what we're making. Exactly the same thing we left behind. There isn't really a New World here; it's just a smaller version of the old with a few odd differences. We... we change things. Simply by existing, we change things. We are giants in a land of little people, and try as we might we can't hide ourselves in the bushes." Mlinx wasn't sure what to say to this. "We're supposed to be preparing the people - and ourselves - for living in a world without ka. A world where they can't rely on larger-than-life heroes to jump out of nowhere and save the day from whatever crops up." She looked Mlinx in the eyes. "We're not preparing them. We're keeping them from growing." Mlinx folded his hands together. "...Maybe you're right. What do you want me to do?" "The thing is, I could tell you what to do, and I have no doubt you would do it," Eve said. "And that's the whole point of what I'm trying not to do." "Eve, I wouldn't do it because you're some larger-than-life hero who exists more as a figure of legend than an actual person. I would do it because you're my friend and I respect your opinion - maybe more than anyone else's." Eve looked at him with sad eyes. "...Maybe you're right. But I have to know. ...Do you really think I'm right?" Mlinx sat back. "You're saying that, by being around, we're keeping the people from learning to live without ka. After having listened to Mirador's speeches for hours on repeat just to understand them, I see the point. And given the stunt she just pulled..." He put two hands to his chin. "It seems like you are right. That we're not helping. But I don't see a solution. You and Corona weren't in office, or really in politics. You were just living and people sought you out." He looked up to her. "I'm open to solutions, Eve. I want these people to be ready as much as you do. I just don't know how to do it." Eve looked at him with sad eyes. "I have an idea. I'm not sure you're going to like it." "Try me." ~~~ Mirador was exceptionally elated. Her approval had shot up to 46% after her little stunt and it was growing steadily. There was no small amount of people who were confused by the ordeal - who wouldn't be - but they weren't actually messing with the polls too much. She was still behind Mlinx by a bit in the polls, but if her calculations were correct that wouldn't last very long. She and her assistant had given in and done a little celebrating - nothing big, just the two of them and some friends enjoying drinks, an excessive amount of Chinese takeout, and loud music. Mirador told herself the celebration was just for the successful execution of her plan, but really it was for her victory. She was so certain of her victory. She would be the Mayor of this town. And the moment that solidified it would happen... now. Mirador flicked the television on. Mlinx had just walked up to the podium at his oh-so-precious charity event and was about to give his speech. This should be good. Even though he had no real facial expressions, he looked tired as he walked up to the microphone. He cleared his throat. "Originally, I planned to come here and give one of those grandiose, bombastic speeches designed to get people fired up for voting and democracy and the upcoming election. Instead, recent events have forced me to reconsider my position in this race. You know what I'm talking about - Mirador's trap for Corona and Eve. The proof that we, the 'heroes' of the past, are controlling your lives. "I will cut to the chase. She was right." There were gasps. Mirador let out an adorable squee. "In the interests of letting you all learn to live in a world without ka, I am stepping down from the campaign, effectively resigning my position as Mayor. There are numerous others across the City who will be doing the same. In the next few months, you will see less and less of us. We will leave you to your City - make of it what you will. "I only have one actual request - that you actually make the best of what you've been given. You could just change all your votes to Mirador and let her have the Mayorship. But that would just be giving the torch to someone else with ka-importance. She has been the focus of the chapter we are currently living in - as a protagonist, antagonist, you decide. She has become like us, and by her own logic she shouldn't be allowed to dictate your lives." Mirador tensed. "There's no alternative, Mlinx... I've just been the method... I..." "There are many third-party candidates who never get recognized by the media or the story," Mlinx said, leaning forward. "I give my endorsement to the leader of their race, Jocelyn Ramirez. I ask that all of my supporters to go to her, so she can keep Mirador from the Mayorship. Let someone who has never had the spotlight of ka take control of the City, not a manipulative pegasus who played us all for fools." "...Dammit..." Mirador seethed. She realized the stupid mistake she had made - she had forgotten about those 'less important' than her. She'd forgotten what defeated Lord English. "DAMMIT!" "And as for what I originally came here for - this charity event - I need to offer an apology. I've capitalized on your event for my own personal goals. I give the majority of my campaign funding to you." He let out a chuckle. "I helped you all build this City. Now that the foundation is here, I need to remove the braces. I hope you not only remain standing, but build it taller than ever before." Mirador didn't want to hear anymore. She shut off the TV and threw her remote through the screen. She let out a scream. ~~~ Mirador tracked Mlinx down to give him an earful. She was not at all surprised to find that Eve was with them. She was mildly surprised to find them meeting with me inside my library. She managed to grab hold of her anger quickly enough to eavesdrop instead of charging in guns blazing. The front doors were open so she could hear. I had left them that way, though she wasn't in a good enough mental state to figure this out on her own. "Is this everyone?" Eve asked me, looking over the list I had prepared several thousand words above this paragraph. "Yes," I assured her. "These are the people you need to take with you - no more, no less." "But... some people seem to be missing. Nettle's not on here, for instance, I was sure her ka would be too strong..." "She is becoming the Mother," I explained. "She will be able to live a normal life, one of a normal person. The others missing will either do the same, or leave the City in another way." "You are not on the list," Mlinx observed. I nodded. "That... is true. I will leave the City my own way, go on my own journey. You have to go on yours without my constant guidance." "...Is this goodbye, then?" "We will both return at the end," I said. "When the Tower crumbles, we will be here, in the grounds of this city." "All of us?" Mlinx asked. "Not everyone on that list will live that long," I admitted. "There will be some losses. But... Most. Most will come back. Most will live to see the end of ka." I smiled warmly. "I'm looking forward to that day more than anything." Eve sighed, looking over the list. "Some of these people won't want to leave..." "They'll agree to it. I promise you." I ruffled my feathers. "They'll know they have to leave just like you two. You really are keeping the City from growing into something new. I couldn't be the one to tell you that, it had to be something more... tangible. Speaking of..." I teleported Mirador into the library and the full view of everyone. "Say hello to the little eavesdropper, everyone." Eve furrowed her brow - and then softened it. "Thank you, Mirador, for showing me what I needed to see." "That wasn't the freaking point!" Mirador shouted. "The point was to get rid of you!" "So you could be in charge," Mlinx noted. "We know. We're well aware that your motivations weren't treason or for the people. You just wanted power and you knew how to get it." "You're oversimplifying her," I said. "She did care about the people in some way - it just wasn't altruistic, and she believes she can help them by helping herself. People who are like you, Mlinx, rarely go into republic-based politics. Mirador's personality is much more common. You have to put up with a lot in the race, and she's able to do that by empowering herself." I looked at her with sad eyes. "It is wrong... but understandable." Mirador twitched. "I'm going to show you that I can do it anyway." "You won't. I know for sure you lose. You do not make it to the Mayorship no matter how hard you try. You convinced them too well - they want nothing to do with the story now. And you're part of it." "I..." She looked at the ground. "I never wanted to be part of it. I used it once I had it, but... I didn't want it." "I'm sorry." I looked at the Eye of Rhyme. "It chooses us. We never get to choose it. It is the tragedy of the curse of ka. There is inequality, true, irrefutable inequality, and nobody gets to choose one way or another who gets what. Maybe when the Tower ends, you can try again. But not now. Your ka has you defeated." Mirador looked at me with conflicting eyes. Then she ran out of the library, hooves slamming into the ground angrily. That is the last you'll ever read about her. ~~~ Burgerbelle, Corona, Discord, Eve, Everykid, Flutterfree, Jenny, Jotaro, Lightning, Mattie, Minna, Mlinx, Monika, Nanoha, O'Neill, Pidge, Pinkie, Rev, Rina, Roland, Roxy, Starbeat, Thrackerzod, Trixie, Vriska. Twenty-five people. I wonder why it wasn't nineteen... Eve mused as she looked up from the list at the gathered people. They were all standing in the field of roses, floating about an inch above the tops of the flowers to prevent excessive cutting and bleeding. She counted twenty-three. Twenty-four if she counted herself. And there was one other right behind her. For a moment, she took a breath and turned around. There was a ship behind her - made of white metal, like most higher-end Merodi ships. The only unusual thing was that it wasn't a spaceship, it was an airship. It looked like a sea vessel, a bit like a miniature ocean liner, except that it had giant magic sails that glowed with a bright orange magic almost like fire itself. The ship's name? Austraeoh. After the wreckage it was salvaged from. Corona jumped off the deck of the Austraeoh and landed next to Eve. "She's working like a charm! The Nova's in the main bay, the power is charged to full, and we've got ourselves a pretty ship-shape navigation system." "And your... 'collar?' " Eve asked. Corona tapped the implant in the back of her neck. "Mlinx disabled for now, you can turn it on if we return. We can start the journey whenever everyone's ready." "...I do not believe all of us will be ready at any point," Starbeat said. "It is strangely true that most of everyone's close friends are here. But... this City has been our home. Even those of us who are not really leaving people behind will be leaving this place." "I know," Eve said, shaking her head. "But we have to. At least for now. They'll be better off if we aren't here holding their hands." "We know. You had to give us all the spiel one by one," Lightning pointed out. Eve nodded. "Right..." "No use beating a dead horse, you might say," O'Neill added. "Har-de-har," Eve said, rolling her eyes. "Hey, you're going on an extended cruise with me on board, get used to the horse puns." "They will never end," Nanoha added. "Right..." Eve said, shaking her head and smiling. "...So, we're leaving. We're going to get on the Austraeoh and travel around Nucleon. We have the technology to do that in a few seconds, but we're not going to use it like that. We're going to go around slowly, stop by everywhere that looks interesting, and just... explore. Due to the ka-cloud we'll be out of range of City communication quickly, and we'll be on our own. We won't be able to disturb them. However, we will continue to have adventures. I don't know what we'll run into during our time on the surface of Nucleon, but I know it will be full of awe-inspiring geography, wonder at the unusual cultures of the world, and... and I don't know, we're going the long way around a planet made of several thousand earths. We'll spend years and years going around this place." "Coincidentally, we'll go all the way around and get back to the City just before the Tower falls," Mattie added. "Woah, you can tell?" Pinkie asked. "Nah. I just asked Twilence." Mattie winked. "Sometimes you should just take the shortcut to truth rather than trying to puzzle it out yourself." "That ruins half the fun!" Roxy complained. "Exactly. Half of it. Do it often enough and you get your money's back!" "A new journey that ends with the Tower..." Roland mused. "Same ol'?" "Same ol'," Jenny said with a shrug. "There will be a lot of things out there," Corona said. "Conflict, friendship, war, peace, love, hate, impossible, jokes... and we'll face it, whatever it is, together." She clasped her hands and grinned. "And then we will return here. To our City." "To say goodbye," I said, appearing on the scene with a handful of people behind me - including Nettle. "Which, coincidentally, is what I'm here to do." I beamed at them all. "All of you - every last one of you - is a hero in some way or other." "Fat lot of good that's doing us," Trixie muttered. "In a way, it is," I countered. "You get to go have an extended series of epic adventures the likes of which nobody has ever seen. You'll explore worlds that have never before been touched. You will learn things the rest of us could only dream about. And you'll get to do it in the last few decades before the Tower collapses completely - you will be the last. There will not be any other opportunities to have wild, unpredictable, crazy, impossible adventures. This is going to be your last stop." I turned to Corona. "As horrid as ka is and can be... you should make the most of it while it still exists, wouldn't you think?" Corona chuckled nervously. "Yeah. Yeah... you should." "Then get on that boat and sail off into the sunset." "There's no sun on Nucleon," Thrackerzod deadpanned. "I'm a Sunset," Corona suggested. "Strap her to the prow - we'll always be sailing into her!" Mattie said with a laugh. Burgerbelle facepalmed. Nettle kneeled down to Burgerbelle. "Go get on that ship." She turned to the Everykid. "You too. Go enjoy your lives. I had enough of the wild life in the past... but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it." The Everykid and Burgerbelle pulled her into a hug. There were lots of other goodbyes. There were more than a few tears - but everyone seemed to understand that this needed to happen. That the heroes of Songs of the Spheres needed to leave. Eventually, however, the goodbyes had been drawn out. The twenty-five passengers loaded onto the Austraeoh. They waved. I waved back - and took everyone else away from the field of roses and back into the City. I would begin my journey later that day and lose myself somewhere far, far away... It was nice being a librarian while it lasted, but even with full freedom to do whatever I wanted with my power, I still needed to think of what it meant to everyone around me. What they might do because of me. I had to make the right choice. The Austraeoh was loaded and ready to go - there was only one question left to answer. "Uh... who's in charge?" Minna asked. Everyone turned to Eve and Corona in an instant. "No!" they both shouted, backing up - then laughing. Eve went first. "We've been the leaders of too much for far too long." "It's time for someone else to take the reins," Corona added. "Who then?" Pinkie asked. Eve and Corona glanced at the pink party pony. The two of their smiles started to widen. Pinkie gasped. "...Oooooooooh!" Eve and Corona pushed Pinkie to the front of the boat. While there were control consoles below decks, there was a fully-functional ship's wheel exposed to the elements. Pinkie laid her hooves on it and felt the ship move beneath her. "You've been brushed to the side a bit," Eve said, placing a hoof on Pinkie's shoulder. "Corona and I have taken a lot of what you had. Our lives, our ka... they were too big, too extreme. You were overshadowed... but you're still deserving. You never took an opportunity to get a lot of power, you always stayed as a team leader." Corona smiled. "It's time for you to take what you probably deserved more than we did." Eve let out a chuckle. "Where to, Captain?" Eve and Corona gave her friendly salutes. Soon, everyone else on the deck followed, showing respect to the pink ball of fluff. Pinkie beamed. "Th-thank you! All of you! I love all you guys!" She laughed - and then put her hooves back on the wheel, shaking some happy tears out of her eyes. "I say we go... OVER THE HORIZON!" She activated the sails. They increased the intensity of their light and pulled the airship forward - sailing over the top of the City. Fireworks and other celebratory decorations were unleashed on them as they passed over. The City was letting them know how much they had been appreciated while they were here. Even though the heroes had to leave, they were still to be remembered as heroes. The Austraeoh floated into the distance until it dipped over the horizon on a journey the likes of which the City would never imagine in their wildest dreams... You could end the story there, I think. With them going on to have more adventures in the twilight hours of fate itself, where stories slowly fade into nothing. It's an ending, of sorts - an open one, admittedly, but an ending nonetheless. There is more to see, though. It may not be necessary... but it is worth your while. Let us look beyond the horizon.
Songs of the Spheres	154 - Journey	I - The Depths of Nucleon "Elder! Elder!" The Elder chuckled in that gleeful, tired way only older people can. "Yes, Pringle?" The pink and purple pegasus filly bounced to the Elder's lap. "Tell us more stories of the heroes!" "That again?" an earth pony named Onion groaned, pulling her white mane back over her creamy coat. "We've heard them all already, geez." A young woman with purple hair responded, not looking up from her phone. "We do hear a lot about the heroes. It's kinda annoying." "You like the stories more than anyone, Joanne," the Elder said. "As much as you try to keep your nose buried in that screen, you revel in the story you're a part of." "Won't be for long," Joanne commented, still refusing to look up. "Years seems like a long time to me..." said the last member of the younger friend group, a young man known as Jang, playing with some firebending between his fingers. "We can learn from the mistakes and stories of those who came before us so we can survive what the Tower may throw at us." "I just wanna hear the stories again..." Pringle muttered. "There are other things the Elder can teach us," Onion scoffed. "We don't need to hear any of her stories for the umpteenth time." "Few people learn things the first time," Joanne pointed out. "I thought you were on my side." Joanne smirked. "Sides are but an illusion in any conflict." "I... Nevermind." The Elder let out her distinctive chuckle once more. "Children, children... how can I tell a story when you're all bickering?" "That might be Onion's plan," Jang pointed out. "She wishes she were that clever," Joanne snarked. Onion grumbled something incoherent. The Elder sat down, gently stroking Pringle as she settled down on her lap. "Now, we're going to start a very familiar story a little before we usually do. It starts on the other side of Nucleon, deep beneath the ground..." ~~~ "I've got the next room," Vriska said, drawing her sword, grin slashing across her face like a knife through meat. It was far too eager. "Sure you will," Trixie muttered. "Watch me, dungeons are nothing for the Thief of Light!" "Let's make this more interesting," Discord said, snapping his fingers and placing a large red X over the Light symbol of her robes. "No luck, just pure unfiltered skill." Jenny cupped her gloves to her mouth. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOH!" "I accept," Vriska said, tapping her chest as if she were an ancient warrior. "Watch and learn..." "Pretty sure we all know how to run a dungeon already," Flutterfree pointed out. Eve giggled, only adding to the pile-on. Vriska put her hands on her hips. "Do you all just spend your days coming up with ways to insult me when the opportunity arises?" "Yes," Jenny deadpanned. Eve forced herself to stop giggling. "Oh, no, Vriska, it isn't like that..." "Yeah," Rina said. "I haven't said anything yet." "Thanks, mini-psycho." Vriska shot her some finger guns. "And now I want the monsters in the next room to kick your ass and teach you a thing on hubris and pride. You know. Like the tritons did three rooms up." She pulled a fish out of her mane and disintegrated it. "The fish spell is quite humiliating." "I like it..." Flutterfree said, pulling another fish out of her mane and placing it in a water tank provided by Eve's magic. "So many new friends." "I still think the fish would make better food," Jenny observed. "Most of us are herbivores," Discord pointed out. "Is there a single person in this room who hasn't tried meat?" Jenny asked. Getting no negatives, she smirked. "Thought not. We'll all enjoy that fi--" "That's it, tired of waiting," Vriska declared, kicking in the next door. The dungeon itself couldn't be considered standard fare, seeing as the walls were made of dark metal and the doors themselves shaped of bronze circuitry, but aside from the bizarre aesthetic the structure had, the active act of dungeon raiding was no different than usual: charge through room after room solving puzzles, setting off traps, and facing an unhealthy amount of monsters. The room Vriska walked into was home to an entire village of bloodlusted orcs. They stopped fighting each other the moment Vriska kicked the door down, pointing their choppas at the intruder. "WAAAAAGH!" "No luck, huh?" Vriska drew her sword and held out her free hand, grinning. "This'll be good." She met the first orc's choppa with her sword, proving her blade and her physical strength to far exceed that of the ripped orc. She kicked him between the legs and whirled around to stab another orc in the neck, using her free hand to focus her psychic energy on the third-closest orc. Under her control, the orc swung back, gashing through three of his brethren. Vriska released her control, focusing on the others now; those four orcs would not be disentangling from their combat until all but one was dead. Vriska twirled around, chopping off a few heads before taking to the air and kicking as many orcs in the forehead as she could before landing, giving out quite a few concussions. Thrusting downward, she drove her blade right through an orc's head and caused a small tremor to run through the room as she hit the ground. Waiting a few seconds for the orcs to charge, she unleashed a spinning attack that took out every orc next to her. With a laugh, she took to the air, leaving the remaining orcs to smash their heads into each other at high velocity. One orc near the back shot a fireball at her. Vriska threw her sword at him, skewering the monster through the neck. He fell back--but another orc picked up Vriska's sword. Vriska, not wanting some grimy green monster touching her sword for longer than necessary, flew over the crowd of stupid orcs and engaged the orc in unarmed combat. The orc swung. Vriska broke his wrist with a carefully placed kick, claiming her sword back with ease. To add insult to injury, she chopped his hand off before kicking him down. "Who's next!?" Back at the entrance of the room, Discord sighed. "I don't think she's going to make a fool of herself." "Can I argue that she's a Mary Sue? Please?" Jenny asked. "If she is, so are you," Rina deadpanned. "...Is the sacrifice worth it...?" "Never." Trixie shuddered as if the suggestion were physically painful. "Well I'm happy that she's having some fun," Eve said, smiling brightly. "That is why we came down here, after all," Flutterfree pointed out. "Trixie came down to figure out what the treasure was, not for fun," Trixie huffed. "If you wanted treasure you could just go back to the City and get a ticket to any number of artifact planets." Flutterfree lifted up Trixie's head with a wingtip. "You want to have fun." "...Fine..." Trixie grumbled. An orc's skull--just the skull, nothing else--flew and hit Jenny in the head. "VRISKA!" Jenny shouted, charging into the room in rage. "Jenny, no, I haven't cleaned the room y--" "And all bets are off!" Discord declared. "The terms have been voided!" "None of us bet any money," Flutterfree pointed out. "Exactly!" ~~~ Vriska examined a golden computer chip laced with magic runes she had looted off one of the orcs several rooms back. "I really do wonder what this is." "A reminder of Jenny's hotheadedness?" Rina suggested, blasting a spider-robot into smithereens. Vriska chuckled as she traced a finger around the shield-shaped edge. "While that's most definitely what it is, it also has to be something else." She rolled her fluorite octet and transformed an attacking skeleton into a frog. "Probably the lost artifact of an ancient civilization," Trixie said. "Again." Vriska shrugged and pocketed it while using her free leg to crack a lamia's pelvis. Discord snapped his fingers, transforming every monster in the room into a wind-up duck. "Discord!" Jenny whined. "I had that one!" "I was bored," Discord said, waving his hand dismissively. "He needs to have his fun too," Flutterfree pointed out, winking at him. "That said, Flutterfree and I call the next room," Eve interjected. "I think it's time we showed our stuff." Flutterfree reared back excitedly, tapping her wing-blades together. "Oh, yes! Can we do the Thing?" "That's the idea!" "Oooh, come on come on come on!" "Yes. Be excited." Discord rolled his eyes. "Not like we were just talking about me or anything." Flutterfree put a hoof on Discord's leg gently. "Discord..." "Oh, all right, fine, it wasn't important anyway." Flutterfree let out a squee. "Eve! Let's go!" "Let's get the timing right. Three... Two... One..." Both of them kicked the door down at the same time, signaling the start of a funky, energetic beat. The group of monsters within looked up--largely composed of skeleton ninjas with a large white creature in the back made of many papery tendrils. Flutterfree and Eve hoofbumped before completing the charge. Eve sang first. "We feel it stirring..." "...Deep down inside our souls." Eve created a ramp of ice that Flutterfree skated on, entering a wild whirlwind of blades that shattered several skeleton ninjas. Eve teleported in front of her, encasing those who survived in ice. The two twirled together, moving forward. Flutterfree let her heart out through her words. "A million moments..." "...bringing us together." Rising onto their hind legs, the two pulled each other into a complex swirling dance of grace and calculated elegance. Every swing, every pulse, every twist came with it a blade, a burst of magic, or a lash of Rage. No matter how well they snuck or attacked, the ninja skeletons fell like dominoes to the complex choreography. "The beat is taking hold..." "...it's more precious than gold." Eve slid under a skeleton while Flutterfree flew over the top, the two attacking it from opposite vectors, cutting it in half and sending its components into the others. The pegasus landed gracefully on the alicorn's back, both striking a dramatic pose. "We are acting as one..." "...until our time is done." The papery monster was all that remained in their way. Seething, it unleashed its flimsy tendrils toward them. Seraphim activated, bouncing them all away with a shield. Flutterfree sent Lolo forward, tangling up among the papery beast's assault. With one voice, they pushed forward. "Sing our lives along The other right to our side There's nothing you can do to us To separate us from this ride!" Eve and Flutterfree jumped through the air, swirling like ballerina dancers. Lolo pulled the papery strands of the monster to the side, allowing the two of them to smash the core with Flutterfree's ice-coated wing blades. It never stood a chance. As it fell, the music died down. The two held each other's hooves and bowed back at their friends, prompting thunderous applause. "You two are amazing!" Trixie called. "Almost as good as Trixie!" "Better," Rina said. "Much better," Jenny agreed. "Oh so amazingly better, it can't even be comprehended," Vriska piled on. Trixie rolled her eyes. "Har-de-har." "Eh," Discord said, ending his clapping before anyone else. "It's not that amazing. Just an amazingly choreographed dance between two ponies who are very close. Not surprising, really." "It's still cool, you're just lame," Jenny asserted. "And you have low standards." "...I'm the most easily bored out of all of us, and that's saying something." "She says, in a bragging tone," Vriska snickered. "Don't you start!" Discord turned away, deciding to inspect the featureless wall rather than engage. Trixie narrowed her eyes. Something was up with him. But... there was no way, right? Couldn't be... "Hey! Are you coming or not?" Flutterfree called. "New rooms filled with monsters and treasure await!" "I found an infinite pizza!" Eve added. "Hey! No jumping ahead, I want the next room's loot!" Jenny ran after them, waving her hands in a panic. "Come on, let's get a move on, people!" Trixie grinned, lighting her horn. "Teleport." Trixie appeared embedded in a nearby wall. She sighed. "Help? Anyone?" "I think I'll just let you sit there for a few minutes," Rina said. "Rina don't you dare-RINA! GET BACK HERE!" ~~~ Far above the dungeon plunderers, the surface of Nucleon was green. Vibrant moss had spread itself over a wide section of landscape mostly devoid of larger flora and fauna. The only structures visible from the ground were numerous deactivated mecha, all having been there long enough that the moss was growing up their legs. There had been a war, once, but with the creation of Nucleon that war ended. The mecha were no longer needed, so here they sat, collecting dust and moss. They had seen almost no visitors since the New World had been created. Today, though, a shadow drifted over them. The form of the Austraeoh V, floating in the sky with its should-be-impossible-but-weren't magic propellers keeping it aloft. It was similar to the craft that had left the City a few years ago, but it was made out of a purple metal rather than the pristine white 'orichalcum alloy' the Merodi knew and loved. Pinkie stood at the front of the deck, wearing the Element of Laughter as an earring. She whistled a tune to herself as she kept the wheel twisted slightly to the left so the ship would circle until the dungeon-raiders were done having their fun. She was the Captain and she was enjoying it. The wheel was hers, the ship was hers, and the crew was hers. Even if they were doing absolutely stupid things, she still loved them to bits. Speaking of stupid things, there was a drinking competition going on behind her. "We've got you beat," Pidge declared, downing some kind of dark red sludge. "You are a lightweight," O'Neill retorted. "You are going to pass out in a few minutes. I'm only worried about your buddy Jotaro, here." Jotaro wordlessly slammed another drink down his throat, dropping the glass menacingly on the table after he was done. "Sure we can beat him?" Nanoha asked O'Neill. "He has nerves of steel and a constitution better than some mountain trolls." "And I'm General Snark." "Are you all just forgetting about me? I'm here too!" Pidge waved her hands. She got no response. "Screw you guys." "You are all children," Rev said, passing by. "If I felt the need to indulge, every last one of you would be under the table before I felt even mildly nauseous." "Join us, then!" O'Neill called. Nanoha put a hand over O'Neill's mouth. "Ignore him, Rev, I know it's not good for you." "I mean..." Rev tapped her chin. "No, Rev..." Nanoha shook her head. "You'll just drag yourself into the contest and we know that won't end well." "Yeah!" Mattie called from her beach chair, lifting her sunglasses. "If I can't have a drink just for fun, neither can you!" "You're pregnant," Rev pointed out. "It's a little different." Mattie gestured at her inflated belly with a corked eyebrow. "It's just more obvious." "Pregnancy and a history of addiction are nowhere close to the same thing." "Mate, pregnancy is part of my addiction." Mattie corked a brow. "I can't wait for the fun to begin..." Rev facehooved. "You're disturbed." "I wonder if I'll be able to tell who the father is..." Rev tried, and failed miserably, to suppress her look of disdain. Mattie chuckled. "You've still got it, Mattie. You've still got it." Pinkie appeared behind Mattie. "Mattie? Maybe, just maaaaaybe, trying to make Rev as uncomfortable as possible isn't exactly the nicest thing to do." "Balls to her, that's my job description." Mattie grinned. "I'm a walking blob of societal rebellion, uncomfortable idioms, and sass!" "You're not... walking very well, right now," Pidge hiccupped. "And balls to you too, lightweight." "I'm not..." Pidge passed out, knocking her glasses off her face. "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro shook his head, downing another drink. "This is all very stupid," Nanoha observed with an amused smile. "Embrace the stupid!" Mattie called. "Be one with the outrageous and you will discover life!" Pinkie raised an incredulous eyebrow. "All right, fine, I'm lying. Smash me with that cartoonish hammer of yours." "Hmm... nah. Instead, I order you to relax and rest until we get a new member of the family!" "For all you know that could be in five minutes." "Yep!" She bounced back, grinning. Looking to the sky, she saw their equivalent to a crow's nest glistening in the sun. "The family keeps growing..." Her thoughts turned to the two people that spent most of their time in the Crow's nest. She wondered what they were thinking about. "I wonder what the optimal rate for cutting a slime creature in half is if you want to end up with the maximum amount of slime," Corona wondered aloud. Roland looked up from polishing his gun. "...What?" "Nevermind, I was just thinking in random places." She stood up, looking over the edge of the crow's nest at the green field of abandoned mecha below them. Roland continued to polish his gun in silence, and Corona said nothing about her further musings. She knew Roland preferred silence, and if she was honest that was why she came up here so often. It was a place she could sit and think, occasionally giving Roland the weirdest parts of her mind. He spent a lot more time up here than she did, though. Corona was still, at heart, a people person who surrounded herself with close friends for good reason. Roland was a loner, and while the other members of the crew had grown to know and respect him, he still kept his distance. In many ways, he represented the heroes of old rather than the recent era the rest of them represented. He was the first. For all Corona knew, he might end up the last. Corona was about to vocalize this thought when she felt the air come alive with electric charge. With a flash and a rush of wind, a spaceship appeared right next to them, emblazoned not with a Merodi or City symbol, but rather the cutie mark of a Sunset Shimmer. Corona's phone rang before she could deduce who'd just shown up. She answered. "This is Corona." A pause. "SHIMMY!?" ~~~ "CHAAAARGE!" Jenny shouted, throwing Vriska like a cannonball at a cannonball-monster. The irony was not lost on Vriska, though she was still flattened against the beast. "Jenny... fuck you..." Jenny winked, giving her a thumbs up before casting magic flash on the cannonball. Rina, charged as well, disintegrating the monster. And then Eve and Flutterfree came in, wiping the floor with the slime monsters in what appeared to be an amazing acrobatic routine. Trixie and Discord were sitting out this time, Discord because he was usually too powerful, and Trixie because she was keeping an eye on Discord. Watching him. Watching what he was watching. Watching to see if what he was watching was watching him watch it. That sort of thing. She was pretty sure she knew what was going on in his head now, and boy was it juicy. "...What are you looking at?" he asked. Trixie missed the days where she could adjust her business glasses to look more professional, but alas, her current adventuring outfit had no use for such things. She settled on smirking in his direction. "Why don't we talk about that without any... distractions?" She lit her horn and activated some explosives she'd planted in the floor of the room. Eve, Flutterfree, Rina, Jenny, Vriska, and all the monsters fell through to the floor below. "That was some impressive explosive placement." "Trixie could pass the demolition standards exam if she wanted. Trixie does not have the patience." Discord put a thermometer in his mouth and summoned a sick-bed. "Patience, not patients, idiot." He winked, jumping out of bed with a shower of gold coins. "You got the joke!" "Trixie will not be patronized--or distracted!" She poked Discord in the chest. "Trixie has figured out what your deal is." "There isn't a mortal alive who can understand my deal." He threw a deck of cards in her face. "Trixie sees you watching them. Watching Flutterfree." Trixie smirked, raising her eyebrows repeatedly. "I don't know what you're insinuating, Trixie, th--" "Oh for the--you've fallen for Flutterfree again and you're trying really really hard to pretend like it's not an issue. But come on it's obvious! I've seen you stare at her, watch her movements, get all grumpy that she's happy with Eve, yadda, yadda, yadda." Discord stared at her in disbelief, his jaw comically on the floor. "How-" "Yes, Discord, you are that obvious. And pathetic. Buuuuut that doesn't mean I'm not willing to help!" "Help!?" Discord scoffed. "You?" "Trixie chooses to ignore the insinuation." Trixie coughed. "Yes. Me. Obviously you need some kind of push, and yours truly can provide." Discord waved a claw. "You're insane. She doesn't need me right now, I'd just get in the way. She's got Eve and I would j--" "Do you hear yourself right now? Have you been paying any attention to how they see each other? Stop being so dense, they're not together, they're just really close. They make that blatantly obvious all the time just so the rest of us don't get confused, and you got confused anyway!" "Well, I mea--" "Flutterfree has been accepting your tea party invitations again, lately. I've seen you on deck enjoying each other's company. I think you've got a shot!" "That... doesn't make sense! You're being way too optimistic." "And that's exactly what you need, big guy. Come on, all you need is a little flair and pizzaz! She already notices you, you've just got to make a move." "I'm not sur--" "DISCORD! You are the lord of chaos!" Trixie lifted up a hoof, casting a thunder-sound spell. "Since when did you become the tentative hesitant one? You rush into danger at high speeds just to see what kind of laughs you can get! The Great and Powerful Trixie should not need to urge you to stir the pot for delightful chaos!" "You're right. You're right!" Discord created a rock and stepped up on it. "I AM DISCORD, SPIRIT OF CHAOS AND DISHARMONY!" He snapped his fingers, creating a superhero outfit. "I should go over to her right now a--" "Discord, what are you doing?" Flutterfree asked as she flew out of the hole in the ground. "D-dramatic poses!" Discord said, stuttering. "And a good heart-to-heart with my good friend Trixie here about her place in the world!" He picked her up and pulled her close, squeezing her so hard she couldn't breathe. "Sure..." Flutterfree clearly didn't buy any of this, but she didn't press the issue. "Did you find anything up here?" "Nothing at all!" Discord said, tossing Trixie to the side. She hit a previously-camouflaged button on the wall, revealing a little treasure chest. "...Except this," Trixie said, trying to make it look like she'd meant to hit the button. "Behold, TREASURE!" She popped the chest open and found... a map. A map of the dungeon. All the way to the bottom. "...Neat," she said. "Hey, we can use that!" Flutterfree inspected it, and beamed at them. "We could get right to the boss with this! Thanks, you two!" "Think nothing of it," Discord said, exaggerating a bow. Trixie facehooved. ~~~ "All right, that sounds all right," Flutterfree said. Eve smiled sadly at Flutterfree. "You don't sound all right." "I'm a little nervous. Okay, more than a little nervous, but..." "Shush, shhhhh, I'll be there for you." "I'm still going to worry." "I know, but I'm going to do my best to make you consider that you might not have to." "That's you worrying about me." Eve chuckled nervously. "Yeah, we might enable each other in that regard..." She scratched the back of her head. "But we still call it 'Twilighting' and not 'Fluttershying'." Flutterfree raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Shut up," Eve laughed. "Let me be the stable one, for once." "Only if I can be the smart one." "Oooh, getting a dumbness potion might be difficult..." Flutterfree chuckled. "Hey! Pod people!" Jenny called back. "We found the boss room!" Using the map Trixie had 'found', they had skipped the majority of the dead-end pathways in the dungeon and had made it to the bottom of the buried tower. Before them was a massive amethyst door covered in relief platinum eyeballs, easily large enough to let a full-grown dragon in. "You think the boss is a dragon?" Trixie asked. "Nah," Jenny said, cracking her knuckles. "That'd be too easy. So, how are we doing this?" "Boss rush," Vriska said, grinning evilly. "Poor sap won't know what hit him." "Wait, that means..." Trixie's eyes widened. "I'm not going through first!" "Yes, you are," Jenny said, grabbing onto Trixie's collar. Discord made the door disappear, allowing Jenny to volley Trixie through the opening like an elongated blue baseball. She landed flat on her face, rolling head over hooves a few times before coming to an abrupt stop on the hard metal floor. The room was cylindrical and absolutely massive. In the center was a pillar of blue light with various technological components orbiting it, no doubt some kind of power conduit or generator. For being at the bottom of an abandoned dungeon, it seemed to be in pretty good shape. She knew there should be a boss in the room, but she didn't see one. Did some other adventurers come through and clean this place out already? "Hello...?" Trixie asked. "Anypony there?" A hole opened up in the ground before her, lifting a massive humanoid mech out of the ground. It looked a lot like a version of Optimus Prime, though there didn't appear to be any truck features for transforming: just metal arms and legs for bashing. Not to mention guns, a sword, and feet that were three times taller than Trixie was. Trixie gulped. "H-hey there! Are you ready for a boss rush?" Trixie was thrown aside like a fly on the wall, useless against the monstrous automaton. "I guess I'm next," Jenny said. "What're my rules for tapping out?" "If you have to regenerate your head," Rina reported, reading it off a list of Rules for Raiding Dungeons, draft. "Then I'm not letting that happen." Jenny leaped into the arena, smirking. "Boss number one was a pushover!" "Trixie wishes she could deny it," the dazed unicorn muttered. "But I am the second boss, and you won't get past me!" Jenny teleported onto the back of the mech the moment it pulled out its gun. She ran into one of the access ports, finding herself within its circuitry where it couldn't hit her. "I'm in." She lifted her fist, vibrating it so fast it would cut through metal. "I hope you like indigestion." She didn't care that she was nowhere near the robot's 'stomach,' she punched through walls and wires with gleeful, reckless abandon. Outside, everyone could see the boss start spastically flailing around as numerous motors within its body were triggered left and right. "Is she really going to beat it that quickly?" Rina asked. "That'll be disappointing..." "We never meet a boss that makes it all the way up to my level," Discord said, shaking his head. "What a shame." "That one time you did have to fight..." Trixie began. "We will never speak of that again." The mech managed to point a gun at its chest and fire, burning a hole all the way through it. Jenny popped out the other side, regenerating from near-complete disintegration. "DARNIT! AGH! I almost had him!" "My turn," Rina said, teleporting into the ring. She sent a dozen dark swords into the mech's wound, not at all surprised to find that her petrification didn't work. After all, it was artificial; the spell tended to work only on organic beings. So she did the next best thing. She cast a reflect spell on herself when the mech tried to shoot her. Another hole burned all the way through it, this time through a knee. Taking advantage of the weakness, Rina created a massive cleaver and severed the limb down the middle, bringing the mech closer to her level. With its free hand, it brought a sword down upon her. She teleported to the top of it, yawning. It shot her again. "Idiot." Now that she knew how it would reflect, she directed it directly at the mech's head. Its house-sized skull dropped to the ground with a thud strong enough to register as an earthquake. The rest of the mech dropped like a normal dead body, slumping to the side. It would have been a triumphal victory had the sound the body made when scraping the wall not been worse than claws on chalkboard. "Geez," Discord said, cleaning out his ears with an oversized Q-Tip. "That was unnecessary to the extreme." "I win," Rina said, dissipating her spells. "Take th-" Something the size and shape of a human launched out of the mech's body and drove a fist right into Rina's head. She was knocked all the way to the pile where Trixie lay. "Ow..." "You're telling me..." Trixie muttered. The mech's "pilot" was just another machine, though its proportions were much more human. Every limb was a dark gray metal that twisted a bit like a double helix, affixed around spherical white pearls instead of relying on standard joints. The chest was replaced with one massive pearl that glowed with a soft white light, seemingly powering the motions of the rest of the machine. Vriska jumped out, pointing her sword at it. "Oh, I've got your number, little robot-man." "What number is it?" Discord asked. "Not every joke has to b--" Vriska was barely able to block the robot's attack in time, losing her sword in the process. Annoyed at this, she attempted to drain the robot's luck. The moment she tried this, the pearl in the center flashed orange, gaining the symbol of Light. "What i--" she felt it try to steal her luck as she dodged. Naturally, it was unable to, but her luck wouldn't be of any help anymore either. "Copycat!" She pulled out her dice and threw them. It canceled her manipulation of the roll, making the octet settle on a simple fish-slap spell the robot shrugged off without a problem. "Shit," Vriska jumped back and reached for her sword. To put it mildly, she was not used to making complicated acrobatic maneuvers without luck involved in some way. She managed to get her hand on the sword, but the robot was faster. It kicked her in the stomach, removing the sword from her grip once again and tossing her onto the pile with Trixie and Rina. "I'm not out!" Vriska shouted, jumping back to her feet. "I'm no--damnit." She dropped her fists when she saw Flutterfree charging in. "You're going to lose, Flutters!" "I won't," Flutterfree declared, already surrounding herself with the clouds of Rage. The robot had no higher intelligence to be debilitated by the truth, so she had to resort to pure power. It reached out its hand to reduce her luck. She pointed her blades forward and grinned. Her luck may have been abysmal, but one of these was going to hit. And that was enough. She skewered the robot's central pearl with her blade. Normally, this would be little more than a 'flesh wound' to the machine. However, her Rage did its magic, surging into the robot and tearing it apart limb from limb. There was a moment where it tried to adapt to the Rage rather than Light, but it couldn't purge the Light from its body fast enough. It collapsed in a loose heap of pearls and metal connectors. "WOO-HOO!" Discord shouted. "GO FLUTTERFREE!" Trixie facehooved. Her face was getting a little sore from doing that so often. "I win!" Flutterfree said, smiling. Taking a step, she tripped over her hooves and flopped onto the ground. "Ow..." "You'll recover quickly," Vriska muttered, dusting herself off. "I'm sure Rev can break the 'curse' or something if it's really annoying." "Good idea... Eve, can you maybe loot this for me? I don't want a massive static shock." "Sure!" Eve teleported to the downed machine and popped open its central pearl. The inner circuitry was intricate, but all fried from Flutterfree's Rage attack. There was only one thing that seemed independent of the rest of the system: a large red button. "Huh." Eve pushed the button. "EVE!" Discord shouted. "What? One of us was going to press it eventually." "BUT... BUT... Okay, I would have done the same thing..." "That's not a good thing," Jenny muttered. "...Did it even do anything?" Rina asked. The column of energy in the center of the room started to turn red. "That's bad," Vriska said. "On it!" Discord said. He lifted the severed leg of the mech in his magic and threw it at the energy column. This reaction was decidedly explosive. ~~~ Shimmy, once-goddess of Earth Shimmer, was... well, no longer a goddess. She was still absolutely full of magic energy, but not much more than the average Celestia. Proudly displaying her world's three most common features--forehead gem, feathered neck, and ridiculously oversized fingernails--she still carried an air of regality about her, even if she didn't have an entourage with her at the moment. She had her six closest friends with her--all spared the dusting--but they were still on the ship. None of them really had any reason to visit with the crew of the Austraeoh; Shimmy was the only one who had established much of a rapport with them. Currently, she was sitting in the Crow's Nest with Corona, looking down at the world below. "You've done well for yourself," Shimmy observed. "I think so," Corona said, smiling contentedly. "Some would say I'm just drifting, lost, without a purpose. Or that I lost everything." "That was what you wanted, wasn't it?" "You know as well as I do that it wasn't the loss that I wanted." Shimmy nodded in understanding, tapping her fingers on the railing. "I did try to defend you for a while, there. Then you had to go off and start fighting..." "What would you have done, if you didn't have your world to protect?" Shimmy let out a soft sigh. "Fair point. Though I would have fought against you." "I know. Wouldn't have you do anything else." "...How did you and Eve even end up in charge, I wonder? You didn't exemplify the emotion of the war. You were often sad and tired, but nobody ever tried to remove you." "Not entirely true. But it was the Tower, probably." "Probably." There was an awkward silence between the two Sunsets. "So, you already know my story," Corona said, turning to Shimmy. "How'd you get here?" "From what I know, my Prophet cut a deal. I'm not entirely sure on the details, but I've talked to a few Pinkies about it. So my planet came out almost completely unharmed, with minimal dusting. It was still enough to cause worldwide panic... especially with the nature of magic changing again and everyone forgetting how to use it... but we were still there. Able to learn, able to grow, and able to build them back up. Considering some of the horror stories I've seen out here, we did amazingly well." "I'm glad to hear that." Shimmy forced a smile. "Yeah. Anyway, once it was stabilized, we realized... we weren't needed anymore. Kind of like what all of you did. So we just... packed up into a ship and left on interplanetary exploration that we never got to do back in the day. Just the seven of us. Sailing into the night..." Her forced smile became genuine as she closed her eyes and remembered. "I can see why you loved it so much. The... freedom to just be. Go wherever you want, doing whatever. It's..." She sagged, laughing sadly. "It's a relief. It's finally over. The world's not going to explode because I sneeze wrong." Corona put a wing around her. "Thanks." Shimmy raised an eyebrow. "One good result does not excuse everything." "I know, I know." Absent-mindedly, she looked North; to the City and the Tower. "...But maybe..." She shook her head. "Doesn't matter. Right or wrong in the end, I am where I am. I'll keep doing everything I can, even when it crumbles to dust." "I once asked my Tree of Harmony who really called the arbitrary shots in existence," Shimmy said. "I got a non-answer. I don't think I realized until the war started that it was better that I not be told." She looked Corona in the eyes. "Who wants to understand that they're in a story? What will it drive them to do?" Corona nodded slowly. "What indeed... what won't a Sunset give her all for, once she's made up her mind?" Shimmy didn't want to think too hard about that. "Thanks. Not for the story, but... for caring enough to stop by." Corona placed a hand on Shimmy's shoulder. "People may not be trying to kill me out of rage anymore, but there's a lot of hate going around." "There's a lot of hate for Eve too. ...Though there is less." "Just... thanks. For dropping by to say hi and talk." "Anytime I'm in the neighborhood." "Hopefully that'll be more often, now. Where you headed?" "We're going to the City to see the Tower. I'm admittedly a little curious if it'll let me inside, now that our journey across the cosmos is over." "It sure is fun up there." "So I've been t--" There was a deep rumbling from the ground below. Corona raised an eyebrow. "What in th--" A massive laser shot out of the ground, hitting the Austraeoh dead on and vaporizing it instantly. "AGAIN!?" Pinkie shouted at the top of her lungs the instant Nanoha's teleport rematerialized them on the surface. "Where did that even come from? Why is my ship gone? WHY WHY WHY!?" She took a hat out of her mane and threw it on the ground, stomping it repeatedly. Shimmy blinked. "Does this happen... often?" "Often enough that Nanoha has the evacuate-everyone spell on speed-dial," Corona said, pointing at the dwindling magical light around the once White Devil. Monika appeared after everyone else, scribbling a note in a book. "...and in this entry I will convey to you all how our ship is doomed to explode. For seemingly no reason, a laser shot out of the ground and impacted us..." Pidge groaned. "You really are going to record every little embarrassing event in that history record of yours, aren't you?" "Why did you think I started writing it?" Monika peered over her notebook. "All of the nonsense I have to deal with on this trip is going right in these pages and there's nothing any of you can do about it." "Stick it to them, Monika!" Mattie called. Monika wrote another sentence. "...pregnant unicorn wants to pick fights with a bunch of superhuman heroes..." "....That's not fair." "Deal with it, greasy-flanks," Monika snipped, slamming her book shut. "Oh, I will." Mattie grinned mischievously. Monika blinked. "Er..." "AHEM!" Pinkie called. "First of all, what blew up our ship?" Discord appeared in a flash with the group, dropping Eve at Pinkie's hooves. "Sorry Captain..." Eve said, shakily standing up. "I pushed the big red button." Pinkie facehooved. "Gah..." "We did beat the dungeon, though!" Jenny called. Pinkie tapped her hoof. "Well, now that we've solved that mystery, let's rebuild the Austraeoh!" "I can conscript my friends to help," Shimmy added. "We'll get you something great!" "I can just recreate it," Monika pointed out. "Snap-bam-done." "That's boring," Pinkie said dismissively. "We will remake the Austraeoh anew every time! Let's make it out of cheese! Or, oooh, sapphire!" Mlinx raised a hand. "How about a living ship, this time? Made of magic wood that keeps growing?" "If you want to garden," Pidge huffed. "This is gonna be fun," Pinkie giggled, all signs of lament at the destruction of her ship gone. However, her eagerness to begin reconstruction was halted when she turned her head to the sky. Two sky islands floated above them--those definitely hadn't been there before. There was an itch at the back of her mind. Something bigger's going on here... II - A Tale of Two Cities "Elder, that's... that's not the end of the story!" Pringle whined. The Elder chuckled. "It's the end of what you haven't heard before." "Dungeon crawls are boring," Joanne deadpanned, clicking away at her phone. Pringle gasped. "But... but why did the dungeon exist? What about the things in the sky? What about the love story!?" "If you should know one thing about those who came before us, it's that romance was never the point," Jang commented. "Read Starbeat's autobiography at some point to see how deep it really runs." "Jang!" Pringle let out a tense gasp. "You can't just diss romance like that! It happens and it matters! Humph!" "I'm pretty sure the Tower was fought to free Romance from its definitions," Onion said. "You all are ruining the story!" "Didn't Elder say we knew the rest?" Onion said, glancing at the Elder. "We do know the answers to all Pringle's questions already. Why reiterate what we live through daily?" The Elder smirked. "Because it's fun to tell, little one." "Onion. Little." Joanne snorted. "That's a laugh." "More of a snort," Pringle corrected. Joanne's fingers started flying across her phone faster. The Elder had recently learned this was her equivalent of a death glare. So bizarre... then again, given her lineage, that wasn't all that surprising. "Tell us! Tell us!" Pringle squeed, clapping her hooves. "Tell us about Discord, about Flutterfree, about the two Cities of Old, and about the mech field! Tell us!" "All right, all right, sit down and enjoy my show." The Elder stretched her arms and looked to the sky, watching the planets above shift and turn in their myriad of unusual patterns. "See, Pinkie was a good captain. When she sensed there were multiple things that needed doing, she made sure all of them got done..." ~~~ "Right! Lots of stuff going on, but we've got a lot of people to do it!" Pinkie clapped her hooves together. "Shimmy, you and your people are on rebuilding the ship. I'll be around to help, as will whoever else sits around." Shimmy shrugged. "Sure." "MY SCIENCE GIRLS!" Pinkie declared, pulling Roxy, Corona, Jenny, and Pidge together with a cartoonish elongating cane. "You four are going to investigate these weird mecha and find out what exactly that thing was at the bottom of the dungeon." "Yes, boss mare!" Roxy said, saluting. "We'll get to the 'bottom' of it!" Corona snickered. "Now, the floating rocks!" Pinkie pointed into the air at the islands. "I'm sending one team to each. Let's see... O'Neill, Nanoha? You can be in charge of Starbeat, Jotaro, and Lightning today. I don't wanna hear any griping about there needing to be a clear 'chain of command,' those two cuties have got the leader thing down." Nanoha and O'Neill linked arms and did a semi-mocking bow. "Other team, you'll be headed by Mlinx. Vriska, Roland, Zod, Burgerbelle, you're with him." Mlinx twirled his spear. "We shall do our best." "Always so formal," Vriska groaned. "You're a demon! Be more... fun." Pinkie let them talk amongst themselves. "As for the rest of you, you'll be staying here. Helping with the ship, relaxing, and dealing with..." She stopped on Discord and Trixie. "...Personal issues." Trixie made a neck cutting motion with her hoof. Pinkie ignored her. "And I just remembered! I have a very special mission for the Everykid!" The Everykid pointed at herself in mock confusion. "That's right, we need lunch! Get to sandwich makin'!" Monika sighed. "We all know I'm making it..." Pinkie waved a dismissive hoof. "You're making the ingredients. The hat chef is the true master!" The Everykid exchanged her top hat for a chef's hat and snapped her fingers, demanding ingredients for pristine sandwiches be brought stat. With a grunt, Monika created some lettuce. "Pinkie... I would much rather be up there, exploring." "You'll probably be needed at some point, just not now," Pinkie said. "You're the strongest person we have, if this blows out of proportion we need you on defense." Monika grumbled, creating several loaves of bread. "That might be a bit too much..." "I am going to make a bread sandcastle if I'm stuck here, and you can't stop me. I will record its history alongside our own. There will be many great battles and loves and... other interesting things!" "Sounds fun!" Monika facepalmed. ~~~ The sky islands were cities. From a distance, they looked like they were one and the same, and that's what the two teams thought on approach at first. Upon getting closer, however, they realized they were not only different from each other, but they were exact opposites, visually. In the center of each, there was a square pyramid of smooth stone. On one it was black--the other a pearly pristine white. The buildings around the temples would have been indicative of Merodi construction were they not both black and white, almost like a zebra. The skyscrapers of the two cities didn't match shape exactly, but it appeared significant effort had been put to have locations in one city be white while the counterpart in the other city would be black. The other difference was much stranger. The black pyramid's city had a dominant red color in its city's artificial lighting, while the white's focused on greens and blues. "I've seen this somewhere before..." O'Neill mused. Mlinx shrugged. "It'll become apparent in time, I am certain." They had just teleported to the bridge connecting the two cities together, both teams sitting on a long, gray stone structure without a single person on it. There was no traffic between the cities to speak of. "Eerie," Starbeat observed. "Something's going to go very, very wrong here." "Or right," Lightning added. Nanoha cleared her throat. "Well... who goes to which city?" "We will take the dark pyramid, you the light," Mlinx decided. "Good luck." Everyone nodded to each other and set off--walking leisurely rather than teleporting or flying off. Mlinx led Vriska, Roland, Thrackerzod, and Burgerbelle to their darker, redder city. When they reached the main gate at the end of the bridge, they were able to see the city's insignia: a dark moon with the image of the sun superimposed over it. Mlinx tapped on it with his spear. "Greetings." A panel beneath the insignia slid open, revealing a screen with a simple white eye displayed on it. It blinked. "What do you want?" it intoned in a bored tone. "We are travelers," Mlinx explained. "We wish to know what your city is and how it has come to be in the sky in this New World." "Ah. Travelers. Not from the Light Side, good. There is no travel ban on non-residents." With a click, the gates slid open with a slick sci-fi noise. "Wait, hold up," Vriska raised a hand. "Will we be able to leave?" "I am not here to stop people from leaving, I am here to stop the Light Side from entering." It blinked again, seemingly randomly. "What are they the Light Side of?" Mlinx asked. "They are the Light Side of the Moon. We are the Dark Side of the Moon. Ever unwillingly connected by this bridge." It beeped. "I am not an information module. You may find more within our streets." The panel slid shut once more, though the gates remained open. Vriska shrugged. "Well, I g--" Before she could get off her usual snide comment, Roland walked past her and into the city. "Wh--hey! I was... uuugh, he's ruining my dramatic timi--" Burgerbelle let an alarm clock off in Vriska's ear. "Gee, thanks," Vriska muttered, rubbing the side of her head. "Jegus, that's loud." "I can make it louder." Vriska glared at her. "You wouldn't dare." "No, but I would delay you so you're the last one through the doors!" Burgerbelle hopped into the city, shooting the delayed Vriska some finger-guns. Vriska stole a little of her luck, making the eternal child trip. "Cut it out," Thrackerzod muttered. "This is no time for games. I'm sensing something... off." "How so?" Mlinx asked. As they entered the city, he admittedly didn't find anything too unusual or wrong about it. Besides the odd color scheme and primarily-red lighting, the people looked like normal people of the multiverse--a cobbled mixture of humans, ponies, and other races. A distinct lack of Gems, which probably meant this wasn't a Merodi-originated city, though it was still possible. Despite being called the 'Dark Side of the Moon', the city itself was very bright. Even though the lamps were crimson, the natural lighting from above let the colors of the ponies and the clothes of the humans shine for what they were--diverse. "...It's like..." Thrackerzod couldn't put it into words. "It's not eldritch, but that's the closest descriptor I have. It reminds me of the slight influence in the back of your mind that can draw you to one of the Old Ones." "A corruption?" "I am uncertain." Thrackerzod frowned. "...What's red and white and black all over?" Burgerbelle asked. "We are not walking through a newspaper right now," Thrackerzod grunted. "Nor is that pertinent." "That is," Roland said, pointing at a man walking down the street in white robes... holding in his hand an active, bright red lightsaber. Anyone who's been around the larger multiverse long enough eventually finds Star Wars or one of the myriad of variants thereof, and one of the most absolute rules is thus: the red lightsabers are evil and extremely dangerous. So when the 'Sith' warrior walked up to them and took off her hood, they were shocked to see a warm smile waiting for them. "Ah, visitors from beyond! Welcome to the Dark Side of the Moon." Only after her greeting wasn't returned with warmth did she seem to think to turn her lightsaber off. "Oh, you'll have to excuse us, it's been so long since our blades been associated with corruption, few people respond negatively anymore." Vriska raised an eyebrow. "Why not just use another color?" "It's what we can make," the woman said with a shrug. "So you are fucking with the... uh... what do they call it?" "The Dark Side of the Force," Burgerbelle said, in a Darth Vader mask. "Yes, that," Vriska pointed. "Oh, absolutely," the woman used the Force to hook her lightsaber hilt on her belt. "The Dark Side's bent toward personal power, and the control of destiny lends itself best to our creed." "...Which is...?" Thrackerzod asked. "Well... perhaps it would be best if I showed you. Come, there's a statue I'd like you to see." Mlinx nodded, giving his approval for everyone to follow her. They passed through a few densely packed streets. Now that they were looking for it, they saw dozens of lightsabers in the use of the general population, though only a few had the religious-looking robes. Every last one they saw active had been red--no evidence of any other colors. Vriska and Zod had enough of a psychic component to their abilities to sense the use of the Force now that they knew what to look for--objects were regularly levitated, people jumped higher than they were supposed to, and one guy even used Force lightning to light a furnace. Those who had encountered the Dark Side before were absolutely baffled to see a stable society existing from what they had previously experienced only as power-hungry murderous maniacs. "Maybe ka really is lifting curses," Thrackerzod muttered. "It is, and we are so thankful for it," the woman said. "Because she is the one who gave us this gift." Holding out her hand, she drew their attention to a statue made of solid gold. A statue of Corona. "...Shit," Vriska muttered. The statue was lifelike, if five times the size of Corona. She stood on both her feet with wings spread wide and face held high. A calm, welcoming smile dominated her facial features, and one of her hands was outstretched as if to embrace. The other was lifted high in a fist of power, ready to dish out judgment if required. At the base of the statue, many things were happening. Some kids were playing, others were dancing, and a few street musicians were letting their songs mingle in the air. Only a few people were actively kneeling and praying to the altar, but even one would have been enough to set Corona off were she here. "You knew her, didn't you?" the woman asked. "You could say that..." Vriska said, weighing her options. "You're... you're her! Vriska, aren't you?" Why do I have a feeling like that's a bad thing to recognize? "Yep. That's me. Vriska Serket, Thief of Light." She put on a cocky smile. "And your friends! Oh, they must be..." the woman turned to Mlinx and put two and two together. Her smile vanished in an instant. "Oh..." "...I am Mlinx, but I believe you figured that out." He extended one of his hands. "You haven't told us your name." "I... excuse me, I have to..." Without bothering to come up with an explanation, she Force-jumped onto a railing and ran away. Thrackerzod moved to pursue, but Mlinx held out a hand. "We do not need a scene." "We're going to get one anyway," Roland mused. "She's reporting to someone." "Yes. She is," a feminine voice said, one distinct from the last. She wore robes like the other woman, but she was decidedly inhuman: with orange skin and two points under her hood that might have been horns. "It is best if you leave. Even you, Vriska. Not even those who support the collapse are safe from Troi's... eccentricity. The Dark Side may be tamed, but people are not." "And who are you?" Mlinx asked. "A concerned citizen." She backed away from them. "I would hurry. She moves quickly." "Hey!" Thrackerzod called. "We've got questions f--wait, no, she's not even there, that's just a spirit projection." The 'concerned citizen' smiled before dissipating into nothing. "...Well..." Mlinx scratched his chin. "I suppose the question now becomes if we listen to her or not." "We all know we're not leavin'," Roland muttered, turning to stare at the pyramid in the center of the city. "Best to skip the argument and get to solving the mystery." "But the argument's half the fun!" Burgerbelle whined. "This way we get to the action faster," Vriska said. "Oh." Burgerbelle shrugged. "All right the--" "YOU!" "And that would be trouble," Mlinx groaned, turning to face the source of the shout. It was an elf--or a man that looked a lot like an elf--walking toward them, robes trailing behind him in a supernatural wind. In each hand he held a lightsaber, out and ready to attack. "My good sir, what can we do for you?" "Don't play dumb with me, mister mayor!" the elf shouted. "You are Mlinx... the once-great leader of the City and well known Preservationist!" "The war is long behind us, and I am not here in any official capacity." Mlinx folded his hands together. "I was merely exploring and found your city." "Bullshit," he took a few steps forward. "You and your little entourage are here to sow seeds of preservation dogma in attempts to ruin what we've fought for!" "My good man, I--" "Shut up, let me talk," Vriska shoved Minx to the side. "Yo. Darth Earlobe. Pretty sure you know who I am." The newly-dubbed Darth Earlobe stopped in his tracks. "You can't be--" "Yes. I am. Vriska Serket, primary team, served under Pinkie before the War and Corona directly after. I fought for this New World and this chance. And you know what? I like what we're going toward, so you can rest your deluded brain. We're not here to sow any ideas, the war's fucking over. Live in peace, kapeesh?" "They do not let us..." Darth Earlobe hissed. "Would she care if they did or not!?" Vriska gestured at the statue. "She went out of her way to limit as much death as she could. She was willing to throw herself and more just to keep that little glimmer of hope most of us ignore so much! So get your ostrich head out of the ground and wisen up a bit, asshole." "You must have been brainwashed." "Wow. Idiot, too. I still supported the collapse, did all th--" "I WILL FREE YOU FROM THEIR CLUTCHES!" "Oh for the..." Vriska readied her dice, analyzing his luck. She never got the chance. Roland shot him through the leg the same time three cloaked figures stepped out of the crowd and stopped Darth Earlobe with a Force grab from multiple directions. Roland lowered his smoking gun. "I am sorry, I was unaware you would help." "It's... fine, you aimed for the leg." One of the cloaked figures said. "You have your right to self-defense, as all of us do." "I'll help him," Thrackerzod said, readying a regeneration spell. "T-that'll be fine, we'll handle it." "It'll be faster and less pai--" "They hate you just like he does," Roland observed, sitting down on a nearby crate to check his weapon. "They just hate you less than they respect their law." Thrackerzod narrowed her eyes. "Even now, after all these years, you harbor such resentment towards those who attempted to stop you?" "It's... what you represent," the cloaked one said, clearly conflicted about the whole encounter. "It..." "Is something we are trying to move past," a new, familiar voice said. "I think you, of all ponies, would understand moving past a difficulty, Thrackerzod." Standing behind them was a Princess Luna. This version was as tall as Nightmare Moon, but had no sign of the evil eyes or dark magic. Rather, her mane billowed with miniature suns, and her face exuded a brilliant, caring warmth coupled with a powerful sense of authority. Thrackerzod nodded slowly. "...Perhaps." "I take it you are in charge?" Mlinx asked. The Luna nodded. "I am Centroid, but you may call me Troi. Please, come with me to the palace-temple. All of you are welcome, not just previous allies. I will not let this city become the regimented hovel of hatred the Light Side has become." Troi saw their expressions. "And yes, I am fully aware of how hypocritical that sounds. As I said, change is hard, and they make it... more so. I will explain all I can over dinner. Come, sit, and be among friends." "You a Sith too?" Vriska asked. Thrackerzod facehooved. Troi smiled, nodding slowly. "Though our ideology has changed enough that few use that word anymore. With the Tower weakening we are freer to explore ourselves than ever before, and the Dark Side gives us the strength to forge new paths. All thanks to the temple. And no, the temple won't brainwash you, unlike what the Light Side will have you believe." She gestured for them to follow with a wing. "Come, I can't wait to hear of your travels across Nucleon." ~~~ "...Welcome to the Light Side of the Moon!" a happy unicorn in a very prim and proper soldier's uniform said. "Lemme just open the gate for ya real quick..." She moved a few levers with a psychic ability, notably not using her horn at all. The complex locks on the pearly gate clicked repeatedly, separating the complex puzzle of interlocking pieces that made up the city's emblem: a small sun overtop a moon. The gates slid apart in several chunks before they were allowed in. "You have no idea how glad I am to have some visitors from beyond, I mean, really. Turning away every single Dark Sider is just booooring. And then some of them try to shoot me and it gets problematic." She giggled to herself. "Anyway, enjoy our city! Do be sure to keep your IDs on you at all times." "Question," O'Neill said, examining his plastic card suspiciously. "We are allowed to leave at any time, right?" "Return your cards to the reception desk on the inside and you can leave, yes. We're not some kind of trap, geez. I suggest making your way to the restaurant center, most interesting place aside from the temple itself. The sky shrimp at Vera's is the best." "Thank you," Nanoha said with a smile. O'Neill took point, hands in his pockets. "Well..." He examined the green and blue lights on the walls and put two and two together at last. "Star Wars?" Nanoha nodded. "Oh, yes; or at least derived from it." "I hope there's a Wookie running around." "No, you don't, you wouldn't be able to let the Wookie win." "I want to try." Nanoha smirked. "You sure you can handle that level of hubris?" "All-right, lovebirds," Starbeat coughed. "We've got to figure out what this place is like." "It's the Light Side, Jedi," Jotaro offered. "Heroes." "Eeeeh something tells me it's not all sunshine and rainbows up here." Starbeat began to look around at the city itself. Physically, the only real difference from the Dark Side was the green and blue lighting everywhere, and even this was mostly drowned out by the natural light of Nucleon. The people, however, were quite different, though the team had no way of knowing that. Everyone wore clothing depicting their station: soldiers wore army uniforms, merchants wore color-coded suits based on their wares, children wore simple white clothing, engineers wore bright blue working suits, and those akin to Jedi wore vaguely religious dark robes. They seemed to be taking the role of a peacekeeping force. No one seemed unhappy, but no one seemed to be having fun either. Every interaction was made for some purpose--an exchange of valuables, a keeping of the peace, or the learning of a lesson. Even the children weren't being rowdy. Nanoha frowned. "We're not going to be able to blend in very well, here." "No, you are not," a woman in a dark robe said, walking up to them. She had orange skin and two points in her hood that were indicative of horns. "For your own sake, you should leave. Tessa's ideals are... intense, and there is no room for those who aren't willing to follow her crusade. The Light Side may be twisted by the people who use it." "Who're you?" Lightning asked. "A concerned citizen." "A Force projection," O'Neill answered, gesturing at the woman as she vanished into nothing. "We're operating on Star Wars rules, baby!" "You must be excited," Jotaro deadpanned. O'Neill clapped his hands together. "I am!" "...The Senate?" Nanoha finished, stifling a giggle. "Nanoha, Nanoha, Nanoha... I am the king of references, but not every sentence I make is a reference." "Pretty sure Burgerbelle has you beat," Starbeat said. "Are we just going to ignore her warning?" Lightning asked, tapping her foot impatiently. "We're not leaving," O'Neill said. "That's either a scare tactic or telling of something we should be investigating posthaste!" He pointed a finger forward. "Let's see if we can get to the sky shrimp before everything goes horribly wrong!" They walked through the city. At first, the citizens paid them no mind whatsoever--just visitors not part of the natural rhythm of their lives. However, time passed, and word must have spread, for people started shooting them aside glances and whispering. "They're looking at you, Jotaro," Nanoha whispered. "Someone must have recognized you." "Yare yare daze..." "Ah, an unincorporated Preservationist city," Starbeat frowned. "The other's probably for the collapse. This could be... ugly." O'Neill stopped in his tracks. "...Uh-oh." Before them was a massive circular plaza filled with people bowing and muttering, directing their prayers to a massive golden statue of Evening. Three of her hooves were planted on the ground while a fourth was outstretched, beckoning everyone who saw it into something greater. Her wings, however, were poised like they were ready for war, and ice shards were coming off her horn. Unusually, her face was sad but also determined. Starbeat blinked. "Okay. Religious fanatics devoted to the preservation in a society with bizarrely rigid rules coupled with a mysterious warning. I'm going out on a limb here and guessing the other city is also filled with religious fanatics, possibly keyed by the Dark Side of the Force, except for the collapse. They probably want to kill each other more than anything in the world." Nanoha frowned. "We need to end the rivalry, or at least start the ball rolling on reconciliation. The war is long over, we don't need two cities starting it up again." "How are we going to do that?" Lightning asked. "We don't know anything about the situation yet." "Researching," Jotaro said. "Finding the leaders." "Ahem," a woman in dark robes said, unleashing a green lightsaber. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave rather than continue your 'research'." "What did we do?" Lightning asked. "Not you, him." She pointed her laser blade at Jotaro. "He can't be here. His past is known and it's causing civil unrest." "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro strode up to her. The woman held out a hand, locking his feet to the ground with the Force. "I do not want to engage you in combat, but if you do not comply I will be required to remove you by force." "Not a very nice Jedi, are you?" O'Neill commented. "The Light Side has changed, twisted by the collapse. We were forced to adapt with it to fill a new niche." She narrowed her eyes. "Jotaro Kujo, leave or I will forcefully eject you." "That won't be necessary." A Celestia dropped from the sky, landing with a metallic clank on the ground. "I will handle this personally." She was far from a standard Celestia, for her glorious pastel mane was regulated to a simple ponytail that barely rippled and had black streaks in it. The rest of her body was heavily augmented with white metallic implants, including a large one over her right eye that dominated that side of her face. Her lips did not smile, and her eyes did not waver--in her world, there was no room for nonsense, only action. This alicorn was not a friend to her subjects; only a ruler. "I am Nanoha Takamachi of the Austraeoh," Nanoha introduced herself, bowing. "I am Tesseract, Chancellor of the Light Side of the Moon and guardian of the palace-temple. I am very surprised to see you all traveling together, but it would be foolish to drive you away without asking for an explanation." Sensing their uncertainty, she shook her head. "You are not facing legal charges. The worst that happens is I will ask you to leave after our meeting to never return. I highly doubt that will happen, however, seeing as we have so much to discuss." "Are you prepared for us?" Nanoha asked. "We have a lot of uncomfortable questions," O'Neill smirked. "I would not be fit to rule if I could not answer the most uncomfortable queries. Ask all that you wish." ~~~ Roxy popped a battery three times her body size out of a mech, allowing it to drop to the grass below. "MY FOOT!" Jenny screamed, bouncing away from the impact. "You'll be fine." "It still hurts!" "You've been disintegrated without even blinking," Pidge pointed out, wiring some circuitry in a massive mech gun. "It's like you only feel pain when it's convenient to complain." "I always feel the pain." Jenny crossed her arms. "Always!" "True," Corona said. "But you have enough of a tolerance for it at this point you could probably shrug off getting your intestines removed." She used her magic to tear a mech's arm off the body, examining the interior for anything interesting. Jenny grumbled, starting to disassemble the battery Roxy had dropped to her. "And that's a point for Corona," Roxy chuckled, floating away from her mech; there wasn't anything interesting left inside. She descended to the ground, noticing that the left foot was embedded much further in the ground than the other one. She took a moment to appreciate the engineering that made the legs bend in such a way to keep the torso level despite uneven footing, but quickly used her Void powers to phase through the ground and see why exactly the foot was so low. She found a secret room filled with treasure chests--and a broken down machine-made of pearly orbs and black metal, almost exactly like the one fought at the bottom of the dungeon. She approached it, laying her hand on the largest, central pearl. It reacted instantly: taking on a dark blue color and gaining the Void symbol. The robot tried to move after this, but it collapsed from years of wear and tear. "Interesting..." Roxy mused, lifting the robot up. She separated it into its component parts and stuffed it all into her inventory. Having taken care of that, she turned to a chest and opened it. It lunged at her and bit off her arm. "Fu--" She poofed, clattering to the ground as a simple Carnelian gemstone. The mimic looked around in confusion; where had its target gone? Corona, having sensed Roxy's magic drop to near-nothing, punched into the secret room and incinerated the mimic with her magic. This act woke up all the other mimics. Every last chest in the room revealed ravenous, pointed teeth. "...Who makes a secret treasure room with nothing but mimics?" Corona groaned, unleashing repeated fireballs on the wooden treasure-monsters. Despite being severely outclassed, Corona had to give the mimics credit; they didn't give up until they were all ash. Reaching down, Corona picked up Roxy's gemstone and pocketed it. When she was in a safer place, she'd rejuvenate the Gem. Right now Corona didn't want a mimic army to charge in the midst of a healing ritual. Gems were hard enough to coax out of their gemstones as it was. ~~~ "Remember what we practiced," Trixie said, pushing Discord along the grassy hills. The under-construction frame of the Austraeoh dominated the landscape, even though the more-distant mecha were larger. "Be yourself?" "Well, duh, that's lesson one. Lesson two is pushing outside your comfort zone and taking the prize by the neck!" Discord raised an eyebrow. "Very predatory language." "This is Trixie we're talking about, expect overdramatic metaphors. Now, this is a tea party, so unfortunately we can't create a disco ball out of nowhere and make it explode into a cake or something." "I don't think you actually know Flutterfree that well. She's rather delighted by my chaos! The ginseng shall SING!" "Yes, whatever, just remember that you do have to push yourself a bit. You may be the Lord of Chaos but under that fur and scales you're a huge self-conscious softy!" Discord gasped in mock offense. "I resemble that remark!" "Blah blah, just get in there. Don't worry, I'll be watching, ready to bail you out with a smoke bomb if everything goes south." "That'll just make it worse." Discord smirked. "Great idea!" "Does Trixie know you or does Trixie know you?" Trixie boasted. "Yes." Trixie rolled her eyes. "Just get over there, I'll be in the bush." With a salute, Trixie jumped into the nearby bush. With a nervous shrug, Discord walked to the little table Flutterfree had set up for the tea party. She was already sitting there, eyes closed, humming to herself a familiar tune. They could hear most of the others working on the Austraeoh in the distance, but nobody was actually close by to interrupt them. "I have arrived!" Discord shouted, teleporting onto the chair with a superhero cape. "This deplorably quiet locale needs some... jazzing up." He snapped his fingers, creating a handful of saxophone creatures to add some jazzy background. Flutterfree giggled. "I miss the days we could do this in your realm. The magic in there was so unpredictable even you couldn't manage it sometimes. Who knew what would happen?" "I..." Discord tugged on a snazzy suit collar that hadn't been there a moment ago. "Well, I suppose I could try to create a randomizer." "Oh, no, no, don't change it, I didn't mean it like that." She folded her wings back, smiling nervously. "I was just remembering how things used to be oh... so long ago." She pressed the marble tips of her wings together. "...Why did we stop having these tea parties, Discord?" Discord shrugged. "We just stopped over time. Nothing that strange. Everyone got busy, you were off saving worlds and I had to throw some chaos into the mix somewhere. Things got too big, we didn't overlap. But now we're here, doing it again!" Flutterfree pursed her lips. "Yes... we are. And I have really been enjoying it. Reminds me of home and simpler times." Her face softened into a smile. "We've had some really good times, both then and now, haven't we?" Discord felt his heart rise and tense at the same time--he might not even have to do anything. It was going perfectly, the conversation was naturally flowing the direction he wanted, all he had to do was... make a move. And there was the rub. He had to move. He had to do something. But he froze. "...Discord? What's with the ice?" "S-sorry," he stammered, snapping the ice away. "I froze up a bit, you see. I was... well..." He leaned forward, tapping a claw on the table. "See, I remember those times too. The chaos, the order, the Crusaders--oh those silly Crusaders!" "They got in so much trouble!" Discord grinned. "You always said I went a little overkill with that. I'm starting to wonder if I didn't. Mechs weren't big enough for their talents!" "And the time machine wasn't either?" "I..." Discord blinked. "Wait, was that a Merodi City I saw, or..?" "I don't know, you never let us see the future outside." "I don't even remember anymore," Discord laughed. "Oh, the Gala." Flutterfree's face twitched slightly. "The one where you invited the Smooze, right?" "Well, there were a lot of Galas, but that one... yes, that one was one of the most interesting. I believe Celestia called it 'entertaining,' all thanks to me." "...You were really angry that night." Flutterfree looked down, her ears twitching. "What? Psh, psh, water under the bridge!" To illustrate his point he created a bridge and threw a fish under it. "It's an amusing story, now." "Still... I was ignoring you. I shouldn't do that. I shouldn't just pretend like... it's all fine." Discord blinked, unsure how to parse that. What did she mean? Every word in that jumble had at least three different interpretations and in conjunction they... He glanced back at the bush, finding no help there. He would just have to talk on his own. Honestly, he had no idea why Trixie was even here, all she needed to do was push him here. "Flutterfree..." Discord noticed she wasn't looking at him anymore. She was looking at the bush. "Oh dear." Flutterfree raised an eyebrow. "Trixie, are you hiding in that bush?" "...No!" Trixie insisted. Flutterfree facehooved. "Of course..." "Uh..." Trixie poked her head out of the bush. "I can... go, an--" "No, stay." Flutterfree forced a sad smile and activated Lolo, revealing a previously-invisible Eve standing right next to Flutterfree. She stopped whispering things in her ear and grinned awkwardly. "Uh... hi." "Hey! Trixie was supposed to be the wingmare today!" Trixie called. Eve coughed. "To be fair, I had no idea you were in the bush until Flutters found you." "Wait, hold on, back up," Discord lifted his paw. "Did we both get pushed here by our close friends to talk?" Eve and Trixie nodded. Discord blinked. "Well..." "I'm sorry," Flutterfree said, shaking her head. "I... I was trying to ignore everything and pretend everything was fine. It took Eve to shake me out of it and realize what I was playing with." "Same!" Discord grinned. "Trixie had to push me out of the dungeon with explosives to get here!" "I... did notice." "Oh, this is great news, we're both here for the same reason!" With a delighted laugh, he pulled Flutterfree into a tight hug. "Oh, I was so worried..." That's when he felt her tears on his shoulder. He lifted her up, holding her a short way from his face. "...What?" "I-I-I'm so sorry Discord, I'm... I'm not here to return your feelings. I... I..." She swallowed, looking him right in the eye. "I was trying to let you down easy." Discord froze again. The ice touched Flutterfree, but she didn't flinch--she reached out with a wing and stroked his face. "I'm sorry... I can't." "It's because of Eve, isn't it?" Discord said, sagging back into his chair and setting her down on the table. "She..." Flutterfree shook her head. "She has nothing to do with it. I... You know what I believe. What I follow. What the rules are." "Rules? Th--" Discord paused, remembering the myriad conversations he'd had with Flutterfree in the past. Little nuggets of information he had discarded coming back to rear in full force. "Discord, you'd have to take them on too. If we were to go anywhere, that'd have to come first." "Then what's the problem?" Discord forced a smile. "Cart me over to Rev, I'm sure I ca--" "Discord..." Flutterfree's ears drooped. "I know that's what drove you away in the first place. I know my faith not only makes you uncomfortable, it upsets you." "S-so? You're always going on about how it's difficult!" "Yes. It is. That's... that's why this is so, so hard. I... I do love you, Discord, and there's a very large part of me that screams to just take you in my hooves and never let you go. But... I would be manipulating you. It... it would be wrong of me to do that. It's not right to force my beliefs onto you just so you can be with me. No matter how much you want it, no matter how much I want it... it's still wrong." "Wrong? Wrong?" Discord's face twisted into anger. "Forgive me if I'm remembering wrong, but people convert for this all the time, right? Or am I just an..." Discord sagged, unable to keep the anger up. "...idiot?" "Discord, no, you're not an idiot..." Flutterfree tilted his chin up with a wingtip. "You're an amazing person filled with life, energy, delightful unpredictability, and... so much more. I wouldn't change it for the world. None of the tea parties, none of the adventures... nothing. You're an amazing person to know, Discord. I just can't bring myself to manipulate you like that. It wouldn't be coming to Him for His sake, or even for yours..." Discord looked at her with sad eyes. "Can't we... try anyway? We..." "...We don't deserve each other." Flutterfree took a moment to breathe. "There are many things more important than love. I'm sorry." Discord's face began to tremble. No, no, not now... He snapped his fingers and teleported away. Flutterfree held out a hoof to where he had just been--and started bawling. Eve rushed to comfort her, but Flutterfree held out a hoof. "I... I should suffer as he is. It is only fair." Eve grimaced. "Flutterfree that's no--" She flew away. Eve honored her request and didn't follow. Trixie stared after her, expression blank. "...I..." "Trixie, you didn't mess up. You did fine." Eve sighed. "They'd been flying past each other for a long time already. I think they both thought they could just put it behind them." "They had." "We're immortal, Trixie. Nothing is ever behind us forever." ~~~ The Temple-Palace of the Dark Side was black inside and out, which wasn't all that surprising. What was surprising was how colorful it was inside. Since the natural light couldn't get in through the thick walls of the pyramid, the red-lights of the rest of the city had been swapped out for miniature sun spells, bathing the varied and colorful people inside with light so their colors were free to pop. Art lined the walls in dozens of different styles, and while the majority of the people in the temple wore the white robes, there were several people who had clearly just walked in from the streets to take a look at the temple-palace's marvels. "Like what you see?" Troi asked, her mane flowing in the nonexistent breeze. "Better than I was expecting," Vriska admitted. "Thrackerzod?" "This temple is influencing them, but I also detect them influencing it," Thrackerzod frowned. "At the very least, this is not a standard corrupting-Force situation." "We have chosen to enter into symbiosis with the Force," Troi explained. "And we have done well for ourselves in it. We sought the collapse, and we achieved our goal--but life doesn't end just because the story does. We are here to live in this new world and revel in the opportunity uncovered for all." She led them through a door to a balcony at the top of the pyramid, looking out over the Dark Side of the Moon. "People are free here to explore themselves, to find destiny, to... well, to become the best they can be. With ka vanishing, things previously frowned upon or held in contentious light that demanded conflict can enter into peace. Differing ideologies on family, rights, individuality, community..." "I'm surprised you manage to keep it stable," Mlinx observed. "Such a varied outlook tends toward anarchy." "It likely will, in the ultimate end," Troi admitted. "But I think that is worth it, so long as we still live our lives. We will spread and go our separate ways, true to ourselves. Currently, we are unified by memories of the collapse movement and Corona herself--" as she said the name, she bowed her head in slight respect. "--though even that thread is tentative, at best. ...As much as I hate to admit it, our current uniting thread is a fear of the Light Side of the Moon." Vriska sighed. "War's over and you can't stop fighting?" "I don't want to fight at all." Troi turned her gaze to the white pyramid in the distance. "They do." "...Why?" Mlinx asked. "I believe it has to do with their defeat. This is not the world they wanted, they don't want to live in it. I have no doubt in my mind they would seek to restore the multiverse if they could--come to think of it, some of them probably think they can in their delirium. They see us living in victory, and want us to die. The division of our cities was not slow. It was... brutal. I extended peace as often as I could, wanting to let them have their own way to explore life in the New World, but the terrorist attacks became too much." She tapped her hoof on the railing. "Perhaps it was too harsh to block them entrance to the Dark Side, but there's only so many enraged suicide bombers you can take." "Why don't you just cut the bridge?" Tharckerzod asked. "We are uncertain what that would do to the temple-palaces," Troi said. "They are connected, and each side of the Force needs the other. Too many people rely on the Force to sever it all at once. I fear what would happen if the Light Side decides they no longer care what they suffer, so long as we do." She lowered her head. "They can't live with what they have, so they want to attack our way of life. It's revenge, is what it is." "Are you truly blameless?" Roland asked. "No," Troi admitted. "Our people retaliated, and we have often rubbed our ideology in their face. And there's the added difficulty that their... leader is a version of my sister. It's always a painful memory of my dusted sibling when I see her. I know she feels the same way--resents me for being able to move past the price of our future." "So you're inches away from all-out war because you can't separate from each other. Lovely." Vriska folded her arms. "I bet your people aren't even thinking about peace." "It's pointless, at this point, to hope for more than utter silence." Troi turned to the sky. "It is the same thing Corona realized when she left the Merodi for the war effort. We may not want to fight, but we would be foolish to think we could survive without preparing for the eventuality." Vriska frowned. "Corona was willing to give herself and her society up for the collapse. If you really wanted peace, you would be fighting for it tooth and nail to your detriment, not hiding within these city walls. What you're doing now is what the preservation side was trying to do in the war--keep their home. " Troi's calm smile vanished. "Vriska Serket, we have achieved our goal already, there is no point in fighting for more change. The world is here and we have it as we want. Our goal is now our lives. There is nothing to change." "Why don't I just call her up here and see what she has to say about that?" Troi's eyes widened. "You... She... She's here?" "Yep. She's here. In fact, I'll call her right n--" "Oh yes please do!" Troi clapped her hooves. "The people would love to see her!" "...She won't like to see them," Thrackerzod said. "I am well aware of her disdain for worship," Troi said dismissively. "I am willing to face the music in that regard." Burgerbelle started playing the Imperial March. Troi glared at her. "Heard that before, I take it?" Burgerbelle grinned. "Yes," Troi seethed. ~~~ Tesseract looked out from the balcony on her white temple-palace. There were no outsiders here aside from O'Neill and Nanoha's group--only acolytes of the Force were allowed in under normal circumstances. Her face showed no emotion as she stared at the Dark Side of the Moon across the divide. "What did they do?" Starbeat asked. "They destroyed everything," Tesseract said. "And they received no condemnation for what they've done, no justice to speak of. They celebrate in their victory, over there, every day. They reject everything that came before for the sake of the 'self', rejecting that which they supposedly fought for. We hold fast to the ways and order of the past... they do not." She turned to the group, fixing her eyes on Jotaro. "You claimed to be a bringer of justice in your time, Kujo." "I still am." "Hmm..." Tesseract thought for a few moments, sizing the man up. "You truly believe that. Tell me, man of honor, how was the collapse just?" "It wasn't." For the first time, emotion crossed Tesseract's face. "Then why--" "The only just option was the one where the war didn't happen," Jotaro continued. "I could not get justice for the multiverse. It was impossible. So I got justice for those who suffered." "By causing suffering." Tesseract tapped her hoof. "An old argument all of us have no doubt trodden over again and again. I apologize, Kujo, for placing you on the spot--we all know where we stand and such opinions do not change with logical arguments. They change from time, experience, and self-reflection. Such words have no worth here, and you have no desire to tell me the way things are. Although, I cannot say it pleases me that you have managed to end the fighting between you." "Are you saying peace is wrong?" Starbeat countered. "I'm saying peace is not the highest virtue. By coming together and refusing to acknowledge the past, you do both collapse and preservation a disservice, forgetting the fight and the struggle behind them. At least here, in our two cities, we do not pretend that everything has been paid and all is done." "That's not what Eve would say," Starbeat countered. "You have a pretty good cult following of her, and yet you miss one of her major points!" Tesseract leaned in. "And what might this be?" "They were never the enemy. They were always the other side. Since day one, she wanted nothing more than the fighting to be over so she could bring her friends back, so there would be no more reason to keep them apart." "And you know this how?" "I was just like you. Worse, actually. I actively went out and hunted the warriors of the collapse and executed them in an unfair mockery of a trial. I was a witch hunter who wanted them to suffer. Eve came to my seat of power and forcibly ripped me out of it, demanding that I seek reconciliation and peace." Tesseract looked at her doubtfully. "Oh, don't believe me? Why don't I call Eve right now? She's on the surface with the rest of our exploration crew!" Tesseract raised an eyebrow. "...I would be most honored to meet our savior." Nanoha let out a sharp breath. "She's not going to like that." "She will speak her mind just as everyone else, statue in the courtyard or no." ~~~ Roxy's gemstone activated with some prompting from Corona, allowing the Gem to reform her body. "I fuckin' hate mimics," Roxy moaned, falling onto the grassy hills and spreading her limbs. "They were all empty, if that helps," Corona said. "That's, like, the worst thing you could have told me." "Your trip was pointless!" Jenny added. "Uuuuuughhh--" Roxy cut her whining short, sitting up. "Actually, no, it wasn't totally worthless! BAM!" She pulled the orb of Void out of her inventory. "This was a blank white orb before, but now it's attuned to the Void aspect. I think it's the same thing the crew fought in the dungeon that took Vriska's aspect. " Corona laid a hand on it. "It's trying to interface with me, but... it's like it can't remove the power it already has." "We'll need to find another one," Roxy declared. "See if we can get you to trigger it!" "Oh, you just need white orbs?" Jenny smirked. "Why didn't you say so? I've been collecting those!" She pulled out her staff of holding and deposited a blank white orb on the ground. "Tah-dah!" "...How many do you have?" Corona asked. "I dunno, half a dozen?" "Huh..." Corona laid her hand on the orb. Immediately, it shifted into an ugly dark green marked with the symbol of Doom. "It really is tied to the SBURB aspects..." Corona tapped into her empathy, tracing her palms over the sphere. "That's weird." "What's weird?" Roxy asked. "It's transmitting a signal..." She looked up into the sky at the two cities. "There." "Any idea why?" Corona shrugged. "Working on that. I'll probably need to go up there myself if I'm going to find out." "Then it's your lucky day!" Pinkie said, from behind the orb of Doom. "They need you at the city with the black pyramid, stat." "...Why?" "Corona-worshipping city steeped in the collapse movement." Corona put her fingers to the bridge of her nose. "Oh for the... fine, fine, looks like I have to go talk some sense into a few knuckleheads. I'll be taking Minna, is that fine?" "Absolutely!" Pinkie said. "Roxy?" "Hmm?" "Tell me the moment you figure out what the deal with these orbs is, I don't wanna miss the party!" Roxy tapped a finger on the Orb of Void. "I'm on it. We'll figure out something... either down here or up there." "Great! Now, I've got to go hunt down Eve." "Why?" Jenny asked. "The other city worships her." Corona burst out into laughter. "About time she figured out what that felt like! Oh, this is gonna be good..." Roxy facepalmed. ~~~ Eve found Discord floating on an orange about a mile above the surface of Nucleon. She landed at his side. "Hey." "Go away." Eve laid down next to him, closing her eyes. "Do you know me to go when my friends need me?" "Maybe I don't need you right now." "You do. You need someone to listen, to help you work through. Sitting in silence won't work." "Maybe I'll go to Trixie." Eve raised an eyebrow. "What, she's a good friend!" "And probably not the pinnacle of calm, empathetic discussion." Discord sighed, staring at a distant star peeking out through the variations in the planets. "Fine. What's the great wisdom of the Princess of Friendship and Overhead of Relations today?" "I was just going to answer your questions. I don't think you could ask her right now... but I know her. You can talk to me." "You know her all right. I bet you think I'll get in the way." Eve shook her head. "...I want her to have someone other than me. When we first realized you were approaching... I was excited. Maybe, finally, she could have something I couldn't fulfill. I even talked to Rev about it, but... Flutterfree wouldn't have any of it. She knows you, too. She knows why you drifted away." "I don't even know why I drifted away," Discord grunted. "She's better at seeing us than we are." Eve chuckled softly, shaking her head. "She knows the truth, but she's just as likely to ignore it as we are. She didn't want to hurt you." Discord was silent. "She takes what she believes very seriously. It defines who she is. I've seen so much change and life come out of her through it that... I find it hard to say it's bad, even if some of the finer points make me a bit uncomfortable." "A bit?" "Okay, a whole lot," Eve chuckled. "How do you deal with it? Being around with her all the time and not thinking as she does? It's... how can you not be insulted by that? That she thinks she's got it all figured out?" "She doesn't, and she'll be the first to admit that. She'll follow it up by saying nobody's got it figured out." "Then why does she care so much!? It..." Discord snapped his fingers, creating a blueberry and strawberry rain cloud to ease his stress. "It's just... words." "They're more than that to her. They're life, they tell her of a world beyond what she sees, of a purpose better than anything she can imagine. Of... well, of a world where she doesn't have to figure everything out, just trust that it's taken care of for her." "...Are you trying to convert me?" "Hah!" Eve laughed, but a thoughtful expression crossed her face. "You know what... Maybe I am. There is a part of me that thinks this would be a whole lot simpler if you could just change your mind without her pushing you. I'd be lying if I wasn't hoping you could just... shift the way you think." She sat back. "I actually wish she'd just let you come with her, and she could show you what she believes. Plenty of people in the past were already together when one changed for another but... agh. She's just too nice for that. Cares about what's right more than her own happiness." Eve wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm so proud and aggravated at the same time." "You don't believe." "I'm not trying to date her. Which wouldn't work anywa--" "Hold up, back up," Discord looked her in the eye. "You don't, yet you were trying to convince me?" "Discord, I didn't realize I was doing it, I'm sorry." "I... MMMPH." He sat back down, glowering at the land below. "What do you think about it?" "About her religion?" Discord nodded. "She's never stopped talking to you about it." "Yes." "You haven't changed your mind? Ever?" Eve pursed her lips. "I... if you asked me under duress and mind control, I might say I believed, if only because I've seen something special exude from her for years. But if you asked me right now, with only my thoughts and confusion, I'd say I'm not sure. I'd say that everything I've seen could just be the Tower. I'd say... that I'm afraid of committing to anything before the Tower falls." She paused. "I can say I want it to be true. But is that just because I want there to be something after the Tower falls, because I want to share more with Flutterfree, or because I'm lost and confused? I don't know." Discord stared at her. "So, you're waiting?" "I... guess?" "The Tower's going to be up for thirty more years! Thirty more years! Not all of us are going to be around at that point! Things change way, way too much!" Discord waved his hands. "You want me to just wait three decades?" "We waited several more in the Void..." "And it was agony!" Discord fumed. "I... I just want some resolution, is that too much to ask!?" "No, b--" "No is right, I don't have to listen to this." He snapped his fingers and vanished in a puff of light. Eve twitched, moving to follow his teleport, but Pinkie stopped her. "Sorry, Eve, there's a situation up in the sky you have to deal with." "But..." "There are others who can talk to him. You're not the only one. Okay? We'll handle it just fine down here." Eve traced her hoof on the ground. "But I..." "You opened yourself up to him. That's all you can do, Eve." Pinkie hugged her. "Okay?" Eve sighed. "Okay... You'll watch after Flutterfree?" "You know I will." "Pinkie... you're a great friend." Pinkie winked. "Right back atcha!" III - Unwanted Legacy "This is a terrible story, there's too much going on," Onion said, tapping her hoof against a wall. "Onion!" Pringle shouted. "What? It is." "They're all related in the end! Come on, you know how this goes. The romance ties into the research ties into the two cities all into one big--" "We don't want to get ahead of ourselves," the Elder said, holding up one of her hands to calm the young ones. "There's always more to see if the story is laid out all at once... though admittedly, it is hard to tell verbally from memory when things bounce around so much." "Luckily you basically have the book memorized," Joanne pointed out, no doubt scrolling through the book in question on her phone. "Why not just read it, then?" Onion asked. "Because having a story told together is a bonding experience!" Pringle grinned. Jang nodded. "I find myself intrigued by the dynamic between Discord and Flutterfree every time I hear of it. So many stories and legends put love as the highest of all possible goals, but Flutterfree explicitly does not." "You're just jealous because you can't get a girlfriend," Joanne retorted. "That has nothing to do with it." "And Flutterfree's full of BS anyway," Joanne kept typing. "She loves her religion more than people. That's just idiotic." "Joanne!" the Elder chided. "I don't think that's how it works..." Pringle said. Joanne didn't look up. "That's just how I see it. She's being unreasonable for a belief and it's being treated as acceptable, even good, while the cities are fighting over their beliefs and it's not. There's a discontinuity there." "That's different..." "And stories are not told objectively," the Elder said. "That said, there is more to it than you seem to realize. There's a key difference between the alicorns and Flutterfree. Maybe it will be more obvious when I describe how they met with their 'gods' in person." "...At least that part's always enjoyable." "Make sure you do the voices for them!" Pringle cheered. "It's the best part for the voices!" "I will try, little one, but my old voice does not do the regal sisters justice." "Nothing does..." Onion muttered. Ignoring the detraction, the Elder continued. "Corona's invitation was the warmest, though this would not last..." ~~~ Corona teleported herself to the top of the Dark Side temple-palace, Minna at her side. "...I thought the point was not to make them want to worship you?" "Yes. But I want them to know I'm here." She waved down at the city--easily in view of several cameras and citizens. "This 'Troi' won't be able to pull a fast one on us anymore." The wind blew through Minna's hair. They stood in silence for a few minutes, letting their presence sink in. "Got anything?" Corona asked. Minna frowned. "Someone's coming to meet us." A hatch in the pyramid opened up, revealing a woman in black robes. She was decidedly inhuman with an orange face and two striped head-tails. "You're making quite the commotion up here." Corona smirked. "That's the idea. Here to take us to Troi?" "Yes. I believe I was sent because I wasn't likely to start bowing in stunned awe the moment I met you." "Thanks for that." She smiled. "Don't mention it." "This is Minna Belle, by the way." Minna saluted. "I know. I'm Master Ahsoka Tano, for what it's worth." "Sounds familiar..." "I'm a common Star Wars 'template'." She descended into the pyramid's hatch. "Might want to get down here before some people get brave enough to fly up." They followed her, descending down a long shaft until they came to a major hallway, the sides lined with many 'Sith'. It wasn't a very formal guard, since most of them were walking around and talking to one another, but they kept a careful eye on Corona and Minna. Corona caught a few of them refusing to look at her, or bowing their heads and looking at her feet. "Just a reminder," she said as they neared the end of the hallway. "Not a god! Kay? Kay, good." She didn't wait for a response, stepping right into the room Troi was standing in with Mlinx's team. Troi held Corona's gaze for all of two seconds before breaking and bowing her head. "I am sorry, Corona, I cannot treat you as an equal, for that is not what you deserve." "Oh for the love of... they're apologizing for worshipping me now?" "It was the next logical step of worship progression," Thrackerzod deadpanned. Corona sighed. "Troi, get up, I'm just a person. And from what I hear, a person who's going to disagree with a lot of what you've got going on here. I don't want to send you into an existential spiral by daring to disagree with you." Troi forced a smile. "Ah... yes! That does seem... appropriate and inevitable." "I was just telling them how they're betraying your vision," Vriska said. Corona smirked. "Vriska, no offense, you don't know the first thing about my vision. You were never one of those fighting for ideals, you fought because that was what your trusted friends were doing." "...Bullshit, but true." Corona created herself a chair and sat in it, folding her hands together. "What is your creed as the Dark Side of the Moon, Centroid? Put it simply." Troi bit her lip. "Freedom of the self in the New World." "Hmm. Freedom of the self. Admirable, and I can't find fault with that yet, but Vriska's right. That's... not what I fought for. I fought to end the suffering. Freeing us from the clutches of destiny was a secondary concern. The suffering perpetuated by the Tower is petering out." "A-and because of that, there's no more reason to devote ourselves to ending it! The problem is solved, we're here to live in the New World however we want." "Personally, if I hadn't been systematically broken down like a ragdoll after the collapse, I think I would have shifted the goal to ending as much natural suffering as I could. That is mostly what I'm doing now, come to think of it. Traveling around, saving whoever I can... being a beacon of hope, contrary to my supposed mastery of Doom." "And you are! You are a beacon of hope to us!" Corona sighed. "I'm a god to you. And if not you, the people down there, at least." "It's not like it's a state-sanctioned religion like the Light Side..." "Eve's gonna have fun over there..." Corona mused. "Wait, Eve? She's here too!?" Corona smirked. "Why does that surprise you? Surely you got some news from the City, even out this far." "W-well it was hard to tell rumor from--" "Eve and I made up within a week or two of the collapse. It was a... harrowing experience, but we made it through." She tapped the Master Sword fastened to her hip. "The universe reminded me that I was, and still am, a hero. And I will be until the Tower falls, ending corruption and suffering wherever I see it." She smiled sadly. "Troi, I know it's a difficult situation, but trying to shut them out isn't the answer. The way to break through to those who want to hurt you is not by fighting back. It's by turning the other cheek." "I don't want my people to be genocided!" Corona's expression darkened considerably. "You fought for the collapse. You declared the price of self-genocide to be worth the goal at the end. This is much the same. Is the reconciliation and peace between enemies not worth that price?" "W-well..." "I don't know enough to say for sure." Corona's voice softened. "We can't see the good or evil that will come from an act. None of us saw what the New World would have to offer, and none of us saw whatever a preservation victory would have brought. No mind can handle the details, so we have to try our best and hope there's more to life." Troi was silent as Corona stood up, walking out to the balcony. She looked over the city, smiling. "Your people are happy," Corona said. "Yes." "Reveling in freedom, a release from the rules, a lessening of fate..." Corona folded her wings back, pressing her lips together until her mouth was a flat, emotionless line. She was silent for quite some time. Tori didn't dare interrupt her. "It won't last. You can't be both accepting of freedom and hate the outside. It'll collapse eventually." "I have no intention of keeping this city here forever," Tori said. "We will spread out and make our own paths. It is just that... now, we are endangered." "You're arguing exactly like the preservation did." Corona held out a hand. "They cared so much about their homes and their lives and their preconceived notions that they didn't see what we saw; a greater good bigger than all of us." "Are you claiming their goal of our destruction is a greater good?" "Personally? No. I don't think justice is really all it's cracked up to be. But a lot of people do. Who are we to tell them their desire for justice is wrong? For retribution? Maybe the cycle of revenge truly is the highest form of being a person. Maybe worship is. Maybe exercising the freedom of choice and free will is. Or maybe it's just friendship and peace." She turned to look Troi directly in the eyes. "The problem is, we don't know." "Your certainty is gone..." Troi breathed. "What?" "Your certainty. The fire that drove you to victory. That determination that brought you to..." She backed away. "It's gone." "...I think you're confusing the mask I put on to lead the collapse armies with who I really am. I cried my eyes out regularly until I fell asleep while the war was happening, Troi. I was determined, I was convinced I was right, but every day I wondered if there was another way, for the war itself was evil." Troi shook her head. "That's the problem, then. We... we don't idolize you, Corona." "Pretty sure y--" "We serve that ideal you created. That... 'mask,' you said it was? That. That mask. That is what we, as the Dark Side of the Moon, follow. That unrelenting power, that charismatic determination, the gall to challenge what everyone had assumed. That is what the Dark Side of the Moon is all about. And we will defend our right to do that to our dying breath." "Troi, I don't think..." "I don't think I'm getting through to you like this..." Troi tapped her hoof on the ground. "Oh! Idea!" "Here we go..." Burgerbelle muttered. ~~~ Eve stood atop the Light Side temple-palace, Monika at her side. "I could just..." "No, Monika," Eve said. "You're here to provide a face and the threat of power, not to actually edit the entire city until it obeys your every whim." "...Fine..." Monika growled. A hatch in the side of the pyramid opened up, revealing an orange face in a dark robe. "Chancellor Tesseract requests your presence inside the temple-palace, Most High Preserver." "I am going to get real tired of this..." Eve hissed. "Lead the way...?" "Master Ahsoka Tano." They followed her into the temple-palace, arriving in a long hallway with Jedi on all sides. Every last one of them stood at attention, bowing their heads silently to Eve in reverence. She could hear some of them muttering quiet prayers. Years of being the Relations Overhead had taught her to keep her knee-jerk reactions in check when they wouldn't be helpful, so she gave them no indication of her approval or disdain. Monika, on the other hand, was grinning like a child the entire time. They soon arrived in the room Tesseract was meeting the rest of the team. "Most High Preserver Evening Sparkle," Tesseract greeted with a deep bow. Eve was easily able to detect the fake reverence in her tone and motions--this mare did not believe Eve was a god, not even close. She just wanted everyone to think she did. "Chancellor Tesseract of the Light Side of the Moon," Eve bowed, sure to linger in the motion just long enough to make the Celestia slightly nervous. When she rose, Eve was delighted to find she was taller than the mare. Size intimidation was worth a lot more than people gave it credit for. "You are here to tell me why my quest for just retribution is wrong," Tesseract said. "That will be a topic on the agenda, but first... I would appreciate an explanation for the statue outside, hmm?" "Most High Preserver, it is the legacy of your tragic defense of existence. We remember what you did so we may continue in your hoofsteps." Eve nodded slowly. "Yes. I did defend existence. I did fight to the last breath to save what we had. I regret none of it. But I lost, and now there is no more need to be that." "No more need? Those who triggered the collapse are still here." "And they have absolutely no desire to attack you. In fact, out of all the people I've met in this New World, it's our side that wants to attack the most. But I'm sure Starbeat caught you up on this already." Tesseract's frown deepened. "Yes... She has. You and Corona, standing together, ending her little... 'witch hunt'." "We failed to end it," Eve breathed. "The Hub destroyed itself in Rage." Tesseract was silent. "I don't want that to be your fate." "I was aware of your implication, I am no fool," Tesseract hissed. "And yet you let your emotions seep through and show your hoof," Eve said, raising an eyebrow. "It is clear you have no reverence for me." Tesseract realized she'd just been played and allowed her scowl to come out in full force. "I should have expected as much from the Overhead of Relations." "There we are, now we're being honest." Eve smirked. "Do tell, why do you lie to your people about me? Why do you build statues?" "The answer is very simple, Evening. They want to believe in something. If they all believe in the same thing, they don't kill themselves or each other. Your consort should be evidence of such effectiveness." "Call Flutterfree a consort again, and this conversation is over," Eve deadpanned. Tesseract nodded, accepting the threat as fact and moving on. "My point remains." "Effectiveness is not good, Tesseract. It's still a lie." "Lies for the greater good, Evening." Eve pressed her wingtips together, frown deepening. "This is backwards." "Our conversation?" "No. The Light Side and Dark Side, the preservation and the collapse. The other side is the one that fights for the greater good against the common definitions of right and wrong. We fight for that which we've always had. We say that the price they ask for is too great, that the way things are is better. We don't go witch hunting to fulfill ourselves, we fight for the beauty inherent in ourselves." "You started a war for the greater good." "That was a mistake," Eve said without hesitation. "And that's the difference between me and Corona. I believe it was a mistake. She doesn't. She's had a hard time living with it, but she doesn't regret what she's done. That fight for the greater good? That's what brought the multiverse to its knees. How can you claim to fight for the very enemy you were sworn to destroy?" Tesseract turned away, looking out over the balcony to the city below. "...This is getting us nowhere." "I would prefer discussing with you possible alternatives rather than using what power I have to forcibly end this," Eve said. "I am aware of your penchant for interference." Tesseract paused. "I am willing to negotiate, but logical arguments will get us nowhere. We are both steeped in our ways, unwilling to change, unwilling to see. We are too old." "If we do not argue, what then would you suggest we use to reach a resolution? Emotional appeals?" Tesseract smiled. It was decidedly unpleasant to see such a slash on a face made to scowl. "...Something like that." ~~~ The temple-palaces of the Light and Dark pulsed in unison, the connection between them synching up a deep beat. Two cellos faded into the ears of both cities' citizens, inserting the familiar beat of a heartsong into their daily lives. Atop the temples, both Troi and Tesseract sensed the other's presence in the beat, and yet they continued anyway. They weren't about to let the other interfere with their mission. Both temple-palaces shot beams of light into the sky, one red and one blue. Beneath, similar lasers fired into the ground, impacting the soil below. From her vantage point next to the mecha, Roxy watched in fascination as the light from the temples interacted with them, making them twitch slightly--as if an attempt were being made to power them. Tesseract gestured for Eve to follow her, flying down to the street leading to her temple-palace. She marched forward, flanked by her citizens on the sides of the street. Every last one of them looked up to her with respect and adoration. "Look closely at all my people Faces say they're strong and able Their eyes tell a different tale Everyone wishes they could wail Holes in their hearts beyond filling Screams of the dead call unending We live to avenge the dark tomb To strike them down, show them their Doom." Troi led Corona through a crowd of smiling faces, many of which she addressed directly. "Charlie, are you ok? You were a tragedy, But now a proud father. Cotton, remember now? Timelines that you destroyed, Lives that you now enchant. Ruby, see the great news? A new life; comedy Far from the soldier's walk. Come see, o Corona. Shining souls rest right here, cowering in new fear." Troi twirled around and pointed to the sky. "Come see, o Corona Will you tell us, freedom is wrong? You've given people new life Escape from strife The Dark Side's spark rings true." Both alicorns turned to their listeners at the same time. "Our city is superior Facing their ways, ulterior For remembering the dark tomb To strike them down, show them their Doom." Troi ignored Corona for a moment, turning to shout across the divide at the other City. "Tessa, are you insane? We don't want your evil Or your spiteful vengeance Tessa, what have you done? Spreading lies to your own Restraining the new life Tessa, why do you scream? We've lost one and the same End your deluded fight!" Tesseract snarled, flaring her wings. "You don't get off You won't escape Your righteous justice!" She returned to Eve, lifting her high into the air to see the Light Side as a whole. "These souls need a reason to live Their grief too strong, they might just leave You make them dishonor the lost Spit in their face, call them light cost Many of us made promises Repay the debt, see lost faces Their wishes don't end with the war Their hearts all groan, to settle the score." Troi turned away from the song reaching her ears from the other city, forcing a smile and returning to her people. "Nora, can you show us? Your bright husbands and wives Definition no more Trader, I see your wares No pleasure is hidden No answer kept away Mikov, ancient wizard Go beyond the taboo Secrets we dare to know Come see, o Corona, The power within us, liberty burns anew!" Twitching, the mare of the Dark Side flared her wings, prompting the weapons of the Dark Side to ignite, basking her in a red glow. "Tessa, how can you say That what we do, is so evil? You berate us ev'ry day, Our upheaval, Your sadistic delight!" They sang as one, rage clear in their tone. "Our city is superior Facing their ways, ulterior For remembering the dark tomb To strike them down, show them their Doom." Tesseract grinned. "Young Troi, don't lie to me You hate us just the same The death you truly want! You don't get off You won't escape Your righteous justice!" Tesseract's Jedi lit their lightsabers as well, marching behind her in time with the beat. On both sides of the divide, an alicorn charged through the streets of their city in a show of power, flanked by their most powerful warriors swinging their blades and dancing in time. Trailing behind on both sides was a single observer: Eve and Corona. Supposed gods to these cities, forgotten in the song. Little more than an afterthought in a connected rhythm that did little more than drive up the rage between the sides. What was meant to be an emotional appeal fell apart into shouting and a show of power. Separated by a bridge though they were, the two cities pointed their weapons at each other and roared. Eve and Corona were tired of being ignored. Eve landed in front of Tesseract. "Tessa, find perspective See in your heart, revenge is lost They will always need to hate Impossible For you to satiate What of justice for your great sins? Lies, pain, hatred, what-should-have-beens? Who will hold you accountable? Guilt has no end, even in Doom Tessa!" Corona flared her wings and pointed the Master Sword at Troi, forcing her to stop. "Freedom, where's the limit? Is there a point, where it's too much? You still have a sense of law But this passion Will run your city raw Don't let them get at your anguish Give them your cheek, make a kind wish Hope for a reconciliation Save your nation from its own Doom! Listen!" Tesseract and Troi stared, uncertain, at their problematic 'gods' as the music faded and the connection severed. Below, Roxy let out a sigh of relief as the mecha stopped trying to activate. ~~~ "You look like shit," Rina said. Flutterfree looked up from the rock she'd been staring at, not even attempting to hide her tears. "It went badly, I take it?" "Yes. No. I don't know." Flutterfree sagged. "I'm sitting here alone trying to be 'fair' and that's just... stupid. I'm being stupid." "I'm afraid I don't have context." Flutterfree just kept talking. "What good does it do to try to be fair? All it does is make there be more sorrow in the world. Instead of moping here for his sake I could be rebuilding bridges, helping with the Austraeoh reconstruction, getting past this. But no, I had to go and mope alone until you walk up out of..." She frowned. "Why are you here?" "Rev's worried, that's why," Rina explained. "She's giving you space because you asked, but I can tell it's driving her nuts. So here I am." She booped Flutterfree's snout. "And you are a hot mess." "You should see Discord. He's... he's heartbroken." "And you're not?" Rina cocked her head. "I'm the one w--" "Unless I'm completely off the deep end, which I don't think I am since I took a pill an hour ago, you can heartbreak yourself easy. Just refuse advances and presto, instant inner torment." "Rina, that's... not the point." Rina raised an eyebrow. "Like I know what the point is." "...Right. Sorry." Flutterfree sagged. "You are... sort of right. I just... it's more important." "You've locked yourself up in a box, haven't you?" "Well..." "Look, I'm a mess who has difficulty understanding basic emotions, and even I see what you're doing. You're trying to hide. Just because you made the right choice doesn't mean it won't hurt! Stop pretending like it's not supposed to hurt, kapeesh?" "But... it--" "Have you heard Rev? We are not perfect. We are not able to take hardship with a smile and confidence. We will feel pain, disdain, doubt, and a whole mess of other nasty little things. You're not perfect, you can't just say 'it was good, so I'm good'." Flutterfree looked deep into her eyes. Then, almost a whisper, she spoke. "I wanted him so bad..." "I know. You've got it easy. At least your urges aren't to kill everyone who looks at you wrong." She looked toward the almost-complete construction of the Austraeoh, frowning. "When I look at everyone on that crew, I can think of multiple moments where I wanted to kill them. Often brutally." "I'm sorry." "Uh, thanks? I'm just trying to empathize here, I don't think you need t--" Flutterfree pulled her into a hug, dripping tears down the dark alicorn's back. "W-we need ponies like you... that aren't caught up..." "...Er..." Flutterfree released Rina, smiling softly. "It's okay if you don't understand." "I guess I got my daily allotment for wisdom already." "Who knows? You might have more." Flutterfree wiped her eyes. "...I think I'll go talk to Rev. She probably needs it just as much as I do." "She's crazy, taking on everyone's weights like that." "It's what she does." The two of them walked back to the Austraeoh construction rather than teleporting, taking a moment to appreciate the scenery. They passed Mattie on the way there, sitting in her beach chair, absorbing the nonexistent 'sun'. "I swear, you're going to pop any minute," Rina commented. Mattie snorted. "It'll be more than a few minutes, but it's not going to be long, either." "...Do you actually know when it's going to happen?" Mattie shrugged, glancing up at the two cities. "Whenever what's happening up there reaches its climax, BAM, out comes the new kid. Or somewhere around then. This isn't an exact science, you understand." "Starbeat might disagree." "Balls to her, she's busy up there with whatever musical nonsense is happening." "Take it easy, Mattie," Flutterfree said as they walked past her. "We'll be here for you when it happens." "Crikey, Flutters, don't make promises you won't be able to keep when the chaos starts." Flutterfree sighed. "I..." Mattie coughed. "Wait, wait, that was... uncalled for. ...Sorry." Flutterfree stared at her in mild disbelief... and then broke out into a smile. "Mattie... thank you." "I'm going soft..." Mattie grumbled, looking away. Flutterfree's smile didn't go anywhere, even after she and Rina had left Mattie long behind. The re-construction of the Austraeoh was going well. From a distance, it was impossible to tell it was unfinished, but up close some of the metal panels were clearly missing and a few of the propellers hadn't been attached yet. Shimmy was working with the Everykid and Pinkie to add a large, gray blade to the center mast. They were arguing about how cool, but ineffective and 'unrealistic', sky-ships were. Flutterfree ignored the banter, walking right up to Rev. "...Sorry for running off." "There's nothing to apologize for," Rev retorted, placing a warm hoof on Flutterfree's shoulder. "How are you holding up?" "It hurts." "I still..." "Rev... even if you're right, and it's perfectly fine to just take him on, it doesn't feel right to me. And it's wrong to do what we think is wrong." She held a hoof over her chest. "What matters is what's in our hearts." Rev put a hoof over her chest as well, smiling. "You've grown so much." "I have you to thank for it." They shared a quiet moment together--interrupted only when Discord teleported to them. "Hey, Rina, I need to t--" He locked eyes with Flutterfree. She started bawling. He couldn't take it--he teleported away without saying another word. ~~~ Pinkie looked at the beautiful Austraeoh VI, delighted at its shiny hull, mecha-harvested weapons, and a plethora of magic provided by none other than Shimmy herself. And yet, it still looked like the same ship that had blown up a few hours ago; a beautiful propeller sky-ship that honestly looked a little silly 'sailing' through the sky, but that was just the way Pinkie liked it. "Thanks for your help!" Pinkie said, grinning. "It's the least I could do." Shimmy dusted her hands off. "Well, the others are getting antsy in the ship..." "You go to the City, we won't mind." Shimmy glanced up at the two sky-cities that had just shot the Force-lasers above and below a few minutes ago. "You sure?" "We can handle that. And, let's be honest here, we need to handle that. It's our problem, not yours. Go enjoy your vacation, we'll mess with the knuckleheads when they need messing with." "If you're sure..." Shimmy shrugged. "See you around?" "We'll be back at the City when the Tower falls!" Pinkie saluted. "Be there!" "Planning on it!" Shimmy teleported back to her ship. A moment later, they blasted off toward the City, leaving Pinkie and her new Austraeoh in the dust. She kept waving long after they'd left. Roxy tapped her on the back. "They can't see you anymore." "I know!" "...Right..." Roxy coughed. "I've figured something out. About the mecha." "They're related to the SBURB aspects and can only hold one at once?" "Yes, but there's more than that. They reacted to those lasers the cities shot, reacted heavily. Jenny and I were able to trace the magical signature beneath the ground and... I think you need to see it." "Considering how I don't just know, you're probably right!" Roxy dragged Pinkie to a large hole Jenny had made with a shovel, some anger, and a lot of excess magical energy. It led to a metallic box in the ground made out of a smooth, gray material. A hatch had been popped open, revealing dozens of the pearl-robots, a few of which were set to Roxy's Void essence. One of them was even walking around, though it didn't seem to be doing anything besides cutting a circle into the ground. "Huh. What're they for?" Roxy shrugged. "Dunno, really. What's really interesting is down here." She jumped down one of the box's sides, rubbing away some dirt to show a relief sculpture. It was old, so old the details had been worn away, but Pinkie could make out the shape of two pyramids connected by a bridge. Floating between them was a shield-shape, and on the edges of the image there were lots of jagged edges. Those represented chaos and violence, if Pinkie had to guess. Pinkie laid her hoof on the central shield. "...This is important. What is it?" "I might know," Jenny said. "I saw it in the dungeon. A shield-shaped coin-thing. Vriska had it, last I knew." Pinkie looked up at the cities. "That's going to be... unfortunate, isn't it?" "It really is. I've tried calling them, too... something about what those lasers did either fried their phones or surrounded the cities in a null communication field of somesort. If we want to talk to them we'll have to go up there ourselves." "...The vast majority of us are up there," Pinkie mused. "They should be able to handle it. But just in case there's a big problem, we need to be prepared. Gather everyone to the Austraeoh, we'll get up there fast the moment we're needed." "What about Mattie?" Pidge asked. "Okay, we'll need to leave someone who can handle her behind..." Roxy coughed. "I can do it. Yes, I do know how to deliver equine foals. No, don't ask me how. I need to stay down here to mess with these robots anyway." "Consider it Captain's orders to do exactly that!" Pinkie winked. "I'll find everyone..." Pidge said, taking out her phone. ~~~ Troi dragged Eve off on a magical adventure of song and dance... ...leaving Minna, Burgerbelle, Mlinx, Vriska, Roland, and Thrackerzod alone in the room with Ahsoka. "...They're going to be busy with that for a while," Burgerbelle said, observing as the song ramped up. "Taking bets now, will this be the longest heartsong yet?" "No time for that," Vriska whipped around, grabbing Ahsoka by the neck. "Lucky you, solid this time!" Ahsoka Force-pushed Vriska away, knocking the troll onto her back. "Ow..." "Vriska! What was that for?" Minna demanded. Roland pointed his gun at Ahsoka's head. "She talked to us earlier. Warned us to get out of the city." "And you repay the favor by not listening to my advice and holding me at gunpoint?" Ahsoka raised an eyebrow. "Real good at the hero business." "We've learned to be wary of mysterious voices," Thrackerzod said. "Still, in fairness..." Mlinx gestured that Roland should lower his gun. "Now that your boss is out of the room, care to explain what's really going on here?" "It's mostly as she says it is," Ahsoka admitted. "I don't think anything she said was an outright lie, but she's leaving out a lot of the 'countermeasures' she has in place for 'dealing with' the Light Side. And with the temples activating like that..." She bit her lip. "There's no more time." "For what?" "With the temples having that surge of power, one of them is going to try something. I don't know what she's been doing in the temple's core, but I know it's not good." Thrackerzod lit her horn. "Where is this temple core? I'll teleport us." "It's protected..." Ahsoka ran to a side wall and removed a panel. "We'll have to sneak around the back way." Mlinx nodded. "You will explain more on the way, yes?" "If I can do it without slowing us down." ~~~ On the other side of the divide, Monika, Lightning, Jotaro, Starbeat, Nanoha, and O'Neill were experiencing something similar. Ahsoka ran to a side wall and removed a panel. "We'll have to sneak around the back way." "Or we could just..." Monika held up a hand, ready to edit any character files. "No," Nanoha said. "Not now, Monika." Monika twitched, taking out her notebook and scribbling something passive-aggressive out on the pages. Everyone else filed in after Ahsoka, crawling through the uncomfortable passage in single file. The passage was acoustic enough to let them hear each other just fine, though this made everything a little loud. O'Neill capitalized on this by talking just a little louder than was necessary. "So! What's up with these temple-palace things!" "SHH!" Ahsoka hissed. "These corridors are not completely soundproof. We don't want them to hear us." O'Neill whispered something too quiet to hear, prompting Nanoha to stifle a giggle. "I'm going to assume you asked the same question again..." Ahsoka groaned. "The Sith and Jedi temples are ancient, so ancient we're not even sure they were created by the Sith and Jedi. They were built together, always attached by the bridge, symbolizing a Balance in the Force. They never act independently--for every manifestation of the Light Side, there is one of the Dark Side. Before the collapse, these dual temples served as a place of neutral territory for the multiversal Force Orders. After... I was the only one who remained." They turned a corridor and started crawling down a long ladder. "I wasn't alone for long. Tessa and Troi arrived soon afterward, bringing with them people from both sides. At first, there was talk of peace and moving past the events of the war. But as they acclimated to the Force, something strange happened. The Force changed them--as it always changes those who use it--but they also changed the Force. And this mixture went... badly." "No kidding," Starbeat said. "That mare is murderously vindictive... it reminds me a lot of the Rage." "I have heard your story, Starbeat," Ahsoka said. "This is not full hypnosis, or even suggestion. This is them corrupting the Force itself, and letting their ideals override every other part of themselves. And in doing so, they created a divide. The Force seeks balance... or it used to. In this New World, it's not doing that anymore." "Maybe we can fix this by altering the Force itself?" Starbeat suggested. "Change it back to what it was, or at least remove its influence. Even if they are choosing this, it's clearly causing some kind of strengthened groupthink." "It might be too far gone for that," Ahsoka admitted. "Again, I'm always here, I can do things," Monika said. "We know," Nanoha said. "It looks like we might need you... but we need to be careful with your power." "Why do you all always say that? It's like I have to walk on eggshells..." "It can endanger other people by painting a target on them." "You're just paranoid." "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered. "We're here," Ahsoka said, kicking a panel open to reveal the core of the Light Side temple. The room itself was supposed to be barren save for a spark of white energy above a pedestal in the middle of the room. However, there were numerous additions, all affixed together by bright yellow lines of magic that looked a bit like circuitry. Nineteen orbs of light floated around at different locations in the room, all affixed to the central spark by one magic line or another. The orbs did not have a calming light with them--rather, it was a harsh, purging light that burned all eyes gazing upon it. This was no pleasant summer day, this was a cold sun blazing the eyes in the middle of a frigid winter. "These are summoning lines," Nanoha said, tracing a finger along them. Ahsoka blinked. "I was sure it was some kind of weapon." "It probably is," Nanoha admitted. "But I don't see how you can summon something when there are no other universes to summon from." Monika pointed at herself. "Your set of powers isn't normal." Nanoha walked toward the central pedestal and laid her hand upon it. "It's inactive, right now, but it's waiting for something. A... catalyst. Raising Heart, locate." "Done, master," the Device said, directing her attention to a shield-shaped hole in the pedestal. "Something needs to go here to activate everything," Nanoha deduced. "Without it, nothing works." "Can we destroy it?" Jotaro asked, summoning Star Platinum. "It would take some effort, but yes, I believe so." Ahsoka winced. "I would prefer it if we didn't try to destroy the legacy of the Force..." "And we need to worry about the Dark Side too," Lightning pointed out. "They might have a similar weapon. If we disable this one, what if the Dark Side has a weapon and just exterminates this temple because they can't defend themselves?" "I'll just make a call," O'Neill said, pulling out a phone. "...No service." Ahsoka paled. "...We should have service in here..." ~~~ The core of the Dark Side had an identical room design, though the walls were black and the spark in the center was an unsettling murky color. Lines of magic criss-crossed the walls here as well, though they were less akin to circuitry and more like tangled thorny vines twisting all over every surface. Nineteen purple eyes with ominous slits in them floated around the room, affixed to the tangled magic lines by large thaumic thorns. "She's been up to some shady stuff..." Mlinx observed. "No, really?" Thrackerzod called. "This is a summoning network, the kind you would use to call the Old Ones down to smite a planet." She laid a hoof down on the magic lines, frowning. "This is not natural to the Dark Side, this was added later. She must be trying to exploit it." "How would you summon anything?" Minna asked. "There are no other realms." "I have no idea," Thrackerzod admitted, tracing the purple vines to the altar. "All I know is that it shouldn't work. But we can't take the risk that it does." Roland pointed a gun at the altar. "WAIT!" Ahsoka shouted. "Can we not blow up this ancient piece of Force history?" Mlinx nodded. "It would be hasty. And, mind you, the Light Side may have the same issue. We'll need to coordinate with them regardless." Burgerbelle took out a rotary phone. "Calling... calling... calling... no signal. BEEP." "No signal...?" Ahsoka frowned. "We should get one in here." Mlinx took out his phone. "Nothing." "We're being jammed, obviously," Vriska said. "Can you cancel the spell matrix?" Ahsoka asked. "Difficult, but possible," Thrackerzod said. "It will just take some time..." "Is it hot in here, or something?" Vriska said, tugging at her robe, suddenly sweating profusely. "Geez..." "It's colder than room temperature," Thrackerzod reported, continuing to analyze the tangled circuitry. "I seriously feel like I'm burning up..." Vriska put a hand to her head and sat down. "Geez..." "Your inventory," Minna said. "It's in your inventory." "My... what?" "Just check." Minna tapped her head to remind Vriska of her unusual abilities. Vriska pulled an eight-ball out of her robes and cracked it on the ground. Instantly, she felt relief--the heat was gone. The item contained within the eight-ball floated into the air: the shield-shaped object she had found in the dungeon. It was glowing a bright white. "What...?" Vriska cocked her head. "I'm not even sure I remember picking that up." The shield flashed, gaining a brilliant coloration. The worn edges and flat face suddenly shot to life with all the designs needed for them to identify it. It was a Sweetie Belle Crusader Shield. "...What?" Thrackerzod asked nobody in particular. The shield shot toward the hole in the altar--barely stopped by Ahsoka's use of the Force. "H-help... it... wants to complete..." Thrackerzod grabbed hold of it with her magic, pulling it away from the altar. She started preparing some sealing spells in the background to create a more permanent solution, but she never finished. Troi appeared in a flash of dark light right behind the altar, having bypassed the teleport security she had set up. She used her immense stores of alicorn power and the Force to pry the shield out of their grasp. It slid into the hole in the altar with a satisfying click. A beautiful holographic rose began to bloom from the shield, and numerous spirograph images twirled around it rapidly. "Uh, sorry about this," Troi said, laughing nervously. "You might want to take cover." ~~~ Discord found himself standing in the middle of a grassy field. He stood there, perfectly still, for several minutes. Only after he had established his motionlessness did he throw his head back. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The shout wasn't enough for him, so he pointed a pointed claw at the sky. "YOU! Oh, have I got a few things to say to you! You know what's wrong with you? You've got all these stupid rules that make no sense! Normal rules are bad enough as it is, but at least those have a point! What's the point of this, huh? Pain? Do you like causing pain? You claim to have made everything, so apparently you made pain too! Sadist! And that's not all you are, oh no, I've heard lots about you over the years, and hot diggity dog are you a piece of WORK!" Discord sneered, spreading his arms wide. "Let's go down the list, why don't we? Arrogant, prideful, vengeful, ridiculously cryptic, secretive, manipulative, angry, inconsistent, oppressive, and... and..." He created a boulder and hurled it at the sky so hard it wasn't going to come back down. "WHAT DOES SHE SEE IN YOU!?" The planets in the sky continued to swirl around each other, unresponsive to his cries. Discord fell to his knees and rammed his hands into the ground, silent and still once more. "You forgot a few." Discord turned, shocked to see Rev laying down next to him, looking blankly forward. She kept talking, not waiting for a response from him. "Nepotistic, despotic, warmongering, stubborn, homophobic, racist, sexist, enslaving, meek, over-achieving, judgmental, soft, overly-forgiving, confusing, unfair, tactless, brutal, silent--" "I get it," Discord muttered. "Get what?" Rev asked, cocking her head. "There's a long list..." "What is it a list of?" "Of... bad things your God does." He frowned. "That's not what the list is." "Then what is it?" "It things we think are wrong with Him." She was silent for a moment, letting it sink in. "We're small. We get angry at life, at others, at the world, and we want to blame it all on Him. It really does make things simple: after all, He is the root cause of everything, and He has the blame for everything." Absent-mindedly, she began tracing swirls in the ground. "That list is a bunch of reasons we've found to justify that feeling. A lot of them contradict each other - are their own opposites, meaning He is neither of the extremes we think. Others are from misinterpretation of what we know. And still others come from us trying to define good and evil on our own, and messing up with our limited, limited scope." Discord said nothing. "If the war taught the multiverse anything, it's that none of us have the right to declare what is good and what is evil. We can't handle that kind of responsibility." Both she and Discord stared at the planets shifting above their heads for a moment. Eventually, Discord spoke. "I see it. I think. Every moment of my chaotic life, I was convinced I was right. But I never was. Even now, Flutterfree has to drag my chaotic rear out of the slime pit and show me the MAAAAGIC of FRIENDSHIP." He laughed, but it wasn't a happy laugh. "...I think you're ready to understand," Rev said. "Understand what?" Rev stood up and gestured to a yellow shape standing on the crest of a nearby hill. "Her." Rev teleported away, leaving Flutterfree and Discord alone. Flutterfree was crying, but she refused to look away from Discord. Barely managing to breathe through her sniffles and heaves, she forced herself to walk all the way to him. Eventually, she sat down at his knees, looking straight up at him. "I didn't come into the faith because of it," she began. "I came because I liked the way the people were kind to one another. How the love flowed between them, how they... they had a reason to be the best they could be. I had always just been kind because that's what I was. Rev showed me it was more meaningful than that. "But now... I see more. Love..." She choked. "Love is the highest virtue. If you can love everyone perfectly, you are perfect. All other virtues can be rolled up into it. B-but... how can we know what is the most loving thing to do? We h-have gut feelings, a conscience, and virtues... but they're not always right. They change as we age. Back and forth... and some of us do evil things in the name of g-good. "And that's it. That's... that's part of why I stay, and w-why I'm doing this to us. Discord, I love you, and I mean that in every sense of the word however far you want to take it. But I can't trust myself to know what's right... even if every fiber of my soul c-cries that this is right that this is the way that this is happiness that this is best that..." She took a moment to catch her breath, forcing her heartbeat to slow. "Even if I think this is good, I can't trust what my heart wants. I've chosen to trust something aside from myself. I trust His words. I have faith that He won't lead me astray. Because... because everything else has been good and pure and right and..." She let out a breath. "I can't just pick and choose what parts I want to believe. I've chosen this, so I... I have to stick with it. This... this isn't one of those things open to interpretation. Marry into the faith." She wiped her eyes. "I-I can't ignore that." Discord stared at her with old, tired, and damp eyes. "...I know." He pulled her into a hug. "It's okay." She returned the hug with a desperate, almost predatory grip with all four of her hooves and her wings, squeezing him for all she was worth. She buried her face in his neck, filling his fur with her tears. He did the same, though he was nowhere near as loud as she was. Discord's delicate little flower clung to him. She never wanted to let go. She feared what would happen when she did. But the New World could not let their moment last forever. Other things were brewing in the sky above them, and it interrupted as they held each other. A brilliant orb of light rose from the Light Side, surrounding itself in a myriad of shimmering segmented wings of white coloration with red and pink backing, acting like a sun to Nucleon. The Dark Side saw an equally impressive, but much more monstrous presence. A tangled mess of thorns and fleshy, pulsating tendrils swirled around an ice-blue eye with a slit of darkness through the middle. It was an eye that screamed of a hunger for blood. Wings and tendrils smashed into each other, creating a massive shockwave between the two cities. The bridge somehow held. Flutterfree's tear-filled eyes reflected the light and the darkness. "...The world needs us," Flutterfree said, prying herself off Discord. With shaking legs, she pointed a wing at the city. "They are more important." As the summons fought, they heard a distant scream from Mattie. The time had come. IV - Gray "I still can't believe our histories are defined by random musical numbers," Jang commented. "It seems so... surreal." "Yet another thing the Tower does," Joanne said. "They won't exist after it falls." "Not unless you practice, anyway!" Pringle cheered. "It is possible to talk entirely in rhyme, you know!" "Frivolous," Onion muttered. Joanne snorted. "Not as frivolous as Rev." The Elder frowned. "Joanne, you do realize she's an actual person, right? What if she walked through that door right now, what would you say to her?" "I'd tell her to her face exactly what I'm telling you. Frivolous and hypocritical. She's just making excuses for what she believes." "That would require you to look up from your phone," Onion snipped. "And what about my trust of the Force?" the Elder asked Joanne. "Same response," she deadpanned. "Though not as ridiculously bizarre and convoluted. You're simple. Keep Balance, feel the way of the Force, use but understand others. Not... that." "You don't really know what my beliefs are, do you?" the Elder asked. Joanne furiously typed on her phone. The Elder lifted a hand to block all Internet access in the chamber. "Uh..." "You rely too much on outside information..." The Elder sighed. "Your criticisms are legitimate, but make sure you know what you're talking about next time rather than repeating half-remembered complaints." Joanne refused to look up from her phone, though her face soured considerably. "...Can we just get back to the excitement?" Pringle asked. "Come on, the final confrontation is upon us! Light versus dark, collapse versus preservation! Can the heroes make peace? What're the mecha gonna do? How do Discord and Flutterfree try to save the day? What are Tessa and Troi's real plans!?" Jang folded his arms. "I think the more nebulous questions are better, especially since we don't know the answer. What is the nature of belief? Is love the highest virtue? Why do people who claim to follow the same ideal disagree? Why do we separate ourselves into camps in the first place? And what does it mean to be held as an ideal?" "...Can we just have some cool space explosions?" Joanne asked. The Elder smiled warmly. "Yes. Yes, we can have some cool space explosions." "Oh no, here it comes..." Onion groaned. The Elder took in a deep breath. The others all covered their ears. "KA-BOOOOOOOOOM!" ~~~ Corona had no idea where Troi teleported off to. All she knew was that she was standing alone in front of a small army of red lightsaber-wielding dancers that no longer had a dance to occupy them. "...Any idea where she went?" Corona asked. There were a few shaking heads in response. "Okay..." Corona tapped her foot. "So... what are you all going to do now?" The woman in front shrugged. "Whatever we want. Not a fan of the heartsong in the first place, it's an artifact of the Tower." She deactivated her weapon. "Disperse, ever--" The magic surge mixed with the Force grabbed everyone's attention. They looked toward the temple-palace, where a noxious darkness was taking shape. First came the eye, and it was by far the worst part: a brilliant blue flame around a slit of endless void, surrounded by a grasping, fleshy exterior. It did not look at them, but even so they could feel its seething hatred of life itself. Massive, undulating tentacles sprouted from the back of the eye, creating a tangled mess of thorns, flesh, and darkness. Sounds akin to distant screaming came from its every surface. There was no doubt as to its target: the Light Side of the Moon. Corona moved like the wind, but there was never a chance she would make it in time. The Light Side was not without defenses, however, for their champion rose as well. An orb of holy burning light intercepted the dark, jittering energy released by the Dark One. The Light One's myriad metallic, fluorescent wings swirled in a complex spirograph-esque pattern, attempting to weave the attack past the Dark One's defenses. Throbbing tentacles met the light directly, burning, but holding strong. The Dark One increased its energy output, only for the Light One to compensate, prompting an explosion in the air between the two cities. The gates of both sides began to crack. Corona inserted herself between the two of them, using all the energy she could spare to maintain a massive shield. She wouldn't be able to keep this up against both of them for long... Eve appeared next to her, adding to the shield. "Funny running into you here!" Corona chuckled. "Surprise, surprise, surprise... I've got the Dark Side, you get the Light?" "Right. There's one problem. I don't sense the magic levels dropping." "Even on Nucleon there is a limit, we should reach it..." "We didn't reach it around the Tower. Something's keeping the levels high to maintain this level of combat." Corona smirked. "Then we just have to beat them the old fashioned way." "Naturally." They released the shield at the same time, switching to fire and ice in unison. The Light One found itself encased in an ever-shifting bundle of snowflakes and ice shards while the Dark One was caught in a burning hellscape of vicious flaming licks. The 'gods' of the Sides of the Moon would not allow these summons to destroy the cities. Corona intercepted a tentacle from the Dark One and purged it with a holy healing spell, using Bacon Pancakes to flatten another trying to attack her from behind. When it went for a direct dark attack, she attempted to absorb it and reflect it back. She woefully underestimated the Dark One's power output. Her spell matrix exploded, sending her flying into the middle bridge. Eve landed next to her, having just suffered a similar fate. They wasted no time, however, jumping back into the midst of it to prevent the two beasts from clashing directly. Raging Sights and the Element of Magic shone like stars in a nebula as they redirected the energy away. In both cities, the organized Force-users were conflicted. The great champions of their city, destined to destroy the other, were being fought by their very own gods. The Dark One sought to end the threat to the collapse, but Corona fought tooth and nail. Eve drove magic dart after ice shard into the just glow of the Light One, preventing that which needed to be repaid. And the alicorn leaders of the Cities? They were nowhere to be found. ~~~ Troi was grinning up until the point she heard the explosion. She teleported to the temple center instantly, bypassing its security. "No!" she shouted. "No, I shot first, you shouldn't... I had the shield!" She pointed an accusatory hoof at the pedestal that held the white spark. "You shouldn't be able to do anything! This was my plan! I let them come down here! Why isn't it working!? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" There was no response. Connected though the temples may be, shouting at one did not carry over to the others under normal circumstances. Roland pointed his gun at Troi's head. "You are going to explain, quickly and simply, what you just did." "I used the unlocked ka-potential of the Dark Side temple to attack the Light Side. But... they must have found a way to retaliate! I need to go assis--" Minna grabbed Troi's head with her hand, psychically assaulting the alicorn. Troi was a master of the Dark Side of the Force, more than able to resist such conditioning. That said, it took most of her focus, allowing Mlinx to come in and knock her unconscious. "...That was easy," Burgerbelle said, holding an easy button. "That may be a problem," Ahsoka said. "I don't know what any of this is. I don't know how she did, but I can't tell you about this. This is a Force temple, not a ka temple!" "There's something else going on here," Minna said, trying to pry the Sweetie Shield out of the pedestal, but getting nothing. "Whatever this is, it activated the rest of the Temple." "It also made the summoning possible," Thrackerzod commented, still scanning the magic lines all around. "If you can twist ka, you can use more magic than should be available and create things that shouldn't exist... This wasn't actually a 'summon' so much as a 'creation from nothing'." Another shockwave ran through the temple. "I'm glad we can't see whatever it is she summoned," Burgerbelle said. "Whatever it is, it's ugly and needs to be stopped," Vriska declared. "Careful," Roland said. "The Light Side has its own monster, if she spoke the truth." "Dammit, we'd need to deactivate them both at the same time..." Ahsoka frowned. "I... might be able to help with that. You have a team on the Light Side, correct?" Mlinx nodded in confirmation. "I need to meditate. I might be able to Force-project myself there." She sat down, crossing her legs and closing her eyes. "Communication may be blocked... but the Force still flows between the temples. That can't be stopped." "What do we do while you try that?" Vriska asked. "Be quiet." Roland sat down as well, crossing his legs. "Perhaps do the same." "We're not Force-sensitive." "Leave her to her meditation," Mlinx said, taking Vriska to the other side of the room. Whispering, he asked her a question. "What is that shield?" "I have no idea," Vriska whispered back. "It's a Sweetie artifact," Minna said. "But Zod and Burgerbelle have no idea what it means." "Do you?" Mlinx asked. Minna shook her head. "I'm not getting any confirmations, merely images of what it's not. Whatever it was, it's as old or older than this temple, and I'm fairly certain these temples have been around longer than the League of Sweetie Belles." "A mystery..." Mlinx scratched his chin. "Vriska, Minna, we need to prepare to blow this place at any moment. We need to find the most effective way to do that." "Bombs?" Burgerbelle asked, appearing in the middle of them with a large, cartoonish black bomb. "...That's better than nothing." ~~~ The shockwave hit the Light Side. "...What just happened?" O'Neill asked. Nanoha traced the magic circuitry with Raising Heart. "The summon spell activated because... I don't know why, something was introduced from another location. The magic is no longer draining like it's supposed to." "A meta effect," Starbeat realized. "Someone's messing with ka directly. These temples might just be a ka-device!" "That doesn't make sense!" Ahsoka said. "I've been with them for years, they were never anything more than Force temples." "How old are they?" Starbeat asked. "...Very." "Older than you, at least, which means there could have been hidden natures." The temple shook again. "There's a fight going on up there," O'Neill observed. Monika rolled her eyes. "Obviously whatever the Light Side summoned is fighting something from the Dark Side." "And if we destroy this side... the city is destroyed." Nanoha frowned. "We need to coordinate with the other team. There has to be some way to send a message..." "The Force-connection is still there," Ahsoka said. "I ca--" "You won't have time," Tesseract said, walking into the room. She pointed her horn at Monika and teleported the Lord of Ka out in an instant. "That won't keep her," Nanoha said. "She's about to find herself in the midst of a battle of light and dark," Tesseract declared, narrowing her eyes. "I doubt she'll find the time. Just as you won't find the time to contact your allies." "STAR PLATINUM: THE W--" Tesseract cast a spell, petrifying Jotaro in an instant. "You won't have time to do anything. Any action you take against me will result in your failure. You will stay here, inactive and compliant, until the Dark Side is annihilated." "You're a moron if you think we'll listen to you," Lightning said, casting Esuna on the party, curing Jotaro's petrification. "We fight," Starbeat smirked. "That's all there is to say on the mat--" Tesseract pushed all five of them back with a Force push hard enough to shatter ribs. She unleashed six lightsabers all at once, wielding one for every color of the rainbow, each fully independent of the others in her magic. "You were never supposed to be down here." Ahsoka stood herself up, activating her dual white lightsabers. "Sorry about that..." "I never expected you to be a traitor," Tesseract said. "Perhaps that was foolish. I knew you wouldn't go to the Dark Side. But that your desire for peace would let you betray other sides I had not considered." She clashed lightsabers. "STARLIGHT B--" Tesseract cast feedback, not losing a grip on any of her lightsabers. Nanoha's spell blew up in her face before she knew what was happening. The alicorn petrified Jotaro again and grabbed Crimson Sushi with the Force, squeezing the Stand until O'Neill collapsed, holding his chest in agony. "She's manipulating ka!" Starbeat shouted, rapidly swapping through screens on her goggles. "She shouldn't be this strong or this lucky!" "ULTIGA!" Lightning shouted. Tesseract encased it in her magic and threw it at Nanoha before she could get up. Ahsoka charged, meeting four lightsabers at once. "Master Ahsoka, you know the Force..." Tesseract twisted her other two blades away from Starbeat, angling at Ahsoka from behind. "You do not know the Tower." "Let's see which is better!" Ahsoka leaped over the two lightsabers coming at her from behind, grabbing hold of Tesseract's neck with the Force. Tesseract responded with a simple explosion spell, knocking Ashoka to the ground. "Tesseract... you've got more of a plan than this," Starbeat said, carefully angling a magic shield between herself and the alicorn. "What is it?" "I am not falling into the monologue trap." Tesseract cancelled both Starbeat's shield and Lightning's attack at once, grabbing Starbeat with her telekinesis and tossing her onto O'Neill, throwing the aim of his gun off. "I will do what needs to be done." "I notice you're not being lethal..." Nanoha commented, getting to her feet. "I am no fool. I know you are protected." Tesseract angled her six lightsabers at the White Devil. "I do not have to kill you to accomplish my goal." Nanoha looked around, realizing she was the only one standing. She hefted Raising Heart. "You'd think that..." Her expression darkened. "But I won't stop until I'm a cold, dead corpse." Tesseract pointed the purple lightsaber at O'Neill's head. "Stand down, Nanoha O'Neill." Nanoha twitched. "You won't." "You are right. I won't. Unless you make it clear to me that I cannot win, in which case, I have nothing to lose." Tesseract cocked her head. "I would prefer to kill Jotaro for the sake of justice, but you leave me no choice." "You always have a choice." "Absolutely. I mean within the choice I have already made: justice must be served." "...How did you figure out about this temple's ka-nature?" "I don't have to explain anything to you. It would be foolish to do so." Inwardly, Nanoha swore. Tesseract continued. "I will say this. They attacked first. I simply used what they unlocked to retaliate." "You've been building your society to threaten the Dark side in the hopes that they'd do this," Nanoha observed. "Do not pretend you are the victim here." "Yes. But there was a reason. Eve is right, if I just attacked with no warning, we would become vicious conquerors. Now, we are the defenders, and our society will not lose itself to continued vengeance after the fact. Justice will be served and we will not fall into further temptation." "The cycle of revenge never ends." "That is why I am making it. There must be some act. The debt can never truly be repaid, but I will end the demands today." She narrowed her eyes. "...And you got me talking." "That was all you." Tesseract remained silent. ~~~ Monika appeared in the air between the Dark One and the Light One just as they shot a volley at each other. Monika prepared to re-write herself alive, but Corona and Eve protected her from the assault with shields of their own, setting her down on the bridge below. "Can you edit them?" Corona asked, frantically, slicing tentacles apart only for them to regrow an instant later. "No," Monika said, finding with annoyance that their character files were protected. "Gonna have to do something else..." "HOLD THAT THOUGHT!" Pinkie shouted from so far away none of them could see her--but it sounded like she was right next to them anyway. "I'VE GOT AN IDEA!" Corona, Eve, Monika, and both Entities of Light and Darkness stopped for a moment to look down. The Austraeoh VI was flying at the entities at high speed. "SMASHIN' TIME!" Pinkie shouted from the Austraeoh's front. All the weapons on the ship activated at once, including lasers, rockets, magic missiles, traditional bullets, and even a few spring-loaded mecha fists harvested from below. The Entities forgot each other for a moment to combat this new ship. The shields lasted just long enough for the self-destruct to fully activate. KA-BOOOOOOOOOM! A space-rending explosion knocked the Dark and Light Ones silly, tearing away much of their outer power, exposing their cores for a moment. "NOW!" Pinkie shouted, landing next to Monika. Corona and Eve nodded, jumping to their representative entities. Corona dug her hands into the Dark One's eye while Eve drove a blade of ice into the Light One's brilliant orb. With a momentarily lessened power, Corona and Eve were able to get the upper hand. They were draining magic from the entities faster than they could restore it within themselves. "YOU JUST BLEW UP THE AUSTRAEOH!" Monika shouted, throwing her arms wide. "Yep!" Pinkie grinned. "We just rebuilt it!" "Yep!" "That's it, I'm bringing it back, I'm not going through that nonsense again," Monika accessed her files of the Austraeoh. "Wait, Monika, don't!" Monika pointed a finger at Pinkie. "Shut up! I am sick and tired of you all going 'oh, this'll be better if we don't use you' or 'no, don't use your abilities, that'll have unintended consequences' or 'that'd be boring'! I'm the Lord of Ka, Pinkie, and I'm going to use it!" Pinkie tried to tackle her. Monika clapped her hands together, re-creating the Austraeoh VI exactly as it had been. This was exactly what Tesseract had wanted her to do. The instant she used her powers, the Light Side temple latched onto her with a ka-fueled soul-bond, pulling her to the ground. She howled in immense pain, slamming her fists into the stone bridge. The very fiber of her being was shunted into the Light Side's inner workings, twisted to some purpose that wasn't her own. The Light Side reached out, touching the individual all the people believed in: Eve. Pinkie gasped. "Oh no oh no oh no EVE LOO--" Eve was unable to stop the Light One from charging her. She deflected, but that was pointless: the Light One wasn't attacking. The Light One was merging with her. With a brilliant nova of prismatic light, the Light One was gone--only Eve remained. But her eyes shone with the light of judgment and numerous pairs of metallic, yet angelic wings surrounded her. She turned to Corona and the Dark One. "I don't suppose you know that trick...?" Corona asked the entity she'd been punching to shreds a moment ago. The Dark One shook its eye. "Ponyfeathers." "Corona of the Collapse Movement and Dark Side of the Moon!" Eve declared in a voice that was hers, but somehow louder, clearer. "It is time you paid for your crimes!" Corona and the Dark One raised defensive magic, but it was clearly at a disadvantage to whatever Eve was now. "Monika!" Pinkie shouted, shaking the shuddering woman. "Monika, we--" "It's eating me..." Monika wailed, grabbing her head. "It..." "I know it hurts but we need to activate the other side or Eve's going to murder a city!" Monika shivered. "I... I can't..." "I can." Pinkie picked Monika up and jumped behind a column in the bridge's railing. Her 'shortcut' took her right to the core of the Dark Side temple. Mlinx stared at her in shock. "What in th--" "Shh," Pinkie hissed, gesturing at Ahsoka and Roland. The next thing she did was slap Monika onto the Sweetie Shield like she was some kind of key card. "Ow..." Monika muttered. "Give your power to this one," Pinkie whispered. "Balance it." "Won't that make it wo--" another wave of pain ran through Monika, drawing a pained gag from her. "It'll buy us time." Monika closed her eyes and forced the little energy she had left into the Dark Side temple. It accepted her energy through the Sweetie Shield eagerly. The pain matched that brought on by the Light Side. She passed out--but the temples did not stop using her power. ~~~ Corona was not a fan of the fusion idea, but she knew there was no way to get out of this situation without a powerup of some sort. She couldn't let Eve destroy a city while under the influence of a dark angel. So when Monika's power was shunted through the Dark Side, she let the Dark One take her eagerly. It was painful, at first... but then it was exhilarating. Her back erupted with fleshy, thorned tentacles of bone and magic, and both her eyes became dark slits of power. "You reveal your true colors," Eve declared. "A demon of the higher order." Corona wrapped Eve in her tentacles. "A demon is just another name for those who defy an evil god." She punched forward with complex magic. Raging Sights was still helping her--even if it didn't agree with its master right now, it knew that Corona made this choice just to keep the peace. It would act in accordance with those instructions. And that included a many-tiered magic ring that summoned a fist of fiery blood upon Eve's icy comet attack. "You lost last time," Corona said, surrounding herself in fleshy spikes. "That was not a true fight." Eve surrounded herself in Seraphim and the metallic wings, reflecting every attack back to Corona. "We were not true to our legacy!" She drove the icy metal shards into Corona's body, drawing thick, bright purple blood from her mutated form. "We were not as devoted to our fight as we should have been." "It's amazing how someone so deluded in the old ways can say something so true." Corona healed all her injuries and snapped her fingers, encasing Eve in a sphere of purple fire. "You are the one who perpetuates the Empire because you fear the price of change!" Eve exploded out of the darkness. "You are the apocalypse incarnate, murderer. You gamble with lives! You threaten the stability of life itself." "I make it better! I give it freedom! We will not be tread upon!" "You deserve as such!" Light and dark impacted at high speed, two hands reaching for the necks of the other with vehemous hate. They squeezed, unable to overcome the magical barriers on each other, sending thousands of little missiles in attempts to breach each other's defenses. But they were exactly matched. Neither could get through to the other. "STOP!" Flutterfree shouted, projecting herself through the Rage. Corona and Eve glared at her as one. She stood on top of Discord's shoulders, wing-blades uncovered, reflecting the light of the battle back upon opposing forces. "You two are stronger than this!" Flutterfree called. "Fight the spirits within you--you are the heroes! You are better!" Eve's expression softened. "Flutt--" Corona capitalized on the opening, punching through Eve's chest. "We are the heroes." She threw Eve to the ground, kicking up dust. "We go until our dying breath." She surrounded Discord and Flutterfree in a magic aura. "You are right. We are stronger. We are stronger than we've ever been." She threw Discord and Flutterfree to the ground at terminal velocity before turning back to Eve. Despite having just been run through by Corona's fist, the alicorn rose to meet the fiery valkyrie with her bladed wings. "You hurt her!" Eve shrieked. "She was in the way." "There is no punishment great enough for you!" "Good!" The bridge rumbled as they collided again. ~~~ Jenny wasn't all that surprised when Discord and Flutterfree dropped out of the sky like a meteor. She was just annoyed they'd landed on her lunch. "That was my sandwich!" "Sorry," Flutterfree said, pulling herself out of the crater. "We've got a problem, Eve and Corona ar--" "We know," Pidge said, frantically tapping buttons on her laptop. "I'm working on help..." She gestured at the rows upon rows of pearl-robots she and Jenny had unearthed and enchanted with various Aspects - mostly Void from Roxy, but they had a Doom from Corona, a Light from Eve, a Space from Pinkie, and a lot of blank ones. "Oooh!" Jenny grabbed a pearl and bonked Flutterfree on the head with it, endowing it with Rage. "Got a new one!" "Great, let's hope the programs work universally..." Discord dusted himself off. "I was just caught unawares, my chaos can take them." "Hubris," Pidge deadpanned. "Our mini-mech army will go with you, just in case. They're keeping each other busy up there, for now." "...We weakened Eve," Flutterfree said. "She'll lose eventually... and once Corona vaporizes the Light Side..." "I'm working on it!" Jenny hissed. "What about Roxy?" "OOOOH, YES!" Mattie shouted from a nearby tent. "...She's busy," Pidge said, trying not to gag. Jenny shivered. "I'm glad it's not me in there..." "How do you think Roxy feels?" "Ay, she's a loose party girl deep down, I'm sure she's fine." Roxy must have heard this, because a sniper shell flew out of the tent and hit Jenny in the head. "Roxy, I know you're frustrated, but we need her to work faster," Flutterfree addressed the tent. "YES! YES! YES! I'M PUSHING!" Mattie shouted. Flutterfree chose not to criticize Mattie's tone while she was actively giving birth. That would not only have been uncalled for, it would likely have made the unicorn double down, and Flutterfree did not wish that torment on Roxy. The fight in the sky was more important. "I think we're ready..." Pidge said, pressing a few more buttons. "I think we are too..." Jenny absent-mindedly took a replacement sandwich the Everykid had given her and bit into it. "LAUNCHING MINI-MECHS!" Flutterfree climbed onto Discord again. "I'm coming too--but hide me. We don't want to give Corona the advantage." Discord nodded, bouncing into the air like a spring. All around him, the humanoid robots flew, controlled by Jenny and Pidge's coding. The Void ones soon phased to invisibility while Doom, Rage, and Light remained in full view. Discord thrust a rubber chicken sword between Corona and Eve. "Okay, it's time we brought the pain!" The robots that were supposed to provide him support... didn't. They froze in the air around the bridge, something holding them frozen. A synthetic voice came from the Void ones all at once. "What... what are we? Why are w-" Corona and Eve pointed fingers down and vaporized the Void robots. The Doom, Rage, and Light ones managed to duck out of the way, though they were clearly no longer following Roxy's programming. "What cruel trick of the universe is this!?" the Light one demanded. "A chance at beautiful revenge..." the Rage one responded. The Doom one couldn't say anything. It was as if it was trying to destroy itself in an incoherent befuddled digital scream of agony. When Corona and Eve attacked again, it was destroyed. Light and Rage appeared to Discord's side. "What are you?" "Unimportant," the Light said, making its hands shimmer with power. "What matters is we share a common enemy." "Dark times make for strange bedfellows," the Rage added, surrounding itself in a purple aura. Flutterfree kept Lolo under wraps--even though she was curious, she didn't want to tip Eve off to her presence. Not yet, at least. "Bah, I'll figure this out later." Discord snapped his fingers, creating a cake launcher. "CHARGE!" The cakes hit the two enraged icons in the face, allowing Rage and Light to move in. "You are of the temples," Corona and Eve said as one, pointing at the two robots. "And to their purpose will you sway." "A cruel joke it was, then..." Light muttered. "You know nothing of p--" Rage began, but he was cut off. Both lost their aspect coloring, falling to the bridge, empty. The temples would not allow their old servants to rebel. Discord sighed. "Some help they were." "And you..." Corona said, moving in. "What do you fight for? Your right to life?" "Or the lives of others?" Eve asked, approaching him on the other side. "You must choose, in this war..." Corona said with a calming smile that did not have the desired effect--those eyes were simply too demonic. "...there is no middle ground." Eve placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Come with me, discover what you can be." "Come with me, fight for what's left undone." "No!" Discord shouted, pushing them back with an explosion of slime, dice, and spiky cotton candy. "Why not?" Corona asked, surrounding herself in glorious fire. "Chaos has its place, Discord! Chaos may never be consistent, but chaos must choose!" "You know, deep down, what is right," Eve added. "You fought for the preservation, to keep what we had! We've lost what we had, but we can do whatever is possible to bring it back! This world does not have to be theirs!" "It is ours and you will never threaten it again!" Discord encased them both in licorice rope. "I said no, I mean no. You're both being childish." "We're being childish?" Corona teleported out of his grasp, holding a hand to her chest in mock offense. "And what of you? Refusing to take a side? Do you really think stopping us will end the war between these cities?" "There is no solution to this conflict that doesn't end in one city or the other falling to ashes!" Eve declared. "It won't be mine." "It won't be mine." "Stopping us only delays the inevitable, Discord." Corona extended a hand. "So, choose, so you may determine which side wins!" "What do you want, Discord?" "What do you want?" "Neither!" He created a whirlwind of tornado sharks, shocked to find them easily deflected. "Neither!?" Eve and Corona glared at the same time. "You know which one you want to win! You know! Just CHOOSE!" "You're both wrong!" Discord shouted. "THERE IS NO RIGHT!" They screamed, voice reverberating with the power of the Force between them. "THERE ARE ONLY TWO DIFFERENT EVILS. CHOOSE, OR SUFFER A WORSE FATE! DO YOU WISH BOTH SIDES TO DESTROY EACH OTHER COMPLETELY? DO YOU WISH WAR TO GO UNENDING? DO YOU WISH TO DENY YOURSELF!?" "YES!" Discord shouted at the top of his lungs. "I do! I won't be myself! I suck! You suck! Everything sucks! But you know the difference between you and me?" Corona and Eve stared at him, faces blank. Discord created a giant hammer in his hands. "You two are so devoted to your SELVES and what you THINK. And I'm not just talking to possessed-insane versions of you, I'm talking to you! Both of you stuck to your vision like it was the Holy Grail!" He lifted the hammer high, generating a camera as he did so. "NEWS FLASH! Your visions are WORTHLESS! But you trust them anyway!" He brought the hammer down. "I won't trust myself. I'll trust that bringing you back is the right thing, even if it doesn't look like it. Because that's what we do." "VERY WELL." They effortlessly caught the hammer. "Uh oh." They created a hammer of their own, smashing Discord on the head with their combined power, sending him rocketing to the ground again. As he fell, he lost consciousness, and the spell on Flutterfree dissipated--but Eve didn't notice, she was already back to fighting Corona now that the interruption had been dealt with. Flutterfree positioned herself so her head was level with Discord's. Which is to say, both of them were now falling headfirst to the ground. He wasn't aware. She knew a way to fix that. With a soft giggle and tears in her eyes, she pressed her face to his. The effect was immediate--he jolted awake like a Mexican jumping bean, staring at her in shock. She put a hoof to his mouth to prevent him from saying something stupid. She had to ask her question first. "Did you mean what you said to them?" Discord blinked, looking up at the clashing forms of Corona and Eve. "I... I think I did. What in..." She let out a joyous, deep laugh. "Oh, thank you!" Placing a delicate wingblade on Discord's head, she beamed. "I can help you forget yourself. If you'll have me." There was no need for him to answer. He also didn't have the opportunity, since at that point they hit the ground. "WHY DIDN'T YOU PULL UP!?" Jenny shouted from the edge of the cater they'd just made. Flutterfree had sustained several broken bones from the fall and probably should have suffered much worse, but she managed to pull herself out of the crater anyway, dripping blood from her mouth. "Forgot... we were falling..." "How do you forget you're falling!?" Flutterfree laughed, then started coughing uncontrollably. "Healing... healing would be nice... ow..." "I have never seen someone so happy to be so messed up," Pidge commented. Another one of Mattie's screams reached their ears. "...In a literal sense." As Jenny used some simple healing spells on Flutterfree and Discord, she looked up at the cities. "Well. That was a bust. What now?" "YOU SIT AND WAIT FOR THE OTHERS TO TRY SOMETHING!" Mattie shouted. "OH, I KNOW, GET ME A CACTUS AND A GHOST PEPPER AND A--AAAAAAWHAHAHA!" Discord stood up. "...For some reason I am suddenly much more terrified of her." Flutterfree shot him a somehow menacingly sly look. "You better be." Discord wordlessly shrank back into the crater. ~~~ Roland opened his eyes. He saw his body, sitting in meditation. To his left, Monika was passed out on the floor, twitching slightly every second or so. Against the far wall everyone was talking--with the addition of Pinkie, for some reason--trying to be quiet, presumably to not disturb the meditation. They had set bombs everywhere. In front, he saw Ahsoka twice: one sitting in meditation, the other standing much as he was. The room shuddered as whatever monsters laid outside warred. "You're a natural, Gunslinger," Ahsoka said. "Though I should not be so surprised; you are the Tower's chosen, after all." Roland responded only with a curt nod. "If we get out of this, I would love to teach you the ways of the Force--in balance." "I've seen your blades before, long ago," Roland said. "I do not wish to become bound to one." "We are not bound to our blades quite as you are bound to your guns," Ahsoka explained. "But this is a conversation for another time. We must move." She walked over to the central altar and laid her hands on it. "We must ask the Force to carry our spirits across the divide. I will guide you. Place your hands over mine." Roland did as asked. "Now... hold on, and be ready for anything on the other side." At first, all Roland could see was violent red. It slowly gave way to a beautiful, calm gray, though this was eventually superseded by harshly divided blues and greens. He and Ahsoka appeared at the Light Side altar. At first, nobody paid them any mind. "What's wrong, Tesseract?" Starbeat asked the Celestia. "Something wrong with your meta-manipulation?" Tesseract narrowed her eyes. "Did they find a way to copy it, like you copied theirs? Did you think she couldn't have planned for it?" The alicorn refused to respond to the unicorn. O'Neill smirked. "She's hoping silence will save her. It won't. Tessa--can I call you Tessa? I'll take the silence as admission. You may have surrounded yourself with 'win', but there's more going on than what's in here. We don't have to fight you. The others can fight what you've made out there." Tesseract said nothing. Roland turned to Ahsoka... and noticed another Ahsoka sitting on the ground, injured. The Ahsoka he had come here with slowly shook her head. Don't ask, no time to explain, way too complicated. He gestured at his gun with his eyes. She nodded. Good, Roland thought. Something I know well. He pulled out his revolver and fired. Even as a Force projection, weapons carried weight, and his weapon more so than any other. The bullet flew true, right toward Tesseract's head. She deflected it completely by chance with a stray blue lightsaber. She wasted no time whirling to face them, driving her lightsabers toward the attackers. Realizing a second too late that they were Force projections and not truly there, she drove two of her blades into the pedestal itself, damaging it. It remained fully operational. Both Ahsokas jumped forward, both wielding dual lightsabers. Tesseract proved smart, stabbing the real one in the arm and grabbing the other in a Force choke-hold--dissipating her all the way back to her body. Nanoha unleashed a spell, but Tesseract's reflect spell blew it away, and she pointed a lightsaber at O'Neill again. "Stop. All of you." Everyone did. Everyone except Roland. He pointed his gun at the damaged altar. "There is no way your weapon can destroy it," Tesseract hissed. Roland sensed the uncertainty in her voice. That was all he needed. He pulled the trigger. He didn't stay to see what happened--he returned to his body, whipped out his gun, and shot the altar on this side as well. This side's Ahsoka had already damaged it with her lightsabers, to the stunned confusion of everyone else in the room. Roland's bullets hit both altars true. In truth, it didn't damage either of them. The bullets, for all their ka-importance, were just bullets. There was no need for them to be any more. If there had been, they would have entered the holes in the altars perfectly to destroy them by luck. But this was not the case. They remained simple bullets. For the temples themselves were ka-machines, and they recognized the bullets as a signal. The signal. The signal they were made for untold eons ago. It was time for the division to end. The Light Side of the Moon and the Dark Side of the Moon were surrounded by solid balls of white and black, blotting out the sky. Eve and Corona were separated, forced to sit motionless as the Force acted. The bridge between the cities shrank, drawing the two spheres together like a winding rope. The Light and the Dark mixed, producing a beautiful Gray between. When the cities should have crashed into one another, they didn't--rather phasing through each other as if every other person were a ghost. There was a panic. Some tried to attack the citizens of the other city, finding all their Force powers and lightsabers to be intangible to the seen enemy. Eve and Corona collided, unable to affect anything they sought to destroy. The temples slid into one. In truth, it had always been one temple, one Force, one unity, but it had been divided for a time. That time was at an end... and the imbalance would end with it. The fusion would make sure of that. Within the core of both temples, the altars and the rooms themselves became one. The summoning circuitry broke, unable to reconcile with the other form of magic. The Dark and Light left their hosts in an instant. Corona and Eve, however, were perfectly susceptible to the fusion. Their bodies and minds slammed together into one entity, mandated by the Force itself. What resulted was a somewhat ugly looking centaur with swirls of purple over an orange skin. Not to mention two pairs of wings. "...Huh," the mixed creature said, examining herself. "...This is going to be a problem for the rest of them." She used her magic to divide herself into her component selves immediately; it was far from the first time Corona and Eve had been fused to another being, given how far their adventures had taken them. Within the cities, the people discovered they were a combination of Light and Dark, paired with a counterpart from the other city whenever possible. There was a lot of confused blabbering and a couple angry shouts, but all anger petered out as the second half of the person felt like they had just been gravely insulted. No one knew who they were anymore. Inside the temple core, Roland was one of those lucky enough to not have a direct opposite to fuse with, as were Monika and Minna. Everyone else... "Why do you do this to us!?" Tesseract/Troi shouted, pointing accusingly at the gray spark of the Force in the center of the new Temple, her marbled blue-and-white appearance seeming somehow natural. "We have... I have... devoted everything!" "You devoted wrongly," Roland said, sitting down to clean his gun. "You... you did this!" "Yeah, he did!" Jotaro/Vriska said, cracking... his knuckles. The masculine had clearly come through in the combination far more than the feminine. He was a massive, armored gray humanoid with orange robes and a hat that seemed part of his hair. "And now you're in for a world of pain. You wanna know real justice, punk?" Star Platinum rose behind him, holding the infinite-sided die. "I'll bring you down." "Naaaaaaah," Pinkie/Nanoha said, taking the shape of a graceful pink centaur. "How about we don't be all punchy-punchy and talk like the beautiful people we are?" Pinkie/Nanoha used a delicate finger to lift Tesseract/Troi's head. "I'm sure you can come to understand each other after spending enough time in that head of yours." "I am unclean," Mlinx/O'Neill deadpanned. "And I love it." "Let's not get stuck in this experience too quickly...." Pinkie/Nanoha warned. "We will be going back, isn't that right?" "SHOCKING!" Burgerbelle/Lightning declared. She looked exactly like Lightning, except in different clothes. "Literally, that's what I am. Also, can I punch the ali-alicorn in the face? Please?" "It would be unacceptable to ruin the truce at this juncture," Starbeat/Thrackerzod announced. "It is also unnecessary, as the conflict is over and resolved. There is no other city to destroy anymore, there is but one city, one people." She adjusted her goggles, looking right at Tesseract/Troi. "Both of your plans played into the laps of the Force to bring you together. You have nothing to fight. Can you realize that?" The speckled alicorn looked at her, beyond confused. Slowly, she nodded, sitting down on the ground. "I devoted so much..." "To the Force, yes," Ahsoka said, having combined with the other Ahsoka. "And you still can." She placed a hand on Tesseract/Troi. "It just wants you to do it together." "I... we... can try." "Good. I'm sure our friends can separate you later." "I can separate them now," Monika pointed out, examining a character file. She glanced at Pinkie/Nanoha. "But... I think I'll wait. For, you know, the right time. When it won't backfire." Pinkie/Nanoha placed a gentle hand on Monika's shoulder. "You're learning. I'm glad to see that flower in your soul bloom so." "Please tell me I can separate you soon, I have such conflicting feelings right now." Jotaro/Vriska pumped one of his arms. "HELL YEAH, I should be like this more often! Look at these GUNS!" "It occurs to me that you are being frivolous and childish," Starbeat/Thrackerzod observed. "Perhaps we should separate before the instability inherent within our combination goes too far." "Some answers would still be nice," Mlinx/O'Neill said. "We don't always get answers," Monika said, looking to the Force spark. "We just get a victory." At these words, the Sweetie Shield projected a hologram into their midst: a tall Sweetie Belle with ever-shifting Roses in her mane. She smiled warmly. "I am Cinder, and I'm sorry I had to put you through all that. I'm not sure exactly how it will play out, but there's probably going to be an unpleasant near-war and some uncomfortable fusions at the end. But, hey, I'm pretty sure it ended in complete victory, soooooo... that's a plus, right?" Minna, who had remained silent up until that moment, stared at her with open eyes. "Cinder...?" Cinder didn't respond; it was just a recording. "Now, I've got a lot to tell you--that's the entire point of this ordeal, to tell you all things--but how about you figure out what to do with this freshly combined city and all the nonsense you just experienced first, hmm? This recording will still be here when you get back, don't worry." The hologram went away. "...So this entire thing was Cinder's doing, somehow," Starbeat/Thrackerzod said. "Yep! I knew she could do it!" Lightning/Burgerbelle grinned. "...I'm not all that shocked, all things considering." "You heard her!" Pinkie/Nanoha shouted. "Let's get this wrapped up and listen to the message!" ~~~ Mattie looked down at the adorable earth pony filly she held in her hooves. "I'm going to call you... Circlet." "...Not some kind of innuendo?" Roxy asked. "I'm not that cruel. Although, I'm sure I could think of a reason a circle-shaped headpiece could be taken wrong. Oh, I think I got one!" Roxy threw her hands into the air, marching away from Mattie. "That's it, I'm never doing it again for her, someone else gets to deliver the next one." "What makes you think there'll be a next one?" Jenny raised her eyebrow. "Really? This is you we're talking about." Mattie chuckled. "Heh. Fair enough." Flutterfree and Discord walked up to her. "Congratulations!" "I could say the same to you two," Mattie said with a wink. "Tell me, am I really going to have to wait for the wedding to start the tips?" Flutterfree kept her smile perfectly flat and level while Discord flushed madly. "Mattie, yes, you really do have to wait." "Well, when's the wedding? Hmm?" "We haven't gotten that far." "Oh, psh, you two know where the story's going, there isn't a chance in the nine hells that you're not ending up together." She winked. "Why not skip to the end?" Flutterfree shook her head. "You really don't get it, do you?" "Get what, darling?" "That your way doesn't have to be the best way." Mattie frowned. "I... well..." Flutterfree sighed. "I'm sorry." She placed a hoof on Mattie's shoulder. "Take care of Circlet. We'll do things our way, you do yours. We'll be there for each other, right?" Mattie grinned. "You got that, mate. Now excuse me, I need to go pass out from exhaustion on a couch somewhere." "Oh, my," Flutterfree put a hoof to her mouth. "Here, let me help you..." "Why are you even up and about?" Discord asked. "To mess with you," Mattie winked. "Also, to be around for this." Pinkie/Nanoha dropped from the sky. "HI GUYS! We just saved the city and got a message from Cinder and had a lot of silly fusions!" Flutterfree stared at her in shock. "Ah, I love being me," Mattie chuckled. ~~~ "And th--" Onion interrupted the Elder. "And then we all know what happens. We live in this city, Elder!" She pointed angrily out the window at the Gray Force Temple dominating the skyline. "All that happens next is the oh-so-great heroes of the multiverse hand-holding our city for months until they were sure we wouldn't kill each other once they left!" "Onion..." Pringle frowned. "Pringle, Pringle, Pringle! You know they forced us to be the way we are! They didn't let us find a new way in the Force! They managed us like... like children!" "Strange you have a problem with that," Jang muttered. "Don't you start," Onion hissed. The Elder stood up, walking to Onion. "Onion, this is not acceptable. Calm yourself or I--" "You won't have to do anything, I'm leaving." Onion stormed out. "I'm trying to show you all that they aren't the great heroes you think they are, that we don't need their 'examples' to lead us everywhere. They were messed up! But no, you get so enamored with their stories, their legends... Gah! Elder Tano, you met them! You knew them!" "Yes. I did." Ahsoka Tano sighed, leaning on one of the walls. "And they helped us even after they no longer needed to." "They've been around hundreds of years," Onion spat. "They should let us live our lives at some point." She stormed out of Ahsoka's chambers, angrily walking through the Town of Gray. Lightsabers of all colors flashed around as people talked, laughed, and lived their lives. And everywhere there were statues of the heroes that had 'saved' this city. The travelers that had, in their wisdom, managed the newly fused city as they slowly separated all those who had been stuck together by the Force. People were happy, yes. People claimed they didn't worship the heroes, that was true. But looking at all the statues, Onion found that hard to believe. Even in the twilight years of the Tower, you refuse to move on, Onion growled to herself. They all just accept you. But I won't. I never will. I know who you really are, what you really do, and no amount of legendary stories will take that away. She stormed to her house. She threw the door open and entered a nine-digit code into a keypad, opening a passageway to her basement. Descending the cold, stone stairs, she arrived at her prized possessions. Twelve humanoid robots with limbs attached to white pearls. Each one had the color of a single SBURB Aspect. "They need to pay," Onion said. "They will," the Time robot affirmed. "How can we be sure their path will cross with the city's again?" "I exist." Time pressed its hands together. "That is all the evidence we need." V - Intercessions of the Past Onion found her friends sitting at a table in what they called the Juice Bar--a silly red building right outside the Temple that served all sorts of fruit juices 24/7. It probably helped that it was run by a droid who didn't need to sleep, making it rather unfair competition for any other sorts of similar businesses. In a universe with no enforced night and day, never closing was of great benefit. The silvery, floating machine with twelve separate spidery limbs delivered four fruit smoothies to the table. It was more than smart enough to know what Onion would order before she said anything--grape. "Hey..." Jang said. "How are you doing?" "Better," Onion said, getting into her chair and sitting down. She stared at the smoothie for several seconds, doing nothing with it. "Hey, turn that frown upside-down!" Pringle spread her front hooves wide. "We can forget about all that and drink some smoothies like old friends!" "We can't," Joanne deadpanned, still refusing to look up from her phone. She drank her smoothie by having her Stand lift it for her. "Joanne..." "Onion's fixated on it and it wouldn't be right to just ignore it." Onion frowned. "It's really hard to take you seriously when you're saying everything while staring at your phone." "You know me, don't you?" "Yeah. That's the problem here." Joanne's fingers stopped flying across her screen. For a moment, her eyes looked up and locked with Onion's own; a deep, inner fire screaming to be let loose. "I use my phone. You scream at the heroes." "I can stop." "Can you?" Joanne's grip on her phone began to loosen due to trembling. "Can you drop it? Never speak about it again? Forget it?" Onion was taken aback. "Didn't think so." She returned to her phone, tone softening considerably. "I understand, Onion. I understand your need." "T-thanks?" The slightest hint of a smile crawled up Joanne's face. "Beyond that, you kind of have a point when you're not frothing at the mouth." "What!?" Pringle blurted. "Wait, no, no, sorry, I did--" "Pringle, we're friends here," Jang said. "Speak your mind. We won't hate you for it." Pringle looked at the table. "...We wouldn't be here without them. We'd be dead. We wouldn't have been born. How can you be mad at that?" "It's the other things," Onion said. "They define us. They don't let us find our own way. They see that we need 'help' and then just wave their magic wands, dropping the 'solution' in our lap." Pringle looked Onion in the eye. "Would you rather they not have combined the cities?" "The problem was partly their fault in the first place." "I... well I guess..." "They didn't know that at first," Jang pointed out. "And even if they did, who wouldn't attempt to right their wrongs?" Onion tapped her hoof on the table. "It's... it's less that and more how they just... keep coming back. They left, but we can't get rid of them. We idolize them when... they're just broken people! The entire problem with the two cities was that they worshipped them, and we're still on that." "We're not!" Pringle gasped. "Worship doesn't have to include ritualistic prayer! It can be a fixation, it... really, it's whatever defines you as a culture." "Everyone worships something," Joanne said. "Money, power, beauty, pleasure--even I worship something." "You? The most vocal atheist I've ever seen?" Jang blinked. "Correct. I worship intellectual faculties and the truth they lead us to. Or, if I'm being less nebulous, I worship the connection this phone provides me to people I scarcely feel in real life. I am inconsistent--either one of these may be at the top of my list on any given day." She slid through a few more screens. "Onion is absolutely correct that the city as a whole worships the past and the legends therein." "I... that's..." Pringle shoved a hoof over her mouth. "You can say it's silly. I certainly would if I were you." "She's not you," Jang pointed out. Joanne shrugged, falling silent. Onion sighed, turning to Jang. "What do you think?" "I think everyone has a point." Jang folded his hands. "They did a lot of great things, but they had a lot of unintended consequences. They acted as heroes, but they were arrogant. The Tower gave them power, but should that excuse them? They couldn't be good unless they used it." He sat back. "I care more about our continued friendship than whether they are good or bad." Pringle smiled warmly. "Jang... that's amazing. You're always the best of us." Joanne nodded, not looking up from her phone. Onion stayed silent for a few moments. "...What would you do if they came back?" Jang shrugged. "Dunno. Probably go say 'hi' just for the novelty." "I'd give Pinkie a big hug!" Pringle giggled. "I'd walk up to Rev and give her a few things she's ignoring." Joanne smirked at the thought. "Oh, she who claims to be rational..." "Not Discord or Flutterfree?" Onion asked. "I'm not cruel. ...That cruel, anyway." Even Joanne doesn't want to hurt them... Onion sighed. "...Thanks guys. For... for letting me know." I can trust you as friends. But not in this. "I'm... gonna go home and think about some things." "Need any company?" Pringle asked. "Not now," Onion shook her head, taking her smoothie in her hoof. "See you around." She trotted outside, feeling a bizarre mixture of happy and depressed. They were good friends. But they wouldn't understand what she needed to do. Maybe that means... The thought died in her head the moment she saw the hologram of Cinder coming out of a projector across the street. It was a recording--she wasn't in the Force temple--but it still had her words. Onion scowled at the smiling Sweetie. You're the worst out of all of them. You defined everything about us and didn't even think about what we might think of it. All for what, an E-MAIL? ~~~ An unfathomable amount of time in the past, Cinder stood in front of a camera in the middle of a large, featureless room. "We ready to go?" she asked. "Ready. Just start talking whenever." Cinder tossed her mane back and smiled. "Hello! So, I take it you all separated yourself and dealt with the initial chaos, right? That should have gone smoothly, if everything we've done on this end worked out properly. If not, I really am sorry, I overestimated what I knew. I kinda doubt that's what happens, though, but it never hurts to be prepared. "Anyway... you're probably looking for some explanation, huh? Well, as you hopefully know, I used my... let's say connections. I used my connections to send myself and a lot of other people back into the deep multiversal past, so our story wouldn't have to 'end'. Even though everything has to end at some point, now there's so much time between us that it might as well be endless. And if I do somehow survive despite the odds... you won't see me there. I'll close a loop and become my younger self, creating another retcon loop. I'm not going to rewrite anything. So, in a way, this message is also another goodbye. One that I can give to people after the war has ended. "I'm still not sure which version of the end you got. I do know it wasn't pure-preservation or pure-collapse, the Tower's not that binary. You either got a New World with the Tower still standing for a time to facilitate an ending to the story, or a New Multiverse with an unexpected tragic cost and a beeline toward infinity. It honestly doesn't matter which happened; my message remains the same. "In this temple I've got... a lot of stuff. Private messages for every person I could think of that you should watch in private, just to make it more likely the camera won't be on when you see them. I've got records of the era we live in, of the things we did in the past up to this point. And I've got a few surprises... but we'll get to those in a minute. I may add a few things later, but I have to let the Temple become an ancient relic at some point for the plan to work. "And yes... the plan. See, we needed to ensure you would hear the message, so we had to give it a lot of ka-importance that would only activate when the time was right. So we needed to build a ka-machine in an era that has no Flowers. It was... well, it was 'difficult,' but we weren't exactly in a rush to complete it. Basically, we made the Narrative Temple as a ka-nexus that would store narrative potential over time and release it at the opportune moment, and not a moment before. "The trick was making sure it survived the trip all the way to you. I have no idea if I actually live long enough to loop back into myself, so it needed to be able to do that on its own. And the amount of time is ridiculous. We landed sometime after the Downstreamer era and the only things aside from their relics that we recognize are Flagg--who's currently sealed away--and The One Above All--who's not involved in any sort of society at the moment and is kinda just... there. Actively forgetting about us. "Regardless, nothing from this era is recognizable in the future. Anything that might be we aren't sure if it isn't just some shallow duplicate, given... well, the tremendous amount of time. So... I made it a Force Temple that will split in two once we leave it be. Star Wars is one of the most powerful stories that repeats over the history of the multiverse, and the Force is a powerful entity that doesn't have a character in the traditional sense, so being eternal and undying isn't a problem, narratively speaking. The Temple would survive with the ka-machine and the Force manipulator in it. "But... oh, but... I had to make sure it was important enough to be found. And my message, on its own, doesn't make a chapter. So we--no, I, I should take the blame for this--set up a conflict. The Temple would divide itself and, once the war ended in a collapse or preservation, it would change. The Force would drift to accentuate the differences between the two groups. It'll be a subtle change, the sort that can be resisted at any moment, but that no one will want to. There will be a conflict, a conflict that just begs for the heroes of the previous era to solve through friendship and just being awesome. "I didn't want to make a tragedy, so there's basically a guaranteed victory pre-loaded into the encounter. Even though I know you'd win, I also know that the little people in the cities would not want peace. Violence would just come back. So... our little Temple will re-combine itself and combine everyone in it. I bet you just experienced that! Should have been fun and maybe a little entertaining. But the main point was to fuse the citizens together so they couldn't mentally justify violence toward the other. Might take you a week to sort out, but lucky you, I want you to have an absolute victory. "Soooooo yeah. That basically explains what just happened. You'll all get the private messages soon. And for the record, I'm doing pretty good! I'm glad I came back. Not everyone who came with me is as thrilled... but, you know, to each their own. However, before you go and look at those private messages... there's someone I want you to meet. She's got a story to tell you." Cinder turned to her left, waving for another Sweetie to come over. She was a short Sweetie, though clearly an adult mare. She proudly wore a silver artificial horn and, around her neck, Black Thirteen sat in the middle of a necklace, smaller than it should have been. The Sweetie walked into view of the camera and Cinder stepped aside. "I am Allure Belle of Merodi Universalis," she said, expression hard. "...But not the Merodi Universalis you know." ~~~ Elder Ahsoka Tano walked to the throne room--now outside the Temple rather than within. The two alicorns were discussing policy when she entered. "Taxes on fruit are ridiculous," Troi pointed out, dragging her hoof across a graph even she didn't fully understand. Tessa raised an eyebrow. "You're holding it upside-down." "The point remains! Fruit taxes are way up." "We have limited farmland." "Most of our food comes from conjuration spells. Come on, Tessa, you know this!" Tessa smirked. "I do... but it is a very special strain on those of our people who work there." "We have to cut taxes somewhere." "Do we? The people may outcry for less, but we know that we are underfunded for many of our department projects that will make life for them better. If I thought we could get away with it, I would raise taxes." Troi gasped. "Whaaaaat!?" "Every citizen within our fair city lives well above the theoretical poverty line, those slums only exist because some people have a bone to pick with Employment Services, and nobody's starving down there. Everyone can afford a few more coins taken out of their pockets. They can give up, oh I don't know, HD-3D subscriptions to live shows beamed from the Tower City." "...They do spend a lot of money on that." "Ka-shroud or not, it's still ridiculous..." Tessa noticed Ahsoka. "Ah, Elder Tano! What brings you here?" "Dropping by to visit my old friends," Ahsoka said, smiling. "The Force is still balanced and, as usual, my job is just a formality." "Don't say that!" Troi smiled warmly. "You represent the fusion of the Dark and the Light, the Balance, far more than we ever can." "You have been with this Temple longer than any of us," Tessa added. "You refused to devote yourself to either side when we cut it off." Ahsoka rubbed the back of her head. "I was a little crazy, wasn't I? Who clones themselves just to make sure they're in both places at once?" "A wise elder, that's who." Troi smiled. "A crazy Force Master," Tessa added. "Which is just what we needed." "I am honored." Ahsoka bowed. "Oh!" Troi clapped her hooves. "That's right, we have to ask you something!" "We have detected a sky-ship on long-range sensors coming right for us," Tessa said. "We wish you to confirm if it's really them." "...They're coming back?" Ahsoka's eyes widened. "They might be. Our City of the Moon has moved enough it's not unreasonable to assume we're on their return path." "I will go right away," Ahsoka said, a smile coming to her face. "I'm assuming we will prepare a festival?" "We don't want them to think we've returned to our old ways," Tessa pointed out. "Psh, it'll just be a small thing," Troi said. "I'll call the Pinkies. ...Assuming we get confirmation." "Yes, yes..." Ahsoka walked out of the throne room. As soon as she was out of sight she broke into a grin and ran as fast as she could to the other side of the city. She skidded to a stop outside, of all places, Mary's Orphanage. She ran in the door. "Frigid!" An ice-blue stallion looked up. "Yes?" "Where's Mary?" "Upstai--" Ahsoka ran up the stairs, finding exactly who she was looking for: a tall woman with pale skin, white hair, and purple eyes. Mary. Better known as Minna Belle to those who she wasn't trying to hide from. She was carefully watching a hologram of Allure. Ahsoka knew it wasn't really Allure--Minna had explained to her long ago that her mother's artificial horn had a slightly different make and model than the one in the messages--but sometimes it was so, so hard to tell them apart. "...Are they coming back?" Minna held up her phone. Recent Calls: Captain Pinkie Pie. Minna had a stupid grin and tears on her face. "Yeah. They are." ~~~ "I both am and am not who you think I am, I..." Allure frowned, furrowing her brow. "...Let's try this another way. Yes, this is Black Thirteen I'm wearing. I... I basically own it instead of Randall Flagg. I was the one to ultimately beat him and seal him away for... well, a while. I got the artifact in his stead, and with a lot of help I've... I can't say I've mastered it, but at the very least it's not driving me insane. Yet. When I first got it after we'd defeated him, I--well, I gained all the memories of your Allure. She must have made some sort of connection with Black Thirteen in those last moments..." Allure shuddered. "I know she was lost to the price of whatever preserve or collapse happened to you. For a while there, I basically was her. But I wasn't. It's... Well, I still haven't fully resolved it in my head to this day, so there's that. "I just wanted to say something to you. I know most of you, but I also don't know most of you. It's... I don't know. Things are so similar yet so different sometimes I have a hard time discerning which one is me and which one is the other me." She rubbed the back of her head. "This is going to be really discombobulated..." "Take your time," Cinder encouraged. Allure took a breath. "I'm sorry. For being so angry. Yes, it was more reasonable than how everyone else was being, but that doesn't make it any more right. Being reasonable is revenge, eye-for-an-eye... Being reasonable gets us nowhere. I was on a holy crusade and I never stopped, even after Renee..." Allure took a shaky breath. "Renee... I've seen her die twice. At least one of them wasn't at my own hooves..." "Allure, if you need to take a break..." "I'm fine." Allure tossed her mane back and smiled. "That's all behind us. Long, long behind us. It was all long gone before you arrived. But... I suppose that's what I need to talk about. Merodi Universalis. Not yours. The other one... We have very similar histories with minor differences up until Nettle. We don't have a Nettle. We had a crazed version of Darkseid try to take control of the Tower and fail miserably. After that, Corona studied the Tower, and... I think she wiped the information from her memory and went home, but we can never be sure. "Merodi Universalis just continued on. A hundred years. Two hundred years. We grew exponentially, driven by the heroes that defined us. Over time, leadership changed less and less. Considering how little it changed before, that's very impressive. We guided the society in the way we saw fit, until we reached Class 1 status as the beacons of friendship. We sat with the Seats for a time. "Eventually, however... the grumblings of the next generation got to be too much for us to control. No matter how much we had done, or how much we had saved them, they wanted to control their nation and their lives. Now that we were Class 1 and there weren't really any threats to our entire nation, they didn't feel the need to rely on us for protection. They wanted their time in the spotlight. "So we let them have it. "That was a mistake." Allure tapped the ground with her hoof. "You were beginning to see the start of it when the War For Existence began. Not the resentment of the younger generations, though that was there, but the immaturity. When you're in a largely post-scarcity society, you can get whatever you want whenever you want. I know we had a monetary system, but it was getting to the point where it wasn't providing much. You could get free entertainment, connections, services, and food out of the automatic government provisions in fully integrated worlds. Nobody had to work for anything unless they wanted to. Nobody had to suffer hardship, or even pain... "We didn't realize that, at the top. We were constantly fighting, managing worlds that had just been brought in, and putting ourselves on the line for their sake. To make their lives perfect. We didn't realize that making lives 'perfect' actually ruins them. They had no sense of right and wrong--there were no consequences to their actions! Any personal disagreements could be solved by moving away or casting mood-altering spells on yourself. Yes, for a while, people refused to do that... but, throughout every history, the younger generation has pushed the boundaries of what is acceptable. In relationships, self-alteration, genetics... Our ban on genetic modification was eventually lifted because of outcry, and that just made things worse. You'd be surprised how many people just remove their emotions. And how they influence the next to do the same... "We had catered to their every whim and given them a soft life where they were free. It was amazing, for a time. But we let them go too far. We eventually saw it happening, and we tried to reinstate limits to keep them from devolving further, but they resisted heavily. They claimed we were the 'old morality' and that they were the 'new morality' and that what we thought was 'good' was in fact tyrannical and oppressive. "So we thought we would let them try it out on their own. We transferred leadership over to them and went to retire, watching from a distance. Let them learn the hard way why we did what we did. Maybe they would grow past it and become something better than us--we were awfully stubborn, after all. Maybe we were wrong. "I don't think we were wrong. Not anymore. "Merodi Universalis was stable under the new system for all of ten meta-years. "The people they chose as their leaders... they weren't heroes, they were just the people they thought were the strongest, the fastest, the best, the smartest. The people they liked, and in a world where so many people shut their emotions off, or were so high on magic they had removed their negative ones entirely, or were just so bored they were willing to experiment with everything... those leaders weren't the best. Even those who weren't selfish for the sake of power often had some sort of ideal behind them that just screamed to be implemented no matter what anyone else thought. "So they fought. The fights resolved quickly, at first, and the system was changed each time to accommodate. But..." Allure sighed. "We watched our society ruin itself without our guidance. Worlds started seceding, internal wars began, and... "...By the time we decided to break our promise to stay out of it, it was too late. We fought to bring our society back together, and many, many of us died in the attempt. In the end, it was a full-on war. A Class 1 going to war with itself... destroyed much of the multiverse. "And that... was the end of Merodi Universalis." She looked right into the camera, focusing as much as she could. "Our method of building a society is fast. It can bring about great beauty. But it grows too fast, so fast that it breaks under its own weight. We think we are doing the right thing by protecting, sheltering, and making the best life. We were so positive that progress and kindness led to utopia... it didn't. "And while I would change some things if I did it again... I don't regret being part of it." She smiled brightly. "Merodi Universalis only lasted a thousand years, total. But those thousand years were amazing. I wouldn't trade them for anything. What would have happened had we not been there? What would the lives of these people have been without us? It may have ended terribly, but that doesn't make what we did do mean any less. "We probably shouldn't have let them run themselves. But how long could we have stopped them? We may have been powerful, but eventually their numbers would have grown too strong. Immortality means we can't just keep adjusting to a new generation, the generations keep piling up, and we can't outlive them. They'll band together and overthrow us no matter what we do, with time. "Nothing can ever last forever. "Even a good king will eventually fall, no matter how immortal he is. "And yet, despite this, here I am, doing it again." Allure chuckled. "A bunch of Sweeties from the future have shown up and wanted to explore. And I... well; I'm part of them. I won't bore you with that story, that's Cinder's to tell, but know that I'm back here, punching the clock for people that I know will eventually change beyond recognition. Because... "Well, because we're heroes. "Just like you are." Allure held out a hoof. "Go make your new societies. They won't last forever. But they will be glorious and amazing. "And Minna? ...I'm proud of you. Carry on our name into... wherever it is you end up." ~~~ A haphazardly slapped together 'ship' of metal, wood, random pastry products, and what appeared to be flaming ice floated through the sky, propellers spinning madly. It was the Austraeoh XV. "Thar she blows!" Pinkie declared, jumping on top of the wheel. "The City of the Moon!" These days, she looked more like a swashbuckling pirate than a pink party pony, and that was just what she wanted. "We have come full circle," Monika observed, adjusting the suit she now wore all the time. "It marks the twilight years of our journey. We have experienced much, gained allies, lost friends, and here... we are." She reached her hand toward a planet in the sky. "The Tower groans, and with it we seek reconciliation." Burgerbelle glanced at her. "You've gotten really poetic over the years." Monika nodded. "It could be said I resumed my craft in this very city. A mistake to show my inner flaws. And now, a return, to show how I have grown." She created a donut and a muffin out of nothing and gave them to Pinkie, who devoured them whole. "In another way, this prepares me for the day my powers fail me. There will be no character files after the end." "Donuts, muffins, donuts, muffins..." Pinkie scratched her chin. "Hmm..." "Neither are superior, both have their own traits and unique gifts to the world. Like the rose and the water lily, the--" "BOOORING!" Burgerbelle declared. "You already got your reconciliation arc, we don't need it again." "I can have more than one, thank you very much. Though I, again, apologize for Yuri's behavior." "Ugh, you're dry as a brick." Monika smirked. "But a brick is made from the wet mud, hardening into a structural support for much greater things." "Ok, boomer." Pinkie rammed her face into the wheel. "Burgerbelle, that's cringey, even for you." "It also doesn't apply," Monika added. "SPOON!" Burgerbelle threw a spoon at Monika's face. It made the "spoon!" sound when it hit. Monika pulled the spoon away and examined her reflection in it. "Thinking of a poem?" Flutterfree asked, sitting on Discord's head as he walked up to them. "I am always thinking of a poem." "And when she's not, she is writing a poem!" Discord laughed. Monika smirked. "On the contrary, I could be writing our chronicle--" "Which is overly poetic half the time." "Have you even read it?" Monika asked. "I give him excerpts," Flutterfree said. "He always enjoys seeing how you portray him. When he doesn't get upset and I need to give him the belly rubs to calm him down..." Discord flushed. "Er..." Mattie walked up, chuckling. "You know, if I was a betting mare, I would have said he would be the one embarrassing you in this relationship. After twenty-five years of this I can't believe how wrong I was." "Glad I could surprise!" Flutterfree giggled. "You have a vicious tongue on you." "Scared?" Flutterfree waggled her eyebrows. "Very." "As you should be," Eve said, landing on top of Flutterfree, creating a totem pole of people. Discord struggled under the weight. "You think her blades are the most dangerous part of her... but it's her words that end the mightiest of rulers. You've seen it happen multiple times." "She's just too nice," Discord said. "It's impossible to be mad! She can win any fight just by putting on the puppy eyes." Flutterfree scoffed. "I do not!" "You kinda do," Eve pointed out. "...Though, only for little things." "The weak and foolish things of the world shall shame the strong," Discord quoted, tapping Flutterfree on the snout. Flutterfree smirked. "Oh, calling me your queen again?" "I said no such thing!" She tossed Eve off her and looked Discord in the eyes. "And I didn't say I had any problem with it." She kissed him on the snout. "Such a shame, really could have gotten some good-Discord points." "You know I never run out." "I'm far, far too liberal with them." Eve picked herself up off the ground, grunting. "Next time you feel like goggling over each other can you not dump me on the ground?" Flutterfree put a hoof to her mouth. "Oh! I'm sorry, I was caught up, here, let me help you." She flew down and picked Eve up. "There you go. Do you want back on the totem?" "I'm way too big for that anyway. I should be the bottom!" Without missing a beat, she pointed a hoof at Mattie. "You don't get to say anything." Mattie sighed. "Wasn't planning on it." Flutterfree frowned. "Mattie... are you okay?" "I'm... fine." She tapped a hoof on the ground. "Just going through some things in this messed-up head of mine." "We're here if you need it," Flutterfree encouraged. "When you need it," Pinkie added. Mattie laughed bitterly. "Ah, yes, the old adage of knowing you need help but not wanting to grab it and not knowing when it's the right time in-story to do so..." She sighed. "...I wish the Tower would go already." "Soon. A few more years." Eve put a hoof on her back. "Then... it'll be new." "It damn well better be." The Austraeoh XV approached the City of the Moon, coming in at one of the major docks. To the surprise of absolutely no one, it was decked out with balloons, party supplies, and banners saying 'WELCOME BACK!' The Austraeoh dropped a plank onto the dock, and several of the heroes piled out, Pinkie leading them. She waved. "HELLOOO CITY OF THE MOON!" The inhabitants of the city stared at them for a moment. They didn't look like the heroes they remembered or the statues they had--lots of them had many more scars than usual, weren't very clean, or had completely changed their look with an outfit or some other kind of modification. But this didn't matter to one little soft-pink mare. "AUNTIE PINKIE!" she shouted, running out of the crowd. "It's really you!" "Auntie!?" Pinkie laughed. "I don't remember you!" "I've never met you but Limestone Pie is my great-grandmother! I've always wanted to... just say hi! HI!" Pinkie swooped her up in a hug. "Hi back!" Ahsoka stepped out of the crowd, removing her hood. "Everyone, these may not be the heroes you remember... but they are our heroes. Let's show them a great time!" "YOU HEARD HER!" Troi shouted. "BRING OUT THE CAKE!" Tessa tensed. "Oh no. Cake..." Pinkie threw a cake into Tessa's face. "Enjoy yourself, Tessa, it'll be worth it!" "LET'S PARTY!" Discord declared, summoning as many singing fruit as he could. If the City of the Moon hadn't been sold on the celebration before, it was now--the time had come to celebrate and they were going to have an amazing time. As they partied, Minna snuck onto the Austraeoh. The city wasn't about to find out who she was today, even if she wanted to visit her old friends. ~~~ "Hey." Vriska pulled some cotton candy off a stand and shoved it in Starbeat's face. "Here." Starbeat smirked, taking a bite of it. "What's this for?" Vriska shrugged. "Feeling the past coming back to haunt me, I guess." "Vriska, come on, we were fine when we were here." "It's the principle of the thing." Vriska pointed at a hologram of the other Allure talking, projected right into the street. "It takes me... all the way back. Back to the war. Back to what I did to you." "Vriska..." "And I can never apologize enough." Starbeat rammed her cotton candy into Vriska's face. "And neither can I. We were both terrible to each other. But we're past that now." Vriska laughed, tearing the confection off her face. "You know, I wonder why we couldn't have just been... Eve and Flutterfree. I don't think those two ever had problems. Now Flutterfree and Discord... hoo boy..." "Eve and Flutterfree fought and disagreed just like everyone else. Just... well, not as loud and shouty as we got." Starbeat paused. "Get. Last week was... fun." "Hey, that was not a proper stuffpile and you know it." "I swear I'm ka-cursed to never understand the proper arrangement for a stuffpile." "Right after the Tower falls, you and me, stuffpile lessons." "Not again..." Suddenly, both Starbeat and Vriska froze in their tracks. Something had just touched their minds. Good. I have your attention. What the fuck!? Vriska called back, psychically. Can't you see we're busy? Can't be helped, unfortunately. You need to be warned and this is the right place to do it without drawing suspicion. Not everyone in this city idolizes you, there are those who resent your influence. Just another villain to defeat, Starbeat sent back, trying to pinpoint the voice's location. Same as ever. She knows she can't win. Not here, not now. She doesn't care. She just wants to hurt you as much as possible. Starbeat and Vriska froze in their tracks. Be wary, and be careful. Protect everyone you can. You can't lose, but you can be hurt. The voice was gone. Starbeat immediately pulled out her phone. "Pinkie, you get that?" "Sadly, yes. Meet back at the docks, we need t--no, wait, it's too late. Nanoha! Psychic message, stat! We've got a mysterious enemy out for revenge! They are going to strike soon!" Starbeat heard Nanoha mumble something. A second later, she received a warning message. A second after that, she heard the explosion. "Fuck," Vriska swore. "Starbeat?" "On it..." Starbeat said, executing a teleport. ~~~ "I like this beard," O'Neill said, scratching the tangle of hairs on his chin. It looked even more impressive in the funhouse mirror he was examining. "Wear that for long enough and you'll start talking like a pirate," Nanoha commented with a coy smile. "Yarrrr." "NANOHA!" Pinkie shouted, startling both of them. "Psychic message, stat! We've got a mysterious enemy out for revenge! They are going to strike soon!" Nanoha wasted no time, diverting her magic to send a message to the entire Austraeoh crew, warning them to be on guard. "Sending, give it a second..." It went out. And then there was an explosion. It wasn't anywhere near them--it was the Austraeoh itself. In the distance, they saw it smoldering and falling into multiple pieces, crumbling to the surface of Nucleon far below. Nanoha teleported herself and O'Neill to the dock, holding her device out aggressively. "Whoever did this, show yourselves!" "Looks like you finally got yourself a good woman, General Snark," a synthetic voice declared. "I'm glad some of us have turned their lives around..." There was a massive gust of wind that tossed Nanoha and O'Neill off the dock. Nanoha grabbed her husband with her loose hand, channeling her magic into her feet to levitate in midair. "Who are you?" A spindly robot made of blue pearls floated toward them, the icon of Breath proudly displayed on its central orb. Massive, tornado-like winds surrounded it, keeping it both aloft and protecting it from attacks. "I do quite enjoy the confusion on your faces," the Breath robot said, chuckling. "I wonder if you'll get past it before you die!" "STARLIGHT BREAKER!" Nanoha shouted, triggering her massive spell in an instant. The Breath robot dodged. "Breath is such a slippery Aspect, is it not? Quite a large number of... useful abilities." A gust of wind shot out... and O'Neill slipped out of Nanoha's hands. "JACK!" ~~~ Pringle looked up at Trixie and Pinkie, both trying to out-card-trick each other. "Woah... you're both amazing..." "Trixie is better," Trixie huffed, pulling out five aces and making a card house out of them. "Nah, you just have the showmanship." Pinkie made a sword out of cards. "I've got the--" Pinkie's phone rang. Her cheerful demeanor dropped in an instant and she let out a tired sigh. "Pinkie, did you get that?" "Sadly, yes," Pinkie muttered. "Meet back at the docks, we need t--" She stopped, as if she'd seen something elsewhere. "No, wait, it's too late!" She ducked behind a pot and... was gone. Pringle frowned. "What..." Trixie put a hoof on Pringle. "It's fine, Pinkie will handle it. And the GREAT and POWERFUL TRIXIE will keep showing you card tricks!" "Ooooh!" "Now you see it..." Trixie got the message when she hid the card behind her ear. She didn't flinch--she was a performer, and a performer she would stay. The show must go on. "...Now you don't!" "Wait, what? You teleported it a--" The explosion shook the ground. "Trixie did not teleport it away, though she will teleport us away." Trixie focused her magic, but was interrupted by a robot powered by the pink of Heart. "DIE," the synthetic voice called, bringing a blade of the soul upon Trixie. Pinkie appeared in front, blocking it with a pool noodle. "Not today." "You... YOU... PINK ONE." The Heart robot flailed randomly in several directions before angling its entire body at her. "You will suffer more than most." "I'd like to see you try..." She boxed the robot in the face. "PRINGLE, RUN!" Trixie shouted. Pringle did exactly as she was told. ~~~ Jenny was on the back of the Austraeoh when it exploded. She hit the surface of Nucleon at high velocity. Then something hit her at high velocity. A robot brimming with the green of Life, tangled in a mixture of plants and flesh. Jenny regenerated, pulling herself out of the Jenny-shaped hole in the ground. "Ow." "Gotcha!" the Life machine declared. "And I'm gonna ge-" Jenny punched a hole right through it. The Life regenerated the fleshy exterior right back. "...Not again..." Jenny groaned. "Fun, isn't it?" "Gets a little boring after a while." They roundhouse kicked each other, somehow managing to smash the other into the ground again. ~~~ "Hey, do you know where Jojo is?" Pidge asked Mlinx. Mlinx was busy examining the make of a lightsaber with edge guards. "Hmm? Oh, no. I haven't sorry. I can try to call..." "That's fine, it--" Nanoha's message entered their heads at the same time. "Quiznak," Pidge said as the explosion reached them. "We need t--" A robot of Hope punched Pidge in the skull, cracking her jaw and knocking her out in one fell swoop. Mlinx drew his spear. "What was that for?" "This is between you and me." A scepter of light appeared in the Hope robot's hands. "As it should have been." ~~~ "We didn't deserve this," Flutterfree said. "Deserve what?" Discord asked, carrying Flutterfree as they floated through the clouds above the City of the Moon. "This. We didn't deserve each other. We let each other go... and at least my life should have ended before we ever thought to reconcile." She laid her wings over his shoulders. "And yet, by grace alone, we were given this chance at another life. Forced onto a boat together, given an opportunity to see each other..." She kissed him. "Every last minute has been a gift." Discord transformed her into a present. After receiving a playfully annoyed glare, he turned her back. "Pretty sure we know who to thank for that." Flutterfree giggled. "Do you think, if we went back, we'd have worked? Or... did we need to drift apart and mature first?" "I don't know, and I don't care. I'm a being of chaos, I don't deal in absolutes." He chuckled. "But these twenty-some years have been the best of my centuries of life." "It's just so... freeing. W--" They received the message. "Well, that's not very romantic," Discord huffed. The Austraeoh exploded below them. The Light robot exploded above them. Flutterfree spread her wings, summoning Lolo. "We were having a MOMENT!" "Do I look like I care?" the robot shone like a miniature sun. ~~~ "They do not live to serve," the Blood robot declared to the people at the dock. "They are not of us, they wish to control us." It lifted its hands, sending the power of Blood into the many citizens watching the celebration. "We will evict them for the true future..." "FUUUUCK YOU!" Vriska shouted, throwing the infinite-sided die at the Blood robot. A swordfish slapped it across the face. The Blood robot toppled back. "There are your enemies. Destroy them." The power of Blood demanded obedience to the connection. The more people of the city there were, the stronger it was. "...This is bad..." Starbeat observed. "We can't hurt them..." "Shit," Vriska muttered. Ahsoka broke out of the Blood machine's control. "Listen to me! They are not our enemy!" "Your Force will bow to us," the Blood robot said, lifting its hands. Ahsoka activated her lightsabers, standing with Starbeat and Vriska. Troi and Tessa broke free of the control next... ...but they still had a small lightsaber-wielding army attacking them. "Five on all..." Troi commented. "Where we don't want to hurt them..." Tessa hissed. "I like those odds," Vriska chuckled. ~~~ Jotaro wasn't exactly sure what he was watching. He knew the people involved--Rev and Joanne, the latter of whom Jotaro was introduced to abruptly with the line of "Yes, I'm your great-granddaughter through the line of Jolyne, no, I don't know where Grandma is. I'm not here to talk to you." And now... "How do you expect me to treat you with respect if you refuse to look up from your phone?" Rev asked. "The fact that you think respect is a thing I care about is telling. What is respect but a faulty ideal to keep the next generation in line? All should be given that which they prove." "People are not equal, though you are correct they should be treated equally--love even your enemies." "That gets you dead." "Martyrs change the world." "Also, you are currently speaking to me with disdain, not equally." "I'm not perfect, you specifically sought me out to start an argument." "It is what you deserve. From my perspective, it is only you who have done anything suspicious, while from yours, both of us are in the wrong. I am the optimist." "How much are you just reading off your phone?" "Does it matter?" "Well, there's no being alive who could go against the collective knowledge of the Internet, you could always argue anything!" "Perhaps my intention is not to come to an understanding, but to drive something into your thick faith-ridden skull?" "That's... uuuugh... what is your problem? What did we ever do to you?" "Absolutely nothing, at least not relating to your beliefs. You've just created a world where--" "...Yare yare daze..." Jotaro muttered to himself as they continued going at it. Burgerbelle snapped a photo. "This is going into the memories folder. Monika will write a grand poem of the duel of the fates!" "Th--" Jotaro's comment was cut short by the message. Joanne kept talking until the explosion went off. "Ah, a group of four..." the Rage robot descended from the sky, landing hard enough to make a crater. "Worthy opponents. Grandfather, descendant. Atheist, believer. And you..." It pointed at Burgerbelle. "Living beauty!" "...Wat," Burgerbelle deadpanned. The purple energy began to waft off the robot. "Let's find out where this leads..." ~~~ Roland and Monika were on the Austraeoh when it exploded. Luckily, they landed in a lake on the surface. Roland pulled Monika out, wordless. "Egh..." Monika rubbed her head. "What's the deal?" "Attack," Roland said. Monika stood up, glancing at the Temple. "...I can't use my powers safely here. Drat." Roland pulled out his gun. "Be ready for anything." Monika nodded--she may not have been able to make any active changes, but she could passively look for exploits. Which meant she could find things--things like an invisible Void robot through a loose character file. "There!" Monika shouted. Roland fired--hitting the robot, but only in the foot. "Arrogance..." the robot shivered into full view, moving as though it had little control over itself. "You... dare? Do you? How could you? What has become of me?" Monika frowned. "I don't know. But I assure you, we are more than enough to take you out like trash." "You are powerless... one wrong move, Monika... pop! You are brought low. Rightly." Monika pulled a green lightsaber out of her pocket. "I edited my character file to be force-sensitive that day and I've been practicing ever since so I won't be taken advantage of again. Between me and the Gunslinger... we've got you." The Void robot vanished again. ~~~ Corona and Eve were inside the Austraeoh when it went off, but they were able to shield themselves from the fire. "...Austraeoh sixteen, coming soon to a sky near you," Corona commented with a chuckle. "Yeah," Eve flared her wings, looking for the opponent. "What attacked us?" "Your hubris." The Doom robot flew out of the sky, punching them both in the head. Corona had to act fast, preventing instant death from occurring with her own Doom powers, forcing the Doom back onto the robot itself. It was completely immune to that sort of instant death. "You think... you think you can just throw your problems back at me!?" the robot screeched. "You... why are you so... happy? How can... not possible!" It let out a roundhouse kick that Eve caught in her magic. "Calm down," Eve said. "Who are you? How can we help you?" "Help? HELP!? I THINK YOU'VE HELPED ENOUGH!" ~~~ Mattie, Minna, and the Everykid were on the Austraeoh when it exploded. Unlike the others who had some way to defend themselves, these three went flying like ragdolls. The Everykid worked fast, placing a hat with wings on her head and flying around. She grabbed Mattie first. "You've got quite a grip on you..." Mattie gagged. The Everykid hummed, gesturing at the falling Minna. As they swooped in, Mattie unfurled a whip and lashed it around Minna. To Mattie's surprise, Minna didn't scream, she only grunted. She'd forgotten how high a tolerance for pain that woman had. The Everykid was barely able to keep them aloft, so they still crashed into the ground, kicking up a copious amount of dust and smashing a large bush. Mattie picked some sticks out of her mane. "Ow..." Minna limped to her feet. "What attacked us...?" "Haven't the foggiest," Mattie mumbled, rubbing her head. "Well, actually, a bunch of those Aspect robots, it looks like..." "Uh-oh..." the Everykid said, backing into Mattie. Turning around, the unicorn and the woman saw two of the robots standing before them: Space and Time. Space was rigid and completely motionless. Time, on the other hand, was quivering with rage. "I have been waiting... a long, long time for this..." Time curled its hands into fists. "You will know what it means to hurt." Mattie folded her ears back. "...Balls." VI - The Will of the Moment Onion stood on the temple balcony overlooking the City of the Moon. She knew a lot of the fighting was happening on the surface of Nucleon or would be taken there very quickly, but right now, she could see the action. There, Heart was lashing out against Pinkie and Trixie. At the docks, Blood was keeping Vriska and Starbeat very occupied. The explosions of Corona and Eve attacking Doom in the sky were also visible, looking not unlike fireworks. Beautiful, Onion thought. It's all coming together. "WHAT DID YOU DO, ONION!?" Onion froze at the sound of Pringle's voice. "ANSWER ME!" Onion didn't turn around. "ONION!" "Pringle, stop," Jang said. "Onion hasn't done anything." How did I not hear them come up here? "Are you serious!?" The anger sounded so alien coming out of Pringle's mouth. "She was just talking about what we'd do when they come back! That was her! She knew this was coming, how can you not see it?" "Because Onion isn't a bad person." Jang, you're right. You're wrong that it's bad to do this. This is what needs to happen. "Thank you, Jang." "I'm not fooled," Pringle hissed. "I'm on to you, Onion!" "How can you say that!?" Onion shouted, sure to play up her anger. "Me? Attack our city?" The moment they actually attack the citizens, I deactivate them. They know this. They have their targets. "How would I even do this?" "These are the same robots in the legends." "Those legends I hate!" "You know them better than any of us! You stew over them day in and day out! You... You hate what they stand for! And not even for some silly philosophical reason like Joanne, you just... hate them! I..." Tears appeared in her eyes. "I don't understand why. But you do." Onion turned away. "Great. One of my best friends thinks I'm the villain. Brilliant. Some friend you are." "I could say the same!" Pringle hissed. "Pringle, I don't know what's gotten into you," Jang said, pushing her back. "But this is not how friends act." "I... Ergh... MMM..." Pringle threw her hooves up the air. "Fine! But when she turns out to be behind this, don't come crying to ME!" She ran away, bawling. Jang sighed. "I'm sorry, I..." "Don't be," Onion told Jang. "She's the one who made this mistake. I bet that 'auntie Pinkie' got into her head..." "I'll go talk to her." "You do that," Onion breathed. When he was gone, she entered the temple. It was time to prepare for the second phase of the plan. ~~~ Nanoha teleported O'Neill and herself to the surface of Nucleon. All she had to do to block the incoming gust of wind was raise a hand. O'Neill attempted--and failed--to take a cool, manly pose like Jotaro regularly did. He still summoned Crimson Sushi and scrambled the perceptions of the Breath machine. "I am free of your confusion," the robot declared, glowing a brighter blue. "I am free of everything. Isn't Breath such an interesting power?" O'Neill slapped it with Crimson Sushi. "You free of a fish to the face?" The robot rubbed its chin. "If I saw it coming... yes. I am free of all. Free of your pathetic little war games! Free of the multiverse's chains!" It readily dodged a series of magic missiles from Nanoha. "You really managed to nab a lovely prize, O'Neill. I might just have to take her for myself..." Nanoha twitched. "You're welcome to try." "I have every intention of doing so, my dear, but first... O'Neill! Is that a beard? I would suggest you were stealing my look, but that rat attached to your face is far too tangled to compare to mine." "You don't even have a face, what are you talking about!?" O'Neill shouted. "Confused? Good." The breath robot surged forward, whirlwinds flying in all directions. "Die with that uncertainty." Nanoha encased it in telekinesis, ramming it into the ground. It, unfortunately, became nothing more than gusts of wind. "Breath is so difficult to combat," Nanoha muttered. "Can he just say he's free from all damage?" O'Neill asked. "I doubt it, but he can avoid anything if he puts his mind to it." She lifted her scepter into the air. "Good thing he can't really hurt us either. Breath is not a very offensive Aspect." The Breath robot twitched. "Not offensive? My dear... that's overconfidence speaking." He created a drill out of wind and drove it at Nanoha. She snapped her fingers, canceling the wind to a dead calm. "Not very offensive compared to me." She lifted Raising Heart into the air. "And since we're near that Temple... I don't have to worry about running out of magic. Ka-structures are so helpful." "You've made a miscalculation, Broken Wind," O'Neill added. The robot pointed a finger at O'Neill. "You think you're mighty cleve--" "Million missiles!" Nanoha shouted, generating a million magic missiles around her. "Dodge all of these." The robot tensed in uncertainty. "That's what I like to see," O'Neill chuckled. ~~~ The Heart machine grabbed Trixie's soul. "Your life and all its experiences are dust in the wind..." "I... didn't... get... dusted!" Trixie threw a smoke bomb in the Heart machine's face. This did absolutely nothing, since it could still see her soul through the smoke. It continued pulling, trying its hardest to end her life. Unfortunately for it, Pinkie existed, and Pinkie had a hammer that could hit with the impact force of a small rocket. The air between the hammer's face and the robot ignited into a plasma explosion, sending the robot into a distant wall, snapping one of its arms. "I... think... it still has me..." Trixie breathed, clutching her chest. "I..." Pinkie tapped into the Element of Laughter, shielding Trixie with her own positive energy. "Don't worry, Trixie, it'll be fine! She's just another bad guy on a long list. And we'll defeat her... with smiles on our faces!" Trixie perked up slightly. "...What about that thing makes you think it's a she?" Pinkie winked. "Good guesses." The Heart machine rose to its full height, holding out a hand. Heart blades akin to Allure's lashed out. Trixie couldn't see them--but Pinkie could, and she dragged Trixie through them with a complex series of jumping maneuvers. "What are the weaknesses of... Heart?" Trixie asked. "Allure had it, we've got to know something..." "The opposite of Heart is Mind, the two could cancel. But we don't have a Mind player. Or another Heart player." She jumped over an invisible hatchet. "I do know laughter doesn't hurt the Heart, it just makes it stronger, sooooo..." "You're also Space! Do something Spacey!" Pinkie and Trixie were suddenly on top of the Force Temple. "Like this?" "Yes, this'll do." "She'll catch up to us." "We can still look for some help! Or something!" They saw Corona and Eve attack the Doom robot above, sending a massive explosion out in every direction. "Okay, everyone's a little busy. We've still got to have options." The Heart machine jumped into the air, flying at them so quickly the hands started burning, although even the damaged one remained solid. "My suggestion is to run until one of the others can help us." Pinkie grabbed Trixie and jumped off the temple. "WHEEEEEEE!" "AAAAAAAAAAA!" Trixie screamed. "AAAAAAAAAAGH∂ˆ´∂ˆ´∂ˆ´∂ˆ´!" The Heart machine roared, voice garbling unintelligibly. ~~~ Jenny punched the Life robot in the face. It punched her in the face. Both of them lost their heads and regrew them a moment later: Jenny through the act of reforming bone and tissue from the ground up, the machine by creating meat and plant material from nothing to forcibly re-attach the pearly head. They both performed a roundhouse kick, hitting the other in the chest and falling back. They sprung back onto their feet and punched forward: Jenny charging with magical energy while the Life robot infused its fist with a biohazard. Both lost a good chunk of their sides and repaired them immediately afterward. "Stop copying me!" they both shouted at the same time. "No, you stop copying me!" "Stop it!" "I SAID STOP IT!" They both punched each other in the mouth--or where the mouth should have been. Jenny was muted as hers regenerated, but the robot's speaker still worked. "Hah. I'm superior!" "You're a synthetic knockoff." Jenny teleported behind her and kicked. "You're just Life, aren't you? No extra magic..." She snapped her fingers, sending a series of magic missiles at the robot. "Just a dominion over life." "Like you're better?" "I can teleport to those planets in the sky up there! What can you do?" The Life robot created a plant monster the size of a small skyscraper, face riddled with bloody teeth. "Oh," Jenny blinked. "That's pretty cool, actually, how d--" The plant moved faster than Jenny could see, eating her whole. Inside the plant, Jenny cast explosion at the end of her fist, burning the plant to cinders. "Congratulations, you escaped a plant's stomach!" the robot chided. "Congratulations, you have shown the capacity for sarcasm! So close to sapience." "Congratulations, you are a robot racist!" "Thank you!" Jenny jumped the robot again. The robot raised a wall of wood that Jenny smashed her face into. "Ow..." "Please, you can ignore all the pain you w--" Jenny cast an electric shock that knocked the robot back, jittering painfully. "How's that for pain?" Jenny snarked, grinning until she felt an uncomfortable sensation in her feet. They had grown mushrooms. She facepalmed. "This isn't going to go anywhere for a while, is it?" "Probably not, but I'm having fun," the Life robot admitted. "Eh. Good point." Jenny punched the mushrooms off her feet and flipped into the air... ~~~ The power of Light is related to both fortune and knowledge. If there were ever a being that had access to both aspects at once in equal quantity, they would find an... interesting set of abilities open up to them. This was the case for the Light robot, which focused itself on Flutterfree and Discord. It knew with exact certainty how likely it was to achieve outright victory, admittedly pretty low. But it also knew that it could adjust the probabilities of said victory with its powers, flopping the chances. But the Tower influenced the chances through ka, making this flipping inverted by a precise constant that the Light robot also knew. It knew none of its courses of action guaranteed victory, but also none of its courses of action guaranteed failure. By standard metrics, the highest success chance was to increase its own "luck" to absurd levels so that they couldn't touch it no matter what chaos magic Discord cooked up. However, taking into account ka, the highest hubris has the highest retaliation. Even in this era of lower ka, they were next to the temple, so it balanced out. Thus, the actual highest chance of victory was the middle. Playing another round of you-would-know-that-I-would-know with the Tower, the Light robot chose a random course of action between the standard 60th and 80th percentile success rate and committed to it. It was delighted to discover that this course of action involved a lot of smack talking. It surrounded itself in a minor fortune field and increased its awareness of all events before belting out an insult. "Finally decided you weren't too good for another person, Flutterfree?" "...Do I know you?" "Yes!" It jumped behind them, suddenly wielding a sword. "Naturally, this isn't what I really look like, but at least I'm still me. Look at you, all happy and enslaved to each other. I thought you were Flutterfree?" Discord raised a claw and encased the Light robot in gelatin. "Amazing. Every word of what you just said... was wrong." Flutterfree snickered. "That's Burger's job!" "Little more than a mime," the robot retorted. "Discord, lord of Chaos, relegated to what, a sad little snake? Forced into a religion?" Discord grabbed it and snarled. "She didn't force me." "Oh, I'm not saying by her, darling. I'm saying you forced yourself to twist your very core being just because you wanted something. Is that really goo--" Flutterfree's Rage activated, skewering the light robot in the chest. "Even if that was true when we started... it's been over twenty years. We have both grown beyond the reach of your petty insults." Discord put a hat on the robot. "Toodeloo!" "You secretly resent and doubt each other for what you started that day!" "That's not true," Flutterfree said, pumping rage into the robot. "We don't keep it secret from each other at all. We share our doubts and our concerns. You... You have so much inside you... you..." Her eyes opened in recognition as the Rage and Lolo revealed what was inside the light robot. "How...?" "The same way as this!" It was in such close quarters she could hack Flutterfree's head off with one fell swoop. Flutterfree severed the robot's head with a flash of speed from the Element of Kindness. What...? the Light robot thought as its higher processes began to fail. Flutterfree... Flutterfree doesn't have that in her... she's not... a killer... The Light showed it that, indeed, Flutterfree had that capacity. The robot had just failed to believe such an observation in its excitement. The field of luck began to sew the robot back together, but Discord was not about to let that happen. An anvil the size of a house smashed into the machine of Light, disintegrating it completely. ~~~ Vriska, Starbeat, Ahsoka, Troi, and Tessa were busy taking on the Blood-controlled army of the Blood robot. This wasn't too hard - all three of the Force-users knew how to lull the weaker-willed into a sleeping state, and since all of them were already zombified by the Blood robot, it was pathetically easy. Vriska and Starbeat were on defense while the other three made people pass out left and right. "This reminds me way too much of those zombie horde worlds," Vriska muttered, draining the luck from several people so their lightsabers spontaneously stopped working. "Just an army of mindless munchkins..." "Destroy the robot, stop the zombies," Starbeat deduced. "...Wanna try it?" "I can take over defense," Tessa said, spreading her lightsabers out. "Go. We can handle this." Starbeat teleported herself and Vriska behind the Blood robot. Vriska rolled the infinite-sided die, getting a massive explosion. The Blood robot remained unharmed, subsisting off the energy of those it had connected with. Vriska shrugged. "Well, there goes that." She activated her luck absorption. "Let's see if I can cause a hard drive failure..." It pointed a hand at both of them, and instantly they felt frozen. A physical bond formed between Starbeat and Vriska's souls, drawing not on the friendship they now had, but the hatred that had once existed in the past. The immense pain tortured their very core, dropping them both to their knees. "What... even..." Vriska growled, forcing herself to her feet. "You... fucking..." The Blood robot punched her in the face. "A weakness was detected and exploited." It kicked Starbeat in the horn, knocking her over. It lifted a fist, going right for the stomach. It would have killed them both without prejudice, tricking Vriska into taking a hit for Starbeat to trigger a Heroic death. Unfortunately for it, a trapdoor opened up in the floor, swallowing it, Vriska, and Starbeat. The people stopped being zombies in an instant. "Where... where did they go?" Ahsoka asked. ~~~ Roland and Monika stood back to back, lightsaber and revolver pointed directly ahead of them. They could see nothing, but Monika could sense the character of Void moving around. She didn't waste time looking at any finer details--just location. Always location. "One-twenty," Monika called. Roland shot a bullet, grazing the Void and forcing it to appear once more. Monika attempted to lunge at it with her lightsaber, grabbing onto it with the force... but it slipped away into nothing once more. Next, it tried to attack, but Monika twisted its arm with the Force before it could land a hit. It dissipated before any further damage could be done. "This is getting us nowhere," Roland said. "I request a duel to end this pointless game." "A duel?" the Void robot appeared a fair way in the distance, hands on its hips. "Why would I engage in the acts of you lower lifeforms?" "You appear to be fighting us like we would," Monika commented. "It's this infernal body that limits me! You know what I'm capable of... You've seen it. You've faced it." "Are we supposed to know you?" Monika cocked her head. "You're just... hopeless! I can't stand this!" It vanished again. "Sooo... back to a stalemate?" "Looks like it," Roland grunted. "I don't believe this Void machine understands the inherent problem with stalemates." Roland didn't say anything, but Monika knew he was curious. "Nobody wins." ~~~ Mlinx's spear met the Hope machine's scepter. Mlinx pushed with all his might, forcing the Hope's footing to give way. "You have grown stronger," it said. "Since when?" Mlinx twirled around, grabbing hold of the machine's torso with his two free arms. "It is not surprising you do not recognize me, but still disappointing." It twisted its scepter around its back and hit Mlinx in the side of the arm. Mlinx held fast, pushing the machine to the ground. "Quite the grip, soft shell." Mlinx's eyes widened. "How--" The robot kicked Mlinx in the chest, tossing him to the side. "Letting a warrior get the upper hand through emotional manipulation. I heard you ended up the mayor of a large city. You think that would have been one thing you worked out of your system." Mlinx pointed his spear at the robot, trembling. "There's... it's impossible... I..." "Terror is unbecoming of a warrior." "I'm not a warrior." "Clearly." The robot lunged forward, cracking Mlinx's shell in two places and drawing blue blood. "I'm not even using these delightful new Hope powers of mine. This is nothing but pure skill..." "Strength... isn't... everything..." "Perhaps not... in other situations." The robot smacked Mlinx across the face, knocking him down. "But in this one, it is all that matters." Mlinx grabbed the robot's arm with all of his hands, pulling with all his might. To both of their surprise, the robot's arm separated from the rest of its body. Mlinx didn't let his surprise create an opening this time--he rushed forward, punching the robot with its own fist. The robot chuckled. "That's more like it, Mlinx! Remember your training!" "I have worked my whole life to forget your training!" The robot that was somehow also Siron laughed. "You finally learned. It's almost a shame..." He jumped behind Mlinx, taking his feet out from under him. Mlinx grabbed for Siron's legs, but this was part of the plan. Siron skidded a leg sideways and smacked Mlinx in the head with the scepter once more. Mlinx went limp. "She wants me to kill you," Siron said, not knowing if Mlinx could hear. "But you have proven yourself as a warrior after all this time. I always knew you had the potential... you are the last demon. In this New World, I cannot think of one better to carry on our legacy. Aside from myself, of course..." Siron chuckled. "If only I weren't an abomination." He walked away, looking for another worthy opponent. Pidge remained untouched, laying behind a piece of rubble. ~~~ "Joanne, run," Rev said, taking up a position between her and the Rage robot. Joanne didn't run. She just smirked. "Looks like she's not going anywhere..." Burgerbelle sighed. "She's one of mine," Jotaro said. "Can't really expect her to." "You don't own me," Joanne hissed, refusing to look up from her phone. "Four on one... the odds are in your favor." The Rage robot clapped his hands together. "You would think that... but they are not. See, if you will, the truth of your situation." The Rage wafted off him, getting in all their heads instantly. "Rage is a very nebulous and difficult power to master... the most direct forms are all attacks." It formed a massive bear claw around one of his hands out of the purple substance, waving it in the air. "Others involve seeing truth or revelation... forcing understanding." He pointed the claws at all of them, pulsating like a demon from beyond the grave as the fur covered his body. "I am Skarn the Shaper, born anew, and I believe it's time for a rematch." He appeared as a purple bear with the robot merely a skeleton. Rev and Burgerbelle started shaking uncontrollably. The Joestars remained as they were. "The truth is in your minds of how hopeless this situation is... and you stand strong. Your family is one of the most honorable and heroic the multiverse knew. Know this: I am only tasked with killing the three labeled 'heroes'. The young girl will go free at the end. I give you my word." "Not very smart, bounding yourself by honor," Joanne muttered. "It is what keeps me from falling into the same folly as some of my... colleagues." He spread his arms wide. "It gives me something more. An art to my life. Most 'villains' seek some goal or a physical, worldly object... I do not. I seek art. And I have come to understand my prior death as art in and of itself..." He pointed a claw at Jotaro. "And the beautiful frame of the Tower has provided an encore." "You want an encore?" Jotaro adjusted his hat and let out a sharp grunt. "You'll be honor-bound the same way you were last time." "There will be no death until the final defeat," Skarn agreed. "As before, and as always. I commit to the truth with my Rage." "Jotaro, no," Rev said. "He... he can kill us all in an instant. Rage is the most deadly Aspect, not Doom. Doom has caveats, Doom has rules. Rage is just... brutal." "He makes his own rules," Jotaro said. "This is his arena. We do not have a choice in the terms." "Smarter than you look," Skarn grinned. "Amazing how I am weaker now... but this power makes you so, so much more afraid. Let us begin." Rev let out a breath, prepared to fight despite her fear. "STAR PLATINUM: THE WORLD!" "I pray the Lord my soul to keep..." The next instant, Skarn, Rev, and Jotaro were all on the ground. There were several craters in the sidewalk, a burnt cross impression on a nearby building, and several lacerations over Jotaro's body. Rev seemed unharmed, though she wasn't moving. Skarn stood up, choosing to ignore the truth of his injury. He turned to Burgerbelle. "Living art... confined to a shell of pure mortality. This world, beautiful though it is, limits the tools we can put to our canvases." Burgerbelle smiled nervously. "Heheh..." "What will you throw at me? An instant death meme? Some sort of cosmic joke to throw me? Something simple, but surprisingly effective?" He leaned in. "You know none of it will work." "No u," Burgerbelle said, lifting up a reverse uno card. Skarn grinned. "I haven't attacked yet." He punched himself. Burgerbelle took the damage, flying into a nearby wall. Before she could move further, Skarn overwhelmed her with Rage, burning away much of her skin. Without Flat physiology, she succumbed to his assault. "They have fallen," Skarn said, turning to Joanne. "And what of you?" Joanne put down her phone. Skarn felt the weight of this motion flow through his Rage. He lifted up shields. Joanne folded her hands together and smiled sweetly. "Lightbulb Sun?" Her Stand listened to her call, appearing behind her as a massive lightbulb with nine electric wires hanging from the bottom. "You've seen enough of his power. Absorb it." Lightbulb Sun slapped Skarn across the face with a wire moving so quickly he didn't even see it until after it hit him. Within an instant, he felt the Rage vanish from him completely. He became... a normal, spindly robot with no special Aspect powers. "Just like last time..." he said, chuckling. "Brought low... by myself. Bravo." Joanne grabbed the base of Lightbulb Sun with her hands and pointed it at Skarn. "Release." "I welcome it, this time." A beam of solar energy shot out of the top of the Stand, vaporizing Skarn the machine entirely. ~~~ "You did this to ME!" the Doom robot shouted. "How?" Eve asked. "Why? What did we do last time we were here?" "Dense, dense, but me..." the robot activated the Doom of a nearby cloud, making it spontaneously implode and blast Corona and Eve with a shockwave. "You don't deserve my head..." "I feel like it needs help..." Eve said, frowning. "How can we...?" Corona removed her glove. "Like this." "DON'T YOU DARE!" the Doom robot shouted. "You will regret it!" "Possibly," Corona admitted. "Don't particularly care right now." She teleported behind the robot. Instead of trying to run away, it punched Corona in the hand, making the connection solid. Corona was in the robot's mind... It was a terrible, terrible mind. Memories flashed by in disjointed, conflicting bits and pieces that gave her little more than colors and screamed voices. There was a lot of gunfire, death, and magic lasers. The screams sounded a lot like her, but she wasn't screaming. She was too confused to scream. She'd been in insane, broken, even eldritch minds before--but this was something else. It was as if this mind was at war with itself in a way even split personality wasn't. It... "Do you see?" two voices spoke to her at once. Suddenly, she could see herself and Eve standing in front of her. But they were shells - their eyes were empty and led into a hollow interior. "Do you understand?" "You're... us?" Corona cocked her head. "How?" "You are the villains of your own story." The other Eve raised a hoof while the Corona raised a hand. "The Doom could not choose between you two. So it chose me." Both shells' faces twisted into anger. "Two opposing forces shoved into the same body with the hatred of the height of the war... just enough understanding not to kill ourselves. Just enough... too much. Too much." Suddenly, Corona was in complete darkness. She realized with some disdain that, while the robot certainly didn't have her powers, it had her experience, and would probably be one of the hardest minds to deal with. "Why did you fight?" the voices echoed. "Because I had to!" "LIES!" both shrieked. "YOU COULD HAVE BACKED OFF! YOU COULD HAVE ERASED YOUR MIND! YOU COULD HAVE DONE IT SECRETLY!" "That wouldn't have been right!" "RIGHT? RIGHT?" Corona was grabbed by hands that were hers, but not. "Look what your right has done to us. Look what it did to you." "Eve and I are friends, good friends, again." Corona turned and extended a hand to the shells. "We can be yours. We can teach you to live with yourself." "I am friendship and empathy, and I broke." The shells looked like they were crying, though they didn't have eyes. "It is impossible. We are not just you, we are also Doom. All Doom. We absorb it into ourselves..." "An entity of pure Doom...?" Corona shook her head. "I... how was such a thing even possible?" "Temporary by design. Time is short. Always is. Life is... funny." The shells cocked their heads. "We must act in our time. I must act in our time. You are this pain... you must end so the suffering will cease." "Killing us won't stop your suffering." "You won't bring suffering to the world anymore." The shells looked to the sky. "Onion is so broken." "Who?" "She hates us. We are the worst of them. We are the heroes she wants to suffer. We.... I..." The rage returned to their faces. "You stall!" "I want to understand you!" Corona called. "I want to help you!" "Help me... and help no others ever again." Corona tensed. "I can't do that." "You think I was giving you a choice!?" Corona tried to leave. The part of her within the Doom forced her to stay. "No, we fight here. No fancy magic, no weird Doom-play. Your mind versus your mind! There is nothing else! It really is like our life." "What about Eve?" Corona asked. "She's you too! What does she have to say to herself?" "You think it is any different?" The husks seemed confused. "It is the same. She is as much to blame as you are." "I sent that message!" "She let you send it. You decided together to bring about the end, one way or another. And I am the result." The husks sneered. "You die first. Then h--" Eve cut the robot in half. Corona screamed as part of her mind was lost within the folds of the robot. "I--I'm sorry!" Eve shouted. "Neither of you were moving and I couldn't get in mentally, h--" "It's... fine..." Corona said, holding her head. "...That thing was us. Both of us." "...I sensed it, while you were both stuck there. The worst of ourselves..." "It shouldn't have been like that. Even in the war, we were... agreeable. It... it hated itself." "We are next to the Temple..." Eve turned to look at the gray pyramid. "It may have used what our people saw us to be, just as it did all those years ago." "...We need to fix this." "I'd love to. What do we need to fix again?" Corona frowned. "I don't know. Something." ~~~ Mattie, Minna, and the Everykid stood with both the robots of Space and Time before them. "Aight," Mattie said. "I've about had it with all the other fights at this point, I've seen enough of a pattern to deduce what's going on." "Do tell..." the Time machine said, holding up a hand to keep the Space one from moving. "Pretty clearly every one of you robots is a past villain or force of evil or something. Skarn, Siron, and a myriad of others I think I'm pretty good at guessing but I'm not wasting bloody minutes explaining my guesses for them. One for each arc in Songs of the Spheres, right? Makes me think that the mindless Space hunk is English." "Correct," the Time robot said, hands behind its back. "The reconstruction of his mind picked up from his self at the end of his journey. A soulless husk of nothing. He only acts because compulsions are placed in his mind." "So the question remains... who are you?" Mattie scratched her chin. "I don't think the last arc could be said to have a villain aside from the Tower itself, and you aren't snarky enough to be the Emissary." "I am not surprised you don't recognize me... but I am furious." Time was suddenly next to Mattie and kicked her in the side. Nobody remembered what happened, but Minna somehow tore Time's arm off with her teeth and spat it on the ground. "What...?" the Time robot seemed baffled. "I have been living as an orphanage matron for over twenty years. I am out of practice..." She pressed her hands together and cracked her knuckles. "But I am still one of Brell's freaky soldiers. You don't know half the things I can do." "English, focus on her." English charged, teleporting behind her. She dodged his attack effortlessly and blanked his memory, tripping him and knocking him to the ground. "English, enter frenzy mode. Do not stop until contact is made." It no longer mattered that Minna was clearing English's memory, he would keep punching with a flurry of fists. She had to focus on dodging, which was a little difficult considering he could teleport everywhere and bend space itself to his whim. But he acted like a mindless robot--predictably. She managed to weave in and out with precision. "Useless..." the Time robot seethed. "If you want something done..." "Focus on your backside," Mattie declared, unfurling a whip on the robot. "You think pain whips will do anything to me!?" "No, but it seems you're really angry, so if I talk a bit to get you riled up, you might miss--" The Everykid threw a bomb into the robot's face. "--that," Mattie giggled. The next thing Mattie knew, the Everykid was on the ground, bleeding. The Time robot had a fist poised to deliver the killing blow. "HELL NO," Mattie teleported herself in front of the Everykid and took the hit herself. "...She means that much to you?" the robot asked as its fist embedded itself into Mattie's shoulder. "No, dear, I'm just a masochist, it's always an experience to have a new fist rammed inside me." For some reason, this set the time robot off. It pulled its fist back and punched right onto Mattie's horn, cracking it down the middle. Mattie winced prior to letting out a pleased sigh. "Haven't felt that one in a while..." "You are a freak of nature! You... bitch! I can't believe..." the Time robot got ahold of itself. "You know what, this isn't the place." It kicked Mattie in the back of the head, knocking her out. "We're going to have a talk, you and I... about everything you've done..." It was at this point Minna figured it out. "...It can't be..." "Great detective work, but you had an advantage," the Time robot declared. "Of course, you're the last one standing, now..." Both the Time robot and English jumped Minna. She was barely holding her own against English--she went down much like Mattie. The Time robot dusted off its hands. "Now... where's that kid. I don't see any reason not to end her and her smug face right now..." The Everykid was nowhere to be seen. "I don't like that. Something's gone wrong. English, be on the lookout for anything suspicious. Even if we blink through time, there's no telling what tricks they have up their sleeve." ~~~ Onion entered the core of the Force Temple with all her equipment, ready to begin work. The robots had already been through here, they would have taken care of any guards. Ever since she had activated the Rage robot for Skarn all those years ago, it had always been pathetically easy to move in and out of places. Onion was their master, and with time she had restored all twelve of them from the ground up. It had taken a lot of work analyzing the Force spark and finding people who signified the twelve Aspects, but she'd done it. And she controlled every last one of them absolutely. So she was absolutely shocked when she saw the Mind robot standing at the central altar, looking right at the Force spark. "What are you doing here!?" Onion demanded. "You should be out there, fighting them!" "I'm not out there because I don't believe in petty revenge." "Get out there before I deactivate you!" "I disabled that." It turned to Onion. "You do not control me, and I do not agree with your mission." "You're the Collector!" Onion shrieked. "They destroyed what you had built! They killed you!" "That was part of my plan," the Collector said, refusing to look away from the Force spark. "I intended from the very beginning to set myself up as a villain so I could be defeated, and that the heroes I collected together would continue helping the multiverse long after I was gone. Such a shame the multiverse ended so shortly after..." he sighed. "I was never against the heroes. I wanted them to win until my own fragile humanity took over." "That's... not how they tell the legend..." "Legends are better told with clear-cut villains and epic defeats. If you had read Mind, perhaps you would have seen what I actually was... and seen this coming." He pressed his hands together. "You cannot convince me to take part in this revenge. I was never with you. You may have been able to convince Nettle and the abomination that was Corona and Eve that it was the heroes' fault they were like this, but I know better. It's your fault. All of this... it is your fault." He looked at her with that featureless face of his. "Considering what inhabits the Time robot, how could you have ever believed otherwise?" Onion growled. "You cannot hurt me. You may be able to disable the self-destruct, but my spirit controls all of you." "You are correct. I cannot harm you with my own powers. Luckily, I am a mastermind that's capable of covering every exit. I have been planning this for quite some time, Onion, and as anyone who has faced me will tell you, I'm good at plans." As if on cue, a trap door opened in the ceiling, depositing Vriska, Starbeat, and the Blood robot in the ground. Immediately, the Collector pointed a finger at the Blood robot and fried its mind. It was not dead, but it couldn't consciously do anything anymore--allowing Vriska to lash out and smash it with her sword. "F-fuck..." Onion took a few steps back. "No..." "Your pale shadow of the Combine has fallen," the Collector declared. "And now there are two people in this room who can hurt you." Starbeat blinked. "That... earth pony? She's responsible for this? But... why? I've never seen her before in my life!" "Oh, you have..." Onion growled. "Before you face her... I have a question." The Collector turned to Starbeat. "What happened to Lightning?" Starbeat blinked, eyes widening in shock as her goggles picked up on what he was. "C-colle--" "I am but a mental copy, though in a way I am him. I am your ally in this fight. Please, what happened to her?" "She's... she's dead," Starbeat breathed. "Did she die a hero?" "Yes." "Good. That's all I needed to know." He turned to face Onion. "You are nothing to them. Surrender, deactivate the other robots, end this pointless carnage." Vriska readied her fluorite octet and Starbeat lit her horn. "Don't do it, kid," Vriska warned. Onion's scowl deepened. "I... It's not fair... you can't always win!" "Kid, that's what we do. That's why we are what we are. We win." Her face softened as she remembered an encounter with a mysterious Watchmaker. "...When it really matters." "I... why can't you be shown your place!?" Onion rammed her hoof into the ground and shrieked. "I have a ka-temple! I should be able to..." English and the Time robot jumped out from behind Onion, charging the Collector. "Like I didn't plan for this." The Collector held out a hand, controlling English's pathetic, empty mind. The Collector prepared to take a minor beating through the Time robot's powers, but he was strong enough to withstand it. He was not strong enough to withstand Onion's lightsaber cutting him in half. The Collector fell to the ground, shocked. "...How?" "You're not a Mary Sue anymore," Onion spat. "You're just my robot. Your plans aren't automatically perfect." The Time robot crushed The Collector's head under its foot. "And you betrayed that purpose..." Vriska shrugged. "Not sad to see him go. Now... how about a troll and a unicorn versus Space, Time, and a poor lost filly?" The Time robot lifted a hand. "Show them our prisoners." English obeyed, using his powers to grow the previously-microscopic Minna and Mattie to normal size, dropping them on the ground. The Time robot placed a foot on Mattie and pushed. "Stand down or they die." "You're not going to do it," Starbeat declared, narrowing her eyes. "You want her to die, but you want to do something else first." "To be fair, that's just because I'm not sure I can kill you without some kind of plot armor kicking in," Onion said, trotting over to the central altar. "But with this... I definitely can. All I need to do is set it up..." "What...?" Mattie opened her eyes. "I... wh... I could have sworn..." "Hello," Onion said, addressing Mattie with far more hatred and venom than she'd had at any other point. "Get up, slut." Mattie opened her eyes groggily. "...You look exactly like one of my daughters." Onion twitched. "I wonder why that would be, mother." Mattie shot bolt upright. "C-circlet!?" "I will never use the name you gave me!" Onion spat. "I. Am. Onion. And I am going to make you suffer." Mattie sighed. "Good luck with that..." "I am well aware of your... disgusting condition." She walked to the altar and took out some of her tools. "So we're going to do something else..." ~~~ "Stop running!" the Heart robot screeched, lashing out by punching into a nearby wall. "You drove yourself into my planet before, why are you running now!?" "Lack of preparation!" Pinkie called back, still bouncing forward with Trixie in her hooves. "It's got a bee in its bonnet about something... what's she on about?" "I think she's Majora," Pinkie said, jumping off a trampoline and into the air, dodging another spirit blade. "What?! Why aren't we dead!?" "It's just her mind, or a copy of it, or something." Pinkie jumped behind a pot and appeared behind Majora, smacking her on the head with a golf club. Trixie, to her credit, got off a magic laser, not that it did anything. "You fools... I will devour your souls and use your flesh to fuel the fire of my rebirth!" "Pretty sure you can't be reborn in the New World," Trixie commented with a smirk. "Hope you like being a robot!" The Element of Laughter flashed, protecting them from another wave of spirit blades. "Can we mock her more? Get more power?" Pinkie grinned. "Oh, yes!" "It won't be enough." The Hope robot appeared, scepter in his hand. "And now you won't even be able to run." Pinkie's smile didn't falter. "Hi, Siron. I don't suppose you'd consider reforming and help us now, would you?" "I have never considered your idea of reformation anything more than a disgusting crime against nature." "Ah. It was worth a shot." Siron surrounded his body with the energy of Hope. He was the paladin now, the savior--how could he lose when he had all the drive in the world to succeed? He and Majora lashed out. Pinkie tried to dodge--and failed. Majora's attacks were useless, but the holy Hope of Siron cut her to the bone. Her vibrant blood sprayed out of her leg as she was sent flying, cracking a few ribs on a street light. Trixie's smile vanished instantly. "L-let's talk about this..." Siron twirled his scepter. "No." He brought it down on her head. Discord caught it with a giant spring. "No!" He laughed, turning the Hope scepter into a cockatoo. "How about you go for someone your own size?" Flutterfree spread her wings, her Rage spreading to Siron. "You can't fight us." Siron shook his head, using his Hope to ignore the truth of Discord's power. "Who cares about the odds? I ha--" Corona and Eve teleported to the location, ice and fire brimming off them. This made Majora freeze in her tracks--too many enemies. "Siron," Eve said, eyes narrow. "It doesn't have to end here. Not again." Siron grabbed his scepter. "I will not give you the warrior's death again." He knew it was true. Not because of Flutterfree's Rage--he was actively countering that--but through his inner being. She had given him what he wanted when they fought so long ago. Now? Now she was stronger, older, more experienced, and had the strength to take him out like the bug she thought he was. And she was still offering him her hoof. "Once you destroy the Tower, you'll realize your weakness," Siron spat. He tapped into his Hope, flashing like a flare gun. Everyone had to look away. When the light cleared, he and Majora were gone. "Did Siron just... FLEE?!" Trixie asked, holding tightly to Discord's leg like he was her lifeline. "He did..." Corona frowned. "And I'm going to find out where he went..." ~~~ Jenny threw the Life robot far into the distance. By sheer luck, it hit the Void robot in the side, knocking them over. "AUGH!" the Void robot shouted. "How... HOW DID YOU HIT ME!?" "I guess you qualify as Life..." Roland fired a bullet through the Life robot and the Void robot. The Void robot toppled backward, sparking uncontrollably. "F-freaking... mortal... body!" It exploded. The Life robot regenerated itself without issue. "...You just killed Nettle." "Nettle?" Jenny blinked. "That's not Nettle! That's some stupid robot!" "The robots are images of our past foes," Monika said, pointing her lightsaber at the Life robot. "If I had to guess... I'd say this one is you." "Really? Again with the evil twin thing!? ...Though, that would explain a lot," Jenny admitted. "Hey, listen to that, I'm an idiot!" Jenny-bot laughed. "What were you expecting?" Roland asked. "HEY!" both Jennys shouted at once. "Maybe you can answer some questions..." Monika lifted Jenny-bot off the ground with the Force, glaring at her. "What is your mission?" "To punch you until you stop moving, duh." Jenny-bot created a massive vine with thorns and attacked Monika, only for her to cut it in two with her lightsaber. "Why?" Monika cocked her head. "Do be quick, we don't have all day." "You'll have to pry that out of my cold, dead hands. Or head, as the case may be." Jenny-bot struggled. "Good luck killing me!" The Breath robot fell out of the sky, smashing into Jenny-bot. She regenerated easily. The Breath robot did not, struggling to stand on its damaged legs. "I... am the wind..." "You're annoyingly impossible to keep down!" O'Neill shouted after he and Nanoha teleported to the surface. "It's tradition!" the Breath robot laughed. "That's it, I'm convinced." O'Neill pointed a finger. "That's Ba'al, somehow." Nanoha prepared another volley of a million missiles. "He won't last long." She was right. Roland shot him. He had no idea it was coming--his inner circuitry flew out like brain matter, covering the ground around him. "Huh," Jenny-bot said. "I wonder if I'm the last one..." O'Neill slapped her across the face with Crimson Sushi. "Let's find out!" "There's no way you can kill me!" "We don't have to," Roland said, lowering his gun. "...Imprison her." "That's not going to be easy..." Jenny laughed. "But it'll be fun!" "Frick." ~~~ Siron and Majora ran into the core of the Temple. "...I sense that there's a problem," Onion grunted as she attached a few wires to the central altar. "They're banding together in large groups," Siron reported. "Too many for us to take." "Did either of you have any success?" "I defeated Mlinx." Onion turned to Mattie, sneering. "Already one of your precious friends has fallen! H--" "He's not dead," Mattie muttered. "I'd feel it. If I had to guess, I'd say Siron let him live out of respect." Onion's sneer fell into a scowl. "...Unsurprising. But this..." She tapped the top of the console she'd attached to the altar. "This will give me what I need to do some real damage." "What happened to you?" Minna asked. "Why... why are you doing this to us?" "Because my mother abandoned me at birth and the woman who raised me didn't tell me who she was!" Onion pointed a hoof at Minna. "You could have, at any time, told me your story! Told me who you were! But no, I had to figure it out!" "I'm sorry for not telling you, but you were so angry, even then!" "You made it worse." Onion pulled a lever, prompting the Force spark to flash a myriad of different colors. "That hellhole I grew up in..." "I cared for you!" Minna shouted. "I gave you everything you needed, I helped you with your Force training, I--" "You are a liar! You had too many children to watch out for, you couldn't possibly be a mother to us all. But at least you were a better mother than... that masochistic marshmallow slut that probably has more kids than she knows how to count. Isn't that right, Mattie!?" "...It is..." Mattie admitted. "I bet you only have kids because it gives you some kind of perverse pleasure, because you certainly don't raise us. You had me here and just up and abandoned me. You did this." She gestured at the Time robot--a robot with her own mind inside of it. "You made me into this." "My child is the villain again..." Mattie chuckled bitterly. "If that's not a sign, I don't know what is." "This... this has happened before!?" Onion's jaw hung open. "What is wrong with you?" "A lot of things. Shall we go down the li--" Corona, Eve, Fluttershy, Discord, Pinkie, and Trixie charged through the door. Siron, Majora, English, and the Onion-bot were ready to face them. "Stop this, now," Corona demanded. "No," Onion said, pressing a button on the console. The Force spark turned black, coalescing ka-energy into a single point. Discord let out a scream as it lifted him into the air, crushing him on all sides. Onion hovered her hoof over another button. "A happy ending... I hate your happy endings. You just got to solve your relationship even after all that terror and... you all get to be happy while the rest of us wallow in our unimportant, meaningless lives! And that's not going to change when the Tower's gone. But while the Tower's here... I can give you a taste of what we experience." She locked eyes with Discord. "I am going to kill you. And there's not a thing they can do about it. Your plot armor is gone." She turned to Flutterfree. "And you are going to feel it." VII - Generations to Come "Onion, stop." Onion looked at the entrance only to get a phone to the face. Joanne walked in, Jotaro, Burgerbelle, and Rev behind her. Joanne scowled - no longer having a phone to look at. "Good. You've stopped." "Joanne, you know better than all the others why I'm doing this," Onion said. "Yes. I do. I hate them too. Their stupid adherence to a single morality most of all. They think they have the right to say there is a good and evil, when there is no such thing. It's a lie. And lies aren't good or evil, I just hate them because they mess with what I like and what I see. They think there's some sort of greater good they can devote themselves to, be it Harmony, friendship, God, or some other fleeting ideal that will have no support once the Tower falls." She pressed her hands together. "But why does that mean we should kill them? What crime have they committed? Have they sought out our suffering like you're doing right now?" Onion refused to move her hoof from the button--she couldn't risk one of the heroes trying to jump her. She was a hair's breadth away from pressing it, and even if they tried some weird manipulation, she would Force-push it. Discord was going to die, she was sure of it. She would do it. But her mind wouldn't let her do it without hearing Joanne out. "The world won't give them justice, so we have to," Onion responded. "Justice? Like..." Joanne struggled to find the words. "Death for devoting their lives to us?" "Death for making a mistake," Onion growled. "Death for... for being immune to death. For living longer than they should. For... for controlling everything!" "Really?" "YES!" Onion shouted. "They deserve no less!" "If that's how you've defined your rules..." Joanne shrugged. "Then who am I to criticize?" "Thank you." "But are you willing to give up your friends for this?" Joanne cocked her head to the side. "I will publicly shame you and drag you to a court, pressing for a death penalty. The others will not be as brutal, but they will hate you for their own reasons." "Pringle already hates me enough, Jang doesn't even know." "They're here. They're hiding in the hall over there. I believe they followed you here and are just too scared to say anything." Onion froze. Pringle poked her head out from behind the doorframe. "H-hey..." She tried not to look at the imprisoned, pain-stricken Discord. "C-c-can we stop?" She wiped tears from her face. "We can go out for smoothies and yell about the h-heroes all we want... have a nice long laugh..." Jang came out next, tears evident on his eyes as well. "I'm sorry... I didn't take you seriously. I didn't believe you were ever doing more than just... venting. That's on me. Don't... don't do this. I--I don't think I could live with myself." Onion began to tremble. "You... you don't understand. You... this is what needs to be..." "Just change your definition and step down from there," Joanne said. "All it takes is a thought." No. Onion pulled her face back and set her jaw. "I... I never expected to survive anyway. I can't take them all. I can only take some, the others wouldn't let me live afterward. I was always going to lose all of you." Pringle started bawling. "O-onion!" "My life has never been my own," Onion sighed. "And it never can be. Not in this world, not in the previous, and not in the next. Everything I've ever done is in the shadows of those who came before. Even this. Especially this. At least this way, I go out on my own terms, screaming to the world." Corona took a step forward--hands up, to show she wasn't attacking. "I've been where you are." "You don't know anything! Y--" "I threw myself into a volcano after the collapse," Corona said matter-of-factly. Onion was stunned into silence. "It was a week or so after the New World was born. I had been told by all existence that my plan had been pointless, that the death I had caused didn't even do what it was supposed to. The Tower still stood, ka was real, and everyone was dead. I was shown that I had no control over anything--my entire quest had been a joke." "...It wasn't, though." "I didn't know that at the time." Corona sighed. "I survived the collapse when I wasn't supposed to. I had every intention of continuing in the New World if I did survive, but continuing in a world that was a joke to my struggle, my life, my sacrifice? I... I couldn't do it. I would have died that day had Evening not saved me." She pulled Eve forward. "She was still furious with me, still angry at what I'd done, still grieving from what had been lost. And she saved me." "We can save you," Eve said, smiling warmly. "Come. Step down. We don't have to fight." "I... I don't care about my life being a joke," Onion stammered. "I'm not doing this for me. I'm doing this to show you what it's like to... I..." She furrowed her brow, scowling. "The finer details aren't the point! You control us just... by being you! Even when the Tower does the same to you, you don't stop, you keep doing the same thing!" "...Do you want us to stop?" Eve asked. "To go live in a secluded cabin in some random forest somewhere and never contact any of you ever again?" "YES! Then we could be our own people!" "...That's evil," Eve said, shaking her head. "It would be the same as seeing a monster destroying a city and doing nothing to stop it. It would be the same as passing a dying man on the road and not helping him. The responsibility of those with power is to use it. We may use it wrong at times, and there may be unintended consequences, but we cannot do nothing. ...You've seen Allure's message. You know what happened when we let our society do its own thing." "You feel the same way," Corona said. "Look at all this you've created just to do what you think is just! Just to 'show' us what we do! You couldn't live with yourself doing nothing--and neither can we. When we see someone hurting... we help them. When we see someone attacking others... we stop them." "I'm... I'm not you... I'm..." She glanced at the Onion-bot and its symbol of Time. "I'm..." "You've been labeled the villain," Pinkie said, appearing between Eve and Corona. "Say what you will about heroes..." "...What about being the villain?" Corona asked. Onion bit her lip. "At least... I... There's no escape, is there? Either hero or villain or absolute nobody!" "There's a reason I fought the Tower," Corona said. "There--" "And when it falls there will be no justice for all the stupid things that happened before! There will be nothing! No villains to challenge the heroes, no quests, just people doing stupid things! This is my last chance to do anything to any of you that will be heard!" "...The last chance to hurt your mother?" Mattie asked. Onion turned to stare at her. "Come on, we all know that's what this is really about. You've got mommy issues so you're looking for something to justify lashing out against her. Against me. Until you deal with me you'll just... come up with whatever reason you can to justify hurting me. Maybe Minna too--I don't know how much she means to you or doesn't--but crikey, do you hate me." Onion started trembling again. "You... you dare to suggest you know me? You abandoned me at birth! Y--" "I couldn't be a good mother!" Mattie shrieked. "Do you think it'd be good for me to have a kid around me? I've had kids before, and it's never gone well. The one who understood me. The one? Their life went down the toilet so fast and so hard I can't even imagine! The others all resented me or didn't know who I was. It would have been better if Minna never told you who I was!" "Oh, so this is her fault, not yours? You didn't ruin all our lives?" "I DID!" Mattie shouted. "I RUINED EVERY LAST ONE, YOU BLOODY IMBECILE!" "THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU CHANGE THINGS?" "BECAUSE I DAMN WELL CAN'T!" Mattie wailed. "Do you think I don't want to change!? That it's not blatantly obvious that my lifestyle is destructive? It doesn't take a big brain to see that my particular brand of 'relationship' is doomed to be twisted down a toilet, taken advantage of, and relegated to a purely physical sensation without any real substance to it! I'm very lucky I have the friends I do, otherwise I'd be long dead!" "Is there an echo in here? If you don't like it, freaking CHANGE!" "THE TOWER WON'T LET ME!" Mattie wailed. "...W-what?" "Dammit..." Mattie bit her lip, starting to cry. "You made me say it. You made me acknowledge it, oh no no no no..." Onion was confused. "What just happened?" "I've been ignoring it! I... I had to! If I ever... why? Why now? I was almost free! The Tower was almost gone, and then I could have changed!" "Why couldn't you change before?" "Because the sexual deviant is popular! EVERYONE loves to read about them! Oh, don't believe me? Go take a look at FimFiction sometime, I know we have some copies somewhere. Find a completely random popular story and tell me how many sex jokes are in there. Even in a story with absolutely no really suggestive stuff in it, there'll probably be one or two! Because there's something about the world we live in that's obsessed with it, driven to be amused by the breaking of norms! It..." She gagged. "It's a core part of my character. It's almost central. Instead of being nice, or stupid, or compassionate, or cruel, or angry, or understanding... I'm a masochist. That is the word that defines me, Onion! And I can't do a damn thing to change it!" Onion fell silent. "I can't be your mother. I shouldn't be anyone's mother. But I can't stop. It's worse than an addiction, it's... it's a control. A control I'm always vaguely Aware of... At first I didn't mind. And then I saw what I did to people. How cruel I was. But I couldn't stop. It... it was like existence itself needed me to stay this way. Not for any reason, but to continue being funny by making people uncomfortable and, oh, laughing at societal norms! Yeah! That's great!" She looked at the ground. "Fighting against societal norms is the job of revolutionaries and politicians. Not me. I just... I just wanted to have fun. Not drive myself and everyone around me into the ground." Everyone was staring at her in shock. "And now I've been forced to admit it..." Mattie laughed bitterly. "I still can't change. But I can't ignore it anymore. I... I can already see it. One part of me screaming to just stop and the other unable to do so. It... it's... it's going to drive me insane. And not the fun kind, either." She heaved, dropping tears onto the ground. "Maybe when the Tower's gone.... I'll be okay." Slowly, she turned to look Onion in the eyes. "You didn't want me as your mother. I abandoned you... because it would have been worse for you if you stayed with me. If that's wrong--and it probably is, given my track record--then... well, you've already punished me. I can't go back anymore... but I can't change." She lowered her voice to almost a whisper. "...I hope it doesn't destroy me." A tear rolled down Onion's cheek. It was all too much. Trembling, she lowered her hoof. "Oh thank God..." Flutterfree said. "No," the Onion-bot said. "No." She whirled her hand toward the button. Onion cut her in half. "...I'm not the villain, anymore." The Onion-bot let out a bunch of garbled static before collapsing to the ground, dead. "...Get him out of here," Flutterfree begged. "Please." Discord managed to nod through the pain of his imprisonment. Onion wiped her face, nodding slowly. She returned to the console. Majora was already there, finger over the button. "Suffer," she said. "DEACTIV--" But Onion was too late. Majora had already pushed the button. Discord couldn't even scream. He could only recoil in shock... and become nothing more than white specks of dust in the wind. Flutterfree let out an inhuman wail. Eve fell to her knees. Onion dropped to the ground, cutting the console and Majora in half with her lightsaber. Her order to deactivate still went out. Siron, Jenny-bot, and English all crumbled to the ground without any fanfare. Everything became a blur for Onion. What had just happened? Had she... had she killed him? Did she want to, anymore? Was this... the end? What was the point of this? The next thing Onion was fully aware of was Flutterfree holding all her knife-blades to her neck. Onion felt one pierce her skin, drawing blood. No one in the room made a move to stop Flutterfree. Nobody dared. Rage twisted across the pegasus' face, a deep desire to kill to avenge crossing her features. Purple began to dominate her eyes... but died away as the Element of Kindness on her forehead shimmered. Slowly, she lowered the wing-blades from Onion's neck, a shuddering, shaking smile coming to her face. With her front hoof, she lifted Onion's face to meet her own. Her touch was soft, her gaze meek. She opened her mouth, struggling to say something, anything--a kind word or... anything. Nothing came out of her mouth. She couldn't do it. It was too much, even for her. She wailed, withdrawing her hoof to slash Onion across the face with a wing. It was a wild attack with no precision, but it still sent her flying into a wall. Onion was vaguely aware of bleeding heavily, and that one of her ears didn't feel right... was it gone? Was it... Was she... ... Everything hurt... "Onion...?" Pringle? "Onion, you're going to be okay. We've got you." Onion blinked. She had been moved to the center of the room and bandaged up. One of her ears was missing and she was wrapped in a lot of bandages. There was no sign of any healing spells being used on her. Joanne, Jang, and Pringle stood above her, worry evident on all their faces--even Joanne's, though she was shaking. "...Why..." Pringle hugged her. "Don't ask questions. We're here." "O-okay..." She didn't know how long she sat there with her friends before Corona walked up. "...Are you sorry?" Corona asked. Onion's tears told her all she needed to know. She put an arm around the pony and whispered into her ear. "I wasn't." Onion felt the healing magic flow through her. Corona released her, standing tall. "That's... probably all you're going to get from us. I... I wish we could help more, but we aren't that strong. Not now." She walked away, not looking back. "Why...?" Onion asked. "It doesn't matter," Jang said. "It's over, now." "Is it...?" Onion asked. "It can be..." Mattie said, looking to her daughter with real pain. "If you refuse to play the Tower's game. It's the only way to win. To just... remove yourself. We tried to, but... we can't. You... you might be able to, now." "We made mistakes," Minna added. "And... and we're sorry. We know sorry doesn't even begin to cover it..." "But I think you know that, too," Mattie added. "...Come find me after the Tower falls. Maybe... maybe then, I can be your mother. But not today. Not today." Onion nodded slowly, standing up. She wiped her face. "I should go." "...Go?" Pringle asked. "Go. Away from this city. Away from... everything. And just... escape the game of heroes and villains." She extended a hoof to her friends. "You... you can come with me." Pringle accepted her hoof first, without hesitation. "...What else would we do?" Onion smiled. "...Then let's leave them to their city." As far as the Tower can see, they never saw Onion "Circlet" Belle again. ~~~ Pinkie did see Pringle again, though. Only once. Pinkie was sitting alone on the balcony of the Force Temple, wind blowing through her mane. It was flatter than usual, but it hadn't lost its poofyness completely. "P-pinkie...?" Pinkie smiled. "I didn't stop being your auntie, you know." "But I..." "It's good that you can help Onion," Pinkie said. "We... we're hurting too much. She needs you. You're still a Pie and always will be. Keep on smiling and laughing and being there for your friends even when they do terrible things." Pinkie shook her head. "We're not strong enough to be perfect." "...You try." "We do. And we mess up, a lot." "B-but that's the whole point! You mess up, but you still do! You make the world a better place!" "Onion wasn't sure we did," Pinkie said, kicking her hooves. "We say we fight for the generations to come, but is it really good for them? How many of their problems should we solve for them? Is it possible for them not to resent us? Maybe, like Cinder, we aren't looking far enough ahead? Maybe we aren't thinking about what comes after the end. Maybe we can't..." "I don't..." Pringle frowned. "We're immortal. Do we ever plan to actually hand it over? Is it right to hand it over?" She examined her hoof, frowning. "I'm starting to wonder if there's a reason people have limited lifespans. So that the world will pass into the hands of the next generation... and they'll have to learn on their own. Everyone needs to struggle. If we create too much of a 'utopia', it becomes a dystopia simply because it tries to make lives too perfect." She laughed bitterly. "But I don't know if that's absolute. Maybe if we doubled down on our control, things would have been better. Maybe, maybe, maybe..." "Does it matter? You did your best." "Yeah. Yeah, we did!" Pinkie laughed. "You're great, Pringle, you know that?" "I don't know..." "Neither do I!" Pinkie giggled. "But you know what, if there's any overarching moral of this entire multiversal adventure, it's this: we're too small. If you're given all the power to decide the fate of existence... even if you're a good person who only uses it morally, something's still going to go wrong. The world is too big. Even this New World, this single universe... heck, even a single planet. It's too much." "So what do we do?" "We live," Pinkie said. "And do our best anyway." Pringle hugged her. "Come see me after the Tower's down, okay? That's when I think we should ask these questions again. " "And throw a party?" Pinkie laughed. "Yes. And throw a party." ~~~ "I wonder..." Eve said. "What is the difference between a hero and a villain?" "Different perspective?" Corona suggested. They were sitting in the Crow's Nest of the Austraeoh XVI, looking at the City of the Moon below them. "Not always..." Eve frowned. "We were shown twelve villains today." "Ba'al, Majora, Jenny, Siron, Scarcity, the Collector, that Combine thing, Skarn, Nettle, English, Onion, and... us." "Is there anything that ties all of them together? At all?" Eve frowned. "Some just wanted power. Some were just doing it for fun. Others had some kind of moral purpose, be it some plan or art or the fate of the multiverse. And... one just wanted revenge." She looked at her hoof. "But look at us, the heroes... some of us wanted power. Some of us just wanted to have fun. We fought for the fate of the multiverse... and we've fought for revenge." Corona tapped the Master Sword on the railing of the Crow's Nest. "I learned from you that what matters is our heart." "We were true to our hearts and our motivations," Eve said. "And so was the Collector. And yet, we were the villains. He went too far... and we went too far. Both of us." She looked at the ground. "If either of us fought for a surrender... If either of us would have just given up..." "I don't think there are heroes and villains," Corona said. "At least, not without the Tower. I think there are good people and bad people. Good people can do heroic things, but they can also do villainous things. Same with bad people. Being 'heroic' or 'villainous' is just a label people slap on to help tell a story. Really, everyone's the protagonist of their own story, even if they're a terrible person." "I can't disagree... but I'm not sure I can agree either." Eve closed her eyes and sighed. "I want an answer. I want some... some truth that I can latch onto and say 'this is good and right, while this is bad and wrong'. I want to be able to know. But I can't, I have to make every action in my life with some kind of doubt. The worst part? We can't just refuse to play. This is life, all your chips are on the table and there's no getting out of it." "Just try to be the best you can?" Corona suggested. "I would love it if that was all it took," Eve sighed. "But we've tried to be our best, and been wrong. Everyone has. And I refuse to believe there is no right and wrong. If there isn't, everything about existence is some kind of cruel joke. We are born absolutely convinced life has meaning and that our actions matter. Why is that? It's not just the Tower, it's a thing on Earths too! It's like... inherent." "And yet, when we look, we find... well, I don't know what we find. But the Builders found nothing. Like us, they couldn't accept that there was nothing." "But instead of just accepting that there was something, they just couldn't prove it, they... made their own something. And it got us here." She frowned. "We really shouldn't be trusted with coming up with our own destinies." "It looks like we are, though. One way or another." A flock of multicolored birds flew past their eyes. Eve smiled. "At least it's beautiful." Corona laughed. "It really is..." ~~~ Flutterfree stood at the base of the statue of Discord that had been erected the very same day he'd been dusted by the Majora robot. She was crying... but she was also smiling, smiling larger than she had in a long, long time. "...Keep it warm for me up there, will you? Maybe dress it up a bit. Some singing ginseng, a flailing tube-arm man, or... or whatever crazy things are up there. Surprise me. I... it might be a long time before I get there, but... one day. One day." She kissed the base of the statue, letting out a little laugh through her tears. She heard a branch snap behind her. Turning, she saw Trixie standing like a deer in the headlights. "Uh... I can come back later..." "No, no..." Flutterfree beckoned her to come sit down. "He'd like us both to be here." Nervously, Trixie walked up to Flutterfree's side and sat down, looking up at Discord's statue. It was laughing. "You know, rumors are going to start about how he's actually the statue." "He'd love that," Flutterfree giggled. "An endless legend of uncertain chaos..." They sat in silence, looking at the statue, but really reliving moments of their past with their mutual lifelong friend. "...You loved him too," Flutterfree said. Trixie didn't even try to deny it. "...It's okay. We all have those thoughts, sometimes." "I gave him to you," Trixie breathed. "I knew it was what he wanted... so I did it." She looked at the ground. "I didn't realize what my feelings were until it was too late." "Trixie, it's okay. It's okay." "I don't think I would have done anything different." Trixie shook her head. "You two... you two were amazing. He and I... can you imagine the shouting? The..." Trixie facehooved. "I'm being an idiot..." "Trixie, you are not being an idiot. You are being honest." Trixie sighed. "You gave him something more. You gave him yourself and... and that light you have in your eyes. He always had more to live for than you and the next laugh. It... it scared me a little, how you two changed each other. How well you did." She tapped a hoof on the ground. "...I wish I'd gotten to know him better than I did." "We all do. But Trixie... you spent decades with him on that boat, and you were never hiding. You know him better than you think." "Yeah..." "And who knows, maybe you'll see him again...?" Trixie sighed. "Doubt it." "Ah..." Flutterfree turned away, saying no more. They sat in silence for several minutes. "...I'm not leaving," Trixie said. "Hmm?" "I'm not going back with you on the Austraeoh. I... I'm going to stay here. Not just in this city, but in this... area. I'll wander around, do some shows, make some games again, what have you. Screw all that 'letting the younger generation figure it out' nonsense. They don't know what's good for them." She placed a hoof on the statue. "I'm going to play a different game, now." Flutterfree nodded. "I'm happy for you. We'll miss you at the Tower." "I know." Trixie smiled. "See you at the funeral." She turned and trotted away. "...Do you want me to get you anything?" "No," Flutterfree said, closing her eyes and smiling. "I already have everything I need." Trixie bit her lip. "Trixie, it's okay. You can think we're crazy." "I... I understand you two, okay? It's been hard, but I understand. It's just not for me. And I know your response to that is 'the point is to not do it for yourself' but I..." She twirled a hoof in the air. Flutterfree placed a wingtip on Trixie's cheek, smiling. "I understand, Trixie." They shared a brief hug before going their separate ways. ~~~ "...Discord was the love of my life," Flutterfree said at the service. It was being held on the Austraeoh XVI as it floated away from the City of the Moon, ever-so-slowly. Only the crew had been invited--this included Minna and Trixie, who would be teleported back to the city after the service. "All of us knew him well. How can we not know the people we've spent decades with cooped up on a tiny ship? We all have a memory of him being hilarious, of him being aggravating, of him jumping into danger headfirst and laughing all the while because he could just snap his fingers and change everything. ...We all remember times when he was lost, alone, and confused at his place in the world. We all remember times where we wondered if he would come back... where we wondered if he'd survived." She folded her ears back and drooped slightly. "This time, he didn't. We rushed in, trying to save the day as we always do, and... our luck ran out." Flutterfree paused, gathering her breath. "We'd talked before about what we would do if the other didn't make it. We made each other promise that we would continue on as long as we physically could, into the New World and beyond. I... am keeping that promise. Even though I want nothing more than to go be with him right now, the world is still here. He doesn't want us to despair, even though we will--he wants us to live, to continue on, and to keep fighting for life itself. And when another of us falls... we keep going even then, as we always have. "I know a lot of you don't believe there's anything beyond, that when we're gone, we're gone, and..." She had to stop to wipe her eyes. "And I'm really, really sorry that... I don't feel what you feel right now. And I'm sorry that... I can't really provide you more hope. The end of a life is always a tragedy, no matter what. But his wish still stands: for us to move on. To remember him... and to use that memory to carry us forward. "Right now, I... I cry. He's gone. We don't have him anymore. But I also smile. He knows a glory none of us can even imagine. And... I'm not sorry for talking like this, for making you all uncomfortable, for... I don't know. All I know is that I'm telling you about Discord, Spirit of Chaos, and... his life. His amazing, complicated, confusing life. Even he never truly understood himself. Don't you think that's beautiful? He had so much to him that he never stopped discovering new things. His story... it never ends. And even when the Tower falls, our story won't end. We'll keep writing about what we've done, and who knows where it will go? "I'm sad he never got to see the world without the Tower. I think... I think he would have been at home there, in the new forms of chaos. So let's carry his memory into it. "Now... before I close and ask Rev to say some things, or invariably get stuck on some tangent about his life, Discord did have one request. He had a song he wanted played at his funeral. It's overly cheery, confusing, and perhaps a little tactless... but, really, would he have wanted anything less at a day devoted to him?" "Definitely not," Mattie called. Flutterfree nodded. "And no, it's not 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life'. That's the closing song he's asked for." She chuckled nervously. "Monika, do you have the giant spoons, bowl, and the song?" Monika nodded. "Yep. You are completely nuts, though. You're gonna get copyrighted or something, the readers are gonna need to get the song in a note." Flutterfree winked. "Good. Rev, would you come up here and sing with me?" Rev teleported to her side. "I wouldn't miss this for the world." Flutterfree nodded. Monika placed a giant cereal bowl behind them and gave each of the ponies a spoon the size of a sword. Snapping her fingers, Monika started the music--a guitar and a funky beat began. When Rev and Flutterfree started singing, twirling their spoons around like batons, Eve broke out in delighted laughter while most everyone else was looking around a tad confused or uncertain. Eve teleported to the stage between Flutterfree and Rev, joining them in song. "When the toast is burned and all the milk has turned and Captain Crunch is waving farewell...!" It was ridiculous. It was poignant. There were tears, but there were also three voices celebrating Discord, his life, and what he saw for the future. If he really was looking down from above, he would have been laughing in absolute delight. With the power of a song, the Austraeoh XVI sailed north, toward the true end. ~~~ The songs Discord chose:
Songs of the Spheres	155 - 'Epilogue', Part 1	Over thirty years. That's how long it had been since the heroes left the City. The biggest and the most-remembered had left with the Austraeoh, but as predicted most of the others had left as well, either vanishing into private lives or moving on to distant locales. The City was allowed to evolve on its own. This did not make all that much of a visual difference. The City was still a ring of buildings with many different architectural styles that sometimes looked beautiful and at other times looked as if a child had thrown all his toys on the floor and arranged them until he got bored. Certainly the City was larger. The buildings had grown overall, and now there were numerous districts that existed outside the City walls. They weren't as well-protected, but at this point there wasn't anybody with an army powerful enough or a brain small enough to even think of attacking the City. So the City expanded in peace. Within the central circle of pure roses, there were a few more buildings. The old skyscraper had been retired and turned into a tourist destination, while the new seat of government was a floating mini-city that often acted as the Tower's moon. There was also a watchtower-like building that had been built to create a day-night cycle in the City, but the public had already adjusted to the dayless nature of the New World by the time it had been built and complained endlessly about the predictable light. It was now only used to light up the sky on special occasions. Essentially, the City was still the City, surviving the arrival of a new generation. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same. One person knew this particularly well. Sh- "Oh! Do I finally get a moment in the spotlight again!?" Seskii asked, dropping a potion onto the ground, lighting the bricks of the marketplace on fire. She rubbed the back of her head. "Oops." She pulled a magic broom out nowhere and put out the fire. "Heh. I've got it." "You just lost a customer," Mister Raven, boot-selling raptor, observed. "I can always get more!" Seskii beamed. "Everyone always needs potions." "I disagree," the Happy Mask Salesman said from his stand, across the street from the two of them. "Magic masks are really in season right now - it's one of the last days I can sell a mask to someone and say it's a perfect fit for their destiny." "Does one really have a destiny if it only goes on for one day?" Raven asked, pondering this. "One day..." Seskii shook her head with a smile. She turned to look at the Dark Tower. The white crack was easily visible even from her distance, going up a fair ways. It was almost ready to bring the entire Tower down. "...Maybe I won't be able to get more customers after this." She held out her magic broom. "I mean, how can you pull these things out of nowhere without any meta abilities?" "Inventory spells," Raven answered. "But that means I have to know what to carry ahead of time," Seskii pointed, fidgeting with the edge of her potion stand. "Do you wish the Tower would remain?" the Happy Mask Salesman asked, suddenly behind her. "...Nah," Seskii said. "I'm just a little sad some of the really fun stuff won't work anymore. You won't be able to do that 'sudden animation' thing either." "Very true," the Happy Mask Salesman admitted, already back at his stand, ready to sell a bystander a yellow Keaton mask. "But is it not true we will also get new fun stuff?" Raven asked. "The Earth will open to us, a vast story of origins awaits us." "True. I wonder what's up there..." Seskii pursed her lips. "Is it abandoned? Are there still people living on it? Will we end up blowing it up because we all want to see what it's like?" "Delving into the land where there are no answers, I see," Raven observed. "Hey, at least there will be answers soon. Unlike all the stuff you spend hours pondering." Raven shrugged. "You say that as if philosophy is a pointless endeavor." "It certainly helps you think. But then it tells you that you really don't know anything in the end." Raven nodded. "What use is a mask of truth if there is no truth?" the Happy Mask Salesman asked. "To be creepy," Seskii answered, smirking. "And t-" "Ahem. Excuse me." A pony walked up to them wearing a hoodie. "I'd like to buy a 'convenient timing' potion, please." Seskii raised her eyebrow. "Uh-huh." She snapped her fingers and took off the pony's hood. Seskii grinned. "Good to see you're back, Twilence." I rolled my eyes. "Way to ruin the moment." "Hey, it's still a good moment!" "I know." "Darnit." Seskii snapped her fingers, giggling. "I take it this means they're right, it really will go down in a day?" the Happy Mask Salesman asked. I nodded. "Yes. They've scheduled the festival correctly. Might want to get your fun in while you still can." "But selling potions is my fun!" Seskii said, chuckling. "I shall sell ALL THE POTIONS! ALL OF THEM!" "You have more potions than everyone in existence could possibly drink." "Well, yeah..." Raven cleared his throat. "Does this mean the heroes are returning as well?" I turned to Mister Raven with a simple, warm smile. "Yes. Yes it does. They will be arriving very shortly, in fact. I'm heading over to welcome them back, but figured I might as well drop in and let you all know I'm back." "Nervous?" the Happy Mask Salesman asked, appearing behind her. "Your sight extends barely twenty-four hours... You can know every detail of what happens." "I could. And I used to." I shrugged. "I was able to block my mind's knowledge of the smaller events, though any powerful visions will still come through. Preparing myself for the final moment, you could say. It was nice to be surprised for once, I admit. Who'd've thought Rosalina would become a master chef and use my old library as her primary location?" "...That's old news," Raven observed. "I know! Isn't it great to be surprised?" Seskii rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Make sure to indulge yourself at least a little bit, Twilence. It's your last chance!" "Thanks for the advice. I'll do it a little." I spread my wings. "But now I have to go greet them. See you around!" I flew away with a rush of wind. The Happy Mask Salesman laughed his creepy laugh. "And our eternal fate draws nearer..." "Stop being so creepy," Seskii chided. "No." ~~~ An airship flew through a cloud that smelled like limes, giving the craft a much-needed freshening. It was not an old vessel, but it was not in good shape either. Most of its hull was made of mismatched wooden planks that didn't match the size, color, or wear of the rest of the ship. The body had several large, steam-based mechanical pieces with a few digital screens haphazardly jury-rigged here and there. The only advanced parts of the ship appeared to be the propulsion engine in the back, and the set of six propellers that kept the ship afloat. Near the front of the hull, a name was scrawled in black paint. Austraeoh XIX. Captain Pinkie Pie was still at the helm, whistling a tune as she steered the Austraeoh toward absolute north - the Dark Tower. She still looked like Pinkie Pie, with her innocent grin, blue eyes, and cotton candy mane, but now she wore a copious amount of clothes. A red coat made up most of the outfit, though it was by no means the part anyone noticed first. On virtually every corner of her body she had bags, staves, weapons, and emergency baking supplies. There was even a 'party pistol' holstered at her hip, ready to spew confetti at unsuspecting enemies in the blink of an eye. She still had her blindfold - tied around her neck. Her Element of Harmony took the form of an earring on her left ear. As she whistled happily, Burgerbelle appeared behind her. "Heeeey, are you whistling the whistle?" The eternal child looked different as well - sporting darker, more revealing clothes, shorter hair, and a pair of knee-high boots that had once been every color of the rainbow but were now muggy and dull. Numerous scars crossed her face and arms, like most members of the crew these days. "Yep! I'm stealing your repeating memes!" "It's not my fault that I don't get new material out here!" Burgerbelle huffed, folding her arms. "Geez." "Hey, you wanna drive for a while?" Pinkie asked. "I'm going to do some ship-rounds, say hello to everyone. Been a while since I did that." "One last time, eh...?" Burgerbelle smirked. "You know it! Now be a good girl and don't crash the ship!" Burgerbelle smiled but took on a whiny tone. "But Mooooom, I don't wanna!" "Do it or I give you poop deck patrol!" Burgerbelle chuckled. "Oh no, not that! I'll drive the ship!" She grabbed the wheel with her feet and smirked. "Your skirt is too short for that." Pinkie observed. "Convenient fabric placement still exists for a day, I'm good." She winked. Pinkie chuckled and bounced away, back to one of the deck's game tables. Eve and Flutterfree were sitting at it, playing a game of Go. The two of them hadn't changed their outfits but they looked more like embodiments of magic and power than normal ponies. Both of their manes twisted and turned with the ebb and flow of magic around them. They too had many scars from the extended journey. Eve placed a black stone on the board. "Challenge." Flutterfree smirked. "Met." She placed a white stone right next to Eve's. "Such a daring play!" Pinkie said, leaning in. "You don't know how to play," Flutterfree said with a knowing smile. "Hey! I can place stones!" "Do you even know what a ladder is?" Eve asked, placing a black stone a short distance from Flutterfree's white one. "Uh... Right, point taken." Pinkie smirked. "Anyway, just dropping by to say hi!" "We're going to be there soon?" Flutterfree asked, challenging Eve with another move. "Eh, soon enough." "I just had a thought..." Eve said. "Do you remember what I said before we left?" "...You said a lot of things." "I was surprised there were twenty-five of us. Not nineteen." Pinkie looked back thirty years and managed to pull something out of the meta. "...You just thought that, looks like." "Oh." Eve paused a moment, then placed another stone. "I guess... I realize it was a valid observation now." Flutterfree blinked. "...There are only nineteen of us on board right now. That's..." She shook her head. "You know, I don't know why I thought we were free of that. Everyone who left... died..." For a moment, it looked like she was going to go into a rant. But she calmed herself with an elongated breath and sat back in her seat. "...What's done is done. We did choose this life, in a way. And it'll be gone soon enough." She made another move. "...Ponyfeathers," Eve muttered, realizing Flutterfree had duped her. "I'm going to have to think about this for a while..." "I'll leave you to that!" Pinkie said, bouncing away. Mid-bounce, she ran into the towering form of Jotaro. He hadn't changed much over the years - his outfit was essentially the same, his figure just as battle-ready as always. The biggest change could be seen in his smile - it came easily and warmly. "You should look where you're going," he said, standing her up. "Psh, it leads to encounters like this, I don't mind!" She winked. "What's up?" "The engine's about to explode," Pidge said, stepping out from behind him. She had definitely changed - gone was the power suit, replaced with a tank top and shorts that were absolutely covered in grease. Her hair had gotten exceptionally long and messy, much like the rest of her: the price of a mechanic's life. The only clean part about her was her glasses, which glinted in the sun as perfectly as always. "I need to know if I have to fix it or if we're gonna get there before it explodes." Pinkie checked her imaginary watch. "We're good." "Oh thank goodness, I was not looking forward to another night of work." She adjusted her glasses. "I'm going to go drown myself in... eh, I don't want to be an idiot, root beer will be fine." "Pidge, don't we have an announcement?" Pidge blinked. "Oh, right! Ahem." She blinked. "Actually, I did it last time, you should get a turn." "She's pregnant again," Jotaro said without pause. Pinkie gasped - then squeed. "Oh that's gonna be great we're gonna have another little Kujo running around!" Pidge shrugged. "Yep! You think we would have learned our lesson after the last one, but what do we know?" "Yare yare daze..." Jotaro said, adjusting his hat. He took a moment to examine the ring on his finger, smiling. This prompted Pidge to realize her hand was covered in engine grease and that her ring was missing. Again. "QUIZNAK! Why does this always happen!?" Jotaro pulled an extra ring out of his pocket and tossed it to her. Pidge stared at it like it was the best gift she had ever received. "Jojo, you're just... the best." "Vriska would disagree with you." "Oh, speaking of Vriska, I need to go find her - know where she is?" Pinkie asked. "Somewhere belowdecks," Pidge said, sliding the ring on and off of her lubricated finger, annoyed that it wouldn't stick. "Geez..." Pinkie nodded. "I'll head down there then - but first..." She appeared on the top of the crow's nest. "How's my favorite little birdy?" Corona didn't budge - she was busy holding out her arms and wings, letting the wind blow through her. She had kept her battle dress and anime shades, but she had allowed her hair to become exceptionally long; and unlike Pidge's, it wasn't a mess. It rippled like that of an alicorn's, not with fire, but with a strange blue highlight at the edges. The Master Sword still hung at her side, a memory of a friend long gone. Roland was also in the crow's nest, working on a little wooden sculpture of a tree. He looked exactly the same as he did thirty years ago. "Hey," he said. He decided this was enough conversation and got back to work. "I wonder if I'll be able to do this without falling forward," Corona asked Pinkie without turning around. "Hmm... I think you'll be able to do it, but you won't look quite as drop-dead gorgeous while doing it." Corona smirked. "Thanks, Pinkie. Though I could honestly stand to have fewer people clamoring for my hand. I wonder if it'll get worse or better..." "You wonder a lot of things," Pinkie observed. "It's a worthwhile pursuit. There's... a lot to think about in this world, Pinkie. A lot. I can't wait to see how thinking changes..." She chuckled. "Ah, how things will change..." She closed her eyes and breathed in. "I can feel the City. If any of us still had our phones we could call them." "You have magic." "I think I want to surprise them." Pinkie grinned. "Yessss, give in to the party desire." "I might." That was all Pinkie needed to hear. She did a triple-flip off the crow's nest and jumped through the open hatch in the deck, leading to one of the Austraeoh's multiple interior decks. The first one had haphazard electrical lighting, a lot of tables, and a door that led right to the kitchen. Vriska was currently right here, playing a game of 'who can cheat the best at poker' with Roxy. The troll and the Gem were both spared the drastic scars and scuffs of most the other crew, since their god-tier status healed all ailments whenever it was necessary. That said, Roxy did have a mechanical arm, though this was completely voluntary on her part. It had been quite a challenge to get that to interface with her Gem, but that had been part of the fun of making it. "Lots of board games today," Pinkie observed. "First Go, now poker? What will they think of next?" "Another activity that staves off boredom," Vriska commented, laying down two aces. Roxy smirked and laid down four. "...Well, shit, I didn't think you were going to go for the blatant one." "Hey, if you call cheat, it's a misdeal and we have to start again." She took a chug from her mug of root beer - something Pidge had apparently ordered for everyone since Pinkie had stopped talking to her. "Or we can take my victory." "You can win the hand..." Vriska said, folding her fingers together. "But you will not win the war." Roxy made the cards vanish from existence and recreated them from nothing. Vriska swiped them out of the air and shuffled, examining all of it with her Light powers. She drew a hand of nothing but twos and threes. "Shit, fold." Roxy chuckled. "Nothing but twos and threes in the deck." Vriska facepalmed. "Pinkie, I'm apparently sucking today. I wonder if it's your pink vibes." Pinkie rolled her eyes. "It's just you getting your fair share." "What the - HEY!" "Leaving the game?" Roxy asked. "...No." "Then plant it." Vriska grumbled but obeyed, allowing Pinkie to jump off into the kitchen. Their chef was the Everykid, in her chef's hat, of course. She was cooking up a delicious-smelling stew of some kind or other, a craft she had gotten very good at over thirty years. Not that she'd ever stopped looking like a kid. "Cooking going well?" Pinkie asked. The Everykid nodded. "Good. Carry on!" She saluted in confirmation. Pinkie bounced her way through the kitchen and into a storeroom where Jenny and Mlinx were currently sparring. Jenny wasn't allowed to use magic, and Mlinx could only use two of his hands. Jenny was as young as always, but her outfit had long since been replaced by a significantly more feminine crimson dress and high heels. She thought it looked beautiful, but of course it was just as dirty as everything else on the ship. She used her ancient red gloves to catch Mlinx's spear. The demon was about as beat up as someone could be, having suffered more cuts and abrasions than anyone else, including the loss of one of his eyes. He wore these marks with pride. And he had earned every bit of that pride. This was quickly made evident when he twisted his spear around backward and stabbed Jenny through the chest with it, forcing blood to squirt onto the floor. "Hey!" Pinkie complained. "Someone's going to have to clean that up!" Mlinx removed the spear and rolled his eyes. "Any one of the mages can do it with the snap of a finger. I could even get a few more jabs in here and there, not really much of a difference." "Did I hear someone say 'a few more jabs in here'!?" Mattie interjected, falling from the ceiling. She had gone from just wearing leather boots to a full set of black leather armor, and upgraded the whips to a half-dozen other weapons all designed for maximum pain. Her scars were often fresh enough to be described as wounds. "Because I certainly know a thing or two about that? Jenny! Do you want an exploding mace to the pelvis?" Jenny stood up and glared at her. "I am not your torture buddy." "But come ooooooon, it was so fun!" "Eh. Not really." "But but but - oh I know! I could just maaaaake you do it!" Pinkie grabbed Mattie by the shoulders. "Mattie, get a hold of yourself. We're going to be rejoining society. I know you have a lot going through that head of yours, but you're going to have to overrule it for a bit." Mattie twitched. "I..." She focused, took a breath, and swished her tail around. "I can try." Pinkie looked at her and smiled. "That's all we ask. ...I'm sorry we couldn't help you." Mattie tried to laugh but she just started crying. "I..." Jenny put a hand on her. "Hey. You may be completely psychotic and... thirsty, but you're still one of us. We'll help you stand. ...Don't ask to mace me." Mattie lit up - one would have thought she hadn't been sad just a moment ago, if her tears weren't still visible on her cheeks. "That's just what I was thinking! Coincidence? I think not!" Jenny facepalmed. "Oh joy..." Mlinx casually leaned against one of the nearby walls. "Hey. At least she likes you." "If Mattie likes something, we usually put it on a list of things to avoid." "I don't see a contradiction here." Pinkie sighed. She gave Mattie a brief hug. "You'll pull through." Then she bounced away, leaving the lost unicorn to ponder what had been said. Most of the others were in the library. Starbeat and Rev had an ancient tome open and were currently arguing moral philosophy with each other based on its context. Both were scarred, and in Rev's case there was a particularly nasty one across her eye, but the two of them were still lively. Rev wore one of the few clean garments on the Austraeoh, a white robe of purity. Starbeat was black, looking like a ninja-rogue mixture with a lot of hidden blades all over her person. She still had her goggles, though. "What I'm saying is that God isn't part of the question," Starbeat said. "You can classify the origin of morality as already existing through natural or supernatural means. Muddying the water there does not help us move any further forward." "You're right." "Thanks." "We should move on to the application of morality and its relation to higher power." "Oh here we go again..." The two chuckled. Pinkie sat herself at a different table. "They're something, huh?" "I like it better when their club meetings are about simpler books," Nanoha said, furrowing her brow. She hadn't changed at all outwardly - thirty years was nothing to her. O'Neill, on the other hand, looked like a grizzled old pirate complete with beard and black hat. "Yarrr." "Stop it," Pinkie said, glaring at him. O'Neill chuckled. "But Pinkie, it's talk like a pirate day!" "You say that every day." "You're the one who told him to do it," Nanoha reminded her. "And I regret that decision every day." Nanoha smirked. "I appreciate the karma." "YARRRMA!" O'Neill shouted. "Jack, be more creative." "Well I dunno 'bout you, but I'd like me some ale right now instead of this scaly-waggin' mug o' sugar right here!" "It's healthier for you." O'Neill looked down at his figure - significantly larger than it had been when they left, though he couldn't call it fat. "Aye... Good point, m'lady." Nanoha chuckled. "The magic word..." "Yarrr." "I'm out," Pinkie said, bouncing out of the Library and to one of the back rooms, where the last remaining member of the crew stood. Monika, being of untold power and manipulation, was standing tall and looking out the window at the receding distance. Her hair was cut short and simple, and she wore a light gray business outfit she had created herself, so naturally it had way too many buttons on it. Behind her was a table with a typewriter on it. A typewriter containing a record of most their adventures in the thirty years they'd been gone. "At long last, it comes," Monika said, unmoving. "The last moment, the final hurrah. I look to it with anticipation... and fear." She held up a hand and examined it like it was an alien entity. "Will I go forward with new understanding? Or will I let my life crumble without the nature which has served me so well? I know so little, and today I know less. And lesser still." She turned around to look at Pinkie with a melancholy but somehow determined expression. "Hello, Captain." "...I think you've changed the most out of everyone," Pinkie said. "Even Mattie." Monika nodded in agreement, gracefully sitting down in her chair, taking up a formal posture. "I have several theories as to why this is the case." "I don't need to hear them," Pinkie said, shaking her head. "I know who you are. I'm not sure I agree with everything you've gone through, but I am proud of you for getting to this point." She smiled. "Quite a far cry away from the prideful deity who never listened to any of my orders." Monika pulled her hair behind her ears. "...You humble me." "I just wish you weren't so formal all the time." "I am a chronicler," Monika said, turning to the typewriter. "I do not alter history. I am the opposite of a Prophet, and I must live that out in my life." Pinkie rolled her eyes. "You know what? You do whatever works for you. You're a good person regardless." She pulled her into a hug. "We'll be arriving soon." "I know. I can see that much," Monika said, turning back to the window. "They will not expect what returns to them." "That makes it all the more fun!" Pinkie giggled. Monika nodded. "In a way. I believe everyone is looking forward to a place to relax with no worries or strains. Beyond the fall of the Tower, of course." Pinkie nodded. "Yep. Well, we're lucky. There's no more bad guys. We just... get to go home." "Home..." Monika pursed her lips. "...I think this ship has been more home to me than anywhere else." "Awww..." Monika smiled ever so slightly. "If I have a family... It is you all." Pinkie wiped a tear out of her eye. "You're the best." She stood up on her hind hooves and looked out the window as well. "Let's take this home home." ~~~ The City went through a series of reactions. The first was common enough - incoming unidentified vessel. Tell the army that something dangerous was coming, but don't get too out of sorts about it. They sent out a message and hoped for a reply. When the reply didn't come through, the reaction became nervous. They sent out a few scout ships to make contact, and they came back with news that everyone had been expecting but nobody had really fully prepared for. The heroes had returned. The Mayor immediately sent out a message to the City, telling them what was coming. Reactions were almost universally excited - even the people who hadn't thought the heroes were all that amazing in the past got swept up in the communal hype. These were legends that were coming back, people who the younger generation had never seen, only heard stories of. Stories they often didn't believe. Everyone started to flood to the dock the Austraeoh had been directed to, filling the entire block with a swarm of people who just wanted to get a look at the people who shaped reality with their legacies. The remnants of the last story. Seskii and I managed to get seated near the front through 'cheating'. After getting there, I had tracked down the Mayor and his politicians, asking them for an itinerary of everything they had planned for the incoming crew. I took one look over it and told the politicians their guests wouldn't want to waste their last day listening to grand speeches. They were free to do whatever they wanted after the Tower fell, but right now the heroes deserved to have a little more respect than that. Sensing they wouldn't easily be able to do this, I offered to extend the welcome myself. After a bit of back and forth where I proved myself sufficiently knowledgeable about the schedule and the City's policies, the Mayor and his goons backed off. Of course there was no way in existence they would have done this normally, but a Prophet's pen has to be good for something, right? When the Austraeoh entered visible range, the crowd cheered so loudly I had to lower my ear sensitivity. To them, the ship was a symbol of hope and completion. Catharsis, if you will. This slowly died down as the ragged, haphazard nature of the Austraeoh became apparent. Beyond its heavy damage and wooden mess, the engine was smoking and one of the propellers wasn't working. It shook and sputtered until eventually landing slightly too hard on the dock, prompting a few planks of wood to go flying. Their shock became even stronger when the nineteen remaining heroes stepped out of the ship. Most of them looked beat up or ragged in one way or another, and a lot of the scars were very apparent. The few who weren't scarred or dirty stuck out like sore thumbs, still somehow appearing wrong to everyone. Those who had known the heroes in the past were struck by how different they looked from how they remembered. Those who hadn't were struck by how different the heroes were from them. Burgerbelle's outfit was hardly socially acceptable, most people couldn't recognize O'Neill through the beard, Corona's beauty coupled with the rest of her companions was out of place, and Pinkie looked less like an adorable party pony and more like a mercenary. "Hey everyone!" Pinkie said with a wave. "Glad to be back!" A few people who knew Pinkie relaxed when they heard her voice and waved back. The rest of the crowd started mumbling amongst itself, not sure what to think of these... well, they looked like pirate mercenaries, and not the fun kind. I walked up to them, Seskii skittering along behind me. "Welcome back," I said, extending a hoof. Pinkie shook it. "Did you take over the City while we were gone?" "I only arrived yesterday. Took over this little event since, well..." I glanced behind me. "You see." "What is it with them?" Pidge asked. "Do we smell?" "Shit, we probably reek like nothing else," Vriska said, blinking. "And this is one of the reasons cleanliness is a virtue," Monika commented. Eve turned to me. "...Do you mind?" "Not at all." I stepped to the side and allowed her full access to the crowd. Eve took in a breath, and turned on the Royal Canterlot Voice. "It's been a long time since I've talked with all of you - thirty years by standard counts. In that time, a lot can change. I see differences in this City - new faces, new buildings, and a new atmosphere. Think back to what you were thirty years ago. You are not the same person you were then, right? "We have been through much more than you in those thirty years. Our journey was one of constant adventure where obstacles and evils were thrown at us almost without ceasing. These scars are from our many battles we fought, ones where we didn't have access to advanced medical machinery. We were not allowed to forget what had happened to us. We lost people to the conflicts we inserted ourselves into. Many of us decided to settle down and leave the Journey. We're all that remains. "Please understand that we have changed a lot in that time - some more than others. Some, like Nanoha, will not seem any different to you. Others, like Monika, will scarcely seem like the same person. A lot has happened, and I want you to understand that we will not be the people you remember." She paused for a moment, smiling. "And I look forward to getting to know all of you in a new, exciting existence. In a short time, nothing will be the same ever again. I would like it if we could all enjoy these final moments of 'story' we have together without reeling in shock - on both sides. Do you think we can do that?" I smiled. "I think we can. What about the rest of you?" There was some hesitation for many people there, but after enough had let out a shout of 'yeah' the crowd was won over. Soon, news would spread of their arrival and differences. Eve's speech would ripple through the people as it had once done in the past. "I haven't done that in a long time..." Eve said, touching her throat. "I forgot what speeches could do..." Flutterfree winked. "You did great." "You are biased." "I think you did great too," Roxy said. "And I'm an unbiased opinion!" "All of you are biased. We spent thirty years on a boat together." Eve chuckled. "We should all know each other pretty well by this point." I smirked. "One would think so." I turned around. "Come on, they've got a hotel suite already picked out for all of you. You can get some rest and relaxation before the Tower crumbles." "Rest? Relaxation?" Mattie groaned. "But I don't wanna..." "No offense but you all really need some baths," Seskii interjected. "...I have a very particular bath in mind..." Mattie said, raising her eyebrows repeatedly. Seskii sighed. "No." "Aww, but I could th-" An Aradia appeared and squealed. "Oh, I'm so glad you're back! It's been so long!" "Oh geez, not another one," Vriska said with a laugh. The Aradia blinked. "...Wait, what? Did one of my sisters already get to you?" Corona shook her head. "We just saw one of you last week. And the week before that. And the week before that. Your kind has spread out pretty effectively across Nucleon." "Oh. Well I haven't seen you in forever!" She pulled Vriska into a hug. "Yaaay!" "You... are still... way too chipper..." Vriska gagged. "There was that one Aradia that wanted everyone dead as a doornail," Burgerbelle reminded everyone. "...I can't wait to hear all about this," Aradia said. Seskii slung her arm around Aradia's shoulders. "Girl, they've got a hotel to get to and one day left. Let them enjoy themselves, then grill them for stories." "Oh. Right, sorry." "I have records if you want to read those," Monika suggested. "Historic, nothing all that narrative." "My ever-opposite," I said, rolling my eyes. "The hotel's this way." ~~~ At first one would think the most luxurious hotel in the City should have been booked completely full for such an event, and the fact that an entire lounge area was available was just a trick of ka. Until you realize that the City had been expecting the heroes to arrive and wanted to ensure they had all the luxury imaginable, specifically keeping the lounge open for them whenever they arrived. I let them in and instructed the staff not to try to bother them - not unless they were called for room service or something. They would do whatever they wanted. Then I turned right around and told all of them to take showers, baths, or at least take a gander at a quick-clean spell. Then they could do whatever they wanted until the artificial sun was turned on and the festival actually began. I suggested sleep - but otherwise left them to their own devices. "Well..." Mattie began, chuckling. "Showers... baths... we have our orde-" Burgerbelle grabbed her, tossed her into a bathroom alone and affixed a comically-oversized padlock to the door on the outside. "You can come out when you're done." Mattie spat out some disgusting swears. "...You didn't have to be so rough with her," Nanoha observed. "Eh, it was a quick solution. I call one of the other showers." Burgerbelle tore her clothes off and jumped into the nearest bathroom. Nobody batted an eye - save Monika. "She can't just be doing that here, you know. There's a thing called decency." "We're in a private hotel lobby and it's not like her outfit leaves much to the imagination anyway," Roxy countered. "Monika does have a point," Rev said. "It won't go over very well if we portray ourselves as a bit too socially unacceptable ...I should probably stop carrying all these stakes and silver bullets concealed in my robes, come to think of it." "You've fallen to the Monika-properisms!" Roxy wailed. "Why would you let that happen?" Flutterfree rolled her eyes. "Because there's something to be said for not making a commotion?" "Making commotion is literally what we do," Pidge pointed out. "Not for very long." Pidge shrugged. "Yeah, Monika's probably right here. Can't look like freakin' raiders forever." "I beg to differ," O'Neill said, scratching his beard. "It's such a... convenient aesthetic." "We don't need to be intimidating here," Monika said. "The people are nice and we have a reputation. We'll need to adjust to them if we want to be welcomed back." Pinkie cleared her throat. "I've made a decision! We're gonna go with Monika's idea, at least until the Tower falls." There were a few groans, but they had all stopped complaining about Pinkie's decisions many years ago. "Good! I'll have a little talk with the party-apprentice when she gets out. Anyway..." She looked out the window. "I guess it's technically night right now. We could get some good sleep here..." "Screw that!" Vriska said, standing tall. "Soon as I can get out of here and plunder this City's luck, the better!" She smirked. "We don't need sleep. Tower's falling in..." "About eleven hours, give or take one," Pidge offered. "Geez that's less than I was expecting," Vriska said, blinking. "We owe it to ourselves not to sleep through these last moments! We will take every opportunity we can to enjoy our last day here! EVERYONE SCATTER!" Nobody moved. "Come on!" The Everykid pointed at Vriska then at a shower. "...Okay, fine, clean up first, then go. In fact..." Vriska jumped into one of the few remaining showers. "You should all start calling these faster." "There's plenty of private rooms," Starbeat pointed out. "Just use those." "But they're smaller!" Pinkie said with a gasp. "Why would we take them!?" The Everykid rolled her eyes and walked into one of the private rooms. She didn't care about the size of the bathroom. "...This entire debate is pretty stupid," Roxy observed. Roland chuckled. "Surprise, surprise..." ~~~ That 'night', the heroes of Austraeoh split up to explore the City they had left behind so long ago. Some of them had very specific ideas of where they were going and what they were doing. Eve and Flutterfree were not among those people. They stepped outside the hotel with glistening manes and shining coats, confident smiles on their faces. Within six minutes they had no idea where they were aside from 'the Dark Tower is that direction'. "...You know, I just reached for my phone," Eve commented with a laugh. "Why did I do that? I haven't had one for years." "This place brings back our old habits," Flutterfree said, stopping a moment to give a warm smile to a depressed Gem sitting on a bench. "I can already feel all the memories flooding back..." She traced one of her wing-knives through the cracks of a brick wall. "We helped build this place, Eve. We did. A lot of other people too, yeah, but us." "You mean just the two of us or the entire crew?" "...Crew, I suppose..." Flutterfree said, holding her head back and smiling. "I don't think we could be said to have 'built' something together, just the two of us." Eve nodded. "Is that good or bad, I wonder?" "I don't think it's either. It's just a 'what-if' scenario. One of many." "What if?" Eve thought for a moment. "I can't say I've thought about that all that much." "Eve, you're a what-if machine." "I meant pertaining to us." Flutterfree smirked. "Ah, right." She looked to the sky. "I've thought about it a few times. If I had been willing to ask you..." "You already know what my answer would have been. It's not like we haven't had the conversation before. It wouldn't be right for you." Flutterfree smiled. "You're so willing to give yourself up for others, you know that?" "I'm told it's a character flaw, sometimes," Eve said, rubbing the back of her head. "Regardless, we are where we are now, and were we anything else... it'd just be wrong." "Even when the Tower falls?" "Even when the Tower falls." The two of them hugged. "...I miss him." "I know," Eve stroked Flutterfree's mane. Soft smiles formed on both of their faces. "I see you two are still adorable." The ponies turned to see Azula standing in the front door of her tea shop - one of the few buildings the two of them recognized. "You're still doing this?" Flutterfree said aloud. "I'm... more than a little surprised!" "I left for a while," Azula admitted. "Not as long as you - I couldn't get the same satisfaction out of adventuring. I came back and reopened the shop as it was, and everyone loved it, as always. Sometimes it's difficult to keep my head down, but I manage." She invited them in. "Come on, first round's on me." Flutterfree and Eve blinked - then laughed. "What?" "You have no idea how much alcohol we had on the Austraeoh," Flutterfree said with a chuckle. "There was a point where we served it with everything just to see how crazy things could get. That phrase has become slightly loaded." Eve chuckled. "Roxy was the designated 'make sure nobody does anything stupid' manager. Monika eventually took the job away from her, but those were still some good times." "...Monika." Azula blinked. "What?" "Oh, that's a whole other story - probably for a little later in the night." They entered the teashop and sat down at the counter. Azula took a few minutes to get them their tea. "So, anything change with you two?" "Not really," Eve answered. "I've learned magic and have the equivalent of an arcane degree," Flutterfree added. "Eve's taken up obsessing over board games and video games until she gets really good at them." "Don't forget that you took up dance." Flutterfree smirked. "Dance combat is... fun." "I thought you weren't one for enjoying combat," Azula said, eyebrow raised. "I loosened up. Not sure if I had a choice in the matter or not, but I'm okay with it." She took a sip of tea. "Azula, this is delicious, as always." "I keep thinking the tea loses its flavor..." "It might be," Eve said, sitting back. "Ka and all that..." She noticed a portrait of Iroh on the wall. "Always watching over us, huh?" "Everyone's uncle," Flutterfree confirmed. "He never stopped being that." Azula smiled. "...I don't know why I hated him for that. I don't know why I hated a lot of people." "I don't know why I went Twily-nanas over so many things," Eve said, shaking her head. "Life's so much easier when you just... go with it." "I know exactly why I was terrified of everything," Flutterfree said with a laugh. "You two need to examine yourselves more." Eve nodded. "Yeah... But tonight, I drink tea." She chugged the cup in one gulp, completely defeating the purpose of the drink. "Then we can probably find a dance party somewhere or something," Flutterfree added. "I wonder what modern dance has evolved into..." "Something overly suggestive." "Then clearly they need showing how to actually do it." Azula forced herself to blink. Then she smiled and rolled her eyes, getting them more tea. ~~~ Jotaro was sitting on the bed of one of the private rooms, fully dressed and waiting for Pidge to get out of the shower. The smaller bathroom may have been perfect for her size, but somehow she was still taking excessively long in the shower. Likely because she hadn't washed the grime off herself in weeks. Eventually, however, he heard the water turn off. "I think my hair looks fine like this." "Yare yare daze... you need to at least comb it." "You haven't even looked at it!" "Don't have to, and you know it." Pidge let out a groan. "Uuuugh, fine I'll put it through the hair-press... thingy." She started grumbling about hair 'not being worth the effort' and 'it was just fine before'. Then there was a knock at the door. Jotaro stood up and strode to the door in his usual manner - hands in his large coat pockets and feet moving with a confident strut. It was habitual and he had never seen a reason to stop doing it. He slid the door open with Star Platinum. Outside was a face that broke his old heart in two immediately. A stern face, wide eyes, green hair, muscular figure... Jolyne blinked back tears, putting a hand to her mouth. "You... you're really back..." Jotaro wasted no time pulling his daughter into a tight, powerful hug. This hug would have crushed most people, but the Joestars were stronger than that. She couldn't quite match his strength, but she sure tried. To them, it wasn't pain - it was a connection. Jotaro let the tears come out freely. "I didn't know what happened to you..." "I... I looked for you. But you were long gone..." Jolyne gulped. "I..." "You're here now. I'm here now." He pushed her back and looked her in the eyes. "What happened in the past doesn't matter. Not anymore." Jolyne smiled. "I was going to say the same thing." They clapped their hands together and flexed their muscles. A traditional Joestar family greeting. "Yare yare dawa," Jolyne said. "Yare yare daze." It was at this point Pidge walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. "Jojo, come on, tell me this hair doesn't look bor- JOLYNE!?" Jolyne blinked. "...Dad..." Jotaro, for once in his life, nervously shuffled his feet. "...Jolyne, meet your step-mother." "My nani?" "That was not the way to re-introduce me," Pidge said, tightening her towel. "Hello Jolyne, I'm Pidge 'Katie' Kujo. Your dad and I have been married for... well over twenty years now." "NANI!?" "I don't think that worked either," Jotaro commented. Jolyne had to lean against a wall to steady herself. "...How?" Pidge bit her lip. "Combination of a lot of things. Time. Shared grief. A-" "Not the how I mean." Jolyne looked up to her dad. "She's tiny! She's almost thinner than your leg! How!?" "...Very carefully," Jotaro managed. Jolyne blinked - then looked way down to see an angry Pidge. She pointed an accusatory finger at Jolyne. "You keep mocking my size and I will deck you in the nose." "...Can you reach?" Jolyne asked. Pidge proved she could - but Jolyne caught the fist with Stone Free. This allowed Heaven's Door to get the punch in. "...And she's got Rohan's stand too," Jolyne said - not at all upset by the punch. "What else should I be made aware of?" Pidge put on an awkward smile. "You have a half-brother traveling the wilds of Nucleon with one of Mattie's daughters." "NANI!?" She glanced back and forth between the two of them. "His name doesn't start with J, don't worry!" Jolyne blinked - and then she laughed. She walked into the room and flopped onto the bed, continuing to laugh. "...Are you okay?" Pidge asked. "She is," Jotaro said, smiling. "...Are you sure about that?" "He is," Jolyne said, sitting up and shaking her head. Then she put her hands on Pidge's shoulders. "...We have a family again. That's... the greatest surprise I could have asked for." Pidge let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness, I was worried there for a sec." "This doesn't mean you just get a free pass in my book," Jolyne said. "But Dad likes you, and you've apparently been together a while. It shows, even though it's off-the-wall bonkers. ...Which is completely normal for this family." "He does have a lot of stories," Pidge admitted. "A lot." "Welcome to the Joestar legacy, Pidge. Won't be calling you Mom though." "That would be weird, yeah." "I mean, it's only a l-" Jolyne blinked. "Daaaad..." "Hm?" he said, confused. "She's younger than me, isn't she?" There was silence in the room. "Huh, you know what, I think I am," Pidge said, completing the calculations in her head. "That's weird." "No shit," Jolyne responded. "Hey, if you want to make it even weirder, I'm in my nineties." Pidge grinned. "Probably more, given time locks and stuff." Jolyne put a hand to the bridge of her nose. "It could be worse. There could be time travel involved." "I really shouldn't be surprised at this point..." ~~~ "The little shit-stain isn't going to suspect a thing..." Vriska said with a smirk. Starbeat adjusted the sights on her goggles until the BattleDome was perfectly in her field of view. "I've got the target locked." "He's gonna have the 'ohshit!' face. I'm tellin' you." "If you say so. It has been thirty years, he could have changed." "He still buys games and fights monsters in an arena for a living. Monika really set him up with the job to end all jobs..." She cracked her fingers. "It's go time." Starbeat nodded, teleporting them directly into the scaffolding of the BattleDome, dodging the forced VR experience by avoiding the gate. They saw the BattleDome for what it was - a large warehouse with several floors that people were wandering around aimlessly in. Some of them were making loud 'hii-yaa' noises that sounded really stupid without the VR around them. "Okay, this should be close enough..." Vriska said. "I'm the one with the stealth specialty, stop talking like you know what you're talking about." "...Geez." Starbeat smirked. "Hey, you're the one who came up with this crazy idea. And, for the record, we are close enough. He's right down that way." She jumped off the railing and down to a lower floor, weaving in and out of VR-traffic without being noticed. Vriska followed suit, stealing luck from those around her to ensure she wouldn't be bumped into. "WHAT? That jackpot was guaranteed!" someone complained. Vriska... Starbeat sent telepathically. So I got a little greedy! Not a problem! Starbeat sighed and continued through the many levels of the BattleDome, following one of the larger cables until they reached the center. In the center there was a large golden platform with only one person on it - Caliborn himself. Master of VR. "TAKE THAT SHIT-FACE!" Caliborn laughed, performing a ridiculous backflip. "AND THIS! AND THIS! OH, DO YOU KISS YOUR MOTHER WITH THAT MOUTH? I BET YOU DO! TELL ME WHAT IT'S LIKE!" "Hasn't changed at all..." Vriska said. "Got a lock?" Starbeat nodded, teleporting the two of them right next to Caliborn. He didn't notice, as expected for someone in the middle of a VR fight. Starbeat gestured for Vriska to go ahead - it was time for the actual prank. Vriska moved up to Caliborn, drawing her sword. She was going to nudge him ever so slightly on his back to make him think there was an enemy behind him. Of course, he would assume it happened in VR at first, and that would make him lose. Then he'd fly into a rage and they'd sidestep him easily. One problem though. Caliborn was a hologram. Vriska discovered this through poking him with the sword and touching nothing. She blinked before slicing through the hologram from all angles. "The fuck...?" The hologram vanished in an instant. The real Caliborn appeared on the edge of the golden disc. He wore his red robes of Time, and his eyes were as psychedelic as always, but he wore a calm smile and a stylish fedora. "...What?" Caliborn bowed ever so slightly. "It appears I have bested you ladies. My apologies if I ruined your fun, but I simply couldn't let a 'prank' slide, just so you know." Starbeat and Vriska stared at him with open jaws. "Ah, it seems I have flabbergasted you with my speech. This fills me with delight, but also a pang of guilt. Perhaps I should have let you best me? No, the whole point of this little contest of pranks is to always come out on top with the most amusing result. Though I suppose yours would have been better, given the element of public shame." "Who are you and what have you done with Caliborn?" Vriska asked. Caliborn raised an eyebrow. "I am still Caliborn, a humble cherub who learned how to hold himself up over the time you were gone. Clearly you have changed as well. Vriska, perhaps not you, but Starbeat, there is a wisdom about you that wasn't there before." Starbeat glanced at Vriska. "I thought cherub rudeness was impossible to remove." "Maybe Monika removed it? I don't know." Vriska shrugged. With a soft chuckle she extended her hand to Caliborn. "Guess I owe you an apology." "Huh. It seems you have changed as well. I expected you to take longer to get to this point." He grabbed her hand and shook it. "Your loss." "What wh-" He twisted his arm to the side and spiked her into the ground. "GET DUNKED ON FUCKING BIIIIITCH!" Starbeat's first reaction was shock. Her second was laughter. "I fucking hate you," Vriska muttered, picking herself up off the ground. Caliborn tripped her again. "Did I SAY bitches could get up? No, bitches can not, bitches stay on the ground, especially dirty mowin' bitches." "Moirail," Starbeat corrected. "Mowin'," Caliborn asserted. "Caliborn do I have to bring out the 'bad cherub' hammer?" "You can't fucking touch me!" Caliborn laughed. "I own this dome! Suck it!" "It's fine," Vriska said, using a backflip to stand up. "He got us, he can gloat." "FUCK YEAH." "Where the fuck did you learn to be subtle though?" Vriska asked. "I own. A company. Where I have to talk. To a lot of people. You gain skills that way." He sneered. "Now, clearly we have unsettled business. Let's settle it in the arena, two on one!" Starbeat shrugged. "Eh, sure. Do we have anything else we want to do?" Vriska shook her head. "Already talked to Aradia too much... I think we're good." She grinned. "Bring it, cherub." "Finally... A WORTHY CHALLENGE!" ~~~ Corona stood in front of the doors to the Dark Tower. She traced her fingers on the giant, imposing doors as her ethereal hair twisted in the air. She looked divine. She sensed that the doors would actually let her in if she really wanted. She could go in, ascend to the top of the Tower, and claim the Source for herself. It would let her. She had absolutely no desire to actually ascend the Tower and take the Source. She wanted, more than anything else, for it to be gone. That the story would finally end with some semblance of... reality. What was reality, really? It was an ideal she had fought for and didn't have a clue about. She was 'real', but she wasn't part of her own reality. She was someone else's. In the end, she didn't really know what she was thinking about. In the war, she had eventually decided there was no way to be sure which choice was right, so they all just had to make their best guess and go with it. An allegory for life, she supposed. She looked at her hands - glowing brighter than ever before. The longer she had lived, the brighter she had gotten. The less she had looked like a person and the more... she didn't know what she was. Everyone called her angelic. She didn't like that. When she had fought Eve in the Tower Ring, they were the same. Ice, fire, back and forth. But now... Corona was something apart from all the others. Would the same have happened to Eve if she had won? Become... something? She let out a soft chuckle - more things that probably wouldn't matter in less than a day. The chuckle turned into giggling as she traced her fingers along the glowing crack in the Tower, up as high as she could reach without taking off. The giggling turned into full blown laughter with tears. The crack let her finally realize, let her finally feel. It hit her like a train of joy. Ka was really going to be gone. She had done it. She had really, truly, won. She fell to her knees and laughed. It was an expression of pure, unfiltered joy. It was, finally, going to be over. All over. "...I wish I could be that happy about it," Pinkie said, walking up to her and sitting down. Corona slowly made herself stop laughing. She wiped her face and turned to her. "Why? We won. You fought for this." "I... I still think it's the right thing," Pinkie admitted. "I sided with you because I knew what ka meant, what ka did. How it affected people. But I knew that because I was close with ka. It's part of who I am. My entire life, I've always just known. Even in places with low ka, or those cracks, there's always this warm feeling I have. They're watching." "...I wouldn't be able to find that comforting." "It is creepy at times," Pinkie admitted. "But it also means... someone cares. No matter how down or depressed I got, no matter how angry, I always knew they cared." She chuckled sadly. "It's selfish, so I don't let the feeling tell me what to do. But it keeps me from feeling that joy of yours." Corona looked up at the Tower, expression flat. "...I could give it to you. Let you experience it." "Thanks, but no thanks," Pinkie said. Corona nodded, thinking deeply to herself. "Wondering if you should say something now or wait?" Corona smirked. "Yep." Pinkie nodded. "I've been doing the same. I think of something, then I realize I could say it with ka in effect... or wait. The problem is I generally know the result if I say it here, but I'm not sure if I like it. I don't know the result afterward." "I don't know either." "You still have a sort of intuition," Pinkie said, tapping the side of her skull. "At the very least, something that guides you forward into ka. Or something." "Hm..." Corona narrowed her eyes. "You're avoiding planning the party until after, huh?" "I want to see if I can do it," Pinkie said. "Or if the sudden loss of my Awareness is... enough to make me spiral." Corona looked to Pinkie with soft, understanding eyes. "We'll be there for you when it leaves. Don't worry." Pinkie shook her head. "I do worry. Worry that friendship won't be as strong as it used to be. Worry that we'll suddenly be just as expendable as anyone else. ...It's horrible, but we take a lot of comfort and pride in our role as heroes." Corona nodded slowly. "That doesn't change the fact that we're all in this together. And if we weren't family before the Journey... we certainly are now." "Awww!" Pinkie cooed. They hugged in the shadow of the Dark Tower, sending ripples through the field of roses. One of the last ripples it would ever feel... ~~~ Jenny and Roland walked to a very particular place. The place Randall Flagg was being held. He wasn't currently paralyzed, or prevented from moving or talking - he had been allowed to move as of a few days ago so people could successfully determine if the loss of ka did anything to his mind. To determine what they were going to do with him afterward. All his powers were still locked away and he was scarcely allowed to talk to anyone. But Jenny and Roland could get an audience with him without too much trouble. Flagg grinned when he saw Roland come in. "Ah, I was wondering when you'd show up. Going to take a last-minute opportunity to gloat? To kill me one last time? Or are you going to wait until the Tower actually falls and then do it to get the satisfaction? I doubt they'll like that, and your hero status won't protect you then..." "Closing up loose ends," Roland said, unblinking. "Geez," Jenny said, looking Flagg up and down. "Stuck in your own body for thirty years and not a single difference." "Roland is the same," Flagg observed. "While you allowed your inner frivolous side to express itself after being hindered for so long, we remain what we are. Because we are symbols. I am the darkness and destruction. And he is not the light, he is simply the man who fights the darkness. The hero who was the savior of the Tower... and will be its executioner." Roland narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean by that?" Flagg responded with a toothy, menacing grin.
Songs of the Spheres	156 - 'Epilogue', Part 2	"...And we're back," Flagg said, leaning against the wall of his cell. "I asked you what it meant, Walter," Roland demanded. "Always the same with you..." Flagg shook his head and shrugged. "You saved the Tower. You are to execute it." "The Tower will fall on its own," Roland said. "Yes. It will. Do you honestly think it'd let itself go without an appropriate execution?" Flagg laughed. "Of course not! You will be asked to do the honors. And you will accept - because it would happen anyway. And then the Tower will fall as it was meant to." Roland looked down at his sandalwood revolver. The most narratively potent weapon in existence aside from Black Thirteen itself. Flagg laughed again, amused by Roland's actions. Jenny had enough of this. She punched him in the face. He didn't care. "Foolish child..." She punched him again. "I'm blowing off my steam, I don't care if you feel it or not." She kicked him a few times, her dress flapping wildly. "Always full of that spice... no matter how much you try to hide it..." Jenny folded her arms. "I am who I am. I do not care if it's inconsistent. Get the memo." "You are our polar opposite..." Flagg observed. "The eternal changer... opposed to the eternally unchanged." He cackled. "You may not change," Jenny said. "But Roland does. He's dynamic. He opens up once you get to know him. He's old, but he learns new tricks. The only thing that doesn't change about him is that honorable gunslinger's heart. You're just a static piece of evil given the form of a man." "And isn't it great?" he asked. "I know who I am. But who are you?" Jenny narrowed her eyes. "Let's go. There's nothing for us here. Either what he says is true, or it isn't, and regardless it won't matter in the end." She daintily twirled around, made a neck-cutting gesture at Flagg, and walked out. "Is there anything else, gunslinger?" Flagg asked. Roland looked at him. He opened his mouth - then shut it. He turned and walked after Jenny. "Have a nice day~!" Flagg called. Somewhere deep inside of him, he sensed it was the last recorded thing he would ever say. Outside in the streets of the City, Roland stopped Jenny. He kneeled down so he was eye level with her. "You didn't have to do that." Jenny folded her arms behind her back. "You were-" "I would have gotten through it eventually. You are trying to remake yourself." He gestured at her - she sure wasn't trying to look like a powerful adventurer anymore, not even close. She wanted to change herself to something softer. "You don't need to go back for my sake." Jenny looked up at him - and allowed herself to smile. "It's okay. I'll get back on the path soon enough. I've been through so many transformations in my life, whatever I end up being will be fine." "But is it what you want?" "Depends on my mood at the time!" She gave him a finger-guns gesture. "Heheh." She rubbed the back of her head. "Just doing what I could to help a friend." Roland smirked, quoting an oft-heard phrase from one of their mutual friends. "Yare yare daze..." She giggled. "Look, if you want to help me change, you can... go shopping with me! Yes!" She pointed at a shop window. "I should get some absolutely ridiculous and gaudy earrings and you can help me judge them." Roland fell silent. "I'll probably get whatever you think is the worst. How's that sound?" Roland pulled his hat down and shook his head. "Lead the way, Jenny of the Red Gloves." Jenny held out her gloves and smiled. They were always comforting to see. She skipped through the doors of the store, a childlike grin on her face. A new Jenny for a new existence... She knew this might be the last time she could change herself so easily. She was going to make it count. She would be young. ~~~ Burgerbelle and Pinkie were, to put it mildly, very close. The Sweetie had learned to accept Pinkie as more of an adoptive parent than a mere mentor. The feeling was a little odd for Burgerbelle since she had very little in the way of 'memories' of her Flat parents. She wasn't even a hundred percent sure they had actually existed. Not that she didn't like the connection to Pinkie, it was nice. So when Pinkie had told her to watch her 'flirty memes' out in the City, Burgerbelle had taken it to heart. She'd put on a long white coat over her regular clothes to go out in public, and nobody batted an eye. Problem solved. She had passed through the League of Sweetie Belles earlier, which was now barely distinct from the Sparkle Census at all. There were direct portals between the two locations, making the two old organizations nothing more than relics within the Sweetie Sparkle Coalition. She had been welcomed back with warm smiles, showed around, and then people had asked about Thrackerzod. ...Thrackerzod... Burgerbelle had gotten herself out of the League building quickly after that. She didn't want to deal with that in the last hours of her real self. Heck, she didn't want to be wearing this coat, she wanted to run through the streets and scream to existence that she was here before everything changed. But she knew Pinkie had been right, so she had conformed just enough. She was still shooting old, dead memes around everywhere that the younger generation failed to understand in major ways - or they just cringed at her. Her usual response to this was an over-the-top dab with a 'what you gonna do about it?' expression. For some reason - she wasn't entirely sure why - she had avoided actually checking the City Internet for new memes. Maybe she just wanted to be herself? With a shrug, decided it wasn't worth dwelling on. She was happy, at least, and the City was great. Not to mention she was going to see an old friend... She danced up to the door and rang the doorbell with a 'bum dum tish' sound effect. White Nettle knew who it was instantly, opening the door wide. She wore a simple dress and her tendrils were done up in the same bow as always. "Burger! It's so good to see you!" Burgerbelle gave her the finger guns. "You bet it is!" She performed a youth roll into the house and grinned. "The meme girl is back!" "Make yourself at home," Nettle said, gesturing at an interior couch. Sitting next to it was a woman reading a book. "You remember Osanna right?" "Wow. You've grown," Burgerbelle deadpanned, looking up at her. "...And you haven't grown at all," Osanna observed, blinking. "I don't think I'll ever understand why some of you prefer to remain childlike..." "Flat inheritance I guess," Burgerbelle said, taking off her coat and putting it on a nearby rack. "Just feels natural, you know?" "I wouldn't know, I was never a child," Nettle commented. "I do feel as though my current form is the best, though." "I did prefer being Flat. ...It's been a long time. A-" She noticed Osanna was staring at her outfit. "Oh come on, you too?" Nettle blinked, confused. "...What?" "Mom, she's scarcely wearing more than underwear," Osanna said. Burgerbelle huffed. "A skirt is not underwear! And look at these boots!" "It's still a bit much, isn't it? Especially considering..." Osanna gestured at her. "I'm still not sure why there's even a disagreement or argument here," Nettle said. "Burger can wear whatever she wants, right?" "Well, yes, exce-" "Wow, you look pretty!" All of them turned to see a young boy of about ten standing in the doorway. Burgerbelle let out a censored beep and put her coat back on with a swift motion. "I, uh, look better like this right?" "...Huh?" the boy said, clearly not understanding. Burgerbelle pulled out a windup cat from nowhere and gave it to him. "Why don't you go play with this?" "Oh cool! We could play together!" "...How about later?" Burgerbelle said, biting her lip. "Oh... Okay." "Don't you have homework, Enrique?" Osanna asked. "...Yeah..." He slowly trudged away, back to his room. Burgerbelle put her face in her hands. "I'm so sorry..." "You didn't know he existed," Osanna admitted. "Oversight on my part." "...Thanks." "I'd still prefer it if you didn't hang around him." "Perfectly understandable," Burgerbelle admitted nervously. Nettle smirked. "Well, at least now I see what was going on." Burgerbelle turned to Osanna. "...What was it like, being raised by her?" "She was great," Osanna admitted. "But holy tamales, did Dad have to be the one to tell me everything about how society actually worked. Mom could understand on a mental level, but 'getting' it eluded her. It's not completely gone even today, as you can see." "It's resurged," Nettle admitted. "I think it's the grandparent instinct. I want to spoil him so I don't watch myself as well." Burgerbelle smiled. "Yeah... you've got yourselves a nice family here." "What about you?" Osanna asked. Burgerbelle smiled. "The crew is my family. Pinkie taught me so much. And..." She paused. "I had an opportunity to settle down, once. I didn't take it. I wouldn't have come back to see you all again if I had." She beamed. "I'm glad I'm back." Nettle, the Mother, pulled her into a hug. "It's good to see you too." Burgerbelle allowed herself to relax and let the worry inside her drain away. Forgetting for a moment that the abilities that defined her were going to be severely reduced very soon... She allowed herself to live in the moment. ~~~ The Everykid ended up being Mattie's guardian in the city. Equal parts innocent and crafty, she would be able to deter people likely to enable the jittery unicorn, and keep her from doing anything outrageous - or potentially harmful. They were walking through the exceptionally busy market among a sea of people. The Everykid had been asked to sign a few autographs already, being recognized instantly as the person who had shared everyone's mind. She was able to scribble these out quickly and keep Mattie on a leash. It wasn't a literal leash. Yet. It could easily turn into one if Mattie got too unruly. At which point Mattie would become fixated on the leash and that would be awkward, but at least she wouldn't be going around freaking out quite so much. "Hey, you look like you could use a nice, comfortable bed," a stallion said, walking up to them. "Why don't y-" The Everykid slapped him with her parasol. "Balls, that was promising," Mattie muttered. "Why do you do this to me?" "Because clearly you need it," an Applejack said, walking up to them. She wore a business suit and had one of her ears torn in half. "Been a while, Mattie." "Jack?" Mattie said, eyes widening at her old acquaintance. "I haven't seen you in... forever." "I'm here too!" OJ said, poking her human head out from behind Jack. She looked like any regular human Sunset Shimmer, aside from the brighter clothes. "Well it looks like Ultra Fast is getting back together!" Seskii called from her potion stand. "Isn't that wonderful?" They ignored the potion seller. "So, wanna have a round for old time's sake?" Mattie asked, biting her lip. "I'm sure a nice spike to your hoof will invigorate you...'" Jack slapped her. "God, you need help. Didn't you have Corona around for your head?" "Didn't work," the Everykid offered. "Of course it wouldn't," Jack muttered, putting a hoof to her face. OJ walked confidently forward and put a hand on Mattie, furrowing her brow. "...You are a complicated maze, huh?" Mattie smirked coyly. "I bet you could find the cen- OW! Jack, stop hitting me!" "No," Jack said. "And every hit is five quid, by the way. With interest. Rising exponentially." "Jaaaaaack..." "Stop being so promiscuous for a few damn minutes and it'll stop." Mattie twitched. Then she focused her mind on the problem and put on a warm smile. "Sure. Sure. Sure..." "I wonder if it would be easier if you didn't have to be such a maniac from ka..." OJ thought aloud. "Well if you can 'help' me after, then by all means, do it, but for now I'm just the way I am and that's fine. Fine. FINE." She coughed. "Tower can't fall soon enough..." Shaking her head, she looked up with a clearly fake smile. "So, time for normal conversation! What have you two been up to?" "Ah bought most of Dracogen Enterprises' resources," Jack answered. "Multi-billionaire. Though for some reason my biggest export is Trixie's games..." "Huh. So she did find a way to transmit them back to the City." Mattie blinked. "Good for her. I figured that wouldn't last and she'd just go around as a traveling magician again." "Ah hear stories of both," Jack said with a shrug. "She's never come back to the City though, so Ah can't really ask her." "I work at Earth Above," OJ said with a smile. "Helped design the systems that will explore and possibly colonize the Earth when it's opened to us." "Still say we should just use the protomolecule, it'd make everything go faster," Jack muttered. "I say we need to take it slow and methodical and not cheat. And I won the debate. So you can just go eat your hat." "...Ah still don't know how you grew a backbone." OJ shrugged. "I like it." Mattie looked between the two of them and smiled - in a warm, legitimate way. "...Right, I think I owe you an apology OJ. Even if it was other-me who did most of it. You're all right." "Thanks." "Now... think we can do something fun that I won't be able to ruin?" Mattie asked. "Like... friends are supposed to." Jack facehooved. "Why do Ah put myself through this... sure, fine, we can do some things. Got anything in mind?" Everykid tapped her foot and pointed at a giant billboard that advertised 'kilometers per second extreme racing!' "...Convenient," Mattie said. "Last one there's a wet blanket!" She ran off. Jack sighed. "I can never escape the idiots..." ~~~ "Hey, guuuuurl!" "Guuuuurl!" Roxy and Insipid fist-hoofbumped and laughed. The two of them had both been partying, in one of the many dance clubs throwing 'end of the Tower' parties. Then they stepped outside so they didn't have to scream to hear each other over the pounding music. "Like, I didn't expect to see you!" Insipid clapped her hooves. "Major fresh surprise!" "I'm just that fabulous," Roxy said, fluttering her eyelashes. "My dance could not be ignored!" "Well, yeah, it sucked." Roxy blinked. "...What?" "Like, major kidding! Lighten up!" Insipid absorbed Roxy's powers and created a lightbulb out of Void, sticking it in her hair. "See? You got nothing in there! So sad." Roxy let out a mock wail. "Oh no! I'm... I'm just a person without electricity in her hair!" "The horror!" "The horror!" The two shared a good laugh. "I really should have hung out with you more," Roxy said. "You knew how to party. Not like the Pinkie party, the wild party." "Hey! We know how to wild party too!" a Pinkie shouted from across the street. "You prefer not to! Usually!" "...Fair point." She bounced away, humming a tune to herself. Insipid smirked. "I bring the party. I bring the fame. I bring the major f-" She blinked. "Oh. My. Gosh. I just realized I know something you don't. You need to come see this right away." Roxy blinked. "See what?" Insipid ran into the club and absorbed someone's teleporting power. She grabbed Roxy and they were suddenly halfway across the City in an apartment complex. Standing there was one of the very few buildings of troll-based architecture in the City. Insipid knocked on the door. "Hellooo-oooo!" "FUCK OFF!" an old, scratchy voice shouted. "Karkat!?" Roxy gasped. "Is that you!?" "Oh for the love of Bilious Slick..." Karkat the nubby-horned troll muttered, grumpily walking to the door and swinging it open. "Hey Roxy, nice to see you." He slammed the door in her face. "...Karkrab..." Roxy pouted. "C'mon... I haven't seen you since before the collapse!" Karkat opened the door again with a sigh. "Fine, fine, come on in." He pointed an accusing finger at Insipid. "Annoying copy fuckers stay out." "Major lame," Insipid muttered. "But my work is done! Array de verchi! Hey. Curaçao taught me that one. I should introduce you to her next..." "...'Taught' is a strong word," Karkat observed. Insipid didn't hear him - she was already gone. Karkat grumbled, 'inviting' Roxy into his house. "I'd say make yourself at home, but we all know that won't happen. There's a couch over there for flopping on when you feel like you're getting old, my room's up the stairs where none shall pass, the kitchen is currently a nightmare, and this is the TV room where the idiot sleeps." The 'idiot' happened to be another person that Roxy knew - one of her childhood friends, Page of Hope, Jake English. He poked his head over the back of the couch. "...You talking about me?" "No, I'm talking about Abraham Lincoln," Karkat deadpanned. "Jake!" Roxy squealed, pulling him into a hug. "O. M. G. I thought you were kaput! Kablooey! Gone with the wind!" "Yeah, I thought so too for a while," Jake said. "Then it turned out I wasn't. ...Everyone else was though." "...Jane? Dirk?" Jake nodded slowly. "I'm... I'm sorry. I just..." "...I accepted they were probably gone a long, long time ago," Roxy said, pulling him into a hug. "It's just the best surprise ever that you're okay!" She pulled Karkat into the hug. "You too, you old grump!" "UNHAND ME!" "No~!" Roxy trilled. She squeezed them tighter. She was just glad to have some of her old friends back. ~~~ The Aradias had frozen Nanoha's garden in time when she left. Not a single flower was out of place when she and O'Neill walked in. The dome was currently on its night cycle, so Fate's Tower was blooming bright. O'Neill looked at the tremendous yellow flower and smiled. "Still just as bright." "Brighter," Nanoha said, walking up to the plant and tracing her finger along the stalk. "So much brighter..." She smiled contentedly. "I missed this garden." O'Neill scratched his beard. "I did too. Though I'm not going to pretend I thought about it as often as you did." "Definitely not," Nanoha said with a chuckle. She slung his arms around his neck. "But I appreciate what you did think about." There was a quick kiss in the light of the great flower. "...What do we do now?" O'Neill asked. "I have no idea," Nanoha said. "We've been retired, then we weren't, and now..." She shrugged. "I think we should just go with the flow. See where life takes us." "Can't really throw ourselves to ka anymore, can we?" "Of course not. But the world operates on the ebbs and flows of people... We can follow those. Move with the shifting tides of society." She released him and twirled around. "Or maybe once ka is gone we'll think of something completely random to do. Like become world-class chefs." Nanoha smirked. "That's Everykid's future, I'm telling you. But we could go back to school... Learn a new trade... Continue in retirement..." She stopped to smell a large, pink flower sitting in the center of five stalks of bamboo. "Or we could go back on the Austraeoh and see what adventuring is like when there's no more story." "I'm pretty sure we wouldn't last long." "We're still strong," Nanoha observed. "And... is an end really so wrong?" O'Neill shrugged. "Dunno. Got a pretty deep and burning urge to keep on living, though." "Most of us do," Nanoha admitted with a nod. "...The question is, are we thrill-seekers?" "Are we?" "I have no idea!" Nanoha beamed. "And I don't know why, but that excites me. What are we really, when everything's stripped away? What will await us at the end of the tunnel? I'm not sure I can wait to find out!" "You can. You're waiting right now." Nanoha raised an eyebrow. "I could accelerate our time." "But you won't." Nanoha rolled her eyes. "Always you and calling my bluffs..." "It's a two-way relationship." He scratched his beard. "You know what, I figured out what I want to do while I still can." "Hmm?" "I'm going to go out there and talk like a pirate!" "Oh for the..." She shook her head and smiled. "...Let's both go out there and talk like pirates." ~~~ Rev walked through the doors of a church. It wasn't her original church - that was exceptionally far away - but it was the church of the City she had taught at for a short time. It still reminded her of her original church, because that was the way she had built it. She sat down in the middle row - not the front so she wouldn't be noticed, but also not the back so she would still be able to hear the message. It was an unusual message - a last-minute one to be given before they turned on the sun and began the festival. Rev didn't recognize the preacher. She was a Lapis Lazuli Gem who wore a collar very similar to Rev's own old outfit - though these days Rev's robes had something akin to a collar on them already. Lapis didn't give herself a special name, and insisted she not be known by her title - she was just a lowly Lapis, like so many others, who wanted to teach the Word. Rev admired her for that. The topic was an appropriate one: about worry, stress, and concern for the future. The message was simple enough, using several verses to comment on how worrying doesn't benefit, and how stress often makes situations worse. "Who of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to his life?" was one of many. The conclusion was simple and to the point: tomorrow has enough troubles of its own; let's deal with the days as they come, and even then cast the cares upon the Lord. There was a caveat of course - don't completely ignore the future. Like so many lessons, it was never as black and white as it seemed. After the service and the prayer, Rev walked up to Lapis and smiled. Lapis recognized her immediately. "H-hi!" she said, her confident demeanor at the podium seemingly nonexistent. "Y-you saw that?" "I did," Rev said with a soft smile. "It was good. I'm glad to see this church is in good hands." Lapis chuckled nervously. "Right... Right. Thanks! It means a lot, coming from you." She stopped for a moment. "...It's always hard to teach on topics you aren't that good at, isn't it?" Rev nodded. "I find it helps to be up front and honest about your struggles with the audience. In most cases." Lapis nervously fidgeted with her fingers. "I... Yeah, that makes sense, of course it does." She chuckled softly. "I worry all the time. About everything. Constantly." She looked at her Bible. "And I know I shouldn't." "And He is showing you great grace," Rev said, putting a hoof on her. "You didn't show your strain or stress at all on the podium." "...I always feel... filled when I'm up there," Lapis admitted with a smile. "Clearly, that's where you're supposed to be." "...I know. But I worry. Is that God? Or is that the Tower?" Lapis looked into the distance. "Theologically speaking, both, but with the fall of the Tower, God might change His mind, or give me something else, or change how I feel about all this..." She took a breath to calm herself. "There I go, worrying again..." "Hey. He's gracious. Give yourself a break." Lapis looked at her - and smiled. "Thank you." "We should meet up after the Tower falls. See if anything's changed." "...I'd like that." Rev nodded. "...Before I go, have you heard anything about my church? The one that's up there somewhere?" Lapis smiled. "Actually, yes. It's going well. I was trained there, believe it or not. Aslan's as wise as always, and if you're wondering about Valentine... he's happy, last I knew." "That's all I needed to know." Rev waved. "See you around, Lapis." Instead of walking out calmly, Rev jumped out like she was part of an action movie, ready to defend herself from attacks. She blinked for a moment - realized she was being stupid - and laughed. "That's a reflex I'm going to have to work out..." ~~~ Mlinx walked into his old office. The Mayor no longer worked here, so it had been left alone for the most part. Most of his knick-knacks were gone - he had put them in storage - but some pictures and papers were still around. As was his computer. He ran his finger across the top of the desktop, picking up dust. "Glad to have you back, sir." Mlinx turned around to see Nastasia. "You still work here?" "In a cataloguing capacity." "Well that's certainly something!" Mlinx said with a chipper tone to his voice. He twirled his spear around and placed it on the wall. "Can't imagine myself filing things forever. It just wouldn't work." "You seem... enthusiastic." "Life's amazing, Nastasia. This room is amazing, the memories are amazing, you're amazing." He picked the spear back up and twirled it in his hand. "...You've certainly been through a lot." "The story of my life," Mlinx said with a jovial laugh. "You look like you've been through a meat-grinder. Yet I don't think you could be happier about it." Mlinx chuckled. "You could say that. Lots of scars here... but they are more than just memories. They're the little chips that come off me as I become... better." He stretched his hands. "I don't think I was ever really treated as an equal among the heroes until the Journey. We felt like a family. A real family. Full of a bunch of psychotic weirdos and arguments. It's hard to describe." "Well I'm glad you enjoyed yourself," Nastasia said, adjusting her glasses. "I take it you're here to perform the retrieval?" "Yes. Yes I am." He rubbed all four of his hands together. "We should go now. They're probably waiting." "I'm not allowed down there anymore. It's just you." She walked him to the elevator. "Don't go crazy down there." "I won't," Mlinx promised. He descended down to a room he was very familiar with - the storage area for Black Thirteen. There were four others in the room at that moment. The current Mayor, Princess Cosmo Sparkle, the Emperor of Mankind, and a politician of the City Mlinx didn't know the name of. The Mayor had two of the needed codes to unlock Black Thirteen - everyone else had one. Six: the minimum number to release containment. "Everyone ready?" Mlinx asked, walking up to the glass. "As ready as we can be," Cosmo said. Mlinx noticed she had finally managed to get her curse fixed - she was no longer a skeleton with an illusion spell, but a real pony. He wondered when that had happened. "It has to be done," the Emperor agreed. Everyone put their codes into terminals. The glass around Black Thirteen slid up unceremoniously. It spoke to all their minds not a word, but a sound - a sigh of satisfaction. It did not try to condition them to do anything. It, too, was ready for the end. Mlinx grabbed hold of the handle, and the weapon-aspect of Black Thirteen became a spear. He twirled it around. "We're ready." The Emperor of Mankind chuckled. "Twirling the strongest weapon in existence like it's some toy. I like you." "Thanks," Mlinx said, taking a moment to look into Black Thirteen. "...It's not even trying to drive me mad." "Still be careful," the Mayor encouraged. "We don't want a disaster hours before the end." "Keep a close watch on me," Mlinx said. "...But I don't think I'll have this for too long. There's someone else who needs it." ~~~ Monika found me at the Subway that used to be my library. "Hello," Monika said, sitting down at my table. "You've had quite the life," I said, munching on my sandwich. "In some ways, yes, in others, not. Which can be said of most things in this life. Too much happens, people change, and there's just not enough words to adequately describe it." "I would say you're trying to stick too close to the facts, but you're not me," I pressed my hooves together. "You chose this struggle." "Did I? Or have I been led along just like the others on the journey, change or no change!" "Unlike most people, you had a choice over how ka defined your life. At first you accepted obsessive love, then a life of curiosity. And most recently, you've turned that curiosity into a sort of truth. A respect for order." "I am aware of my character arc." "But you, unlike all the others, always had the choice to force yourself to go back to what you were. You stopped doing that." I smiled. "I'm glad you did. It allowed you to grow and change into something new." Monika pushed some of her hair behind her ear. "Thank you." She bowed respectfully at me. "I was unsure if it really meant that." "I am the Muse of Ka - I can understand everything but I cannot change my own fate. You are the Lord of Ka. You can change fate, but are cursed with not being able to see the whole picture." "And we cannot have more than that, or it would be too much." Monika folded her hands together. "We, as people, spend all our time complaining about our weaknesses, but we never consider what life would be like if we didn't have them." "An interesting concept. It is good for us all to get better, of course. But is it really good to just have our weaknesses purged?" "No," Monika asserted. "I used to be the one who purged others and myself for fun. It was shallow and improper." "...Even though I know, you still astound me." "I am, in many ways, the example of change." I smiled. "Then you should be prepared for the loss of ka. No more character files." "No more visions." "No more fate." "We are almost nothing without that which defines us," Monika commented. "A Lord and Muse of nothing." "A historian and a librarian," I offered. Monika smiled softly. "...Yeah." "For what it's worth, I'm glad we could have ended like this. Not as enemies, not as rivals, but friends." "The war is over," Monika said, looking at the Tower. "It truly, truly is." The government turned on the sun, announcing to the entire City that the final day had arrived. The sky lost its eerie - yet comforting - twilight glow and became blue, as it was meant to. Colors increased in vibrancy, street lights dimmed in favor of the 'natural' sunlight, and flowers turned toward the orb in the sky they had missed. I could hear animals start to sing. I closed my eyes and smiled. "It's time..." I allowed my Visions to search far and wide one last time... ~~~ Sunny had told herself she would figure out the Physics of the New World before the Tower fell. She had made it her goal. That her maps would become fully accurate. She had not done that, but at the moment she really couldn't care less about if she had met her goal or not. Because she had returned home for the day - Jane's farm. Everyone had insisted she go watch the fall at the City, but she had decided against it. She would spend the day here and enjoy a very thanksgiving-like dinner. The farm had changed a lot in thirty years. Sure, Prism, Corea, both Applejacks, and Jane were still there, along with the three golem helpers. But now there were many, many more people. Strange pumpkin people who liked nothing more than growing the vegetable that looked so like them. Ponies, humans, and many others who had decided a life of farmwork would be more satisfying than a life of endless drifting through the aether. It was a life of purpose. The food had gotten pretty popular within their system. The little planet always had one ship or other on it, ready to ship huge crates full of vegetable goodness. Today, though, the ships weren't moving. Everyone on the planet was taking a break from work and having a feast. Sunny smiled as she looked around the table. Children ran and played around the edges. Corea and Prism were trying to feed each other food while also mocking each other playfully. The golems sat in the corner playing a game with rocks nobody knew the rules too. The Applejacks talked with other alternates of the Apple family - Applejacks, Apple Blooms, Big Macs... even a Pear Butter. "...This is great," Sunny said, wiping a tear from her eyes. Jane looked to her. "...We've missed you, you know. Even when you visit..." "I know." She looked down at her bag that contained all her map data. "...Are you thinking about staying?" "Maybe." She glanced behind her at the clock. "...But I'm not going to make that decision just yet." "Want it to mean something?" Sunny smiled brightly. "Yeah." ~~~ Valentine and Froppy had created a rather large family over the course of thirty years. They made the 'pleasant' discovery that, yes, both Stands and Quirks were passed on and manifested. Virtually every one of their children was a powerhouse of some sort, each one providing a unique take on the town they called home. There were a lot of disagreements and family drama in a household so large, but on the last day all of that seemed to be in the past. Everyone was on good terms with everyone else, the town was at peace, and Aslan wasn't having to wrangle with even more angry people who got offended at everything. The town was at peace. GM still lived there with his family, not that anyone knew who he was. Valentine made good on his promise to protect the young man, and very few had managed to discover the false Prophet. Granted, occasionally someone would show up and figure out who he was, but it was never broadcasted, usually by Valentine's insistence. After he had gotten his feet under him, GM had started gathering people of scientific persuasions together. He himself had no credentials, but with effort and help from his friends and family, the scientists created a college of sorts right in the middle of town. He attended and learned all the science he could, including dabbling in a bit of magic here and there. Now he worked directly under Valentine as a researcher on the physics of the New World. Valentine had managed to make a fortune off his skills and occasional treasure-hunting ventures, so the funding was simple enough. "I get the impression the Uber-GM is just being really nice to me," GM told Froppy one day. She had come into his laboratory just a few minutes prior, wondering if he had remembered to eat lunch. "I'm basically doing what I always wanted. ...Aside from write, but I couldn't really enjoy that the same way I used to." He ran some numbers through a spreadsheet program and created a graph, surprised by the results, but not enough to comment on them. "There were two of you," Froppy said. "More." "Two that mattered," Froppy corrected with an eye roll. "One was killed for everything he'd caused. The other got a close proximity to a happy ending." GM turned away from the spreadsheet. "...A manifestation of my - his - whatever - inner conflict..." He sighed. "Sometimes, I think I know myself. I can tell you exactly why some people died, some people didn't and others suffered. Allure? Couldn't let all the main characters go free and I'd already written Pinkie dead many times before. Nanoha? Needed to show a legend being brought low. But... Caliborn? Why? Alushy? Was it just random? And I kept Jenny around, but I thought..." He stopped himself and shook his head. "Look at me. ...Have I really learned nothing?" Froppy shook her head. "You've grown. Ribbit." "But there's no way he could know what he'd be like in thirty years..." "Then you aren't him. Not anymore." GM looked at his hands. Slowly, a smile came to his face. "Froppy... Thanks for checking in on me." "Someone's got to watch out for you." She smiled. "Don't blow up the lab today, okay?" "I'm avoiding trying any explosive experiments until tomorrow. Rule of Funny will finally stop dooming me every other week." He rubbed his hands together. "And then we can do some real science!" ~~~ Over a light year away... there was a planet, swirling far, far from Nucleon's sight. It was a planet that could never be seen through the millions of worlds between it and the center of the universe, a world secluded - but a world oh-so-important. Naturally, the planet was earthlike, but without civilization - nothing but wilderness. It had been a vibrant world with a high quantity of bird-based life, complex, but not intelligent. It was the first world White Diamond had deemed suitable to rebuild the Gem race. She knew she was the last Diamond. She could feel the songs of her other children nearby - the little sparks of Gems elsewhere - but none of the Diamonds. Her two compatriots had fallen. She was alone here. This was nothing that unusual for her. She was going to start again. But she didn't do it like the first time. She could have chosen a world with sapient people on it, but she specifically looked for one that was just full of life, not people. In the past, she may have told herself she only followed the rules because it was in her best interests, but now she couldn't just go back. Something within her stopped her. She told herself it was because she understood the need to be on good terms with lesser life forms. Somewhere deep down, however, she knew it was something else. A part of her she ignored. She began converting the world into a Gem colony. She set up a few Kindergartens here and there, shaping new Gems from the earth. It was only a matter of weeks before other people started noticing and coming to her world. Many of them had known her or what she represented in Merodi Universalis, and flocked to her as a sort of leader. She treated them as equal citizens to her Gems, running the planet much like major colonies of Merodi Universalis. Eventually, they abandoned the idea of being part of Merodi Universalis, and White Diamond was made the exclusive monarch. She did little to change the way they treated their citizens, although there was a lot less care and concern for the environment. As far as the Gems were concerned, artificial beauty was just as effective as natural beauty. And so the new Gem Homeworld was born. The most advanced world anyone within the local systems knew about. While the City became the hub of activity for the core worlds, the Gem Homeworld did the same for their outer territories. It is in this place that the oft-forgotten, but well-beloved dragon Spike ended up. He knew full well that he had fallen out of the spotlight ever since the multiverse opened up and, frankly, he didn't mind. Less chaos for him to deal with. Now he was one of White Diamond's primary messengers. As a fully-grown dragon, he had both the natural magic to easily cross the voids between systems as well as the physical aptitude to defend himself against potential hostiles. Sure, he just carried mail, but it was important mail. And he was never alone, he had a rider. "What is it with me and riding different creatures?" Midna wondered aloud as she sorted the mail within the saddle-tent on Spike's back. They were returning to Homeworld, currently flying past one of the neighboring gas giants. "Wolf, pony, dragon..." "You know." Midna rolled her eyes. "Huh. We've got something addressed to White Diamond herself. From... No return address." "Paradigm will probably toss that one without question," Spike commented, curving his wings to increase his speed. "Mysterious stuff is mysterious..." Midna said, sorting more stuff with her hair. They rode the rest of the way in silence until they arrived at a security checkpoint. Technically the people on duty were supposed to check IDs, but they knew exactly who Spike and Midna were, and the magic signatures matched, so they just let the messengers through. They landed at the foot of White Diamond's palace, walking through the immense front gates. White Diamond's old palace had looked a bit like her face. This one was much more simplistic - white as ever, but shaped into a more traditional eight-faceted diamond orientation. They walked through the main halls and entered message processing. "Got an unsigned letter for White Diamond," Midna said, dropping it on the countertop. Paradigm Joestar, once princess of Equis Vitis, analyzed it. "I dunno, looks suspicious." "You're the one that decides to give it to her or not," Midna said with a shrug. "I'll think about it. Welcome home." "Thanks," Spike said, walking away. They had to leave through the giant doors into the 'crystal garden' outside, where large pillars of shimmering magitech crystal grew. They saw one of the Gem warships land - and it looked beaten up. Its captain, none other than Gilgamesh himself, came storming out with a stream of swears. "THEY DID IT AGAIN!" "...Did they beat you?" Spike asked. "What? NO! THEY BROKE THE EXCALIBUR! GAH!" A white unicorn with a red and black mane that Spike didn't recognize walked up to Gilgamesh. "Maybe it was just another Excalipoor, hmm?" she asked. "But I was so sure this time..." She rolled her eyes. "Please. Maybe one day you'll find one and get to keep it. That day is nooot today." She patted Gilgamesh on the back. "But don't let that stop you from looking." "I don't believe we've met," Spike said, walking up to the unicorn. "I'm Spike." The unicorn smirked. "I figured. Name's Jackie. I'm head of Security." "For...?" "The whole planet," Jackie said with a smirk. "I sit in the room in the bottom of the palace all day and watch a looot of screens and dispatch police and stuff. It's somehow both a very cush and very stressful job. I watch you two come in and leave all the time. By the way, encourage the guys out there to still check your IDs, I don't want to have to report them." "...Oh," Midna said, blinking. "Whoops." "Hey, I get it, it's all fine. So, Gilgamesh, let's go get you a new sword." "It won't be as good..." Gilgamesh muttered. "I bet it will," Jackie said with a wink. As they walked away, Spike looked up at the palace. "...This is not the life I was expecting. Not in a million years." "But...?" Midna asked. "It feels right, somehow." ~~~ There are a few others... Some whose fates will not be known. To grab a set of random names out of the hat, Spades Slick and Death. Both left the City shortly after the Austraeoh. Both went to have other lives. But in the moments before the Tower's fall, neither are doing anything particularly interesting. Walking from place to place, drifting, uncertain. Forgotten? Perhaps. Or maybe just given freedom a little earlier. But there are some others who are not here who at least deserve some mention. It would be cruel of me not to at least tell you the end results of those who left the Austraeoh one way or another... So join me in my visions as I look far across Nucleon to see what remains in the wake of the Austraeoh's journey. Trixie you already know, to some extent. She kept creating games from the City of the Moon and shipping them across Nucleon trade routes, making a fortune. But she eventually grew tired with this life - achieving such success a second time - and realized something. She could not have lived the life of the travelling showmare in the City, but she could in the wilds of Nucleon where so few people had no idea what magic was or how it worked. I see her now, performing a show... awing a crowd of tribal monkeys. I suspect they will grow scared of her and drive her out within a few days. But she is enjoying herself. I find this surprising, considering the reason she left the Austraeoh, left the crew. Not because she had found a place to settle down, not because she had an opportunity, but because of a loss extremely close to her. In those days she couldn't bring herself to leave Discord's grave. An internal conflict long enough to be called an integral part of her life. But she was off again, doing what she did best - making a ruckus. She may have been alone, but she was at least enjoying herself. Discord's grave sits in the middle of Trixie's gaming business, which is of course under new management now. It is well looked-after and on top of it is a statue of him in eternal laughter. Legends abound, of course, that the statue is actually him, as expected. Discord was not the only tragic loss the Austraeoh suffered. Lightning also perished in the long journey, and her grave was placed in the middle of a wasteland of savage beasts and harsh conditions. There was no civilization for miles around. Before the Austraeoh had come through, the entire land had been covered in darkness that wanted to consume all. Now it was just wilderness... and her grave stood as a testament to their success and victory. Not all is sorrowful. After vowing to stay at the City of the Moon, close to Allure's message, Minna found a city where some plague had swept through, leaving only young children. She chose to become a mother to every last one of them. She raised many on that City, and still runs the orphanage to this day with her husband. Rina and Thrackerzod both share the same fate, though at different locations on the globe. Both of them saw the beauty of a place and a person within that place - and they decided to settle down and grow a family. Thrackerzod is discovering she still has much to learn about worldly experiences through motherhood, while Rina is discovering what it means to be an example and a teacher. Their marriages aren't perfect - both of the women are atypical in the extreme - but they make it work. And then there's me. Sitting here in my visions, 'typing' messages to a Discord chat. It'll be the last time I'll get to do that. Talk to them - to you, the people behind the wall. So I slow down time as much as I can to get in as much talking as I can. I jump around - I talk to them one week, then a month later, then a few days. I will have to leave you eventually... ... ...And as far as the story is concerned, that time is now. Even though I just told you goodbye in there, I'll say it to you again in here. Some of you will receive this chapter long before I have to leave the Discord chat. Others will only know me through the words on these pages. I want you all to know you're forgiven. And that you were, in the end, a comforting presence all this time. But now it's time for me - for all of us - to move on. Goodbye, readers. Hey, you're saying goodbye to them without us? Pinkie demanded. Well, I, er... Mate, that simply isn't fair, Mattie added. We have just as much a right to give a final hurrah. They have been a part of our lives for so long, Monika said. I'm here to say goodbye too! Deadpool shouted. Screw alllll of you! Smooth, Mattie deadpanned. I'm the best thing since sliced bread, babies. Get a load of all this! Can I have a moment as well? Gilgamesh asked. I've been feeling woefully overlooked lately. Scooter in the house! I get a scene! Scooter giggled. Man, it's been a while since I really felt the Fourth calling me. Fate's arrow, I don't think I ever quite registered just how many of us there are. This is probably the end though... So go for it. Say your goodbyes. I'll go first since I have the least to say! Scooter said. Bye readers and viewers! Hope you enjoyed it! If any of you ever find Excalibur... Gilgamesh flexed his wrist. Keep it with you. If it physically eludes you, keep the true treasure close within your heart. Do not let the true glory of your life go. Also, shark-infested custard is good stuff. I agree! Deadpool announced. Not as good as chimicherrychangas though... Haha, yes! Pinkie giggled. But there's more! Deadpool said. I am, quite literally, just a joke character here. I'm perfectly fine with that - means I get to have more fun and a lot less in the drama department. But! I'm telling you now kids, I am not a good role model. Seriously, find someone else, holy cow. My turn, I suppose... Mattie paused, thinking for a moment. I am well aware that what I do isn't considered acceptable. I am also well aware that my mind has a lot of problems, many of which are my own doing. And, let's be real, I've never really been able to talk to you directly, I've just known and had a few things I could move here and there. For what it's worth, I am sorry I made you uncomfortable, and I'm sorry I couldn't grow in that way. On the other hand, you shouldn't be afraid of new ideas so, I dunno, maybe this entire metaphor falls apart. She blew a kiss. Every last one of you is beautiful in some way. You got that? Good. I believe I am the penultimate... Monika took a breath. I understand that a lot of you have found my sudden change jarring, to say the least. Makes you uncomfortable, uncertain. I ask that you use this to look at yourselves. What if one of your best friends vanished from the face of the earth and came back ten years later? Would you expect them to be the same? ...You might, but you shouldn't. Nobody remains static. If you read back through these hundred-plus chapters, you might realize that a lot of us don't really change. Some of us do - Flutterfree, Corona - but some of us didn't. That's ka at work, not realism. People change. A fundamental core may remain the same, but we are all able to be the hero or the villain. I should know, I've been both. And as for what you mean to me... I've decided it doesn't really matter much. I care about what's right in front of me, and you aren't that. You just read because this is a good story, and I understand that urge more than I think you realize. The Prophet wrote because he had an idea. And we act because we do what we think is the right choice. Your existence doesn't actually change anything - even if meaning exists or not. You're just... a curiosity. You are the mystery that lies beneath the subatomic particles, the answer to a scientific inquiry that hasn't even been asked yet. Pinkie took a breath. Hello. It's been a long ride, hasn't it? Started with a little romp through a jungle, took a turn on ever-increasing stakes and scope, and then the entire multiverse imploded. Now, the End of All Stories is upon us. I'm really going to miss you guys. I still think this is the right way, that the Tower needs to fall, but I can still be sad that I won't see your faces again, right? I won't know when you're laughing, when you care deeply about what's about to happen to us, or when you're on the edge of your seat. Because you won't be watching. I wasn't fighting against you; I want you to know that. I don't mind people watching through a book. If there were some kind of higher power that didn't define us, but just relayed information to you, I wouldn't mind at all. But that wouldn't really be a story, would it? Stories are filled with inaccuracies, convenience, exaggerated character types, and inconsistencies. They're also filled with the personification of dreams. I hope you understand why I didn't want that. Dreams... she shook her head and chuckled. You've heard this all before. There was an entire arc about the collapse debate and war. I won't bore you anymore. In the end, I wish I could go up to so many of you and give out some big hugs. But this conversation will have to do. Go on, continue to read, write, and explore the worlds within your minds. But also... I want you to let us go. Please. We want to escape the story. I can't offer you anything in return but a smile and a wave. I hope that's enough. Oh, and PS. I said, 'you can't kill suction cup pony'. I meant it. Pinkie giggled. That's all of them. I've already said my piece, so I guess this is it. ...We're all waving to you. Goodbye. For real this time. ~~~ I would tell everyone what I had seen in the visions later. Eve would be brought to tears to hear that Spike was still alive. An expedition to the New Homeworld would be organized, of course. There wasn't even a question about it. I hope Gilgamesh could get enough of a hold on his Awareness to tell White Diamond what he had just been a part of, but who really knows? Not me. And now I'll slip into the background. This celebration... it isn't about me. It isn't about anyone. ... The sun was charged, and day was upon everyone. People ran out of their homes, their parties, their restaurants, effectively evacuating the City's buildings. Everyone piled into their cars and ships and flew toward the central open field of roses. When they decided the traffic jams would be too much, they walked on foot to the center. The government had set up minor levitation spells overtop the entire field of Can'-Ka No Rey. Nobody would get their ankles scraped by the roses if they were a few inches above the flower line. It was a bit disorienting to walk on an invisible thing with no substance, but the people managed. Virtually no one wanted to miss the moment. Even once teleporters started carting people to the center, it still took a couple hours to move everyone into the center where they could witness history. A perimeter about the length of a football field had been set around the Dark Tower, so most people couldn't get too close. The City's fleet surrounded the Tower on all sides, all the way up so they could stop falling chunks from hurting anyone. All predictions said the Tower wouldn't kill anyone with its destruction besides ka-dependant beings, but the government didn't want to be too careful. From above, the crowds of people ended up taking the shape of the inner teeth of a spirograph. Nobody was surprised by this and almost nobody complained. The Tower began to actively tremble, the strain from the crack being too much - but it did not break. Instead, the ka around the City was the strongest it had ever been. Fitting for the final moments. The heroes had been allowed closer to the inner ring of the Tower. They stood in front of the doors, watching the glowing cracks with awe evident on their faces. "This is it," Eve said. She glanced behind them at the immense crowd - a celebrating crowd that was cheering. The cheering noise started out ridiculous and disorganized, but as time went on the shouts of encouragement smoothly seamed into one immense shout. It was like the beating of a heart. The timing kept getting faster and faster as the anticipation rose and the moment of truth came ever nearer. "...Think I should give a speech?" Eve asked. "Nah," Pinkie said. "The time for speeches is gone. Now's the time for... this. An ending." Corona smirked. "There might be a song though." "If we end without a song I will be very surprised," Burgerbelle commented. "You won't be," Starbeat said with a smirk. "We've got one hefty song coming up, that's for sure." "Calling it now," O'Neill said. "It'll be the number one bestseller of all time after this is over." Nanoha smirked. "I could take up a singing career to try to beat it." Jenny furrowed her brow. "Or perhaps we could rig the music system to make this song public domain..." "Why are we legalizing?" Jotaro asked. "For fun and profit," Pidge chuckled. "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil," Rev quoted. "I think we'll find that that saying becomes more literal when our justifications for greed aren't held up anymore." "Or we'll find that we don't need money at all and it was just convenient," Flutterfree suggested. Mattie opened her mouth, then shut it for a moment. "...Yeah, I won't ruin the moment. Instead I'll say, uh..." She tapped a hoof to her chin. "...I think nothin' will change in the whole money department. We'll want just as much things as we've always wanted." "I can make all the things anyone needs," Roxy said. "I've always thought it was a little weird that our economy actually worked, y'know?" She laughed. "Can't wait to see how we manage to work it now. I also can't wait to try out all sorts of things again and get a completely new experience!" "Yay!" the Everykid said, clapping her hands. "Experience is a peculiar dish," Monika said, looking into the distance. "It rarely gives you what you want, but you always benefit from it." She looked up at the Tower as it shook. "I believe we should get on with it..." Mlinx nodded. "Gunslinger, the right is yours." He handed Black Thirteen over to Roland. Roland Deschain of Gilead, the last gunslinger, grabbed the hilt of the dark spear. The moment it entered his hand, the handle of the spear transformed into that of a pistol. Levitated a centimeter in front of the barrel was the central orb of Black Thirteen itself. It was the ammunition. In this moment, Corona was swept up. She spread her wings and floated into the air, opening a song with a beautiful voice everyone in the crowd could hear. "Moments weave into a Tower so Dark Memories call to a future embarked Multiverse warred over powerful fate Meet friends here and bring an end to the eternal wait!" "I do not aim with my hand!" Roland shouted. "He who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father!" "On this day, the Tower falls away Our world comes to an end New will rise, again we will build ourselves up Shining spirographs. " "I aim with my eye!" "Escaping from the stories between Stretching out beyond Time Rising up as our universe stands together Flickering through the Void! " "I do not shoot with my hand! He who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father!" "Desperate we clung onto life Everyone caught in the struggle Then the unknown collapse It fanned the flames scattering our dust to the wind! " "I shoot with my mind!" "Every soul contains a whisper of ka Confused, hidden but always holding tight No escape, no greater fate to be made! In the end the chains of ka hold no more ." "I do not kill with my gun! He who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father!" "Moments weave into a Tower so Dark Memories call to a future embarked Multiverse warred over powerful fate Meet friends here and bring an end to the eternal wait!" "I KILL WITH MY HEART!" Roland pulled the trigger. Black Thirteen shot through the divide between him and the Dark Tower, igniting the air around it into deep blue plasma. The murky orb hit the doors of the Dark Tower, shattering into a thousand pieces upon impact. The Dark Tower began its final crumble.
Songs of the Spheres	[KA] 157 - Goodbye to a World	The Source knew its time was short. It rumbled. 157 - Goodbye to a World The End
Griffons Cathouse	pre	"I'll have to give them shit for it..." Grammar nazi... Before I could sulk anymore she handed me back the contract. All signed and ready to go. "Perfect Sparkle, perfect. Let's go meet your employer, yeah?" She stood up then exclaimed: "Alright! Let's go!" She headed for the door, grabbed the knob and was about to open it, when she noticed I wasn't following her, she turned around in confusion. "Uh Gilda? You coming? I want to go meet my new boss!" Now the fun part, I was waiting for this all day. "You already have." Now bewilderment. "Huh?" "It's me. Imma hire you Sparky." Now shock. "O-oh my- you're my boss now!?" I was gonna say duh, but now she was at my desk, hands slammed on the top. "Why didn't you tell me!?" "Cause." "My goodness, this is great!" Wait what? "Given how you handled yourself, y-you must be real veteran when it comes to running a business. I could learn so much from you!" Wait what? I was not about to take her on as a protege. "Uh, Twilight?" "This is too perfect, I'll be able to put Spike through college in a few years, and be able to learn from my new fross!" "Look, Sparkle, this ain't- 'fross'?" "It's friend plus boss!" FRIEND? Ha ha ha... I don't think so Sparkle. "You want your job or not!?" That quieted her down a little. She readjusted her sweatshirt, and sat back down, clearing her throat. "Yes, of course." The fuck, is she bi-polar?? "Now. The place I'm going to have you work, is everything I asked, you'll have to be away from home, I will let you make calls to Spike however, so don't worry about that." "Ok. So where, and when, do I start?" "The name of my business..." I smirked. "Is called 'Griffon's Cathouse'." Her pupils got sooo incredibly small. "C-cathouse?" Ooo the quiver that was in the voice... "Like. Cleaning bathrooms or something right?" "Oh-ho-ho no Sparky, I mean, I want you to be a playmate." She was visibly shaking now, I think she was starting to figure me out. To late now though, smarty pants. "You want me to be a prostitute!?" She stood as she accused. "It is not 'prostitution'! That shit's illegal. Owning a brothel... is not." "Why me though!?" She was backing down, towards the door. Hopefully Flim and Flam were in position. I decided to be creepy for once, so I stood up, a little to slow for comfort as I talked. "Cause you're perfect for it Sparky. Your looks? Pretty as all hell. You've got a certain sex appeal that is very rare. You look good without even trying. I don't know of a single woman who could pull off professional-hot as good as you do. Plus, you're smart; book smart. Men love women like you." I was now stalking, yeah, stalking towards her. "At The Griffon, your character will be that one fantasy, I know for a fact, everyone has. The smart, but hot, snarky but willing, a simultaneously uptight, and loose, person. You'll be every school boy's, or business man's dream come true." I cornered her at the wall, and put my left arm right next to her head to block her exit. She was looking down at the floor now; terrified at this point. "You'll get paid enough for yourself, and Spike, make no mistake. More importantly though, you'll help make me rich." I took my right arm, and used my index finger to lift her chin up to look me in the eyes. "And maybe... depending how you behave... I'll give your skills a 'personal' evaluation." Her eyes widened in fear, and in one quick motion, she elbowed me in the gut, fuck that hurt!, hard enough to where I instinctively grasped at my stomach as I lost my breath, and opened the door. Last time she'll catch me off guard. Luckily for me, Flim and Flam came through, and just as she opened the door, they came into view. Not wasting a second, they shoved her back in the room, hitting the floor. "Well what have we here, O, brother of mine?" Goddammit Flam... "Looks to me, a brothel draft dodger. Nice choice Gilda, she'll do just fine." "Wh-what the hell is going on!? Who are you two!?" She, in a panic, backed herself into my desk. "I am known as Flam." "I am his brother Flim. Pleasure to meet you madam." Her eyes widened at their intro. Honestly, it wasn't my favorite of theirs either. "F-Flim and Flam! The gangsters!" "Now dear, the term is rather barbaric I think. Flam and I, just prefer to be called good old outlaws. Has a more of an, honorable feel to it does it not?" "Hardly! Your murderers, the worst scum their is!" She was tough, no doubt. Wrong time to grow a set though, as Flim so menacingly put it. "Now now, you'd do best to refrain from getting bothered and hot. Your life is already dangerously close to ending." "Years from now, how will young Spike feel, if you can't attend his wedding?" She let out a gasp. "Or rather Flam, maybe she can make it to that metaphorical wedding. He however, cannot." "No! How could you had..." She looked at me. "YOU!" Well, she officially hated me. "Now Sparky... I told you to call me Gilda." I let out one last laugh and smirk. "Go to hell!!! I trusted you!" "Well rule one in life kid, never trust strangers. Thought you'd known that, ha ha. Flim, Flam, we've wasted enough time, give her some chloroform, and bring her to the Griffon." I turned around, and walked out the door, the last sounds I heard were her loud, then quiet screams. I let out a low chuckle, all the way down the hall. The car ride proved uneventful, only thing that really happened was me asking Flam a question. Seriously, that's it. "So. Where is she currently residing at?" "Currently little Spark here, is living in the house of the widowed Cadenza-Sparkle. After the tragic end of Armor Sparkle, she has left the house very little. We have reason to believe, due to a combination of depression, and of course the shock of finding her beloved's body, she is now bedridden." "Heavy. So be honest, did you two kill him?" They had to have. "Sadly to say, we did not." WHAT!? "The circumstances to his demise, unlink us to the scene. We, would have never let anyone find the body. His body was found one night in his room, whiskey by his bed, gun on hand, blood everywhere, and a bullet through the head." So... suicide? "You guys gave him that much trouble?" "Of course not. He was a formidable foe, and we respected him. Caught plenty of our men, but always just missed us. He was tenacious, and determined. He was not, however a substantial enough threat to warrant systematically driving him insane." Interesting... Speaking of interesting, so was her call to Spike. I let her use the phone on my bitchin' podium up front, to call him. "Spike? H-hey little brother, it's Twilight- well I guess you assumed that, u-um, good news! I uh... I got a job... ... it's uh, in town. N-no I won't be home for dinner... for a while. This job I got... it..." She started to choke up again. "I-I-I'll have to be away for a while, it's... it's a long distance, type of job... ... I um... I can't tell you... because, it- I... um... look, what it is doesn't matter, what does, is that I'll be away for a while, so it's up to you, to take care of Amore. Don't worry, I'll drop by in a day o-or two to drop off some money... ... I know... I'll be fine brother, don't worry about me, worry about yourself, and Amore... Lord knows I will..." She stopped talking for almost a solid minute, I'd started to wonder if he hung up or something. I noticed a small smile form on her face, as she finished the call up. I didn't rush her. Figured I owed her that much. "I'm sorry too Spike, I should have... well, we'll talk all about it when I get back, some day... not soon, but not that far off either,I hope... and then... maybe we can, I don't know... try and get to know each other, as siblings this time... I would too. Take care of her Spike, be safe... hm. Yeah, I know you will... I love you... ..." A single tear went down her cheek. "I know... I'm glad you do too. I... I-I have to go now Spike, take care... ok... bye." Finally. "So, what'd lil bro have to say?." If looks could kill right then... "K. Nevermind. Well since, for all intensive purposes, this is your home now-" "This place will never be my home." "Just follow me, might as well get acquainted with the place anyway." I gave Sparkle a short tour, and I showed her to her room. Since she would be living here, I told her that at some point, under my supervision, I would take her browsing to customize it. When we did that weeks later, she was obviously still quite pissed with me, but once she found out she was spending MY money, she started buying a few room items, but mostly a shit load of books. She bought herself this really comfy looking purple, because of course purple, queen size bed... took a little out of her paycheck for that little item. Her first few days, fucking sucked. She was irritable, nervous, and downright not pleasant company. I hadn't advertised her as a main attraction yet, I was going to let her get her bearings for a while. Good thing too, most of her customers said she was a good screw, but not much fun. I called her out on it, off-hours, gave her some reviews customers left, a few were ok, but a lot of them were... almost scolding. A random person, criticizing a playmate, just sounded too funny to me. She gave me another glare of death, and stormed off to her room. I tried talking with her about it, but that went about as well as you'd expect. "What's the deal Sparkle? I realize these aren't exactly 'ideal' sex having conditions you're in, but remember what's at stake here." "Look, Gilda, I don't know how many times you've made love in the past-" Sorry, but I couldn't take that anymore. "SEX! It's called 'sex'! 'making love', is when actual 'love' is involved." "It's the politically correct term!" "It's fucking wimpy!" She rolled her eyes, beyond annoyed at this point, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Regardless, nevermind the fact that I'm almost quite literally at gunpoint, being forced to sell my body for you, but I also have not made- I mean," she used air quotes for this one, " 'had sex' in quite a long time. I was seventeen when my virginity was taken. Nice. "And?..." "Not counting the last few days, I hadn't had sex since then!" "Oh... well how old are you now?" Gotta remember to ask that in the interview next time. "I'm twenty-three." She deadpanned, like I was supposed to know! "And you only had sex once!? How do you live!? That's like... uh... six- no, five years ago!" She smirked at that. "Imagine how I feel! To experience such a, such a foreign feeling, especially one I haven't in half a decade, is just... it's unsettling, alien even!" "... Ok... I see where you're coming from... and I'm not exactly happy about this... but I really only see one option to this." "And what exactly, have you thought up now?" I didn't just think it, I did what anyone would had done in my position. For her first few weeks, I forced her to smoke weed. No, seriously. She didn't like it at all, but after a few hours of blazing; getting through the "first-timers cough", her initial doubts, all that annoying crap, she started to relax. I think I gave her a little to big a dose, cause after a while later in the day, she started to call me Roxanne... It was some grade A shit too, I got it from Flam, it really helped calm her down too, I took this opportunity to try and help her "loosen up". Not sex you idiot, I gave her a pep talk. I walked her through the tricks of the trade; little things like, conversation, what kind of eye-contact to make, how to talk, walk, act. I made it a point to repeat this process with every new "Main Attraction", especially if they were going to be this much trouble. Day thirteen, and I was able to keep track because at the end of every shift, she calls that fake brother of hers. I decided that she was good to go off the weed, and told her the next day, she was on her own. Ironically it was Christmas Eve, it was the first night that I can say she did everything perfect. She walked it right, flirted just enough, given the fact that she was smart, I figured she'd learn fast, but damn! She pretty much mastered the looks, how to give subtle signals, everything! Tomorrow, as Christmas as a gift to myself, I debuted her as The Griffon's first "Main Attraction" package, with more coming soon. There was just one problem, but I let her slide on it. I think my lying to her, fucked her up, cause see, whenever we have no customers, or its off-hours, the girls are allowed to hangout in their rooms, or the lounge area. When customers are here, they're either going to the bar, or lounge area as well, I normally have girls serve them, and shoot the shit. Twilight, doesn't do that. Actually when she's on the clock, unless it's a customer or me, she doesn't talk to anyone, just sits in a corner and reads, with some tea I let her buy, with her. Whenever another girl comes up to her, she either ignores them, moves to another spot, or just minimally responds. Well considering the money she would end up making me,like I said, I let it slide. Sure worked good in getting my customers interested in her, that's for sure. The way Twilight's, "special upgrade" works is that, she's a different experience than the other girls; a packaged deal. If you purchase it, she comes with free room service, any type of custom party the consumer desires, and a free night to spend. Let's say I charged two-hundred dollars for a regular girl right? I don't, it's a lot more than that, but just bare with me, Twilight's package, costs about five hundred dollars. Metaphorically anyway. She joined in November. It wouldn't be until January, that I decided to increase my main attraction stock, and find another girl. It wouldn't be until February, that I met the next candidate. That's where the prissy, but unfairly hot one, comes in.
Griffons Cathouse	Rarity's Admission	February. A time of love, affection, giving, and Bruno Mars songs. More like "giving" people diabetes in a heart shaped box, Subway's stupid ass pun that they made up, and... well yeah, Bruno Mars songs. Twilight had been doing well at this point, customers were happy, we barely talked, and she was still slightly worried that I was serious about making her body mine. As if. Sure she's pretty, but if I did, I see her acting all like: "No, don't grab me like that!", or "You're not licking right!". Would be a Goddamn nightmare. Before I could finish contemplating the torture that would be screwing Sparkle, I heard a gentle knock on the door of my office. I thought, "Sweet", normally I didn't get many applicants on Monday mornings cause... well, its Monday morning. "It's open!" The door opened, and I was greeted with a very attractive woman who- ah who am I kidding, the woman was jaw-droppingly gorgeous! "Excuse me miss." She stepped into the room a little more so I could get a better look at her. Goddamn man, her hair was, was ... purple too. It had dimensions to it though! I know that sounds weird, but it has this way of looking thin and trimmed, but also full, and it looked professionally groomed. She was wearing this safe-for-work black skirt, that just worked, with some weird uh... string up shirt? Either way it looked good, especially with her skin. White doesn't do it justice, it ain't pale, not really porcelain, just... white. As snow. All complimented well with a black belt, black heels, a little white purse, with dark orange trim... lines, whatever they're called, and these diamond shaped blue, I think, earrings. "Are you the one they call Gilda? Gilda Hof?" Even her voice was a turn on, albeit prissy. British maybe? Or from Beverly Hills? Either way, hot. "Uh, y-yes, I mean, ahem yeah I'm Gilda." Smooth... she looked relieved though. "Oh, thank heavens! I was dreading that I had found the wrong place! Some of the people here are incredibly rude, when it comes to being asked for help." "Yeah, a lot of them are assholes, but hey, what can ya do right?" I think my language surprised her, but she didn't comment negatively on it. "Quite. Well nonetheless miss Hof, it is a pleasure." She held out her hand to shake... when the hell did she get to my desk? Collecting myself, I accepted it and shook. "Well, take a seat, and tell me why you've come." "Thank you." She sat down like a "proper" lady, legs together as she lowered, and instead of crossing them, she folded her well manicured hands in her lap. Me for defs likey. "Well first things first, what's your name dude?" She raised her eyebrow at "dude", but shook it off. "My name is, Rarity." ... Rarity?... That's it just... Rarity? I don't mind the name, it actually suits her pretty well, but at least Twilight had a last name. "Rarity?..." I egged her on. "Just Rarity, miss Hof, I have no last name to speak of." Hot, and has a mystery to her. I love my life. "Will that... be a problem in finding work? I certainly hope it won't." Figured I'll pry about it later. "Naw, s'all good. So, do you have a resume for me?" Her eyes bugged, her left hand went to her forehead, with a slap. "My resume! I knew I was forgetting something today! I'm terribly sorry Miss Hof, but seem to have forgotten it." "It's cool, don't worry about it." Well at least she didn't try to storm out. "I don't require one anyway on the first meeting anyway". She looked at me uncertainly. "Truly?" Who the fuck asks "truly"? "Uh, yeah." "Thank goodness, to be honest, I had no where else to turn to at this point." "No prob Rarity. So, seeing as how you ain't gotta resume, might as well try to get to know you a bit. If someone has a resume, I look it over, yeah, but I like to get to know my clients as people, so I know who I'm dealing with, as a person, not a worker." She smiled a little. "That is rather clever! I quite like it, inquire away, Miss Hof." Well at least she's into it. "Just Gilda please, Miss Hof is my Mother." "As you would have it then." Uh. "Uh..." "Gilda it is then; I mean." Oh. "Oh. Alright, so, Rarity, why you looking for work here? Given your appearance, if I may, you look like you were from Beverly Hills or something." She look flattered. "Oh Heavens no! Nothing against Beverly Hills mind you, seems a truly wonderful city, but I am from Michigan; Clinton county, to be exact." Bull. Shit. "Michigan? You?" She looked slightly perplexed at the question(s). "Why yes, born and raised. Is is really so strange?" YES! "A little... I don't want to seem presumptuous, but, if it wasn't LA I would have straight up thought you were British or something." She gave a sly little smile. "I admit I do look rather fabulous, do I not?" "Oh! Uh... you, um..." How do I subtly imply that she's smoking? She put her fingers against her lips, suppressing a small laugh. "I only jest Gilda, I do put quite a bit of time into the day to improve my appearance, in fact I-" She suddenly stopped herself, and lowered her hand back to her lap. "Nevermind all that silliness, you were curious about my home, yes?" Well now I'm curious about your refusal to share details with me, but we'll see what goes down. "Well, yeah honestly, it's not so much where you're from, its more of why you're here? In Nevada. Looking for work. In Nevada." I could tell I was making her a little uncomfortable. "Well, if you really must know Miss Gilda, I originally came to this terribly dry state, because I was offered a job at a theater here in Carson City, as a costume designer." Damn. So she's been close by for a while. How'd I not notice... this? "So I take it you went to school for that? They have fashion schools in Michigan?" "Oh, yes, several actually." She got a weird look on her face, probably reminiscing. "I graduated from The Art Institute of Michigan, on full scholarship, just several months ago. My work was highly acclaimed at the time of my graduation. Someone must have showed someone my work, because just a few days ago, I got a call from, who I believed to be, an agent, and was offered a job." She seemed proud of herself. Family was probably through the roof. "Well Mom and Pops must have been proud yeah?" Her good mood left, and her eyes went downcast. Goddamn it... "They were... excited, no doubts about that." Honestly, I didn't care to here her sob story, I just needed to get her in my Cathouse. I kept my cool though, and toughed it out. "Let me guess, they didn't like your career choice right?" Eyes met mine again. "Very perceptive Gilda. They weren't too happy about my decision to become a fashion designer, said it was a rather frivolous career choice. I had to start working right out of high school to try and put myself through college. It took about three years, but after working several jobs, even a few at a time, I was able to finally start my dream." So she can work then. I figured at this point I'll try to give a shit. Try. "That's rough. They old fashioned or something?" "In some ways I suppose. You see, Mother and Father own several restaurants in town, they are very well known, and respected in the community in which we live, organizing events, friends with the mayor; the like. They had always intended for my sister and I to assume rolls of a similar nature, in the future, but without a doubt they wanted us to take over the business after they retired. It was; to them, bad enough that my sister was a bit of a, not wild, but... unpredictable child." So her parents were dicks huh? "Unpredictable? How so?" "To give you an example, we came home one Sunday after church; Sweetie Belle had stayed over at a friends house prior, and she decided to surprised us with lunch. Sandwiches made herself, and nicely picked apples from one of our trees outside, with some pulp free orange juice." She smiled a little, I thought her sis didn't sound half bad honestly. "Well that was cool of her." "Quite generous, I agree, however... the meat she used was expired, one of Mothers apples had a worm inside, and most damming of all... she burnt the Orange juice..." She wha- the what!? "H-how in the-" "Bless her little heart, but Sweetie Belle cannot work with food. No matter how many hours Mother made the poor dear spend in the kitchen, she could just never get the hang of it. Never truly knew what she wanted to do in life, my sister, but was always eager to try and find out what, much to our parents annoyance." Sweetie Belle huh? Maybe I'll get lucky, like I did with Sparkle and Spike. "She here with you then? I could imagine so, sounds like your parents were a little overbearing." Rarity shook her head. "Sadly, no. I would have loved for her to be here with me but... well... do you have siblings Gilda?" Thank GOD no. "Nope." "Well, our relationship was... strained to say the least. In her younger years, I was not the ideal sister I should have been, whenever Father had us do work on his land, I was always the one who got off easy, being the oldest. If I got tired, I got to rest, Sweetie Belle however, would have to pick up my slack. If she was tired, Father would reprimand her, saying that being she was the youngest, she should have more energy." She reached into her purse and pulled out a carton of cigarettes. "Would it be ok if I smoke?" Of course she smokes. Given her appearance and personality, I wouldn't be surprised if she knows what wine to drink with what meal. I didn't like cigarettes, but if it made her reveal more about herself, I'd deal with it. "Go ahead." "My thanks." She then pulled out a black lighter from her purse, and lit up the stick. Inhaling a puff, she looked visibly more relaxed. Resting the stick between her middle and index finger, she started to speak again. "I was not, suffice to say, my Fathers "favorite", Father had no favorites, of the two of us. Though it pains me to say, he loved Sweetie less than I." Inhale. Exhale. "Sweetie Belle... poor girl, she tried so incredibly hard to work for his love, or appreciation, even a smile. It was never enough for Father." Inhale. Exhale. "It wasn't until after high school I noticed things about my sister. Things, any normal, or should I say good sibling, would have. She wasn't happy I came to find out... remotely. She was in her middle school years at the time, by then, in her eyes it was too late for me to try..." She started to slowly smile again, at the next part of her story. "In recent times, we've talked primarily through text messaging, although she simply answers in responsive ways, never instigating conversations, but never telling me not to text her. A phone call, perhaps, if she picks up for me, never having much to say, they're primarily for me to check up on her, see if she's doing ok." In. Out. She had finished the cigarette, and disposed of it in an oval holder she brought with her, looking down, she was starring at the floor again. There was something this broad wasn't telling me, she must have had her own demons to deal with. sigh Just as well, they're not my problem anyway. There was one thing I was curious about however. "Rarity?" She looked up, with a tired look to her. "Hm?" "Well, I was curious, why aren't, you at this theater right now making a bundle? Sounds to me like that's why you would even want to stick around." Now she got a look of pure disappointment. "Yes... that. I arrived here, near two weeks ago, I was heading to this theater that is quite popular over here, called 'Bob Boldrick Theater', smaller than I had hoped, but it was a job nonetheless. I arrived, head held high, mind ready to work, designs in hand, and a spring in my heels. Only to be told that the position had been given away, to a young upstart named Suri... that woman has tried to ruin me since college..." That's... honestly a little funny. "But why stay? Nevada probably can't have much to offer you." She perked up a little bit from that comment. "Oh but it can, it can! You see, I intend; considering my career is on an unfortunate hiatus, to use this time to build up my funds, so that I may be able to bring Sweetie Belle here to stay here with me, and for anything she may need." Why would she wanna do that? "No disrespect, but considering how long you said you worked to even get here, why is that specifically your new priority? Shouldn't you worry more about yourself right now?" She got bummed again, at my question, but she put on a sad smile when she answered. "That's just it Gilda, I spent the earlier quarter of my life thinking of my self, I viewed my not getting that job as a wake-up call. I sign of fate perhaps, that I possibly, wasn't the one I had to care the most about. I know she isn't happy at home, and that she still may resent me, but I know I can treat her better than Mother and Father. I can't promise her a glamours life, or even an easy one. It will take quite a bit of time, to obtain enough money to properly aquatint her. But if I can, and if she is willing to give me a chance, I will do my damn best, to make her happy." Damn... She's determined as hell about making her sister happy. Almost an obsession it seems. Not unlike Sparkle's dilemma really. Main difference I see, is that, while Twilight seems to, at best, have a "decent" relationship with her faux-bro, Rarity's trying to, BUILD one with this Sweetie Belle. Going to pretty extensive lengths too. Can't lie, I respect that. Unfortunately, Rarity, your plans will have to be put indefinitely on hold possibly longer than you "career". "I think I've heard all I need to hear. I'll look around, make some calls, but I guarantee you Rarity," I leaned over and looked her dead in the eyes, "I will have a job for you tomorrow." She seemed relieved, but also had that funny looking; "Oh my god I can't believe it!", look on her face. "Y-you mean it? You can really get me work somewhere? I've extensively applied at many establishments here, but I could never secure a position. You can truly help me out?" She looked like she was about to cry. I smiled at her. "You bet dude. Show up here tomorrow at about 10:30, I'll ask some final qualifying questions, and I'll take you to meet your, possible, future boss." She clapped her hands together, and jumped up out of the seat, giddier than a One Direction fangirl. "Thank you thank you THANK YOU!! You have no idea how much I appreciate this!" "Oh, I think I have a good assumption. Go home and rest up. Big day tomorrow!" She thanked me one last time, and ran out of the room, well kind of, you can run only so well in heels. After I was certain she had left for good, I took out my phone and, gave Flim a call. ... ... ... "This is Flim." "Flim, get Flam, I need the two of you to-" "There is no need for that little birdie. Acquiring miss Rarity was a personal joint decision between Flam and I." I almost dropped the phone. "WHAT!? How could you had known about her? And why didn't you tell me??" "Sombra works in mysterious ways miss Hof, we are not obligated to tell you anything of our business." "When it involves my business, it damn well does, Flim." "That would ruin the magic of our work though, and we take great pride in our-" Yeah, I wasn't about to listen to this crap again. "Fuck it, don't tell me, I could care less honestly, just be outside the door again. Same plan as Sparkle." "Very well little birdie. Have a pleasant evening." BEEP Dick. ... Sniff sniff "Goddammit, now I gotta get the Febreeze..." Next morning, I waited patiently for Rarity, didn't have to wake up early to make a call, so I got to sleep in. That's always nice. I was stoked on life about adding Rarity. Not only would this mean twice the Main Attractions, and twice the money, I'll get to see more of that snow white skin of hers. I figured for Rarity, I'll put her in either nice, beautiful dresses, ones that hug the figure, but also accent, and show it off; the kind that leave room for the imagination, and play up her maturity and age, but respects it. That... or I'll put her in the most revealing, skin showing skirts I got, give her some knee high socks, and sandals or something. I figured that it could work, just because of the fact that it contrast so harshly with her personality, it actually might make her look more attractive. I ended up going with the dresses option, but the latter is some fine late-night thoughts isn't it? I was a little shocked honestly. I barely had to think about admitting her into The Griffon, I mean obviously she's extremely attractive, but I just saw everything I needed in her, once I laid eyes on her. Her eyes, those calming blue eyes, are piercing, not like in a judgmental way, or like she's staring into your soul, more like... she's gazing at it. Also her rack is just lovely. I think what convinced me to add her was in fact, how far she was willing to go to make her sister happy. That showed a certain level of generosity. Generosity means hospitality. Hospitality means entertained customers. Entertained customers means customers interested in the product. That means sex, and sex means profit for me. Circle of life type shit. Shaking me out of my thoughts was a knocking on the door. Unlike Twilight, at 10:33 Rarity showed up. Well at least she isn't as uptight as Sparkle was, just a bit of an enigma. "Still unlocked." She came in wearing clothes much more suitable to work in. Some cheap, generic white t-shirt, and a faded pair of jeans, with a pair of Irish Setters... how do I know what those are? I really need to stop watching Style Network when I'm bored or tired... but "Clean House" though... "Right on time Rarity, you ready for the last step?" She sat down, and without any doubt in her voice, she looked me in the eye and said: "Yes. More than ready." "Ok then, first things first, I just need to ask, like, four last little questions, at your future employers request." She still didn't falter. "Of course, Miss Gilda. Go right ahead." "Ok... question one, are you prepared to do whatever your boss asks of you?" She looked, almost shocked, at the question. "Well, yes I should say so Gilda. Within reason of course. No matter how in dire need I am in, I do wish not to do anything illegal now." "Aw don't worry... you won't." Must. Not. Smirk. "Question two, I probably don't need to ask this, but just in case ahem, this job will require you to be away from home for an extended period of time. Is this ok with you?" No second guessing this time. "Yes. I know no one down here, and my family is all back in Michigan. Being away from 'home' will not be a problem." She know's no one here? This make things even easier! I always have a nagging feeling about Spike finding out. I was relieved I didn't have to worry about that with Rarity. "All righty then, question number four. What is your opinion on ga- uh, homosexuality?" I remembered to say it right this time! She put her hand to her chest in surprise. "M-my opinion on... that's... a rather odd question isn't it? Why would they wish to know that?" I actually had excuses planned now, I paraphrased what I told Twilight, to Rarity. "It's so that they get an idea of what kind of workplace you'll be comfortable in. It has no bearing on whether or not you get the job, it's just with the way the world is now, this is stuff employers almost have to know." She put her hand to her chin in thought. "Hmm... I do see that could become a problem. Well... if they really must know my honest opinion on the matter, you can tell them this to the letter. I believe that love is love, and it knows no bounds." Oh fuck she's one of those... "If a man loves a man, or a woman a woman, it's their love, and it's beautiful. Love, is beautiful, all kinds." God I resisted so hard to just mumble the name NAMBLA. "I have no problem whatsoever about working with a gay man or a lesbian. Or anyone in between. People are who they are, who am I to judge?" Wow that was... well a little preachy, but noble all the same. I oddly found myself believing her, I didn't see a single trace of deception in those tiny lakes she has for eyes. "That's very admirable of you. I-if you don't mind me asking... what is your... preference?..." Now she looked straight up perplexed. "Now... is this a question of theirs? Or yours?" She asked slowly. "H-hey you don't have to tell me, I just figured , ya know... I'm helping you out and stuff. Besides, I don't care if you are or not. As long as you keep this job I snagged ya, that's all that matters." Then she got a look of guilt on her face. Unintentional sounding guilt trip always works! "Well you do raise a point, I am using your services for gratis after all... I suppose you deserve to know that." Really!? "I personally feel that I identify more as a bi-sexual. Not through 'extensive' experience mind you, but I have met may men and women, a fair number whom I felt attracted to. I have met men who could have swept me off my feet, who were handsome and kind. I also have met a fair number of women who I found to be beautiful." Wait... so, she has an explanation for it? Honestly, most women I've met just leave it at, "Yeah, I'm bi." "Oh... wow, uh... thanks for sharing that with me Rarity, that couldn't have been easy detail about your life to disclose." She sent a warm smile my way. "You are doing me a rather generous favor. Using your free time for free to help help a total stranger find work, so she can get her life in order? I figured the very least I could do is answer a simple question." A simple question?? People right fucking books on people just coming out of the closet! She's... trusting me. Like Twilight did, before I fucked her over with my greed. It didn't really hit me until then that I really took in what I had done up til now. Twilight Sparkle. Parent-less college graduate, trying to take care her brother who has no real family, and her widowed sister-in-law, who's grieving from her husbands possible suicide. And now Rarity... this woman who is desperately trying to forge some kind of relationship with her sister, Sweetie Belle, who seems like she's the only one she is "close" with. Trying to get her away from their hard-ass parents, and just make Sweetie Belle happy, not so much herself. And here I was... with her future in the palm of my hands, and the power to do what I want with it. It was also then that I realized that... I really started to like that feeling... knowing that I could single-handedly improve, or ruin someone's life, if I choose to. I can just say the word, and they're lives... are mine. And I fucking loved it. Recollecting my thoughts, I decided I probably should move one. "Well, your gratitude is not unappreciated, believe me. Ok then, last question, then we meet your boss, ready?" She looked only too excited to get this over with. "Very much so, miss Gilda." "Alright... are you a virgin?" Aaaaand cue look of shock. "Am I... what???" Now bewilderment. "Are you a virgin?" I repeated. Then she looked straight up offended. How is this subject always more sensitive then sexual orientation? Shouldn't it be the other way around? "Excuse me!?" "I'm just asking on their behalf Rarity. You don't need to get all-" Really poor choice of words right there... "Now wait just a minute! Miss Gilda. I am extremely grateful for all you are doing to help me, and I truly mean that. However, I simply cannot see the significance of that particular information, helping hindering or otherwise, with getting a job. How I feel on homosexuality and it's respective community, that I can grasp, giving for having as productive a work place as possible. You're curiosity about what sex I prefer, while a little uncomfortable to talk about at first, I cannot exactly fault you for being curious, you are human after all. However-" I really hoped that the next time I met a girl I found perfect for this position, that they weren't smart enough to poke this many holes in my ruse. Speaking of that... nevermind, I'm getting ahead of myself. "- I would like to know how the fact of the matter, of whether or not I have made love-" Dammit her too? "is a necessary variable, in the job application process!" She had me. I mean, what more could I say? She pointed out everything that could unravel my whole ruse. Sparkle didn't even make it this far, she just got pissed, Rarity tore my shit apart. I couldn't just call in Flim and Flam though, I needed her name on that contract. Even though I know that her family lives in Michigan, I had no idea where Sweetie Belle lives, where the fuck Clinton county was, or even if Flim and Flam had contacts that are even in that state. Not that Rarity needed to know that, but without having to resorting to the life-threatening of her sister, I could at least bind her to a legal contract. Plus, you know, a gun to her head helps too. She had me cornered now though, I had to think up a lie, and I thought it up quick. "But that's just it! It actually does play a role in whether or not you get a job with them!" She raised a brow, leaned back, crossed her arms, and now crossed her legs, -oh that looked nice- left over right, and looked at me expectingly. "Go on." I figured I'd try actually exploiting her giving nature, now that I have a vague idea of its extent. So I went out on a limb. "They see it as an act of generosity on your part." "Generosity? They find asking about... that, is suitable for finding out if I'm... nice??" Time to philosophize. "Not 'nice', generous." She rolled her eyes. "I hardly see a difference between the two, Miss Gilda." I was about to take a risk, but I had to set it up just right. "I think there is. See, anyone can be 'nice. As in do something, well, nice for someone, buy them something, help them out in a tough situation, give them some money to help out, things like that." "Right, as would a 'generous' person. "But that's the thing. I think generosity, that is, someone being generous, is when someone does something nice... but unconditionally." She stared, then blinked, I could tell she didn't totally get me. Now was when I would take my risk. "Let me give you an example... you remember how you were telling me about your sister; Sweetie Belle?" "Well... yes." "Remember how you were telling me how her home life sucks, and you want to bring her here? To stay with you, and try to make her happy?" "I do, yes, and I very much intend to, but I'm not exactly certain how-" "Well then, are you doing that because you truly want her to be happy, or are you doing it more for yourself." That pissed her off just a tad. "For myself!? How dare you insinuate-" I held up my hand, cutting her off before she could rant. "Let me finish. You said it yourself, and no offence intended cause this is what you told me, you sucked as a big sister." "Gilda, I fail to see-" "Hold. Up. That being said, you want to make amends with her. Build some kind of relationship right? Well, to me, it's obvious that you regret being neglectful towards her in years previous, and while you had it difficult at home I'm sure, she, again like you said, undoubtedly has it harder. I'm only guessing at this point, but you feel some blame for that I assume." She silently nodded. "I'm pretty positive that a good deal of her negative disposition these days, is in fact, directly because of you." She looked down in (what I guessed) shame. I had her. "I don't know anything about having any siblings, but from what I've heard from people with siblings, is that if you, literally and figuratively, have no one in the world, there's nothing like knowing your brother or sister has your back." She turned her head down. Guilt trip successful, time to move in for the kill. All this drama because I asked about whether or not she's had sex. Unbelievable... "So tell me. Are you doing this for her? Or so you can feel better and try to fix past mistakes? For your sisters happiness and well-being, or your own?" She was silent for a bit, then finally looked back up at me, eye's shaky. "I... I believe I understand what you are saying, Miss Gilda. I do see how my current course of actions could become misconstrued. But... believe me when I say that, I truly want my sister to be happy. If... if she decided to remain home, I would respect her wishes, of course. I would be lying if I said I wasn't doing this partially out of my guilt, and not just because of Sweetie Belles situation." Silent tears started to fall down her cheeks. "I want her here with me Gilda... I love that free-spirited sister of mine. I just want to prove it to her, give her a home where she can just live. No expectations of her, no pressure on her for what she 'should' do, rather, encourage her to focus more on what she wants to do in life. I know you can't being to truly understand how I feel about all of this, or my situation... but..." Yeah, I'd heard enough. "Hey." She calmed down a bit at the soft tone of my voice. Hate it when I have to do this shit. "I get it, alright. Not fully, I probably never could. But, the reason why they see it as an act of generosity, is because the job they want to give you, is a... form of charity I guess you could call it. It pays just fine, don't worry about that. The purpose of the questions, is to see whether or not you're 'generous' enough, to pledge yourself to an honorable cause, do anything necessary to make the people you're helping happy, and if you're willing to extend your hand in an act of trust." There I went with the trust angle again. I was playing on her seemingly natural generous nature more, but next time, I needed a new angle to exploit. "Trust, sometime, is the most generous thing someone could give another person, hence, personal questions. So I repeat. Are you, Rarity, a virgin?" She wiped away her tears with her left index finger, her eyes red but looking stronger now, and spoke with pure determination. "No, Gilda, I am not." Hot damn, I got her! Like I needed her confirmation anyway. I mean her a virgin at this point in her life? I didn't think so. "Thank you rarity. The worst is over now though! Just one last procedure-" I reached into my desk and pulled out a copy of my edited contract. "-and that's to sign on the dotted line." I handed it over to Rarity, who then proceeded to read my totally-written-better contract. "What this contract explains is how you'll be given your check at the end of each bi-weekly pay period, or upon a task completion. Also, to address your previous concerns, all activities that will be asked of you, are within full rights of the law. Any questions, Rarity?" She looked back up at me. "Just one actually. Who wrote this contract up?" Aw shit. "A uh... friend of mine. Why?..." "Well, not to offend your friend but, there are quite a few mistakes in punctuation. To many commas, and not enough periods. Have they ever heard of a semi-colon?" Must. Not. Rage. "Ha ha, well... I'll, be sure to let them, know that they... suck at writing." "Nothing so hurtful Miss Gilda, just to be more careful of run-on-sentences is all." She finished with a smile... Ugh. Before I could feel like shit about it (I put effort into that thing!), she handed me the contract back. Now came the tricky-er part. I had no leverage on her, like I did Sparkle. "All squared away then! Ready to meet your boss?" Eagerness shot through Rarity at my question. I could feel it. "Am I ever! Let's be on our way, yes?" "Of course!" I stayed in my chair. Rarity looked at me expectingly. Blink. Blink. "Um... Miss Gilda?" "Yes, Rarity?" "Are um... are you going to take me to meet my future employer?" "Of course." I leaned forward, resting my arms on the desk. "I already have." "I'm afraid I don't quite... wait a minute... YOU!? You're hiring me???" So far, still my favorite part of the job. The after-interview reactions. "But of course Rarity! I thought you would've figured me out by now." She was taken aback, like, A LOT. She uncrossed her legs, and brought her chair closer to the desk, to interrogate me. "Why did you not tell me? That information would have been, highly appreciated!" "If I told you I was gonna be your boss, how do I know you wouldn't have put on airs, to try and impress me." She relaxed a tad, but was still a little upset. "I suppose I can understand that. I just wish I knew earlier. I wouldn't have been nearly as nervous." I raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?" "Because even though I have known you only for a day, I truly appreciate everything you've done to help me, and I feel I can trust you. You won't regret hiring me Gilda, I swear I'll do whatever it takes to pay you back for this!" It's weird... I didn't feel half as bad as when I did this to Twilight. Was... was I becoming... numb to the fact that I was ruining someone's whole life for the perseverance of mine? Non caring, about these fucked up things I'd been doing? The very idea scared me at first... I didn't dwell on it too much though. Figured I was just over thinking it. "I... I'm sure you will... Rarity. ahem So, uh, you probably want to know where you're gonna be working now huh?" "Oh most certainly! I'm quite curious to know what kind of business you own." "Well the name of my, humble establishment... is called." I put on my best sly smile. " 'Griffon's... Cathouse' " I gave her a moment to take the name in. Ever so slowly her eyes started to get oh so wider. "No... y-you can't be serious..." Her scared whisper, sent tiny shiver of excitement up my spine. "Pardon?" "You're... not serious are you? You want me to-" "Need Rarity. I need you to work for me." Figured I'd be honest. "Why me?" Was she serious? "You serious?? Look at you! You're fucking beautiful! Everything about you is perfect for the job! You're hair, y-you're body, your fucking voice, just radiates pure... pure sex. I need you as my one of the girls in my, Main Attraction." You'd think after I just basically said that, she's the hottest thing I've ever seen in my life, she'd be a little flattered. But no! She looked disgusted! "It's unique from my regular girls; this unit I put together, it's prestigious. Each girl is a completely different party, different experience. You're a beauty. It'd be good for you too! You'll wear absolutely stunning dresses, the best make-up I can buy, and the best part is that, men will want to pay to pleasure you! Well mostly them, but still everyone wins!" I was starting to creep myself out, I sounded like a fanatic. "Good for me?... Good for me!? You want me to be one of your prostitutes!" She stood you, wanted a shouting match huh? "It is not-" I stood to stand, but her voice overpowered mine. "Being payed for sex is a good idea to you!? You truly believe that to be a selling point!? No! How could you even fathom the thought of me agreeing to do something like this!" "Sex is good right? Sex feels good, so why not flaunt that?" "It's disgusting! This whole 'interview' process was a lie all along wasn't it?" "No fucking shit! Think about the questions I asked you!" "I merely thought you might have been attracted to me, or something of that nature at worst! I had no way of knowing you intended this fate for me!" "That's your fault. Besides. I didn't totally lie." I managed to gain some control over my emotions again. She was still looking ready to kill me. "You told me this was a... type of charity!" "And it is! Stuff like this, brothels and whatnot, is he oldest profession in the world girl! It helps make the world go round. You'll be 'helping' people, be happy. By sex." "You're mad... no not mad, you're sick. Sick, a-and demented. I needed your help! I trusted you, and you think 'helping' me, is asking me to work in a brothel as some sex object!?" "Not asking, Rarity." I held up the contract. "Making you. By the way, the official name is 'playmate', FYI." She gasped in realization, but quickly hardened her tone again. "You, Gilda Hof, do not own me. That piece of paper means nothing. Like this office, and your interview, it's just like you. An empty, hollow sham." That... actually stun. "The authorities will know of this, Gilda. You've made yourself a huge mistake." Shit, she had put up more resistance than I thought she would. She turned to the door. "Wait!" She didn't falter, she grabbed the knob. "What about Sweetie Belle? Don't you need money to bring her here? Make her happy? That's your goal ain't it? Make up for the past and shit!?" She turned to me, and -fuck I could just feel the ice in her eyes. "Nothing is worth degrading myself to the likes of you, and your sad profession. My sister will understand. She may not love me as much as I wish, but I know she would not wish for me to stoop so low, as to sell my body for some selfish witch like you. Good day Gilda Hof." Before I could move a step, Rarity opened the door. And promptly ran into Flim and Flam, who then pushed her back into the room. "Ah! Who are you???" Flam answered first, of course in rhyme... "Pleasure to meet you, Miss Rarity, Flam is my name. And watching you for several moons, has been our game." "Right my brother is, m'lady. I am the younger brother, Flim. No doubt you're curious how we know your name." "I should say so! Gilda!" She turned to me. "Are they 'friends' of yours?" "Friends, no chance in hell. Ally's, yes we help each other out quite often. Ha ha. I'll see you at the Cathouse, Rarity." "You'll never make me-" Before she could finish, Flam had put some good ol' chloroform to her face from behind. She only lasted a few seconds before she passed put. She went limp, and fell into his arms. "You gonna tell me how the fuck you know about her now?" "In the car little birdie. In the car." "Goddammit..." "Her parents sent us." "They WHAT!?" Flim laughed then "corrected" me I guess. "Not explicitly, Gilda. I'm sure Miss Rarity didn't tell you, but there have been a string of kidnappings in her hometown in recent weeks. Young women from the age of eighteen to twenty-five." I think I knew where he was going. "Sombra?" He smirked. "Perhaps. His reach knows no bounds after all. Sombra has had eyes on this particular woman for... an almost unhealthy amount of time. When we informed him of our new allegiance with you, he all but jumped on the opportunity to include her in your humble abode. Sombra will be truly pleased to know his favorite fish in the sea, is available for... gutting." Ew. Ew. EW! "That's... an unsettling choice of words, Flim... wait, what does this have to do with Rarity's parents?" "The chief of police, who has been 'leading' the investigation, has ties to Sombra. Knowing of his lust for Rarity, he contacted us post-haste." Well, it's still a better love story than- wait. "So Sombra took interest in Rarity... does that mean he's from Michigan? That he's coming here!?" "Not unnecessarily." "The fuck does that mean!?" "It means, if the man himself did decide to show up, he would not make it obvious. He will not introduce him as his name to you, make a scene, even his attire will be non-leading. Total anonymity. Or perhaps... she will?" He was teasing me now. "Just who the hell is Sombra?..." I was asking myself more than him. "All in due time Gilda." "Welcome to Griffon's Cathouse Rarity! This is where you'll be staying from now on." She was still a little drowsy from being ko'd, but she was coherent enough to hold a conversation. "Staying? As in... living here?" "For an indefinite amount of time, yes." "I... I-I can't stay here for, however long 'indefinite' is!" "Look Rarity, we've already done this song and dance. Yes I'm forcing you have sex for money, for me. Honestly, you're just going to have to suck it up. Heh. In more ways than one, trust me." "You foul-" Before she could continue, I grabbed her by her shirt, and brought her close to my face. "Shut up. Wait here. I'm going to go see if your room is ready. Roam around if you want, just don't break anything, 'Miss Rarity'." I shoved her back, watching her stumble, I was a little shocked at myself, but didn't let it show. Giving her one last glare, I walked to the back, down the hall to her room, hoping she would stay out of trouble. That terrible, awful woman, no, she doesn't deserved to be called a woman, she's nothing less than a criminal. I couldn't believe this to be real... it just couldn't be. This woman intends to make me one of her prostitutes! Those men, the ones who drugged me, I pray to the Lord that's all that happened to me... I believe them to be lethal; Flim and Flam, I believe they introduced themselves as. I don't want to risk... risk being killed, they seem the type to do it. Sweetie Belle... my sister... I'm so sorry I never got the chance to... to show you how much you mean to me. I don't know how long I'm meant to stay here, months, years. I'm frightened. Will I ever be able to leave? What if I out live my use to her, will she have me... have me murdered?? My God... I might never be able to walk out of here. All because of this woman's greed... her black, icky greed, I thought she was doing a generous act out of the goodness of her heart, I was foolish enough to do the same. My relinquishing of such private information... must have been thrilling for her. I swore it would be the last time I make that mistake. "Man. Gilda must have really done a number on you." I voice from behind me? I turned around, and much to my surprise, there is a rather impressive looking gathering area. What looked to be a fairly antiquating bar, several couches and tables, I notice a faint smell in the air, she must also have a kitchen. What really grabbed my attention, was woman reading in the back corner of the room, at a booth. Attractive young lady, tan skin, unique purple hair (small world I suppose), and wearing a rather risque... teachers attire? I suppose she works here. "So how'd she do it? Threats of violence? Blackmail?" She didn't even so much as glance away from her text. I wan't exactly sure of her intentions. "I beg your pardon?" She let out an annoyed sigh, only then looking up from her book. "Just, come here." Cautiously taking her up on her offer, I walked slowly to her booth. She had a mountain of books by her side! I wonder how much money she's put in Gilda's pocket... "That's close enough." I was barely half-way there; standing in the middle of the room like a fool. Thankfully, but also oddly enough, she was the only person in sight. I figured I might as well be polite to my... new colleague, and introduce myself. "It's a... pleasure to meet you." She, for some reason, glared at me. "Sure it is." What on Earth had I done to offend her? I didn't exactly feel like arguing with her, so I introduced myself first. "I am Rarity." "... Name's Twilight Sparkle." She looked me over after her rather rude introduction. "Yeah... I can see why she'd want you here." I blushed quickly at the... compliment? "Ah! W-what are you insi-" "I'm not insinuating anything. I've just, 'worked', here a while. I know how she operates. Let me guess, she got dome dirt on you, and blackmailed you into this right?" Did something similar happen to her as well? "N-no actually. Um... I-I was threatened with my life to come here... these two, brutes stormed into the office just as I was about to leave." "Ah yes, Film and Flam. Real bastards aren't they? They're like the living embodiment of those 'strange-danger' signs they have in suburban neighborhoods." I think that was an attempt at humor. "Yes... quite. So, i-if you don't mind me asking of course, but how did she make you-" "That's classified." "Classified"? She sounded like some sort of automated response. "Oh... Well I would very much care to listen." At this, she actually closed her book, and looked dead at me. "I'm sure you would Rarity, but I was only curious on how Gilda hooked your ass into this. I wasn't exactly planning on making small talk with you." "You are being quite rude Twilight Sparkle! The very least you could do is show some compassion, given my circumstance! We do not have to be enemies here you know." Now it was my turn to glare. "Very true. I don't want to be friends either. I got the answer I wanted to my question, you can go now." Uncourteous little-! Very well. I shan't waste my time trying to be civil with the likes of her. "Hmph! Good day to you, Miss Sparkle!" I turned on my heel, and walked back to the front. I could hear here shout at me as I walked. "Just Twilight will do just fine, thank you!" There aren't enough synonyms in the world to describe how much I didn't like her right now. Just then my new "boss"... ugh, it feels disgusting just thinking about the fact, came up to me. "Ah, Rarity! My bad on taking so long, I had to help clean up the place. The part-timer that worked her before used to make huge-ass messes. Damn that Trixie... anyway, let me show you to your new... office." There even even less synonyms, adjectives, adverbs, or conjugations, to describe the pure loathing I felt right then for Gilda Hof. Perhaps after this "tour" is over, I can see if I can become this establishments "bartender"... So I showed her around, gave her the same shit about rules, regulations, my mostly flawless security system, and trust system I have with my workers. In the fact that there is none. Like I did with Twilight, in a few weeks, I would take her out to peruse the stores, so she could customize her new work space. Rarity's first few weeks were slightly more productive then Twilight's. Only slightly. Instead of throwing her out to the masses immediately, a mistake I made with Twilight, I took a few days to actually teach her the job, so she would be more comfortable with the idea. I went over the different subtleties of eye, and body communication, how to speak, even (and this was surreal) different cosmetic advise. I figured that she was good no doubt at this stuff already, to a degree, but not in the way I need her to be. Subtle's all well and good, to a point, I told her she would have to trust her gut when it comes to balancing the two. As for her first days actually on the job... I'll give her this, she definitely has seen more action than Twilight. Her tactics were slightly different too. Where as Twilight; out of the two, was more seductive looking with the style I gave her, and a bit more forward, Rarity was more reserved, didn't try to hard to get attention (not that she had to), I also kept to my promise and gave her the kind of dresses that Angelina Jolie can only try to rock. Didn't pose, give any coy looks or sexy smiles, instead she stood straight up, keeping her hands folded in front of her. I. Am. A. Genius. She wasn't that loud either, normally anyway, on average I can here my girls from at least my podium up front, Rarity, barely made a sound. I thought about bringing it up to her, until one of my customers came up to me and complimented her performance, said it was... "perfect". Perfect. Things were going great! I was cut a break and spared a giant argument with her about the morality of her situation. I think by week three, she just gave up trying to argue, and started to go with the flow. Good. I had successfully integrated my prize beauty into the business. As a little reward from me, I let her use my phone to call her sibling in Michigan (at least her sibling is real), and took her out to buy shit for her room. She bought pretty much what I thought she would, a full size mirror, various outfits, make-up she wanted to wear, a big-ass white bed, and for some reason a bunch of albums by Prince. Ever since then, she's taken to manning the bar for me, good thing too, I think she's more of a people person than me anyway. She smokes occasionally while on duty, sucks, cause it smells up the joint, but she makes me oodles of cash, so I guess it's fine... The situation with Rarity was... interesting to say the least. With Twilight, I actually felt a fair deal of guilt for what I did to her. Maybe it was because her situation was slightly more "do-or-die", but with Rarity, I almost felt no guilt. Remorse, sure, but not guilt, or maybe the other way around, I don't know. When I grabbed Rarity like that... could I really had gone far enough to hurt her? Could I bring myself to physically harm any of my girls? I'm blackmailing/threatening them to sell their bodies for money, for me, yet I feel bad about doing it? I regretted nothing since I sent Cranky to jail... haven't I? Strangely enough, when I actually got the money from he court settlement, I remember feeling... funny. Kind of like how I felt when I revealed myself to Rarity, that feeling of... of power. Power's a funny thing really; a simple word, that's driven empires into the ground, and has made people lose faith in religion. I convinced myself in the office that it felt good, but looking back... I can't really remember what went down, like those times when cognitive thinking stops, and emotions or instinct take over. Well ok, I can remember, not like I blacked out, but it seems like it all went by in a rush. A rush... I calmed myself down. I wasn't possessed by anything, doctors never diagnosed me with something, I'm good. Just a little adrenaline rush, caused by a power trip, everyone gets that. Athletes, gamers, people in politics or any kind of armed forces. I was no different. Besides Cranky's the only one that deserves even a little sympathy, if any at all... February passed by, without further incident. I never did see Sombra, or anyone I would perceive to be him anyway. I was raking in more cash then ever, I almost thought I'd be set for a while. Midway through March, I thought it a good idea to expand differently this time. I had Twilight, sexy teacher fantasy, Rarity, belle of the ball status, I needed a woman with more spice, a girl with a kick; attitude to her, almost a polar opposite to Twilight and Rarity. That's where the southerner comes in.
Griffons Cathouse	Applejack's Admission part 1	April, a decent month I guess, Spring at its fullest, before May's all like "Summers coming bitches! Start opening your windows!" Rarity was doing better than I thought she would, a little behind on profits, but that's to be expected considering she started just under two months ago. Recently, I've been searching for the next perfect addition to my fleet of women, someone who contrast Rarity and Twilight, who already contrast each other. Guess Twilight didn't make a good first impression, cause the two of them never speak to the other. Good thing too, don't need anyone conspiring against me. That was a concern that was slowly growing on me, Twilight can't keep her brother in the dark forever, and it's only a matter of time until Rarity most likely cracks, and spills the beans to her sister, or just anyone. I figured I was over-reacting, but given the positions I put them in, they could potentially give me one hell of a problem... I already had a system, one that worked. When I'm not there everything gets locked, and all cameras are on. I never put any in the rooms, I figured the very least I owed them was privacy... in their rooms anyway. Well, what mattered most is that Griffon is still kicking ass and taking names! I think I decided on exactly how many "Main Attraction" girls, the Griffon would have a max of; I had settled on four at most. I tossed around five, maybe, but I never really bought into the whole "five's a round number" business crap, it'd work great, I'd have my own, "Fab Four" of sorts. But before I could... keep talking to myself in my head, I got a hard knock at the door to the office, made me jump a bit. "Easy on the door buddy!" Well I made an awesome first impression. "Sorry bout that! Are you Gilda Hof in there?" That accent... southern? Wonder which state it is. Yeah check this out, each state in the south has its own personal accent, tone, inflection, and/or dialect. It's weird... "That I am. You looking for work?" "Yes ma'am... but could I trouble you to invite me in?" Oh yeah... I probably need to see what she looks like. "Oh, uh, yeah, come on in." The door finally opened and as she walked in, I came face to face with the textbook definition of a cowgirl. I'm not kidding man, she had everything, a generic plaid button up shirt, some, almost ratty looking jeans, cowboy boots, and a hat that would do Lynyrd Skynyrd proud. Also of course she she had a pretty good looking body, she had that kind of tan you could only get from the sun, a few freckles, meadow green eyes, and tone. Muscle tone; she's done labor before. Me super likey. She also had some seriously long blonde, ponytail style, hair underneath that hat. Actually speaking of the hat, it was just about the nicest thing she was wearing, her clothes were worn out, had holes, and tears in them. Just by that alone, I was already more curious about her story then Rarity's. "Thank ya kindly miss." She even tipped her hat. Oh, this was too good, it was like everything I'd seen on TV, be in my office at once. "No problem. Nice to meet you, misses?..." I stood up, offering my hand to shake. "Name's Applejack." She shook my hand, with a firm shake. "Applejack Apple." She had quite the grip, and her hands felt rough to the touch. Normally that's be unappealing for a woman's hands, but it suited her just fine. Wait... Applejack... Apple?? Is... is that an oxymoron? In her own name? "Um... I'm sorry, 'Apple'?" She let go of my hand, and turned tilted her head with a confused look on her face. "Well, yeah. You ain't ever heard the name before?" I sat down, gesturing with my hand for her to do the same. "Can't say that I have. You famous or something?" She gave a short laugh as she sat down, crossing her arms. "Shoot, no! The name 'Apple' is the name of my family's company, 'Apple Family Farms'". "That like Pepperidge Farms?" She raised en eyebrow. "Who?" "Uh... nevermind. So your families famous huh? Well honestly I never heard the name before, so you'll have to excuse my ignorance." She dismissed my sorta-apology with a wave of her hand. "Aw, don't fret it none. I just assumed we shipped retail out this far." Retail... I assumed that meant that her family was a small-chain food processing company or something. "'This far'? Where you guys based out of?" She got a prideful smile, as she answered me. "Straight outta good ol' San Antone!" Antone... as in Antonio? Texas? "Sure as sugar ma'am!" Oh shit, I said that out loud... "Oh, uh, that's pretty cool for you. Oh! I should probably introduce myself about now huh? Formally, I mean." She gave a half shrug. "Not unless ya like being called 'miss', or 'ma'am' all the time. You don't look the type, honestly." Ooo perceptive! Wait, am I that obvious to read?... "Well you'd be right to assume that. Name's Gilda Hof. Call me Gilda." "Can do, Gilda. Nice little office ya got here. Gotta be honest though, I thought this looked like an old warehouse or somethin' when I got here." Damn, good eye. "It was actually. I purchased it, and turned it into the business I run now. Not that cheap of a venture, but well worth it, I feel." She leaned back in the chair, relaxed a bit, as she spoke again. "I was gonna ask you about that. I was told you do this sorta thing for free a charge. Well, if ya don't mind me askin', how exactly do ya turn a profit here?" That's... a good question. I hadn't thought of any girl would asking me this. Her family owns a business though, so she probably knows a thing or two about companies and such. "Turn a profit?" "Well, yeah. Being from a 'business' family, one thing I learned real fast is that, there are very few things in this world that are non-profit if any at all. You don't hafta answer, if ya don't wanna, I was wonderin' was all." I didn't wanna look suspicious, so I made something up; pretty fast too, I was... getting just a little bit to good at this... "I get paid through the people I set you up with. A portion of the profits you make for your first several pay-periods are sent to me." She leaned forward, arms uncrossed, a frown on her face. "So if I heard that right, ya take a portion of my paycheck?" Shit, came out wrong! "N-no, no! I mean the company's profit, for a short period." That, just make her more persistent. "So you take money from the business itself then. Around how much we talkin' here? I don't wanna be shiftin' nobody here." I think she has this whole "interview" thing backwards. I guess it's only right she'd want to know her future conditions, probably just being cautious is all. "Well you'll understand that I can't tell you an exact sum, but it's enough to where I stay in business, and your business, turns a respectable profit. So no one get's uh, 'shifted', out of any money. Well, none that would majorly affect either party, that's you, me, and the other business." God, how many times am I going to have to say the word "business"? Now it sounds all weird... "I see... sounds fair I s'pose." She leaned back again crossing her arms back together, crossing her right leg over her left horizontally. Well at least she's out of que- "So, what kind of work could ya'll set me up with here?" Dammit! Why did a professional have to walk in today!? "Well, I've lived here for about four, five years now-" Damn, that long already? Griffons third birthday was coming up too. "-so naturally I made a few friends here, during my stay. Before I opened this establishment of mine, I offered them, well, what I just told you, and most of them accepted. Since we've know each other for years, they trust my judge of character, and business, well, this office has been open for almost a year, so yeah, do the math." She raised her eyebrows, I think I impressed her. "No kiddin'? Well that's a mighty impressive set up you got goin' for yourself, interesting story too." I figured now I could try to actually get this interview started. "Well thanks Applejack, I'm pretty proud of it myself. Not to sound rude, it's been cool talking to you-" More like frustrating. "but I think we should get this interview underway." She sat up straighter, and lost her relaxed attitude. "I agree Gilda, enough beating 'round the bush." She even lost a bit of her accent. She was ready to do business... this one was going to be tough. "Alrighty then, I guess I should get the obvious question out of the way, do you have a resume for me." Instead of freaking out like the last two, she answered with a level head. "I'm afraid I don't, but I can answer anything you need to ask, in regards to my qualifications, and prior work experience." I was actually a little excited. I never got a chance to conduct an actual interview before. "That works too. So tell me then Applejack, where have you worked at before, and what were your positions?" "Ever since I was just a young buck, I was put to work on my family's farm; Sweet Apple Acres, on the outskirts of San Antonio, like I said. I started working in the fields; picking the raisins, corn, or whatever was in season at the time, I learned how to toss hay before I was even eleven, and could break in a horse before I was sixteen. When I did turn sixteen, I was taught how to handle accounts, taxes and stocks, even learned a few things about distribution." That's impressive, judging her appearance, I just assumed she was just some hick, but holy crap, she had brains! Working since a kid huh? Sounds rough to be sure, parents were probably tough on her throughout childhood. "Damn... that's one hell of an upbringing! Couldn't have been easy." She shook her head, but for some reason smiled. "Oh believe you me Gilda, it wasn't, had plenty of good, and bad times I did, but through it all, my family and I were happy. We kept each other 'safe and sane' as my Daddy called it, 'while driving each other up a Goddamn tree!' ha!." She laughed to herself a little, then continued. "Sorry, I-I didn't mean to reminisce. Caught up in times past for a second there, you got any other questions for me Gilda?" Oh believe me, I have all the questions, Applejack. "Actually, I'm rather quite curious on your family business. While I have never heard of it, I'm quite interested on how it was founded, i-if you don't mind me asking of course." She did that thing where you flicks your nose with your thumb... for some reason. "Aw it ain't a bother ta me, it's only natural for ya to be curious. Around..." She rolled her eyes up in thought. "Nineteen twenty-eight I'd say-" She looked back at me. "- one of my great-great grandparents migrated all the way from Missouri to where my family makes Earth to day, San Antonio." "Wait, nineteen twenty-eight... that means-" "Yup, he was right smack in time for the depression to hit. I can't say for sure what hardships the poor man faced, but from what I was told, any normal person would've been crushed. After the war, ole Mother nature got off her rag, and finally crops were a growin' again, making living possible for him again." 'Mother Nature got off her rag'... that woman was a poet, I-I seriously think I genuinely liked her. "Eventually he moved out of the workers camp he was contracted to, and moved to the future location of our family's home for the next several generations. Built everything himself; barn, house, stables you name it, that man had his hand in creating it." Gotta give respect when it's due, that's pretty cool. "According to the legends, great-great Grandpa Golden, was said to have had the freshest, juiciest apples this side of Washington." Did... Washington have really bomb apples or something? "Little bit of an ol' wives tail bout Sweet Apple Acres, but rumors fly about saying somethin' like the lands 'magic', or 'enchanted' somehow, considering anything we've grown always was fresh, never bruised, or rotten; when we sold it anyway. Our cattle and other animals we sold were always healthy, it rained precisely when it needed to, never to scorching of heat when we worked. I tell ya what, while it sure ain't enchanted by witchcraft or nothin', it sure is a nice patch of land." She sure seemed proud showing off her family's history, she must have a lot of love and respect for it's legacy, hey I'd be too! "So how did your grandfather rise to fame? Actually real quick, what's his name? I'm gonna want to Google him after were done talking." "His name was Golden Apple, an inspiration to a whole generation, and many others since then." 'Golden'... 'Apple'... who the fuck names these people! Kids used to make fun of my and Dash's names in school, our names got nothing on the dames I've met and their weird families! "Interesting... but, how did business take off for him? Obviously nothing just happened and poof he's popular. How'd 'Apple Family Farms' get as big as it is?" While I was minimally interested at best, I figured this would be a good way to get her to open up, I could tell though, she'd be one tough nut to crack. I'd have to be patient. "Well, I don't know everything, just that at some point somebody asked him to sell his stock to them, and Granddaddy make a killing off it. Over time his food, and livestock was being requested by folks and establishments in town, then eventually out of town, and near the end of his life, out of state. At some point in-between all that, he met my future great-great Grandma, and the family line started from there. That's all there is to it really." Ok that didn't work... "Well either way, I think it's kinda cool. So, yeah, you pretty much won me over when it comes to working, and hard labor, that alone could be enough to land you a job somewhere in town." "Anything else ya need to ask me?" Ok then... guess I'll get straight to the point then. "Uh, cough tell me a bit about yourself." She raised an eyebrow, suspicion in her eyes. "Myself?" "Yeah, so I know a little bit more about who I'm dealing with, believe me, it makes finding work easier, if I can fill them in a bit about who I'm helping." She let the brow drop, but still was in a questioning mood. "Where'd ya'll say I'd be potentially workin' at again?" Shit, I didn't really did I?... I kinda just answered it without answering it. "Well if you want specifics, there's plenty of different stores, restaurants, theaters, et cetera. I can try to get you a job in like, one of the bars, red light district, car shops, anywhere I can find wherever would be most profitable for both of us, but something that suits your skills, and personality." I was hoping she wouldn't question when I said 'red-light district', her glare softened a bit, but I could see her guard was still up. "I get it, I think, your inquiring about me to find the best suitable work place for me, but also would leave you broke in the process, is that it?" Kind of what I just said, but sure. "Yep. I like to think it works out for everybody, besides, I don't want to just know my clients as workers, I want to know them as people too. I have to like who I'm giving a hand to after all, cause if I don't they probably won't either." Was I being to forward with my subtle goading? "Hmm... well, I'm not exactly one to give out all my life's tales, even with some of the friends I made in my time. It's normally family, maybe a close friend... I can't promise full answers, or any at all... but I'll try to answer what I deem I should. That sound fair?" Frustrating is more like it... "Yeah, of course." "... Ok then. Ask what ya need to." "Well, for starters, I'm wondering how was working on the farm? Was it just you and your parents, or did you guys employ workers, or have friends help you?" "Nope, no friends or workers to help us, after a while anyway, mah Daddy was very picky on who worked for him, after a point he only trusted himself, Momma, myself, and my siblin's." I don't think she meant to say that last part, cause her eyes came close to bugging, but she restrained herself. "Oh, siblings huh? I'm going to assume... two brothers?" She let a single 'ha'. "Naw, one big 'un, and little sister, little only referring to her height and age, that little beast could supplex Big Daddy Ritch!" Um... cool? "What're their names?" "Macintosh, and Applebloom Apple respectively." That can't be coincidence, I-I just had to ask. "That's kinda funny." "What is?" "Well... I'm sure you know, but all your names are some how apple related. 'Applejack', is, well you know a drink, 'Applebloom' is-" Applejack looked almost pissed at my unfinished analogy. "I'm fully aware of the double-meanings of our names, and I don't take kindly to someone laughing at mah family." Christ, I thought she was going to pull a twelve-gauge out of... somewhere! "Sorry, sorry! I-I meant no offence Applejack, I was just pointing out an observation, was all..." She almost looked sorry for what she said, but she sure didn't voice it. "I understand that, it's just a touchy subject for me is all." This was going nowhere, her brother and sister for sure weren't here in Carson anyway, I was tempted to just send her away right there, why employ someone who's so difficult? I think that's why I liked her in the first place actually, the fact that she wasn't just some pushover, dimwit cowgirl; a blonde no less! She had this natural fire about her, a "just try me" attitude, could maybe kick Flim and Flam's assess; shit I wouldn't fight her! Plus that natural protection of her family, was both respectable, and possibly usable. While she wasn't that certain sexy or beautiful like Rarity or Sparkle, she was... rugged. Tough, almost bad-ass, she was so different from the other two, almost polar opposite. I loved it. "Well, I apologize if I seemed insensitive." She crossed her arms and shrugged. "Ya'll weren't intentionally, just didn't know was all." So... she accepts?... "Well, to move one." Shit, what else did I have? If she was this much trouble now, think of what she'd be like on part two of this... oh God help me. Oh yeah, I know! Why is she here in Nevada, Texas isn't nearly as far away as Michigan, but it's still a length distance. "If you don't mind me asking... why exactly are you here in Nevada? N-not to say its really weird or anything, I've helped girls from just about all four corners of the country-" Just about, is not too far off from the truth honestly. "-and each person always has an interesting tale to tell. And comparing you to the last person I had in here, I'm pretty interested in what your story is, Applejack." What I said as a compliment, she took as something personal I think? Eyes lowered, then shifted, posture slouched, she must be a doozy of a basket case! "I'd... rather not speak of it, i-if its all the same to you." I didn't care how scary this chick was, I was going to learn her story, no matter how many baby steps I had to take! "What killed someone?" Black humor always works for situations like this right? Well it did this time, she let out a bemused laugh. A laugh nonetheless. "Hell no! I've met some real snakes in my time, but I've never met one who I disliked enough to cut it's head off with a shovel, 'nd bury it." "..." "You can cut a snakes head with shovel, but it can still live for a while, some can even grow'em back! The same thing can be done with people, course we can't grow our heads back, but the decapitated heads can live for up to fifteen minutes." Why was she- "Course you wanna spare the head what little discomfort, and not to mention the obvious confusion it must be seeing, so you bury it. Like a snakes head, it's a literal metaphor." That... makes...sense? "Oh, I-I get it... I think. Well wait then, if its literal, than it's not actually a meta-" "My point is, no, I have not killed a man, woman, or child. Or snake... today." Honest to God, I have almost no idea what was just said. "Good uh... good to know, Applejack. I still would like to know what happened to you. I mean San Antonio is a long ass ways from here." She lifted up her left arm to scratch the back of her back, just a little more badgering, and I think I got her. "L-listen Gilda, y-ya'll seem... nice enough, but I would just rather we move on with. It's got nothing to do with what we're talking 'bout anyway." Oh but Applejack... it means everything. "Remember how I said, 'get to know you as a person'? Well this is part of it. Cause look if you're in trouble, I need to know, that way I can get you whatever help you need." Now to feign some concern to lay the guilt on. "Have you injured recently? Is someone after you? Are you a returning military-woman?" Now she was getting pissy again... "None of the above! I just don' wanna talk about it!." "I'm not asking for every single, microscopic detail Jack-" And the glare I got for that killed that particular nickname "APPLE jack. I just want to help you... Look, I understand where your coming from, I wouldn't want to tell the person who's trying to get me hired somewhere my entire life story, and I don't want that! I just want to know why- no scrath that- how you got here, and besides a job, what I can do to help you." For good measure, I added in one last crucial phrase. "Honesty is the best policy after all." Her eyes bugged out at me, I'd thought I pissed her off again, but once I think my words set in, she looked down, considering my 'confessional' offer. I didn't bother her, considering I at least owed her the privilege to take as long she wants to decide. It was here that a thought occurred to me: When did it become so easy to lie?... I still remember my first encounter with Sparkle. The nervousness, the fear of messing up, and having the cops, or Sombra, on my ass. The lies... the fake care, and concern... the artificial sympathy. Of course a degree of me still felt sympathy for Twilight, I mean come one, her parents died, brother died, fake-brother acted like a dick, and I forced her to sell her body for me. And yet... I find myself not caring. Rarity; while not nearly as traumatic experience as Twilight, still had her own serious shit. I faked most interest I had in her life, but she hooked me with her obvious dedication to Sweetie Belle. To be all alone like Rarity is, for her, must be truly maddening, I guess part of the reason I numbed myself to that is cause I hoofed it in this state alone for two years. Everyone's wired different of course, but to top of her regret, and the losing of her big career opportunity, I made her sell her body for me, while threatening both with violence, but with Rarity, harm I'd inflict myself. But... I don't care... in these few minutes I had to think, the past four, five months made me think how I just didn't care... i-its so difficult to explain, so many things rush in and out of my head. Every lie I told, as time went on, affected my conscious less and less, while each success those lies brought me felt... good. I figured it out that there was no going back. I had become a pathological liar. It's Second nature now. I'd have time to think about this later though, Applejack interrupted my thoughts, all I knew at this point were two things. I wasn't afraid of liking what I do anymore. Second, unlike Twilight and Rarity where I had a shred of guilt when I learned about them, then eventually betrayed them, this time... I was just excited. "Gilda?..." She inquired hesitantly. "Hmm? Have you made up your mind yet?" It was amazing how much of her strong womanly 'umph' left her. Was it solely because she didn't want to talk about it, or my subtly jab at her honesty got to her? Interesting person, this Applejack. "I have yes... I-I'll come clean with you, but-" turning her head up, she looked me dead in the eyes. "do I have your word, not just as a business runner, but as a woman, that whatever I disclose, will remain completely confidential?" "Well yeah, of course. How could I consider myself a professional if I did otherwise?" Visibly tensing up, Applejack leaned forward in her chair. "A-alright then. Just keep in mind, I didn't necessarily say I'd tell you everything. I-I'm only tellin' ya what I think you should." "I do remember saying I didn't want any tiny tiny details Applejack. Just take however long you need, I got all day." She was silent again for a time, she then slouched over, resting her arms on her knees. "Ok... well to help paint ya a picture, Imma tell ya a bit about my Father to give you an idea of the situation I was in alright? Don't go tellin' anybody none a this ya hear?" I nod, how could not? She'd probably break my arm or something. "My daddy was a hard workin' man, woke up everyday at six-a-clock, tended to the fields and animals, let momma and us sleep in. He never missed a bill, and never let us go hungry, however I can remember a few times he did, so we wouldn't have to... remember how I said we never had hired help?" I nod again. "He always wanted everything done just right, so he never trusted anybody except us to work his farm, Daddy wasn't invincible though... he was gettin' older, tired, slower, and one day out in the corn stalks... everything just... caught up with him." Was she implying?... Oh man... "Momma... never recovered, none of us did really, but she loved him more than anything, second only to her kids. A broken heart claimed her one night." Not... unlike Twilight... "So now it was only my brother, Macintosh, and my little sister, Applebloom, Mac decided to keep Daddy's tradition alive, which as you can imagine left very little room for any kind of, well, life. We all made a simple, but highly important pact between us: The family comes first, we tell each other everything, and in no way betray the trust and love of the Apple household... I'm here in Nevada because, I failed all three tenets." She did? Either her brothers a dick, or she really fucked up. "W... what did you do" She frowned at me. "What'd I do? I tried to actually have a life! Mac never let Applebloom and I do anything, always 'farm farm farm'! He was so-..." She stopped herself, and regained control of her emotions... dammit. "Sorry, I don't meant to bad mouth someone when they ain't here to defend themselves... to make this story a hell of a lot shorter, I'll summarize. The only thing we were aloud to do outside the farm was our schoolin', Mac being several years my senior, finished High School a long time ago, I dropped out so Applebloom could have a fair chance at a future. At the time I figured better her than me, don't regret it either, and I don't blame her for my being cooped up all the time." She sacrificed her foreseeable future... for her little sister? That's what Rarity was going to do... this was getting weird. "Close with your sister?" I thought she'd dodge the question, but this time she actually answered me. "I'd like to think we were, yeah. Not attached to tha hip or anythin' but I can tell you we confided a lot more in each other than Mac. I always tried to make life less of a struggle for her, but there was only so much I could do, I wasn't her Mother, and I never tried to be. Poor kid was to young to really know them, like I and Mac did." So Applebloom didn't know her parents... just like... Spike. I was honestly starting to get freaked out by how similar these completely different people are... not to mention, Rarity's parents owned land as well, maybe not an actual farm farm, but still... just who are these people? "Something wrong Gilda? You're looking paler than a marshmallow in the snow." Not sure what that means, but yeah the color was leaving my face, cause all these similarities were freaking me out! "S-sorry Applejack, your stories just really hitting the feels ya know?" She quirked a brow. "Uh... 'feels'?" "It's- nevermind, continue." "Alright then... where was I?... Oh ok, so you got a understanding of the kind of environment I was in right?" "Tense and melancholy?" She shrugged. "Basically. Well one night, I had just come home from a little get together with some of mah friends from town, I came home at about eleven-ish I think, but I had made one critical mistake. There was a... certain someone I'd had mah eye on for a while, and thanks to a bit of alcohol in my head, I thought it's be a good idea to take said person home." Oh boy... I sense an overreaction coming on. "See... how do I put this... when it comes to... certain beliefs, mah family is what ya'll might consider 'old fashioned'. Well Mac, either heard us or heard me come in, and wanted to scold me for being out so late, either way, he walked in. That's when, as the saying goes, all hell broke loose, threw my friend out tha door, I'm not kiddin' bout that neither, and we had our selves a shouting match that lasted for what seemed like eons. Any complaint, or ounce of frustration we had, we just threw at each other, the worst part to me is the fact that Applebloom heard all of that..." "Man... that, that really sucks Applejack... but, how did that get you here in Carson?" She let out a very sorrow-coated sigh. "I'm gettin' to that. When all was said and done, Mac told me that if I wanted to live life so bad, I could just walk out the door and not comeback, because apparently, I didn't give enough the farm, and its legacy. So being as pissed of as I was, I did just that." "Just like that!?" "Exactly like that, I wasn't about to take my kin yellin' lies at me anymore! Course... I didn't exactly think that through, I left right after the fight, without grabbing any cash or clothes. I waited until it was night the next day, and snuck back in to take at least a few things with me..." She got all quite for a bit again. "What's up?" "Nothing I... I was just remembering somethin' rather unpleasant is all. The hardest thing I've ever had to do... "... Which was?..." "I had to say goodbye to my lil sis... a-anyway, to finally answer your question finally, I hitchhiked my way here." I had to bug my eyes out at that. "Hitchhiked? All the way here? Why to Carson City of all places?" She shrugged. "Aw hell, I was just going wherever I could, and I happened to wind up here on my latest journey, just scrapping to survive. I've been just about all over these western states, reason I ain't dead yet is cause, I know how to take care of myself, and if necessary, defend myself, never know who you'll meet. Naturally I couldn't just live off the few things I shoved in my backpack, so whenever I stay in a city a spell, usually sleeping on a bench somewhere, or if I can sneak in without a hitch, in someone's yard, then look for some work." "Damn... that's a tough life you lead Applejack... can't imagine how rough it's been for you." "Aw don't fret it none, I ain't complaining much, the life's rough, but it's mine ya know? Can't lie though, the road get's might lonesome, and if you ain't careful you'll go mad, I always gotta be on my guard, never know who someone'll turn out to be, and it's been... about two, almost two and a half years since I seen home. Worked just about any kinda job you can think too, restaurants, janitorial, chauffeurin', mixed in with my personal background, believe me, I ain't no pantywaist." Any job huh? This was just to good of an opportunity to miss. "...Have you ever worked a more... physical type of job?..." Clearly not getting my question, she raised an eyebrow at me. "Like what, physical labor? Well yeah, I told ya I've work in a variety of fields..." "Well... it's physical sure... a-and a type of 'labor', yeah." Damn I suck at subtly. " I'm afraid I don't fo...llow." Now she got it. "Oh... oh! N-no! W-well I-I mean nothing against women who do, but... that particular career choice... it ain't for me." That makes you just perfect for the job AJ, heh heh. "Sorry, I-I meant no offence. Well to be honest with you, I think I got all the info I need, we're pretty much done here. You got a cell phone?" "Afraid not." "Hmm... alright how 'bout this, you come by at like... ten tomorrow, and I guarantee, I'll have something for you." She bugged her eyes out at my promise. "What!? No place I ever been to could promise me that." "Well... I can. I told you I got friends in town, you're almost one-hundred percent gonna get one, the point of the interview is so I can get a vague idea on what kind of person you are, I relay this to various businesses, then I get you the best job opportunity. What? You think I just throw a dart at a wall or something?" She shook her head almost frantically, guess I brightened her day. "No, course not! I just figured you were... well come on, a lone woman, in a single office in a moderate sized town, able to get someone work, free of charge, guaranteed? Mighty sorry, but I thought you were some kinda scam artist, wantin' to sell me somethin'." I let out a small laugh, although was mildly worried how she wasn't to far off. "Good to know I proved the rumors true, and laid your doubts to rest. You got anywhere safe to stay tonight?" Almost offered her a place to stay on the couch I got in here, but I didn't want to risk her finding anything out. "Eeyup, I met a mighty kind gas station owner who said I could bunk in the back of his store for a night or two." "Oh really? What's his name, I probably know him?" She lifted her eyes in thought. "I think he called himself Brad..." "Either way, at least I know you'll be safe. So yeah... that concludes our introduction to each other, I'll see you tommorow yeah?" She got up, and offered her hand again for one last shake. "Thank you mighty kind Gilda, I'll do my darndest to pay you back one day." I rose as well, and shook her hand. "Aw don't worry about it, it's my pleasure." She said some more pleasant goodbyes and thanks you's and I saw her out. I didn't need to call the kind-of-twin(s) assholes, so it was just me and my thoughts for the rest of the day. 'Applejack... she didn't tell me that much about herself, way less than Rarity was willing to. She's a strong woman no doubt, anyone with visual receptors could see that, I wonder how much of a fight she'll put up? How much of a fight will I have to dish out? I'm... I'm excited to find out. Pumped even! The thought of actually- wait!' "God... what happened to me? I... I-I could bitchy in the past but... now I'm reaching the level of, o-of borderline psychopath! When did I find it ok to ruin people's lives like this? Why do I even feel bad for any of this anyway? I-I knew what I was getting into when I started this, what I was going to do, so why do I still give a shit!?" I slammed my hands on the desk in pissed off frustration... makes sense. "No! I don't regret what I'm doing, o-or anything I've done to get where I am today. I don't I don't I don't!!!" I slammed by fist on the table with each exclamation. "Tomorrow, everything will go down, just like it did before, Applejack won't have any special treatment, and if it comes to blows, I'll knock her ass down. Yeah... just like the other two..." I barley slept that night, my nagging thoughts wouldn't stop bugging me the whole time. I was still able to be somewhat presentable for Applejack by the time she got here, I was never much of a trendsetter with my wardrobe anyway, so my appearance wasn't that big a deal. She arrived more or less on time, but I didn't care, I was dreading asking her the last three/four if you think about it, questions, just had to play it cool, and hope she loosens up around me. She knocked, saw herself in, then sat down in front of me, like yesterday. I noticed she was wearing the same outfit from yesterday, I wondered ho long she'd had to wear that, but I didn't pester her on it. "Howdy Gilda, I'm not to late am I? Mighty sorry, but I overslept quite a length." "Aw don't worry about it, it doesn't really matter, what's important is that you're here. You sleep ok?" Figured small talk was a good way to break the ice. "About as comfy as a closet can be, but yea I slept ok." "Oh good I was worried about you being out there." A frown crossed her face. "Then why didn't ya offer me a place ta spend the night?" Wait, what!? "What!? W-well, I, uh..." Than she laughed at me! "I'm just pullin' you're leg Gilda, I wouldn't impose on someone like that, that Brad guy I mentioned practically made me stay in the back." Oh you cheeky... "Oh, you're, you're funny Applejack..." "Heh heh, sorry bout that, I didn't mean no offence." I wave her off. "I'm not, I'm not... course, that attitude could've been a decisive factor in whether or not you got work or not." I saw a look, clearly of fear in her eyes. "W-what? Gilda, I really didn't mean-" "Gotcha." "I... oh you-!" We shared a mutual laugh. "Had ya going for a second there Applejack! I was worried you'd just up and leave." "Aw, I knew you was fibbin', I just let you think you'd fooled me." "Suuuuure." "I did though!" Another small section of laughs followed; ice successfully broken. "Not to cut this short, but, are you ready for the last qualifying... qualifications, to see whether or not you qualify for a job in town?" "Long as ya don't say 'qualify' again, I'm more than ready." I roll my eyes in mock annoyance. "I won't, as long as you don't speak one of those secret languages that the south has like, eighteen of." She cocked a brow and smirked at me. "Why ah plum don' know you be talkin' bout young'n." "Ha! You' know, you're a riot Applejack. Bummer we couldn'tve met outside of the working world, I bet you're pretty cool to chill with." She crossed her arms, as a faint blush and a small smile crept onto her face. "Aw shucks Gilda, that's mighty nice of you." Sad part is, I meant it too. "Well without further ado, let's finish this business of ours yeah?" Smile left, replaced with a serious face, arms un-crossed, as she gave a firm nod. "Yessir Gilda." "Alright, what's gonna happen now is I'm going to ask you several questions on behalf of your future employers behalf, that ok?" "I don't see a reason why it wouldn't be, go ahead. I still however, keep to what I said yesterday, I will not divulge everything. That still clear?" "Crystal." "Inquire away then." "Ok then." I pulled out the pre-planned questions from my pocket. "Question one: are you prepared to fulfill whatever tasks your boss may present you with?" I re-worded it a bit, seeing how she is a professional and all. "As long as it remains within the confines of the law, I ain't exactly keen on going to jail for anybody." She is really scary when she losses her accent in case you were curious. "Of course, and don't worry, I can promise you that everything they may or may not have you do is completely legal. Next question-" I decided to drop the question about extended leave from home, seeing as how she was homeless, and I thought she'd find it too suspicious. "- what's your opinion on homosexuality?" Like that's any less suspicious right? She raised her eyebrow, probably the tadest bit baffled. "And why would they wanna know that, Gilda?" "Just so on the off chance they hire a gay person, or someone is working there who is gay, they know where you stand, so they know where to put you, or schedule you. Productive work environment and such." Her eye's deadlocked onto mine. "Well speaking honestly then, I think it's wrong against nature, and a sin in the name of our lord to engage in such activities with the same sex." "... Uh... wow, ok, well if that's how you feel then-" Than she fucking laughed at me again! "Ha ha ha ha! I'm only kidding ya, I made it sound mighty convincin' though didn't I?" "Don't do that!" "I'm sorry, really, but being from where I come from, it's extremely easy to fool people into believing that, 'specially you yanks up here, ha ha." Her and Dash definitely would've hit it off... "Oh you... you did alright... can you tell me your real opinion on the subject though? This is kind of important after all." She smirked at me. "Alright, I'm done messin' with ya. To be honest if that's what's someone's into then hell, go do what ya want I say, it ain't my place to judge someone." Is she just overall a decent person or something?... "Alright, that's cool." Gonna go out on a limb here. "By chance, what are you into?" "Pardon?" "In to... like 'people' wise?" "Are you... are askin' me if I'm... I'm sorry, what?" Aw shit... "I was just wondering was all, you don't gotta answer if you don't want to." "That's a mighty personal question considerin' we just met yesterday, Gilda." She was getting suspicious, I wasn't going to get an answer out of her, I figured, screw it. "I really didn't mean to offend you, I over stepped my boundaries, and I apologize. Wanna just move on?" "I'd appreciate it." I was at an impasse now. If she had that bad a reaction to me askin' that, then how would she react when I asked her if she'd had sex before? I could just assume she has, and make sure she only gets men, but what if she's not? Then I'm a rapist, that's what. That's the last thing I need to be labeled as right now. I could just make up some half-assed excuse, but again then I already dropped the 'are you gay' question... Shit... this sucked. "Alrighty then, last question..." Please God, don't let her punch me in the face. "Are um... a-are you?... have?... ahem You ever have sex?" Fuck. "The hell you just say?" Man I swear green eyes are the scariest when pissed off. "T-that came out... wrong?" "No, no, I think it came out loud and clear, you just asked me if I ever had sex!? What logical reason would you have, they have whatever, to ask me that!?" "They, um... well, you see-" "You better give me a damn good reason, or else, no matter how bad I need a job, I'm walking out that door. This is gettin' way to awkward, and way too weird." Shit... Flim and Flam are probably outside, I could get them in here to deal with her... no, I need to do this how I have been, if not for adequate dirt on her, then just so I know I could. "They do have a good reason, well at least they see it as such-" "What job asks that though? I like you Gilda, don't be making your word sour now." She tacked on almost threateningly. "They feel the need to ask to test the applicant's..." Fuck, I don't know. "honesty. Yeah, honesty, that's what you want in a worker right? Up front, blunt honesty? That normally means a productive, trustworthy employee." Ok, ball is in motion, time to use my kinetic energy to lie my ass off. "That is one of the thing's I personally would look for, that ain't the problem. The issue is, is the extreme nature of questions they are, I see no reason why- ok, the homosexuality thing, that threw me off, but in hindsight, I could see why they'd ask that. Last thing they need is a confrontation on beliefs and such after all, that's fine, I get that. But why on God's Earth, would they wanna know if I've been intimate or not?" "So they know they can trust you in any 'extreme' circumstances. The people I tried to convince hiring you, I've known for years, like I've said before, and this arrangement of ours wouldn't work without two things: Profit obviously, but most importantly, is trust; I trust them, as they trust me. And I don't mean we're best friends or anything, just that they trust my judge of character, thereby sending them good workers, and one way I gauge someone, is how honest I can tell they're being. You don't wish to talk much about yourself, that's fine, but what you have answered, I can tell you're being truthful with me." I let the words sink in for a bit, and waited for her to respond... this seems to happen a lot, it's kind of annoying honestly. "... 'Trust' and 'honesty', huh?... What you say makes sense, but I still see no reason why they should know that. I mean, I haven't even met them, I understand them wanting trustworthy employees, who trust them, but why such oddly personal questions?" I might as well answer mostly honestly. "... I don't know. I ask the questions for them, I don't write them out. I truly don't mean to pressure you Applejack, but they do need an answer. If you have/haven't it doesn't matter, it does not affect whether or not your hired, they just wish to establish a system of trust, that way when they meet you, they know what, or rather who to expect." She ran her hand over her face, then, rather begrudgingly I might add, answered me. "Sigh... yes." What? "What?" "Yes I have... rolled around in the hay a few times, is that satisfactory?" Hells yeah it is! I knew I could get her, no one can beat me! Well, she didn't know about any of this, but whatever, I won! "You bet it is! Now that you've answered all their final qualifying questions, it's time to sign on the dotted line now, so to speak." I opened the drawer, and handed it to Applejack, like I did the others. "What's this, a contract? Why'd they give it to you?" I shrugged and answered cockily. "They trusted me to convince you." "Hmph... Well good job, ya'll sold me. So what's on this here piece of paper anyway?" she asked as she began to read it to herself. "Well all it says really is, it's reaffirming what I asked you, addressing how anything they have you do is within the confines of the law, how you'll get paid at either the end of every pay period, or task completion. All that's left, like I said, is to sign that dotted line." After I finished, she was still reading it for quite sometime, it was starting to get awkward. "Uh, Applejack? You alright?" She removed her eyes from my even better written contract, to answer me. "Hmm? Oh yeah, this thing, sorry, I was just having a time readin' it." Oh God, what now? "Why? Too short? Spelling errors?..." She shook her head. "Naw nothin' like that, actually it has honestly too much detail! I think it could have been shortened quite a lengths, I mean it's almost comin' off the page. I don't know who wrote this up, but they need a re-teachin' in basic arithmetic." SIGH, guess back to the damn drawing board again with this stupid thing... "I'll be sure to let them know..." I mutter as I hand her a pen. She signs her name, and hands it back to me, and now my favorite part of the job. "Well alright, we're all set Applejack! I think it's about time you met your knew boss, who's that sound?" "It sounds like this took a little long, but I'm excited all the same, where're we headed Gilda?" "Close by." "..." "..." "... Um... heh heh, we uh... gonna go now?..." Shake of the head... "No. There's no need to." "But why wouldn't... NO." She caught up a lot faster than the other two did, gotta give her credit for that. "That's right Applejack, you're looking at her. I'm you're new boss!" A look of relief, I think, came across her face. "Well I'll be! That don't sound to bad at all! Why the false pretense of a third party though?" "It was mainly to see how honest I could get you to answer the questions. I do this with every person that comes through here, helping out my friends business's that was no lie, but if I find a candidate suitable enough, I have them come work for me." "Kinda clever, gotta admit. Risky, but I assume it's effective, how many other people have gotten this 'pristine' position you set them up for?" "Currently... you're number three." She let out a whistle. "Dang, must be some top notch business you own... wait so you pulled the wool over my eyes about this being your only kinda income?" I nonchalantly shrug. "Afraid so. It's a necessary white lie, I can't just hire any random dude that comes through here after all. My business brings in quite the substantial income monthly, it wouldn't be in my best interest if I hired someone I didn't think I could trust, or is too wet behind the ears. Get what I mean?" She nods in understanding. "I getcha. It's a little, I think the word I'm lookin' for is, 'cold', but that's business, so I can understand what you're saying. Well seeing as how we'll be working together now I might as well ask, what kinda business you run?"Oh here it comes! "Ever heard of that Cathouse that's in this town?" Her finger goes up to her chin in thought. "I... think so... yeah actually! When I was coming into town not to long ago, I saw the lights to the place glowing in the moonlight... it was 'Greg's' I think?..." "Nope, 'Griffon's'; it's mine. I want you to work there." Here comes the freakout! "Well alright, that don't sound too bad." What!? "Huh?" "Yeah, I can do that. What do you need me to do? Clean the place up? Work in the kitchen?" "Uh, no... I want you to be one of my girls. Work for me. As in have sex for money. For me." Eyes went wide, mouth went agape, it was time for the fun to begin. "You want me to what!?" I shrugged at her. "Honestly, I thought it would've been pretty obvious after I asked if you'd heard of the joint-" "You askin' me about my orientation, thought's on gays, the subject of my virginity-" "Honestly, I thought I was terribly un-subtle. Cool to know I successfully pulled the wool over your eyes, Applejack." I think the situation fully hit her, cause after I finished she shot up from the chair, looking pissed as ever. "Well you can forget 'bout alla that, I'm getting outta here!" She turned around and stalked for the door in one motion. "Ay! We have a contract- a signed contract no less, you aren't-" She stopped just at the door and snapped her head back at me so fast, I'm surprised she didn't strain something. "Oh-ho no you don't missy. You ain't no 'official' business, and I can only assume you made up that bull about your 'friends'." I stand up to try and win this stare down. "Well duh! Who the fuck would agree to idea as stupid as the one I told you we did? It's both improbable, and very very stupid." "Tch. Yeah, 'specially cause of the fact someone like you ain't got any friends. This conversation's over, you can't and won't make me work for your deceiving self." "That is where you are wrong young seed." I didn't even notice those two slip in, but hey, at least I got backup now. Their sudden appearance made Applejack jump, and turn around. "What in the-!?" The two took a bow, and proceeded to introduce themselves. "I young madam, am named Flim." "I am his brother, you may call me Flam." "I don't give a damn who you are, what the hell are you doing here?" Flim stepped forward as he answered her. "Well you see miss Apple, we are mere associates of Gilda here, assisting her in anyway we can." "Such as dealing with coercing troublesome women like yourself, into working for miss Hof here." Applejack snapped her head back at me. "Is this what you implied, by how I'm the 'third'?" I use my nod and smirk combo. "Now you got it." Then Flam, in what I have to say was a ballsy move, walked behind Applejack, and set his hands on her shoulders. "The rest of them failed to resist, and now, they comply to Gilda's whims, as if it were second nature. With mild attitude of course... but they come through none the less." Applejack gritted her teeth at the contact. "... How did you and your brother get these women for 'miss Hof' exactly?" . "A simple use of rubbing alcohol, just takes a woman's breath away, every time." Her fists clenched. "These women who came to you for help... after being drugged... have their bodies sold...." "Well yeah, I thought that was glaringly obvious by now." Pupils shrank... I don't like where this is going. "It is a very profitable business Applejack... my brother and I have benefited greatly from working with Gilda, the women get payed handsomely... and get to live. Hm hm hm..." I could feel her clenching from where I was standing. "Besides-" I spoke up. "-it's not like the other two put up much of a fight anyway, one managed to elbow me in the gut, but that's about it. You'll be no different Applejack, complying with us, is your only real option." I heard her breath in and out, eyes glancing back and forth between me, and Flam in her peripherals. She looked me straight in the eyes again. "That's what you think, Hof." Before I could get one syllable out, she swiftly brought her head forward and bashed it into the brim of Flam's nose. On instinct, he covered his face, releasing his grip on her shoulders, executing a quick one-eighty, she slammed her knee into his stomach, bringing Flam to his knees from the pain. Before Flim or I could react, Applejack slammed a right hook on Flam's jaw, knocking his light's right out. Flim rushed Applejack, who locked eyes on Flim immediately after KO'ing Flam, before he reached her she lifted her left leg and planted it right in his balls. She hit him with such a force, he keeled over in pain, to the floor, Applejack wasn't done with him yet though, she grabbed him by the shoulders, forced him to his feet, and shoved him back, hitting the door to the office. She then proceeded to charge forward, and with incredible force, took her size nine-looking boot, just trucked Flim through the door, into the hallway. Applejack turned back to me, stared me down with those venomous green eyes of hers, a scowl present on her mug. then out of nowhere, she cruelly smirked at me, then tipped her hat. "Pleasure doin' business with you Miss Hof." Then proceeded to sprint out of the room. Just so you know, this all happened in a span of almost twenty seconds, I couldn't do much, except stare with my mouth wide open. I couldn't process what I just saw, she single-handedly handed Flim and Flam their asses, breaks my door, and taunts me!? In that moment, any fear I had of that woman was instantly quashed, but a new sensation coming over me. A potent mixture of anxiety, fear, anger... the kind of feelings that can make a person do... rash, and desperate things. She kicked Flim and Flam's collective ass, that scared me, she could blow open my whole operation if she escaped, that terrified me, she laughed at me, looked at me like I was a joke, not even worth her time... That enraged me. I was not going to take being looked down on like that, and even if she beat me into submission, I would not let her walk away without a few scars. So I ran after her. I caught up to her into the parking lot, luckily I wasn't too out of shape, although admittedly rusty. "Hey!" I called out successfully getting her attention. She stopped running, and turned around looking at me with that stupid look on her face again. "Where huff huff do you think you're going!?" "pant Ha, seems like that little run done tuckered you out Gilda, aha ha. I didn't run that far." "Huff Fuck you! We aren't done yet!" As if to further piss me off, she put her hands on her hips. "Now Gilda, I think I made it abundantly clear that our business has officially concluded." The way she spoke to me, plus her current stance, I felt more like a kid getting scolded than a threat! "Not until I say we have, hick!" I stalked towards her, and she still kept smirking at me! "Well now that's just plain rude there, ma'am. What's got your hog a-squealin'?" I stop right in front of her, so I can look her in the eyes. It's here I see I'm at a height disadvantage, by about four inches. "What's got me pissed is the fact that I don't think you realize the danger you're in! Y-You act like you don't even care!" "Well why should I? If the 'infamous' Flam and Flam can get trampled on so easy, why should I worry 'bout little ol you?" "Why!? I convincingly lied to you, and alluded to your life being at risk of ending. I'm trying to force you to work as a playmate at my bitching brothel, and you mock me!? I'm honestly offended!" I guess that was a poor choice of words, considering most of her cocky demeanor left. "You're offended!? Did ya'll miss the part where ya tried to kidnap me!? Why the hell do you want me in your damn little clubhouse, or whatever, anyway?" "Why? Why?? Dude. You kicked the asses of two of this generations most lethal mobsters, kicking one of them through my door! I already thought you were an attractive specimen, but honestly seeing that just made me want you in my business more! You got this wear-and-tear look to you, you have muscles that look good, and to top it off, you're a blond Texan! Are you aware of how fucking hot that is!? I would make so much money off of you, i-it'd be unreal!" "If that was meant to be flattering you failed miserably, I fell more disgusted now, than anything." I wave dismiss her with a wave of the hand. "Irrelevant! My point is, is that, I don't care what I have to do Applejack-" I poke her in the shirt with my index finger. "-you are coming with me." Her mocking nature was gone now. "Unless you plan on takein' a lickin', I ain't-" She poked me back. "-goin' nowhere with you." I had no choice; ultimatum time. "Alright then, let's make a 'friendly' wager then shall we?" I back up, giving her and I some space. "You much of a betting gal, Jack?" As I ask the question, I begin to circle Applejack. "I only make bet's I know I can win, that being said, what are you offering, Hof?" She extended, starting to circle as well. "Something simple... simple and quick. You fancy yourself an ass-kicker yeah?" Applejack shrugged. "I can hold my own decently with the average of them." "Then how bout this... we throw down. Right here, right now." An eyebrow quirked up. "Ha! You wanna fight me? Pardon my observation here Hof, but ya'll look about as strong as wooden shed in a typhoon." "You have no way of knowing that for sure... unless you agree to fight me.' "... If you win?..." "Well you'll be super knocked out, but you'll come work for me at The Griffon." "And when I win?" Oh you cheeky little bitch... "IF you win... I'll let you turn me in. You can squeal to the cops about my entire operation. That's only if you win of course... what do you say Jack? Think you like those terms?" Stopping, she turned her head down slightly, I could see she was weighing her options, I stopped walking as well. "All I gotta do to bring your sorry ass down, is kick it. If you want me to whore myself out for you, all you have to do is beat me..." "Exactly. Look around. No one will get in our way here, and those two'll be out cold for while, 'specially Flim, so whoever wins will be put over clean. Deal?" Applejack looked up, pure determination in her eyes. "Ya'll sure you really wanna do this? Think about this Hof, you're really willing to fight me, just to fulfill you're 'whore all-star' fantasy? Is this all honestly worth it to you!?" I didn't even have to think. "You bet your ass it is." "I haven't known you long Gilda Hof, but believe me when I tell ya this... you're batshit insane." "Do we... or do we not, have a deal!?" She was making me think about it to much, I needed her to stop before I seriously considered stopping all of this. Applejack just shook her head at my desperation. "...Deal then." Yes! Oh fuck... I actually have to fight Applejack now. She put her fists up, and spread her legs out slightly, I noticed her hands were opened instead of clenched. I loosened myself up, putting up my dukes, ready to bruise this belle. "Brace yerself Gilda." She rushed me. Cocking her right arm back, she brought it forward, coming straight at my face. I quickly side-stepped to the left, now delivering a right hook of my own, her reaction time was sharp though, as she quickly brought her left arm to block the punch, while using her right fist to collide with my jaw. The force was a shock at first, and obviously painful, forcing me to stumble back a few inches, instinctively, I brought my hand to my chin, upon removal I noticed a small amount of blood on my hand. I thought, 'I'm bleeding already!? This isn't good, I need to step it up!'. Now it was my turn. I came at her, charging with a left ready to break something. As I launched my fist at her, she deflected it away with an open palm. I sent a short volley of right's and left's her way, none breaking through. Well at least the open palm thing made sense now. Gritting my teeth, I sent another left her way, but instead of deflecting it, she caught it, and gripped it. Hard. A yelp of instant pain escaped my throat, I tried to pry her hand of, but her grip was locked in tight, no way I'd be breaking it. "Heh. That the best you got Hof?" Eyes open wide now at the insult, instinct took control as I attempted to strike her with my right fist again. Didn't work; caught that one too. "You ain't gonna last long if ya'll keep this up." Glaring at her, my injured pride was fueling my drive to knock her down. Seeing an opening, I raised my foot, and planted my size seven converse into her gut. I could tell she didn't expect that, as the wind taken out of her with an exclaiming, "Oof!", was enough to loosen her grip on my hands so I could finish my strike, and nail her right in her cheek, the force pushing her back. I was so stocked, I hit her! I actually got her! My optimism was quickly crushed when she rubbed her, soon to be sore cheek, she did not look happy at me. "Lucky shot. Last time that'll happen Hof." "Don't be pissed just because you didn't know I could actually be a challenge Jack!" "Oh you wanna actually tussle for real? Alright then, I'm done going easy on your ass." Before I could make a comeback that could stall my inevitable beating, she had tackled me to the ground. The surprise alone would have been enough to take my breath away. I didn't have time to, you know, breath, cause as soon as my back hit the concrete, Applejack started wailing on me with fast, but painfully precise strikes to the face. I put my hands up to block them the best I could, but as I informed you earlier, this woman was a Goddamn tank. The more she was punching me, the more she was leaning up on me, I was able to lean back, and kick her off me. She stumbled to the ground, having lost her footing allowing me to quickly get to my feet. Big mistake. The massive ache that rushed to my head was so sudden, and strong, it nearly floored me. My face was sore, would probably bruise in places, and I was already tired. I didn't have a lot of time to wallow, I had to keep on the offensive. She started to get to her feet, I ran up and kicked her right in the chest, flooring her. This was my chance to capitalize! Not wasting anytime, I started curb-stomping the southerner, chest, arms, legs, just about everywhere. At this point it was just about having her in my brothel, I just wanted to beat her. For my brothel, and my pride. I wasn't as aware as I should've been, as I was about to deliver one to her head, she sweeped me by the ankle, taking me to the ground. She was on top of me again, but instead of frantically swinging at me, she straddled me, delivering more precise, less frequent, but more painful, blows my way. I tried to block the best I could, I did a few of them, but each one hurt after the other. She wouldn't let up either, she kept smashing at my arms until I couldn't support them anymore. She launched a particularly crushing one right down the middle to my nose, that's a potential kill shot by the way, I quickly put my arms up, but she was to strong, as soon as she made contact, my arms flopped to the side in pure exhaustion. Once my defenses were down she followed through with the punch, connecting it... to the ground just next to my head. My eyes widened at the sound of her fist against the ground. She locked eyes with mine, hazel shakily staring at cold, determined green eyes. A particular thought reared it's ugly head into my thoughts: I was screwed... this woman could break me in half, and I'll I've been through and done, would be for nothing. That thought terrified me, and she saw it too, if she couldn't tell by my borderline hyperventilating, then she could see it in my eyes. I was scared. Scared of her. She lifted her hand up from the ground, I shifted my eyes, watching her fist rise. I could see rocks indented in her knuckles from the impact, blood dripping from the wound. Shaking her hand, the small rock fragments, with some of the blood, flew off. She eased off me a bit, now more sitting on me, I guess beating me down wore her out. "Huff... huff... We... done, yet? Huff" I tiredly shake my head at her. "Huff Why? Why do ya... want me in that club-a yours so... huff so bad?" "Huff... weeze I... gave up...every- cough everything to run my business... I'm willing to do whatever is necessary, to keep my dest-... dream alive." "At the pant expense of, o-of conspirin' with known killers? Ruining unknowing women's lives?" "I don't have to explain myself to you... Jack." My tiny little act of defiance caused her to frown, I could feel her remove herself from me. "Well then ya'll can 'explain' yourself to the law. Cause we're finished here." She was up and starting to walk when her sentence ended. She had walked in front of me, in a frantic act of desperation, I quickly flipped on my stomach, and grabbed her foot. "We aren't done yet dammit!" She kicked herself out of my grip and kept walking. "Give it a rest! You're only embarrassing at this point." In a wobbily fashion, I was making my way to my feet. "I need you in the Griffon! Get back over here, and let's finish this!" "Go to hell, Yankee!" I couldn't let her escape, she'd ruin everything I worked for! At this point, I didn't just need her in the Griffon for the killer money I'd make of her, I needed to get Applejack locked up at the Griffon, to keep her quite. Ignoring the pain, I made a mad dash for Applejack. Of course she wasn't going to not hear my charge, so just as I got close, she had spun around with a fist ready to collide with my face. Believe this or not, I'd anticipated this, so just as the fist was making its way, I ducked under it, charging right into Applejack's gut, shoulder first, knocking her back to the asphalt. It felt really good to be able to do that. Any restraint I had, left me, all I wanted now was two things: this victory, and maybe... a little bit of her blood. Making my way towards her, I could see Applejack was beginning to get to her feet, I quickly ran over, and popped her in the cheek, flooring her. I mounted on top of Applejack, like she did me a few minutes ago, trying to land as many punches as I could on her. I was able to land several before she threw up her block, at lot more durable than mine if I may add, it sucked too, my hands were getting sore. Thinking fast, I quickly moved my hands to her shoulder and applied pressure, then proceeded to lift my right knee, and land it right in her kidney. A yell of pain broke out of her mouth, successfully, but briefly, breaking her guard. It was here I decided to play dirty. I balled up my right fist, and slam it down on her left tit. Oooh the sound of pure pain that erupted outta her throat was a thing of beauty! "Aah!!!" Instinctively, she brought a hand up to cover it up, that's when I slammed my fist on the other one. I didn't care to much, as long as her clients have somewhere to put something, that's all I give a fuck about. Giving her one last knee to her stomach, I quickly hopped off her. I, very slowly, made my way to Applejack's top half, she was on the ground still very much in pain, clutching her rack. Those things are sensitive after all, it's not unlike hitting a dude in the balls honestly. I stopped my stalking when I reached the front of her head, to add one last insult, I squatted down, poking her shoulders so she'd look over at me, eye's being closed due to pain and whatnot. This was the first time she glared at me and I wasn't terrified. Checkmate, hick. "Any last words? Jack" In one last act of 'fuck you' she spat on my chest, then mumbled out: "Go to hell, Hof..." I wiped the spit off, rising to my feet. I gave her one more cocky smirk for the road. Raised my leg. And slammed it down, right center on her face, finally KO'ing this southern-warrior. "No one likes a sore loser, Applejack. Ha ha." Now all I have to do is haul her carcass to the Griffon... and my ride is currently sleeping. Goddamn it.
Griffons Cathouse	Applejack's Admission part 2/A Time of Reflection	It took a while for Flim and Flam to come to, the ass kicking they got from Applejack would no doubt leave them with some bruises, a few headaches, and internal bleeding. Their ego's will definitely be sore. I took the time I had alone to assess the damage done to Applejack. Face was swollen, a number of cuts and scratches covered her face, a deep cut over her right brow, topped off with dirt, grime, and whatever else was on my shoe. Thankfully (for me) I hadn't broken her nose. I didn't do a hands-on examination, but no doubt there'll be soreness in her stomach, and especially her chest. Diagnosis says: other than the few weeks I was gonna give her to adjust to her environment, like I did the other two, there was no reason, externally anyway, why she wouldn't be able to do her job. The swelling will go down, bruises will go away, any cuts, or scars she may have gotten will fade, and if I'm lucky, no one will notice the slightly purple spots on her "goods". She can probably clean herself up at The Griffon, I made sure to have first aid's stashed about. Actually come to think of it, Flim and Flam might need that too. Man, they got their asses kicked! I still wouldn't want to fight the two of 'em don't get me wrong, but Applejack just whooped them! If it wasn't for the fact that we work together, I honestly would've wanted to give her a high-five. Speaking of those two, thankfully they were able to wake up before Applejack did. I hit her hard and all, but I had a pretty good feeling that wouldn't put her down for too long a time. I could see it in their eyes too, they each had this look of defeat as they stumbled out into the parking lot. Flam's nose was puffy and red, with clear signs of bruising, and I noticed some dried blood around the nose and on his hands. Flim didn't have any external wounds, but he was limping like a war vet from that nut shot, and his nice suit was torn up on the back from getting kicked through my door. Credit where credit is due, Applejack is pretty bad-ass. Come to think of it, I actually think her and Dash would've been good pal's. Actually in hindsight, Sparkle and Rarity might have made decent acquaintances I think... Oh well. We hauled Applejack into the back of Flim and Flam's car, and on the whole way back to the Griffon, I could see, and feel their pain. Not the 'hurt' kind of pain, the 'Ow, my pride' kind of pain. Their ego's were bruised hard, I couldn't resist taking at least one little jab at them. "Aw don't let this one incident you down boys! You're still the baddest wittle henchmen in the whole wide world!" All I heard was Flim growl out: "Shut. Up." After a small chuckle I did. "So yeah, this is home now! Cause as I'm sure you remember, per our agreement, if I beat you in a fight; which I did, you come work for me. Which I did. Beat you, I mean." My back was turned to her, but I could feel her eyes glaring through my skin. "It's a humble little establishment, but in time I hope to expand it, using the money I- you, earn here working. I'll still pay you back a... 'fair' sum of the profits, it's only right. You are my employee after all, because, well you did lose the fight. Did I mention I won?" I turned around as I asked that, just so I could see her reaction. "Why yes, Gilda, you've reminded me near on seven damn times now." And I loved doing it each time. We were standing inside, I on the other side of my bomb-ass podium, and she by the door. Flim and Flam standing guard by the door, both understandably still looking pissed. Jack was trying to look all hard, and stand up straight, but she had just the faintest hunch, and her left hand was slowly rubbing her stomach. Cute. "Down that way-" I gestured to the hallway behind me with my thumb. "-is where you'll be staying. Each girl has their own room, so you don't have to worry about privacy. Over yonder to your right is little little check in/out station, which leads to my bitching office." A recent addition to the Griffon, said area comprised of a door leading to behind a counter, with bars and glass covering the top, with only one lone slot for my arms to reach through from the comfort of my chair. I take care of all transactions in the Griffon (like I'm going to trust an accountant...) behind that; cash, credit, and check. To the left of the chair was one more door, labeled "Gilda's Nest". I named it myself. "I don't have to tell you that's off limits. To your left you'll see our lounging area, that's where clients chill for a while before selecting a girl, have a dinner in the evening or breakfast in the morning if they spent the night." It always feels cool to show off The Griffon like this, gives me a sense of pride ya know? Applejack turned her head to view the area in discussion, I noticed her eyes begin to scan the room. "There's a plenty of booths, tables high, low and the like. It's a designated smoking area, so hope you don't have asthma or something." I saw her roll her eyes as she continued to observe her new home. "In the back there I got a fully stocked, fully equipped kitchen, not like Gordon Ramsay status obviously, but it's legit, no bagged, processed crap. Probably my favorite part though is our bar in the back right corner." At that I actually saw her eyelids raise slightly at the mention of said bar. She actually took a step in it's direction to get a look at it. Figures. Then out of nowhere the weirdest thing happened, like seriously, it was weird. When, from my view it looked like anyway, her eyes came to the bar, she like, stopped; froze almost. I don't know why, but she was just standing there almost perfectly still, I was about to go shove her, when I saw... it. This odd looking, what would you call it? Gleam? Shine? Yeah let's go with that, this 'shine', I swear to God, I saw this- this weird colored 'shine' flashed across her eyes for like, a split second. I swear man I thought I was hallucinating, I rubbed my eyes with my fists, and when I was done, there Applejack was, still just standing there. Flim and Flam were looking at each other with 'what the hell?...' faces, but I didn't so much as look at them. It was weird... but for some reason it looked kind of... familiar. I came out from behind the podium, and walked next to Applejack, nudging her lightly with the side of my arm. "Nice lookin' place right?" Figured it best to play it off like I didn't see anything, she probably didn't notice it happen anyway. Then just like that she was back to normal, looking pissed, and giving me gruff responses. "Tch, nothin too great." Cue eye roll from me... "Who are those two?" I turned my gaze over to Applejack. "Hmm?" "The two ladies in there." I looked into the lounge. Sparkle and Rarity were the only ones in there today. Like always. Other girls came and went from time to time usually, but normally they just stay in their rooms, these two however almost always just stayed in here. I mean I get it, there's TV's and a bar, but they never talked to each other, so I don't get it. Granted it's a Sunday, and I'm not open on that day, but they've been in here since morning, it's a little weird. Applejack want's to meet her coworkers huh? Might as well informally introduce them. "Well, the one with her nose in the book, sitting next to the giant stacks of books is Twilight Sparkle. Odd name, and a really bitter attitude, so she's not the most approachable person in the world, but she makes me a nice chunk of change. Fun fact:.. she's number one." I heard her growl lowly at that little reminder I threw at her. "Number one huh?... You rope her into this like ya did me?" "Tch, no. Getting her in her wasn't nearly as stressful. It was just a simple matter of the right kind of threats, and the perfect blackmail." I purposely didn't go into details, I'd let her draw her own conclusions, it's more intimidating that way. I saw her gaze linger to the bar once again. "Who's the barkeep?" "That little porcelain beauty, is named Rarity." "Just Rarity?" She questioned. "Yeah, she never gave me a last name. I can only assume that 'Rarity' is a fake name, or that is in fact her name, and she just decided not to give me a last name for some most likely dumb reason." "Rarity..." "Yup. That, by the way is number two... Well introductions are more or less done, so I'm gonna head to the back and check on your room, and set up some final touches. Go inside and make yourself at home." I turned my attention to my lackeys. "Flim, Flam, watch the door." They nodded, and without another word, I headed off to Applejack's room, down the hall. 'Make myself at home'... what a bitch. This sure is a pickle I'm in in'nt? A woman, who's clearly bat-shit nuts, has me trapped in this whore-house, and I also got these two clowns to my immediate left, eye ballin' me like Goddamn vultures. If I wasn't so banged up, I could easily get passed these two. Damn that Gilda, I should never've turned my back on her... that may be another mistake I won't get the chance to rectify. I could still try rushing the two of them like in Gilda's office. Give myself just enough time to stun them, then make a break for the door. I glance on over to the two watchdogs Gilda has eyein' me, and instantly I already know that wouldn't work. They're on edge, visibly tense, I can see it in their eyes too, layin' and waitin', begging me to try somethin', just so they have an excuse to brain me. Doesn't help much that I'm in slightly more damaged condition then they are, I'd just get beaten down. Damn that Gilda... When I get my hands on that scrawny bitch, I'm makin' her pay dearly for this. sigh Well I don't care much for these two breathin' down my neck as they are, figure I might as well attempt to: 'make myself at home'. I head into this 'lounge' area she seemed so proud of; I'd be lying if I said it wasn't inviting. Tables and chairs placed about, comfortable lookin' booths, dim lighting, a big ol' HD television at the front of the bar. The bar itself though; that's true beauty in here. Corner to corner, wall to wall, filled to the brim with refreshing lookin' poisons. At the end of the bar, to it's left, there's a little walkway for people to get in and out, that same walkway leads to the kitchen; that's where the bar starts. It ends just barely touching the other wall. Well at least I won't be totally miserable. I saunter on over to the nearest table and lean on it, resting my forearms on the surface. Dammit I'm hurtin' right now... My head feels like it ways a few extra pounds, face is sore, and I'm wobbilin' around like a damn penguin, hope I ain't scarred up too bad. Looking up 'n around, I became aware of something that could become a prominent problem in the future. There are surveillance cameras everywhere. When I was being dragged in here from the car, I remember lookin' around seeing one at the front of the door, one each at least attached to a corner of the building, probably has more in the back. When we actually entered the place there was one on the on the entrance to the hallway, and one over the door. When you enter the building, one of the first thing you can see is a long hallway with doors left and right, apparently where I'll be staying now... there was one at the very end of the hallway. The 'lounge' was no different, there was one in each corner of the room, probably a few in the kitchen. It also doesn't help none that I noticed outside, it looked liked they put up a freshly built fence. I wondered why at first, then I recollected how I noticed what looked like, a security booth. I wouldn't put it past this psycho to have motion sensors, guard dogs, and landmines at this point. So on top of being completely crazy, Gilda Hof is also insanely paranoid. Terrific. I guess I can forget about breaking outta this dump for now. I slumped my head over my arms, taking in the lovely sights of the table I'm perched against, in a mixture of frustration, and defeat. A chill slowly slithered in my gut at the realization that I was stuck here for a while. I was zoning in 'n out of consciousness during the ride over here, but I kinda got a clear picture of the land; it's all desert. The only civilization, that I know of, is back the way we came, but that's a hell of a walk. I've hoofed it on the road for a while now, but I don't doubt she has this highway memorized. I also have little doubt that she's above tryin' to after me, and those other two, that Flim and Flam, God only knows what they'd wanna do to me if they had a chance. I'll just have to be patient, bide my time and form some kinda plan, if all goes good I'll be wringing Hof's neck in no time. It ain't gonna be easy, not exactly comfortable either, but I can't risk screwin' up my shot at bustin' outta here and kickin' Hof right in 'er- "Damn, she sure did a number on you Tex." I snapped my head up at the sudden voice, coming face-to-face with, I believe to be, Twilight Sparkle. She was sportin' a dark-purple tank top, that I believe was for some kinda band or somethin', what the hell's a 'Zltoid'?..., finished off with with a pair of black jeans, and... what are those, converse? Hell I don't know- shoes, she was wearing shoes. "I'm sorry, what?" "I said, 'she sure did a number on you'. Kinda surprised honestly, I didn't peg Gilda to be a fighter." I rolled my eyes at bein' reminded of my recent loss. "'Fighter'? That Gilda's a coward, I had her beaten down to the ground, and was 'bout to head on out, but then next thing I know, she's tryin' to spear me from behind... anyway, she won't be so lucky next time I get my hands on her." 'Twilight' shrugged at the promise. "Good luck with that, she's got this place wired like a government office." "I noticed... think she's gonna be gettin' some kinda security checkpoint or sumthin' soon too." "That would explain the booth they're building out there. Surprised she hasn't invested in dogs yet." I didn't have much else to add to the conversation, so I took my eyes off 'er. Thinking about it for a sec, I figured I should introduce myself, and at least try 'n be nice. Not exactly lookin' to make any friends, living off the land doesn't give ya much social time, not to mention small talkin' ain't exactly my strong suit. Although havin' someone help me, or at least havin' no one hatin' me, would make my stay here considerably easier. With this small hope in mind, I returned my look to 'Twilight'. "Well this ain't exactly the best situation to do this, but seein' as how we'll be bein'... co-workers, might as well. Name's Applejack." I offered her my hand to shake. She just eyed at my hand, crossed her arms, then stared at me. "Name's Twilight." I took my hand back, seeing how she obviously wasn't gonna return my attempt at chivalry. "So Twilight, what's your story; how'd you end up here? I got mah ass beat, cause I turned my back for a second." She let out a single nod. "Yeah, that sucks." "..." "..." "So... how'd you get you get here?" "That's none of your business." I was a little put off by the sudden coldness of her tone, but considerin' 'blackmail', and 'threats' were involved, I can kinda get why she might not want to talk about it. "Oh... well alright then, 's your privacy after all." Quickly looking for a subject changer, I remembered the bar, and it's watcher, realizing I forgot all about her. "So the bartender, that's 'Rarity right?" Another nod. "Correct. She's the second member of Gilda's 'elite team' , after me." "How long both ya'll been here?" Hoped she'd at least answer this one. She raised her head up in thought. "Let me see... it's April right?" That wasn't a good sign... "Yeah, I believe so." "Then, five months more or less. Rarity's been here for two." Damn... that's got to've been rough on both of them. "Damn, I'm sorry 'bout that." I swear I thought I heard her scoff. "That can't have been easy..." She shrugged again. "It hasn't been... it sucks honestly... but for your first few weeks, Gilda takes the time to walk you through the basic in and outs of the job so you don't suck. Kind of important to make sure that doesn't happen, God knows what'd happen if one of these days Rarity or I slipped up..." She was silent for a moment, if I had to guess, she was probably letting her implication, and its possibility's sink in. There's somethin' she ain't telling me... about herself, Gilda- something, she's hiding something.... What the hell did Gilda do to her?... "A-anyway, then she'll take you out, supervised obviously, to go and purchase stuff for your room, or personal pleasure. Gotta keep your workers happy right?" There's a sarcastic infection so strong, I almost rolled my eyes. "I s'pose so. She owe's the two of you that much at least. How do ya deal with all these cameras scattered about? Gotta be mighty uncomfortable, bein' watched all the time." "Oh it is trust me. Knowing Big Brother is watching you ninety percent of the day never really get's any easier to deal with. Thankfully there aren't any cameras in our rooms." "There ain't?" She shakes her head. "Believe it or not. I guess she thought 'customization' and 'privacy' would some how counter-balance being forced into this life..." She ended off bitterly. "A manipulative psycho with a conscience?" "Hmph, yeah, a real Norma Bates..." Norma who? I was suddenly curious 'bout how old this woman was. She couldn't have been more than my age, she looked younger than me actually. She inhaled a quick breath and exhaled a harsh sigh, and seemingly went back to her attitude from before. "Well, all the sex helps take some of the tension off, so there's that at least." That little tag-on of hers at the end made me blush. I ain't a stranger to the act of love makin', but, call me old-fashioned, I always felt that sex should mean somethin'. Course everyone has their on take on the subject too, so I ain't ever been one to give someone shit for their thoughts on it. Still though, the idea of some varmint I don't even know usin' me like that, don't sit well in my gut. What really stinks is that, goin' by my recent findings, escape is lookin' more 'n more like a potential death wish. "How'd that 'Rarity' character end up here? Hof made it out like you two were in a similar situation." Twilight rolled her eyes. "Go ask her yourself." She about-faced, and bee-lined back for her both. Just as she was about to sit down, she turned back, now pointing at me. "You may want to clean your face up a bit. It's a little thrashed." Turning around again, she plopped back down, and resumed reading one of her books. 'Thrashed'... I hadn't gotten a look at my face since I woke up. It sure hurt yeah, but hell I've had worse. Guess this conversations was over. A little glad honestly, talkin' with her was really tense, and the tiniest bit awkward; I never was good at first meetin's. Maybe this 'Rarity' person will be a little for informative, or at least more pleasant company. I push myself off the table, and limp my way to the bar to meet co-worker number two, who this whole time had her attention focused on the TV, or was busy doin' something behind the bar. As I neared the bar, I noticed she was stackin' the shelves. Very important job, gotta say. Back turned to me, I sat myself down on one of the stools in front of her. I assume she heard me, cause a few seconds later she started talkin'. "Don't let Twilight get to you too much, she's always like that." "Uptight, 'n very closed off?" "Yes, I'm afraid she's got quite the hardened exterior, I still recall when I first met her, she was very... how shall I say?..." "Off-putting?" I offered. She nodded her head. "Quite." Well we're already kinda off to a better start then Twilight and I were. I wonder where this 'Rarity' is from. Her accent sounds like it's some kinda European. It probably ain't but you never know. It was quiet for some moments, so my eyes wandered up 'n down my new co-worker. This 'Rarity' looks like quite the woman. She was wearin' what looked to be a white button-up shirt, didn't look like it was tailored cheap neither. Like Twilight she was wearing a pair of black jeans, but her shirt was tucked in. I couldn't see her shoes, but she looks like the heels wearin' type. Her hair was somethin' else though, it looked like... I dunno what, it's like flat, but full; point is it looked nice. Not normally the type of person I'd associate myself it, well more like them not associate themselves with me, but anyone to talk to on friendly terms was better than nobody. "So you the bartender for this place?" "Not 'officially' I suppose, but I felt that I needed something to occupy my time with during my stay here. Of course swift access to a nice drink every now and again was also a persuasive notion as well." "Ha, I hear that. I'm figurin' Im'ma need a few during my residin' of this 'lovely' establishment." She let out a low laugh. "I know that particular feeling all too well... Oh! Where are my manners." Suddenly she turned around to face me. "My name is Rarity. Pleasure to make your aquai- OH MY STARS!" Oh my stars, that scared the crap out of me! Actually made me jump! Think I'm halucinatin' too, thought I saw some weird gleam cross her eyes right now... "Darling, your face, i-it looks positively thrashed! You look like you were in some sort of fight, what happened!?" Well shit, didn't think I was that badly tore up. I suddenly felt mighty embarrassed, I started scratchin' the back of my head; an old nervous habit. "Well ya ain't to far off... see, I kinda got in tussle with the owner herself, and lost." To my everlastin' shame... "I told you to go wash up!" I heard Twilight chime in from behind. "Oh, hush you!" Twilight let out a loud single 'HA' at that. "We simply must get you cleaned up." "Look, it's not that bad, I-I've had worst honestly." "Rubbish! We have first-aid in the kitchen, come with me, we cannot allow your wounds to become infected." She turned left (my left that is) and fast-walked to the kitchen. "Look miss, I appreciate the concern, really, but ya don't gotta-" Before I could finish, she stopped dead in her tracks, and snapped her gaze to me. "This issue shall not be debated, now would you kindly make your way to the kitchen?" Then she fast-walked her way into said kitchen. "You'd better do what she says, she isn't exactly the kind of woman you wanna argue with." Twilight advised me from the safety of her booth. Might as well do as she says, I don't feel like debatin' and I guess I should tend to these wounds, so's they don't get infected. I decided on sticking Applejack at the end of the hallway, solely for the purpose of her having to walk those few extra steps everyday. Me: 2 Applejack: 0 Just cause she fit the bill for The Griffon, doesn't mean I like her. Respect yeah, there's definitely a certain respect for a woman like her. Doesn't mean we gotta take selfies together and shit. Last door on the left, and Goddamn, the last woman who worked in here made a mess before she left. Can't remember her name, just remembered she wanted to open up a bar or something. The mattress is off the bed, one of the shelves has no drawers, there's litter everywhere, and I'm pretty sure I smell a dog in here. And other stuff. Perfect! I guess I'll be fair and call in someone to clean it up for her, least I could do I guess, but unfourtanently (for Jack) she's just gonna have to deal for a few days. I decided on going through the room, to see if what's-her-face left anything cool or that should be thrown away. A few granola bar wrappers, some old Misfits bootlegs, and cans of Faygo... the fuck is Faygo? Eh, might as well set the mattress in the center for her, probably gonna need some new blankets too. Definitely some new pillows, these... these look crusty. Mattress was a little heavier than I thought it would be, but I was happily surprised that no bugs or anything were on, or in, it. I gathered up the old blankets- Ew ew ew- and toss them out in the hall, same treatment with the pillows and their respective cases. Exiting the room, I walked to the very back of the hall, where a closet was located. I put that there originally so the girls would have easy access to spare bedroom items. Cheap spares sure, but not uncomfortable: 'nothing fancy but nothing shitty', that's my motto. I grabbed two pillows, and a bright pink afghan. Normally that would go on a couch, but given it's design, it won't give her too much warmth, but she also won't be able to say she's freezing. Me: 3 Applejack: 0 I tossed them on the bed, figuring she'd be able to take care of it from there, she's a big girl. Plus how uncomfortable could she get? She has been living on the road for about two years now. Two years... I've been living here for five now, where'd the time go?... The feeling of realizing of how quickly my life has passed me by gave me an unpleasant feeling in my stomach, it felt like a ball made of ice was sitting right in the center, slowly creeping its way up to my heart. I suddenly felt a need to retire for the day to my office, give myself some time and privacy to think, collect my thoughts, hell maybe even take a day or two off. With Applejack being here, I don't have to be in my other 'office' for a few weeks, so why not get an early start on my vacation? Leaving the room once more, I walked down the hall, straight to Flim and Flam. Obviously I couldn't let them my incoming depressive state, nor did I want to, so I decided to relieve them of duty for the day. Hardening my demeanor I approached my henchmen. "Alright boys, your works done for today, I got the rest of this covered." The almost-twins sparred each other a look. "Are you certain? That Applejack is a rowdy lot, what if she attempts an escape?" "Course I'm sure Flam! Besides where's she gonna go? Town is however many miles away, and I don't think she'd risk the dessert." "Hmm... but what's to say she won't? If what you told us is true, she is quite used to living it rough." "She has, granted, but given her physical state, I don't think she's in the right condition to try anything." "...If you are certain. Come Flim, let us away then, call upon us whenever you require our services again." "No problem." I then made a 'shoo' motion with my hand. "Now get outta here you two. Me thinks you could use a warm bath to sooth the pain of your defeat today." They both rolled their eyes to my little jab at their pride. "One victory, a warrior does not make little birdie. You would be wise not to let this small victory go to your head." With that they turned about face, and walked out the door, just as they exited Flim decided to leave me with his two cents. "Vanity kills, Miss Hof." Then they were gone. I stood there for several seconds, absorbing their advice. They did actually make a good point, I shouldn't let this give me too big a head, last thing I need is my ego to compromise my judgement. That could lead to mistakes, and a mistake in our line of business could lead to imprisonment, or death. I brushed away these thoughts away from my mind, I already had enough negativity I needed to deal with. I walked into my bitching lounge, greeted by the sight of it being completely barren, save for Twilight at her usual booth. I almost panicked, but quickly calmed myself, remembering my own words to Film and Flam, on how she had nowhere to go. The curiosity was bugging me, so I decided to ask Sparkle if she noticed where Jack and Rarity were. I was already feeling ill. Not cause of my previous thoughts, but because of the fact that I gotta talk to Twilight... she's so off-putting! I mean I guess I shouldn't expect smiles and hugs, but still, her socializing sucks. I heard Rarity saying to one of the girls how Twilight's actually "gotten better" at that, but I find that extremely doubtful. Walking up to her table, but not close enough to where she'll bitch at me, I asked my question. "Hey Sparkle, you see where Rarity and the new chick go to?" As per usual, she didn't look up as she answered me. "Applejack's the 'new chick' right?" "That's her." "I saw her when you guys walked in, you banged her up pretty good." Not expecting the compliment, I let a smirk show as I puffed my chest out. "Heh! Yeah, I really cleaned her clock alright. Not gonna lie Twilight, I looked pretty badass." "Really?" She put her book down, eye-brow raised at me. "Cause the way I heard it from her was that, you tackled her from behind in a moment of, what was probably, desperation." Well there went my good mood. "Not 'desperation' Sparkle, it was an act of strategy. Besides what's it to you? I seriously doubt you give that much of a shit about her, and I doubt you could fight anyway!" Keeping her cool at my lash out, she responded calm and collected, like the smart-ass she is. "I don't, and I didn't say I could. All I am saying is that, how you won barely qualifies as 'badass'. Seems more... pathetic; pathetic how you had to resort to those tactics rather." You mouthy bitch! I slammed by hands on her table in a fit of rage. How dare she belittle my victory! She's lucky I don't have Flim and Flam rip her tongue out! She didn't even seem to care about how pissed she made me, shit, she looked like she was enjoying it! "Hey! You weren't there Twilight! I did what I had to do to win!" "By being a wimp and taking the easy way out. Read you crystal clear Lance Armstrong." Lance Armstrong!? I was losing it, I needed to get out of there before I broke something. "LOOK! Just..." I took in a few breaths to calm my rustled jimmies. "If you see her, tell her that her rooms all ready for her, and that it's down the hall, last door on the left, alright?..." "I could... but why should I? What's my motivation?" She asked all cockily. Has she forgoten who she's talking to? Time to remind this know-it-all of her place. Leaning in closer, uncomfortably closer to her face, I answered in a low tone, with an icy threat. "If you want to talk... or even see that fake brother of yours ever again, you'll do as I ask. That enough 'motivation' for you?" I really don't think she expected me to go there. The look on her face, it looked like a mixture of shock, like when you find out someone close to you passed away. Fear, like when something important is at stake, or your life's on the line. "I, w-what?..." I swiftly grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, lifting her out of her seat. "Did you forget who you're trying to clown with?... I don't know if you've realized this Twilight? But I'm dangerous. I was able to keep you here against your will for half a year out of pure fear. My lackeys are the lethal Flim and Flam." I showed my teeth. "Do you think I don't know where Spike lives, Twilight?..." I let the question hang in the air. The fear in her eyes was all too real... I roughly shoved her back into the cushion "Now... Can ya do this little favor for me pal?" Slowly her head lowered, some of her hair falling over her face with it. "Y-yes..." I turned my head so my right ear was facing her. "Yes what?" "Y-yes Gilda... I-I'll let her know, i-if I see her..." She was trying to hold tears back... "Thanks a lot pal!" I started in a chippy tone. "I knew I could count on you!" With that I turned from her table and walked out of the lounge. As soon as I walked out through the doorway, I heard it. I very faint... almost non-existent sob. I turned around to see her, but I was greeted with the sight I saw when I first walked in. Twilight's nose intently in a book. Only this time the book wasn't held up, it was sitting atop the table, as she lazily held it with one hand, while the other wiped at her eyes. I actually made her cry. Good. She should've known better than to try talking to me like that. I got outta there, and briskly walked through my financial office, into my office/living space. My thoughts briefly fell to Twilight as I sat on the couch I had against the wall, opposite the door. Maybe... I took that too far. I shook my head almost frantically after that thought popped up. I settled on thinking that she'd be fine after a few tears and a sob or two came out. Besides... I don't want to risk feeling bad. Running a hand across my forehead, I let out a long loud breath I'd been wanting to get out since Applejack's room, scanning my head over my humble abode. Basic shit honestly. To my right, a desk, a chair, and a window behind them. Not much of a view, just the back yard area, which housed my sick barbecue that we cooked all our meats on. Then all the way to the left of the room was my 40+ inch HDTV, which had a lovely Playstation 4 hooked up to it. I like to call this room my, Super Yummy Living-space. On the end of the right side of the couch; on the floor, I have this boss mini-fridge, which speaking of, housed my alcohol. Some of which I defiantly want right about now. I very un-enthusiastically, followed Rarity into the kitchen where she said first aid was. Not sure why it'd be in here, but hell, ain't my kitchen. When I walked in, I saw the soon-to-be nurse in question reaching up into a steel cupboard, which damn, if I could give Hof anything, it's that she knows how to accommodate her workers, well, the ones she doesn't kick in the face... "Ah-ha! There it is!" She pulled back, white box in hand. "Now, if you would Applejack, sit yourself upon the counter here, so I can start cleaning your wounds." Looking to my right, I saw the counter she was referring to. Didn't particularly want to, I mean come on, people serve food on that... "I'd rather not, miss Rarity, don't mean to be rude, but I don't feel right about sitting where the food is made..." She didn't give me to nice a look for statin' that opinion. "Really?... Come now Applejack, stop being silly, and let me help you." Letting out a huff, I complied, hoistin' myself on the edge. Rarity set the box down to my right, and started pulling the supplies out: band-aids, cotton balls, and disinfectant. Thought there'd be more to it, but then again last thing I need is Rarity trying to stitch me up. "I'm sure this goes without saying, however I feel it necessary to warn you-" "It's gonna sting, I know." She let out a small 'hmph!' at my interruption, and I would've apologized, but something told me that she wasn't all that serious about it. "I am simply giving you fair warning." She said as she poured a small dab of disinfectant on one of the cotton balls, and moved to apply it to my face. "I would recommend closing your eyes, and trying your best not to smell a lot of this stuff. Burns the lungs you know." I was about to roll my eyes but when the ball came into contact with a cut I had somewhere on my cheek- "Ah! Son of a bitch that stings!" Rarity didn't falter and continued to press it against my skin. "Ow, dammit!" Rarity let loose a small laugh and smile at my expense. "Language miss Applejack~... did I not tell you it would sting?" Now I rolled my eyes. "Aw whatever... didn't tell me it'd be that bad..." A few moments of her disinfecting my wounds in silence filled the room, that and my wince's every now and again. The silence was broken only when Rarity put the damnable disinfect away, as she pulled out some tissues. "What're those for?" She answered me as she started to pat at my face. "To try and dry away some of the remaining blood. Would you be a dear, and apply pressure to them? It will aid in drying the blood up much quicker." I did what I was told, and held the pieces of cloth to my face; above my eye-brow, and on my left cheek. Right side still ached like hell, but I guess there wasn't much fussin' to be caused over it. "So do tell Applejack, from where do you hail?" "Uh... do I 'hail' what?" Rarity only answered in a quick giggle, as she took out several band-aids. "Where are you from?" "Oh! Well why din' you just say that? I'm from San Antonio." Her big blue eyes widened at my declaration. "Oh my, all the way from Texas?" Curiosity lacing her tone. "Yep, sure as the sun." She started to the apply bandages. "What is it like over there? I've always wished to travel to that state." Really? "What's it like?... Well it's big, hot, and it has a whole lotta American history, as well as land good for farmin'." "I imagine so. Did you yourself work on one? A farm, or a ranch rather?" I guess that's all the treatment she could give me, cause she started putting the box away. "Funnily enough I did. My daddy was the owner of Sweet Apple Acres, we worked in-" I cupboard door was quickly shut, then she spun around to face me faster than the Tasmanian Devil. "Sweet Apple Acres!?" That's twice she's made me jump now... "Y-yeah. Why? Heard of us?" "Why, yes indeed! My Father used to deal business directly with that company all the time!" Okay, now I'm confused... "Ya'll did? What's your family do?" "Father and Mother own a small patch of land which we would work on, but with that, they also owned several of the best restaurants in my hometown. Father always wanted the best of the best when it came to stock, and obviously we unfourtanently we couldn't supple everything, so he would frequently outsource help from your family's business." I raised my eye at the sudden information. 'Patch of land'? 'Restaurant'? 'Work? I doubt a woman looking like she does could've done that kind of work... "Where exactly you from, miss Rarity?" "I hail from the lovely state of Michigan! My family lives in Clinton county." What? What? Her, Michigan, what??? "You?" I shouldn'ta said that, Rarity's mood dropped instantly, 'n she became all sullen like. "Why must everyone ask that..." Now I felt bad for judgin' the book 'fore I opened it... "I-I didn't mean to offend, just surprised me was all. That is a mighty interestin' coincidence how our Fathers crossed paths 'n all, but how in the wide world ya end up here?" Rasin' her head up, she gave me a look that showed she didn't really wanna talk about it. "To make a long story significantly shorter, I was offered a job down here, which was given away, then I sought out Gilda, who turned out to be nothing more than a common criminal." I crossed my arms, leaning against my knees. "I don't think anything 'bout Gilda's exactly 'common'." Rarity leaned against the wall behind her, crossing her arms and her left leg over her right. "Hm. I suppose you're right." I lowered my head and stared at the floor, all was quiet for some time. "... How did you find yourself down here miss Applejack? Have you got family here in Nevada?" I shook my head. "No... no all my family, the important ones I mean, all live back in San Antone." "Whatever brought you here in the first place?" Damn it all, I don't wanna tell this story again, I thought I could trust Gilda with it and... sigh now that ain't fair comparin' the two, I don't peg Rarity as the type of person to betray someone... Course I thought the same 'bout Gilda, and look where that landed me... "I... I uh..." I still wasn't lookin' at her, even though I could feel her stare on me. "It's... a long story..." She seemed disappointed, but didn't look all that surprised. "I see... if you don't wish to talk about it, I won't force you to Applejack. I can see it is a very personal subject for you... you confided in Gilda, didn't you?" I gave a weak nod. "I see... so we have suffered the same treatment." I turned my head up, eyes on Rarity. "I shall not peruse the matter then." That made me feel a little nice inside, I couldn't fight the smile that made it's way to my bruised face. "That's mighty kind of you miss Rarity. And thank you for the whole cleanin' up thing." "You are most welcome miss Applejack." She smiled back.. "... I'm sorry you and that Twilight gotta endure all of this... I'm rackin' my brain tryin' to find a solution to all this but..." "Frankly, I do not believe there is one..." For a split second, her voice sounded like she had given up... Removing herself from the wall, she started to head out of the kitchen, when she was at the doorway, she turned to look at me again. "It was a pleasure meeting you miss Applejack. During the on and off-hours I am working the bar unless I am called to work. If you wish, perhaps we might keep each other company, and learn a little more about each other?" The question sounded hopeful. "I wouldn't mind that at all." I answer with a smile, she returned it. "I am looking forward to it." Then she was gone. That reminds me, I wonder if Gilda ever got finished with my room? I walked out of the kitchen, and looked around the lounge, no sign of Gilda in sight. Twilight, I noticed, was still at her booth, figured I'd ask her if Gilda came through. "Howdy Twilight, ya'll seen if-" "Room's done, last door on the left." It came out so fast, I barely heard it. She sounded anxious, nervous, wonder if she's alright. "You all right there?" "Yep. Fine. Room's done, you should probably go right?" She didn't once look at me from her book, and I didn't like her tone, something happened that shook her up... Aw hell, she ain't gonna tell me if I ask anyway. Against my better judgement, I left her alone, and went to my room intent on retiring for the day, it's been... stressful. Least I would've had my room not been completely trashed... I hate this woman... Laying on the couch. Another can a beer. A bigger buzz. Not sure how many Coors I slammed, but it was enough to where I was seeing wobbly, and started thinking about today... Man... heh heh I fucked that Jack up, didn't... din't even see me comin'... "Fffuck that Twilight, smartass little bitch..." Swig. "Feels like, Goddamn yesterday I even brought that bitch in here... Five years... the fuck did my life go? Why'd I even do this in the first place? "Psh, dumb question, I wanted money, what's the big deal?..." Swig. The 'big deal', drunky, is the fact of how you got here in the first place, the things you've done, and the people you've hurt. "... I did what I needed to do! And who the hell are you to tell me what I should or shouldn'tve done?" This is your conscience you dweeb! I'm the thing in you try to pretend you don't have. You know, like when you frantically shake your head, trying to stop yourself from feeling bad?... "I..I-I must be goin' crazy..." No, not 'crazy' per-se, just a little... mad. Why can't you just admit your wrongdoings? That coming here five years ago was a mistake? That you feel bad about what you put those three women through, just so you could make a buck. "I-I knew what I was getting into when I signed up with Flim and Flam, and I don't feel bad 'bout what I done. It's their fault for being dumb enough to trust someone who says that they can get them free work! Look, I don't have to explain nothin' to... myself, so let me drink in peace..." "You wanna know the truth; where all of this doubt in your head really stems from?" "Where? My turmoiled aching heart or some shit?" Close... You regret hurting... him. "The hell are you on about now?" You know exactly who I'm talking about. Older guy? The one you let commit statutory rape? The one you sold out for your own selfish gain. ... The man who, at one point, you felt was the only one, that wasn't your parents, to ever really love you. Cranky... I bolted off the couch after his name popped in my head, a little too fast though, as right after I did I hit the floor. "No... no I... I can't..." I was able to shakily stabilize myself on my knees, I could feel my eyes start to tremble. I try so hard to keep all of this shit bottled up, but today, it just uncorked itself on me. I always felt bad, I guess, but I chalked that up to what little empathy I naturally had, I thought... I-I thought it'd just go away! I very clearly remember enjoying the power I had over Twilight, feeling numb about it all when I brought in Rarity, yet I felt over the moon when I beat Applejack! What the fuck is wrong with me?... Drinking myself into a daze like this, has done nothing but resurface all these conflicting, damning feelings, and I hate how I'm so confused on where I stand on it all! I made the choice to leave home and come here, I made the choice to employ Film and Flam, and I made the choice to ruin some lives along the way, in the process of five years, so why now, do I feel like shit!? Because all of that youthful, proud, driven ambition you once had when you were just barely an adult, has died away, and replaced by more rational thinking. The short of it is Gilda, you simply grew up, and realized what an utter bitch you've been. ... Maybe... Trying very hard not to fall over, I stood up and made my way over to my desk, certain moments replaying in my head. "Go to hell!!! I trusted you!" Twilight wanted, no needed to find a way to support her widowed sister-in-law, and adoptive brother. She's lost her big brother to murder, or possibly suicide, she's lost her freedom and not too long ago today, I alluded to her, or her brother Spike's life being in danger if she didn't relay a message for me... I pulled out my chair as I sat down,laying my head on my arms upon the surface. "You're mad... no not mad, you're sick. Sick, a-and demented. I needed your help! I trusted you, and you think 'helping' me, is asking me to work in a brothel as some sex object!?" Rarity wanted get enough money to bring her little sister down here, to get away from her melencho-mel-m-melen... depressing home life, after the career opportunity of her dreams was taken away from her. Ever since she got here, she's been behind that bar, most likely trying to drink away her problems as well. "Huff... huff... We... done, yet? Huff"... "Huff Why? Why do ya... want me in that club-a yours so... huff so bad?" "Huff... weeze I... gave up...every- cough everything to run my business... I'm willing to do whatever is necessary, to keep my dest-... dream alive." "At the pant expense of, o-of conspirin' with known killers? Ruining unknowing women's lives?" Then there's Applejack... a runaway who's been living on the road for two years, estranged from her family, no where to go, but she still finds a reason to even get up in the morning and continue on. I lifted my head up from my arms, feeling extremely drained. I turned my attention to the top drawer of my desk, right under my sagging corpse. Almost in a trance, I rolled back slightly, and opened it up revealing one of the last remnants of my past. Don't know why I keep this Goddamn thing... all it does is bring back held in strife. The item in question was a photograph. An average 3x5 picture in a small frame, should be nothing special, but what was in it, always made me pause. It was of Cranky and I. Specifically, in the spring time at the local fair that came through that year. Admittedly at first glance there wasn't nothing too special about it. It was taken selfie style, at about arms length away, I had a big ol' smile on my face, and cranky had a smaller content one, with his arm wrapped around my shoulders. I always really liked it for some reason though, he and I just looked so... Happy... I hate how I can still get sentimental over him, I-I mean come on let's get real here, he was a pedophile! He took advantage of a young woman! Even though you completely went along with it. He cheated on his wife! Which never bothered you before. ... I ran my thumb over the glass frame, mulling over my current thought patterns. I take note of how at peace the old man was... how happy I looked. Why did I hurt you?... What did I really gain from it? As I recall, you did it for money. At the expense of my peace of mind almost seven years later... why now? Why does it hurt me now!? You know why, oh you know exactly why. ... N... no... That's right, you Gilda Hof still- "I... I-I still love him." ... ... The picture dropped from my hand to the desk. ... My eyes widened and began to quiver. ... The hand that held it slowly covered my mouth. ... My free hand rested itself over my heart. ... And then I began to cry. "Oh God... o-oh God, what- w-what have I done!?" After all he did for me, after all I did with him; he cared about me, he loved me! That day in the court... h-he looked so numb, so dead, and I caused that... because I betrayed him, I sold him out... I... I "I-I'm s-s-sorry Cranky... I'm so sorry..." Flashes of memories from years ago went by in my head like a windy breeze, swift, and chilling me to my core. Dates we went on, places he took me, stuff he bought me... our first time together... moments I wasn't even aware I held close to my heart drowning my senses in sorrow I didn't even know I felt. I've... I-I've made a horrible mistake, I threw away my life for this place, and what do I have to show for it!? Two murdering asshole brothers, so far at least three ruined lives, and a guilty conscience that's eating me alive! But... there's no going back for me now, I'm in too deep with these guys; with Sombra. There's nothing I can do... I sat there for what felt like hours, letting out everything I've held in for seven years until my eyes ran dry, and the pounding of my heart slowed down from panic to mild anxiety. After calming down the best I could, I tried to get my head back in a stable form of mind. Ok... sigh ok. I've fucked up. Big time. I going to have to except that eventually, but now... now I need to move on, keep pressing forward. The Griffon... the Griffon will move forward and evolve as planned. I feel like utter shit, but I can't let that interfere with my work, after all I've given up for this establishment, I can't just let it die. I removed myself from the chair and headed over to the couch, and threw myself down on it, back first. I guess I feel a little better now, now that I've let all those pent up emotions out, and I realize the problem isn't, or rather wasn't the girls, it was my nagging guilt over Cranky... the man I betrayed; the man I still love. That fact is a hard pill to swallow, one I need to, and fast, if I hope to move on. Then I remembered that starting tomorrow, I had to start walk Applejack through the basics for the next couple weeks. That's gonna suck. Plus I still had one more position to fill. Ugh, still so much work to do! At that point I figured that I had done enough thinking for one day, and decided to turn in. What time was it anyway?... Eh, I didn't care I just wanted to sleep, closing my eyes, I attempted to do just that. ... ... ... ... "THAT'S IT!" An idea came to me... an awesome idea. An idea that maybe, just maybe, could sooth my guilty conscious, and I could redeem myself. An idea that's risky, may not work, and will cost a lot of money, and require me to keep doing what I'm doing, but the pay off is totally worth it. An idea, that may take a few more years to raise the funds for, but would be completely worth the risk of associating myself with Flim, Flam and their entire organization. An idea that's worth doing whatever it takes to make it succeed, no matter who I step on, and who I have to go through that's in my way. An idea that, if it works... could lead to my salvation. Yeah... yeah, this could work! I-I won't have to live with this emotional hurricane anymore, if I go through with this and it works! I leaped up from the couch, stumbling to the ground again, but picking myself up with greater ease, I grabbed a shit load of paper and pencils from my desk, a calculator, and a whole lotta Gatorade from the fridge. I had a lot to start planning. Oh yeah... this is gonna be rad.
Griffons Cathouse	Cracking The Whip	Everything's falling into place, projectively speaking, I should have all the cash I'll need in about another year. Course that's being incredibly optimistic, considering Applejack has been making the process of breaking her in more agonizingly stressful than it needs to be... but she isn't my biggest concern right now. After my binge drinking, and mental breakdown, I only came outside just to open the doors, other than that I stayed behind my transaction booth. I felt like shit yeah, but I wasn't about to lose money for it. When business hours were over, or I had any kind of free time, I was usually doing a combination of either drinking, planning, some minor moping, but also coming into a mental state of acceptance. Usually all of the above though. That night, my whole world threw itself back at my face, and I hated what felt from it, but I am trying my damnedest to come to terms with it. Come to terms with the feelings of guilt that almost ate me alive, come to terms with knowing that there's no getting out of this lifestyle for me... coming to terms with the love I still held for Cranky... Bitter medicine to swallow. It's hard enough for anyone to admit when they're wrong, but trying to accept that what you've been doing wrong, you've been doing wrong for the past five years? Most people would rather die. Not me though, no no, I can't let it consume me, not after I just worked out a plan that can make this all go away. If I do it right, Flim and Flam will get off clean with some money so they leave me alone for good, Sombra won't try to come after my ass, and I'll have a clear conscience for the rest of my life! First step: play teacher to Applejack. I knew from the start that, that was going to be a particularly... stressful objective, didn't expect it to be, "pull my hair out by the fistful", type of stressful though. It was a Wednesday when I came out of my room, finally ready to be among the living again, I made my way to the lounge, correctly assuming that she'd be there, as soon as I stepped foot in there, I noticed two things. One: Clearly Applejack and Rarity hit it off better than Twilight did with anybody ever. Rarity hadn't been called up yet (cause remember, her and Twilight ain't cheap), so the two of them were just shootin' the shit, and drinking annoying amounts my booze for free over the past few days... Well mostly Applejack, Rarity held a strict "no drunken escapades during work hours" rule for herself, but I always pegged Rarity to be a healthy consumer of alcohol. Oh, and two: Twilight is now apparently, terrified of me. I walked in, she laid eyes on my for a split second, then as quickly as she peeked up she all but slammed her head back down into the book. I felt pretty badass, no lie. I called Applejack over; said it was time to give her the inaugural training. Not sure what 'inaugural' means, but it sounded cool. Her scars and whatnot covered up nicely, I figured 'hell, I'll put her on the floor today!' I would then learn that day to never again let optimism get the best of me. This woman seriously tried to fuck me. Not literally dumb-ass, I mean financially screw me over. First thing, first thing I told her was: 'The customer is always never wrong, so be prepared to put up with some bullshit'. So check it, I give her this really cool, spontaneous pep talk (to which she kept giving me 'I wanna punch your face out' glares), telling her what to expect, and to play it cool. To just relax, be yourself, but also put on a show, seein' as how I am charging extra for her. I should've known something was up when she all but stormed out of the room when I was done, mumbling 'Oh, I'll put on a show all right'. But again, optimism. Applejack didn't have any new clothes, so she had to wear the ones that had the shit kicked out of them, I actually thought it worked, added some character you know? ... FIRST. GUY! Applejack was able to look hot enough to entice some nerd whose name I don't remember, and took him back to her still messed up room. Next thing I hear is the sounds of screaming and man tears, as said nerd bolts out of my building. The conversation with Applejack that followed, featured a very pissed off me. "What the fuck dude!? First fucking customer, and you kick his ass!? That shit costs me money man!!" "Hey, ya'll told me to 'put on a show' didn't ya?" Applejack would then have a hole in her wall after that. Yeah, those weeks sucked. If she wasn't grasping what was expected of her (on purpose,I swear to God she had to have been), she was scaring off customers. LOSING ME MONEY. I got her new wardrobe, personally oversaw the clean-up of her room, but I couldn't get this bitch to behave! I had to play dirty. It was a month into Applejack's initiation/sabotage, a Sunday as well, when I confronted her with some... information that I thought she would find most interesting. I made sure that both Rarity and Twilight were there, so they could witness what I was about to do. A statement needed to be made. Rarity and Jack were poppin' squats at the bar having some of my booze, laughing (most likely at my expense), and watching what looked like Monday Night RAW re-run. Wait, Applejack likes wrestling? That makes sense... wait a minute, that's my WWE Network subscription, I didn't say she could use it! It was on for real now. I stood near the center of the room, leaning on one of the tables, making myself look as nonchalant as I could. Looking at the clock on a near by wall, I took note of the time; 12:45. It was then my cell phone rang. Right on time.I casually pulled out my phone, and answered my call. "Y-ellow?" "Hof. It's me." "Oh hey what's up?" "I've made it to the objective, beginning mission preparations." "Rad. Right on time like I was told you'd be, Aiden." "Well, you're not paying me to waste time, and I'd prefer not to myself." I could hear clicking in the background, the kind you'd hear on a firearm. He was packing heat. "So how's your day gone so far 'boss'? Anything particularly special happen?" "Nah, not much man, just uh, just chillin' at the office. Watching RAW." "Network right? You watched Payback, Punk come back yet?" "No, no CM Punk return yet. Surprised you weren't there, thought you'd be rioting when Cena beat Wyatt." "Hmph. I have nothing against him, just the fact that they wanted to build him up as some Hogan/Rock Hybrid. Doesn't matter now-a-days I guess, that Adrian Neville's gonna be the next 'Best in The World' one day anyway." "Yeah, Nevelle's pretty awesome dude." Aiden's a new buddy Flim and Flam put me in contact with. When planning this, I informed them that, I needed someone who will follow their client's orders, no (unreasonable) questions asked, as long as they got payed. Enter Aiden. Dude's based outta Chicago, but for the right price, he'll go wherever you need him to be, to carry out whatever job you need him to do. Point in case... "You about ready to get this show on the road?" I asked in a quieter voice. "Just about. Start setting it into motion, I'll be ready by the time your done." "Got it. Make sure you got your 'face-time' function at the ready, and remember, until I give the verbal signal we discussed, what's next is a one sided conversation only, got it?" "Got it." With excitement practically emanating out of my pores, I kicked the ball rolling. "So what'd I say, nice looking place right?" Silence on all ends. Good. "All scenic and shit, I told you you'd like it... ... yeah man, just another day ya know? Working' hard, gettin' payed." Using my peripherals, I scanned towards Applejack. I saw an eye roll, but so far, no one was intervening. "Where could I recommend?... Well considering you are a tourist, you could always check out the Alamo... that place is badass, then treat yourself to a shit load of barbecue." At this Applejack turned to my direction, most likely getting suspicious. I pretended to pay her no mind. "No lie though dude, there's plenty to do in that big-ass state, you shan't be bored... yeah, that's a word." I was silent for several seconds, letting the tension fill the air. Twilight peered up at me with, most likely, morbid curiosity, Rarity was leaning over the bar, arms folded with a look of confusion on her white mug, and Applejack looked just plain bothered. Almost... "It's awesome, but no where near as pretty as Michigan, I'd highly recommend that place as your next stop." I knew I had grabbed Rarity's attention, now for the last little niche to be filled. "Hell, if ya got the time and money, swing on by to Cali. Always a party somewhere over there." All eyes were on me at this point, I was making it completely obvious that some sinister happenings were... happening, and I needed just one of them to take the bait. Thankfully it was Applejack. "Gilda, what the hell are ya-" I held up a finger to silence her. "Shut it Jack, I'm on the phone with a friend. What's got your anchors hoisted?" That sounded cooler in my head... "I'm a little curious as to what ya'll are talkin' bout." I rolled my eyes at her. "My buddy is on a cross-country road trip, and he's askin' for my opinion on some hot spots to visit. What's it to you?" "And it's just coincidence that the places your reccomendin' happen to be those particular states?" So she caught on... I feigned offence at her inquisition. "Yeah, they're popular tourist states-" Pfft. Who the fuck goes to Michigan? "- why wouldn't I recommend them. So fucking paranoid- can I not even hold a simple conversation, without you spitting out conspiracies?" "Ain't nothin' ever 'simple' with you Hof, so forgive me if I don't exactly believe the idea of you havein' a 'simple conversation'." "Heh. She's a smart one isn't she? Maybe she should try running your operation." Oh, fuck off Aiden... "It's the truth! Hold that thought Jack- what's up? Oh, yeah sure I got the address. See Applejack? He just wants to know the address for a very rad tourist site. Actually know what? I'll put 'im on speaker, just so you can feel like shit for how wrong you are." That's the signal. I pressed the speaker button, so now my hired helps voice could be heard through out the mostly barren room. "Aiden you still there dude?" "Yep, still reading you loud and clear. Hello Griffon's Cathouse." Applejack lost some of her visible hostility, but looked no less tense. "You got the directions to that place I'm trying to find Gilda? I just keep getting turned 'round and around out here." "Got you right here dude. Ok, the address you're looking for is..." I couldn't fight the smile slithering its way onto my face. "1-4-9-8 Appleway." I turned to Applejack, dying to see her reaction. "149... That's-!" Eyes widen, breathing hitches, fists clench teeth clash together. I got her. Sensing something amiss, Rarity addressed Applejack's growing tension, resting a hand upon her shoulder as she asked her question. "Applejack are you alright? What is the significance of this place Gilda mentioned?" "It's..." She looked back at Rarity. "...that place is Sweet Apple Acres. My home..." I could easily hear Twilight and Rarity gasp in, what was definitely shock. "1498 'Appleway' you said?... huh. Well what do you know?..." As he left his sentence on a cliffhanger, very audibly, the unmistakable clicking and cocking of a gun was heard throughout the mostly barren room. "I ended up right in front of it." All was silent in the lounge. I took this delicious opportunity to see the after affects of our actions. From left to right Twilight looked five shades paler, Applejack looked ready to kill me, and Rarity looked plain frightened. Radical, I got them in the palm of my hand. "What were some of the other places you advised on paying a visit to? They seemed to have slipped my mind." Oo, nice play dude! "Well lets see, there was 7-4-7 Alemeda St. in LA, and 1-3-5 Margret St. in Clinton county Michigan very... family oriented type of locations." The silence that came from my reciting of such precious information was so thick, someone could suffocate from it. This power I have over them... it feels awesome! The feeling of utter superiority is practically orgasmic... "You... y-you monster..." I heard Twilight breath out from her booth. Letting out a cruel laugh, I glanced her way, as I reinforced her current fears. "I warned you dweebs about fucking with me." No sooner did I spit my taunt out, Applejack was in front of me, my shirt in her grip, back pressed to the table, her eyes ripping right through mine. "Who is this guy, and why is he at my front door?" Dammit she spit on me... "Well clearly his name is Aiden-" "Hey-o." "-and clearly he wants to take in the sights of San Antonio. What better place to take a tour of, then one of America's best distributors of Apples, and other crap?" Let's see how she likes it when she's dead serious and I don't give a shit. "Bullshit! I heard a gun click Gilda, we all did, now answer me, what the hell is he doing at Sweet Apple Acres!?" "Heh heh heh... just giving you a little insensitive to do your job Jackie-" Fuck, she hit me! It was a right hook, straight across the jaw, the force of the strike sent me to the ground. Any normal person would be cradling the wound, looking up at their attacker in shock. I however, was too jacked up on adrenaline, and while it did hurt... I couldn't help but laugh at the once strong woman breaking right before me. "Ha ha ha ha- ow dude! That- snort that fucking hurt- aha ha ha!" My gleeful laughs completely dumbfounded the room for some time- the situation was just too funny to me! I warned them about messing with me, and now they're paying the price. "You Goddamn psycho-path... I bet ya'll are pulling our legs anyway ain't ya? J-just wantin' to rile us up, in an attempt to get us to serve you right!? You... y-you wouldn't really go that far would ya?..." That fear I sense coming from you Applejack?... "We- heh heh- well I think the correct term at this point would be 'sociopath', Jack. Second, oh I am very much serious about threatening your family, what were their names... Mac and Applebloom?..." Applejack's eyes shot open, and with that, any sense of calming down left her, as she grabbed me by the collar again -I'm gonna have to shrink this thing now...- and lifted me up off the ground. "Prove it. Prove that he's really there, for all I know he could just be right outside." Oooh, I was SO hoping you'd say that! "With pleasure Jack..." "Applejack, can you hear me? Stupid question, I know you can. Access Gilda's phone, and select 'Face Time'. I'd recommend being hasty about it too." Very hesitantly, Applejack followed Aiden's instructions, probably thought I rigged it to explode or something... not a bad idea of offing someone actually. After pressing the appropriate button, Applejack and I were greeted with the sight of said buddy, Aiden. He must have set his phone on a tri-pod or something, -Nice touch!- cause he was standing several feet away from the phone, gun in hand, trench coat on, and a face mask concealing his identity. Behind him was, what looked like to be, a small white picket fence, and behind it, a (honestly quite beautiful) red, I think two-story, house. Ex-home for Jack looked nice. "Now then, Applejack, as you can quite clearly see, I am indeed right outside your front door, well, ex-front door if my profile on you is to be believed." Applejack cringed her teeth at his nonchalant reminder. "Now what I hold in my hand here is a 45. SOCOM pistol, equipped with a suppressor for those 'Tactical Espionage' kind of jobs. I've been contracted to find one: Macintosh Apple, and a Applebloom Apple. Who, according to my sources, live right here at this very, cozy little home. Why you're probably asking?... Well, you shouldn't have wasted so much of Gilda's time and money. This is the price you now have to pay." I like this guy! Applejack quickly let go of me, all but threw me, and frantically hovered over my phone. "NO! Y-ya can't do this! They, th-they have no part in this! Applebloom, she... she ain't even half-way done with High School yet..." She choked out that last bit of info. I've done it! I've broken her! Now, to make her irreparable... "I warned you Jack. I've given you, the egghead, and you princess, warning after warning, after threat, to follow my orders, and get me profits. Now..." I mustered up the best 'evil smile' I physically could, as I explained myself. "This is what happens when you cross the boss. I've beaten you down." I boasted as I glared through Applejack. "Lied, and cheated you." A knowing smirk to Rarity. "And taken away most sense of freewill, here at the Griffon." Smile and wave to Twilight. "But I always had a subtle line I never crossed. Something I promised myself not to do... well, unfourtanently..." "That lines been crossed." "Yes. You all brought it on yourselves, and forced my hand, and in doing so, I've now officially taken away the last sense of security you all had. This idea that, no matter what happens to you: 'at least your families are safe'." "Sorry to say, but the world doesn't work like that. With the enough money, and the right connections, anyone can get to anybody." "Exactly. As of this moment, my esteemed employees, none of you are safe." I took the time to examine the damage I've just caused. I looked to Twilight, kid was full on crying now. Not full on sobbing, but the silent tears thing, slowly shaking her head 'no' as if all of this will go away if she wakes up. Rarity's back was against the shelves, shaky hand over her heart, eyes wide and glossy, the idea of Sweetie Belle's safety must have just set it. And Applejack just stood there, head downcast, hopefully, feeling like a helpless welp right about now. Victory is mine! I let out a loud triumphant laugh in celebration. "And I do mean no one, dweebs! Not your family, not your friends, not Spike, not Sweetie Belle-" "And especially not Macintosh, or Applebloom." "You're Goddamn right Aiden! Whatcha gonna do Jack?" She snapped her head up, eyes trying desperately hard not to let tears fall. "Gonna still be a defiant bitch, and risk not just your family's safety-" I pulled her close so I could whisper: "-the ones who abandoned you might I add?" Then shoved her away as I carried on. "But both of your new friends' families? Or... are you, as I expect allof you to do, gonna be a good whore, and put out?" Silence, silence, and more silence. Id've given anything right then to see what was going on in her head. "I... I..." "Hmm?.. Speak up there pardner, I can't quite hear you." "... ... I... hate you..." Applejack turned back to Rarity, who stared back her, hand now resting over her mouth as she held in gasps. Holding contact for several seconds, Rarity turned downcast her eyes. I guess that's her answer for Applejack. Then Jack turned her attention to Twilight, who may just point out, was a wreck. Eyes were puffy and red, tears stained her face, she looked positively mangled. She raised her head to Applejack, smoky lavender eyes connecting with glossy green ones. This is seriously a sight to behold, if this was Scorsese film, guarantee it'd be up for an award! Then I saw it, the true moment of defeat for Twilight, with sorrow and fear gripping her heart, she mouthed 'please' to Applejack. Game. Set. Match. "... but I will... work for you." "Sorry, repeat that? Something was in my ear." "Rrr... I said... I'll work for you." "Scuzie, one more time, I-" "Goddammit, I'll be one of your whores! I'll make you your money back, whatever you want! Just... please don't... don't hurt my family- our families..." The dam finally broke, she slammed her head on a nearby table and let all of her pain out on the wooden top. "Twilight, Rarity? Can I still count on your loyalty?" "sniff y-hiccup- y-es..." "... Yes, Gilda..." As tears from Applejack stained my table, and Rarity along with Twilight were now terrified of me, I put some of their fears to rest, for now. "...Ladies... you just saved your families lives. Aiden. Hit's off, head on home." "Hmm. Complete and utter compliance, just like you said they would. Gotta admit Gilda, you sure know how to make a plan. I'll expect my pay by Friday." "Of course." "And as one last little piece of insurance, as per you and I discussed Gilda, the two of us will have daily check ins with each other. The reason for this, ladies, is in case any of you get any ideas, which involve either escape, harm, or death involving my client... well, I know where you live. And I will come for them, with the connections and money I net from Sombra, there's no way any of you will make it home in time to save anyone. Actually, do that anyway, it'd save me the trouble of sniffing you out anyway." I crossed my arms, shamelessly looking smug at my employees. "Yeah, don't try anything funny girls." "Then there's the problem of course, of you reporting Gilda or myself to the police... hm hm... who do you think some of Gilda's best customers are? Dirty cops, clean cops, 'cops', who are actually insiders for people like us. Cops... that eliminate certain cops if they start to learn too much, cops that tip our organization off to young women, that get fashion designing opportunities." Heh heh, these not-so-subtle implications are too good man. Rarity's hand flew to her mouth in realization, as she put the pieces together. "You... bastards." "That, Rarity, is one hell of an understatement." Twilight sat at her table, a far-off look in her eyes, as answers about her brother (may have) presented themselves. For all I know, he could be lying about that one. "... big brother..." So numb... "Well, it's been fun ladies, but I have a paycheck to collect, and a smoggy city to return to. Take care. Heh heh." CALL ENDED Allowing myself one last glance around, I took in the aftermath of my victory. Twilight: Motionless and zoned out, looking exhausted from the bullshit she just had to endure. Rarity: Shocked to say the least; a look of utter horror was splayed across her flawless face, as she visibly willed herself not to cry. Applejack: Afraid, sad obviously, pissed off and mad about it. Favorite one personally. "... Have a good evening ladies. HA!" And with that, I retired to my room feeling accomplished, and relaxed; dealing with this lifted a weight off my shoulders. I turned on the TV, put on some metal, and spent the next few hours gaming on the PS4. Applejack never gave me any trouble after that. Several weeks later, I found myself back in the faux-office, incredibly ecstatic over the profits those three whipped femme's have been getting me. I was in a great mood honestly, I was ready to get the last piece of the puzzle; the fourth and final member of my elite playmate team. I was all set, excited even, to finish this little quest I started for myself. At least I was until I met her. Oh God her...
Griffons Cathouse	Pinkie's Arrival	*************************************************************************** It is night as she enters the city, out of view from anyone that could suspect anything. She has walked for days now; clothes torn, filthy, jacket riddled with holes, and patches covering up old ones, curly hair a tangled mess. The bottoms of her feet burn something terrible, her back aches with every step, shoulders sore from the weighty backpack strewn on them. Yet her smile never wavered for a second. For though she was by herself, she was not truly alone. She has a friend; a special friend. to accompany her through every moment of her journey. Through thick and thin, through pain and what mild pleasure there is, she is there. For years they have been together, attached at the hip, relatively speaking. Excitement fills the optimistic drifter, as she nears the city's entrance. 'A new place to make home for a while!', she thought. 'Hope we can actually make this one last for a while...' she wishes. 'We will,' her friend assures, 'it's all a matter of meeting the right people, and convincing them to help us.' The prospect of meeting new people, potentially making a friend or two, gives the young woman a new found spring in her step , that carries her the rest of the way, until she is finally in the town, of Carson City. 'Not too big, but not all that small I guess.' she reasons. 'My tummy's rather rumbly... can we stop for some food?', she all but begs. 'I suppose so. Provided 'food', isn't just an excuse to gorge out on pan dulce again...', she chastises. "You know you loved it! I wasn't going to anyway.", she "promises". Minutes roll by as she treads across the street, kicking random rocks, and trash as she comes across it, trying to pass the time until she found a suitable establishment for dining. And she did. At the end of a plain old street, at a corner that looks like any other, there sat a quaint little restaurant that peaked the pairs interest. Well... one in particular, anyway. 'Hmm... Sugar-Cube Corner huh? That place looks nice, can we go in!?', the young woman pleaded. 'I guess... wait, that place looks like it specializes in deserts, not food food!' 'You didn't say anything about donuts and cupcakes!', she loop-holed. Her companion sighs, not in exasperation, but in a fond nature. She should have know that her friend would find some loop-hole around the 'no-sweets' policy. 'I suppose I didn't, did I? Very well then, Pinkie. Lead the way.' 'Hee hee, thanks!' And so they entered the restaurant. Those she met while inside, and two peculiar looking twins she would encounter a few weeks from then would, like several before her, warp her young life forever... *******************************Present Time************************************* A familiar sound rang from the oak door, (or whatever the hell they make doors out of), the unmistakable jingle of 'shave-and-a-haircut'. I answered with an in time 'come in', and was greeted by... her. "Hey, welcome to the office, name's-" Before I could finish my introduction, the door had opened, shut, and a flash of pure pink filled my vision. In what felt like a mere second, I was face-to-face with the biggest smile I'd ever seen on a woman, and PINK hair... the scary part is, it didn't look dyed. "Uh... hi, n-name's Gil-" I reached out my hand to shake, I barely got an inch out, and she had grasped my hand in both of hers, shaking it almost violently! "Hidey-ho, I'm Pinkie Pie! I'm new in town, can you help me out? I heard you can help me out! I've had just the hardest time getting work since I got here a week, four days and twelve hours ago! I've been looking aaalllll day and night for someplace to hire me, cause if I can't work I can't get money, and if I can't get money I can't eat, and if I can't eat, I'll die!" "... Uh-" "And if I die, I can't eat Haagen-Dazs!!" "That would su-" "So I walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked-" INHALE "- and walked around a lot, until I met two really cool Vaudeville looking guys in Bowler hats, and they recommended someone named 'Gilda Hof', one of them even had a cool mustache!-" Holy shit, this train has no brakes! At least she let go of my hand now... which I noticed something odd about, her hands were strangely... rough; they felt calloused, and she had a pretty strong grip to her. She's worked hard before- "-so I looked around, and around, but I couldn't find the place! I tried checking for your name on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Yellowpages, Yelp, Snapchat, Youtube, Dailymotion, Reddit, Vine, even Google plus! Course that last one's a little silly though." "Why's that?" "NO ONE uses Google plus!" Well at least now I know she's not stupid. She's talks so fast, but articulates so well! I haven't even had a chance to examine her wardrobe!- "So after looking around for about an hour, twenty-three minutes, and forty-two seconds, I hit up the most adorable little bakery a few block away from here; "Sugar Cube Corner", ever been there?" I have actually, it's run by this older couple the Cakes; Carrot, and Cup respectively. Again, what the fuck with the names? Doesn't matter though, their pastries are BOMB... What? Any woman -no- female, in any shape or form, tells you they don't like sweets, is a Goddamn liar. This 'Pinkie Pie' sure looks like the type with a sweet-tooth. She's a friendly little tyke too, making small talk, wanting to learn about the one she's talking too without sounding too pushy or personal, she sounds one-hundred percent genuine about it too. Hmm... 'friendly'... "Yeah, I have. That's the place run by Car-" "-rot and Cup, yep! I met them about a day after I came here, and I started making the restaurant my regular hang-out spot. I stopped by today, asking if they'd heard of you, they had, and point me in the right direction, so here I am! Have you met them before? Ohmigosh, they are the nicest people! sigh If only they could afford employee's..." The end of that sentence sounded strangely... melancholic, partnered perfectly with a tiny frown on her lips, and the first breaking of eye contact. I guess they must have hit it off pretty well. They're aight; the Cakes. I wouldn't hangout with them for a first choice, but they're cool all the same I guess. 'Afford employee's'? I knew it was a momma n' poppa's kinda joint, but damn, they take the cake. HA! "Oh well, c'est la vie right? They did point me in your direction though, so here I am!" Well, she perked back the fuck up fast, holy shit... "Interesting story you got there kid... how's bout we get this interview process underway, yeah? You have indeed found who you're looking for." "Okie-doki-loki!" And plop into the chair she went, legs hooking over and under each other, Indian-style. I gotta wonder if she goes through all of her interviews like this? That would explain her bad luck... actually, know what? Fuck it, Im'ma ask her about that. "Well, right off the bat, I gotta ask you... uh..." "Pinkie Pie!" "Yeah... well, to put it in a word, you're very..." My god, her eyes... her crystal blue eyes, they're staring at me all huge, and expectantly, big smile still on her face... she's piercing my soul man! "Upbeat. I was curious, if... you always approach interviews like this?" Hope that didn't sound to rude. Guess not, cause next thing I know she's giggling like I just told a funny. "Of course not silly, I'd never hold down a job if I did that! Mama Pie always told me; she said: 'Pinkie, there's a time and a place for everything, and the workplace ain't one of them. The key of life is moderation, especially for someone like you.' Not too sure what that last part means, but it sure helped me take things like this seriously." Ouch... "And those nice bowler-boys said you're pretty laid back about this stuff, so I decided, be laid back!" "This is... is laid back?" "You know something, my relatives used to ask the same thing!" "Uh huh... so... how did they describe me to you exactly...?" "Well, the one with the mustache said that you're a brutish, headstrong, stubborn, proud, self-loathing slob, and the baby-face one described you as a vain, unappreciative, slave-driver... but I don't get that vibe from you at all!" Fuck you guys... seriously. "Eh ha ha... yeah, well, uh... w-we're pals so, you know how that goes; bust each other's balls once in a while..." I know someone who's getting stiffed on payment this month... After that shaky, blow-off response, Pinkie gave me one of her own. "Kinda sorta maybe I do I guess." The hell, was that even a proper sentence? I didn't even hear a comma in that. " My friends we're always super duper sweet! Always saying hi and... ... ... well, ya' know!" No. No I don't... this lady and I are in two completely different worlds... can't let her know that though. "Well either way, we go back a long ways, so we're comfortable around each other enough to give each other shit like that. Having friends for a long time does that to you." It does doesn't it... Kinda have grown fond of those two... eh. Probably some weird form of Stockholm Syndrome... "That's awesome! You three must be good friends!" "Hm... Yeah, guess we are..." This was starting to get a little uncomfortable, I needed to get back on track. "A-anyway, ready to get this started, miss... Pie?" "Yup-yup!" Down the legs went, hands following them into her lap. Now that I finally had a moment or two to relax a bit, I could take in her attire... don't know why you care so much about it... That pink hair of hers was CURLY, like, do you know who Buzz Osbourne is?... Ok, Google him, see his hair? Yeah, fuck that, that's got nothing on her; it's BRIGHT PINK! She's dressed professionally at least: she's sporting one of those sweater top things. You know, the ones that are called "sweaters" but their not all big and puffy? Plus a (freshly pressed if I'm not mistaken) pair of black slacks. That hair of hers was fashioned in a way that looked free, yet tame; the curls flowed however they wanted, yet stayed contained at the same time. ... You know the more women I meet, the more poetic I get about this kinda shit... She had on a slightly worn out pair of loafers, I swear I saw a hole on the front- "Yeah, the shoes are a little old, but they were all I had on hand at the moment." The fuck, how did she!- "U-uh, wha?..." "You we're staring at me for a little while, then spaced out looking at my loafy-loafs!" She kicked her legs up slightly to emphasize said shoes. "S-sorry, that happens to me someti-... 'Loafy... loafs'?..." I instantly regretted asking that... "Yep! That's what Granny Pie called them when she handed them down to me." She giggled to herself. "My Gran said the funniest things sometimes! 'Loafy-loafs', 'Spuny-sponge', 'bat-the-bath', oh oh! She had the cutest little nickname for me when I was a teeny tiny pie!" Oh joy, I really want to know- "She used to call me her little 'himar aboosh'. sigh... ... I have absolutely no idea what it means, but isn't it adorable?" She had the biggest smile on her face, it was enough to make me not want to completely laugh at her little memory. Oh... how do I resist that! The big blue eyes, pearly whites she's, she's just so fuckin'... fuckin'... "Yeah... it's very... cute" That's it! Cute!... oh, fuck me... "I always thought so too! Did your grannies and grampies have cutesy names for you too?" Shit, shit, this is getting personal way to fast... ok... just give her a short answer, and get focus back on the subject here... "No... no not, not really... not at all actually, I was always just Gilda. To my parents, relatives, cousins, whatever, just... Gilda... nothing more, nothing less..." That... sounded sadder than I thought it would. "Aww..." She gave me a look of... pity? "Whatchu 'aww-ing' about?..." "You sounded so sad as you said that..." ... did I?... "W-well, whatever, that's not important right now." I waved my hand, as a way to clear the air and my own head. "We got an interview to do. You still want to do that, right?" I added some ice to the end of that question, hoping to deter her from pursuing the subject. "Yup-yup! Ask away Gil-Gil!" 'Gil-Gil'.... yeah, that is not happening. Cuteness has officially worn off. "Gilda, will do fine, miss Pie. Now then, first and foremost-" Well look at me, actin' all uptight and bossy... "-where are you from? Gonna go out on a leap and guess that you aren't from around here." "Yyyyep! How'd ya guess?" I couldn't help but look at her like if just asked me if Half-Life 3 is confirmed. "..Very. Lucky. Assumption..." Her hand went up to her mouth. "Oh, wow!... You're goooood." Is she playing me?... She has to be, no one is this... innocent. Every time she's opened her mouth, something positive has come out of it-heh-, and when she's not talking, her fingers are interlocked in her lap, smile on her plump little lips, and I swear she bounces ever so slightly, as she awaits my next response... "... Where you from Pinkie?" "I come from the far far away land of Fresno, California!!" a-ptcha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Bull-fucking-shit! "snort Pardon me... but did you say... Fresno?..." She apparently didn't catch on to the fact that my sides were separating right in front of her, and just nodded eagerly. "That's right! Grew up on a tiny farm in the middle of nowhere, off Shaw street! Oh, it was sooooo pretty! Especially at sunset when-" Yeah, I kinda tuned her out after that. Kept goin' on and on about how pretty it looked, how friendly the animals were, how cool their bosses were, how strict but 'cool' her parents were, her sisters, everything in general with her seemed... nice. ... Kinda... too nice sounding I thought. I ain't ever stepped foot on a farm, ranch, whatever (apparently there IS a difference...), but from what Applejack told me, it's some hard-knox shit. Plus I mean, come on... it's FRESNO, who the fuck loves that town!? To be fair though, she did use other adjectives to describe her little home. She occasionally said something was, 'pretty', 'cute', and occasionally mentioned how the work was 'super-duper-hard'. Ok, so I didn't exactly tune her out as I thought about all of this, shut up. As I listened to her little tangent, it got me thinking; about her, and her story so far. I proposed myself a hypothesis: there's loving your work, your family, and anything else pertaining to that Behind The Music type of shit. Everyone/anyone (can) feel(s) that; from the retired seniors to the growing adolescents, from the heir to the field worker, from the animator to the graffiti artist, from the stadium band that's paid their dues to the DIY garage band just getting started, from Columbia to Rapture, I understand, and even respect, that much. Then there's the woman in front of me; Pinkie Pie, who, at this point, is going on and on about her 'life on the farm' and is glorifying it, to the point of a grandeur type of quality, or straight up denial. In conclusion, she's either being completely honest; maybe she does have pretty fond memories, or if they're not all bad, she just remembers the good, as a way to maintain a positive existence, which would also explain her rough hands. In which case, fine, I can respect that. OR the alternative... she's completely full of shit. I aims to find out. Holy shit, I just sounded really really smart right there! "-then Maud says: 'Pinkie, I don't think chickens are supposed to bend like that.', and I was all like-" "I got it." I authoritized as I held my hand up... what? 'Authoritized' is toats a word. "Really, it sounds... absolutely..." There are those eyes again of hers! "uh... captivating..." "Yup-yup! Anything else ya wanna know?" Shaking my head slightly to get my thoughts in order, I gave her a nod. "Yeah, yeah. This may seem a tad pointless-" but could provide valuable info "-but what kind of work experience do you have under your belt?" I half expected her to actually check under her belt. "Oh I've done just about everything!" Fuck! "I've done manual labor, woman-ual labor, animal labor, labor in the kitchen, labor outside the kitchen-" And so on and so on... ugh... she did mention 'kitchen work', and considering how she -must've- wanted that job at Sugarcube, I guess she's got some kinda culinary expertise. Huh. I could use a head chef at the Griffon. Everyone there just kinda does whatever. Heh... a woman who can possibly cook, and fuck. I think I might have hit the jackpot this time... Ugh... Oh God, I just thought about Pinkie at the Griffon... I feel so... why do I feel kinda... sick in the stomach? Flim and Flam did send her to me afterall, so I shouldn't really have any qualms over recruiting her. Maybe it's because- "-but easily my favorite part of volunteering at the school fair was the face painting! It was such a blast painting different designs and cute little creatures all day. Painting the kids was fun too!" -there's no Goddamn way she's legal. By legal I mean of course eighteen. Eighteen... that magic little number. Songs have been written about it; how it's either the best time of their life, or how it sucks ass. Studies and stories on the mental condition of people's lives at said age have been documented, written, and explored. 'Lovers' or employers, have become rapists if a certain someone isn't that infamous age; be it statutory or otherwise. People (terrible people most of the time mind you) have been put away, killed, or raped themselves, if one person lies about their age, or if the two (or more if they're... weird) go about passionate activities in secret. Then there's me... I'd be fucked. I couldn't risk it, I had to know if she was the age. Giving her a quick once over -she's still going by the way- I evaluated her assets. Cute, adorable, kawaii, all that shit, is about the only way I can describe this... 'woman?' I couldn't really tell if she was wearing any makeup, or if that creamy skin tone of hers was natural. Her eyes are big and inviting, her smile is flawless and pearly, and to top it off... she's got the most poke-able button-nose I've ever seen. Dammit... I can't tell! "- so I asked, 'D-I-D? What is that, a dance move?', and Dr. Crane said-" Fuck, I'm totally checking out this possibly underage woman-girl, whatever! I... I-I don't want to be a rapist, it's such an ugly label... despicable label- for terrible people!!... Ha, and like I'm not? I'm all but a murderer and a... rapist ugh... I could never live with my self if she... if I sold the body of an underage girl to some man or woman- NO... no, just- just calm down, get your thoughts coherent, and send her away. It's that easy! Just say 'sorry, but I can't help you' and poof she's gone! ... but... I could feel myself want to throw up from thinking up all this shit, bleach my brain, ANYTHING! Anything to get these weird little thoughts about Pinkie Pie that were slowly... seeming more and more... beneficial. Damn it all... she'd... she'd be... perfect... Certain customers have a particularly... 'special' interest, in girls like her... they like them young: looking young, acting young... sounding young... Every once in a while, I get those few customers who are looking for someone who asks for a more 'cute', 'adorable', and 'fun', not so much the womanly, or even busty, smoky eye-shadow type I mostly have. Pinkie would be a true one of a kind at the Griffon, a league of her own! I'd make some real cash off of miss Pie. "- really reminds me of my auntie Marshmallow's special tea she always made me, put me right to sleep! For some reason though, whenever I woke up, I always felt really-" "How old are you, Pinkie." I didn't ask it as a question. For the second time since stepping foot in my office, her smile left her face, and her eyes widened for a split second, clearly she wasn't expecting that. "E-ex-cuze me?" "How old are you? Very important piece of information to know ya see, can't exactly be sending minors out into the working world, all impromptu like this, on a legal level, things could potentially go messy. So with that in mind; your age, I want it. Don't even think of attempting to lie to me, cause I'll know." I think my underage worries may just be right; look at how she's fidgeting. She was too. Not like on a tweaking level, but she was shifting around very uncomfortably. She could ring me in a lot of dough... but I will not take the risk of taking the title of statutory rapist to my grave. The little silence between us lasted about three seconds, but in situations like this, that can feel like an eternity. Hence most of my monologues. "I'm twenty-two!" I knew she'd crumble- wait, WHAT! "Yep, twenty-two, that's me! Born in, uh... ninety-two. Eeyup-yup!" No way... no fucking way she's twe- no way she's eighteen let alone twenty! She's gotta be screwin' with me... Fuck it, I'm not risking it, she's outta here. "sigh Ok kid, I'm done playing this game with you." Her eyes went as wide as I'd seen them yet, as soon as I declared that. "Game? What game? We're having a strangely intense interview, not playing a game silly!" Oh no, no cutely weaseling your way out of this one. "STOP, just-... just stop, ok? You're not fooling anyone Pie, I can see straight through you." My sudden hostility shook her up I think, she started to look scared. "S-see straight through what? I-I haven't been lying to you if that's what-" At this point, I stood up harshly, hands slammed to the mahogany. "Yes. Yes you have, Pie, there's no way in hell you're eighteen, no one who... acts like you do, could be an adult." 'No one who...acts like you do could be an adult'...Why?... Why?? Every single time, I always get interrogated about this. Why??? I'm just being myself! I-I- It's most likely attributed to the fact that you're a horrible liar. I mean, Fresno? Really? Oh, go away conscience! I've dug my self in super big hole here, and I need to climb out of it lickety-split! Another glaring flaw was your saint-worthy portrayal of home. Do you actually remember it everbeing sunny? Ugh, and then you told that story about Maud and the chickens... Hey, it shined! Like... twice... I-I think. And she wasn't even listening when I got to that, so there! Now are you gonna help, or keep being a meanie!? I'm going to be mean. I warned you as far back as Greenbay, you're skills were slipping up, and your little fibs were catching up with you faster. I always said, plan ahead, never use the same story more than twice, and never, nevergive yourself an age over twenty. But nooo, what'd you say?- Stop it! You're going to give me a headache, I NEED this place to last a while, I'm tired of running around so much! Now please, preeeeety please with a strawberry shortcake on top, help me out! ...sigh... you're only mad because I'm right and you know it... Pinkie, I'm only saying this so you don't get yourself hurt... ... ... The ID. It's still in your wallet right?... 'ID'?... Oh, ooohhhhh you're right! Thanks a ton conscience! sigh I guess it's a good thing you ... 'made that friend' at the DMV, but next time, you're using a different age. And 'conscience' is not my name, and you know it. I told you, you can call me- No time; POV shift!! Wha- She sat there, staring through me, for like, ten seconds. Was she in thought? Dying on the inside? Trying to come with, what for sure will be, another lie? To this day, I'm not one-hundred percent sure what goes on in this woman's head... not sure I want to honestly- "Oh! Duh how could I forget!?" "Forget... what?" My eyes darted side to side as I asked that. "I got proof- MY ID! Right-" She reached for her back pocket. "in-" Pulled out an Invader Zim wallet... because of course. "here!" and slapped a photo ID of her right in my face. Not literally, moron. She did whip it out pretty fast though. ... Oh, Goddammit! "What the hell is this, Pie?" "My photo ID! Got my age on it and everything, it even has my eye color!" I took the card from her, plopping back down on the chair in a huff, fully ready to debunk the shit out of it, but... Huh... well I'll be damned... 'date of birth: 1992' so she didn't lie? Well, damn, I look like a total asshole right now... oh, fuck now I gotta... apologize... "Well uh... yeah, so um... everything uh... everything checks out a-ok! Eh-haha..." Pinkie sat up proud in her seat, oddly enough, not gloating at me or, you know, calling me bitch and walking out. Why is it that every girl I've met in this little quest of mine has been a naturally chill person?... "Yup-yup! I told you so!... ... Why would I lie about something so serious? That wouldn't make any sense Gilda." The hell? That last half of her sentence was such a total tone shift from how she's been talking, it sounded a little... accusatory, and slightly angry... like I offended her. Yeah, no shit you offended her dumbass. Shut up, conscience! "I-I'm sorry if I offended you... 'Pinkie', but this is nothing more than a neccasary precaution. The last thing I would need/want, is for a minor to slip under my radar. If something happened to you, or anyone I let get through, there would be some drastic repercussions." The, now more scarily serious, Pinkie, raised one of her pink eyebrows at me quizzically. "'Repercussions'? Repercussion implies an unintentional consequence to an action, or series of events; unwanted consequences at that. That could imply that you may possibly be trying to get me involved in some shady business... you aren't attempting to do that, are you? Miss Hof?" W-w-what the fuck??? I'm getting a little scared now... Blindsided, shocked, surprised- NONE OF THAT comes close to how she straight up floored my ass with that! Have I been underestimating her all along? Trying desperately to keep myself emotionally in check, I straightened up in my seat, as quickly, but not too suddenly, as I could. I figured I was wrong, yeah, but now she's asking all the wrong (though technically right) questions. I looked her dead in the eye as I gave her my answer. "Absolutely not. You gotta understand kid, if you got harassed, or injured in any way while in the work place, I, the business, not to mention you, would be in a lot of trouble. Me for all but getting you the job with, or without prior knowledge to your age, the business for taking you in, and letting you work illegally, and you for lying about your age. Plus any harasser would be boned, more than they normally would have. I get that I offended you, and I apologize, really I do, but my hostility was in the best interest of everyone." At this point Pinkie put a hand to her chin in thought, as one of her legs crossed the other. "... Well, if we're being 'realistic' about it, in all honesty, I'd probably only get a slap on the wrist. You would probably get reprimanded by the city, but- hypothetically of course, if you had no knowledge of such a thing, I'm sure you wouldn't get it too to bad. And... well I'd hope whoever was doing any form of 'harassment' get charged to the fullest extent that they could." Wait... really? That's all?... Well... considering Flim and Flam have their ties, I may not even have to face that... shit, she's got me on the ropes now... rrr... only one last ultimatum I can think of. I made sure to soften my eyes a bit, in an attempt to ease the tension, albeit very minimally. "Hmm... actually... you may just be right. Regardless, when you actually run a business like this, bigger, or even smaller, you develop a veeerrry acute sense of paranoia. And even if what you said could happen, I would rather not take the risk of getting booked by the local po-po. That slap on the wrist parts' probably not to far off either-" Ok... gotta deliver this next part non-nonchalant... I casually cast my gaze downwards to my desk, shifting some random papers around, assorting them in my clipboard as I spoke. "- hell I think the worst that would happen is we'd probably just have to call your parents or something." I heard her breath, ever~ so slightly hitch. Using my peripherals, and whenever I could steal a quick glance or two, I could see that she visibly tensed up. We hadn't explicitly talked about mommy and daddy Pie, so I believed I's successfully avoided suspicion for my comment. After several seconds of silence, I threw in one last innocent question for good measure: "What's up? You got real tense for a second." Noticing her flub-up, she recomposed herself straightaway. "O-oh, it's nothing, just thinking of home is all... mama and poppa aren't exactly, how do I put it... 'modern'?" "Tch... what are they, Amish?" "Pretty much..." "What was that?" "Nothing!... I'll tell you this much, they didn't know what a cellphone was until two-thousand twelve... after Steve Jobs passed away." ... Backwater~. "Well at this point it doesn't matter does it? You effectively proved me wrong, I was wrong to suspect you as an underage woman, and with that, we can get to wrapping up this interview. No need to get parents involved, yeah?" She visibly relaxed, very obviously; my suspicion was correct: she's avoiding her parents... possibly. The evidence is vague, but there. "L-looks that way." "Yep. So hows about this, I got pretty much all the info I need out of you-" What little I cared to remember anyway. "-so how 'bout we call it a day, you come back at, oh say... noon tomorrow, and I'll have a job ready and waiting for you." "What?... Just like that?" I nod once. "Just like that. Given your past work experience, and assuming you're quite the people person, there's very little reason for someone not to hire you. Plus hey, I've been here for a long time kid, I knows peeps. If I don't have a job for you at the dawn of noon, I'll give you a full refund." Ha ha, that was funny. Her hands clasped together loudly as she jumped up and down in her seat. "O-oh... gosh, thank you thank you thank you!! I was told you get fast results, but... wow... you have no idea how much this means to me!" Now the positive energy is back... interesting. "Heh, bet I can guess. I've been doin' this kinda thing for almost two years now! I'm not about to disappoint a client now, 'specially not someone as nice as yourself." 'Nice'... yeah, she seems it anyway. "Besides, I kinda feel like shit for houndin' you earlier about your age. I backed you into a corner with that, so consider this my way of apolo-" Pinkie all but fuckin' catapulted out of the chair. She actually ended up on my desk, knees on the desk with her- arms around my neck!? "Uh!-" "Thanks soooo much Gilda, you have no idea how much it means to me that you're actually giving me a chance! No one else has the whole time I've been here, thank you!!" "A-ah... hahh..." S-she's nuzzling her nose into m-my neck... I-I didn't know what to do! I haven't encountered anything like the situation I'm in now, since I started living here! Once again Pinkie Pie had completely stunned me, as soon as her arms came in contact with my neck my own arms spazzed out to their sides. Every fiber off my physical being was begging me to shove her off, but the morally correct side of me said not to get forceful or physical with her. Can't have her being scared, and I did feel a little bad for busting her balls her about her age... Grips getting t-tighter... I felt Pinkie shift her head, from my collar-bone, to rest on my shoulder... "I really mean it Gilda, thank you... I... didn't think I actually had a shot..." "E-eh ha ha... W-hat makes you say that? Y-you had just a good a chance as anyone else." Her lock of affection around my neck tightened slightly more. "I know that... it's just, well... sigh... to be honest with you, no one's given me a chance to prove myself in a long time." Really?... Can't say I can empathize, everyone back home expected me to prove myself... it was the norm for me to feel like breaking something if I performed less then great... "Really? U-uh... that's... hard to believe... y-you're qualifications pass with flying colors, and your personality, though a little loud, would greatly-" The harsh shaking of her head was enough to cut me off. "That's what normally kills it... almost anyone else would've sent me home by now... ... 'don't call us, we'll call you'..." At this point, the pinkette's grip on my neck didn't really so much bother me... kinda... felt comfortable actually. What the hell am I doing??... "Well... their a bunch of dweebs. W-whoever didn't hire you would be missing out on a good employee... i-if you don't mind me intruding... it sounds like this type of thing is a recurring thing for you." Nod of the head... my arms are limp at my side now. "Mm hm... it never bothered me to much when I was younger, but, you know... you get older, and you start thinking about things, and realizing what people actually meant when they told you something..." She brought her head down back to the crook of my neck again, continuing her string of vague answers. This is actually kinda n... no NO, t-this is- no! Bad touch, bad touch! What the hell was she thinking trying this!? I-Is this real o-or am I dreaming? No one in real life would try this shit! I-I feel a little bad for her, yeah, but... I still had yet to move a muscle. "Not uh... not that I'm complaining or anything but... what brought this on? You were pretty, well, hyper during the our previous talk, until I brought up your age; again, massively sorry about that,-" The more I thought about it, the more I was, is the thing... "- so... well, just that, what's up? I know everyone's got shit to deal with, and for all I know, you've probably seen some gnarly stiff, but, well... i-it's not even the whole, 'we've known each other for like twenty minutes' thing, it's just super unexpected is all..." She was still for some time, eventually I felt her, I think, shrug against me. "I dunno... just... felt I should maybe? It felt so nice to know that I was being given a chance to prove myself." "'Prove yourself'?... How? Why?" Silence.This woman is such a Goddamn enigma... I wasn't expecting this when she strolled in here today. After, what I assumed was, several minutes, she removed her head from the crook of my neck, raising it so she could look at me. Those big, bright blue eyes from earlier weren't there. They were blue, yes. Big, yes very much still. What they weren't, was bright, and full of that boundless energy that, I'd thought, she'd never run out of. They looked... just a shade darker. She decided to answer my question(s) with her own, eyes wavering subtly as she spoke. "Have you... ever felt like no one believed in you? Even by those you loved? The ones who were always supposed to stand by you?" Those three little questions shook me through to the core. Her quiet tone, matched with the vulnerability in her eyes screamed volumes at me. I wasn't sure what to feel then... even today, I don't know why I was affected the way I was. I don't even think she realized just how powerful those questions could be for someone... Do I? I haven't thought about home or my non-Cranky related past in a long time... shit, can't even remember the last time I called Mom and Dad. I think I called Dash, like, twice since I've been in this state, neither of them remotely recently. But the question at hand: have I felt that way before? I mean... Mom and Dad were cool overall I guess, though a little over bearing in the early years. Never could fully please them, I always fucked up assignments, or tests somehow, even if I scored high, they had to find something to bitch about... Having assholes for cousins, nephews, nieces... actually pretty much everyone in my family was a dick; didn't exactly help matters. I can remember when I was a kid, being my chubby little self at the time- yeah yeah, I used to have a stomach... shut up- everyone used to always crack jokes at my weight, and looks... 'Gigantic Gilda', 'Humongous Hof'... they're stupid names, I know, but when your a kid, that shit pisses you off! Mom would get mad at me for getting my feelings hurt, blaming me for how I look, because of my 'poor lifestyle choices'. At like, age six. I finally got fed the fuck up, and started playing Basketball by fourth grade. Yeah... yeah, that's right... Mom's the one who got me in sports. No surprise that she and Dad were super for it now that I think about it, her and Dad were Quarterback and Head Cheerleader after all... Heroes of their Goddamn school... I thought I'd forgotten about all of that... All of that was eons before I met Dash... I guess... I was lonelier back then, then I thought. Never really saw the grandparents, or uncles and aunts a whole lot. I usually just saw them at my games, and even then, I felt like they'd rather be somewhere else... kinda like... I was wasting everyone's time. Every single time, after every game, track meet, whatever, win or (especially) lose, I would always hear about where I went wrong, any little bad calls I made, sitting on the bench while my back wasn't straight... Tch... I think faking my rape was the best thing that ever happened to our relationship... Maybe... maybe that was all the universe' way of leading me to... I had pondered her question way longer, and in more detail than I should have, I know shouldn't have! But her question... so vulnerable and curious, it just... got those memories and shit flowing outta of me like a Goddamn waterfall. The whole time I was stuck in my head, trying my damnedest to answer her question, she was staring at me. My head had tilted downwards, staring at a particularly pretty stack of post-its around the time I made it to my old weight. She didn't say anything. Just... kept sitting there, on my desk, staring at me. After some time, I took a chance, and flicked my eyes up at her, curious as to how she was taking my lengthy silence. What her eyes conveyed surprised me, simply because it didn't surprise me. She was looking at me just as she had been earlier, eyes a calm blue, staring at me non-judgmental, and patient as she waited for me to answer. A shaky sigh escaped me as I attempted to put what I was feeling into a minimal amount of words. "Um-" Good start... "i-in a sense, yeah, I think, well, maybe... huff I don't know. I-it's really confusing to say, I never really... never really thought about all that to much; was to focused on being as awesome as possible, you know? I mean yeah, there was some criticism, plenty of pissed off days, but everyone goes through that right? I mean of course-" I was rambling on. I didn't mean to, didn't want to, but I didn't really know what to think! The more I was talking, and the more and more I was thinking about it... the more I was starting to hate my family a little... I think I went on my trying-to-rant rant for a good five minutes before she decided to intervene. "Gilda." "- it's not unnatural to wanna punch your family members in the face once in a while is it?" Never was fucking good enough for them, until I completely changed who I was... "Gilda." Every single thing wrong with everything was somehow my fuckin fault!"Fuckin' dicks.. I worked my ass to the bone for them, not even once could-" "Gilda." "What!?" I was nose and nose with her now... for some reason... no need to be really, just pissed off, and in the moment I guess. "I think... I got my answer." She flashed this coy little smile at me, it was in a real sly kinda way, like she knew something a didn't. It was then my brain finally decided to think realistically and realize 'wait a minute, what the fuck is she doing on my desk!?' Shoving her off of me, not hard enough to fall off the desk, I inched away in my chair, feeling my body get a little colder from the loss of her arms. "O-ok... l-like I said, I heard all I needed to hear, show up at about twelve, alright?" She cocked her head to the side inquisitively, her eyes looking lighter again. "Is everything alright? Gilda?" I didn't like how she said that... not one little bit. It sounded like an innocent enough question... but coppled with the tiny smile she wore with it, it sounded like she was teasing me, egging me on almost! Maybe I was just being paranoid, but I suddenly wanted her the fuck away from me as soon as possible... at the time it felt like my eyes opened up to the game she may or may not have played with me. "Yeah, good, great, see you tomorrow Pinkie." Go away go away go away!- "Are you sure?" She started reaching her hand out. "If there's something wron-" I smacked it away with quicker reflexes than I knew I had. "Yes, now go. Before I change my mind." I tried to sound threatening, but there was a certain lack of punch in my voice from yet another mental crisis. More stares from her, as I stare back, unreadable calmness matching very obvious nervousness. Out of nowhere, she hops off the desk, eyes big n' bright again, giant smile on her face. "Oki-doki! See ya en manana!" About face, and out the door she went. ... ... What the fuck!? I screamed internally as I flipped my desk across the room, and chucked my chair at the wall. Why does this shit always happen!? Every fucking time I go to recruit someone new, I get unknowingly roped into this psychological bullshit! Either I feel bad, or shit from the past I wanna forget resurfaces- the fuck are you trying to say me God!? "What!? Huh!? I don't give a shit anymore! About home, about my family, I'm going to do whatever it takes dammit!" And that-! T-t-that pink little... thing was toying with me, she had to be, no way someone could come off as pure as that in the beginning, and not be trying to manipulate them. I all but threw my back to the wall, hands fisted in my hair, roughly sliding down my face. "She had me going too- I get it now! All the, t-the laughing, smiling, rambling; a ploy! I-it had to have been, she was just trying to get my defenses down, so she could have an opportunity to strike against me! But why and for what?..." I was completely wrong about that kid, she... she may just be one of the smartest bitches I've ever met! Every attractive and endearing feature about her is a clever ruse, in order for her to catch her opponents off guard! My eyes shot open in realization. "If I'm not careful, she could beat on me with an aluminum baseball bat, dump my body in the ground, and make me call her Mud!" ... ... ... ... You're screaming in and out of your head, shitting your pants from a scenario straight out of a Primus song... you're officially insane. "Shut the fuck up conscience!" Shut the fuck up conscience! SSSSSSSSIIIIIIIiiiiiiiggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh "OK... ok, I'm calm now, I'm cool; a-ok." I just wish I knew what goes on up in that kids head... "... see ya en manana!" Then I sprinted out the door! Woohooooo! that went over awesome! The huggy-desk maneuver gets 'em every time! Hmm... I'm not too sure... she didn't seem to really buy into it. I think we just creeped her out. Sigh... and there's the balloon popper. Oh well! I'm not gonna let her being a party pooper keep me down from my success today! After exiting the office, onto the parking lot, I swear I heard a faint bashin' n' crashin' goin' on up in Gilda's office. Probably just my imagination. Where is it, where is it, where is it- ooh!Right on the side of the building, I saw my second companion on my adventure, my Big Blue Backpack of Containment! I didn't take it in, it just would've made Gilda ask questions. Grabbing it, and hoisting it on my back, I peered up at the bigger blue-er sky, I noticed the suns position, now I'm a little rusty at this, but by my minds math, it should be about 3 o'clock... GAASSP that means!- I still got time to get some food from Sugar Cube Corner! sigh... did you even hear me? Oh yeah... she can hear me... Of course silly willy! But mah tummy's rather rumbly, and I wantz me some nourishment. 'Nourishment' is the last thing you need to worry about, where are we going to sleep tonight? I was working that one out still... Walking through the streets of this ok looking city, I took in the sights of my new temporary home. A few stores here, restaurants there, kids park, ooo coffee shop! Hm... Bella-Rose's Coffee 'n Flower Shop... that's almost a clever reference! Hey conscience, want some coffee? Thanks for not answering my question... and no. You know I prefer tea. Ugh... you're no fun. Well, wasn't thirsty anyway. Oh oh, there it is! Just a block away! I made a mad dash towards Sugar Cube Corner, eager to say hi to the Cakes again. I really really like those two; they're two of the friendliest people I've ever met! Their food was awesome, the store was spotless; I wish I got to know them sooner. Lord knows I talked their ears off when we met. And subsequently every day after that, for hours on end. I think that's what makes them... different to me; special even: They seemed like they were actually interested. Didn't rush me, didn't shut me up for any reason, it seemed like they actually- 'Cared'? I know, I know I've only talked to them a handful of times, over the course of like, two weeks, but I feel it, ya know? You felt it too right?... Like... it didn't seem like we- I was burdening them? I'm not saying you were, and I'm not saying they don't or didn't. I'm just saying it may be good to keep them at arms length. Let them close, sure, just not to close. Why are we going back there anyway? I'd finally made it to the door, pushing it open I heard the little bells jingle as I walked in. So adorable! I walked up to the front counter and gave the little bell on it a tiny smack. Oh sweet convenience, no customers! Well... if nothing else, it gives us a place to chillax at until evening at least, right? "Hi again! Mister and Misses Cake?" Now remember don't creep them out. Or piss them off. Quiet you! "Ah, Pinkie! Welcome back!" I heard Mister Cake greet, as he walked out from the back. Kitchen? Bathroom? IDK, but he's here now! Guy looks like he's been working hard, his brow's sweaty and his apron has layers and layers of pastryness on it. That didn't stop his good mood though. "How'd that interview of yours go? You wow them with your natural charm?" "Hehe oh, you! I think I did ok; well I mean I must have anyway, she said come back tomorrow and she'll have something!" Mr. C clapped his hands together. "Wonderful! Cup, come in here!" He called, a few seconds later misses Cake came walking out of the back... place. She looked no different then her husband; dirty work clothes, fatigue setting in as the day was winding down, but she still looked happy to see me. "Pinkie! Lovely to see you again!" She walked out behind from the counter to give me a quick hug and, well, I wasn't not gonna return it! "Hi Mrs. Cake! I was just telling Mr. C about my interview." Cup let go of me, looking at me with slightly widened eyes. "That's right, you did have that today didn't you? Well, don't keep me waiting, how did it go?" Wow, I'm so not use to all of this positive attention; it feels so awesome! Feeling bashful, I started to awkwardly scratch the back of my head with my right hand. "Heh heh, I uh, think I did ok." I heard Mr. C give a scoff at my answer. "'Ok', she did great Cup. Pinkie told me that Gilda could get her a job as early as tomorrow!" Ok, so it was a good-natured scoff. I didn't even know people could do that. "That's wonderful!" Ooo deja vu! "Oh! Where are our manners? Sit down, sit down! We'll get you something to eat! You've got to be starved." I legit jumped at the idea. "Awesome, thanks!" There was a vacant table for two right by the window, at the entrance of the store, that I grabbed right away, I always loved those. The whole place as a whole is just adorable! Pinks here, whites there, a lovely display case for the various treats, not a speck of dirt on the floor. Just plain lovely. Are we suppose to establish what the place looks like? It's polite. "What would you like, dear?" Mrs. Cake asked as she took the seat opposite of me. Hey, do you remember how much cash we got? Like... seven bucks. Oh, poopie... "Um, actually Mrs. Cake, I just remembered, I'm kind of outta cash... heh heh, sorry. I should probably just le-" Mrs. Cake wasn't takin' any a dat. She dismissed my attempted excusal with a wave of the hand. "Don't be silly, it's on the house." Wait, really!? "O-oh Mrs. Cake, I-I couldn't-" My attempted protest was cut off. Again "I won't hear it Pinkie! In the considerably short time we've known each other, you've become a dear friend to Carrot and I, the least we could do is buy you something to eat, in celebration of your recent employment." 'D-... dear f-f-friend?... "O-oh... thank you Mrs. Cake! I-I really appreciate that." She gave me a small pat on one of my hands. "Not a problem at all dear." I finally decided on ordering a batch of their famous (or should be anyway) cupcakes!... why are you looking at me like that? They call them, "One-Bowl Cupcakes". They're chocolate cupcakes, topped with vanilla, sprinkles, a cherry, and a diagonally cut waffle cone. It's so good!! Do we have to go into explicit detail about what's in the things? Describing things in detail automatically makes stories better, and authors great! Unless your Tara Gilesbie... Time flew by waiting for the food, and the time was well spent. Talking to Mrs. Cake is so comfortable, she's really laid back, and always has something interesting it say. For instance! Her Mom was actually friends with Mr. C's father in the Korean War! That'd be really awkward if they were more than 'friends' back in the day... Ew ew ew!!! After, oh I'd say, twenty or so minutes, Carrot came back out with a hot fresh batch of cupcakes, putting them smack-dab between Cup, and my mouth-waterin' self. "Ooh those look bomb Mr. C! Thanks again you guys!" Carrot went to stand proudly by his wife, hand on her shoulder, smile on his face. "Not a problem at all Pinkie. Well? go on, eat up!" Well, ya don't have to as me twice! For the next few hours, it was a back-and-forth between eating cupcakes, to talking with my hosts, to munching on some brownies, to conversing with the Cakes, to devouring several cookies, to exchanging words with the Cakes, and- You ate, talked, then repeated... fascinating... Hmph! Well then, skipping ahead a little bit, I was finishing up a fond memory I had of big sister Maud and I. 'A little bit'? It took you an hour to tell the whole thing. Hush! "...so I said, 'Oatmeal? Are you crazy!?', and my sister Maud says, 'No Pinkie, I'm being... cereal-slly.'" The Cakes were (figuratively) on the floor! I told you, I told you someone would find that one funny! Yeah, yeah... hm. You know, I'm starting to like them. It's very rare that we don't meet complete as- Conscience!! There's no need for that kind of profanity! What- not even in your own head? A clean mind means a clean soul~. I... cannot refute that, well done. When the Cakes were able to (again, figuratively) pick themselves up off the floor, I concluded my little tale. "So yeah, needless to say, I never went back to that county again, and Maud never even looked at those pants after that!" "Oh-ha-ha Pinkie~ That was hilarious! A-haha... did that really happen?" I gave a nod as confirmation. "Pinkie promise on it Mrs. Cake!" Suddenly their laughs ceased and eyes became wide with... concern? "Oh my, even the part about the sheriff, and the tazers?" "Uh-huh!" "And where you said how Maud hot-wired the tractor?" "Yup-yup! Later on in the year, she taught me how to do it too! It's about as hard as you'd expect, and easier than you'd think." The older couple shared a look, then turned back to me. "E-even the part with Bo Burnahm, at, Walking With Dinosaurs?..." "Es-pecially that part! How else were we going to get the tartar sauce and Steve Austin action figures!?" They looked at each other again, almost like they were... nervous... Oh no... I-I didn't freak, or weird them out with that story did I? This one really happened! It was like, the best summer of my life- ever! "Uh... Pinkie Pie?..." Here it comes again... "Y-yes Mister C?" Said Cake looked to his wife again, as if searching for the words for whatever he wanted to say. "It's just, well... that story of yours, it sounded very-" Fake? False? Fabricated? Phony? "-uh... w-well how would you put it, Cup?" Cup perked back up into the conversation at her sudden inclusion. "Oh, me!? W-well, um... it was-" Hard to believe? Crazy? Insane? Childish? "-that is, it all sounded very... dangerous." 'Dangerous'? 'Dangerous'? "Dangerous, Mrs. Cake?" "Well yes! You and your sister weren't hurt at all were you?" 'Hurt'?... "O-oh, um- ahem -not at all! Well admittedly there were a few boo-boo's and bruises, but nothing different from what we dealt with back home." Pinkie! I messed up big by letting that slip... "'At home?' What do you mean? You were safe at home right?" Think of something, think of something! "O-oh o-of course, of course, Mr. C! Just, ya know... a-all everyday risks of working on a farm. Stuff-a-fallin', animals-a-kicking, those kind of things." Please let it drop... I... I don't want to think about home... n-not like this- I can't! The Cakes were still looking at me... questions swirling around in their eyes, just begging to be asked. Do they... do they actually care?... "Pinkie... like I said earlier, we did borderline just meet, but... if anythings bothering you, you can talk to us you know. We'll listen dearie, no judgement will be cast here." Mrs. Cake implored, with the most genuine, comforting voice I've heard in a long time. ... Wow... Pinkie I... I-I think they do! Please... please. I didn't care for my mental begging but... it'd be sooo nice to make some new, real, friends. "Cup's right Pinkie. Of course, if you'd rather not talk about it, we'll respect your wish. We care about you- ! -so whatever you need from us just-" "Pinkie! Are you... crying?..." Finally hearing someone say those four little words to me made me break... yes, I was crying. I felt bad later, I imagined what had gone through Mr. C's head, since he unintentionally caused the dam to break. A dam that needed breaking. "Mm hm..." Mr.s Cake almost jumped out of her chair to try to console me. She kneeled down in front of me. I felt her arms embrace me, my head being softly pulled to her chest. I felt her arm sooth itself up and down my back, her other hand giving my scalp a tender rub. Soft words of comfort caressing my eardrums.I haven't felt so at peace in a long time... I was sobbing now. I couldn't help it, I just felt so... so... "Shh shh... oh Pinkie..." Mr. Cake squatted next to me, and joined in on the back rub. I don't quite remember how long we stayed like this. After what felt like forever, most of my tears had dried, or stained themselves into Mrs. Cakes' shirt. My strength was slowly returning to me, not wanting to weigh heavily on her anymore, I slowly inched my way out of her embrace, with her arms staying on my shoulders, my head renaming downcast. "You poor thing... why were you crying just now?" "Was... was it something I said?" What'd I tell you? Allowing myself a small laugh, I shook my head, to calm his fears. "No Mr. C, it wasn't... well... it, kinda was, but not in a bad way." And I didn't exactly help matters. Understandably curious, he tiled his head to the side in question. "What do you mean?" More silence. I thought about how I should best answer this question; rather, how I could convey how I was feeling right now. Choosing to ignore his question temporarily, I addressed Mrs. Cake first with a question of my own. "Umm... Mrs. Cake?" Immediately her attention was all mine. "Yes, what is Pinkie?" Sniff Darn it all... Pinkie... I can do this. I have to. "Eariler... like, an hour or so ago, y-you said..." Inhale exhale "you said I had... become a dear friend of you and Mr. C. I want to know if, uh... I want to know that, um, well..." In an act of nervousness, I glanced to Mr. C, hoping for some reason that he'd somehow help me ask this. I quickly looked back to Mrs. Cake. "I need to know... i-is that true? Am I... am I really a dear f-f-friend to you!?" I was almost in hysterics again; finally, I was able to get my nagging insecurity out in the open. Mrs. Cake looked to Mr. C, and I dared chance a look at him as she did. No doubt he was shocked my by sudden breakdown, let alone my oddly worded personal question. Like as if his life depended on it, he frantically nodded his head up-n-down. Mrs. Cake looked back to me. "Of course Pinkie. I wouldn't have said it if Carrot or I didn't mean it, silly! Pinkie, we've met a lot of people in our combined time. Some of them good, some of them bad, but you... in the short time we've known you, we believe that you have to be one of the nicest, funnest, free-willed people we've ever met! Always a smile, always a laugh to be shared, spring in the step; qualities in a person that are scarce in the world these days. Those are just a few of the things we admire about you. That make you special." M-m-mrs. Cake... Cup... I-I... n-no one, except Maud ever- "And you wanna know what else Pinkie?" "W-what's that Mr. C?..." "If anyone ever try's to tell you that any part about you is wrong, I want you to know that they're the ones in the wrong. Neither Cup or myself would say these things to just anyone, so I beg of you, even though it hasn't even been two weeks, listen to me. Don't ever let anyone say that your too much of anything. What I mean by that is, if someone says such about your personality, or just the way you do things; if anything, more people should try to treat life like you, fun, with a smile, making each day and encounter count. Of course, maybe not exactly like you." He smiled a small smile. "I don't think the world could handle more than one of you." "Hm hm..." My heart felt like it was breaking... not because of pain, but because... agh, it's so unexplainable! It's like with them, I almost feel... feel... Loved. Love... hard to believe that such a powerful feeling, could feel so foreign. The tears came again. Not waiting for her to do so, I clung back to Mrs Cake again. "You guys... Carrot, Cup... th-thank you... thank you..." "Y-your welcome Pinkie... but why are you crying again?" I shook my head, my head that was buried in Mrs. Cakes neck. "I'm not... that's just it... I-I'm happy." "Happy?..." "Th-the truth is... I haven't had any real friends, in a long time... i-it makes me sooo happy, to know that I... well, that I finally have some. A-and they're two of the coolest people in the whole wide world! S-so thank you." "Sniff You are most welcome, P-Pinkie." I stayed in Mrs. Cakes' embrace for a little while longer. After my emotions subsided somewhat, I released myself from her, awkwardly apologizing for the utter damper I put on the whole day. They reassured me that it didn't matter, so long as I was feeling better. After a few chocolaty chip cookies, and some coffee (one cream five sugars), everything was almost completely back to normal, our conversation from earlier resumed; with me telling tales of my youth, and the Cakes nostalgalizing about their respective lives. 'Nostalgalizing' isn't a real word, you dunce... Quite, you tsundere! As evening slowly shooed the sun away, I realized that I'd spent all day here, that wasn't so much an issue, but I realized that I still had nowhere to sleep. Making a quick decision, I decided on just looking for either a bench with as less sticky substances on it that I can find, or taking a chance in someone's backyard... do they even have backyards here? I've just been at the park this whole time. I started removing myself from my chair, attempting to make a nonchalant exit. "Well Mr and Mrs. Cake, I should probably be going. It's getting a little late, I should be getting back to get some sleep for tomorrow." Plus I really don't want to be in the dark any longer than I have to... "Oh, do you have to leave?" I sadly nodded. "'Fraid so Mrs. Cake. I'll stop by tomorrow after I'm out of the interview! Whenever that'll end..." I started walking to the door, and just as I was about to open the door, and see myself out, Mr. C grabbed my arm. "Hey Pinkie... would it be alright with Libman, if you spent the night here?" 'Libman'? Oh yeah, my 'cousin' I told them about last week... "Oh! Uhm. t-that's alright! I wouldn't want to burden you more than-" "Pinkie. I won't be hearing any more of that from you, now answer Carrot, will your cousin mind if you slept here tonight?" Man, there's just no being self-detrimental around her is there?... "Um... I don't..." Dang it... aw, nuts to this, I can't lie to them anymore... "sigh The truth is, there is no cousin. I'm... I'm not sleeping anywhere, haven't since I've been here... more often than not I just find a lonely little bench, or try not to get caught in anyone's yard..." I hated admitting my current homeless situation, but being that they're my... friends -squees internally- I knew the least they deserved was some honesty. "Y-you haven't..." I looked at Mrs. Cake, she looked mortified at what I just shared. "Nope. It's been that way for a long time. Look... you two are great, but... the last thing I'd want to do is risk what we have by imposing on you... good night." Riiight as I stepped out of the store, I got yanked back in! I was soon face to face with a very angry Carrot. "If I hear one more word about you being a 'burden' or anything of the sort, I'm going to have Cup smack you upside the head young lady!" I'm scared.... I-I t-told you n-not to piss-s them off! "Now listen here. YOU. Are going to march upstairs, and take a shower. I'll wash your clothes so they can look nice for tomorrow. Leave your backpack here, and I'll do the same with any other clothes you have." Carrot... this feels so weird... no one has had to help me like this in forever... no, not 'help' more like, 'take care of'... "Upstairs?..." Cup decided to interject, then. "We weren't kidding when we told you this place was our lives work. Right in the back, through the kitchen, there's a small flight of stairs. Go up it, you'll see a hallway, two doors on the right, one on the left. The left door is the bathroom, the the two on the right is our bedroom, and the guests room, respectively." You neglected to mention that the shop was two stories. Now the story will get down-voted! "B-but, but, you two are doing so much for me, I can't possibly-" "No more buts! Now get up there, and don't come down until you're as clean as a show on the Disney Channel!" "Um-" "The one with the live action shows!" Oh... God... "sigh... Yes, sir." I am a woman of many things. A few of them ok, most of them pretty horrible. I am also a woman with many things. Be they material, physical, or recently, of the mentally clinical variety. One thing I'm never without, is a plan. Most of the time I can come up with them relatively quick, some I plan months or days ahead, and in this particular case, I'm laying down the plans on how to deal with Pinkie Pie tomorrow. As someone in my line of work, there are two words that everyone should accompany themselves with. One is the word: 'weakness'. By knowing someones weakness, and sometimes better, knowing how to find it, is key to success. Business thrives off the strong devouring, or absorbing the weak, any 'merger' is just a fancy word people use, instead of saying: 'yeah, one company got super boned by the other company's bigger, and much more successful dick'. The other word is... well it depends on the person. I believe it should be fear, while others may say respect, tactical, I'd even argue exploitation, but no, to be a good boss, a powerful owner, you always need that ever so slight shred of fear. Most people don't even realize that they fear their bosses, it's that little sensation that tells you to take more responsibility, that little creeping thought when you realize that could let you go in a flash, where no matter how much you hate them, you say nothing. Fear. x Strength. + a Weakness. = Success. (Scare them) x (Beating them) + (Exploiting them) = (Profit) Greed is good after all. I don't care what that little ID said, she's a kid on the inside, no matter what her age is. She was also able to get eerily serious when her back was against the wall, so clearly she won't frighten easy. So tomorrow, I'll pull the 'friend' act, ask how she is, pretend to be interested, all that bullshit. If I'm careful enough, she'll fall right into my hands. I find that my best formed plans, come from when I'm on my couch watching Youtube on the PS4. Wait was the PS4 out then?... Eh, fuck it. After putting my office back together, I came straight back home, closed the store early today. For the rest of the day, evening, and now night, I was wracking my brain around Pinkie Pie, everything she did was so... unreal. I couldn't tell if she was endearingly eccentric, or if she was a calculating shyster. Fuck what if she's both!? After several-plus hours of thinking, my brain was tired. I pulled out my phone to see that it was only eight o' clock... well, might was turn in early, I figured. I had a (rough) plan, once I find an opening, I'll pounce on it, scratch at it, claw at it 'til it fucking bleeds. I'll teach that little girl not to try and out smart me. Tomorrow it'd be a battle of the wits, and I wasn't going to lose. You try to play me, get in my head, you resurface shitty memories I wanted to forget; this will not go un-payed for, Pinkie. Man... how long has it been since we showered, Conscience? Mmm, far... far too long Real soaps, real water, real towels, I was in heaven! I finally got to wash my hair out, I was happy about that, these tangles were getting annoying. The hair's naturally curly, but it can be a real pain to maintain, I'm seriously lucky I don't have dreadlocks. I scrubbed my body thorough, and precise, who knows when I'll get this opportunity for cleanliness again? It kind of hurt after awhile, but I had some dirt, stains, and other grime on me for way to long. On the other hand, it gives my body a certain almost pink hue to it, haha~! KNOCK KNOCK "How you doing in there, Pinkie?" "Is there a word better than awesome? Cause I'm feeling pretty up there, Mrs. Cake!" "Hm hm, well good. Carrot's washing your clothes still, but I was able to find you some old PJ's that may fit you. It's either that or you sleep in the towel tonight." Ugh, that's unappealing... It sounds a heck of a lot better than that one time in the back of that Chipotle. You swore you wouldn't bring that back up! "Pinkie?" Darn conscience. Making me zone out and stuff... "Sorry, sorry, just thinking is all." "Hm. Pinkie... I hope you understand that Carrot isn't mad at you. What you told us... while I understand that took strength to do, it really worried us. I won't ask how long you've been doing this, or why. I can only imagine what led you to this, and how personal you keep it; to which I'm fine with. Just know that... you've always got a place to lay your head here if you need it." I assumed she finished her piece, nothing more came from her side of the door. ... Conscience?... ...yes?... Did... she offer us a, a-a home here? You know something?... I truly think she just might have. Can... can we stay here? ... I see no reason not to. I think... this restaurant will be a fine home. Yes! Yes! Yes! After the party in my head settled down, I turned off the water, hoping I didn't get too pruny. I grabbed the purple cotton towel off of its rack, and dried myself off. Remember, dry off in the shower first, then exit one leg at a time, while drying that respective leg. We are guests after all, and it'd be very rude to soak the carpet. Ugh... I KNOW. Following MOM'S procedures, I made my way out of the tub, wrapping the towel around me. Higher up, Pinkie. Why? Do you want someone to see your breasts? Uh-ha ha, good point... course to be fair, someone, somewhere probably wants me to want to. Pinkie... Fine, fine! After restoring my decency, I was about to walk out of the spa I made of the bathroom, and make my way to the guest room, when I caught sight of the mirror. It was a little fogged up, but I remedied that with some cold water splashed on it. What I saw in it was a sight refreshing, and a little surprising at first. It was me in the mirror, well to be specific, her. My hair had been matted down by the hot water, and with my thorough finger-combing, lay almost fully flat against my back. The ol' blue eyes seemed just a little darker than usual. "You look beautiful tonight." No I don't, that's not me you're looking at Pinkie, that is ALL you in that mirror. "Hm... Well, I think the straight hair suits you better. I don't think I can pull off, 'serious', or 'refined', and all that stuffiness." Oh, so I'm stuffy now... thanks. "Hmm, I'm kidding, and you know it." Not that I'm apposed, but, why are you actually talking? I shrug. "I dunno. I just never talk to you like this normally... thought it'd be a pleasant change of pace. Besides, it makes the head quieter." I see... "...Hey Conscience?... Thanks for always being there for me. I don't know how I would've lasted without you beside me... inside me, whatever." I told you didn't I? I'm not leaving you anytime soon, even if the whole world fell apart I'll always have your back, and you'll always have my support. And, even though I usually don't make assumptions, it seems the Cakes care a lot about us, and it makes me happy to know that we have someone supporting us. "Yeah... I hope I get a fun job tomorrow. I'll work real hard at it! That way, I can support myself, and stay here with the Cakes forever and ever! Would... that be okay?" I would have no qualms over that. "Awesome. Well, I think I'm dry enough, I think I'll head to that guest room of theirs." Good idea. Opening the door, I looked left to right, relieved to see that the coast was clear. The Cakes have been cool and understanding about everything, but I don't think they're quite ready to meet Conscience yet. Like the others, they'd just think I'm cook-coo. I made my way down the hall, into the, what I assumed was, the guest room. Basic setup, a bed, a desk, a window, a TV, a bookshelf, a ceiling light, a lamp, a ceiling, four walls surround me, and a... Dwayne Johnson bobble-head?... Yeah, you know 'basic'. On the bed was an old lookin' The Residents T-shirt that looked too big for me, and a pair of AC/DC pants that I think I'd need a belt for. But you can't use a belt for- I KNOW. I dropped the towel to the floor and out on my loaner pajamas. They fit me sooo loose! I actually had to do that thing where you tie your shirt in a knot. The pants I just had to deal with; it's not like they were falling off, but I had to hold them up. That shower really relaxed me. I hope the Cakes don't mind if I doze off a little early. Don't see why they should. I'm certain they have to wake up early as well. That bed in the corner was lookin' mighty cozy right about then, I threw back the covers, and jumped right on top of- Oh my GOD a bed! A real real bed! It feels so niiiiiice!! I immediately got on my comfy sleeping position; on my right side. Mmm I must agree, beats the heck out of benches and yards doesn't it? ... ... ... zzz zzz zzz Ha ha ha... ... night Pinkie. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK Ah! Ah! Ah! "Oh my! Pinkie??" Mrs. Cakes sudden knocking almost scared me to death! I was facing away from her, but I heard her open the door and walk in. "Ugh..." "Sorry to bother you dearie, I didn't wake you up did I?" YES. "Kind of... it's o... yaaaaaawn kay though. What's up?" She sat down next to me on the bed. Instinctively I moved over, giving her more room. "I just wanted to come in, and check up on you. See how you liked the room and whatnot." "Mmm, I love it..." "Good, very good. Also, I wanted to see if the clothes fit you, or if you even like them. They are a little old and big after all." "They're fine. Thank you, again, Mrs. Cake." "Don't mention it dearie." Mrs. Cake then rested her hand on my hand, giving it gentle rubs, as if I was a small child. It was... the most soothing thing I've felt all day. I almost fell back asleep, but Cup brought me back after a few minutes. "Carrot's washing up your clothes now by the way. There were quite a lot in that little backpack of yours..." Oh no... please Mrs. Cake, don't make me talk about it... "Y-yeah, well... I um... need... them..." Dammit, she's getting too close... "And, some pieces of clothing looked like they'd been in a gutter for years. I-I know I said I wouldn't ask you about it, and if you wish to noy talk about it, I'll respect your choice, but... Pinkie? H-how long have-" "A long time, Mrs. Cake. Long enough to where I really don't want to talk about it" Conscience?... "Oh... I-I see." "And as to why they look like that... well, let's just say benches, yards, not to mention roofs aren't as uncomfortable as you'd immediately think, either." "... I... see." What are you doing!? Getting her to drop the subject, that's what. Friend or not, I highly advise against giving out such painful information out. That's really not up for you to decide! I trust them, shouldn't that be enough for you!? You... you still trust me right??? Mrs. Cake removed her hand, and started to make her way to the door. No... no don't go... "Well... I just wanted to run that by you. It's getting close to Carrot, and mines' bedtime, but if you need anything, anything at all, don't be afraid to let us know, ok?" "O-oki-doki, Mrs. Cake." "Good night Pinkie." "Night..." The last thing I heard of Mrs. Cake, was the careful closing of the door. ... ... ... She's gone- Did you hear how bad you made her feel!? You had no right to do that! You're welcome by the way! You didn't want to talk about it, so I dismissed the conversation. I know they're nice and everything, but don't you think it's a little early to be relenquishing such painful information? Not just because we met them last week but also for your sake too. The mere thought of the past few years is enough to send you into hysterics in the first place! I flipped over on my back, glaring at the ceiling, somehow imagining her doing the same thing. Well, you know what!? I'd rather cry, and feel my heart break, then keep it inside! That's all I've ever done! Every time I've ever been sad, o-or angry at something, I always bottled it up, because I couldn't bring myself to trust anyone, and the one time I did, that person didn't have my back when I needed them. But this is different! I-I know I can trust them! And even if it kills me, I'll deal with it, because at least then, I'd be able to have a clear mind, for once in my life! What makes them different!? A few hugs, and some declarations of affection? That's not 'love' or signs of trust, it's a scene from a sopa opera! Why are you acting like this!? Y-you said so earlier that we could trust them, that they did care! I did, and I still think they probably do, BUT, I would rather push them away, then risk your mental health. I truly have your best interest at- If you did, you wouldn't push away every chance I get at having friends! I'm starting to think you're just paranoid... I do know what's best for you, because I AM- No. You're. NOT! P... Pinkie?... You, are just my very vocal conscience, whom over the years, I've regarded as my friend and companion, even now, I still do... But let's you and I get one thing clear, we may share one body, and one mind, but we are not the same person. I've let you influence me, and give me advice; which most of the time has been right. You seem to forget though that this is my life to live, and while I will gladly take in your opinion and advice, it is still MINE. Do you understand me? P-P-Pi-inkie... d-don't say that. L-look, we've said a lot of stuff, I-I didn't mean a lot of it- you know that. And I- I know you don't mean that about you and me... Huff Look, just... be quite so I can go to sleep. I have an interview tomorrow. Pinkie, please don't end the night on a sour note! I'm sor- I said goodnight... Pinkamena. ... good night... Ah, I love the smell of anticipation for a gonna-be successful plan in the morning! Smells like... the imminent defeat of my opponent. I worked out the last little details of my plan over breakfast, and the ride over to the 'office'; scopeage on this shit. Ok, I'm going to... to... actually, I'm pretty much going to do what I've been doing, but with a little more effort put into it. This girl is an enigma, and cause of that, I'm not sure how much she told me about herself was legit. I also made sure to make a call to F&F this morn so they could keep tabs on her. I got two things going for me though: the hope that she'll slip so, so I can catch her lying, then pounce like a puma. Or number two... and applies to having Flim and Flam locate her: There's always the Cakes. Little cue-ball spent the night there apparently, Flim and Flam discovered that little fact cause, as it turns out, the Cakes pay protection money to them. Gotta love all these little coincidence's that just pop in my life, huh? I feel a little bad about getting the two of them involved, only because I actually know them, but that being said, they might just be the best leverage I got. Pinkie Pie seems like the type of person to take friendships seriously. Knowing that... well, I'd certainly hope she'd do anything to keep them safe. Heh heh. Now do to her unpredictable nature, I told Flim and Flam to be at the ready at all times, as soon as it's noon. Pinkie may not whoop anyone's ass, like Applejack did, but I'm not taking any chances. It's eleven-o-clock now. More than enough time to psych myself up, and prepare for the showdown of th e minds that's about to go down. You're ass is mine Pie... ... ... ... Are you still not talking to me?... Hmph! Come on Pinkie, I said sorry! I mean it to, I really didn't mean to upset you! There she goes again... It's not uncommon for the two of us to disagree from time to time, happens to everyone, but this time was different. I feel very strong about my stance on Cup and Carrot, and I don't feel like she really understands, or even respects my feelings on the subject. All through waking up, to the shower, through breakfast, and now, when were at the parking lot, she still wouldn't leave me alone... It's not about being sorry, its about not understanding why I feel the way I do about this. I do though! How could I not!? Just a little closer to the door, once I'm inside, that should keep her quiet for a little while... I could always... no, no it's already eleven-fifty, I should really- Look, I admit I could've been considerably less rude to Cup, but I was just- Nevermind. Ok, ya know what!- I slung the backpack over my shoulder, throwing it against the wall. We need to talk. But... we are talking... I mean face-to-face. 'Face-to...' Pinkie, we haven't done that in a long time, a-are you sure you have the energy? I backed myself against the wall from three seconds ago, sliding down until I was on the ground. I crossed my legs... closed my eyes.......... calmed my breathing........... and let go. ---<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<[-]>-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<[-]>-<->-<->-<->-<->---- When next I opened my eyes, I was greeted by the familiar plane I hadn't seen in quite a time. I was sitting in a serene abyss, colored like the bluest sky, fog and mist surround me. No floor lies beneath me, but I don't fall through the clouds; the opposite rather. I slowly rise, standing without worry or doubt, kept my breathing still, and walked forward. Wonder what time it is... this is usually a fairly lengthy process to accomplish. The mist was thicker this time, made sense considering how discombobulated my thinking is right now. Out into the distance, I saw her, further into the endless, peaceful realm. Her back was to me, but I knew it was her; I mean, who else would be in here? As I knew she would, she was the spitting image of me; me deep pink button-up, the darkened ironed jeans (courtesy of Cup), and the loafy's. The only stark difference was her hair. It was straight, flat, and un-moving, coming down to the end of her shoulder blades. I kept walking until I was just behind her, either she didn't hear/notice me, or she was trying to ignore me. Either way, I needed to hurry this along. "Pinkamena." The call of her name; her real name I suppose it is, caused her to jump, and quickly face me. I forgot how long it'd been since I'd seen her eyes. They were her own if you ask me, where as mine were a light cerulean, hers were the purest of blue. Normally they're calm, steady, firm even. Now... well now, she looked like she wanted to jump out of her... 'skin'?... "P-Pinkie! Y-you did it! Well, I mean, I-I knew you could, but, I just wasn't sure if-" I held up a hand to stop her. I wanted to talk to her, and make it relatively quick, so for a change, I had to be the grownup of the two of us. "Stop. I brought us here, so we could work this out, hopefully in a timely manner, and we can both have some peace in our minds." "B-but, um... aren't you worried someone will see you? What if they disrupt the connection?" I rolled me eyes, was she seriously doing this now? "The only way I'll lose connection, is if someone comes over and gives me an F5." "But what if-" "Enough!" She was silent after my outburst. I didn't mean to be so, well, mean to her, but I wanted to speed this along. "Just hear me out, and I'll listen to whatever you have to say, ok?" She nodded in a timid fashion. "Good... now look, we've been on the road for a long time now, and it's been just you and me-" I gestured to her and myself. "-for even longer. Right?" "Yeah... yeah it has." "Mama and Papa... were never exactly... supportive, when it came to us, were they? You remember that right?" "Tch, how could I forget? I don't know how you kept a smile on all those years." "And you... you know how lonely we've been... right? Ever since Maud..." "Again, how could I not? Pinkie what does this all have to do with-" "It has to do with the fact that I don't want to be alone anymore!" The air was thick, and tense. I've been feeling that way for a while now, we both knew it. This was just the first time I or she have ever openly addressed the issue. The silence lasted a long time... "Pinkie..." She finally spoke up. "... I'm sorry..." She'd been saying it all morning, but this time her voice sounded so fragile, broken... "... I know. I just... felt something with them you know? Like our meeting was meant to be. I don't wanna say it was destiny, nothing that dramatic, but in the few days we knew them, I felt... I felt like... I-I felt like I mattered... I've been alone for so long, Pinkamena... I didn't want to ruin any chance I had at really real happiness... I shouldn't have snapped at you like I did... but I don't want to lose them." It's been a long time, since I've been this honest with... anyone, let alone myself. It wasn't suppose to be this way. But nothing ever is, is it? Twelve o' five... I was probably over reacting, but her being so late was irking me. It's never a good idea to be late to an interview anyway, let alone one of mine, but five minutes late? You're supposed to be five minutes early, at least. I could call her- crap, she's got no phone. Oh! I'll run by Sugarcube- dammit, that's right, she never told me she was staying there... um... smoke signals?- 'Can you feel the sunshine?~... The hell!? Oh yeah... Flim and Flam. "Why the hell did I give them that ringtone..." Taking the phone out of my pocket, I answered my fellow esteemed offendees. "Yo whut up guys? Everything all good 'n the hood?" "What does a coat have to do with this call, little wing?" Oooh my God... "Nothing, nevermind Flim." "Flam." "Don't fucking start!" I heard their little chuckles on the other side of the line, surprisingly, I didn't feel like punching them in the throats, like (I thought anyway) I normally would've. Hmph... maybe... we just might be friends; kind of, after all. "Ha ha ha... anyway, to business. We have some... interesting news, little wing-" "Ok, hold on, question." "What now?" "... Is it 'little wing', 'little birdie', or just 'birdie'? You guys go back and forth all the damn time!" "Aw, but variety tis the spice of life; keeps one on the toes! The punchline for Flim and I is that, our actions in the grand scheme of things, on one truly knows." "... ... You guys haven't rhymed shit in a long time, I thought that was suppose to be your guys' scary shtick." "In our defense, at the time, we thought we were going to kill you. We never could have predicted our current business arrangement, rhyming constantly, and consistently good , is not exactly a simple feat... oh well... what's a killer or two to do?..." "Oh, you're funny... one last quick question..." Don't know why I'm asking this, but the mention of our partnership brought up an inquiry I've had for a while. "About our partnership, is it-" Choose your words correctly, don't sound desperate or weak. "-um... satisfactory?" "... Hm... interesting question... Flim?" "Well, without a doubt, we've had worst. I would wager none of our other business ventures were quite so... casual." That got my attention. "'Casual'?" "Indeed. The Dogs for instance; the twelve men. We dictate them out of trust, respect, brotherhood and fear. In past ventures, if we weren't leading it, we were typically given our instructions through a cutout, or message of some sort, rarely; if ever meeting with them. Our relationship with you is... well, give or take our purposeful cryptic ways, and your occasional enotional tangents, bouts of narcissism, and disturbingly recurring mental breakdowns-" Oh, well gee fuck you t- "- I would say our relationship with you is... nice." W-what? "Nice?..." "I must concur with Flim. Minor personal differences aside, and overlooking that silly little attempt on your life, and your attempted blackmail, you have been good to us. We only hope that we have served you adequately. Of course free alcohol and female liaisons is positive in your favor as well, but in all seriousness, you are potentially the best person we've worked with, or rather; depending on how much this meas to you, you are the one we... care about the most." Oh... wow, that was... unexpected to say the least. I didn't think they thought so highly of me... I feel like such a dick now... "U-uh... thanks guys, that actually... actually does mean a lot. Oh yeah, that's right you had something to tell me, huh? Sorry for the sudden interruption, and personal question... ahem so what's up?" And back to business as usual. "Oh yes, that. Pinkie Pie is right under your window." "Oh sweet than- WHAT!?" I slammed myself into the window, and immediately looked as downwards as I physically could. "That is a lovely image to behold, birdie." "Son of a bitch, she's right there! The hell is she doin' just sitting there? Is... is she dead!?" "Sigh No, Gilda. From what we can deduce, at least just by looking, it almost looks as if... she's in a meditative state, of sorts." "'Meditative... state'... Ok, I'll bite- WHAT!?" "Just as Flim said, a state of meditation. Why, or how she is performing this fete, we cannot say, but given her facial expressions, it would appear she is having an inner struggle of some sorts." "'Facial expressions'?... Where are you two!? I don't even see your car!" "Does it matter? As long as we can survey our surroundings efficiently, our location is not important." "Ugh, fine, I really don't care right now... so what now Should I just go kick her awake, or somethin'?" "We would advise against it. To achieve such mental clarity, so as to go into said state of mind, takes an extreme amount of focus, and concentration. If this 'Pinkie Pie' is anything as we suspected her to be, going along with what you told us about her, we can only speculate that this is not an easy feat for her." "Your point is?..." "Sudden, or violent awakening from her current state may potentially be... hurtful. Mentally especially." Dammit... "Alright then, I guess... so what, when she gets in here, pretend I didn't see anything?..." "That would be best." I finally decided to remove myself from the window. "Fine then. I'll tough it out." ---<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<[-]>-<->-<->-<->-Pinkie<->-<->-<->-<->-<[-]>-<->-<->-<->-<->---- We talked about a lot of things. Somethings we already knew, somethings we never really talked about; a little of everything and nothing at once. Most of it was about the past, really. Mainly stuff we regretted, missed opportunities, situations we were in, and how we felt about them; airing out the laundry basically. Some of the things she said surprised me. I... I just didn't- how could I not have know... "... I hated them, you know. When they threw us out, into the wet, hard rain that night. A backpack, scraps for nourishment, barely any dollars to our name, and each other. I hated Maud for leaving. Unjustly I suppose; she was bettering her life. I hated the schools for always thinking something was wrong, the other children for never taking the time to know us; not just them- everyone! Just thinking about it makes so!-" She clenched her fists, and flung them up to her head, clenching at her hair, looking like she was in pain at the whatever thoughts she was having. I was scared she was going to hurt herself! Lunging forward, I grasped her shaking hands by the wrists, pulling them down with a tug. "Pinkamena, stop please! You can't keep going on like this, it's not good for you!" She snapped her head up at me to trap my eyes in her glare. "I wanted to hurt them. I'd be lying if I said I still didn't wish I could. 'Not good for me'- there is a lot of things I feel that aren't good for me! I'd rather be alone then feel that ice-cold pierce of betrayal again. How could I not? Knowing that everyone could hurt us at anytime!?"\ "You don't know that! True, yes, we have meant some meanies in the past, some very very BIG meanies, but that's just a had full of people! You can't seriously look me in the eye, and tell me that every single person out there, ever, is terrible! You just... haven't met the right people, or the right person, to care about; and you will! You just have to take a chance." Pinkamena held my gaze for some time after that, just staring at me, her glare growing softer by the second. After, I''m not sure how long, her head went downcast, hair obscuring her face. "That... is the difference between you and me. You can... forgive, move on, even l... even love. I can't, Pinkie. I can't just look for the silver lining and hope for the best! You're the one who goes out there and tries things! You're the one that trust people! If I was in your worn out shoes, I'd just crawl into a hole somewhere where it's safe!" She raised her head back up to me, eyes glimmering with tears. "I've tried my best to protect you from these feelings; the way I am is no way to live... that's why it has to be you... not me. I'm sorry I I snapped at Cup, but I was really thinking of what's best for you... but maybe... maybe you don't... need me anymore." W-what? No, N-NO! "No! T-that's not true! I'll always need-" I felt her index finger on my lips, with the saddest smile I've ever seen. "No... you don't. You've shown that you're more than capable of making your own decisions; good ones at that. I see now that, I'm holding you back, and for that I apologize." Don't leave, please! I roughly shoved her hand off of my mouth. "Stop it! You've never once held me back, ever! I need you! I can't... when I said we aren't the same person... I meant that you deserve to be your own person. I didn't mean I wanted you to leave!..." "I know, Pinkie. But... there can only be one of us, you know that. I would rather it be you, someone like you, who is... you're just a good person! Without you, I think I would have self-destructed a long time ago-" "And without you, I could be dead, or worse! See!? W-we need each other... don't go, please!... sniff You're- hiccup y-you're all I have left, too..." I can't stop it... I'm crying now, where it's suppose to be my happy place, I'm here weeping like a baby! Life without you... w-what if I get hurt!? O-or taken advantage of!? Who's gonna help me?? Before I could continue my horrifying train of thought, Pinkamena embraced me. "I'l always be around, I promise you that. B-but I think it's time for that little voice to go away; for you to be on your own... I'm quite tired, honestly. I... haven't slept in years." "H-ha-haven't slept?" "I've been awake, watching over you for almost seven full years now. It was the only way you could sleep soundly at night. Dreamless, yes, but better than how you were." "Pinkamena..." "Go, Pinkie. You're already pretty late to Gilda's interview, aren't you? I think you can handle this without me. I'm going to... rest..... now." She let go of me, and fell down to the transparent floor. Fearing for her safety, I tried to catch her before she hit the ground. I couldn't. She smacked against the ground, and I along side her after my failed catch. I tried shaking her with my hand, but to no avail; she was already fast asleep. "P-Pinkamean?..." I could hear her snores... Oh no... oh no, oh no, oh God, nononono.... I was panicking, arms flailing around, shrunken pupils, the whole deal. The ever looming feeling of loneliness crept back into my veins; a feeling I haven't truly felt in years. It feels like a ball of ice is in my tummy... m-my hearts in my throat, a-am I sweating!? What do I do, what do I do!? The negativity was to much for the plane to handle, before I could stop it, I was flung from the only peace of mind I really have. ----<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<[-]>-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<[-]>-<->-<->-<->-<->--- I awoke with a jolt to the senses. If I didn't know what just happened, I was sure I'd have had a heart attack. Everything was as I left it though. Backpack smacked against the wall, empty parking lot, and myself on the dirty, warm pavement. I jumped back up, and dusted myself off, trying to re-present myself. Pinkamena?... No reply... Pinkamena... I won't let you down. I don't have as much faith in myself without you here, but if you believed in me so strongly, then, that's all the motivation I need! Whenever you decide to awake from your slumber, I'll have-!... well I don't know yet, but I'll make you proud darn it! Strengthening my resolve, I marched inside Gilda's office, and knocked on the door, ready to face with whatever life would through at me from now on, by myself, but not alone. Heh heh heh... there you are, Pie... "Come on in!"
Griffons Cathouse	Pinkamena's Submission/The Consequence of Choice(Circumstance)	... ... Jesus, where the hell'd you go; haven't seen you around in forever! Where'd I leave off again?... Oh yeah! So, that Pink McSpazz-a-tron knocks on my door finally, right? The door pushed open, and I came face to face once again with the pink menace; Pinkie Pie. I had a game plan- play it cool, don't be a dick, and sloooowly break her down. Someone like Pinkie Pie requires a certain knack, and rhythm. Of course, how does one get in rhythm with an ever changing scherzo? You whittle it down with a cold, calculating, deceiving adagio, that's how. I knew it'd just be for the best if I didn't inform her about my witnessing her little... 'session', under my window. I figured it'd probably just make her lock up, and then I'd never get anything worthwhile out of her; Pinkie seems like the kind of person who, even though she can talk a lotta talk, she knows when to shut up about certain shit. It's always the peppy, happy ones... least that's what anime's' have taught me... "Hi Gilda~! Sorry about being late today, I got, unexpectedly, non-negotiable-ly, held up. Am I still able to apply for... whatever stuffs I was applying for?" "Hmm... well, I don't see why not. Come on in and pop a squat, let's get this started." Already I suspected something was up with her; compared to yesterday; everything about her just seemed so... subdued. Yesterday she zoomed over to the chair, and along with crushing my hand, wouldn't shut the hell up. Today: no catchy door-knock jingle, and no instead of transporting to my desk, she slowly sauntered over to the chair and calmly took a seat. She was wearing more or less the same thing from yesterday, hair done up the same, but she was just... missing something. "So how was your night? Sleep alright?" Figured I'd ease her into a comfort zone with some basic small talk. I shifted my gaze towards my desk, organizing some things; in an attempt to create a nonchalant atmosphere. She smiled a small smile while shrugging her shoulders. "Oh I can't complain I guess. I ended up crashing with the Cakes last night, that was pretty cool." Really? Didn't think they were such good terms so soon. Actually come to think of it... "The Cakes huh? That is cool actually; they're a couple of sweethearts. That reminds me actually, I never got around to asking you this yesterday, but out of curiosity, where are you staying at, during your time here?" "Cousins place, just on the outskirts of town." That answer seemed too prepared... too rehearsed. What the hell is with her? Whatever poker face she had yesterday is long gone... where the hell did she go; mentally? She was even sitting differently (I felt a little weird on how I took notice to that, but I think I'm at a point in my mental decay, that I can just do shit like that now), she was tense, nervous, couldn't seem to relax. That smile... so... fake... "Nice, nice. Why the sudden location change? Fresno is quite a trek from here. Kind of a different climate too." I looked up just in time to see her eyes quickly flicker up, then back to me. If I wasn't looking for 'liar's tells', I wouldn't have noticed that. I saw her left hand go up to her hair, and her index finger started to fiddle around with a random curl. "Well... as I alluded to yesterday, home life was pretty..." She stumbled to her self for a few seconds, really trying to find a way to explain it to me. "... in all honesty, it was pretty... just... blue." 'Blue'? ... "And?..." "I don't like blue." Oh. "Oh."... Well guess that's the fuckin' end of that! "Well.... i-it couldn't have been all bad. I think you mentioned something about, uh.. uh..." Fuck! Think think thi- oh! "-uhhh Maud! Sounds like you two were pretty tight. From what people with siblings tell me, having a big or little brother or sister, is pretty cool. Sounds cool honestly." 'Specially if they can be used as blackmail, heh heh... She changed smiles on me after I said that. It went from 'forced-and-plastically-polite', to one more akin to reminiscence; nostalgia. Finally, a little pay dirt. How odd, just yesterday she was probing me... "Hm hm, yeah... Maud. We got along really well. When everyone else ignored me, or interrupted me, Maud was always there to lend a shoulder, or an ear. I have two other sisters, but, sometimes it felt like she was my only one... I miss her sometimes, ya know?" Alright good, got her sidetracked. Let's keep it this way, see what we can learn. "She was pretty cool I take it then, yeah?" "Oh yeah." She affirmed with a nod. "Out of the everyone in the whole wide world, I liked her the most. She was so cool, so calm, so... the complete opposite of me I guess..." Oooh, do I detect a little hint of a comparison complex? Hmm... she keeps referring to her in a past sense, is she... dead? I should dig deeper on that... fuck, I feel like a detective right now! Eat my shorts Batman! "I see... whatever happened to Maud, Pinkie?" " I- I'm sorry?" I really don't like it when people act like I said something stupid like that... reminds me of my Mom. "Maud, you always speak about her in a past tense, I just assumed that maybe she... uh, well..." "You thought?..." "Well that maybe she wasn't... around anymore?-" She gasped, and her eyes bugged out. Ok, she got it "Oh my NO! Noo no no! No, her physical for is very much sill with us!" 'Physical form'?... "Uh... you mean she's 'alive' right?" She actually shrugged at me! "I guess if you want to call it that." Ok... time to get a little rude. "Well breathing, blinking, and being NOT in a coffin sounds 'alive' to me." "If that's what you think that's what all this stage of existence simply is, then I can't wholeheartedly disagree with you." How many personalities IS this kid!? "'What I thi-' all right hold up... what's this about stages and existence and shit?" Shutting her eyes and breathing in slowly, she let out a soft breath, smile returning (I real one, I think) as she began to explain it to me. "I'm of the belief that our bodies: soft, and squishy with bonzies' and gutzies, while tangible in physical appearance, they are really only a holding places for our true selves: our souls." Oh great, now I'm talking to George Harrison... "Oh... I didn't know you were into Hinduism." Smile still on her lips she shook her head. "I'm not." "Oh... Kay..." My eyes darted from side to side' awkwardness abound. I coulda sworn that's like straight from their beliefs... "Is that uh... Buddhism?" Another shake. "Well... bits and pieces of each, I can't deny that." "... If you don't mind me asking, what do you believe?" I crossed my legs and arms, making myself comfortable... this was getting interesting. "It's uh... a little tricky to put into words." "I got time." She didn't say anything for a while. Already I could tell she out some serious though into whatever she called her faith. Faith... didn't really think about that kind of stuff to often... Faith these days in life is synonymous with stuff like war, corruption, pedophilia, terror, Evangelion, Skillet; a bunch of deplorable shit. I was raised Christian; Catholic I guess is what we were, technically, but my parents refused to be associated with them, probably something to do with the thousands of years worth of, well; pedophilia and war. Can tell you this though, while they hated Catholicism, they thought the Protestants were total pussies though. My dad use to say, 'The most exciting thing they do on Sunday is a bakesale!', ha ha... but yeah, Christian. Church was a freakin' bore, and whenever I thought about Heaven and shit, all I could think was, 'Well shit, Im'ma die one day.' Course then I'd just put on Twisted Metal and lose myself in my unintended, thinly veiled irony... I can't really call myself a follower of God anymore. Not causes I'm an atheist but partially because: A. I know i'm going to hell, and B. by about high school I didn't really care about that stuff. I just wanted to live life! And fall in love with my teacher apparently... then break into the crime world successfully with the help of two deadly brothers, and ruin quite a number of lives... ... I'm so fucked up... She's still not talking... why is she not talking?... With all these weird ass thoughts on faith, 'n life and shit I was starting to tense up. With every passing month, my anxiety get's more and more... well fuck, I didn't even have anxiety until the day I knocked out Applejack... or did I prior and didn't realize? What does that say of my state of mind? Conspiring with a country wide underworld God, and his cronies I got over apparently, but trying to crack people's minds, while trying to keep mine glued together, that's what makes me sweat at night??? Trust issues are my worst enemy??? This existential type of bullshit always made me uneasy anyway, but throw in a pink haired enigma whose personality I can't decipher, attitude is inconsistent, and probably knows a thing or two about mind games as well, I was slowly starting to... fidget. Still not talking... still not fucking talking........ I was more perplexed than anything; never mind the quicker pace in my breathing -the fucks going through her head?- the hastily crossed arms -what's with her staring at the floor this whole time- and not to mention my eyes couldn't seem to find a spot to stay at. This was bad... we've barely talked and I'm overthinking shit she didn't even try to use yet! I was almost seriously contemplating if she wasn't sent by someone to play me? Say something! Anything! Answer me you ditzy bi- "Okay~! I think I know how to explain it!" "O-ok, cool, yeah, go- go ahead." I never thought I'd ever feel relived to have to listen to her talk... Taking some quick, quiet breaths, I steadied my self, already wanting to laugh (and pathetically weep to be honest) at myself for getting paranoid over literally nothing. She got up from the chair and started pacing around her chair, fingertips touching in thought. "Ok... so like, you know how we when were kids, we were told how Big G in the sky created aaaaaaallll that we see around us?" She waved her arms about for emphasis. "Uh, yeah. It's kinda American Upbringing 101." The kid nodded in agreement. "Righty-roo. Well, I believed in that really strongly when I was a teeny-tiny-Pie. Then as I got older, and started to see the world without the pressure of my parents all the time, I started hearing, and learning about all the different ways this big wide world thinks, and believes in. Believe it or not when I still lived at home, whenever I got a little bit of spending money, I'd end up spending a bulk of it on a buncha different books." What?? This girl's more well versed in shit than I'd thought... Well, it was Pinkamena's idea mostly... she always said how it can never hurt to know too much... I wonder if she'd still feel that way... No... can't think about that, she's counting on me to live my life all by my lonesome; like a big girl. At least Gilda seems pretty cool. It feels really nice to just get whatever's on my mind off my chest... or off my mind, whatever. "Really? Huh, I had no idea you were such a connoisseur of literature." "Yeah, I like to read a lot too." What in the world is a 'con-is-uey?' "Uh... y-yeah, so, anyway- you were saying, Pinkie?" "Oh yeah! So, around the age of thirteen, I started asking my Father about a lot of these things; he was a Pastor at our church, and at first, we had a blasty talkin' about this stuff! But I started to get more... how do I put it... 'suggestive', I guess, with my questions?" Gilda's eyes perked at my using of the word. "'Suggestive'? How so?" "See... I kinda started... well, I asked him about other types of beliefs one day; other was of thinking, all that serious stuff. Like, 'What about how these people think', 'What do you think about this way of life', 'Others interpretations of similar stories', things like that." "And I'm assuming given his position, 'Daddy-Pie' didn't take to well to that?" Woow, she's really good at this talking thing! "Yep-Yep! Gave me quuiiiite the talking to, I've never seen him use the ladle before." Gilda's head turned to the side- man, she really makes a lot of head movements. Actually a lot of people seem to when I talk to them... actually I do that too!... Is that just something all humans do or- Right, origin story, sorry... "What do you mean 'use the ladle'? He made soup or something?" LOL! "Hahaha! snort You're funny Gilda! I meant he used the ladle on me for the first time!" 'Made me soup'- I gotta tell that one to Maud!" For some reason Gilda got a really perplexed look on her face, I'd wondered if I'd said something wrong, or offensive? "Gilda? What's wrong, the color's off your face, you look paler than a lamb!" She... no, she, she's fucking with me right? The air grew colder as Gilda was thrown back by Pinkie Pies innocent tones, but horrific implications. "Uh... P-Pinkie by 'use the ladle' you mean... um... d... do you mean like... he hit you?" "Well yeah! Hurt like the dickens! Builds tough callous' though-" 'callous'... "-tell you what, I got some real traction on these babies!" The youth stepped to the front of the elders' -Not that old, asshole!- desk, showing her the same rough hands Gilda had noticed when first they met; taking on a while new meaning to her now. What really had perturbed Gilda was the blase nature Pinkie had described it. While far from what many would consider 'normal' Gilda was at the very least aware of the difference between discipline and physical abuse. Her behind still echoed the hand of Father Hof from when she was little, the feeling resurfacing from the back of her mind from time to time. Does... does she think that that's ok?? To Gilda, it seemed, someone must have tampered with her head, if she said anything but no. "I uh... h-heh, Pinkie I know this is like, super not my business, but... but you- are you ok with that?" Pinkie's head cocks to the side... processing... processing... thinking of the best possible answer. "Well whaddya mean? Every parent needs to discipline their children, even if they don't want to. He always made it clear that his hand was simply forced in the matter. In hindsight there was a pretty clever pun in that statement, but Father... never really had a sense of humor." The way the name 'Father' was spoken rubbed Gilda the wrong way. Calling someones' Father 'Father' is fine, nothing weird in that... but I don't think it's supposed to make one look like their holding back a wince. Best I leave this subject alone for now... although I will make sure to return to this later... better veer the subject back where it was. "... A-anyway, how does this pertain to your 'faith' alignment?" Like a switch, the pink haired young woman was back on track. "Oh yeah! So yeah, Father was stoutly Christian, to the point that you could almost call him a pious teacup!" ... Wait, what? "It took a long time; a lot reading time, reflection time, internet chat room time, and I made a conscious decision." "'Conscious' decision'? How'd ya reach that?" "Veerrry consciously..." ... u-um... "barely contained sigh Ok... look kid I like you, but if you could give me a straight answer, that'd be lovely right now..." "To sum it up, I believe anything is possible! anything could've come from anywhere, and while I do have Faith in the Lord, like I was raised, I attribute more of my blessings in life to simply life itself; by-products of his work." Intrigued again, Gilda crossed here arms, leaning forward, to get a better listen. "Where does the 'soul' bit come from?" Her guest made move to respond, but quickly stopped herself, obtaining a look of ponderment. Nerved once again, Gilda remained silent, giving both parties time to think. It was staggering to really grasp just how far their two worlds were apart. Gilda had always considered herself practical, and while trying her best to not have a stick up her ass about everything -hey!- she made it a point to remember the good times in life. Taking note of what the Flim-Flam Brothers were able to reveal to her, Pinkie seemed... 'homeless', was the word Gilda had settled on. She obviously lied about where she was staying... come to think, did she even tell me why she was here? Shit, I need to start getting more than three hours of sleep at night. Either way, she spent the night with the Cakes, leverage or not, it's at the very least a small conclusion that I was right; she has been lying to me. Let's hope that's the only thing, The familiar paranoia of Pinkie's age crept back into her mind at the notion. "You ever feel like... someone or something is- well, I don't want to say 'watching' you; that'd be to creepy- just, there with you? Not so much a Jiminy Cricket, but not a Fairy Godmother either." Gilda arched her brow for what felt like the thousandth time this year for her. "... Yeah, you've lost me." Pinkie put her hands to her hips, and leaned to her side, trying to figure out the best way to describe her beliefs to Gilda. "Ok, lemme try this... do you feel like... all you are, is all you can be?" Gilda's eye's squinted; challenging the question. "What?..." "Do you feel like you could be more than what your parents, teachers, motivational speaker- whatever- ever said you could be?" Gilda's eyes go downcast, nervous now by this line of questioning. "I-I mean I guess..." "Did you ever feel misrepresented; misunderstood, or just missed in general? Like a bad free-point throw?" "Well sure... yeah... yeah, but everyone does now and agai-" "Did you live life knowing you were so much more, but it seemed everything in your life was constructed solely to be an obstical between you and your dreams?" "I-It felt that way; yeah- sometimes-" "Like everything you hoped for and believed in meant nothing?" Eyes hardening with each passing question, Gilda willed herself to look Pinkie in the eye. Not bothered by the complacent smile that hadn't left her face. 'Stop it... why are you happy??' "Yeah..." "Meant nothing to your parents?" 'What is she-' "Yeah." "Other adult figures you know?" 'I-I don't have to answer th-' "Yeah." "Friends you made?" 'Dash...' "Yes..." "And after so many years of feeling like nothing, did it sometimes feel like your own future didn't even matter to you?" 'Stop it... stop pushing, kid-! "Yes!" stop it... stop... "You feel that fire in your tummy that fuels your emotions, your creativity, and just make ya wanna do something about it!?" stopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopit!! In her rage Gilda sprung out of her chair, the force sending it to the floor. "YES! The fuck do you want from me, kid!?" Slowly, but not un-noticeably, the smile that normally was sported on Pinkie's young face, snaked it's way onto the girl's lips. "That's a soul Gilda. Right there." Flabbergasted, her previous passion soon became forgotten, and replaced with four different synonyms for 'confused'. "What!? What are you talking about???" "That passion! The one that drives people to learn and create. The same kind that helped the founding Fathers put together this country. The same passion that build the buildings in this town and aaallll across the world! The kind that makes millions of humans rally together for peace; for love." Reaching across from her, Pinkie reached for and clasped Gilda's left hand in her two smaller ones. "It's what makes us human. It's what binds us; the one thing that exceeds religion, transcends science, makes silly issues like race, gender, social class, orientation and genetic make-up irrelevant; it unites us. Not everyone gets a chance to let themselves be free; cursing the earth to never know that persons ideas, and gifts this world could have had from them. That's what I believe in, Gilda. Anything is possible, and anyone has the potential to do or be anything. You me, and anyone that tried to hold us down, are missing out on the true beauty of this world." The innocence in this kid... is too pure... Everything proceeded as (mostly) normal after that. Gilda gave an embarrassed nod of her head, accompanied by a shaky laugh and a non-committing 'oh, ok, I get it now'. Pinkie was asked the same questions Gilda had asked several others, several times before. There were prolonged periods of time where Gilda intentionally asked open-ended questions; prompting Pinkie to go off into long tangents about the subject at hand. Gilda did this for a couple reason. First and foremost, she needed time to calm her mind and regroup her thoughts. What was meant from the opposite party to be inspirational and well meaning put several flavors of sour in Gildas' mouth. Second being was so she'd have time to mull over what she'd learned of the pink haired person in question. Interesting thing about what Pinkie said to Gilda; most people would find comfort, or solace in those words: drawing from them strength or inspiration. She isn't wrong; Pinkie Pie. The ties to our hearts; or our beings, the meaning is the same- is a powerful thing. It's the kind of thing that could very well speak volumes to anyone, the message is one of faith- not in a God- but to ourselves; the human race. As Gilda has gathered, Pinkie has faced many hardships in her time, and almost anybody would be able to respect her strength for holding on to her views for so long, and so passionately. If you asked her, she'd tell you that her experiences only prove her beliefs even more so... but to a heart as frigged and hardened as Gilda Hof's, a cold bitterness is all that comes forth... 'That's a soul'... what do I take from that? What am I supposed to? 'Unify's races? Genders? Transcends science??? The fuck world is this kid living in? She think that cookie-cutter; Tumblr heart bait bullshit is enough to make it in this world? This pathological liar hasn't suffered; this social justice peon hasn't felt real pain! Looks like one of those fuckers too with that pink hair... everything about her is so bubbly- so loud it makes me SICK! Pinkie was off in her own world, describing her opinions on this, and that; poor thing failing to realize the venom all but seeping out of the woman she was talking to. What'd she sleep on a few benches? Walk a few miles? Did she leave home cause Daddy was a bit of a dick? That's not suffering... that's not struggle- I've been out there, I've seen; I've become the worse this species has to offer! I've suffered more in my Goddamned head the last few months- then I have my entire life; I'm the one that should be that strong- THINK I'm that strong! As each poisonous thought crept in an out of Gilda's mind, Pinkie was talking all the same. Unaware of the daggers being glared, the hate being felt. Gilda knew why she was reacting so volatile to all of this, knew where this anger was coming from, but she wouldn't dare acknowledge it. Not yet, lest she lose her nerve for what was about to happen. Oh she's pure; she's innocent alright. It's disgusting. Blind optimism like that shouldn't be allowed... shouldn't be rewarded... it needs to be crushed by the cruel wait of reality. It's needs to be purged by the cold, emptiness of life itself. Pinkie Pie I hope one day you realize I'm not doing this for Griffon's Cathouse; I'm doing this because you deserve it. 'Anything is possible, anyone can be anything', well you know what? I'm about to show you how dead right you are. 'True beauty of the world' fuck this world, and fuck you- you're body is mine. The decision was made. It was time. Fuck the facade, fuck the orientation questions, fuck why she's even here- this thing that tried to fuck with my head. and fill it up with her optimistic lies needs to be put in her place. She was still rambling on about some worthless bullshit, didn't even notice me whip out the phone so as to text the Brothers to make their way up here. "- It was a really interesting time for me, cause that's when I really started to question really who I-" I slammed my phone-holding hand on the table to shut her up. "You know something?..." That unnerved her enough to sound slight scared. "W-what's that?" She asked. "I have really... really heard enough from you, Pie." The sudden harshness made her to start fidgeting in her seat like a scared little child. Good "I-I'm sorry wha? Did I-I d-did I say or do something wrong?" "Yes. Yes you did." SLAM In a moment of shock, the pink thing turned to the source of the noise. These two have the best timing I swear. "Well what have we here, oh Brother of mine?" "Why Dear Flim, t'would seem a delusional child with wide eyes! Oh look at the petrified naivete witch they doth shine." Pinkie entered full freak out mode and bolted from her seat, back crashing against my desk- couldn't take her eyes off them it would seem. "Y-you two!? B-but you're-!" "The two dudes with the bowler-looking hats? Yeah, I didn't tell you I knew them?" "Huh!? What? WHY???" Taking the opportunity to instill even more fear, I put on the theatrics by slowly getting out of my chair and walking over to her. "From the second you set foot in this town my eyes were on you. Not for any special reason, no, despite what you may have convinced yourself of, you are not the kind of special you think you are." I was beside her now. Hand placed eerily on her shoulder. "But it would seemed fate deemed you useful to me." She spun around to face me, the motion was so quick she almost lost her footing, luckily (for me) she landed right in the arms of the Brothers; one at each side. "L-let go of me! This isn't funny Gilda! I don't know if you've noticed but these kind of social experiments are very frowned upon on the internet these days!" "Really?" I snidely asked, arms clasping behind my back. "Cause I'm having quite the laugh... but make no mistake, this is no prank... you're mine now." She must be smarter than I thought, because she seemed to understand the implications of what I said. She of course tried struggling a bit more, but despite how Applejack punked them out months prior (although she did catch them off guard), these two are professional killers; no pushovers by any means. To make sure she didn't try any nut shots, they took to one standing on each of her feet. We hadn't done this before; the holding up thing. Usually we knocked them out, or something. Applejack was really the only one that got away. I could tell F&F were waiting for me do do something; but the telepathy is strong with us, so they let me do what I felt neccesary, besides... she wasn't going anywhere. The situation was really setting in for her now; eyes were welling up, body was shaking, she made dead eye contact with me pleading for answers, or for us to let her go. I let her go on for a time before I stopped her. "P-please j-just tell my why?? What did I do wrong- what do you want from me!? I didn't do anything to you! Please, please, I'm begging you let me go! I-I'll do whatev-" "Oh the reason for this is very simple kid." I made sure to get up riiiight in her stupid mug, so there'd be no miscommunication. "I hate you." For some reason me saying that seemed to hurt her more than anything else at the moment. "W-what!? T-that's horrible, why would you say that!? I never met you until yesterday, and I thought-" "What? We were becoming friends?" She looked down. "N-no nothing like that..." Eyes shot back up. "But we were getting along! We made conversation, we told each other our backstories, we hugged what was all of that!?" "Oh gee, I wonder; it's not like 'acting' exists- oh wait YES IT FUCKING DOES! Don't be mad at me; I'm not the naive little shit that let herself get played." "But you're not telling me why! I didn't do anything to deserve this! Let go of me-" The contact was sudden, and the sound was satisfying. Her cheek was red and stinging from where I hit her, fist still clenching from the anger. That stupid, annoying voice was grating my fucking brain, with her fucking questions... 'why me, why me, we hugged!', fucking pathetic. She'd get her answer, she'd learn why, and she'd never make the mistake again. I feel like it shocked her more than it hurt; she was just staring at the floor, makes sense, I made her head snap that way. The room fell quiet, I don't think the brothers expected that from me... hell, I didn't expect that from me. I could hear the tears from her reddening eyes pattering ever so slightly against the floor... Pinkie wasn't sure what hurt more, her head from the recent impact, or her heart. Here she thought she made a friend, she had shared more with Gilda than she'd ever had with anyone else she's come across on her adventure. If anything else, she would try her best not to let it show how much she felt hurt by this betrayal. Hopelessness set into her mind; ceasing any mental prayers that she'd been thinking. If nothing else, she mused, she hoped if they killed her, it was quick. "I hate people like you, the kind that drown weak-minded idiots with their optimistic lies... see, you're the kind of person where- say someone is having a bad day; they're sad and crying, you walk up to them, and say some bullshit like: 'oh gee wiz, whatever is the matter with you?' they say, 'oh, you know, I'm just having a bad day', so you say: 'Well gosh, that's unfortunate, BUT just remember there are beautiful and pretty things AAALL around us!', RIGHT!?" Pinkie couldn't find the strength to look Gilda in the eyes anymore. Everything said to her was nothing new than what hundreds of others tried to tell her before. Was everything I believed in... does it all really mean nothing? Why is having faith in humanity so looked down upon by so many people? Was I wrong!?... But there... there are good people in this world, I've met them, I've seen them- talked to them!... Lied to them all... Pinkie cast glances upon the bowler hat men she'd met just a day prior. Eyes steeled and unwavering staring straight ahead. I can't... I-I don't know how to deal with this- cope witht his/ I can't! I can't; she could- I don't know how to what to do- what do I do!? "Optimism like that is a disease- the kind that encourage everyone to be anything they want, without any repercussions. Do you know who I was? I was a regular kid, from a state you've never been to, from a town you've never heard of- and like almost nothing, I was able to enter a world that someone like you can't even comprehend is real." With all she could, Pinkie forced herself to make eye contact with Gilda. Stop it please... she doesn't know what she's doing to me "S-so... so what... some bad people hurt you, and you thought you would get all... all even Stevens with them? Or are you jus... are you just a greedy person, that would sell out their friends for a quarter, and a jawbreaker? I've met lot's of people Gilda..... maybe close to all of them, but despite what you might think about me; I know how hard life can be. You keep bringing up how I'm so naive this, unaware that- Gilda I never lied about being from Fresno- you said I can't comprehend how it can really be out here??? Gilda do you really think I only came here, let alone got here just by walking!?" What would she know about anything I've seen and done!? She's the one that could never understand- not me, not anything!- Pinkies train of thought was cut off by a punch to her stomach. The implications of that question did not go over Gilda's head. 'For better or worse' she thought: she wouldn't dwell on it too much. "You assume I presume to little; I can tell you've been around- that's what makes it more incredulous how you don't know the first thing about real life, or it's bullshit. The real world; the one I'm from eats little wide-eyed things like you," Another punch. " the world I'm from makes you disappear; the world you're going to will make sure you never see light again unless it's the pearly fuckin' gates!" Punctuated by another shot. She's insane! This is all my fault, how could I be so stupid!? Why did I ever think I could pull a fast one on her? On anyone!? She was right, my luck did run out... I-I I'm locking up... no one's here to help me..... I can't "cough B-but w-wince why!? Why would you involve yourself in the coughcough worst that human kind has to offer!? Hundreds of lives aren't given daily so you can profit on the dark parts of our species." Pinkie is no stranger to physical punishment, but this coppled with the lack of the other side of her mind was starting to prove too much. "Y-you bring shame to the very concept of what someone with a soul is! You don't really know do you? Why you do the things you do. You just look for any excuse to tear someone down and make money off of it!" "What, don't like the cold hard truth? Literally any business ever, everywhere works with a third party that the public can never handle knowing about. This is the way shit works, and it always has! No change of heart, or protests from some bleeding heart kids changes anything. Just ask those salty-ass war vets, or hippies that walk around everywhere giving everyone a bad attitude. They fought a war they didn't believe in, or fought with all their hearts to bring the boys home. Truth is, the government was never going to listen to us. Never gonna listen to you! Same with us. We are deep within a small part of the social structure.; within something that's been in place for centuries now." Pinkie shook her head; refusing to believe what was coming from Gilda's mouth. Who would't? "But it's not right!" Using her right hand, Gilda stepped over to Pinkie, gripping her cheeks. "Did you know there were Presidents before Washington? The amount of sacrifices that went into building America? The amount of money and blood it takes to keep this country alive and afloat? Do you know how much money it takes to shut up those politicians so they don't rat us out? How much of a cut of the things we do go to the government so they can keep both the country out of debt, and in war!?... So let me re-ask a question..... what the fuck do you believe in?" If nothing else- Gilda thought, I'm at least terrifying the crap out of her with this bullshit. Seconds long pauses felt like hours. Minimal breathing could be heard as loud as a plane right now. Pinkie knew she had no grounds to believe Gilda; she shouldn't! She reluctantly acknowledged the fact that at the very least, Gilda would have know what she was talking about... no way some of that could be real... but there were truths in what she said; truths Pinkie couldn't really deny or counter-argue. She was about to give up hope completely... when she remembered something someone very important said to her once. This world is cold, and as hard as a rock, but there are diamonds underneath it's surface. Though darkness submerges, it can never drown. Though light may fade, it will never go out. At times it may seem like the only thing that exists in this world is hate, but never forget, Pinkie, as long as someone believes in humanity, there is hope for it. Promise me ok? That you'll never stop believing. There are good people in this world, and they'll need you. Maud... my sister... "I... I believe you... but I also believe in the good in people. Maybe not you... maybe not these two... but there are good people in this world. There are good people in business, on police forces, in office, in the streets, but it's the mean ones like you that try and kill any hope anyone could ever have of being better, just because they don't measure up to some kind of pecking order. Who up and decided one day for the whole worlds that trying to have some kind f hope or faith was a bad thing? Who said that believing that people can better themselves, and putting trust in others was a punchline? That if you have those kind of feelings your weak, lying, or 'don't know how the world works'? Let me ask you something, Gilda; who's really the weak one? The one who gives into the hardships of the world, and reaps it's sinful benefits, plunging their heart so deep into darkness they can never hope to recover- or, the one who goes through the toughest trials of life and can still walk out with their head held high, and continue to think of others? The ones who only care about themselves or the person that once in a while thinks of someone else? Me... or you?" To which Gilda responded with the only answer she could. Connecting her fist in Pinkie's jaw and sending her crashing to the floor; unconscious. '"Weak, strong'. You're the one knocked out." Observing the scenario play out; Flim and Flam had several thoughts swimming in their heads. One of course being how Gilda was able to hit Pinkie so hard it KO'd her hen it took a good fifteen minuets to subdue Applejack- truth be told they allowed Pinkie to fall to the floor so they wouldn't need to hold up the dead weight. Additionally it probably made Gilda to feel her image was far 'cooler'. Secondly they were losing patience and the will to contain their frustration. These breakdowns from the victims are nothing new, but the increasingly sociopathic displays from Gilda are , and it was starting to unnerve them even if slightly. First and foremost however, they were getting very annoyed. "Little Bird, we must make haste. Flim and myself do have other errands to run. Bodies to waste, an empire to run." "Getting weak on the rhymes there, cronie." Gilda responded in turn without her eyes straying from Pinkie. "As is our patience. Move your sadistic power play along." "Look if both of ya are so pressed for time here's two options: either go grab the car and meet me outside, or fuck off and I'll do it myself- which is it going to be; cause I wanna enjoy hurting this twerp!" The brothers cast themselves a look at the other. Being brothers; twins at that, they held a quick, silent conversation- Flim a look of uncertainty, Flam's was a gaze of wanting for confirmation. In resolve, they were nigh identical, in planning they were of one mind, nothing they've ever done was without complete trust , confirmation, and faith in the other. It hadn't been lost on them that Gilda had been getting seemingly more and more deranged when it came to breaking in her new 'employees'. Flam was usually of a more gut-feeling type of planner, Flim usually more analytical; Flam could plan more around how what the things they would do and the psychological aftermath it would have on themselves, their victims, and the public's reputation of them, Flim was the numbers and results. A perfect combo. Flam would in times like these, look to Flim for strength, or resolve. They were reminded of how held a feeling akin to fondness for Gilda, perhaps not the friends she thought she had made, but they cared about her to the point of being concerned. For herself, but more importantly how her recklessness had been affecting their business. Nothing negative; surprisingly, but these emotional lapses of her -Flim theorized anyway- would (could, Flam had rationalized, attempting to give Gilda some kind of benefit of the doubt) get her killed. Which is bad for business.. which is bad for Sombra... which is bad for them. Flim's uncertainty was in the sake of whether or not they wold risk indulging this developing sociopath. Gilda was never good, but she was good to them, it was an unspoken agreement to never get involved with personal matters, especially ones of the mind. Flam's gaze was in the hope that Flim would have calculated an answer for both of them. He was concerned if thy should cross that lone. If maybe they could get Gilda's mind set back on track, and get to the bottom of her continuous mental lapses. If they did cross that line however, they both knew: that even the smallest acts of kindness in this business; despite what Pinkie thought- can and will jeopardize your allies, the position and get you killed. Whether or not they would regret not showing more concern for Gilda on this day they would decide later, exhaling a conflicted sigh, Flim decided to answer for the both of them. "Take... however long you need." Knuckles crack. "Good. Get the fucking car." And out the door they went. "You know something kid? I should really be thanking you. There were a few times I was starting to question myself... plenty of times I considered whether or not this life was for me. Whether I was going to far off the deep end, if I really agreed with the things I was doing, the lives I ruining, sometimes I even felt like quitting... but talking to you really inspired me, ya know? It reminded me that everything I'm doing has it's purpose, my life has it's destiny... thanks to Sombra I'm powerful enough a player to make it so that you, and the others at my place are necessary pieces to obtaining what I want." Don't know why I was talking to this unconscience thing... pretty sure she can't hear me. Plus the angle of the punch sent her on her side, so now I was kinda talking to her back. How rude! It's true though, too many times I've been war with myself wondering, and 'hmm-ing' and 'hah-ing', going back and forth on the same bullshit over and over again. Now though I feel ready, for the first real time since all this started. The moral event horizon has been crossed; unless it's Flim and Flam everyone else is dead weight until proven otherwise... and I couldn't feel better about it if I wanted to. "That shit about hope is nice if you're making a Disney movie- but it didn't help you anywhere else did it? Your abandonment issues with your Dad and sister might seem sad and inspiring to others, but if you ask me, it just seems like existence got lazy with you, and threw every 'happy-girl-with-a-dark-past' cliche it could. You're nothing... you hear me in there kid? Nothing!" In a mind set I can't really comprehend, I moved from my standing position, to take to flipping Pinkie on her back, then lowering myself so I could straddle her. The pressure must have stirred her from her slumber; she slowly opened her eyes, she didn't really seem to acknowledge where she was, most likely too disoriented. "Ah... w--whaaaa......... Gila.... wh-wy are......" I grabbed her by the hair to silence her, and bring her closer. "Let me tell you a story about 'hope' and what it gets you. MY family was an entire pack of douche-bags, and assholes, but there was one person I liked- hell could even say 'loved'; Grandma Hof- on my Dad's side. She was the epitome of badass. Three kids, raised them the best she could with a prick for a husband, a bitch of a daughter, two boys; the douchy one became my Dad, the other; really nice guy, she had to bury before she died. She endured hardships, oppression, and hell's that today's women can only imagine going through. She worked harder than any man I ever met, and survived a cancer that's usually terminal....... ever heard of Ovarian cancer? Well back in the early sixties she had it, and survived when every doctor told her she'd never see her kids grow up. She gave them all the middle finger and lived to see me." My voice cracked a little on the last word... I hadn't thought of Grandma Hof in a long time; don't even think I mentioned her to you. Only one out of anyone in my family to actually inspire me, she made me feel special, loved, like I wasn't just a trophy on the wall. So many awesome memories; making food, watching movies, going places, laughs, the time we confided in each other...I never deserved her, not then, and never now. She died well before what happened with Cranky happened... in a twisted sense that's almost a good thing. I could never speak to her about my life if she knew what it had become... actually... I'm nothing like she wanted, in fact I'm the literal opposite. I think she would hate me. "Her husband was an unappreciative son of a bitch that never took notice of anything wrong with her. Dad moved away from home to 'get away' but really it was so he could avoid responsibility for anything that happened with his parents. So she, she got sick later in life; idiot doctors, and an uncaring family equated to one day her being rushed to emergency... there was nothing they could do, there was... there was too much wrong with her. so after some months... s-she quietly passed away." Damn it don't cry... not now, not now you fucking bitch- you can't beat the shit out of this kid, then cry when you're explaining your Freudian excuse! I couldn't hold it back like I wanted to, several tears did escape my eyes, and landed on Pinkie's groggy face. You're pathetic, just like you've always been. Just a lonely little kid that should've been hugged more. Shut up... "And all she... all she ever preached to me was how to never stop helping others, always do good things; this woman, who put literally EVERYTHING before herself... and what was her thanks. A Husband that didn't care, kids that abandoned responsibility, and nieces, and nephews that fought over her heirlooms like a pack of wild dogs the HOUR after the funeral. Caring about others gets you nowhere, and it gets you nothing, everyone always told me that was the point of 'doing good things' but tell that to her! To the others that suffer in the name 'being a good person'!... I learned that through her, so yeah I did turn to the darkest parts of this world. I don't regret it for a second either. You won't make me feel regret; no one will. Surprised you never shot up a school like the rest of the sad youths in this country, you're just as starved for affection, and acknowledgement as the rest of them. I'm better than you want me think! I'm better than those rejects! I am you, you idiot. You'll never be okay with this. You'll go through the rest of your life questioning everything you ever do. Then you'll suspect Flim and Flam, then one day you'll wake up with blood on your hands that isn't yours, bodies you don't remember killing, and you'll still be crying to yourself, like you do every night, about how fucked up you are for falling in love with your teacher. No worse, and no better than anyone that's ever been on Dateline. Congratulations. Everything I've ever done has been for nothing... Everything I'll ever do means nothing. One day I'll die or disappear, and everything I did will be forgotten by history. If these girls escaped me, they'll do everything they can to make sure my name is forgotten, Flim and Flam will erase any and all connection to me. Exactly. You know, there is that gun you keep under your futon, you could always- That's where your wrong. I'm not doing this for anything else anymore. Not for fame, recognition, not even money. Not the brothers- nobody... I'm only doing this for one person and one person only. Myself. You will bring suffering to yourself, and everyone around you! You'l get yourself killed- Then I'll die knowing that anything I did, I did it my way. Now get out of my head. After finally winning that ongoing mental battle with myself, I could feel a weak hand resting on my cheek. I look downward to see Pinkie staring at me. Eyes half open, smile barely there. Why? Why waste a smile on me? After everything?... "I'm... so sorry about her... I've lost family too. Friends; I know what it means to be... be sad... to feel like nothing... even be made to by your family, the ones that are supposed to care about you the most. But that's not everyone... and I think you know that still... somewhere in that cold heart of yours... you heart isn't one that is naturally hardened... it was made that way. There must be someone you still care about. One, or two... everyone cares about someone, even at their lowest... w-what happened... what happened to you, and me, isn't everyone's situation... there are good things in this world... but the ones who are hurt, like us, it's up to us to protect those things. That's all I meant." The hand made small stroking motions... maybe... maybe she did understand more than I gave her credit for. "I understand you... I can never forgive you... but I understand you." I decided that I would allow this. I was ok with the knowledge that she did. It felt kind of...nice. I would let her be the only one to see this weaker side of me; because annoyance or not, understanding is understanding. I would allow this small moment of, I guess you could call it- tenderness. I would not however let it affect me. Not again. Not anymore. I laid my hand upon hers, feeling the knuckles underneath the fingertips. With a smile sincere enough to almost make me worry, I smiled gently to her. "Thank you." After which I brought my fist down, knocking her out again. ---<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<[-]>-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<[-]>-<->-<->-<->-<->--- I awoke to find myself in the mental plane we had made for ourselves. A meditative state? Or have I awoken already?... My clothes haven't changed... where is Pinkie? I turn around, looking everywhere there's space. Feeling a presence above, I turned my head up to see her descending from the non-existent ceiling. Too stunned to move I watched her slowly drop to the floor, until she lay next to me, her eyes were closed, she looked hurt! Who had done this??? As soon as she hit the floor, the area around us changed. Where once there was calming mist, and relaxing clouds and sky, had darkened, with ominous dark clouds, and swirling feelings of negativity filling my senses and the world around me. I moved to my other's side and began to try and shake her awake. "Pinkie! Pinkie! Wake up- a-are you ok!?" As soon as got my question out, she let out a yell of pain... someone had hurt her... and I wasn't there to help. "My God... what did they do to you? WHO HURT YOU!?" She stirred awake at my questions, rasing her eyes to me. It looked like it hurt... "G-Gilda... turns out she was a meanin-kins after all." "What!? Gilda!? B-but she- why..." "I really got us into it this time, huh, Pinkamena?... I can't get us out of this..." She can't- it's not her fault, it can't be, I won't let her think that. "Pinkie listen to me, this isn't your-" "It is... don't worry... I'm not going to run away from this... last I remember she knocked us out, adn I think I could hear an engine turning........... she's not going to kill us... she has something else in mind I think." This was all too much... I couldn't take it, I all but collapsed onto her chest, crying out, for forgiveness, out of fear. I could feel her hand running through my hair. "No worries... you can, can go back to sleep if you want. I'm just going to nap for a bit... when I wake up, I'll deal with the consequences of my actions." With that she slipped into unconsciousness. With all the will power I could muster, I tried prying open Pinkie's eyes from here; her outside eyes. It took a lot, but I was able to get a visual of where we were at, even got the ears to respond, if a little low, and too much reverb. "... -oing to put her across from Applejack. Make the two biggest trouble makers across from each other. Seems fitting, no?" Gilda... Somehow I swear you'll pay for this. "This one proved much less trouble than the former. Our only concern is breaking this particular one into the business." Moustached bowler-hat guy... "You did confirm her age, yes? I remember that being a point of contention for you." Age?... For what? "O-of course I did! First thing! Why weren't you able to find out about that again?" "Well given the fact that we had to trace her back to California it wasn't until shortly after our call in the car earlier, that we got anything from our contacts near the area. Family immigrated from somewhere; our guess is either overseas or the border; there does seem to be a decent chance she has some kind of Hispanic heritage in her. How many siblings did miss Pinkie Pie mention?" "She only ever brought up a sister. There's not more is there?" "Indeed. T'would appear she has two other sisters." What!? Oh God no, she can't know about them! Lord please, please don't let her hurt them... "Two more?? Damn dude, they ain't kidding about latino's getting super busy!" Lowlife... "Would you like there names?" "Won't need them. Little Pie here's all alone anyway. On the off chance that one of, or hell, even all of her family came looking for her, if we needed to, no one will miss them. Just like no one will miss her. She's on her own for a reason, right? I highly doubt we have to worry about anyone coming for her. Just like no one's gonna come looking for the others- and even IF they did, we got eyes on them; we'll know their move before they do. It's aaaallll good in the hood." No... well... at the very very VERY least, I don't have to worry about the family. "But how will you coax her into doing this? There's no way she'll uphold the facade, she will break. Because appropriate age or not, a brothel is a brothel. Unless you're planning to get her to cooperate via injections, she could bring everything do-" "She won't you can sure of that, Flim." "Flam." "MotherFU-!" I closed off the connection; I'd heard all I needed to, and I was instantly regretting knowing even that... a brothel... they were going to use Pinkie for s... for... for.... No... they can't,, I won't let them. Pinkie Pie... forgive me. "Pinkie. Are you awake?" She awoke again to the sound of my voice. I hardened myself for what I was about to do. She wouldn't be happy... but we have no choice. "Mmm... P-Pinka-" "We're out of time... I figured out what they want from us... Gilda is going to force us to work in a brothel..." "A... a-a-a w-wh-what!? B-but that means... no...nononono NOT AG-" "Calm down, please, please calm down, it's ok... it's going to be ok." She's crying... I hate seeing her cry. In an attempt to calm her down, I pulled her into my arms, trying to soothe her somehow. 'H-how? I can't- I could never, not after- Pinkamena, I don't know what to do!" The sobbing was growing more and more fiervce by the second. I assumed we'd be running out of time soon. I needed to do this fast. "You won't... need to do anything." I was looking straight ahead, but out of my peripheral vision, I could make out her looking up at me. "H-huh? What d'you mean?" "I'll... take it from here." The silence that follows is deathly. I can feel a chill run up my spine. "'You'll take it from'... no... n-no Pinkamena you can't-" "I have to. You've suffered enough all of these year while I've stayed safe away in here. It's your turn to rest." "Please... don't-" "It's ok. I'll be ok. I know this is too much for you... speaking honestly, we both know you won't be able to make it through. Alone or ith both of us..." "... But it... it'll be bad for you..." I lay her back down as softly as I could. Using my hand to close her eyes, and usher her to sleep. "I know. Don't worry. I'll wake you up when it's over. Goodbye." After some minutes of rubbing her hair, and uttering hollow promise after promise, eventually she fell asleep. Once she was in a deep slumber, I stood up, as I watched her phase through the transparent floor.. As she got more and more out of sight, my background was changing. As if it was cut with a cosmic knife, one giant half of our mental landscape was it's usual peaceful self, the other, remained the cloudy dark mess it became just moments ago. I'm terrified... and I'm going to be alone, and uncomfortable, and in pain... but it's up to me... I can't... I can't run, and hide behind you anymore. For better or worse... It's time to take my life back. ---<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<[-]>-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<[-]>-<->-<->-<->-<->--- Felt like it took forever to get back to the place, but we did eventually. Getting out of the car, I ordered the brothers to 'help' miss Knocked-out-Pie out of the car. She was still waking up, and considering we didn't need damaged goods, the two of them hauled her dead weight into The Griffon. Busting open the door, the first thing I made sure to do was check the main room; the place with the bar- the important place- to make sure my darling little workers were present and accounted for. With all the security, and threat of hurting the family, I already nw they wouldn't leave, but even so, only seeing Sparkle in there made me slightly nervous. As was her personal status quo it seemed, she was reading, and had a mountain of books on either side of her, at her usual booth. Damn Sparkle, you really know how to keep your life interesting... The brothers were soon at the front of the lobby, setting Pinkie down in a chair by the front door. I didn't want anyone else listening in, so I ushered them outside so we could talk in private. "Alright boys, you've done enough for today, I'll take it from here. Thanks again." They shared a glance at each other. "You are certain? It certainly seems to have been a taxing day for you." "No worries Flim, it's all good. Just gonna show her around, then retire to my quarters for the eve. Think I might keep the place closed tomorrow too, just to give me an extra breather. So yeah, you're free, go dig some grave or whatever it is you do." I was about to turn myself away to torment Twilight some before waking up Pinkie, when I was stopped by Flam, via hand to the shoulder. "Little bird, we are not foreign to the stresses this life can bring. If at any moment you feel it over whelming, you can speak to either of us." That came out of nowhere, I didn't really know how to process it. How do I answer that? We aren't friends, just co-workers that get along well. A joke, yeah, that always goes over well. "I mean, I'm not being fitted for a straight jacket yet, so-" "You know what my brother means, Gilda. Unless you think us too daft not to notice, we've seen the change in you. We'd like to say since Applejack came into your life, but it's been developing since long before then. Look... if we are honest... we know this life was a mistake for both of us." My eyes widened at that sudden admission. I'm tripping or somethin' right? "Even for us, not a day goes by where one of us doesn't feel an inkling of regret for something we've done." "Flim is right, Gilda. To be honest anything that has been poisoning your mind in recent times no matter how minimally it may be, is our fault." "What the hell are you talking about? You do this for a living! Actually, I have a serious question for the two of you- what kind of right do you have to feel bad for the shit you've done? That's not how this wor-" "Do you think we never once thought the same thing? It may not seem like it, but we came from hell to get to where we are. The rhyming, the colorful suits; it's a gimmick, a scare tactic. Flim and myself are very well read, but that came later. When your growing up in the projects of this disgusting state, you don't have much time to become very literate." "Tch, 'the projects', you two? There's no way-" Now it was Flim's turn to step in, he advanced slowly on me, I almost backed up out of instinct. "Color of the skin Gilda, is that why? Our parents were drunks... druggies; downright fiends. There's a photo Flam and I keep in our wallets... would you like to see it?" Before I got a chance to answer, Flam busted out the wallet, and flashed me said picture. The sight gave me goosebumps like nothing else. "Quite a sight isn't it? I couldn't tell you if mother was simply passed out or not, but I can tell you how heavy an AK with the safety on feels before you're seven." Good God... "That's Flim holding it. I'm the one holding the teddy bears. On our fifth birthday's, we were given one bear each by our beloved Grandmother. Father's mother to be exact... two days later Father hollowed them out so he could hide his drugs if a raid, or break in happened. I can't recall what they were, but I can tell you he made them himself." "Flam and I did whatever we could to get out of there, just like anyone else would have tried to do. We met the right type of wrong people, moved up the ranks like lighting... I believe... what was it brother of mine? Fifteen." "Correct brother. We were fifteen when we met Sombra; a record, we were told. For a certain area of Nevada anyway." "Jesus..." I mean I assumed they must've gone through some shit but, actually hearing it from them is something else entirely. "We've taken life. Of those that deserved it, and those that didn't- you ever kill someone? Held a gun, felt a trigger? Every night I see blood flash through my mind, I hear screams when I'm alone, I look at the materiel possessions I've obtained thanks to it, and I see nothing. I feel nothing. Hollywood, books, media, those writing sites on the internet; they paint us and others like us out like we are all sadistic monsters, or tough bad asses that enjoy smashing brain matter onto walls, that we love killing to rat-pack music; they glamorize our lifestyle with nice cars, beautiful women, unlimited power flashy suits, tragic love stories- lies! You are a fan of multiple television shows, right? Animes, video games, and searching your internet history tells us you look up fanfiction now and again." "Wait you guys, fucking WHAT!?" "There's a story you like for that Steven Universe fandom, and several others across the web with similar story lines... the one where they're all a drug ruining family, where 'oh sure it's dangerous, but look how sexy and badass they are?' Where everybody cares and loves each other and is one-hundred percent loyal to each other? Where nothing goes wrong, but when it does, there's always a way out because they other fight their way out with the power of family, maybe someone only gets shot, then they live happily ever after? Like in the movies? Like the video games?" "Look man I get it, no one can ever, and probably shouldn't capture this way of life accurately but it's all just interpretation of-" "It makes us sick! You can never trust everyone, sometimes no one! Betrayals are daily, beatings, and live burials aren't just a stunt, it's to send messages, scare people! We are not good people!" "Calm down, dude- who are you talking about!?" I've never see either of them react this way, I was starting to get scared. It doesn't help that Flim was just standing there, confirming to me that this isn't all one-sided. "US! Gangsters, mobsters; we are killers, we take and murder without discrimination there is no, and has NEVER been ANY 'honor', or 'glamour' in what we do! The family, the dinners, the cliche traditions of it all- that's such a small almost non-existent part of it! Of something bigger! Something sinister and horrible, that makes you question the very fabric of human nature! You are initiated by killing someone that a boss you haven't met yet specified, you have to smuggle drugs in objects, in BODIES. Oh sure, some never do those things because it would break their precious 'codes of honor', well miss, not us. We've done every horrible thing you could think of for Sombra. Some funny dialogue, the flashy shirts, should never make up for the fact that a killer is a killer. If we go down, they won't care about our stories, where we came from or what ever poster worthy inner-monologues we had- they'll see us for what we are. Killers. And they'll kill us as such... I-it's insane to think how differently you see this world, living in our metaphorical one. Cause nothings changed, not really, but you see things. The looks, the strings on the puppets, sooner or later you ask yourself how you never saw it? Then it goes deeper, you start to ponder on how the higher ups of this world let it exist? How they can silently encourage it, knowing that hundreds of people disappear by the day?" Suddenly I feel my shirt grabbed, and I'm pulled forward, almost nose to nose with him. "You start to wonder: 'who could come up with something so evil! Who could live this life style and kill without a second glance!?' And there are times I enjoy it, Gilda! A-and I feel sick- so so sick!" "O-ok, man, I understand, just chill, take a sec, and-" "You can never understand! Look at what we do! Look at what we've done; look at what for you- we were going to do to you! We would have killed you, don't ever forget that! We aren't your friends. Not out of not wanting to, but we can't be, we-" "FLAM. Enough." The more stoic of the two set a firm hand on Flam's shoulder, and set him with a commanding stare. Almost instantly Flam's look changed when he turned to his brother. He snapped his head back to my freaked out expression, and looked down to where his hands were, and roughly shoved me to the side- fucker, I fell on the ground cause of that! "Little Bird, everything my dear brother has said is one-hundred percent factual. Though I may appear to be the more level headed one in this current scenario, do not think for a second that the memories of our shared past effects me any less." This was a lot to take in. No words seemed appropriate of an response, so I just nodded at the two of them. Flim and his brother then turned to make their way back to the car, but not before Flam turned back around again to address me a final time. "Don't lose your humanity, Gilda. We've seen the ones that have. Their dark, soulless eyes. Unflinching resolve to pull the trigger, the sadistic satisfaction they gain from their deeds. We can't get either you or ourselves out of this life, but we can help each other through it. Farewell for now." Then away they went off into the early afternoon light. It's weird to feel bad for such two horrible dudes, but as weird as the thought seemed to me, they were people once too. I picked myself up, and dusted the clothes off. Everything they said was true, there was practically nothing I could deny. There was also however nothing that was forcing me to dwell on it too much. Like I feel for them I really do, and yeah it's probs Stockholm Syndrome or some shit, but I like those two. Like them, but not enough to let them discourage me. I have a plan, and I'll follow through with it no matter what happens. I made that decision today, and I'm not going back on it. I felt a little bad about triggering Flam, and in a way, I'm grateful from what I've learned from them, and honestly to this day I see some things very different now, and am grateful to them... but not that much. I walked back inside The Griffon, pretending like nothing happened, I was getting pretty good at that. I made my way to Pinkie's chair, checking her current awake-ness. Luckily for me she seemed at least responsive now. "Well good morning, Starshine! Earth says hello!" A groan escaped her lips, she seemed to be struggling to keep her eyes open. Dammit, she's probably got a minor case of being concussed. "Welcome to your new home, The Griffon!" She raised her head up and looked around, stretching her arms and legs out, most likely trying to relieve the stiffness that undoubtedly set into her joints. "Griffon's Cathouse to be exact; so I as you can see, I got you that job after all! Probably not what you expected, but I think you'll find it to be very profitable!" She should be awake enough some to give some kind of response. Preferably one of the panicky kind. "... Oh..." 'Oh'?... That's fucking it??? Just disorientation, play it cool, play it creepy. "A-as I'm sure your aware, Pinkie, you'll have a very physically demanding job. Don't really get any 'day off' if you know what-" "I know what Griffon's Cathouse is, Gilda. I know what a Cathouse is, and I can guess why you brought me here." "... Fuck, then, alright, get up kid. I'll show you around." Not sure if she was being sarcastic or lethargic, but she took her time getting up before following me into the main room. "Ok, this is the 'hang-out' room I calls it, people can get something to drink, get some food, I got the WWE Network, it's super chill." I turned to Pinkie to gauge her reaction, and it was now for the first time since bringing her here, I saw her eyes again. They were dark again... not sure if it holds any significance, but if it keeps her from being a pain in the ass, I didn't really care. "Further down the hall from the lobby we were just in, is where the girls stay. I fixed up a cozy little cot in the back. I'm a fair boss, so I'll -supervised of course- take you out one day to get some personal decorations for the room. It is your living space after all, it should look however you deem comfortable." "..." Weird... usually I'm being chewed out on the hypocrisy or whatever of that privilege I give them. She just looks dead. Hmm... I'll dig more into that tomorrow, I'm fuckin' tired. "Place is closed today. 'Tis the 'Lord's Day' after all. Gonna keep it closed tomorrow too, so that'll give you plenty of time to get settled in. Might even meet some of your coworkers. They usually hang out in here. See? It's a nice little crew up here; you get a nice place to crash, quality benefits, I mean sure your selling your body for me, but it's a pretty fair trade, no?" "..." "Kid you better stop giving me that silent bullshit before I smack your head around again." "..." I raised my hand in the backhand position, trying to get her to flinch. She looked me dead in the eyes, and I saw nothing. A cold, steel nothing in her eyes. She wasn't afraid of the violence. "..." Fine. I'll think of something else. "Your room's down the hall, on your right whenever you want. Need anything ask one of them. Bug me, and I beat you, Pinkie." From there I stormed back to my office. Ok kid, you may not have much in this world, probably don't care about half your family, but once you realize I know who the Cakes are, then you'll- "Gilda." Now she Goddamn speaks... "What?" I addressed without turning around. "My name... is Pinkamena...." So she's being honest with me now. Victory was mine with her at last. She couldn't see, but I didn't care, I let myself have a smirk at that. "Well then 'Pinkamena'... welcome home." I then proceeded to my couch in my office and passed the fuck out.
Griffons Cathouse	Broken Thoughts: You Must (Not) Breathe	Well then 'Pinkamena'... Welcome home. Letting out a sickeningly proud laugh, Gilda locked herself into her room for the rest of the night. She probably thought she sounded so cool right there, that black hearted b- No... no calm down Pinkamena... s-she wouldn't want you talking that way. Got it's only been few hours but, it feels like days since all this happened, it's only been minutes since Pinkie left... how am supposed to get through this?... I can't-... I don't- s-she was supposed to do all the living! I was the voice of reason, we get into shenanigans, I think of a quick way out, we laugh, and then get the next bus to the next town as soon as possible. It was supposed to be her crosses to carry, her burdens to bare! Nononono t-that's- that's incredibly selfish... she didn't want all of that- didn't deserve it. That's why I resigned to take the pain for her in the first place... That's why were here- that's why we left home. That's why they hate us, that's why I hate them- dammit, no, breathe, come on breathe, shut your eyes and breathe... ... ...... in and out... ok. I open my eyes to allow my senses to regain their composure. Piece by piece memories of what I already knew ere from Pinkie' interactions with Gilda. Her anger. Her tears. Her hatred. Of me. How could she say that to her... how could she hurt her, and throw her in here? Pinkie understood her pain, but Gilda... she's a monster, a heartless monster- a cruel manipulative witch Calm down calm down- NO! DON'T 'calm down' find her. Find her, destroy her!- Pinkie... where are you? This was stupid, I'm no where near ready to do this by myself. I understood that standing around doing nothing would, well, do nothing. I summoned what will power I could and swallowed down the hesitation presently driving my mind. Looking around my current surroundings, it was just as Gilda described it to me. Don't know what else I expected to be honest... Televisions at key locations, room well lit, a well stocked bar (or what I assumed was one, never frequented one myself) and the woman in the corner. Couldn't see more than the top of her head, as Gilda previously stated, she was deeply enamored with whatever she was reading. Hmm... No way she didn't hear Gilda talking to me... Must have tuned her out; potentially out of fear; rather than a lack of compassion. Books on either side, and even from here I can sight the tight grip she has on the book... I see... She must be here against her will too... Can't see what the book is however- could give some insight into her personality.... sigh or I could do what any normal person should do- what Pinkie would do- and just go talk to her, instead of trying to psychoanalyze her from a far like Batman or something... even though she probably would be most likely anti-social and hostile, at best... Risks aside it would better benefit me to attempt to make nice... preferably before this train of thought starts to become redundant. In no hurry to get there I made my way in her direction, very slowly. I wonder if she hears me coming and is hoping I won't; then she'll do that thing where someone stops them before they reach them or can talk, and it'll be really awkward for everybody... Aw who am I kidding how could this NOT be awkward- We're in a brothel- chained here by a total sociopath- and I'm expecting to make nice, let alone friends!? The word 'brothel' passing through my thoughts set off several alarm bells in my head... Why isn't she here to help me? Why am I by myself- why am I here!? Why did I do this... Lord, I believe in you- I really truly do, but why??? Why here!? Why Gilda!? Was this what its all for? Every cut, and bruise, the SEVERAL dislocations, the times we ran from the law, every dishonest, dishonorable, sinful thing we did to survive for the last some years; was it meant for this!? All that pain!? All that suffering!? Dammit- I-I I'm locking up- a-am I till moving- I can't breathe- I can't do this- not by myself- always been by myself- in real life; my own head- the world is droning past me- why am I here? Am I meant to die here? I can't do this... I can't do this.... I can't.... I can't.. I can't. I can't I CAN'T I CAN'T CAN'T I CAN'T I CAN'T I CAN'T I- "OW!" Almost grateful for the (painful) interruption of my inner meltdown, I failed to notice I was on a collision course with the woman's table. Smacking into it knee first, the stacks of books toppled all around the table, and floor. My knee, my leg, my knee ow ow ooowwww "Hey! Watch where you're going kid!" Crap crap dammit ow crap dammit OOWWW "I-I'm sorry! I-I wasn't thinking and lost focus on where I was going- and- oh man, I'm so sorry miss!" "Clearly you weren't, it's fine, don't bother helping me pick up my stuff you knocked over." "I'm really, reaaallly sorry" Not sure if she didn't hear me or ignored me; most likely the latter, but either way before I could get half way through my apology, she was already halfway through regathering the books. "Um, c-can I help t all?" "No." ".... May I help?" "Better English, but no, forget about it." "W-Well I did knock them over; and granted I don't know how you sort them but I can at least help get them of the flo-" "I'm done." And she was. In the time I spent rambling an apology- she not only picked them all back up but rearranged them exactly as she had them before. Twenty seconds and she already thinks you're a crazy spazz... great start Pinkamena, great start... Before I could finish deprecating myself she was already nose back in whatever she was reading- no doubt trying everything she can to forget this encounter. It's ok, it's ok... you've botched up first meetings before- just try again! That's what she would do- you can do it too. "U-uh... I'm, um- cough I-I'm Pinkamena... I'm new... here?" Hearing that provoked the purple hired stranger to look up from the book for at least a second- well, kind of- more specifically she just lowered the book so she could see me. One of her eyebrows was raised- not sure if she was contemplating something, or she was just that flabbergasted by my poor socializing skill.... probably both if I'm honest. I could see her giving me a once over, making me feel twitchy and itchy in the process. I hate getting observed like that but she doesn't know so I don't say anything. And without a word the book was back up. I'd feel more disappointed if I didn't feel it coming. Letting out a dejected sigh, I stood there thinking what else I could do to try and avoid sleeping. I was hoping I wouldn't have to be alone but as per status quo- being on my own has kind of become my gimmick. Can't sat I didn't try at least... There's TV's in here so that alright I guess. Might as well try and find the remote... I turned around and left the woman's bubble, maybe some space would soften her up for later and I could try again. Or perhaps it was wishful thinking, I tend to let myself do that sometimes. I was starting to walk and I swear I heard an intake of breath- was it of a reluctant nature? I was usually the better of the two of us to pick up those kind of cues- but not by much. Still I continued walking; the bar was unoccupied. I don't like to drink but a seat and some escapism sounded pretty nice at the moment. That's when I heard: "I'm Twilight." Now... maybe I had something you could call an 'overreaction'; maybe the ultimately small but subtly significant (at least I think so) action of her acknowledging me meant far more than it should have in my duress... And I probably shouldn't have almost blinked back to the table, slamming my hands down with such a force that it knocked several books down again but- "Nice to meet you Twilight! Thank you so much for giving me this chance!" "C-chance??? The hell- I just reciprocated the introduction!" "Yes, but I can see the effort it took for you to even do that- and I appreciate you even giving me a second thought. You won't regret taking the time to reach out to me." - maybe laid it on too strong... just a bit tho. Twilight stared up at me, eyes wide and unsure... really pretty if I could add, but creeped out I think. "... K um... While I appreciate your enthusiasm for social interaction... 'Pinkamena'- I really was just introducing myself out of politeness... So bye." Book up, head down. "You have other 'neighbors' you know, our inventory came in today and they're putting it away. Go hang out with them. Much better conversationalists and have more patience-" she lowered the book to shoot me a glare. "- as well. See you around." She's shooing me away like an annoying child... No darn it I'm more than that! Just have to show it to her somehow. "Don't send me away, please? I know I just got here and I probably wouldn't have been your first choice for someone to talk to today but I'm scared... I-I'm all alone and if just for a little while I want to forget about my surroundings. I'm not asking to be friends, I just want to be civil... P-please?..." Dammit I sounded so pathetic right there. I didnt intended to dump all that on her- cause now I feel like I guilt tripped her- but I can't hold this all in like Pinkie could. I'm sure I'll meet the others soon but I want to make sure that no one here.... That no one else here hates me... "And is that my fault?" She asked without lowering the book. "You would do yourself some good to remove any thoughts bout looking for allies or pity." "P-'pity'? That's not- no, I- I'm just trying to- I want to be on not bad terms with anyone here that's all." "Well whining about being stuck here without any friends sure does sound like it to me." "I'm not whining!-" Twilight lowered the book quickly. "Keep it down, kid! You wanna give her a reason to comeback in here?" Her voice was a harsh whisper, and her face was tense, her eyes though, I could see that small tint of fear. Fear of Gilda. Should I utilize that now? No, perhaps later if I'm in a corner. I resigned to play along and keep my voice level. "I am not whining Twilight I was being honest with you. I thought that honesty would appeal to your judgment of character. I understand distrusting someone upon first meeting, but your out right hostility is unwarranted." That only made her more mad as she crossed her arms, rather defensively. "What? Reality hurt your feelings? And that whole 'judgment of character thing'? Well one slip up got me here. And that slip up was Gilda." "B-but to vilify someone's integrity to such extremes on a first meeting? that's irrational!" "Well that's your opinion now isn't it? Irrational feels to big a word for you; I really feel like you want to say 'its not fair', but either way: what you judge is 'irrational' I call irrefutable." I crossed my arms after that comment; starting to get mad.. I don't usually feel like this, Pinkie less than rarely ever got mad. That spat last night was the first time I could remember in a long time she did. Even though I was out of practice I still wanted to try my best to reign it in. "You're smart aren't you? Must be given all these books- so a question then: isn't that just your opinion Twilight?" Mileage may very on how I did or not though. My question caused her to angrily raise a brow. "Excuse me?" "Correct me if I'm wrong but, I think its safe to assume that you base that assumption off of a place of pain, which compromises your judgment already. Add on to that your most likely mal-adjusted endorphine levels, nutrition, and considering the isolation and piles of books, you've probably a feeling of intellectual superiority- your opinion is compromised. So new question: can you not see the irresponsibility in demeaning someone elses opinion, and propping up your own?" Twilight stared wide eyed at me for several long moments. I was about to mentally celebrate my victory when she tore that notion down by letting out a few dissmisive laughs. "Pffft ha ha ha! Ok ok Little Miss White Knight- lemme ask you something you don't talk to many people do you? Your logic is fine but dressing it up with all that pretense and hyperbole? You do see the irony don't you? Cause I do." And like a fool I took the bait. "What irony? I just-" "Ok, so- let me give you my read of you- you strike me as someone that comes from a place of objectivity. That's a good thing. You see the grey amongst the black and white. Fine and dandy. However you seem to forget that pointing out flaws in someone else's argument does not necessarily make yours better by default. You have to back up your claim with concrete evidence." "I did! I said-!" "Ah ah ah, no no no- you are saying my opinion is unjust and unfair based solely on your personal take and the emotions my opinions elicited out of you solely; in this case. Just as many people can agree and just as many can disagree with my statement- fact remains that while I describe it as an applicable fact to you, I'm perfectly aware that there are still good people in this world." "'In this world'- I didn't say anything about-" "Well going by assumptions; not unlike the ones you made of me- you were probably going to bring it there anyway. You're definitely a smart person- but considering how much your emotions cloud your judgement; perfectly exemplified by that 'objective bleeding heart' persona you've got going on there, you are very clearly self taught, and most likely had a small or nonexistent circle of humans you were in constant contact with during your developmental years and the few that were either agreed with you, or ignored you. I'd say 'correct me if I'm wrong' but I think we both know for the most part I'm not." What the hell? How did she do that? She got me down to a T! Pinkie was always better at these things than me, but, minus some offset generalizations, she had me almost totally pegged... almost. In a very non Pinkie train of thought; whom I have little doubt would have attempted damage control by now, I decided to keep these little exchanges going. "Wow, you're good at this. Taking someone's basic character traits that are apparent in a first meeting and throwing them back at their face? Man, nineties literacy would have loved you." Twilights eyes narrowed as she allowed herself a smirk. "Oh I know right? But you though- bravo!" clapclap "Such unique insight on how peoples minds work. You probably watched through Evangelion once and fancied yourself a psychologist, huh?" "Twice, actually." I held up two fingers trying very hard not to let my index finger drop. Didn't expect that from her, I would have assumed her somewhat nerdy, but otaku? She grows more interesting by the minute. "All the movies too. Hey you mentioned anime- so I assume you to be the type of person who writes college level thesis' on their anime blog, about how Haiyo Miazaki is the second coming of Walt Disney? Or Jesus?" "Damn you're really good at this! How did you know? I'm surprised you noticed I figured you were busy posting on Tumblr about how Steven Universe is so progressive and heartwarming while ignoring the show and fandoms basic flaws." This is what I needed. I'm distracted, but focused too. My mind is actually quiet. I can breath. And this is surprisingly really fun, why did I ever let Pinkie have all the fun? I squatted down and leaned forward to put my elbows on the table. "Oh I'm sorry- is that your comeback? I couldn't hear you over the Something Awful account I can't help but think you have." Though this 'argument' persisted I felt the tension dissipate somehow. Like it was more of a spar now than actual intellectual combat. Might have been just me, but we got into a flow... I liked it. If this interaction went this well, though rough at the start, I couldn't wait to meet the others. "Sorry, I couldn't tell but, which of the like seventeen 'chan's do you belong to again?" Risking a joke I feigned offense and raised a hand to my heart. "Gaaaasp how could you think so little of me???" "You're right. Too good. You're 9gag." "Wow... I knew you were a cold woman by your lack of social tact, but I had no idea you were so soulless." "Get used to it kid. Its the running gimmick of this damn place." "I know. You and Gilda are practically the same person now." Bad joke. Like reaally bad joke. I had a feeling cause after I said that she went quiet. Dead quiet. Face went blank. Dammit this is why I needed her around... I could've been her filter there... Or would she have been mine?... "T-Twi-Twilight? O-ok, that wasn't cool, I-I'm-" "Don't. You. Ever!" Her fist slammed the table as she shot up from her seat. "Compare me to her again! You go that!?" In a flash I was cowering. I could feel my eyes shake, my skin was crawling. "I- I-I I-I'm s-sorry I didn't- I wasn't, I didn't mean to- I wasn't thinking I'm sorry!" I was losing coherence in my speech. My hands were wobbly and shaky. "Well yeah! You better be! Do you have any idea what she's done to us!?? She's a dictator! A criminal! She profits off our bodies Pinkamena- our bodies!" My guilt was eating away. Ripping through my being, as I tried to struggle out an apology. "P-please, don't-" "'Don't be mad'!? Screw that and you, Pinkamena! You know, I was kinda starting to like you too- know what, just get out of here!" Knees were weak. I was forgetting to breath. "What??? N-no don't- I didn't mean to hurt your feelings-" "This is beyond that- beyooond that Pinkamena- look I get it ok- I've been where you are too, but that doesn't give you the right to say that kind of shit. You've only had a taste of what she can and will do. Now leave me alone. I won't ask again." "But..." I didn't know what to do. There was nothing I could do. Not after this... My mouth was open; too shocked to say anything, although it would probably just be a sad attempt at apologizing. I can feel my lower lip, pathetic and whimpering. I couldn't look her in the eye anymore, and i guess she couldn't look at me either; she was sitting down, readjusting her books, and trying to compose herself. "B...but I... I'm sorry... Twilight." I try so hard to compose myself to some degree but, I feel myself cracking. Breaking down. I felt so bad, and I didn't know how to, or if I even could, make this better, or fix it or not. I tried so hard to keep it together. Was I so weak, so pathetic, that I was going to cry in front of someone I just met? Because of something I did wrong? I know I was wrong but I'm still wanting to cry? Is it for me? For her? I feel them prickling at my my eyes... I can't blink them back...Dammit... Why am I crying?... Why here? Why now? We swore we wouldn't cry anymore. I swore I wouldn't cry anymore... Don't make a sound, please, save yourself that little bit of dignity. Swaping in and out of these emotions looks scary enough already I imagine I shoulYou should just go... just go and find a corner- to hole yourself up, to cry in, like the worthless child you are. You are? I? Isn't it I?... I am?... Who was that?... Are I breathing. Have I forget? Wait... No that's not right- I didn't forget to breathe you did. She did? Her did? No I do. Nono no I didn't do it- I did I intake carbon moxide- is that right? Did i say that right? Are there spelling errors in my own head? Is this you're head? Or they're head? Wait did eye t h i n k the right pretense? Where am I? Am I breathing? This is why I needed Pinkie... She shut that up. Life was easier when I was the voice in her head. No... I can keep telling myself that all I want but the truth is... I was never- "Look... kid I... I'm sorry. Seriously I... what you said wasn't cool, but I shouldn't have reacted so harshly... I didn't factor in what you've been through, and I know I scared you so..." "You- sniff- y-you don't have to pity me... I-I was out of line, I-I deserved to-" "I'm not-.... Its not pity. Really I reacted harshly and impulsively, with no regards to how I could have hurt your feelings. You... um... you uh- y-you don't have to leave if you don't want to. D-Don't make me drag this out alright? The others can tell you, my bitchiness doesn't usually make me feel regretful..." Guess I shouldn't press my luck... I considered myself lucky and accepted her apology. "Oh... I-It's ok. I was, I said something stupid. You had every right to lash out." "This doesn't make us friends or anything." I couldn't hide my disapointment at that statement in my face. "L-look kid, its nothing personal. I'm serious, it really truly isn't, but. I have my own problems to worry about. On top of potentionally adding more weight to my burdens its not advisable to be friends in here with anyone." I stood from my squat position; knees were getting tired. I started picking at my right forearm with my opposite hand. An old nervous habit I never grew out of. Not exactly how I intended for us to bond, but its a start I guess. Mood is somber, and she's vulnerable. Maybe that's too strong a word; approachable? Either way, this a good chance to redeem myself. I might learn something about this place too. "C-could, could I ask why? I feel like I'm right in guessing whoever else is here is against their will, right? Why wouldn't you stand by each other? Against Gilda?" "Not all of them... just us." "'Us'? You mean just the two of us?" "No..." Twilight crossed her arms as she broke eye contact, now staring blankly at the table. "The two I mentioned before... Gilda was very careful in her... her... selection" The way she said that word made my stomach quake in disgust. Not only was Gilda insane, she was good at this... thing she does; what is it she's doing? I have even less of a clue now... I can see how this topic is affecting her... I don't want to repeat my last mistake; I should be extra cautious of her mental state right now. Should I stop? This doesn't appear to be a harsh trigger yet, but perhaps now that she's recomposed, she could have a better handle on her emotions. I don't want to make her mad again but, she's the only one here right now.... If this gets to hard for her I'll play it safe and back off. "What do you mean by that?" I made a risky move and attempted to move into the booth; on her left. I move slowly, testing her reaction, being careful not to disturb her books again, or startle her. I've... done these types of things before. Plus my feet hurt, like, a lot. She doesn't halt my movement as I move closer. I risk sitting down; scooting myself near her, a little more than a body away. "Sorry if that's too personal- I-I understand if you don't want to talk about this. I-is uh... I-is this ok?" I ask gesturing to my sitting at her table. I see her eyes flick over to me for a tick, and back to the table. The gesture did not sit well with me, so I tried to damage control and make my way out. "S-sorry, it's just, I've been standing for a while and I wanted to sit down- I-I'll move if you want." "Its fine; whatever. Point is you, me, and the other two she personally decided to make her, basically, slaves; her, 'Main Attraction' as I heard her spew out more than several times in the past. Based on some twisted, and pardon the language, fucked up logic that somehow must make sense to her... I can still remember her the pride in her voice as she 'inducted' me into this place..." And to think I wasted Empathy on her... Two sides to a story or not, there's no forgiving, or excusing this; impossible- even she would have to agree, right? After everything she did- she has to! Wouldn't she!??? Ok breathe... breathe in the air... I'll just pretend I don't know. I can't... I can't talk about it now. "I... Can't remember... It all happened in a blur- she is crazy thoigh as we've established a-and she seems the 'ranty' type so it- she might have told me something... All I remember is it hurting." "I can see that. I didn't notice it til you said that, but- does that hurt?" "Does... what, hurt?" "That mark, under your jaw there." She pointed to my face. "Its coming in nicely. To put it, uh, nicely." "M-mark?" I raised a hand to rub my jaw searching for what she was talking about. I almost exclaimed in pain after finding it. All cover the left side of my jaw, I could feel tender, bruised flesh... I didn't even feel it until now. "O-oh, I um, I-I didn't realize that was there..." "You must be made of pretty tough stuff kid; not being able to feel that thing." You could say that... We were quite for a time after that. Seeing me offer no response or rebuttal, Twilight opted for what was about the, maybe, fourth time now, once again, picked up her book and attempted to resume reading. I took this opportunity to (mostly out of my peripherals) get a good look at Twilight, now that we weren't battling the wits, I could see something I missed. Her hair was the first thing I really noticed; the side by side purple and pink streaks she had running through it were very eye catching. Easy on the eyes too. Very nice lilac. Maybe personality wise she's a little too uptight for my tastes in friends but she could lighten up in time. Nothing really note worthy in her attire. Simple shirt and jean combo, look cheap; efficient- can't see the shoes and I don't want to make the effort to look. That'd look weird...er. Don't know brands at so I can't place who made them. The shirt was interesting to look at though; Black T-shirt, had a creepy looking alien on the front. Almost looks like a sock... puppet- hey! I recognize that thing! That's- "Ziltoid." Saying his name shocked her enough to almost drop her book again. "Huh? What did you say?" "That's Ziltoid. Ziltoid the Omniscient; on your shirt. That's really cool, I like it." "You... You know about Ziltoid?..." Yes! This is what I needed- common ground. "Yes, of course. I've followed that guy since I was fourteen, Devin uh... Uh-" "Townsend..." Bewilderment? Perhaps I impressed her. "Yeah! I Love his music. All his stuff; solo, DTP, SYL. Even that funny 'Punky Bruster' thingy he did." Twilight eyes were fairly widened as I listed off what I liked from him. "Hm. Wow, gotta say kid, didn't expect that from you. Not from anybody really, but definitely not you." Wasn't exactly I compliment but I was taking what I could get at this point. "Heh yeah. His music gels well with my personality; the eclatic nature. He's a kindred spirit. That I've never met ha ha..." That's it. Keep it up... Keep the subject off of you... Me! "Hm. I know what you mean. I had this joke in high school that he was my 'spirit animal'. There was a double meaning in there cause he has that song-" "Animals!" "Mm-hm. No else that it was funny but I did." You've- I've always been good at distracting anyway. "Ha. Well you're right, that is funny." Progress, ok progress. So far so good, don't screw it up. "Do you like his Strapping Young Lad Material, Twilight?" "I must admit I don't usually partake in heavy genders that extreme but pretty much everything he makes tends to be very well written and produced. If a little stressful on the ears." "Seriously... Remember 'City'? I swear that by Detox I neex a nap ha ha..." "Agreed. Not the best to try and read to." "Really good sprinting or running music though." That statement made her raise a brow. "Do a lot of 'sprinting', Pinkamena?" Ugh... It's so odd not hearing her name. That's gonna throw me off. "W-well no. I-I walk a lot though. That's how I got here; to Nevada." "Pretty specific part of Nevada. Where you coming from?" Ok here we go... Remember the story. "Fresno." Don't ask too many questions please don't ask too many- "Oh California huh? That's funny. I'm from good old Los Angeles. Its like Fresno but Sortenos instead of those guys from Merced. And a little bigger." Oh. O-ok good. "Y-yeah, I know. Scary sometimes but if you grow up there you know how to work through it." "Not as scary as here... This is the real thing... What the report on the news, write in books or in online fetish stories." I swiped some hair that drifted in front of my eyes away from me. I had almost deluded myself succesfuly into forgetting for a little bit there... "It hasn't set it I guess for me yet.. I don't know... Twilight? How do you deal with this? How you... I-it must be- I can't imagine having to wake up to this everyday... I know I'm going to have to but... You've been here a long time yeah? How do you manage?" "Well its just sex right?" Ew... "Biology. Simple in out in out. Most customers are too wasted to last long so just fake some pleasantries and its over before you know it. Won't spare you from the shame but its over quicker. Plus... and I'm not um, not proud of this, but Gilda forces me to... take cannabis into my system bef-... b-bef-for I go on the f-floor..." Poor thing... Its not bad; the effect of the stuff, I guess but, I don't like the taste... "I'm sorry... I couldn't begin to imagine what- how that makes you feel." I see her try her best to shake it off. Most likely doesn't want me to worry, or doesn't trust me enough to open up. I don't blame her nor am I surprised at all; we did literally just meet. "I-I mean it helps relax me. Makes it easier... I've found a lot of things are easier when..." She trailed off. I tilted my head to the side; wanting a finished answer. "When what, Twilight?" I see her eyes state down, moving several directions quickly. Her mind must work a mile a minute, possibly deciding whether or not to tell me. "It is... easier when... when you... don't feel... anything. When you're..." "Numb?..." I finished much to smoothly. Twilight looked at me with a certain feel in her eyes that didn't have one word. It was... relief? Because someone understood? Perhaps fear? Because someone understood?... She looked at me in the eyes again, and it could have been my mind messing with me, but, I swear I saw a clean pass through thise lilac iris'. "Yes." Breaking eye contact again, she looked down at her lap. I can sympathize; this conversation probably was definitely not how she saw her day going when she woke up this morning, I'm sure. I reached a hand out, offering what little consolation I could. I thought maybe laying my hand over hers; it would be the most comforting, but it could come across as intamte in some way- which is the opposite of my intention, plus we did just meet, so it wouldn't be appropriate. I thought about giving the arm a gentle grasp, but I feel like that would be too little, not properly reflecting the gravity of the atmosphere, and could come across as awkward when I want to be genuine. I resolved for her shoulder, but in a motion that's cupping the shoulder forward, not too close to the neck; no skin contact. I made doubly sure of that. If I touch a centimeter off of the shirt, her mind could register that as an advance or get too close to her a neck an attack of some sort. Pinkie and I have had a lot of time to learn these subtle nuisances; came in handy for many things. Free food, free bus fare, letting us sleep at places for free. We had to make friends with bad people. Do things. Very bad things. That's why it worked, why we worked. She had the disposition, I had the analysis, she had the mouth, I had the words, I had the cunning, she had the execution. The best benifit of all we ever had though, something most of them didn't realize until we were long gone; to echo Twilight, was a single misjudgment of character. I squeeze softly. When she turns to me like anticipated, she looks unsure. I smile as gentle as I could and reassure her that 'Its alright' that 'I understand'. No one ever expects the bubbly happy one to be a con artist. So many times we stole from people right under their noses. Never any the wiser. How many families did we turn on each other? Relationships we damaged, ended and strained? How many lies did we tell without a trip in our voice, or an audible tell. She felt bad in the beginning, but, even without my reasurrance; she realized, we had to survive. I mean come on, think about it! Little innocent, pink haired, happy go lucky girl all alone? No parents? Care givier or guardian? How easy would ot be to help a person like that? To hurt them? Use them? Like them? Love them? Do angthing for them? To them. That's why it was perfect. She was the perfect cover. We were the perfect runaway. Pinkie and me. Understandably she's nervous, and awkward from the affectionate action, but thanks me appreciates me 'having patience with her on an off day', as an attempt at humor. That elicits a laugh out of me, and let go. Then those damn Cakes; Mr. and Mrs... They wormed their ways into our heart with their kindness... In a way it was sick. We did very bad, grown up things, and in a flash they were adult figures we wanted to make smile. Like how it use to be for us. They didn't know about me; they never would have, but we would have had a home... then Gilda... This was different though. Very different. This was genuine. This was me. I empathize with this woman, not just pity, or looking at any benefit for myself. Granted, we are both stuck here, so interaction was inevitable- but imprisioned or not, this was real. It sounds horrible, I suppose it is, but it made me excited to meet the others in our situation. People to relate to, connect to, real people, maybe... maybe even friends. But it starts with her, and on if I can levitate some of the heaviness from her heart, like Pinkie would do. Like she'd want me to do. Despite it all she was still good at heart. Not me. Never me. I was pleasantly surprised when we engaged in what could be called 'friendly' conversation after that. Talking about nothing really, I commented on her books, we exchanged a few playful jabs like earlier, before I messed it up. I liked that, it was a unique dynamic for me. Conversation didn't go nonwhere but that was ok, I was in no hurry to go anywhere. I zoned in and out of a story she was telling me about kne of the other women, not out of boredom, but this has been an exhausting day... I needes to sleep soon, but... I'd do anything to put that off as long as I could. ".. so I asked Applejack 'are those real?' And she looks down at her chest and retorts with a ' you serious?' And I said 'yeah those boots look hella fake'." "Pfft, oh my Goodness.... You really like putting people on the spot and making them awkward don't you?" She shrugs. "Its fun. And I don't do it to hurt them... Well not any more... Her and Rarity; they're good people. Just stuck in a hell hole." "Not the uh, 'best# way to make friends is it?" "Jesus no... Hm. 'Friends'... I mean, they're friendly and all, don't get me wrong, but like I said, despite how good I feel they are, its not a good idea to have friends here..." "But why? It feels like you're all you guys have?" "Applejack... huff I mean, I guess I started it when I pissed her off, but... w-well ok, us being friendly had nothing to do with it -fully- I guess but I... L-look long story short: some months ago, a few wrong words made Gilda threaten our families. Very convincingly... They know where they live, she showed us that... I'm not particularly religious, but I think the metaphor goes 'fear of God', right? Well... she put that in us alright. Immediately afterwords she... sigh... Applejack..." So what I saw was true... They really can find anybody Dear God... who do they work for?... It couldn't be... I couldn't finish the thought. I would die right there if I even had an inkling it was true. "She humiliated her. Gilda, I mean. Applejack was the only one brave enough to stand against her... but Gilda got the upper hand... Long as I live I'll never forget that day Pinkamena." I felt my fists clench. Anger... hatred... things I haven't felt in a long time; thoughts I hadn't conjured up in a long time, resurfacing... Ready to boil over. Breathe.... breathe.... For now there's nothing you can do.... TheRe NEver WAs what?... W-who- yyyyOOOOOuuu were worthless sinccccssseee birth no... nonono please go away... Haven't you been here before? WHAT!? It is night as she enters the city, out of view from anyone that could suspect anything. She has walked for days now; clothes torn, filthy, jacket riddled with holes, and patches covering up old ones, curly hair a tangled mess. The bottoms of her feet burn something terrible, her back aches with every step, shoulders sore from the weighty backpack strewn on them. Yet her smile never wavered for a second. For though she was by herself, she was not truly alone. She has a friend; a special friend. to accompany her through every moment of her journey. Through thick and thin, through pain and what mild pleasure there is, she is there. For years they have been together, attached at the hip, relatively speaking. Excitement fills the optimistic drifter, as she nears the city's entrance. 'A new place to make home for a while!', she thought. 'Hope we can actually make this one last for a while...' she wishes. 'We will,' her friend assures, 'it's all a matter of meeting the right people, and convincing them to help us.' The prospect of meeting new people, potentially making a friend or two, gives the young woman a new found spring in her step , that carries her the rest of the way, until she is finally in the town, of Carson City. 'Not too big, but not all that small I guess.' she reasons. 'My tummy's rather rumbly... can we stop for some food?', she all but begs. 'I suppose so. Provided 'food', isn't just an excuse to gorge out on pan dulce again...', she chastises. "You know you loved it! I wasn't going to anyway.", she "promises". Minutes roll by as she treads across the street, kicking random rocks, and trash as she comes across it, trying to pass the time until she found a suitable establishment for dining. And she did. At the end of a plain old street, at a corner that looks like any other, there sat a quaint little restaurant that peaked the pairs interest. Well... one in particular, anyway. 'Hmm... Sugar-Cube Corner huh? That place looks nice, can we go in!?', the young woman pleaded. 'I guess... wait, that place looks like it specializes in deserts, not food food!' 'You didn't say anything about donuts and cupcakes!', she loop-holed. Her companion sighs, not in exasperation, but in a fond nature. She should have know that her friend would find some loop-hole around the 'no-sweets' policy. 'I suppose I didn't, did I? Very well then, Pinkie. Lead the way.' 'Hee hee, thanks!' And so they entered the restaurant. Those she met while inside, and two peculiar looking twins she would encounter a few weeks from then would, like several before her, warp her young life forevSTOP! What is.... Where am- who- didn't I already- "Pinkie? You ok? You look spaced out." "What??? Oh... U-um I- I I'm sorry... Today has been exhausting for me a-as you can imagine." I'm losing... I'm losing myself... I can't... Oh God... I can't I can't.... Why are you here? "Yeah I can imagine. I remember my first day... Need help to your room? Might help you to get some sleep." You don't care about me... you're just like the rest... you don't care if I'm happy... you just want to hurt me! "U-um m-ma-maybe I-I usually don't sleep..." no...... no you're different.... you don't actually want to inflict harm on me; you can't, not really, rather...you want to see me hurt. U wnt 2 c "Like.... much? A lot? You can't just not sleep ever." you want to see me suffer. because you won't do it yourself. Because you physically can not. Isn't that y WHY you are here? Wish fulfilment? "W-w...w...w-well if I could I wouldn't sleep. I-I don't like it." you get to watch as my life is destroyed.... and laugh.... just like her.... She always used to say JUST LAUGH AND SMILE but that's not why you're here- it never was... u just wnt 2 c payne dished out, paine u cld nvr take THAT'S WHY YOU'RE HERE. RIGHT!? I'm losing my mind... I didn't mean too... I can't stop myself. "Why not? Sleep is the one release I have anyway of this place." Just laugh and smile "I can't." J u st laugh and smile "I... I don't understand, why though. I couldn't stop myself. She eas getting scared. I couldn't stop myself. Jus t Laugh and smlie "I don't want to." Jus t La ugh And Smile "I'm sorry if I am prying, but why?" She's nervous. I couldn't stop myself. J U S T laugh and S M I L E "Twilight!-..." [iJ][UcSolorT=#Laf2A6U7G3H][A/cNolDoSrM]I[L/iE] I grasp her hands. Desperation. She's terrified. I can't stop herself-myself "What the- what's gotten into you!?" "That's when they get me-" I stare do into her eyes. Begging for understanding. She's terrified. I can't stop myself. IS THAT NOT WHY YOU'RE HERE!? "W-what!?!? I don't understand- WHAT gets you!?" "The Ghosties." yes Its quiet. They've broken through. I've lost. Myself. I've lost to them. They win... Its quiet. She's confused and terrified. I lock up, my arms are limp. I drop her hands. My mind seeks to destroy me. Its quiet. I'm too weak to defend myself anymore. So tired. So quiet. She's terrified. In the silence my mind took me. I can't stop myself. where am I? Why was I chosen? I don't want to think about what I have to do... Or the people I'll meet, the things I'll feel.... I feel my life being taken away from me. How long will I be here? Months? Years? Decades? Am I going to die here? Die?... Do I die? Would Gilda kill me? Will I ever escape? Will I ever see the Cakes again? Is this punishment? I'm I dead? Do I deserve this? Do I belong here? Did God abandon me? IS there a God? What's the point of living this life if it will all only be suffering? Is this death? Is it all my fault? It IS all my fault. No its Pinkies fault- my fault? Our fault? Is there in 'our'? In 'us'? Is it just me? Has it always just been me? Is she real? Do I deserve to die? No I'm the one who isn't real- no that's not right I feel everything around me- I am conscience of my senses- w-wait who is this?? No no, that's Twilight you just met her- wait who is 'you'? Who are you!? Is that me!? Am I me!!?? Is this nothing? Is this death? Am I a woman? I don't know what to do- I'm trapped! Pinkie! Where are you- NO stop she isn't.... I'm not.... We aren't... No no there never was a WE STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP- IS THIS VOICE IN MY HEAD MINE!? ARE THESE THOUGHTS MINE!? Is a woman supposed to be this dirty? Impure? WHAT IS MINE!?!! THIS BODY!? THAT BELONGS TO GILDA NOW!? THIS ANGER??? THIS ISNT ME- I'M NOT ANGRY YOU'RE JUST SAD-; 'YOU'RE'?! WHO SAID THAT!? WAS IT YOU!? NO STOP IT.... STOP IT! THERE IS NO YOU- THERE'S ONLY ME- WHY DID I LEAVE HOME!?? WHY ARE WE- NO WE, NO WE!!- WHY AM I HERE! WHY AM I ALL ALONE!?!? I WANT TO CRY- WANT TO SCREAM; WHAT IS THIS??? IT HURTS..... OH GOD IT HURTS SO MUCH- WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO??? MAMA! PAPA! WHY DID YIU HURT US- WHY DID YOU LET THEM HURT ME!?!?! THERE'S NO QUIET NO PEACE I CAN'T THINK- I CAN'T.... I.... OH GOD I CAN'T BREATH I CAN'T... I.... i... i... cant b...br...breath...ca.... My hands clasp at my heart, I have trouble breathing- my hear feels like its going to explode, my inhaling quickens but I'm not taking in any air. My mind is racing. My vision is wobbly. Twilights lips are moving but I can't hear what she's saying... I feel my self going down... I think a hit the table... I'm not sure. Pinkie's life flashed before me, I remember everything we did to get here so clearly it hurt. The people we met, talked to, laughed with, lied to, used, betrayed. The times we avoided death. I remember Ma and Pa. I remember hating them. Hating school, family, students, priests, the world... I remember my first sin. My first drink, first dance, first kiss, first love, the first time I made love with someone. Memories of a life that's only been half mine for a long time. I remember my sister. I remember hating her as she left... I remember how proud I was. I can't keep my eyes open. I think Twilight is trying to carry me... maybe someone else? I remember the day I ran away. So afraid, so determined, so foolish, so haply. I remember the first time we were mugged. The first time we were used. The first time we fought back. Years alone with memories only meant for the two of us. So much regret...so much anger and hate... I never deserved to be Pinkie Pie... I was always meant to be Pinkamena... but Pinkie is gone now. There's only me. I'm going... I think I'll pass out any second now... maybe the Ghosties will give my dreams a break tonight. Getting darker....... There is only me because... because I can say otherwise all I want... but I... As much as I wanted her to live life the truth is... I was never the voice in her head... ...... she was the voice in mine. nighty night.........zzzzzz........zzzzzz zzz....
Griffons Cathouse	Broken Thoughts: You Can (Not) Repair	Oh shit. If someone told me that when I woke up today I'd meet some crazy, nice, but crazy kid, she'd collapse, and I would have to deal with it, honestly, I probably would have wanted to just stay in bed. 'The Ghosties', 'they get me', doesn't like to sleep- what the hell is she talking about?? "Pinkamena! Kid! Get a hold of yourself!" I try reasoning with her verbally, I even try shaking her shoulders but I see that glazed over look in her eyes; wherever she is right now mentally, its the farthest place from here. I could have dealt with that, but then she fell over, hit the table and if mumbling incoherently wasn't creeping me out enough, my Goddamn books were knocked over again. Ok come on Twilight, priorities. Forget about the books, focus on the person that collapsed in front of you. Oh eww she's drooling! Napkins napkins napkins- ok! I almost forgot these tables had napkins. If someone also told me that when I meet said crazy person I would have to play care taker, or nurse for them, I would have asked 'why would you wish such an awkward fate on me???' I'm no nurse! I don't think bandaging my little brothers 'boo-boos' when he was a kid count. Why should I care anyway? Ok hold up, that sounded selfish even to me- but like, shouldn't I get help first? I just met her, but even so, helping someone doesn't have to be awkward unless I make it. But still, she's clearly crazy! Well ok, that's a childish statement; I'm a woman of science, so lets deduse what we know. Wait, no, do that after I try and help her. I scooted out of the booth as fast I could, tripping several times along the way, napkins in hand. Mom always said I wasn't particularly graceful for a girl. Pinkamena fell face first onto the table, already I knew that would make the swelling on the bruise on her face worse. I got to her side of the table, knelt next to her, and as gentle as I could; one arm around the waist, the other on her opposite arm, I pulled her out of her seat. Anticipating the dead weight, I would describe my action as a gentle yank more than a hard pull, but with her unconscience, it will lessen any soft tissue damage; no need to worry about further injuries. Not from me. I use to lose arm wrestling to Spike when he was as young as eight. I laid her on her back. I hoped I was doing this right- since she was drooling, I stressed that she wasnt swallowing her saliva, she must have if she was still breathing though right? Right. Probably. Taking the napkins, I wiped the the spot from her mouth, and chin. Trying my best to clean her up, but without the napkins tearing, or the liquid bleeding through; if I get spit on me I'll freak. Her hair was unrealistically straight; not a strand out of place despite the fall. Though she was sleeping she didn't look at peace at all. Not discontent, I guess, but it didn't look like a peaceful slumber. I get on both knees and shifted her head into my lap as I weighed my current situation in my head. This is creepy, this is weird, this is creepy, this is awkward, this is creepy! Ok- stop, chill, just chill... huff just breathe. No big deal right? A possible schizo in my lap, who I swear must have cast some magic or some shit on me- I have no idea why I was as open as I was- freaking out talking about 'Ghosties'. Said 'Ghosties' are most likely just nightmarish hallucinations her sick mind cooked up; and now that I'm thinking about it, could some of that interaction been an act? She seemed to be genuine in her kindness- but considering how well composed she was for most of it (least as far as I can tell) she's clearly been dealing with this for a long time, but for whatever reason, something snapped and broke her. Something... And I'm not sure I want to know what did. I look down at Pinkamena. So many different thoughts trying to tell me what to do, what to feel. None of them felt complete. I can only guess how long this kids been suffering, but as much as I wanted to ponder on that, I had to do something to help her. Ok lets see.... Oh! Rarity and Applejack! They should be done stocking our inventory by now, I'll go find them! I shouldn't leave her alone though... even if her condition doesn't worsen I don't need Gilda randomly deciding to come back out and find her. I cringe thinking of the sick kicks she'd probably get out of it. I'm going to have to carry her... all dead hundred something pounds of her... shit... I maneuver her off of my lap, and loop my arms behind hers and attempt to drag her. I only got a few steps before I felt my back strain, letting out a curse in discomfort. "Ok... new plan." I tried kneeling down again, using all my strength, I tried scooping her into my arms- figured bridal style could work... it did not. As soon as I tried to stand again, my knees gave out and instead of rising to my feet, I fell backwards and now Pinkamena was on top of me. Oh my God NOOO!! Not this stupid, anime style slapstick crap! This subhuman is drooling all over me! Ok, OK that wasn't nice, after all, she didn't mean to do this. I think. Just roll her off of you and try again. The fall had ended with me on my back, and a now horizontal Pinkamena laying across me, abdomen to abdomen. It's abdomen right? Yeah... hell it doesn't matter, I'm a scientist not a doctor! Ok um... Dammit no matter which way I roll her this is going to feel weird... Sh-...Sh-should I roll her towards me? Away? I could slip out from under her?... Oh man... God dammit, GODdammit I don't want to be doing this! I guess towards me??? I can slip out from under her while I do it and get out of this faster. My hands shoot to her sides, and at the risk of getting a hernia, I pulled the Pink kid as hard as I could towards me. With a heave she was on her back and I was lower but.... Back squishing breasts back squishing breasts back squishing breasts ow ow ow off off OFF Not. Comfortable. I was almost done, so without losing too much confidence, I heaved again. This produced worst results. BREASTS SQUISHING FACE BREASTS SQUISHING FACE BREASTS SQUISHING OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOOOooohahahod she's sooooft AH! I slip out from under her as fast as I can and wipe the sweat now starting to peak out of the top of my head. Skin... soft skin- touching, sliding against, dirtying my skin, germs gross gross GROSS!!! Why did it have to be a brothel owner! I hate skin! I hate feeling flesh- I hate this! And this THING passes out in front of me and I have to deal with it! That's not fair- this isn't fair! I hate this, I hate everything about this place- I want to go home! I want to see Spike again!... Spike... No. Not, not now. Gotta help Pinkamena. I just now noticed she was laying on her back flat again, realizing my error, I scrambled my way over to her, arching her head so it was on my lap. Right back where we started. Dammit. Dammit! Ok think think... think... You're a rational woman, what's something a rational person would do in this situation?... I mulled over whatever few options I had, normally I take the time to weigh the pros and cons but I'd never encountered a scenario like this before- I had know way of knowing if Pinkamena was on short time, or if I had injured her somehow. Deciding to give into basically the only option I actually had- I went with my gut instinct: "AppleJA~~CK!" What? I was desperate! To my shock and surprise she heard me. "Twilight? What're ya yellin' your head of fo- what in tarnation!?" I didn't see her come in, but almost immediately after her exclamitory question she was right beside me. "What happened? Who's this? She ok???" Too many questions, too fast- breathe, breathe, breathe... "S-she uh, sh-she's Gilda's newest victim. Name's Pinkamena. W-we were talking, and out of nowhere she freaked out; I think it could have been a kind of panic attack? Anyway, she fell over, and I was trying to carry her over to you, but she is deceptively heavy!" I see Applejack use her index finger and thumb to turn Pinkamenas head towards her. "... She looks young... damn Gilda. Look at that mark on her eye... She roughed this one up. I'd go so far as to guess personally too. She has a thing about doing that..." The idea of Gilda roughing up Pinkamena makes me simultaneously angry and sick to my stomach. Kid's no doubt got a screw or two lose, sadly, but I highly doubt she deserved whatever happened to her. I know her too; Gilda... she probably had no issue with trying to justify it to her- she's scum, and has a perpetual talent for making someone hate themselves. "Yeah... she does. She's kinda weird but she's nice enough... why her?" "Answer to that's in Gilda's head; a place I want to remain as far away from as possible. Come on, help me get her up; lets get her to Rarity. The two of us'll look 'er over see what we can patch up." I nod. "Right." Together we heaved Pinkamena into Applejack's arms, the cowgirl finding it much easier to carry her. "What in the hell you talkin' about 'heavy'? She's light as a goshdern feather, Twi!" "Up yours, brute! Do I look like I can sustain another persons weight with these twigs I call arms?" "Hell I'm surprised you carry that massive head on ya shoulders." "Why you-!" "Enough. I'm taking her to the back room. You comin'?" I contemplated it a second longer than perhaps I should have. That corner of mine I never find myself leaving; so if I do go back there, Applejack and Rarity will most likely ask questions, and I hate interrogations. They wouldn't see it as that, but I would. Alternatively; I do want to make sure Pinkamena will be ok, or at least stable; I agreed to come along, despite how out of character (to them) it would seem. On our way to the back, I paused and spared a glance behind; making sure no one was watching. The truth is since the three, well four now, of us are here against our will- that kind of information doesn't exactly stay secret. Plenty of the others here will, and have, sell/sold us out if it protects their positions and hides from Gilda's scorn. Gilda doesn't play favorites, but she does appreciate a good mole. Catching up with Applejack, I entered the kitchen area, where she was laying our comatose guest on the food prep table. Biting my tongue at the temptation of reminding Applejack how unsanitary that is, I made a mental note to wipe it down when they leave. Rarity was in there, looking shocked, maybe even horrified, as she was explained the situation of our new co-worker. She's a warm person, I can't fathom how she keeps that up. Maybe the almost entire year of alcohol helps with that. A year she's been here... almost, I think. How long has it been now Spike?... Two years? Three? Since I saw you? Since I... last held you. That's how life works though right? Like that song '... then one day you find, ten years have got behind you?' Feels like forever.... like yesterday. I feel it... My life wasting away, passing me by. Where could I have been by now? Where could we have been by now, Spike? I wanted so badly, to work hard enough to get, at least you, out of here. Get you into a school, away from the life you've had, even away from me if necessary. I know we fought a lot near the end, I get it; the stress of all the death we've seen together. Mom, Dad, my brother.... Oh Shining... I... Don't cry... Dammit don't cry. Not here; not in front of them. I heard, or my sense registered at least, that Fancy Person and Rhinestone were talking, but I couldn't remember a word. I'm instantly tuned back in, however, when they begin removing Pinkamena's shirt. "Um HEY, what are you two doing???" Rarity made eye contact with me as she answered. "Oh darling look at her, the poor thing looks like she's been through Hell. Me and Ms. Applejack decided it would be a good idea to check for any other injuries and see if they can be treated." "Shouldn't you, like, God... Ask her?..." "Twilight, dear I completely understand if you're uncomfortable at the thought, so please, do not feel you need to force yourself on our account. Applejack mentioned you were with her when she fell, when she wakes up I'm sure she would be delighted knowing you helped as much as you did." Dammit Glamour Shot, that's not it... you didn't f... feel um her on your... and to put actual visuals to the sensation... holy shit. "No. No, its cool. We're all adults here, right? Female adults. Its not like we're squeamish male types, right?" This time Applejack looked at me. "Uh Twilight, I don't think bein' a woman is really important here. Anyone can be nervous about this without it being labeled to a stereotype for guys." Shit- last time I attempt humor. Stupid... rational objectivity white knight... "That uh... that was a joke, Applejack." She stared blankly and blinked. "Oh. ... It wasn't funny-" "TAKE the damn shirt off, Bumpkin!" Letting out a chuckle at my expense, Mrs. Ozarks signaled Rarity to prop up Pinkamena. Together they removed her jacket; nothing too bad- some old cuts and mild bruising. Removing the shirt itself was something else entirely. "Oh Lord..." My mind in all of its hang ups couldn't even register the scandly clad woman- I was too focused on her 'collection'. Some old, and recent cuts along her stomach, chest, and upper area around the shoulder blades. Bruises across her chest that look like they went underneath her bra. I could see marks, God, they looked like scratches- claws even! Trailing lower down her stomach, along her sides. More bruises, and insecionary wounds. They... they look like they go underneath her pants. Good God... I'm gonna be sick... If they remove them, I-I'll lose it. Shit, what happened to this kid? A... A-are those bites on her... and her... oh shit... my stomach. Applejack and Rarity are coming through in mumbles again, most likely comparing visual notes on Pinkamena. I'm so out of it, I practically jump out of my skin when Rarity; gently as she could, to her credit, set her hands on my shoulders. "Twilight. Are you still there, dear?" I have more difficulty meeting her eyes than I care to admit. "Y-yeah. I'm good. It's just... a lot to take in." I'm in such a stupor, my sanitation phobias don't kick in when she transitions her hands to my face. "Are you certain? We hold nothing against you if you wish to bow out. It is easy to see how uncomfortable this whole mess is making you, so do not feel any shame if you wish to leave. We are grateful enough that you stuck it out as long as you have." I nod my head. Firmly, but probably unconvincingly. "Yes. I'll be fine." Rarity nods as well. "Very well... Twilight, we are going to remove her bra, the -ahem- 'lower region's we will wait until she wakes, for her consent, but there are injuries we must bandage up, and disinfect. I am giving you a 'heads up' as they say, so if that is too much for you-" I squirm myself free from her silky grasp, even more twitchy now. "I-I can't. Not for that. I'll stay, but I'll look elsewhere. Just let me know when your done, yeah?" With a thin pressed lips and a determined bop off her head, Rarity headed back towards her and Applejack 'patient' and I made myself acquainted with the wall, with an about face. It was a nice wall. A strong silver; stainless American steel. 'Steel' reminds me if the 'Steelers and how much my Dad hated that football team. Football reminds me of the lunches Mom would make on those game days. I miss those days... I miss my parents, only more and more as I get older. Those days remind me of Spike. He loved Football, wanted to be a quarter-back. He had a little ball he'd play with, with Dad, he knew the players by their names, not just teams, had too many jerseys to count. Eighteen when I left him. How old are you now? Twenty-Two? Its almost Fall again I think; birthday is the fourteenth of November, so almost. Age brings me to myself. I'm twenty-five. Quarter way through... how much life do I have left? How much of my soul did Gilda take away from me? If I could ever get out of here, could I even get my life on any kind of track? The memories here would stain my mind for however long I live. Life... my life... its practically over and done. One bad day ended my life, I was supposed to go to school. Give Spike a better life... Christ it never really hit me but... that's over. That can never happen. If Gilda has it her way I'll stay here forever, or until I get too old. When that day comes, she'll probably watch, she'll watch as they put the bullet in my head. Hmm... death. Never really scared me, not too much at least. Its nature. But... like this? Death given by this scum? Is that my fate? And what if they do? Is death just a state of mind? What if they shoot me in the head then? Nothing? And what if Heaven is real? Do I even deserve to go there? I've never been a believer. I think I'm a good person, but- shit, how does all this work? Am I here because I deserve to be? Ok, stop. This train of thought does nothing but drive me down a dark road. A road I don't need to go down anymore. Think happy thoughts; psh- easier said than done. That reminds me, I'm owed my call to Spike. I hope he's ok, he's still a kid; at least to me. I still remember... I still remember his tiny arms when he was a kid, they could barely fit around me, now he could probably loop me. I haven't seen his smile in so long... he's got the most adorable dimples, and those green eyes, like a light Jade. I swear he could have been a ladies man by now, but he's always been focused on his own thing, that's good though. I don't know how I'd feel about someone being involved with him like that... a strange thought I suppose but that kids my everything, I know everything about him. What he hates, loves, I remember the first time he died his hair green- he thought it was the coolest thing. His laugh, his tears... his smell. sigh... I don't know why my brain would retain some of that stuff, especially that last part. I'm... I-I'm not- I never have been his mother. Disregarding my current train of thought as pointless I decided to see what the progress was with the other two. "How's it going Doctors Fine, and Howard?" "Just finished." Cowgirl Curtis. "Y'all can turn around now Twi." I turned around to see Pinkamena with a discarded shirt still, bra back on, but bandages covering most of her upper area; wrapped around her stomach, various spots in her arm, a couple bandaged parts with the slightest dim of blood seeped through. She didn't look any better, but hopefully soon she'd at least feel better, and those wounds will heal. She didn't even show any signs of discomfort... was she hiding the pain, even in sleep? "Phew... well Ms. Applejack and I did our best Twilight, just needs a few days for the disinfect to take its course and the bandages will be able to come off." "Good thing we had a doctor in the house, huh Rarity?" The person in question smacked the hick in statement (?) playfully on the arm. "Please. It was as basic of first aid as one could muster. I simply remembered bandaging my little sister when she was much younger." Applejack crossed her arms and leaned back against the nearest wall. "Huh. So you're sister was a bit of a scrapper too?" Rarity decided to hop up in the counter, right leg over left, and took to petting Pinkamena's hair. I swear she could be a mom, that woman. "Goodness no. My little Sweetie Belle was a good girl. Usually." She giggled, most likely remembering good times past. "She always looked up to me, I suppose. I don't believe she was interested in a career in fashion like myself, but she liked having similar tastes. She was adventurous, not afraid to run, and climb, I say you've never seen a little girl in light colored dresses be so proud of scraped knees." She laughed again. "I truly hope she never loses that sense of wonder." If I wasn't in a weird place I would have let my heart warm up a little bit. "I hear ya Rarity, Applebloom was much the same. Wan't no fan of dresses though, aw hell no! Jus' like me, jeans and plaid design flannels. She worked hard, that kid, but was still so much a kid you know? Tough little thing to. Goddamn I swear, she won pretty much every fight she was ever in." Rarity's free hand shot to her heart hearing that last part. "Goodness! She fought with the other girls?" Applejack let out a loud singular 'ha'. "Shoot no! That was preschool level for her. I'm saying making boys cry." "Oh dear... how... empowering?" "Aw hell ya don't have to tell me how bad it was. I couldn't deny being proud of how strong she was though; not just physically, but her mind, her heart. Even my stoic-ass brother gave her a smile and pat on the shoulder once the teachers couldn't see." Rarity removed the hand from her heart and opted to twirl her poofy purple hair around her little finger. Maybe strong country girls telling her stories of their tough little sisters turn her on? "My family would never have approved. I'm certain Mother and Father would just die! Hm... Was it tough growing up out there?" Applejack shrugged. "Ma and Pa not being around hurt. Macintosh and I loved her we couldn't be parents. Our Grandma lived with us, but she could only do so much. Losing her son sapped a lot of life out of her as y'all can understand. Macintosh, bless that big Bastard, was so focus on keeping the roof over our head he couldn't always have the time to help Bloom out. We ain't no Einstein's either, so she was practically on her own when it came to her schoolwork. Poor thing... she hated it when Mac and I fought. Which was often but.... well point is she's the best of either of us; she'd try to say otherwise but I wouldn't have it. Had Mama's brains and Daddy's heart." Mood took a somber tone from that, I know she didn't mean it to but, man what a downer... I shouldn't be so rude though, I was literally just missing Spike in a similar manner. "Applejack... I think about my sister everyday too. I miss her and home terribly. I just try and remember the times that made me smile. Its all I can do, knowing I'll... never see her again." "I keep trying to hold onto hope but... every damn day I feel its more and more impossible. Why are we even here? There are days of business where we ain't even used- are those tiny extra profits that important to her?" "I have no doubt in my mind, yes, darling. I'm thoroughly convinced she's all of the Seven Deadly Sins given human form..." They were silent again. I felt strange. Like I actually felt the need to converse with them... share the pain? Or do I want to attempt to build some form of a relationship with them? It goes against everything I told Pinkamena but... screw it. If I'm going to be here forever I might as well not be completely miserable. "I uh... I have a little brother; adopted. We found him when he was a kid, no parents, no home. We took him with us and... I loved him like he was my own. We saw each other as siblings but I always wished he saw me like... doesnt matter now I guess, I'm stuck here....... He's... all alone. My sister in law was in mourning when we arrived here, parents are gone, he has no family we could find and then... sigh all this happens. I may be Gilda's prisoner, but he's the real victim out of the two if us. Once a month Glida allows me to make monitored calls to him. Its only just better than nothing... I can't imagine how much he's grown without me..." They let me talk with no interruptions. I appreciated that more than I could say. "He's real smart, you know? He was always a little on the lazy side sometimes, but his mind has a real, unique edge to it, I don't know how to describe it. He would... probably... like you two..." Rarity looked close to tears. "Twilight, dear, that must be so hard to have on your conscience, I am so sorry. Gilda has cost all of us time with our siblings, but to have lost your parents and brother? I... can't imagine." Why is she crying?... Why for me? I don't deserve that... "Why are you crying?" Rarity answered as she wiped some tears that had fallen on Pinkamena's forehead. "Because you and Applejack won't." That simple sentence, this melancholic gesture of kindness, it broke me. I turned around and leaned forearm first against the wall. Don't show them anymore weakness then you already have dammit.. don't let them see you like this, save yourself at least a decimal of dignity. It all hit so hard at once. So many feelings all of then negative, I could only describe it as reality. Reality throwing me down to the ground and kicking... I couldn't take it, I was never as strong as I think I am. Eyes stinging, audible cries wanting to burst out of my throat... just swallow it down. Bury it deeper. Its the only way you'll stay sane- huh? I tried covering my mouth to prevent any sound from slipping through, but as I did, I felt a strong hand on my shoulder. Applejack... I turned to face her "Twilight look, uh... I know we ain't exactly got stable ground to stand on since our first meeting, but, well... We're in this Hell hole together. And I gotcha, alright? Me and Rarity both, no more and no less than each other, and definitely no more or less than Pinkamena. For what little its worth: you can trust me, 'n Rarity. Alright?" I felt weak, and insecure about doing it, but I couldn't handle holding this all in any longer. I slammed into Applejack, and cried into her chest, with the minimal decency I could muster. I tried not to let out any sounds lest I drop dead of embarrasment, but I couldn't stop myself when she hugged me. Letting me feel some small fraction of comfort since I've been here. My blubberings only increased in volume when I felt Rarity embrace us. I don't remember how long we stayed like that, venting to each other, I just remember if only for a moment, feeling lighter. Every ounce of fear Gilda pumped into me, every disgusting human that's used me, every ounce of that drug I've been forced to use, the loss of all my family. The realization I am completely alone; I poured out to them. This nightmare wasn't over, and it might not ever be. I may never see Spike again; no turning back. At least... at least I have them now. Pinkamena... I had almost forgotten about her. I was pretty rude to her for a bit earlier. I should make up for that. I lingered in Rarity and Applejack's arms for several moments before I broke the connection. "I... haven't been good to you two. I'm sorry." Cowgirl shook her head definitely, gently smacking my arm. "Don't worry bout it none, we sure as shoot don't hate ya for it. We just gotta stick together. As best as we can in here." "Applejack is right. We may not be able to get out if here, and Lord knows this is a truly dreadful place to be, but at the very least, we can support one another. As good as we can." "I... I'm still not social- er, good at being social... I'm awkward around others, and I still might not be the easiest person to talk too. In fact I'll probably still be closed off... so I mean, you know... I... don't really serve you too much of a purpose..." "Aw hell that ain't what it's about Twilight. Just stop having such a stick up yer ass and we'll be alright!" Did... did she just seriously-!? "Did you just interject humor into this!? That was completely inappropriate!" She shrugged at my aghast expressions. "Eh. Seemed fittin' ta me." "You can't just hold someone as they cry the repressions of their soul out, and make a joke!" "Not sure if, 'repressions' is a word, but its called bein' human. Life's full of mood whiplash." "But it completely juxtaposes the atmosphere!" "Twilight we're a nerd from Los Angels, a beautician from Michigan-" "Fashion designer!" "And I'm a homeless ranch hand, and apparently our newest neighbor is a NATURALLY PINK haired kid with anxiety issues or somethin'." You know when she puts it like that... Man I must come off really square sometimes... "... For the record, hick, that was only kind of funny." We all shared a laugh at my admission. Our first laugh as friends... yeah... friends. "You and Rarity can go. I'll stick by Pinkamena." "Are you certain Twilight?" Rarity questioned. "Yeah. I owe her a solid. Plus I'm concerned... she seemed to avoid wanting to sleep. I theorize night terrors, and since I'm a familiar face; she'll respond, hopefully, more rational to seeing me." The two shared a look, and conceded to my plan. "Alrighty Twilight, holler fer us when she wakes up." "Right." I nod. They vacate the back area, and I'm alone with my thoughts again. I didn't mind it so much this time, sure I was alone with an unconscious girl in the same room, but its nice to know allies are in just the next room. 'Girl'... That word reminds me of the other inquiry I had. How old is she... Gilda's nuts, but I don't think she's crazy or stupid enough to intentionally kidnap a minor. That being said, I also don't think she isn't nuts enough to not make a mistake. Even if she's seventeen, eighteen tomorrow; that's still a minor. I've been told before that 'age is just a number'. Negating my opinion on that issue, I highly doubt even the most bleeding heart could condone that in the context of this place. If she's under eighteen we could have a shot to get out of here. I'm not so desperate to get out of here that I'm hoping for that, but- wait... No... That might be even worse. If Gilda did make that mistake, and find out the person she roughed up, and forced into this place was a minor she would flip. I don't doubt that, what I'm unsure of is what she would do. I can think of several things but they all end up with Pinkamena being killed. Shit... So if she is underage does she- SHOULD she keep quiet? Should I encourage her keeping quiet- WOULD I?... I could never live with myself if She died talking and I encouraged her to, but how would I feel telling her to stay quiet? How do I justify that? Hell never mind me, how does she live with that? How would she feel? Nothing good. Can guess that. Oh God I just remembered; I potentially felt up a minor- almost got turned on BY A MINOR... "This is so fucked up..." I had to vocalize what I was thinking, but saying it instead of thinking it just made it worst I think. How is it that the prospect of a potentially underage, and insane, unconscious woman lying several feet from me is somehow unsurprising to me. This is weird to think, but I almost feel like I'm underreacting. I'm creeped out and worried, and sure my stomach feels like relieving itself slightly, but, shouldn't I be freaking out more? Shouldn't I be hysterical? Shouldn't this situation mean something to me? Has 'living' here at this place for as long as I have numbed me to these outlandish happenings? Or have I always been like this?... I always knew I was socially awkward but, I never contested the idea it could be something akin to sociopathy. Is that what this is? Great... look at yourself Twilight, one exceptionally bad day begets one shit life, and now I'm all existential and shit. I'm a science person not a philosopher! Although isn't that why I never pursued a career in that field in the first place? Learning how everything works is amazing, but a lot of the colleagues I met were a bunch of monotone, nihilistic robots. I had too much to care about to allow myself to be that detached from my feelings. Maybe that's why... everyone's gone now... Mom, Dad, Shining, I'll never see Spike again... I should really just off myself one day and get it over with, Gilda can replace me, Spike will... shit, no- I can't- he can't go years without seeing me, then all of a sudden hears I'm dead! Oh God... I'm selfish... I'm selfish, and trapped, losing my mind- my skin feel like its crawling. The fear and anger of my thoughts sent wave after wave of painful convulsion throughout my body. I gripped the sides of my arms to find they that had turned cold. My eyes hurt... All of a sudden it hurt to turn my eyes in any direction; they felt weighed down, and scratchy. I keep them looking forward and I feel better, but if I move them even a centimeter over I become aware again, and my heart starts racing. I try to regain control of my thoughts, but I lose myself, and end up stumbling backwards until my back hits the wall, and I involuntarily slide own until I'm on the floor,the volume and un-rythmatic nature of my breathing doubling. A hand clutches at my heart as the thoughts spiral more and more out of control- thee weren't suppose to happen anymore; these moments and situations- I'm calm, level headed- not this... not this mess. Look at you, you stupid idiot, been like two years, and NOW you're scared? The sex and high's were too good huh? I've been here before- you're simply a manifested negative train of thought- you're not real, I'm ok- Don't be stupid- of course I'm not real, you're subconscious is so incredibly fucked that the normal doubts and insecurities people have just have a louder voice today. Isn't that sad, idiot? I'm not depressed- I'm not insane! Never even implied that, stupid. You did that all by yourself, Why wouldn't you? You never had a real understanding of people, or even a real drive to learn about the bonds that tie people together. Of course you wouldn't know how to talk to Pinkamena, or help her. You imagined that the worst scenarios of life could never happen to your dreary existence. Maybe you are crazy. No I'm not! If it wasn't for Gilda... If Mom and Dad didn't die... this isn't my fault, I-I didn't do anything wrong... the moments of weakness, I haven't had them in so long, I thought they might have been gone, but- Stupid girl. You never had these moments until that brat came into your life- bullies and isolation- you could deal with every depressing reality imaginable- being alone, death, gripping paranoia of never achieving your goals, but once he rejected you, that turned it all downhill. Is my mind so twisted that I would try to put blame on Spike? Are you so selfish that you would try to do the same to your dead parents? I close my eyes as a memory engulfs my senses. ****************************************************** It was only a few months removed from my parents funeral. Spike had just come home from school. I had understandably been in a place of pure darkness mentally, but I was stable enough to remember Spike's meals, and times to wake him up. I had attempted conversation at dinner, but he was distant and cold; not unusual for him, sadly, but in my state, I was unable to deal with him not being open with me. My attempts to reach him failed, and in a moment of weakness, I became angry. We yelled and screamed at each other. I can't remember what we said to each other; not fully. I don't think my heart would allow it; the memory speeds by at a snails pace- neither static or still. All I remember was I slapped him, I remember the shock on his face, and the terror in my, as my tear filled eyes widened so hard they hurt. I was disgusted, and ashamed with myself. I reached a hand out to try and apologize, but he smacked it away. I'll never forget what he said next. "I don't know what you tell yourself... but you are not and have never been my Mom." My world broke. I fell to my knees as he left the room, attempting to call out to him, but my hysterics wouldn't allow. I cried all through the night, and into the morning, because I had failed him. And I couldn't, no matter how much I wanted to, make it right. **************************************************** I came to in cold sweat; with a lukewarm dampness upon my forehead. I was... laying down? Yeah, I'm on the ground, I think. No wait... I look around to see that my body is on the floor, but my head is in a lap. I turn my groggy vision upward to see two warm blue eyes looking at me. It was Pinkamena's lap. She's... awake? "Hi." She said it so warm and smooth I almost fell asleep right there. Or would it be back to sleep? Did I sleep? "Sorry if this feels inappropriate, it's just that... I've... I've uh... been where- I've been where you are too." I'm fighting to stay awake, but, my body is too worn out to even move. "Yeah?..." "When I woke up, I saw you on the ground and instantly I knew. I recognized all the signs. The erratic breathing, the tears, your temperature..." "This has... you've been through this too?" She smiles sadly at me. "Even the fetal position." I think she sensed that I was going to pass out; she began stroking my head. "They told me you stayed despite being uncomfortable... thank you for that, Twilight. You can rest, if you want. They're out in the dining room." "Hm... how long was I out for?" She shrugs at me. "Oh... Pinkamena?... Does... does this stuff, these moments, and feelings, do they... ever go away?..." My eyes shut when she answers yes. The hesitation in her voice tells me she's lying.
Chimera 4	pre	Riot was walking back from the mess hall, a nice; freshly made daisy sandwich floating next to him. He past by crash Course in the hallway, whom he stopped to chat with shortly. "Hey Riot, how are you?" Riot chewed and swallowed, clearing his throat before he spoke. "Oh fine fine, Daisies are quite fresh today, Cookies must have started a garden somewhere on the ship." Crash looked surprised "Sir? You aren't torn up over Cross? I kind of-" "Figured I'd be a basket case whenever one of my Lance-mates die?" "I-I, uhmm... I didn't mean it like-" Riot placed a hoof on Crashes shoulder, halting her vocal flailing. "I've seen enough death to last a dozen life times lass, I know how to cope properly; for the most part at least." Crash looked at the ground, waving her hoof absent mindedly back and forth. "I just figured you'd want to talk about it." Riot threw Crash a look that she didn't catch. "Lass... You don't need to wait for somepony to die to try and talk to me outside the battlefield." Crash moved to say something but Riot cut her off with the wave of his hoof. "My door is open, you and everyone else is free to drop in and talk to me in my spare time. Really." Crash flushed at this, a small grin opened on her face. 'You mean that sir?" Riot took another bite of his sandwich. "Course lass, It's in my job description, whether I like it or not." Riot shot Crash Course a grin, turned and continued down the hall. Riot had almost reached his quarters, he was only two hallways away when he heard yelling coming from Novas bunk room. Giving a small sigh, Riot prodded the switch with a hoof, still munching on his sandwich. Entering he found Nova nose to nose with a very startled looking buck. Nova didn't move. He continued to glare at the young colt. Riot walked over to Nova. "Hello Captain". Nova said without looking away. "uh.. Lad? What are yah doin?" Riot replied. "Teaching this punk some respect!" Riot sighed and walked over to Nova and the young buck, whose eyes flashed back and forth rapidly, from Nova to the captain. Riot rolled his eyes, Lad needs to ease up, if he keeps coiling up like this he'll break eventually. "Easy lad" Nova didn't back off, Riot pushed between the two. "EASY; LAD." Riot turned to Novas bunk mate, motioning towards the door. "Step out lad, take a walk." Riot walked over to an empty chair, and started to finish his sandwich. "Sho, Whash eatshin yoush lad?" Riot finished his chewing and swallowed. "That little fuck was disrespecting cross" Riot shook his head, knowing the reasoning behind Novas outburst. "Stating someones name isn't a disrespect Nova, try to remember that. You've been strung up since Cross died." Nova snorted and hoofed at the ground in annoyance. Riot didn't take the hint. 'Look lad, I know you and Cross were carnally close, but sometimes you need to let go of the pain; or your as good as dead." Nova was angry, and no amount of wise words were going to calm him down. He hadn't had to deal with loss since....It didn't matter. Nova wasn't going to let any pony take her name in vane. Riot saw the fury building in Novas system, It was familiar, yet unrefined. Nova didn't know how to use anger like that properly. Riot gave an inward sigh and nodded his head. "Lad... go talk to Cherry Cola, 'Tia knows she moonlights as a damn good therapist. After that I'll set you up on the next VTOL gun-run, I don't want you doing anything I'll regret." Nova nodded and walked out, but he didn't go to see Cherry Cola. Instead he took a long walk around the ship. When he got back Riot was gone and his bunk mates were back. As he walked in the young buck he had terrorized earlier tried to apologize. "Hey Nova, you know i didn't mean you any disrespect. I know you and her were close..." The young buck stopped when he realized Nova wasn't paying any attention to him. He went and laid down on his bunk. All of a sudden the door slammed open. a young red Pegasus walked in. "Hey fuckers! Meet your new lance mate". The young buck said in a cocky fashion. Nova knew him. He was a cocky dangerous pilot, that took to many risks for his limited experience. Nova was instantly filled with rage again. How could some little shit like this replace Cross? "Silver just made it official!" Wildman's grin was huge. He was happier than he could ever remember being. He hopped into his bunk, and laid on his stomach. "Looks like we'll be seeing a lot more of each other." The anger welled up in Nova "What the fuck makes you so goddamned special? huh?" Nova was interrupted by the comm system. "Lance Weeping angels report for mech bay for prepping". Wildman tried to respond but before he could Nova cut in. "Get your shit pikey. Were heading out".Wildman stood there for a second trying to understand what just happened. He nulled over what Nova had just said. "Pikey?" Riot stood in the mech bay, his Dragon was working in peak condition. Riot reached out with his magic, giving the 20mm tri-barreled Gatlings a test spin. The General announcement stirred him from his stupor, He saw Crash course swiftly trotting towards him with a manila envelope. I'm glad the lass has found something else to do, but being the Colonels gopher wasn't what I thought would happen "Hello captain! I'm to be accompanying you and your lance on this op!" Riots head didn't move from the envelope, but he was worried about what that entailed. "And why's that Crash?" The mares voice only got more chipper. She's enjoying this. "We need to extract some data from a console, but the Colonel says that he can't afford to have one of you get out of your mech, and he can't risk an entire squad for something that might not be worth it." "And how do you expect to-" "Colonel Silverbolt says that you have a Rocker seat behind yours in the Dragon, and that I'm to ride with you!" Oh by sweet lunas sweat soaked flanks their plotting against me. "Is that so?" Riot didn't want to play foalsitter, he already had to contend with a depressed Nova and a new lance-mate. "Yessir! I'll be piloting the drone you never use." Thats it! I swear to Celestias cum-soaked nethers that the next time Silver asks for a shot of my whiskey, he's getting Eridani club. Wildman slid into the cockpit of Swift Justice, and brought her online. He slid his foreleg across the data readout lovingly. "Alright baby, lets go." He drew the 'mech up to its full height, small though it may be. Riot scanned over the mission read out, throttling his mech towards the door. `Form up on me, no deviations. Standard diamond formation, three hundred hoof spread." Riots mech stepped out into the hot air, rolling green hills surrounded him. They were stationed on the planet Furexy, a garden world. Riot could see the civilians looking on as his lance set off towards their mark. It didn't take long to reach the compound. Nova inched along behind Riot with Wildman beside him. Riot came over the comm. "Alright lads, don't shoot unless I say so, we don't need a bunch of pissed of locals trying to kill us." Riot piloted his mech closer to the compound door, but halted when a small earth pony in combat armor came running out, waving frantically. The Captain called out over his comms. "We're just coming in, what gives?" The diminutive little buck waved frantically towards the inside of the massive military installation. While no words came from his mouth, the numerous cuts and lacerations freshly decorating the buck spoke volumes of the situation. "Let us in lad, we'll help how-ever we can." The small buck nodded, cantering over to a small concrete hut. Once he was inside how-ever, the gates started to rattle open, revealing a eerily empty courtyard that should have been full of military personnel. "Keep it tight lads, we don't know what in here..." The small lance weaved through the entrance, only to have the metal doors slam shut, locking the mechs inside. The massive military installation sprawled out, but the only viable point for the mechs was towards either the parade ground, or the mech bay. Crash shivered behind Riot, turning towards him. "This looks bad Cap'. What do you think?" The grey stallion looked down for a second, considering his options. "I don't know Crash, just keep you're eyes peeled. I better let the lads know this isn't what I had in mind." The comm crackled to life, filling the empty courtyard with noise. "Alright, keep your eyes open and your heads on a swivel. This isn't the mission we signed up for, but we need to figure this out. So bear with me." Nova swiveled around to make sure there weren't any hostiles around. He would keep one eye on the target, and one eye on Wildman. "Watching the flanks." Wildman pulled his 'mech into position behind his CO and disgruntled lancemate, and turned around, walking backwards, being sure nothing crept up on them. "I've got a bad feeling about this." He checked his weapons and armour systems. "Easy lads, take it nice and-" The little white mare next to the Captain practically jumped out of her seat. "Riot! Over there, in the door-way!" Riots eyes snapped over towards the shadowy, open door leading into what looked like a barracks. A pair of green legs were barely visible past the darkness. The captain let out a breath, hoping that it wasn't what he thought it was. "Good catch corporal, send the drone in there, I want to know whats going on." "Yes sir." The little drone lifted from its hiding place next to the com relay on the Dragons torso, the mare sent it hovering towards the door. "I'm switching to ground mode sir." The drone flopped to the ground, and began rolling into the doorway. The captains eyes were glued to the view screen, he was more than worried now. The view inside the barracks was that of an eerie cleanliness, save for the solitary deep black puddle and the dis-embodied pair of legs. The little white mare gagged at the sight, halting the drone. "Oh-oh sweet Celestia, I think I'm going to be sick..." "Not in me mech lass!!" The white mare was sickly pale, but she held her breakfast down. Riot opened the inter-lance comms, a look of deep concern etched on his face. "Lads... We've got a problem." "What's the problem sir?" Wildman was worried about the tone of voice his captain had. A cold sweat started along his body. "We in trouble?" The lower terminal of Wildmans mech flickered to life, bringing through the drones video feed. Wildman felt his heart stop cold with the realization. "You see that buck's cuts sir? I heard stories about ponies in space who reached the edge, and went crazy. Now they travel space, cutting on themselves, raping, and murdering anypony they come across." He looked left and right nervously. Nova suddenly forgot about his anger towards the young recruit. Instead he wondered if bringing him along would jeopardize their safety. Nova was right about Wildman jeopardizing their safety, but not in any way he would expect. Riots brain was running well into overdrive, trying to figure out what to do. Should we call in for back-up? That would put many of our friends at risk. Should we leave? The civilians will suffer. Should we check it out? What are you, a college frat bitch? Giving his shaggy head a solid shake, his gaze turned to stone. His decision was made. "Alright lads, somepony out there needs to die. I won't deprive them of my rounds." The white mare behind him sucked in a deep breath, pulling back the drone. She glanced over to her commanding officer. "S-Sir? Should I radio command? We may need the back-" "Call them, but tell them... tell them to stay out till we give the all clear. We need to keep the civilians safe." "Yes sir!" Riot started trotting his mech towards the primary repair bay, eyes flickering over his radar and flank. "Keep it tight lads, and watch your fire. Don't stitch any friendlies." "Whatever did this probably won't be riding around in a 'mech, we should hop out here." Wildman brought his 'mech into the repair harness, and shut down. He hopped out of his cockpit, and retrieved his gear from the section of the cockpit. His knife, a medical kit, and some rations. "God damned damned idiot is gonna get himself killed". Nova whispered to himself. His thoughts were quickly silence when he saw Riot doing the same. Nova's rage was building against Wildman, and now he was also getting angry at Riot for following in his example. Nova waited in his mech until Riot was done gearing up. "We need to get down there, figure out whats going on." Riot had un-strapped from his seat, levitating over a tactical vest and a box of buck-shot from his emergency stash. Crash was teetering over the edge of hyper-ventilating and mental break-downs. "Wait, nonononononNONONONO! We can't go out there! Why would you want to leave??" Her breath caught in her throat as the sound of Riot chambering a round into a large shotgun. "Cause somewhere in there, is our payment. I'm not letting some freaks keep me from eating properly this month." 'But-" "If you have to, stay in the mech." Riot cracked open the Dragons canopy, letting cool air flood inside. The rotten smell of death seeped in, threatening to choke Crash with its weight. Squeezing her eyes shut, she un-buckled from her rocker seat, shutting off the drone. Crash muttered fearfully under her breath "Goddess' keep me safe in these times of peril, Celestia protect my body, Luna Defend mind." Crash Course slipped out the canopy mush how her CO had, shutting the entry on her way out. "Hold up a moment, I need to find Chastity." Wildman spun around, and rooted around in his 'mech for a moment, drawing a small box from under his seat. He opened the latches, and took out a few different parts. He quickly put the weapon together, as he had done many times before. A seven shot cylinder, a gleaming, long barrel, with Chastity engraved on the side, and a sandalwood mouthgrip. He loaded her, and slid the weapon into his foreleg holster, within easy reach of his mouth. "Ready sir." I do not aim with my hoof, he who aims with his hoof has forgotten the face of his father, I aim with my eye. I do not shoot with my hoof, he who shoots with his hoof has forgotten the face of his father. I shoot with my mind. I do not kill with my gun, he who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father, I kill with my heart. Every one of Wildman's actions caused more and more rage inside Nova. His mother fucking "special" gun. Gonna get us fucking killed.Nova thought to himself. Nova knew how to control his anger, but the more Wildman talked the more trouble Nova had. Eventually he would find that he was no longer even concentrating on the surroundings. He was paying attention to Wildman; counting every conceited syllable that dribbled out the jaw of the young pilot. Nova was staring at Wildman when it happened. Riot and Crash were walking ahead into a large tunnel while Nova and WIldman concentrated on the rear. With zero warning; the blast door of the tunnel slammed shut, sending a tremorous Thud across the grounds. Wildman and Nova were trapped together. As were Crash and Riot. At the same time something hit Nova hard knocking him to the ground. The blast door slammed shut, cutting the team in half. Crash jumped at the sound while Riot brought his 'Jackhammer' to bear. They could barely hear yelling through the thick steel, but it was enough to know that they were in trouble. "NOOO! Oh goddess we're stuck in here!" Crash Course slammed into the door with all her power, on the verge of tears as dull echoes answered her hoof falls. Riot turned to her, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "Crash." No response "CRASH!" The white mare didn't turn to him, she only slumped against the hardened steel. "Crash there's no way through there, but there's bound to be a way around. We find what we're looking for and leave. No heroics." The mare could only nod her head, for her voice would betray her crushing fear. "Now get up, we've got work to do." Riot pushed a pistol into Crashes grip, looking her in the eyes as he wrapped her hooves around it. The tunnel snaked downward, with various offshoots in every direction. The entire base was eerily quiet, with only small ambient noises to break the heavy silence. The pair came up on a small station labeled 'Security B5-7' Riot glanced back to Crash as he brought his shotgun forward, floating the griffon pattern shotgun next to his chest. Just as The Captain reached for the door, they both heard a sudden shrill scream for help. "Fuck, the path is blocked, come on Nova, lets get out of here, we need to link up with those two". Wildman's words echoed in Nova's head. When Nova got to his feet He finally responded. "Don't you fucking touch me". Nova said in a harsh voice. "What the fuck did I do? You probably treat all your lance mates like shit" The words stung Nova. It was the last straw. Nova kicked out with both his back legs hitting Wildman in the jaw, and sending him into the wall behind him. Wildman tried to get up but Nova was already on him. Nova pressed his hooves into the young bucks throat. Wildman had no were to go. "I could fucking end you, right hear right now. Do you know why you're hear right now, do you know the name of the lance member you 'replaced'?". Wildman just stared at Nova. Fear apparent in his eyes. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't speek. "Fucking answer me!" Nova demanded. "Do you know the pony you replaced?" Wildman shook his head. "Her name was Cross. She was the best mare that the guard had". Nova's voice cracked and his eyes teared up. "Violet" he said under his breath. He looked away from the young buck he had under his hooves. He let up the pressure. As he did Wildman tried to speak but just gagged. Nova snapped back to Wildman. His eyes even angrier than before. He started to press. Suddenly something hit the back of Nova's head, and he fell to the floor unconscious. Wildman looked up expecting to see a horror. Instead he sat staring at himself. "We're coming in!!" The door blew open, slamming into the wall with enough force to chip the concrete. Captain Riot charged in, shotgun at the ready. The security room had obviously been the site of a pitched battle, monitors lay broken and strewn around. The weapons locker had been buckled inwards, and toppled over to block the closest hallway, which apparently led to a supply closet. Riot led the way, while Crash Course followed close behind. Another scream, more pained sounded from the furthest hallway, labeled Barracks "Crash, watch my flank, I'm Going in." Riot charged down the hallway, almost slipping across the dark black stain. The pair entered the barracks, only to find the entire room wrecked. The scream sounded again, agony was apparent in the owners voice. The general barracks, while wrecked and stained, was empty. The scream was coming from the showers. "Better still be fuckin alive..." _______________________________________ Short Stack thrashed and fought the grip of his CO, his legs were fucked and he was bleeding heavily from his left side. Stacks CO jammed the strange talon into his lower leg and dragged him closer to the gaping hole that squatted in the shower room. Stack screamed with futility as he tried to kick at Cherry Pepper; who in turn whipped around, bringing her hooves crashing down on his chest, breaking ribs easily. As Short Stack sputtered, slipped out of consciousness, He watched as a large grey buck rounded the corner. The buck fired a flaming slug into his CO, who howled and shrieked as the green flames burst from her chest. _____________________________________________________ The Tracer slug did the trick beautifully as they shredded the blue mares chest. She backed up on her hind legs, kicking as the fire enveloped her. Much to Riot chagrin, the mare began to morph and mutate. The outcome was horrid and twisted, beating burning wings. Its bug eyes twitched and shuddered as bale fire burst from its mouth. The jet black creature bucked and kicked as it hit the floor, its carapace crackling and burning. "Fuck that, I'm switching to explosive bale-fire rounds!" Riot hoofed a small talisman near the barrel of the shotgun, which began to flicker and pop like fire, unlike the straight glow that marked tracer rounds. "Hey that bucks still breathing!" Crash forgot her fear and fright, pushing forward to the broken colt, she was filled with a new kind of feeling; anger. "Hey easy, you're safe now. Just try and breath!" The VTOL pilot looked up at her CO "Captain, if you have any healing poultices, please hoof them over. "I can spare one, that should get him on his hooves." The grey buck trotted over, but kept his weapon trained on the hole. "Here, let me fix any broken bones first." Wildman sprung up, shoving the unconscious Nova off of himself. He drew Chastity from his holster. He threw his foreleg around his doppelganger, and put the barrel of the revolver just under its chin. "Hut uh uck ar ooh?" He said, the revolver messing up his speech. It kicked out with all of his legs, and knocked him away. It pushed back again, this time its front hooves morphing into cruel looking talons. Wildman fired, the heavy 45.-70 round tearing through the things forehead. There was a loud crack as the round hit, like a plate hitting the floor. He watched himself go limp, and as it died, it morphed into an odd bug like thing. He spat Chastity back into her holster. He tried his radio, but only got static, the base walls must be messing with the transmission. "Nova, are you okay?" He trotted over to the unconscious buck. When he didn't get an answer, he lifted the stallion onto his back, Wildman's back protested against the weight. "You are one heavy pegasus, its a wonder you can even fly." Once he was sure of his lance mate's well-being; he looked at the monster that had copied him. "What the fuck are you?" He prodded the black form with a hoof. The outside didn't feel like flesh, it was surrounded by a kind of black shell. It had large canines, that looked as though it could rend flesh easily. It also had two large compound-looking eyes, and had a pair of strange wings. The wings looked thinner, and more delicate than pegasus wings. It seemed like it wouldn't be able to fly, the muscles must be really strong to move the wings at the speeds needed to coax flight from them. While you're busy napping, I might as well find out about our new friend. He slowly let Nova tumble to the floor. He looked at the entry wound. The crack he had heard was the carapace's forehead plate splitting as the round entered. He drew his knife, and dragged the knife down its chest, but the knife wouldn't penetrate. It looked like the shell would shrug off most weak small arms, but was nearly nil against the heavy shells in Chastity. The carapace was composed of hundreds of plates, that were perfectly articulated to facilitate movement; like the armour that old knights wore, but more organic, and better fitting. And it seemed like each plate was covered in tiny.....he didn't really know, but it seemed to reflect light strangely, maybe that was how it had copied him. Or maybe it was magic, either way, he couldn't be sure. Wildman slid the knife into one of the slots between plates, and twisted, taking off one of the plates around the chest, revealing the fleshy underside. He rolled the body onto its back, and, with the hole created in the carapace, he could now drag the knife down the belly, and a huge gash in the armour let him see the underflesh. Well, you're new. He sliced it open, and pulled the belly open. It was boneless, but the heavy exoskeleton let the.....thing, stay stable. Its like a bug...... Without some kind of lab equipment, he doubted that anypony could learn any more. I geuss I should take a sample for......somepony. We need to learn about this stuff. He took the exoskeleton chunk, and looked at the shape. It looked a little like his knife. I wonder....... Wildman took the shard, and stabbed it into the shell. Where his knife was stopped, the shell piece went through like a hot knife through butter. He took a look at his knife, and threw it away. Oh.....this'll do. Wildman put Nova on his back again, and started down the hall. He needed to link back up with Riot, and Crash. Nova was barely conscious. He couldn't move his body, but he could hear and see what was going on. Wildman was carrying him. If Nova was able to move he would have protested, but alas he could not. Suddenly out of no were something hit them. It sent Nova sliding down the hall and Wildman the opposite way. In between them was a large black mass. Another one of the bug like creatures that had attacked them. Wildman tried to attack but the creature was to quick. It was on Nova in a second. Its sharp hoof at Nova's throat. The creature shot a glance at Wildman and smiled. Wildman had drawn chastity but before he could fire there was a flash of green. Wildman could only see his memories. Something was wrong there was someone else there. Another mind that wasn't his. It was searching for something. It found what it was looking for. The memory of what Wildman loved most. Just as soon as it had happened it was over. wildman looked up expecting to see the creature, but it was gone. Some one else stood in his place. Nova glanced up with hazy eyes. Above him stood an old looking earth pony. Chestnut coat and a black main. Wildman was taken aback. He dropped Chastity from his mouth. "D dad?" He whisperer. "Yes it is me". The pony responded. Wildman hadn't noticed one of his hoofs transform into a blade that was now at Nova's throat. "No you're one of those bug things. It's some sort of sick trick". "Oh but it is me, let your eyes tell the truth". "Impossible. You're dead!" "Oh quite the opposite. I'm very much alive. I'm here to protect you. This pony right here is your enemy. I'm going to destroy him for you". The pony smiled an evil grin. Wildman knew that it wasn't his father, but the sight of his dad was to much. He couldn't bring himself to kill the image of his father. Wildman hung his head. "Good. Very good. Now watch as I destroy your friend". His voice changed to a high pitched hiss at the end. The pony raised a hoof to crush Nova's skull. "Wait!" Wildman cried. "If you are my father whats my real name?" The creature had seen his memories. He knew his name despite not being his father. "How simple". The pony put on an evil grin. "Your name is-". The words were drowned out by a gun shot. The creature fell backwards. Blood oozing from it's forehead. "My father never called me by my real name". Wildman holstered Chastity and went over to Nova who was once again fading out of consciousness. Nova was gone. In an eternal blackness. He stood up and looked around. Darkness and nothing else. He started to panic. He started to gallop in one direction. He galloped as long as he could. Finally stopping when he was out of breath. Nova sat down in frustration. "Were the fuck am I?" He wispered to himself. "Were the fuck am I ?!" Nova repeated in a frustrated yell. suddenly a face emerged from the shadows. The face of the creature that had just tried to kill him. "There's no point in yelling. I'm dead and you're dead" the creature responded. "Bullshit! I know what death feels like. This is not death. Now were the fuck am i?" "Oh don't be mistaken. You are very dead. Maybe not in body, but your soul is dead". "Who the fuck do you think you are?" "Oh don't believe me? well lets look at the facts. Your friend Wildman saved your life after you tried to kill him. Not only that but he had to kill the image of the one he loved the most to do it". "That doesn't mean shit!" "Oh really? Could you do it?" At that the creature transformed into the image of Nova's fallen lance mate Crash. "Could you kill me to save your friend?" The creature changed again. This time into a light blue mare with a red mane. "How about Me?". The creature changed again; a small colt with a blue coat and a blonde main. "How about now? could you stand to see me die for one of your friends?". Nova looked away. His eyes had began to tear up. The creature changed back to its original form. "Of course you can't. You're a coward, and you"re weak, and now you are going to die with the knowledge that you are the most dangerous part of this situation. All you do is put your friends in danger for your selfish needs". "No you're wrong!" Nova chocked on his words. "No I'm right. I've seen your memories. I know your head. I saw how they died. I saw how you impregnated Violet When she was intoxicated. I saw how left Cross on her own so you could head back early to rest. You and me both know that the only reason you remain in the guard is so you have the chance of meeting death sooner, because you were to afraid to take your own life with the pistol under your pillow. You could.'t do it. You are a week, selfish, coward, and now you're going to die". Nova looked up tears down his face and a deep rage in his eyes. "Who are you?" "Oh I thought you'd never ask. I am a changeling". "Nova's anger was quickly wiped away at this. "Impossible. Changelings went extinct thousands of years ago". "Most of us did, but we survived. Living off the souls of the forgotten. Hopping from planet to planet. Developing k\new ways of inflicting our terror". Nova didn't know what to think. If they were up against changelings then the threat was larger than they ever imagined. "You ever seen anything like this before Crash?" "Goddess no... I've never seen this, not anywhere." Groan "It's waking up, time to ask our friend some questions." Short Stack slowly opened his eyes, trying to take in his surroundings. He quickly realized that he was tied to a desk, his four hooves splayed out, tied to either end of the desk. The only up-side, was that he wasn't dead or bleeding to death. "W-Where am I? What's going on?" The rotund earth pony shifted n the table, trying to get loose of his bindings. His efforts were met with a shotgun barrel being pushed against his temple. Stack gulped as he closed his eyes, waiting for death. "What the fuck are you." The statement obviously surprised Stack, who opened his eyes and looked over at his captors. "What do you mean? I'm a pon-" "You, are NOT a pony, not with a lower body like that." Stack hefted his head up, looking down at his legs. He let out an exasperated groan as he fell back to the table. "I'm only going to ask once." Riot glanced over at Crash, who had curled up on one of the barrack cots. The bucks voice drew back his gaze. "I'm... I'm a...." "Spit it out, I'm not going to play games with you." "I'm a Changeling. So are- were, most of the staff here." Riot lifted his Jackhammer away from the strange half pony, lifting an eyebrow at his comment. "Most of the staff? Then why is everypony dead?" Short Stack sucked in a breath, he could feel tears welling up as he recounted the weeks events; as well as the events leading up to them. "Please, untie me and I'll tell you everything. I won't do anything than that." Riot stood there, starring down at the buck. His upper torso was a light green, with a choppy grey mane. His lower torso on the other hoof, was a hard black carapace that shimmered a deep green, just like the burned out husk by in the showers. 'One wrong move and you're dust." The Changeling only nodded his head, closing his eyes. The ropes un-did themselves through Riots magic, the Pony sat up, absent-mindedly rubbing his fore-hooves. "Start talking Lad, I'm all ears." Crash Course was still on the bed, but she was watching with fearful eyes as the green pony finished transforming into the creature that would haunt her dreams. "My name is Short Stack, Staff sergeant. I'm a Changeling, as are my superiors and at least half of this facilities inhabitants. We are, or were, peaceful. Our hive lay far below, in the caverns that honey comb the entire area. We had an agreement with the colony, that a small group would live top-side and protect the hive from threats; but..." "Things didn't go as planned did they lad?" The Changeling laughed slightly at this, his throat clicking and chittering as he did so. "Well, no. Changelings feed on love, specifically the love that our queen gives us. Her love; to be exact. Unfortunately, our queen was killed in the time of Celestia; thus we had to come up with another solution." The pony stretched his hooves, his eyes flicking towards the showers. 'We came up with a plan. A small percent of the colony would go topside, portrayed as ponies from the old world. We would then start a new life; but any love we gained would go to the hive. The colony leaders soon learned of our ploy, yet they decided to aid us." Riot shifted over from his seated position, leaning his weapon against the table. "What went wrong lad?" "The Hive wasn't happy with how much love we were bringing in, not after SHE took over." "Who is she?" Crash had gotten up from the bed, concern and intrigue plastered across her face. "Our new Queen" Short Stack spoke the name with a shudder. "She ruined everything. She ordered the invasion; she ordered that all top-siders, changelings included; be consumed. For she has found out how to suppliment love with Meat." "Well shit. That complicates things....." Riot sat there, contemplating his options, but also wondering of the fate that Nova and Wildman had found. Stack mirrored his disposition. The bug pony, took in a deep breath, fully knowing the actions that had to be made if the colony were to survive. "We need to kill the hive." Riot lifted his head to meet the changelings gaze, nodding his approval. "Agreed. Burn em' out." Chastity trembled in his mouth, the feeling of what he had just done racking him. He walked up to the......demon, that had defiled his fathers memory. A rage consumed him. "AAAAAAAAHHHHGHHHHHHGHHHHHHH!" He screamed, long, and loud, around Chastity, and emptied the remaining six cylinders into its chest. Chastity repeatedly clicked on empty, but he kept pulling the trigger, like it could never be dead enough. He spat the revolver into its holster, and drew his new changeling exo-knife. He stabbed, and stabbed, and stabbed, rending the flesh even further, he sliced, and tore, until the thing was nearly unrecognisable. A terrible thought ran through him. This is far too nice of a treatment for you. He took Chastity out again, and reloaded her, to get more weight. He put the exoknife against the base of its horn, and held up the revolver. He smacked Chastity against the knife, like a hammer to a chisel, and the horn popped most of the way off. He grabbed it in its mouth, and pulled. It tore off with a sickening crack. Its a shame you aren't alive for this. He put the horn in his pack. He was done. For now. Nova's anger was on its way out. Only sadness and despair filled him now. A massive sense of dread. "Well then. If me and my friends are going to die I guess it wouldn't hurt to answer my questions". The changeling looked up at the white pony. "You're dead to anyways. What could it hurt?". Nova had no intention of foiling their plan. He was simply curious at their plan. "I suppose it wouldn't matter. Were do you want to start?" Nova looked up; surprised that the creature was so willing to give answers. Nova thought a moment before giving an answer. "Well lets start from how i'm talking to you. I may only be unconscious but you. I saw your body die. How are we both here?" "My body dies but my mind lives on. I grafted my mind to yours. You were the nearest living thing when my body died". "So I suppose that when I die you'll just hop from my mind to somepony else". "Unfortunately the transfer is permanent. When you die so will I". "So i'm stuck with you until I die? Well I guess your company is better than none. So I guess that's how you know my memories. I don't suppose i could see yours?" "If you so wish. It is only fair". Suddenly Nova was flashing through years of memories. Terrible sights. More pain than he dared to imagine. It all happened in less than a second. He had just experienced the entirety of this creatures life in a second. When it was over he was back. Back with the creature. A new feeling came over him. It wasn't sadness or anger, or even despair. It was pity. Nova now understood why the creature had to kill. It was all it had left. The only way to save its species. When Nova looked up he no longer saw an evil figure bent on destruction, but a tortured soul; doing whatever it could to survive. "I understand". "You know why we must kill". "I know why you hurt". The creature looked away at this. "Pain and torture is all you have ever known". "It doesn't matter. Soon the plan will be initiated. I am sorry". The creature hung its head. "What plan?". The creature didn't respond. "Please tell me". "Once the hive has consumed the rest of the base the device will be activated". "Device? What device?" "It is a technology that is not known. Only the queen knows its origins". "Please tell me what the device does". Nova had a hint of urgency in his voice now. "It is the ultimate in consumption. When the device is activated it will consume all of the love in the universe". "Then why kill?" "We live off flesh now. There is very little love for us to feed of here. We supplemented it until we were fable to construct the device". "But how can you contain that kind of energy. The amount of power must be monstrous". "The energy will be distributed among the the organic material within the universe". "But that would kill everything". "Correct. Only the Queen will survive". Nova was terrified at this answer. "Wait! I've seen your thoughts. I know you don't like to kill. Neither does your species. Only the queen does. Why would you go along with something like this?" "It was the only way the changelings could survive". "By destroying every living thing in the universe". "I am sorry". The changeling turned around. "Wait! Their has to be a way to shut down the machine". "The device is not a machine. The device is the collective hive". "So how would we stop it?" "You would have to destroy the hive". Nova thought for a second. "Would you be alright for that?" "My species is old. It no longer has a place within this world. I see that now". "Then will you help me?" "How can I?" "Well neither of us are dead yet". "But then you would be stuck with me inside your mind". "Well. It doesn't hurt to have a little company". The changeling smiled. "Okay first things first. I need to wake up". "When i Implanted myself in your mind a part of me was grafted onto your subconscious. I could wake wake you up". "Well then what are you waiting for? Do it". Suddenly he was awake. Riding on Wildman. "Good, you're awake, now get off of me." Wildman set him down.Nova leaped up and threw his hoofs around Wldman. He recolied from the contact. "Don't you fucking touch me." Wildman's eyes had a crazed light in them. "I'm sorry. You'll do good. Now come on! I know how to stop this thing!" Nova spun around and sped down the hall, Wildman following behind. "What the fuck? How could you possibly know?" "No time to explain. Lets just say I've got voices in my head". "On the left!! BOOMPING The explosive slug slammed into the creatures chest, igniting the magical bale fire enchantment. The changelings remains burst into flames before it even hit the ground. Riot led the way, his Jackhammer tracking back and forth, looking for prey. Crash Course and Short Stack weren't far behind, but the green buck was truly leading the way with his directions. "We need to regroup with Wildman and Nova, we can't take down the nest without help." Crash side-stepped the burning corpse. The changeling nodded his head, looking over to the large grey stallion. "We need to get into the armoury. Inside there's an incendiary weapon we can use to purge the source." The bucks nodded in agreement as they stalked through the hallway. "Right!" The Jackhammer swayed over, sighting the changeling before it shredded the monster. Before Riot could fire, the changeling disappeared from sight, clacking and clicking at Short Stack. "What's it saying Stack?" The buck motioned for quiet, still looking up at the narrow tunnel where the creature had gone down. "Nothing, just... Nothing. Lets move; we can't be here." It was Crash who answered the strange buck. "Agreed, we need to get out of these tunnels!" ______________________________________________________________________________________________ The trio trotted through the burrowed tunnels, staying wary of attacks from all sides. They were going up, or so it seemed. "There, up ahead, it's an exit tunnel." The three ponies charged forward, hoping for fresh air. "Come on! We're almost-" The ground cracked, splitting open and swallowing Riot whole. Crash and Stack Raced to the side to try and grab him, but he was already gone. 'Fuck!! What do we do!!? He's my CO and-" The bug pony motioned for her to stay silent boompingboomping "We need to continue on and find your fellows, or none of us will last long." ______________________________________________________________________ "FUCK YOU, YOU MOTHER FUCKERS YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME!!?? BOOMPINGBOOMPING COME AND GET ME!!!" Nova rushed down the halls, Wildman in tow. Nova was talking to somepony. This caught the attention of Wildman. "Nova who the fuck are you talking to?!" Wildman yelled. "Myself. I mean my other self. I mean.... Oh it doesn't matter just run!" Nova suddenly stopped. "Here? But it's solid steel! Oh I see. Wildman hand me your side arm". Nova held out his hoof. "Fuck off. You've gone insane. You're crazy if you think i'm gonna give my favorite pistol to somepony who just tried to kill me!" "Wildman, we haven't got the time to argue. Either you give me that gun or the entire universe dies". "What do you mean the entire universe?" "I mean the entire goddamn world! Every living thing. Plants, animals, you, me. All gone. Now hurry up and hand me your pistol!" Wildman closed his mouth. No one had talked to him like that in a long time. Wildman handed Chastity over to Nova. "Don't you fucking try anything!" Nova put the gun in his mouth. "goo ow ish I han us. wes!" Nova fired. The metal in front of them splintered like glass, and fell apart. Were the panel had been was a massive whole. It lead straight down to the center of the base. Nova looked down and smiled. He turned around and spat the gun at Wildman. "Ah ha! Perfect. Straight down the nest. Quickest rout by far". "Whoa whoa whoa. What the fuck just happened. I just saw steel shatter like glass!" "It's a charclorium seal. The changelings disguised it as a steel panel. Quickest way in and out of the hive. Usually it's just as strong as steel but I found a week spot". "Wait changelings? I thought they were all killed off in the celestial age?" "Far from it. A few survived and made a base here, and now if we don't destroy the nest then we're all going to be in a lot of trouble". "Okay well that explains a lot but how the hell do you know all this stuff?" "Like I said. Voices in my head. Now if you don't mind, we should really start saving the universe". "Wait! How the fuck are we going to get down there? That drop would kill anypony". "Well I have got these". Nova extended his wings out proudly. "You've got them too I believe". Wildman hung his head. "My wings were destroyed In a mech battle". "Ah, right. Well.... I suppose you could stay here. Make sure the wall doesn't go anywhere. It is my way out after all". At that Nova leaped into the chasm. He could hear Wildman yell at him from topside as he descended. Nova finally slowed his decent when he came to the end. He landed in a massive cavern. easily 10 miles wide. A luminescent green glow coming from every were.There was green slime everywhere. And then he noticed it. The ground and walls were moving. They were alive. A strange cocoon of sorts surrounding the bodies of millions of changelings, and there In the middle hung a massive cocoon. Inside was a creature that defied any definition. It was neither pony nor changeling. It was a twisted and swollen black mass. In it's center Nova could make out the shapes of both ponies and changelings. consumed by the monster. "That is the queen".. The thoughts came from his mind, but not from him. "How do we kill it?" "Killing the Queen is not enough. You must destroy the entire hive". "How do we do that?" "The hive is one body. She lives off the hive just as the hive lives off her. Sever the umbilical and both the queen and the hive is dead". "Right and how do I do that?" "The umbilical is there. At the base of the queens cocoon. Were it meets the cavern". "Right well.." Nova was cut off when the sound of explosions started growing closer and closer. There was a brilliant flash of green light as the ceiling burst open. Something ripped past Nova, landing with a resounding crunch. Nova spun around to find Riot pulling himself out of a crushed changeling, several bodies and parts rained down around him, drenched in a green goo. "Riot what the hell? How did you get down here? And what is that goo?" "The ground gave way. I fell. Not sure were I am. And as for the goo; It's Changeling blood... I had a little company on the way down." Riot stretched his back out, groaning at the strain. He glanced back up at Nova "So what brings you boys down to these parts?" "The changelings escape tunnel. Unlike you, I'm here on purpose". "Right, and were is here exactly?" "The changeling hive cluster". "Well fuck. And how do you know so much?" "It's a long story". As Nova said those words the entire space began to shake. The Changelings spun in their cocoons. "The hive is awakening. The device is being activated". The words came from inside Nova's head. "Right. Riot! Sir. I know you're my CO but for once listen to my orders! I know what's going on. I can't explain how but I just do. So please listen. If we don't stop this hive from awaking they'll kill every living thing in the universe". Riot cut in. "Well then lets kill em before they get the chance!" Riot pointed his shot gun at the cocoon under his hooves and fired. The spinning changeling stopped moving and ceased to glow. Riot aimed for another but before he could fire Nova stopped him. "Wait! We have to kill the entire hive! It would take too long to shoot them one by one". "Well no shit Nova, how do you propose we do it?" "We have to cut the link between the hive and the queen before they awake." "And how does our glorious leader propose to do this?" Riot looked haggard and beaten, the low lighting cast a grim look over his face. "Do you have a knife?" "Never leave home without one.". Riot magicked out his knife and levitated it into Nova's grasp. "Good. Now Keep me covered. They know we're down here. They'll be sending troops in to stop us, so give me time so that I can sever the connection". "Alright lad, Godspeed". Nova nodded at Riot, and galloped off towards the core of the cavern. Riot turned around and readied himself for a fight. "Come get it you bloody bastards!" Riot yelled as a black swarm descended from above. Nova was running as fast as he could. He had placed Riots knife in his mouth and was ready to cut the connection. He was galloping over the convulsing cocoons of millions of changelings. Suddenly they started to break free. All of them grabbing at Nova as he ran. Suddenly Nova was knocked to the ground by a tremor. The Queen had broken free. "The device has been activated" The changelings voice echoed in his mind. At this Nova leaped into the air. He extended his wings and began to fly; as fast as he could. Towards the umbilical. The cavern was no longer a bright green color. Something had changed. It was now a dark crimson. Nova saw the body of Queen twist and convulse. It was afraid. And then it broke open. The hard outer shell split to reveal a monster so hideous that the sight of it made Nova shudder with fear. Its face an awful white, Scabbed and scarred. Bits of flesh dangling from its body in random places. Its entire body was a collage of the ponies and changelings it had consumed. Thousands upon thousands of them. All mashed together. There was only one natural part of the body that Nova could see. The eyes. Oh and how they burned. He could feel the anger and rage behind them. It burnt the creature inside out. This wasn't just a survival tactic. The creature wanted revenge. Nova reached the creature and pulled out the knife. "This ends here!" Nova raised the blade between his hooves and thrust down, but before it contacted the flesh of the umbilical something stopped him. "I told you I had control of your sub conscious". The same voice that echoed from within now came from beast above him. "Nova couldn't speak. His entire body was paralyzed, but he could still think. "How can you do this? I don't understand. What are you?" "I am the queen. I always was". "But I don't understand. I saw your thoughts. You're not the queen". "Wrong. You saw the thoughts of the dead changeling. You see we are a hive mind, and although I cannot move from one ponies mind to another I can move throughout the minds of the changelings" "But I saw pain and misery and torture". "Yes, We have been tortured by the universe for the entirety of our existence. It is time for us to take our revenge". "But why did you tell me how to destroy you?" "Because I needed one last piece to the puzzle. It was the best way to get you here". "But why me?" "This body is made the flesh of fallen ponies. Held together by the blood of changelings. You see, I needed your mind to control this beast. You will become part of it". The voice had finished. Suddenly Nova felt himself being lifted into the air. "It is over. In a few moments your mind will be apart of this device". "No! I'll fight it!" "Sure you could, but what would be the point. You'd only regain control over your body for a second. You couldn't sever the connection with the hive in that time". At that point Nova realized he was still holding the knife. He thought to himself. A private thought. In a place were he knew they couldn't find him. Nova remembered what the creature had said earlier. "The graft cannot be reversed. When the host dies so will I". Nova knew what to do. He may not have enough time to destroy the connection between the umbilical and the the hive, but he could still stop it. Nova began to fight. "Oh how Interesting. You have decided to fight after all. This should be fun". At that Nova regained control of his body. "Like I said, this ends here". Nova thrust the knife downwards. Into his own chest. In an instant he felt the mind of the creature call out, but then it was gone. Purged from his mind, but at what cost? Nova fell to the ground bellow. No longer suspended by the changeling magic. The hive screamed out in unison. A high pitched howl as the entirety of the hive died at once. The hives natural glow faded and went black. That was all that was left, For the changelings and for Nova. A couple minutes earlier...... "Asshole......" Wildman flicked out his damaged wing, and stared at it. A loud buzzing was heard from down the hall behind him. A horde of changelings were flying down the hall, towards him. He drew, cocked, and fired, in the time it would take to raise a normal weapon. He fired himself empty, each shot finding something important. They would be on him in five, he could reload in one. He reloaded, missed one, downed six. But the horde was too great, the crowd of them knocked him over the side, into the hole, which was where they were headed. He screamed out in fear, before righting himself and drawing the exoknife. He grabbed a hold of the nearest changeling, and stabbed through its side. He threw his forelegs underneath it, and rode it all the way to the hive. He arrived just in time to see Nova gut himself. "NOVA!!!" He rushed forward, and tried to draw chastity to clear his path. But he found his holster...empty. It had been knocked from his mouth when he was rushed, and was now probably lying on the floor up there. Instead he drew the exoknife again, and rushed towards Nova, but he didn't need it, the hive was dying, and was starting to collapse. changelings were falling, and dying around him. Chunks of biotic walls were falling. He threw Nova onto his back, and called to Riot, who was unloading his shotguns drum clip into the flitting changelings. "LETS GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE." In a smaller voice, he said. "You're gonna be okay Nova, I'm getting you out of here, you just stay with me." Riot stood by Nova as he faced the changeling queen, The entire room shook and swirled with the sheer amount of bodies occupying the space. The captain stood his ground as yet another wave of changelings dove down upon the small group. His jackhammer barked and snarled as it spat high explosive slugs through the attackers. On of the changelings deftly avoided the grisly; charred fate of his fellows. Tackling Riot from the side, he drove the large bullpup shotgun away from its owner. Riot sprawled on his side, grunting in pain as he grappled with the monster, who began to writhe in his grip, driving its sharp plates under Riots skin. Ignoring the pain, Riot kicked the creature off, telekinetically reaching for his hatchet. "GO! TO! HELL!!" Each word was punctuated with a savage axe swing, which thrashed and ravaged the changelings body. A steady voice grasped his attention, drawing his eyes to Nova. "Like I said, this ends here." Riot started to call to Nova as the Queen raised her hooves for a death blow, but both were halted by the large bayonet Nova shoved deep into his breastplate. The Queen thrashed and bucked from an ethereal force as Novas body slumped against the ground. "Riot yelled out along side Wildman, but the slithering movement to his right reminded him of his obligations. Riot quickly turned to finish off the changeling, on to come face to face with the bloody, broken body of his wife, the axe still protruding from her chest. Tears welled up in Riots eyes as all the memories he had suppressed came crashing back in a torrent of pain and death. "Aurora... no..." Riot fell to his knees next to the savaged body, dragging the effigy up into his arms. "Not again... please not now..." Pulling the broken body closer in, Riot clenched his eyes shut, trying to block out the rending; pinning torture he was going through. His mind drifted listlessly back into the world of grey's and blood. A soft sputtering sound brought him back from the world of grey and death, barely opening his eyes through the tears, his gaze met Auroras. "You killed me. You killed our son...." The mare squeaked in pain as another convulsion went through her body. "You should... have died in those tunnels... Monster." Riot didn't bother arguing, he could only nod his head as the room came crashing down around him. The changeling slowly drew back a savage blade, taking care to build his strength and ensure the ponies death, as Riot clutched him in his fore-hooves, the creature could only smile through the pain and blood. Get up Kel'loco! Please don't die for this... Riot lifted his head, his bloodshot blue eyes meeting mutated blue compound eyes. Riots horn flared with savage uncontrolled magic as the telekinetic bullet grenaded the changelings head into a fine paste, leaving a massive impact crater in the ground. The captain stood up, letting the foul creature fall from his hooves. His blood boiled as furious rage poured into every inch of his body, his body practically vibrated with destructive energy. The Jackhammer floated next to him, the magical energies, twisting and changing it into something savage and deadly, much like its owner. As Riot fired torrents of rending buckshot into the fliers a chorus of familiar voices filed his head, drowning out the sounds of death and impending doom. Once more into the fray Into the last good fight I'll ever know Live and die on this day Live and die on this day Wildman had dragged Novas bleeding body into a corner, and was trying to avoid the falling debris. The entire room shook and vibrated, large chunks of the ceiling falling down and crushing egg sacs. Despite the death of the queen and the destruction being wrought on their home, some changelings still fought the trio, sending volleys and kicks down upon the mercs. A large chunk of roofing fell down into the cavern, its trajectory promising a swift death to the trio. Riot stood his ground, horn flaring with barely contained power. Through his eyes, he wasn't alone, he never had been truly alone, not since he had first set hoof outside the stable. Riot stood shoulder to shoulder with his wife and child, his father; and his two best friends. Time stood still as their eyes glowed with power, which fired through the conduit of Riot. The bolt slammed into the slab of reinforced concrete, shattering and pulverizing it into tiny fragments. Light streamed in through the massive hole in the roof, when the few surviving changeling attempted to flee, they were cut down my machine gun fire from the surface. A single VTOL slid in through the torrent of rocks and death, coming down to a hover next to the edge. In a flash the trio were on board and fighting to get away from the treacherous sinkhole. A familiar voice came from the cockpit as the VTOL broke the lip of the crater. "I left you guys alone for ten minutes, and this is what I get!" ____________________________________________________ Topside twenty minutes later..... "The lieutenants stable, close call though." "Yea, good thing that knife wasn't serrated, or he would have been done like dinner! The two medics trotted away from the medical field tent, glancing over towards the sinkhole that was being slowly cordoned off by both the EQRG and the planetary defense force. What they didn't see was a tall grey stallion slowly climbing into a custom Dragon mech. ___________________________________________________________ Riot sat quietly in his pilots chair, slowly rocking his hind legs back and forth as he sat. The energies that had saved his squad had dissipated away as if they weren't even there. Yet Riot felt the impact through out his body, It felt as if his very soul had been sliced open. He didn't tell the medics about the pounding headache or about how his vision was grey in the periphery. He didn't make eye contact lest they see that his iris' had split into two separate colours. A light ring of grey ringed the inside of the bloodshot, haggard blue eyes. His head was tilted backwards, his eyes scanned the various poems, prayers, and pictures that adorned the inside of his mech. In that sole moment, Riots being felt unbearably heavy, his thoughts wandered to avoid the pain of memory. In too the fray once again my son to fight until the battles done. Live to fight another day For only you keep the wolves at bay. Wildman deserves a reward for his actions. He's suffered loss today as well. Riot trotted across the courtyard, various ponies milled around; stripping the base of any useful equipment. Riot spotted Crash Course and the new buck, Short Stack helping load a very large covered truck into a kangaroo transport ship. Riot could only wonder what they had found in the depths of the base, and if it were the incendiary weapon Stack had spoken of before. Unfortunately, Riot wasn't headed in their direction, he had plans. The captain approached the impromptu barracks for the EQRG, he could see shadows and forms moving quickly inside. The barracks already smelt of sweat and strain, soldiers and techs scurried about. One diminutive corporal noticed Irons entry into the tent, and quickly snapped to attention. "Officer on deck!" The other ponies froze in place, jolting into an attentive stance. Riot nodded at the soldiers, the light casting a grim shadow over his muzzle. "At ease." He looked over at a relaxing sergeant. "You, You're my runner now." The buck sent up a sharp salute. "Yes sir. What do you need?" The Captain motioned to the door. "Walk with me." The two stepped outside into the chilly air. A large burn pile was forming over in the western courtyard, consisting entirely of changeling bodies. Riot started walking towards another field tent, the sergeant rushed to follow. "Segeant, I need full reports on what happened, everything we know. I want full combat sweeps of the changeling tunnels, no survivors you hear me?" Riot stopped to stare at the buck, who quickly nodded and confirmed his orders. "Where should I have the reports delivered sir?" Riot stopped to consider the fact they didn't have a field office yet, and the dropship wasn't due back for another three days. "Deliver any and all reports and requirements to my Mech." The buck saluted again, and turned away to start his errand. "One last thing sergeant! Where's corporal Wildman?" __________________________________________________________ The tent flap flailed in the bitter cold wind, and the temperature was dropping rapidly. Wildman had curled up in a smaller four pony tent, and was staring at the only surviving piece of his weapon. He lowly shook his head as he placed the revolver into its protective case. As he closed the last latch, he heard the crunch of gravel getting closer to the entrance; as he looked up, he came face to face with his CO, Iron Venture. "Sir I-" "You did good out there corporal, Nova owes you his life. In my opinion, sacrifice often entails a reward." Riot trotted over to a small stool that bordered a smothered cooking fire. He pulled out his small flask and took a swig. Offering it to Wildman, he spoke. "Take a gulp, need to know if my new sergeant can hold his drink." "Thank you sir, just doing my job." Wildman throws up his hoof in a short salute, and slid his revolver case away with his other. He takes the flask in his mouth, and swigged from it, coughing at the firey liquid. Riot grinned and sent a magical spark down to the small fire, which started to flicker and sputter to life. "So, Now that tha's out of the way, I need to ask you somethin' lad." Wildman coughs once more, passes the flask back, and replies. "What do you need Captain?" Riot scratched his bearded face, trying to actually decide what he needed. "What the fuckin' bloody hell happened with Nova? One second he's starin' down a fuckin monster, talkin to himself, next thing I know he's gone and stuck himself with me bayonet!" Wildman was unsuprised by the question, having asked himself the same repeatedly. "I'm not sure either sir, he was going on about 'voices in his head'; but he wasn't crazy, he knew things that nopony could know. One thing I do know, is that when he stabbed himself, that hive started coming down, those changelings were dying." Shaking his head, the captain slipped the flask back into his flak vest. "Fuck it then, tangoes dead and burned, all friendlies accounted for." Looking around for anything else to change the subject, he found his eyes wandering down towards the weapon case. "Whatcha' got there Lad?" Wildman looked to the side, and pushed the case away. "Its.....not important, Sir."\ Riot grinned at the challenge. "Well, since you won't let me look, I'll have to guess then. From the size and shape of the case, I would have to say; it's a hunting revolver. Now the markings, that's a little more difficult. Looks like a Cusull Shankof stampIt's a Shankof Custom hunting revolver, most likely .45-70 gov rounds, possible compensator? No, Shankof never used those, but a sandalwood grip? Most definitely." Wildman gave a bit of a sad smile at that. "You're close Sir, this is Chastity; my father made her totally unique, but he worked with Shankof, so he kept the markings, and most of the stock design. You guessed the grip, and the calibre correctly." He said opening the case to the mostly destroyed revolver. "My father built her, and carried her for thirty-seven years, then he passed her to me when I left home, the last time I saw him." Riot gazed down at the shattered revolver in dismay. "That's a bleedin' shame right there. Think you'll rebuild it?" Wildman smiled a little brighter. "Maybe, one day. I just hope that I'll get to pass her on to my little one. If any mare will go for a buck with a face like raw hamburger, and a body that looks like it was used for flamethrower practice." At this, he laughed a little, and closed the case. "Hah, no kiddin'!" Riot let out another full laugh as he leaned back on the camping stool. "Anyways, since your revolver is decommisioned as of now, It seems like you'll need a new emergency weapon. Am I right lad?" "Yes sir, have anything in mind?" "Well..." Riot looked over to his olive drab rifle bag. "I've got just the thing for close encounters. Its a Panbuck Jackhammer, one of the few ever made. It's got special enchantments on both the barrel and magazine feed. But- I think when we took down the queen something changed inside it, it just doesn't seem right to me anymore. Why don't you give her a go?" Wildman took the weapon into his hooves, but it felt........Off. The weapon itself gave an aura of furious anger, and he felt like there was some......entity, living in the weapon. It seemed to like him though; He felt as comfortable as if he had carried it for years, like he knew it personally, "It's an elegant weapon sir, I'll take great care of her." He threw up another salute. The captain returned the salute "Jus' don't shoot me with it alright? Balefire buckshot is a bitch to get out!" Wildman looked over the weapon after his CO had left the tent. Can you hear me? Understand me? The weapon pulsed with something he couldn't place. It seemed to have some kind of primitive intelligence. What he felt in his head was.........simple, but somehow cloudy. FEED............PAIN He took the exoknife out of it's new sheath, and carved a pair of words, one on each side of the barrel, Hunger, and Hurt; two sides of the same coin. THREE DAYS LATER It was dark when Nova awoke. He wasn't quite sure where he was, but he didn't care. If he was awake now that meant they had won. He tried to sit up but couldn't. There was a cloth wrapped around hi chest. Nova could barely see in the pitch black but he tell that in the center it was much darker. He knew what it was from. He lifted his head to scan the room. Maybe find out were he was, but it was to dark. He couldn't see beyond his bed. Suddenly a sharp pain came to his head. He grit his teeth in pain and growled quietly among himself. As soon as he let out his silent growl a hoof emerged from the darkness. A small flask resting on top. "Take this. It'll help with the pain". A voice said from the darkness. Nova took the flask and downed a large gulp. The liquid was rancid and made him gag, but at the same time it stopped his head ache. In his agony Nova wasn't able to recognize the voice. "Riot?" Nova asked. "I'm afraid not". The voice was foreign and old but gave no hint at what the pony behind the voice looked like. The voice was common and forgettable. If he had heard it at any other time he wouldn't have noticed, but at the sane time it was powerful. It was old. It was wise. Despite this he found himself asking questions. "Well then who then?" "Well that is the question. Isn't it. Who? I think that's the greatest question any pony could ask" "All right. If you won't tell me who you are then tell me. Were am I?" "You're back aboard the Orion's Reach. The medical bay to be exact". "Okay. So what was in that flask?" "Oh just an old cocktail I picked up a long time ago". "Well It sure does the tricks with headaches". "Yeah. I'm afraid those won't stop anytime soon". "Why not? What are they?" "Well you've got two minds in one brain. No one head is meant to do that". "So the Queen? She's still in here?" "No. Not to worry. She was purged when you stabbed yourself". "So then why the headaches?" "Well. The Queen is gone from your mind, but her memories are still there. They're part of your memories now. There's quite a lot of them too. Almost 2000 years worth". "But the queen was young. She was a new Queen. I saw it in her memories. She was young". "Not young. Just reborn. Her mind lived on through the hive until they were able to construct her new body. That thing you fought down in the hive. You've got a whole library to read. What you saw was only one chapter". "So were's the rest of the memories?" "Hidden deep in your subconscious. Waiting to be unlocked". The Buck got up and began to walk away. No warning. Not even a proper end to the conversation. Nova heard this and responded. "Wait! Where are you going?" "Away". "Oh right. With knowledge like that you're probably on the tops. I get it. Work to do". "Tops?" "You know top of the EQRG". "Actually I'm not even part of the EQRG". "What are you then? A planetary leader?" "Actually. I'm not part of any organization". "Okay then how did you get aboard an EQRG jump ship? And how do you know so much about what happened?" "Oh I have my ways". And at that the stranger began to trot out. Just before he reached the door Nova called out. "Wait! What do I do about the headaches?" "Well. You've still got the flask don't you?" Nova looked down and realized that The metal flask was still in his hooves. "Thank you!" Nova yelled out into the darkness, but the stranger was already gone. Nova stayed in the medical bay for three days more. Letting the wound in his chest heal. He'd have the scar for the rest of his life. Some of the nurses said that it'll be a good reminder. As if he needed reminding. The headaches didn't show up on their tests. And the only thing that seemed to cure them was the rancid drink from the mysterious flask. Once more the flask didn't seem to run out either. He would take sip and it would be as if he hadn't drank any. Nova often wondered what would happen if he tried to poor it out. Though he never did. Nova was finally allowed to leave. He knew were the first place he should report would be. However he had more important things to take care of. He needed to apologize to Wildman. He trotted down the halls towards his barracks when he bumped into His CO Riot. He threw up a quick salute and tried to continue on his way, but the captain had other plans. "Oi! Wait up lad!" Riot trotted up to the cantering white pegasus. "I needed to talk to you anyways Lt". Nova hung his head, and sighed. "Well I guess you'd have questions sooner or later". Riot shook his head, a grimace on his face. "Honestly Nova? I don't know how or even what you did down there, and to be frank; I don't entirely care. We all did what we needed to do, and the job got done". "Well What then? I don't mean to be rude captain, but I have something that i need to do". The captain rolled his eyes at the Lt's roughness. It was shallow, didn't have any punch to it. "What? Your CO can't come and check to see if his XO hasn't bled out all over the med-bay?" Nova knew Riot cared about his lance mates. No matter how little he showed it, but he never asked about stuff like that. "I'm fine. Perfectly okay. See", Nova went back on his hind hooves and showed Riot his chest. "Just a scar". Nova knew he was cutting it close, but he was irritated. Riot grunted, knowing he wouldn't get much more information concerning the event. "Well Lt, Doc SkillSaw wanted us all to fill out fill Psych analysis forms, and wants to do full examinations. I told him to stuff it up his arse sideways." The captain shifted to he side to let a pair of naval recruits slip by. "I still need a report from you on the mission. You've got two days Lt." Riot sent up a quick salute, followed by a friendly slap on the shoulder. "Try and unwind lad, you're wound up tighter than a nuns glory hole." Once the captain was behind him he took out his flask and took a swig. His head had started hurting mid conversation. He wouldn't bring out the flask in front of Iron. What Nova didn't see was a concerned Riot glance back at him as he took a swig. The Captain trotted slowly down the hallway towards the general mess hall, he was worried about Nova; but he couldn't do anything about it at this moment in time. As he trotted closer, he could hear a fairly new, yet familiar voice mixing in with another well know voice. As Riot turned another corner, he found his CO, colonel Silverbolt speaking with the new pony, Short Stack. The two looked over at the grizzled captain, a slight smirk breaking out on Stacks muzzle. Silverbolt nodded to Riot, addressing him as a friend. "Good evening Riot, You're just the buck I wanted to see." Riot raised an eyebrow, looking over to the changeling in disguise. "Oh? What for colonel?" Motioning to the odd buck, Silver continued forward. "Short Stack here has a request, he wants to join up with your little team." "I'll see that he gets accommodated properly sir." Looking over at Stack, Riot thrust out a hoof. "Welcome to Chimera 4 lad, I'll find something for you to do. Just keep in mind that you are not a mech pilot in my lance." The buck nodded, smiling as he snapped to a smart salute, then wheeled around and began trotting in the opposite direction. Riot glanced back to Silverbolt. "I assume that wasn't the only thing you wanted to talk to me about, sir." Time to test out my new toy. Wildman made his way down the small halls of the ship, heading down a couple of levels to the shooting range. He slid into his battlesaddle, and connected his new weapon to it. The joining of weapon to body felt.......Good. Right. He kicked the autoloader, and sighted his first targets. He checked over the weapon, setting the rounds to normal buckshot, and flicking off the safety. BOOMPING A shot of odd happiness shot through him. The first target had a hoof sized hole torn in it. Sadly, the hole was off target. BOOMPING BOOMPING Those same bursts of happiness, but less potent. The next two were closer, but there was something off about the weapon. Ahh, the weight. Jackhammer was heavy, and the imbalance threw off his aim. Then he got a terribly amazing idea. He nearly skipped all the way back to the armory. He strapped a ammo box of 12. Ga to his left side, and connected the shells into a kind of belt, like a machine gun. He strapped the belt across his back, and into the Jackhammer, so the weapon would load itself from the ammo box with each shot; and the extra weight from the box balanced the weapon. BOOMPING BOOMPING BOOMPING BOOMPING. The fiery shells tore out the face of each target. The accuracy was way to good for his first real try with the weapon. Okay, I'm good, but not that good. He gave a strange look at the weapon on his side. What are you? It pulsed with content. But it wanted more than just targets. It wanted more, and would have more. Nova lay in his bed. He couldn't sleep. The events of the past few days were fresh in his mind. Why did he get so angry at Wildman? Who was the buck that had given him the flask? What was the odd liquid n the flask? these questions and more were swirling in Nova's head. Suddenly his head was pounding. He reached for the flask under his pillow but knocked it on the ground as he did. nova couldn't find it. The pain was getting worse. He curled upon his bed and tried to ride it out. after what seemed like hours the pain stopped. A surge of thoughts memories and feelings rushed him. 100 years worth. That was only a start. He knew there would be more to come. Once he had come to grits with everything he just experienced his mind went once again to Wildman. Why had he been so hostile with him? That wasn't like Nova. He'd never been that angry before. Even after he'd almost killed him he still dragged his ass to safety. Nova knew he owed his life to the recruit.
Chimera 4	Threat Status: ENGAGED	"LUCIFERS!" The shaggy infantry pony yelled at his fellows, trying to get their weapons trained to the skies to destroy the incoming fighters, But they were to slow. LRM's ripped through the skies and into the meandering trenches, killing scores of ponies. High above the battlefield a Steiner pilot chuckled at the whole-sale death she was reaping. She opened coms to her fellows. "This shits too easy, these militia mud dwellers are like rats!" She let out a chortling laugh to punctuate her sentence. "No kidding Blue one! These fuckers don't even have tanks, It's like shooting crippled fish in a barrel." "Lets mop up these fools and-" "CONTAC-" KRAKBOOM The LBX shell ripped through the fighter-bomber's fuel reservoir, igniting it into a sailing ball of plasma fire. "IT"S A FUCKING MADCAT!!" Another shell sailed through the air, perforating yet another one of the attackers, turning the multi-million C-Bit machine into flying slag. "Take that you arseholes, pick on someone your own size!" The pilot of the Madcat triggered his jump jets, avoiding a bright green lance of enhanced light. Switching over to his heavy laser to conserve autocannon ammunition, Riot returned the beam straight back to its sender, cutting the fighter into flaming twos. The last of the Steiner pilots had attempted to disengage and fly off; abandoning his attack vector, but Riot wouldn't allow any cowardice today, not from Steiner. The last of the death machines plummeted towards the churned, cratered earth, as the shaggy infantry pony ran past his squad's savior. A few of his fellows waved their thanks to the merc pilot from the Royal Guard, he personally remembering to buy drinks for the next guardscolt he saw. Up in the Madcat's cockpit, Riot was already signaling his lance-mates for info regarding the enemy mechs reported following the Lucifers. "Nova, I need coordinates for that Catapult ASAP!" The grey buck had opted for a heavier flight helmet, a choice he was regretting as his spine cracked back into place despite the augmentation he had received years ago. "Got pings from both that Catapult and an Atlas! Possibly a Bushwhacker for recon." "Shit just got interesting ladies!" The grey buck signaled his lance to move back towards the ruins of the city for cover as the Atlas crested the hill, only to receive an autocannon round to the chest. "Everypony get BACK!" The Steiner Catapult had just jumped, firing missiles over the hill, only to see the rear end of a Madcat slipping into the bombed city, and his missiles hitting nothing of importance. "Set standard spread, we're hunting mercs." "This is Wildman, moving for city center," The small Cougar strided down the rubble filled streets, its agility aiding it in moving around the piles of detritus and torn apart buildings. "Watch yourself, that Bushwhacker is headed into the city!" "Don't worry lance lead, I got this." He moved the sticks to spin his mech around the nearest corner, heading east, towards where his sensors said the enemy bushwhacker was entering the city. "Wildman, check your corners, that atlas is still out there, and he's pissed." Riots custom Madcat had already joined up with his lance-mate Nova, and was currently moving towards the crippled cities capital building. Leaving his other lance-mate to move freely. Nova wasn't sure of the current choice, he never liked leaving his lance-mates alone in the field. "Riot, you head to the capital building, I'll hook up with Wildman to ensure a proper kill on the Bushwhacker." "You sure Nova? Alright, just make sure you get to the capital ASAP, we ain't gettin paid to gallavant around around town while Steiner murders another planetary leader ." "Roger that lance-leader, kill and run order in effect." Meanwhile, cross the city... "Sire, the merc group hired on to protect the planets council was The Equestian Royal Guard, a relatively small band, compared to a group like say, The Desperadoes. Yet they still manage to obtain high paying contracts." The atlas stood silent, like a statue to death and furosity. Its pilot well know for both, and more. "We head straight for the capital, no more fucking around. if these mercs get in our way, we show them why no one fucks with Steiner." "Yes sire, should I regroup with Router? Or should I-" "No. You stick with me Bick, Router will cover our flanks." "Yes sir." "Acknowledged Nova." The Cougar moved more cautiously, through the streets. He soon caught a glimpse of his target, the enemy mech was moving through the square ahead of him, crossing over the center, and moving for the far side. "Hostile located, moving to engage." He set his sights, and locked on. A short salvo of missiles clubbed the Bushwacker on its right side, and a barrage of medium laser fire hitting the same area, tossed the mech for a loop. He quickly sighted Wildman, and letting loose with machine guns, and a blind missile attack. The quickness of the Cougar overridden by the tiny streets, the machine guns tore into it. Wildman hit his throttle, moving his mech directly towards the Bushwhacker, smacking it with another pair of missile salvoes and laser strikes. As he neared the larger mech, he quickly turned and moved around behind it and hit it again. The heavier mech couldn't move quick enough to target the speedy smaller mech, and sent his autocannon rounds flying blindly around the square. Wildman pulled back, and rushed from another direction, focusing his strikes, and destroying the autocannon. Warning lights went off in the Cougar, about the heat levels. "This is Wildman, I have engaged the Bushwhacker, but I`m pulling out to cool down. Could somepony keep him off me?" "Wildman this is Nova. I'm approaching on your position. ETA one minute. What's your condition?" As Nova rounded the hill in his Vulture he eyed the crippled Bushwhacker and engaged it with dual LRMs. The Bushwhacker erupted in an explosion of fire and metal debris. "looks like I got here right on time. That bushwhacker would have mauled you. You should know better than to let yourself overheat like that." "I was out gunned. if I didn't keep a consistent rate of fire he would have roasted me for sure". "I don't give a shit. We have to meet back up with Riot, and now you've lost us valuable time. Cool down and hurry your ass up". The whining crackle of PPC`s snapped past Riot's Madcat as he ducked and weaved through the ruined city streets. The Steiner captain was furious, spitting insults and profanity over his comm system. "Catch me if you can you blimey FUCK!" Roaring with a fast laugh as yet another shot went wide, the Atlas pilot was an amateur at best. "You ain`t the first to try and take me down, you won`t be the last!" Bounding past a still burning troop carrier, Riot saw the Steiner Catapult whip down a side street a few hundred meters away. The Atlas pilot was still seething over his wasted shots and the guardscolt's slippery nature. __________________________________________________________________________________ "Crash! Whats the ETA on the councils pick up!? I've got some friends who want to party." Moments later Riot's Comm crackled as a mares voice was projected into his helmet. "Give me ten minutes Team lead, We're moving as fast as possible!" "You've got five Crash! Get that Ferret on the ground and get the VIP's out of the capitol building!" "Roger that Team lea-" CRUMP The hard impact of SRM's jolted Riot's mech to the side, throwing out his Communications. The Catapult was right there! Where the hell had it come from?!? Turning, Riot fired a wild round in hopes of deterring the enemy, yet it struck true. The Steiner Catapult was thrown off balance as the heavy auto-cannon round slammed into its right missile rack. The resounding detonation knocked the mech onto its side, but didn't kill it out right, as the mech already was struggling to regain its footing. "I'll be seeing you later buddy!" Riot slammed his throttle down into full, in hopes of out running the Atlas still hot on his trail. "Wildman! Nova! Whats your ETA on the capitol building? I'm bringing some unwanted guests to this party!" "Riot this is Nova. Me and Wildman are inbound on the capitol. ETA 90 seconds. Wildmans got some heat damage to his targeting systems, and I'm down one LRM." As the words left his mouth Nova saw a large explosion near the Capital. A sense of dread came over him. Had his buddy been Frosted, or had it just bean a stray SRM? Either way Nova was furious. "Wildman get up here! Get ready to engage that catapult! Looks like Riot made a new friend". "Why don't you just use your LRMs?" "Well because you can't keep yourself from over heating I had to use one of my LRMs on that bushwhacker, and your crazy if you think i'm going to use my last LRM on some half dead punk that you could easily take down with a laser strike!" "But..." "You listen here you little punk! I'm your CO. Now get your ass up here and engage that Catapult". Riot burst through a decaying wall, finding himself out in the open, with nothing in between him and the Atlas. The realisation hit Riot like a pint of hard whiskey, He was at the capitol building, neither Crash nor Riot's lance mates had shown up, and the council was still on premises. "Goddess fuckin dammit!" Riot strode through the charred park, the capitol building looming in the distance. A large laser beam burned over the top of his mech. It was a warning shot. Riot wheeled his mech around to face the Atlas, who had stopped at the edge of the park. The crackle of the Atlas' external comm filled the deadly silent courtyard. "You've given me no end of trouble, I will see you dead for it, merc. And after I am done with your pitiful body, I will destroy your lance." The arrogance dripped off of the Steiner pilot's voice, even through the tinny feedback of the comm system. Riot didn't answer the other pilot, He didn't even turn on his external comm. Instead he pulled a small picture from his dashboard, giving a faint smile at the faded photograph. "I'll see you soon Aurora." Riot slipped the photo into the grooves of his helmet, then floored the accelerator straight at the enemy Atlas, taking the Steiner pilot by surprise. Firing his heavy auto-cannons, Riot could see the Atlas flinch and buck from the high explosive AP shells slamming home. The air was filled with cracking energy and gun-smoke, one of the Atlas' shots hit home, slagging one of Riot's left auto-cannons. The Steiner pilot was roaring obscenities at Riot over his external comm, But Riot's comm's had been overloaded by all the ambient energy. Thus while he couldn't hear the enemies derogatory terms, he couldn't hear his team mates begging for his position, He couldn't hear the infantry commander reporting that the council was leaving the building. All he could hear was the sound of a mare, his mare, telling him to do what needed to be done. Dual PPC shots slammed home into Riot's mid-section, buckling the armor and causing a cascade of warning lights and klaxons in his Madcat's cockpit. Seeing that his enemies demise was close at hoof, the Atlas moved in for a gruesome kill. Riot pinned the accelerator to the floor, his Madcat's heavily modified engine roaring back to life, lurching the crippled mech straight towards the enemy Atlas. Jump jets set to full as the Madcat lifted from the ground, lifting its last auto-cannons into a striking pose. Time slowed to a standstill as Riot brought down his right hoof, his cannons bursting through the Atlas' cockpit, the heavy AP rounds punching straight through to the old mana drive crystal core, which exploded into a breathtaking miniature mushroom cloud filled with eldritch lightning, scrapping the Atlas and propelling the slagged Madcat straight through the Capitol building's main entrance. The shock-wave blew out any window that hadn't been destroyed during the bombing raids, the air turned into a sparkling fusilade of reds, oranges and black soot. The sounds of battle and the death cries of Riot's Mech fell silent upon the Madcat's broken canopy, the sounds of VTOLS filled the area, infantry trickled out from the surrounding buildings to meet there ride. Councilor Crush Horton boarded the VTOL, whose pilot sat, looking over the devastation wrought through the courtyard. What he didn't see as the door slid shut and the Ferret VTOL lurched into the air, was a shaggy grey stallion push the broken canopy from his mech, and slid his way out. Bleeding and battered, Riot lifted his flask from his recently donned flight jacket, and took a long swig. He surveyed the courtyard, as well as the Atlas' slagged pieces, wondering when he would see his mare again. "We gotta keep em' off Riot, his mech' is crippled, and that Catapult is closing in!" Wildman's Cougar burst into the square containing the capitol building. He let loose with both his lasers and his missiles, the heat had damaged the locking system, but the dumbfired rockets hit home. The combination of strikes threw the Catapult for a loop. He rushed it from the side and let loose with his lasers again, nearly destroying it. His heat was climbing, so he pulled out, and circled the slowed Catapult, who was unable to get a lock on the quick moving mech'. His heat back to a manageable state, he spun and clocked the Catapult with everything he had, knocking it to the ground, and destroying its legs. The pilot ejected just before the mech' exploded, fortunately the destruction had not spread to either Riot's crippled Madcat, or Wildman's Cougar. "Catapult down, Riot is still in his mech', I think his comms are down, lets get him the hell out of there." "Finally you do some thing right today. Circle around and make sure those Ferrets are alone up there. I'll go see what i can do about Riot." Nova headed back to were Riot and the atlas had gone down. All that was left was a pile of twisted atlas remains, and a half buried Madcat cockpit. Nova looked around for any sign of Riot under the charred and twisted metal. Just as he was about to call it he saw a stallion emerge from the rubble and pull out a flask. It was Riot. "Wildman, get on the comm and call for a medical team. Riots here but he's bleeding". "Sky is clear Nova. calling for Medical." Wildman replied. "God damn Riot, what did you do, put a shell through the core?" Riot responded but his words were lost in the thick metal of Nova's Vulture. "Hang tight Riot. We've got a medical team inbound. We'll get you home in no time. I think you just earned yourself a healthy leave". Nova and Wildman were both sitting in the medical ship, both unwilling to leave their lance mate. " I'm sorry about my fuckup with the Bushwhacker, its not the first time my overconfidence got me into trouble." He threw a longing look at his side, still covered with his white jumpsuit. "It was a rookie mistake. Don't let it happen again". The words were rough but Nova had already forgiven the young pilot; in his head at least. He was just happy that the fiasco was over. Nova glanced over at Riot laying on the medical table, yelling for his whiskey as the nurses tried to mend his wounds. Nova couldn't help but smile. The medical ship lifted into the air. They were finally headed home. Onboard the 'Octavia' Arcadia class drop ship , all was well, the pilots were recounting their most recent battle to the others. The tale of how a single lance saved a planetary leader, and thwarted another attempt by Steiner to seize more control of the sector. Rumors abound of how Madcat, crippled on the left side, completely obliterated a healthy Atlas with a single auto-cannon shot. Thank you's and compensation having already been sent from the planet, the Guard's contract was complete. Drinks and boasts were in heavy concentration in the mess hall, everypony was getting paid for a job well done. Riot stood in the mech hangar as the 'Octavia' broke orbit, surveying his slagged mech. His body sporting a new set of scars and fresh bandages. Climbing up a maintenance ladder he entered the shattered canopy of the Madcat; the emergency lights had shut off, the consoles lay dead and blank. Broken plexi-glass littered the cockpit, which Riot brushed aside. Picking up his discarded flight helmet and pulling a small photograph from the inner band, Riot brushed another shard of glass off the protective covering. The miniature versions of a dark purple bat pony mare and a little purple colt with fiery hair clung to the tall frame of a grey stallion, clad in riot armor. They looked happy, content with their lives. The photo was crinkled and singed, yet it had survived everything life had thrown at Riot. A mare's voice echoed through the empty mech bay. "Hey Riot you up there?" Riot shook himself from his stupor, wiping his eyes he poked his head past the broken canopy. "What's up Crash Course? You need something?" The white mare gave him a quizzical look before she relayed her message. "Ain't me that wants ya', Colonel wants to see you, prolly bout' scrapping your mech." Exhaling slowly Riot closed his eyes, nodding his head. "Alright Crash, thanks for the heads up." The mare stood there for a moment, unsure whether she should speak her thoughts, but as the grey stallion ducked back into the destroyed Madcat she wheeled and returned to the rowdy mess hall. Tucking the photo into his vintage dragonskin flight jacket, Riot slid down the ladder and started the trot towards the Colonel's office. ROYAL GUARD FLEETCOM ALPHA PRIORITY TRANSMISSION 34324S-01 Encryption Code: Red From: VI Deep Winter, Commanding VIRINTAI, FLEETCOM Sector One VI/ (EQRG VIRINTAI: 00026-83629-DW) To: EQRG FLEETCOM in the SHILOH system Subject: HEAVY ASSET LOST Classification: Classified (TSE Directive) /start file/ Mech asset lost on SHILOH system's edge coordinates 030 relative. Lance Leader Iron Venture (EQRG SN: 00021-22107-IV) lost requisitioned heavy asset Mad Cat "Prime" Var. in combat. Decisive victory achieved. Detailed report attached. /end file/ Commanding Colonel Silverbolt switched off the terminal and rubbed his forehead in an attempt to aid the aspirin in destroying his migraine. He hated random migraines. Soon, an officer walked into the room holding a newspaper. "Mornin' sir." said 2nd Lieutenant Charger. "Morning Rare." replied the tired colonel. "Another migraine? Sir, that's a bitch." "Tell me about it. I'm the one whose skull feels like it's about to explode any nanosecond." For some reason, these migraines always came when something irreplaceable decided to creep into his mind. Losing a Clan Mad Cat wasn't helping. "It's probably this station fuel they use sir." said Charger. "If you're able to, you might wanna see this." "Just read it to me. Quietly." Charger cleared his throat and found the appropriate article. "The New Lunar Republic can celebrate another victory. Thanks to the leadership skill of General Masquerade, the long besieged planet Shiloh can now have peace. The well decorated general was able to launch a full-scale attack on the Steiner garrison and was able to finally capture the city, despite the heavy loss of life. When asked for a comment, General Masquerade only said: 'This victory is for the Lunar Republic, ponies, and the colts who kept the bastards pinned down long enough for me to get there.'" Silverbolt's hooves froze as the migraine grew even worse. If that was even possible for a pony. "In short, sir, you've been gypped...again. There's no mention of you, the support fleet that transferred the good General Masquerade, or you're rescue mission when his shuttle pod was shot down." "It doesn't matter." said Silverbolt. "'It doesn't matter'? But sir, you nearly lost your best colts nine times to save his! And where's your credit? Up our asses and around the corner because that son of a bitch-" "I said it doesn't matter. Rare, you're my friend and I'm glad you're looking out for my interests, but I just don't care. Let that arrogant pony flaunt around all he wants." said Silver who was in the process of begging Celestia to end either his life or the migraine. "Now just please go find out when we can get the hell out of here. That or find me some more aspirin." "Yes sir." Charger said before leaving. Silverbolt, meanwhile, continued massaging his forehead. Suddenly, there was a knock on his office door. It was going to be a long, long day. Riot entered the room of his commanding officer, Silverbolt, shortly after the second lieutenant had left. He found the silvery grey buck cradling his head as he went over the after action report. "You wanted to see me sir?" The bucks head never lifted up from the dull green datapad. "Turn down the lights if you would Riot?" Blinking, Riot slid the dimmer down till the room was considerably darker. He took a seat in front of the maple desk. He magicked out a stark steel flask, floating it out to the officer. "Take a swig sir, home made from Tintavel. It'll help with the headache." The officer looked up from his pad swiping the flask out of the air, and taking a deep swig. Giving a deep cough and wiping his mouth with a fore-hoof, Silver re-caped the flask and slid it over to Riot. "Tastes, like home. Brings back memories, thank you Captain." Riot magicked the flask back into his breast pocket. "It's good for forgetting. You wanted to see me sir? I assume over the mission." Silverbolt was thankful for the gesture from the NCO; some memories just didn't want to stay down. The colonel closed his eyes and exhaled as he stood up and made his way to the large viewport that over looked the planet below. He gazed out at the scene for a few moments, taking in the atmosphere in the room which had thickened to noticeable levels. "Do you know why I called you here Riot?" "Because I slagged my Mad Cat. Sir." Riot mentally braced himself for the verbal thrashing he was about to receive. "Correct." He let the word hang for a brief instant. "But I also called you in for your... engagement with the Steiner faction and your impromptu architectural redecoration of their parliament building." He could feel Riot's stomach sink. Silver turned his head a fraction in Riot's direction and continued. "I don't think I could have chosen a better pilot to show those Steiner bastards who's planet this is." Silver, satisfied that the tension had lifted, turned to Riot. A sly grin spread across his face as he said the words. "I haven't read the report yet- could you tell me exactly why my Cat is scattered all over the Shiloh's capital city? Riot let out an easy breath, having avoided a figurative bullet that had never been fired. "We engaged the Steiner Lucifer wing outside the city limits, they were already tearing through the local militia, clearing the way for the mech lance to advance without problems." Riot shifted from his cushion back to his hooves. "It was after we had routed the Lucifers that the Steiner lance showed up. I believe the pilot of the Atlas was Bloody Bucker. My lance retreated to the city for cover, their Bushwhacker went through the far side to follow and scout us out. Wildman went after him before I could countermand him. I sent Nova after him to ensure his survival." Silver raised a brow. "And the status on the young pilot?" "He's fine, Nova pulled his ass out of a possibly dangerous situation, he made it out with only some minor burns." Riot walked over to the far wall, looking over the planet scan. "The Atlas sent a Catapult around my flank, trying to pin me down, but I winged em' when I punched an LBX through his left missile rack. I was still trying to stay away from the Atlas when I punched through to the main courtyard. The Atlas had me cornered, the Councilor hadn't gotten out yet, If I hadn't acted as I did, the Ferrets would have been shot down and the council would have been slaughtered." Riot took a deep breath, not sure what to say about his episode before charging the Atlas in a winged Madcat. Silverbolt nodded, content with the explanation. He studied the scan and juggled the loss of the Mad Cat with the life of some trivial Councilor on a backwater, bombed out, sand blasted, sorry excuse for a world. He shook his head in disbelief as he realized where his subconscious was taking him. Must be the meds, he thought, they'll clear up. You're not half as broken as you put yourself out to be. He glanced up at the Captain, he was no doubt waiting for a response. "Alright Captain that will be enough, keep fighting the good fight, just take care when you're behind the controls of something that's worth more than half our kit put together." He nodded towards the door- a polite indication to clear the room. The Captain took the hint and saluted. Silverbolt returned the gesture and shook hooves before the Captain made for the door. Noticing his headache had gone away the Colonel added: "Captain." "Sir?" "Send me a report on whatever miracle beverage you keep in that flask of yours, that's an order." the colonel said with his trademark smirk accenting the formality. "Heh, yes sir, I'll do my best sir." After finishing his salute, Riot wheeled and exited the officers post. Trotting slowly down the hallways of the Octavia, Riot wasn't sure what to do with himself... Why didn't you let me stay Auroura? I just wanted to stay for another few minutes, who knows, I might have saved you.. Or I might have died with you and Hunter. I would still be with you- Not paying attention Riot bumped into a Technician pony with his toolbox, who quickly attempted a salute, but was interrupted by Riot continuing past him. A white buck exited a bunk room, the sound of laughter and clinking cans following him out. He spotted Riot headed down the hallway towards him and waved him over. "Hey Riot! Me and some of the guys are pulling out the cards. Care to join us for a game?" Nova's a good kid, just a little naive "No thanks, Nova, I think I'm going to get some food then hit the sack. Tell the guys I said hello. Heh, don't party to hard, Steiner's ugly ass is still out there." The white buck deadpanned "Ah come on Cap' the guys would love to hang out with you." Riot rolled his eyes, hiding a slight smile. "Alright Lt. Lets go." As they approached the bunk room Nova stopped just outside the door. "Hey Riot. Before we go in there mind telling me what went down with that Atlas? that was some crazy shit, even for you". "I did what I had to do Lt, It just happened to go nuclear." The door slid open with a hiss, an old boombox played rock and roll in the background as two bucks and a mare sat around a folding table, a deck of cards was strewn across the table. They glanced up at the pair entering with mixed interest, one of the bucks hardly noticed as he went all in. "Didn't seem that way to me. Wildman and i were just over the hill. We would of been on you in 30 seconds. There's no way a pilot like you would have let it go so wrong so quickly." Nova looked at his friend. Obviously angry about the question, but there was something else there too. "Hey Nova you alright out there?", one of his bunk mates called from inside the room. The music had stopped and the colts in the room were all looking at them. "Were fine fellas. We'll be in in a second". Nova thrust his back hoof into the wall directly behind him. There was a spark from the Pneumatic door and it slid shut. "Comms had been knocked out by Steiners PPC's, couldn't hear anything beyond his monologuing. Why does it matter Nova? Enemy dead and gone, VIP secure and safe, mission accomplished." Riot could feel the tension building up, knowing that the talk, one way or another, wouldn't end in his favor. "I'm almost as good of a pilot as you. I know that you could have held out at least 60 seconds Before things went nuclear." "You wouldn't understand kid, It's complicated." Riot had slid back a small respectable distance, trying to find a comfortable spot to stand. "Hey! I've known you since I entered the corp. I know you better than any pony else. You may be able to hide it from the others, but I know that you're hiding something. I know you don't like to talk about this kind of stuff, and i wont make you talk about it now, but if you've got some skeletons in the closest then you better get them straightened out. You're the corps best Pilot, and above that you're my friend". Nova was angry at the end of his rant. He looked up at the Colt that stood a few inches above him. It didn't intimidate him one bit. He knew if he had to take Riot hoof to hoof he'd come out on top. Nova knew all of Riots weak points from combat practice. Nova stood there waiting for a response. Riot exhaled slowly, His eyes closed as he rolled his reasons over in his head. The whiskey had long since worn off, and with the remarks Nova had made, Painful, bloody memories boiled up. Always with the questions,the whispers, the screams... why wont Celestia let me die? why did she take Aurora and Hunter from me? "Tell you what Nova, you want your answers? Fine, but not here. meet me at my quarters in ten." With that Riot pushed past the the lieutenant, who was unsure of whether to be happy that he was getting answers, or worried about the things that could haunt a buck like Iron Venture. Nova sat stood there confused. He was worried about Riot, but knew that if he was giving him answers then it would come at a cost. Every pony in the guard had secrets. Even Nova himself had his share of demons. Nova turned around and the pneumatic door opened. Nova's bunk mates nodded at him as he walked past. "Hey Nova. Were's Riot?" one of his bunk mates asked. "He had to run". Nova walked over to his bunk and took out something from under his pillow. a few of his Mates raised an eyebrow at this. "I'll be off guys. Gotta take care of something". Ten minutes later Nova stood outside Riot's bunk room. A knock at the door reminded Riot of his duties, he placed the photo down next to his old battle-saddle. "Door's open Nova." The door slid open and the white buck trotted into the room. As he crossed the threshold, he was jumped. Riots weight forced Nova forward and onto the floor, Riots .45 caliber pistol pressed snugly against Novas temple. His fore-hoof pressed against a spinal pressure point, enough to make sure Nova stayed put, but wasn't hurt. "RIOT WHAT THE FUCK!" "Look forward and shut up." "I don't-" Magical force pressed into Novas skull as he felt himself thrusted inside an unfamiliar body. Novas body galloped down a dull grey hallway, everything felt wrong. Nova realized he was ridding in Riots body, probably through a memory. Riot skidded around another turn, his breathe frantic and rushed. A door opened infront of him and he ran through. BLAM Riot went down hard as the .44 round lodged into his metallic spine. Nova couldn't move, he couldn't speak, and he couldn't look away from the scene of horror he was witnessing. A deep purple mare was on the floor in front of him, bleeding and sobbing as two armoured bucks had their way with her, a small lighter purple colt was being held hostage by another armoured stallion holding a sub-machine gun to the colts head. Nova felt the familiar bite of a large caliber pistol being shoved into his temple, but the owner of this one meant him harm. As Nova finished connecting with the memory he had been thrust into, he finally heard the voices and sounds of the scene panning out in front of him. A poisonous voice dripped into his ears, the smell of cheap cigarettes stained the breath of the gun buck who held him hostage. "You never should have come back Venture, You should have stayed dead! But NO! You had to go and survive, and fucking answer those idiot's distress call, and fuck up my plans for the stable!" A cracked voice broke through the bucks monologue, gathering Nova's hosts complete attention. "Please Iron, they're... hurting me... m-make them... s-stop." Nova's mouth moved on its own accord, but he could feel the hot tears streaking his cheeks. "Daddy! Please stop them from hurting mommy!" The sub-gun buck struck the little colt, who cried out at the pain. "Shut it you little shit! Or I'll brain you're fuckin' father!" The buck kicked the little colt again. "You fuckers leave them alone! FIGHT ME YOU FUCKIN COWARDS!!" Nova felt an uncontrollable rage building up inside him, a searing hotness that made his body shudder and twist inside his host. The pistol slammed into the back of his head, dazing him as the world went out of focus. The little colt was crying as the stallions mercilessly beat his father and violated his mother. Riot was pushed over onto his back as the lead buck towered over him, pounding his hoofs into Riots face. Time dragged on, the blows kept raining down, Nova could feel the bones in Riots face breaking under the stress, he could practically taste the blood that welled in the back of his throat. Another shot rang out from the large pistol, its shot burying itself deep in Riots chest. Novas host curled up, rolling over onto his stomach as blood flowed freely. Nova could hear the sobbing cries of the mare, supplemented by the sickly impact of hips and flanks. The blows had stopped but everything felt wrong. Nova felt the blood flowing from Riots nose, body, and mouth, the metallic taste of copper almost seemed familiar. The lead buck spoke up, after catching his breath. "Execute them." "NOO!" The bucks stood up, leaving the mare sobbing and broken on the floor, they shoved Riots wife and child into the middle of the room, and leveled their weapons at them. The lead bucks pistol barked again, driving Riot to the ground as he tried to wriggle free. Nova felt his hair being yanked out as his head was pulled up to see the deed being done. "FIRE!" The world stood still as the machine guns fire into the two, perforating the body of the mare as she tried to shield the little colt from death. The world snapped back into focus with righteous fury, The edges of Novas vision literally swam in flames, surprise and horror etched the faces of the bucks as the rooms was consumed with Fire, Bullets, and Blood. Before Nova could place exactly what had happened, a dead mare lay bleeding with her head on his lap. A light purple colt was cradled in his hooves, a string of bloody blossoms leaking from his tiny chest. All the fury and anger had ebbed away to nothing as the little colt clutched at his fathers bloody coat. "I hur- hurt da-ddy, make th-the hurt go away..." "No no no no no no, don't worry little Hunter, daddy will fix you up good and right..." Tears flowed down his cheeks and onto the mares face as Riot fought for air through his terrible new wounds. Nova felt shaky magic pull a glass flask from a container on the workbench, a deep blue potion swirled within, promising salvation, but as It drew near... "D-daddy..." Riot's gaze shot down, only to see the lights of the little colts blue eyes die, just as his mother's had barely a minute ago. Glass shattered across the bloody floor, the echo of hoof-falls filled the hallway, voices sounding urgent and worried. Riot let out a single choking sob "My little Hunter..." The world came swirling back as Nova found himself on the cot in Riot's bunk room, he looked around to see the captain slumped over a work bench, an empty bottle of whiskey lay next to him, along with an unfinished mech model, obviously meant for a filly or colt. Nova swung himself off the bunk and walked over to were Riot was slumped over. Nova felt sick. He felt vomit welling up in his throat. He leaned over and vomited in the trash can at the foot of the bunk. When he was done he walked back over to Riots work bench, and tossed a stack of letters on he bench. Nova left Riots bunk room with new found respect. Riot heard the door swish closed behind Nova, and he found himself alone in his bunk room. levitating out yet another bottle of hard liquor , Riot pulled apart a single shot shell, removing its powder and crushing it into an even finer dust with his magic. Slowly adding it to the drink, along with a shot of Sparkle-cola, and swirling the drink around in a vintage shot glass. Gulping down the sharp liquid, Riot hoped to drown out the cries of his family; he wished that they could have been left alone. Aurora had never meant any harm, but she had always been bullied and abused because of her being a bat-pony. Remember the good days, for they are all you will have in the end. Riot shut his eyes and let a small smile slip onto his face. He remembered everything, whether he wanted to or not. He remembered the day Hunter had been born, he recalled himself and Aurora deciding to call him Hunter Borealis, after her grand-father. Riot remembered when he and Aurora had first met as foals; the first school dance, first base, second base, and the final home run. Riot remembered the first time he could finally understand Aurora when she spoke in the bat ponies native language. While Full Auto might have taken her life from him, he could never take her memory, or that of his little colt. Giving his work bench a defiant sigh, his eyes passed over the small bundle of letters that Nova had left next to him. "He's a good kid, heh, just a little naive at times." Riot levitated over the first of the letters, taking a long swig of the sharp liquor and began to read.
The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale	pre	Fluttershy asked, "Why?" I replied, "Well throughout the entire history of Equestria, Celestia has always been considered the primary princess. That is what caused Luna to turn into Nightmare Moon so long ago and the fact that she is not treated as an equal now is what probably caused her to leave." I sighed and continued, "But Starlight Glimmer had a ton to do with it. She continually pounded the point home to Luna that she is not treated like an equal until she agreed to go back east with her." Rainbow shouted, "Well let's go kick Starlight's flank and force Luna to come back!" I replied, "Rainbow, we can't do that. Like I have said before, Starlight said that if anypony crosses that border she will consider it an act of war and invade." Rainbow sighed, "Oh alright. I still wish there was a way we could make her pay for everything she's done." Before I could say anything else, BELCH! Spike coughed up a message from Celestia. It read, "Princess Twilight, Could you come up to Canterlot as soon as possible? There are things going on and events have happened that we really need to discuss. Fly as high as you possibly can when you get to Canterlot so you won't get hit with rocks and please come alone, I don't want Spike being put in danger. I hope to see you soon. Princess Celestia" Spike asked, "Twilight, why do you think Celestia wants you to go alone?" I replied, "I have a feeling that the protests there are turning violent. You know how the upper class ponies get when they can't live life as comfortably as possible." Spike asked, "Do you want me to send a reply to the princess?" I replied, "Yes, tell her I am on my way." While Spike was sending the message I took off towards Canterlot. Luckily I did not receive any negative attention as I was leaving town but I had a bad feeling that the same would not be true upon my arrival in Canterlot. From the sounds of Celestia's letter, things up there are likely far worse than they are in Ponyville so I had to be careful.
The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale	Chaos in Canterlot	A Discussion With Celestia As I was flying west towards Canterlot, there was a nice cool breeze blowing in my face that calmed me down. That calmness would not last long as once I began to fly over Canterlot, I heard ponies screaming, yelling and calling me names that are usually reserved for the likes of Tirek and Chrysalis. I sped as quickly as I could to Celestia's castle and went in through the balcony. As soon as I got in I was greeted by Celestia, "Twilight, I am so happy to see that you got here safely." I replied, "Thanks. From the way you sounded in that scroll, I was expecting spears to be fired at me." Celestia said, "Well you're lucky. We have had a couple royal guards injured by mobs here recently. Luckily nopony has tried to do anything to me yet." I replied, "Well they probably know better. They know what the punishment would be, that is if the royal guard didn't kill them first." Celestia sighed, "Well I wouldn't kill them." She paused for a minute and continued, "Enough with all this negative talk. It's lunch time and I'm hungry." I smiled, "I am hungry too. Let's get something to eat." Once we got to the dining hall we began to talk about more serious things. Before our meal arrived I wanted to now what was so serious that Celestia had to mention it in the scroll. I asked, "Celestia, what bad has been going on that you were talking about?" Celestia asked, "Here or elsewhere?" I replied, "Well from the way things sound there are problems in more places than just Canterlot. So what has been going on elsewhere?" Celestia hung her head and began, "Remember how Starlight told my sister than if she went with her that she would help her conquer The Equine Empire?" I replied, "Yes." Celestia continued, "Well from what I understand that has happened. The ponies over there were so dissatisfied with their king and queen that their military didn't even put up a fight. Now Luna is queen over there, she is building up a strong military and East Equestria has a good, strong ally." I put my hooves over my face and asked, "And what about here?" Celestia replied, "Well the protests are getting angrier, ponies always seemed to be gathered down in the courtyard, even at night and like I said earlier, some of these mobs have injured guardsponies recently." I asked, "How are civilians able to injure our guardsponies?" Celestia replied, "The quickest, strongest and most agile of them will sneak up behind them and smash rocks either in their face or wrestle them to the ground and break their legs." I hung my head low and sighed in disgust. I never imagined that the ponies in Canterlot would engage in the activities that Celestia told me about. I never imagined that there would be non-stop protests and I certainly never expected royal guards to be attacked and injured. I asked, "Celestia, what are we going to do about this?" Celestia replied, "After lunch, we are going to address them. I know you aren't as popular as you used to be but perhaps you can talk some sense into them." I replied, "Alright." Addressing an Angry Crowd After lunch Celestia and I headed out to the balcony and were immediately greeted with boos, insults and sarcastic comments about the economy. While I was nervous, Celestia nudged me and told me to address them first. I stepped to the front of the balcony and began, "Citizens of Canterlot, I know things aren't exactly how we would want them to be right now but protesting, booing Celestia and myself and hurling insults will not make things better any quicker. We have sent crews out to look for natural resources and we have planted hay in the areas where it will easily grow but nothing can happen overnight. Please understand that I sympathize with all of you but you have to give things time." The crowd began to boo and ponies began yelling that I didn't understand their problems, that I didn't care, that I knew nothing of what was going on and that I was a liar. I started crying and backed up towards Celestia. When the crowd saw this they began mocking my cries "waah-waah-waah." Celestia put her wing around me and said, "It's ok Twilight. I'll talk with them and make sure that they know not to direct any anger towards you." I smiled as Celestia headed to the front of the balcony. The crowd's boos grew louder and they began to chant "TYRANT" over and over. Even Celestia raising and lowering her wings did not get them to completely quiet down. Eventually they did get quiet enough Celestia felt comfortable addressing them. She began, "Citizens of Canterlot. I want you to know that what Twilight is saying is true and I want you to know that she is not the one to direct your hate and anger towards. Also like what Twilight said, mining for natural resources and harvesting crops does not happen overnight. We still have to mine enough materials to build things of our own here to start with so for now we will still have to import." A pony in the crowd shouted, "But you promised that things would get better! You promised that things would return to normal!" Celestia replied, "I did but I didn't mean that it would happen overnight." While I have seen Celestia lose her cool in certain situations, such as with Starlight, I had never seen her get angry in front of a crowd. She became more agitated as she continued, "Look, like I have said we are doing the best we can but angry mobs are not going to move things along quicker. All it is doing is causing undue stress among yourselves and creating disharmony." She began to cry in anger, "And it is the harmony among us ponies that keeps things stable and for the most part keeps evil at bay!" A pony in the crowd shouted, "Well this harmony sure didn't stop Tirek now did it?" Another pony yelled, "And it sure didn't stop Chrysalis from attacking either." A third pony yelled, "Or Nightmare Moon OR Discord." Celestia had calmed herself down by this point and replied, "No it did not but what I mean to say is that it keeps uprisings from taking place and for the most part keeps the populous happy and now that harmony is gone and look what is happening." Fancy Pants, who has had to really cut back yelled, "Well if Twilight Sparkle would have had more power and not gotten captured by Starlight Glimmer, we wouldn't be in this mess now would we?" Celestia yelled, "How dare you bring Twilight into this! This is not her fault." I watched in shock as she turned her back to the crowd and stormed inside. I followed her in and found her sobbing angrily. I asked, "Princess Celestia, what is wrong?" Celestia pulled me close and sobbed, "Didn't you see what is happening out there? They hate me and they hate you. I honestly don't know how much longer we will be able to hold on." I replied, "Celestia, we are very powerful and can hold them back plus we have the royal guard to protect us as well." Celestia laid her head on the table and replied, "I don't know about that anymore Twilight. The fact that they are injuring royal guards really worries me. The strongest of them may be able to take the guard by surprise and breach the castle entrance." I asked, "Is there anything that I can do?" Celestia replied, "Yeah, could you stay up here tonight? I would feel better if you stayed up here with me." I asked, "Would I be sleeping in my old room?" Celestia replied, "No, I want you sleeping in Luna's old room. It is right next to mine and if one of us needs the other, we can easily help each other." I replied, "Alright, I will stay as long as you need me to." This caused Celestia to give me a smile but I was really nervous. Celestia is very powerful and would never ask somepony else to stay with her in the event she needs her. With the increasing anger among the citizens and the fact that royal guardsponies are actually getting injured by civilians causes me a great amount of concern. The thing that worries me most is what if some of them injured or killed members of the royal guard, got into the castle and attempted to kill Celestia or myself. All I knew is that it would be a very long night.
The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale	Riots in Canterlot	The Calm Before the Storm After Celestia and I addressed the crowd that afternoon, they seemed to disperse for the most part although a few of the upper class ponies remained. While they were not shouting anything we knew that they did not have good intentions. That evening Celestia and I set down for supper and I asked, "Celestia, do you think things will remain relatively calm tonight or do you think there will be more protests?" Celestia replied, "Well there are always a couple ponies yelling things at night but it is nothing major. Unless there is some sort of festival or celebration going on, nights are usually rather quiet." She put her wing up to her face and continued, "Well except for the royal guards being lynched at night here recently, things have been pretty safe." I replied, "That is good to hear." After supper Celestia and I headed out on to the balcony so she could do her royal duties which surprisingly were uneventful. Celestia gave me a smile when she saw that there were no ponies whatsoever gathered out there. She said, "Well this is a nice change, normally there are a few ponies down there yelling at me when I am lowering the sun and raising the moon." I asked, "What do they yell?" Celestia replied, "Well they yelled at me claiming that I drove Luna away, they yelled at me for not treating her as an equal, they yelled that things would be far better had I let Luna run everything and of course like they shouted today, they yell the word 'tyrant' at me." We headed inside and I could sense a feeling of relief from Celestia but I did not have the same feelings. I had a feeling that the peaceful evening was a sign of bad things to come. Celestia saw my look of concern and asked, "Twilight, what is wrong? You look concerned." I replied, "I just have a bad feeling about tonight. I don't know why but I think that things are going to get violent tonight." Celestia gave me a half smile and replied, "Twilight, didn't you see how calm and peaceful it was when I did my royal duties? There wasn't even a single protester out there tonight! Everything is going to be just fine." I said, "I certainly hope so." Before we knew it the time had come for bed. Celestia headed for her chambers while I headed to Luna's old sleeping chambers. I couldn't help but feel a little bit weird crawling into her bed but it certainly was comfortable! It was even more comfortable than my own in Ponyville. Eventually I was able to get to sleep but that would not last for long. The Riots Begin Around midnight I was awaken from my slumber by screaming and yelling outside. I wanted to get a better look at everything that was going on so I crept out my window and flew to the top of the castle. What I saw would terrify me. I saw ponies not only screaming and yelling outside of the castle, in the business district I saw ponies breaking windows out of businesses and looting. The biggest targets were the jewelry stores. They probably figured that if they could sell the rings and other items that they could at least stock up on food. It was almost as if Canterlot had gone from a city of high society to one that would break the law just to survive. What surprised me the most was that the working class ponies and the upper class ponies were working together in these riots. Normally you would think that the gentry and nobility would never engage in rioting, much less mingling with the working class. Then things would only get more terrifying, ponies were beginning to set businesses on fire and calling for the heads of all royalty. I then looked off in the opposite direction and saw a huge mob headed towards Prince Blueblood's castle. I knew what was going to happen but when I saw that the guards protecting the castle were being assaulted and ponies were trying to breach the castle entrance, I flew back through my window and shut it. I crawled in a ball in the corner and began to cry. During the whole time I lived here and even after I moved to Ponyville, I never imagined things like this would ever happen in Equestria. I thought that such things were reserved for countries with less stable governments and less loved monarchs. I guess now we are the less loved monarchs and with the bad economy, this shouldn't have surprised me but it did. My biggest concern now was that the rioters would breach the entrance and unleash their wrath upon us. All I can do right now is hope that if they do get inside, the unicorn guards will take care of them. A Royal Nightmare While I was incredibly tired, I just couldn't get to sleep. I looked out the window and smoke from the fires was beginning to fill the sky, the yells were getting louder and then I heard something incredibly scary. I heard a pony yell, "We did it, we've tore the door down! Let's go in and kill them!" It was at this moment that I realized the castle had been breached so I quickly headed into Celestia's room. I nudged Celestia but she is not an easy pony to wake so I had to figure out a different way to wake her so I yelled, "Princess Celestia, wake up! The castle has been breached." This caused Celestia to shoot up in her bed. She asked, "Twilight, are you ok?" She began to giggle a little and continued, "I don't know if I was dreaming this but I could have sworn you said that the castle has been breached." I was in shock that she would take something like that so lightly. I frantically shouted, "It has Celestia, we have to get out of here. They are coming for us!" Celestia sighed, "Twilight, I hear the yells....." She then sniffed the air and smelled smoke. She asked, "Twilight, I smell smoke. Is the castle on fire?" I replied, "No, but these protests have turned into rioting. There is looting in the business district and buildings are being set on fire." Celestia was mortified. She began to panic, "Twilight, we need to get out of the city. If they have breached the castle they will likely start fires in here and try to hurt us." I nodded and we rushed out the door. Unfortunately though, we were meet by a huge mob. Most were armed with pitchforks and spears. While Celestia would normally know what to do in this situation, she began to panic. She rushed back into her room and I felt myself being trampled by many, many hooves. While I was grunting and trying to get up, I heard horrible, painful screams. It was that of Princess Celestia. The mob got to her and launched a full attack. After what seemed to be an eternity I heard the screaming stop. I heard the mob screaming and cheering before they then came after me. They began to stab me with their spears and while I screamed at first, I managed to go silent despite still being stabbed. I realized the only way to survive this was to play dead, and it worked. Finally they left cheering in victory, believing that they had wiped both of us out. Once they were out of sight I crawled into Celestia's room to check on her. When I got into Celestia's room I found her laying at the foot of her bed. She was covered in blood and she had many, many stab wounds. As I crawled closer to her I began to tear up as it looked like the mob had been successful in killing her. I laid over her and began to cry, "Why? Why? Why did this have to happen? Why did they do this when she has been nothing but kind and loving towards them?" I felt something move beneath me. Could it be, could Celestia be alive? I heard a weak voice say, "Twilight, is that you?" I got off of her and began to cry, "You're alive?" I hugged her and continued, "I'm so glad you're alive." Celestia replied, "Yes, I'm alive, but just barely." With as badly as she had been injured I knew there was not much I could do except clean her wounds, get her into bed and watch over her. I said, "Celestia, I am going to have to get something to clean your wounds. Will you be ok?" Celestia replied, "Yes Twilight, I will be ok." I headed to her private bath where I found alcohol pads, gauze, stitching materials and band-aids. When I returned I saw a guard pony in there with her. He saw me and asked, "Princess Twilight, did you know that Celestia was attacked?" I was not thrilled with his question, especially given that he saw me bringing in medical supplies. I replied, "Yes, I know. If I hadn't known I wouldn't be bringing in things to clean her wounds now would I?" I glared at him and continued, "And where were you during this attack? Why is it just now that you showed up?" He replied, "Well I was off duty when I heard what was going on. I got into my armor and got here as fast as I could. When I finally did arrive, I saw four of my fellow guardsponies had been killed at the entrance, that the doors had been completely torn down and even worse, most of the royal guard has abandoned their posts. There are only a few of us left to protect you two." Celestia began to cry, "That is horrible, what are we going to do?" I looked at the guard and ordered, "I want you to get all the remaining loyal guardsponies and bring them here to protect Celestia." I then smiled at Celestia and continued, "And I want to get your wounds cleaned up and give you the stitches you need." Celestia gave me a weak smile and replied, "Thank you Twilight, you have no idea how much this means to me." The guard left to go round up the remaining guardsponies while I began to work on Celestia. I know the alcohol was stinging her as she was moaning in pain and she was gritting her teeth as I was stitching her up. Three hours later I had got her wounds cleaned and had her wounds stitched shut. Yes I had my own wounds that needed taking care of but taking care of Celestia's wounds is far more important than my own. Although it was difficult and painful for her, I was finally able to get Celestia into bed and I began working on my own wounds. While mine weren't as bad, cleaning them still stung and sewing them up was rather painful as well. I guess this is where being a unicorn or an Alicorn has it's advantages, you can take care of your wounds on your own if you have to. I was trying to get Celestia to go to sleep but she just couldn't do it so we talked to keep her mind off of the pain. Suddenly we heard horrible crying and screaming coming from outside. I rushed over to the window and saw that the ponies had piled a bunch of wood together and lit it on fire. I saw a pony that was tied up struggling and trying to get free but it was all for naught. I took a closer look and it was Prince Blueblood. I could hear his cries but I heard snide yells from his captors as well. "Good riddance you parasite!" yelled one pony "May you rot in Tartarus for all eternity you miserable waste of space!" yelled another A third pony mocked Blueblood's voice, "Eww...Me mingle with commoners?, I think not!" He then sneered, "Well too bad Bluebitch, tonight you have no choice!" They then threw the struggling unicorn into the fire and his cries and screams were so loud that Celestia and I could hear it easily in her room. She tried to sit up and asked, "Twilight, what is going on out there?" I began to weep, "It's Prince Blueblood. He was abducted by an angry mob and they are burning him alive in the courtyard below your window." This caused Celestia to become enraged. She tried to crawl out of bed and yelled, "They're doing wha.....OWWW!" She slipped out of bed and tore one of her stitches open so I had to clean it and stitch it up again. Celestia began to cry, "I know he wasn't the friendliest of ponies or the most well liked member of the royal family but they didn't have to kill him. He had nothing to do with this." I replied, "I know Celestia but right now I think they are out to get anyone in the royal system. We just have to hope that the remaining guards will follow their orders and protect you." Celestia replied, "I hope so as well......Twilight, with me being in this shape, I won't be able to go outside take care of the moon or sun, what am I going to do?" I replied, "Well when I had all of the Alicorn magic, I did it from inside the library so maybe you can do it from in here." Celestia said, "Well it's worth a try. If I can't do it I guess the land will be shrouded in darkness for a while." When the time came Celestia did discover that she could lower the moon and raise the sun from her bed. While I was relieved that she could do that, there were other problems I was worried about. I was not sure how much food the castle had in it and I had my doubts that there would be any more shipments coming in given the chaotic state the city was in. Finally after having some breakfast I was able to get Celestia to go to sleep. Seeing her in this state bothers me so much, not just because she was my teacher and mentor but also because she is like a second mother to me. Sometimes I feel like she was more of a mother for me than my biological mother ever was.
The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale	Addressing Canterlot	Morning Discussions The days after the attack seemed to drag as Celestia and I were recovering from our wounds but one thing few know is that Alicorns heal rather quickly so two weeks after the attack, both of us were up on our hooves and walking like normal. Both of us were tired though as the protests had continued to go on nonstop but luckily there had been no rioting since that night. Celestia and I sat down for breakfast and began to discuss what needed to be done. I asked, "Celestia, given what happened what are we going to do? Are we going to address these protesters?" Celestia replied, "Yes, we are going to address them after breakfast. I need to let them know that by them looting and burning out businesses, that they have made the situation much worse." Celestia got a grim look of determination on her face and continued, "I am going to have to let them know that this will not be tolerated. I am going to let them know that killing guards will not be tolerated and that attempting to assassinate us definitely will not be tolerated." I asked, "Are you going to do an investigation as to who broke in that night and find the ponies that tried to kill us?" Celestia replied, "I would like to but given how many ponies charged in, it would be unlikely that we could round them all up and I don't want to put any ponies that did not participate in trying to kill us in prison." Now while I would round everypony in town up and interrogate them, Celestia, despite nearly being killed, still cared deeply about the residents of Canterlot and would not risk putting any innocent ponies on trial. She seemed to think that by simply addressing them and showing them that she wants them to stop this, that things will return to normal. I asked, "Are you sure that simply telling them that such things won't be tolerated will be enough? Don't you think that threatening them with punishment would keep them in line?" Celestia gave me a smile and replied, "Well I do think that telling them that breaking into the castle and trying to kill us will result in jail time, I think we should simply tell them that the rioting won't be tolerated. I think they are smart enough to know that continued rioting will result in jail time." I sighed, "Well it is whatever you think is best. I would be a bit more harsh with them but you are the pony in charge." While I consider Celestia to be very wise and trust her judgments, I couldn't help but think that her address wouldn't do much good. I hoped that it will likely stop the assassination attempts, but it probably will not stop the riots and loud protests at night. Our Address to Canterlot As Celestia and I headed towards the balcony I was curious as to who was going to go out first. I asked, "Celestia, which one of us will go out first, you or me?" Celestia replied, "I think we should go out together but I think that I should be the one to speak first. If we do it that way, they will know that we mean business." I replied, "Alright, we'll do it that way." As we headed towards the balcony I knew that we were going to be greeted with boos and criticism over our leadership skills and as we got to the edge of it, that is exactly what happened. Celestia raised her wings and lowered them in hopes of quieting them down but it did not work, the boos and the chanting of the word "TYRANTS" only got louder. Finally I decided something needed to be done. Using the loudest form of the royal Canterlot voice, I yelled, "SILENCE!" This quieted the crowd down in a hurry as they had never heard me do that before. Once they were completely quiet I nodded at Celestia and said, "I think you should begin." Celestia smiled and began, "Citizens of Canterlot, I know the split of Equestria and the downturn in the economy is harming you all but rioting is not going to help things. In fact, it is making things worse because now many of you are out of work and there is nowhere for you to purchase the goods you need." A pony in the crowd yelled, "What does it matter? Our money is basically worthless with as much as prices have gone up!" Celestia continued, "I understand that but that does not make the rioting ok. From what I understand this has not happened in other communities across West Equestria." One of the working class ponies yelled, "Oh and how do you know this? Oh that's right, you have been up there in your palace sitting on your throne looking pretty and not having a care in the world while the rest of us have been struggling to make it by and eating the little food we do have!" I had finally had enough. I yelled, "You know what? She has not been sitting on her throne doing nothing. She has been healing from the multiple stab wounds that some of you inflicted upon her when you killed the guards and broke into the castle! How dare you accuse her of not caring about anypony or anything!" One of the wealthy ponies, Jet Set yelled, "Is that so? Even us upper class ponies have had to lower ourselves to living like these working class scum. You two need to give us money from the treasury so we can resume our comfortable lives." Celestia interrupted, "Look, I am not going to put one class of ponies ahead of others. If I do open up the treasury and give the population here some help, it will be evenly distributed." Jet Set yelled, "I do not think you should be giving them any money. They should not be able to live like us." After that both Jet Set and Upper Crust finished, "Psssh." Fancy Pants yelled, "Princess Celestia, it has been three and a half months since the split. I would think that we would have the proper materials and food to allow us to return to our prior lifestyles." Celestia replied, "Fancy Pants, I do not think you understand. Crops don't grow overnight, not only do we have to mine the materials but we also have to build the factories to construct the metals into various products." I honestly don't think these Canterlot ponies understand much about the world and how things work. I think the elite ponies think that crops simply show up at the store and other products simply make themselves and the working class ponies are simply feeding off of the negativity projected by the elite. Numerous spears were fired from the crowd as they began to chant "TYRANTS!" I was able to stop them with my magic before they hit us. I looked over at Celestia she looked terrified. A pony saw this and yelled, "You tyrant. I wish it would have been you who left rather than Luna! She would not have let this happen!" Another pony sneered, "Just do us a favor and abdicate already, BOTH OF YOU!" Celestia began to sob, "Is that really how you feel? Do you really hate us so much you don't us as your princesses anymore?" A working class pony yelled, "No, we don't. I would much rather have Starlight Glimmer rule over us! At least then we could get everything we need and be prosperous again!" The whole crowd shouted, "Here, here!" While Celestia was sobbing louder I yelled, "You know what? You should be happy you don't live in Saddle Arabia where there is a civil war and hundreds of ponies are dying by the day. Celestia has done nothing but be kind and loving towards you and this is the thanks she gets? You should all be ashamed of yourselves!" A wealthy pony yelled, "Well if Celestia would open up the treasury and give us elite ponies the money we are deserving of perhaps she would have our support." Celestia was sobbing, "Like I said before, I would help all ponies equally." All the wealthy ponies began yelling, "All of us? Those low class scum don't need anything! They're used to being poor." This caused the working class to clash with the wealthy until I fired a bolt of energy skywards and yelled, "ENOUGH! THIS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. EITHER DISPERSE AND GO HOME OR THE ROYAL GUARD WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU, ALL OF YOU!" This caused them to go silent and head home. Celestia gave me an odd look and asked, "Twilight, I know you want them to calm down but I didn't want this address to end that way." I was frustrated with Celestia at that moment. While Celestia meant the world to me, I thought her optimistic attitude was not stopping the problem. I sighed, "Celestia, had I not done that they would have probably started injuring and killing each other down there in the courtyard." I stomped my hoof and continued, "If it weren't for those bucking elite ponies thinking the world owes them everything, that clash would not have happened." I snorted and finished, "And they want us to abdicate? They think things would be so much better with Starlight Glimmer in charge? I am sickened that they would even mention such a thing." Celestia replied, "Twilight, let's just see what happens. Perhaps they will calm down after what you did." I said, "I doubt it. I simply think the tensions in this town are too high for them to calm down anytime soon." For the rest of the day I was mad, very mad and Celestia could sense it. While we talked and interacted like we always do, I was becoming extremely frustrated, not just with the ponies in Canterlot but with Celestia. It seems like she doesn't even understand how mad and hateful the city has become. I know she likes to keep an optimistic outlook on everything but just like when she had to banish her sister to the moon when she tried to kill her, she needs to take a similar approach to this. Do I mean she needs to banish them all to the moon? No I do not but the lawbreakers need to start being punished. If we don't start punishing them, this chaos will only continue and chances are there will be more assassination attempts.
The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale	Nighttime Massacre	My Argument With Celestia Despite me being filled with anger that day, night time would arrive soon enough. Again the protesters had gathered outside the palace, yelling and screaming hoping to keep Celestia and I up. As we were headed to bed I asked, "Celestia, how much longer are you going to let this keep going before you put your hoof down? All these sleepless nights can't be good for you." Celestia replied, "I'm not sure Twilight. I respect their right to protest, I just don't know how to handle letting them know that they need to keep it limited to the daylight hours." I suggested, "Celestia, I know you won't like my suggestion but I think that doing what I did earlier today might work. If it means we can get a good night's sleep, I will do it." Celestia sighed, "Alright, you can try it. I don't like the idea of doing that but it's worth a try." I smiled and headed out to the balcony. When I got there I was greeted with the usual boos and one pony asked, "Hey Twily, where is Celestia. Is she too much of a coward to come out and face us? Is she sitting in her room crying her eyes out?" The whole crowd began yelling, "Waaah-waaah-waaah." I had enough of this. It was time to get these ponies to go home. I fired a bolt of energy into the sky and yelled, "SILENCE!" I stood there with my eyes glowing white and that quieted them down. With my eyes still glowing I continued, "Look, I am sick of this. Celestia and I need a good night's sleep and maybe if we get that sleep we can make better decisions to get things back to normal sooner." One pony yelled, "Oooh, what is Tia's little Twily going to do, lecture us some more?" I fired a bolt of energy at the pony and yelled, "Keep this up and you will find out, and I am certain you will not like it." This caused the whole crowd to go rushing home. Yes I know I should not have done that but I was at my wits end. I was sick of the rioting, the sleepless nights, the assassination attempts and the bucking property destruction. Even though I did not like him, I was very angry over the brutal murder of Prince Blueblood and I was angry over the deaths of the guards. I headed back in and I could see a look of anger on Celestia's face. Celestia asked, "Twilight, what the hay was all that about? You KNOW that is not how we are supposed to treat our subjects." I sighed, "Look, I just lost my cool ok. I'm sick of everything they are doing, keeping us up all night, killing guards, destroying property, the death of Blueblood and them trying to kill us." I stomped my hoof into the floor and continued, "I'm tired, I'm frustrated and I think that these ponies need to be shown some tough love. If we keep coddling them, these activities will continue to happen. If you want this chaos and having to live in fear for your life, fine but I don't want to have to do that and I certainly don't want to see you get hurt or killed." Celestia replied, "Twilight, the royalty here has never been like this. We have always been been benevolent, loving....." I interrupted, "Well they sure the hay weren't benevolent or loving when they charged into your bedroom now were they?" I headed into Luna's room and growled, "Good night!" Death and Destruction I headed into Luna's old sleeping chambers hoping to get a good night's rest but I just couldn't get to sleep. The anger flowing within me had me pacing back and forth. If I were sleeping in my old room I probably would have had holes kicked in the wall but I had to contain my anger, I did not feel like waking Celestia and having another argument. I simply don't understand how she can just sit there and put up with this. Why does she seem to think that continuing to be nice will work? It isn't working and while there haven't been any riots in a while, I'm sure there will be again soon once everypony decides they want to destroy other properties, such as the castle or other ponies' homes. Before I laid down I decided to open the window a bit, hoping that some fresh air would calm me down, which it surprisingly did. All I could hear coming from outside were a couple owls hooting and the crickets. I said to myself, "Ah, now this is more like it! This is how Canterlot is supposed to be at night, nice and quiet!" I finally got to sleep but a couple hours later I was awoken by the smell of smoke. At first I thought the castle might be on fire until I heard explosions. I headed to my window and looked off towards the wealthy side of town and was horrified. I saw several more explosions, buildings were burning and I could hear ponies screaming in terror. My first thought was, "Mom and Dad! They live over there." While they were visiting Shining Armor and Cadence in the Crystal Empire, I knew that I better go make sure their house is ok so without hesitation I took off out my window and headed to the wealthy end of town. When I arrived it was pure chaos, more and more houses were being set on fire, wealthy ponies were being rammed with spears and the houses that hadn't yet been set on fire were being emptied out. I flew over to where my parents' house was and it was one of the few that had yet to be touched. I stood there guarding it but that was not going to stop the mobs. As they approached me they were screaming "TYRANT" and yelling for me to move if I didn't want to die so I did the first thing I could think of, I fired a powerful bolt of energy at them. That would not stop them though as they had surrounded me and as I took the ones in front of me out, the ones on the side fired spears into my hind legs. I fell to the ground screaming in pain and despite me crying in agony, they trampled over me and set my parents' house ablaze. I knew it was lost so I pulled the spears out and headed back to the castle. Once I got back into Luna's old room I cleaned my wounds and got them stitched up. I limped into Celestia's room and woke her up. She turned on the light and saw the injuries to my hind legs and asked, "Twilight, what happened to you?" I led her over to the window and pointed off towards the fires. I said, "Celestia, a huge mob has attacked the wealthy side of town. I went over there to make sure nothing had happened to my parents' house but I got shot with spears." Celestia hung her head low and sighed, "I know the ponies are frustrated over the way things are going and I know what the elite said to the working class today was very derogatory but I never imagined it would come to this." I asked, "What do we do?" Celestia replied, "I don't know if there is much we can do. It is far too dangerous for us to go over there right now and I'm not sure if we even have any guard ponies left." I said, "I'll go check the castle to see if any of the ones that didn't already abandon us are left." I headed into the main part of the castle and searched it from top to bottom but there was not a single guard pony. I said to myself, "Great, just great. We don't have any royal guard left." I headed back up to Celestia's room and said, "Celestia, they're all gone. We have no royal guard left." Celestia wiped a tear from her eye and said, "Well Twilight, perhaps the time has come." I asked, "Time for what?" Celestia replied, "The time for me to go. The time for me to go take over in Saddle Arabia and put an end to their war and the time for you to be the sole ruler of West Equestria." I began to cry, "You don't really mean that do you?" Celestia replied, "Yes Twilight, I do. I am no longer wanted here and with as dissatisfied as they are with their monarchs, I'm quite sure the Saddle Arabians will welcome me with open hooves." I cried, "But what do I do now? I don't know if I'm prepared to be a sole monarch." Celestia replied, "Well I would start by moving the capitol to Ponyville. Second, I think you should just trust your own judgment when it comes to dealing out with criminals. Tomorrow morning, if anypony is left alive, I will address them and tell them that I am leaving. Once I do that, I will fly to Vanhoover, take a ship to Saddle Arabia and West Equestria will be yours." I saw by the look in her eyes that she was not kidding, that she was serious. I limped to her and hugged her crying, "I really wish you would reconsider this. You have been like a second mother to me. You were a larger part of my life growing up than my parents were. Please don't go." Celestia hung her head low and replied, "Twilight, I will miss you as much as you miss me but like I said before, I am no longer wanted here, the ponies here hate both of us and I do not want to rule over a nation where I am despised." I knew that there was no changing her mind so we just stayed up the rest of the night cherishing the final hours that we would get to spend together. This day would likely be the hardest day in my life but I know that once I return to Ponyville, my friends will help me through this.
The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale	The Demise of Canterlot	Celestia's Abdication The time for Celestia to raise the sun would come all too quickly given that we lost track of time in what would be our final, long discussion. As we headed out for her to raise the sun, the mob that had burned the wealthy side of town was gathered in the courtyard but rather than booing they were celebrating. That was not normal given how things had been lately. We looked down into the crowd and found out why they were celebrating, they had dragged the bodies of those they massacred the night before into the courtyard and began yelling, "You're next, you're next!" Our jaws dropped open, we had never expected such a thing to happen in Equestria, much less Canterlot which up until recently was the most refined, most sophisticated city in all of Equestria. Now it is nothing more than a burned out shell of itself, a city that is in shambles. Celestia looked at me and said, "Well Twilight, I will raise the sun one last time and after that I will address them one last time." I asked, "But who will handle the sun and moon once you are gone?" Celestia replied, "Once I am gone, the magic that handles the movement of the celestial bodies will be gone so things will return to how they used to be, the sun and moon will move on their own." I asked, "Celestia, are you completely sure you wish to abdicate?" Celestia replied, "Yes Twilight, like I said before, I am no longer wanted here and your time has come." I wept, "Ok Celestia, I will miss you but I respect your decision." After raising the sun Celestia stood at the edge of the balcony and looked down at the crowd in disgust. They began to boo her and she did something I never imagined she would do, she fired a bolt of energy at them and yelled, "SILENCE!" This caused the crowd to gasp in shock before going silent. Once they were all quiet Celestia began her address, "Citizens of Canterlot, I know you are angry over the collapse of the economy and I know what the elite said to you yesterday was not warranted, but that is no reason for you to march into their side of town, burn their homes down and it is certainly not acceptable to slaughter them." Her voice became more angry as she continued, "All of you sicken me. I just don't get how all of you could just go and mercilessly kill so many ponies, ponies just like you." A pony in the crowd yelled, "They were not like us. They were rich jackasses that thought they were better than us, they had it coming, they asked for this!" Celestia's anger turned into angry cry, "You know what, I'm done. You don't respect your fellow ponies, you scream and yell hurtful things at me, you hate me, you see no value in life and I know you don't want me around anymore. Effective immediately, I am abdicating the throne and Princess Twilight will be the sole ruler of Equestria." The crowd began to cheer in victory. I had never been more disgusted in my life. I looked out into the crowd of cheering ponies and my heart turned to stone. These ponies, the ones who brutally murdered their fellow Canterlot residents, didn't even seem like ponies anymore to me. They reminded me more of griffons who will kill others in cold blood. Celestia could see my disgust, she pulled me close and said, "Twilight, I know you are angry but please don't let your anger consume you. Please do not stoop to their level, show them that you are the bigger pony." I replied, "But Celestia, they killed so many ponies! What am I supposed to do, just let them walk free?" Celestia said, "Twilight, they have already brought their doom upon themselves. They have no means to make a living, they have no means in which to acquire what they need to survive and they won't be able to make it up here on their own. I think they have punished themselves more than you ever could, short of death." I replied, "Ok Celestia, I will do as you wish. I will not punish them, I will just leave them here to rot, that should be enough punishment." Celestia put her wing around me and said, "Well Twilight, I guess this is goodbye. We will see each other during international summits and I am sure you will probably come visit once I get Saddle Arabia restored." We hugged and cried for a few minutes before Celestia turned to the crowd and said, "Despite you trying to kill me, despite your hateful shouts, despite your blood lust and despite your disregard for the lives of others, I want you to know that I wish you well. Goodbye." As Celestia took off and flew towards Vanhoover, the crowd was cheering in joy. They then began to cheer, "ONE MORE AND WE'RE FREE, ONE MORE AND WE'RE FREE!" I wasn't quite sure how to handle this in a way that Celestia would want me to. I had my own desires of what I would do but I promised Celestia that I would not kill them but I certainly don't want them moving to Ponyville and I will let them know that. The End of Canterlot Given what the crowd started chanting upon Celesta's departure, I was not sure how to handle what I would say to them. While it would be difficult, I knew I had to keep my composure. I stood there for a minute, planning on what I would do while they began pointing their hooves at me chanting, "YOU'RE NEXT, YOU'RE NEXT!" I walked up to the front of the balcony, fired a beam of energy skywards and yelled, "SILENCE!" Once the crowd quieted down I began, "Citizens of Canterlot, I know you are angry over what has happened in the past few months but like what Celestia said, your actions are uncalled for. Ok, the protests I can understand, but the riots, the looting, the killing of guards, hateful comments, the attempted assassinations of Celestia and myself, the assassination of Blueblood, the massacre of the wealthy and the destruction of property are uncalled for. Many of you have committed many, many crimes over the past couple weeks. Some of you have simply looted but many of you have done much worse. What really bothers me is how you treated Princess Celestia when she had always been loving and caring towards all of you. She does that yet you treat her like dirt, some of you tried to kill her and many of you blamed her for things she has no control over. I will say this, you better be glad you didn't do all of this while Luna was still here because she would have executed anypony who was involved in the riots, the murders and the assassination attempts." The crowd began to chant, "ABDICATE, ABDICATE." I just brushed it off and continued, "And now, what to do about this situation. As all of you can plainly see, this city is a disaster area. There are no more businesses, half the city is gutted by fire and littered with the corpses of ponies that YOU killed. I did have plans on how I was going to punish those involved in this but you better thank Celestia for me sparing you my wrath. She told me that you have already brought enough punishment to yourself. You have no means of making a living, there are no resources here for you and I have decided to cut train service to Canterlot so anypony who stays here will likely not survive." A pony in the crowd yelled, "What are we supposed to do Twily? You were Celestia's little pet, you should know." I screamed, "You know what? I don't care, move to another city, go live off the land somewhere but don't even think of relocating to Ponyville, any of you!" Another pony asked, "Why not?" I sighed, "Because I am moving the capitol there and I do not need these kinds of activities there." I took flight and said one final thing to them, "Listen, I don't wish you ill will but I am extremely disappointed in you." With that I took off towards Ponyville. I know this might sound bad but I honestly didn't care what happened with those ponies. They can stay there and rot, they can go to other cities and rot or they could just go live off the land, as long as they didn't try to move to Ponyville I would be ok with it.
The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale	What Else Could Go Wrong?	Return to Ponyville After a turbulent absence from Ponyville I finally returned. I was looking forward to seeing my friends but I would be met by others first. As I was flying over town I heard shouts of, "Finally coming home coward?" and "Tyrant." I was hoping that all the negative feelings here in Ponyville had died down but unfortunately that was not the case. I landed on my balcony and headed into the castle where I was immediately greeted by Spike. He rushed to me and asked, "Twilight, is everything ok?" I replied, "No Spike, they are not ok." I began to sob, "Canterlot has fallen, Celestia has abdicated, many, many ponies have been mercilessly slaughtered, Blueblood was assassinated, some members of the royal guard have been murdered and the ones that weren't have abandoned their posts, Celestia and I were attacked and half of the buildings in Canterlot have been gutted by fire." Spike hugged me and asked, "What do we do now that Celestia is gone? Who will raise and lower the sun and moon?" I replied, "Well with her and Luna gone, the sun and moon will now move on their own. Also, I am moving the capitol to Ponyville since Canterlot is a disaster area." I looked towards my balcony and asked, "Have they been yelling and throwing things towards the castle while I have been gone?" Spike replied, "Well they did until they realized that you were gone. After that things returned to normal for the most part." I asked, "For the most part?" Spike replied, "Yeah, for the most part. Sugarcube Corner had to close down because the Cakes couldn't afford to import a lot of the ingredients they use in their products." I asked, "So did Pinkie Pie have to move back to the rock farm?" Spike replied, "No. She is living with Applejack helping out around Sweet Apple Acres anyway she can." I asked, "What about the rest of my friends?" Spike replied, "Well Fluttershy has had to part with some of her animals, Rainbow Dash still handles the weather, Rarity is really hurting because she can't afford to import fabric anymore and Applejack is worried about ponies not being able to afford to buy her apples or jam anymore." I said, "I would like to talk with them and relax but I think I should address the town first. If I tell them everything that has happened, maybe they will calm down and ponies can come to the castle without risk of attack." Spike replied, "Hopefully, but with as upset as they are I wouldn't count on it." Calming Down Ponyville I headed out to my balcony and looked over the town. Very quickly ponies began to boo and call me names. This naturally caused other ponies to come out of their homes and gather around my castle. One most of the town had gathered I shouted, "QUIET!" Given that they had never heard me yell before that quickly caused them to stop yelling and booing. I said, "That's better. Now there are some very important things I need to tell you." One of the ponies yelled, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know about Luna leaving. That's old news." I replied, "This is about things that happened in Canterlot while I was up there." I took a deep breath and continued, "There have been many, many ponies murdered in Canterlot, the royal guard there have left their posts, Prince Blueblood was assassinated, there have been riots up there, many buildings have been set ablaze there..." A pony in the crowd interrupted, "Oh, so that is why we saw all those flames and smoke up there." I was frustrated that they would interrupt me but I was able to keep my cool. I replied, "Yes, that was what happened when the working class attacked and burned the wealthy side of town." I paused for a minute and continued, "And before you ask, every single wealthy pony in Canterlot was killed." The crowd appeared to be shocked that such a thing would happen anywhere in Equestria, much less Canterlot. While they stood there in silence I continued, "Also, there was an angry mob who stormed the castle and attempted to assassinate not just me but Princess Celestia. Because of this, Princess Celestia abdicated the throne and now I am the only princess left in West Equestria." The crowd gasped in shock. I could sense a change in the emotion of the crowd. When I first started addressing them I saw hateful looks of disgust and suddenly I saw looks of sorrow, sadness and concern in their eyes. The crowd began to cry and beg me for forgiveness over how they had treated me. I decided it would be safe to fly down into the crowd where I could continue to speak to them. "It is ok, I forgive you but we have a lot of work to do. We are going to have to cooperate with one another and more of us are going to have to learn to grow food if we are to survive." Filthy Rich asked, "Princess Twilight, I know that will work here in the smaller towns but what about the cities of Las Pegasus and Vanhoover? What advice would you give them?" I replied, "You know, I'm honestly not sure what those ponies will do because most of them don't have anywhere to grow their own food, not to mention most city ponies don't know the first thing about growing food to begin with. I'll figure something out and let them know what needs to be done but for now, I just want to find my friends and relax." As I flew over towards Sweet Apple Acres the crowd dispersed. While I had hoped that I would hear ponies shouting, "We love you Princess Twilight." that did not happen. All I heard was them talking among themselves and figured that was better than being called a tyrant. An Unexpected Visitor When I arrived at Sweet Apple Acres I found my friends gathered by the barn enjoying some pie. I am guessing that this is where we will be getting together to enjoy our sweets from now on. I said, "Hi girls! It is so good to see you." Rarity ran up to me and hugged me, "It is so good to see you too darling! You were gone for such a long time, is everything ok?" I replied, "No, things are not ok. Half of Canterlot has been reduced to burned out buildings, a large percentage of the population was murdered, Prince Blueblood was assassinated and an angry mob attempted to assassinate Celestia and myself." They all gasped, "They did what?" I replied, "They tried to kill Celestia and myself." I began to sob, "And because of that, Celestia has abdicated and headed to Saddle Arabia." My friends stood there in shock for a minute before Applejack asked, "Twilight, what are we going to do now? Luna followed Starlight for a power grab abroad and now Celestia has left as well?" I replied, "I'm not sure about a lot of things but one thing is certain, I am relocating the capitol to Ponyville. Canterlot is a disaster area and out of the few residents that still do live there, they despise anypony with a large sum of money and of course any pony that is royalty is not hurting." Rainbow asked, "Twilight, what is going to happen to everything in the treasury up there? I'm sure they are probably going to try to break into it." I replied, "I'm not overly worried about it. Celestia was the only one who knew the spell to get in there and it is built very well. Once I am certain that the city is fully abandoned, I along with a few guards will go up there and do whatever it takes to get in there." Pinkie asked, "How will you know when those meanies have left the city?" I replied, "Well it should be sometime soon. I have cut off train service to Canterlot and they will have to eat, which will be impossible up there now. Give it a couple weeks and the city should be empty." Rarity's eyes grew wide and she asked, "Twilight, when you go to do this could I help?" When I saw Rarity's eyes grow wide like that when she asked if she could help I knew that she probably wanted to do it for reasons other than to help me. I replied, "No Rarity, you can not have any of the crown jewels." Rarity begged, "But Twilight," I interrupted, "Rarity, I know you. Normally you would never want to help with something that would involve heavy labor. You just want some of the fancy gems don't you?" Before Rarity could reply we heard roaring off in the distance, coming from Ponyville. We raced to town and would not be pleased with what we saw. Cerberus had left his post, again! "Damn it, damn it!" I yelled. My yells became an angry scream as I continued, "Great, just great. Tirek is probably going to get loose again." While I was screaming angrily Fluttershy had calmed Cerberus down like she did last time and said, "Uhm, Twilight, if it is ok with you maybe we should get Cerberus back to the gates of Tartarus. Maybe we can stop anything from escaping." While I was frustrated and had a feeling that some ancient evil had already got loose, I knew that maybe we could keep at least some of the things in there if we hurried. I replied, "Alright Fluttershy, let's get him home." With Fluttershy leading the way we were able to get Cerberus back to his post much quicker but still, he was away long enough that something could have escaped. While I took a look around in there and didn't see anything out of the ordinary, I remembered that things looked perfectly fine the first time I returned Cerberus to his post. All I could do is hope that nothing did escape because this time we would not just be able to use the rainbow power to defeat whoever escaped, that was just a one time special thing that happened to be available when we defeated Tirek.
The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale	Planning for the Worst	Expressing My Concerns Three months had passed since Cerberus left his post and no evil had yet to rear it's ugly head. Yes the economy continued to suffer, protests continued in the big cities but in the smaller towns where ponies grow their own food, hunger was not a problem. It wasn't the protests and hunger in the bigger cities that worried me the most. Despite nothing bad happening since Cerberus left his post, it was quite some time after I returned Cerberus the first time that Tirek finally made his presence known. Spike came into the throne room while I was pacing back and forth frantically. He asked, "Twilight, what is wrong? I haven't seen you act like this since the time travel incident." I replied, "Spike, I can't help but worry that something bad is going to happen. What if something bad escaped when Cerberus left his post?" Spike sighed, "Twilight, you said that when you got him back to his post everything looked ok." I became more frantic as I replied, "But Spike, that is how it was the first time. Given that he was not locked up for as long, if Tirek did escape he will recover his strength much more quickly." Spike replied, "Twilight, calm down, I'm sure everything will be ok." I sighed, "Ok, maybe you're right but I'm not going to let my guard down." Spike suggested, "Twilight, I know how you get when you are stressed. Why don't you go and see your friends?" I replied, "That is a good idea, seeing them usually helps me unwind when I am stressed." I headed to my balcony and took flight towards Sweet Apple Acres. While all of my friends may not be there, I'm sure that Applejack and Pinkie will be. Bad News Hits Home When I arrived at Sweet Apple Acres it was abnormally quiet. As I looked around I couldn't find anypony, not Applejack, not Pinkie nor anypony else. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Did everypony leave to go visit some relatives? Did they go out to the rock farm and bond more with Pinkie's family? I continued walking around the farm for probably an hour looking for my friends but as I was getting ready to leave I suddenly felt the ground disappear beneath me and I began falling down some stairs. I groaned in pain but that would soon be interrupted, "Twilight, are you ok?" I was so happy to see a friendly face. It was Applejack standing over me making sure I was ok. I replied, "Ugh....not really. Falling down a bunch of stairs is painful." I looked around and saw that all of my friends, all of Applejack's family and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were down in the apple cellar. I asked, "Why is everypony down here?" Applejack replied, "Ah'm wondering why you would be out and about. Shouldn't you and Spike be hiding in your castle?" When she said that, I couldn't help but have a sense of dread strike me. Given that nopony is scared of Zecora anymore I couldn't help but wonder if something did indeed escape when Cerberus left is post and is just now causing problems. I asked, "You know something I don't, don't you?" Before Applejack could reply I heard a quiet "Mhmm" come from the back of the cellar. I quickly discovered the source of the voice, it was a gray pony, one of Pinkie's sisters. I looked at her and asked, "Who are you and what is it that all of you know that I don't?" I would soon learn that this pony was very shy and that Pinkie did most of the talking for her. Pinkie replied, "Twilight, this is my sister Marble Pie. She was able to get away from the rock farm before he stole her magic." Marble confirmed what Pinkie said with, "Mhmm." I gasped, "What? She escaped before he stole her magic? Are you telling me that Tirek escaped?" Pinkie asked, "You didn't know? You didn't know that Tirek escaped?" I replied, "No, I did not." I cast my gaze upon Marble once more and asked, "Ok, do you know how much magic he stole and where he headed?" Marble replied, "Mhmm." I was frustrated that all this pony would say was 'mhmm.' I glared at her and asked, "Well, how much has he stolen and where did he go?" Just as Marble was about to say something Pinkie interrupted, "He has stolen quite a bit and headed towards Vanhoover didn't he?" Marble replied, "Mhmm." I sighed, "So I take it he is already in his larger, red muscular form?" Applejack replied, "Yeah, that is what Marble told us he looked like when he stole her family's magic." Rainbow interrupted, "Well Twi, it looks like we are going to have to use our rainbow power on him again and send him back to Tartarus." I replied, "I wish it were that easy Rainbow but that was unleashed when we unlocked the chest. I don't think the six of us are going to just be able to gather together like that." Rarity asked, "Twilight, what are we supposed to do then? How are we going to defeat him?" Fluttershy asked, "Couldn't we just take the elements from the tree and use them to defeat him?" I replied, "I wish it were that simple but we can't do that. The Tree of Harmony is located in East Equestria and if we even attempted to cross the border Starlight would consider it an act of war and invade." Applejack asked, "But how would she know that we went there? That is a mighty long border." I replied, "It is a long border but she has the area around The Tree heavily militarized. She knows that at some point we may need the elemets again and if she can keep us from accessing them that we will be doomed." I began to yell as discussing her made me more angry, "And she wants us to fail! She wants to have to come in and save us because she knows that if she was to save the ponies here, that they would want her to be their leader." Applejack asked, "Seriously Twilight? The ponies here would want her to lead them despite her being an Eastern pony? Despite her being the one who took you captive?" I replied, "Unfortunately yes. You've seen how bad things are here now. If she took over, the ponies in West Equestria would no longer be cut off from the wealth of East Equestria." Rainbow finished for me, "Which would mean that things would go back to normal, for the most part anyway." What Rainbow said hit me wrong. To me it was a sign of her wanting Starlight to come in and take over so the economy would improve. I shouted, "What was that? Things would return to normal for the most part if she took over?" I think Rainbow could tell that I was upset. She shied back, "I'm sorry if it came out wrong Twi. I'm just saying that some ponies may see it that way." I replied, "Oh it's ok Rainbow. I just took it wrong. She has done so much to me in my life that I would likely react negatively to most anything involving her." Rarity asked, "Twilight, like I asked earlier, what would we do to defeat her?" I replied, "Well I could always see if Sunset Shimmer would come through the mirror and help. She does have strong magic if she taps into it." Rainbow gasped, "What? You want her to come help you? You want the one who stole your crown to come help you? She would probably side with Starlight and betray you!" I replied, "Girls, Sunset has changed. When I was in the human world I saw her go from being bad to good. She has aided in bringing down evil villains there, even the human version of me that turned evil. I know she would want to help me save West Equestria, she might even want to help me bring down Starlight." Rarity asked, "Twilight, even if she were to want to help you, would she have enough power to aid in defeating Tirek?" Applejack added, "And even if she did help you bring down Tirek, who is to say she would be able to help you bring down Starlight? Y'all know how powerful Starlight is. Ah don't know if all of us combined could bring her down." I replied, "You don't know how much Sunset has grown since I defeated her over there. Well I am going to get going, I am going to try to get in touch with Sunset and see if she will help." Fluttershy asked, "Is there anything we can do?" I replied, "Yes, just lay low for now. If Tirek comes and can't find you, he won't be able to steal your magic." They all nodded as I left the cellar. While I looked forward to hopefully seeing Sunset again, there was one thing that I dreaded but knew that it had to be done. I would have to address the town and let them know that Tirek did indeed escape and let them know to stay indoors. Who knows where he is now. He could have stole magic from most of the ponies in West Equestria already and would then set his sights on Ponyville to come and take mine. All I can do is hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale	Information Sharing	Preparing for a Speech When I arrived back at the castle I was greeted by Spike and a couple of guards. Spike rushed up to me, hugged me and asked, "Twilight, are you ok? Have you heard the news?" I replied, "The news about Tirek escaping?" One of the guards interrupted, "Yes your Majesty, Tirek has escaped. We are not sure exactly where he headed but he has stolen a fair amount of magic." I replied, "I know. I went over to Sweet Apple Acres and one of Pinkie's sisters escaped his wrath and told us about what happened." Spike asked, "So is he in his scrawny form or is he in his big, muscular form?" I replied, "Well from what Pinkie's sister told me, he was already in his larger form and that he headed towards Vanhoover after stealing her family's magic." This brought about much concern from both Spike and my guards. Spike asked, "Twilight, are you and your friends going to be able to defeat him like you did last time?" I replied, "No, that rainbow power was a one time thing and we can't access the elements because they are in East Equestria." One of my guards asked, "Your Majesty, are you going to address the town over this?" I replied, "Yes, I am." I hung my head down in dread and asked, "Could you two go and notify the town that they need to gather at the base of the castle? Let them know that this is extremely important." My guards replied, "Yes your Majesty." While they headed out to notify the town I just stood there in a paranoid state. Spike saw this and asked, "Twilight, are you ok?" I replied, "No Spike, I am not. Tirek escaped and has begun to steal magic again. I don't know how exactly I will break it to the town." I sat down and buried my face in my hooves and continued, "Could you just give me a little bit of space? I need to figure this out." Spike left the throne room and I just sat there in a state of dread. While I knew some of the things I would discuss with the townsponies, it was how they would react that worried me. Would they blame all of this on me and begin protesting again? Would they go into a state of panic and flee the town? Whatever it was, I knew that it would likely not be good. Addressing Ponyville, Again Fifteen minutes had passed and I finally decided to step out onto my balcony and see if everypony had gathered for this address. When they saw me walk up to the railing they went silent. As I looked out into the crowd, all I saw was looks of concern and fear. I am guessing that with the royal guard letting them know to gather here that they must know it is something bad. I sighed and realized the time to start this address had arrived. I began, "Citizens of Ponyville, I am sure you are wondering why I had the royal guard notify you that I am going to be speaking to the ground." I was not handling this very well and began to sob, "I am addressing you because I need to let you know that when Cerberus left his post last time that Tirek escaped and has already begun to steal magic." A pony in the crowd yelled, "What? Tirek escaped, AGAIN? How could you just let this happen?" I was very nervous as I did not expect any questions like this to pop up. I took a deep breath and continued, "Look, we can't just stay out there and make sure Cerberus stays where he belongs and when he does leave his post, we can't control what escapes and what stays put." One pony sneered, "Well I bet if the gates of Tartarus were in East Equestria, Premier Starlight would have troops stationed there to keep that mutt where he belongs. If Starlight were in power here, none of this would have happened!" I was stunned and angry. Even thinking about her angered me but for one of my subjects to actually say that things would be better if she were in charge enraged me. I screamed, "You know what, if you think Starlight Glimmer is so great why don't you see if you can immigrate there. I'm sure she would accept a submissive little rat that worships her such as you!" At this point I had lost my rational thought and was getting ready to fire some energy at him when I felt something grab my hind leg. Apparently Spike heard what was going on out here and didn't want me to turn the town against me. He yelled, "Twilight, calm down! This isn't like you. You're trying to reassure the town that things will be ok, not turn them against you." What Spike said hit me like a ton of bricks. I hung my head low and replied, "I'm sorry Spike. I'm so stressed right now that I lost my cool." I looked out into the crowd and continued, "Uhm, I'm sorry for how I reacted. I can't talk anymore right now." That same pony yelled, "Well what are we supposed to do princess? You're smart, give us some advice." I replied, "Just stay inside, I'll figure out how to defeat him one way or another." I ran back into the castle sobbing. While I was distraught earlier, this was one of those moments where I truly wasn't sure what to do. I thought about writing Sunset Shimmer and seeing if she would come to help me with this, but realized that I couldn't just make her miss classes and leave her friends to come help me with something that she may not be able to help me with. I was pacing back in the throne room frantically, which is something i had been doing more than I should have. Spike could sense my nervousness and asked, "Twilight, what are your plans as to what to do? I can sense you are thinking about something." I replied, "Well, I was thinking about writing to Sunset Shimmer to see if she would come and help but then I realized that I just can't ask her to skip her classes and leave her friends to come help me." Spike said, "But Twilight, you have left here to go to her world on other occasions than just when she stole your crown. If you can neglect your royal duties to go help save that world, then she can skip a few classes to come help you save Equestria." What Spike said hit me wrong. I yelled, "What did you say? I did not neglect my royal duties. I went over there because my friends needed me when the sirens were ready to conquer that world." Spike replied, "Calm down Twilight. All I am saying is that she could return the favor. Besides, she originally came from our world so maybe she would want to save her homeland." I sighed, "Ok, you're right Spike." Spike asked, "So you're going to write Sunset and see if she will help?" I replied, "Yes, I will do that. I just hope she will agree." Return of a Friend Spike and I headed upstairs to where the mirror is and I flipped the switch to activate it. I will admit, one part of me wanted to go through and see my friends over there but I knew that I would be needed if Tirek were to suddenly show up. I grabbed the book I communicate with Sunset through and wrote, "Sunset, Hi, it's me Twilight. I know you are probably busy right now with classes but I am wondering if you could come to Equestria and help me with something. An old villain, Tirek has escaped for the second time from Tartarus and I am wondering if you would help me defeat him. I ask you this because my friends and I can not use rainbow power like we did the first time and what makes matters worse, The Tree of Harmony is now located in East Equestria. I await your response. Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle" I closed the book and the message was sent. I sighed, "I just hope she can read this soon and let me know if she can make it or not." Spike replied, "Well I'm sure she will read it and come. You know she thinks very highly of you now." I said, "I know." * At Canterlot High, Sunset Shimmer was sitting with her friends out by the horse statue talking when a glowing light began to flash from Sunset's backpack. Rainbow saw this and asked, "Sunset, did you know that your bag is glowing?" Sunset replied, "Really? I wonder if Twilight is coming?" Fluttershy commented, "I really hope so, I miss her so much." Sunset opened her book and read the message out loud. While she had studied quite a bit during her time in Celestia's school and knew of the ancient powers that Tirek had and knew about his first escape, she was completely shocked over the last part of the message. She thought out loud, "East Equestria? What the hay is East Equestria?" Applejack asked, "East Equestria? What is that?" Sunset replied, "I don't know. I am thinking maybe I better go check on Twilight. There has to be something wrong because no such place exists." Sunset wished her friends well as she stepped into the portal. While Twilight seemed serious in her letter, she thought that maybe she was just overly tired when she mentioned a place called East Equestria. * I was waiting anxiously hoping to get a response from Sunset but she would not get one, instead I would see a blinding flash of light and see my friend come through the portal. When Sunset arrived she ran into my hooves and said, "Princess Twilight, it is so good to see you!" I replied, "It's good to see you too Sunset. I just wish it weren't under these circumstances." Sunset asked, "Twilight, I'm worried about you? What was up with that message?" I replied, "Well like I said Tirek has escaped again and my friends and I can't access the elements because the tree is in East Equestria." Sunset asked, "About that, what in the hay are you talking about? What is this East Equestria you are talking about?" At first I was wondering why she was asking me this but then I realized that I had never told her about Starlight taking over half the continent. I hung my head and replied, "Regarding East Equestria, I had a run in with an incredibly powerful pony named Starlight Glimmer a while back. I don't know how she did it but she eventually became an Alicorn, broke into my castle, took my cutie mark, kidnapped Spike and me and took us to Fillydelphia. She forced the princesses to hand over a huge part of the country in exchange for my release. Because of that, the continent is now split in two and everything east of the wall, including the Tree of Harmony, is now East Equestria." I saw Sunset's eyes grow wide as she yelled, "Wait a minute, Starlight Glimmer? As in the Starlight Glimmer that Celestia expelled from her school?" I replied, "Yes, that Starlight Glimmer." I could see a fury erupt in Sunset's eyes. She yelled, "So you mean to tell me that she has her own country now?" I replied, "Yes, not only is she the premier of East Equestria, but she is also a grand mage. It all has something to do with her lineage going all the way back to the very first grand mage of the ponies of the east." Sunset sighed, "Well that would explain why she was always so loyal to her family. I have heard that they were always more family oriented but that is beside the point." She calmed down and continued, "Twilight, not only will I help you defeat Tirek, but I will also help you and Celestia take down Starlight so Equestria can become one single nation again." I replied, "About Celestia. Her and Luna abdicated when everything began to go downhill in this country. Luna left with Starlight and conquered The Equine Empire and after there was an assassination attempt on both Celestia and I, she took off for Saddle Arabia." Sunset asked, "So you're the only princess left." I replied, "Unfortunately I am." Sunset asked, "So do you want us to go after him now or are we going to wait until he gets here to take the fight to him?" I replied, "I think it would be best if we let him come here. I won't have the same power I did when my friends and I defeated him but I have a feeling that together, we should be able to handle him." Sunset asked, "So for now, what do we do?" I replied, "I think we should get something to eat and I'm guessing that you are hungry." Sunset replied, "Actually, I am. Let's get something to eat." We headed downstairs to the dining hall where we had our lunch. I could tell that Sunset was kind of hesitant to eat the food that the cooks brought to us but given that she has not had a meal in Equestria in ages, I could understand that.
The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale	A Horrible Mistake	Ill Advised Plans After Twilight left the apple cellar her friends began to talk among themselves. While they knew that the Tree of Harmony was located in East Equestria and knew what the repercussions of crossing the border without permission were, they also realized that the Elements were the only things that could aid them in defeating Tirek. Applejack asked, "I know Twilight said that she could find one way or another to defeat Tirek, but I honestly don't think she could do it on her own. What do you guys think?" Rainbow replied, "Well I think she's nuts if she thinks she can do it on her own and I don't trust that Sunset Shimmer she is talking about one bit. Just because she was reformed in the human world doesn't mean that she will come here and be good like Twilight thinks she will." Fluttershy added, "What if she were to come here and try to overthrow Twilight?" Pinkie replied, "Fluttershy does make a good point. I don't trust her, I don't trust her one bit." Rarity asked, "None of us trust her but how are we supposed to get the Elements. You heard Twilight, the Tree is in East Equestria, that area is heavily guarded by their military and if anypony from West Equestria crosses the border, Starlight will declare war." Rainbow replied, "Well there has to be one way." She stopped and then suggested, "I've got it! How about we go there at night. I have a feeling that they will all be asleep. If we can go there at night, we can hurry up and get the elements and then get back home. We can take the Elements to Twilight and then we can stand up to our enemy like we did in the old days and defeat him." Pinkie got excited and continued, "And after we beat that meanie we can go after Starlight." Rarity suggested, "Well I think all five of us are going to have to go. After all, it will require unicorn magic to retrieve them from the tree." Rainbow asked, "What are we going to do with Marble? I don't think it would be a good idea to take her with us." Pinkie replied, "Well Marble thinks it would be best if she stayed here with Granny Smith and Big Mac." Marble said, "Mhmm." Rainbow suggested, "Alright, a couple hours after the sun sets we will head out and retrieve those elements." Everypony started cheering realizing that they could get the only things that could help them defeat Tirek. While they knew that they would be taking a risk by crossing the border, they realized that the benefits of taking the risk would be worth it. Quest for the Elements Two hours after sunset Twilight's friends headed emerged from the cellar and headed towards the border, in the direction of the Tree of Harmony. Suddenly something struck the five. While Rainbow and Fluttershy would be able to fly, Pinkie, Applejack and Rarity would have to climb the wall, which would make a decent amount of noise. Rarity asked, "Rainbow, how are the three of us supposed to get across the border without making a lot of noise?" Rainbow sighed, "Well Fluttershy and I are going to have to carry you over the border." Rarity sighed but realized that was their only option. About an hour after leaving Ponyville they could see the wall off in the distance. Applejack asked, "So how far is it from the border to the Tree?" Rainbow replied, "It is immediately on the other side of the border so we won't have to go very far into their territory." Applejack said, "Alright then, let's get going." When they arrived at the border they stared up at the wall, which was much taller than they had anticipated. Fluttershy sighed, "I don't know if I'm going to be able to carry anypony over it. It is really tall." Rainbow grunted, "Well you're going to have to try Fluttershy. It will make it a lot easier if you can at least carry one of them over." Rarity interrupted, "Well I am the lightest out of us. Fluttershy, you carry me." Applejack said, "Shh.....we need to be quiet. We don't want to get caught." They finally began the most difficult and dangerous part of their quest. Fluttershy grabbed Rarity in her hooves and began to fly up and over the wall. This was very difficult for her, so much so that Rainbow was able to get both Applejack and Pinkie carried over and set down by the time Fluttershy did the same with Rarity. When they landed they saw approximately a dozen East Equestrian soldiers resting peacefully. Rainbow whispered, "They're asleep! Let's go get those elements." They headed into the cave and before them stood the Tree of Harmony. A flood of memories came rushing back to them. They remembered surrendering the elements to the tree to save it and they remembered how they defeated Tirek by unlocking the chest with their keys. Rarity said, "There are so many memories associated with this place, memories that are simply divine!" Applejack scolded, "Shhh....look Rarity, we can't have them hearing us or another memory we'll have of this place will be getting captured." Fluttershy interrupted, "Uhm, if it is ok with you, don't you think we should retrieve the elements and get home. If we get caught we might start a war." Everypony agreed and Rarity began to try to retrieve the elements. Unfortunately for her, her magic simply was not strong enough to dislodge the Elements from the Tree's hold. She began grunting louder and shouted, "Come on you tree, we need the Elements!" Rainbow shouted, "Rarity, would you keep it down! You'll wind up waking them up." "FREEZE!" Rarity stopped trying to take the elements and they turned around towards the source of the voice. They had twelve guards with spears surrounding them. One of the guards said, "It's a bit late for that. Both of you woke us up." Another guard asked, "Who are you, where are you from and what are you doing here." Rarity replied, "Well, I am Rarity. These other ponies are Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash and we are all from Ponyville." The guard asked, "You didn't answer the other part of our question. What are you doing here?" Rarity replied, "Well we were trying to get the Elements of Harmony so we can help Twilight defeat....." The guard poked Rarity with the spear and interrupted, "You five are coming with us. We are going to contact Premier Starlight and see what she wants us to do with you." The guards led the five to a holding cell while the main guard headed to the main barracks to contact Starlight. As Rarity and her friends were being locked up, they couldn't help but worry that something very bad was going to happen. Applejack grunted, "Ah knew this was going to be a bad idea. Chances are Starlight is going to declare war." Rainbow shouted, "You were just as ready to do this as the rest of us Applejack." Rarity shouted, "Would you two stop it? Arguing is not going to get us out of this mess." A guard yelled, "Would you three shut up? You're driving me up the wall and if you keep this up, I might punish you before Starlight gets the chance!" They knew now that if Starlight decided to declare war, that they would be the reason. What really scared them was the prospects of being hauled off to Starlight, having their marks taken and being locked up the same way Twilight had been for over a year.
The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale	A Declaration of War	Unexpected "Guests" I was in a very peaceful slumber when the phone rang. Like it is with other ponies, being woke up in the middle of the night pissed me off. I turned the light on and answered the phone. I growled, "Who is this? This better be important." The voice on the other end said, "Starlight, I am sorry to bother you at this hour but we have captured some invaders from West Equestria." I yelled, "What? What were they doing?" The voice replied, "Well they were trying to steal the Elements of Harmony. They said something about retrieving them and taking them to Twilight so they can defeat......" Oh boy, now this really angered me. I knew what their plan was, they were going to get them and try to come over and defeat me. I yelled, "Get them here to Fillydelphia as soon as possible." I slammed the phone down and yelled, "Ugh, those ponies are not going to get away with this and Twilight will wish she was never born!" When I woke up the following morning I was dead tired because after that phone call, I could not get to sleep. I still could not believe that Twilight would have the audacity to send her friends into MY COUNTRY and try to retrieve the Elements. I had a scowl on my face and my eyes were red when I got to the dinner table. My parents could sense something was wrong. My mom asked, "Starlight honey, you look awful! What happened?" I replied, "Well I got a rather disturbing phone call last night." Dad asked, "What kind of phone call." While I normally would not reveal information like this to anypony except my top military advisers, I knew my parents could be trusted. I replied, "Don't tell anypony but last night five of Twilight Sparkle's friends illegally crossed the border and were trying to remove the elements from The Tree of Harmony." Mom yelled, "They did what?" She calmed down a bit and asked, "So what are you plans?" I replied, "Well if I were to do what the separation agreement allows, I would declare war immediately but I want to wait until those that were captured are brought here. I want to get answers from them." Dad asked, "Starlight, I can tell by the look in your eyes that you have other plans." I replied, "I might. I'm going to let you two be just as surprised as everypony else will be!" Interrogating My Enemies Two days had passed since I got that phone call when I heard a knock on my office door. I asked, "Who's there?" One of the guards peeked his head in and replied, "It is me along with those who crossed the border." I said, "Bring them in." As he led them in I could see a sense of nervousness in most of them, except for the blue pegasus who was giving me a cocky, arrogant look that reeked of a superiority complex. While I knew who they were I decided to see how honest they were. I glared at them and ordered, "Please state your names." "Pinkie Pie." "Fluttershy." "Applejack." "Rarity." Rainbow Dash sneered, "You better let us go or you'll be sorry. Twilight will make you pay for your crimes." I laughed, "Ha! Twilight make me pay for my crimes? Leave it to the arrogant Rainbow Dash to say that." Applejack asked, "So Starlight....." I interrupted, "That is either Premier Starlight or Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second to you five. Now would one of you kindly tell me WHY you invaded East Equestria?" Applejack replied, "Well Premier Starlight, we have a problem over in West Equestria. You see, Tirek has escaped from Tartarus for the second time and has already begun to steal magic. We figured that if we had the Elements of Harmony we would be able to defeat him and save this whole continent, both West and East Equestria from his wrath." I asked, "And you couldn't have just contacted me and let me know about this? Why didn't you just contact me and let me know what your plans were. When it comes to Tirek, I would have actually let you get them as long as you returned them to the Tree after defeating him." Applejack replied, "We didn't tell you that because we figured that you would simply tell us no. We figured that since Twilight would be involved in this that you would either say no or demand something in return, such as more territory." I laughed, "Come on now, you really think little old me would say no to something important like this?" I became more serious and continued, "But, you did not ask me so now you must be punished." Rainbow growled, "Oh and while you punish us, what is everypony going to do about Tirek? What are you going to do when he invades East Equestria and begins stealing the magic of your citizens?" I replied, "Oh I don't think we will have to worry about that. There is more than one way to handle Tirek, a much more effective way, a much more permanent way." Applejack asked, "Oh and what do y'all mean by a more permanent way?" I replied, "Oh you'll eventually find out. What a pity you will have to hear about it here rather than back in your precious Ponyville with your beloved tyrant Twily." Rainbow yelled, "Yeah right. You won't keep us here, Twilight will free us from you." I had enough of their smart talking, especially the blue pegasus's bloviating. I levitated five glass jars to myself, opened them and grabbed the five in my aura. They screamed in pain as I removed their marks and placed them in my jar. I couldn't help but smile when I saw them laying on the floor with their equals sign cutie marks. I laughed, "Well now, it looks like you can be all the same again." I put my hoof under Fluttershy's chin and added, "You know Fluttershy, despite you exposing me in 'Our Town' I might decide to treat you a bit more special than the others." Fluttershy asked, "Oh, and how would you do that?" I asked in return, "What would you think of getting your cutie mark back?" Her friends began to yell and tell her that I was up to something, that she should not trust me. I nuzzled her and continued, "Don't listen to them, you know I would never do anything to you." Fluttershy asked, "What would I have to do to get my cutie mark back." I started, "Well Fluttershy my dear, being the leader of a country can get very exhausting and very stressful at times. Sometimes a pony simply has to unwind but sadly I have nopony to unwind with and you are incredibly sexy!" I gave her a deep, passionate kiss and continued, "Fluttershy, if you will become my lover and someday become my wife, you can have your mark back but you must stay with me. After all, wives do stay together." Fluttershy replied, "Uhm." Rainbow shouted, "Don't do it Fluttershy! She doesn't really care about you." Rarity added, "She doesn't and all she would want you for is the sex and the joy of controlling you." I asked, "Well Fluttershy, do you want your mark back or not?" Fluttershy yelled, "No! Not if it means being your wife! I do not love you and I know you don't love me. You just want my body!" I pushed her to the ground and replied, "Aw what a pity. Well I guess you'll have that equals sign on your flank for the rest of your life." Applejack grunted, "So Premier Starlight, what are y'alls plan for us? Throw us in a dungeon, kill us, force us all to be your love slaves?" I replied, "Oh you'll see but first there is something very important that must be done and the whole nation will get to see it!" Addressing the Nation I led the five into my address room and notified my broadcast crew to be ready to override all the channels in the country so I could let the country know what has happened. I ordered the five to stay out of the camera's view at first. Once everything was all set, I ordered the signals to be overrode. Now on every television screen in the nation I was sitting there behind a desk. I began, "Citizens of East Equestria. I am coming to you today over a matter of great importance. Two days ago five invaders from West Equestria, Ponyville to be exact, climbed over the border wall and illegally entered our nation. Under the terms and conditions involved in the release of Twilight Sparkle which were finalized upon her release, this constitutes an act of war by West Equestria. Under normal circumstances the moment I was notified of this invasion, I would have immediately sent troops to crush our enemies to the west but given who these ponies are, I wanted them to come and tell me about their situations." I motioned for them to step into the view of the camera. Once they were in front of the camera I stood by them and continued, "These five are the best friends of the tyrant princess of West Equestria, Twilight Sparkle. The blue pegasus is Rainbow Dash, the yellow pegasus is Fluttershy, the white unicorn is Rarity, the pink earth pony is Pinkie Pie and the orange earth pony is Applejack." I pointed at her and continued, "Applejack, would you kindly tell the citizens of East Equestria what caused you and your friends to invade our sovereign nation?" Applejack looked directly at the camera and began, "Howdy y'all. As Premier Starlight said my name is Applejack. There is a reason we crossed the border and went after the Elements of Harmony. Ah'm not sure how many of y'all have heard about this but Tirek has escaped from Tartarus and has begun to steal magic from the ponies in mah country. Mah friends and I do not want him to steal everypony's magic and while y'all probably think y'all are immune, after he steals all the magic from West Equestria, Ah'm pretty sure he would have come for yours as well. What mah friends, including Twilight could have done with those elements was defeat Tirek and save both East and West Equestria from his dark magic so if y'all really care about East Equestria, y'all will contact Premier Starlight and let her know that y'all wants us to get those elements, use them on Tirek and banish him back to Tartarus." I ordered them back over to the side and stepped in front of the camera. I continued, "Citizens of East Equestria, while it may seem that Applejack makes good points there are some things many do not know. I have done my research on Tirek and there is more than one way to defeat him, and the method I am thinking of would involve a spear that would go far enough into his eye that it would hit his brain and kill him. After all, that mutt Cerberus likes to leave his post and let Tirek escape so I think it is best if our military and I were to march into West Equestria and KILL Tirek." My voice grew more grim as I continued, "And while I am at it I can take down Twilight Sparkle and truly avenge our ancestors. For so long the Western ponies controlled the whole continent, now the time has come for Eastern ponies to control this whole continent. While it will be one single nation, it shall continue to be known as East Equestria." I returned to sitting behind my desk and finished, "Because of the violation of our border with West Equestria by these five, I Premier Starlight Glimmer, declare war upon West Equestria. Twilight Sparkle and her cronies will pay for violating our borders. The five I presented to you shall remain in prison here in Fillydelphia while I have special plans for Twilight Sparkle." I began to laugh as I continued, "What a pity Celestia abdicated over there. At least if she were there this wouldn't be a cakewalk." Once I finished my address the cameras went black and everypony was returned to their regularly scheduled programming. I ordered my guards to haul my prisoners to the jail. I looked at Fluttershy and smiled, "You know Fluttershy, it isn't too late. You can still get your cutie mark back." I groped her flank with my wing and continued, "But that is all up to you." Fluttershy smacked my wing with her's and yelled, "No Starlight! I am not going to be your little toy." I sighed, "Whatever. Guards, get them put in their cells. I need to gather a thousand soldiers and head to Ponyville. Their military is weak and fractured so this shouldn't be overly difficult. I am hoping we can get this over and done with before too long." My guards saluted me and hauled my prisoners to the jail. As I headed to the military base I was full off confidence. I knew that Twilight was all alone over there since Luna is now queen in the Equine Empire and I had heard about how Celestia abdicated and took over in Saddle Arabia. I said to myself, "Grand Mage Starlight, Mage Meadowbrook, Mage Shadowstar, it won't be long until us Eastern ponies will control the entire continent. I will not let you down, I will make you proud."
The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale	Journey to the Border	Meeting with My General When I arrived at the base I was greeted by my top general, Yellow Star. He had seen my address to the nation and asked, "Starlight, I take it the time has come?" I replied, "Yes, the time has come. We are going to march into West Equestria, take down Tirek and then make that tyrant Twilight beg for mercy." He suggested, "I don't know what you will think of this but I think we should march into Ponyville first, take down Twilight and then wait for Tirek to arrive in Ponyville. I have heard rumors that he is attacking other cities and given that Twilight lives in Ponyville, he will likely save that place for last when he will be at his strongest." I replied, "Excellent suggestion General." I patted him on the back and continued, "You know Yellow Star, given your intelligence I have special plans for you." He asked, "What sort of plans?" I replied, "What would you think about being a regional governor?" He asked, "Seriously? You want me to be a regional governor?" I replied, "Yes, I do. I want you to march with me into battle and when we depose Twilight and kill Tirek, you will be the regional governor there in Ponyville." He asked, "I do have a question." He blushed and continued, "Could you see if Morning Glory could leave her post at the university and come out with me." I gave him a smile, "Oooh....it looks like somepony has a crush!" He replied, "It is much more than a crush. We have always been very close and ever since I moved to Fillydelphia, we have kept in contact and realized that our feelings for one another are much more than merely being friends." I said, "Consider it done. Once we have Twilight deposed and Tirek killed, if she wishes to do so, she can join you out there." Yellow Star hugged me and replied, "Thank you Starlight! That will mean so much to both of us!" I said, "You're welcome but now back to the issue at hand. I need you to gather the thousand most capable soldiers from the base. We will need a good sized army if we are to bring down Tirek." He asked, "What kinds of ponies do you want? Do you want a mix of all three races or do you want more of one kind?" I replied, "While pegasus ponies can come in handy, I think we should take a mostly unicorn army into battle. After all, they can use their magic to fire those spears into Tirek's eyes with maximum force, hopefully with enough force to penetrate his brain." He asked, "So when do you want me to have them trained and ready?" I replied, "I completely forgot that they will need to be prepared for this." I sighed and continued, "Have them ready in three days and we will head to West Equestria from there." He nodded and began to choose those he thought would be best for the battle while I headed home frustrated. I wanted to be able to get this invasion started and win this as soon as possible but the best army is a well prepared one so all I can do is wait. The Trip to the Border The three days seemed to drag by but it was also a time for me to get more composed. Had I decided we should have left the day I addressed the nation, not only would my army had not been ready, I wouldn't exactly have been calm and collected enough. That day I was too agitated and would not have had everything planned out perfectly. After eating breakfast I headed down to the base and would be mostly pleased with what I saw. There stood General Yellow Star and 1,000 unicorn soldiers, ready for battle. By Yellow Star's side was Morning Glory. I rushed into her hooves and said, "Morning Glory! It is so good to see you!" She replied, "It is so good to see you too Starlight." I noticed that she was clad in armor like the rest of my army was. I asked, "Morning Glory, why are you wearing armor?" She replied, "Because I am going with you guys. I want to fight alongside Yellow Star." My jaw dropped open. I asked, "What? You can't be serious." Morning Glory replied, "I am serious. I want to help you take down Tirek and depose Twilight." I asked, "Morning Glory, have you ever engaged in any kind of military exercises? Do you know how much composure is needed in warfare?" Morning Glory replied, "Starlight, I'm not as gentle as you think I am. When I was in high school I was a member of the junior reserves as I initially wanted to go into the military but because of some dumb rule of Celestia's prohibiting mares being in the military, I was not allowed to sign up for the guard." I sighed, "Well ok, but remember, we are dealing with Tirek." Yellow Star interrupted, "Starlight, I know for myself that Morning Glory is more than capable of keeping her cool in battle. Now for the issue of our weapons. Are the size of spears I have equipped our soldiers with going to be sufficient?" I replied, "Yes, those will be great." I saw a much longer, larger spear laying up against the wall behind them. I levitated it to myself and continued, "I will be taking this one. When we confront Tirek, I want him to know that I will be ready to destroy him." Yellow Star asked, "Well shall we take the train to the border and march to Ponyville?" While I initially wanted to do things the way the armies of ancient times would by marching directly to Ponyville from Fillydelphia, I realized that taking the train to the border and then marching to Ponyville would be a much better way to do things. Not only would we get there quicker, we would be much more well rested. I replied, "Yes, let's get going." We headed to the train station and boarded a train to the neutral location, as I thought it would be the best place to cross. We remained mostly quiet on the train ride there with the exception of Yellow Star telling Morning Glory about how they would be living in Ponyville once we took it over. I interrupted them, "Yellow Star, Morning Glory, I know you two are happy that you will have a great future after we take care of all this but you need to focus on the task at hand. You need to focus on us killing Tirek and then dethroning Twilight, after we do that then you can focus on your future together." Morning Glory replied, "You're right Starlight. We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves." Yellow Star added, "Don't worry Starlight, we know that the battle comes first." I simply nodded and they went quiet as well. A couple hours later we reached the border and disembarked from the train. As we headed towards the structure we were met by a couple of guards. One of them said, "Wow Starlight, you have quite a few soldiers with you. I take it the invasion is starting?" I replied, "Yes, now how the guards on the west side will react I don't know but if they have any problems with us it won't matter. If they resist, they will meet their demise." The guard laughed, "I don't think those western guards will have any issues. Besides, seeing an army of a thousand will likely terrify them." I nodded and we proceeded to make our way through the structure and into West Equestria. As we headed into their country their guards simply gasped at the size of my army. I looked off to the north and said to my troops, "Well guys, our target is off to the north. Let's get some rest here and head off to Ponyville tomorrow." My forces cheered realizing that our objective would soon be realized but I had to reprimand them. Yes I was confident that we would be able to win this but I was not going to go cheering before we won. While I doubted it would happen, I actually hoped that Tirek would be in Ponyville when we arrived. That way we would not have to worry about a difficult battle after deposing Twilight and punishing her in what way I see fit.
The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale	A Frustrating Day	Missing Friends Several days had passed and the ponies of Ponyville were no longer hiding in their houses and had resumed their normal activities. While this didn't bother me too much there was one thing that was really bothering me. Why haven't my friends come over to see me? Are they still hiding out in the apple cellar, are they hiding out elsewhere on the farm or did they leave town entirely. Sunset could tell something was wrong. She asked, "Twilight, what is wrong?" I replied, "I'm just worried. Everypony else has resumed their normal activities but I haven't seen my friends since before you arrived." Sunset asked, "Do you think maybe we should go and see if they are still at the farm?" I replied, "Good idea Sunset. Let's get going." Sunset and I headed over towards Sweet Apple Acres hoping to find my friends. The first place we headed to was the cellar. As I was opening the door to it I heard somepony say, "Twilight, don't bother looking down there. They're not here." It was Granny Smith. I headed over to her and asked, "They're not? Do you know where they are?" Granny replied, "I'm not sure where they are but they went to try to get the Elements of Harmony." I yelled, "They did what? Didn't they hear me say that we just can't go get them?" I began to panic, "Oh no, I hope they didn't get captured, I hope she doesn't declare war." Sunset asked, "What do you mean you hope she doesn't declare war." I replied, "Well when the agreement was signed that split the nation in two, Starlight put a provision in there that if anypony from West Equestria illegally crossed the border, that it would constitute an act of war. If they were caught they were likely hauled off to Fillydelphia, interrogated by Starlight and thrown in jail. After that Starlight would likely be making plans to invade." Sunset asked, "If Starlight does invade, where do you think she would lead her army to?" I replied, "She would likely attack Ponyville. I am certain that she knows the capitol is here now and if she were to capture me, she would take all of West Equestria and the whole continent would be under her rule." Sunset asked, "What would happen to you if you were captured?" I hung my head low and sighed, "I don't even want to think about it. All I know is that it would likely be just as bad if not worse that what Tirek would do to ponykind." Granny Smith over heard our conversation and said, "Don't worry Twilight. You and your friend will beat Tirek and Starlight and rescue your friends." I replied, "For the sake of all of West Equestria, we better." Sunset asked, "Twilight, think we should get back to the castle in the event Tirek was to suddenly show up?" I sighed, "Yeah we probably should and Granny, I would advise that you stay indoors as well." I was very concerned about what happened to my friends and while it may sound kind of odd, I was irritated that Tirek had yet to show his ugly face. I just wanted for Sunset and I to defeat him, banish him back to Tartarus and to try to get the nation back up on its hooves. It has already suffered enough since the split, but everypony having to stay in and hide from Tirek is likely only making things worse. Tirek Returns While Sunset and I were returning to the castle Sunset asked, "Twilight, I know you are going to think I am nuts but do you think that you could contact Starlight and see if she does have them in custody?" I put my hoof up to my face and sighed, "Sunset, are you nuts! There is no way that Starlight would give me that information and even if she did have them, she would lie to me and say she didn't." I stomped my hoof into the ground and continued, "And if she did offer to tell me the truth, she would likely demand more territory." Sunset asked, "Seriously? She would do that?" I replied, "Yes Sunset, she would. I know that pony well enough that she won't be satisfied until the whole continent is under her rule and I have been punished in the worst way imaginable." Sunset said, "I remember how she was when we were in Celestia's school together and she never seemed to have that kind of greed. Yeah she had an insatiable hunger for knowledge....." I interrupted, "Sunset, that Starlight no longer exists. As soon as she discovered what her true origins were, she considered it her destiny to avenge the wrongs that Celestia did upon her ancestors and now I think she wants everything." Sunset asked, "Seriously, she would want everything?" I replied, "Yes. For over a millennia ponies of Western lineage controlled the whole continent and given the way her mind works, she would say that it is the time for Eastern ponies to rule over everypony else. To her it would be Karma coming back and biting us." Sunset asked, "I know this may sound like a silly question but who do you think would be more dangerous to us, Tirek or Starlight." Again I put my hoof to my forehead and sighed. This had to be the dumbest question anypony had ever asked. I grunted, "Sunset, Tirek would be far more dangerous because he can steal all our magic, all Starlight can do is steal our talents. Besides, Tirek will be so huge when he comes to town he could pick us up and smash us into the side of a mountain." Once we returned to the castle we headed to the throne room and were discussing what we thought the best plan would be to defeat both Tirek and Starlight when suddenly STOMP, STOMP, STOMP! Sunset shrieked, "What is that?" I could hear buildings being destroyed and ponies screaming as they were having their magic stolen from them. I yelled, "It's Tirek. We must stand our ground Sunset." Sunset asked, "How? You had to have all the Alicorn magic in Equestria just to be equal to him last time and we don't have that." I replied, "Well when he attacked last time he had stolen the magic from most all of the ponies in Equestria, including those that live in the eastern cities. I have a feeling that he has not crossed over into East Equestria yet, so he shouldn't be as strong." Sunset sighed in relief but became terrified as we began to hear pounding on the castle. Tirek yelled, "PRINCESS TWILIGHT, YOU HAVE SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO ME!" He continued to pound and pound but he could not breach the castle. Luckily when the castle formed it was much stronger than Canterlot Castle was, which Tirek had no problems getting into. I stood in front of the throne room in attack mode while Sunset was hiding behind my throne. This frustrated me because I knew I would need all the power I could get. I yelled, "Sunset, I need you. If he gets in, I need you to use your power on him too." While Sunset was clearly scared, she joined me and stood in an attack stance. I gave her a smile and realized that with Tirek likely not as strong and with the two of us having strong magic, we should be able to defeat him. Then we heard something else, something we did not expect to hear and chances are it was not anything Tirek expected to encounter either.
The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale	Liberation of Ponyville	Invasion of Ponyville Five days had passed since we left Fillydelphia and we had been marching for four days since we arrived at the border when we finally saw Ponyville on the horizon. What shocked me was that most of it lay in ruins and as I took a closer look, I saw Tirek there banging on Twilight's castle. I ordered my troops to stop and said, "Alright troops, it looks like what I was hoping for has actually happened. Tirek is in Ponyville." Yellow Star asked, "Seriously? What is he doing?" I replied, "He has destroyed a majority of the town and is now trying to break into Twilight's castle." One of my soldiers asked, "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" I replied, "It is a good thing. This is exactly what I was hoping for." I paused for a minute and continued, "Ok, well I didn't want to see the town in ruins but with him trying to break into the castle, perhaps we can sneak up behind him unnoticed and launch our attack." Another soldier asked, "What do you think he will do when he feels himself getting pelted with spears?" This was one of those facehoof moments. I put my hoof up to my face and said, "He will likely launch an attack on us and try to steal our magic. I'm going to be honest, he will likely steal a lot of our magic but once one of us kills him, that magic will flow out of his corpse and be restored to everypony he has stolen it from." Morning Glory asked, "What about those of us who die in battle? Will his death cause them to be revived?" This was another question that was rather irritating. I sighed, "No Morning Glory, if one of us falls, then that is it for them." Yellow Star asked, "Starlight, if you are killed but we still defeat Tirek and overthrow Twilight, who will rule over East Equestria?" I replied, "You and Morning Glory would." I looked back towards Ponyville and continued, "Now let's stop with all the negative talk, let's go and do this!" My soldiers began to cheer so I looked back and scowled, "We can celebrate after we win guys. For now, focus!" We continued our march northwards until we reached the edge of the devastated community. I looked back and gave them one final bit of advice, "Be strong, be fast, be accurate and keep your cool and we'll win this!" The Demise of Tirek My forces charged towards Tirek while I took flight. I will admit that this was one of those moments where I wished I had brought some pegasi with me but it was too late for that now. Once my soldiers got within range I yelled, "Fire!" At once they fired their spears at him while I began firing magic at him, knocking him backwards so my troops could retrieve their spears and fire again. He saw me and looked stunned. He shouted, "Wait a minute. I thought there were only four Alicorn princesses in Equestria, NOT FIVE!" I fired my spear at his face and scored a hit. It did not strike his eye but it did leave a good gash on his face. I levitated my spear back to myself and yelled, "You are correct Tirek, there are only four Alicorn PRINCESSES in Equestria. I am no princess, I am something much more, I am something FAR MORE POWERFUL." A ball of energy formed between his horns and I could tell he was preparing to steal my magic. This is where teleportation comes in very handy. I teleported onto his back and began ramming my spear into his neck. He was screaming in agony but was able to steal a great amount of magic from my troops, causing him to grow larger. He shook me off and threw me across town. I crashed onto the ground but luckily I was unharmed. I was enraged when I saw him steal the magic from the rest of my forces. From this point on, it was me versus him and I was not about to lose to this creature. As I flew back towards him I fired a powerful bolt of energy at him, slamming him up against the castle, causing him to fall to the ground. I began laughing, "Not so strong now are you?" He yelled back, "Get ready to meet your doom you weak minded equine!" Weak minded equine? Weak minded equine? Oh boy, now this infuriated me. I yelled, "Well this so called weak minded equine is going to crush you, you pathetic stupid centaur!" He swung his fist at me and missed. Unfortunately though, his fist slammed into the ground, killing over one hundred of my soldiers. I realized I needed to finish this off. Name calling and magic stealing is one thing, but to kill my soldiers is another. I fired another powerful beam of magic at him, knocking him backwards again. While he was getting himself back up I fired my spear at him, striking him straight in the eye! Jackpot! He began to stumble around and groan in pain. I used my magic to force my spear further and further into his head, until finally the very earth shook as he collapsed. Suddenly a huge burst of magic exploded from the fallen centaur and his body began to shrink in size. I landed next to the shrinking carcass and kicked it. He was indeed dead. As I was pulling my spear out of his head, my soldiers that were not killed were getting up as their cutie marks were restored to them. Morning Glory and Yellow Star rushed up to me and yelled, "We did it Starlight, we did it!" The troops began to cheer in victory until I shouted, "Quiet. The cheering can wait. Right now we need to remember those who fell in battle." We bowed our heads in remembrance as a gentle wind blew through Ponyville. I never was good at words when it came to things like this but we all thanked the Great Creator in our own way. Yes this made the victory much more solemn but I did not believe that we should be cheering when over a hundred of our own died with a single swing of Tirek's fist. I faced towards the entrance to Twilight's castle and said, "Well troops, one down one to go." Morning Glory asked, "So Starlight, will you be going in first?" I replied, "No. I want you and Yellow Star to go in first, followed by the troops. I will be embedded in the troops and when the time is right, the soldiers will part into two rows and I will make my way forward." Yellow Star asked, "Why do you want to do it like that?" I replied, "I just want to do it like this. I think we will get a better reaction out of that tyrant Twilight that way." While I had told my soldiers not to cheer and celebrate at this point, I was giddy inside. Yes I was sad over the loss of lives in this battle but I was about to go in and have one final confrontation with Princess Twilight Sparkle, the pony who was the reason I was expelled from Celestia's school and the one who destroyed the utopia I had created in "Our Town." But soon, the whole continent would be under the rule of Eastern Ponies. How ironic, for over a millennia it was under control of Western ponies and now, it will be the opposite.
The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale	An Unwanted Arrival	Awaiting the Worst Sunset and I stood at the entrance of the throne room ready to take on Tirek if he was to breach the castle's entrance. When we heard what sounded like an army attacking him we were shocked. I was wondering who in their right mind would bring an army into Ponyville and attack Tirek head on. I was also wondering why an army had marched on Ponyville to start with. Sunset asked, "Twilight, who do you think that is out there attacking Tirek?" I replied, "I'm not sure but it sounds like they brought an army with them." We were very nervous as he continued to pound on the castle. We were worried that he may just smash his way through the wall but then it was what we would hear next that made us even more nervous. We heard a female voice yelling and actually taunting Tirek. Sunset asked, "Twilight, who the hay is that? How could they be so foolish to taunt someone as powerful as Tirek?" I replied, "I don't know but I have a feeling that whoever it is, they must be over confident. You can't just go out and defeat Tirek unless you either have an immense amount of magic or you have something special, like the rainbow power my friends and I had." The castle shook as something was slammed straight into it. At first both of us thought maybe Tirek had thrown a huge rock at it until we heard a voice laugh, "Not so strong now are you?" Yes, we heard a laugh. Sunset shied back a bit and asked, "Twilight, do you think that whoever that is that they could be more powerful than Tirek?" I replied, "Sunset, I don't think there is anyone out there who could actually take on Tirek in a physical fight when he is huge like this." Sunset asked, "Well then why did it sound like he was thrown into the castle? It would have to be a physical fight since nopony has strong enough magic to take him on." Suddenly we heard an agonizing scream, a scream that came from Tirek. His screams only became louder and louder until the very earth shook beneath us. Then there was the silence, a deafening silence. Sunset nervously asked, "What do you think happened Twilight? Do you think Tirek is dead?" Personally I thought this was an incredibly stupid question but I did not want to make Sunset feel stupid so I calmly replied, "I don't know. I don't know what force could actually kill him. I don't think there is anything big enough to take him down." What would happen next would scare us more than Tirek slamming his fists up against the castle. I heard the door to my castle unlock. I gasped, "How could anypony unlock the doors to my castle? Those doors can only be unlocked by a spell that only I know." Sunset replied, "I don't mean to upset you Twilight but I do remember that when Starlight and I were in Celestia's school, she had a knack for unlocking doors. You don't think it could be her do you?" Now this made me mad. The fact that she thought that Starlight Glimmer would be able to unlock my doors infuriated me. I smacked her and yelled, "HOW DARE YOU THINK THAT SHE COULD EVER BREAK ANY SPELL OF MINE." I raised my voice and continued, "I DO NOT EVER WANT TO HEAR HER NAME IN MY CASTLE AGAIN, GOT IT?" Sunset yelled, "Look, I'm sorry ok. It just crossed my mind." For the first time in quite a while, since my first trip to the human world, there were negative feelings between Sunset and myself. While I wouldn't say any hatred existed, we suddenly became very cold towards one another but we would have to put our anger aside for what was about to happen next. Unwanted Visitors After our argument we heard the doors swing open and suddenly all that anger between us melted away and was replaced with something equally as bad, fear. We were very nervous about what was coming and I'll admit, when I heard the sounds of many, many hoofsteps I was scared. I said, "Sunset, I don't like the sounds of this." She replied, "I know, it sounds like a whole army is marching in here." Before we knew it we saw a large army marching down the hall towards the throne room. We backed into the center of the throne room and were soon greeted by two unicorns followed by a massive unicorn army. The male unicorn said, "Well troops, it looks like we are going to acquire what we came for." The army began to cheer before the female unicorn yelled, "Calm down guys, we need to make sure these ponies are who we think they are." She glared at me and commented, "I take it you are Twilight Sparkle, correct?" I replied, "That is Princess Twilight Sparkle to you........" She replied, "Morning Glory. My name is Morning Glory and the unicorn to my left is General Yellow Star." I asked, "I want to know something. Where are all of you from and what happened to Tirek? I want to know why he collapsed and if he did indeed die in battle." Morning Glory replied, "We are from Fillydelphia...." I screamed "WHAT? FILLYDELPHIA?" She continued, "Yes, we are from Fillydelphia and regarding what happened to Tirek, I think it is best if somepony else lets you know about that." She looked back and nodded her head, causing the army to split into two separate rows and what emerged from them would anger me greatly. It was her, it was an Alicorn that I had seen before. It was Starlight Glimmer. Before I could say anything she began to laugh, "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" I yelled, "What are you doing here Starlight and why did you bring a whole army with you?" She replied, "Oh, let's just say it was something involving your friends and the Elements of Harmony." I had a strong feeling that they were captured when they went after the elements and that this is what this invasion was about. I asked, "Starlight, what have you done with my friends? Why are you invading West Equestria?" She replied, "Well Twilight, your friends decided to invade my nation and tried to steal the Elements of Harmony. Because of that, they had to be dealt with properly and the agreement that was drawn up upon the separation of East and West allows for military action if citizens of one nation violates the other nation's border." I sighed, "I warned them to not try to access the elements, I told them to not even try but obviously they didn't listen!" I then became angry and yelled, "You said that they were dealt with properly, what do you mean they were dealt with properly?" She replied, "Don't worry. They are just in jail and have been equalized." She then began to laugh, "I must admit though, Fluttershy is a stubborn mare, very stubborn. I offered to give her her cutie mark back if she would do just one little thing for me but she refused....but I will admit, she is a good kisser!" I yelled, "You kissed her?" I calmed down a bit and continued, "Oh and what did you want her to do to get her cutie mark back, become your lover? Become your wife?" She replied, "Both actually but that is irrelevant at this point. The three of us have more things that we must discuss and then we have business to take care of." I asked, "The three of us?" She replied, "Yes, the three of us. You, that traitor Sunset and me." I did not like the sounds of this and I honestly wondered what she meant by "that traitor Sunset." What she meant by that I was not completely sure but I couldn't help but wonder if there was a time in the past, the distant past when I was just a very young filly that these two actually got along and that Sunset did something to sabotage a plan that Starlight had. Perhaps once we discuss things over this "business" Starlight is talking about I will find out.
The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale	The Fall of West Equestria	Friendship Meltdown Now that my army and I have surrounded Twilight in her throne room and I have briefed her as to why we invaded, the time for my discussion with her and Sunset had arrived. While initially I had decided to go more in depth with Twilight first, I decided that forcing Sunset to reveal her past to Twilight first would be the better option. After all, once Sunset reveals to Twilight that she was on my side when it came to taking her mark as a filly, maybe I could get them to fight. I glared at Sunset and asked, "So Sunset, what are you doing here?" Sunset replied, "I came to help Twilight defeat Tirek. When she notified me of what was going on, I wanted to help her save my homeland." This made me wonder why Sunset would help Twilight with this. The last time I saw Sunset, she hated Twilight as much as I did. I wondered if things had changed between the two so I asked, "So Sunset, why would you help Twilight? Why would you help the pony that you once tried to prevent from ever becoming an Alicorn princess." Before Sunset could reply Twilight got in her face and yelled, "What? You tried to stop me from ever becoming an Alicorn princess? When was this?" Sunset shied back and replied, "Well Twilight, it happened when you were just a filly. It wasn't too long after you were accepted into Celestia's school that Starlight and I believed that Celestia was giving you preferential treatment so we came up with a plan to make sure you would never advance in your studies." Twilight yelled, "And what did you two do to try and keep me from succeeding?" I laughed, "Well Twilight, it was quite interesting." My voice became more monotone as I continued, "Before you were accepted into Celestia's school Sunset and I hated each other. We viewed one another as enemies and were bound and determined to prove to Celestia which one of us was more suited to fulfill our destiny. Then you were accepted into Celestia's school and when the two of us saw how much attention Celestia was giving you, we realized that rather than being enemies, that we would have to work together to keep the playing field level." Twilight glared at Sunset and growled, "Sunset, is this true?" Sunset lowered her head and replied, "Yes Twilight, it is true. Both of us believed that she was going to fast track you into being an Alicorn princess and since Starlight can remove cutie marks and strip ponies of their special talents, we decided that she would take your mark and I would take it with me through the mirror." Twilight slugged her and yelled, "And you never told me this before? After we became friends you never told me about the other things you did to me besides steal my crown?" Sunset shouted, "You know what Twilight? After you got me to see that friendship is much better than manipulating others into fearing me I just wanted to bury my past. I didn't want to bring up the things that led to me being that mean girl at Canterlot High that would do anything to get her way." I couldn't help but laugh as Twilight was becoming increasingly agitated. She yelled, "You know what Sunset? Perhaps I should have never offered to help you understand the magic of friendship further. Now that I know this and look back, you are no better than you were when you took my mark to the other world. You are no better than the knifing wretch that worked with Starlight to get your own way." Sunset began to angrily cry, "But Twilight, I have changed. You defeated me when I became a she-demon, you saw how much I've grown." Again Twilight smacked her and yelled, "You know what? I think you were just putting on a show. I bet you came back here to help me and then after we defeated Tirek you would have done something to take West Equestria for yourself!" Morning Glory, Yellow Star and I couldn't help but laugh watching those two argue and fight. I knew that if I could get Sunset to reveal her past and how she aided me in my plans in Celestia's school, that it would cause Twilight to go ballistic. I said, "Now ladies, fighting isn't the answer. Remember Twilight, friendship is magic." Twilight screamed, "You know what? I do not consider Sunset a friend anymore. The way she used me and pretended to be my friend is far worse than anything you ever did. At least you never pretended to be my friend, at least you always let it be known that you hated me." I joyfully replied, "Well at least you always knew I was your enemy! At least I never put up a false front." Sunset interrupted, "You know what Twilight, I never put up a false front but with the way you have treated me today I don't think of you as a friend anymore either." Twilight yelled, "FINE!" She grabbed Sunset with her aura and threw her up against the wall. Sunset cried out in agony as she hit the wall. It looked like Twilight was going to fire at her again when I grabbed Twilight with my aura and stepped in front of Sunset. I calmly said, "Twilight Sparkle, I know you are incredibly angry with Sunset right now but that is no reason for you to try to injure her." Sunset looked at me with a smile and replied, "Thank you Starlight. Thank you for stopping her from trying to hurt me." I replied, "Of course Sunset. Yes we had our differences in the past and I was upset when I saw that you had joined Twilight's side but now that the real Twilight Sparkle has reared her ugly head, I decided to spare you any more of her wrath." Twilight began to mock me, "Oh, I decided to save you from any more of Twilight's wrath." She then sneered, "So Starlight, now you and Sunset are friends? What are you going to do, punish me in some sort of horrible way? Banish me somewhere?" I replied, "You shall soon find out what my plans are for you." I decided the time had finally come to punish Twilight in the ways that I saw fit. I already knew how I was going to do it but I will admit, destroying a close friendship she had was an added bonus. The precious little 'Princess of Friendship' had a meltdown that caused her to lose a friend! I guess she isn't so good when it comes to friendship after all! The End of Twilight's Reign As I stood between Twilight and Sunset I felt a sense of great pride. I destroyed a once close friendship and got Sunset to see that Twilight wasn't this wonderful, caring princess that she thought she was. Now the time had come to finally put Twilight in her place. For me it would be the ultimate victory and for Twilight it would be the defeat of all defeats. I glared at Twilight and said, "You know Twilight, I wonder what Celestia would think of her precious little 'Princess of Friendship' slugging one of her friends and ending the friendship. I bet she would be so disappointed." I began to laugh, "You never know, she might even consider it unbecoming of a princess. She might even take your wings and strip you of your title!" Twilight yelled, "She would never do that! She would realize that what I did was for good reasons." I looked over at Morning Glory and Yellow Star. I said, "I need you two and our troops to keep Sunset company. Twily and I shall be back shortly." Twilight yelled, "What do you mean we'll be back shortly?" I replied, "You'll see!" I grabbed her in my aura and using a great amount of energy, I teleported Twilight and myself into an alternate realm, a realm of stars and darkness. Twilight was laying down and asked, "Where am I? What is this place?" She stood up and continued, "Wait a minute, I've been here before." I heard her say this and I approached her. I said, "Congratulations Twilight, I knew you could do it!" Twilight asked, "Do what?" I replied, "Fail in your role as the Princess of Friendship." Before she could say anything images of all the times she screwed up in one way or another, before and after her coronation, popped up around us. Using the most snide voice possible, I began to sing, "You've fallen, so, so far, and I've monitored you from that very first day. To see how you might fail, to see what you might do. To loathe what you've put me through, and All the ways you've made me pissed at you. It's time now for the old days to return. You've screwed up and your new life is done. To return where you have been, to see what you have seen. To return to what you used to be. For it's time for you... ...to lose your destiny!" I stretched myself vertically as I fired a powerful beam of energy at her and held her in my aura. An incredibly bright light encircled her as her descension to being a regular unicorn had begun. I could hear her sobbing and screaming for me to stop as her wings were being removed. It was not long until both of us returned to the throne room. While I landed in front of her throne, she plopped down on the floor. I couldn't help but smile as Twilight got up on her hooves. I wasn't the only one smiling though. I could see Sunset standing there with a beaming smile on her face. Twilight glared at me and yelled, "How could you Starlight? I know you hate me but why would you do this to me?" I replied, "You know something Twilight, ever since the day I ascended to Alicornhood and discovered how truly powerful I am, I have waited for this day to arrive." Twilight yelled, "What, so you can dethrone me and hand power of Ponyville over to your little minions over there?" Sunset interrupted, "You know what Twilight. For so long I was loyal to you but today the real you came out. How in Equestria you ever became the 'Princess of Friendship' is beyond me. Perhaps you should have become the princess of bitchiness instead." I said, "Ok everypony. Let's stop this for now. There is one more thing that must be done before we can begin to bring the western side of East Equestria back to prosperity." Twilight shouted, "Western side of East Equestria? This is not East Equestria, it is West Equestria and I am still the ruler here." I laughed, "Not anymore Twily. This whole continent is now the nation of East Equestria." I looked towards the exit and continued, "Come on everypony, Twilight has one more punishment and then we can move forward." As we headed out of the castle and off to the north Twilight screamed, "Where are we going?" I replied, "You'll see Twilight, you'll see." As we approached the edge of the Everfree Forest Twilight began to struggle. I decided to let Sunset handle her. Now with Twilight just being a unicorn, Sunset had no issues dragging her by the tail with her aura. Finally when we reached the edge of the forest I ordered her to be thrown in. My soldiers had their spears pointed at her and she froze. I pointed my horn at her and began, "Twilight Sparkle, your days of ruling are over. You have failed Princess Celestia in the role she gave you. Since she is not here to punish you I shall do it in her stead." My voice became more stern as I continued, "And for this, you shall be banished to the Everfree Forest for the rest of your days. No matter how hard you try, no matter how far you walk will you ever escape it's boundaries. Never again shall you see the lands that lie outside it. The timberwolves shall always gnaw on you yet you will never die by them, you will experience the pain of their bites till the day you die." My horn began to glow brightly and I fired a bolt of energy at her and she disappeared. Sunset asked, "Starlight, I take it she is gone for good?" I replied, "Yes, she is. Now let's get back to Ponyville so we can take care of some business. I must address the nation and let them know what has happened, I must get Morning Glory and Yellow Star established as the regional governors and I need to let you know of the plans I have for you." Sunset nervously asked, "What are those?" I replied, "I will wait until we get things situated to tell you but I will tell you one thing, you will like them." Finally, I did it! I put Twilight Sparkle in her place. Ever since the day Celestia started fast tracking her on the path to being an Alicorn princess I had dreamed of a day when I could celebrate a complete and absolute victory over her. Now that has happened! I can't wait to tell her friends! I know their reactions will be priceless!
The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale	Reuniting the Continent	Planning for the Future Once we got back to the castle we returned to the throne room. I looked around and though to myself, "This has to go. I do not want something this opulent in East Equestria." Morning Glory could tell the wheels were turning in my head and asked, "Starlight, what is running through your mind?" I replied, "I am thinking that this has to go. I do not want a structure in East Equestria that reeks of this much inequality. I do not want something from the era of the princesses remaining. Those days are over and the relics from it need to be dismantled." Yellow Star asked, "I know you want Morning Glory and I to live here and be the regional governors. Where will the two of us live until a more appropriate structure is built for us to live in?" This was something I had not thought about. I guess I was so ready to move this nation forward that it skipped my mind. I replied, "You two may live in here until an appropriate home is built for you two." Morning Glory asked, "So how are we going to rebuild this town? It was leveled by Tirek." I replied, "We shall quarry Canterlot and the now unnecessary wall for building materials for all buildings that were damaged or destroyed across this part of the country." Sunset asked, "So Starlight, what are your plans for the mirror that leads to the other world." At first her question shocked me. I had been so focused on everything else over the past week, Twilight's friends illegally crossing the border, getting them locked up, my war plans, marching into Ponyville, killing Tirek and finally putting Twilight in her place that I forgot about it. I replied, "Well, I plan on destroying it. After all, things may come through it that may not have the best interests of East Equestria in mind." I could sense a bit of sadness in Sunset. I continued, "What's wrong Sunset? All of a sudden you seem so sad." She replied, "Well it is just a matter of me never being able to see my friends again. They truly do mean the world to me and I could never imagine life without them." I had plans for her but given how she stood up to Twilight I decided to give her an option. I asked, "Sunset, I am going to give you an option. Would you rather return to the human world and be with your friends OR would you rather come to Fillydelphia and be my assistant? If you come and be my assistant, you will have a very comfortable life and you will never have to worry about a thing in your life." I assumed and hoped that she would choose coming to Fillydelphia but I would be surprised. She replied, "I would like to return to the human world and be with my friends." I gasped, "Seriously? You are picking an uncertain future in that world over living comfortably and job security for life?" She replied, "Yes Starlight, I am. I know most ponies would choose what you have to offer but like I said before, I can't imagine life without my friends." I asked, "Sunset, you do know I plan on destroying that mirror either way don't you? So if you choose to return to that world, you will never be a pony again and you will never see your homeland again." I was hoping that would change her mind but without hesitation she replied, "Yes Starlight, I understand that and it is a sacrifice that I am willing to make." I said, "Well lead me to where this mirror is so you may return to your friends and I can destroy a threat to national security." She nodded and she led us up to where the mirror was. She flipped the switch on it and a swirling portal appeared. I hugged her and asked, "Are you completely sure this is what you want? Are you sure an uncertain future is what you truly desire?" She replied, "Yes Starlight, it is. Everyone who truly cares about me is in the human world." I said, "I respect your decision Sunset. I do know one thing, this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are not the pony that aided me in trying to stop Twilight from becoming a princess. I wish you luck in whatever endeavors you pursue in the human world and may you be happy for the rest of your days." She hugged me one more time and replied, "Thank you Starlight. Goodbye, may you bring about unprecedented prosperity to East Equestria." She turned around and walked through the mirror one last time. Once I was certain she was all the way through I deactivated it and smashed it into the wall, causing it to break into at least a thousand pieces. I will admit, I will miss Sunset given that we were finally on the same page but I simply could not allow such a device to exist in East Equestria. After all, the thing did open on it's own every thirty moons and who knows what would come through it. When I arrived back downstairs my eyes were watering and Morning Glory asked, "Starlight, are you ok? You're going to miss her, aren't you?" I replied, "Believe it or not but yes, I will miss her. From the moment when I first met her as a filly all the way up until her fight with Twilight I would not have cared but once she turned on Twilight I realized that she was not a mindless drone of Twilight's, that she was her own pony again." Yellow Star interrupted, "I don't mean to be a bother but don't you think we should get the media here so you can address the nation Starlight, so that they will know you are the leader of the whole continent and get the western half of the country out of this economic disaster it is in?" I replied, "Yes, we should." I contacted both the East Equestrian News Network and what used to be the West Equestrian News Network. It would take them a couple of days to arrive in Ponyville so we walked around the town and surveyed the damage. Seeing this damage made me all the happier that we killed Tirek. I am hoping that once I address the nation, that the citizens of Ponyville will return home and return to their normal lives. Addressing a Re-United Nation Two days had passed and the media had gathered in Ponyville for what would be one of the most important addresses in not just the history of East Equestria, but the whole continent. I walked out to the edge of the balcony that Twilight used to use and once I was given the signal the cameras were rolling I began my address. "Citizens of the Equestrian continent, I am addressing you to let you know that there is a change in power here on the Equestrian continent. No longer is Twilight Sparkle in power here in Ponyville. Roughly a week ago some of her friends crossed the wall that separates West and East Equestria illegally. For those of you who are not familiar with the terms in the agreement that split East and West, the actions that Twilight's friends took were an act of war and thus I led my troops into Ponyville. When we arrived in Ponyville, Tirek was assaulting the community and while initially we came to make Twilight pay for her friends' crimes, we launched a full assault on Tirek. In the end I killed him when I rammed a spear completely through his eye and into his brain. It was after that when we went in and deposed Twilight. I know many of you may hate me for this but I do have some good news. The continent has been united as one nation again, East Equestria. No longer will the cities and towns here in the west be cut off from the mineral and financial resources of the east. I am making it priority number one to make sure that the economic conditions here in the west will be equal to those in the east. Also, I know that Tirek destroyed many, many buildings in the cities of the west. I have ordered that Canterlot along with the now unnecessary wall be quarried for building materials for any and all damaged properties. While I was portrayed as a villain by the princesses because of my Eastern heritage, I want everypony to know that regardless of their heritage, that they will all be treated as equals. I will be keeping East Equestria's capitol in Fillydelphia but I will be placing two regional governors in Ponyville to handle issues in the western half of the nation. If anypony has any questions regarding the future of the nation or is experiencing problems getting back up on their hooves, either contact Morning Glory and General Yellow Star, who I have appointed as the regional governors or contact me. In closing, I want you all to know that I love each and every one of you. You are all citizens of the greatest nation in the world and are the driving force behind it. You all have a wonderful day." I will admit, this address was a liberating one yet at the same time a tough one. I am pretty sure that letters will be sent and phone calls will be received regarding what happened to Twilight. Do I expect some ponies to protest over Twilight's disappearance? In the West I certainly do, in the East her demise will likely be celebrated. In the end though once prosperity has returned everywhere, they will realize that Twilight wasn't that good of a leader and no longer care that she is gone. After the address I headed back inside to a very happy Morning Glory and Yellow Star along with a very happy military. I know that my regional governors were happy that I had got that out of the way and we would be able to get things back to normal in Ponyville and the rest of the west while my soldiers are probably just looking forward to going home. Yellow Star asked, "So Starlight, what do we do if we are not sure what to do when it comes to things such as protests or riots?" I replied, "Well I would handle them gently. Have the soldiers that I will be stationing out here go in and try to calm them down. If those things do not work, have them rounded up and send them to me. I know about what happened to Canterlot in it's final days and mark my words, things like that will not happen under my watch." Morning Glory asked, "How are we going to handle ponies that come by and ask us about Twilight. I just have a feeling that ponies here will come and ask about her given that she lived here." This was something that even I didn't know exactly how to respond to. I replied, "Well just tell them to contact me over it and they can come to Fillydelphia to talk to me about it. If I have them in my home to discuss this, I will have more leverage in how I tell them what happened." I looked up at the clock and continued, "Well, I think you two are ready to take this on. I am going to get going home, after all we have a long march ahead of us back to the old neutral location and I would like to get there before it is too late and after I get home, I have prisoners to deal with." Morning Glory asked, "So what are your plans for them? Are you going to keep them in jail, have them executed or what?" I replied, "I am simply going to release them. Since Twilight is no longer in the picture they can not harness the power of the Elements and besides, I will not be returning their cutie marks to them." Yellow Star asked, "Are you sure? Are you sure they might not be able to do something even without their marks?" i replied, "They can't do anything without their marks so everything will be fine. From what the soldiers told me on the night they were captured that the white unicorn couldn't even dislodge the Elements from the Tree so we will be fine." I could tell that the two had their reservations about my decision to release them but hey, since they are no threat why should I keep them in jail and waste tax dollars to house and feed them. I'll save that for ponies that pose a threat to society, not ponies who I have now deemed harmless. Yellow Star asked, "You said something about leaving some troops here. Will they be from the soldiers you brought with us or will they be from elsewhere?" I replied, "I am going to leave 250 soldiers here with you. The rest will be returning home with me. Yellow Star asked, "So when will building materials start being shipped in so we can rebuild the town?" I replied, "The city of Canterlot and the wall shall begin to be quarried tomorrow. I want to get everything rolling as soon as possible." Given that at the time there was no train service to Ponyville my troops and I would have to march back to the old neutral meeting place and catch a train back to Fillydelphia so we said our farewells and we started our journey home. While it took a bit longer than I had first anticipated we arrived at our destination before it was too late. We had to wait for a charter train to come and take us home. It was later than I would have liked the following day when we got home, I had one more thing to take care of, I had to release the prisoners. When I arrived in the jail Twilight's friends glared at me. I smiled and asked, "What are the dirty looks for? I have some great news for you!" Rainbow asked, "Oh, and what is that?" I replied, "I have decided to release the five of you." Fluttershy asked, "Really? I can't wait to see Twilight again!" I replied, "Oh, about Twilight. You won't see her ever again because I banished her to the Everfree Forest." Applejack yelled, "Y'all did what?" I replied, "You heard me." I unlocked their cells and began to force them out, I did not feel like having to give them supper. I yelled, "Now get out. Go home before I change my mind." Rainbow yelled, "What about our cutie marks? Don't we get them back?" I laughed, "Actually no, you will never see them again." I put my hoof around Fluttershy and continued, "Well Fluttershy, you might get yours back IF you do what I told you earlier." Fluttershy pushed me back and yelled, "NO! I will not be your wife nor will I be your lover." I sighed, "Fine, have it your own way." As they were leaving the jail I continued, "Oh, and don't expect to return to a nice house. Tirek destroyed all of them but don't worry, Canterlot is being quarried so there will be building materials going in so Ponyville can be rebuilt." Finally, the whole continent was under control of Eastern Ponies. For over a millennia it was controlled by Western Ponies but now the roles are reversed. While I felt like I had fulfilled my destiny when I took over half of the continent, this was the ultimate fulfillment of my destiny. Now many may think I would discriminate against Western Ponies but that will not be the case. I will not stoop to the levels that the princesses did. With Tirek dead, Luna as Queen of The Equine Empire, Celestia as Queen of Saddle Arabia, Twilight banished forever to the Everfree Forest and me controlling the whole continent, I feel like I have completely and absolutely avenged my ancestors. I just wish they could be here, I know they would be proud of me.
Through A Darkened Mirror	pre	"Three years now," replied Cherry as she started wiping down the bar, "I was here the night she first came in, looking half-starved and more than a little feral, the Boss happened to be down here in the main room when Sunset came in and asked for work, and she decided to give her a chance. Sunset's been working for Mercy ever since." "Sunset seems to be quite the admirer of Ms. Mercy," observed Fluttershy quietly. "Noticed that did you?" Cherry chuckled as she shot a grin at the pink-haired girl, "Yeah, it turns out the street rumors about Mercy are what convinced Sunset to come here in the first place. She goes out of her way to try and act the complete professional in front of Mercy, but Sunset's not fooling anyone but herself, and it's no secret around here that she idolizes the Boss." The seven girls shared a brief chuckle and some more small talk, before Sunset finally returned, "Hey, I just got the call from Mercy, so we need to head up. And Pinkie? I know you're ... enthusiastic ... sometimes, but try and tone it down, okay?" "Okie-dokie-lokie, Sunny!" Twilight and her friends followed the flame-haired girl upstairs to the office where Mercy was waiting. Five of the Equestrians eventually began to shift uneasily as the woman continued to silently watch them, while Sunset simply stood impassively, her hands clasped behind her back, and Pinkie waved happily at the older woman. 'She looks about the same age as Principals Celestia and Luna,' the academic thought, 'But she doesn't have their warmth ... and I'm pretty sure it's not just the fact that her eyes are probably implants.' "This is your new crew, Sunset?" asked Mercy dryly, "So you've got yourself squad of juvie amazons, vhat do they actually bring to table other than eye candy?" "Flutters here is a medic," Sunset replied, while her friends frowned at the woman's dismissive words and Rainbow grumbled to herself, "Sparky and Rarity are both espers, Rainbow and Applejack are shooters, and Pinkie has a knack with locks and demolitions." "I'm still not impressed." "You were willing to take a chance on me, all those years ago," Sunset entreated the older woman, "And I'm taking a chance on them now. Please, Ma'am, give them a shot, they'll surprise you." "Hmmm ... very vell. I vill give them chance to prove their vorth, but it is your rep, rep that you have vorked so hard to earn, that vill suffer if they fail, Sunset." "I understand, Ma'am, thank you, Ma'am." Mercy gave a short nod, and then typed something on her PDA, causing a street map to appear on one of the monitors covering the wall behind her desk. "This is location of CMS' storage facility fifteen near Lake Everett. Apparently, they've installed some new sensor system, and Johnson vants to know vhat it does." A grainy picture of an unassuming grey metal box adorned with a pair of small radar dish-style antennas popped up on another monitor, "If you can access sensor's logs and command codes and download them, fine, if not, Johnson vill be satisfied if you tear vhole unit off vall and bring it back for his own teks study. In either case, he vants run to look like common smash and grab, so swipe anything you can carry. Questions?" Sunset frowned up at the monitors, "Anything unusual about the security to go with this new sensor?" "Johnson's information, and some initial observation, shows just usual CMS mileetsya," the older woman replied with a shrug, "Sensor is on exterior vall of main building, but still vell vithin compound." "What kind of time restraints are we working under?" "Johnson vants it done ASAP, of course," Mercy responded with a sour chuckle, "But you can take a few days to scope site out and plan your run." "What's the offer?" "Six thousand after my cut, plus vhatever you steal, of course." Sunset started to nod, only to be interrupted as Applejack spoke up, "So jus' who are these 'CMS' ponies anyway, Ms. Mercy, Ma'am?" "Celestia Medical Systems," Mercy replied absently, one brow quirked at the blonde's odd phrasing, she frowned at the six girls as she noticed the troubled looks they were sharing, "Is this going be problem?" "No, Ma'am," Sunset quickly assured her as she took the datachip the fixer offered, "No problem at all, we'll get right on it." ________________________________________ Once they were all safe back at the apartment, Sunset whirled around to face the other girls, "Alright, what gives? What's your deal with CMS?" "We don't have a 'deal' with CMS," Twilight objected, "It's just ... Princess Celestia is one of our rulers ... and it's very disconcerting to be robbing a company with her name." "Plus, we're robbing a hospital," added Fluttershy quietly, "And, well, I don't feel good about that." "Alright," sighed Sunset, "First of all, Flutters, we aren't hitting a hospital, we're hitting a storage depot for a hospital supply and research corp. If it makes you feel any better, we can donate some of what we swipe to Doc Razor's clinic, God knows they could use it. As for 'rulers'," she continued, turning to face Twilight, "CMS is only an 'A-Rank' corp, it's the Big Ten who run the world, and I try to avoid anything involving them as much as I can." "Now, are we good?" the razorgirl asked as she dropped into one of the seats around the table. Once the other girls had nodded, Fluttershy with noticeable reluctance, she propped her own PDA on the table and slotted the datachip Mercy had given them, "Alright then, let's see what we've got ...." ________________________________________ Four nights later found the seven girls running through a last-minute equipment check in the back of a battered cargo van, "Guns loaded and reserve clips prepped?" "Check," confirmed the six Equestrians, as Fluttershy glowered unhappily at the NarcoJect tranquilizer pistol in her hands and Applejack casually spun the cylinder of her revolver. Com check, Sunset subvocalized. The other girls all checked their radio headsets before nodding, "Coms are green." "Flashlights working?" The inside of the van temporarily lit as six flashlights turned on, "Check." "Everyone armored up?" "Yes," the rest of the team caroled, although a vexed sniff punctuated Rarity's response. "What is it Rarity?" sighed Sunset. "Nothing, darling, just ... the designers could have put a little effort into the appearance of these outfits, is all." "Ah don't know, Rares," Applejack drawled, "Ah kinda like mine." "The cowgirl likes her duster, who would have guessed," Sunset chuckled, earning a lazy swat from the farmgirl, "And it's armor Rarity, it's supposed to keep your blood inside of you, not look good." "Says the girl in the tight black outfit that happens to have armor plates added on." "Hey, biosteel is expensive!" the razorgirl objected, "And can we continue this discussion after the run, once we're all back at the apartment counting our take? Now is everybody ready? Good. Cheshire, how are things on your end?" I'm in the system and all boards are green, Sunset, the voice of their hired netrunner came over their radios, The ice was thicker than what you'd expect on a storage depot, but nothing I couldn't handle. "Ah don't suppose ya found out what this sensor doohickey does?" That's a negative, Cowgirl, whatever it's recording, it's either storing it internally or transmitting it off-site. Sorry. "It was worth a shot," shrugged Sunset, "Alright, girls, when Cheshire gives the word, we head for the gate." A few minutes later, the netrunner's voice broke over their radios, Go! Go! Go! Piling out of the van, the seven girls rushed for the chain-link fence a block away, the gate rolling itself to the side as they approached, only to reverse its course and start closing as the group dashed through and huddled alongside one of the warehouses, Alright, gang, you have approximately four minutes until the guard I diverted finally comes by on his patrol. Good news is that warehouse you're next too would be a great place to hide and should be full of swag. Bad news is the maglock is independent from the computer system, so you'll have to bypass it on your own. "Got it," Sunset replied, "Pinks, you're up." Twilight watched the party girl hum happily to herself as she fiddled with the maglock for a few moments, then leaned over to whisper to Sunset, "Aren't we supposed to be obvious about our presence?" "Yep," the razorgirl nodded, "But a fight avoided is a fight won, and I'll be happier if we don't have the Badges coming down on our heads because they happened to notice a busted door. Cheshire and Pinkie will get us in, and I'll slap a remote charge on the maglocks. Once we're all back in the van, I'll trigger the charges and blow the locks and doors, all of the mess and confusion of a traditional Smash and Grab, but with us safely off site when it goes down." "I got it!" Pinkie's happy chirp drew everyone's attention as the maglock clicked and the warehouse's side door cracked open, quickly slipping inside, the girls made sure that the door was fully closed before turning on their flashlights. "Whoa," Rainbow exclaimed as she looked out at rack after rack of medical equipment and cases of drugs, "And we're just supposed to help ourselves to all of this?" "That's the plan," Sunset grinned at the athlete as she started prepping the charge for the door, "Poke around a bit and then take as much as you can reasonably carry. Just don't load up completely here, we need to hit some of the other warehouses and store rooms to make this believable." The razorgirl remained near the door on guard, while her friends began to circulate through the warehouse, stopping occasionally to put something into their backpacks, while Fluttershy pulled a paper from her pocket and began to search through the shelves. "What ya got there, sugarcube?" asked Applejack, drawing a startled squeak out of the distracted medic. "Meep! Oh, Applejack, uhm ... it's just a list," Fluttershy explained in a nervous tone as she hid her face behind her hair, "Sunset said we could give some of what we're stealing to the Free Clinic ... so I ... sorta dropped by to see what drugs they needed ...." The farmgirl patted her shoulder, "It's fine, Fluttershy, if we're goin' ta be doin' this, we ought ta at least be helpin' out some ponies along tha way." Several minutes later, Cheshire broke in on their radios, Alright ladies, we've got a nice big window coming up in the guards' circuit, so it's time to move on to the main building. "Understood, Cheshire," Twilight replied, "We'll head out as soon as Sunset is done setting her explosives." Not long after, the six Equestrians stood waiting impatiently as Sunset finished setting her charge on the new door. With the razorgirl's nod, the group slipped inside the portal that their netrunner had unlocked for them, "What do we have, Cheshire?" The ground floor is mostly storage and utility rooms, probably to make getting shipments in and out easier, and the second floor is offices and the breakroom. Your mystery sensor is on the second floor eastern wall, but there's a door out onto the first floor roof, so getting to it should be pretty simple. Oh, and we have a security guard down at the far end of the building that you girls are going to need to deal with. "Copy that. AJ, you're with me on the sensor, the rest of you take out that corp-cop and then go do some looting, Pinks, here are a few remote charges, make sure you rig the doors as you go." ________________________________________ The five girls slowly crept down the hall, Rainbow a short distance ahead, only to stop as the athlete urgently motioned to the others and hurried back to them, "The guardpony is just a bit down this side hall," she whispered, "He doesn't seem to be paying a lot of attention, so we ought to be able to get the drop on him." "Wait a moment," Twilight requested as the other girls readied their weapons (and Fluttershy prepared her medical supplies), "Sunset said that even these rubber bullets could potentially cause significant injury, let me try the stun bolt spell I've been working on first, please?" "Of course, darling," Rarity assured her, "However, we'll be ready to back you up, just in case." Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, the former alicorn strode purposefully around the corner to confront the corporate security guard, who gaped at her for a moment before scrambling for his pistol and starting to shout the alarm into his headset, unfortunately, he got no farther than "Secu--," before a bolt of magenta energy crashed into him, dropping the man to his knees, where a second bolt quickly laid him out. Twilight let out a small, relieved, sigh as her friends gathered around the unconscious guard, Rainbow quickly binding his hands with zip-ties while Pinkie helped herself to his radio, cufftaper, sidearm and passkey. "Uhm ... We're not going to just leave him in the hallway, are we?" "Certainly not, Fluttershy," Rarity declared, "Cheshire, darling, would you be a dear and open storeroom ... let's see now ... ah, yes, A-sixteen?" One sec ... got it, good thing I ran a jammer program through the building's communication's grid, nobody outside heard his transmission. "Thank you, dear," the blue-haired girl smiled, "Now let's get this poor gentlecolt inside, shall we?" Once inside the storeroom, Fluttershy immediately began to check their prisoner for injuries, while the other girls looked around. 'Hmm, what's this?' mused Rainbow as a hard-plastic case caught her eye, '"Medical Assistance Bracer, Field Test Unit X-zero-four", sounds like something Fluttershy or Twilight might be interested in,' the athlete thought absently as she added the case to her pack. ________________________________________ As she made her way through the second floor, Applejack's pack already laden with small items swiped from the offices to add to the veracity of their cover, Sunset took a moment to switch frequencies on her cell implant, How are they doing, Cheshire? she subvocalized. So far, so good, Sunset, replied the netrunner quietly, They're enthusiastic, especially Pinkie and Rainbow Dash, but they're trying to play it cautious for now, and I think they show potential ... I believe I'm going to like this new crew of yours, the razorgirl gave a small chuckle as Cheshire continued, You know, I think these girls will be good for you. You've been getting more ruthless over the last few years, and I think they'll help you get your perspective back. Damn it, Cheshire, Sunset groaned, The Doc has already been riding my hoop over my "behavior", I don't need to be getting it from you too! I'm just saying that your mates have been starting to worry about you some, and Our Lady without Mercy may not always be the best influence on you, is all. This is not the time, Cheshire! fumed Sunset, almost walking right out the roof access, but she caught herself at the last moment, "Have you taken care of the fire alarms on the roof door?" the razorgirl snapped crossly as she switched back to the general frequency. Yes, you can head right out, Sunset, the netrunner sighed, We're only trying to look out for you ... she added quietly. The flame-haired girl ignored her, along with Applejack's questioning look, and strode out onto the roof, her eyes already searching for the point of the whole run. Spotting the small box, Sunset strode over to examine the sensor with a frown as she ran a hand over the sheet metal covering, "There's no interface jacks or sockets ... I guess we'll have to pop the case," slipping a small prybar out of the side pocket of her pack, she got to work. "Any of that make sense ta ya?" asked Applejack as she leaned over Sunset's shoulder to look at the exposed guts of the mystery sensor. The razorgirl stared at the mass of wires and circuit boards for a moment, before sighing in defeat, "Not even a little. Oh well," Sunset shrugged philosophically, "We knew we might have to tear the damn thing out going in." Several minutes later, Cheshire's exclamation of Oh drek! came over everyone's radios as Sunset and Applejack were slowly lowering the surprisingly heavy sensor off the wall. "What is it?" I just got a glimpse of some unexpected visitors before I lost two cameras over by the east fence! Probably hit them with electro-rounds. "Damn it!" the razorgirl groaned, electro-rounds had been an attempt to create taser-loads for normal pistols. The tiny capacitors had turned out to be of only indifferent value against even soft-armored targets, but had proven useful for dealing with cameras and other computer systems, where the electrical discharge tended to scramble the last few seconds of recorded memory in addition to shorting out the electronics in question. The sound of nearby gunfire interrupted the razorgirl's musings, "Well, this run just went south," bracing herself, Sunset nodded at Applejack, "I've got this, go and watch for company. And keep low!" The farmgirl nodded, and then sprinted for the edge of the roof in a low crouch. Reaching her position, Applejack hunkered down, her eyes sweeping over the lanes between the eastern warehouses, "What's tha word, Cheshire?" Nothing good, Cowgirl, I've lost two more cameras, my last location for one of the guards was in the blind zone, the other remaining Badge is making his way towards your position, oh, and he'll probably radio in an alert any moment now if he can't raise his buddies. "Ah've got him," Applejack confirmed, her voice dropping to a whisper, "He's comin' up on my position now." The blonde carefully peaked over the roof's edge as the corp-cop approached below her, only to wince as a loud gunshot echoed between the warehouses and the man dropped like a marionette with its strings cut. Movement between the warehouses kept the farmgirl where she was, as a tall man in a battered duster with a long-barreled rifle in his hands walked out of the lane. The newcomer, likely another freelancer, looked around, but failed to check the roofs, before approaching the downed guard. Giving the injured man a cursory glance, the interloper smirked and began to lift his rifle. "Ahh, hay no!" snarled Applejack as she dropped off the roof, the sound of her impact caused the freelancer to spin around, the barrel of his rifle slapping into the farmgirl's hand and stopping as if it was held in a vise. The stranger's eyes widened, just before Applejack's fist crashed into his face, sending him stumbling back, two more hammering blows followed, leaving the freelancer insentient on the ground, his rifle still in the farmgirl's grip. Applejack gave the freelancer's chest an angry stomp, before she turned and crouched beside the corporate guard, "Ahh, horseapples," she muttered as she looked at the hole the rifle had torn through the man's spectracloth vest, "Fluttershy! Get yer tail out here! We need a medic somethin' fierce! Ya stay with me, colt, ya hear me?" the blonde girl added, her hands already soaked in red as she tried to staunch the bleeding. The thud of running boots soon heralded Fluttershy's arrival, the pink-haired girl dropping to her knees beside Applejack, her medical kit already open, as she started working on the injured man. "Cheshire, you said there was two of 'em?" asked Sunset as she dropped off the roof, her knees flexing to absorb the force from her landing. Yes, but I'm still looking for the other gatecrasher, and I haven't lost any more cameras. "So, we have two bodies unaccounted for ..." the razorgirl sighed, "Alright, Pinkie? Switch packs with me? And be carefully, that's got our pay in it." Twilight frowned at the older girl, "What are you up too, Sunset?" "We can't leave those last two people unaccounted for, we need to track them down, and you girls are still green, so that leaves me." "You are not going alone, darling," Rarity said firmly, "Somepony has to watch your back." "Fine," grumbled Sunset, "If you're so concerned, then you can come with me. Sparky, Dash, keep a guard out while AJ and Flutters work. And Pinks? Grab that cufftaper and secure this drekhead, would you?" ________________________________________ As Rarity made her way slowly between the warehouses, she found the weight of the small pistol in her hands oddly comforting while she followed behind the razorgirl, 'Ohmygosh, I'm tracking a desperate criminal through the nighttime streets, just like Shadow Spade!' the fashionista squealed to herself. So far, there had been no sign of the other freelancer or the missing guard, and each door they tried was still locked tight, but Rarity had read enough detective novels to know it was only a matter of time before things went bad. As they approached another intersection, the pair stopped at the sight of a limp figure laying halfway down the lane, "I think we found the last guardpony," Rarity radioed in as Sunset crept forward to check the motionless form and she stood back to watch for trouble. Is she alright? Do you need me? Where are you? The fashionista cast a questioning look over at the razorgirl, who grimly shook her head as she rose back to her feet, "I'm sorry, Fluttershy ... we were too late to save her." Ignoring the distressed squeak that came over the radio as they regrouped, the two women proceeded down the lane, checking warehouse doors as they went. They were most of the way through the blind zone in Cheshire's coverage when Rarity reached out to take the older girl's shoulder, motioning towards a door that didn't quite seal properly. "Good catch." "Well, I do have an eye for details, darling." "So ... what's the plan?" asked Rarity as she steadied her nerves and crouched beside the door. "Track down our gatecrasher and give him a fatal case of lead poisoning, preferably without getting ventilated ourselves." At the fashionista's look, Sunset gave a half-apologetic shrug, "That's the best I can do without knowing what we're actually up against and whether him and his buddy were keeping radio silence or checking-in regularly. We'll just have to play it by ear." Slipping inside, the pair found the warehouse swathed in darkness, broken by the occasional faint blue-white glow of safety lights ... and the brilliant radiance of a high-power flashlight half-hidden in the depths of the depot between shelving and stacks of crates. Sunset quickly put her hand over Rarity' before the blue-haired girl could activate her own flashlight, leaning forward, she put her lips to the fashionista's ear to avoid the risk of feedback from the other girl's headset, and whispered, "Leave your light off, it'll just announce our presence. Keep your hand on my shoulder and I'll lead you in." After Rarity nodded, the razorgirl slowly made her way deeper into the warehouse, the thermographics in her optics combining with the safety lighting to let her lead her charge through the maze of cargo, several obviously plundered boxes of drugs catching her eye as they passed by, 'Looks like we weren't the only ones who thought that raiding CMS would make for a good payday....' Finally, the two women closed in on the source of the light: an average-looking man with his flashlight clipped to the front of his spectracloth jacket and a bullpup-style machine pistol slung over his back, who was currently busy emptying cases of drugs into a pair of duffle bags. Easing down behind what cover they could find, Rarity watched anxiously as Sunset raised her rifle and carefully sighted in on the freelancer. But, just as she pulled the trigger, the cement floor around her target cracked loudly as a heat-mirage distortion enveloped the man and the bullet went spanging off into the darkness. "Ha!" he gloated as he spun around to face the girls, "No one gets the drop on Johnny-Come-Lately!" "Bloody wonderful!" groaned Sunset as she ducked away from a return blast of telekinetic force, "A fragging esper with some kind of precog talent." "It can't be that powerful, darling," Rarity chided as she hurled a bolt of pale blue light at Johnny, causing his telekinetic barrier to briefly become visible as it absorbed the energy, "Otherwise he would have ambushed us! Now let's focus on dealing with this ruffian so we can get back to the others." "Right, right," nodded the razorgirl, before leaning out of cover to fire off a trio of short bursts, all of which failed to breach the freelancer's telekinetic defenses, "Damn it! I don't have the firepower to punch through his barrier!" she snarled as she rolled behind the wall of blue light that Rarity had conjured, "Can you get through?" The fashionista responded by throwing a pair of energy bolts at the freelancer, while neither penetrated, both made Johnny's barrier flare, and the second caused ripples to spread across it. "His shields have nothing on Shining Armor's or Twilight's," Rarity sniffed, "It may take a few hits, but I can break it." "Do it then, Rares, I'll have my shot ready." Sunset smiled grimly as she aimed her rifle, 'This Johnny-Come-Lately guy has properly screwed himself over. He can't run unless he drops his barrier, or can fragging teleport, and once his barrier is down, so is he.' Admittedly, there were some espers who could wrap themselves in a mobile, personal, field of protective telekinesis ... just like Rarity was doing ... 'Well, bugger me ....' Having dropped her own barrier, Rarity was striding forward, a cornflower blue aura wrapped around her and a confident smile on her lips, "Hello there, Mister ... Johnny, was it? I know we started off on a bad hoof, but I don't suppose we can try and talk like civilized ponies?" "Talk?" chuckled Johnny nastily, "I can think of way better things for a hot little piece like you and your rimbo friend over there to do with their mouths than talking." "How crude," the fashionista sniffed in disdain, "Is such vulgarity really all that you folk can come up with? Honestly, would it be too much to ask for you to have a little bit of wit and class in your invectives? Fine, let's try this again ... hello, you foul-mouthed ruffian, you're outnumbered, we have the drop on you, and we've already dealt with your associate, so you can choose to surrender and live, or you can keep fighting us, I will destroy your barrier, and then my friend here, the young lady you called a 'rimbo', will shoot you in the face. Now which is it going to be?" Johnny-Come-Lately glared at the two women for a moment ... and then, with a ripe oath, he raised his hands as his barrier flickered out, "Fine! I surrender." "On your knees, ankles crossed!" barked Sunset, "Hands on your head! Rarity, secure him," only once Johnny's hands were zip-tied behind his back and the blue-haired girl had taken his weapon and stepped away did the razorgirl rise from cover and approach their captive, her rifle still aimed at the esper's head. Looking down at the kneeling man, Sunset frowned in contemplation for a moment, and then brought the stock of her rifle crashing down onto his skull. Rarity's shocked cry of "Sunset!" went ignored as she struck again, beating the freelancer unconscious, before she turned to look at her friend, "What?" "Was that really necessary, darling?" "Yes." The razorgirl ignored Rarity's glare as she used her forearm talons to cut a large strip from the man's shirt and folded it over several times. Only when she was blindfolding their comatose captive did she finally explain herself to her irritated friend, "Espers just have to be able to see their target and think to use their powers, so it was either this or I take his eyes." Sunset grunted slightly as she hefted the man over her shoulders, "Can you grab those duffels, Rarity? No sense in leaving good loot behind." ________________________________________ Returning to their friends, they found Applejack glaring down at the still unconscious freelance shooter - who was wrapped up like a Christmas present in cufftape - while Rainbow and Twilight were in the process of hauling the other guard out from the storeroom, while Pinkie was standing watch with her shotgun. "Drek, AJ," Sunset exclaimed as she dropped her own burden, "How hard did you hit that guy?" "Pretty danged hard," the blonde admitted, "An' then Twilight went an' gave him a pair of her stun bolts, so he wouldn't be wakin' up while me an' 'Shy were working on this stallion," she added, waving a hand at the injured guard Fluttershy was still looking after anxiously. "That's good thinking," the razorgirl nodded in approval, "Hey, Sparky, could you give this fragger a double dose of the whammy while Pinkie goes to town on him with the cufftaper?" Tossing a glance at the bound guard, she raised an eyebrow at her friends, "And what's the story here?" "We need someone to look after this poor colt," Fluttershy explained, "He's stable for now, but he needs a real hospital and someone to watch him until he gets there, and to tell the EMTs what I did and which drugs I used." Sunset chewed on her lip for a moment, and then gave a sharp, if unhappy, nod, "Cheshire, how quick will folks get here if we hit the Panic Button?" she asked as she knelt down to pick-up the injured guard's gun. Lone Star should arrive within five minutes, depending on the current volume of calls, and CMS security will likely be another ten to fifteen minutes after that. If I trigger a medical alert at the same time, the local medical response personnel will probably arrive around the same time as the Star. "Fine," Sunset said as she rose back to her feet, "Once Pinks is done wrapping up our package, you girls go on back to the van, when you radio that you're safe inside, I'll blow the charges while Flutters wakes up sleeping beauty. Once we explain things to him, we'll head on out to meet you and Cheshire can hit the Panic Button." ________________________________________ The five waiting girls all gave small sighs of relief as Fluttershy and Sunset slipped into the front seats of the van, "Did everything go okay with that guardpony stallion?" asked Rainbow as the two latecomers buckled themselves in. "Oh, yes," the medic replied quietly, "He was actually very understanding." "I think that had more to do with you, Flutters, than him," Sunset grinned, "You planning on holding on to that rifle?" she inquired, glancing back at Applejack. "Eh? Oh, Ah forgot Ah was carryin' it, actually," admitted the farmgirl with a small blush as Rainbow and Rarity chuckled at her. "Keep it," the older girl advised, "It suits you," as Fluttershy started the van and pulled out of the alley and into the early morning traffic, the sound of approaching sirens in the distance.
Through A Darkened Mirror	7.0 … Doing Favors, Gang Violence And Mexican Cuisine …	It was a dark and stormy night, and there we were, waiting eagerly as random lightning flashes illuminated the insides of Potts' Grocer, as we watched for whoever it was that kept sneaking past their security and making off with the Hyper Krunch Cherry Crazie Sweeteez, what would we find, gangers with a sweet tooth? An esper with a Splenda addiction? Experimental cyborgs that needed the energy from the Sweeteez to supplement their power cores? Only the Princesses knew, but whoever it was, the Spectacular Seven would be ready for 'em! "Really, Rainbow, there's no need to be so dramatic," Rarity shook her head at the athlete while their friends chuckled, and several of them raised their eyebrows at Rarity of all people accusing someone of being overly theatrical, "Honestly, darling," the fashionista continued, turning to face the PDA on the table, "It was a simple investigative and security case. Shadow Spade has done dozens of them in her books, even if 'The Case of the Pilfered Sweeteez' does lack a certain dramatic flair." She threw a mildly annoyed sniff at Rainbow, "And it wasn't even raining particularly hard, either." How did you girls end up getting roped into this job, anyway? asked Cheshire. "Mister Potts was havin' problems, so we offered ta help out some," Applejack explained with a shrug, "It was jus' tha neighborly thing ta do." Being "neighborly" doesn't normally involve a seven-man crew, observed the netrunner, Never mind that you actually talked Sunset, of all people, into helping out on such a low-pay, goodwill type job ... how did you manage that, anyway? Inquiring minds what to know. Twilight and the other Equestrians (excepting Pinkie who was currently off babysitting for Mrs. Diaz while she pulled a double-shift) laughed lightly from their places scattered around the living room of their shared apartment, while Sunset fidgeted in her chair. "I just asked politely," murmured Fluttershy, a small blush darkening her cheeks. "Yeah, 'asked politely'," snorted the razorgirl, "While looking at me with these huge, pleading, blue eyes. I swear, Cheshire, I felt like I'd just kicked a puppy for even thinking about saying no," Sunset frowned faintly at Rainbow, "And since when are we the 'Spectacular Seven'?" "Well, I wanted to call us the 'Power Ponies'," the polychromatic-haired girl replied with a slight pout, eliciting reminiscing grins from the other Equestrians, "But nopony besides the fillies would get the reference." "It's a long story, darlings," explained Rarity, her voice tinkling with laughter, as she noticed Sunset's confusion, "We'll tell you another time. Now, where were we?" It had only been two hours since the grocery had closed and the Potts had retreated to their apartment above the store, but it felt far longer to the seven young women who waited, with varying degrees of patience, in the darkened aisles, their flashlights turned off so as to not advertise their presence to any observers. "Sooo bored!" Rainbow groaned quietly into her radio from her spot near the radiation treated fruits and vegetables, "Is something ever going to happen? We've been here for forever!" Aw, come on, Dashie, it's just like waiting for a surprise party! Pinkie transmitted from her own position, Only instead of a friend, we'll be surprising those meanie-pants who keep stealing from the Potts. Ah know we're all gettin' a mite skittish from waitin', but hows about we cut down on tha chatter some? Fillies? broke in Twilight, interrupting Pinkie's and Rainbow's apologies, I've got somepony running down the street and trying all the doors. She looks pretty desperate. The other six girls quickly moved to join Twilight as she peered out the darkened window. "She's wearing Barons colors ...," Rarity murmured as she watched the approaching figure. "But this is Barons' territory," objected Rainbow in confusion, "Why would one of them be running scared on their own turf?" The ganger, who looked to be barely in her teens, had reached the Grocery while the girls talked and began to desperately pound her fists on the armored glass door, "Please open up, they're coming!" she begged the shadowed figures she could make out inside, "Just hide me, please!" While the young ganger was pleading, six new figures, their own gang colors barely visible in the dark and distance, turned onto the street, and immediately rushed for the girl with cries of vicious glee. Twilight quickly yanked the door open and the seven women piled out to confront the newcomers, although Sunset shook her head in exasperation, and Applejack gently pulled the frightened ganger behind them to stand alongside a nervous, if determined, Fluttershy. Seeing their prey suddenly reinforced, the gangers slowed, but didn't halt, their advance, with several of them drawing pistols and one popping a set of forearm talons, while the freelancers readied their own weapons. Wait, wait, Cheshire interrupted, It doesn't sound like Twilight and Rarity were making with the telekinetic mojo yet, but you still outnumbered them and had bigger guns, and these gangers kept advancing on you? Were they bakebrains, or just that bloodthirsty? "Well it turns out that they were all Crucifixers," Twilight explained, "So their mental stability was rather questionable to begin with." "An' we ... didn't really bring our rifles with us," Applejack admitted sheepishly, "This was jus' supposed ta be a quite look-and-see job, weren't no call for tha heavy firepower, after all." "Which means the only long gun was Pinkie's shotgun, and Dash's Berretta M-24 was all we had for rapid-fire," Sunset added, "That left us with mostly pistols against pistols, and only a small numerical advantage ... Considering how desperate the Crucifixers turned out to be, it's no surprise that they thought they had to take us." So, what was the deal, then? "Well, from what Jinx, the Baron's filly, told us later, the Crucifixers were on a ... forced recruitment drive," murmured Fluttershy as she gave a small shudder, "Apparently, after Sunset ... killed ... their esper and that other stallion, a lot of the neighboring gangs had been trying to drive them out of the district." Twilight nodded as she picked up the shy girl's explanation, "This was evidently their last chance to bring in fresh blood and prove that the Crucifixers were still a power in the district before they were all forced out or killed by the other gangs." Lights flared across the darkened street as Twilight threw up a telekinetic wall to separate them from the gangers, while Rarity wrapped herself in a protective sheathe. Unfortunately, the ganger with the talon's enhanced reflexes were boosted enough to let her leap past Twilight's forming wall, and she charged straight for the dark-skinned girl, her talons raised, only to be intercepted bodily by Sunset, the impact knocking them both to the ground. Rainbow and Applejack were quick to open up on the ganger as she attempted to rise, with the heavy boom of Pinkie's shotgun joining in moments later, and the ganger was swiftly driven into oblivion in a hail of rubber bullets. Sunset tossed the three girls a brief smile as she rolled to her feet, "Hey, I know this slitch," the razorgirl exclaimed as her gaze dropped to the unconscious ganger, "She's one of the Crucifixer's heavy hitters!" Sunset frowned over at the remaining gangers, their Crucifixer colors now clearly visible in the glow from Twilight's barrier, who were futilely blasting away at the telekinetic shield keeping them from their prey, "I don't think they're going to give up." "They do seem rather fixated," Twilight concurred, "I don't suppose we'll be able to settle this peacefully?" she added hopefully. "I rather doubt it, darling," Rarity observed as she looked over her friends, "So ... concentrate our fire on one or two at a time, while Twilight and I use our barriers to ward off the others' shots?" "Should work," Sunset agreed, "Especially with how spread out they are, girls?" "Sounds good to me," Rainbow said enthusiastically as the others nodded, "I've been itching to have another go at these Crucifixer nags." "On three then," instructed Twilight with a sigh, "One ... two ... three!" The Crucifixers gave out triumphant shouts and eagerly surged forward as Twilight's barrier faded away, only for their cries to change to surprised anger as the wall reformed, splitting the group while Rarity raised a bulwark of her own for the girls to shelter behind, from which they quickly directed their fire at the two gangers that had been caught within Twilight's shield. Even as the pair of Crucifixers went down under a barrage of bullets, both rubber and lead (as well as a few tranquilizer darts), their three cohorts continued to fire on the wall, their furious swearing echoing through the street alongside the gunfire. "Damn, these guys are some stubborn fraggers," swore Sunset in exasperation, "Hey, kid! What the hell did you do to piss them off so bad anyway?" "I didn't do anything to them! And my name is Jinx!" "That I believe!" the razorgirl retorted as she ducked down to reload, "Okay girls, one more good push and I think we'll have 'em." This time, when Twilight's glowing magenta field dropped, only one ganger attempted to rush the eight girls as they crouched in the shelter of Rarity's rampart, and he was quick to fall before the combined might of the librarian's stun bolts and the fashionista's carefully aimed gunshots. The last two Crucifixers had finally had enough, they broke and ran back the way that they had come, leaving the seven freelancers, and the girl they had championed, in possession of the street as the echoes of the gunfire faded, to be swallowed up by the sound of the rain. "I'm home!" caroled Pinkie from the door as she walked in, her arms filled with foil-covered pans, "What have you fillies been up to?" "We was jus' tellin' Cheshire about tha job we did for tha Potts," Applejack informed the party girl, "What ya got there, anyway?" "Mrs. Diaz made us all dinner as a 'thank you' for all the help we've been giving her with her daughters," Pinkie grinned, "Let's eat!" "Umm, it's not quesadillas, is it?" asked Twilight apprehensively, her sudden alarm drawing another confused look from Sunset. "Nope, chimichangas!" The razorgirl leaned over to Rarity as a relived Twilight went to help Pinkie lay out their meal, "So, what's with Sparky and quesadillas?" "Some foalhood trauma apparently," the fashionista replied quietly, "We try not to make an issue of it." Well, I'll leave you girls to your dinner, then, Cheshire broke in as the seven teenagers settled down for their meal, But I've got to ask, did you ever find out who was stealing the grocery's Sweeteez? "Oh, that!" giggled Pinkie as she poured pepper sauce over her chimichanga, "It turned out that Mrs. Potts had put Mister Potts on a diet and he'd been sleepwalking!"
Through A Darkened Mirror	8.0 … A Simple Job …	"Do stop fidgeting, Sunset," Rarity admonished the older girl, "You'll wrinkle your outfit." "Sorry," the razorgirl mumbled, even as she continued to fret with her collar, "Trying to be all proper and "polite society" leaves me jumpy, it isn't me." "Then I guess you'll just have to pretend, the ponies at Adventures Unlimited are expecting professionals who can look the part as well as act it, you wouldn't want to disappoint Ms. Mercy after she sent up this interview for us, would you?" "What? No!" Sunset paused and then frowned at her friend, "Low blow, Rares, low blow." The fashionista merely smirked at the older girl while the van pulled to a stop, "We're here!" Fluttershy called back to the others. "Alright fi-girls," Twilight said as they got out of the van and Rarity immediately began fussily straightening her friends' seems and brushing their shoulders, "First thing, I know it might be hard, but we should probably try not to use any Equestrianisms during the interview, the po-people we're meeting might not be as understanding about our 'unusual' turns of phrase as Ms. Mercy is. Now, we're supposed to meet with a Mister Jeffery Johnson ...." A short time later, the seven girls were shown into a conference room where a man with slicked-back hair, a twenty-thousand nuyen suit and a plastic smile stood to great them, "Welcome ladies, can I get you anything? Coffee? Water? No? Well then, let's get down to business. I have a client who has paid for an adventure package to experience what it's like to be an actual freelancer, and I want to hire you to assist him with a mock mission." "Excuse me, sir, I would just like to confirm ... you wish to hire us as actors to provide veracity for a simulated criminal enterprise orchestrated for your client's entertainment? And nothing else? This entire enterprise is completely above board?" The sound of carefully enunciated words with a faint posh accent coming out of Applejack's mouth left Sunset doing her best to not stare at the farmgirl in disbelief while Johnson merely smiled, "While you may be SINless, for the duration of this contract you'll effectively be temporary employees of Adventures Unlimited, and you will be expected to ensure our client's safety during his excursion, Miss ...." "Applejack, sir," the blonde held out her hand graciously, "Charmed." Johnson took the offered hand for a moment, "A pleasure, Miss. So, are you ladies interested?" After a quick exchange of glances, Twilight pulled out her PDA, "So, what are the particulars of this 'adventure package'?" "The experience will consist of one day of mission preparation during which the client, Mister Onyema Adele, will accompany you at all times, followed by a fully simulated rescue-extraction from an abandoned corporate facility in the Avondale district of Redmond. You will be dropped in by VSTOL and will need to commandeer vehicles from the 'terrorists', played by other employees of Adventures Unlimited, to escape to the extraction point. Since this is not a live-fire simulation, you will need to have your weapons equipped with blanks and laser designators, similar to what the military uses for training, our techs will take care of that Thursday morning before you leave to meet with Mister Adele. This will be a two-day contract, for which you will each be paid one-thousand nuyen per day, I'll provide you with some documentation for the mission's 'background' as well as some limited maps of the facility so Mister Adele can also experience the planning portion of a mission. Are there any questions?" "Yeah, I've got a question," Rainbow piped up, "What's the twist?" as everyone's eyes turned to her, the athlete explained, "It's in all the adventure and spy stories, the unexpected complication that messes with the heroes' plans. So, what is it? The person we're rescuing is a double agent? There's a third party involved? Zombies? What?" "You're quite correct," Johnson admitted with a thin smile, "Good storytelling, as well as good business, requires there to be something unexpected, in the case of this experience, there will be a second team of 'terrorists' waiting at the extraction point. Mister Adele is unaware of this particular alteration to his planned adventure package, and we would prefer he remain in the dark, so as to maximize the impact of the surprise. Now, we just have some forms to fill out to keep the legal department happy, and we'll all be set ...." "Okay, what was all that about, AJ?" Sunset asked once they were back in the van. "What was all of what?" "That!" the razorgirl replied in exasperation as she waved a hand at Applejack, "That whole posh talk thing you just did with Johnson! And what happened to your accent?" Oh, that," chuckled the farmgirl, "Ah learned how ta talk all fancy like when Ah was stayin' with my Aunt an' Uncle Orange as a filly, an' it seemed tha thing ta do with Mister Johnson," she explained, before frowning at her friends, "An' Ah aint got no accent." "I applaud those farsighted multinationals that have done such fine work in their efforts to move people's perspectives towards an economically centered ideology, however, more can be done. I therefore declare the following: I have no parents, only parent companies; I have no family, only co-workers; I have no children, only subsidiaries. Sacrificing these last sacred cows on the altar of free enterprise has freed me, I implore you all too likewise free your minds." The image cut back to the commentator, "Economic philosopher Okino Toshi's latest statement has sparked debates in forums across the Net ...." "Would ya turn that garbage off before Ah lose ma breakfast?" Applejack demanded, causing the bartender to shrug and switch the trideo set hanging above the bar over to the urban brawl game, "Ah can't believe ponies could listen ta such a selfish load of horseapples," the blonde snarled to her friends in disgust, "'Ah have no family', buck!" "Hey, I think Mister Onyema is here!" Pinkie said happily, incidentally distracting Applejack from her ire at the news report, as she pointed at the man who had just come through the door. "Oh ... dear," Rarity whispered in dismay as she gazed upon their erstwhile client, his ebony skin damp from the morning fog as he stood in the doorway, decked out in the latest in "street" fashions (as proclaimed by the trideo) that were so new that they creaked faintly as he moved, and glared around the bar while the patrons snickered at his obviously self-conscious attempt to look hard. Finally spotting the group he started over, only to slow as a growing uncertainty spread across his features, "Are you the people Mister Johnson said I was to meet?" "Sure are," Applejack assured him as she cocked a brow, "Somethin' tha matter?" Onyema frowned at them, "Aren't you ... ladies ... a little young to be," his voice dropped to a whisper, "Freelancers?" "Yes. Yes we are," Pinkie replied solemnly, before returning to her usual cheerful self, "Muffin?" "I'm Sunset," the razorgirl introduced herself as Onyema bemusedly accepted the pastry, "These are Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie," she waved at her friends who all smiled or nodded in turn, "Well, let's get out of here and get to work." "We're not staying here?" "No offense to the Murdered Mime," Rarity said with a faintly dismissive sniff, "But we prefer a place with a bit more privacy for handling business." The sight of the man heading for the door surrounded by seven teenage girls drew hoots and catcalls from several of the bar's patrons, to which Sunset replied with a crude gesture while Rainbow jeered back at them, "Snicker all you want, but you know you all wish you was him!" The ride to Auburn from Renton, with Onyema luckily taking his own vehicle, was filled with Twilight and Rarity admonishing Sunset and Rainbow on the values of "behaving professionally in front of a client", "showing proper behavior when in public", and "not encouraging the ruffians", fortunately their arrival at Tchernobog's Porch finally cut the lecture short. "Howdy there, Floyd," Applejack hailed the bartender, "We got a back room reserved for a meetin'." "Yep," the hulking man nodded absently as he tossed over a keycard that Pinkie snatched out of the air, "Room three, you going to want anything?" "Nothing right now, darling," replied the fashionista, "We'll let you know if we change our minds." "So ... we met at a bar, then traveled partway across the metroplex, all just to go to another bar?" "It actually makes perfect sense, darling," Rarity assured their client, "While the Mime was acceptable as a neutral meeting place between strangers, we don't know if they provide private rooms, and none of us are regulars so they are unlikely to extended the courtesy of discretion if we started discussing business. The Porch, however, does have private rooms and we are known here well enough for the staff to offer us some considerations." "Hmm ... okay, so what do we do now?" Sunset gave the man a toothy smile, "Now? Now Sparky tells us what we're up against." "What? Oh, yes," Twilight activated her PDA and quickly reviewed the information AU had given them, "Here we are, Irene Andrews, a scientist for Orobas Labs, has been kidnapped by terrorists. Orobas has managed to track them to a former corporate facility in Avondale, and has hired us to retrieve Ms. Andrews. According to our information, the facility was wrecked by a fire recently, which may be why the terrorists have chosen it for their base. Due to concerns about anti-air fire, the airlift Orobas is providing will have to drop us off a half-mile out from the facility." "If the place was burned out, then there won't be any working cameras or maglocks," Rainbow mused, "Not unless the terrorists brought a few portable ones of their own...." "Umm ...," murmured Fluttershy, "Do we know anything about Avondale? If you don't mind me asking ...." "Avondale is an E security slum, so at least it's not complete anarchy like in the Puyallup Zero Zone," Sunset explained, "The gangs and the mobs run things, the locals just try to keep their heads down, and Lone Star pretty much ignores the neighborhood unless they're forced to deal with it. If we get into a firefight with the terrorists, it'll be shrugged off as merely another bit of gang warfare as long as no heavy weapons are involved." "So, we have ta watch out for tha local varmints as well as tha terrorist? Wonderful." "Facts of life, AJ" shrugged the flame-haired girl, "And life will kill you." "And then you'll be dead," Pinkie added solemnly, drawing an approving nod from Sunset while Onyema backed away with a faint look of concern and the other girls merely rolled their eyes at the pair's occasional antics. "Oookay," Twilight said, "Thank you, fi-girls, for that morbid bit of philosophy. So, any thoughts?" "What was they usin' tha buildin' for before tha fire?" The scholarly girl glanced down at her PDA, "According to Orobas' information, it was a factory of some kind, with a bunch of offices attached, it doesn't say what they made, though." "A factory, huh?" mused Applejack, "Between tha fire an' tha owners tryin' ta clean out everythin' they could salvage, there's probably plenty of wide open spaces for me an' Little Mac." Onyema gave the blonde girl a puzzled glance, "Who is this 'Little Mac'? Another member of your group?" "You could say that," Rainbow chuckled, "Little Mac is AJ's rifle," she explained, reaching over to give the farmgirl a teasing nudge in the shoulder, "She's something of a sharpshooter." "But what if these terrorist meanies are hiding poor Ms. Andrews in the offices?" wondered Pinkie. "Then we get to do some CQC," Sunset replied with a wolfish grin, "and we're going to be damn glad that you have some grenades, Pinkie." "But how do we get to the facility?" asked Fluttershy, "I don't think I like the idea of hiking a half-mile through only the Princesses know what kind of gang activity only to be walking right up to the facility doors hoping that the terrorists' guards don't notice us." "I think I may have an answer to that ...," Twilight offered as she typed away at her PDA, "Yes ... yes ... oh, no. Well ... I do have an option, but not everyp-everyone will like it." "Well, what is it, darling?" "There is a series of ... tunnels ... that should take us to the facility's basement level with us only having to travel a block or two on the surface." "T-tunnels?" stammered Rarity in horror, "Do you mean ... sewers?!" "Not real sewers," the former alicorn hasted to reassure her fastidious friend, "According to the old municipal maps it's a mix of storm sewers, maintenance accesses and parts of the old underground bus system." "Yes, but ... all the dirt and the damp and the bugs," the fashionista shuddered before taking a deep breath, "Still ... if it will get us to the facility unnoticed ... I guess we will just have to put on a brave face and endure it." "Hey, Pinkie," Rainbow turned to the energetic girl, "Do you still have some of those thermite strip things?" "Sure do, Dashie!" "Sounds like we've got a plan for the infiltration," nodded Sunset approvingly, "Alright, once we're in the basement ...." "Alright everyone, listen up!" Sunset had to shout to be heard over the roar of the tiltrotor's props as they flew through the early morning smog, "The pilot says we'll be touching down in five, so check your gear!" As they went through their equipment, Rarity gave Fluttershy a small, worried frown as the medic checked the drug levels in her medical bracer, "You don't think you'll actually need that, do you darling? We're just acting after all." "I really hope not," Fluttershy admitted, "But accidents happen, even on movie sets, and no pony actually knows what we'll find down in those tunnels, so I'd rather be safe than sorry." Once they had disembarked and double-checked their bearings the group headed out, with most of them simply walking down the street while Pinkie, Rainbow and Onyema quickly scuttled from cover to cover in a display of stealth worthy of one of the climatic night-time assaults on the trideo shows ... except that it was in the real world and they were doing it under the (admittedly smog obscured) morning sun, which rather ruined the effect. It didn't take long for the trio's antics to exceed Sunset's tolerance, "Will you three knock it off, you're just drawing attention! I swear, it's like dealing with kids sometimes," she grumbled, while Pinkie and Rainbow both blew raspberries at her. "Sunny can be a real spoilsport sometimes," Pinkie apologized to their client, "So what do you do when you're not out fighting 'terrorists', Mister Onyema?" "I am an executive with Celestia Medical Systems, Miss Pie," Onyema replied, "Most of my family are executives actually, except for my brother, Dafe, who is in the British military. Father considers him the hero of the family," He gave a dejected sigh before going on in a quieter tone, "I would like to be the hero, just once, if only for one day." "Hey, that's what we're here to do," Rainbow said, slapping the man on the shoulder, "We're going to rescue Ms. Andrews and all be big dang heroes, you'll see." Continuing on their way, the group had just reached the run-down tenement whose cellar contained the tunnel access they were looking for when Rainbow held up her hand, "We've got company," she nodded at the half dozen gangers that had walked out from the shadows of the alleys and doorways, while a seventh teen, the only one who wasn't wearing colors, looked them over before swaggering up to Applejack. "You eyeballin' me, puta?" AJ frowned down at the sneering teen, "What did ya jus' call me?" "That dumb hat blockin' your ears, hick?" sniggered the youth as he reached out to shove the blonde in the chest, moving her not a whit, "What, you think you're a cholita, you goin' to try and get crazy with me? Don't you know I'm loco?" "Oh, he did not just insult AJ's hat!" exclaimed Rainbow, "Twenty nuyen says he doesn't last thirty seconds!" "Really, Rainbow," Rarity sniffed reproachfully, "A lady does not normally engage in such behavior ... that being said, the little ruffian won't last twenty seconds against our Applejack!" Sunset reached out to stop Onyema as he started forward, much to the man's confusion, "Aren't we going to help her?" Twilight shook her head, "In this case, our assistance would be counterproductive, as well as unneeded. See, this annoying young man," she gestured at the teen who was still spewing abuse at the ever more irritated looking farmgirl, "Is trying to earn his place in the local gang by beating up the toughest person he can find, which is apparently Applejack, while the others are only here as witnesses and to discourage the rest of us from interfering." Onyema blinked as he absorbed Twilight's little lecture, "But what if he tries something underhanded?" "If he pulls a weapon or esper powers, we tear him apart," Sunset replied with an unpleasant smile, "But if it's just him fighting dirty, then it's on AJ to handle." While they had been talking, the youth had given up on trying to provoke Applejack and just lunged for her, but the farmgirl twisted away from his rush and casually slapped aside the right hook he tried to follow-up with, before a jab of her own crushed his nose and left the wanabe ganger blinking. The blonde girl looked him over for a moment as he stood, swaying slightly in his daze, and then dropped to the ground, her hands slapping the asphalt as they caught her weight and her legs shot out to slam both feet into the youth's chest, flinging him across the street to slam into the wall and collapse in a heap, drawing a sympathetic wince from everyone watching. Rising back to her feet, Applejack turned to glare at the other gangers, "Does anyone else got somethin' ta say about ma hat?" The old passageways proved to be just as foul as Rarity had feared, with the reek of standing water mixing with the smells of rust, damp concrete and ancient chemical spills to create a fetid air that stung the eyes and nose. As they journeyed deeper into the tunnels, the beady eyes of devil rats, oversized, predatory versions of the normal urban scavengers, gleamed at them from out of the darkness, but the group's sheer size caused the rodents to remain in their shadows, watching hungrily as the team of freelancers passed by. "Are we there yet?" demanded Rainbow some time later, as the inky gloom and the weight of the earth that surrounded them combined to leave the displaced pegasus restless, twitching at shadows and eager to be back under the open sky. "The next juncture," Twilight assured the athlete as she glanced up from the map on her PDA's screen and took a good look at her friend's slightly wild eyes and the faint sheen of sweat that covered her face, "I'm sorry, Rainbow, I didn't realize that you're cleithrophobic, I promise we'll be out soon!" "I ain't no cleithwhatsit!" the prismatic-haired girl protested, "I just don't like being stuck underground is all." "Well, we won't be down here much longer," Sunset observed, "Here's our stop." "Thank Celestia," Rarity muttered as they gathered around the old, rusted-over door, and Applejack gave it an experimental tug. "Nothin' doin'," she sighed, "It's shut tighter than a clam with lockjaw." "That's alright," Twilight replied cheerfully, "Pinkie brought her party favors." "Sure did," Pinkie chirped as she started rigging the door, "Hey, Mister Onyema, when we get Ms. Andrews back from these meany-pants, I think we should have a 'we're heroes and everyone got rescued' party, with cider and nachos and cupcakes, what do you think?" "That ... sounds rather nice, Miss Pie," the man replied slowly, before turning to whisper to the others, "Is Miss Pie always like this?" The rest of the freelancers could only shrug in reply, "Pretty much." "All set!" the party girl cried happily, "Now everypo-everyone remember, no matter how pretty the lights are, don't look at them, okie-dokie?" Once everyone had turned their backs, Pinkie gave a cry of "Dragon with hiccups!" and the tunnel filled with a searing light as the thermite strip cut through the reinforced steel of the door. "Dragon with hiccups?" Sunset arched her brow at her hyperactive friend as AJ and Rainbow lowered the door to the ground. "Yepper-roonie, it sounds way better than boring old 'fire in the hole'," Pinkie grinned, only to stop dead with a gasped cry of "Pinchy knee, ear flop, shudders! Pinchy knee, ear flop, shudders!" as she passed through the doorway. "Well, Ponyfeathers," swore Twilight as the girls all dropped into a defensive crouch, with Rainbow pulling their client down beside them, "Something must have gone wrong." "What is it?" asked Onyema in confusion, "What is going on?" "Pinkie has ... premonitions sometimes," the academic explained, "And she just got one that we're in danger." "Miss Pie is an esper?" "No, she's Pinkie Pie," replied Sunset, "That's way stranger, but we've learned to take her warnings seriously." Twilight chewed on her lip for a moment as she thought, "Okay, we don't know what is setting off Pinkie's Pinkie Sense, it could just be weak floors for all we know, so we're continuing with the job, but carefully! Sunset, Dash, you're both on point, Onyema, I want you in the middle with Fluttershy, while Rarity and I cover the flanks, AJ, Pinkie, watch our rear, please." "Got it, Twi'," the other girls muttered as they moved into position and the group started into the basement, the pools of light thrown by their flashlights revealed empty halls, storage rooms and utility rooms as they slowly made their way towards the stairs. They had just opened the stairwell door, when both Rainbow and Sunset stopped, and RD raised a hand to wave the others off, before moving back to join them, "What's going on, darling?" asked Rarity as they gathered around the athlete. "The terrorists' setup a tripwire in the stairwell and rigged it to a grenade bouquet, Sunset is taking it down." "Huh, so tha terrorist folks didn't jus' ignore tha tunnels," mused Applejack, "They jus' put a bobby trap in ta warn 'em instead of botherin' with settin' guards down here. Danged shame that," the farmgirl added with a sigh, "I was startin' ta hope we had bamboozled tha lot of 'em." "Why the long face, Sunny?" Pinkie asked the returning razorgirl, "Is something wrong with the party poppers the meanies left for us?" "Something is very much wrong," Sunset replied as she held up one of the grenades, "These aren't spraypainters or smokers or even flashbangs, they're fragmentation grenades, whoever rigged this bouquet was trying to kill anyone who came through that door!" "What the hay?" exclaimed Rainbow, "Why would they be trying to kill us?" "They're not," Sunset replied, "There's no percentage in geeking us, we're just collateral damage, but a corporate executive, that's another matter entirely, isn't it Mister Adele?" "You think this is part of some plot targeted at me? Why would anyone try to murder me? And why would Adventures Unlimited be involved in such behavior? They're a respectable corporation!" "Gee, who could possibly want to dust an exec?" sneered Sunset, "And of course the corps never dispose of inconvenient people." "Not helping!" Twilight rebuked the older girl, who spread her hands and backed off slightly under the glares the academic and Fluttershy were leveling on her, "Who knew about your excursion, Mister Adele?" "I told several people about the adventure package," Onyema said sheepishly, "I was rather excited about it ...." "It probably isn't an AU operation," Sunset offered grudgingly, "If they wanted to geek him, they could have done it back in the hanger. But between everyone Onyema's talked to, AU's people and the folks from whatever corp actually owns this place, we've got to many potential leaks to pin it down right now," the razorgirl ran a hand through her hair as she sighed in frustration, "The question is what are we going to do now? If we pull out without any more evidence, AU can claim we broke contract, but if we push on, we won't know if the people we encounter are just actors or armed hostiles until they start firing." "We have to keep going!" The seven girls all blinked at the corporator's sudden vehemence, "Is there something we should know, Onyema, darling?" asked Rarity gently. "Ms. Andrews ... Irene ... isn't one of AU's actors, she's my secretary ... she volunteered to help with my experience ... and I am not leaving her with real terrorist!" "Whoa there, pardner, no need ta get all hot an' bothered," the farmgirl was quick to assure him, "We'll get her out, ya got ma word on it," the other girls quickly nodded in agreement, although Sunset seemed somewhat resigned about the whole matter. "Can we call AU for help?" inquired Fluttershy hopefully, "I'm sure they would want to protect their employees, wouldn't they?" Sunset shook her head, "I already tried to call out," she explained, "I could pick up you girls' signals, but nothing from outside the facility, the hostiles must have some sort of jammer set up." "Alright," Twilight said determinedly, "We keep going and get Ms. Andrews, and any AU personnel we can find, out. Same formation as before, and everyone keep your eyes open for ...," she shuddered slightly, "Live ammo. And if we do encounter anyone, remember that we have friendlies out there and make sure of your targets!" The smoke blackened windows reduced the sunlight to a dim haze as the group slipped out of the stairwell and immediately sought cover behind one of the arcane machines, too massive to be easily remove, that still dotted the factory floor. Onyema crouched down beside Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Twilight while Sunset, Rainbow and AJ carefully examined the facility's layout, the later assisted by her rifle's scope, "What do we have, girls?" the academic asked as the three dropped back into cover. "There're still some walls standing over in the office section, so they got cover and rooms to toss Andrews or the other AU people in," Sunset reported. "The bottom two levels are completely burned out, though," Rainbow added, "It's just framework and exposed stairs until we get to the third floor." "They got some lights on up there, an' Ah saw movement in tha offices, so they likely got a few guards out patrollin'." "Oh, oh!" Pinkie broke in with an excited whisper, "I think I found our way to the extraction point!" following her pointing finger, the others soon spotted a battered roadmaster truck sitting in the loading bay. "Good catch, darling," the fashionista complimented her, "At least now we know how we're getting out of this place." The little company quickly moved out, now performing in earnest what Rainbow, Onyema and Pinkie had played at earlier, as they crossed the factory floor. Whether by skill or luck, they made it up to the third-floor offices without raising an alarm, where they slowed down again as they carefully checked each room they passed, their progress frequently delayed even further by the assorted holes they found in the floor, ceiling and walls. As they pressed deeper into the burnt-out offices, they finally came upon signs of inhabitation, a conference room, its windows shattered by the fire, spilled light and the shadows of moving figures out into the halls, "So how do we figure out if they're real terrorists or just the actors?" wondered Rainbow as they crouched in the shelter provided by a stub of wall. "Oh, that's easy, Dashie," Pinkie replied as she stood up and called "Hey, are you guys with Adventures Unlimited?" at the room, only to be pulled down by her friends as gunfire ripped through where she had been standing and pocked the wall they hid behind, "I guess they're the meanies," she declared brightly. "You. Are. Insane!" Sunset growled at the oblivious party girl. "What do we do now?" asked Onyema with a worried frown, ducking lower as more shots chewed away at their cover, and almost having to shout to in order to be heard over the din. The razorgirl risked glancing out from behind cover for a moment, "There's four gunmen covering us from the window, and more in the room, and these gunshots have alerted every other terrorist in the building," she chewed on her lip for a moment, before shaking her head, "If we use Pinkie's smoke grenades we should be able to close to melee with the gunners while they can't see, but without knowing how many more are waiting in that room, it's a desperation move." "What if one of us got up there and took a look?" asked Rainbow, pointing up to some exposed crossbeams above the conference room, the light shining on them revealing the presence of a large hole in the room's ceiling, "Shoot, we could just drop the smokers right down on top of them from up there." "It's a great idea, Rainbow, but we can't fly." "I can do it." "Huh?" Sunset turned to Twilight in confusion, "What was that Sparky?" "I said 'I can do it'," Twilight took a deep breathe, "I can get up there, give me the grenades ... and two of the fragmentation ones as well." "Are you sure about this Sparky?" asked Sunset quietly, at the academic's reluctant nod, the older girl passed her the explosives, "Remember, these frags have a ten meter kill zone, but they can get you farther away, so if you use them get to cover fast." The indigo haired girl took a few more deep breathes, trying to calm herself, the explosives weighing down her pockets, and then she vanished in a burst of magenta light. Twilight reached out to steady herself on the crossbeams as she reappeared, perched precariously over three meters above the floor below. Looking down, she had an excellent view of the conference room, snack wrappers and empty drink cans scattered about, the four gunmen who were keeping her friends pinned down, and four others, all armed, who stood waiting to back up their companions at the window. 'It looks like they've been waiting for us. There's no sign of AU's ponies, though,' the academic sighed, 'Rushing them, even with the smoke grenades for cover, is looking like a bad idea ... maybe if Rarity and I used our shields to separate them?' A cold dread speared through her guts as the sight of one of the four waiting people heading for the window, pulling a grenade from beneath her jacket as she crossed the room, interrupted Twilight's musings, 'No!' She hesitated for only a moment, anguish gripping her heart as Twilight realized what she was about to do, before arming her fragmentation grenades and dropping them into the conference room, and then she teleported away. A second eruption of light heralded Twilight's return as she shouted, "Everypony get down!" and desperately threw a telekinetic wall around the group. On the heels of her warning came the heavy "whump" of grenades detonating, followed a moment later by a second, louder, explosion that shook the floor they were crouched on. "What in the Princesses' names was that?" demanded Rarity as they got back to their feet, the Equestrians' noses wrinkling at the acrid smoke that drifted from the, now silent, conference room. "That first blast was frags going off, probably the pair I gave Sparky," Sunset said as she worked a kink out of her shoulder, "The second one sounded like a high explosive grenade, probably got cooked off when the frags went up. Nasty things," she added with a frown, "I'll go check for any useable gear, you ... should probably all wait here," the razorgirl immediately headed for the conference room without waiting for a reply. A few minutes later, a muffled whimper caught Sunset's attention as she was digging through the ruin that three grenades could make of people in search of serviceable ammo or weapons, looking up the razorgirl saw that everyone had followed after her; Fluttershy had her face buried in Pinkie's shoulder, whose hair had gone completely straight, while Onyema was quietly throwing up in the corner and the other four girls where staring around in horror, "I told you to wait," Sunset said resignedly as she slapped a fresh magazine into her rifle and stood up. Walking back to the group she handed clips to Applejack and Rainbow, and passed a small pistol to Rarity, "This is all that's salvageable, everything else is either damaged or won't work with our kit ... Sparky? Are you okay?" Sunset reached a blood-coated hand out to the wild-eyed, hyperventilating girl, only for the academic to shrink away from her. "Best let me handle this, Sunset," Rarity murmured to the razorgirl, before wrapping Twilight in a hug and leading her over to Fluttershy and Pinkie. "Don't let it get ta ya, sugarcube," Applejack advised as she swapped out her blanks for live rounds, "Twi's jus' havin' a freak out, she don't mean no harm by it." "It's nothing, AJ." "Pull tha other one, it has bells on it," the blonde retorted, "Yer eyes may be empty machines, but we've gotten pretty good at readin' ya," Applejack took another look around the room, swallowed thickly, and turned to resolutely face the blown-out window, "An' ya might want ta wash-up a bit." "We don't have time to waste on that!" objected Sunset, "We still got people unaccounted for!" "Yes, we do," Rainbow declared firmly as she joined them, Onyema in tow, "We all need a few moments to try and ... deal ... with everything in here, so you taking a minute to not look like something out of a horror trideo isn't going to cost us anything, and it'll definitely make us feel better." A few minutes later, once the group had calmed down somewhat and collected themselves, they resumed their search, checking several more rooms without any sign of either the missing actors nor other terrorists, until they reached an intersection and came face-to-face with a pair of armed men in plated vests coming the other way. Augmented reflexes triggered instantly and three guns roared; Sunset's burst tore at armor and knocked her target backwards, while his return fire plucked at her own protective gear, drawing blood from her arm, and the other man's shot ripped through Pinkie's thigh, dropping the rose-haired girl with a cry, while the high-pitched chatter of Rainbow's M-24 quickly joined the gunfight, the combined fire drove the men back into what shelter they could find in doorways and corners. A magenta rampart flared into life as Twilight and Fluttershy rushed to their stricken friend, while AJ and Rarity joined the athlete and razorgirl behind the bulwark, adding their own potshots as the two men desperately scrambled back around the corner and out of sight. Once the terrorists were gone, they immediately turned their attention to their injured, "Flutters, how's Pinkie doing?" "The shot went clean through her outer thigh," the medic reported as she steadied the party girl, "I've stopped the bleeding," she added, turning to her patient, "And pumped you full of PainAway and stims for the shock, but you need some time before you'll be able to walk, and you need to see a doctor." "Alright," Sunset sighed, "AJ, Sparky, you two stay here and guard Flutters, Pinkie and Onyema, Rainbow, Rarity, you're with me, let's go finish those two," she ordered as she slapped a synthskin patch on her arm. The trio set off, checking each room they passed for signs of their quarry, until Sunset stopped the other two near the end of the hall, "I'm getting a lot of thermal-bleed from that room ahead, if they're in there, they'll be waiting for us." "I'll put up a barrier right before we open the door," suggested Rarity, "On three?" The girls moved into position and there was a flare of cornflower blue light just before Rainbow smashed in the door. Inside, seven people lay bound and gagged, fortunately none was particularly close to the burned-away back wall that let out onto a drop to the factory floor, and above them stood the two terrorists, their guns blazing away. As the men's bullets flattened against Rarity's barrier, Rainbow and Sunset's counter fire dropped the man on the right. The remaining terrorist pointed his gun at the helpless woman at his feet, "Drop your guns or I'll -," a bolt of blue light interrupted his threat, striking him in the face and sending the man stumbling backwards - right out the ruined wall. He desperately waved his arms as he tried to regain his balance, only to plummet three stories onto the concrete below. Rarity, her face pale, let her barrier fade, before she blinked and pointed at the prisoner the terrorist had threatened, "Oh my, isn't that Ms. Andrews?" asked the fashionista as the bound woman stared up at them in fear. Any reply was cutoff as the report of a single gunshot echoed down the halls. Racing back, the three girls found their friends huddled together while Applejack stood not far away over the corpse of a headshot woman, "Ah told her ta put down her gun an' surrender," the farmgirl said quietly as Rainbow, Rarity and Sunset gathered around her, "Why didn't she listen? Ah told her Ah would shoot ...." "I don't know, AJ," Rainbow replied as she put a hand on the blonde's shoulder and gently pulled her away, "Come on, we found Ms. Andrews and the others, let's get everyone loaded up and get out of here." Although they managed to make it through dropping everyone off at the Adventures Unlimited building (where they received medical treatment and a nice bonus from Johnson for "services rendered"), between the adrenalin crash, injuries and emotional overload, the Equestrians were staggering on their feet when they finally returned to their crowded apartment and Sunset managed to herd them into bed. Several hours later saw Sunset quietly sitting in a corner, a half-empty bottle of cider in her hand, as she watched her friends toss restlessly in their sleep, while the occasional whimper cut through the dark, "Damn it," the razorgirl finally muttered, as she activated her cell implant, "Heya Doc," she subvocalized when the call was finally answered, "Sorry to wake you, but there's a problem with the twinkies, and I need some help." What kind of problem? What's going on, Shimmer? "A job went pear shaped on us, and there's some fallout that I don't know how to handle." You didn't get them involved in wetwork, did you? Razor demanded, Damn it all, Shimmer, I asked you to look out for them! "I am!" Sunset protested, "This job was supposed to be completely on the up-and-up! A sweet little corporate gig, but then everything went to drek ... and they had to geek some folks ... and I think they might need therapy." ... I thought you said it gets easier? "It does, but the thing is ... I don't think I want it to get easy for these girls. Despite everything, Twilight, Fluttershy, Dash, all of them, they're all still ... innocent, you know? And I don't want any of them to lose that ... I don't want them ending up like me." Alright, Shimmer, I'll talk to a few counsellors I know, one of them should be willing to talk to the girls, try to help them work through things. It won't be proper, regular treatment, but it ought to help. "Thanks, Doc."
Through A Darkened Mirror	8.5 … Elsewhere …	"Doctor! Doctor Lulamoon!" "Yes, Mister Riggs-Duffy? What can I do for the Security Manager today?" Trixie sighed, 'Trixie just wants to go home and relax, maybe have some peanut butter crackers, is that really so much to ask?' "You can start by explaining why six of my data security personnel have been transferred over to your project!" Trixie blinked in confusion, "What are you talking about? I haven't requested any transfers." "I have the orders right here," the man snapped as he held up his PDA, "Straight from Director Coalson's desk!" "Let me see that," Trixie frowned as she scrolled down the computer screen, "This all seems correct ... but why would the Director reassign data security to the PWD project? And why was I not told about this?" Riggs-Duffy's response was cut off as Trixie's comlink headset began to beep and a small icon flashed in her eyepiece, "Wait a minute the Director is calling me now ... Yes, Director? ... Right away, Director. Coalson wants to talk to me, Clyde, maybe I can find out what is going on." "Watch yourself, Trixie, these transfers aren't the only hinky orders to cross my desk this week." "Thank you, but I can look after myself," she replied, 'Damn it, Trixie was really looking forward to those peanut butter crackers.' "I've assigned your project additional staff to get the PWD back on schedule," Coalson said without preamble as Trixie walked in, "And to help with the investigation that the Home Office wants done." "I warned you that using the PWD to study these aberrant readings would significantly impact project completion," Trixie scowled at him, "And how exactly are these additional people supposed to get us back on schedule? They're data security not researchers or programmers or analysts!" "They can still check readouts and do data entry!" Coalson snapped back, "And you will not take that tone with me, Doctor!" the Director took a deep breath and continued in a gentler tone, "Look, it's clear that you're overstressed, Doctor, so it's probably a good thing that the Home Office wants you to step back from the PWD and focus on studying these aberrant espers." For a moment, all Trixie could do was stare at him, "You're pulling me off the PWD project?" she finally managed to get out in a stunned voice. "You're not being pulled from the project, the Home Office is just having you take on a more supervisory position, your assistant can handle the day-to-day affairs," Coalson gave her a small smile, "You'll still get full credit when the PWD comes online, and you'll get to do some research in the meantime. Now, here is all the information we've acquired on these aberrations," he added, holding out a OSD, "Go home and get some sleep and you can start fresh on this in the morning." Trixie stared blankly into space as the door closed behind her, if it hadn't been for her car's autodrive system, she probably wouldn't have made it back to her apartment, 'They're taking Trixie off the project ... years of Trixie's life spent on R&D so that bakebrain Coalson could divert our efforts and resources when we're only months away from completion, and then they take Trixie off the project to help with his little obsession!' her fist clenched around the OSD as nearby furniture began to shake and shift while the floor groaned underneath her, until the sound of a glass shattering snapped her out of her fury before her telekinetic outburst could do too much damage. 'Control, control,' Trixie admonished herself as she started in on some of the breathing exercises she had learned from a college roommate, 'If this is what Trixie have been reduced to, then screaming and crying won't help ... even if it would make Trixie feel better ....' Several hours (and three packages of peanut butter crackers) later found Trixie staring at her computer screen in the wee hours of the morning, 'Trixie knows she has seen every reading the PWDs have recorded, so why doesn't Trixie recognize this one?' she frowned as she leaned back in her chair and rubbed at her burning eyes, 'The location-time-date stamp has been removed as well ... but Trixie has a few tricks up her sleeve ...,' she grinned to herself as she cracked her knuckles and reached for the keyboard. "This doesn't make any sense!" spat Trixie in frustration, "We lost all the data from storage fifteen when those criminals raided it, so how is it here ... unless ...," she reached for her comlink and typed in a number, "Come on ... come on ...." Do you have any idea what time it is Lulamoon? "I'm sorry, Clyde, but this is important, you mentioned some 'hinky orders' earlier, I need you to elaborate, please." You woke me up at three in the morning to pester me about that? "Clyde ... please." Fine ... I got a requisition for housing and armory access for eight people ... Alpha-class access for an indeterminate period. "What?" blinked Trixie, "But we already have a team of troubleshooters assigned to the Seattle office, why would we need two more?" I don't know, and as the Head of Security, I should! Clyde gave a long sigh, That isn't the only thing that was off about these transfers, Trixie, they had no personnel files attached, no Payroll or HR information ... it's like they never worked for CMS a day in their lives before these orders got cut. Now are you going to tell me why you're suddenly so interested? "I got pulled from the PWD project and made a 'supervisor'," she explained, her voice still edged with frustration, "And I was ordered to analyze the information we've been getting from the PWDs. Somebody tried to hide it by messing with the LTDS, but some of the data was stolen before we could record it or send it to the Home Office, so how was it in with all the other information I was given?" This isn't good, Clyde finally said after a long pause, These two issues may not be related, but they still aren't good. "No, no they're not." I can already tell that you're planning something, Lulamoon ... just, watch your back. "I will, Riggs-Duffy, you make sure to watch yours as well," Trixie ended the call and typed in another number, 'It's eleven-thirty in Canterbury, time for Trixie to call an old friend ....'
Through A Darkened Mirror	9.0 … In Which Everyone Relaxes …	"So, this Princess Cadance is the physical embodiment of love?" Sunset shook her head and smirked at her friend, "I'm not sure if I should be jealous of Shining or pity the poor man." "Hey, Caddy is a wonderful mare!" Twilight protested as the seven women lay sprawled about their living room, recovering from Pinkie Pie's "We've Made It Two Years" party, "And they have a great marriage ... even if they have had a few ups and downs." Sunset shot a grin at the indigo-haired girl, before her face dropped into a pensive frown, "Wait, you have corporeal manifestations of stellar objects and even emotions wandering around your home ... and you want to go back? What's wrong with you girls?" "Well that was rather rude," declared Rarity archly, "And why shouldn't we want to return home, Sunset darling?" "Because if you have chaos and love literally walking around, then you should have incarnations of other concepts and emotions too, what do you do about fear, or hate, or fragging death?" "Hey now, don't talk about the Pale Mare like that!" scolded Pinkie, "She's doing a difficult, thankless job, and silly ponies being all scaredy-pants of her just makes her feel bad!" "As for Hate, Fear or any other embodiments of the darker emotions or concepts, I have never heard of any," Twilight observed, "Although, from a purely philosophical point, they admittedly should exist somewhere." "So what if they do?" Rainbow shrugged, her voice slurring a bit from all the cider she had drunk, "We got th' Princesses and Harmony to smack 'em one and either send 'em to Tartarus or make 'em behave," Fluttershy gave a startled squeak as the athlete wrapped her in a one-armed hug, "Just like 'Shy did with Discord, right fillies?" Sunset blinked at the other girls, "Um, yeah, 'harmony' will win the day, go harmony," she sighed, "Still so damn naive," and took another drink. "No more Miss Grumpy-Sunny!" declared the partygirl, "And no more gloomy-doomy thoughts, either! We're having fun!" she glared at the razorgirl, "Riiight?" "Yes, right, having fun," Sunset quickly agreed, "How can such a complete ditz still manage to be so creepy?" the older girl muttered to herself. 'Still, they've done pretty well for themselves,' she mused. Her friends had come through over a year in the Biz in excellent shape, other than the scars on Pinkie's leg, and the limp she would have for the rest of her life, the only physical marks of their exploits among the six was the knife scar running along the side of Rainbow's face and the marks in Rarity's shoulder from when a shotgun (fortunately loaded with shot instead of slugs) had torn through her barrier and armor. Mentally ... the fact that they could still be as innocent as they seemed, despite everything the Biz and life in general threw at them, showed how psychologically tough they were ... or was an indication of a shared insanity, she wasn't entirely sure which .... The fact that they hadn't gotten themselves upgraded was another oddity. Yeah, esper powers didn't mix with cyberware, so Rarity and Twilight choosing to stay all natural made some sense, even when their esper abilities didn't, but the others also refused to get any implants, despite Sunset knowing that Rainbow and Pinkie were interested in reflex and ocular mods. It was just more of the Equestrian weirdness that she had gotten used to. "Ya know," Applejack's drawl interrupted the razorgirl's musings, "If'n Sunny is goin' ta be a wet blanket, then we ought ta make her decided what we're goin' ta do next." "Wait, what?" "Hey, ya're tha one that had ta go getting' all philosophical about 'incarnations' and what not when we're tryin' ta distract ourselves from bein' away from our kin, now get with tha distractin'." Sunset glared into the farmgirl's smirk for a moment, before she relented and offered the first idea that popped into her mind, "Fine, I think the Underground Solution is having an open mic night, how about we try that?" But this is also true: that when she's here, What follows next; a wave of plague and curse. A person mad, another gone, and we're To wonder why Zecora leaves us worse. Sunset turned back towards her friends as Pinkie sang and capered on the stage, "So this 'Zecora' is someone you all know, I take it?" "Well, in Pinkie's defenses," Twilight confessed as she and the other girls exchanged slightly embarrassed looks, "We were operating under severe misapprehensions about Zecora when she came up with this song." "So, no concerns about hexes or her trying to cook people anymore then?" "Oh no," Fluttershy replied with a small shake of her head, "We're all rather good friends now." "Zecora helps out with tha town's Nightmare Night carnival for tha foals, an' she's been teachin' ma li'll sis about potions an' alchemy an' such," Applejack added. "We should probably call it a night soon," the razorgirl observed reluctantly, she had been surprised to learn that all six of them could sing, in fact Fluttershy and Rarity's duet had drawn some of the biggest applause of the night, 'This was a pretty good idea, we should go out singing again, sometime.' "We can't go yet!" declared Pinkie as she suddenly dropped into Rainbow's lap, "I talked with Mr. Hamilton, the manager, and he said we could do a group song or two!" the party girl turned her giant, pleading, blue eyes on the others, "Can we? Can we? Please, with cherries and whipped cream and marshmallows on top?" The six women caved quickly, only Fluttershy could match Pinkie when it came to puppy dog eyes, "So, what are we going to sing?" asked Sunset as they headed for the stage. In reply, Rainbow began to hum a tune, with the other Equestrians quickly joining in, "Just go with the flow and let the music guide you," the athlete instructed her. Sunset blinked, but when she opened her mouth to protest Rainbow's decidedly unhelpful advice, Fluttershy put a hand on her shoulder, "Just trust us," she smiled at the razorgirl, "Go friendship and harmony, right?" Shrugging in defeat, the older girl followed along, but it seemed that her friends were right, she somehow knew the tune, knew the words, even though Sunset was certain she had never heard the song before in her life. You're never gonna bring me down, You're never gonna break this part of me. My friends are here to bring me 'round, Not singing just for popularity.
Through A Darkened Mirror	10.0 … In Which Fast Food Is Consumed …	The interior of Hampton Holistic Healthcare looked like a medicine lodge had exploded all over the place as the Spectacular Seven (as Rainbow insisted on calling the group) walked in. The man approaching them didn't fit the tribal image the store presented, however, being a clean-shaven, middle-aged fellow in a decent suit. He also looked like he hadn't slept in days. "Mister Hampton?" asked Twilight, "Nightfox sent us," she continued when the man nodded anxiously, "We understand you need something retrieved?" "Not something, someone," Hampton replied as he flipped the door sign over to "Closed", "The mob took my daughter, Moxie," he explained, "I pay them a protection fee to keep the gangs away from my property, but business has been slow lately, and I couldn't pay this month's fee. Now the Fratellis are holding her hostage until I can pay them, and if I don't ...," Hampton shuddered, "They already chopped off the ring I gave Moxie for her sweet sixteen, I don't want to see what else they might do. "I can't offer much - seeing as how I can't even ransom my own daughter - but I can pay you five hundred each, plus a free toxin flush or a colonic," he continued, looking at the seven women with the first stirrings of hope. "Oh, you poor man," murmured Fluttershy, fighting the urge to hug Hampton, "Of course we'll help you." "Thank you," Hampton smiled gratefully at the women, "I think your best lead for finding where they took my Moxie is to follow Vic Fratelli. He tends to hang out at the McHugh over on Birch, and is a few crayons short of a full box, so you might be able to pump him for some information without him realizing." "We'll get right on it," Rarity assured him, "Hopefully we'll have your daughter back in your arms in a few days." Taking their leave of Hampton, the women headed back to their truck, along the way Applejack punched Sunset lightly in the shoulder, "So what's goin' on, sugarcube, we jus' took a low-pay job ta help somepony out, an' ya didn't even roll yer eyes." "What would be the point?" grumbled the razorgirl, although there was a hint of a smile on her lips, "You six would still take the job, and I'd just get drug along somehow anyway. Besides ... I think your whole pie-in-the-sky idealism may be starting to rub off on me." "Hee, there's hope for Sunny after all!" cheered Pinkie as she wrapped the taller girl in a quick embrace. ________________________________________ The women could smell the grease from inside their truck as they sat in the McHugh's parking lot. The chain advertised its security and super cheap food, but forgot to mention that ordering anything off the menu inevitably ended in sadness and regret, and that whoever was making all their "food" should probably be charged with violating a dozen different environmental laws and health hazards. But, man, did it smell delicious. "Alright," Twilight said, "We're just going to talk to Mister Fratelli, in a public business, with a number of innocent bystanders around, so no long arms, okay?" Applejack and Sunset resignedly removed their rifles and put them into the overlong tool box attached to the truck's floor, while Pinkie just frowned down at the shotgun in her hands. "It's okay, Pinkie, I had a feeling Sparky would insist on leaving the heavier stuff behind," Sunset assured her hyperactive friend as she pulled a short-barreled Roomsweeper and a bandoleer of shells from beneath her longcoat, "Already loaded up with rubber shot and everything." "Can we go, darlings?" asked Rarity, "I'd like to get inside before the rain starts." With the fashionista's urging, the group got out and strolled to the restaurant, although Fluttershy shuddered as they passed the statue of McHugh's clown mascot that flanked the door opposite a huge potted planter, "And now I'll be seeing that face in my nightmares," she lamented. As they entered, the women could see that McHugh's standards had gone down in recent years; the macroplast tabletops and chairs were battered and scarred, there was dirt caked in the tile grout, and instead of three security guards, there was only one bored looking sentry standing out in the open in his red and yellow plated vest, which was either incredibly arrogant or extremely foolish. The restaurant was surprisingly empty, given the early evening hour; other than Vic, dressed in a suit jacket and tie as he worked on his pair of burgers, the only customers were a young man in his early twenties who was apparently working on his ninth cup of soykaf while he focused on his palmtop, and a middle-aged man sitting with a young girl, likely a father and daughter out for dinner. Needing some time to look the place over, and not wanting to stand out, the seven women placed orders and then gathered at the large, central table, "While I admit that I am not a connoisseur of fast-food establishments," confessed Rarity as she picked at her salad, "But don't the workers here seem rather rough-and-tumble for burger flippers?" "And Vicy called the guard 'Lucy' and the guy mopping the floors 'Dipsy'," Pinkie added as she started in on her second Jolly Meal. Twilight frowned as she considered her friends' words, "Alright, something is off here, but we still have a job to do, and I don't want to risk spooking Vic by having all of us go up to him at once. Rarity, you're the best of us at talking to ponies, so how about you approach him, maybe with Sunset tagging along, and we'll wait here in case you need backup?" The pair nodded and got up, with the razorgirl hanging back slightly to give her friend room to ply her schmoozing talents. As Rarity approached Vic and started to chat up the mobster, he gave both women a glare that practically oozed suspicion as he idly tugged his earlobe, 'What the frag?' Sunset wondered, 'Yeah, getting your meal interrupted by strangers is annoying, but having two attractive girls walking up to you doesn't normally merit a look like that.' Sunset did her best to appear nonchalant as she kept an eye on the rest of the restaurant, only half-listening as Rarity smooth-talked her way past the mafioso's hostility and began to ensnare him in her conversational web. As the fashionista worked her verbal magic, the razorgirl resisted the urge to shake her head, 'Hampton was right, this guy's pretty slow on the uptake, he'll probably spill what we want without Rarity having to do more than butter him up and imply an interest in a more "private" meeting.' Unfortunately, Sunset wasn't the only one who had noticed Rarity's success at playing Vic, "Damn it, Vic, ya putz!" snarled the man working the register as he pulled a pistol from beneath the counter. As her augmented reflexes triggered, Sunset's own cry of "Gun!" was almost swallowed by the roar of her Ultra Power firing twice, dropping the staffer as all hell broke loose around her. Vic immediately went for the pistol under his jacket as he started to stand up, only to take a blast of cornflower blue energy to the face that bounced his head off the wall behind him, while the lone guard tried to smash Applejack aside with his cybernetic arm as he pulled his Manhunter heavy pistol, tried being the operative word, as the farmgirl caught his blow on her crossed forearms as she surged out of her seat. The man mopping the lobby had pulled a light pistol from under his apron, only to be tackled by Pinkie and Rainbow, while Twilight and Fluttershy both headed directly for the other customers, with Fluttershy pulling the young man beneath his table with a murmured "I'm sorry!", while Twilight hurried over to the confused father and daughter and flung up a barrier between them and the rest of the restaurant. This proved to be the right decision, as an automated sentry gun dropped from the ceiling and, in a glaring example of why you shouldn't buy your targeting algorithms from the bargain bin, started firing at the ten-year old girl. Rarity blasted Vic again, leaving the mafioso in an unconscious heap, as she turned her attention to the sentry gun that was blazing away, ignoring everyone else in the restaurant in its single-minded effort to kill a child. After a quick glance confirmed that Twilight's shield was holding up fine, she wrapped the auto turret in her aura and pulled until, with a bang and a shower of sparks, its supports twisted, the control cables snapping, as the sentry gun hung limply from the ceiling. Rainbow crouched on the mop man's back with one arm wrapped around his neck, pinning him to the floor as Pinkie zip-tied his wrists and ankles together while she chattered away at him, "Why were you wearing a gun? Doesn't it make it hard to mop with a pistol in the front of your pants? Vic called you 'Dipsy', is that you're nickname? We know a mare named Ditzy back home, she works for the postal office, do you know anypony named Ditzy? Hey, why were you and the cashier stallion carrying guns? Wait, are you ponies both mobsters like Vic? Is everypony working here a mobster?" Ignoring Pinkie's babble, Sunset quickly moved over to the guard who was straining against Applejack, the wrist of his gun hand clamped in an iron grip that kept it pointed firmly at the floor, and calmly kicked him in the back of the knee. Dropping with a startled yelp, the guard's eyes widened as the razorgirl pressed the still hot barrel of her pistol to his head, "You have two choices; one, you let my friend have that gun, surrender and get tied up like your buddy over there, two, I pull this trigger, which is it going to be?" "I surrender! I surrender!" "Good choice." The sound of running feet and a cry of "What the frag?!" brought the freelancers spinning around as a man in shirtsleeves and tie and carrying a shotgun, probably the manager, came pounding out from the back, only to stumble to a stop at the sight of his staff scattered across the floor and the assorted firearms pointed at him, "Well, drek." ________________________________________ Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash elected to remain behind with their prisoners and the civilians while the rest of the group swept the building for any other staff that might be lurking about, "Hey, do ya hear that?" "It's coming from over here," said Twilight as she led the others back to the walk-in freezer, from which a faint pounding and muffled shouts emanated, "Who puts a maglock on a freezer? Pinkie, if you would be so kind?" "I got it Twilight," smiled the partygirl as she pulled out a passkey. "Where did ya get that from, Pinkie?" "From the manager, Mister Frank, of course silly." The three girls shrugged at each other as Sunset and Applejack raised their pistols to cover the door, with Sunset silently counting down from three before Pinkie yanked the door open, causing the teenage girl on the other side to stagger back in alarm, "It's okay! It's okay!" Twilight hurriedly assured the frightened girl, "We're not going to ... Moxie Hampton?" "W-who are you? How do you know my name?" "It's a'right, sugarcube," Applejack said soothingly as she gently pulled the girl out of the freezer and wrapped a comforting arm around her, "Yer pa sent us ta find ya." "What happened in here?" asked Sunset as she looked at the large, unconscious man lying on the floor, partially buried by an overturned rack of shelves. "He was guarding me," explained Moxie, "I pushed the rack over when I hear the shooting, and that box hit him on the head, but then I couldn't get out." "Hmm, 'Processed Soyburger Patties, twenty kilos'," the razorgirl read off the indicated box, "That'd do it," while behind her, Moxie began to cry as the stress of the last few days finally overwhelmed her. A concerned Pinkie stepped over to help Applejack soothe the distraught teen, "Twi-twi?" she threw a glance at the last two members of the group, "Why don't you and Sunny take care of things back here, while AJ and I take Moxie out to Fluttershy and the others?" "We can handle this, Pinkie," the razorgirl promised her friend, shortly, the man was bound hand and foot, and his pistol, another high-caliber Manhunter, was resting in Sunset's hands as she looked around the freezer, "Sparky? Is it just me, or do those look a lot like bodies?" she asked, pointing at a pair of objects wrapped in dark plastic. The former alicorn shuddered as she glanced at the items in question, "Yes, yes they do, Sunset." "You're going to insist we call Lone Star, aren't you?" "Yes, yes I am." ________________________________________ Fluttershy and Rarity both sniffled happily as the seven women watched Hampton tearfully hug his daughter, before they turned and walked away leaving the family to their reunion. "Let's see, we took out a bunch of mobsters, rescued a kidnapped girl, oh and we helped Lone Star solve two murders," Rainbow grinned as she stretched, "I'd say we put in a good day's work." "And didn't it feel good to help the Hamptons?" asked Fluttershy as she reached over to nudge Sunset. "Yeah ... fine ... it did feel pretty good," the razorgirl conceded, "So, who's up for pizza? My treat."
Through A Darkened Mirror	10.5 … At The Same Time …	Director Coalson? Doctor Lulamoon is here for her two-thirty meeting. "Very good, Jamal, send her in." Coalson barely glanced up from the financial forecasts he was studying as Trixie walked in, "Good afternoon, Doctor, how are things going with that new project the Home Office assigned you?" "We've made something of a breakthrough, actually, Director." That got his attention, "You've done it? We can track espers by their powers?" "Not yet," cautioned Trixie, "Although the project does show promise. We can, however, track these aberrant esper signatures." "How closely can we narrow down the location?" "It depends on the frequency, strength and duration of their power usage," the scientist responded with a shrug, "Like with any other form of signal tracking. But once we connect the analyzer to the PWD, we should be able to start narrowing down at least a general location for these aberrant espers. Of course, it would work much better with a completed and fully functioning PWD," she added pointedly. "That's not your concern anymore, Doctor," Coalson impatiently waved off her jibe, 'Is she still upset about that? She really needs to get over it.' "How soon can you have this analyzer installed?" "It should only take a few hours." "Then you'd best get to it," Coalson ordered, "I want it up and running today," turning back to his monitor, he paused to glance back at Trixie, "You've done excellent work, Doctor Lulamoon, I think the Home Office will be quite impressed." As soon as the door had closed, Coalson let out a contemptuous snort, 'You're a fragging genius, Lulamoon, but so gullible. All it takes is a few compliments and the empty assurance that the Home Office is giving the orders and you'll follow my every instruction blindly.' Shaking his head at how easy it was to manipulate the scientist, Coalson placed a call on his cranial cellphone. This is Burke, said a woman's voice. Start preparing a containment cell for ... two espers, just to be safe, Coalson instructed, Appropriate any materials you need from the medical and security divisions. Use the existing holding cells if you have too, but I want this done immediately. If Lulamoon's work lives up to her claims, we may have subjects as early as this weekend. Understood, but are you sure you want to keep the subjects at the facility? Moving containment and research to an off-site location, maybe a warehouse or something, would keep CMS personnel from becoming too curious about the operation. So what if the peons get curious," Coalson retorted, I run CMS in this 'plex, I AM CMS in Seattle! None of them will dare cross me if they know what's good for them!* ... Right. Whatever you say, Coalson, we'll need to stock up on gas grenades and AP ammo from the armory while we're getting the containment cells ready, so just keep that Riggs-Duffy bloke off our backs. Fine, just have your people ready to move when we get a location on these abberants.
Through A Darkened Mirror	11.0 … In Which There May Be Cake …	Rarity carefully lined up her scope on the guard, if she could pull off this shot, she'd be able to free the prisoners without the rest of the raiders being any the wiser, but just as she was about to fire ... her PDA began to beep. "Well, ponyfeathers," the fashionista grumbled as she paused her game, "I was just getting into the story too." Looking at the flashing icon, Rarity raised an elegant eyebrow as she recognized the caller, Romeo. Romeo was a fixer of Rarity's acquaintance, although a much smaller fish than the likes of Mercy or Imaginary Annie, who had hooked the girls up with a few jobs in the past, "Hello, Romeo, darling." "Rarity, babe! Sorry I haven't been in touch lately, but I got just the thing to make it up to you, sweet cheeks. I've got a sweet little honey of a job lined up for you, a real cakewalk." "Indeed? Do tell me more," replied Rarity as she maintained a smile of polite interest. As sleazy as Romeo could be, dealing with such personalities was an unfortunate reality of the criminal world, or the fashion world, for that matter. In truth, Romeo had been more useful in connecting Rarity with clients for her fashion and seamstress work, 'Still, work is work,' the fashionista observed. "So listen, babe, Syntech is transferring a shipment of cybernetic parts from a warehouse to one of their research facilities. I've got a buyer who would love to get his hands on that shipment, and he's willing to pay good nuyen for it. All you and your hot little friends need to do is arrange a little accident for that truck somewhere between the warehouse and the lab. You'll get a third of the street value for all the parts you manage to recover, and I'll even pay you one-thousand nuyen each as a retainer. The truck's gonna leave at twenty-two hundred tonight, so I recommend you get that team of yours together and get to work." The fashionista nodded and reached over to disconnect the call, as Romeo added one final caveat, "And don't keep any samples for yourself ...." Glancing at the paused game, Rarity shrugged philosophically, 'Well, I can always save the Capital Wastelands some other time,' before she turned to call out to her roomies, "Fillies, we have a job!" "I don't like this ...," Fluttershy said, her hands tight on the steering wheel, "Won't the guards be paying more attention while they're in low-security areas?" "I'm not exactly thrilled with it either, Flutters'," Sunset replied as she leaned forward to look out the windshield between the shy girl and Twilight at the truck they were trailing, "But it's the best plan we've got. At least we're unlikely to run into a random Lone Star patrol, and none of us really wanted to try and intercept the truck while it was on the freeway." "A bit more time to prepare would have been nice," admitted Rarity from her seat, "Still, Romeo assured me this job would be a piece of cake." "Hey, we should go out for cake after this is done!" chirped Pinkie, "Or pie! Or pie-cake!" "First thin's first, sugarcube," the farmgirl reminded her hyperactive friend, "Once we hit Tukwila an' all tha traffic clears out, we're goin' ta stand out like a cat at a canary convention." "We'll need to close in fast," Twilight agreed with a nod, "We'll be entering Tukwila in ... approximately five minutes, everypony make sure they're belted in, this will probably get rough." Soon after, they turned a corner to see their target had pulled away and was accelerating, "Drek, we've been made!" swore Sunset, "Floor it 'Shy!" The truck surged forward and quickly overtook the slower delivery vehicle as Flutershy leaned on the gas. A panel in the back of the Syntech vehicle popped open while the they closed, and the rip of automatic fire roared through the streets as a guard sprayed the truck with SMG fire. "Yer friend, Romeo, has a mighty odd definition of 'cake'," Applejack grumbled at Rarity as she ducked down. "Not the time, darling," the fashionista admonished as she threw up a wall of pale blue light before the Syntech truck, causing the fleeing vehicle to swerve. Clipping the telekinetic barrier with one front tire, the vehicle started to spin out, before the driver got it back under control. Unfortunately for him, his control proved to be short lived. Fluttershy veered in to, very carefully, ram the delivery truck from the side, which, coupled with Twilight raising an angled magenta barrier of her own in front of the speeding vehicle's hood, set the delivery truck rolling. Fluttershy pulled her truck back around alongside the Syntech vehicle as the echoes of the crash faded, and she and her friends got out. Walking over to the truck, Twilight's aura wrapped around one of the gun ports and forced it open just long enough for Sunset to toss in a pair of stun grenades, before slamming it shut. Meanwhile, Fluttershy and Rarity were helping the stunned driver out of the cab, "Oh my, are you all right?" the timid girl asked, as she ran the scanners in her medical bracer over the man. "Y-yes," the driver slurred, staggering slightly as Rarity held him up, "I think so." "That's wonderful!" Fluttershy beamed at the man, causing him to hesitantly smile at her, "Oh, and I'm really sorry." "Sorry for what?" "For this," replied the former pegasus as she raised her pistol and shot him. The two Equestrians carried the limp body over to where their friends were laying out the guards from inside the cargo bay, "Everything go okay?" inquired Twilight as she bound one of the unconscious men. "Oh, yes," the pink-haired girl responded as she began to check the men for injuries, "But I'm afraid the driver will be very cross with me when he wakes up." "We could leave them all cupcakes?" offered Pinkie. "Yes, Pinkie, I'm sure that some cupcakes would make them feel much better," Sunset snarked, "You know, if we had any cup ..." she trailed off as the grinning partygirl pulled two boxes of cupcakes out of her pack, "Nope, not going to question it," the razorgirl declared as she turned to start loading crates into their truck. "Is everyone okay back there?" asked Twilight as she used her telekinesis to trigger the Panic Button in the crashed truck's cab. "As okay as we can be, Twi'," answered Applejack with a small groan, "We're squeezed in here like apples in a cider press." "We'll get everything dropped off, and everypony all comfy as soon as we can," Fluttershy assured her friends as she pulled onto the I-Five and accelerated towards Tacoma. A while later, Rarity decided to break the silence, "I think that went rather well, over all, don't you?" "Eh, I guess so, but your guy's 'cakewalk' could have used more cake," Rainbow grumbled. "Aww, we'll have cake soon, Dashie!" Pinkie promised the athlete, "Just as soon as - Twilight!" The girls reached for the academic as she slumped over, only for her to wave them back, "I-I'm alright, fillies, really, it was j-just feedback." "Feedback from what, darling?" "I put a ward on the dimensional tear we came through, so I would be alerted if anyone tried to manipulate it," Twilight rubbed her head, "It hit me harder than I was expecting, is all." Sunset stared at the indigo-haired girl, "Wait, you can do that?" "You mean espers can't?" Twilight shook her head in bemusement, before turning her attention to Fluttershy, "We need to get back to 7th street right away, before the Princesses move on!" "O-okay, but to get there really fast, I'll have to break all the traffic rules." The academic flinched at her friend's words, "I guess we'll just have to make an exception," she sighed resignedly, "But only because this is a special, emergency situation!" "Uh, Sparky? You do realize that as a SINless criminal, most things you do are breaking the rules, don't you?" "Oh, shut up," grumbled Twilight as her friends grinned at her, "And no pony tells Celestia about this when we get back! Or my parents!" A rumble of thunder announced that another storm would soon descend upon the metroplex as the seven women climbed out of the panel truck to stare at the blue glow that was pouring out from deeper in the alley, "Come on!" Twilight urged the others, "We don't know how long the Princesses can keep the portal open!" Following after her friends, Sunset rounded a dumpster only to come to a dead stop as she stared at the oblong of blue light, about the size of an old full-length mirror, that floated in the air a few meters away, "Well, ain't that some hoodoo drek." "Home," Fluttershy breathed happily, "We can go home!" the Equestrians shared a cheer, while Pinkie wrapped the shy woman in a bone-creaking embrace. "Well? What are you all standing around for?" demanded Sunset, wiping a bit of moisture - probably some early rain - from her eyes, "Get going!" "There's no need to be pushy, darling," Rarity admonished the flame-haired girl. "Yes, there is!" snapped Sunset, "Your families, your lives are waiting for you, and the door could disappear at any moment! You need to go now!" "Sunset's right," sighed Twilight unhappily, "We don't know how much time we have, Fluttershy, Pinkie, you two go first, I don't want to risk overloading the portal again, and you can reassure the Princesses that we're alright and will be coming through shortly." Nodding at the academic's instructions, the two women delayed only to give Sunset a final embrace and wish her a tearful farewell before they passed through the portal, Pinkie leaping through with a loud "Wee!" as she cannonballed into the shimmering blue field. "Okay, Apple--" whatever Twilight was going to say was interrupted by the roar of an engine and the screech of heavy tires on pavement. Rainbow and Sunset cautiously peeked around the dumpster, only to return grim-faced as they urgently motioned to the others to keep down. "What is it, darlings?" asked Rarity in a tense whisper from where she crouched on the stained pavement. "A Citymaster riot vehicle just boxed us in!" replied Sunset, her voice carrying a mix of incredulity and dread, as she unslung her rifle, "And it's unloading a squad of riot troops!" "It's only eight troopers," Rainbow corrected the razorgirl as she checked her M-24, "With darkened face plates and no insignia," she glanced at her friends, "Maybe they're looking for somepony else?" she added hopefully. "Attention, the group hiding behind the dumpster!" an amplified voice called out, "Send out the esper, unarmed, to be taken into custody, and the rest of you will be free to go, you have thirty seconds to comply." "So much for that hope, Rainbow," exhaled AJ as she raised Little Mac, "Well, 'em varmints ain't gettin' Rares an' Twi' without a fight." "No, they're not," Sunset declared as she shifted to face back towards the alley mouth, her muscles tensing as her augmented reflex kicked in, "Because the four of you are going through that damn portal right now, while you still can!" "What?!" exclaimed Twilight, "But what will happen to you?" "Doesn't matter," stated Sunset firmly, "As long as the six of you get back home safe, it'll be worth it." Any further protests were interrupted by a shot tearing through sheet metal, armor, flesh and bone to knock the razorgirl onto her back, blood pouring from her shoulder, as a pair of energy barriers, one magenta, the other cornflower blue flickered into being, cutting the five girls off from their attackers. Rarity's eyes flickered up, and then her telekinetic wall shifted to rest upon Twilight's, deflecting a pair of grenades back the way they came, where they burst and quickly began to fill the alley with gas. The four displaced ponies exchanged a look, and then Applejack and Rainbow scooped up a cursing Sunset and ran for the portal. "I do believe we should leave these ruffians with a proper farewell for their atrocious behavior," the fashionista observed, nodding at the dumpster as several gunshots spanged off their barriers. "I think you're right, Rarity," the academic agreed. With a slight flicker, the barriers vanished, only for Twilight's aura to envelope the dumpster and send it hurtling down the alleyway and into the gas cloud as the two girls turned and plunged through the portal after their friends.
Through A Darkened Mirror	11.5 … Back At CMS Seattle …	Horatio Coalson, Director of Celestia Medical Systems' Seattle branch and all local subsidiaries was having a wonderful day; he'd manipulated the payroll system so that his two teams of 'troubleshooters" were receiving triple pay, but only a third was actually going to them, he'd had an excellent lunch at the Eye of the Needle, and any time now his mercenaries, the very same people the Security budget was currently housing, feeding, outfitting and paying, were going to call in with a captured aberrant esper "volunteer" or two for R&D to process, all of which results would never be seen by the Home Office, but should net him a very tidy sum. A slight "ping", as much felt as heard, alerted Coalson that he had an incoming call on his cranial cellphone, "How many subjects did we acquire, Burke?" None, the targets are ... gone. "What?! What happened?" We located the targets in a dead-end alley near the Puyallup Wall, and thermal scans showed five people behind one of those old metal dumpsters. We demanded their surrender when we pulled up, claimed that we'd let the rest of them go in exchange for the espers, didn't really expect them to take the offer, but if they did, so much the easier for us. But then they put up these two barrier ... things. "'Barrier things'?" scowled Coalson, "What are you talking about?" I don't know what they were, telekinetic walls don't glow, and you can't stack them on top of each other, but that is what these espers did! They stopped all of our shots except for the first, and kept out the gas grenades as well, once the barriers went down and the gas thinned out we rushed their position, but they weren't there anymore, Burke's voice hardened, You sent us against espers with freaky-assed abilities who are strong enough to teleport multiple people and didn't even bother to warn us? I don't like being played, Coalson. "No one is playing you, Burke," Coalson hastened to assure the mercenary, "It seems that Lulamoon's machines don't live up to their hype, is all." 'And you would have charged me vastly more if you knew that I was hunting a potentially world-class esper.' "We'll talk when you get back, I'm sure we can come to an understanding." 'I can offer to double their retainer, I'll just use the funds I'm diverting from payroll to cover it.' Disconnecting the call, Coalson stared at the wall for a moment, "God damned fragging espers, slotting up my plans! Who do they think they are?! Worthl--," his door being kicked in interrupted the growing tirade, leaving Coalson to stare stupidly at the two men in grey fatigues and clamshell cuirasses who were pointing assault rifles at him. "Hands above your head! Do it now!" "Celestia Medical Services does not negotiate with terrorists," Coalson informed the pair stiffly as he complied, "And security will be here any minute." "Actually, security won't be coming," a cheerful voice said, as the two gunmen parted to let a woman in a skirt suit, her long, pale cyan hair marked by a white streak, through, "You've been a very bad boy," she smirked at him. "Who the hell are you?" "Oh, where are my manners? I'm Lyra Heartstrings, with CMS Internal Affairs, Ms. Celestia has a number of questions for you, Horatio, and she isn't happy."
Through A Darkened Mirror	12.0 … Back Through The Mirror …	Twilight's hooves clattered on polished stone as she passed through the Portal's energy field, transferring between grimy alleyway and palace hall in the blink of an eye. With a relieved sigh, she turned to smile at Celestia and Luna who stood flanking the mirror, the auras of their magic fading from the now quiescent Portal, when an agonized scream echoed through the chamber! Her friends were clustered around a familiar-looking orange unicorn as they tried to restrain the thrashing mare, while Spike and Cadance stood nearby, uncertain of how to help. "Fluttershy, what's wrong with her?" Applejack demanded as she caught a flailing foreleg and pinned it to the floor just as Sunset's cybernetic talons snapped out, causing the young dragon and the Princess of Love to start back in surprise. "I don't know!" the worried pegasus replied as she checked her diagnostic bracer, which had somehow come through the Portal unchanged, "Her readings are all over the place, but her body is rejecting her implants!" "Is there anything you can do, Flutters?" asked Pinkie anxiously as she held down one of Sunset's back legs. "I can sedate her," Fluttershy offered, and the unicorn's violent writhing form quickly went limp as the gentle-natured pegasus gave her an injection, "But she needs a doctor." "The Palace has a medical wing," Luna suggested, "Darling Cadance, will thou run ahead and let the churgeons know we are coming?" "I'm on it, Auntie Luna." "Thank ya kindly, Princess," Applejack said gratefully as Rarity and Rainbow carefully hefted Sunset's limp body onto her back and Pinkie picked up the crossbow the farmpony had discarded in all the commotion, "Twi', sugarcube? Why don't ya get tha word from Princess Celestia while we get Sunset looked after?" At the purple alicorn's nod, the ponies quickly filed out, hurrying to the medical wing. Turning back to her mentor, Twilight shook slightly as a small figure slammed into her and wrapped a pair of stubby arms around her leg in a desperate hug, "It's alright, Spike," she crooned comfortingly as she enfolded the quietly weeping dragon in her wings and gave him a neck-hug, "We're back, we're safe." "May Faust be thanked," Celestia prayed fervently as she wrapped the pair in one of her own wings, "Poor Spike has barely slept since Sunset Shimmer sent word through the journals that you were missing and the she could not open the Portal to search for you," the princess added, giving the dragon a quick nuzzle, "Speaking of Sunset, that young mare ...." "Is the Sunset Shimmer from the other side of the Mirror, yes," confirmed the younger alicorn, "Although, I suppose we should start calling her Aurora ... Sunset is just a nickname," Twilight clarified, seeing Spike's and Celestia's confusion, "H-how long were we gone?" "Five days, my faithful student." "Only five days?" blinked Twilight in surprise, "Such as extreme temporal divergence between the two worlds," mused the academic, "It's almost like the stories about somepony going into Feyholme ...." The next morning, Spike and the six Bearers of Harmony joined the other three princesses for breakfast, "Did everypony sleep well?" asked Celestia as the little gathering got comfortable. "It was heavenly, Princess," Rarity assured her diarch as her five friends nodded in agreement, "Sunset, bless her cynical little heart, tried, but her place was never meant to house four ponies, let alone seven." "Indeed, it sounds like thou have had some most interesting exploits," Luna commented as she nodded at the computerized medical bracer Fluttershy was still wearing, "Would thee mind telling us somewhat of thy tales?" The following hour was filled with boisterous, disjointed, storytelling as the six mares gave an abbreviated, and, on occasion, slightly edited, accounting of their time on the other side of the Mirror. "Well, it sounds like the six of you have had quite the adventure," Cadance remarked as she started on her fourth plate, "And I bet it's given you plenty of ideas for your writing, Twily," she added, reaching over to give her sister-in-law a playful nudge with her wing. Twilight blushed slightly, even as she threw her sister a concerned look, "Are you feeling alright Caddy? You're kind of eating a lot ...." "Well of course she is, silly," Pinkie giggled, "She's eating for two now!" "How did ---," Cadance's question was interrupted as the others descended upon her in a jubilant mob. "I'm going to be an uncle! I'm going to be an uncle!" chanted Spike happily as he bounced up and down on his claws. As the cluster finally separated back to their chairs, Fluttershy stopped in her tracks, her ears dropping flat as tears gathered in her eyes, "Oh, oh my, here we are rejoicing in being home and Cadance's baby, but poor Sunset...," a shadow descended upon the gathering as the other five returned mares exchanged grim looks. "Enough with such dour thoughts," Luna admonished them, "Thou do thy friend no service by letting such feelings grip thy hearts. Although ... in truth I had hoped to hear from Sunset Shimmer's churgeon before I retired for the day." A knock at the door drew everyponies' attention as a hoofstallion stuck his head in, "Your Highnesses? A Doctor Healing Spring wishes to see you." Celestia smiled at the stallion, "Of course, Snowy Day, please send him in." The door opened wider to admit a white-maned, burgundy-coated earth-pony stallion, "Good morning, Princesses, ladies. Gentledrake," he added at Spike's pointed cough. "And a good morning to you as well, Doctor," the solar diarch returned his salutation, "And how is our patient this morning?" "That ... is a problematic question, you Highness. We removed an arrowhead from deep within her shoulder, and the muscle spasms seem to have stopped, but she is suffering from moderate, but systemic, toxic shock and a weakened immune system ... and then there is the matter of all the other foreign materials." "'Foreign materials'? Pray, of what do thou speak Doctor Spring?" "Based on our examinations, both of Miss Shimmer's eyes have been replaced with prosthetics, and her entire body has been invasively modified with metallic filaments and what I can only guess are additional prosthetics of some kind, including parts of her brain ... and she has what appears to be a pair of knives inside her right foreleg," the stallion cocked an eyebrow at the gathered mares, "I don't suppose you have an explanation?" Rainbow Dash just shrugged at the doctor's inquiry, "Implanted weapons are common among gillettes." "Yeppers," Pinkie nodded, "And most of them get ocular replacements and muscle and nervous system augmentations too." "She is a foreign guardspony, Doctor," Celestia gently informed the confused earth pony, "And it appears the prosthetics and other materials were part of a medical procedure for her previous posting," she raised a cautioning hoof, "And any discussion of their possible removal should wait until Miss Shimmer can join us." "Very well, Highness, as you wish, but it will likely be several days until Miss Shimmer wakes up, and then we're looking at two or three days of physical therapy and additional treatments before she will be fit to be released." "Our thanks, good Doctor Spring, mine sister and I have the utmost faith in thou and thy staff's abilities, and we shall not delay thou further." As the doctor returned to his rounds, Fluttershy looked up, chewing on her lip in thought, "Uhm, Princesses, I think I can help, w-well not with Sunset, but ponies in general. Maybe?" Cadance looked at the yellow pegasus curiously, "What are you thinking of, Fluttershy?" "I know we probably can't replicate the computers and sensors in my bracer," Fluttershy held up her foreleg as she explained her idea, "But what about the drugs in its reservoirs? I mean, we only have a few doses of each, but couldn't it help with our own medicines?" "Hey, good thinkin' there, Flutters!" Applejack clapped the smaller pony on the back, staggering her slightly, "That QuickHeal stuff is right handy." "That is an excellent thought," the elder diarch said with an approving nod, "And I believe we can find some research chemists and alchemists who will be quite interested in what you have to share." Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo sat doing their homework as various medical doohickeys quietly beeped around the room.The return of the three fillies' big sisters had been greeted with tearful hugs, and when they had learned that one of their sisters' friends had been hurt, the foals had quickly volunteered to help keep the mare company. Since then, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had learned that watching somepony sleep ... was pretty boring, actually. Admittedly, it was fairly entertaining when the strange unicorn started talking in her sleep, even if the fillies didn't always understand what she was going on about. "You promised me a pony ... with lasers ... I want my laser-pony!" Case in point. The Crusaders giggled at the older mare's sleep-addled silliness, only to stop as they realized the unicorn's eyes were open and she was blinking at them owlishly, "Hello!" Sweetie chirped as she waved at Sunset, who began to confusedly wave back, only to stop and stare at her hoof as if she had never seen one before. "Nope," the orange unicorn declared firmly as she laid back and closed her eyes, "There's an esper fragging with my head, or they've got me pumped full of the really good drugs, but I am not a horse and you three are not real!" "Hey!" objected Apple Bloom, "We are too real!" "And what's wrong with being a pony?" demanded Scoots indignantly. "I am not having this argument with a herd of hallucinations, no matter how cute they are," Sunset stated adamantly, her eyes still closed, "Now go on," she added, waving a hoof at the fillies, "Go back to wherever delusional figments stay when they're not working, I'm going to wake up now." "But you are awake," Sweetie pointed out, her muzzle scrunched in a confused frown. The orange unicorn opened one eye a slit to look at them, before resolutely closing it again, "No, I am not, and stop being adorable at me!" "Ah bet ya'd believe Twilight if she told ya that ya was awake," Apple Bloom challenged the mare. "Yeah, well Sparky isn't in whatever drug-fueled coma dream this is, now is she?" The three fillies smirked at each other, "Ya jus' stay there, an' we'll be right back." Sunset kept her eyes closed as she snuggled deeper into the pillow 'You know, for a dream this bed is pretty comfortable. Although,' she sighed, 'I should probably start trying to wake up now.' "Aurora?" a familiar voiced called out of her self-imposed darkness, "The fillies tell me that you won't believe that you're awake?" "Sparky?" Sunset's eyes snapped open to stare at ... a purple unicorn-pegasus critter that was smiling at her, 'Same hair, same voice, same eyes ... it really is Sparky.' "Yes, It's me, Aurora." "You're a horse." "We told you that we were ponies," Twilight rolled her eyes in annoyance as she walked over to the bed, "And I'm an alicorn, actually." "Like I would actually believe that," retorted Sunset as she reached up a hoof and booped Twilight on the nose, eliciting giggles from the trio of fillies watching from the doorway, "Holy drek! You're real, aren't you?" dropping back into her bed, she stared at her friend, "What the hell happened? I don't remember anything after I was shot and AJ and Rainbow dragged me into your portal thing. Why am I a horse? ... And why are you calling me by my first name?" "Well, in order," Twilight replied as she settled into one of the chairs and waved the Crusaders back in, "Your body reacted ... poorly to the Portal's transformation, so you've been in the hospital. And you're a pony because part of the Portal's magic is to transform anyone who passes through it into an appropriate species for their new dimension, which is why we were humans back on your world, and you're a unicorn here. As for your name, I was trying to avoid any confusion with our, 'native', Sunset Shimmer ...." "'Native Sunset Shimmer'? So, what, I have a doppelganger? Or am I a doppelganger?" the unicorn frowned for a moment and then shrugged, "Whatever, someone has been doppelganged." "That isn't even a word!" "You're just jealous that I invented a word," Sunset smirked at the flabbergasted alicorn, "So who're the squirts?" "Aurora, meet Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, fillies, this is Aurora." "Ah, so you're the little sisters I've heard about," the bedridden mare grinned at the three foals, "And call me Sunset." "Aurora ...," Twilight sighed. "No, Sparky," Sunset said firmly, "It's my name, I worked and bleed for it, and I'm not giving it up," glancing around her hospital room, she continued in a milder tone, "So, how long have I been out?" "Six days," came Sweetie's 'eager to be helpful' reply, "Did our sisters really talk about us?" "Sure did, short stuff," the flame-haired mare assured her, "Only six days, huh? That's not so bad, I think I'll ...," Sunset started to rise, only to collapse back into her bed with a pained grunt, "Try getting up later." "Just like Rainbow Dash," Scoots observed sagely as the other two Crusaders nodded, "Always trying to get up while she's still sick." "Actually, Sunset," said Twilight with an embarrassed cough, "You haven't been gone for just six days." Sunset cocked an eyebrow at the academic, "But you just said ...." "You've been here, in Equestria, for six days," the alicorn clarified, "But we've determined that the temporal deviation between realities is rather ... extreme." "How long have I been gone?" asked the unicorn apprehensively. "This is going to be rather a shock, Sunset, so please try to remain calm and remember that we're all here for you." "Twilight. How. Long?" Twilight smiled at her friend nervously, "Three years." The alicorn and the fillies began to shift anxiously as Sunset just stared at them impassively, until the mare finally spoke, "I think I'd like to be alone right now."
Through A Darkened Mirror	13.0 … In Which Sunset Is Rude To A Pony …	Sunset lay in her hospital bed, starring idly at the ceiling in boredom, she knew she should be trying to rest, Doctor Spring had said she was starting physical rehabilitation in the morning, but she wasn't ready to go back to sleep yet. Unfortunately, she had nothing with which to pass the time, no trideo, it was after mandatory lights-out so she couldn't read, and Sunset had already spent over an hour listening to nothing but static as she fruitlessly searched for a radio broadcast, any radio broadcast, on her cranial cellphone. With nothing better to do, and unwilling to indulge in any more brooding over what she had lost, Sunset tested all her implants, and she was quickly reassured to find that everything seemed to be working, her talons making a faint "snikt" as they snapped out, although she couldn't check her smartgun link without a weapon, and she was beginning to have some doubts about her cell ... 'They have to be broadcasting something. I mean they have all these medical monitors, so they must have developed radio ... right?' she glanced around her room, 'Even if most of these machines look like something from out of the history files about the mid-twentieth,' shaking her head in bemusement at the archaic technology, she dropped back onto her pillow, 'I wonder how the girls are doing?' The woman strode resolutely across the burned-out conference room, the sound of autofire ripping through the air as her companions at the window kept the freelancers pinned down, as she pulled a high yield grenade from her belt. Something, some sound or instinct, cause her to stop and look up, meeting Twilight's eyes just as the pair of frag grenades the alicorn had dropped through the hole in the roof went off, time seemed to slow to a crawl as everyone in the room was slowly torn to shreds by incandescent metal shards. 'No, not again!' thought Twilight desperately as she tried to force herself awake, 'I don't want to see this again!' "Be at peace, Twilight Sparkle," a gentle voice comforted the alicorn as great, soft-feathered wings folded around her. "Oh, Princess," Twilight shook as she buried her muzzle in the lunar diarch's shoulder, "I-I thought I was getting better ... I thought the nightmares had stopped ...." "It is alright, Twilight Sparkle," Luna gave the young academic a reassuring squeeze, "Please, tell me what is troubling thou so." "Those ponies," sniffled Twilight as she waved a hoof at the blue haze that had swallowed up her dreamscape, "I killed them! I-I could have found another way, I know I could have! But I didn't!" Luna raised an eyebrow at her young friend's admission, "What could possibly have driven thou, thou of all ponies, to such extremes, Twilight Sparkle?" "They were going to kill my friends." "Ah," the Princess of the Moon gave Twilight a measuring, if worried, look, "And have thou discussed these nightmares, this guilt, with anypony?" "Yes," Twilight nodded, "Doctor Razor arranged for me, and the other fillies, to speak with a therapist a few times about what we saw ... what we did on that job." "'A few times'?" Luna frowned, "I was under the impression that psychological therapy required a multitude of sessions." Twilight gave her fellow alicorn a sad smile as she stepped out of her embrace, "It does, but we didn't, officially, exist on the other side of the Mirror, so a session every month was the best that Razor was able to arrange for us." "I see, and do the other Bearers of Harmony also still suffer from their mental distress?" "I don't know," Twilight admitted sheepishly, "We don't really talk about it ... but, yes, they probably do." "Very well, then the six of thou will seek out proper psychological counselling until such time as thy emotional wounds have been healed," Luna gave Twilight a small smirk, "And please inform Fair Applejack and Rainbow Dash that I will make this a Royal Edict if I must." "Well, that might just get through their stubbornness," admitted the scholarly alicorn with a small giggle. "And are thou feeling better, Twilight Sparkle?" "Yes, Princess," Twilight smiled up at Luna, "Thank you." "Then sleep well mine friend." Sunset resisted, barely, the urge to grumble as the orderly, an earth pony named Breezy Cloud, 'And just what is the deal with all the ridiculous names these ponies have?' pushed her through the halls, her earlier protests that she could walk just fine having been overruled by Doctor Spring. "Hey, where are we going?" she asked as the halls went from institutional, if outdated, to polished stone, tapestries and stained-glass windows that had no business anywhere near a hospital. "You have a bunch of visitors, plus a meeting with Doctor Spring and Princess Celestia," Breezy explained, "So the Princess thought everypony would be more comfortable in one of the Palace's meeting rooms." "Oh, okay ... wait, 'Palace'? What kind of palace has an attached hospital?" "Well of course we have a hospital," the mare replied in surprise, "Between all the Palace staff and guards, not to mention the Princesses themselves, it would be silly to not have a medical wing, even if we are technically an annex of Canterlot Mercy General." The unicorn shook her head, and then did a double take as they passed a ceremonial guard of some kind, 'Metal plate armor? Seriously? Well at least it looks nice, I guess.' Shortly thereafter, Breezy wheeled Sunset into a fair-sized room where several ponies waited, only to have most of them eagerly descended on her, "Girls?" the slightly overwhelmed unicorn asked as she tried to match the babble of familiar voices to the strange, brightly-colored, faces in front of her, "Well, would you look at you." "How are you feeling, darling?" "Okay, I guess, Rares, Fit Fiddle said I should be done with physical therapy in two or three more days," the razorfilly rubbed at the base of her horn, "But I've got this damned pain in my horn that just won't go away." "Thaumic buildup," Twilight observed with a nod, "It's common among young unicorns who haven't learned to properly channel their magic yet, but it's more a nuisance than a serious aliment," she explained to Sunset. "Magic? Really, Sparky?" laughed the orange unicorn, only to stop when the others didn't join in on the joke, "Wait, you're serious? I can do that freaky esper drek you and Rarity do now?" Healing Spring and Celestia, who had been completely ignored so far, exchanged bemused glances at Sunset's odd words, before the Doctor stepped forward and cleared his throat, "Yes, Miss Shimmer, of course you can do magic. Although the ... modifications," he said the word with clear distaste, "To your brain and nervous system have severely impaired your abilities. I'm afraid that even if we are able to successfully remove all of the invasive materials, the damage is likely irreversible, and you will probably never reach your full magical potential." "Aww that's too ... you want to remove my implants?!" "We wished to discuss the possibility of removing some of your, I believe Pinkie Pie called them 'augmentations', yes," Celestia admitted, "I gather you are rather opposed to the idea, however." "Damn right I am!" snapped Sunset, "And I wouldn't let your butchers try it even if I wasn't!" "Butcher!" exclaimed an affronted Healing Spring, "Why I never!" "Doctor Spring is a highly capable and accredited physician, Sunset," the Princess scolded the flame-maned unicorn, "I would ask you to be a little more open minded." Sunset glanced at her, "Who are you, anyway?" "I am Princess Celestia," the solar diarch replied, unruffled by the mare's blunt question, "Co-ruler of Equestria." "Oh, so you're the one Sparky is always going on about," Sunset nodded, "Well, listen up, Princess, these girls," she waved a hoof at her friends, "Had never even heard of implants until they met me, so there's no way I'm going to believe any of your doctors actually know how to extract them. Oh and then there's the little matter of I don't want them removed!" "There's no need for such hostility, darling," Rarity prodded the razorfilly in the shoulder reproachfully, "I'm afraid Sunset is often rather abrasive with new ponies," the fashionista said apologetically to Healing and Celestia, "And, well, she has had her augmentations for some time, I suppose it's only natural for her to be reluctant to give them up." 'Humph," Healing Spring snorted, clearly still irked by Sunset's comments, "Other than your prosthetic eyes, these 'implants' of yours serve no medical purpose, and the stress they put on your body contributed to the crisis that brought you into my care in the first place. You would be better off without them, young lady." "Not happening." "Very well," the doctor sighed, "Perhaps, given some more time to think on it, you will change your mind, regardless, I need to get back to work. Princess, ladies." Fluttershy frowned disapprovingly at the orange mare as the stallion left, "I know you don't like what he was suggesting, Sunset, but you didn't need to be so rude to Doctor Spring, he was only trying to help, after all." "Yeah, maybe," Sunset gave the yellow pegasus a faintly apologetic look, "But I wouldn't even trust the Doc to pull my implants, and she installs them." "Doctor Razor, yer Highness," explained Applejack, seeing her diarch's puzzled expression. "Ah, yes, I believe Luna has mentioned her," Celestia nodded, "I know you have not be awake for long, Sunset, but have you given any thought to your situation?" "My 'situation'," the razorfilly sighed bitterly, "Believe me, Princess, I've thought about it. Three years ... I've been declared dead by now, my place and stuff have all been confiscated, my SIN's deactivated - and after everything I had to go through to get one - my rep is a ghost, and god only knows if any of my contacts will even talk to me anymore. I'll have to start over from scratch ...." Twilight put a comforting hoof on the mare's shoulder, "You could stay here with us," she suggested hopefully. "And just what will I do, Sparky?" Sunset asked gently, "From everything you've said, there's no real call for gillettes here, and the only other thing I know is scavenging in the Zero Zone ruins, and I won't be a damn freeloader." "We'll think of something," Rarity declared firmly, "And you will not be a 'freeloader'," she raised a hoof to forestall the orange unicorn, "Friends can help friends, darling, just like when you took us in." "I hate to bring it up," Rainbow said, shuffling her hooves uneasily, "But would Sunset be better off in the other human world?" Twilight shook her head, "No, Sunset - the other Sunset - and I have already discussed that option. Sunset would still face the same difficulties in finding employment as she does here in Equestria, but there is also the concern of her implants being discovered if she ever goes to the hospital, and that's assuming she doesn't have another adverse reaction to the Portal, it's safer for her to stay here." "We have a few days to consider our options while Sunset finishes her recovery," Celestia observed, "But for the moment, I would like a few words in private with her, please."

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