//------------------------------// // Tying Up Loose Ends // Story: It's A Screwed Up Life // by Autum Breeze //------------------------------// Tying Up Loose Ends ___________________________________________________________ “Yes. Yes. Yes, and I want the meeting as soon as possible. I do not take kindly to students in any of my schools being blackmailed,” Mum hugs up, clicking the end button on her phone. “Wow,” Diamond gulps. “Last time I saw mother that angry was when he first treated me badly.” “I appreciate it,” I smile, snapping my fingers, the holographic screen that was floating before us vanishing in a flash of light. “It’s more care for other students than Equestria’s Spoiled Rich, I can promise you.” Diamond and I are in her bedroom, sitting on her bed. She’s wearing a silk tops and long pants, while I’m wearing a simple pair of summer pyjamas with Discord designs over them. After she surprised me at the friendship games, Spoiled brought me over to hers and Diamond’s home. It’s not as fancy as the one they have back in Equestria. In fact, it’s quite humble, by comparison. A simple apartment building with a few rooms and a lovely view of Canterlot. It’s a temporary home. Diamond says mum’s working hard to make sure, once everything is finalized, even if not the original mansion, they’ll still have a much bigger home than this. And… yeah. I call this version of Spoiled Mum. She feels like the mother I should have. After all, due to my own stupidity, I gave up my memories of my real world mother. Even my power boast from taking that alternate me’s magic didn’t help. I ended up ruining those memories, permanently. Now, though, I feel the hole left in my heart by losing that mother is filled. Not fully, but enough. “Mommy scary when angry.” We both turn to Lilac. She’s wearing a plain pink nightie, sitting behind the both of us. Diamond and I glance at each other, before smiling and pulling my double into a group hug. “Girls?” Mum calls from the other side of the door and knocking. “Pizza’s here.” The three of us grin and race for the door, stumbling over each other and ending up in a pile on the floor, laughing. I missed this. Celestia, I missed this more than I thought. Once we finish untangling ourselves (after which I smack myself for forgetting I have magic), we head out into the small living room, where Mum’s setting down three pizza boxes next to several bottles of soda. She’s wearing a nightie similar to Lilac’s, but cyan blue. “The movie store didn’t have much on such short notice, but I hope this movie will be fine for the night,” she says, holding up a DVD case. I look at it, before being taken aback. It has an image of a very familiar large red and black centaur on the front, standing over a city. “The Rise of Tirek?” Diamond takes the case from our mother and looks it over. “Well, there’s a first time for everything, right? Maybe this will be the time a video game adapted into a movie is actually good.” I blink, before cocking my eyebrow at her. “Wait. So, in Equestria, Tirek’s a soul-sucking centaur from Tartarus… but here’s he’s just a video game bad guy?” Tiara gives me a cocked eyebrow in return. “… You’re joking at the soul-sucking and from Tartarus thing… right?” I glance away, scratching my chin as I gave a fake smile. “Well… the soul-sucking part, kinda. He sucked out other ponies’ magic, draining them of it completely… but that’s kinda a soul, so… sorta?” Diamond just stares blankly at me, as if not sure how to actually react to that and her brain has shut down all other functions until it is finished coming to a conclusion. Mum chuckles. “What’s say we just watch the movie and leave any possible implications as to how they reflect to another world alone for the night?” Lilac giggles and hugs her. I flick Diamond’s ear to snap her out of it and we nod, all of us moving over to the sofa and sitting down to watch the movie, Lilac on Mum’s left, myself on her right. The movie is… okay, yeah, like pretty much every video game movie, ever, it’s bad. Like, really bad. I actually find myself laughing a lot at it, especially when comparing the Tirek in the movie to the one from Equestria. Wow, this movie stinks something fierce and it seems my laughter helps the others find it funny, too. Throughout the movie, Lilac remains snuggled against Mum. She’s like a child, despite her being the same age as Diamond and myself. It’s cute though and makes a good contrast between the two of us so, even though she’s my double from this world; she is so drastically different and unique. Once Rise of Tirek is done, we watch a few more movies, comedy dramas. Around 9:35pm, Lilac is asleep against mother, who gets me to help her take Lilac to her room. Despite only leaving the hospital a short while ago, Lilac sleeps with Mum. I can understand why. After all, her mind is far younger than her body and she’s still getting used to so much. It makes sense she’d want to sleep with the only parent who cared about her. As soon as Lilac’s in the bed, she gives mumbled groans, reaching around the bed, as if looking for something. Mother chuckles. “Guess I’ll be turning in, too. Do you and Diamond mind cleaning up?” I shake my head. “It’s no problem. With or without magic.” She nods, before reaching out and pulling me into a hug. “I’m glad we got time to hang out, Screwball. I hope we’ll have more time, too.” I return the hug, melting into its warmth, nodding into her shoulder. “Thank you, too, Mum. And I guarantee it.” Whimpers from the bed make us pull back, both of us chuckling lightly, before Mum gets into bed with Lilac, who holds onto her at once, her expression calming and her breathing becoming steady again. I smile at the sight as Mum pulls Lilac into a hug and closes her eyes, before I turn and walk out, gently closing the door behind me. Diamond and I clean up the empty pizza boxes and soda bottles, myself levitating them all into a pile clearing met for recycling, before we both head into Diamond’s room, where a sleeping bag is set up next to her bed. “So, will you stay long tomorrow?” she asks as I clap my hands, the lights turning out. I lean back in my sleeping bag, my hands behind my head. “I probably should. Twilight will be coming back through the portal sometime tomorrow and I wanna know just how things were going with Starlight Glimmer after I left.” Not to mention a few loose ends regarding a few of the alternate timelines. Diamond snorts. “Sheesh. What’s with all these similar names of those who interacted with your princess? She’s Twilight Sparkle, who replaced Sunset Shimmer and now she’s taken on a student of her own called Starlight Glimmer?” I’m not gonna comment on that. I snuggle down, closing my eyes and letting sleep take me, smiling as memories of the last couple hours replay in my mind. ___________________________________________________________ I wave to the girls, who are all sitting around where the Wondercolts statue once was, now just the base. As I near, I sense a magical disturbance and grin as the portal starts to ripple. This gonna be good. “I’m so sorry I didn’t get here sooner,” Twilight says as she comes through the stone, glancing behind at the portal. “It’s just I didn’t get your messages until just now because I was caught in this time travel loop and, honestly, it was the strangest thing that’s ever happened to me.” She looks ahead, before her eyes go wide as she finally sees the Sci-Twi, who is staring back at her with an uncertain smile and waving, while is Spike staring, jaw agape. All remains silent for a few moments as they stare at each other, the only sound being Pinkie sipping her drink, myself barely holding back as I keep my hand over my mouth. “Make that the second strangest,” Twilight says, an uncertain smile coming to her own face. I can’t do it. I burst out laughing, startling everyone, who watch as I roll around in the air for several seconds, holding my sides. Just as quickly, I’m standing between the two Twilights, a smirk on my face as I indicate between them. “Twilight, Twilight. Twilight, Twilight. Or have you both met?” Everyone just stares, not really sure how to react. “There’s… there’s a version of me in this world, too?!” Twilight finally manages, her eyes fixed on her glasses-wearing double. “Tch,” we all turn to Pinkie, who has a smug smile on her face. “Uh… yah. What, did you forget I asked if she was your twin sister back when you first came here?” They all just stare blankly at her as I smirk, now sitting next to her, cross-legged, my hands on my knees. “Yeah, Twi. It ain’t that big a shock.” “But… but that would mean…” Twilight puts a hand on her head, before looking at Pinkie in absolute shock. “How could you even know that?” It’s my turn to snort. “Really, Twilight? After everything our Pinkie does, you’re questioning how another Pinkie can do what she does? Really?” Twilight opens her mouth to argue, but closes it, her face going blank. “That shouldn’t make sense… yet somehow, it does, perfectly!” “Um… i-is it really safe for you to be here?” we all look to Sci-Twi, who’s backing away slowly. “T-Two of the same beings from different dimensions can’t exist in the same space! I-if we were to make contact—” I groan, snapping my fingers, the two Twilights now finding themselves inches appart, myself between them. I grab their wrists and slap their hands together. Sci-Twi screams in fright, before her scream quietens and she notices she’s still around, her hand still in contact with her other dimensional self. I sigh, folding my arms. “That baloney about the different dimensional stuff is a load of tripe. I’ve been in physical contact with my double for ages at a times recently, and, look at me. I’m still here. The world isn’t ended. It’s all fine.” “Huh,” Sci-Twi slowly pulls her hand back, looking from it to her double. “Okay. You crazy kids have fun, now,” I say, running for the portal. “Me and Glim Glam have some issues to sort out.” “Wait. What? Screwball—” Twilight cries out, but is cut off as I enter the vortex. ___________________________________________________________ “So, we’re clear, Glim Glam?” I ask as we appear in the last of the altered timelines, the Wasteland. She nods, looking around sadly. “I can’t believe I caused this… all for revenge for something so stupid.” I float up and put a hoof on her shoulder as she shudders, though I’m not sure if that’s from thinking about what she’s done, or the wrongness of this timeline. There is no magic in the air. It is literally a dead world. We’ve just spent a spent about two hours taking Starlight to all the alternate timelines Twilight, Spike and I were forced to deal with every time she’d stopped the Rainboom, but jumping back in those timelines to long before we’d arrived for most of them, showing her the darker times each one faced, with us merely being spectators, like what Discord did with Twilight back in part two of Return to Harmony. In hindsight… I should’ve been a bit more careful with that. When we got to the Changeling timeline… is was mere moments before that timeline’s Chrysalis ended Twilight. It wasn’t pretty. But, thankfully, I wasn’t so foolish with the Sombra timelines or any of the others after. We also popped into the timeline where Sunset is an Alicorn and overthrew Celestia. I repaired the mirror and, leaving that world frozen in time briefly, went into their EQG world to find Princess Celestia. She had, thankfully, been taken in by her human double… though not before experiencing some of the… less than pleasant differences between the human world and Equestria. It’s gonna be a while before that timeline’s problems are properly sorted out, but I feel it’s better I don’t mess with it. Celestia herself even advised against it. We visited the other Alicorn Sunset, the one who became the Princess of Friendship in her timeline, so I could assure her her timeline was safe, even promising to come visit. After that, we had one last trip. Which is where we are now. Arriving back, I felt like I was going to be sick. A lifeless world is something no being should every experience. I stretch out my senses, finding the only living thing left in this world. Even the cockroaches are dead. Teleporting to the life source’s location… we’re met with a sad sight. Sunset Shimmer is hulled up in a broken down building in what used to be Manehatten. Despite my best efforts, I hadn’t been able to arrive the moment I’d sensed her arriving through the portal last time we were here. She looks ragged, her coat slightly dull as she lays in a pile of blankets. Strewn around her are cans of vegetables, the only kinds of food that have lasted in this dead world, with a knife sitting nearby, likely how she opens the cans with no access to her magic. There are scratches and scars on her face around her mouth, indicating failed attempts at opening the can. The moment we appear she leaps up, if a little clumsily, in fright, her eyes wide. Then, her eyes water and she rushes forward, hugging us tightly. “Sweet Celestia. I thought I was the only pony left.” She pulls back, looking from Starlight to me, myself having had the hindsight to take on my adult form. “What happened to Equestria? Where’s Princess Celestia? Why won’t my magic work? Where’ve you two been? What’s going on?” I glance at Starlight, who looks down, too ashamed. I sigh, looking to Sunset and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Sunset… I’m sorry. This world is dead.” She just stares at me as if she didn’t understand. “What…? What do you mean… dead?” I sigh, looking to Starlight again. “There was a very misguided pony.” I look back to Sunset. “A unicorn. She led herself to believe Cutie Marks are evil and wanted to make all of Equestria equal.” Sorry if this hurts, Glim Glam, but it’s gotta be said. “One day, Princess Celestia and her long lost sister, Princess Luna went to stop her after a single pony managed to escape in the dead of night and made it to Canterlot. When they arrived, the unicorn took both their Cutie Marks, taking away their ability to keep the Sun and Moon moving. And, with day and night out of sync… the whole world suffered. By the time the unicorn realized her mistake… it was too late.” Sunset just stares at me, her eyes telling me she doesn’t want to believe me. “No…” she takes several steps back, shaking her head. “No, you’re lying. It… it can’t be true. It… it just can’t.” “It is… Sunset,” Starlight murmurs quietly, before sighing, looking up to her mournfully. “Screwball and I are not from here, but she is a being of Chaos, so her powers still work, even here.” Sunset doesn’t seem to have heard her. “I… I can’t…” “Sunset.” Her head darts up as I put a hoof on her shoulder, giving her a firm, but sad expression. “This world is gone. You’re only hope is the other world, the one you went to after you abandoned Celestia’s teachings.” Sunset just stares at me, before her body sags. She slumps to the floor. “I… I should’ve stayed there. The portal won’t open anymore. Nothing I do would open it. I can’t go back… I don’t even have anything to go back to.” I snort, stomping a hoof, causing the two unicorns to flinch. “You do have something and someone to return to, Sunset Shimmer. I will take you back there myself. It will be the last time you travel between the two worlds, but you will be far better off there than if you stayed in this dead world.” Sunset gets the smallest of frowns. “How? You said so yourself. This world is dead. There’s no magic left. The portal is just an ordinary mirror now.” I look to Starlight, who nods. “Promise you’ll come back for me?” I nod back, extra limps sprouting from my back and performing the motions. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Starlight gives a weak smile, before nodding, closing her eyes. Taking Sunset’s hoof, I revert to my younger self and teleport us away. ___________________________________________________________ “What are you doing here, you liar?!” Rainbow Dash demanded, pointing a finger at Applejack. The farm girl glared right back. “Yer one ta talk about lyin’, Rainbow Dash.” “And just what’s that supposed to mean?” the alethic girl growled back. “It would seem we all received the same message from Vic Principal Luna,” Rarity said, looking around at the gathered group of five as they all stood in front of the bleachers of the soccer field. “Indeed.” They all jumped, turning to see their Vice Principal walking towards them, a very firm expression on her face. The five gulped. “Um, i-if we’ve done something wrong, Vice Principal Luna, we’re all very sorry,” Fluttershy quivered in her place, Rarity putting a hand on her shoulder. “Speak for yourself,” Pinkie Pie huffed, folding her arms, before wilting when the adult raised an eyebrow at her. “Sorry.” “Frankly, the fact this version is somehow still set before the third movie is puzzling,” Luna said, shaking her head. That caused worry to be replaced by slight confusion, the five all looking to each other. “Um, beg pardon, Vice Principal Luna,” Rarity asked, her voice quivering slightly, “but… what do you mean, exactly?” The woman before them smirked. “At least that might make things a bit easier,” she said in a voice that sounded nothing light her own, before they were all blinded by a flash of white light. ___________________________________________________________ I can’t help snickering at the confused expressions the five girls have when the light fades and I’m back to my normal, younger self. Not sure how, but somehow the disruption to the timeline of the Wasteland effected this world, too, so the Fall Formal events are several weeks away. Ripples in time are odd that way, sometimes. This does make what I have in mind easier, though. “You all have been bickering and your friendships with each other strained because you each think the other has done something or still does something to harm the other,” I say, pointing lazily to each in turn. “However, I have someone who wishes to clear up this mess, so your friendship doesn’t break.” Looking behind them, I nod, causing them all to turn. From behind the bleachers steps someone it seems to take them all a second to recognize. When they do, they all gasp. Sunset, looking as ragged and pale as she did in the Wasteland, only now a human. Her eyes are downcast and glazed. “Sunset Shimmer?” Fluttershy asks, looking from the broken girl before them. “What happened to her?” Rarity asks, glancing to me, only to not see me. I cough and she turns to find I’m standing next to Sunset now, a hand on her arm. “I’m… I’m the one who sent you those messages and emails,” Sunset says, her voice hollow and dull. Damn, living for a few days in the Wasteland, followed by my confirming all her worst fears of what could’ve happened were true, she really isn’t the girl from before. No need for the Elements to fix her. The girls all stare at her, before glancing to each other. “So… ya didn’t just not come ta mah bake sale when ya said ya would?” AJ asks Dash. “And you didn’t really change the date it was on?” Dash asks in reply. “You don’t not value my efforts?” Rarity asks Pinkie Pie. “Of course I value them,” Pinkie shakes her head. “I’ve wanted more help.” Then pink girl turns to the last of the five. “And… sorry. I guess you didn’t tell me you wanted a big party, huh?” Fluttershy shakes her head. “I should’ve talked to you about it.” I cough, getting their attention and at once they all narrow their eyes slightly at Sunset. “I’m… I’m so sorry for what I did,” Sunset looks around to each other them. “I was so selfish. I just thought I could do what I wanted so I could go back home and… and…” Tears well in her eyes and she drops to the ground and she starts to weep. At once, Fluttershy rushes forward, pauses, before leaning down and pulling the other yellow girl into a hug, which she returns. The other girls just stare, open mouthed, before looking to me for an explanation. I sigh, folding my arms. Here goes nothing. “Okay. Sunset isn’t actually from here. She comes from an alternate world, where she’s a pony, a unicorn, to be presence.” At once, the four looking at me deadpan. “Ah highly doubt this is the time fer jokes, little one,” Applejack folds her arms. Dash nods. “Seriously? We don’t like Sunset Shimmer, but if something bad’s happened and it clearly has, what do you know?” I shrug. “I’m speaking the truth here. She and I are both from different realities. I was able to get her back here only because I’m a being of Chaos, to whom most rules don’t apply. And to prove my point…” I snap my fingers and the four finally find themselves in the forms of their pony selves. “What in the—?” Dash yells, unintentionally flapping her wings and causing herself to lift off the ground a bit. Rarity cries out in alarm, putting her hooves over her eyes. Applejack is looking her body over in shock. Pinkie… is just looking around at them, an eyebrow raised. “What’s Fluttershy?” I roll my eyes, snapping my fingers, returning them to their original self, Dash flopping back to the ground with a grunt. “Believe me now?” I cock an eyebrow, arms folded. They all nod, before looking towards Sunset, whom Fluttershy is still comforting. “So… what’s so bad about all this?” Applejack finally asks after several moments, looking to me. “Why’s Sunset so upset about bein’ a pony fer?” I sigh, closing my eyes. “Her world is dead.” “WHAT?!” I tell them exactly what I told Sunset, this time actually mentioning Starlight was the pony that doomed Equestria, albeit the version of herself from that timeline. “My… goodness,” Rarity says, a hand hovering over her mouth as she looks to Sunset. “Her… her whole world is gone?” I shake my head, sighing. “Not gone. Dead. She literally has no one now. I found her after she’d spent several months in that dead world. Trust me, you humble up fast when you think you’re going to be alone in a dead world for the rest of your life, hoping to find at least one other living being.” “Man, I… I can’t even…” Dash looks to AJ, who looks back with as solemn and haunted and expression as the cyan girl. I shake my head, looking between each other them. “I’m trusting the five of you to be there for her. To help her fit into this world for real now. Before, she only intended to stay long enough to get what she wanted. Now… this is the only home she will ever know again. Make sure it’s a good one?” They nod firmly, myself catching Fluttershy doing so out of the corner of my eye. Nodding, I turn and lean down to Sunset, snapping my fingers, a pink watch appearing around her wrist. “Use that to contact me if you are ever in trouble, Sunset. Okay?” She glances to me and nods, tears still running down her cheeks. With a sigh, I stand up and look around at the other five girls. “Be good to her. It will likely take a very long time before the rest of the school looks past her previous misdeeds. But, I will be speaking with your versions of Celestia and Luna. Good luck, all of you.” They nod and I snap my fingers. Before I go, I have three sirens to settle a score with, an evil principal to set up for a massive fall and then I’ll pick up Starlight before we return to our Equestria. I’m going to need a long rest after all this. Thank Celestia Skyla’s not going to be born for a few more months. I can only imagine the drama that’s going to come from her birth and the eventual reveal of Blessed Moon.