//------------------------------// // Omake Side Drabble "On a horn and a prayer" // Story: PONY POV SERIES SEASON 8: FINALE! // by Alex Warlorn //------------------------------// Perception was not layers, there were things we were aware of, things we were not aware of, and things the containers that determined the shape of our souls called our brains interpreted, but reality did not work on 'I can't see them, so they can't see me.' So while the Alicorn Abbatissa's (part of Celestia's extended family) domain/true-self looked to some as a mail room, and others would see her atop a mountain listening to countless voices below that she would shout up at the 'heaven's, and others as a giant telephone operator's switchboard, nothing existed as separate planes of perception: all-was-one, and one-was-all. Abbatissa's task of delivering prayers, that is, herself, from mortals to the concepts of reality (also called gods), was endless. Entitled Mortals demanding things be handed to them, desperate mortals asking for any kind of help for things beyond their control, others who asked for forgiveness for sins they PLANNED to commit, misunderstanding the timeless nature of the concepts (those last ones got thrown out). And those who sought guidance towards enlightenment and knew better than to presume a mirror held all their spiritual answers. And other transient souls who thought they could 'buy' their god's favor. "Prayers are not currency," Abbatissa would often say. Even among spiritual beings she'd seen herself be misunderstood again and again. Far too many evil spirits who had masqueraded a benign gods, and thought prayers made of love, compassion, mercy, charity, would somehow feed them: thinking mortal prayers were merely energy to empower divine beings. And confused when they grew weaker! Abbatissa told them, "I give strength to mortals, I don't give strength to the pantheons." "I always make sure prayers go to the deity they are truly meant for." And due to her oath and nature, this painfully meant both ways. Prayers given in name of her Father, or Mother, but were prayers to slaughter their enemies, were delivered to Rancor, the concept of violence. And prayers addressed to Morning Star for freedom and forging one’s own path, were given to Rota Fortuna (she was the concept of Free Will after all). Another interpretation of her realm/herself would have Abbatissa standing in the center of a room, directing different colored fireflies to the correctly colored star in the distance. And she didn't stop her task even as a 'door' opened and she had a visitor. A shiny onyx-stone pegasus stallion covered in Ponygypt regalia, his face completely blank. But the blank face moving slightly as if the was some thing shifting underneath. "ABBY! You've stolen my being! Prayers to the outer-concept go through me! Not you!" Abby didn't miss a beat as she gave him the bare minimum respecting glance. "You've been banned from this thread of reality for 8 billion years. I'm merely standing in for you until then." - In his pink robe and bunny slippers, Ponythulu said happily, "Thank you Abby!" "Welcome Ponythulu!" Abbatissa said delivering his 'mail' while delivering herself to the various other concepts all at the same time. Sitting down at his couch patterned with circles for which Pi equalled exactly three, he read through them. "Fan mail, fan mail, request for 'how to channel my will through your puny mortal brain in three easy steps' done, drowning request for any kind of help, well Leo hasn't responded to that one yet, so welcome to the Deep-Ponies! Dagon is sure to thank me. "A request for the recipe for cookies with the number of chocolate chips equal to the integer between three and four? Certainly! "You are humbly invited to manifest at the peak of Mount Loco-Inda-Coco at the house between 12 PM and 12 AM, by the destruction of a rock-candy-cake in your honor? Sounds like fun! "'Eat my stupid noisy cousin'? Do I look like your personal garbage disposal?" - "Miss Rota Fortuna, forwarded from Ponythulu, 'Please tell me the winning lotto numbers in exchange for my soul?' ... I miss Ch---e." - "Well! At least I can take sweet sweet pleasure in the news I've heard. Have you heard of it, Abby? Your family is done with this worldline. Ooooh poooor Abby, all out of a job? No reason for you to exist anymore. What's the point of speaking to those who do nothing? Oh boo-hoo!" Said the Crawling-Chaos to the The Second Tarot, The High Priestess. "... You disappoint me Nythy. You hear what you want to hear. I thought you were beyond that. Or did you just not want to be alone along with most of your family in being barred a second time from a worldline of Equus? The Elders said that we've been too visible, too tactile, too loud... Not that we should give up our responsibilities and go against ourselves. 'Divine intervention' is just what mortals call it when they can SEE US working. Oh, just now I helped Derpy." - Derpy, determined mailmare, flew through the wild storm over the body of water and dangerous creatures below, a lightning bolt just going slightly off course and missing her. Saving Dinky from becoming an orphan. - "She is after all, one of my most devoted followers, you really think I'd abandon her?" Abby said. "She doesn't even worship you!" "... I'm disappointed in you Nythy. As a fellow messenger god, I know you understand. Worship is what you do, not who you give lip service to. Derpy delivers messages between loved ones regardless of obstacles. Every flap of her wings is tribute to me." - In his dreams, Shining Armor desperately looked everywhere for a working bathroom, he went through one door, and ended up in an alien spaceship. He did admit the ship design was really cool and would make a good description for later. "Greeting Equus Pony!" "Do you know where the bathroom is?" Luna observed Shining Armor slipping from her realm into Pandora's, something ponies often did. 'I admit, this should have clued me in eons ago that Discord's sister was still alive. Then again, nopony ever said imagination itself was good or evil; it simply is.' - Yowie the Yeti worked tirelessly at his design table, alongside several other Yetis at their desk. Different Storm King merchandise dotted their workspaces to try and give a sense of individuality. The design room was on board of one of the flying factories of the Storm King Armada. The entire Storm Empire was air-borne and mobile, from the treasuries to the living quarters for the crew's mates and young. Engineers were just as valuable, if not more valuable than soldiers. Off in his personal chambers the Storm King was inspired to write (yet another) book, 'How to Indoctrinate Rowdy Teenagers To Your Cause Without Using Mind Control Magic'. "It's sure to be a hot-seller!" He said to himself, just as confident about his autobiography 'I Am So Great!' selling well. Yowie the Yeti himself became Valedictorian in his weapon design class, ever since he and the former Valedictorian gave each other a first-hand demonstration of their final projects. He was still sad his last idea of fireproof armor was turned down for mass production since they had no intention of invading the Dragon Lands (yet). "Mass production? That's it!" Inspiration struck him, and he began to design a flying airship factory that ATE-UP enemy airships and used them as raw material to build automated Storm Empire airships! Tempest Shadow herself made a random inspection tour. And the moment she said “random inspection tour”, she had to painfully convince her own guards that she wasn't a spy. Galaxia, Alicorn of Healing and Renewal as well as the stars, was pushed back from Tempest Shadow again and again. Galaxia knocked against the fortress around the maimed unicorn's soul with her replacement starlight limb, but Tempest Shadow would allow none inside to heal her heart. And Rota Fortuna sadly held a broken a thread of fate/herself of Tempest Shadow becoming Celestia's student before even Sunset Shimmer or Starlight Glimmer had thrown away their chances (maybe)... it didn't break when Tempest Shadow lost her horn, and it certainly hadn't broken when she'd run away. What DID break it was the day she swore loyalty to the Storm King. Just like the countless other strings that broke as Tempest Shadow threw away a chance to be saved again and again. Rota Fortuna unconsciously folded her metal wing around herself. Tempest Shadow, oblivious to those desperately trying to help her even now, focused a critical eye on a small figurine held up by another of the Yetis, assigned to merchandise design. "Creatures will resist taxes, but they'll pay for cheaply-made overpriced merchandise every time," her King had told her. Tempest Shadow took the toy in her hooves, fiddling with it. She regretted that the real-life counterpart of the cool-looking personalized one-pony airship that the toy came with was still in the testing phase. The little ash piles of buried test pilots with a two-rank promotion wasn’t making it any easier to find new ones. After examining the action figure of herself for a minute she snorted and ordered, "The armor can't be removable." The designer understood Equestrian, but didn't speak it so well and responded in his native tongue of Yetish, which to an untrained Equestrian sounded like something like, "Ogaboga-ga!" And a couple drum beats. "I don't care if that would undermine our ability to sell new armor accessories. I don't want outsiders to know my cutie mark!" "Ogaboga-ga!" "Them thinking I'm a blank flank would be even worse!" The Yeti napped his fingers. "Ogaboga-ga!" He presented her quickly with a new doll of herself, with unremovable storm king brand underwear. "It'll work," Tempest deadpanned. "HEY! My figurine only has posable arms!" Grubber complained. "Ogaboga-ga!" "'I'm categorized as an accessory to Tempest?!'" Tempest rolled her eyes. + Pensilis, invisible, flew alongside Gilda, as he had for a year. + Puerilis, at the same time, whispered a joke in the ear of Cheese Sandwich and Pinkie Pie, inspiring both, but the ponies taking the idea in different directions. + Mortis spoke, "Come my little pony, your pain is over." + King Leo sat on his throne in the depth of Aquastria with his merponies, holding a picture of Queen Novo. + With every word that Moon Dancer added to her notes for her project on reviving the history of "The Forgotten Queen of Ponyland", it appeared within Eremo's books as well, restoring them at long last. For the Alicorn Prince of Knowledge, The Hermit, Moon Dancer had been one of his devoted; perhaps, in her own way, even more than Twilight Sparkle. + Turris created barriers, divides, borders, this also meant he enabled singular entities with differences to exist in the first place. He admitted this put him at odds with Mother Deer who forever sought to find the similarities in things. Turris walked along Equus' borders, a divide not just on paper, but from cultural identity as well. But even he admitted Griffins had failed to live up to an ideal of true individuality. Each of them a kingdom unto themselves, caring about themselves in only the most shallow and banal ways, most never seeking to IMPROVE themselves, improve their kingdoms of one. He hoped Gilda would provide some inspiration, Astra and Boreas weren't the only concepts with interest in their wayward griffin princess. +++ "So as you see Nythy, just because you've been barred, and we've decided that avatars are no longer needed for this world, it doesn't mean we've abandoned our creations." "You think Equus is the only planet I had avatars on, Abby? I have them scattered all over the universe." "Better be frugal with them, they need to last you eight billion years." Nythy snorted and stomped out. Abby directed the fireflies to the stars.