//------------------------------// // Mission 2: Extreme Polarization // Story: Rationale’s Resurgence (or In Which We Witness the Return of the Pie) // by LordBarcha //------------------------------// A/N:  After attempting and failing to read several really terrible fanfictions in an attempt to find another universe to “fix”  I finally hit the realization that I should just give up on that and do one I actually like.  This time it is Changeling Heart and the New Moon, which you can find here. http://www.fimfiction.net/story/25694/Changeling-Heart-and-the-New-Moon This time, I attempted to make the cut off much earlier in the narrative.  You only need chapters 1 and 2 in order to completely understand this story. “You succeeded.”  Red stated flatly, “How?” “I used a weapon White gave me.” Two cloaked figures charged into sight.  One grabbed the other and pinned it to the ground. “Yellow! How dare you!  Couldn’t the detonation wait thirty seconds?  I wanted to watch!” “I’m sorry!  I just got so scared!  The thing was literally staring me in the face!  Its eyes were blue and orange at the same time!” “That’s the point!  I wanted to see the light leave its eyes!” “Green!  Let him go!  He was simply following proper procedure.  If anyone should be reprimanded it is you.” The figure released its captive reluctantly and strode off, grumbling. “So what happens now?”  Pinkie queried. “The universe you saved remains tainted.  However, this taint is present in all universes except one.  You have reduced the level in the saved universe to below average.  Unless something changes drastically, I foresee no danger in the future.  Because of your success, you will be assigned another universe, one guilty of an altogether different crime.”   “And what crime would that be?” “I give that task to Violet, who can explain far better, even if he has a tendency to overdo things.” “The extradimensional beings we call ‘authors’ have a power that is truly unique.  They can call upon the power of creation itself and change the laws of reality to suit their purposes.  Therein lies the danger.  Creation is not so much used by the authors as it uses them to impose itself upon reality.  Unless handled correctly, it seeps into the fabric of the universe and corrupts it, an event termed ‘taint’, shaping the world in its own image.  At that point, we destroy the universe to prevent the corruption of the multiverse as a whole.” “Not how reality works, the crime.” “Ah, yes.  This author shows an almost inhuman skill at manipulating creation, resulting in a much smaller taint than usual.  However, he touched something no being ever should have, committing one of the greatest crimes in our book.  He has meddled not with mere minds or bodies, as it so common, but with a character’s very soul.  Worse still, he has placed this power in the hands of a character, making it an immutable part of the universe it is a part of.  Even if the author stops his meddling, the power to do this will remain.  Quite frankly, if it wasn’t standard policy to kill worlds like this, I’d be tempted to go against the code.” “So you want a universe fundamentally altered?” “We don’t expect that much.  Just make sure that the power is locked away and never used again.” The file appeared with a pop. “One final word of warning.  It is not merely your life on the line this time.  Even if White himself were to obliterate you, he could not touch your soul.  These enemies can.  Don’t let them.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “So, Pinkie.  What’s next?”  Vinyl asked as Pinkie entered the TARDIS. “We move on to the next world, of course.”  Pinkie replied. “Doctor!”  Lyra cried from the next room over, “How many times do I have to tell you?  You do not build permanent fixtures using cables like this!  Somebody might trip, or something might come undone!” “Get in here, you two!”  Pinkie called, “we have a new mission.” “No Lyra, I’m nooooaaaaAAAHH!”  The doctor shouted as he was dragged into the room by the ear.” “What is the situation, Pinkie?”  Lyra asked calmly. “Basically, this universe is centered around Chrysalis and Luna.” “There is no way this can possibly be a good thing.” Vinyl groaned. “Luna asks Chrysalis to cut out a piece of her heart.  According to the report I received from Violet, the heart is the same thing as the soul.”  Pinkie tilted her head inquisitively, “Where did the dimension gate go?” “The Doctor has been hooking it up to the TARDIS to give it a more stable power supply and to give it the ever essential ‘glowy energy wall’.”  Lyra stated resignedly. The group walked into the next room, approaching the massive, glowing portal.  Cables and conduits hooked it into the walls of the TARDIS, apparently providing it with power.  Her curiosity piqued, Pinkie approached the shining surface.  Behind her, Vinyl tripped over one of the cables and slammed into the others, sending them tumbling forward.  They landed in a heap at the center of Chrysalis’ personal chambers. Sitting up, Lyra asked, “What just happened?” “Sorry,” Vinyl answered, pulling a cable out from under her, “I tripped.  Was this important?” “That was the power cable.”  The Doctor answered, “Are you okay, Lyra?” The suddenly grinning pony jumped up, shouting, “Somebody better pick up that phone, because I called it.” “Guys!”  Pinkie cut in, “It think we broke her.” The group looked down to find themselves standing on the unconscious and slightly squashed form of the changeling queen.   “We just need to prop her up, then we can pretend this never happened,” Vinyl said, pushing the body toward a nearby chair. “You found the dimension gate, Pinkie, how long will we be stranded here?” Lyra asked, ignoring the other two as they ran off. “The fail-safes in the system charge for sixty minutes, then let out a pulse to reactivate it for one minute.  If we miss it, it should charge for an extended period of time, then establish itself continuously until somebody turns it off” “Because I’m convinced that Murphy was right, I’m going to guess that the Temporal Accelerator is on and one hour here equals one minute in there.” “Yep.” “So we’re stuck in the middle of a changeling hive with monsters that can damage our very souls for almost three days.  How else could this possibly go wrong?” “I don’t know,” Pinkie answered, “A changeling could walk in on us.”  She paused for a minute, then spoke again, “Funny, I would have expected something to happen by now.” “Guys! Look at this!”  The Doctor called from the other side of the room.  Propped up by a chair, Chrysalis was dressed like a clown, with white paint covering her face and a goofy red smile carelessly scrawled around her mouth.  Suddenly, a changeling burst into the room and froze when it caught sight of its queen.  It shuddered violently for a moment before collapsing with foam pouring out of its mouth. “Aww,” groaned Vinyl, “we broke another one.” “Quick!  We can dress it up too!”  The Doctor shouted to Vinyl.  The pair screamed as Lyra grabbed them both by the ears and dragged them away.  Meanwhile, Pinkie dumped a bucket of water over Chrysalis’ head, washing away the paint and sending her jerking into awareness.   Confusion quickly shifted to alarm and she demanded, “What is going on here? Where did you come from?” “Long story short,” Pinkie answered, “you broke the rules, and we’re here to get you to stop.” “Is this about that whole Canterlot thing?” Chrysalis asked, rolling her eyes. “No.  This is about what you did to Luna.” “That was literally ten minutes ago!  How do you know about that?” “We’re here on behalf of the group that makes the rules.  A better question would be ‘Why are you so late?’, considering that our job is to stop these crimes before they happen.” “Then tell me how I broke the rules, if you know them so well.” “You tore apart someone’s soul, the one thing that outlasts death.  Luna is lucky to still be alive, but she’ll probably never be the same.  Our job here is to make sure it never happens again.” “And what is to stop me from just having my changelings capture you, and then doing it to you?” “Please!”  laughed Pinkie, “My soldiers beat up a two-headed vampire/werewolf chimera yesterday.  How could your little army hope to beat them?” “I think they’ll manage somehow.” Chrysalis chuckled. From behind her, The Doctor shouted, “A little help please?”  Vinyl dangled from the ceiling on strands of green goo.  Behind her, a large stone mecha lay smashed with The Doctor hanging halfway out of it and Lyra was plastered to the floor in a way that looked almost physically impossible, and definitely painful. Pinkie responded with a flash grenade to the face.  In a pop, all four were standing at the center of the room again, freed from their various confinements.  “Remind me never to brag about you guys ever again.” Hissing, Chrysalis struck Pinkie, sending her crashing into a wall.  She collapsed to the ground, eyes rolling back into her head, and whispered, “Fly, you fools.” The Doctor quickly pulled out a strange watch like device.  Seizing Lyra and Vinyl, the  disappeared in a flash.  Chuckling darkly, Chrysalis muttered to herself, “A spell that damages the soul?  I have to try this out now.” Arcs of green electricity struck Pinkie, who screeched in pain. “What do we have here?”  Chrysalis narrated, “There is so much in your heart.  I’ll just take it apart to see what happens.  This fierce desire to protect can go first.” Coughing violently, a chunk of crystal tumbled from her mouth. “Next, I’ll pull away these loves, so tinged with regret.  A personal failure, was it?  How many died?  One?  A hundred?  More?” “Too many to count.” Pinkie whispered as her knees buckled.  She gasped under the assault, gagging on another few crystals. “My, there isn’t much left here.  Is that all you are?  Pure purpose?”  Chrysais asked, “” Gradually, Pinkie’s hair flattened and her coat slowly faded to grey.  Finally, the light faded, leaving the still, unbreathing form behind. “That was certainly interesting,”  Chrysalis muttered,  “It doesn’t matter anymore, I suppose.  There’s nothing left of you now.” From behind her, a whisper touched her ears. She turned, but found nothing.  Turning back to the still form of Pinkie, she heard the whisper again. “I fou...” “What did you say?” “I found the solution.”  Pinkie answered, slowly pushing herself to her feet, eyes closed. “And what would that be, Pinkie?”  The queen asked nervously. “I think that the solution is obvious.  Your race is supported by a single queen, much like ants.  Your race has powers that none are allowed to possess and warning you not to use them only made you want to use them more.  I’ll just kill you and every other changeling queen I can find.  That will solve everything.”   A grin slowly spread itself across her face.  Finally, her eyes opened, revealing a flat, white void.  Dribbles of the same color ran down her face and dropped to the ground, cutting holes in it. “The name is Pinkamena, by the way.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Prepare to detonate.” “But I want to see Chrysalis get brutally murdered.” “You heard me.  We cannot allow this thing to reach us.  It’s displaying the powers of Final Negation.” “She.  Not it.” “Did you just say what I think you did?” “Wait.” (white highlighted black) “By your command, Lord White.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With a flash, the three materialized in the middle of the swamp just outside the hive. “What just happened, Doctor?”  Vinyl asked. “I managed to warp us outside. I estimate that we're about twenty minutes in the future.”  The Doctor answered. With a great buzzing, a thousand dark forms burst forth from the hive, hovering listlessly around the entrance.  An unearthly screech emerged from below and they nervously began buzzing around.  Chrysalis herself emerged a second later and collapsed. “Fire now!  She’s coming down the tunnel!” Lances of green light poured down on the emerging gray body, followed by a massive explosion.    As the smoke cleared, the grey figure was revealed to be completely unscratched, the same demented grin plastered across her face. “I figured something out just now,”  Pinkie called up to them, “You didn’t rip out all of my soul, just the bits that made me good.  Your magic affects ponies through their positive feelings.  I don’t feel anymore.” Vinyl walked up to Pinkamena, “See the birdie?”  She asked, pulling out a rubber duck.  Then, she slammed the distracted Pinkamena across the face. Lyra approached the fallen queen asking, “What do you need to undo this?  I don’t like seeing my friend turned into a monster, and considering that she’s trying to kill you, I don’t think you do either.” “I need the chunks of her heart that she coughed up.” Behind her, The Doctor appeared in front of his own face.  “Go back to the queen’s chamber and gather the fifteen chunks of crystal you find there, then come back here and have this conversation with your past self, then give the crystals to Chrysalis.”  The newly materialized Doctor said, and his past self quickly complied. “How did you do that?”  Chrysalis asked, a dumbfounded expression in her face. “We’re very good at our jobs” “I’ll get this over with,” Chrysalis started, stepping toward the fallen pony, only to have it leap at her, pulling a knife from somewhere.  Lyra pulled out a pair of pistols from the same somewhere and nailed Pinkie several times with tranquilizer darts. “We’re very good at our jobs,”  Lyra repeated, “Well, except for Vinyl, who is just kind of there.” “I heard that!” shouted Vinyl from her hiding spot, “While you people were busy, I compiled a sealing spell.  It should stop any changelings from using that particular type of magic again, but the queen has to cast it.” “Well give it here already!”  Chrysalis demanded, “I already fixed your companion!  The sooner it’s done, the sooner I can get back to my nice, peaceful villainous life, with nobody trying to kill me, or burn me, or put me in a potato.” “Are you okay, Pinkie?”  Lyra asked the newly pink pony. “No.  I’m not okay at all.”  Answered Pinkie flatly.  A translucent, milky tear rolled down her face and slowly ate a hole in the ground. “Let’s get back to the ship,” The Doctor announced, brandishing his watch, “I just set the time to 57 hours in the future and pop.” With a flash of dimensions never meant to be seen by mortal eyes, the group appeared at the center of an expanse of asphalt. “I think you missed,”  Vinyl said dryly. “Its not my fault.  The thing must be broken,”  The Doctor answered, “We’re definitely in the future.  The location is the same, and the time is somewhere between twenty and fifty years in the future.  Apparently, somebody has been busy.”   Suddenly, a strange, bluish creature tackled The Doctor, snatching his watch and stuffing it into its mouth.  At first glance, it appeared to be some kind of bluish alicorn.  However, the chitinous black patches, twisted horn, and holes in the legs implied something else.  Despite ordinary plot contrivance, the eyes looked completely normal, although the third and fourth ones might have been overdoing it a bit.  Swallowing, it lay down on the asphalt, a contented expression gracing its alien face. “I’ll need that back!” The thing gagged a couple of times, then spat out a ball of green slime that cemented itself to the ground. “Never mind.  You can keep it.” “What is that thing?” Lyra questioned, trying not to throw up. “I refuse to acknowledge that as a thing.  It does not and never has existed.”  Vinyl announced. “As long as you overshot,”  Pinkie cut in, “The Dimension Gate should still be on.  I admit to being perversely curious about the thing, though.” Proceeding into the hive, they found natural formations replaced by smooth concrete and drywall and eventually found Chrysalis’ chambers, now outfitted with a pair of massive steel doors. “We haven’t seen anything alive yet,” Vinyl announced, “But I don’t think it would be a good idea to barge in here without warning.  I’ll take a peek while you keep watch.”  She cracked open the door and stuck her head in, then pulled it out just as quickly, slamming the door and bracing herself against it in blind panic. “What’s wrong?”  Asked Lyra, whipping out a rifle. “Chrysalis and Luna.  I can’t unsee it.”  Vinyl moaned, clutching her head, “I don’t ever want to think about it again.  Let’s stay in happy territory and say that the two love each other very much.” “So that’s what the creature back there was!”  chirped Pinkie, “Terrifying though it is, I can only assume that things worked out between Chrysalis and Luna.” “Are we absolutely sure we saved this universe if something like that could be born?”  Lyra asked, “It’s not too late to blow the place up.” With eyes clenched shut, the group advanced to the Dimension Gate and left the universe far behind.   A/N:  I must now thank LL, who proofed the thing, as well as ambion, who seemed almost eager to see his story shredded and also fixed my glaring continuity errors.