Chapter 45: One Last Game
At the Inn of the Prancing Pony
Chapter 45: One Last Game
On Earth, several months passed.
Mary Jo Powell stared at her whiskey and sour. “It’s one o’clock in the morning,” she said to the table in front of her. “And I’ve completely lost my mind, because I’m actually listening to you. Well, more out of my mind than usual, Ellen.” She was sitting cross-legged on the floor of her sister’s living room. A roaring—and totally unnecessary—fire was making the Southern California January night uncomfortably warm.
“You’re not crazy, Jojo. You’re not out of your mind, but...I need to know. I saw...I felt her burning. I just want to make sure she’s okay, then...we can end it. That’s it, a...a vacation.” Ellen’s smile took on a wistful quality, and she laughed. “It’s hard to believe P&D ever was a vacation for us.”
Mary Jo rolled the glass in her hand. “It was…” She sighed. “It’s massively unfair, is what it was. I thought I was actually doing some good. If Equestria wasn’t real, I would have been doing something good. As it is...A) This is not going to work. Howard’s back, so the spell should be broken. And B) If it does work, I’m a war criminal. She’ll turn that portal around, pull me through, and I’ll have to stand at the pony-sized dock and claim that I was ‘just following the rulebook.’”
Ellen brushed her hair out of her eyes, and tipped her glass back, the amber drink burning down her throat; in the past few weeks she had become accustomed to it. “I don’t think...ugh, I don’t think that Celestia is like that. She cared, toward the end. Maybe not about us, but she stuck with our act, because she didn’t want to hurt us, but I could have been imagining it...I’ve thought about running a one person game...”
Mary Jo shuddered. “No, don’t do that. I just know you’d go off the deep end if you tried. No, it has to be both of us. We’ve faced everything else together, and I won’t let you face the worst...alone.” She reached out and took Ellen’s hand in her own. “Let me get my books from the car.”
The younger Powell squeezed the hand tight, before smiling and shaking her head. “We’ve got to do it right. Snacks first.”
# # #
Half a bag of Bugles later…
“Alright, so who are you going to play? Midnight?”
“No. If she died, and Celestia couldn’t bring her back, then I don’t want to go against her wishes,” Ellen said, as she fished out a thick stack of old papers from her filing cabinet, and showed it to M.J. “I updated her age. Gave her proper credit and experience for surviving the volcano.”
“Ah, so this really is like old times, then.” She looked over the sheet.
“I hope so...she didn’t seem upset with me, so I figure... That was her, right? Speaking through you?”
“I have no idea. The only two I was truly sure were free-thinking were Celestia and Hope Springs. When Bernie went rogue—well, I was so familiar with the character, it was impossible to distinguish my interpretation of what he’d do and what he actually did. And he didn’t try to interrupt me like Hope did. Same thing goes for Nestoria.”
Ellen shrugged, smiling as she flipped through the papers. “Well...hopefully she doesn’t mind being my mouthpiece again.”
Mary Jo settled herself into her chair and closed her eyes. “Let’s see...where would she be? Still in her cave, I expect. However, let’s say that she got a souvenir from the adventure, in the form of some of the dimension-bending magic of the inner sanctum, wrapped up in a pretty amulet. Sounds like her, right? And that lets her teleport anywhere she’s been before, despite being a bit underpowered of a unicorn to pull that kind of stunt off at her age. So, you’re in your comfy little cave, Nestoria, and...” M.J. suddenly opened her eyes. “And you were just in the middle of telling a mostly-untrue story to Sophia, who is sitting in your study in pegasus form. Huh, I did not plan for you to have company. Maybe this is actually working.”
Ellen grinned, eating another Bugle, before replying. “‘And then everything exploded,’ is how I choose to end my story. It’s a common ending for her.”
“‘Even the dog?!’ Sophia replies. Heh.”
Ellen shrugs. “‘No, not really, Sophia. I’m going to be completely honest with you, I’m not entirely myself right at the moment.’”
“Sophia picks an anti-mind control circlet off a nearby table with her wing feathers and begins to advance on you. ‘Don’t worry, Nesty. I’ve got this.’”
“‘It’s okay. I’m Ellen. It’s nice to meet you. If you want to cut me off, that’s fine, but I need to talk to Celestia.’” She spoke calmly, not making any motions to resist. She hoped that body language carried over in role-playing. It sure seemed to in the past.
“Sophia raises her head, but does not put down the circlet. ‘I’m going to ask you something, and if you lie, I’m going to know it.’ She’s bluffing—it’s really easy to get away with lying to a dragon. ‘Are you responsible for the peace that has descended on Equestria, or did it happen despite you?’”
Ellen laughed. “‘If I could have brought peace without all that adventuring stuff, I would have. No lie here. Want me to cast Zone of Truth? Because I totally can...’” she offered eagerly.
“You might as well tell her that Celestia is responsible. That’s mostly true, after all. Sophia sighs. ‘What do you want?’”
Sitting forward, putting all the sincerity into her voice that she can, Ellen prepared herself emotionally, and asked. “‘I have to know: Who died because of me? Who did I kill?’”
“‘Well...Rigged Bee killed seventy-one monsters, and about fourteen ‘evil’ ponies, although nopony was ever able to prove that they really were irredeemably evil. Nestoria blew up eleven lairs, so that gets a little hard to pin down the death counts. I don’t know a thing about Felnor—sorry. And as for Midnight…”
Ellen sighed. “Yeah, I get it. I was the equivalent of a mass murderer and a careless arsonist before I understood what I was doing—I mean out of the group. What happened to Carry On, to Torn Deck, and...?” She was surprised to find a lump in her throat, but after a sniffle she pushed on. “Midnight Sparkle?”
“You really can’t claim to be responsible for those. Carry On’s player was the one most responsible for her and Torn Deck’s injuries. As for Midnight herself—”
“Oh Luna... They died...” Ellen sobbed, her hand pressed against her mouth to muffle the gasps for air.
“‘No!’ Sophia cries out, wrapping her good wing around you.” M.J. mirrors this move by reaching forward to hug her sister. “‘You forgot about the reason why you were there: Howard’s Lanthorn, capable of deciding between life and death? After the battle, Princess Celestia used it to save everypony she could. Carry On—Winter Harvest, Torn Deck, and Midnight Sparkle were restored to their own minds and their families.”
“Oh!” Ellen wiped her tears away, grinning giddily. “Oh, that’s great news! I...sorry, I just...I felt her burning, you know. Those last moments while I was connected, and...being burned alive... I feel like I owe her an apology, if she’s still willing to talk to me.”
“‘She, uh, she left rather quickly with her sister the captain. I don’t think she was able to handle me being a dragon now.’ Sophia looked down at her disguise. ‘You know what I mean.’”
“‘Oh...’ I wonder where she went... Where did they hail from?” Ellen asked her sister, out of character.
“I thought you memorized your character sheet! They were from Horn’s Reach.”
She rolled her eyes. “You know I only say that to excuse zoning out during sessions. ‘Firebelle, how would you feel about letting me go to Horn’s Reach? You can guard me on the way if you want, make sure I don’t do anything...adventury, but I would like to speak with her. And Celestia. And you but I just spoke with you, and I’m sorry you got caught up by Brian, he’s an enormous ass, and we all hate him.’”
“‘It’s Sophia now, not Firebelle. As far as I’m concerned, Brian killed Firebelle.’ She sighed. ‘I don’t suppose you’ll make my day and tell me that he’s in prison or something?’”
“‘No, but I can get close,’ I say happily. ‘He lost the respect of his entire gaming group, the last group willing to have him in his state, when he tried to make a half-dragon, half-vampony character in the new game they are playing. He no longer has a group of any sort, and I hear he is fancying himself a writer now.’”
“‘Just so long as he doesn’t have any power to dictate reality anymore. Well, you said I could make sure that you don’t do anything adventure-y,’ she says with a sinister smile, ‘and I’m going to hold you to it!’ She wraps a leg around one of your own, and pulls you with an unnatural strength out the door and into the air, where she’s suddenly a grinning black dragon, your body held somewhat comfortably in one claw. ‘Well, if you’re going to take us somewhere, go ahead.’”
“‘Oh my, Sophia, what big claws you have!’ Then I activate the amulet, I’m sure I’ve been to Horn’s Reach back when it was a border crossing and nothing else.”
“There is a flash and you are floating before the gates of the fortress. Sophia comes down for a landing, and then raps on the giant doors like they were somepony’s front door. ‘Hello?’ she asks. The head of a colt pops up next to the top of the door, white coat with a green mane. Consulting a clipboard, he says, ‘Sophia the Black Dragon?’
“‘Yes, and yes,’ said Sophia. ‘I’ve come to bring Ellen the Player. She wishes to speak to Midnight Sparkle.’”
“‘Hiya!’” Ellen says cheerfully. “‘I come in peace, and all that jazz.’”
“The colt looks coldly at you. ‘Stay here,’ he says. ‘I’ll see if she’s willing to talk to you.’ He then ducks back down.”
Ellen took a handful of Bugles, and munched on them as she thought, before pointing at M.J. “‘Sophia, when Celestia said that she would protect her world from us forever...she was trying to say I shouldn’t do stuff exactly like this, wasn’t she?’”
‘Sophia shrugged her wings. ‘I can’t imagine she has anything against just talking. She does it herself all the time, after all. Why do you think Nestoria still lives in that cave of hers instead of in the palace like she deserves?’”
Ellen nodded, sipping her whiskey sour. “‘I’d just like you to appreciate how insane this all feels, Sophia. I’m in another universe, sipping whiskey and talking to my sister, and somehow that equates to communicating with you. We started this all as a way to pass away time, you know. Hours and hours alone, we had pencil and paper...why not, right?’”
“‘I’m no philosopher, Ellen,’ Sophia says. ‘And I still think adventuring’s awesome...when it’s done right. It’s a bit of a minority view nowadays, something “unbefitting a pony”.’ She shows off her fangs as she adds, ‘Good thing I’m not one.’
“‘There is one more thing in your favor,’ a voice said as it approached the doors. ‘I cast a spell to protect all Equestrians against your particular form of mind control. The only reason that you’re controlling Nestoria right now is because she is allowing you. And she can take that control back at any time.’ The immense doors open, revealing the forms of Midnight Sparkle and Hope Springs. It was Hope who was speaking earlier, but with a clear tone of command. ‘Good morning,’ she says, using a hoof to point at her own body. ‘I thought this might be more appropriate for a private conversation.’”
Ellen gasped, and nodded quickly. “‘Oh that’s amazing, so Nesty is okay, and she’s okay with this, oh that’s a load off my mind... How are you doing, Midnight? I’m so...’”
“‘I’m alive, and the world is how it should be,’ Midnight says matter-of-factly. ‘Are we done now? All good? I can go back to my lab?’ She doesn’t seem very impressed to be meeting her puppet-mistress.”
“‘Ouch, I left that bad of an impression, did I?’” Ellen asked with a wince.
“Midnight laughs. ‘I was a half-step away from saving the world without you, forgive me if I’m not star struck. Seeing as how Celestia herself has given me a lab, I spend as much time there as possible. Though...I suppose I can spare a few minutes to at least answer any questions.’ She looks to Hope, humbly deferring to her.”
“‘Okay...’ What should I ask Hope? I mean...oh, I know. ‘Hope, um...I’m sorry.’” Ellen took another sip of her drink, which she had refilled a moment ago. “‘I’m really, truly sorry, and I don’t think that’s enough. But I don’t know what else I can say or do.’”
“Hope looks at you,” M.J. narrated, “and then flicks her eyes up to where I am. Hi! She rolls her eyes—maybe she heard me. ‘First of all, I need to know: is the game over? Midnight discovered that it was being run by a corporation, which means that your personal goodwill might not be enough to stop your people from trying to take over Equestria once again.’”
Ellen bit her lip as she thought it over. “There was...a bit of a scuffle. Um, the public sort of got it into their head that we staged your ‘appearance’ on purpose, and that we blew up every electronic device in the conference hall on purpose. And as a stunt, it didn’t go over very well—we lost control of the company, and they crapped all of our m—” She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “Sorry... I know, this is a good thing, but it was...important to me. They got rid of our world, your world. No one will ever officially play it again. Even if they play it privately, we have destroyed any official markers denoting a game as official as well... It’s gone. It’s all gone. They’re on to a new world now, a fake world, with just dragons. Neither me or my sister are involved, so there’s no risk of it touching on a real world...I don’t think...”
“‘Alright, I forgive you,’ Midnight says abruptly, turning to leave. ‘Goodbye.’”
“Huh...” said Ellen, not expecting to be forgiven so calmly. “And what do you think, ‘Hope’?” she asked, as she sloshed her drink around thoughtfully.
“‘You...you took care of her,’ she says, gesturing towards the departing Midnight. ‘Once you understood what was going on, you did everything in your power to protect her, me, and the other members of your party, and when you made a mistake, you tried your best to atone for it. What came before that point...happened, and I have found for my own well-being that I cannot dwell on what has already happened. Therefore, I cannot wish you anything other than the best. It would be unfair if your accomplishments in life ended at such a young age.’”
Tearfully, Ellen waddled forwards on her knees to hug her sister. “‘Maybe...this won’t be the end. Maybe we can start over.’ Also, Nestoria is totally hugging Hope, because hugging Hope is the best thing.”
“‘Hey, that’s my princess, get your own,’ Midnight mutters. I don’t mind being Hope’s hugging proxy, by the way. ‘I suppose this is goodbye,’ Hope says after the hug is done.”
Ellen sat back with a sigh. “I wish it wasn’t. I wish we could keep up communications, make sure everyone is okay, let you know what’s going on...but maybe it’s finally time to let go.”
“‘The number of players in Equestria has been steadily decreasing,’ says Hope, ‘As soon as the number drops to zero, the bond between our worlds will break, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. You will never be able to contact us again. A pity. I feel there is much we could peacefully discuss when not stuck in an adversarial relationship.’”
“Midnight stops on hearing this and returns to the conversation. ‘I can’t pretend to know what that man did to you two, or what it was like, but you both...did good here. Despite having every reason to pretend like we weren’t real, you saved us. Thank you, Ellen Powell. I hope you find your harmony.’”
“Oh...Oh wow, thank you. Thank you all.” Ellen leaned against a chair, and looked up to her sister, waiting for the end. “Done?” asked a voice inside Ellen’s own mind.
Ellen looked up to M.J. in panic, dropping her glass. “Did you hear that?!”
“Hope smiles in a not entirely friendly way. ‘From the expression on your face, I imagine that would be Nestoria.’ And no, I didn’t hear it.”
“Yup!”
“Oh...oh, Nestoria, you scared me,” Ellen said shakily. Yes...thank you. You know, you were my favorite. Have a good life.”
“‘K!” Nestoria would have totally been a Valley Girl if she had been born on Earth. “Bye!”
“And...I have no idea what happens next, so that must be the end!” M.J. sighed deeply. “That’s the end,” she realized. “That’s really the end. I’m going to miss ponies. I really will.”
Ellen leaped in for another hug.
“Thanks, Jojo.”
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Huh.
The incomplete tag remains!
Oh. Well. That didn't turn out nearly as badly as I feared. Heck, even Howard got booted out of Equestria. Still, there seems to be some denouement left to denoue, and that's assuming that there won't be a last-minute turn for the worst. Also, I didn't realize how much I'd missed uncontrolled Midnight until now. In any case, looking forward to whatever's left.
(Also, I have to be impressed by the public's insistence on denying the possibility of magic. Even if the sisters did do it intentionally, one has to ask how.)
Wow, this was a great ride.
No, I'm not crying it's liquid pride.
So, all the magic items everybody drew up for their adventures -- have they always existed in Equestria, were they created by the act of authoring, and are they gone when the worlds disconnect?
5460930
5460996 We still need to catch up on Celestia. I wonder if she's a 'Goddess' now because of the the followers she gained?
Well that does make a decent ending even if it is entirely unsatisfying. Good story or no, I've always been disappointed by cross world contacts that end by tying up loose ends, rolling up the rugs and then ceasing to be connected. I still don't understand how this whole world link works and why what they were doing didn't just create new ponies out of whole cloth and/or why they wouldn't be able to make a device to create pony bodies for themselves. Besides, how can Celestia really do anything about what they were doing? Hopefully some of the loose ends, like the whereabouts and actions (past and present) of "Howard", will be tied up.
5461928 I know, It's just so unfulfilling and neat... Yup.
I'm just sitting here wondering why the lich didn't escape into Earth. Magic jar would've done the trick. Then the ponies become the players on earth.
Oh well. One hell of a ride.
Well, as far as follow-up meetings go between the ruler goddess of a world and the two people who inadvertently imperiled it, that went pretty well.