NOT The End
Several equinoid figure lay, leaned, sat, and stood among the stairs and hallway. They ranged from foal-sized to Big Mac sized, all randomly scattered about, wrapped up in brown moth-eaten sheets. Nothin' of what lay underneath was visible. But Ah saw with my truth what they were.
...
..
.
She... she said she destroyed the presses before we left the first floor... where we met those things and the doll... That means...
"You..." Ah blinked my eyes open. "You wouldn't've smashed the presses... unless Ah could've still done somethin' with 'em." Ah slowly pushed myself up. "If ya could've vaporized 'em or sent ‘em ta the moon, ya would've too... So Ah'm guessin', this here World Tower... isn't just a fancy name... it's got the magic that lets ya send that message to EVERYPONY even if it's only in the back of their heads, so Ah'm guessin' ya can't move it. And the presses are still the heart of the curse... so ya can't turn it to ashes, just smash it so Ah couldn't repair the world... And them lies waitin' down stairs waitin' to be told... Ya didn't use up all of them, but ya didn't have time to write up a zillion little lies, cause ya thought we'd be here by now... And if ya could've gotten rid of 'em, ya would've already. Ah can't still save the world!"
Ah couldn't sense it, but Ah could still SEE IT when Diamond Tiara sent that bolt of black magic right at my head that Ah dodged, which left a smokin' hole in the floor.
And there's that something in her eye...this time it's bigger...this time Ah KNOW Ah saw somethin' in there!
= 'Calling' - World Ends With You =
"If you've trashed it... then Ah'm just gonna hafta fix it!"
"Good luck doing that when you’re dancing with death."
"Ah saw Ah'd lose fightin' ya and if Ah run away Ah go Nightmare...but that ain't the only outcomes! A fight takes two. If yah attack and Ah don't fight back, this ain't a FIGHT is it?"
"Going to tell Cheerilee on me?"
Diggin' mah hooves in, Ah told her, "Ah ain't runnin', but Ah'm not gonna fight ya neither. Ah'm takin' a third option! Ah'm a builder, not a warrior. There ain't nothin' Ah can't fix! AND AH'M GONNA REPAIR THE MOTHER HUGGIN' WORLD!"
Okay Miss Twilight, you managed to out-smart a Nightmare... Let's hope Ah can do the same!
"Enough bumpkin speak. Screw philosophy, I'm just going to end you."
Ping! She got me in the magic grip of that new horn of hers, Ah floated off the ground, the worst feelin' for an earth pony. Ah couldn't reach or touch nothin'. Ah felt her begin to twist my legs the wrong ways, Ah fought back to keep 'em the right way. Her expression didn't change, instead Ah saw her begin to charge up her horn. Oh no.
Everypony, Ah'm sorry.
= Hopes And Dreams - Undertale =
She fired. A flash of magic, a scream, and Ah hit the ground with a thud.
Except Ah didn't have a smokin' hole in my head. Ah looked to see...
"Button Mash!" He was holdin' a shield that was polished like a mirror. Diamond Tiara's eyes narrowed.
"Shipping saves lives!" He said proudly. Then he glanced at me with a smile. "Sorry I'm late... the hedges, flowers, statues, front door, and path tiles outside the mansion attacked me all at once."
Diamond Tiara's eye twitched. "You... Your role is over. These events have no further need of you."
Button Mash smirk very widely. "Sorry. I’m not your actor, and the script stinks, anyway. If the Elements of Harmony and everypony else can't come to help I figured I should."
"Those friends of hers aren't here to help, so what gives you the right to be here?"
"I am her friend!"
Ah smiled. "Darn right ya are!"
+
"Still holding on, Lulu?" Dragon-cord snorted flames. "Good! I want to beat you, not Grogar!"
The armored Selena panted from the pain of the splitting headaches, which were coming back more and more often. They hurt like a parasite was eating her from the inside. She pushed it back. SHE WAS THE MOON! She wouldn't be thwart by this curse a second time!
"Don't worry Dissy, I have just begun to fight!"
"It's a horrible feeling isn't it? Something that isn't even you slowly growing like a cancer from the inside..." And for a second, Discord sounded sad. "Let me sever your connection to this avatar Lulu, so we can keep having fun!"
+
Meanwhile, inside the soul of Princess Celestia... There was a small Alicorn filly with pink hair. Facing a Tirek who grew larger and larger by the minute. "Stop running, little filly, I'll eat you sooner or later!"
Celly meanwhile gave off what potshots she could as she fled from the giant demonic centaur. And the little filly thinks, 'Dissy... is this what it was like for you?'
+
Hopefully Not Apple Bloom's Last Entry
Diamond Tiara snorted. She fire one of those screaming ghost skull thingies.
"Alicorn Shield!" Button Mash's mirror shield got replaced with a purple one that had Celestia's face engraved on it. The spell splattered on his shield like mud on a window, but the shield was clean and shiny.
"So, is this another of fate's schemes? She was always good at making you think it was your own choice. You spoke with her didn't you? She's using you. Rust."
A spinning clock symbol appeared above her head and she fired again. Button this time brought out a wooden shield, it grew into a tree and began to fall over on her.
"But it's just experiences and lessons that were spoon-fed to you." Curved black blades formed along her wings and shot out at the tree cuttin' it to pieces. Button grabbed a piece that turned into a new wooden shield. "It was never your own choices," she said.
The black razors flew about and came at me. Button jumped next to me, shoutin', "Duck!"
Ah did so. Button changed out to another shield; this one metal with Equestria's crest on it. He spun around like a ballerina, knocking the blades into floors and walls where they dissolved.
"Come now, I was looking forward to the adorable 'We all have free will.' speech," Tiara said, again sounded like she was a robot recitin' a script.
"Aphrodite once told me if our feelings are just brain chemistry, then it's our choices that make 'em true! And I chose ta care about Sweetie Belle and all my friends FOR REAL!" Button shouted.
I don't care what tone she used, Ah KNEW she was ticked off under that show of coldness. "You don't have friends. You don't want friends. You want player-2s."
The Spell of Destruction was fired right at me, Button's shield blocked it, and he held it back!
Ah opened my mouth but Button didn't need me to, Ah'm proud of 'em.
"If that was true, I wouldn't be here!" He said glancin' back at me as his shield failed to break. Was that shield indestructible?! Who am Ah kiddin', it likely was!
"Think ya can keep 'er busy while Ah fix up the printin' press?"
"I’ll give it my best!"
That was when Button Mash's magic window popped up, and the listin' for his moon rock lit up on its own. In a flash Button Mash was decked up in bardin', complete with a visored helmet with a beanie proper on top. And he was holdin' the Equestrian shield and the mirror shield at the same time! Crazy, but Ah ain't complain'!
The Spell of Destruction finally ran out of juice.
"Heroes always get an all-new, super-moves and stuff for the final battle." He looked Diamond Tiara in the eyes, longer and with a far bigger smirk than Ah could ever manage. "Let's rumble, Lil’ Miss Robo-Soul."
Another chink in the stone shell! "You ... you think... you think I'm so small a threat that you... can win by just defending?"
“Or maybe we got something trickier up our sleeve!” Button suggested cheekily.
He was bluffin', but Ah wasn't about to tell Diamond Tiara that.
"Ah wanna fix things, not break 'em," Ah didn't think 'bout it, Ah just said it.
It's like a cup in me was fillin' up. Ah'm no Guard. Ah think Ah've known since Ah couldn't take out Umbra Breeze's little red riding wolf.
Somepony... somepony who... somepony who good at restorin' and buildin' stuff, ... is a lot more smart choice to save the world than somepony whose only good at destroyin' stuff.
= With Me - Sonic and the Black Knight =
Diamond Tiara fired off more of those skull curse things, but Button knocked 'em away!
Reflect later, save world! Ah took out my tools Ah bought from Flim and Flam out of my trusty saddlebags that Ah still had! Okay Apple Bloom, ya've seen the printin' press in one piece before, ya've seen it workin', ya know what it's used for, and more importantly how it works. Ya've got a brain in yer head and yer own four hooves and yer tools, nothin' is gonna stop ya. Ah got to work.
Ah know how an open heart surgeon feels. My hooves were coated in ink in no time. It took every bit of earth pony muscle Ah had to bang the pieces back into shape, while bein' careful not to break 'em further!
Nightmare Tiara blasted a piece of the floor, and it slid down into the darkness like an ice cube! It made it harder for Button Mash to move about.
She fired lightning that Button Mash blocked with his wooden shield, then she sent a fireball that he blocked with the Celestia shield. But Ah couldn't keep my eyes on the fight and on my work at the same time. Ah just hada trust Button Mash to do his thing while Ah did my mine!
Nightmare Tiara breathed black fire out of her mouth that curved around Button Mash and twisted about comin' at the opposite end of me! But he did a dive and his shield still blocked it! Thanks, Button, keep bein’ awesome!
She flapped her wings like crazy, makin' a wind storm. Button summoned some super heavy horseshoes and used himself as a windshield.
Then she teleported. My truth's eye couldn't tell where she gonna appear, and my artist's eye couldn't see her magic. But Ah did see the 'ker-blash' glow in the dark room just as it happened behind me... Ah felt her horn stab into my back, but Ah moved out of the way just enough so she didn't stab anythin' vital. Ah did bleed, though.
Once upon a time Ah have cried and broken at the pain, now Ah just gritted my teeth. Ah felt her horn heaten' up, or maybe gotten super cold, but Button Mash threw his Celestia shield like a discus Captain Amareica style, and instead of tryin' to catch it with her magic, she teleported away. Thankfully whatever she'd been about to do to me seared the wound closed. Ah kept workin'.
She teleported to the opposite of where she'd been standin' before, still facin' us.
Then Ah felt her telekinesis tryin' to pull me away from the presses. Ah knew this was gonna bite me in the flank but Ah tied part of my cape to the presses. Ah guessed right Diamond Tiara couldn't touch my cape with her magic. Thanks, Maud Pie.
Connect this gear with that sprocket. This piston with that pipe. It all makes sense, it all fits together. Just focus on fixin' the machine! This is what yer here for!
Then Nightmare Tiara pulled at Button Mash's Equestrian shield, uh-oh. Gotta focus. Gotta trust!
Somethin' swooped out of the shadows and struck Nightfilly Tiara in the horn. The telekinesis stopped. Ah didn't see the look of shock and surprise on her face, Ah guess that's the first time that horn ever got hurt.
Ah hoped, "Scootaloo? Sweetie Belle? That you?" Get back to work Apple Bloom! Right Apple Bloom!
"Nightmare or not, you still gotta obey the rules of havin' a unicorn horn don't cha?" asked a hoarse low voice.
"Guess I'm not the only party crasher." Button smiled.
"Where the Pony Hell did he come from?" Nightfilly Tiara said simply.
"I guess I'm just better at being stealthy than you. I got away from you without being noticed once already," he admitted.
Nightfilly Tiara's jaw actually dropped a little. "You can speak?"
Featherweight? He had a lantern 'round his neck. It shined like a happy sun. How did he? When did he? Truth Eyes says it's really him! No time for questions or answers, just fix it!
Diamond Tiara shook her head and teleported again. And Featherweight leapt, where she appeared, he the happy lantern right in her face. She teleported away again, blocking her vision with her wings. Then she appeared in a new spot right next to me, but Featherweight was next to her before she appeared. This kept repeatin'. Nightfilly Tiara appeared away and her horn glowed, her magic appeared around the lantern, but it faded away like darkness in front of light. She fired her magic right into the floor.
"Button, to Bloom's right!" He coughed out. Button Mash brought up his shield in time to block as the beam shot out of the floor, the mirror shield deflectin' it back at Nightfilly Tiara.
"What magic are you using? Even the gods can't sense my presence. How are you doing this?" She demanded.
"No magic, just my special talent." Keep her distracted Featherweight! Gotta work here! "I'm silent and unseen, I guess I recognize my own."
Even focusin' on the printin' press, my artist's eye pickin' out every detail as my brain was assembling it ahead of time in my head, even if her lookin' like an injury in the world... Ah still noticed it. She kept her voice calm, but Ah knew like apples from pears, that she was screamin' and ragin' inside at what she said next. She was silently rumblin' like a volcano!
"You're not supposed to be here, you weren't supposed to... supposed to... be important."
"I'm here to help save you from making more terrible mistakes, Miss Tiara."
Toola-Roola, Ah can feel ya, thank you, I can use my hooves to hold things and my mouth too! Gonna need appendages Ah can get! And earth ponies learn how to speak and use their mouth at the same time! Time to really push her buttons while Ah fix these buttons!
"And ya didn't count on Button Mash bein' here neither! Ya didn't think he'd have the guts to come here and help save the world! Ya thought either he'd take me down or Ah'd take him down! And Ya didn't notice Featherweight comin' up here Ah bet! Ya wanted it just you and me remember?" And it hit me... Button Mash... he was here... win or lose... he was here... to give up everythin'... so Ah could set everythin' right, he was doin' this for all of us... Ah'd say that makes this video game geek the bravest pony in the room right now. Button Mash, thanks for everythin'. Ah won't forget ya, Ah swear it. "Featherweight! Don't try to hurt 'er! Just keep 'er busy until Ah get the presses up and runnin'!"
"Got it!"
= The Betrayer - Shovel Knight =
Then her SHADOW stretched out behind her, lookin' like a chimera mess of a buncha nasty things, like the head of a horse, and the different heads came at us from every which way!
"I won't let you destroy everything. I won't let you ruin all our hard work. I've given up everything. I've given up everypony. It was all for her! I won't let you make it all meaningless."
Featherweight shined his lantern at Button Mash's mirror shield, and it concentrated into a beam the sliced and diced Nightfilly Tiara's shadow. Ah heard her cry out as she pulled it back.
"Ah thought everythin' was already meanin' less!" Ah said linin' up gears.
"I really hate finishing games only knowing half the story. That’s why I always make a point of collecting all the audio logs and reading all the books. Oh well." Button Mash sighed determined if that's possible.
Then diamond tip spears rained down on us. Button's Equestria Shield protected me, while Featherweight actually slipped between them!
"Diamond! Even for her! This isn't worth it!"
Wait, Featherweight knew when me with my truth eye didn't?
"You don't know who I'm talking about."
Featherweight's lantern shined brighter, actually shinin' through the diamonds, pepperin' the dark room with a million little rainbows. Nightfilly Tiara retched and hissed and the spears stopped fallin'.
"Yes I do... Tarnished Rich."
It was like seein' a lens in a pair of glasses break.
"You... you can't... there's no... way you can..."
Tarnished Rich, wait, wasn't that... it feels like an eternity ago... FOCUS APPLE BLOOM! Yer on track! Yer doin' it! Yer doin' it! Long way to go yet but yer doin' it!
"You told me to document EVERYTHING, and I obeyed."
"Die." This time two different streams of black flames came out of her mouth comin' at different angles, but Button blocked 'em both. Then she used changeling magic and turned into a big grayish pink/purplish black dragon, and tried to squash me flat with a double hammer blow. But Button held up his Euqestrian shield, and he held!
She tried to just grab me but Featherweight's lantern seemed to burn her when she got close! She changed back into her Nightfilly self. Spreading her wings, she left herself open... it was bait. She was tryin' to lure Button Mash or Featherweight away from me. But neither of 'em fell for it. Ah'm proud.
Ah ain't foolin' myself, we've lasted this long cause she needs the presses fer her scheme too and we're right next to 'em, and Ah think we all got ways we're protected from her just teleportin' us over a pit of spikes or somethin'.
Gotta work faster! Faster!
"Gotta borrow that!" Ah plucked a feather from Featherweight.
"Ow!"
"Sorry." Needed that for a part here!
Then... what Ah could only really describe was black threads made outta thorns tore from Nightfilly Tiara at us, if she was a wound, this was the ichor. They struck like cobras. But that green tangle thing appeared above Button Mash's head, and he zipped above knockin' em off course... right, like at Everfree. They turned to dust in the light of Featherweight's lantern.
Ah ignored the pain of the horn stab in my back as best Ah could. Ah had to ignore it more when one of the threads got through and cut at my rear leg. Keep at it, Apple Bloom.
That was when Tiara's horn seemed to go on overload, Ah still couldn't feel a thing, but Ah could see it lookin' like the reverse of a roamare candle! It sucked up whatever light was in the place except for the lantern.
Then Ah saw around us a buncha stars. But they weren't stars. Button Mash tossed one of his shields to Featherweight just in time and put another on my back. It was in just in time too, for the endless barrage of spell bolts hammered down. Gray, faded violet, ugly pink, charcoal black, bloody red, they rained down, no, they came from every direction! Ah was sweatin', so many little gears and cogs, have to put in just right... you're over halfway there, Apple Bloom... just a little while more...
"Don't you know there's a universe where I've already won?" Her voice echoed off the walls, makin' my ears ring.
"But that ain't the world I'm livin'! Ah'm makin' a totally different, nicer world!" The words left my mouth without even thinkin' about it. But it was right. Whatever happened in another world, my choices sure as heck mattered in this one!
Then... as she was burnin' through mana than Ah thought anypony could have in their bodies... she... she began to sing. And... it wasn't blank and empty... Ah swear Ah could hear Diamond Tiara in there somewhere!
"Cutie Mark Crusaders, get out of my way!
You ponies can't to see the truth
But you'll hear it from me."
-
= Puzzle Room Number 99 =
And Sweetie Belle heard it, she felt it, and in her mind's eye she saw it!
"Stop! Diamond Tiara, this is not the way
You know you're better than this hostility!" Sweetie Belle sang out.
-
Was that! Was that Sweetie Belle Ah just heard?! Ah sing with her too, even if makes my eyes feel like they're on fire, Ah sing to Tiara.
Nightmare Tiara's star shower of death lost some of its kick. She held her hooves to her head.
"You don't even know me at all!
Don't understand the meaning of my fall!
What it means to realize that,
You're just Fate's plaything!"
-
Scootaloo desperately still worked the 99th puzzle, singing with Sweetie. Leaving one puzzle room to go, of course the most convoluted.
And this close, singing a heart song, to the heart of all rumors where perception was reality... Sweetie was struck like she'd never been struck before. Daggers of ice stabbed her heart over and over again. And felt like it Diamond did. Who she loved losing herself, becoming a horrible stranger. Burying it deeper and deeper in your mind... because it wasn't her that you blamed... And connected that day with what reflected your soul ...
"I was a diamond and all I did was break!
Become the devil if that's what it takes!
Whatever I have to become to amend!"
-
The death lights focused on me like sunlight through a magnifying glass. Button Mash and Featherweight started to look exhausted. Just hold on a little longer boys. Ah kept fixnin' as Ah kept singin'. Ah could feel it... And me and my first friends, sang together!
-
"Stop! This is not the answer!" Sweetie called back.
-
The death lights began to fire off mark.
"Wait! And it's plainly seen!"
-
A brief flash of the Spell of Destruction, and it hit the wall instead! Nightfilly Tiara looked almost confused.
-
"Listen! You can redeem yourself!"
But by helping others, not by being mean!"
-
Images flashed through Sweetie Belle's mind, and they echoed in the Nightfilly of Diamond Tiara's mind like she'd experienced them herself. Watching plays with Silver Spoon, 'Borrowing' that fluxcapacitor from Doctor Whooves, that wacky sideways adventure through time with they all shared. Making up with Twist, enjoying Canterlot.
Sweetie experience memories like they were her own. Building a block kingdom. One fateful Hearth Warming Eve which was more fun than all the boring parties put together. Only real friend she was allowed to have, which made them all the more precious.
We know you want friends who admire you
You want to be the star with all the power too
But there's a better way, there's a better wa-a-ay
-
Blades of nothingness, diamonds shaped like sais, thorn threads, all went wild, randomly appearing and striking at everything and anything with no rhyme or reason.
She teleported right in front of Featherweight, her underside looked like it was gettin' the worst sunburn ever just by bein' near his lantern! She grabbed hold of him, and touched her horn to his forehead. "Break."
His eyes rolled into the back of his head as they closed. His entire body shuddered like he was relivin' his worst nightmare on high speed and repeat! She put up a shield around her and Featherweight.
"Break." She repeated. "Break."
He opened his eyes a little. "No," he said.
The lantern shined brighter and she teleported away from him, the barrier fadin' fast. And Ah swear, Ah know what Ah saw. For less than a tick, she was scared the way any little filly looks when she's scared. Just a few more pieces!
"There's so much more still left to
Learn about yourself
See the light that shines in you
We know you can be somepony new
You can stop right now
And reach for another star
You'll finally free yourself from the dark
And see the light
And see the light of your cutie mark!"
The three of us sang together.
AND! THE! LAST! ONE! That's it! It's done! It's all back together!!!
Nightfilly's eyes got wider and wider at the sight. She randomly teleported about, and then teleported right above me for a head dive with her horn pointed right between my eyes. But Button blocked and Featherweight sent her off course, it didn't hurt her in the least, but it bought me some time!
-
"Ow! That was nice kick Featherweight," Sweetie said.
"Featherweight?!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"Long story!" Sweetie said as they finished the last puzzle, arriving at the top floor inside the mansion's inner rooms. "Apple Bloom's almost done it! Just... uh-oh."
-
... There's no ink... there's nothin' for me to work with. And DANGIT! If we were gonna have a retraction or somethin' we should have had it written BEFORE ALL THIS!! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID LITTLE FOALS! HOW DID WE OVER LOOK SOMETHIN' THIS OBVIOUS?! DANGIT! NO! Ah ain't gonna just give up this time! Button and Featherweight at still goin', and so are my other friends Ah now know, so, so am Ah!
THINK! Apple Bloom! What can ya use?! What can ya say?! How can Ah show everypony the truth?!... What did Ah just say?
Alright then.
Anypony whose listenin', everypony who could be listenin'... Ah need just a tiny bit of help right now... then we can get back the Equestria we all know and love...
Believe just a little bit! It's what Ah gotta do for what Ah gotta do!
Ah cried ... and for a second Ah thought Ah'd gone blind in one eye... but no... Ah couldn't see the hole in the world Nightfilly Tiara was no more, Ah couldn't see the magic and the truth of things... but Toola-Roola's eyes still guided me, Ah was gonna need it. Floating between my hooves, was a silvery liquid ball... it was lot bigger than it had comin' in.
Truth... it hurt when Ah got ya... ya nearly turned into somethin' horrible... but ya also saved the lives of me and my kin and kith and Ah got this far 'cause of you. It's hard to let go, but this is what we gotta do ... for everypony... let's make the truth be somethin' worth believin' in!
Nightfilly Tiara was shakin' like a leaf at the sight of it, if the lantern hurt her... she kept an even face... but SHE was the one who looked like she couldn't even bear to look at it.
Featherweight and Button Mash were as stunned as she was, her jaws open at the sight before them.
"If you do this, you might restore everypony, but no pony will ever know. This will all have never been, so no one will ever know what you did. Do you want that?" She looked burned out, or just couldn't come close to the Truth.
"...Ah'll know. And Ah'll also have everypony Ah care about back tah themselves."
"You already do. You've fixed them all."
Ah thought of cousin Braeburn, and his friends, and their family and friends, and Scootaloo's parents wherever they were... "No Ah haven't."
"Are you two going to just stand by and let her kill you?!" She shouted at the colts. She looked down, but didn't move a muscle.
"If you remake the world to remove the rumor's infection, you, concepts, and freaks of nature will be the only ones to remember this world of rumors. All they've accomplished, done, and sacrificed, learned, and grown will be forgotten. All that's happened since the twisting will be FORGOTTEN since it never happened. Do you want to rob them of the growth they've earned?"
And then ... Ah felt a ghost of a memory of a dream of an imagining... And Ah thought of all of Equestria, all the world, maybe the universe... floatin' in a little bubble of tiny universes, where what was changed when ya walked from one house to another, nopony able to agree how somethin' happened cause it DID happen different for everypony, stuck in fog, with monsters goin' about, misdirectin' ponies and leadin' them astray. The world wasn't fixed. There was damage these lies had caused Ah didn't even know about. It wasn't even a whole world right now. Don't worry, Ah'll heal ya.
"... So... this is what they felt like... when they had to end the world for everypony's sake... it wasn't easy was it? Havin' to cut out good with the bad... yer forgiven."
It's funny, Ah had a little imagine spot just then... of the ponies from the days of the three tribes... If they'd been teleported through time to modern Equestria... heck, even Equestria a thousand years ago from right now... they'd have found it all impossible. The tribes all workin' together as FRIENDS instead of enemies, other tribes gettin' help from ponies and bein' our friends.
Ah remember, when Lickety Split said how ponies imitated humans for a lot of the stuff we still do, Ah thought it was crazy.
How many better worlds are out there for the makin', that we brush off as can't be done? Ponies' goin' to the moon. Everypony havin' instant letters like Spike can do. And so much more. Maybe Ah should stop lookin' into the Truth, it's makin' me all reflective thinkin' and stuff.
"Ah can't care about JUST my kin and kith . . . Ah have to care not just about everypony, but about EVERYONE."
Ah pushed the Truth into the printin' press' ink-well. It didn't start... but Ah didn't feel worried. It was like Ah was on a ride, and Ah knew it was about to reach where it was supposed to go all this time. It was buildin' up and up... What did Twilight say before about the Elements? Needin' a spark?
Then it was like all the pieces inside me fell into place. Like a big puzzle that Ah'd been tryin' to solve my whole life, and Ah'd just put in the last piece.
"It feels good to fix things. Sayin' all it needs is a little love instead of throwin' it out." And Ah'm really good at it. Designin' stuff, fixin' stuff, be it houses, stuff, ponies, or hearts.
"Fixin' hearts, healin' friends, repairin' the world? Ah get it now, it's what Ah'm here for!"
At that moment, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle ran in... or had they been there for a while? Ah'm kinda caught up in the moment. Ah see a spark in their eyes, they must have heard what Ah said.
= HERE WE ARE - Apple Bloom & Black Gryph0n =
It felt like lightnin' struck my flanks.
-
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle in that moment, shared the same thought.
'This is what we'e come here for... this is what we're here for, not just me, not just my friends, all of us together. It's why we're here! Saving our friends! Bringing them back to themselves! Helping them remember who they really are! What they really are! To bring out their hopes and dreams! THIS IS WHAT WE'VE BEEN FIGHTING FOR!'
And the fillies felt like Zeus had tapped their cutie marks. In that brief moment, they all felt what the others felt.
And the Nightmare of Diamond Tiara, felt ill and helpless before what was happening. She watched everything she had worked for, sacrificed, planned, given up, and surrendered for... fall apart before her very eyes in a way only she understood at first. And she remembered what terror was.
-
Ah saw it... it was there. IT WAS THERE! IT WAS THERE! IT WAS THERE! IT WAS THERE! IT WAS THERE! IT WAS THERE! IT'S REALLY THERE! Ma, pa, Applejack, Granny Smith, Big Mac, Braeburn, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Spike, Silver Spoon, Button Mash, Nightmare Applejack, it's there! By Celestia, Cadence, Luna, and Fortuna, it's there!!!
It was a blue and gold shield... at the center was a heart, with a cross of a paintbrush and a hammer. It felt so, so right.
HERE WE ARE!
And that was nothin' compared to what happened next! Light zipped from me straight to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle and then to each other... and a similar but different colored shield with gold trim formed around Scootaloo's butterfly and Sweetie's heart note (red for Scootaloo, green for Sweetie Belle).
We've help OTHERS with THEIR cutie marks, no, awaken THEIR TRUE selves. Well, we were helpin' an entire land, maybe an entire world or freakin' universe of ponies reawaken to their real self... maybe this was our unified talent. It's what we've been doin' this whole adventure.
Wonder if this what the Elements feel like, we were glowin' and stuff, floatin' off the ground, and a spark went off inside the printin' press and... well, KA-POW! Everythin' went white! Ah think Sweetie had a change to hug Button Mash and Featherweight a chance to nuzzle Nightfilly Tiara, but Ah may have imagined that part.
Ah'm even less sure when for a blink of an eye, Ah think Ah saw myself as a mare and an Alicorn, see-through and stuff in the whiteness. She smiled, folded her wings around me, and gave me a nuzzle, and she was gone, if she'd ever been there. Ah felt my head fillin' stuff that was just rentin' space and wasn't there to stay... but Ah had a special talent to put to good use.
-
Button Mash
Uh... hey, in case this is the last time we get to talk, I just want to say this has been a run ride. Even if I won't be there for the big finale, it was an honor to be along while I could. Maybe that's how life is? Nopony ever sees the whole thing, we just see our part of the big journey. Even if nothing happens to me, ever, I think I'll still miss Sweetie somehow. I hope mom and dad are proud of me... do I have a big brother? I don't remember having one... but I don't remember not having one. Okay, that's weird.
Well, Apple Bloom must have triggered the world rebooting. I guess those kids were right, Apple Bloom getting her cutie mark really was the end of the world, okay, more like the new beginning or whatever... but... heh... kinda fun though ain't it?
Oh right... before we close up here, let me say bye-bye, and it was fun while it lasted.
AND! I got a brand new Achievement! It sounded like it was bein' said in those two foals voices from the first floor saving us against from those fake video game heroes, wait, did they say anything? Well they must have if I know what they sound like.
This trophy is super cool looking! I wish you could see it! All shinny and white, and has our cutie marks all on it, sparkly and happy. Just makes me warm and fuzzy inside. Let me close out with what they say... Thanks for the hug. Hugs never get old.
"Congratulations, You Have Uncovered The True Ending,
Do Not Weep, Though The Adventure Is Over.
Trophy Unlocked? Everypony Lives!"
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Okay, the only references I picked up on were Iron Man bouncing his beam off Captain America's shield in The Avengers and the beam spam that may be one to Xemnas. Please let me know if I missed any or got those wrong.
You're going to have to explain Featherweight's lantern. If I missed it from an earlier chapter, I'm sorry.
That was so awesome. Apple Bloom using the Truth to write on the printing press and gaining her Cutie Mark, there are no words.
Despite how that ended, the battle isn't over. Diamond Tiara still didn't reveal her Nightmare name.
I'd imagine Mortis is a fairly good dancer, I mean, Reaper's got to have hobbies.
Great, more meta-speak. Sorry, it's, it gets a bit tiring after a while.
Not quite.
Choosing to fight you is.
Sometimes, you have to grind for it though, like Pokemon. If you grind say, Blaziken, high enough, you can get Sky Uppercut, hits hard, decent accuracy AND, can hit Pokemon in mid Fly/Bounce. VERY useful.
Well, duh, that's the point of teleportation, instantly moving from one place to another, not hiding yourself.
Wouldn't it be Captain Equestria?
Searing a wound shut, hurts like the dickens, but keeps you from bleeding out.
Well, yeah, biology is biology, hit Celestia in the horn hard enough and even she'd feel it. Not that I reccomend it, that would most likely end poorly unless she asked you to do so.
Well, yeah, he's just quiet.
You would LOVE the Kingdom Hearts games. Except 1, it, hasn't aged well, and right before you face the final boss, you face a massive gauntlet of very annoying enemies that, if you aren't high level enough and you didn't pick the right options at the start of the game and you don't have a really good Keyblade, odds are, you're going to die. A lot.
Yeah, various types of Plot Armor.
Eat your heart out Xemnas. Oh, wait, right, you don't have a heart, my bad.
Ooh, that was a good episode! And a damn good song.
Almost read that out as making OUT, but then I remembered, this ain't that kind of fic.
Fun fact, Sais are meant to be defensive, they're meant to catch a blade, and you twist it, snapping the blade.
Apple Bloom used Spirit Bomb! Sorta!
Get ready to feel the THUND-oh, wait, right, too late. Never mind, sorry!
Uh, I feel the need to point out that Zeus doing that would probably end poorly.
Fun ride.
7516371
Play Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time.
Razzaroo gave her lantern to AJ after the final battle with Nightmare Manacle. Then she gave it to Featherweight.
Thank goodness!
And all three CMC gain a uniquely colored shield.
Maybe not. But she's going to be licking her wounds for a while. And we get several breather chapters of not screwed up Equestria for once.
7516445
That's the thing about grand manipulators. They always think they're the ones writing the script. And its meant to be a call to Shodan's line in System Shock 2, "I don't understand, you weren't supposed to be important!" to the player character after she no longer had any use for him and he still beat her.
You get a cookie for spotting that reference.
Oopsie.
No reaction to Apple Bloom getting her cutie mark, and a different colored shield appearing on each of their marks?
Thanks for the comment!
7516487
Question, CAN Mortis dance?
Given we never find out WHERE Button got all the new gear from, gives me an idea...
I looked up at the statue for the bonus boss. I know that this sounds stupid but...if things were supposed to be THAT hard at the top...then I'd need everything we could. I didn't CARE about getting one hundred percent anymore, but I did care about having the best chance of helping Applebloom I could!...Mom would wonder if I'm a changeling if she heard that...
Huh? How did I get back here? Oh! Well, in video games back tracking to places you've already been is always easier than going to places you've never been before! New routes open up from the other side and you've got new stuff to help...I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle didn't figure that out, looks like they already took the long way...
Okay...here we go, Bonus Boss...
I put the horseshoe on the alter and it burst into flames...please don't be TOO hard, I need to get back!
[=Bergentrückung - Undertale=]
The statue starts cracking with light pouring out of it and then it explodes, I grab my sword and get ready.
It explodes and...there's a unicorn standing there. She's not like Princess Celestia or Princess Luna...she's just a unicorn. She's white and has blue hair with a flower Cutie Mark. She's wearing gold horseshoes and has a pretty crown. Not what I was expecting...
She steps down off the alter and looks at me. "Hello, my little pony. I am Queen Majesty of Ponyland. You ha-"
"Yeah yeah, I get it! Can we get this overwith!" I yelled. "I'm in a hurry!"
She blinked and looked at me. "...Why? Isn't any challenge worth putting time and effort into?"
"Yeah...but..." I thought about everything...how as soon as we won I'd...I'd be gone...But... "My friends need me and I can't just take my time! If I don't beat you and get that gear, I might not make it back in time to help Applebloom!"
She didn't act mad...huh, that's weird.
"So, you want to hurry this along so you can return to help your friends?"
I nod. "Yeah! My friend Applebloom's about to fight someone really bad! And if we don't win...all my friends...my...Sweetie Belle will pay for it! I've gotta do this!"
Majesty looked me in the eyes, I felt like she was reading me. "...You speak true...but you're afraid."
"...I'll be gone if we win...but everypony ELSE will suffer if we lose! I've gotta do this!"
"...So you'd give everything for those you love?" she asked...then smiled. "You...are a pony after my own heart, young one."
"Huh?" I kinda just stared.
Majesty looked at me. "I dedicated my life to ensuring a tragedy of that sort that befell me would never befall another if I could help it. That we would both give everything to see to that...I surrender."
I almost dropped my sword. "What?!"
Majesty nodded. "I surrender. You win. Now, take what you wanted and go. Your loved ones need you, my little pony."
I blinked, finding the new gear in my inventory...whao! Look at that armor!
I noticed her start to fade into light. "With the last magic I do possess, back to where you need to be I grant access."
Whao! I'm teleporting!
"Good luck."
I'm...I'm back at the top? Applebloom! I'm coming!...Thank you, Miss. Majesty! I'll put this stuff to good use!
7516511 Very creative.
7516487 Didn't I say, "Please let me know if I missed any or got those wrong."?
7516729
I thought I did with Zelda. Sorry.
7516725 Thanks!
orig05.deviantart.net/8caf/f/2016/227/f/c/commissionp3ff_by_creepycurse-dadz0j9.png
Hey DT, Cadance wants her eyes back!
7516491 I would like to know that as well.
7517599
Well, there was that picture of him dancing Fidelitas.
I kinda wish it did fall on her, that would've been funny.
Maybe that scene's in the blooper reel...
7517726
It wouldn't have finished her off.
7517831
Yeah, you're right. But still, would've been funny.
Sweet merciful Celestia. This was the crowning moment of awesome in a series full of them.
When I first became a brony, the CMC were my favorites. I loved their Charlie Brown-esque determination and innocence. And now they have literally saved reality. This. Is. Wonderful. Now we just have see the credits roll before you pull a Bayonetta on us.
Also, loved the Earthbound nod
7523649
Ironically, I KNOW about that ending, but I was ironically not thinking about that when I wrote about Apple Bloom, but now that you mention it, I can't help but see the similarities!
7523631
What do you expect? There are a ton of loose threads that need fixing. But happy this epic did them justice in your eyes.
The timing of the black gryph0n song was beautiful. This might be the most uplifting thing i've ever read. I can't stop coming back to experience it again. And its the best "cmc get their cutie marks moment" ever written, no question
And Good always triumphs in the end over Evil. Both in stories, and in Reality.
Damn. So many good things in this chapter:
Button Mash and Featherweight showing up and derailing Diamond's plans had me giggle like a fanboy, cheering for their moment to shine in this climactic battle. I LOVED how they played off from each other and helped each other to protect Applebloom. I feel that Button Mash is the biggest MVP of this story and keeps stealing the show...................which is why I'm gonna be very sad when he's gone.
And the song sang by Diamond and the CMC fits oh so well. It definitely set the mood.
What can I say, I have nothing but praises for this chapter.