Credits
Hey guys! Twilence here - wanted to send you off with something fun! All of GM's stories (the longer ones anyway) seem to end with a 'credits' sequence. Well he's not going to write the credits this time, I am! So woo-hoo! Now imagine me putting on some sunglasses and saying "let's do this!"
Let's do this.
Ahem.
The Influence.
Written by G. M. Blackjack. Sorta.
Inspired by, well, nothing at all. It was a completely random idea that came out of left field! But it was pretty fun, wasn't it?
STARRING the following wonderful ponies.
ME as Twilience!
Fluttershy as my closest companion. I'll miss her.
Vriska as the resident anti-hero. Also pretty fun.
Mite.
Pinkie Pie as... I... As the one who showed me what I could be.
Aradia as our savior across time. She attends her own funerals regularly.
Rarity as the battle healer and dimensional connection.
Infinity as GM's self insert that grew beyond.
Orchid as the pony who needed to learn about introspection.
Ruby as devotion.
Prancey as... My gosh, she was totally Pinkie wasn't she...
Wound Dream as clockwork maker.
Diorite as the first dragon.
Ine as the initial mystery.
Alderan as the unwanting slave.
Proteus as life among wilderness.
Gamnemnon as mental dastardliness.
Castorson as the mad hatter.
Vester as the shaper of nations.
Lore Thirst as the driving force behind most everything.
M as an alternate universe version of "an ass"
Four as the number of death that lived.
Heildor as side-villain.
The Overseer as something you didn't dig into quite as much as you could have, but oh well.
The Council as fancy dragon-pony ruling class.
Corot as having a bad couple of eons.
Siron as the big bad bug whose moment of epiphany went so wrong.
GM as himself.
My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro, Homestuck belongs to Andrew Hussie and What Pumpkin, Final Fantasy belongs to Square Enix, and the Dark Tower belongs to Stephen King. There were lots of other things referenced, but these were the ones that ended up particularly blatant. Thanks, guys.
But wait, we're not done yet! What about all the endings!?
Pristine: This would have been the ending where no one in the main group died. This... Was not easy to obtain. While there were several paths to it, it went off when you allowed the Council to declare war. That doomed someone who went with them.
Bittersweet: The one we got - any ending where there were deaths, but nothing else far-reaching happened. Neither Corot or Siron were allowed to rampage at all. Which is, honestly, one of the better possible endings.
Warmonger: This would have happened if we were unwilling to use the Band and Siron still got out - this is probably what would have happened had I not made my own decision at the end there. Siron would have to be defeated by brute force. We'd basically have to declare war on him with the entire world, and it would be a long, brutal campaign.
Dethroned: There was always a chance Orchid would not learn her lesson. After victory was achieved, she'd brutalize the land as it's 'hero' and we would have had to dethrone her. This is that ending. It's a sad one.
Steam: This is the ending you get if you help Starlight get back to her time. Only possible if Siron rampages and controls the world for a short time.
Rebuilder: Use the Band, get this ending. We would return to our time, but first, we would help Peran rise from the ashes with what we could. We would have stopped the horrors but have sacrificed several million individuals. This might have broken me.
Forgotten: Using the Apocrypha or Aradia's Time Shenanigans to deal with Siron would result in all our journeys being forgotten and a new timeline being produced where none of us could go home. Honestly, not that bad of an ending, but a bit of a cheat.
Singularity: This one required Lore Thirst to win. He would keep the eye. Orchid would rise up to power and stop Siron the way the prophecy intended, and eventually recruit Lore Thirst. He would use the eye to create a technological singularity - at which point I would take the Eye from him with the help of Aradia.
Adrift: It was possible to royally mess up the Time Tunnels and launch everyone into an unknown dimension. The same thing could happen with the Overseer's ship, except get launched into space.
Coward: If Corot or Siron or Both were released, but didn't have access to the Time Tunnels, this ending would be achieved if we cut our losses and abandoned the world.
Earned: This one is perhaps the most 'satisfactory' of the endings - it involved Siron absorbing Corot's power and subjugating the world. We would live under him as a mixture of slaves and resistance fighters. Earned happens when we finally manage to overthrow him after an extremely long fight.
Tattletale: Call upon the Flowers or Empress Twilight to deal with Siron using the Time Tunnels. This would require using meta-knowledge, but it was viable.
Lattice: One path had Lore Thirst running with the Eye to Moissan, where Heildor would take advantage of him and try to conquer the world itself. This ending occurs if Heildor succeeds in that act.
Supernova: So, we summon Corot and don't find a way to seal him back in. The planet blows up.
Predetermined: Any ending where Siron gains control and cannot absorb Corot, creating the future we saw in the timejump chapter.
Insanity: There was a chance I would have to kill Lore Thirst brutally with my bare hooves. There was also a chance I'd have to kill some of my own friends with my bare hooves. If I did that and was unable to cope, or you were unable to help me cope, I would have gone mad and unleashed myself on the multiverse as basically a villain.
Servant: This was only possible if Corot was summoned in the sixth Altar. He would have bound me to him and I would have become his servant.
Grimdark: This one is basically the ultimate failure - Siron absorbs Corot and, in the deep future, we fail to get the Earned or Tattletale ending. Siron would have us under control and start subjugating the multiverse under his iron fist.
Hacker: First off: Lore Thirst needed to be alive. Second: We needed to get to the Time Tunnels without the spirit of Vester. Third: Lore Thirst and Mite needed to work together to hack into the Time Tunnels. Fourth: You needed to identify that I should try to go to the Dark Tower so Five: I could activate the final form of the Eye early and basically cheat our way to victory. There was no way this was happening.
And now for the special thanks! All you guys who commented. And InquisitiveButterfly. I know you're there. Please don't be creeped out. Hi, glad you managed to get one message in!
Creek, thank you for being... Well not the voice of reason, more like the voice of empathy. You're one of them who helped me realize what I was becoming, and what I could be. Thank you for being you. Thank you for being real with me.
Ponygood... Yeah, you were annoying at times. You were a bit crazy and went off on tangents. But you know what, that's part of your charm. Perhaps just think a bit more about what you say in the future, hrm? Also, no clouds. Never.
Zen, I should probably thank you most of all. You, well, you were helpful, amazing, reasonable, and all around full of good ideas the entire time. I think I owe you my life. Thank you for taking this seriously when everything was exploding around us. I cannot express how much I - all of us - owe to you.
Akumakami, I know you haven't been around lately, but I still want to say thanks to you anyway. Hope your worlds end up okay!
Sonic, Afizah, the rest of you... You taxed me. But, well, I think I needed at least some of that. Definitely not all of it, but some of it. I wouldn't suggest doing all that insanity in the future, but... Well, it wasn't all bad. It got me to think sometimes. In the future, well, realize that doing that makes it hard to trust you.
Wolfe... ...I hope you get some help with that fire problem of yours. And that you realize sometimes, forcing yourself on others and expecting certain responses isn't the way to go. I don't want to imply anything but... Well, maybe you should do what I did and take a look at yourself and strive for something else? You seem like a nice person who's more than the crazy halo stuff and fire. Let other people know there's more too you.
Nickel, sometimes it was hard to figure out what you were saying. Okay, a lot of the time it was hard to figure out. Invest in some punctuation! Despite this, you were still there for me. Even though I don't really understand you.
Josh, thank you for being upfront. You were always yourself with me, and I admire that.
Sunbro... ...You were very funny. Sonic's probably jealous of you, admittedly. Treat that Twilight of yours well.
DLB, Mister green, and others... I may not remember much about you, but I still care about you and appreciate you taking time to respond. Just... Thank you all for what you've done.
And be thankful that we didn't get a bad ending. I'd be cursing you in that case. Be very glad. But we shouldn't dwell on the 'what-ifs.' We should focus on the what is!
You all want a final scene right? Well... Here you go!
~~~
I walked through the portal, Rarity and Vriska at my sides. We appeared in a crystal area I had seen before, when I drew Rarity from the altar. Mite came through last, just as the portal closed.
"This is definitely it," I said.
"Affirmative," Mite said.
Vriska shrugged. "So... Where's the Empress?"
"She'll be here soon," I said.
Soon was four and a half seconds. A powerful, regal alicorn version of myself appeared before us, mane twinkling with stars. "Hello."
I bowed. "I am Twilence. I... Am the bearer of the Eye of Rhyme, Seer of Stories, Princess of Friendship."
The Empress smiled. "I am Empress Twilight Sparkle of the Void. Welcome to the multiverse."
"I was welcomed long ago."
Vriska shrugged. "Eh, sure."
I turned to the left. "We must stay here for now, Empress. A person by the name of Creek will be coming."
Vriska chuckled. "Out of all of them, you get Creek, huh? I'm going to give her a stupid big and hard hug when she shows up. It'll freak her out!"
I rolled my eyes. That it would. She'd think she was being attacked. It'd probably make quite the story. I was making my own story, right now, in fact.
I didn't even need to look at the Eye anymore. It was part of me, part of my body in a way as fundamental as my real eyes. I saw through it many things - possible futures, possible pasts, relations, connections...
It was beautiful.
I spread my wings and felt the power of stories and songs fill me...
~~~
Aradia stood over a grave.
EVERMORE 5 : PINKIE PIE
It was located in the Tree of Harmony's clearing, near the edge where it was hard to see, but still beautiful.
Aradia smiled. She wondered if anypony would ever notice it.
Either way, it was still beautiful.
The engraved stone slab basked in the light of Harmony, glistening under the power its occupant had held so dear her entire life.
And that, my friends, is the final image.
Twilence edit: Or it would be, if this didn't exist:
THE END.
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I completely forgot about this! In celebration of the end of this story, and in honor of that other interactive story Wake Up. See This. What Do,
Let's
do
the
mutha
fuckin
DINOSAAAAAUR!
Come on, Pinkie, stop playing dead for at least one dinosaur walk! Please?
8474935
oh my god! you had to ruin the moment didn't you?
edit; despite everything though i feel like we should stay in touch; friends?
8474935
I'm not sure whether I should be amused, or be angry with you.
8475232
oh hey i don't think we said a single word to each other the whole time during this adventure, so uh hi
8475268
I didn't really get involved in the conversations a whole lot.
So, hi.
The downside of stories like this is that they're really only interesting if you read them while they're ongoing. Oh well.
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She knew it was likely the moment she was transported to Siron, but every chapter break had huge uncertainty for her. She wasn’t completely sure until it happened.
-GM, master of ice
8502655
The Evermore Recursions.
Well, I suppose I'm quite late to the party, but it looks like this was a lot of fun to be a part of. After completing almost the entirely of Parts II and III in a single evening, I feel compelled to comment with some of my thoughts. I had in fact, started reading this way back when the first chapter was posted, but passed up the opportunity to be among the Influence due to not yet being comfortable posting comments on the site... I quit reading about partway through part I, since reading through the mess of Internet DrivelTM in the comments was overwhelming at times...
However, as an avid reader of Song of the Spheres, I decided to finish reading this story after noticing the multitude of references to this story that seemed important. Having read only a part of this, it put me in the interesting position of recognizing Twilence, but not Siron, or Vriska, when they were each introduced in SotS. I think finishing this now, (right after the spaceship that presumably belonged to Twilence, Vriska, Rarity, and Creek? was discovered) was great timing.
For those who participated in this great story, I hope you realized just how real Twilence and Co. are, and what an opportunity you had to interact with them for an extended period of time. Also, congratulations on achieving a good, while not best, ending.
For those who have not yet read this yet, know that reading through the mass of comments that are necessary to understand the story is definitely worth it. Also, it seems that this story, more than any other, seems to act as a Prologue to Song of the Spheres, so if you like that, or think you would like it, do try to get through this masterpiece of a story, despite the non-traditional style.
I would address a message to Twilence, but I doubt she still checks these logs nowadays, and is probably busy dealing with some major multiversal problems, relating to the Songs of the Spheres. Also, I never got to know her at this time, and have nothing to say to her anyways...
To GMBlackjack, as I have commented on others of your works, I think you are an amazing writer. I only wish that I could write stories much less write well enough to give characters a life of their own, with a full world to live in. I loved that scene near the end where you had a sincere conversation with Twilence. It really drilled in just how real these characters could be, which seems to be the overarching theme of the story. Thank you for continuing to produce such quality of work on this site.
--The Seeker
9040430
It was Creek, yes, Mite was also a part of the Ship, though realistically he wouldn't have showed up in the picture taken. Though I suspect he was *in* it, XD
If you don't know who Creek is, pay attention to me comments starting with Chapter 16.
Also, we had a forum at the time (Which GMBlackjack never linked on the main page) which you can find here: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212717/influencing-the-influence
In there you'll find about a dozen different things. But I'd like to direct you specifically to "A Little Woorldbuilding" and "Idles Replies" for even more Creek goodness. As well, "A Little Conversation" for the much needed context of what Twilence learned at the end of Chapter 38
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Thank you!! I had seen the forum links in the comments but hadn't spent the time to visit. But "A Little Conversation" is exactly what I needed to complete this story. Perhaps, when I have time I'll look at some more of the forum.
At some point of the story you said you were making a Sburb playthrough can I get a link to that
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While yes, you can find it here ( https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/subrbisms-homestuck-interactive-story.576221/ ) It was abandoned.
-GM, master of bands.
Twilence, I don't know if you can still hear me. If you can, know that I have not forgotten you. I'm sure most of us didn't. Admittedly, I have forgotten most of your story, but not you. You have known about ka for quite a while by now... The Twilight that died, after you told her... Something. I hope she will not be forgotten. Maybe, one day, your universe will be found. Maybe then you can be known by all from Merodi? Do Viriska and Aradia know you, or does the Song have its own versions? We, those of us who know you and your adventure, care for you still. May the sun warm your back, and provisions of all kinds find themselves in your hooves.
hello Twilence.... i know you can hear this, and i need to tell you a few things, I've been debating rereading this for old times sake, but in the end i can't bring myself to do it... i'm not sure why... i remember some things better then others, when you first got the eye, getting flutters, the time GM tried to make an example out of a choice only for me to think of an alternative that nullified it.... how i betrayed your trust....... i know you forgave me, but... i didn't forgive myself... not in-tell recently anyway... the worst part in my opinion is you still needed my help and i just kinda fell apart after that, i really don't think i was much help if any after that... god, if you could see my face right now... i wish we could have been more help then we were but all things considered the bittersweet ending was an inevitability i suppose
First found out about this story in SotS, just read it over the past 2 days. Wish I had been a part of the story as it happened. Will you be answering comments in SotS? If yes I would like to get to know you as a friend.
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Twilence shows up in the Discord server from time to time, if you want to talk to her.
-GM, master of Ice Ice Fire.
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I have no discord account and rarely use the Facebook 1 I have (read less once a year on average). I use fimfiction the most frequently, at least once a day anyways. So I was just checking.
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Well, she won't be responding, but rest assured she at least sees your comments.
-GM, master of sights.
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Fair enough.
9832140
Are you a demon-kid holding an infinite-sided die? No! You're only a regular not-kid staring at an infinite-sided die. There's a clear difference, yo.
Greetings I know I may be late, but having just finished it I can definitely say that this is by far one of the best things on here. I regret that I didn’t find this earlier, but it was still extremely good and exciting without participation. Bravo, Twilence and GM. Bravo.
Hello!
You still exist in the past, right?
Hello Twilence... Heh, look at me, years late to the party as always. I don't know if you can still see these, or if you're even still alive, but I felt I had to comment here. I made GMBlackjack a promise, you see, that once Songs of the Spheres reached it's conclusion, I would read it in full. In hindsight, that was probably a mistake, I should have read it as it came, but that was and still is how I approach stories. I had no proof that SotS would ever truly come to fruition, same with any story, so I wait until they are complete.
Reading this back for context on SotS (I'm not done yet, only about 50 chapters in) was... hard. Really hard, for some reason. It's the closest I've ever experienced to the feeling of watching a livestream recording back in story form. I wish I could have helped, I really do. I've been constantly going over what I would have said, how I could have changed things. But it's too late now. Story of my life, I guess.
I don't know why I'm posting this. Like I said, I have no clue if you are still able to see this, or what your status is now that SotS is complete. (And I don't want to know just yet. Spoilers, and all that) But... I felt like I HAD to, you know? As... as a potential friend you never met. Is that arrogant? That sounds kind of arrogant to me, but... Well, I'm sure you get what I mean. In truth, I don't know if I would have helped even if I was aware of this story at the time, I never did invest myself in comment driven stories, but I felt like I should say something anyway.
I have no idea if this will reach you, and if it happens to do so at an inconvenient time or anything, I'm sorry. I just... felt compelled. Heh, maybe you were able to Influence me, even after so long.
Regards
Shilic, "Master" of being Late
sooo... GM;
What advice would you give to someone who wanted to make a similar sort of interactive fic? is there anything you wish you had done
differently, or prepared for more?
10959760
Have an ending in mind. Or have multiple possible endings in mind. Doing something open-ended is doomed to crash and screech to a halt. Make sure it will finish.
Otherwise, make sure you have plans but also vagueness where the "readers" (more accurately thought of as "players" in this case) can improvise and bring about whole new unexpected things.
And don't be afraid to be creative.
-GM, master of ink.
This story was amazing to read. While I wasn't here for it , happy to see things turned out really well.
Whew. Well, now I know more of the background lore.
I know you said that the story loses its magic when you aren't actively participating in it, but there's still definitely a lot of magic to be had here, in my opinion. This was a very different story to read through than I've normally read through (and definitely longer than advertised, I tell you hwatt). Reading through the story itself and the comments and Twilence responding back and reacting to them was really something special you don't see often and was really enjoyable to read. Adding to that the links to other stuff going on in the meta (Twilence is still Twilence in other works/places, and wowsers that Discord chat, man), this was some pretty deep stuff. Even if I didn't get to be part of it when it was going on, I still feel like a was part of it a tiny bit and I'm happy for that.
I'm honestly glad I didn't jump into this one first before getting into SotS. There was a little too much blabbed about what's going on there in here. And yeah, I could've just avoided the comments but that would just be blinding me to half of what's going on in the story since they're such an integral part. Regardless, I feel more enriched having got to it now at the point I did. And I'm also looking now at SotS with a different perspective on some things. Some of Twilence and Vriska's actions in the story make more sense. Not sure if a spoiler outside of here but it doesn't seem to be explained here how she becomes a Prophet later. Was it just a side effect of her fully awakening the Eye at the end? Speakling of the Eye, not sure how much of SotS was fully developed at the same time but I guess knowing the origin of the Eye of Rhyme (The Guarantee) from reading Chapter 115, I wonder about the conflict of info there vs the story of "The Hole" here. There are...some allusions, but guess the ancients here just decided to claim it and make their own story. I think I have a pretty good idea who their ship, the Orchid, was named after, but I'm not clear as to why. Maybe they just felt she deserved a nod for her part? I'm feeling a lot more sad about Creek's fate knowing who she was. Poor Creek...you got to overcome so much and go out on a great adventure...only to meet an end like that.
Siron...was always a bit of an asshole from day one, but I didn't realize he was always this much of an asshole. And though I initially felt kinda sad from his betrayal since he started off as a friend to Twilight and the budding society, it looks like it was always going to be an inevitable betrayal. I guess it needed to happen to get rid of him.
The possibility of multiple endings was an interesting twist. I highly doubt that they will ever be explored, but I'm glad that you explained what would have led up to them and what would have happened in some of them. Some sounded pretty interesting. The ones I found most interesting were Warmonger, Dethroned, Rebuilder, Adrift, Earned, Insanity, and, Grimdark.
There's one question (among probably many yet unrealized) that I have. I noticed that Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity were the only ones of the mane six to appear here...and there are only four of the mane six who ended up going on multiverse expeditions in SotS - also Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity. (and I guess there's a "plus one" with Starlight)
Was there a deeper link from here to that there or is this just a coincidence and I'm seeing things?
It looks like I still have a lot more related material to read I didn't realize before. Offhand, seems like maybe Wanderlost and [untitled.uncertainty?] Maybe also Realms of Existence and some things outside FimFic? Following along with some of the comments I'm not sure. I'm gonna need to be careful not to down myself too much in other material.
Thank you very much for this story.
I noticed some typos in chapters and had a couple things to say along the way:
Ch 19
*again
Ch 22
Man I had to pause for laughing after that. That was priceless.
Her learning what "fuck" meant shortly later added to that.
Ch 23
MAAAAAAAAAAAN. How differently that hits knowing what comes much later.
Also, shouldn't that be "never saw"?
Ch 24
I had always thought it a combo of Twilight and "violence" but this makes much more sense in context.
Ch 37
*mere
Ch 38
I had to go back on this and check that I wasn't misremembering and yeah it was Seven Hundred. Ponygood commented "Nine Hundred". And oddly you/The Overseer just kinda rolled with it so eh.🤷
Ch 39
*planned
Ch 41
*warning
Damn, Broken Mirror wasn't even finished when this was still running? I didn't get to it until shortly after it was finished (I think) but man, I definitely missed out on this, then. Barely could've caught it at the end had I looked, I think.
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Your question: it's purely coincidence that the ponies match up. Maybe unconscious bias I guess?
None of the stories you list have anything to really say about the SotS multiverse and are just stories in their own right (one not even completed). Most of the stories posted elsewhere were eventually compiled into Enchorus which if you read you should read very carefully and only read things published before your current chapter, as Enchorus is an anthology of all sorts of stuff. I actually would encourage you to check out Enchorus, it has some things in it that DO tie things together, unlike the stories you mentioned in your comment here. Just remember to be careful and watch publish dates.
-GM, master of Qs.
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I had a feeling and was going to be approaching it with keeping chapter dates in mind anyways, but I'm glad to know that thought was justified. Thanks.👍
Forgot to mention: sucks that the art at the end is broken and the tumblr is gone.
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https://derpibooru.org/images/1595670?sort[]=1511811664000&sort[]=1595670&sd=desc&sf=first_seen_at&q=twilence
I went and found it on derpi for you.
-GM, master of imagoos.
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Yay!