Ponystuck

by confoundtheseponies

Chapter 12

"Again, I apologise for how long I have kept you waiting. Pinkie is a very elusive quarry. Fortunately, I have managed to keep her occupied, such that she will be unable to interfere with the story for some time." I smile, and contemplate the party pony in question.

In an entirely different room of my house, Pinkie Pie is confronted by a piece of paper, on which is written: 'There is a map to the land of chocolate on the other side of this page'. However, when she turns over the page, she is instead greeted by the words: 'There is a map to the land of chocolate on the other side of this page'. This keeps happening.

"Now then, I suggest we enjoy the reprieve from her meddling for as long as possible. With that in mind, let us continue where we left our heroes..."

***ACT 2***

Gradually, the darkness began to recede. Shades of light appeared, slowly resolving into colours. The blurred divide between one colour and the next sharpened, the world around her coming into focus as Rainbow Dash wearily opened her eyes. Judging by the decor, and the faint sound of Rarity humming to herself, Rainbow (correctly) assumed she was in Carousel Boutique. But why was she here? Weren't they supposed to be playing Sburb? Wasn't she supposed to be entering? What had-

Visions of fire and rock filled her mind as she recalled the last few moments before everything had gone dark. Oh.

Attempting to rise up from the makeshift bed Rarity had made for her out of pillows and fabric, the pegasus let out a weak cry as pain shot through her wings. Hearing the noise, Rarity was at her side in an instant.

"Rainbow? You're awake?" Obviously, Rainbow thought to herself. But aloud, she simply managed to croak a faint 'yes'. "Oh, thank heavens! We've been worried sick about you! At first we weren't sure whether or not to wait for you to recover, but in the end Applejack had no choice but to carry on."

"Why... how long have I... been out?" Rarity counted in her head for a few moments.

"I... hm, it must have been... yes, about 10 hours or so." She saw the alarm in Rainbow's face. "Oh, but there's no problem! Pinkie became Applejack's server, and got her into the Medium. In a few hours I'll be doing the same for Pinkie, and then Twilight will get the two of us in after that. With any luck you'll be feeling better by then."

"What about... Tank?" He had better have survived, after all of this. And yet the length of Rarity's pause told her he hadn't. "Oh."

"No, I'm afraid he didn't make it. But Applejack decided to use him for her kernelsprite's second tier prototyping. Apparently you can do it twice. So he is technically alive, even if he's just half of a dog turtle ghost... thing." Neither of the two ponies were entirely sure if that was a good thing or not, but at least it was better than no Tank at all. Probably.

"So, what can I do?" Rarity looked shocked at the suggestion, as though Rainbow had asked for the head of her firstborn.

"Oh no, Rainbow, you aren't going to be doing anything! You have to rest, and regain your strength." She silenced Rainbow's protests by stuffing a bundle of hay into the pegasus' mouth. "And that's all I want to hear on the matter." Happily turning back to her sowing, Rarity calmly blanked out the mumbled curses Rainbow was struggling to get out past the mouthful of hay.

***

Although initially the imps had been clambering around Fluttershy, desperately attempting to claw their way through her enchanted armour, they had finally given up when it became clear they weren't powerful enough to harm her. Now they simply sat around, glaring at the pegasus whenever she walked past them. She had, on multiple occasions, tried to make friends with the creatures, but the underlings were naturally programmed to harm the players. Changing that through charm alone was a fool's errand, so instead Fluttershy had simply resigned to work around them.

As had been explained to her by the bear consorts of her planet, she was the hero of Space, and this was the Land of Trees and Frogs. The trees, if a little sickly, were in plentiful supply. In the frog department, however, the planet was somewhat lacking. And so it was her quest to find the frogs, and to reintroduce them to the planet. This would somehow fix the dying trees, apparently. And then, the bears had explained, her sacred duty was to breed the frogs together, to create the Ultimate Being. Whatever that was supposed to mean.

[mushroomAddict began pestering reticentButterfly]

MA: hI

RB: Oh, hello again... Ember, right?

RB: How are you?

MA: uH iM FINE

MA: cOMET WAS YELLING AT ME TO TALK TO YOU THOUGH

MA: aBOUT THE FROG THING

MA: hE SAID IT WAS IMPORTANT

RB: It is, isn't it?

MA: yEAH WELL i STILL THINK ITS STUPID

MA: bUT ANYWAY DO YOU HAVE ANY FROGS YET

RB: Not yet. I'm supposed to go and find them, not that I have any idea how to do that.

MA: iTS PROBABLY YOUR SPECIAL POWER

RB: Oh, no, my special talent is talking with animals! :)

MA: nO i MEAN ITS THE POWER THE GAME HAS GIVEN YOU

RB: Well, I don't know about that.

MA: wELL YOURE ONLY JUST STARTING SO i GUESS THATS WHY

MA: aNYWAY YOU SHOULD PROBABLY JUST DO WHATEVER YOUR CONSORTS TELL YOU TO

RB: Uh... OK.

MA: aND NOW THAT iVE DONE WHAT i WAS ASKED TO

MA: bYE

[mushroomAddict ceased pestering reticentButterfly]

Whoever this Ember really was, Fluttershy thought, he was the picture of helpfulness. What was even his deal?

***

At that moment, Ember Glow's deal was navigating the treacherous landscape of the Land of Shadow and Spirit. The shadowy fog was made all the more dangerous since he had entered, as his less than advisable prototyping had made the underlings truly formidable. Especially when you couldn't see them coming.

Detecting the approaching basilisk with a sense built up from several hours of practice, Ember swiftly retrieved the Large Head-on Collider from his strife deck and began to swing the hammer around him. The basilisk leapt forwards from its hiding place, reaching him just as he brought the hammer towards it with all of his weight behind the swing. The weapon slammed hard into the side of the beast, which was sent sprawling into the fog. Of course, it was nowhere near dead yet. Continuing the momentum of his swing, Ember spun around several more times, before releasing his grip on the hammer and sending it spiralling towards the underling. Once again it shrieked in pain before scrambling to its feet, but Ember wasn't done yet. Switching his strife specibus to his bombkind abstrata, and choosing the first item he happened to find, Ember quickly jumped backwards as he tossed the Schwarzschild's Revenge into the gaping maw of the basilisk. Upon hitting the creature, the grenades detonated, imploding with such force that the each formed obscenely miniscule micro black holes. Due to their size, these instantly evaporated, causing a high energy explosion within the basilisk. Ember had explained the effect of the weapons to Comet, who had simply replied that he was going to lock himself inside and not come out until physics wrote him a sincere apology. All Ember knew was that they were powerful, and even the highly strengthened underlings were severely weakened by it. In this case, the explosions were enough to finish off the basilisk, which dissolved into a mountain of grist. That was one benefit of the incredibly powerful enemies - the rewards were much greater.

You have advanced one (1) rungs up your echeladder! You achieve the title of 'You are a terrible person' and receive 560000 boondollars!

Gel Viscosity: +1000!

Cache Limit: +2250!

Mangrit: +3175!

All things considered, Ember could have done without that. All of the rungs in his echeladder were named something along those lines, insisting how terrible he was at this game. Everything about this game seemed like it was designed to annoy him. Even his planet was terrible, which was why he had left it at the first opportunity. Comet could sit around breeding frogs; this pony had an adventure to be getting on with.

***

MN: I wouldn't go that far

MN: It's just a phase that'll be over soon

OC: Ya seem awfully sure of that.

MN: I have to be

MN: For reasons that should be obvious

OC: Ah suppose.

The austere surroundings of the Land of Secrets and Lies were beginning to get under Applejack's skin. The majority of its landscape seemed to be copied straight out of a cliché horror novel - with its wide stretches of dense forest, punctuated by the occasional manor populated by especially bitter or mysterious crocodiles. Well, the crocodiles were fairly original, she had to admit. Either way, it was a very disconcerting place, and she imagined that she would have gone out of her mind if she hadn't been able to talk to her friends.

And Summer, of course. Applejack hadn't had much experience with this other group of ponies, but Summer seemed amicable enough. She had also been very helpful, and thanks to her Applejack had begun to learn how to use her in-game abilities, which for some reason she currently felt the need to conceal from any potential observers that might be out there. This planet did wonders for paranoia.

OC: Ah just want Pinkie to hurry up and get in the game, so Ah can get off this rock.

MN: Your planet can't be that bad

MN: It's covered in woods, right?

OC: Yeah.

MN: So is mine

MN: It's really nice

OC: Good for ya. Mine has the spooky kind of woods.

MN: Oooh

MN: That sounds like fun

OC: :|

A faint rustle in the bushes behind her caught Applejack's attention, causing her to freeze on the spot as she tried to pinpoint the source of the noise. Anything could happen at any time on this planet, and she had of course noticed the gradual increasing difficulty of fighting the enemies. A twig snapped directly behind her. Spinning around, Applejack slashed the latest addition to her scythekind specibus - Fear the Reaper - across the thing standing behind her. The four legged thing. The four legged thing that bore an uncanny resemblance to - OH GOG, TWILIGHT!

As Twilight was knocked aside by the blow, Applejack dropped her scythe and rushed towards her friend. She was expecting the worst, and as such was already half way to retrieving her My Little Trauma Centre (a curious piece of medical equipment that she had created by combining a first aid kit with a pitchfork - but although its origin was fairly dubious, it worked wonders on most injuries) from her sylladex before noticing that Twilight seemed unharmed. A little dazed, maybe. But as the unicorn picked herself up, Applejack could see that there wasn't so much as a scratch on Twilight's face.

"Twilight? Are ya OK?" That kind of damage resistance was pushing the boundaries of what Applejack was prepared to accept, and at the back of her mind was the growing thought that this may be some kind of trick.

"Yeah, I'm fine, AJ. I don't mean to be condescending, but given our respective levels you couldn't deal any real damage to me even if you tried."

"But y'all haven't even been in this game for that much longer than me. Why are ya so high powered all of the sudden?"

"You mean 'all of a sudden'." offered Twilight, who - patient with Applejack's speech though she was - was not about to let that particular transgression go uncorrected.

"Ah mean all of the sudden." On second thoughts, Twilight reflected, maybe it was better to just let it go.

"Well, the short answer is that I have been in the game for a lot longer than you. I'm from a few days or so in the future, so I'm practically at the top of my echeladder. Technically I shouldn't be here, I'm just passing through and thought that I'd say hello."

"Are ya sure ya can just do that?"

"Probably." Twilight nodded at the visible component of the communication spell, which was patiently hovering to one side while it waited for Applejack to finish their conversation. "I see you're talking to Summer?" Applejack nodded.

"Yeah, she's been mighty helpful."

"Well, good. I don't suppose you've spoken with Comet much?" Applejack thought for a moment. Comet was FA, right? Yeah, that sounded right.

"Not really, just a little bit when Ah first got in. Why?"

"No reason, no reason. Anyway, we've both got a lot to get on with, so I'll see you later AJ. Say hi to Winona/Tanksprite for me." With that, Twilight took off into the woods, leaving a very perplexed farmer standing alone in the mist.

After convincing herself that she was a good distance away from Applejack - or, indeed, anything - Twilight opened up her own spell.

[crespucularMagicant began talking with fractalAbomination]

CM: OK.

CM: You've got some explaining to do.

***

Meanwhile, on Derse, an Artillery Regulator emerged from the palace after very nearly losing his head. Thank gog he had managed to take out two princesses, otherwise the queen would have had him destroyed. Luckily that other pony, their mysterious benefactor, had been there to smooth things over. He was the kind of guy who made you rethink rebellion.

Within the palace, the mysterious benefactor in question was idly rotating a queen's ring through the air. The Black Queen sat watching him, an expression of mild distaste splashed across her otherwise blank face. Behind the throne, towering above the two uneasy allies, a Black King stood proudly displaying his augmented powers for all to see. Not that anyone took notice of him these days, which he wasn't entirely happy about. Maybe he should bring it up? No, that would be silly. It was probably all in his head, anyway. He was a king, after all, and that counted for something. Probably. Still, he remained respectfully silent as the queen said her piece.

"I can't argue with results, but I still have plenty to say about your methods. The heroes have not yet assembled, and we have more power than we could ever have dreamed of. Should we not strike now, especially when we have this oaf to smash Prospit into a thousand pieces?" She absently shook a hand behind her in the king's general direction, which stung a little - though he agreed with her point. The target of her attention was of a rather different opinion, however.

"We have been over this. He is here because we need a diversion. You are here because we need your abilities. And I am here to stop you all from being completely inept and getting taken apart by the champions who are scheduled to arrive in about a days time." Of course, the Black King recalled the talk of the champions which were soon arriving. This raised another point in his mind, which he felt was worth breaking his silence. He spoke, his voice a low rumbling that shook the foundations of the palace.

"And that, pony, is why you are being allowed to live." He would have brandished his sceptre threateningly, but that was impractical given the dimensions of the throne room. "Because you know about these champions, and you can help us to fight them. Never forget that."

Despite all knowledge of how he matched up against the monarch before him, Mild found himself slightly dipping his head.

"Understood."

***

You make the MONOPONY IS ALREADY A PUN!

Over the course of her travels around LOTAF, Fluttershy had spent the vast majority of her time in the villages, where the underlings couldn't reach her (mostly). Consequently she had gotten to know the bears very well, although their conversation seemed highly restricted to salmon and caves. Yet for some reason she had found one bear who had sold her many books concerning the history of the incipisphere, and cryptic riddles involving its future. Among these documents, through which she was currently making her way, Fluttershy had found what was apparently a map of the incipisphere. On a whim - which was partly inspired by a conversation with a certain heliacalDreamer - she had decided to alchemise a combination of the map and a game of monopony, which had resulted in the MAP - Monopony is Already a Pun. Apparently the game was attempting to make a pun based off of the combination, and had decided it was too difficult. She didn't really approve of that practice, but reasoned that it must be quite difficult to comprise puns for any conceivable combination of objects.

Inspecting the MAP, Fluttershy noted that the monopony board had been modified to fit the layout of the incipisphere map, as it was now round and had planets and world gates rather than streets and cities. The route that one took around the board was not made explicit by the design (partly because not even Skaia itself fully grasps the mechanics of gate progression), but that seemed irrelevant. From her vague assumptions of how it worked (which were entirely accurate, almost as if Fluttershy was in some way more suited to making predictions and/or more suited to understanding the workings of spatial anomalies), it seemed that it was a case of simply selecting a location before hitting the domed button in the middle of Skaia. This seemed incredibly useful, if it allowed her to travel anywhere in the incipisphere. Some options were greyed out, however - specifically, those corresponding with Pinkie's planet and Rarity/Rainbow's planet.

[reticentButterfly began talking with crespucularMagicant]

RB: Twilight?

CM: Oh, hey Fluttershy. What's up?

RB: Do you mind if I come over to your planet for a little bit?

CM: Uh... are you sure? I'll be heading to your world in a few hours.

RB: Yeah... I'm...

RB: Well, it's pretty lonely here by myself.

CM: What about Angelsprite?

RB: He flew off somewhere.

RB: I don't know where he's gotten to.

CM: :|

CM: Well, feel free to come over...

CM: Wait, how?

RB: I'll show you when I get there.

CM: Well, OK then.

[reticentButterfly stopped talking with crespucularMagicant]

Selecting Twilight's first world gate, and popping the middle button, Fluttershy let out a surprised gasp/yelp as she was transportalised across the incipisphere, towards the Land of Night and Glow.

***

At first, it had been subtle enough for Destiny to shrug it off as just her mind exaggerating the situation. Over time, though, Summer's advances had grown to be not quite so subtle, and so Destiny had decided to put an end to things before they got out of hand. This is to say, she tactfully explained to her friend that she was not, and never would be, ‘into mares’.

The problem was that Destiny did not entirely understand the concept of being tactful. Nor did she particularly care, as long as it made Summer stand a little further away from her. On an unrelated note, Summer was feeling a little down at that point. Resolving to simply follow Destiny's lead through the Land of Brooks and Woods with a depressed expression, the relaxing atmosphere doing nothing to lift her spirits. The occasional group of underlings, however, provided ample opportunity to vent her anger. Destiny's attempts to cheer her up were simply making things worse, if anything.

"Come on, Summer, I'm meant to be the depressed one." That said, if she was honest with herself, she had been feeling pretty content through the whole game so far. Not that she was about to be honest with herself.

"You're not depressed, though. You just pretend to be because you think it's cool." Well, Summer did have a point. That was the reason that Destiny acted depressed all the time, so she couldn't give much of an argument to that. Summer sighed, disappointed that Destiny had given up so easily. "Well, never mind. I'm going to head back home to get some more ammo, but feel free to paint the town red or whatever." At that, she took off and began flying back the way they had been walking.

[eclecticSage began pestering desertedDestiny]

ES: HEY

ES: what's going on?

DD: Oh, hey again. You're the guy who was talking to me about axes or something, weren't you?

ES: oh yes, AXES. but that's not why i'm here now!

DD: Then why are you here?

ES: i'm here because i want...

ES: I WANT...

ES: to play...

ES: a....

ES: ..........

DD: ...

ES: GAME

DD: Wow, I did not see that line coming.

ES: ^^

DD: But OK.

DD: What kind of game?

***

[adamantineCorsair began talking with insanityPrelude]

AC: Ahem.

AC: Pinkie?

Persistent though they were, the communication spell's bleeping noises were incapable of penetrating the thick shell of defeat that Pinkie Pie had fallen into. The bright pink earth pony was lying on her back in the midst of a ring of half eaten cake, an expression of hurt and anger on her face as she glared up at the ceiling. Both Pinkie and Rarity had been affected by losing their dream selves, but Pinkie had taken the blow somewhat harder. Maybe it was because she had been awake longer. Maybe it was because Rarity was better at hiding the pain. Regardless, all Pinkie could think about now was the wondrous dreams that would never be repeated, the friends she would never see again, the life she had left behind. The dreams, Twilight had explained to her, were on the golden planet that was in the game world. But even if she revisited the city of gold, it wouldn't be the same. In her current state, it was a miracle in itself that she had been able to act as Applejack's server player. She was definitely in no fit state to play the other end of the connection with Rarity.

AC: Pinkamena Diane Pie, get up off that floor this instant!

AC: This is no time for despair, and you should know that better than any of us!

Blarg. With a world weary sigh of mild aggravation, Pinkie reached out and checked the messages Rarity was sending her. She knew that the unicorn was right, and that she was no use to anypony if she sat around moping all day. Or if she was killed by a meteor, for that matter.

IP: Uuuuuuurgh....

IP: Can't it wait?

AC: It most certainly cannot. Now get to it.

IP: FIIIIIINE.

Slowly and painfully picking herself up off of the floor, Pinkie Pie began the process of setting up Sburb.

***

On the other side of the newest client/server connection, Rainbow Dash watched with vague disinterest as Rarity set about deploying the necessary machines into Pinkie's home. It seemed like a lot of bother to go through with, especially when there was very little use for the machines besides making stupid combinations of existing items.

"Urgh, can't we make this go any faster? I mean, are we really going to have to wait for six hours before we can get into the game?" The idea of spending six hours sitting around Carousel Boutique watching Rarity sowing was not incredibly appealing, to say the least. Six hours was at least twice as long as ten hours if you were conscious.

"Well, I don't know, you'd have to talk to Twilight about that. But if you want something to do, you may as well go and get used to your wings again." Rarity made no attempt to make the suggestion appealing - she just wanted Rainbow to stop pestering her, and it showed. Sighing dramatically, Rainbow strode out of the shop.

"Fine. If you need anything, I'll be on my back in a ditch writhing in agony."

***

In the Land of Night and Glow, Twilight and Fluttershy were returning to Glowmire after a particularly drawn out series of quests. Strangely, although this was Twilight's world, it seemed as though the game had intended for Fluttershy to spend some time on the planet as part of her quest. In the heart of a temple which contained a powerful artifact they had been sent to retrieve, they had found a large statue of a frog. Underneath this was a small glass orb, which Twilight had been unable to operate. Fluttershy, however, had found that the orb allowed her to see anywhere in the incipisphere.

"You know, Fluttershy, I've been thinking about your quest." Twilight mentioned casually, as the two of them walked the familiar path through the hills. "You're the Seer of Space, aren't you?"

"Yes..." At least, that was what the bears back on LOTAF had called her. "Why?"

"Well, that means your quest is to learn what it means to be a Seer of Space. So maybe what it wants you to do is, literally, see space. You've got that MAP, and now that crystal ball thing..." Fluttershy nodded for Twilight to continue. "I'm just thinking, maybe you're supposed to be visiting all of the planets, and complete a little part of your quest on each one. So, on my planet you got that crystal ball, and you'll do something else on all the other planets, and then you can get back to whatever your quest on LOTAF is actually about."

"Do you think so?" It seemed a bit far-fetched to Fluttershy. Then again, so was this whole game.

"I don't know for a fact, of course, but it seems like a good course of action for you. Especially since I'm moving onto your planet now, so it seems like maybe we're supposed to part ways at this point?"

"Oh... I guess that makes some sense." Fishing her MAP out of her fetch modus, Fluttershy considered the board. "I guess I'll be going now, then?" Twilight nodded.

"Yeah, I'm just going to take the gate back home, and then move over to your planet. I'll speak to you later, OK?"

"OK." Fluttershy watched uncertainly as Twilight walked confidently into the city, and then turned her attention back to the game board. Applejack was the only other option at this point, as Pinkie and Rarity still had yet to enter the game. Selecting the Land of Secrets and Lies, Fluttershy once again experienced the uncomfortable sensation of being transportalised across the wide expanse of the Medium.

***

[fractalAbomination began pestering mechanicalNoisemaker]

FA: hi

MN: Oh

MN: Hey Comet

MN: Listen, did I ever...

FA: what?

MN: Did I ever tell you

MN: ...

FA: tell me what?

MN: That you're... what's it called...

MN: You're just really... uh...

MN: Fuck it, I don't know

MN: The point is that I'm insulting you

MN: You should be feeling burned right about now

FA: oh, i am. where do you even get burns like that it's basically insane

MN: What do you want

FA: des told me you ran off a while ago and haven't come back yet

FA: why are you sulking

MN: I'm not

FA: bullshit

FA: why are you sulking

MN: I just have a lot of stuff to deal with right now

FA: oh gog, you're drunk, aren't you

MN: No

FA: where the fuck did you even find alcohol. seriously, holy shit

MN: HEY

MN: JUST SHUT UP

MN: I'm fine

MN: And sober

FA: in that case, can you sort your shit out and get a fucking move on

FA: the reckoning could start at any moment, and when that happens

FA: i will give even less of a shit whether you're hormonal or drunk or whatever it is you're being atm

MN: >:(

FA: just get to work already

[fractalAbomination ceased pestering mechanicalNoisemaker]

***

AC: Pinkie, now is not the time for this. We only have three more minutes!

IP: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

IP: But... he's... HAAAAAAAAAA!

AC: Pinkie! It is NOT that funny!

IP: But he's Gummysprite! Ha!

AC: Yes, I know that. The same thing happened to Winona and Tank when Applejack entered, and you didn't burst out laughing then.

IP: I'm sorry, it's just... the look on his face... it's priceless!

While the pink party pony was rolling around the floor of Sugarcube Corner in fits of laughter, Gummysprite hovered next to her with a blank look on his face. Every so often the floating pink alligator would blink slowly, his eyelids ever so slightly out of sync with one another. Some ponies would find it disconcerting. Pinkie found it hilarious.

AC: OK, fine, but can we laugh about it when you're not about to die?

IP: Urgh, fiiiine.

AC: Good.

***

[CURRENT fractalAbomination created a new memo TEAM NUBLET on board TEAM CHAT]

[CURRENT crespucularMagicant began responding to memo TEAM NUBLET]

CCM: OK, what's this all about?

CFA: oh, great, you got the time thing working

CCM: Eventually. That was a lot of work!

CFA: yeah, well it's your own fault for making a chat client from scratch with magic and stuff

CCM: As opposed to what, exactly?

CFA: nvm.

CFA: anyway, to help sort our shit out, my group is one team, and your group is another team. both teams have a memo each, on this board, which they can use to plan and stuff

CFA: that way we have a standardised system for where to go if we have a message for the whole of either group

CCM: Right...

CCM: Wait, we're "Team Nublet"?

CFA: yes. it needed to be something which reflected your group as a whole, so i looked at the things which you all have in common

CFA: which is that you're all terrible gamers

CCM: Hey! I'm not that bad at this game!

CFA: who is it who's only just gotten onto their server's planet?

CCM: You started before me!

CFA: true. but i still didn't take that long

CFA: anyway, the name is arbitrary, it doesn't matter

CFA: the point is, tell your friends about it and then maybe we can have some sort of meaningful system

CCM: Fine.

[FUTURE heliacalDreamer began responding to memo TEAM NUBLET]

FHD: Great, you've made Nublet's memo.

FHD: YAY!

FHD: Now can you please hurry up and make my group's one?

CFA: no

FHD: WHY NOT?!?!?

CFA: because i hate your group, because you don't talk to me

CFA: except ME, she's cool

FHD: Oh, you did not just say that.

FHD: FUTURE YOU IS GOING DOWN.

CFA: come at me sis

FHD: Graaaaargh!

[FUTURE heliacalDreamer stopped responding to memo TEAM NUBLET]

[FUTURE fractalAbomination began responding to memo TEAM NUBLET]

FFA: thanks for nothing, fuckass

[FUTURE fractalAbomination stopped responding to memo TEAM NUBLET]

CFA: argh, whatever. this is taking up too much of your memo

CFA: enjoy it, and you're welcome, and blah blah blah

CFA: i'm leaving. if you want to say anything then say it in a private chat

CCM: I'm sure I will. Not.

CFA: c;

[CURRENT fractalAbomination stopped responding to memo TEAM NUBLET]

***

After a few hours, Rainbow had slowly gotten her wings used to flying again. Maybe the long gap between entries was a good idea, since there would be little chance for practice once they got in. They would have to hit the ground running. Or flying. Or whatever. She was currently circling above Ponyville, where a large storm was gathering. With all but one of the weather team evacuated, the clouds had gathered unchallenged, and spun violently around the pegasus as she darted in between them. Despite the risks, Rainbow was enjoying this. Too many clear skies made you lazy, but this... this was flying.

Rainbow's flight was interrupted, however, as she burst beneath the cloud layer and spotted a cloaked pony walking through Ponyville. Who, in the names of Celestia and Luna, was in Ponyville at a time like this? Didn't they know it was only about four hours away from being completely obliterated by a meteor? She dipped sharply, accelerating ground-wards to land directly in front of the pony.

"Alright, what do you think you're doing here?" the question was out of her mouth before she had taken a proper look at the pony before her. "Ah! I, uh..." Princess Luna simply laughed softly.

"Our apologies for intruding, Rainbow Dash. We did not realise there was a curfew in Ponyville." She thought for a moment. "Or that it would apply to a princess, even if there was."

"I... sorry."

"No matter." Luna smiled warmly, allowing Rainbow to relax slightly. "We did not come here to cause trouble, we can assure you. We came to wish you luck on your quest." Cogs spun in Rainbow's mind. Right, it was Princess Celestia who had told Twilight about this game in the first place. Of course Luna must know about it. That made sense. "And we have a gift..."

On some abstract plane slightly removed from reality, Luna rolled the five dice of her Yahtzee fetch modus. Her sylladex contained seven captchalogue cards, each of which was assigned to a different combination of dice rolls. When captchaloguing items, she would roll the dice and assign them to the corresponding card. To retrieve the items, she merely had to roll the equivalent. While on any other occasion this could potentially take forever, this time Luna had wisely placed the needed item in her Chance card - whatever she rolled, she would be able to access it. As it happened, she rolled three 6's, but she was still able to score the roll as a Chance and retrieve the item.

"Here." The princess levitated the gift towards Rainbow - a solid golden ring bearing 16 glowing white orbs. "This is a treasure beyond value - it was stolen from us many centuries ago, but by some twist of fate we have found it again. We would like you to take it, in the hopes that it will serve you well in your coming trials." Had Rainbow been watching Luna more closely, she might have seen the faint unease in the horned pegasus' expression. Unfortunately, she was far too captivated by the ring as it spun in mid-air.

"Wow. Thanks, Luna! I'm sure-" the ring suddenly dropped into her hoofs; the magical aura around it had disappeared. Looking around, Rainbow realised that Luna had gone, disappearing into the stormy skies. Dispelling the feeling of loneliness that suddenly filled her, Rainbow stored the ring in her own sylladex, and took off for Carousel Boutique.

***

"Did you give her the ring?" A brief nod answered Celestia's question, as Luna entered the throne room. "Good."

"Why did we have to do this, sister? How much pain could be stopped if we had simply kept the ring?" It was an argument they'd had before, and one which Luna felt they would have again many times. But of course Celestia's answer never changed.

"Because, Luna, what has happened, and what will happen, is something that we cannot change. We had our chance, and now we can do nothing but ensure that the victors are able to achieve their reward. Things must happen as they have happened, you know this."

"Yes, we know." Luna decided to change the subject. "What will we do with the evacuees from Ponyville, after the town is destroyed?"

"We'll start again." Her reply came after barely a moment’s thought, the answer obvious to her. She gave a hollow laugh as she considered the similarities between Ponyville, and her own fate. "It's something of a recurring pattern, isn't it? No matter how hard we may try, eventually our work is wiped out by some freak event. And so we try again. On and on, countless attempts, never failing to get things slightly wrong." Celestia shrugged. "We're lucky that there are any victors at all. At least we can take some relief from that."

"It's not fair, though."

"No. No it isn't."

Comments

[Fallen Prime]

Seer of Space. I was right, my friend was right, and ignoring the lack of a horn, that art may as well be canon.

So now Mild's working with the black monarchs. My mind is shouting "HI STARSCREAM", but who knows, he's probably actually competent.

Best line is easily "Ember had explained the effect of the weapons to Comet, who had simply replied that he was going to lock himself inside and not come out until physics wrote him a sincere apology." Pray that Comet never meets... THE PINK ONE.

I wanted to say more after getting lunch, but laziness overcame me.

[a pony in a man suit]

Ember had explained the effect of the weapons to Comet, who had simply replied that he was going to lock himself inside and not come out until physics wrote him a sincere apology.

I love your sense of humor! Also Flutters is best Seer of Space.

"We'll start again." Her reply came after barely a moment’s thought, the answer obvious to her. She gave a hollow laugh as she considered the similarities between Ponyville, and her own fate. "It's something of a recurring pattern, isn't it? No matter how hard we may try, eventually our work is wiped out by some freak event. And so we try again. On and on, countless attempts, never failing to get things slightly wrong." Celestia shrugged. "We're lucky that there are any victors at all. At least we can take some relief from that."

New theory: The three groups of players aren't actually from different universes, but the same universe hundreds/thousands of years apart, where after each session Celestia and Luna save a portion of ponykind and start again after each apocalypse. Then they play the game again.
Then again when talking over their chat clients each side has future, past, and present iterations, they might be different universes. Ahhhh thinking!

Also the ring with sixteen orbs that Rainbow has more orbs that the A and B teams (13), but less if including the C team (18+) (what I'm calling the ones we haven't met yet.). My theory here is that Ember's prototyping with a ring threw off the count in the B session, while Rainbow Dash goes in with Rarity, so only Rarity's orb will count. Also the fact that Team A has the 16-sided ring might mean it's the team furthest in the timeline.