Ponystuck

by confoundtheseponies

Chapter 7

Considering the hype which had led up to this quest, Twilight had to admit that it was a little underwhelming. Glowmire may have been the greatest iguana stronghold on LONAG, but it was clearly not home to the strongest underlings. She had fought her way into the city, defeating countless imps and even climbing a couple of rungs in the process, but it was getting a little repetitive. At least the city itself was impressive. What had initially seemed like a few glowing plants in a lake, in a valley, had actually turned out to be a huge forest of large trees, along which a vast network of buildings and paths had been carved, running along the surface of the trees. Here and there were bridges of some strange material that connected two trees to one another, and sometimes led deeper into the city. And of course, almost everything was glowing a haunting green. Although beneath a certain point Glowmire was entirely flooded, there was still a large area of the city which could be accessed. And to think, before the city had been abandoned, it had also extended high above its current peak. It must have been glorious, Twilight thought, but for now she had to stay focused on the task at hand. Which was fighting imps.

At that moment, as had been the situation multiple times before, she found herself standing on one of the many narrow bridges, battling with a group of imps. As always, it was a group of four Amethyst Imps with one Diamond Imp as a sort of leader. And, as always, her first move had been to change her inscryptor to its quill form. The inscryptor was the weapon she had made by combining a sword with a quill. She had found, after some experimentation, that - while it would always be, to some extent, a mixture of sword and quill - the weapon could change the degree to which it could be called either a sword or a quill, although she always had to think of it as a quill or the strife specibus would reject it. This meant she could use it as a particularly sharp quill, or as what was effectively a normal sword with a large feather instead of a handle, or anything in between.

But her first move against a group of imps like this was to change it into a quill. Then she would throw it at the leader, which killed him instantly because of something the game called a "sneak bonus". After that, she would retrieve the quill, switch it to a more sword based weapon, and then use it to aggress the remaining imps. She was currently at this stage of the battle.

One of the attacking imps lunged towards her, but she simply jumped backwards to avoid it before lunging into it with her quill. Occasional moments of varied behaviour such as that represented the only real challenge; for the most part, this was more an exercise in how long she could keep swinging a quill than it was an epic battle for the city. What she needed, in her opinion, was something a tad more powerful to fight. Some kind of larger, smarter underling. Surely at least one underling a little stronger than an imp would have been sent to watch over such a key strategic position? Without even looking, Twilight flipped the quill around and stabbed it into the imp who was attempting to take her by surprise by leaping towards her from behind. He promptly exploded into a few units of build grist and amethyst, which fell directly into Twilight because of the momentum from the jump. Yawn.

The group defeated, Twilight stopped for a moment to get her bearings. Behind her were the trees that she had already cleared of imps and in front of her the path took her further into the city. In the depths, apparently, she would find a machine capable of restoring the Glowmire to a more hospitable state, and it was to that machine that she was making her way through the endless waves of imps. Speaking of which, she could see more imps approaching. She once again readied her quill, but halfway to her they stopped and turned to run back the way they had come. Twilight felt a little confused. Surely they weren't only just learning that she was dangerous, so why the sudden fear? She felt a light tap on her shoulder, followed by the voice of a terrified dragon.

"Uh... Twilight? I... uh... that..." Whatever Spike was trying to tell her about, it was apparently behind her judging by his outstretched finger.

"What is it?" She asked, before Spike's answer was cut off by a horrific screech. With a growing sense of dread, Twilight turned around. Rapidly approaching her was a very large, very angry lizard (although the rabbit ears detracted from the terror somewhat) that the small label above its head referred to as an 'Amethyst Basilisk', which was scrambling over the narrow walkways connecting the trees to reach her. More could be seen, or at least heard, deeper within the city. Despite herself, Twilight grinned. A challenge she had asked for, and a challenge she had been given. "Spike? You may want to stand back for this."

For an enemy like this, Twilight wasn't going to just run in and start slashing. She was a unicorn, after all, and wasn't limited to what was in her strife deck. Concentrating on the walkway the basilisk was currently running across, she smiled grimly as she felt the multiple cracks and breaks in its surface. This was a dying city, after all. Lashing out with her magic, she pushed energy into the cracks, expanding them, until the entire bridge gave way. Not hesitating for a moment, Twilight began sprinting back towards the basilisk. As the path beneath it gave out, the creature leapt desperately towards the edge of the next tree that it had been running towards, barely managing to cling onto the nearest branch. Behind it, the path that had once connected the two trees it had been running between collapsed, the pieces falling the great distance to the icy water below. The basilisk quickly began to scrabble up, trying to lift itself onto the branch, but before it could get a proper footing Twilight was there. Switching her weapon as close to a sword as it could go, she swung the inscryptor just as the creature brought its head up above the branch. Caught off guard, it hissed in pain as the blade was buried into its skull, and its claws released their grip on the branch.

Twilight watched impassively as the basilisk fell down to the depths below, the impact finishing it off, whatever grist it may have dropped consigned to be left in the water forever. That had been... she searched her mind for the right word. Impressive? Terrifying? She felt a little scared of herself after dealing with the basilisk so efficiently, and a little disgusted with herself that her first thought was that she couldn't get at the grist. What was this game doing to her, when she could react so casually to the idea of killing?

She could philosophise later, however. The other basilisks were approaching. While the first one had exclusively taken on Fluttershy's prototyping, the others had Owlsprite's wings. They wouldn't be so easy to take down. Twilight readied her quill.

***

[fractalAbomination began pestering reticentButterfly]

FA: hello?

RB: Uh, hi?

RB: Who's this?

FA: this is a friend, who was told by an acquaintance that you may or may not be having doubts about fighting

RB: Oh, right, he did say he was going to talk to you.

FA: yeah. that's because his purpose in life

FA: is to make his jobs into my jobs

FA: but w/e, that's not your problem. your problem is that you don't want to fight the creatures which are specifically designed to kill you

RB: I know that they're trying to kill me! And I know that it's important for this game, and we need to... kill them.

RB: But I can't do it. I can't kill anything.

FA: hrm. have you considered just knocking them out?

RB: Well, Angel said he was going to try and think of ways that I could do that...

RB: But I'm still not sure if I could attack anything.

FA: not even in self-defence?

RB: I... don't know. :c

FA: i don't suppose you have any kind of psychic ability?

RB: Uh... what?

FA: ok, i'll take that as a 'no'

FA: one moment

While Fluttershy waited, she continued to build up Twilight's house. It was very relaxing. Soon she'd have built all the way up to the seventh gate, and then she'd have to find something else to do. Or maybe she could start building outwards, just for something to do. Either that, or maybe she would have to start playing the game. Applejack had built up to Fluttershy's first gate, so she couldn't put it off forever. That didn't mean she'd accepted it, though. She wasn't as strong as Twilight, and she didn't want to be. She just wanted to go back to Ponyville, and carry on living her quiet little life. She'd been happy, before this game.

FA: IiI9Km34

FA: type that into your designix, punch a card with it, and make it

FA: it costs 2999 build, 349 diamond, and probably about 2670 granite, which you should be able to afford

RB: What... what does it make?

FA: oh no, i can't tell you that

FA: it'd ruin the surprise!

FA: anyway, whether you use it or not is your own business

FA: but if you do, then... yw i guess c:

[fractalAbomination ceased pestering reticentButterfly]

Well, Fluttershy thought, there was no sense in not at least trying the code. Taking another cruxite dowel from the cruxtruder, she made her way to the punch designix. The GristTorrent spell that Angelsprite (and Owlsprite on LONAG) had used was redistributing all grist that either player collected, so that their total grist was fairly evenly split up between them. Thanks to Twilight, Fluttershy had more than enough diamond, and the underlings of her planet were dropping granite, so she had more than enough to make the mystery item - whatever it was.

You make the CAN'T TOUCH THIS!

Closing the game message which popped open in front of her, Fluttershy studied the item she had created. It seemed to be a full suit of metal armour, with no strange patterns or magic auras. She was unsure just how useful this would really be, and was contemplating whether it was even worth attempting to put it on, when Angelsprite appeared behind her.

"How did you make that?" He sounded interested, if only because this presented a simpler alternative to finding a non-lethal weapon for Fluttershy to use.

"Uh... this other pony gave me the code..." Now that she said it out loud, the less reliable her source seemed. How did she know that this would actually help? This did just look like a simple set of armour, after all. Apparently Angelsprite sensed her concerns, or shared them, as he picked up a chair and tossed it towards the suit of armour. Rather than knocking into it, however, the chair passed straight through it and out the other side, not so much as unbalancing the armour. "Oh... wow." Angelsprite whistled in appreciation.

"Now that is cool. If you wore that, you'd probably be fine from most attacks as long as you didn't do anything silly. And obviously there are the mobility issues with moving around wearing a suit of armour. But..." He shrugged. "It's your call, to be honest. You won't have to do any fighting if you wear this. It's just that, should you need to, you won't be able to do any running." While he said this, he amused himself by throwing a few more pieces of furniture through the armour. Fluttershy considered her options. She wasn't going to do any fighting, and that was the end of the matter. This seemed like her best option.

"Well, OK then. And it means I won't have to do any fighting, so... I guess I'll do that." It was a solution, she supposed. She didn't need to hurt anything, and practically nothing could hurt her. Simple.

***

Back in Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack was preparing to enter the game. Her brother had probably gotten the others to safety by now, so there was no point in delaying it any longer.

[obstinateCultivator began talking with prismaticAscension]

OC: Dash?

OC: Are ya ready yet?

PA: Oh, right, sorry AJ. I was just taking care of a few things.

OC: Well Ah don't mean to rush ya, but it's been a while since 'Shy entered.

OC: The next meteor can't be too far away.

PA: Right, sure, let's get this started.

On the other side of Ponyville, in her house, Rainbow Dash activated her server scroll, and left it to set up the game while she turned back to the matter at hand. To cut a long and tedious story short, Rainbow had learnt the hard way that it was a bad idea to use a lancekind strife specibus inside. Especially when the inside was made out of clouds. Fortunately she hadn't gotten too carried away, and had reacted fast enough to patch up the walls before her whole house collapsed. On an unrelated note, she now found herself without a floor.

Redistributing what little cloud she had to work with, Rainbow carefully made as large a floor as she could without spreading it too thinly. Several holes remained, but it would have to do for now. She returned to her conversation with Applejack.

PA: OK, so, what am I doing?

OC: First off ya need to deploy all of the free items from the phernalia thingy.

PA: Uh...

PA: Oh, right, got it.

OC: Preferably starting with the cruxtruder.

PA: Sure, here you go.

As her server player experienced the onset of a sudden drought of good ideas, Applejack leapt to the side just before she was crushed by the cruxtruder, which crashed heavily onto the ground behind her.

OC: Are ya trying to kill me!?

PA: Sorry!

PA: I'm not sure I really understand these controls.

OC: Dash. Ya tell it what to do, and it does it.

PA: OK, fine, stop complaining!

PA: What next?

OC: Next, ya go and put the other machines somewhere else.

OC: Ah'll take care of the cruxtruder.

Tossing the barrel of apples she had ready for the task cruxtruder-ward, Applejack smiled in satisfaction as the lid popped off of the machine. An orange kernelsprite emerged, as she had expected, and the timer on the side of the cruxtruder lit up, as she had expected. What she hadn't expected was what it displayed.

6:07:46

OC: Wait, Dash, something's wrong.

PA: Huh? What?

OC: Ah've got six hours to get into the game.

PA: So?

OC: So, the meteors are meant to be falling one after the other, at fairly even points in time.

OC: This should be closer to eight minutes or so.

PA: Wait, so we've got six hours to save your life rather than eight minutes, and you're complaining?

OC: Ah'm suspicious is what Ah am.

OC: Because this amount of time would sound about right if there was another meteor due before mine.

PA: So what are you saying?

OC: Ah don't know. But...

OC: Something seems off.

PA: Yawn.

PA: Whatever, let's just keep going!

OC: Yeah, OK.

***

In the depths of Derse, an Artillery Regulator checked his watch. Twelve more hours. Twelve hours before his ship left for the Bard's planet. It was currently late at night on Derse - not that night has any real meaning on the planet - and most people were asleep. Especially people who had important jobs to do the next day, he reminded himself as he stood alone on a street corner, a cold wind blowing against him. But he couldn't go to sleep, not yet. He felt almost obligated to stay up until his package was delivered. It was only right. And it was only a bit longer than five minutes away, which was a much more reasonable length of time to stay awake for.

Any amount of time alone on Derse at night was boring, though. At times like this, with no one around, the planet really seemed dead. Or maybe he was just philosophising again. Regardless, there was literally no one out here except for him. Oh, and that flying pony.

Wait, what?

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, the regulator looked up in shock at the aerial equine. A pure white unicorn, wearing a purple dress. He narrowed his eyes in the realisation of just who this was. Once of the princesses. Ordinarily it would be against the rules to attack a hero of Derse. But things were different now that she had left her tower.

The pony drifted through the air, apparently making her way towards the palace. Readying his weapon, the regulator pursued.

***

When a Punctual Messenger is given a package, a place, and a time, she will do anything in her power to get that package to that place at that time. This one in particular didn't know what the purple package was, who it was from, or that she was unwittingly committing treason by delivering it. All she knew was that she was going to deliver this package, and she was going to deliver it with a gog damn smile on her face.

The streets of Prospit rushed past, the messenger weaved in and out of the crowds, and the package didn't do anything. It was just a package, after all, and the clock was ticking on its delivery. Not stopping, the messenger reached a hand into her pocket and retrieved her watch.

Five minutes.

***

Climbing the echeladder, in addition to increasing the amount of grist she could carry and the amount of damage she could deal, also seemed to increase Twilight's knowledge of using her weapons. This came in useful. Pulling back with her magic, she swept the inscryptor in an arc above her, dragging it across the length of the basilisk which was currently leaping over her head. It then turned into grist before it even hit the ground, which Twilight quickly gathered. This struck her as a good place to take a break, or at least as good a place as any. This decision was inspired partly by the interruption of a certain mysterious pony.

[fractalAbomination began pestering crespucularMagicant]

FA: hey, how's it going?

CM: It's going fine.

CM: I'm practically at the final chamber, where I should find the machine.

CM: And then the iguanas will have their city back!

FA: and more importantly

FA: you'll have a fuckton of grist and boonbucks

FA: don't forget your priorities here

CM: So you keep reminding me. But it's a nice feeling, that I'm helping them.

FA: yeah, sweet

FA: even though they're game constructs which are just copied and pasted into an infinite number of planets in an infinite number of sessions

FA: who are going to be deleted once all your players leave the game session

FA: they still matter, really

CM: They do! And it's horrible to think that they're just a way to get you further into the game. They have thoughts and feelings.

FA: it's a grey area

FA: to what extent does a computer have feelings?

CM: A what now?

FA: ... nm.

FA: anyway, glad to hear it's going well

CM: It is!

FA: i just thought i'd check, your next player should be coming in soon, right?

CM: Yeah, Rainbow.

CM: Oh, wait, I mean Applejack.

CM: It was going to be Rainbow, but then shenanigans happened, and now it's Applejack.

FA: wait

FA: you're going against the intended player order?

CM: Well I don't know about it being intended or anything. We just set up an order, started playing, and then we changed the order.

FA: are you seriously not seeing why this is a problem

FA: there are real life meteors heading towards your real life houses

FA: and it just so happens that the meteors are timed so that they will hit those houses one after another

FA: in the order that the players are entering

FA: isn't that just a crazy coincidence?

CM: Wait, so you're saying that the player order we chose originally and then decided not to act upon is the 'proper' order? We could have chosen any original order!

CM: The way I understand it is, us entering the game causes the meteors which originally threatened us.

CM: Which means that surely the meteor order will be dictated by the order we ACTUALLY join, not the order we thought we were going to join in but then changed our minds.

FA: well i don't even know, because my group was so much more organised

FA: you never know with paradox space, it's tricky

FA: on the one hand, you should be fine because of the reasons you stated

FA: on the other hand, maybe the meteor order is wrong because it was MEANT to be wrong. maybe some key aspect of your session only happens if the player order and the meteor order are wrong

FA: which is to say that there is a chance that things have gone wrong, because they were always meant to go wrong

FA: in which case, what's her name, Mirage Sprint or whatever

CM: Rainbow Dash.

FA: i said whatever. the point is, she could be in trouble

CM: Oh. Well, I'll check, but I still think I'm right.

FA: what else is knew

FA: anyway i'll ttyl, let me know how things work out

CM: Sure.

[fractalAbomination ceased pestering crespucularMagicant]

Well, it wouldn't hurt to just quickly mention to Rainbow that she might be in trouble, Twilight thought. It wasn't as if she wouldn't be able to enter in however long she had left, as long as she got Pinkie or Rarity to connect to her quickly.

***

OC: Ah don't know Dash, this is still bugging me.

OC: 6:04:10, Ah mean, that's not even marginally risky.

PA: And I told you to stop fussing already.

PA: It's getting really hot and I want to go have a lie down, so let's just hurry this up.

OC: It's not that hot. No more than usual.

PA: Well hot air rises, you know. Besides, it's always too hot.

OC: Ya mean ya always want to have a lie down.

PA: Because it's hot.

OC: Heh.

[crespucularMagicant joined conversation]

CM: Applejack, Rainbow!

OC: Oh, hey Twilight.

PA: Wait a minute, how come you can just push into our conversations like that?

PA: Can we do that?

CM: No, it's just because my spell is the one that manages all the others, so it can patch me into any existing conversation.

CM: Anyway, that's not the point!

CM: Is there anything strange going on? Anything at all?

OC: Yes.

PA: No.

CM: ...

OC: Yes, there is. According to this here timer, Ah've got 6 hours. And that strikes me as a bit odd.

PA: And complaining about it strikes me as a bit stupid.

CM: Oh gog, he was right...

OC: Who?

CM: Never mind that now! Rainbow! Go outside and look up!

PA: What?

CM: Do it!

PA: Urgh, fine.

PA: Be right back...

Grumbling to herself, Rainbow made her way out of her house. Stupid lousy egghead, bossing her around as if she knew everything. Even though she did, it was the principle. And this heat wasn't helping matters. Rainbow found it very hard not to get irritable when it was too hot. And it was too hot, not to mention that OH GOG WHAT IS THAT DOING THERE. Despite the temperature, Rainbow found herself frozen to the spot as she stared up at the meteor falling towards her.

PA: FUCK.

OC: :O

OC: Rainbow Dash!

CM: Oh great. That pretty much confirms what I was dreading...

CM: Applejack, what's the exact display?

OC: Uh, it's 6:03:41 right now.

CM: OK, well, that's probably doable. Just.

CM: Rainbow, go and talk to Pinkie right now.

PA: It's...

PA: It's too close.

CM: Rainbow, listen, you can make it. You have just shy of 5 minutes, after all.

OC: Will somepony tell me what's going on?

CM: Well, we changed the player order around, right? It was originally going to be Rainbow entering right now instead of you.

CM: And that's the order it was meant to be, because Rainbow's meteor is next. As in, four minutes away.

CM: There's no time to explain why, but that's just how it is.

CM: Now, Rainbow, get to Pinkie. Now.

PA: I...

PA: That's...

CM: Oh for goodness sake. Applejack, you go and talk to Pinkie.

OC: OK.

[obstinateCultivator left conversation]

***

In Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie continued to sleep. She had been slept through the entire morning, and showed no signs of getting up. Whether she wanted or not, though, she would get up very soon. But not as soon as you'd think.

Back at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack was just about to begin talking to Pinkie.

[insanityPrelude began narrating to obstinateCultivator]

IP: Hi Applejack!

OC: Oh, hey Pinkie. Ah was just about to talk to ya myself.

IP: I know, but I can't let you.

IP: That's why I'm talking to you now, so that you can't talk to me.

OC: ... er... what?

IP: This isn't Pinkie from right then. Or right now, from your point of view.

IP: This is Pinkie from the future!

OC: Pinkie...

IP: I know what it sounds like, but I really really really can't explain.

IP: Or even give any indication of where I am!

OC: Why?

IP: I can't even tell you that.

IP: All I can tell you is that past me is having a very important nap.

IP: You cannot, and I repeat, CANNOT wake me up.

OC: Can ya tell me why not?

IP: Because past me is being my dream self. You don't know about those yet, but trust me that they're a real thing.

IP: And she has an important job to do.

IP: But I think you should definitely talk to Rarity instead!

OC: But the next one in the player chain is ya.

OC: If Rarity connects to Rainbow, then this whole mess will just get even more complicated.

IP: It's OK, really! Oh, and Applejack.

IP: I should tell you this while I still have the opportunity to say things to you guys like this.

OC: What is it?

IP: Considering how things will turn out...

IP: You guys did your best.

IP: You really did.

[insanityPrelude stopped narrating to obstinateCultivator]

Well that was ominous. On any other day, Applejack would have put that down to more Pinkie Pie craziness. But something made her trust her friend's future self. So Rarity was the only remaining option.

[obstinateCultivator began talking with adamantineCorsair]

OC: Hey Rarity.

OC: Wake up. NOW.

AC: Whuh? But-

AC: Oh gog.

Behind her, her cruxtruder ticked away to itself. 4:02:46

***

Arriving at the base of the Prospitan palace, Pinkie Pie looked around from her position beneath the third spire. This was where the clouds had told her she needed to be. Now the only thing to do was to figure out why. It could be anything, really. Maybe-

Whatever humorously whimsical thought she was contemplating, it was forced out of her mind by the appearance of a purple package in front of her face. Attached to the package was a rather out of breath Punctual Messenger. Or maybe it was the other way around. It was hard to tell when you were asleep.

Regardless, the messenger seemed very insistent that Pinkie took the package, so she did. Without waiting for any kind of payment, the messenger nodded and ran back into the crowded streets. Presumably there were other packages that needed delivering.

Pinkie considered the package. It was a fairly large purple box, devoid of any markings save for a note attached to it featuring a rather crude rendition of the pink pony. Not that you could tell she was pink from the drawing, which was drawn in a thick black ink.

It was clearly addressed to her, though, so Pinkie decided the only thing to do was to open it. While we leave her to do that, let's look at what was happening a few minutes earlier, on a different planet entirely.

***

Arriving at the foot of the palace, Rarity found herself looking up at the nearest of the six large spires. Another lay behind hit, and there were two more to the left and to the right. The white spheres on top of the spires were plain and unblemished, except for the two to her left. The nearest bore the image of an owl, and the other a rabbit. If Rarity had been paying any attention to the entrances of Twilight and Fluttershy, she may have appreciated the significance of this, but for most of the time she had been sleeping. So instead she simply stood there, glancing around for any sign of what the thing which 'had to happen' was.

A short distance away, having followed her through the night, the Artillery Regulator prepared his weapon. Under ordinary circumstances he would never dream of using explosive devices in a populated area of Derse, and certainly not this close to the palace. Yet the death of a princess would more than make up for it, he was sure. She had finally stopped in front of the towers, so he had a clear shot. Unless she moved out of the way. Luckily he was a little too excited and far too stupid to consider that. Unluckily, he didn't need to. He took aim.

A faint beeping noise called Rarity back to Equestria, and her dream self was left looking fairly disoriented at the base of the spires while she began concentrating on her waking self.

[insanityPrelude began narrating to adamantineCorsair]

IP: Great, you made it.

AC: So I did. Now, what's happening that's so important?

IP: Oh, you'll see.

IP: And, Rarity?

AC: Yes?

IP: The me you're talking to is from the future, as far as you're concerned.

AC: Uh...

IP: Which means that what happens next is not past me's fault.

IP: So don't be mad at her. She'll be just as scared and confused as you.

AC: I'm getting a terrible feeling about this.

IP: Oh, it's not really anything to get upset about. But, for the record, even though it had to happen one way or another...

IP: I'm sorry.

AC: Sorry for what?

[insanityPrelude stopped narrating to adamantineCorsair]

Well that was ominous. On any other day, Rarity would have put that down to more Pinkie Pie craziness. But something made her trust what Pinkie was saying. Which meant something bad was about to happen involving her dream self?

Quickly shifting her attention over to Derse, Rarity looked around in worry and fear. Yet the scene remained unchanged. The streets were empty, the night was quiet. There was literally no one out here except for her. Oh, and that strange man over there with the rocket launcher.

Wait, what?

Another series of beeping noises surrounded her as her consciousness was shoved rather forcibly back into her waking self, barely allowing her time to acknowledge the missile as it was released from the weapon and began flying towards her.

[obstinateCultivator began talking with adamantineCorsair]

OC: Hey Rarity.

OC: Wake up. NOW.

"Whuh? But-" The unnatural feeling of switching so rapidly between two very distinct halves of her psyche left Rarity's mind swimming in confusion. She tried to focus on where she was. She was in her room, in Carousel Boutique, being yelled at by Applejack. She was also on Derse, with a surprised look on her face, staring straight at the missile which had been launched towards her. "Oh gog."

The problem with having a dream and a waking self fully aware at the same time is that they both experience the same emotions, and the same physical sensations.

And her dream self was getting hit in the face by a rocket.

***

On both Prospit and Derse, roughly the same thing happened at the exact same time. On Prospit, a princess unwittingly triggered an explosive at the base of the third spire. On Derse, a different princess was the unwilling victim of a missile, and was engulfed by the explosion at the base of the third spire. Both princesses were killed, both planets shook, and both spires slowly began to crumble.

***

PA: Twilight, I trust you and everything.

PA: But by your logic, I've got less than 2 minutes and nopony's answered.

CM: OK, though I hate to admit it, I seriously doubt you'll get in on time.

CM: So now, I guess my advice is to get out while you still can.

PA: Yeah, OK.

CM: Hurry!

Rainbow didn't need telling twice. Flying straight through the wall (it was falling down anyway, she reasoned. and also it was about to get destroyed by a meteor), Rainbow shot out of her house and kept flying until she was at the other end of Ponyville. Only then did she turn around to watch the meteor as it descended towards her house.

PA: Wow. That's really close.

PA: I'm glad I got out.

CM: Yeah. Speaking of which, after a near death experience like that, you should probably rest for a while.

PA: Yawn. I'm fine.

CM: Well, maybe, but what about Tank? I'd imagine he's completely worn out after all of that excitement.

PA: Wait...

PA: Oh man.

CM: What?

CM: Oh... oh dear.

PA: Do you happen to know how long I've got?

CM: I'd say a little over a minute?

CM: You're not going to do something stupid, are you?

PA: Of course I am.

She was already flying back to her house at full speed.

CM: You're going to get killed!

PA: Eh, I'ma risk it.

CM: >:(

***

The two spires had been severely weakened by the explosion, and now their lower sections were incapable of supporting their own weight. The spires began to tilt to one side.

***

Barely slowing down enough to stop herself from flying straight through her house, Rainbow dashed through her house to where she remembered leaving Tank.

"Tank! Where are you?" She didn't know what she was expecting, if she was being honest. Turtles (tortoises) were pretty cool and all, but they didn't make much noise.

CM: You've got about 30-35 seconds, ish.

CM: I can't say exactly because I can't see what's happening.

CM: All I know is that you have to get out of there. Now.

PA: Twilight, the more you talk to me, the longer this will take.

CM: Argh!

Rushing up her stairs, the pegasus let out a sigh of relief to find her pet right where she had left him. He seemed fine, if a little disconcerted.

"There you are!" Picking him up, but taking care to not captchalogue him (so far she had captchalogued several items, and had no idea how to retrieve them), Rainbow quickly flew over to the nearest hole in the wall.

CM: I wouldn't give you more than 20 seconds left.

CM: GET GOING ALREADY.

And then the meteor exploded.

***

At that exact moment, the third spires of Prospit and Derse completed their descent - crashing into their respective sixth spires. On each planet, the orbs of the two spires collided.

***

[obstinateCultivator began talking with prismaticAscension]

OC: Dash?

OC: Dash, please say something.

OC: Dash!?

PA: oh...

PA: hey aj...

OC: You're alive!

PA: yeah...

PA: i think so anyway...

OC: Where are ya?

PA: not sure...

PA: i cant have fallen far from my house...

PA: not that i have a house any more...

OC: OK, Ah'm coming to look for ya, so don't y'all go and make things worse by trying to move, ya got that?

PA: yeah ok...

PA: just...

PA: hurry

[prismaticAscension stopped talking with obstinateCultivator]

***END OF ACT 1***

Comments

[Pecan Crisp]

Well... you certainly know how to make things interesting, I will give you that.

[Fallen Prime]

p00r rainb0w dash
i think i might kn0w where this is g0ing 0_0

If the color thing worked, it'll be Aradia's red. And I'll be happy.

EDIT: It didn't. So just the red they provided for me.

Oh god, though. I knew from the start that bad shit would go down and screw with the session - because what's Homestuck without SBURB going completely wrong? - but bad enough that Pinkie has to warn/apologize to everypony else from the future for everything that's happened, and everything yet to come? Something tells me I should expect an absolutely preposterous amount of bodies.

[confoundtheseponies]

235729 All of the bodies, my friend.
All of them.

In other news, now that the act is over, the focus will shift away from Twilight's session for a little bit.
On the bright side, at least I didn't end the act with a cliff hanger. That would have been mean.

[Caelum Heredem vitae]