//------------------------------// // XXXVII - Encoded // Story: Pony Fantasy V: Exodus of the Void // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// Twilight walked up to Exdeath and lit her horn, equipping it with the Finisher. “Your time is over Exdeath. Your seals are gone, you will not regenerate. You will be removed from your seat of power and I will take over. You cannot win.” “I never could win.” He said. He looked up at her. “Do you understand? This outcome was predetermined. Don’t feel so great about going through the motions.” He laughed - and he didn’t stop. He kept laughing. And laughing. With a sickened expression on her face, twilight brought the finisher down on him, cutting him down the middle, the shadowy essence of him vaporizing upon being touched. In the last second he moved his hand to grab Sunset, who grabbed Starlight out of reflex. He squeezed hard, forcing all the energy of the Void he could into them - pushing all the dark energy he had left in him in a last-ditch effort at revenge. Then his life was drained out of him before he could complete his attempt at banishment. The Nightmare was no more. Sunset and Starlight held each other, shaking. “He… He did something!” “But he failed!” Twilight said. “I felt it-“ “Something else…” They said, shivering. Dark energy began to course around them, a strange crack in reality forming in their bodies. Sunset and Starlight were terrified. Pinkie walked up to them, calm. “Don’t worry.” She told them. “This is goodbye for us. But it is the start of a new life for you. You will be fine.” “R-Really?” Starlight said. Pinkie touched the necklace on Starlight’s neck. “Really. As fine as pie in the sky.” Starlight giggled. “If you say so…” Sunset sighed, her body starting to fall apart. “Well, here we go. Into the unknown once again…” “We really do keep ending up nearly dead don’t we?” “It’s probably going to be our thing.” Sunset said. “It was nice to know all of you.” Starlight smiled, tears falling down her cheeks. “I want you all to know… I am so so sorry for what I did. And that I consider you all the best of friends.” Twilight held Starlight’s hoof. “Everything is forgiven Starlight.” They were rapidly deteriorating when Sunset’s eyes lit up. “Hey Applejack can I have your-“ Then they vanished in a puff of Void energy. Twilight blinked. “What now?” “I fade.” Pinkie said. “I’m living on borrowed time here anyway. Technically, I’m very very dead.” Fluttershy whimpered. “But you just got back…” “I was already gone Fluttershy.” Pinkie giggled. “We just got some bonus time here right at the very end! Which I am really thankful for! But I do have to go. I can’t stay. And neither can you.” Pinkie looked at Twilight. “You need to go back to the Interdimensional Rift and take control of the Void from there.” Pinkie bit her lip. “You… will be overwhelmed by what you see.” Twilight tensed. “…Will I be okay?” “I think so.” Pinkie said. “You know the value of others. Exdeath didn’t. No matter what you find there, know that those you care most about are important and do matter. Do not become like him. Be more like me.” Twilight blinked. “Wow. I can’t believe “be like Pinkie” is actually good advice.” “You’ll get used to it.” Pinkie clapped her hooves and summoned a crack in reality back to the Interdimensional Rift. “Never try to come back here. The Source is nothing more than a lie designed to trap people like Exdeath and Starswirl. The Void will give you all the power you need to explore reality - don’t overextend yourself.” “We will never come back here.” Twilight promised, beginning to step through the crack. Fluttershy hugged her mother one last time. “Goodbye…” She said. “Goodbye.” Pinkie echoed. The crack sealed shut… And seconds later Pinkie was gone. The Source remained… — Twilight took ahold of the podium with her magic. Everyone - literally everyone from the City of Man - was staring at her. She took a breath and put her hooves on the podium - connecting directly to the Void. Starswirl’s magics let her in instantly, and the sheer rush of information overwhelmed her for a few minutes… But she pressed on. She only wanted one thing. To find the command that reversed the Void energies on her home. Everyone’s home. She took a deep breath and concentrated. It took her about half an hour to find the command, and she was starting to go a little nuts because of it. But she found it, and activated it immediately. At once, all the Void spheres vanished with a pop. The things they had consumed did not reappear - they had been vaporized. Perhaps what was swallowed was in the Interdimensional Rift, perhaps not. But the citizens of the world could now rest easy - the world was not about to be consumed. They would live. Twilight let out a breath of air. Then she laughed. “We… We… We’re done!” She yelled. The entire City of Man cheered. Twilight then promptly passed out from exhaustion. — Dear Auntie Marble How are your meditations coming? I hear you’ve been doing them since we defeated Exdeath! My I have so much to catch you up on… I bet you’re wondering how everyone’s doing huh? Well… I’m not doing much. I’ve been living in the City of Man with the Eidolons - they make great company. I am officially an “advisor” or something to Twilight - or perhaps I should say Queen Twilight, soon-to-be official ruler of the entire world. Some people are saying she needs a title beyond queen. Lyra thinks “Empress” would work, though Twilight thinks it’s silly. Seems to be catching on among the people though. It’s strange, how Twilight never wanted to be a leader of any kind, but has ended up being put in charge of everything. I would have broken down long ago - but she’s handling her responsibilities as de-facto ruler and caretaker of the Void seriously. She’s changed a lot over the years, seems overwhelmed at times by what she knows, but she’s still wonderful to be around and talk to, even if she does talk in all sorts of technobabble I don’t understand… Rarity and Rainbow Dash are living together where the pirate cove used to be. They have somehow managed to turn it into a five star restaurant where all the pirates of Rainbow’s crew now serve food for everyone. They don’t do much pirating anymore - though Rainbow Dash will regularly go out on an adventurous voyage, and Rarity will sometimes tag along if the restaurant isn’t busy. They have a strange sisterhood, but it works. I go there regularly since Spike loves it there, and I have to say I had no idea Rainbow Dash had such a good taste in food. Applejack actually gave up adventuring for the most part to start a farm. She and her chocobos - Winona had kids - spend the days growing apples. Applejack told me she had been all adventured out after we defeated Exdeath - which I suppose makes sense, considering. I was adventured out, and I wasn’t there for half of it. She seems really happy there, even if she is alone for now. Though she does complain that with the decaying earth it’s hard work… Limestone has become a sort of guru, training all who she thinks is worthy in the art of the sword. Lyra and Bon Bon have recently taken up classes with her. Apparently Bon Bon is her best student - Lyra is her worst. Limestone’s really hard on both of them but when I talked to her she said they were “doing alright.” Minuette - Twilight’s “number one assistant” trains there as well sometimes, though she’s usually really busy helping Twilight politically. Let’s see.. Who else… Oh! Remember Trixie? Well, she and Discord met up - and they’ve started a traveling magic sideshow! They regularly have shows on the City, and it’s absolutely spectacular to see the two work together to wow the crowd in amazing ways - though they do comically bicker a lot. All in all… it hasn’t been easy recovering from Exdeath’s rampage but… We’re doing it. The future looks bright. Hope to see you soon! Limestone sends her regards. Discord does as well. -Your Niece, Fluttershy. — Twilight looked into the Void once more. She often pondered what Pinkie and Exdeath had been talking about when they were in the Source - “stories” and “heroes” and “villains,” like everything was predetermined. She never did figure it out. She was pretty sure she didn’t want to - the sheer overwhelming number of worlds the Void led to was enough for her mind. She wasn’t entirely sure there was an infinite amount - but there was definitely billions of billions of them. When she looked through the Void’s connections, she found versions of herself instantly. She barely had to look. Some were good. Some were bad. It was really harrowing to see those who had had almost the exact same life as her turn out horribly different. It was torture to her mind… It was weird, though, how she never found another Twilight in control of the Void. It was one of the reasons she thought the universes weren’t truly infinite - or that the Void just couldn’t access an infinite number of things. …She sighed. She had pondered all this before. Why was she doing so again? Oh. Yes. Right. Distraction. Despite her best efforts, without the Crystals, their world was decaying. And none of the Crystals she had contacted through the Void knew how to fix it.  Tochi asked. “Yeah…” Twilight said. “Our world will die… No matter what I enchant it with or what otherworldly powers I access, it still says it will decay eventually…” She sighed. “Oh ha ha.” She muttered. “Funny.”  Tochi said. “I know..” She looked into the Void, the images of the other worlds passing by her face. The trees. The blue sky. The stars… Twilight stood up tall, spreading her wings. Her mane flapped in the nonexistent wind, stars spiraling off in magical patterns. “We’re going to move to another world. We’re going to find ourselves a new home.” <…That will be quite the undertaking.> Twilight grinned. “Oh I never said it would be easy. But since when has that stopped us?” She turned to the many images of other worlds she saw through the Void. “I just have to find one…” Then she paused. “...Does it even have to be just one…?” She wondered aloud.