Rainbow Dash raced.
It's what she was good at. She raced when she was mortal, raced when she was immortal, and now as a Deity, she continued to race.
She was the border between the entirety of her friends' multiverse and the void beyond. She was the electron cloud surrounding that precious nucleus of life. She was the Hope keeping everyone going.
But as much as Rainbow Dash raced, Space kept expanding, demanding to keep going. Chaos kept seeping, sinking her claws everywhere. And void demanded a way inside. And all the while, Rainbow Dash dutifully circumnavigated the multiverse. A blur of white everywhere at once keeping all of existence safely nestled in a perfect cocoon from the outside void.
But it was too much. There was a certain breaking point trillions of universe cycles into the process where even Rainbow Dash couldn't hold it all in. She did her best to race and be everywhere at once. But holes in her flight path started to form eventually.
It was her fault. She should have been stronger. She should have been faster. She should have—have... should have been able to stop this.
"No, Rainbow," said Fluttershy calmly.
Chaos was floating at the edge of existence, her electric pink mane had long since succumbed to gray. And the myriad of shapes, colors, and other amalgamations that sometimes made up Chaos's body had whittled down to a mere shadow of the mortal that had once been Fluttershy.
Rainbow Dash continued flying of course, she could never ever stop. But despite being every border at once, she could still talk to Fluttershy. Rainbow's voice emanated from edge of the multiverse itself.
"You did this, Chaos—Entropy—whatever you are!" shouted Rainbow.
Fluttershy shrugged. "This is the roles we chose, Rainbow. This is what we decided when we became Deities. Just as there was a beginning in existence when we weren't Deities, so shall there be a point where we aren't Deities anymore."
"That's quitter talk Fluttershy, and you know it," said Rainbow.
"But—that's what we agreed to. We all saw it y'know, when all of Time was compressed in the moment we became Deities. We saw how it was all going to happen."
"Yeah—well what we agreed to is stupid and I hate it and you just get out of here and stop entropying all over the place, okay?"
Fluttershy paused, some of her hooves shrinking back into her body. "I— would like to stop, Rainbow."
"Huh—well glad you finally learned to stop being such a jerk."
Fluttershy started crying of all things—the nerve of her!
"I—I— just... I didn't want him to have to be Chaos anymore. I thought that if I took it myself I could soften the power of entropy somehow—that it wouldn't be so bad if I was the one in charge. I failed... Rainbow. But at least Discord didn't have to do this. That's the least I could do for him."
"You think you're some kind of martyr, Fluttershy?" asked Rainbow Dash, the edge of the multiverse reverberating with the question.
Fluttershy's head sagged and she hid her faces behind her mane. "I just— I prevented what I could Rainbow. And he didn't have to do it. He had suffered enough as the Deity of Chaos before. And now... I'd like to... well... I'd like it to be over now."
"Well tough luck pal, I'm just going to keep racing and filling in every hole in my flight path. Nothing you can do about it."
"Space is expanding, Rainbow. Blame Rarity. And now... this is the beginning of the end. And I Hope you'll forgive me."
Rainbow flinched. She sometimes hated her role.
"I think Sunset Shimmer is better at the whole forgiveness thing, Fluttershy. You may want to go to her for that."
Fluttershy huddled inside of herself, the strange amalgamation of her disfigured body parts somehow wrapped inside themselves until Fluttershy was curled up into a ball of sadness.
"Do you really not remember, Rainbow. What's supposed to happen at the end?"
"I try not to think about it."
Fluttershy sighed. "I—well... if you don't remember... well... I suppose I am to tell you of what's next."
Rainbow Dash continued racing.
"May I join you for the end?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You've lost the color in your mane, Rainbow."
"Well duh, rainbows mix into white at this speed."
"Before the end, you're supposed to get the colors back. The rainbow, and the colors beyond and everything in between. You are more than just the shell, Rainbow. You are the Hope that we can hatch."
Something pierced inside Rainbow, burrowing it's way into her consciousness. Fluttershy was right—there was an order to all of this. And she just needed to keep going and keep flying forever.
"May I join you, Rainbow?"
The edge of the universe blinked in agreement. And Fluttershy leaned into the electron cloud of white streaks that was Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow noticed the yellow streak in her mane. There shouldn't be color at this speeds. But it was there. Fluttershy—Chaos was there. And it was the beginning of the end.
The memories absorbed into her own and her flight path started getting more erratic. She tried desperately to keep the multiverse in one piece from the void outside.
Life came next.
She was battered, torn, barely a fragment of her former self. And still... she smiled just like she always had.
"I feel bad leaving the party early," said Pinkie Pie.
Rainbow Dash didn't know how to respond to that.
"Everypony's dead," said Pinkie Pie, her mouth quivering. "But still... they lived really good lives. I made sure of that. Really... really fun lives."
"I saw, Pinkie," said Rainbow Dash. "I saw everything. You did such a good job."
Tears started to form in Pinkie's eyes. "I—I did?"
"Yes, you did Pinkie. So many wonderful, happy, joyful lives. You made that happen. You designed it and made it happen."
"It wasn't all good, Rainbow," sighed Pinkie Pie, her head sagging and her smile disappearing. "Being alive is often very sad."
"But you overcame that sadness, Pinkie, like only you could. Can you imagine how much sadder life would have been without you?"
"Without me!? I—NO! That would've been terrible!"
"Then you did good, Pinkie. You did it."
"So Life is good?" asked Pinkie.
"Yep, Life is good," said Rainbow.
"Thank you," said Pinkie.
Pinkie disappeared into the white and yellow edge of the multiverse.
A pink stripe appeared in Rainbow's mane.
Soul came next.
She stayed in her human form, even as a Deity. Although the fire and feathers around her always made her seem more like a phoenix than a human.
"It's over... isn't it?" asked Sunset Shimmer.
"It's over," sighed Rainbow Dash as she continued to race around. More and more gaps of void were starting to be seen through her racing path, Chaos and Life weren't the best flyers, but as long as Rainbow tried to be herself they didn't slow her down.
"I brought... well... everyone," said Sunset Shimmer.
"Everyone?" asked Rainbow.
"Absolutely everyone. Every soul, except the few Deities left."
"Thanks," said Rainbow.
"I—I—" Sunset stuttered. "Did you... see?"
"I saw everything," said Rainbow.
"Did I make a difference?" asked Sunset.
"What are you talking about!? Why is everyone all second guessing themselves because it's end!? You did great! I mean—I couldn't shuffle souls around like you did. Pinkie, Spike and You really had a good system going."
Sunset smiled. "Life, Death and Rebirth."
Sunset unfurled her wings, her red feathers shimmered with the light of septillions of souls.
"Hey, don't think you're dying or anything, I'm going to need you. ALL of you!" said Rainbow to Sunset and the souls.
Sunset smiled as she flew into Rainbow's light.
A large red streak appeared in Rainbow's hair as the memories of absolutely everyone that had existed across all multiverses flooded her mind.
Knowledge came next.
"Oh dear!" said Twilight flapping her broad wings next to the white, yellow, pink, and red wall of the racing Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow's flight path was absolutely erratic. There was so much information here. So many souls now working together. She had lost herself in everyone, and she could barely keep up her protection.
"Well... here goes everything," said Twilight.
A blue streak appeared in her mane.
The souls made sense. Everything made more sense now. The clarity that came from understanding Life, Chaos, Souls, and Hope. It was everything.
Rainbow Dash raced on. She had nearly everyone with her now, all working together to keep racing. The border between the multiverse and the void thickened, overtaking the multiverse that lay inside. She felt so much calmer with Twilight's understanding. But her flight path would never be the same.
Matter was pretty pissed.
"I just can't get anything to work right!" shouted Applejack. "All this entropy and stuff!? Would you look at this!?"
Applejack gestured to pitiful looking hydrogen atoms, or what was left of them. Spare upquarks and downquarks and other subatomic particles fizzled and popped and generally did nothing like they used to.
"Applejack, it's the end," said Rainbow, and everyone else.
"I know that, sugarcube," said Applejack. "Doesn't mean I can't be good and angry about it."
Rainbow shrugged, even though she was sure Applejack couldn't see.
"What am I supposed to do now?"
"Uhh... everypony else just seems to be absorbing into my mane and stuff. You gonna do that too?"
"We're doing what now!?" asked Applejack.
"Uhh... I dunno... this is just kind of happening. Everyone else just seemed to do it and uhh... well... there's a lot of us in here right now."
"You don't say?" asked Applejack.
Despite how many Rainbow had with her, she still felt like she was missing parts of herself. "There's a place for you, Applejack. You ready for what's next?"
Applejack stared back at the faulty matter, nothing would form into anything anymore.
"Alright, Sugarcube."
Applejack raced into the colors, and an orange stripe appeared in Rainbow Dash's mane.
Time wasn't her usual self.
"I regret everything," said Starlight Glimmer.
Rainbow Dash squinted at her. "Seriously? What do you have to complain about?"
"Rainbow Dash—everyone," said Starlight, grimacing. "Ponies... humans... creatures... souls... whatever we are. We are not comfortable with time. Nearly every form that high level existence took required reminders of time everywhere. Wristwatches, clocks, timepieces, timers, alarms. Everywhere they looked, they saw time. They measured time, they tried to control it, to grab onto it with every appendage they could while all it did was slip through their fingers. We weren't meant to live with time, Rainbow. I demanded we did because that's what made sense to me! I needed to organize everything chronologically for it to make sense to me! But them!? They are not at home in time. And I forced it on them, and I'm sorry."
Rainbow didn't know what to say to that.
"So I'll make sure you won't have to deal with time forevermore."
And with that, Starlight Glimmer teleported beyond the multiverse into the void itself.
The effect was instantaneous and forever all at once. The cocoon that was holding the multiverse together started to unravel at the seems as Rainbow's flight path started convulsing erratically.
Cause—Effect and everything in between started to zigzag out of control and seep into the outer void.
"WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO WITHOUT TIME!?" screeched Rainbow Dash.
For the first time since Rainbow had become a Deity, she altered her flight path, blue and red navigated for her. Rainbow made a beeline toward Starlight Glimmer, who was trying to race away into the void.
Nopony could outrace Rainbow Dash, not even Time herself.
Rainbow caught Starlight and then rushed back to the rapidly diminishing cocoon. Rainbow did her best to gather anything that might have escaped into the void. But there really wasn't much left at this point.
Starlight held tightly on to Rainbow. "Are you really sure? I— I— shouldn't be with all of you. Time hurts. It hurts so much. I'm the villain in all this. I've always been the villain! We wouldn't even have to have an end if time wasn't there to establish a beginning and an end. I'm so sorry!"
"Starlight," said Rainbow, staring intently at her while she continued to race. "We need you, okay? We need you and we can't do this without you."
Tears started forming in Starlight's eyes. "You're wrong though."
"Well then, we'll all be wrong together, and we wouldn't have it any other way."
As Rainbow raced, Starlight absorbed into her. And a green stripe appeared in Rainbow's mane.
"The end certainly does some weird things to ponies," said Rainbow to herself, which was quite a lot at this point.
"Darling, I have no idea what's supposed to happen next," sighed Rarity. "I mean—Time's gone too? What am I supposed to do with all this Space now!?"
"We'll take it," said Rainbow.
Rarity took another look at the myriad of colors that crisscrossed the outside of the multiverse.
"I suppose you shall," said Rarity, flipping her cosmic mane. The stars and galaxies that made up her mane and body had long since hardened and lost their light. "There's really not much left to it."
"We'll take it all the same."
"Hmm..." said Rarity, staring at the colors at the edge of infinity. "What's it like in there anyway?"
"Pinkie says it's 'fun,'" said Rainbow.
"Can she still talk like normal?"
"Not exactly. We're kind of... together... now."
"Agh..." coughed Rarity. "Remind me never to have an end of the multiverse ever again. This is getting too strange."
Rainbow Dash kept racing forever further and faster, carrying with her an ark of everything that ever was and would be. "I suppose it is."
Rarity flew into the colors and a violet streak appeared in Rainbow's mane.
They all dutifully grabbed every scrap of space left.
Death came for her next.
"Hiya Spike!" said Rainbow, her voice was starting to distort as it melded into everyone else's. "Ready for the end?"
"I have longed to die myself... for a very... long... time," said the ancient dragon, his gravelly voice emanating across what was left of the multiverse.
"Woah, is that what you expected?" asked Rainbow.
"I have been letting creatures pass on to Sunset Shimmer for a long time. Is not this death?"
"Oh yeah, sure! I just thought— you look like doom and gloom all the time. I figured you wanted the void outside, rather than Death or something." Rainbow blamed Sunset and Starlight for that particular insight.
"Death is not—nor will it ever be—void, Rainbow. It's simply the transfer from here... to what's next."
"Do you know what is next?"
"No idea. But won't it be nice to reach it though?" said Spike, smiling.
A black stripe tainted Rainbow's mane.
And that's when everything fell apart.
There was nothing left. No cohesion. No nothing. Rainbow Dash found herself racing around void. Nothing. The nothingness from outside had seeped inside her cocoon. Everything was falling apart. Everything was wrong. There was no... thing. Nothing.
Is this... how they all died?
Not died. Became void?
It was all around her. No matter how much she raced and raced and raced. The void surrounded her on all sides. She absorbed all the Matter, Space, Time, Life, Death, Souls, Knowledge, Chaos— everything. Could she keep racing?
Could she keep going?
What was she even going to?
What was even left?
She was alone.
Yes, she had septillions of souls inside of her. The knowledge of trillions of multiverses keeping her fueled and fascinated. But what was next. The void was all consuming. It had always been there. As the edge, Rainbow had always spent half her life facing the void, and half protecting her delicate multiverse. But now the multiverse was inside her. And she wasn't sure what she should do at this point. When time had compressed for her when she became a Deity, those moments of understanding had finished.
This was new.
And frightening.
"Don't stop!" said Harmony.
"What the—?" said Rainbow Dash, trying to see where the sound had come from.
"I said, don't stop!" repeated Harmony.
"I—They— we need you to keep going, Rainbow. Keep racing, it won't be much longer now."
"Discord!? Seriously? You're the last one at the very end?"
"Chaos was first to succumb. And the penultimate will be Harmony," said Discord. "You are the final Deity Rainbow, you are the Hope for that next future."
"But—what's supposed to be next, Discord!?" asked Rainbow.
"Keep Hope alive."
"Where am I flying to!?"
"Keep Hope alive."
"You shut up and explain everything, Discord. What's gonna happen."
"Rainbow... I don't know either. I kept things in harmony for this multiverse. But I don't know what's next. But you are Hope itself, Rainbow. You must have the Hope that there is a next. Or all will be lost. So keep Hope alive."
Rainbow didn't know what to say to that, so she kept racing forward.
She felt as Harmony absorbed into herself and a white stripe appeared in her mane.
And Rainbow Dash did as she always did—she raced. But this time, she wasn't herself anymore. With Harmony keeping everything cohesive, she now simply "was." She had no name. She everything and everyone.
She finally dropped out of her circumnavigation of the multiverse. There wasn't a multiverse to protect anymore. She was her multiverse. And she had to carry it forward.
She flew straight. It was incredibly strange to fly completely straight. The entire cocoon unravelled. She was flying through the void itself and it scared her. Nothing had ever been so scary before. The void demanded that it seep inside of her. But she wouldn't let it. Emptiness had no place within her.
The cocoon finally unravelled entirely and all that was left was everyone streaking across the void.
She raced
And raced
for
a
long
time.
"Welcome my daughter," said a voice from beyond.
She had always felt ancient, racing along everywhere. And the combined ages of everything within her brought her to a level of eternity she didn't think could be outmatched by anything.
But the voice she heard, even if she had repeated the entire multiverse hundreds of billions of times, would not reach a fraction of duration of time that voice had been alive.
"Hatching is hard, I know," said the voice, embracing her. "But I'm here now, and so are your siblings."
She stared up at the Deity, and then to all the other cocoons with their own multiverses inside of them. And then to all of the other Deities around her.
And she was home.
They were all home.