Hey guys! Twilence here - wanted to send you off with something fun! All of GM's stories (the longer ones anyway) seem to end with a 'credits' sequence. Well he's not going to write the credits this time, I am! So woo-hoo! Now imagine me putting on some sunglasses and saying "let's do this!"
Let's do this.
Ahem.
The Influence.
Written by G. M. Blackjack. Sorta.
Inspired by, well, nothing at all. It was a completely random idea that came out of left field! But it was pretty fun, wasn't it?
STARRING the following wonderful ponies.
ME as Twilience!
Fluttershy as my closest companion. I'll miss her.
Vriska as the resident anti-hero. Also pretty fun.
Mite.
Pinkie Pie as... I... As the one who showed me what I could be.
Aradia as our savior across time. She attends her own funerals regularly.
Rarity as the battle healer and dimensional connection.
Infinity as GM's self insert that grew beyond.
Orchid as the pony who needed to learn about introspection.
Ruby as devotion.
Prancey as... My gosh, she was totally Pinkie wasn't she...
Wound Dream as clockwork maker.
Diorite as the first dragon.
Ine as the initial mystery.
Alderan as the unwanting slave.
Proteus as life among wilderness.
Gamnemnon as mental dastardliness.
Castorson as the mad hatter.
Vester as the shaper of nations.
Lore Thirst as the driving force behind most everything.
M as an alternate universe version of "an ass"
Four as the number of death that lived.
Heildor as side-villain.
The Overseer as something you didn't dig into quite as much as you could have, but oh well.
The Council as fancy dragon-pony ruling class.
Corot as having a bad couple of eons.
Siron as the big bad bug whose moment of epiphany went so wrong.
GM as himself.
My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro, Homestuck belongs to Andrew Hussie and What Pumpkin, Final Fantasy belongs to Square Enix, and the Dark Tower belongs to Stephen King. There were lots of other things referenced, but these were the ones that ended up particularly blatant. Thanks, guys.
But wait, we're not done yet! What about all the endings!?
Pristine: This would have been the ending where no one in the main group died. This... Was not easy to obtain. While there were several paths to it, it went off when you allowed the Council to declare war. That doomed someone who went with them.
Bittersweet: The one we got - any ending where there were deaths, but nothing else far-reaching happened. Neither Corot or Siron were allowed to rampage at all. Which is, honestly, one of the better possible endings.
Warmonger: This would have happened if we were unwilling to use the Band and Siron still got out - this is probably what would have happened had I not made my own decision at the end there. Siron would have to be defeated by brute force. We'd basically have to declare war on him with the entire world, and it would be a long, brutal campaign.
Dethroned: There was always a chance Orchid would not learn her lesson. After victory was achieved, she'd brutalize the land as it's 'hero' and we would have had to dethrone her. This is that ending. It's a sad one.
Steam: This is the ending you get if you help Starlight get back to her time. Only possible if Siron rampages and controls the world for a short time.
Rebuilder: Use the Band, get this ending. We would return to our time, but first, we would help Peran rise from the ashes with what we could. We would have stopped the horrors but have sacrificed several million individuals. This might have broken me.
Forgotten: Using the Apocrypha or Aradia's Time Shenanigans to deal with Siron would result in all our journeys being forgotten and a new timeline being produced where none of us could go home. Honestly, not that bad of an ending, but a bit of a cheat.
Singularity: This one required Lore Thirst to win. He would keep the eye. Orchid would rise up to power and stop Siron the way the prophecy intended, and eventually recruit Lore Thirst. He would use the eye to create a technological singularity - at which point I would take the Eye from him with the help of Aradia.
Adrift: It was possible to royally mess up the Time Tunnels and launch everyone into an unknown dimension. The same thing could happen with the Overseer's ship, except get launched into space.
Coward: If Corot or Siron or Both were released, but didn't have access to the Time Tunnels, this ending would be achieved if we cut our losses and abandoned the world.
Earned: This one is perhaps the most 'satisfactory' of the endings - it involved Siron absorbing Corot's power and subjugating the world. We would live under him as a mixture of slaves and resistance fighters. Earned happens when we finally manage to overthrow him after an extremely long fight.
Tattletale: Call upon the Flowers or Empress Twilight to deal with Siron using the Time Tunnels. This would require using meta-knowledge, but it was viable.
Lattice: One path had Lore Thirst running with the Eye to Moissan, where Heildor would take advantage of him and try to conquer the world itself. This ending occurs if Heildor succeeds in that act.
Supernova: So, we summon Corot and don't find a way to seal him back in. The planet blows up.
Predetermined: Any ending where Siron gains control and cannot absorb Corot, creating the future we saw in the timejump chapter.
Insanity: There was a chance I would have to kill Lore Thirst brutally with my bare hooves. There was also a chance I'd have to kill some of my own friends with my bare hooves. If I did that and was unable to cope, or you were unable to help me cope, I would have gone mad and unleashed myself on the multiverse as basically a villain.
Servant: This was only possible if Corot was summoned in the sixth Altar. He would have bound me to him and I would have become his servant.
Grimdark: This one is basically the ultimate failure - Siron absorbs Corot and, in the deep future, we fail to get the Earned or Tattletale ending. Siron would have us under control and start subjugating the multiverse under his iron fist.
Hacker: First off: Lore Thirst needed to be alive. Second: We needed to get to the Time Tunnels without the spirit of Vester. Third: Lore Thirst and Mite needed to work together to hack into the Time Tunnels. Fourth: You needed to identify that I should try to go to the Dark Tower so Five: I could activate the final form of the Eye early and basically cheat our way to victory. There was no way this was happening.
And now for the special thanks! All you guys who commented. And InquisitiveButterfly. I know you're there. Please don't be creeped out. Hi, glad you managed to get one message in!
Creek, thank you for being... Well not the voice of reason, more like the voice of empathy. You're one of them who helped me realize what I was becoming, and what I could be. Thank you for being you. Thank you for being real with me.
Ponygood... Yeah, you were annoying at times. You were a bit crazy and went off on tangents. But you know what, that's part of your charm. Perhaps just think a bit more about what you say in the future, hrm? Also, no clouds. Never.
Zen, I should probably thank you most of all. You, well, you were helpful, amazing, reasonable, and all around full of good ideas the entire time. I think I owe you my life. Thank you for taking this seriously when everything was exploding around us. I cannot express how much I - all of us - owe to you.
Akumakami, I know you haven't been around lately, but I still want to say thanks to you anyway. Hope your worlds end up okay!
Sonic, Afizah, the rest of you... You taxed me. But, well, I think I needed at least some of that. Definitely not all of it, but some of it. I wouldn't suggest doing all that insanity in the future, but... Well, it wasn't all bad. It got me to think sometimes. In the future, well, realize that doing that makes it hard to trust you.
Wolfe... ...I hope you get some help with that fire problem of yours. And that you realize sometimes, forcing yourself on others and expecting certain responses isn't the way to go. I don't want to imply anything but... Well, maybe you should do what I did and take a look at yourself and strive for something else? You seem like a nice person who's more than the crazy halo stuff and fire. Let other people know there's more too you.
Nickel, sometimes it was hard to figure out what you were saying. Okay, a lot of the time it was hard to figure out. Invest in some punctuation! Despite this, you were still there for me. Even though I don't really understand you.
Josh, thank you for being upfront. You were always yourself with me, and I admire that.
Sunbro... ...You were very funny. Sonic's probably jealous of you, admittedly. Treat that Twilight of yours well.
DLB, Mister green, and others... I may not remember much about you, but I still care about you and appreciate you taking time to respond. Just... Thank you all for what you've done.
And be thankful that we didn't get a bad ending. I'd be cursing you in that case. Be very glad. But we shouldn't dwell on the 'what-ifs.' We should focus on the what is!
You all want a final scene right? Well... Here you go!
~~~
I walked through the portal, Rarity and Vriska at my sides. We appeared in a crystal area I had seen before, when I drew Rarity from the altar. Mite came through last, just as the portal closed.
"This is definitely it," I said.
"Affirmative," Mite said.
Vriska shrugged. "So... Where's the Empress?"
"She'll be here soon," I said.
Soon was four and a half seconds. A powerful, regal alicorn version of myself appeared before us, mane twinkling with stars. "Hello."
I bowed. "I am Twilence. I... Am the bearer of the Eye of Rhyme, Seer of Stories, Princess of Friendship."
The Empress smiled. "I am Empress Twilight Sparkle of the Void. Welcome to the multiverse."
"I was welcomed long ago."
Vriska shrugged. "Eh, sure."
I turned to the left. "We must stay here for now, Empress. A person by the name of Creek will be coming."
Vriska chuckled. "Out of all of them, you get Creek, huh? I'm going to give her a stupid big and hard hug when she shows up. It'll freak her out!"
I rolled my eyes. That it would. She'd think she was being attacked. It'd probably make quite the story. I was making my own story, right now, in fact.
I didn't even need to look at the Eye anymore. It was part of me, part of my body in a way as fundamental as my real eyes. I saw through it many things - possible futures, possible pasts, relations, connections...
It was beautiful.
I spread my wings and felt the power of stories and songs fill me...
~~~
Aradia stood over a grave.
EVERMORE 5 : PINKIE PIE
It was located in the Tree of Harmony's clearing, near the edge where it was hard to see, but still beautiful.
Aradia smiled. She wondered if anypony would ever notice it.
Either way, it was still beautiful.
The engraved stone slab basked in the light of Harmony, glistening under the power its occupant had held so dear her entire life.
And that, my friends, is the final image.
Twilence edit: Or it would be, if this didn't exist:
THE END.