Charter Twilight Sparkle looked at herself in the mirror. She almost looked normal. Her eyes were clear, shining with the magic inside her. Her horn was smooth and rounded, reflecting the ambient light aesthetically. Her mane hadn’t grown back properly, but Renee had worked with it, giving Twilight a windswept appearance. It looked more adventurous and outgoing than her prior style, and Twilight had already decided she’d keep it even when her mane returned to normal. Her muzzle was round and smooth, her lips curled into a smile that was perhaps not as big as it could have been.
Then there were her ears. They could swivel, perk, and flatten like any normal pony ears. But they didn’t look the part. Along the back edges of both ears a line of metal shone, the only outward appearance of a magitech machine that reached into her inner ear. She could no longer feel the device’s presence, but she would always know it was there. Marking her as different from all ponies.
It wasn’t even on right now. She tried to use it as little as possible. If she came to rely on it – well what would happen when there was no magic in a universe? What would happen when it shorted out in a battle? She couldn’t let herself depend on false hearing. It was there for when it was needed, and not any other time.
She still felt the need to turn it on right now, to check. She lit her horn, clicking an internal switch on the devices. A few soft, purple lights lit up on the metal rods, and sound rushed into her mind. Her breathing, her hooves scraping against the floor, the motion of the air around her, the buzzing of her horn, the soft sound of chatter outside…
The influx of noise was slightly painful. It also sounded wrong. Her heart started racing as her mind automatically tried to keep track of all the sounds coming in, many of which were abnormal.
“Good morning Twilight!”
The noise of a voice so close to her own location made her wince. She turned off the sound, plunging herself into a noiseless void. Her body’s response was that of relief, of all things. It no longer had to deal with it all. She turned around, smiling. “Morning Spike!”
Spike frowned. He opened his mouth, saying something. Twilight studied the motion of the lips very carefully, processing slowly. She was fairly sure he’d said: “sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”
Twilight’s focused expression was quickly replaced with a warm smile. “That’s okay, Spike. I’m still learning to live like this.” She knew she was talking with a slight accent of deafness. She had a spell that could make her voice ring clean as day - but that would be reserved for more important occasions.
“I should still be more aware,” Spike responded.
Twilight rubbed her hoof on his head. “Hey, we’re all going to have to adjust. You’ve been doing really well. Always my number one assistant.”
Spike grinned and said something Twilight couldn’t see. She got the message anyway when he hugged her leg. She held him in her wing, smiling. Twilight had no idea how long they just held each other in silence.
Eventually, Spike removed himself from the embrace. “I should finish making breakfast,” he said, making sure Twilight could see his face.
Twilight smiled. “What’s on the menu today?”
“Waffles. Earth waffles.” He waved her on, trying to walk backwards so they could move to the kitchen and talk at the same time. “I have it on good authority they’re really good!”
“Spike, you don’t need to walk backwards. We can talk in the kitchen.”
Spike nodded, turning around and speed walking to the kitchen. Twilight teleported there, a smirk on her face. “Beat ya.”
“No fair!” Spike said, throwing his arms in the air. “You could have at least flown here instead of teleporting!”
“Then you wouldn’t have had such a surprised look on your face!” Twilight giggled. “How does one cook Earth waffles, by the way?”
Spike pointed at a giant bowl filled with batter and a waffle iron. He grabbed the bowl and angled it over the appliance. He turned to Twilight. “See? All you do is pour it into the iron here and make sure it’s plugged in to a magic cell!”
Twilight used her magic to catch the batter he was spilling. “Spike, look at what you’re doing. You don’t need to keep looking at me like that, okay? I’m not going to see everything you say. We’re just going to have to be okay with that.”
Spike sighed, closing the waffle iron. “I know… It’s just hard, y’know?”
“Yeah. Believe it or not, I do. I’m the one without the hearing.”
“Sorry!” Spike said, holding up his hands.
“…I’m the one who should be apologizing. That was snappy.”
“Maybe we can both agree that neither of us are handling this all that well?”
Twilight chuckled softly. “Sure. We can do that.” She sat down at the kitchen table, pulling the magic journal off a nearby shelf. She opened to the back, frowning. “Corona hasn’t written me back yet…” She scrolled her eyes over the last couple pages, studying the back and forth she and Corona had had about Twilight’s new disability. There were even a few diagrams of the ear devices themselves, and a note of Corona feeling guilty for sending Twilight to Esefem. There was the response that told Corona not to feel bad, and then a response to that, and another response… Twilight shook her head – sometimes it was hard to figure out exactly how their conversations evolved. It was delightful, but it made her head swim.
…Corona hadn’t responded for a few days now. Twilight was beginning to worry.
Spike sat down at the table, jostling Twilight out of her book. He laid a plate in front of her with a waffle on it. “I’m noticing one good thing about this, for you anyway.”
“What’s that?”
“You are never going to have trouble focusing on reading. Ever again. Pinkie could be blowing holes in the wall downstairs and you’ll stay engrossed in your book.”
Twilight put a hoof to her chin. “You may have found the silver lining! I knew I could count on you.”
Spike leaned back in his chair. “That’s what I’m here for.”
Twilight cut up a bit of the waffle and levitated it into her mouth. “Where’s yours?”
“Cooking. Unless you want more than one. Then that’s yours cooking and mine will be cooking the moment it’s out.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “I’m not that hungry, it’ll be yours.”
“Yeah!”
“You look happy.”
“I… Was really hungry.”
Twilight smiled. “Glad I could help.”
“Hey, I’m the one doing all the cooking.”
Twilight was so busy studying Spike’s face she missed her mouth when she attempted to levitate another bit of waffle into it. She smeared the pastry across her cheek. She narrowed her eyes, correcting the trajectory of the waffle bit and tossing it into her mouth. She grabbed a napkin from nearby and rubbed her face.
Spike was trying very hard not to laugh. But he knew that laughing would be rude, so he was holding it in with all his might. His face was starting to turn red.
Twilight softly chuckled at his pained expression. This amused reaction only worsened his predicament, flushing his face even further.
“Spike, you can laugh! It was funny. I wiped waffle across my face because I wasn’t paying attention. That’s hilarious.”
Spike fell out of his chair. He started laughing, but the impact with the floor knocked the wind out of him.
Twilight poked her head over the table. “You okay?”
Spike muttered something, but Twilight couldn’t see it since he was facedown. She lifted him up and set him in the seat. “You okay?” she repeated.
“Yeah.”
“You can’t make yourself suffer like that, Spike. I’m deaf. It doesn’t mean you can’t laugh at me.”
“But it’s rude!”
“I can take it Spike. I don’t want anybody walking on eggshells around me, understand?”
Spike nodded slowly. “Yeah…”
Twilight took another bite of waffle. “By the way, this is really good. Who sugg-“ Twilight felt a strange shimmering feeling on her cutie mark. She glanced downward, seeing the familiar glow of the Tree of Harmony’s summon. “Looks like I’ve got to go, Spike! See you later!”
“Are you sure you can go?” he asked.
“The Tree of Harmony thinks so!” Twilight said, grinning. Maybe it was time for her to get back into the swing of things. She teleported to the map room, not surprised in the slightest to find Pinkie already sitting in her chair. The map itself had generated a second layer of images about a foot above the map of Equis, as it had taken to doing when it wanted to send them to another world.
Twilight recognized the location as the demon settlement in the middle of the Elemental Nations. “Oh, looks like we’re going to our old friends!” Twilight said.
Pinkie smiled, looking right at Twilight. “That we are! All five!” She pointed at their marks alongside Flutterfree’s, Nova’s, and Renee’s. “First big adventure since, well, you know.”
Twilight nodded. “I know.” She sat down in her throne, spreading her wings. “I think I’m ready. It may be… slow. But I need to get back into it.”
Pinkie patted her on the back. “I wonder what the problem will be?”
Twilight only saw the trailing end of the statement, but she reasoned out the rest of it. “Harsh feelings about the demons have been rising. It might finally be time for us to deal with that.”
~~~
The best way to get around in the Elemental Nations was by airship.
Actually, that wasn’t quite true, since teleporting was better. But neither Twilight nor Nova had a clear image of the demon village in their mind, seeing as they hadn’t been to the village in recent memory. So travel by airship it was. Sure, it took a few hours for the trip, but nopony was in any sort of hurry.
Twilight stood on the balcony of the airship, her new windswept manestyle living up to its description. She could feel the air brush through the hairs of her coat and stream past the lines in her face. She’d never bothered to study exactly how it felt before, always being overtaken by the noise of high winds.
She kept discovering new things without her ears. She’d discovered the art of closing her eyes to appreciate other senses before, but never had she been able to turn off her ears. Not like she had a choice. …Well, she did, but the headache that would result from turning on the ear devices here would probably make her fall off the balcony.
Twilight felt vibrations in the metallic floor she was standing on, telling her there was a pony walking up to her. She turned around to see Renee approaching, desperately trying to hold her hat to her head. “Hey,” Twilight said.
“Sorry dear. Can’t hear you. Wind’s too loud!”
Twilight smirked. “Well I can see what you’re saying just fine!”
“…I think that was a sassy comment,” Renee said, narrowing her eyes.
Twilight grinned. She moved her mouth without actually saying anything.
Renee furrowed her brow. “Can we go somewhere without all this wind?”
Twilight pointed over the balcony into the distance. They could make out a large settlement of newly constructed buildings – Republic City. But Twilight was pointing at a smaller settlement in a neighboring forest, composed of simpler constructions.
“Ah, I suppose we are almost there, aren’t we?”
Twilight nodded, walking back into the main cabin of the airship, gesturing for Renee to follow with her wing. The moment Twilight closed the door behind them, Renee let out a breath. “Peace and quiet…”
Twilight smiled, looking around the cabin. It was a simple metal room with windows on all sides and only the one room. The captain was a member of the Water Tribe fixated on driving the craft accurately, while Twilight’s friends played a game of cards on the floor behind him.
“Full house!” Pinkie shouted, slamming her cards down. “Pay up!”
“Pinkie, we aren’t playing with money,” Flutterfree said, turning her head and saying something else Twilight didn’t catch.
Nova said something, but her back was turned. Whatever it was must have been hilarious since Pinkie broke out laughing and Flutterfree blushed.
Renee walked up to them, mumbling something under her breath. Pinkie turned to her. “Hey, you want in?”
“Dear, we’re almost at our destination. I’m not sure we have time for anypony to be ‘dealt in’.”
Pinkie shrugged. “Fair point.” She threw all the cards in the air. “Game over!”
Nova said something.
Flutterfree grinned. “Twilight’s right behind you, you know.”
Nova’s entire body tensed. She turned around slowly with a sheepish grin on her face. “Hello there, Twilight! I, uh…”
“You do know I don’t have any clue what you said, right?” Twilight asked. “I’m confused how the conversation could have led to me being insulted anyway. Whatever it was, you’re forgiven.”
“Good!” Nova laughed nervously. “So, Renee, how far were we again?”
The pilot called something back to them – presumably ‘we’re here’ or something similar. The airship descended into an empty clearing in the forest at the edge of the demon village. The ponies thanked the pilot and stepped out, looking at the demons for the first time in quite a while. Their village was composed of tent-like structures similar to what they’d seen before, though made with smaller leaves and not on top of a giant red flower. There was more than one round hut structure this time around, though the center one was significantly larger than the others. Presumably it was where Siron lived.
Unlike the first time when they had arrived, the demons didn’t react in fear, nor did they react with aggression. They reacted with friendly waves, nods, and a few gruff motions.
Twilight realized very quickly that, unlike pony and human mouths, she wasn’t going to be able to read the lips of the demons simply because they didn’t have any lips. Instead it was mandibles...
She sighed – she was going to have to turn on her ears. She lit her horn and braced herself.
Demons sure liked to yell. She wasn’t sure if they were louder than she remembered or if she was just unable to process the noise. She could pick out the clanking of the carapaces as they bent their joints. She heard scraping coming from somewhere that was probably from some demon etching designs into their carapace, and she heard weapons clashing elsewhere from some kind of fight.
Flutterfree grabbed her with her wing. “Twilight. Focus. Everything will be fine if you just take a moment to piece out the voices… Okay? Look at me. Hear my voice.”
Twilight nodded, staring right at Flutterfree and letting her soothing voice fill her mind. “I... know. It’s hard, but I can do it. I can still hear everything else though… Everything else…”
Flutterfree smiled sadly. “It’s okay. We can do all the talking if you want.”
“I want to be involved,” Twilight asserted. “Even if just… a little.”
Pinkie walked up to her. “I’ll take the lead for now, if that’s okay. Okay?”
Twilight nodded. “It’s fine. I’m not exactly leader material at the moment.” She took a breath, trying to calm her nerves and not let the constant clacking, heartbeat, breeze, or anything other noise bother her. She managed to calm her nerves, but the incessant noises continued their irritating and distracting drone.
Pinkie patted Twilight on the back. “You’re gonna be fine, okay?” She jumped into the air and waved her hoof. “HEY SIRON!”
Siron looked up from the discussion he was having with Anix. “Hrm? Ah, Pinkie Pie! What a surprise.”
“Yeah it is!” She bounced up to him. “How’s it been?”
“You know, generally disliked by the humans around us, distrusted, the whole normal scenario.”
“They’re still letting you work on Republic City, I assume?” Renee asked.
“Indeed they are. Iroh and the other leaders are rather determined to keep us as part of the effort and their society, despite the ‘backlash’. I’m not sure why they bother, but I’m not complaining.”
Twilight forced a smile. “You’re getting lots of protection and legal standing, if I recall, right?”
Siron shrugged. “I believe that’s what it’s called.” He leaned down so he was level with her. “I hear you’ve obtained some real battle scars.”
Twilight flattened her ears. The gesture served only an expressive purpose, since the devices cared not for her ear orientation. “Yeah. I… I’m relying on magic to talk to you right now. It’s not exactly… pleasant.”
“Those of us who experience true battle rarely come out unchanged. But our changes are a source of pride, proof of survival.” He pointed at her ear devices. “This? This is not a crutch, not a cast. This is a badge of honor. A battlecry to the world saying that you survived. It gives you power.”
Twilight chuckled. “Thank you, Siron. I don’t think I’ve been told that yet.”
Siron glanced at the other ponies. “What kind of encouragement do you ponies offer that you forget the basics?”
Flutterfree shrugged. “Different cultural values.”
“…Bizarre creatures…” Siron shook his head. “Regardless, what actually brings you here?”
“The Tree summoned us,” Twilight said. “We need to solve a Friendship Problem of some kind here. Has anything interesting happened recently?”
“Besides the general distrust, we do have a visitor to the village who has been challenging every warrior we have to a duel and beating them soundly.”
“Really? Where?” Nova asked.
Siron pointed behind one of the huts. The ponies circled around to see the winged Veila cast a magic bolt at the visitor. The visitor wasn’t demon, pony, or human – she was a gray-skinned humanoid with two candy corn colored horns poking out of her mess of black hair; one shaped like a claw, the other like a poised stinger. She wore glasses that slightly magnified her orange eyes, one of which held seven pupils instead of the usual singular dot. Her cobalt blue lips were curved into a bemused smile, their color matching the ‘M’ symbol on her shirt.
In this visitor’s hands were a set of eight eight-sided dice made of a blue gemstone. She dodged to the left of Veila’s magic bolt and rolled the dice. They fell to the ground and glowed a bright white color, summoning a strange box into existence.
Veila looked at the box in confusion. It popped open, socking Veila in the face with an oversized boxing glove. Veila fell to the ground, dazed.
The visitor walked over to her and grinned. She extended a hand. “Nice try with that magic trick, but you’ll need to try a lot harder than that to beat me.”
Veila accepted the hand and the visitor helped her stand back up. The visitor bowed to the crowd. “Who’s next? Come on, can’t any of you demon bugs face me? I’m just waiting for a challenging fight! Prove to me that you’re not a bunch of bark without any real bite!”
Siron cracked his neck. “It’s my turn, then. Stranger, I am Siron, chief of the demon tribe. I accept your challenge.”
The stranger smirked. “Stranger? Name’s Vriska Serket. Thief of Light if you want a title.” She summoned her dice back to her fingers. “I hope you’ve got something interesting for me, boss man.”
Siron slammed his staff into the ground, forcing the jade crystal within to glow softly. “That I do. Prepare yourself, Vriska.”
“I’m always prepared.”
Siron twisted one of his left hands, grabbing Vriska’s foot in an aura of telekinesis. She was clearly not prepared for this, yelling out in surprise as she lost her footing. Siron thrust his staff forward, unleashing the swirling red and green energy.
Vriska twisted her body in just the right way to dodge the onslaught, flipping onto her hands and back onto her feet. “Nice shot!” She stood tall, raising an eyebrow. “Interesting color scheme as well. Where’d you get that?”
Srion arranged his three free hands in a triangle around the staff. “Ancient heirloom of my kind.” The red and green energy shot out again, this time accentuated by his magic. It curved its trajectory toward Vriska. She leaped over it, realizing with some annoyance that the energy was coming back around. She ducked under it, throwing her dice on the ground in the time before the bolt made another pass.
The bolt’s next pass skimmed her leg as her dice activated. Eight small cherry bombs appeared in midair and flew at Siron, exploding all over his body. He took every hit and didn’t fall over.
Vriska leaped over the energy bolt again. “You’re made of sterner stuff than the others!”
“Wouldn’t be chief if I wasn’t,” he said. He waited for Vriska to dodge out of the way of the swirling energies again. Then he shot exactly where she was going to dodge into, the attack hitting her dead on. She was sent tumbling across the dirt – but she landed on her feet, poised to attack again.
She summoned her dice to her hand again. “You would have declared it a win for you had I landed facedown, huh?”
“You have no proof of such allegations.”
“Cheeky bastard,” Vriska grinned, throwing the dice to the ground. Siron prepared for an attack. He was not expecting them to summon a ghost. A swirling ethereal being leaped for Siron, going right through his defensive attack. Siron braced for impact – but found the ghost was completely intangible.
The real threat was the distraction. Vriska was soon in front of him. She kicked him in the face with enough force to knock him to the ground. She placed her foot on his chest. “Gotcha.”
Siron glared at her with intense rage for a moment. His hand twitched, readying a spell – but he decided against it. His eyes softened and he let out a laugh. “That you did.”
Vriska stepped off and offered him a hand, which he took. “I think I’ve beaten your entire village now. Anyone else around to challenge me? Anyone?”
Siron looked to the poines. “There are the otherworlders.”
Vriska raised an eyebrow. “Otherworlders, huh?”
Twilight nodded, pushing through the pain in her mind. “Yeah. Ponies aren’t native to this universe.”
Vriska smirked. “Neither am I. Though I guess that’s pretty obvious. Any of you ponies good fighters? Come on, send me your best hitter. I sense a challenge in you.” She looked at Twilight’s metal-lined ears. Upon seeing them, her smile faltered slightly and her eyes narrowed. “Perhaps you?”
“Er… I’ll pass,” Twilight said. “I’m not our best fighter and I’m not feeling all that great at the moment.” She rubbed her headache.
Nova shrugged, glancing at Pinkie. “Me, or you?”
Pinkie shrugged. “Hey, we’re both good for different things.”
“Both of you at once, then,” Vriska declared.
Nova rolled her eyes. “That wouldn’t exactly be fair.”
“Nova’s right,” Pinkie said. “You’d trounce us.”
Nova glanced at Pinkie. “That’s not what I…” She looked at Vriska after she realized what Pinkie was implying. “…You’re holding back a lot, aren’t you?”
Vriska smirked. “Guilty as charged!” she bowed. “Honestly, I’m certain nobody here could beat me if I was giving it my all, but I’d at least like to see someone force me to use some more creative tricks.”
Pinkie grinned, nudging Nova. “Hey, Nova. Let’s give her a good time.”
Nova shrugged. “…Fine. Any particular plans?”
Pinkie pulled out a squeaky hammer with an imprint of Vriska’s face on it. “Nope! We’re just going to have fun.”
Nova readied herself some magic armor, coating herself with a sheen of crystal. Vriska summoned her dice. Pinkie menacingly ate a cupcake.
Renee rolled her eyes, deciding to take the role of announcer. “Three… Two… One… Aaaaaand go.”
Vriska threw her dice to the ground first. She pulled out a sword to deflect Pinkie’s hammer, cutting into the squeaky head unleashing a sad wheeze of air. At the same time she twisted her body upward, dodging a beam of energy from Nova. Her dice activated, throwing a handful of knives at Nova, which the unicorn easily blocked. Vriska kicked at Pinkie, but Pinkie was suddenly behind Vriska with the Bomb Mask on her face. “Surprise!”
The explosion sent Vriska into the air. She nimbly twirled, dodging several volleys of magic lasers. “It would have been so much more hilarious if you’d said ‘surprise, motherfucker’.”
“Yeeeeeeah, not my style,” Pinkie said, pulling out her party cannon. “This is my style.”
Vriska dodged the onslaught of confetti and balloons but failed to twist away from a magic bolt to the leg. She lost her balance and went tumbling. She quickly rolled away from Pinkie’s tossed golf club and stood up.
Nova grabbed Vriska with her telekinesis, trying to pin her to the ground from a distance. Vriska’s strength was impressive, but it was not enough to stop the magic from pushing her down.
Vriska smirked. “Looks like I will have to do that…” Her body shifted slightly, and suddenly her outfit was orange. The robes hung over her back, a hood appeared over her head, a brilliant sun symbol took form on her chest, and she had suddenly grown two large butterfly wings. She took one look at Nova. Her seven-pupil eye glowed, latching onto the unicorn with some kind of magic power.
Nova’s horn experienced a power surge, blowing up in her face and tossing her to the ground. This released Vriska from the telekinesis field. She grinned. “And that’s tha-“
The real warhammer came down over Vriska’s head, planting her face several inches into the dirt. The attack drew blood of a cobalt blue color and shattered Vriska’s glasses.
Pinkie moved to pin Vriska, but somehow her hoof missed. Vriska rolled back onto her feet and grinned. “Did you think you had me there?”
“Nope,” Pinkie said, shrugging. “I did get a good hit off you though, didn’t I?”
Vriska pulled another pair of glasses out of her robes, placing them over her eyes. She wiped the blood coming from her nose off to the side. “Yeah. Did not see the real hammer coming.”
Nova tried to stand up and shoot Vriska, but she tripped over her own two hooves. “What the… What’s happening to me?” She tried to stand up again but fell on her back.
“I stole your luck,” Vriska said, smirking. “You’re very unlucky right now. And I’m very lucky.” She summoned her dice. “I think I can get a pretty good roll right about now.”
Pinkie smiled nervously. “I don’t suppose you’ll accept a surrender right now?”
“The terms of your surrender is that I get to unleash this roll on you.”
“Figures.” Pinkie tossed the warhammer aside for a pair of fishing poles.
Vriska blinked. “…What?”
“Hey, I drew them, means they’re going to be useful.”
Vriska shrugged, tossing the dice to the ground. A giant salmon appeared out of nowhere, mouth open wide. Pinkie ducked to the left, swinging her fishing poles at the gaping maw, hooking the jaw’s sides with her two hooks. She twisted herself sideways, spinning the fish around in an arc, swinging it back towards Vriska.
Vriska activated her eye, latching onto Pinkie’s luck, but the fish was already heading for her and it was way too big to dodge by pure luck. She was hit like a bowling pin, flipping sideways and landing flat on the ground.
Pinkie laughed hard – but lost control of the fish with her newfound bad luck. It hit her in the face at just the wrong angle, knocking her out cold. The fish flopped on her a few times before vanishing.
Vriska stood up rubbing her head and favoring one of her legs. “Yeah! I won- ow. Ow. Ow that fucking hurts. Giant fish sure pack a punch…”
“Can I have my ‘luck’ back now?” Nova muttered, struggling to remain standing. “Because I’m not sure I can take a step without faceplanting right now, and it’s infuriating.”
Vriska smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “Hey, sorry, I’m a Thief, not a Rogue. Can’t exactly give it back. It’ll return on its own, give it a day or two.”
“A day or two!?”
“Hey, I didn’t take all of it! If I did you’d be having a heart attack right now.”
Renee raised an eyebrow. “Was that a cleverly veiled threat?”
“What? No!” Vriska threw her hands into the air. “Everyone assumes that! Gog! Maybe I’m just trying to let you know something because it’s interesting, huh? Ever think about that?”
Flutterfree blinked. “You have issues with people thinking you’re dangerous, don’t you?”
“What? I…” Vriska blinked. “Yeah, that’s exactly it.”
Renee rolled her eyes. “But you clearly are dangerous.”
“Hey, just because it’s evident doesn’t mean it needs to be a fucking issue!”
Flutterfree smiled. “Do you ever wonder if it’s you that’s making it an issue?”
“Oh Jegus… Nope, nope, not letting this turn into a gogdamn therapy session. Vriska is removing herself from the premises of this conversation and moving onto something with significantly less ‘nope’ content.” She looked directly at Twilight. “So, what’s the story behind those fancy ears of yours?”
Twilight blinked and tried to clear her head. “Oh! Well, it’s… Rather pain-“
Before she could start her story, one of the demon’s tents exploded in a shower of fire. A young woman burst out of it, hands aflame. “DEATH TO DEMONS!”
“DEATH TO DEMONS!” a dozen other voices chorused. Water, earth, and fire erupted from all around the demon village, filling the air with the power of Elemental war. Around a dozen men and women revealed themselves, taking out a similar number of tent houses as quickly as they could.
“WARRIORS!” Siron yelled. “DEFEND YOUR PEOPLE!”
The demons launched into action, grabbing their weapons and charging the various attackers. Blades and clubs met fire, earth, and water. All the ponies save Twilight leaped into action alongside them.
Twilight froze – the clang of weapons shook her to her core. The rumblings of the earth ground her awareness as the rocks were thrown. The crackling fire tingled and the water’s rush felt like an impact. She winced, closing her eyes tight.
“Twilight!” Pinkie’s yell cut through the other noises. “Just turn it off!”
Twilight clenched her jaw, cursing herself inwardly. Why hadn’t she just done that to begin with? She lit her horn and turned off her ears. Silence reigned.
She opened her eyes. Without the noise, everything was different. She felt like an observer, rather than a participant. Earth flew through the air with fire added to it, landing on top of Siron’s hut. Twilight felt the vibration of the impact in her hooves, but it was a dull feeling. A distant feeling.
She narrowed her eyes. She would not be distanced from this. These people, whoever they were, had attacked out of nowhere, unprovoked as far as she knew. She would take care of them. She focused her magic on a chunk of earth, redirecting the flung boulder into a different assailant. She teleported a waterbender in front of a firebender’s attack.
One of them saw what she was doing and thrust a jet of water at her. Twilight calmly used her magic to twist the jet around her body and back at the bender, knocking them to the ground.
A spire of earth hit her from behind, tossing her head over hooves. She attempted to right herself but the burly earthbender drove a pillar of earth at her from underneath, tossing her into the air. She lit her horn, firing a laser at him, but he deflected with an expertly aimed rock, which he then chucked right at her. The stone hit her in the chin, turning her fall into a rapid corkscrew dive. She landed on the ground, grunting.
The man glared at her. “Why do you defend them?” he asked.
“They are our friends,” Twilight coughed, standing back up. She flared her wings.
“They are a danger.” He readied a fist, preparing to drive earth into her face. She reared back, lighting her horn. She doubted she was going to be able to dodge his attack.
He thrust his fist upward – and generated a spike of earth a foot to Twilight’s left. He took a step forward, tripped, and fell flat on his face. Twilight saw Vriska standing behind him, a smirk on her face. “Not your lucky day, is it Twilight?” she asked.
“No…” Twilight said, canceling her spell.
Vriska’s eyes widened. She activated her eye again, stealing the luck from something behind Twilight. Turning her head, Twilight saw there was a firebender woman there who had just burned her own hands. Twilight gulped. “You… saved me there.”
Vriska moved back into Twilight’s field of view. She was already saying something. “-id. How did you not notice her? She wasn’t exactly being subtle!”
“Maybe because I’m deaf?” She pointed at her ears. “Maybe!?”
Vriska blinked. “That explains a lot.” She threw a punch to her side, hitting an earthbender in the face and giving him a broken nose in the process. She threw her dice on the ground, launching a giant marshmallow at an incoming hunk of rock.
Twilight sat down and blinked, watching as Vriska took care of everything around her in a matter of seconds. I don’t even need to do anything…
Soon, the attackers were fleeing. However, the plan had clearly been hit-and-run to begin with. The damage to the demon village was substantial, and there were more than a few of the red bugs crawling around, injured. Twilight took a breath and stood tall. She turned her ears back on, audibly wincing.
Vriska looked around, checking for what hit Twilight.
“I turned on my ears,” Twilight said. “It’s just… the noise.”
“What kind of lame hearing aids are they if they hurt?”
“The ones that work if your ears were completely blown out,” Twilight muttered. She dragged herself over to Siron, who was tending to a demon woman’s broken wings. “Who were those people?”
“Terrorists,” Siron muttered. He reached for the form of a knocked out earthbender, rolling back the man’s sleeve to reveal a tattoo – a circle with seven spikes poking out of it. “The Defenders of Paradise, they call themselves.”
Twilight furrowed her brow, trying to think through the noise. “…Have they done this before?”
“Attacked our village? No, this is a cowardly and brazen attack. They always attack us when we are alone, or people who associate with us, or when we’re in Republic City… I would declare war on them if I could.”
“Why can’t you?” Nova asked.
“Don’t know who leads them. Don’t know who their members are. Don’t know where they stay. Don’t know anything.”
Twilight looked at the knocked out man. “Why don’t we ask them what’s going on?”
“Be my guest. They never know anything, taking a page out of Ba’al’s book.” Siron curled his claws into a fist and punched the man’s prone form across the face. “Their leaders don’t reveal their identity and always communicate through pigeon.”
Vriska tore one of the womens’ jackets off, revealing a ton of tiny scrolls. “Hey, look what I found!”
The group walked over. Renee raised an eyebrow. “I’d say she is one of the ones who writes the messages.”
Siron’s eyes twitched. “Why would they send a communicator into battle? It doesn’t make sense!”
“They’re all pretty crazy,” Pinkie said, rifling through the scrolls. “I think this particular lady just really wanted to go and destroy some demon tents. Lucky break for us.”
Renee levitated some of the scrolls. “All of these are in code…”
Twilight furrowed her brow, squinting. “It would have to be a pretty good code if the translation spell can’t work it out…”
“Uh, we can always just ask her,” Flutterfree said. “I know we have a wake-up spell.”
Nova narrowed her eyes. “Or I could just tear it out of her mind.”
“That too.”
Twilight frowned. “You sure we should do that?”
Nova nodded. “They attacked. I’m going to see if she knows anything.” Nova’s eyes went white as her magic connected with the woman’s mind. There was silence for a few seconds. Nova returned, blinking. “She does write messages for the Defenders of Paradise. She does know more than ‘demons must be eradicated’ and ‘the other dimensions are impure.’ There’s a ‘safehouse’ in Republic city where she gets instructions.”
Pinkie rubbed her hooves together. “Now we’re talking. Information. Siron, we will help take these terrorists down! It probably has something to do with the friendship problem. To the ‘safehouse’ place!”
Vriska grinned. “I haven’t raided a safehouse in a while. I’m in.”
Twilight found herself groaning inwardly at the comment. She shook her head, chastising herself for it. Vriska was offering help and was happy to give it, Twilight should be happy. ...But she wasn’t.
“Are you coming, Siron?” Renee asked.
“Sadly, no, I must remain here with my warriors and rebuild the town.”
Nova blinked. “…Really? I thought of all people you would want revenge.”
“I trust you to take care of it,” Siron grunted. “My people need me. You do what you need to.”
Vriska shrugged. “We won’t need the help. Hell, we won’t need much other than me. I could take the place out all on my own…”
“We do need to, you know, actually get more information there?” Twilight said. “Brute force won’t do that.”
Vriska tapped her forehead. “Psychic. I bet one of them will have a weak, impressionable mind.”
She has everything… Twilight sighed, but forced a smile through the mounting pain in her head. “Well, great then! Let’s get going! Nova, lead the way!”
Nova nodded, leading them out of the demon village and toward Republic City.
Twilight turned her ears off. She was done with the sound of Vriska’s voice.
~~~
After the Hundred Years war had ended and territories were returned to their respective Elemental Nations, there was a problem. On Earth Kingdom soil there were numerous Fire Nation colonies that had not only been there for decades, but had also mixed with the culture of the Earth Kingdom to produce something new. When the war ended, the Fire Nation citizens didn’t want to leave, and there were more than a few earthbenders there who had started families that went back multiple generations with the firebenders.
It was among the first of the issues faced by a world suddenly at peace.
Sick of war, the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom sought to work out a peaceful solution, and their final decision was something of an oddity. They voted to make the mixed colonies free, separate from either kingdom. This idea soon evolved beyond simply creating a new Elemental Nation – Avatar Aang stepped in, suggesting the newly formed nation should serve as the ‘center’ for the entire world, as a place where all types of benders could live in peace and harmony.
Thus, the United Republic was born, and plans to create a spectacular capital known as Republic City were created. The demons were conscripted as extra workers, and more than a few other worlds had taken a keen interest in the city, though all involved were careful to adhere to the original city plans, for the United Republic felt a strong need to form its own culture that was not influenced by powers from beyond.
Republic City did not fully avoid all outside influence, but it did rather well considering where most of its resources were coming from. Buildings began to rise from the previously abandoned beaches of the coast.
That was roughly two years ago. The city was still very much under construction, but it was advanced enough that people had begun to move in. The city should have taken a minimum of ten years to create, but with all the help it was moving along far ahead of schedule. The buildings were orderly constructions, mixing design elements of all four nations to create efficient, simple, and yet somehow beautiful structures. There was even an Air Temple under construction on a nearby island, to be the future home of the Avatar himself, the last of the Air Nomads.
A constant sight along the streets was construction – construction, construction, construction. It was not uncommon to see a demon hauling material around, or working with earthbenders to construct an architectural overhang. The demons were regularly given untrusting glares, but they made do. Usually they were on good terms with the people they were working with.
A pony could be seen walking around the city’s streets occasionally, though few were involved with the construction efforts. Most were just tourists, or ponies whose circumstances had led them to live here for some reason or another. The United Republic had reasoned that since they were a home to all benders, they shouldn’t have an issue with otherworlders making their homes within their borders.
It was like a much neater version of the Hub, in many ways. There wasn’t a prevalence of technology, there weren’t dozens of people coming and leaving through dimensional portals each day, but there was a clear mixture developing. The Elemental culture may have been dominant, but it wasn’t all that existed.
Vriska, Twilight, and the other ponies walked down the streets of this scene, taking in the sights. Vriska had to admit; it was nice to see something a bit more orderly than she was used to. The multiversal scene tended to be a huge mess of chaos nobody could wrap their head around. Every world that had numerous others involved in any area was usually a hopeless disorganized mess that changed every other Tuesday – if Tuesdays could even be considered to exist, really. It was a nice change of pace.
Better than the fucking Strands by a long shot.
She looked to Nova. “Hey, how much further?”
Nova looked back at her, smiling. These ponies were always smiling; though Vriska could tell this wasn’t the usual naïve smile she was used to from their kind. These five weren’t idiots, not even the Pinkie. “Down that alley there, the orange house,” Nova answered.
Vriska cracked her knuckles. “Good.” She was looking forward to laying the smack down on a terrorist cell. To be fair, she was always looking forward to a good smack down of any kind. As long as it wasn’t dealt to her.
Nova cast an invisibility spell over them all as they stepped into the alleyway, walking cautiously. They saw no one else in the alley. The orange house was clearly occupied, raised voices audible from their current position.
“Okay,” Twilight said. “We should go the stealthy route, see if we can sneak in and listen to what they’re saying.”
“Bah,” Vriska said. “We don’t need that. You have me remember?”
“…She can’t hear you, or see you,” Renee said.
“Right. Invisible.” Vriska shrugged. “Well I’m going in.”
“Vriska!” Nova hissed. “We should stick to a plan of – hey! I hear you running off!”
“What’s going on?” Twilight asked.
Vriska smirked. I’m saving you all a lot of trouble. She charged in through the front door, noting with some mild annoyance that the invisibility spell dropped. The six benders on the first floor saw her and attacked. Vriska dodged all the elements with her momentarily high luck. She touched the mind of a bender, putting him to sleep. She kicked another in the face and stole the luck of another. They never stood a chance.
“Six down, zero fatalities,” Vriska said to herself, rather proud of her finesse. She threw her dice, using some of her luck to alter the outcome purposefully to something explosive. A lemon with a stick of dynamite in it flew into the ceiling and tore a hole to the second floor. She leaped up, elegantly dodging all the rocks, ice, and fire tossed at her.
She landed on top of a table with numerous papers placed all around it. “Excuse me, did I break up an important meeting of Terrorists R Us?”
An old guy pointed his finger at her, unleashing a torrent of fire. She dodged to the side and punched him out the window into the alley below. She threw her dice behind herself, summoning a giant tangle of vines that entrapped everyone in the room. She dusted her hands off and looked down into the alleyway. “There you go! All taken care of! And none of them are dead! So you can question them all.”
Pinkie blinked, calling up to her. “That was anticlimactic!”
“So? I got you what you needed, right?”
“I guess so?” Pinkie poked the old guy. “I dunno, it just means less, if that makes sense?”
Vriska shrugged. “It sorta does? Oh, I can get him to tell you who’s in charge of this mess too.” She touched the old guy’s mind. “Tell me who is in charge of your little terror tabernacle.”
He looked up at her from the grimy ground. “I will never tell you anything!”
“Okay, he’s got a strong mind.” She grabbed one of the women tied up in the tree. “Let’s see… you tell me who’s in charge!”
The woman’s eyes glazed over. “Anix…”
“Hey! Does the name Anix mean anything to you ponies?” she called down.
“WHAT!?” Nova shouted. “ANIX is behind this? But he’s a demon! That doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense!”
Renee put her hoof to her chin. “…It does, though. The demons have been getting a lot of protection and assistance under the new laws…”
“Demons have died! He’d never do that!”
“Do we really know Anix that well, dear? Now if this were Mlinx we were talking about, I’d agree with you, but Anix has always been more… ’demonic’, if you catch my drift.”
Nova turned to Pinkie. “Well, what do you say?”
“He did it,” Pinkie confirmed. “Though… I think there’s more to it than what Renee’s suggesting. There’s something more sinister at play here.”
Vriska leaped down into the hallway, pumping a fist. “All right, we got the guy! Let’s go punch him in the face!”
Renee raised an eyebrow. “You sure like violence.”
Vriska shrugged. “I can be peaceful.”
“That wasn’t what I said.”
Vriska rolled her eyes. “Whatever, how about we…” she blinked. “Hey, where’s Twilight?”
Nova blinked. “What do you mean wher-“ She looked around, but couldn’t find her. “Uh…”
“Did she get foalnapped?” Renee gasped.
“No,” Flutterfree said, shaking her head.
“Then what happened to her?”
“She left,” Flutterfree said, staring into Vriska’s eyes. “Because of her.”
Vriska put a hand to her chest. “What did I do?”
“Everything,” Flutterfree said, fixing her with a disapproving look.
“Hey, I didn’t kill anyone!”
“I mean everything in the sense that there was no need for the team. You just walked in, kicked everyone around like ragdolls, then walked out with the information we needed.” Flutterfree raised a wing, pointing at the hole in the second story window. “You took away anything any of us could have done.”
“So?” Vriska said, folding her arms. “Come on, I did what we needed, and I did it quickly too.”
“And Twilight is struggling to convince herself that she’s still worthwhile,” Flutterfree countered. “She wants, badly, to get over her disability and be useful. This was her first mission since her injury. And then you show up, stealing the spotlight. Normally I wouldn’t hold this against you, but I can see that you wanted to be the center of attention. You dragged the light to you on purpose. Thief of Light indeed.”
Vriska’s smile vanished, replaced with a glare. “What did you just say to me?”
“I said you live up to your name,” Flutterfree continued, taking a step forward instead of backing down. “You stole the light, and now Twilight is Celestia-knows-where, probably crying and brooding because you felt like showing off!”
Vriska folded her arms. “Sounds like that’s her problem.”
Nova snapped. “She’s been deaf for less than a month, you asshole! Of course it’s her problem! That doesn’t give you an excuse!”
“Me, the asshole? What about all you, acting so entitled!”
“Entitled!?” Nova blurted. “Why I-“
Flutterfree held up a wing. “Vriska has a point, Nova. We are acting a little entitled.”
“Thank you,” Vriska said. “…Wait, what?”
Flutterfree shook her head. “Look… None of us are handling this well. Twilight just ran off, you’re being defensive, and we’re looking for someone to blame. Yes, Vriska, you’re being a spotlight hog and you were completely oblivious to Twilight’s feelings, but thinking it over I can’t really blame you for ignorance. Twilight has run off, but I can’t blame her because she’s going through a hard change. And as for me… What I just said was mostly uncalled for. I’m sorry.”
Vriska blinked, shaking her head. “…You backed down way too quickly.”
Flutterfree smiled sadly. “I was angry. I’m not right now. Just sad.”
Vriska rolled back onto her heels. “You shouldn’t just back up like that. Some of what you said meant something.”
Flutterfree smirked. “Are you admitting you were being a bit of a showoff?”
“Fuck.” Vriska facepalmed. “I walked right into that one…”
“Yeah, you did…” Flutterfree said. “Sorry, I think you just ran into us at a bad time. We’re all under a lot of stress and, well, we’ve just recently realized what a horrible place the multiverse can be.”
Vriska’s expression softened considerably. “It doesn’t pull any punches, does it?”
“Nope,” Renee added, looking at her horn guiltily.
Vriska held up her hands. “I get it. I get it. I was acting like my crude, badass self, and it wasn’t what you needed. That’s fine. I’ll just leave you girls to it.”
Flutterfree sighed. “You don’t have to leave.”
“You girls can handle Anix, I’m sure of it,” Vriska said, giving them the thumbs up. “I’m also sure Twilight will come back to you, eventually. You’re her friends. Pretty fucking good ones, from what I can see. So… Yeah.” She changed into her orange cloak and flapped her wings. “I’ll see you around.”
“You sure?” Flutterfree asked.
“Positive. I don’t need to be here right now. Just give that Anix guy a punch in the face for me, okay?”
“…Sure,” Flutterfree agreed.
Pinkie gasped. “You’re going to punch Anix in the face, Flutterfree?!”
“Looks like it.”
Vriska laughed. “Well, it’s been fun, ciao!” She flew off into the sky, careful not to look back.
She skimmed past buildings, through construction lattices, and toward the ocean. She stopped herself over the waves, looking down.
Damn, she thought, I feel like a tool. Just my presence tore someone up.
She shook her head – why was she letting what some whiney pony thought mess with her? She was just some stupid alicorn with a stupid emotional tangle and a stupid disability that Vriska had inadvertently preyed on…
She put a hand over her face and sighed. “I’m never going to be able to escape, am I?!”
The sky had no answer for her.
Vriska, now ticked off at life in general, descended to the beach and sat down on the sand. She removed her orange robes, reverting to her regular clothes. She picked up a rock and threw it into the waves, watching the ripples spiral out only to get washed away by the bigger waves of the ocean itself.
“Great, looks like Poetry Sight™ has kicked in. Wonderful. So what am I, the fucking ripples or the fucking waves? Or, wait, I get it, this is one of those double reacharound things where I’m both!” She tossed another rock into the ocean.
Vriska had no idea why she was still here. She should just grab some luck from the townspeople until she had enough to slip through a world boundary and go somewhere else. But here she was, sitting on a beach, staring at the ocean.
Feeling alone.
She groaned, preparing to launch into a random tirade at existence again, when something caught her eye.
Twilight was sitting on the beach a few meters to her right. The moment Vriska noticed Twilight, Twilight noticed Vriska.
The two stood up at the same time, staring at each other with confused, forlorn expressions. They wordlessly walked toward each other until they were right next to each other, standing on the beach, waves brushing past their feet and hooves.
There was silence.
“I’m sorry,” they both said at once.
“Wait, what the fuck?” Vriska said taken aback.
“You, sorry?” Twilight said, cocking her head. “How?”
“I was being an asshole that’s how!”
“You were just doing what needed to be done and I took it personally!”
“I was hogging the damn spotlight.”
“You had the right to! I’m the one who decided it made me useless.”
“You? Useless? Give me a break, you’re changing the world around you. You are the Charter Twilight.”
“And you’re clearly some kind of hero. You’re from elsewhere in the multiverse. You know more than we do, I can tell. I probably pale in comparison to you.”
Vriska pointed a finger at Twilight. “First rule of dealing with asshole bitches – of which I am the queen – don’t inflate their ego.”
“…You just called yourself the queen.”
“Yeah. I did. So what?”
“I don’t know, really.” Twilight blinked. “All I know is that I shouldn’t have run off.”
“I, clearly, needed to pay more attention to the alicorn I was supposed to be paying attention to.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Supposed to?”
Vriska shrugged. “I was told, a long time ago, that I would meet a Twilight with metal in her ears, and that it would be important to me for some reason.”
“Who told you this?”
“Another Twilight,” Vriska answered, smirking. “Your kind gets around a lot.”
“I… Have a lot of questions.”
“I have answers. Question is, do you want the answers, or do you want to discover things on your own?”
“I’ll take the latter, for now,” Twilight said. An awkward silence developed after this statement.
Vriska kicked some sand. “So… are mutual apologies accepted and does everyone agree this was fucking stupid?”
Twilight snorted. “Sure. Especially the competition to be the bad guy a minute ago.”
“I won that. Totally.”
“I think the moral we’re supposed to learn here is that there isn’t always a clear fault to be found and that sometimes interactions just suck. And that, well, other stuff about being the center of attention and not taking things personally. And… that me and my friends need to work some trauma out.”
Vriska blinked. “My gog, you think of things in terms of morals.”
Twilight grinned. “Yeah, I do.” She glanced at her flank. “Sometimes, when I do that, my cutie mark starts glowing, telling me I did what I was meant to do.”
“…The hell does that mean?”
Twilight cocked her head. “You’ve met other versions of me but you don’t know what the Tree of Harmony and its friendship problems are?”
Vriska shook her head. “Enlighten me.”
Twilight grinned. “Oh, trust me, I will.”
~~~
Less than an hour later, Twilight teleported back to the demon village. “Hey guys, Vriska and I made up – HOLY CELESTIA.”
She was witness to a gruesome scene – Siron’s fist was currently driven straight through Anix’s head. He pulled it back, leaving a blue, dripping hole where Anix’s face once was. The insubordinate demon’s body crumpled to the ground. Nova, Flutterfree, Pinkie, and Renee stared in shock, clearly not expecting what had just happened.
“WHAT!?” Twilight shouted. “…WHAT!?”
Siron looked at her and moved his arms around.
Twilight turned her ears on, wincing. “Care to repeat that?”
Siron clearly wasn’t in the mood. He stamped his foot on the ground and pushed his face up to Twilight’s. “Anix. Was a traitor. You know what he did.”
“He was in charge of the attacks, but-“
“BUT WHAT!?” Siron roared.
“But now we won’t know what his reasons were!” Nova shouted. “You got him to confess and then punched his face in! There could be more out there, Siron! More threats to your people!”
“Anix was never a threat to his people, not really,” Flutterfree said. “He was helping the-“
“You can stop talking now,” Siron grunted, turning his back on them. “All of you, out. Now.”
“But-“ Twilight began.
“I SAID OUT!”
The five ponies scrambled out of Siron’s hut through the hole in the wall.
Twilight caught her breath. “I… I… What in Celestia’s name!?”
“I don’t know!” Pinkie said, grabbing her head. “I knew he had a rage problem but I wasn’t expecting that!”
“Poor Anix…” Flutterfree muttered.
“That’s debatable,” Nova commented.
Renee shot her a look. “We do not condone senseless killings via face punching.”
Flutterfree started crying.
“Oh my Stars, Flutterfree, I’m sorry…”
Twilight took a deep breath and sighed. “I…” she shook her head and turned off her ears. “Okay, girls, get yourselves together! Snap out of it! GIRLS!”
The four of them stopped talking and looked to her.
“We need to get a hold of ourselves! We’ve seen terrible things, horrendous things, deadly things. We’ve been the cause of some of those things and we’ve been the victim of some of those things. We can’t let it do this to us! I can see you all – I can see myself – unraveling at the seams! Pinkie, afraid the world isn’t what she wanted it to be. Renee, afraid of herself, the rest of us, and what we can do. Flutterfree, unable to reconcile the anger she feels with her compassion. Nova, losing faith in her own role in the world. And me, struck with a disability and losing my confidence.
“These are just a small number of the problems we face that aren’t evil. They are just things inside us. Usually, we talk about them together, work them out – but we’ve been afraid. Afraid of hurting each other. Afraid of opening up the wounds. Afraid, afraid, afraid. I’m not going to stand for that anymore. I am here, girls. I am not a fragile piece of glass that could break from the slightest prod. I am deaf, not sickly. I can still help you.” Twilight smiled. “Girls, we were the friendship problem. We weren’t here to ease relations with the demons, we weren’t here to help Vriska discover herself, we were here to be here. For each other.”
She spread her wings. “We can’t unravel now. We have so far to go.”
Her four friends rushed into her embrace. There were tears – she didn’t know whose. She didn’t care. They were together, and the cutie marks on their flanks were glowing strong.
They were together.
Twilight opened her eyes for a moment, spying Vriska watching in the distance. She waved at them – and vanished.
Twilight knew they’d meet again someday. At a better time.
~~~
For Twilight and friends, the day was over.
For General Sunset and company, it had just begun.
The General ran into Hyrule’s grand Temple of Time, screeching to a halt in the main chamber. The Temple was beyond impressive – at least four stories tall, carved from an ancient pearly material that glistened from every angle, and covered with beautiful, ornate depictions of the Goddesses of Ardent. Power, Wisdom, Courage, and Time, all focused around an image of the Triforce above a simple, marble pedestal.
Zelda stood in front of the altar, looking down at Sunset. “You came.”
“Yes,” she said, panting. Toph, Lieshy, and Vivian filed in behind her. “What’s wrong?”
“The Triforce of Wisdom called me here…” Zelda said, tracing her hand over the altar. “All I saw was the Triforce, this temple, darkness, and the Sage’s mask.”
“So… what?” Sunset said, cocking her head. “The Sage is coming here? Ba’al took her, there’s no way.”
“Never say no way,” Toph pointed out. “It’s asking for trouble.”
Lieshy furrowed her brow. “Premonition’s brewing something awful, there lies another. Perhaps the Sage isn’t coming, but Ba’al is with the mask.”
Sunset growled. “Whatever it is, we’re ready. Princess, is there anyone else coming?”
Zelda nodded. “Word has been sent to the Apollo and a few other groups. You are just the first to resp-“
A portal opened right behind the altar. A pulse of purple energy launched outward, assaulting the minds of all present. Vivian vanished into the ground, Toph started screaming, and Sunset was frozen in place, eyes unable to move.
Lieshy and Zelda stood their ground. The Triforce of Wisdom glowed brightly on her hand. Lieshy glanced at her friends, confused by their reactions.
The Sage walked out of the portal, a dark chain affixed around her neck. Her expression was not stoic, or determined – it was sorrowful. “I’m sorry,” she said, moving to lay the mask on the altar.
Zelda was having none of that. She unleashed a quick spell on the Sage, tossing her to the side. Lieshy swooped in and picked up the mask, turning around as fast as she could. She bolted for the Temple’s exit, mask close to her heart.
The mask wanted her to escape. She knew it.
A tendril of disgusting blackness grabbed her back hoof. She was able to touch the doors – but not leave. She was pulled back and thrown to the ground, losing her grip on the white mask.
It flew into the hands of a Ba’al surrounded by purple, alien energies. Zelda pointed her Triforce hand at Ba’al, eyes narrow. “Begone.”
The holy force that shot from the Triforce of Wisdom was more than enough to tear the horrific power from Ba’al. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he slumped to the ground.
Zelda directed her holy magic onto the Sage next. The pony herself was largely unaffected, but the dark, impossible chain began to fade as the light burned its evil essence.
Something pulled on the chain from the other side of the portal, reestablishing its substance. A dark energy shot out of the portal in the shape of a claw, aiming right for Zelda’s heart. She fired back with her holy energy, barely keeping the claw at bay.
Tears in her eyes, the Sage picked up the mask. She walked to the altar, trying to drag it out as long as she could.
Lieshy tackled the Sage. “That shackled nothing! Fight, Pinkie, fight! This creature doesn’t have to control you! The cotton candy touches that above all! You are more than it!”
“I… I have to,” the Sage said, crying. “I can’t escape. It’s not meant to happen.” She bucked Lieshy away. “I never wanted this to happen.”
Lieshy flew at her again, but this time the Sage didn’t let her get close. She hit her away with a frying pan, dazing the poor pegasus.
The Sage picked up the mask again and placed it on the altar. Zelda was far too busy keeping the dark claw back to do anything about the mask as it floated above the altar. A ping of magic went off, and four separate essences of divine power appeared in the air above the mask. Blue, green, red, and a larger white one in the center, shining their holy light down on all.
It was enough to push the madness out of Sunset and Toph’s minds. The holy essences of the Goddesses told them it was too late to save them – but the Sage needed help.
Sunset roared, summoning every ounce of magic she could into a single fire spell aimed directly at the dark chain around the Sage’s neck. A swirling blade of holy energy channeled through her antlers combined with the flame summoned through her horn, colliding with the chain. Chunks of it went flying, but it healed itself almost instantly.
“It doesn’t want me to go!” the Sage yelled.
“Screw that!” Toph yelled, driving a spike of earth into the chain, to less effect than Sunset’s disc.
The divine essences began to vanish into the mask – including the one that bestowed much of the Triforce of Wisdom’s power. Zelda’s light began to falter. Toph and Sunset could feel the madness melting into their mind again. They slowed, stumbling over their own attempts to break the chain.
Zelda’s power broke. The claw slammed into her, cutting a gash across her midsection. Toph and Sunset broke down, unable to continue facing the monster. The mask absorbed all four divine essences into itself, and fell back onto the altar.
Crying, the Sage picked up the mask. She placed it on her face, and stood still.
The chain yanked her back. She struggled against it, but her limbs froze up. She let out a bloodcurdling, agonized scream as she was dragged back from where she came from.
Vivian’s hand shot out from the ground, grabbing a hold of the Sage’s leg at the last possible minute.
She was dragged through the portal along with the Sage.
“Vivian!” Sunset yelled, wailing at the world on the other side. The portal closed, leaving nothing behind. “Vivian!”
Something inside her snapped. She shot an explosion spell at the back wall, destroying the engraving of the Triforce in a blind rage. “VIVIAN!”
“I could see it…” Toph said. “I… I can’t see anything. I’ve never seen anything.”
Link, O’Neill, and a team of Tau’ri teleported into the room. Link clenched his fist. “I knew it. We’re too late.”
“The Goddesses…” Zelda mumbled. “They’re… They’re gone…”
Link looked at his hand. He forced the power of the Triforce to show itself – but he only got a faint glow. He bit his lip. “There went our trump card…”
“Okay!” Sunset shouted, pointing at Link. “You know something! I know you know something! You better start explaining or I start burning!”
O’Neill glanced at him. “Link, I think we’re beyond the point that the secret will help.”
Link sighed, nodding. “…There is this being called Majora…”
~~~
Aang walked into a large tent in the middle of the desert. “Hello?”
Iroh was seemingly alone in the tent. “Ah, Avatar Aang. I’m glad you could meet me here.”
“…What’s with all the secrecy? And this… big, empty tent?”
Iroh folded his hands. “Aang, there is a great evil from another world that is threatening ours. We don’t know what it is, exactly, or what it wants. But it infects the minds of those who know about it, driving them to do its bidding.”
Aang blinked. “…What?”
Iroh sighed. “There’s an evil spirit running amuck in other worlds and it’s causing big problems in everyone who thinks about it.”
“How is that even possible?”
“How do unicorns use magic? I have no idea; all I know is that it’s infected the soul of a dear friend. And you are the only force I know of that can change a person’s soul.”
Aang looked at his hand. “…Yeah. I can do that. Who is it and where are they?”
The Puddlejumper decloaked, revealing Sombra and Tempest sitting at the back hatch. The two of them quickly wheeled a gurney out with Corona on it. Her eyes were closed, but her mouth was twisted in a permanent scowl. Her skin was covered in sweat and Aang swore he saw purple tendrils of energy coming off her fingertips for a split second.
Aang took a deep breath. “All right. I can do this.” He crossed his legs and pressed his hands together at the side of Corona’s bed, entering a meditative state. “What should I expect?”
“There is a presence within Corona that should not be there,” Iroh said. “A dark, evil thing. We believe only a small part of the entity is within her, but it is connected in some way to the rest of it. We have to be careful – we don’t want to draw the attention of the larger entity if we can help it. But above all else, we need to save Corona. She’s sedated, so she shouldn’t be able to fight back. Physically.”
Aang nodded, opening his eyes in the Avatar State. He stood up slowly, touching his hand to Corona’s forehead and chest. Aang’s eyes shot out a soul energy of blue, while Corona’s gave off a red – a red with purple imperfections.
Aang’s blue energy shifted into Corona’s body, working its way through her chest and lower body, purging the purple darkness bit by bit. The darkness squirmed in Aang’s perception, trying to fight back, but failing against the power of the Avatar. Corona’s own soul realized it was getting help, and began to fight against the darkness with renewed strength.
Then the darkness reacted in a different way. Magic spiraled off Corona’s fingertips in the physical realm, inching toward Aang’s chest.
Aang removed his hand from Corona’s chest, pointing at the dark magic approaching him. He remembered what Twilight had taught him about magic at the interdimensional meeting that seemed so long ago. He may not be able to use magic alone, but the dark energy was providing him with some. He channeled the darkness into his hand and pushed back.
Something clicked in his mind. He felt the magic within Corona, alongside her soul. It was far more corrupted than her soul – tied in knots, twisted, and alien. He needed to fix it as well, and the darkness had just given him his way in. He pushed his free hand back on Corona’s chest and stirred her inner magics. They aligned, twisting back to what they needed to be. To Aang’s mild surprise, the shape of her entire body began to change – fingers retracting back into her hands, legs shifting their joints around and pushing the knee closer to her body, face elongating, skin growing a thin coat of fur. A horn protruded from her head, sparking with magic. She slowly returned to her natural form of a unicorn, breaking through the seams of her skin-tight spacesuit as she did so.
“…Woah,” Sombra said. “Now that’s cool.”
Aang moved to adjust the last little bits of magic and darkness. He was getting tired from all the exertion, but he was almost done. He just needed to-
"BO͝Y̨” a voice shouted. Aang no longer found himself in a tent in the middle of the desert – he found himself in an infinite plane of darkness. He saw nothing but a human Corona, standing next to him.
She grabbed his hand, clutching it tight. Aang stood firm and glared into the darkness. “I am Avatar Aang.”
He was still in the Avatar State – and so every Avatar who had ever existed appeared behind him, hundreds of Avatars from every one of the Elemental Nations, standing firm, flanking him and Corona.
“We are the Avatar.” All of them said at once. “Leave this soul be and begone from this world!”
There was laughter – alien, disgruntled, but slightly feminine laughter. The mask was there, where it hadn’t been before. Purple, heart shaped, spiked, and with two soul-burning eyes.
Corona squeezed Aang’s hand harder. He didn’t flinch from the mask’s gaze.
“You want me to leave?” it – she – said. “But, you see, I don’t want to.”
The entire legion of Avatars took a battle stance. “We will make you leave.”
“Maybe you can,” she said, chuckling. “After all, I’m not truly there. Only so much I can do against you, Raava. But even if you do drive me away, I won’t be gone. I’m coming through. And I will destroy you, just like I’m destroying all the other pathetic guardians and goddesses of your precious worlds.”
The mask floated closer. “I am Majora. And my darkness will be your end.”
The Avatar legion thrust their hands forward, forcing spirit energy at Majora, pushing her back. She didn’t go quietly – roaring with the eldritch power beyond understanding. Tentacles pulsed from behind her mask, forming a landscape of true impossibility and evil.
The Avatars stood strong.
“AL̷L Y̷OU͏ D̸Ó ͘I͡S D̷ELAY͞! ̀D̨E͢LA̸Y!̴ ̡D̷E͡LA̸Y̶!̨ D̴EL͡AY̛!“
Corona curled her free hand into a fist. “NO!” She screamed against the eldritch words. “WE DO MORE!” She let go of Aang’s hand and ran at the mask, screaming. She punched her hand right through its heart-shaped wood, grabbing the horrors that lay behind. She pulled out a disgusting fleshy mess twisted in patterns that had no right existing within any sane mind.
She crushed the mess in her hands, slowly transforming to her true unicorn form. “DO YOU HEAR ME!?”
Majora’s mask pulled back and reformed. For a split second, Corona thought it looked startled. But if there had been any moment of uncertainty, it was gone in an instant, replaced with receding darkness. “I hear you, Sunset. I have always heard you. I ̶H͟ĄVE̡ A̛LWAYS H̴ȨA͢RD ́YOU ̶ALL̸.”
Aang and Corona were suddenly back in the real world, both awake, both breathing heavily.
Corona grabbed her head. “I think… I think she’s gone!”
Aang fell onto his back, breathing hard. “Yeah… At least most of her…”
“…Her?” Iroh said, turning to Aang while Sombra engulfed Corona in a hug.
“Majora,” Aang said. “She has a name. And she called me Raava, whatever that means…”
Iroh raised an eyebrow. “It’s an ancient name associated with the eternal spirit of the Avatar. I know little else about it.”
Aang nodded. “Whatever she is, she’s out there. And she’s evil.”
Corona pulled her unicorn self away from Sombra, eyes widening. “I took something from her.”
Aang blinked. “You did?”
“Yes! I… I know her plan.” She paled. “Oh no…”
“What? What is it?” Tempest asked.
“Majora’s on Earth. She wants to destroy it to fully free herself from the mask.”
Nobody had anything to say to this.