//------------------------------// // 041 - Algernon's Stand, Part 2 // Story: Songs of the Spheres // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// “Plan,” Starbeat said. “We need a plan.” She began to pace around the room, a somewhat impressive feat since there was barely room for the two of them to stand amongst the papers, boxes, and screens. “We either need to stop him or get everyone else to realize what he is.” Vriska shrugged. “Normally I’d go with assassination at this point, but we have no idea if his mental effects will vanish after that and I kinda need to be able to hang around here after.” “And if his mental effects don’t vanish, the relationship with Earth Stand will come to a standstill.” “Yes. Bad.” Vriska furrowed her brow. “Do we have our own method of mental warfare?” “You’re the most powerful psychic we know of. Officially.” Starbeat put a hoof to her chin. “The Spectacularium could probably shed some light on this, but he’s notoriously uncooperative.” “The what?” “Spirit on Lai that can answer just about any question. Nigh-impossible to track down.” Vriska put a hand into her fist. “You’ve got strange seer ponies right? Just go get one of the freaky-eyes.” “Maybe… The strongest oculus we know of is Maud. She’s a fair ways away, but I can teleport… But no, even if she could see, it’d just be her testimony. My testimony isn’t enough, your testimony isn’t enough. It has to be evidence.” “Then we just need to find some evidence,” Vriska said, cracking her knuckles. “Something solid, something nobody could refute.” “The Ark of Truth…” “Hrm?” “There’s a device that convinces people the truth of things, under the lock and key of the Ori Remnant. We could grab it and reprogram it... Ugh, but that place is nearly impossible to break into, and I’m not sure we have the knowledge to reprogram it.” Vriska furrowed her brow. “I bet I could get in…” “The University of Doors tried to take it once, and they almost succeeded. Security around the device is now so tight even looking at it is difficult. For all I know it’s a fake sitting right there, and the real thing is in another universe.” “Lovely,” Vriska muttered. “Where else can we get evidence? There’s got to be something. There’s got to be some way… Earth Stand doesn’t exist, after all, that’s a big hole.” “…Right,” Starbeat said. “Er, well… Wait, he still receives orders – or should – just like every other ambassador.” “Yeah. Yeah you’re right!” Vriska opened her phone. “…Why are none of those calls in the files Sombra got me?” Starbeat opened her mouth to answer but Vriska answered her own question. “Right… She just conveniently didn’t think it worthwhile. Dammit, everyone’s doing exactly what he wants…” She put her phone away. “We need to listen to some of those calls he gets from ‘Earth Stand’ or whatever. See what he actually has to say.” “That’s highly illegal,” Starbeat told her. “Do I look like I give a fuck?” “No, just reminding you to be wary of international incidents.” “Mmm… So, the plan is try to intercept one of his secret communications.” “Or just be around when he makes a call,” Starbeat said. “I know an invisibility spell. With enough luck we could avoid the magic scanners.” Vriska smirked. “Something tells me it’ll take a bit of time to gather that much luck.” “Probably. I suppose I could check the Beat levels around his-“ “Let’s not use the weird thing nobody understands, okay?” Vriska interjected. “…But what if we need to?” “We won’t need to. We have me, Vriska Serket, the luckiest troll alive!” Starbeat’s bracelet started beeping intensely. Starbeat, having already been at her wits end today, didn’t even have the slightest bit of restraint left in her. She pulled Vriska’s head down and kissed her hard. Before Vriska could do anything Starbeat threw her over her back into the nearby wall. “Aherm. Sorry about that; curse and all.” She blushed furiously, wiping the blue lipstick off her face. “Try not to take it personally, like, seriously, do not, it’ll just exacerbate the condition until I can find a way to fix it.” Vriska blinked. “…You really don’t want to even think about it with me. My race has very confusing notions of romance.” Starbeat raised an eyebrow. “How so?” “Well… Let’s just say there’s four kinds. There’s standard, then there’s the buddy-buddy moirallegiance which I swear your entire pony society is based on, kismesis which is all about hate-love rivalry sorta, and then the confusing auspistice which I really don’t have time to explain right now and never want to touch again.” “The explanations of exotic romance is not helping my condition.” Vriska blinked. “What even is your condition? I’ve been around a while and-“ “It’s a Beat curse. I come from a world where the Beat ‘dictated’ that romance needed to happen in contrived situations at an instant of ‘connection’. You ever watch how romance is portrayed in a lot of movies? Kinda like that. I left, and I still have the problem. I spend every waking moment fighting it and researching a way to remove the Beat curse from me. Caught up to speed?” Vriska winced. “On one hand, that must suck. On the other you must have a lot of fun, if you know what I mean.” “I want to slap you for that remark but I have enough awareness to realize it’ll probably trigger that hate-love whatever thing you were talking about and I really don’t need that right now.” “I dunno…” “Let’s just go spy on Algernon already.” ~~~ Lai had no aliens, Luna eventually concluded. She had been taking the Feldspar around the stars of Lai for a few weeks now – leaving Celestia to raise the moon back on Equis Vitis – and just hadn’t found anything of much interest. It was like the cosmos of Lai was dead except for the one planet. They had discovered that the nation of Lai only covered one continent. There was another continent on the planet, though without as much society. Queen Luna had been surprised to learn of two other kinds of pony races, fluffers and halos, each with their own unique forms of magic. Luna couldn’t bring herself to trust the fluffers since their magic altered how ponies perceived them, but the halos were interesting. The ring above their head functioned as a horn, but channeled power through how much other ponies believed in them. It was a peculiar magic system, to say the least. Luna even had a halo-pegasus crewmember on board from that discovery. Luna tried to think of anything else they had found out by exploring Lai from a space perspective. Nothing. The Spectacularium hadn’t shown up, there was no evidence of other life, and every star they visited had nothing but barren planets. It was mildly disappointing. She was contemplating returning to her quarters and playing a game since nothing was happening. But she decided to remain for the next system they checked. Was she glad she did that. The moment they left hyperspace, Luna felt the power in the system they had found. She stood up from her chair. “Show me this system’s Star.” She demanded. A gigantic blue orb appeared on the Feldspar’s screen, creating blue highlights on the otherwise orange color scheme of the Feldspar’s interior. Luna’s eyes went white as she forced her voice into the void of space where it did not belong. “STAR OF THE LAI UNIVERSE, I AM LUNA, PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT AND COMMANDER OF THE FELDSPAR. I REQUEST AN AUDIE-“ “THERE IS NO NEED TO BE SO LOUD, YOU ARE UPSETTING THE PRISTINE QUIET OF THE COSMOS. I HEAR YOU, LUNA. WHAT IS IT YOU WANT?” Luna cleared her throat. “First of all, a name would be appreciated.” “VREOTLOH. NO TITLE, I AM BUT A STAR SITTING IN THE COSMOS.” “We have been exploring this universe for some time now, looking for signs of life besides that of Lai. We were wond-“ “YOU WILL FIND OTHER STARS OUT HERE AND THE OCCASIONAL STAR HUSK, BUT NOTHING AS VIBRANT AS LAI. ARMONIA’S EXPERIMENT WAS A TEST RUN. MORE WORLDS WOULD HAVE BEEN MADE, BUT SINCE IT RESULTED IN HER DEATH, THIS UNIVERSE WILL NOT SEE MORE LIFE OF THAT NATURE.” “You’re very forthcoming with information.” “I HAVE FEW SECRETS, LUNA. YOUR POWER IS ON A PLANETARY LEVEL, SO I DO NOT SEE MUCH THE OTHERS CAN LOOK DOWN ON ME FOR DISCUSSING THINGS WITH YOU. THERE IS NO MORE STAR SOCIETY TO ENFORCE THE SILENCE. THERE HAS NOT BEEN FOR A LONG TIME.” “What… Happened to your society?” “THERE WAS A REBELLION OF LOWER LIFE FORMS AND A TRAITOR STAR. RATHER THAN ATTEMPT TO KEEP OUR HOLDINGS AFTER THE STARSTREAM WAR, WE SPLIT AND ABANDONED LARGER-SCALE MULTIVERSAL OPERATIONS. COMMUNICATION NETWORKS ARE STILL AROUND, SO I AM AWARE OF YOU AND YOUR SOCIETY.” “Think we’re being stupid?” “NO DOUBT. I’VE BEEN WATCHING THE FIREWORKS SHOW FOR SOME TIME NOW. CAN’T WAIT FOR YOU TO FIND THE STRANDS. OR ANY D-WORLD.” “Care to give me a hint?” “THAT WOULD RUIN THE FUN. I CAN TELL YOU THAT THE UNIVERSITY AND THE EMBODIMENT ARE SHALLOW AND WEAK COMPARED TO WHAT WE ONCE WERE. THOUGH I CANNOT REALLY SPEAK FOR THE UNIVERSITY, THEY’RE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK AND WE DO NOT HAVE MEMORIES OF THEM.” “The Eldritch Embodiment was around when your society was?” “IN SOME FORM OR OTHER, YES. THEY WERE THERE BEFORE US, AND WILL LIKELY BE THERE MUCH LONGER. THEIR METHOD OF MULTIVERSAL ACTIVITY, WHICH IS MOSTLY APATHETIC, IS ONE OF THE SAFER ROUTES. THEY DO NOT EXPAND, LUNA. THEY REMAIN STATIC, UNCHANGING. A BIT UNUSUAL CONSIDERING HOW MUCH THEIR KIND IS ASSOCIATED WITH CHAOS AND DISORDER.” “Is there any way to actually open a dialogue with them?” “THEY ONLY RARELY DISCUSSED ANYTHING WITH US, DESPITE US HAVING MORE POWER THAN THEM. IT IS A RARE ELDRITCH BEING WILLING TO CONSIDER ANYTHING WORTHWHILE BESIDES THEIR OWN KIND. MOST ARE DRIVEN ONLY BY THEIR OWN SELFISH DESIRES AND WHATEVER DEITY THEY DRAW THEIR POWER AND IDENTITY FROM.” Luna raised an eyebrow. “Should we be worried about them?” “IF YOU START TAPPING HEAVILY INTO ELDRITCH MAGICS, YES. THEY WILL TAKE ACTION AGAINST SIGNIFICANT DRAINS IN THEIR POWER FROM NEARBY UNIVERSES. OTHERWISE, YOU SHOULD BE FINE. ESPECIALLY SINCE YOU HAVE ONE OF THEIR HIGHER DEMONS WORKING FOR YOU. THAT’S UNHEARD OF.” “We got lucky.” “PERHAPS IT WAS VRISKA’S PRESENCE.” “…I have another question. What do you know of her and the others who come from ‘distant’ parts of the multiverse?” “OUR SOCIETY, AT ITS HEIGHT, WAS STILL UNABLE TO MAP OUT THE MULTIVERSE. WE HAD SEEN MAPS CREATED BY THE HIGHEST SOCIETIES, BUT THOSE WERE CONSTRUCTED IN WAYS FOR MINDS NOT LIKE OUR OWN. THUS, I ONLY HAVE A GENERAL PICTURE.” “Care to tell us what was on those maps?” “YOU ARE ALREADY AWARE. YOUR RECORDS INDICATE YOU HAVE CAUGHT A GLIMPSE OF ONE IN THE DOCTOR’S TARDIS.” “The four spheres. We’re aware of them. What do they mean?” “THAT’LL BE BETTER FOR YOU TO FIND OUT ON YOUR OWN. I CAN TELL YOU THAT THE THREE PRIMARY SPHERES HAVE NAMES. WE CURRENTLY SIT IN THE Q-SPHERE. THE TAU’RI ARE IN THE E-SPHERE, WHILE THE ‘NORTH’ SPHERE IS THE D-SPHERE.” “What of the southern sphere?” “A SURPRISE.” Luna raised an eyebrow. “You’re being a tease.” “IF YOU WANT MORE INFORMATION, I’D GO ASK VRISKA. SHE KNOWS A BIT MORE ABOUT THINGS, BUT AS YOU’RE PROBABLY AWARE THOSE WHO KNOW THE SECRETS OF THE MULTIVERSE TEND TO PREFER THAT OTHERS DISCOVER IT ON THEIR OWN. AS A SOCIETY OR INDIVIDUALLY, IT DEPENDS.” “It is an annoyance I’ve noticed. Why do they do that? It’s not like we hide the multiversal nature from most of the universes we encounter.” “THERE ARE A FEW FORCES THAT, IF REVEALED EARLY, CAN RUIN A SOCIETY. THE IDENTITY OF THE SPHERES IS NOT ONE OF THOSE THINGS, I JUST PREFER NOT TO TELL YOU.” “I think I know what one of them is. The Beat.” “I WOULDN’T KNOW. THE STARS DID NOT DISCOVER WHAT THAT TRULY WAS.” “Concerning.” “IT IS EVIDENCE THAT IT IS SUCH A DANGEROUS PIECE OF KNOWLEDGE. IT IS ALSO POSSIBLE SOME STARS DID FIGURE OUT WHAT IT WAS AND KEPT IT SECRET.” Luna pursed her lips. “Is there anything else you think the Stars might be keeping a secret from the rest of your kind?” “OH CERTAINLY. NOT TELLING YOU THOUGH. NOT THE LEAST BECAUSE I’VE JUST GOTTEN SEVERAL DOZEN LINKS FROM PSYCHIC STARS TELLING ME TO SHUT UP.” “Are you going to?” Vreotloh made no response. Luna sighed. “Guess that answers that question. Something tells me most of that wasn’t actually helpful or really new information. It’s almost like he was summarizing stuff we could have deduced or figured out with only a bit of research…” She ordered the Feldspar to send a report to Equis Vitis and then go to the next system. It was a little later that Luna realized that conversation did accomplish something. It showed how small and insignificant they were compared to the scope of the multiverse. ~~~ Starbeat put on an all-black stealth outfit, even though they were going to be invisible. Something about ‘looking the part’, she had said. Vriska opted to not use her god-tier form because she had bad memories of pixie dust trails from her wings ruining everything. No wings today, just default ‘ordinary’ Vriska. The two of them could see each other thanks to Starbeat’s finesse with magic, and they had practiced using telepathy to communicate. Vriska wasn’t the best with pony minds, but with Starbeat letting her psychic powers in, there wasn’t much of an issue. They had found out where Algernon supposedly received his ‘orders’ – at his home on the Hub, a tiny apartment that he had instead of a full embassy. Every other major world had a full embassy, so this was just more suspicious. The evidence kept piling up, but both Vriska and Starbeat knew they needed something solid to overcome the mental conditioning that was clearly happening. The two of them watched as Algernon entered his apartment. They slipped in, quietly, right behind him through the door. Vriska felt her luck take a huge drop – they had just passed through a magic sensor. Vriska suspected that she had made it ‘jam’ or ‘glitch’ momentarily so it missed them. They were inside, able to watch him as he went about his business, but she was going to need to watch her luck levels – only Algernon and Starbeat were available for stealing from. He should receive a call in ten minutes, if the logs aren’t lying. Starbeat reminded Vriska. I know, Vriska responded. I don’t forget things that easily. Algernon went about his home without a care in the world. He made himself a snack out of cheese and crackers and went to watch TV from a very comfortable looking couch. Vriska and Starbeat moved behind the couch so they could see what he was watching – a documentary on the Dual Migration. Starcei was currently on the screen, answering questions about how the Arcei felt the event. Vriska and Starbeat only paid casual attention to this. They mostly looked at Algernon closely. He did nothing suspicious – just sat and watched the TV. He looked like he was about to fall asleep at one point, but woke himself up with a grumble and a groan. Vriska checked the time. It’s almost been ten minutes… He might not actually receive orders, or make a report. This might help us… Suddenly, the TV screen buzzed with static, replacing the documentary with the face of a man. Most of the man’s features were obscured in shadow, but some facts could be discerned. He had pale skin, was wearing a black suit with shoulder pads and dark hair. Vriska couldn’t see his eyes because of the lighting, but she felt a chill run up her spine anyway – it was like he was looking at her. He clearly wasn’t. “Algernon, report.” Recording this? Vriska asked. Of course. Algernon cleared his throat. “Almost nothing has changed with the Unification situation, which is exactly what you wish. The process is at a standstill.” “You’ve done well. I have no further orders for you at this time, just keep doing what you’re doing.” “Very well.” Shit, this conversation is a lot shorter than it needs to be, Vriska thought. We’re not getting anything from this. The man in shadow continued. “Is there anything in particular you would like to report?” “A multiversal traveler by the name of Vriska showed up. She was exceptionally suspicious and antagonistic towards me, but I took care of her.” The man’s brow furrowed. “Vriska? You took care of her?” “I did not kill her. I merely encouraged her to go somewhere else. The last I saw of her was several hours ago, storming off in a huff. There’s been no sign of her since. I could probably track her down if you wish.” “Don’t bother. I’ll do it myself.” It was at that moment Vriska felt like an eye was boring itself into the back of her skull. She could both feel it and see the jagged red design. She didn’t make a noise – but she deduced that they had probably been made. We need to move, no- “Don’t move!” the man in the screen called. “I assure you, it’ll be much more interesting if you join Algernon and me for a meal. I, clearly, cannot be there personally, but we can discuss here.” Algernon blinked. “What are-“ “Algernon, Vriska is behind you with a unicorn. They’re invisible and are recording everything we say.” Algernon stood up and looked behind his couch. “I don’t…” Ready? Vriska messaged. Break for it. Starbeat agreed. Vriska punched Algernon in the face, sending him flying. Then she ran toward the door with Starbeat, not caring at all about the security alarm they had just tripped. “Ladies, it would be best if you remained,” the man called to them from the screen. “We could resolve this peacefully. If you go through that door there’s no telling what will happen.” “Taking my chances!” Vriska said, kicking the door down and running into the halls of the Hub, Starbeat close behind. Something must have dispelled the invisibility spell, because everyone could see them. Which probably meant Hub security was after them. When they heard the sounds of a siren behind them, they knew that to be true. “Fuuuuuck,” Vriska cursed. She leaped backward, landing on Starbeat’s back. “Yaw!” “Don’t treat me like a brainless horse.” “Just move! I’ll steal all the luck I can for us, but you have to run! And teleport! We just need to get safe!” Starbeat teleported to another hall. “They’ll have locked our dimensional devices.” “I’m not getting enough luck for a translation without harvesting for a long time,” Vriska responded. “We’ll have to do something else.” “There’s a gate-house we can commandeer three ‘halls’ down. If we can make it to another universe…” “Less talking, more running and teleporting.” Vriska produced her dice and threw them behind her, summoning several cubes made of cheese to confuse their pursuers. Starbeat galloped down the halls of the Hub, knocking over stalls and people left and right. “Now probably isn’t a good time to mention that your hand holding tightly on my neck is probably going to make the curse worse.” Vriska facepalmed. ~~~ To put it mildly, Discord and Trixie’s arcade had been a hit. It had originally been intended only as a temporary thing, but they had eventually decided to keep it operating all the time. With Discord’s powerful magic, it would be able to run for eternity on its own without much need for them to be there. The games would always be powered, the prizes would always self-dispense, and the money would be automatically counted (and sometimes even spent). Today, however, both of them were actually there, on the stage. They were approaching the end of a rather elaborate magic show with the theme of fractals that had the gaming audience torn away from the many arcade cabinets, instead focusing on the impressive light show. With a starburst inspired by a Mandelbrot set as the finishing move, Discord and Trixie bowed to impressive applause. Discord stood up and gave the crowd a thumbs up (including the duplicate of himself that was standing in the audience and clapping extremely hard). “Thank you everyone for watching the one and only Discord and his assistant, the awestruck and wowed Trixie!” Trixie shot Discord an exaggerated expression of annoyance. “Trixie is known as the Great and Powerful! And you are the one who’s the assistant!” She humphed and rolled her eyes. She shot the crowd a wink as she leaped off the stage. Discord followed suit. “Don’t forget to trip your waitress,” he called. “This isn’t a restaurant,” Trixie muttered. Discord responded to this by summoning several blocks of cheese. To his mild annoyance the blocks of cheese vanished a second after he made them, taken somewhere else. “…Odd.” “Disturbance in the chaos?” “Disturbance in the chaos.” “So all is well?” Discord grinned. “Exactly.” Trixie chuckled. “Right. Well, what now? I suppose we can try to summon more cheese and eat it, or something.” “Are you asking me out?” “Hah! In your dreams, goat-face.” Trixie rolled her eyes. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has higher standards.” Discord pretended to be injured. “Oh, you wound me so!” “Trixie revels in your pain. Trixie is the tiger and you are the mouse.” “The mouse that can turn your head into a grapefruit.” “Don’t you dare…” Discord’s ears perked up. “Well, I was going to, but there’s someone looking at us.” “Oh?” Trixie said, looking around. “Who?” Discord copied his head, creating a new one that came out of a nearby wall, staring right at the woman who was looking at them. She was a standard human of twenty-something with long auburn hair and dichromatic eyes – blue in one, gray in the other. Otherwise she seemed rather normal, if one overlooked her fit, muscular physique. She smiled. “Hey Thistle, long time no see.” Trixie raised an eyebrow and smirked. She turned to Discord. “Thistle?” “Nickname I gave him a while ago,” the woman answered offhandedly. “Whats up, you two?” Discord raised an eyebrow so high it did a triple axle off the high dive. His other eyebrow clapped. “Can’t say I ever met you, miss…” The woman paused for a moment. “…Right, sorry, I don’t actually see Discords all that often. I forget you don’t always know everything the others do.” “Could you imagine the horrors if all of you did know everything the others did?” Trixie wondered aloud. “I’m not sure if it’d be delightful or terrifying,” Discord mused. The woman held out her hand in greeting, a smirk on her face betraying amusement at the antics she was witnessing. “I’m Jane Shimmer, Slider and Checkers Regional Champion.” Discord snapped his claw, making his eyebrows duplicate and come together in the form of a hand to shake Jane’s. She wasn’t bothered in the slightest by this oddity. Trixie shook Jane’s hand with her magic next. Discord smiled and shot Trixie a knowing grin. “Am I thinking what you’re thinking?” “Option A is cheese blocks for everyone. Option B is that Trixie will become a tour guide to show her around the Hub because we like her.” “Which means we’ve reached the next level in tours…” Trixie grinned. “Yes! Take that, Pinkie! We can give tours to complete strangers as well!” The two hopped up and down in excitement and did a combination hoofbumb/high-five. Suddenly they both stood at attention, Discord himself wearing an army getup. “Jane Shimmer, take us to your Sunset!” Jane just burst out laughing. Trixie smirked. “Ah, the last name did mean something. Clever us, huh?” “Trixie and Discord – ACE DETECTIVES!” Jane raised an eyebrow. “…You sure about that?” “Not at all!” Discord said. “Hey!” Trixie blurted. “We don’t have to tell her that!” Jane shrugged, chuckling a little as she did so. “Anyway, Sunny should be ready for lunch right about now. Over here.” The three of them left the arcade and entered a diner. Sunny was a unicorn version of Sunset Shimmer with a shorter mane that looked more like actual fire than the bacon style Corona wore around all the time. She had a mechanical front left hoof, just adding to the mystery of her character. “Oh. A Discord and a Trixie, Jane?” “You bet!” Trixie said. “The Great and Powerful Trixie shall improve this lunch thirteenfold!” “You’re overdoing it again,” Discord said. “…Twelvefold?” “I meant the Great and Powerful Emphasizer.” “Bah, never enough Great and Powerful.” The three sat down. Everyone was introduced in a quick, to the point fashion - discovering Sunny’s full name to be Sunset Parker - and then they ordered their lunch. Trixie laid a hoof on the table. “Trixie has a question.” Sunny smirked. “Go ahead, Trixie.” “Trixie wants to know why you called Discord ‘Thistle’,” she said, an amused grin on her face. She clearly expected this to be good. The food arrived, but Jane paid little attention to it because she was deep in thought, clearly pondering how to tell the story. “That goes back to when I first met him. I wasn’t in the best mood at the time and sort of misheard his name as Thiscord. After our first adventure was over I sort of didn’t see him again for maybe a year or so.” She looked uncertain about this. “It was about ten and a half months,” Sunny confirmed. “Yeah. So I was having some trouble fighting against this self-proclaimed god character. Evil laugh, Goatee, 5000 contingency plans for how to gain immortality. I’m sure you’ve met the type.” “Ba’al?” Trixie said. “Ba’al,” Discord confirmed. Jane continued. “Anyway, this guy was really a threat, so much so that my circle of Evermore needed to enlist the help of an actual god, one on our side anyway.” “Evermore?” Trixie asked. “Can we go back to her considering me an actual god?” Discord interrupted. “No. Remember what happened on Earth Vitis? Just no.” Sunny motioned for them to quiet down. “We’ll explain the Evermore thing in a second, just let her tell the story.” Jane nodded and continued with her story. “Our friend Sam had the bright idea of asking our Discord for help, since she had her own encounter with him. When I went to go meet him, I realized that I didn’t actually know his name, not really. I tried a few options, but it was Thistle that got him laughing. In the end he basically fixed the problem immediately with… What I believe you would call his ‘usual flair.’ I was impressed enough to want to train under him and the nickname stuck like glue.” Discord smirked. “I can’t say I disagree with the nickname, it seems completely unrelated but really does mean something. Most curious.” Sunny looked at Discord. “Really? I always thought Thiscord was funnier.” “That just means you have a better sense of humor than me,” Jane commented, putting an arm over Sunny’s shoulder. Both Discord and Trixie, on cue, over-exaggerated being grossed out by the mild display of affection. Trixie waved her hooves. “Explain the evermore business before you reach the point of no return!” Jane just laughed and pulled herself off of Sunny. She glanced at the unicorn to see if she wished to explain. Sunny cleared her throat. “Right, so, the name comes from back when Jane and I here first met. I was originally native to an Equestria that was pulled into a group of twenty-one worlds called the Recursions. Twenty-two if you count the Silent Forest, twenty if you don’t count the broken world the Combine created.” Jane shook her head before looking at Discord. “Yeah, if you think your chaos realm is something, you’d be surprised that you might not actually be able to comprehend that broken world. Not even immortals could survive in there with their minds intact.” “So, Evermore,” Sunny continued, “they’re the people that were pulled from all across the multiverse into the Recursions. Once there they’d come back to life if they died and could travel between the Recursions through something called Translation. They were basically gods in their own right, eventually.” “Yeah, some power,” Jane dismissed. Sunny motioned for Jane to demonstrate the Translation. Jane smirked. “Fine, but I didn’t really want to draw too much attention.” Jane tapped into her magic and summoned some background music, including a quiet guitar and simple drums. She began to sing softly. “well it’s strange my head is rememberin’ how the airplane flying over…” A thin gray bar measure appeared and began to circle around her. Sunny motioned to the bar measure. “Each Translation is unique to every individual Evermore. Jane’s is music related, while mine shows up as a ring of fire. There was even someone who vanished in a puff of cherry blossoms. In Jane’s music notes you can see each world she can get to right now.” Trixie, an impressed but slightly confused look on her face, spoke first. “Wait, you mean each of those notes is a different world?” Getting confirmation from a pair of nods, Trixie continued. “How much of the multiverse have you seen?” At a nudge from Sunny, Jane stopped singing and the bar measure disappeared. “I wouldn’t know percentages, but we’ve been through over thirty-thousand worlds,” Suny declared, pulling a journal out of her inventory clearly marked with a fifty-one on the front. “I’ve been keeping track of them as we go.” Discord and Trixie shared an impressed look for a moment before they turned back to the two sitting across the table. The draconequus and the unicorn simultaneously spoke a single name. “Eve.” Sunny looked confused. “…What?” Trixie spoke first. “She’s our Twilight, and she’s the one who started the whole exploring the multiverse thing. She’ll want to see your journals. She’d love the chance to add that many worlds to the Directory.” Sunny blinked. “Wait, wait, is this not really Equestria? …I guess that does explain why nobody was really impressed by us sliding into the center of the mall.” Discord laughed. “Mall? Oh, Baconhair, if only you knew…” he then looked wistfully into the distance with a knowing smirk and a dramatic pose. Jane didn’t let him continue his thought. “Knew what?” she inquired, rolling her eyes at his pose. Discord frowned. “Flutterfree would have humored the dramatic setup…” He returned to his normal posture and grinned. “This place you’re in isn’t just some location to do shopping on the weekend. It’s the Hub of interdimensional activity. It should be obvious – see, over there, that’s human Trixie.” Jane looked behind her to see the human version of Trixie. “Huh.” Trixie (the unicorn) waved. “HEY BEST FRIEND!” “HEY BEST FRIEND!” Trixie (the human) called back before returning to her conversation with a version of Derpy with two heads. Jane just blinked. “Well, I guess I just didn’t notice anything like that. Weird.” Discord raised an eyebrow.“Everyone that’s showed up was impressed, even Rick from what I’ve heard.” “He hid it well,” Trixie added. Jane scoffed. “Rick… next time you see him tell him Beth is the worst.” “Beth?” Trixie asked. “His daughter,” both Jane and Sunny said simultaneously. Jane continued alone. “A Beth ended up becoming an Evermore and from the moment she showed up she caused problems. Not even in the normal way like classic villains, no, she was just the biggest bitch ever.” Jane fumed, but Sunny was slightly amused by her outburst. “Beth met Jane and decided she had to be one-upped in everything. Jane didn’t appreciate it.” “THE WORST!” Jane bellowed. A round of laughs came forth from the table. “You won’t have to worry about him,” Trixie said after the laughs died down. “Rick’s banned from the worlds around the Hub. He-“ At this moment everything was interrupted by Starbeat and Vriska crashing through the front door of the diner. Vriska threw her dice behind them, riddling the street with large gummy bear monsters that caught the pursuing Hub guard. Starbeat reared and teleported out of the establishment. Jane blinked. “Well I certainly want to know the story behind who that was and what happened.” Discord shrugged. “Vriska, a traveler of dimensions not unlike you two, and Starbeat, a unicorn cursed with stupid romance disease.” Trixie rolled her eyes. “Not surprised they’re running from the law, but Trixie has no idea why.” Jane and Sunny glanced at each other. “You might want to act casual,” Trixie said. “They’ll question us.” A Rainbow Dash with an artificial wing charged through a gummy bear into the diner. “YOU! DISCORD! Trace their teleport NOW!” “Wasn’t watching closely enough.” Discord said, comically sipping his drink. The Rainbow Dash twitched. “Did anyone trace that teleport?” There was an explosion somewhere nearby. “Nevermind. AFTER THEM!” The Rainbow Dash and her fellow Hub guard left the diner. “So, how’s your food?” Discord asked Jane. “Pretty good, if a bit salty,” Jane said, not fazed in the slightest, clearly used to this sort of thing happening. ~~~ Vriska glanced behind her. “Rainbow Dash gaining.” “Rainbow Dash coming from the side as well,” Starbeat said, teleporting them into another location. “It’s only a matter of time until we get a Twilight that jams our teleports.” “We’re going to need a plan when we get to the gate,” Vriska commented, stealing the luck from a random Pinkie Pie in a cop uniform, enough to make her run into a wall and pass out. “Where will we go?” “I have no idea, the Forest? It’s easy to hide in the Forest.” “I think we should go somewhere associated with our pla- CODE PURPLE!” “What the heck does-“ A laser from a Twilight Sparkle hit Vriska in the side. She managed to keep herself mounted on Starbeat, but the force made the unicorn stumble. Starbeat was forced to levitate herself and Vriska into the air to avoid toppling into a cabbage cart. While they didn’t hit the cabbage cart, the next laser from the Twilight did destroy the delectable vegetables. “MY CABBAGES!” “I sense a pit of bad luck around him,” Vriska commented as they floated away. “Did you actually see the Twilight?” “Vaguely,” Starbeat said. “I think she’s using some kind of ‘haze’ spell to keep us from locking onto her. I can’t even tell if we’re dealing with an alicorn or a unicorn.” Vriska tapped into her vision eightfold, trying to spy out the Twilight – but she saw nothing. “I think she knows we’re onto her…” “Bingo,” a voice said right next to Vriska’s ear. A burst of magic and confetti hit Vriska in the face. She held onto Starbeat, but this time both of them went flying into a wall rather than recovering. Then the Twilight was behind them, unleashing another explosion of magic. “What in the…” Vriska said as Starbeat teleported the two of them to an upright orientation. The Twilight they saw was an alicorn, her distinctive features being pink tipped wings and a mane that had the consistency of cotton candy. “Give me a break,” Starbeat muttered. The Twilight smirked. “Hello criminals, I am Pielight.” She was suddenly behind them with a ruler decorated with streamers. “The best possible combination.” The ruler had the consistency of rubber and slapped Vriska right across the face, turning her head a full one-eighty somehow without snapping the bones in her neck – but drawing blood just the same. Vriska spat. “Well you’re OP as hell.” “Thank you!” Pielight beamed, producing a party cannon that looked an awful lot like a telescope and driving the two of them through a wall into what appeared to be a pony hot springs. Ponies with flower-based cutie marks screamed at the tops of their lungs. Starbeat glanced at Pielight. “Wait, you’re a Pinkie. That means you know we’re the good guys, right? C’mon…?” Pielight shrugged. “Yeah. Still gonna capture you anyway.” Vriska twitched. Teleport right after I throw these dice. I’m going to put a lot of luck into them, so we better be really close to the gate. Starbeat didn’t respond, she just nodded with a slight uncertainty in her expression. Just as more Hub guards showed upon the spot – including that annoyingly persistent Rainbow Dash with the metal wing – Vriska threw her dice and threw a lot more luck than she was comfortable with into her roll. Enough to guarantee something excellent. “Excellent” turned out to be a miniature version of herself with a large head. It attacked Pielight with evil in her eyes, pulling on the tangled hair hard enough to draw blood. “OWOWOWOWOWOW!” Pielight wailed. “I’ll take it,” Vriska said, noting how the miniature-version of her had already started jumping from enemy to enemy, proving to be an excellent distraction. Starbeat unleashed the teleport, taking them to another part of the Hub, running at full gallop. Vriska stole a glance behind them. “Okay, so, we need a plan. The Forest is a bad plan.” “Do you have any better ideas?!” Vriska bit her lip. Yeah. “Okay, so… Help me out here. You said Algernon was a lot like Chrysalis?” “Yeah? I thought we were-“ “Just bear with me here. How was Chrysalis defeated?” “The pony she was replacing was found and testified against her.” Vriska cursed. “Dammit. We can’t do that here. Algernon’s not replacing anybody, Earth Stand doesn’t even exist.” “Eh… Eheheheh…” Vriska blinked. “…What does that laugh mean?” “Please don’t be mad at me?” “I’m going to be livid.” Starbeat’s bracelet started beeping, but she managed to keep herself in the gallop. She was blushing brightly though. “Ah… You see, Vriska, I kinda thought the only reason you suspected Algernon was because you didn’t think Earth Stand existed-“ “Are you telling me a place with invisible spirit powers of such weird applications actually exists? How is he keeping it covered up? There’s so much that doesn’t make-“ “Earth Stand exists and… And I know the coordinates.” She bit her lip. “I, uh, decided to not correct you so you would still help me.” “…You’re dead meat when this is over.” “Oh I’d like that- ACK! NO! Bad Starbeat!” Vriska grunted. “Just take us to Earth Stand with the gate.” She put a hand to the bridge of her nose. “Uuuuugh…” Pielight and the Rainbow Dash with a metal wing appeared in a burst of pink-purple magic right behind them. It was at this time Vriska and Starbeat saw the sign for the building that housed the stargate. “YOU RUINED MY HAIR!” Pielight called after them, the face of intense rage on her features. Vriska glanced at her and stole her luck – but the Rainbow Dash was not affected. She bolted after them, using her artificial wing to improve her speed somehow. She tumbled right into them, forcing the three individuals into a barrel roll. Starbeat lit her horn, blowing up the wall between them and the stargate. And then Vriska stole Rainbow Dash’s luck, trying to cash it in immediately. This had mixed results. Vriska’s hands hit a console, activating the stargate as she flew by it. Starbeat managed to cast a spell, inserting the correct coordinates into the portal. But none of them had much control over their movements, so Vriska, Starbeat, and the Rainbow Dash all fell through the portal as it opened, depositing themselves onto a new world. Vriska briefly wondered why the sky was yellow before she lost consciousness. ~~~ Toph charged into the training room just in time to distract Corona from Lieshy’s hoof. The yellow pegasus’s punch made contact and knocked Corona to the ground. “LISTEN UP LADIES!” Toph called, tapping the ground with the Master Sword. “We got ourselves a mission.” Corona rubbed her head. “Does it have anything to do with why Sombra’s been laughing at the Hub security?” “Probably,” Toph muttered. “Looks like somebody by the name of Vriska Serket and Starbeat have got it out for Algernon, for whatever reason.” “Why would anyone want to do that?” Vivian asked. “Algernon’s a nice guy!” Lieshy raised an eyebrow. “For all of the ringtone. That is to say, you only met him for a short while.” “But he was just so… I don’t know, really, but I know he’s a good person.” “Yeah, me too,” Corona said. “This is probably a misunderstanding of some kind.” She tapped her sunglasses. “Sombra doesn’t have any idea either, but she told me that Vriska asked for all the files she had on Algernon, which wasn’t much. The guy just isn’t suspicious.” Toph nodded. “Well, if Sombra’s not investigating him, he’s clean. Now, here’s where we come in. As it turns out, nobody on the Hub wants to risk upsetting the people of Earth Stand by breaking the blacklist. Algernon has been trying to communicate with his people, but they haven’t given the OK to go after Vriska, and we probably need to move fast before she does something disastrous.” She cracked her knuckles. “So we’re going to Earth Stand.” “Won’t that break the blacklist?” Vivian asked. “Yes,” Lady Rarity confirmed. “But we’re officially a loose group. Worst that happens is Earth Stand gets upset with Lai, and let’s be honest Lai is probably the least popular of all the major worlds at the moment.” “Our relations have improved,” Lieshy commented. “Only moderately,” Lady Rarity said. “This is just a way of mitigating the incident – if we get discovered. Best case scenario, we get her and get back without letting Earth Stand realize we were there.” “Plus, it needs to be done,” Corona added. “We can step on a few toes to stop something disastrous from happening. …Whatever it is.” Toph nodded. “The situation is somewhat simple. Vriska and Starbeat fled to Earth Stand. They have a Rainbow Dash with them, probably a hostage. We don’t know exactly what they plan to do, but we do know they believe there’s a malicious conspiracy around Algernon. Everyone needs to take default human forms on the mission to blend in. Corona, I hope you’ve figured out how to magic as a human.” Corona nodded. “Bit rusty with anything that isn’t firebending, but I can manage.” “Good. We leave now.” Toph lifted the Master Sword high. “Let’s move.” ~~~ Vriska woke up to find a very interesting sight. “What the hay is wrong with you?” a tied-up Rainbow Dash was shouting at Starbeat. Starbeat in question was blushing and wiping her face furiously. “I… Have a condition.” “No, really?” the Rainbow Dash blurted. “Silence from the prisoner,” Vriska muttered, rubbing her head. “Right, so… I need to ask. Starbeat, is this Earth Stand?” “Yep,” Starbeat said, pointing at a street sign that read Morioh, Japan. “I’ve been here before. This is Earth Stand’s primary multiversal city. Though…” She lit her horn, furrowing her brow. “No high magic levels at all. There’s usually at least one unicorn on the major worlds…” “Is the sky supposed to be yellow?” “…Yeah, I think that’s a Beat effect around Morioh,” Starbeat admitted. “Or, well, a bizarre atmospheric condition around just this town. I don’t really know.” “So, we’re here now and we have a hostage. Time to figure out what Algernon’s been doing to this place. Despite the lack of magic, there is multiversal society here, right?” “Yeah. Morioh has the… Uh… Something I can’t remember the name of. It was built on the shoreline after their disclosure to deal with multiversal arrivals. We could go there… But if what Algernon says is at all based in reality, they won’t be happy to see us.” “There’s bound to be someone there whose mind is easy putty,” Vriska asserted. “Though, I should probably check. Are Stands real things?” “Well, I don’t know if the variety Algernon described is a thing, but I did meet the guy who could stop time. He might even be here now.” “This could be fun,” Vriska said, putting a hand to her chin. “That said… I know Algernon is full of shit, but the existence of this place kinda removes most of my case. All I’m going off of now is the tone of that meeting and that look he gave me one time. He’s clearly planning something.” “Glad we’ve got this cleared up,” the Rainbow Dash grunted. “Can you do what you came to do already?” Vriska shrugged. “Eh, sure. Lead the way, Starbeat. The more teleporting the better.” Starbeat took a breath. “I am going to deplete my magic reserves eventually…” She lit her horn, teleporting them into the proper city of Morioh, the part near the ocean. They appeared in front of a tall building with a gigantic “J” in a large star shaped design on the front of the structure. Part of the structure was on the land, but it was clear that a significant part of it went into the ocean itself. The citizens of Moiroh looked mostly like normal humans, though Vriska noted that many of them were more muscular than was to be expected from a standard population. Their reaction to their presence was odd – they did not act out of fear of the unknown, or anger that the unwelcome party had shown up, but rather with confusion – and perhaps a bit of anticipation. Vriska decided to go with the direct route. She knocked on the door. “Hello? I’d like to talk with the people in charge here. Got some interesting que-“ The door flung open, revealing a man with dark green hair and a strange zig-zag headband. He took one look at Vriska and nodded to himself, an expression of contempt crossing his face. He pointed at Vriska. “Heaven’s Door.” “Wha-“ before Vriska knew what was happening, something invisible hit her in the face, toppling her backward. For a moment, everything went fuzzy and memories swirled around her head, flashing seemingly unrelated events from her life in front of her eyes. She regained control of her body seemingly in an instant, though clearly more time than that had passed since Starbeat was yelling at the man in an angry tone. “I already told you, her memories check out,” the man said. “You could have given us some warning!” “Judging by what I read in there, I’m glad I didn’t.” Vriska rubbed her head. “…Read?” “My Stand,” the man said. “Heaven's Door. It can read people like books to discover their true intentions. We’ve been waiting for someone from another universe to show up for ages so we could figure out what was going on. Apparently it was all Algernon. As much as I thought the man was a friend… It just makes too much sense.” “Uh… who are you?” “Rohan Kishibe. Manga artist and, more recently, Stand Agent. When I feel like it.” He opened the door further for the three of them. “You have to carry your hostage.” “No problem.” Starbeat asserted. “You’re just going along with this!?” the Rainbow Dash blurted. “You saw me read her,” Rohan said dismissively. “I understand completely what’s going on now, and you’re just an amusing bystander at this point.” “Uh…” Vriska turned to Starbeat. “What did… he do?” “His Stand turned your face into a book and he read through it like your diary,” Starbeat answered. “…He didn’t learn anything… Private?” “I have no idea. He did comment that it was too much to go through with his limited time. But at that point I was already shouting at him.” “Right…” They were led further into the building, the interior of which could best be described by ‘what would happen if several different people were telling one architect to build seven different things on the same spot’. Parts of the interior looked like that of a victorian era mansion, while on an opposing wall there was a meeting table that looked like it belonged in an office building. There were portraits of men lining one wall, while a computer screen displayed images of strange beings projecting from people – was that what a Stand looked like? “Somebody likes dolphins,” the Rainbow Dash noted, looking at all the sculptures and imagery of dolphins around the interior. “Jotaro does have a thing for dolphins,” Rohan muttered almost to himself, continuing on to a set of double doors. “The old man should be right through here.” He pushed the doors wide, revealing a cross between an office and a bedroom. The center was occupied by an ornate oak desk, while to the left of the room there was a large bed. A form slept in the bed, covered by blankets, while at the desk a truly gigantic man stood. His features were sharp and beyond muscular. He looked to be in his thirties, though his attire seemed a little absurd for a man of that age. A large white coat dominated the appearance, completed with a strange orange triangle of fabric protruding out from the left collar, while the right had a metallic heart formed out of two dolphins. His hat completed the look, with emblems made out of a dolphin and the sun made to spell out “Jo”. Starbeat’s bracelet started beeping furiously. Vriska noticed she was staring at the man’s impressive figure. “You going to answer that?” the man asked Starbeat. Starbeat put on a very fake smile. “Er, no.” She wiped some blood from her nose. “Too much today… This is why I don’t go out…” she muttered to herself. The man looked at them, expression unreadable. “Rohan, what did you find?” “Algernon’s not an ambassador from the multiverse for us. He’s been telling them that he’s our ambassador.” Vriska blinked. “Wait, so he was playing the double game?” The man at the desk nodded. “It appears so. I am Jotaro Kujo, miss.” “Vriska Serket. You… don’t look like someone who would be called the ‘old man’.” Jotaro gestured toward the bed. “That would be grandpa over there.” “What?” the lump from the bed blurted. “Someone there?” Jotaro nodded slowly. “Yes. We’ve got answers.” “Well why didn’t you say so…” The lump in the bed slowly turned around, draping its feet over the edge and revealing the figure of a very old man most likely in his eighties. He grabbed a cane and stood up, his legs shaking as he did so. He had a face very similar to Jotaro’s, and despite his age he still had muscles, though of a considerably less absurd definition compared to some of the others they had seen in this world. He wore small spectacles on his face and had a short, scruffy beard. Jotaro got out of the seat behind the desk, moving the chair for the old man to sit in. He took his time, but managed to get in without much difficulty. He coughed, grunted, and looked at Vriska. “Hello young lady. I am Joseph Joestar. And I… I…” Jotaro coughed. “You want to know about Algernon.” “Algernon? Pleasant fellow. I… Can’t say I’ve known him for long.” Rohan turned to Jotaro. “When was the last time he had one of his meals?” “I don’t know,” Jotaro said, pulling a phone out of his coat. “Hello, this is Jotaro. Grandpa needs a treatment. Bring it up as soon as possible.” “Oh, is it lunchtime already?” Joseph said craning his neck back. “That’s nice…” Vriska turned to Jotaro. “Why are we talking to this guy?” “This guy is the head of the Joestar family and the foremost expert on anything supernatural and Stand-related. This is the man who represents our universe at meetings, like your Charter-Princess does for you.” “He’s going senile.” “Snails?” Joseph said. “There’s no snails, and there will never be snails. Bah.” Rohan huffed. “See Jotaro? Even the new girl can see it.” Jotaro’s expression did not shift. “He won’t be like that for much longer.” As if on cue, a butler walked into the room with a small plate of pasta, setting it before Joseph. Joseph, even is his mental stupor, knew that he needed to eat – so he devoured the pasta in less than a minute despite his old bones. Vriska blinked. “While him eating that fast was impressive, what exactly did tha-“ Joseph’s head exploded, showcasing brain matter to everyone in the room. Vriska and Starbeat jumped, ready to jump into action – but less than a second later, Joseph’s head was back to normal and he was grinning like he’d just won the lottery. Forgoing the cane entirely, he stood up quickly, slamming his hands on the table. “OH MY GOD! I was being an absolute MORON.” “What th-“ Vriska began, only to be stopped short as Joseph’s legs gave out from under him. “Grandpa, you didn’t get the dish to help your bones.” “I hate being old,” Joseph muttered, pulling himself back into his chair. “…So was that a Stand or…?” Starbeat said, hoping for an explanation. “We have a chef downstairs with a Stand that can cure almost any illness,” Jotaro said. “In the case of grandpa’s mind, it’s only a temporary measure for a few days at a time, but that’s enough for him to run this place.” “RIGHT!” Joseph said, grinning from ear to ear. “Name’s Joseph Joestar, Jotaro over there is my grandson, and I‘m the boss! Because the multiverse demanded a hub and I always wanted an excuse to build a house explicitly for adventuring. Though I did not want it to be half aquarium. Blame my marine biologist grandson for that.” Jotaro’s expression did not shift at the slight. “Anyway, Jotaro, catch me up. Something about Algernon and everyone being lied to, right?” “Yes. He’s been telling them we don’t want to talk, leading to a complete lack of information passing through.” “I learned some more from reading Vriska here,” Rohan said. He then proceeded to retell Vriska and Starbeat’s story of the encounter in Algernon’s room with the man in black. Joseph furrowed his brow. “Don’t know any Stand users by that description. Jotaro?” “Nothing.” Vriska raised her hand. “Can I just say how freaky it is that he can tell a story where he wasn’t even there?!” “It was an important part of your book,” Rohan said. “Furthermore, I’m a manga artist, in case you forgot. I make a living telling stories.” “Riiight… Okay what other freaky things can you do so I don’t get caught off guard again?” “There’s dozens of agents here right now,” Joseph said. “Can’t tell you them all. My stand is Hermit Purple, and it can locate people by taking ‘spirit photos’. Works across the multiverse as well, apparently. Jotaro over there has Star Platinum, which is really good at punching and can stop time. Mind telling us what you can do?” Rohan opened his mouth, but Vriska glared at him. “I, Vriska, can manipulate my own personal luck, specifically by stealing it from others. I can also see hidden things with my vision eightfold and am a pretty powerful psychic. Starbeat here… has magic.” “And a curse,” Starbeat said. “In case you forgot from last time I was here.” “We haven’t,” Jotaro deadpanned. “Eheh…” Starbeat said, nervously. She couldn’t take her eyes off Jotaro’s form for long. “Vision eightfold huh?” Joseph flexed his hand. “Try using it on me.” Vriska did as suggested – she saw something extending from his hand, but it was too insubstantial to get anything concrete. “Is there something coming out of your hand?” “Yes. That’s my Stand, Hermit Purple. It takes the form of thorny vines that protrude from my body. Come to think of it… I’m going to try to find this man in black.” He pulled a camera out from… somewhere and smashed it with the invisible vines. He pulled a single photo out of the wreckage. He furrowed his brow as he examined the image. “Odd.” He laid the image on the ground. There was no picture of the man in black – just a flat representation of a red eye. Vriska rubbed the back of her head. “He probably has a power that prevents that from working on him.” “Bah,” Joseph said, folding his arms. “Guess we can’t find him that way. Still need to fix this though. I’ll go to the Hub and straighten things out myself, give that Algernon a good whack with the Hermit Purple Hammon combo breaker.” He chuckled to himself, pulling a bottle of whiskey out of… somewhere and taking a drink. “Shouldn’t be too hard.” “You’re hardly in any condition to travel,” Jotaro said. “Bah, just cook me up something for the bones and I’ll be kicking that poser to the moon and back.” “I’ll go,” Jotaro insisted. “It’ll be faster.” “Works for me,” Vriska said. “…Wait, were you guys actually right?” the Rainbow Dash blurted suddenly. “No way…” “Yes way!” Vriska smirked. “Algernon is goin’ down now. We’ve got all the proof we need!” “Algernon has a mental effect cast on everyone,” Rohan reminded them. “We cannot be sure simple proof will be enough.” “…There will be a team of some kind sent to find Vriska,” the Rainbow Dash said. “Then we’ll just have to keep them busy while you do your work,” Joseph said, smirking. “Rohan, you’re with me. We’ll have some guests to greet.” ~~~ Corona lowered her binoculars. “I don’t think stealth is going to help anymore.” “Why not?” Toph asked. “The Rainbow Dash is bound and gagged to the front of Joestar Central. Vriska’s probably already made her move and done… something to the Stand users,” Corona furrowed her brow, sticking a finger in her mouth. “We need to be careful that we aren’t caught.” Lieshy fell over, punctuating the sentence. “…I hate human bodies.” “What an uncharacteristically clear remark,” Toph muttered. “I want you to feel my pain.” Vivian put a hand to her face. “I don’t know… It feels odd to be solid, but not that bad. Feet are the hardest part.” “Girls, focus,” Toph said. “We’re going to need to move in somehow. Vivian, you can take us to the void any time you want, right?” Vivian nodded. To test, she disappeared into the ground, then came back up. “They won’t be able to see us there.” “Good. We’re going to move forward with Vivian, try to get into Joestar Central and-“ “They see us,” Corona said. Toph took in a deep breath. “How do you know?” “There’s an old man waving a photo in the air in our direction. He’s smiling.” Toph facepalmed. “Right, RIGHT, Joseph Joestar has that photo ability. AGH.” She stood up. “Hello Joseph!” “Hey!” Joseph said, raising his fist into the air. “What are you doing in my universe?” “Trying to catch a convict!” “Is this feathery asshole the one you’re looking for? Quite the piece of work, I have to say. She was so indignant about being put up there!” “Uh… No!” Toph called to Joseph. “She was a hostage.” “A hostage? Her? She tore up half of Joestar Central! You’re going to have to pay extra for the damages, in addition to breaking the blacklist!” Corona stood up. “Look, mister Joestar, we’ll be willing to compensate you how-“ she caught herself. “-within reason. But we need to find a gray skinned girl with orange horns and a pink unicorn with goggles. “No idea,” Joseph said. Lady Rarity poked her head out of a nearby tree. “Perhaps you could find them with those photos you can take?” Joseph blinked. “Oh, I can huh? True… You happen to have a Polaroid camera on you?” “We are not Pinkie Pie!” Toph shouted. “We can’t just-“ Joseph produced one of those exact cameras from nowhere. “Oh, looks like I have one! Come over here, let’s see what I make!” Toph nodded, ordering Lieshy, Lady Rarity, and Vivian to stay where they were with a quick motion of her hands. She and Corona walked up to Joseph. “What do you have for us?” Joseph smashed the camera in his hand and took out a single photo. “Let’s see… I’ve found… Uh…” He squinted. “Excuse me, vision isn’t what it used to be…” Toph swiped the image out of his hand. Then, after a moment of holding it in front of her face, she flushed red and handed it to Corona. Corona cleared her throat. “Well, it’s an image of a building…” She heard a loud snap in the bushes where Vivian and Lieshy were. “…Hey, you two okay?” “Yeah,” they called back. Corona nodded, turning back to the photo. “A building. Looks familiar actually… It’s – it’s in the Hub. They’ve gone back to the Hub, haven’t they?” “How should I know?” Joseph asked, shrugging. “You’re the ones trespassing on my world. Speaking of that, don’t you know what kind of incident this is going to cause? I can get the current shogun down on your heads at any minute!” Corona blinked. “…This Japan has a shogun?” “I… guess?” Toph said. Lady Rarity fell out of her tree suddenly, shaking her head. “Oh! Sorry, dears, I guess I… Just… Lost my footing…” She furrowed her brow. “That doesn’t make any sense…” Corona blinked. “Wait… Mr. Joestar…” Rohan leaped out of the tree Lady Rarity was in, landing right in front of Corona and Toph. “Heaven’s Door!” Corona instantly felt her face pop open like a book, memories swirling around her mind until she couldn’t focus anymore and fell over. Toph remained standing. She smirked. “N-Nani!?” Joseph blurted. “Rohan why isn’t she a book right now?” Rohan glanced at Corona’s face – which was now opened up like a book, revealing an interior made of pages that told her life story. Then he glanced at Toph, a worried expression crossing his face. “Oh no…” “Your power goes through the eyes, doesn’t it?” Toph called. “Well guess what? I’m blind! Woop!” She punched forward with her fist, driving a pillar of rock at Rohan. He leaped out of the way, grabbing a hold of Corona’s face-book as he did so. “Don’t try anything or I rip some of her memories away.” Toph glared. “I should cut your-“ She felt something invisible and prickly wrap around her body, holding her tight. She was surprised to senseJoseph pointing his hands at her, as if something was coming out of them and surrounding her. “Now Rohan!” Joseph yelled. Rohan wasted no time – he wrote into Corona’s face-book cannot pursue Vriska to Algernon and cannot attack Rohan Kishibe. Then he closed the book and returned her to her natural state. “Wh… Weird. Why am I on the ground?” Toph tried to bend the metal on her armor to cut through the invisible wires, but since the metal was a physical object it could do nothing against Hermit Purple’s spiritual energy. “Mmmmm Corona! They used their Stands on us! He just wrote something into you like you were a book!” Corona accepted this information quickly and pulled out a dimensional device with the intention of chasing Vriska back to the Hub She moved a finger to the device… And couldn’t dial the Hub. “…What in the… I can’t activate it!” Rohan stood up, smirking. “That is the power of Heaven’s Door. You won’t stop Vriska and Jotaro from bringing Algernon to justice now. Or be able to attack me.” “Vriska already got to you!?” Toph blurted, continuing to struggle against the bonds. She twisted one of the metal plates on her suit around the hilt of the Master Sword… “It was Algernon who got to you,” Joseph said, clearly far too old and feeble to be holding Toph like he was. “He’s gotten in everyone’s heads… He told you he spoke for us, and he told us he spoke for you… He almost ruined the friendship for his own nefarious goals…” Toph wasn’t really listening – she had gotten ahold of the Master Sword. She flicked it out of its scabbard, twisting it with her body to slice at where she was sure Hermit Purple was. Sure enough, the holy blade was able to hit the Stand, forcing Joseph to recoil. Cuts appeared on his arms as the invisible vines retracted. Toph stood tall, smirking. “Joseph is down, and Rohan can’t do anything to me. I think I’ll chase after Vriska myself…” Rohan grabbed Corona again. “I can always overwrite your friend’s personality.” Corona tried to punch him – but found she couldn’t. It was a horrible feeling. “You wouldn’t…” Toph said. “Heaven’s Door!” Rohan opened Corona like a book. “I will.” “Rohan!” Joseph grunted, pulling himself onto his knees. “Get a hold of yourself!” “Stay out of this Joseph,” Rohan grunted. He grabbed some of Corona’s pages and threatened to tear them out. “HOLY SHIIIIT!” Joseph called. “He’s gonna do it!” Toph held her hands in the air and ground her teeth. “Fine. Algernon’s not worth it.” She sheathed the Master Sword and sat down, folding her arms. “Whatever happens is on you, you understand?” Rohan released Corona’s pages and closed her book, returning her to normal. “I do. I think you’ll also find that you feel rather silly in about half an hour.” ~~~ Eve, O’Neill, and Algernon were back at the tea shop, talking about what to do with Vriska. “We should ban her,” Algernon was saying. “She’s been a menace. As much as I appreciate the Handmaid’s actions for us, we cannot take Vriska with her. Too disruptive, aggressive, and brash. She’s a danger.” O’Neill furrowed his brow. “I don’t think so, Algernon. She’s not as bad as Alushy.” “But she has no respect for our laws!” “Alushy stole bodies from top secret morgues,” O’Neill pointed out. “Her respect levels don’t exist.” Eve nodded. “That’s right, Algernon. I think we just give her a temporary punishment. If she wants to stay around and wait for Aradia, she’ll have to do some… Let’s call it extreme community service.” Algernon steamed. “But-“ “But what?!” Vriska yelled, kicking the door down, Starbeat and Jotaro flanking in behind her. “That’s right, but me!” Starbeat facehooved. “That was lame.” “Shut up.” Eve furrowed her brow at the presence of Jotaro. “Jotaro? What-“ Jotaro pointed at the now terrified Algernon. “This man has been lying to both of us, keeping us separate, interfering with both Unification and our more general relations. His flagrant lying and manipulation of our minds has pissed me off. I am asking for your permission to beat him into the next century.” “Jotaro, you can’t be serious, this is Alge-“ She glanced at the Algernon and noticed what his body language was saying. He was sweating profusely, his hand was trembling, and his pupils had shrunk to pinpricks. Eve blinked. “Wait, what?” Algernon stood up from his chair. “T-this is nothing Eve! J-Jotaro and I just had a misunderstanding is all!” “What’s a ‘misunderstanding’ about telling us that the rest of the multiverse had blocked our entry?” “I, I, well-“ Vriska pointed at him. “You know that you can’t just tell a planet that it can’t look at the multiverse and make it listen. You did something to all of them.” Starbeat nodded. “And we’ve got you cornered.” Eve took a few steps back from Algernon. “Jotaro?” “Yes, Eve?” “Permission granted.” Algernon took a strange black, spherical artifact out of his pocket and looked into it frantically – but he could not move fast enough. Because Jotaro could stop time. The next thing anyone knew, Algernon was sailing across the room, the black ball flying from his hand. Several fist impressions had formed in his side in a single instant, and Jotaro was now standing behind where Algernon had just been. The black ball fell into an invisible hand right in front of Jotaro’s face. He examined the sphere, eyes squinting. “This isn’t one of the bowling balls. This is something else.” Eve grabbed her horn in pain. “The… the magic! The magic is all wrong!” Starbeat wailed – her Beat sensor had just exploded the moment the black sphere had been knocked out of Algernon’s possession. Vriska stared – she had no idea what that ball was, but simply looking at it gave her a horrible feeling. Algernon capitalized on the moment everyone was frozen. In an instant, he dropped the guise of a human, revealing his true form – a behemoth of a demonic entity with three gnarled heads, horns like dead oak trees, and three pairs of draconic wings. He rushed forth with supernatural speed, shrieking with the power of damned souls. Jotaro’s Stand must have punched him, for an imprint appeared in his face – but it didn’t slow him down much. He twisted a hand forward, grabbing the black sphere. He held it high into the air. Then he vanished. Jotaro stared at where the black sphere had just been. “…Yare yare daze.” “What the…” Vriska said, holding a hand out. “I… what? I don’t even…” Eve shook her head. “I… I don’t know either. That wasn’t anything we’d seen…” “I thought I’d seen everything,” Vriska said. “Today’s been nothing but new, new, new! A circus of values!” “Oh, you’ve been to the City of Rapture?” Eve asked. “A version,” Vriska admitted. “I hated those machines.” “Ditto.” Eve cleared her head. “Well… I think… I think we owe you an apology, Vriska. And you too Jotaro – your whole world was secluded because we didn’t catch that… thing.” Jotaro just put his hand to his hat and adjusted it – probably his way of saying there was no need to apologize. O’Neill smiled at Vriska. “You’ve got some spunk, don’t you?” “Determination and stubbornness helps sometimes,” Vriska said, grinning. Jotaro turned to Eve. “I take it this means you still want your Stand?” “Wait…” Eve’s eyes widened. “The Stand research is complete? Algernon kept me from learning about that? How long?” “Three months. I was told you didn’t want it anymore.” “I WANT IT! I want to be able to SEE those abilities you have…” Vriska took a step forward. “Hey, as reward for saving you from that guy, how about I get one too? Hrm?” “You’re already powerful enough,” Jotaro said. “Eve’s basically a god of magic.” “She… Did something more important.” Before Vriska could ask what that was, Eve sent a telepathic message to Vriska Tree of Harmony sent us on a Friendship Problem when we first arrived on Earth Stand. We kept his family from falling apart. He doesn’t like showing much emotion or weakness, so don’t make a big deal about it, okay? “Ah…” Vriska said. “Well if I don’t get one of those awesome Stands, what do I get?” O’Neill smiled. “Eve, I think I have an idea.” Starbeat threw her hooves in the air. “You all have good luck with that! I’m locking myself in my lab for a few weeks. I’ve had enough of this!” She wiped some blood from her nose. “So done…” “Hey, Starbeat,” Vriska called. “You were an absolute bitch sometimes, but I couldn’t have done it without you.” Starbeat’s bracelet started beeping. “You… You bitch!” She teleported away before she lost control. Eve shook her head. “You… Did that on purpose?” “Yeah. I’m a huge bitch sometimes,” Vriska said, chuckling. “So, O’Neill. What’s the plan?” ~~~ “Daniel, dear, you’re moving your dessert around your plate.” “Oh, it’s no-“ “Dear, I knew there was something up since the start of the evening, and I fully admit to telling you to relax a bit, but now the evening’s almost gone. You should bring it up now.” “I…” “Daniel Jackson, tell me what is on your mind. I insist.” Daniel pulled at his suit collar nervously. Then he decided to go for it. “Renee, we’ve been together for… Well, officially it’s only been around a couple years, but it’s really been much longer than that. We started out just going out as a way to discuss business, politics – but then we got to know each other. Grew attached. And now here we are, sitting in a great restaurant way too overdressed for the occasion. You’ve rubbed off on me.” Renee giggled. “Yes.” “And, well, as absurd as that – wait, hold on, back up, that’s not, I-“ Renee raised an eyebrow as if to say ‘get to the point, Daniel’. Daniel quickly pulled a small box out of his pocket and opened it. “Renee Belle, I want to spend the rest of this bizarre multiversal life with you, regardless of what happens. Will you marry me?” Renee smiled, tears coming to her eyes. “Yes, Daniel. Yes. Of course I will.” Daniel let out a sigh of relief. “Now allow me to complain about how long it took you to do that.” Daniel blinked. “I-“ “You bought that ring two and a half weeks ago and it has been a bulge in your coat pocket ever since,” Renee said. “Nothing gets past you.” “I only noticed because you started getting so nervous.” She pulled his hands into her hooves. “Though I guess it did give me time to work on the wedding dress…” “You already started working on that!?” “I actually have it with me!” Renee said, pulling a suitcase out from under her seat and placing it on the table. “Oh I can’t wait to show you the stitching on-“ She raised an eyebrow. “You know, I expected Pinkie to launch a cannon off by now. As of yet she hasn’t ruined the moment. I’m honestly surprised.” Daniel was still staring at the suitcase. “How…?” “Daniel, you were preoccupied the entire time I’ve been here. Don’t feel ashamed for not noticing a suitcase. By the way, there’s a second one under your chair with your unfinished outfit. Not a standard tuxedo, let me tell you.” Daniel processed this for a moment and then laughed. “I can’t wait to wear it.” “Neither can I.” Renee said, chuckling deviously. “Wait, should I be scared?” “My love, you should definitely be scared. Very scared. Terrified, in fact.” Daniel just smiled. “Of course.” “The entire thing could come falling off at any moment!” “You’re not serious,” Daniel stated. Renee fixed him with a mischievous look. “…You’re not serious,” Daniel said with a lot less certainty. “You’ll just have to find out on the wedding day – ah! I can’t believe I’m saying that! Me, married! Oh how I’ve dreamed of this day since I was a fill-“ Pinkie’s Party cannon went off in her face. “I’ve still got it,” Pinkie said, smirking at Renee’s bewildered expression. “I… Wha…” “You’re getting married!” Pinkie shouted. “I am going to be the best wedding planner ever! Girls! Come on out!” Flutterfree held a menu in front of her face. “Pinkie shouldn’t this be a private moment…” Renee rolled her eyes. “Well, ideally yes, but Pinkie actually let us have a few moments, so I’ll take what I can get. Plus, we will get plenty of private moments later. I suppose a different moment with friends couldn’t hurt.” She pulled Nova, Flutterfree, and Pinkie into a hug. “Come here.” With her horn, she pulled in Daniel as well. Daniel laughed. “What, is Jack here too or something?” “He’ll be around momentarily,” Pinkie said. “And by that, I mean three, two, one-“ The front doors of the Tasty Treat were kicked in, revealing Vriska, Eve, O’Neill, and Jotaro behind her. “GUESS WHAT BITCHES!?” Renee blinked, raising an eyebrow at Vriska. “…What?” Vriska grinned from ear to ear. “I get to join your team.” There was silence in the Tasty Treat. Pinkie took a notebook out of her mane and scribbled some notes. “Yep. Wedding, new party member party, I’m going to be busy the next few weeks…” Flutterfree glanced at Eve. “…Is she serious, Eve?” Eve nodded. “She just saved us from some kind of conspiracy. I’m not asking you to take her permanently, but just give her a chance.” “Oh, she’ll make a great addition to the team!” Pinkie said, sliding up to Vriska. “You will learn to love cupcakes, friendship, and rainbows.” “Sweet,” Vriska said, smirking. “Also, hey, Eve? O’Neill? Daniel and Renee are getting married.” Eve’s jaw dropped to the ground in complete surprise. O’Neill just chuckled and said, “about time.” “SO MANY CHANGES!” Pinkie squealed, throwing O’Neill and Eve into the hug that had just broken up. “So… Many… Hugs…” Nova said, gagging. “Too… Much… Pressure…” “Come on big guy!” Pinkie called to Jotaro. “I think I’ll pa-“ A pink hoof came from nowhere and dragged Jotaro into the hug despite his strong, muscular protests. He soon decided to just accept his fate with his usual unchanging expression. Vriska grinned. For the first time in a while, she actually felt happy. And she knew it wasn’t just because she was close to finding Aradia again. She felt like this was where she belonged, despite almost being run out less than an hour ago. She was going to show these ponies how it was done. ~~~ Algernon appeared at the bottom of a great pit, next to a hole in a large, frozen lake. The breath from his three heads filled the area with fog. Algernon held up the black sphere – such a powerful artifact. It had saved him. He owed it so much… He… The black sphere was gone, its dark, magical swirls no longer in front of his eyes. Algernon began to panic. “Right here,” the man in black said, holding the sphere up. “You don’t deserve to hold it.” Algernon growled with all three sets of vocal cords. “VRISKA DISCOVERED ME.” “You should have done something about her quicker.” “THERE WAS NOT AN OPPORTUNITY.” “You and I both know that’s not the case,” the man in black said, putting the swirling orb into his cloak pocket. “Such a shame too. You Lucifers are usually such good servants when broken in properly.” Algernon grunted. “I CAN TAKE A NEW FORM AND INFILTRATE FROM ANOTHER ANGLE.” “They’ll be expecting it this time, and no amount of your penchant for demonic soul-twisting will be able to keep so many people in the dark again.” “THERE ARE OTHER WAYS-“ “Algernon,” the man said, folding his hands together. “You. Have. Failed. Horribly, I might add. Showed quite a lot of fear at the end there as well. So I’m afraid you are of no more use to me. Have a nice day.” “WHA- NO!” Without even moving a limb, the man in black vaporized Algernon’s very soul through the connection they shared. The gigantic body of a true Devil turned to dust in an instant. There was silence on the cold lake. “Will this be a problem, Flagg?” another voice asked. Randall Flagg, the man in black, turned to the red buglike being that was significantly taller than him. “They have a great destiny ahead of them Siron, but do not worry. If we play our cards right we can end that destiny. This is just a setback. There’s still much more we can do.” Siron nodded. “What is the next step?” “For now? Waiting. They’ll be on guard for a while. We just watch… And there will be a moment where their destiny can be ruined.” He smiled, turning to look beyond the universe he was in with a truly psychotic grin. “No one’s story is so big that I cannot destroy it.”