//------------------------------// // 072 - Celestial Intelligence // Story: Songs of the Spheres // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// “You know, I’ve seen her every day for a couple of weeks, and every morning I’m still struck with how adorable she is,” Nova said, looking over the edge of the crib at her three-week old daughter, the tiny Stardust. She took after her mother much more than her father, with a purple coat the color of Nova’s mane and a pinkish mane the same shade as Nova’s coat. However, her father was not absent from her, for her mane had an orange stripe running through it that accentuated her horn. “She is quite the ball of big eyes and sparkles,” Sunburst said, nervously checking the crib for the millionth time just to ensure it was perfectly safe. “Sunburst, she’s fine in there. She’s never even tried to get out once.” “You know the moment you leave she’s going to try,” Sunburst said. “She has your eyes. I can see the plotting. The intense machinations…” “She’s less than a month old, Sunburst,” Nova deadpanned. “She’s not going to be able to do anything.” “And that’s the other thing! What if I screw something up?” He grabbed his mane. “I am going to turn into Shining Armor. I’ll lose all sleep…” “You aren’t a prince, Sunburst,” Nova pointed out. “You can be by her side all day without stressing. …If you’d just let yourself relax.” “But what if I get absorbed in a spell and she decides she suddenly knows magic?” “That never ha-” she remembered what Pinkie Pie had told her about the Cakes. “Okay, that does happen. But you know the magic inhibition spell, Sunburst. You used it on Flurry!” “Flurry wasn’t my daughter!” Nova put a hoof to his mouth. “…Do I need to stay home today, Sunburst?” “N-no, you’ve been wanting to get back to it for months now and…” “Sunburst, if you need me to stay home today, I will. Renee will understand.” “I… I know. But I’ve seen you going stir crazy every since we had her. You need to get back out there.” “I can wait a day.” “And I’ll keep being uncertain of myself until I actually do spend a day alone with her.” Sunburst laughed nervously. “Might as well be today!” Nova smiled, kissing him on the cheek. “You’re amazing, you know that?” “…No?” Nova rolled her eyes. “Learn quick, I don’t want to have to explain to her why her father doesn’t know he’s cool.” “…Nova, I’m the polar opposite of ‘cool’.” “Nooot to me you’re not~!” Sunburst’s glasses slid down his muzzle. He blinked. Nova found herself amused by this cute reaction. “Heh. See you tonight, Sunburst. Or earlier. We wrap these things up early all the time…” She left the nursery and set out through their house. It was a simple construction, built much like Sunburst’s old home in the Crystal Empire – lined with bookshelf after bookshelf. It struck Nova that she’d been living in a crystal castle ever since she left her Village until a few months ago. This was her first home in a long time that was actually hers. Or hers and Sunburst’s. They had argued over exactly how that worked before realizing it was stupid. That’s how a lot of arguments worked between them. Shouting, then slow mutual realization that it didn’t matter. They weren’t exactly in the most solid of relationships, but Nova believed she was happy with how everything had turned out. Sunburst felt the same way – she knew him well enough to be certain of that. They had both given a few things up… But Stardust was more than worth that, she was certain of it. …She still felt guilty that Sunburst had to give up more than her. It was one of the main reasons she let him dictate what most of the house looked like. Shelves upon shelves of ancient knowledge everywhere. Nova did demand a kite room though. It was the best room, hooves down. She left for work. Which was to say she stepped outside and teleported across Ponyville to Renee’s castle, walking into the main crystal hall. “GUESS WHO’S BACK!?” She shouted, grinning. “That’s right, the newest mother in the neighborhood, Nova Glimmer!” The entire hall erupted in applause. Jotaro made a point of walking up to her and holding her high, letting her soak in the applause. Nova waved. “I’m back and better than ever!” “You really are,” Jotaro said, deep meaning behind his words. He took her right to Renee and set her down. Renee smiled at her. “Nova, glad to have you back.” “You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to be back.” Renee nodded with a coy smile. “Don’t I know it.” She handed her a data pad. “You’ve chosen quite the day to come back, the team’s going to take out a Skiff.” Nova blinked. “The world has no atmosphere?” “No planets at all.” Pinkie said, suddenly standing on Nova’s back. “Just stars – and only plain stars at that!” “But we’re getting strange readings every time we open up a portal,” Vriska added, kicking Pinkie off Nova. “So we’re going to investigate.” Flutterfree appeared last. She hugged Nova. “…Welcome home.” Nova chuckled. “…Thanks.” And then time froze – excluding her and Jotaro. “Nani!?” “I wasn’t prepared for that…” Nova mused; she should have been stopped. “I did it,” Aradia said, floating in. “Jotaro, I’m going to talk to her a little, okay? Now run out of your time stop.” Jotaro nodded, allowing his time stop to fall, leaving just Nova and Aradia. “…Do I need to go to the future and save the world or something?” Nova asked. “Oh no, nothing like that!” Aradia chuckled. “I just want to congratulate you. Not a single time did you accelerate your pregnancy or your time spent with Sunburst off work.” “Well… I’m sure you know how it all started…” Aradia nodded. “You don’t need to feel ashamed, Nova.” “I kinda do?” “It’s in the past though, it is what it is,” Aradia said. “No that’s not an opening for you to mention both of us could just go back and change it.” Nova smirked. “I was going to say…” “Look, the point is, you had the power to go back and fix it – but you didn’t. You also had the power to make your wait shorter – but you didn’t. You lived through it just like everyone else, using the opportunity to build up your relationship with Sunburst. …You’ll be really glad you did that, later down the line.” Nova nodded. “Yeah…” “Basically… I’m just here to tell you good job. You did what so many with power over time can’t do – wait. Even I don’t wait all the time. I’m not sure if I would have in your position. You’re a strong mare, Nova. I just wanted to grab you here and tell you that.” Nova looked at her with a proud smile. “I… I think I needed that. Thanks for noticing, Aradia.” “Glad to help!” “Are you sure there’s no danger from time I need to help you deal with?” “No, already dealt with the loose TARDIS and chrono-demon. There’s no future threats I can see that I feel the need to give cryptic prophecies about… Hrm…” Nova chuckled. “It’s fine. You can go back to guarding time.” “I will! I have a series of funerals stuck in a time loop to sort out!” “That sounds right up your alley.” “I have it on my authority that it’s going to be the most fun I had in three timeline splits.” “…Right.” Aradia winked. “See ya!” She was gone, and time resumed. “Yare yare daze…” Jotaro commented. “Hm?” Vriska said, confused. “Time manipulation conversation,” Pinkie said. “None of our business. Let’s just get in the Skiff already!” Renee nodded, pressing a button on a remote control. A sleek, crescent-shaped craft made of white metal appeared in front of them. It had a single cockpit with six seats arranged, one in the front and three in the back, creating a splayed triangle. The seats were adjustable to human or pony proportions, and could easily sit virtually any member of Merodi Universalis who wasn’t too big. The clear windshield popped open, inviting all of them inside. Pinkie leaped into the main seat. “CAPTAIN PINKIE PIE HAS TAKEN THE HELM!” Flutterfree and Nova sat in the seats behind her, while Vriska and Jotaro took seats on opposite ends of the back, leaving one empty. The windshield slid back down, sealing the compartment from the outside elements. Renee tapped her ear, activating a microphone. “This is Renee to the Primary Team. Everything ready?” “Ready!” Pinkie blurted. “Wrong. Seatbelts.” “Oopsie!” Pinkie said with a giggle, ordering all of them to put their seatbelts on. “…Are we in one of those shows legally required to do this?” Flutterfree asked. “Nope. That’s the joke.” “Oh.” After a moment she shook her head. “I don’t get it.” “I wouldn’t worry about it.” “We’re ready now,” Nova reported. “I just did a scan of all the systems. Operating at a hundred percent.” “Good luck, Primary,” Renee said with a salute. “Find something fun.” “We will!” Pinkie promised. The Skiff floated an inch off the ground, activating its dimensional drive. It didn’t bother with creating a portal and holding it open – it went for speed, vanishing from Equis Vitis in an instant and appearing in the other universe. The universe that had been dubbed Starfield. It was exactly as advertised – they were in orbit around a main sequence yellow star with no planets around it. There wasn’t even an asteroid, or a comet. Just a star. An error message appeared on Nova’s hoof-screen. “…The beacon-probe couldn’t transmit.” “We knew that was a problem,” Flutterfree said. “This universe’s physics doesn’t allow full-universe transmissions.” “Huh. Weird.” She made a mental note to check that out later, but otherwise didn’t dwell on it. “Take her away!” Pinkie ordered. “You’re the one with the steering wheel,” Vriska pointed out. “It appears I am.” Pinkie winked at Vriska. She placed her hoof on the wheel and grinned. “Activating wormhole drive. Goal: the predicted source of the unusual energy readings.” “What kind of unusual energy readings?” Nova asked. “Unusual.” Nova narrowed her eyes. “Pinkie…” “Something in this universe is giving off ‘waves’ that fundamentally shift the unique signature of this universe’s matter back and forth. It’s not something we’ve seen before.” “Thank you.” “Wormhole drive spooled!” Pinkie declared. “Here we go!” The Wormhole drive was a peculiar mode of transport created from a flawed Earth Tau’ri prototype that represented the cutting edge of Merodi Universalis technology. It was able to tear a hole in spacetime and connect it to another location within the same universe. The exact effectiveness of the drive depended on the local physics, but if full wormholes were allowed, there was no effective limit on the distance they could move in a single instant. The space around the Skiff popped. Everything around them squished and rotated like putty, but they didn’t feel anything – even though technically they were the ones being squished while most of the universe remained static. When reality righted itself, the star patterns were different, with stars only appearing relatively ‘beneath’ them, indicating their position above a galactic disc. In front of them… “…What the hell is that?” Vriska asked. “…I have no idea,” Nova admitted. ~~~ “You’ll like this world,” Sugarcoat had said when she gave Corona the coordinates to ‘Unnamed Earth 1117’. She had refused to give any further details on what the universe was, why Corona would like it, or even if she should bring the rest of the team along. Lady Rarity had been in the mood for an exploration mission though, so they were all prepared to check out a recommendation from a close friend. Corona waved her hands together and lit her horn. “Here we go… Let’s see if I can pull this off…” She shunted magic into Raging Sights, having the device run the higher-order numbers needed for the spell. She created two magic circles in front of her, each rotating a separate direction. The vibrations of her magic rippled against the dimensional fabric, punching a hole through reality to another universe. The circles flashed, punching another hole into that universe. This repeated a third time, finally connecting to Unnamed Earth 1117. “Stable…” Olivia said, checking her scans. “You’re going to give Seraphim a run for its money, soon.” “Seraphim has no known limit,” Corona sad. “That wasn’t easy.” “Stop underselling yourself, that was impressive,” Lady Rarity said. “We’ll never need a dimensional device again, or need to worry that it’ll break.” “Universes without magic knocked. They want to scare you again.” “We’ll always be able to prepare before going into one of those. Plus, I hear physics-anchor technology is coming along nicely.” Corona shrugged, stepping through the portal. Since this was basic exploration and the world had not made first contact with Merodi Universalis yet, Lieshy and Lady Rarity didn’t bother trying to disguise their forms. It was generally easier to convince humans other universes existed with a talking pegasus and spider-horse in full armor. They were in a large city – Corona had no idea which one, or if it even had an analogue on most Earths. It was filled with humans going about their day like one would expect in a city – selling hotdogs, waving down cabs, texting and not looking where they were walking… General human stuff. The odd thing was those who noticed Lady Rarity’s crew were curious, but didn’t feel any need to go out of their way and react. They seemed slightly confused by their presence, but not awed, impressed, or even scared. They had the faces of people who felt like they should recognize someone, but didn’t. “Curious,” Lady Rarity said. “Why do you suppose they don’t find us all that unusual?” To answer their question, a man with wings for arms flew overhead, running away from a man in a blue and red suit using white string to ‘sling’ across the sky. They left Corona’s sight just as soon as they entered it, but she understood everything. “Oh. My. Gosh.” She said, putting her hands to her face and squeeing. “...I’m lost,” Lieshy said. “I’m not,” Olivia said, smirking. “I know exactly why we’re here now.” “That was Spider-Man!” Corona trilled. “Spider! Man! One of the best superheroes in all of comic history! …Well, not as good as the Flash, or Batman, or Iron Man, or Thor, or Doctor Strange, or… Oh I wonder which continuity this universe i-” Her jaw dropped as she saw another man fly overhead – he wore a blue suit with a large S on the front, and a cape trailing behind him. “…Superman…” she said meekly. “That name I recognize,” Lieshy said. “So, we’re in the superhero world?” “This doesn’t make any sense, Superman’s DC, but Spider-Man’s Marvel, how… We’re in a fusion universe! Sugarcoat I have no idea how you found this but you’re the best!” Lady Rarity turned to Olivia. “Care to explain her reaction?” Olivia opened her mouth, but Corona beat her to it. “I love comic book superheroes. My entire time on Earth Vitis I read about them. Watched movies. It was the best – I even drew a few comics of my own! …Those largely starred my friends and me but the idea was the same. Fighting crime and being awesome!” She laughed. “Today is going to be a good day. Two superheroes down, who’s next?” A burst of red energy passed them by, startling them. This burst of red kicked a man with a purse down in an instant, slowing down only when it was time to hand the purse back to the old woman it belonged to. “I believe this is yours.” “Oh, thank you Flash! You know, if only my grandson were like you…” “I’m sure he’ll grow up to be an upstanding citizen.” “Ah, he’s already grown up. You know mister Flash, the young people of this generation are all going astray. Why I know many people other than my grandson who just don’t have respect for authority…” “Uh-huh…” the Flash said, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else. “HEY! FLASH!” Corona shouted, waving at him. “OVER HERE!” He saw her, visibly brightening. “Excuse me ma’am, we’ll have to cut our conversation short. Superhero business – you understand.” “Of course – silly me, keeping you from your work!” The Flash was next to Corona in an instant, arm around her. “I’ve never seen you before but I am in your debt. That woman would have talked my ear off for hours.” “I… noticed…” The Flash is in my debt the Flash is in my debt the Flash is in my debt. “So, who are you? New superhero?” Corona looked at her relatively new dress and form. “You could say that, but probably not what you’re expecting. I’m Corona, this is Lieshy, Rarity, and Olivia.” The Flash looked at Olivia. “No superhero name for you?” “Would you believe me if I told you I had to change it to protect my identity?” “…Maybe.” Lady Rarity took off her helmet. “Anyway, we’re not precisely what you’d know as superheroes. We-” There was a dramatic evil laugh that punctuated the air with its absurdity. “I’VE DONE IT!” a man with robotic claws coming out of his back said, revealing his presence by crashing through a skyscraper wall. “I have perfected my serum of rage.” “Doctor Octopus…” Corona said, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t remember this one.” The Flash glanced at her. “You have time powers or something?” “I’ll explain later. Let’s just take care of him, he shouldn’t be much of a problem.” Man he looks stupid. Was he really not as smart as I thought in the comics or is he off? “That’s what you heroes think!” Doctor Octopus shouted, snapping the claws on one of his tentacles. A much larger hole was busted out of the same building he had just come out of, revealing a monstrous green beast of a man whose eyes were glowing red. “I HAVE TAPPED INTO THE HULK’S RAGE AND MADE IT MY OWN!” “This suddenly got a lot more interesting,” the Flash muttered. “I’ll take the Hulk, you get th- hey what are you doing?” “Using my powers,” Corona said, teleporting an inch from the Hulk and laying her fingers on one of his arms. She didn’t bother rooting around his mind that much – she knew what she had to do. Some basic emotional manipulation to lower the level of anger, and… The green form of the Hulk shrunk to the size of a normal man, down to the green of his skin vanishing. “…What.” Doctor Octopus said. “Empathy, magic, and a little bit of mental manipulation,” Corona commented. “Hi, I’m Corona.” She shot a fireball at him, pushing him back. “This is the Flash. You’re about to have a bad day.” Olivia, Lieshy, and Lady Rarity sat back while Corona and the Flash royally curbstomped Doctor Octopus. The Flash kept hitting him before he could react, and Corona quickly tore off his mechanical limbs. He had other devices to fight with, but the creative inventions proved to be less than useless against the combined duo. A man in a red and black superhero suit sat down next to the three travelers on the sidelines. He was armed to the teeth with swords, guns, grenades, you name it. He produced a bag of popcorn from nowhere and handed it to Lieshy. “I love me a good smackdown.” Lieshy took the popcorn without questioning it. “You see them often?” “Anytime Superman sees a random thug in the street,” he said. “You can imagine how that goes.” “Smashed slime buckets.” Deadpool shrugged. “Not the double-metaphor I would have gone for. Let’s see… Mexican food, mixed with something about hooves, and a lollipop thrown in to twist the train into a mess.” Olivia looked at him, taking some of Lieshy’s popcorn absent-mindedly. “You… You’re Deadpool.” “Guilty as charged, the merc with a mouth here, at your service.” He bowed mockingly. “I doubt that.” “I will be your slave if you have chimichangas.” Olivia wasn’t sure if she believed that. Deadpool turned around. “Fine, be that way. Keep the succulent taste of perfectly fried confectionaries away from my deserving mouth…” The Flash tossed Doctor Octopus to the ground in front of Deadpool. The doctor groaned. “I think he’s finally out of tricks,” the Flash observed. “An – Deadpool what are you doing here?” Deadpool took a pose that could best be described as ‘sassy’. “I wanted to get in on the world-changing events in the first scene, Flash my buddy! Take a moment to see things before you all have your existential crisis at Avengers headquarters!” “Ah, so you took the name Avengers here rather than Justice League…” Corona said, looking thoughtful. The Flash glanced form Deadpool to Corona. “Okay, now we need to finish that conversation. What exactly are you girls?” Corona smirked. “Explorers from another universe, representative of the multiversal society Merodi Universalis.” Flash tensed. “…Other universe?” “Oh! We’re not evil and we’re not looking to conquer Earth!” Corona said, backtracking. “I know you’ve had a lot of problems with things like us in the past – or, well, I guess I’m just guessing about that, I don’t really know this universe – but trust me, we’re not evil.” Flash looked her in the eye. “I believe you. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t dangerous. You talk about things as if you know us, have you been watching us for a while?” Corona shrugged. “Eh, no. It’s just that in a world I used to call home there are comic books that tell stories about you.” Flash took a moment to process this. “Ladies and gentlemen, the existential crisis has begun!” Deadpool shouted, raising his fist into the air. “The time has come for all to realize that I’m not insane!” Corona pointed at him. “Your Awareness isn’t the only reason they think you’re crazy.” “…So what if I want to stab a bitch sometimes? That’s perfectly normal!” Corona raised an eyebrow. The Flash finally decided on a response. “…You’re a fangirl then?” Olivia facepalmed, Deadpool laughed, and Corona’s face reddened. “Uh… Yeah, pretty much.” The Flash grinned. “Great! About time we got someone new here who understands how awesome we are. I’m taking you back to HQ.” “Do you speak for this world?” Lady Rarity asked. “More or less,” the Flash admitted. “You can talk to Batman about the politics of everything if you want.” “Can I come too!?” Deadpool said. “Oh who am I kidding, I’ll come even if you don’t want me to.” He gave the Flash a thumbs up. “He might be helpful,” Corona whispered. “How so?” the Flash whispered back. “He already knows about the comic book thing.” “What, how?” “Ever heard of breaking the fourth wall?” “…Today is going to be a mindscrew isn’t it?” “HOT DIGGITY DAMN IS IT!” Deadpool said, holding up his swords. “Not as much as the movie chapter next arc, but y’know.” “And it took me this long to realize he was Pinkie.” Lieshy facehooved. “I’m dense sometimes.” “TO AVENGERS HEADQUARTERS!” Deadpool shouted. ~~~ It… It was made of stars, that was the first thing they were able to discern. But it was also made of pitch black darkness that rotated around the stars, impossible to see except when it blotted out one of the tiny lights in the distance. It took a significant amount of staring to realize that the darkness took the shape of giant, square-toothed gears with the stars serving as centers. The dominant star was a blue behemoth, its gear the one around which all the others positioned themselves. The stellar clockwork device was laid out in a confusing setup – some gears operated parallel to ones that drove them, while one or two of them seemed to rotate in two directions at once to satisfy conflicting directional motions. There was no ticking motion, each gear moving smoothly and without noise. Then again, they were in space; it wasn’t like they could hear anything even if it would make a noise. “I still have no idea,” Nova said, checking her screen. “It’s a machine made of stars.” “And something black and mysterious,” Flutterfree said. “…I’m going to try and use Lolo on it.” “The stars in it may not be full size, but they’re still over a thousand miles away,” Jotaro pointed out. “Oh. Then we’ll have to get closer before I do that.” “I’d like to scan it more first…” Nova said, furrowing her brow. “Bizarre… It’s definitely the source of the universal waves. I still have no idea how it’s causing them, but the sheer amount of power that must be stored in there to even produce such an effect while dormant…” “So, what, ancient Star device?” Pinkie asked. “Great, you don’t even know what it is.” Pinkie smirked. “Nova…” “All right, fine. No, I don’t think it’s a Star device – not any sort of residual connection to the Stars or their magic. I would think Starcross but they wouldn’t just leave something like this unguarded, and I seriously doubt they’d just forget about something of this sort. And those two are the ones most likely to build something with this sort of aesthetic out of all the powers we know with power close to this.” “The Void?” Flutterfree reminded her. “They can’t take their power out of their area of the multiverse easily or for very long,” Nova pointed out. “Though this does strike as a possible Void construct… Perhaps it has control over universes?” “What kind of control is the question,” Vriska pointed out. “It could be one of those things that creates fucking… I dunno, donut worlds.” “I think it’s ancient and forgotten,” Jotaro said. “A fallen higher society’s lost toy.” “We’re just throwing out guesses,” Nova pointed out. “We have no idea what it does, what most of it is made of, or even if it actually does anything. For all we know it’s a piece of abstract art.” “Is it dangerous though?” Flutterfree asked. “Undeniably,” Nova answered. “You use Lolo on it and uncover a power to destroy the universe we’re in for all I know.” “Ah…” “I can stop time for the Skiff, though,” Nova said. “First sign of trouble we could just bail.” “Too risky,” Pinkie asserted. “Any other ideas?” “I’m picking up universe connections. We could test those out,” Nova suggested. “Man I forgot how useful you were,” Vriska said. “Where were you when we needed to scan that yellow obelisk of mysterious voodoo!?” “Starting a family,” Nova said with a smirk. “You should try it sometime.” “If you think I’m up for popping mini eldritch monstrosities out, you’re fucked up in the head.” Nova rolled her eyes. “Riiiight.” She scrolled through the data on her screen. “That’s odd – I’m picking something up near the construct that doesn’t appear to be a part of it. I’m reading metals, energy signatures, and…” An incoming call appeared on the windshield as a holographic display. Pinkie shrugged, answering it. Onscreen appeared a petite woman with green curled hair and a simple black dress with slits that showed off her legs. On the wall behind her were emblems of the United States of the Multiverse. “This is Commander Tornado o- Wait it’s you assholes. What the hell are you doing in our universe!? We have claim!” Vriska raised an eyebrow. “Really? Did you get here first?” “Of course we did! We have the whole beacon-thing setup, morons!” “Funny, because our beacons won’t transmit.” “…What do you mean they won’t transmit!?” “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you…” Another member of her team said – the version of Katsuki Bakugo with combed hair known as Boring to virtually everyone. “The beacon hasn’t been working ever since we arrived.” “Why didn’t you make sure I knew!?” “He tried,” a man in a labcoat none of the Primary Team recognized said. “He tried hard.” “...Stop questioning me in front of the enemy.” “Heeeey, we’re not the enemy here!” Pinkie said. Tornado raised an eyebrow. “Really? I guess you’ll just let us have this entire universe without an argument then?” “…I see your point.” “We were here first, we get the thing,” Tornado said, folding her arms. Nova raised an eyebrow. “How do you know that for sure? We’ve been making connections to this universe for a while now.” “How long?” “Abo-” “Quiet,” Jotaro said. “If you give her a number, she’ll just give a number that’s larger, regardless of if it’s true or not.” Boring poked his head onscreen. “That doesn’t even matter. The beacon treaty dictates that, in the case of a failing beacon, the original placement of the beacon becomes invalid.” “But there’s no beacon in this universe, so neither of us have claim by those rules,” Flutterfree pointed out. “There’s no condition for ‘what if a universe can’t have a beacon’?” “Actually there is,” Boring said. “The beacons were designed with secondary transmission methods. Including radio.” “…Wait, if this universe blocks radio, how are we talking?” Nova asked. Jotaro’s pupils dilated. “That’s right… If that were the case, this transmission shouldn’t be working…” Tornado looked from Boring to the scientist. “…What the hell is going on?” The scientist cleared his throat. “My best theory is that the device we are next to is able to do more than change the way the universe works. It adds ‘coding’ to the universe, giving the physics more esoteric commands.” There was silence from both sides. “Think of it like this. You’re an ancient civilization and you have some kind of incredible piece of technology. You’ll want to induce certain rules into the universe it’s in, if you can. Say, ‘if a transmission is a declaration of ownership, remove it’, or something similar.” “So what you’re telling me is this thing doesn’t want to be owned?” “Maybe?” the scientist said, shrugging. Tornado grunted. “Not good enough...” She turned back to the Merodi. “Look, here’s the deal. I’m declaring ‘first come first serve’ – who cares who was the first in the universe, apparently we can’t own it. But we were first to this construct, so we’re going to claim it. We were physically here first, and that can be proven.” She folded her arms. “Checkmate.” “…But what if someone else owns it?” Pinkie asked. “Maybe the reasons the universe is coded this way is because it belongs to someone else.” “You think they would have shown up by now if it did,” Tornado pointed out. “If it can detect beacon transmissions… HEY! OWNER OF THIS DEVICE! IF YOU WANT TO INTERRUPT OUR SALVAGE, SPEAK UP NOW OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE!” Nothing happened. “That’s all the proof I need. I claim this clockwork device in the name of the United States of the Multiverse. I hereby ask you to leave the proximity of our property. Or, put in words you’ll understand, go away.” She cut the transmission. “Delightful woman,” Nova commented. “I sure missed having to deal with these kinds of people. Number one thing.” That got a ripple of awkward chuckles out of the girls. ~~~ Captain America, better known as Cap to the rest of the Avengers, raised an eyebrow at the Flash when he entered the Avengers’ main lounge that sometimes doubled as a meeting room when people felt like it. “…Flash, what have you dragged in this time?” “People from another universe who don’t want to kill us!” “…And Deadpool?” “…Yes,” Flash said with a straight face. “Ay, Cappy, how’s it goin’? Been a while, huh? I bet you missed me, huh?” “Superman, punch him through a window for me would you?” Cap asked. Superman appeared behind Deadpool and obliged, defenestrating him. “HEY! THAT WAS DECIDEDLY UNHEROIC!” Deadpool shouted from a tree outside, several stories down. “You’ll be fine,” Superman called. “You bet I will,” Deadpool said, suddenly standing behind him. “Wryyyy…” Superman sighed. “What did we do to get him in here?” “My fault,” Corona said. Lady Rarity took a step forward. “We are from the multiversal society Merodi Universalis, and we have come to your world with intent of initiating official first contact.” “You’re forgetting the part where we’re all characters from comic books,” the Flash said. “Well I never read those books,” Lady Rarity retorted. “All I recognize is Superman and Batman.” “Read all of Jojo’s and not a single comic… You pain me,” Corona said, clutching her chest in exaggeration. Lady Rarity rolled her eyes. “Corona here is somewhat of a big fan of what you do, apparently.” Superman looked at Corona and saw the twinkling eyes of a fangirl who was struggling (and failing) to remain professional. At least she wasn’t asking for his autograph or something. “I take it you’re in charge?” Superman asked Lady Rarity. “Yes. I am Lady Rarity, the Captain of this little group.” “Walk with me and explain what exactly Merodi Universalis is and about the multiverse you occupy.” “Certainly. The multiverse is a tremendously huge, but finite existence where all universes are held…” The two walked away, leaving the rest behind. “…I still don’t understand why Deadpool’s here,” Cap said. “Man, people really don’t want to think about it,” Deadpool commented. “It’s like their putty-filled monkey-brains can’t actually comprehend what their existence is.” The Flash shrugged. “Cap, you ever notice him talking about scenes, panels, or acting like there’s always a crowd watching?” “Uh, yeah? He’s insane.” “He’s aware of the comic books we’re in.” Cap blinked. “Movies too! Don’t forget the cinematic universes!” Deadpool chirped. “We’re just heroes in comic books?” Cap blurted. “Pretty much,” Corona admitted. “Don’t feel too bad, a lot of people really enjoy what you do. …Not to mention the fact that some of us are from children’s cartoons. I love my world, but sometimes I have trouble watching the show I ‘came’ from.” It was at this point Corona realized every hero in the room was staring at her. “…What!?” Olivia tapped away at her holographic computer screens. “You just told them they’re all fictional. That’s going to get more than a few strange looks.” “Oh.” “Existential dread: PART TWO!” Deadpool shouted. “Brought about by magic sun lady!” Corona got the impression she’d made a huge mistake. “No, really?” “Okay, you’re like a million times worse than Pinkie,” Corona blurted. “Thanks!” ~~~ “Right, so, here’s the obvious thing. We can’t let the USM have that construct,” Nova said. “Of course not,” Vriska said. “But what exactly are we going to do? If we try to take it for ourselves, we risk an ‘incident’. And I can tell you right now Eve would not be happy with an ‘incident’ with the USM when things are finally looking up.” “If we keep them from having it, there will be an ‘incident’,” Pinkie pointed out. Flutterfree furrowed her brow. “But think of what they could do if they figure out how to use this thing. It has the ability to send ripples through universes.” “That’s probably just a side-effect,” Jotaro pointed out. “…Yeah. It’s just too dangerous.” “I agree, we have to do something,” Pinkie said. “But they made it pretty clear they want it that way.” “We can play hardball too,” Nova said. “They tried the ‘we got here first’ card, let’s just play another one. One they won’t be able to refute.” “What do we have?” Flutterfree asked. “Well… I don’t know,” Nova said, looking at her screen. “There’s gotta be something…” “We end the scenario with neither of us in control of the construct,” Jotaro said. “We declare this construct no-man’s-land.” “…That could work, but we’d really have to sell it. And the enforcement of the agreement…” “Blow it up,” Vriska suggested. Everyone stared at her. “What? There has to be part of it that’s able to explode, or at least be disabled.” “How in the name of Celestia would we do that!?” Nova asked. “It’s a tremendous multiversal construct!” Vriska held up her eight-sided dice. “The Fluorite Octet wishes to remind you that you are in the presence of a god who can face off against universe guardians. I’m sure I could do something at maximum power and luck.” Pinkie put a hoof to her chin. “Hrm… That could work… Destroy it.” “But that might destroy the universe we’re in!” “Universe-jump from time-crawl,” Nova suggested. “We could leave before that happens – save the USM as well, just to prove ourselves.” Jotaro nodded. “We just have to make them realize we’re serious.” Vriska cracked her knuckles. “Pinkie, dial that world that’s literally nothing but a million cats. I need to steal a lot of luck.” “The Plane of Infinite Kittens doesn’t have much luck in it.” “I just need a constant source. Give me an hour of constant absorption and I should be able to pull anything off.” Pinkie shrugged, tossing her a dimensional device. “Knock yourself out.” Vriska opened a small portal in the air that was supposed to be too small for a cat to come through, but a white kitten came through anyway. Vriska sighed, stealing the animal’s luck and shoving it back into the infinite pile with its brethren. She focused her eye on the cats through the portal, moving them aside every second or so to grab another cat’s luck. “This is going to be tedious…” “If only we weren’t several thousand light years away from normal space,” Nova commented. “I would really love to just walk through a city right now, but this is what we need to do.” Nova lit her horn. “I’ll speed it up for the rest of us.” “Fun.” Vriska was accelerated to extreme speeds, so much that she had absorbed enough luck in just two minutes. She closed the portal, signifying that all was ready. She slapped Nova to grab her attention. Nova let Vriska’s timestream resume. “It took you five minutes to notice me,” she muttered. Nova blushed. “Sorry. Need to get back into the swing of things.” “Got what you need?” Pinkie asked. “Oh you bet I do,” Vriska said, twirling her dice in-between her fingers. “Let’s go screw with the USM. Nova, teleport me outside. No I don’t need a spacesuit. Yes I’m sure, mom.” Nova blinked. “Are you reading my mind?” “You’d notice if I was,” Vriska pointed out. “Just do it. Jotaro, sell the tough guy act.” Jotaro raised an eyebrow. “Right, just be yourself.” Nova teleported Vriska outside the ship. This prompted the USM to hail them again – no surprise there. “What are you doing?” Tornado demanded. Jotaro pushed Pinkie aside. “Merodi Universalis had decided that we will not accept your terms of ‘first come, first serve.’ Instead, we declare this construct to be no-man’s land. Because we cannot claim this universe with our beacons, neither of us will be allowed to tamper with the objects within this universe.” “Hey! That doesn’t make any sense!” “It makes more sense than ‘first come, first serve.’ There is no absurd rule that allows one to dominate over the other. It is a compromise.” “It’s not a compromise if the other side doesn’t agree, moron!” “We can force compliance.” “Oh yeah? You going to shoot us down?” “No. We’re going to destroy the construct.” Tornado paled. “You can’t do that.” Vriska shouted WANNA BET!? into Tornado’s mind with her telepathy. She rolled her dice. Even though they were in space, they still activated: 8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8. She transformed into her blue armor, glowing with a cosmic cobalt power. She pulled her dice back and lifted her sword, aiming at the construct. Oh this is going to be glorious. It was at this moment Tornado revealed that she had a rather absurd level of telekinesis. She threw her entire USM ship across space and into Vriska with only minimal help from the engines, relying almost entirely on her green psychic power. “No. You. Don’t!” Yes I do. Vriska bounced off the bulky USM ship like a springboard, once again pointing at the construct with her sword. Just one lucky hit with all my power thrown into i- Tornado was outside the ship without a spacesuit, using her power to keep a bubble of air around her, creating a spherical green aura. She screamed a scream only she could hear, tearing a piece of siding off her ship and dicing it into a hundred pieces with a handful of quick hand motions. The pieces sailed toward Vriska at high speed. Fine then, I’ll take your luck! Virksa locked eyes with Tornado, draining the midget’s luck, using it to maintain her own levels while all the shards of metal missed her. Vriska threw her sword, a motion that would have hit Tornado in the chest had she not been surrounded in a psychic aura. Tornado got smart just before her luck reached critical levels – she grabbed onto Vriska with her telekinesis. “BITCH!” Tornado and Vriska shouted at the same time as they drew closer to each other. Nova blinked. “…There’s something fitting about this.” Pinkie gave her some popcorn. “Oh, thanks!” Vriska and Tornado passed each other. Vriska coughed up blue blood from a concussive blast that was clearly designed to kill her a hundred times over. A gash formed across Tornado’s chest, spilling blood into her sphere of air. Vriska realized she had to act now if her luck was going to do anything. She distracted Tornado with a mental attack. Her mind was far too strong for any sort of actual control, but with her low luck levels it was easy to make her falter for a second. Vriska threw her dice again, empowering them with her cobalt energy. Whatever attack they rolled would be truly absurd. It was one of eight possible 8-8-8-8-8-8-8-7 rolls. A twelve-pointed star shape composed of hardlight appeared above the dice. The cobalt energy infused itself within the star before blasting off after the construct, splitting into hundreds of smaller stars along the way. “I’m going to call you Starslammer,” Vriska said, still coughing up blood. “NOPE!” Tornado yelled, grabbing her ship in her telekinesis again, throwing it at the Starslammer attack in an attempt to divert it. “…Did she just throw her own team at Vriska’s attack?” Flutterfree asked. “Yep,” Jotaro answered. “…How could she!?” Tornado’s face paled a second later. “Oh, shit, Boring! Quazi!” She pulled back on her telekinesis to save her team, allowing Vriska’s attack to strike true. The attack would normally have done absolutely nothing to such a construct, but Vriska had known this. This was why she needed to be absurdly lucky. One of the many sections of the Starslammer hit in just the right place at just the right time, between two different gears. The entire construct churned to a stop, shaking. Popping. Rippling spacetime in ways it should not have been. Nova slowed time down to a crawl. “Right, Pinkie, get us closer to Vriska, Tornado, and that ship. Take us out of here.” Pinkie saluted. “Aye-aye.” Nova teleported Vriska back to the Skiff, and sent Tornado back to her ship. Pinkie moved to activate the drive… And then something appeared in the middle of stopped time. A humanoid creature that seemed composed completely of stars, with the only defining features being two white, jarring eyes and three prongs that pointed up from the forehead. “MOTION CARRIED,” he declared with two different, deep voices. A ping of energy shot forth from the being’s body, reverting the gear construct’s appearance to what it had been before Vriska launched her attack. Nova’s time-slowing effect was also removed, as if it had never happened. “What the-” “Fuck me…” Vriska said, taking a step back even though she was in a single-room Skiff with nowhere to go. “…That’s a Class 1.” The shock from that remark sent chills up everyone’s spines. ~~~ The leading magic expert in the Avengers was Doctor Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme. “I’m trying to remember if you ever joined the Avengers in anything I read…” Corona said, thinking hard. Strange shrugged. “It matters not – this universe is clearly not a direct analogue to the stories you fascinate yourself with. I am exceptionally curious about the relation between fiction and reality across universes, but that is a conversation for another time.” “I’m not the girl to have it with either. There are others who understand ka a lot better than I do.” “I’ll keep that in mind,” Strange said, using a spell to scan Corona’s horn. “Your magic seems to be a mixture of this world and others.” “That’s just how universe travel works. Magic tends to adapt itself into whatever form exists in any given universe. The effects of magic tend to not change all that much, but the exact methods behind it alter continually.” “The multiverse has a built in translation?” “If you travel to a universe with too many dimensions it tries to make you occupy that many dimensions in most cases. That can be lethal.” “I went to another universe, once,” Strange commented. “I introduced time where there was none.” “How long were you in there?” “Not counting the time loop? A few minutes.” “Well, the time loop makes it confusing, but it may be that the universe didn’t have time to translate you properly. Or you had a pocket of your own physics around you. Or it was actually a universe designed to allow incursions… There’s a lot of what-ifs in the multiversal game, as I’m sure you’re gathering by this point.” Strange nodded. “Indeed. I’m curious, what is the height of your magic?” “I can move celestial objects,” Corona said. “Though that’s a special case. Uh… well, without Raging Sights I think I could blow up a city or something. With Raging Sights I’m really not sure what the upper limit is. I’m looking into tapping into universal ‘coding’ itself.” “Powerful,” he said, scanning Corona’s gloves and gems. “Hey, if you’re anything like what I’ve read about, you can do almost anything with the magic talents of yours.” “There aren’t many limitations, no,” Strange admitted. “Superman is still Superman though.” “I bet he’s only that strong because he has to be,” Corona said. “The hero with no limitations.” “I wouldn’t say none.” “I’m talking in a meta-sense,” Corona admitted. She looked up at all the dour, confused, and existential faces in the room. “Which I should probably stop.” “Why stop now?!” Deadpool shouted. “You’re just telling them the truth~!” “Shut up, blowhard,” Corona muttered. “You’re just happy you get to rub it in their faces.” “I’m happy for a lot more than just that reason!” Deadpool chuckled. “But yeah, that’s a big one.” Corona sighed. “Have what you need, Strange?” Strange nodded. “I expect the next few years of my life will be filled with the study of otherworldly magic.” “It’s an endless pool of knowledge,” Corona said with a knowing smile. “I have a PhD in the topic and it never ceases to surprise me.” She stood up and stretched her arms. “Now, excuse me, I need to go make an apology.” Strange gestured that she was free to go. Corona walked across the room, past the watching eyes of several superheroes, and sat down next to Captain America. “Hey.” “Oh. Hi.” “…I’m sorry.” “For what?” “...Being inconsiderate. Caught up in the moment. Telling you things you probably weren’t ready to know quite yet.” She rubbed the back of her head. “There’s a reason every higher civilization or traveler we found wouldn’t tell us what ka was until we found out for ourselves. It’s… jarring.” Cap looked into the distance. “I’m still glad I know.” “True. And you would have been told eventually, regardless. But there’s a lot better ways to break the news than to have a dumb fangirl get all excited and talk your ear off about how awesome you were and how she knows so many things about you.” “Flash seems to like that.” “Flash is carefree and doesn’t let much bother him,” Corona pointed out. “You and a lot of the others are going to think about this. Some of them are going to be able to just accept it and move on, others are just going to know it. Some like Strange aren’t all that surprised by it. But there are those like you – and I think Stark and Batman – who’re going to have a problem with it. I should have broken the news in a better way. Or had someone who knew what they were doing talk about it.” Cap looked at her. “It’s a little refreshing to see someone own up to her mistakes so quickly.” “You caught me on a good day. I can be really stubborn at times.” Cap smiled. “I can tell you’re a good hero, Corona. Just by listening to you talk.” Corona flushed. “Thanks!” Ohmygosh Captain America told me I was a good hero squeeeeee. “And the fangirl returns,” Cap remarked, sitting back in his chair. “It’s hard to keep under wraps!” Corona blurted. “Get to know us for real, as people,” Cap said. “It’ll go away.” “…I plan on it.” “Good,” a deep, gruff voice said. Batman sat down at the table. “Because you’re going to tell me everything you know about me.” “Uh… Does Cap know your secret identity?” “No,” Batman said. “Yes,” Cap said. Batman blinked. “…I need to be more cautious.” “You’re just paranoid,” Cap said, shrugging. “I’ll leave you two to it though.” “Good,” Batman said. “Now tell me everything.” “…Why do you speak with such a deep, gruff voice anyway?” Corona asked. “What?” “Is it just ‘because I’m Batman’?” Batman stared at her. “Sorry, sorry, dumb Internet meme joke, forget I said that.” She laughed nervously. “Your name is Bru-” “HI!” Deadpool shouted, startling Corona. “Are we going to be spilling secrets? Because I can tell you about that one time I-” Batman punched Deadpool in the face, knocking him to the ground. “Ow…” Corona chuckled. “You know you keep asking for that, Deadpool.” “It’s worth it to be the comedic relief!” “You’re just saying that to make yourself feel better.” Deadpool stood up, grunting. “I’ll have you know that I always feel absolutely awes-” Batman punched him again. “AUGH MY RIBS!” “You’ll be fine.” “Regeneration really has drawbacks sometimes…” Deadpool muttered. ~~~ “Okay, I know we’ve got rumors and cursory information about all seven of the Class 1s,” Nova said. “But right now I can’t remember any of that! What is this guy!?” Vriska ground her teeth. “Celestialsapien. Every single member of their species can naturally shape universes with a thought.” Everyone stared at the Celestialsapien, waiting to see what he’d do. He just stood there, motionless, looking at the motion of the construct. “…Why isn’t he doing anything?” Flutterfree asked. “Don’t look at me!” Vriska blurted. “I only know about Horrorterrors in detail, the Doctor avoided Class 1s!” “We have time to look at our database if he continues to do nothing…” Nova said, pulling up what she could on her screen. “Yeah, a pathetically small amount of confirmed information. I can confirm what Vriska just told you. The most common rumor is that they’re a race of thinkers and debaters. Nothing else is concrete.” “…Tornado’s trying to hail him,” Jotaro said, pointing at a reading on one of the consoles. “He’s not responding.” Pinkie called Tornado. “We might want to back off here! That’s a Class 1 Celestialsapien. I say we pack it up and call it a day!” “PACK IT UP!?” Tornado blurted, still standing despite having not received treatment for the wound to her chest. “I’m not going to let some muscled star-dude tell me what to do!” “He just undid everything I did without lifting a finger,” Vriska pointed out. “Do you think that’s smart?” “No,” Boring answered. “Shut up,” Tornado blurted. “The… Celestialsapien is motionless right now. He’s probably charging up his power before his next action.” Nova blinked. “…That’s a thought.” “So enough chit-chat, we’re going to use the construct to remove him.” “You already figured out how to use it!?” Vriska blurted. “Of course we did.” “No we didn’t,” Boring said. “We found a button that can direct it somewhere.” “Good enough for me. Direct it at the Celestialsapien and let’s call it a day.” “…We’re going to be leaving now,” Pinkie said. “Good luck.” “She doesn’t have any,” Vriska pointed out. “But yeah, leaving, leaving is good.” Pinkie pressed a button – and nothing happened. “Uh… Looks like we can’t leave.” Boring glanced to something offscreen and back to Tornado. “We can’t either.” “All the more reason to take action! Activate the construct!” Tornado decreed. “This is a horrible idea,” Nova deadpanned. “Do you have a better one?” “Wait and try to talk to him?” “…Nah, he’ll squash us like bugs.” She pressed a button, sending a magic bolt from their ship to the construct. The gears went in reverse, sending a beam of energy to the Celestialsapien. He caught it. And then the entire universe started to fall apart at the seams, strands of reality shaking apart like old, dry cloth. “MOTION CARRIED!” The entire universe reset itself before anyone could realize they were about to stop existing. “Fuck…” Vriska said. “…How in…” Tornado said, mouth agape. “YOU HAVE FORCED OUR HAND, TORNADO OF THE UNITED STATES OF THE MULTIVERSE,” he said. “WE WOULD HAVE PREFERED TO DELIBERATE FURTHER ABOUT WHAT TO DO WITH YOU, BUT YOU HAVE SHOWN YOUR IMPATIENCE. AS PUNISHMENT FOR YOUR IMPATIENCE YOU AND YOUR CREW ARE TO SPEND A MILLENNIUM TRAPPED IN YOUR OWN MINDS.” “Wait hold on can’t we ta-” “MOTION CARRIED.” Tornado’s expression changed instantly. Her eyes fogged over, and she slumped to the ground. She let out a grunt of pain as she hit the ground, purely by reflex. She was barely able to move her hands. “…She’s just spent a thousand years inside her own mind in one instant…” Nova said, horrified. “YOU ARE NOW TO BE RETURNED TO THE USM WHERE YOU WILL TELL YOUR GOVERNMENT NEVER TO ENTER THIS UNIVERSE AGAIN. MOTION CARRIED.” Their ship vanished. “PINKIE PIE OF MERODI UNIVERSALIS.” “Y-yes?” “AS PUNISHMENT FOR ATTEMPTING TO DESTROY A LOST CELESTIALSAPIEN ARTIFACT, YOU ARE TO TURN AN ARTIFACT OF EQUAL VALUE OVER TO US. WE SELECT ONE OF YOUR NEXUS UNIVERSES, THE ONE THAT HOLDS THE GRINDER POWERED BY A GREEN DIAMOND ENERGY SOURCE.” “W-wait! We aren’t impatient! We’ll let you think about it!” Pinkie said. “YOU WISHED TO LEAVE. YOU ARE JUST LIKE THEM. APPEAL DENIED.” “Can we at least remove the Grinder first?” “MOTION DENIED. YOU WOULD NOT SUFFER ANY REAL LOSS IF YOU KEPT THAT PIECE OF YOUR HISTORY. YOU ARE TO RETURN TO MERODI UNIVERSALIS AND TELL THEM WHY THAT UNIVERSE VANISHED. ALL CITIZENS WITHIN THAT UNIVERSE AT THIS TIME WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO EQUIS VITIS. BE GLAD WE ARE NOT TAKING YOUR OTHER DIAMOND IN YOUR HUB.” “Won’t you listen for one m-” “MOTION CARRIED.” The Skiff was back in the crystal hall of Friendship Castle. Renee looked at them. “…You look like you’ve been through a lot.” “A Class 1 civilization just stole one of our universes,” Flutterfree said. Renee blinked. “Oh. …I can’t say I know what to feel about that right now, give me a moment.” “That happened way too fast,” Nova said, shaking her head. “I thought they were thinkers!?” “Tornado angered him badly,” Pinkie said, sighing. “…At least now we have something to hold against the USM. That’ll be useful for Eve. I think.” “But we lost one of our first grinders!” Flutterfree said. “I… I know we have more, and that nobody was hurt, but…” “Would you rather have spent an eternity in your own head?” Vriska asked. “…No.” “Thought not.” Renee took in a deep breath. “Well, I would say go take a break, but it sounds like this one needs to be dealt with now. To my office, live report.” Pinkie nodded. “Right away.” ~~~ Lady Rarity tapped Corona on the shoulder. “Our time is up.” “Right… Back to crystal castle…” Corona said. “Sorry Flash, we’re going to have to call our game.” Flash tossed his cards to the ground. “Eh, I was losing anyway.” “That’s one way of looking at it.” Corona stood up. “You got relations established?” Lady Rarity nodded. “They’re very interested. More prepared for the multiverse than most, since they keep having incursions of a similar sort. They’re all very interested in methods on how to protect from outside threats.” “I’m glad,” Corona said. “Meanwhile I gave a lot of people an existential crisis.” She looked around. “I apologized to most of them while you were gone. They aren’t mad at me, but… Some of them don’t look too hot. Captain America will be watching them closely.” “That’s the best we can do, sometimes,” Lady Rarity said. “This isn’t our world, and as much as you may think you do, you don’t really know these people. Let them deal with their own problems, they know each other best.” Corona nodded. “We are coming back though. I’ve already promised I’d go with Flash on an adventure or two later.” “Of course,” Lady Rarity said, smiling warmly. “You enjoy this place and the people here. I wouldn’t dream of taking that away from you.” Corona stretched her arms. “Well… Ready to go home?” Deadpool appeared behind her. “You bet I am!” “Deadpool…” “You can’t deny me passage to Equis Vitis, it’s open to the public,” Deadpool pointed out. “I. Want. To. Go.” Corona rolled her eyes. “Hey, at least you’re taking him off our hands,” the Flash pointed out. “You’ll be a hero.” “Be a hero… Don’t deal with Deadpool… Hrm, that’s a tossup.” Corona chuckled. “See ya, Flash.” “Olivia! Lieshy! We’re leaving!” Lady Rarity called. The two looked up from their conversation with Wonder Woman. “Oh, wow, it is that time,” Olivia said, looking at her watch. “Sorry amiga, we’ll have to continue this another time.” Wonder Woman simply nodded and waved goodbye. “…What were you talking about?” Lady Rarity asked. “Men,” Lieshy said. “…And?” “That’s all you get to know.” Corona shrugged. “Fine by me.” She activated her magic, starting up the portal spell. “See you all later!” A few of them waved goodbye. The team stepped through the portal, arriving once again in the castle of Equis Vitis. Lady Rarity caught Renee passing through the area with the Primary team, having just left Renee’s main office. “We need to send a Relations representative to the Earth we just visited.” “Consider it done the moment you give me a report,” Renee said. “A-” “CHIMICHANGA.” Deadpool said, glaring at Pinkie. “CHERRYCHANGA!” Pinkie shouted back, standing on her hind hooves. “CHIMICHERRY!” “CHERRYCHERRY!” “CHIMICHERRYCHANGA!” “CHIMMININNYCHERRIDDYCHANGADDITYCHANGA!” “CHERRYCHIMICHANGACHERRYBEATPIECHANGA!” “Mine took up more space on the page,” Pinkie said. “Mine had unrelated words in it!” “Best friends?” “Best friends!” Pinkie leaped onto Deadpool’s back and the two ran out of the hall. Corona was the only one laughing. “Oh, that was… That was beautiful.” “I’m terrified of what just happened,” Nova said. “Quaking in my boots as it were.” “Oh hey, Nova!” Corona smiled. “How was your first day back?” “We met a Class 1. Lost a universe to it. So as earthshattering as usual.” Corona blinked. “…Ouch.” “Yeah. Ouch.” “Yet another reminder that we’re still just minnows in an ocean,” Renee commented. “Just when we get comfortable enough to think we have things together, a proverbial anvil drops on our heads.” “Good one,” Lieshy said. “Thank you.” “Dears, we have a report to write,” Lady Rarity reminded them. “And I have a kid to get back to,” Nova said. “Stars, I hope Sunburst didn’t burn the house down…” “He didn’t,” Renee said. “…I may or may not have checked up on him several times today. He did fine.” “Good,” Nova said, letting out a sigh of relief. “…I still want to go home.” “Go,” Jotaro said. She obliged, teleporting away. “…Is she doing okay?” Corona asked. “Better than okay,” Flutterfree said. “She’s very uncertain about herself… But I see her sit there and suddenly break out into a huge smile for seemingly no reason. I think she’s happier than before.” Corona smiled. “Good. …I was more than a little worried for them.” “Everyone was,” Flutterfree said. “There were a lot of talks, sleepless nights, and in my case prayers. But I think we’re out of the woods.” “Out of the frying pan of interpersonal melodrama, into the fire of ticking off universe rewriters,” Vriska commented. “The rollercoaster that is our lives,” Renee added. They all had a good laugh at this. They may have been scared, uncertain, and confused about their place in things… but in the end, it was still part of their lives, and they would keep on living them regardless. Making the most of it.