Songs of the Spheres

by GMBlackjack


106 - Class 2, Part 2

“This is an official meeting of which you were no-”

Eve held a wing up to quiet the Melnorme. She walked away from Valentine, approaching Jenny. Jenny was as short as ever and Eve had grown significantly in her alicorn stature since their last meeting.

She was now slightly taller than the diminutive immortal.

“You want to join Merodi Universalis?” Eve asked.

“Uh, yep.”

Eve gave her a calm smile. “…Why?”

“Well, uh, the University can’t fund us anymore, as you know, and we’ve tried to keep at least a small active force in exploration, but…” she tapped her fingers together. “We’ve been losing a lot of people. The program’s essentially shut down completely. We’ve lost our ability to understand everything we were once able to, and because of some of the infrastructure changes we made we’re experiencing… difficulties.

“So you need help because you weren’t prepared to be cut off from the multiverse.”

Jenny rubbed the back of her head. “Pretty much! Not in danger of societal collapse or anything, but ever since the information about the multiverse leaked we’ve had… serious problems.”

“Are you sure you aren’t just begging me because you’re bored?”

Jenny’s smile twitched. “Darnit, why do you have to be so clever?”

“Because it’s my job,” Eve said smiling softly. “But I’ll assume all those other reasons you gave were legitimate. That you do need – and want – help to restructure your society.”

“…Are you actually considering her offer?” the Grand Secretariat asked, eyes wide. “Was she not the one responsible for trying to erase you from time?”

“Never gonna live that down,” Jenny muttered.

“Actually, you are,” Eve said, placing a hoof on Jenny’s shoulder. “I’ll tell the Aid Division to look into you the moment we’ve got an opening from our own relief efforts. That much you can have. After that… The process for inclusion will need you to change many of your ways. I am well aware Dracogen Enterprises had its start as a criminal organization and that old habits die hard. You will have to make peace with your neighbors and allow them possible inclusion as well. I am not against the admission of the Ninth World, Jenny. But you will have to change what you are for us to accept you.”

“…Fine,” Jenny said. “I’m already groveling as it is, might as well roll over on my back and stick my legs in the air. Woof woof, whatever you say.”

Eve smiled. “Good. Will the University object to your inclusion? Or will they be joining?”

Jenny let out a snort. “I haven’t heard from those stuffy bookworms in years. They don’t give a rip about us. And if they do decide to throw a fit I’ll have to remind them they don’t own us. Just… let us in. Pleeeeeeease.”

“I’ll have to run it by the other Divisions first, you know – but you have my approval.”

Jenny noticed Eve’s smugness. “You’re enjoying this.”

“A little,” Eve admitted. “Another one has been friendshipped.”

Jenny sighed. She was usually the one who got to give other people smug grins. This was a decidedly unpleasant role reversal.

Eve turned back to everyone. “Sorry about that, but I can’t just leave my duties aside. As a possible soon-to-be-member of Merodi Universalis, she has every right to be here. Now I’ll get to the report on the war. We engaged Skarn’s forces upon his unprovoked assault on one of our lesser universes, one where we were studying unusual physics. There were no casualties, but that was only thanks to the Handmaid, and given his previous actions…”

“And scene,” I said.

~~~

Time passes – as it always does. A nation grows and transforms itself into something else.

Oftentimes in the multiverse, the transition to Class 2 is one that happens without realizing it. The people will just wake up one day and think ‘you know, I think we’re a Class 2 now’ and then they’ll check to see if they’re really ‘decentralized’ or ‘own enough universes to be functionally decentralized’. Due to the vague definitions of classes, it's no surprise that the exact moment one shifts from one class to another is often a mystery.

Merodi Universalis did not get to experience this gradual mystery of multiversal shifting. One day, they were their usual Class 3 selves. The next, there was a week where they were at war and feared for their lives. They came out of that war with access to technology that could shape universes and an uncountable number of worlds that came with that power. They suddenly had something that was equivalent to real power in the multiverse.

Granted, the Shaping Mechanism had many drawbacks. The main one being that any multiversal society with any idea how to alter physics on any scale could keep their universes safe. But it gave Merodi Universalis near absolute dominion over the lower worlds, should they see fit to use it. The ability to stretch and mold universes like clay…

It was a huge power. A dangerous power that was to be heavily, heavily regulated.

But of course it would be used. Having such a device and not using it to help who they could would be an insult to everything they stood for.

One of the first things they did after figuring out the ins and outs of the Mechanism was to stop Esefem’s horror. No more would beings just pop into existence with lies in their head, no longer would the mercenaries be determined to perpetuate their war, and no longer would spots of Random Weirdness show up. The world still made no physical sense, and they had to sacrifice the respawn aspect of the world to fix it, but it was a world now. One that could actually grow and continue forward.

After that, the Shaping Mechanism was mainly put to use unraveling the Congeries and all the peoples within. The vast majority of societies that lived within the Congeries were simple folk who barely knew that Skarn had even existed. In many cases, disassembling Skarn’s works would have resulted in the destruction of a society who had grown used to it – so any ones that weren’t particularly cruel were allowed to remain as they were. But every nation that suffered was weaved away. Slowly, the size of the Congeries depleted – with the eventual goal being that it would consist only of one universe with a handful of artistic works and the Shaping Mechanism itself. While many, many universes fell under the ‘control’ of Merodi Universalis, most were allowed to simply go free. Those that chose to join Merodi Universalis more often than not treated their benefactors with reverence.

Sometimes you just couldn’t convince people not to worship you.

Minna was the only one of Skarn’s soldiers known to survive the order. If he had sent any others out to test other multiversal societies, there was no record of them.

Back home, Merodi Universalis repaired itself. Jingle’s Aid efforts went mostly as expected. Earth Vitis was capable of repairing itself mostly from scratch, using internal relations to provide relief to the sub-nations that were hit the hardest. While a few major cities were completely lost, most had been evacuated and moved to a new world in Equis Cosmic. There were always new worlds in Equis Cosmic. Even Earth Tau’ri didn’t have such a deep understanding and control over their galaxy.

Lai was nothing if not tenacious. They saw their Queen rebuild the palace with her own hands, filling them with an immense national pride. They banded together to rebuild their city, almost refusing aid, the stubborn ponies they were. But Toph convinced them to accept help and they rebuilt their capital with intense zeal. They found that the city wasn’t completely lost – a few magical bunkers had been spared, including Corona’s laboratory, the palace’s deepest dungeons, and the statues of Lai’s Celestia and the others.

Toph kept the Celestia statue a secret – she didn’t want to ruin Queen Luna’s memory.

For once, Lai’s tendency to be defiant and angry worked for the favor of Merodi Universalis. There were surprisingly few who blamed their government for going to war, and many more who simply celebrated the brutal defeat of Skarn.

The Elemental Four suffered. Corea was broken by the events and while the psychologists said she would make a full recovery, she wasn’t there in the aftermath of the attack – when the world needed her the most. She just couldn’t give them words of comfort when her home had been destroyed. She spent most of her time back on Sweet Apple Acres, recovering. Without her, the Elemental Four had to rely on the distant-seeming words of the Overheads. They had few leaders from the hundred-year-war remaining, and their worldwide leadership had all been in Republic City.

They were by no means in danger of returning to their old, warlike ways – but they lost a spark of life they had held close to their hearts. A feeling of inadequacy began to spread through the Elemental Four – that they weren’t worthy, that their world was the least of all Merodi founders, that they weren’t on par with all the others.

After only a few months, patterns began to emerge revealing a large-scale exodus of the world. The population of the Elemental Four began to drop dramatically as the younger generation sought out ‘better worlds’. The universe would not feel the full ramifications of this for a few years – but they would eventually.

In contrast, the rest of Merodi Universalis seemed to be in an eternal party – the unaffected E-Sphere universes in particular. The economy boomed due to a sudden insurgence of trade from foreign powers, making it abundantly clear that the war had ended up turning a huge profit – due in no small part to the Shaping Mechanism’s ability to just duplicate things. Ships took a while to make from scratch due to how complicated they were, but the Shaping Mechanism could deal with it.

The entire Merodi Fleet was rebuilt within two months. They didn’t make the same mistake Skarn did – they kept building more ships after they had met their quota. They weren’t going to be caught with a surprisingly small number of ships just because they thought they’d never need that many.

Worlds that had been holding out over joining Merodi Universalis finally gave in – the Ninth World being one of several. Merodi Universalis accepted almost all of them with open arms, finding that few actually needed much in the way of aid and were actually willing to help. The Sparkles of the Sparkle Census started referring their homeworlds to the Merodi for inclusion, paving the way for a change in the relationship of the two multiversal powers. The Merodi conscripted a world of low-level ascended beings, a world inhabited entirely by a hive mind race known as the Ood, a ‘magical girl’ universe they couldn’t identify from any source material, a world where humans continually fought Grimm beasts to survive, a world that soon became a major player called Pokèrin Anima, numerous Earths, Equises, and of course the Ninth World.

The Ninth World’s issues proved to be rather pathetic. Simply offer them the things they wanted – which weren’t all that impressive – and the society balanced itself out. The hardest part was ironing out the general ‘criminal’ attitude Dracogen and many other individuals in the world had.

Merodi Universalis was nothing if not patient, however. They would work with them until they were deemed ready.

It was a new chapter in the life of this unique nation. Unlike the Bloodbath, which had been seen as almost a complete tragedy and loss, the aftermath of Skarn’s War was seen in a positive light – as a well-deserved victory.

A fact that certainly helped Eve sleep at night.

On the other hand, Valentine and the USM noticed they were being eclipsed. They only made one major acquisition while the Merodi made several – a world known as Earth-FT3, a curious combination of the Fairy Tail manga and Harry Potter novels. The Merodi barely registered them.

And the wheel of time kept marching onward…

~~~

Corona had no home anymore.

Her lab had somehow survived the assault on Lai, but the rest of her house hadn’t. Her other home on Earth Vitis had been taken down with the rest of Canterlot City – though thankfully not with her friends. They had evacuated.

She had supposed the logical course of action would be to move to Equis Vitis and take up her royal chambers.

But she didn’t do that.

Instead she decided to go live in the Congeries to work on the Shaping Mechanism. She became its primary operator and researcher, taking a break from Expeditions to pour herself into uncovering the secrets of the Mechanism.

She knew she would never be able to understand all the controls and nuances to the Shaping Mechanism in a normal lifespan – but after three days she had enough control over it to be effective. She had no plans to make tremendous multiversal structures for the sake of art; the uses of the Shaping Mechanism would be to fix worlds, not break or twist them.

And thus, she became the Shaping Mechanism’s primary pilot. The one who fixed worlds and slowly unwound the horrors of the Congeries.

She got to see a lot of horrible things. Churning cauldrons of flesh worse than the human zipper. Temporally locked worlds that made people experience the same day of disasters over and over – every time aware of it, but unable to change their actions. There was even a work that created copies of whoever looked upon it just to kill them gruesomely for the viewer’s ‘pleasure’.”

Corona just destroyed that last one. For all the violence, death, and destruction Corona had seen in her life, it was still a bit much.

But she pushed through. She always did. All the lives she could save with this machine were worth it.

It was long work that was boring when it wasn’t disgusting, but it was beyond important. She was perhaps the best person for the job, given her background. The potential to understand precisely how the Shaping Mechanism worked… Eventually. Given enough experience.

One day while she was separating several Earths from each other and returning them to their homes, two visitors walked into the room. One was a face she was very familiar with, while the other was one she hadn’t seen in decades.

The first was O’Neill. The second was the Happy Mask Salesman. Corona looked the creepy ‘human’ being up and down, letting her gaze fixate on his unwavering smile more than she probably should have. “Where have you been?”

The Happy Mask Salesman let out a soft, prolonged chuckle. “A bit of this, a bit of that. Exploring, learning, watching.”

“So what’re you doing here now? Have we finally reached your criteria, like with Twilence?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t in my wildest dreams compare myself to the bearer of the Eye of Rhyme. My purpose here is not to provide my knowledge – but to ask you to finish what you started oh so long ago.”

“Hm?”

“Majora,” O’Neill said. “The purple monstrosity is still alive, in her mask, in that black hole. You can finally get rid of her safely with this, right?”

Corona blinked. “…Yeah, I can.”

“Would you kindly direct your attention to her prison then?” the Happy Mask Salesman asked. “And ensure she will never return?”

“You’ll need to remind me of the coordinates,” Corona said. “I don’t recall if I ever actually knew which black hole you dumped her in.”

O’Neill transmitted the coordinates and the in-universe location to Raging Sights. Corona pressed her gloved hands to the control globe of the Shaping Mechanism and connected to the universe. It was a perfectly moldable universe without any reality anchors – good. She pushed forward, converting it into a shapeable universe.

In the strands that made up the display she was able to make out the black hole. It was a swirling sphere of darkness that let nothing – not even light or an eldritch abomination – escape its grasp.

She removed the singularity of the black hole with a thought. The sphere vanished, revealing a purple heart-shaped mask inside it. There was an intense, dark, familiar feeling to the mask.

Even though Corona wasn’t physically there, Majora knew she was watching.

W̛HY͢ H͟A͜V͠E͏ ̷YOU̡ ͜REL͘EA̕S̀E͘D̀ ͡M̡E̢?”

“Because,” Corona said with a cruel smirk. “We finally have the means to destroy you.”

“FO̷OLS͜!

“Yeah, you just keep on thinking that,” O’Neill snarked.

“Never again, Majora,” the Happy Mask Salesman said. “Never again.”

The last thing Majora heard was the Happy Mask Salesman’s laugh.

And then Corona destroyed her with a pop.

“…We’ve come a long way,” Corona observed. “She almost destroyed all of us back then…”

“And now there’s no chance anyone will pick her up again,” O’Neill said, putting a hand on Corona. “We can finally close that book.”

“What books do we have left to close?” Corona wondered. Ba’al was nothing. Majora was gone. The University was useless and the Ninth World was joining them. Siron and Brutalight were gone. The Collector was gone. Skarn was gone.

“…Flagg and the Starcross Society,” O’Neill said. “Those are the big ones on my list. Though maybe the Combine counts as well, not quite so sure about that one.”

“It’s such an unusual feeling…” Corona said with a murmur.

The Happy Mask Salesman bowed. “I express my thanks once again. I shall take my leave – I’m never one for these multiversal societies; I prefer solitude and simplicity. Perhaps we will meet again, perhaps not.” Then he was gone.

“Weirdo,” O’Neill muttered, stretching his arms. “It was about time she got what was coming.”

Corona smiled. “Glad I could help. Be glad you were with him – I would have needed a formally approved request to do something like that without Overhead approval.”

O’Neill tipped his hat. “It was the least I could do. Bein’ the General and all.”

“You wanted to blow her up yourself.”

“Eh… Maybe.” He pulled out a communicator. “Beam me up.”

He returned to the brand new pride of the Merodi fleet – the Austraeoh. After the Enterprise had been destroyed, he drifted from ship to ship, unsure of which one to call his own. So he decided to make his own – but he didn’t have a name for it. Once the Congeries War ended, there were a few lost or irreparably damaged ships that received great honors. The original Austraeoh was one of those ships. Corona suggested the name to O’Neill, and he took it without hesitation.

The Austraeoh was better than the Enterprise in every way. It looked nothing like an Earth Tau’ri ship with a few bonus mechanisms, like the Enterprise had. Rather, it was its own unique creation. It was a slender, pointed ship made of a white, metallic substance. The central spire was smooth; the tip glowing a soft white at all times while the back swirled with a rainbow of colors, almost like a series of overlaid drills. Weapons and scanners lined the central spire, giving it many different glowing lights ranging from technological to magical to even weirder.

Six other spires were arranged around the central one, connected by thinner plates of metal. Every one of these rods had a sharp point, as well as a magical rod inside, giving some protection to the high-end magical weaponry. The backs of these rods held every kind of drive imaginable that wasn’t the multicolored Prism Drive. Each rod had a vaguely fin-like protrusion heading away from the central spire and ending just before it reached the Prism Drive’s impressive colors. A single thin ring went through the center of each of the fins, allowing energy to flow around most of the ship for any number of applications.

The ship looked vaguely like an elongated comb jelly. Graceful, yet solid. Smooth, yet sharp in many places.

The bridge looked the same as just about every other bridge O’Neill had been in though. There was something to say about familiarity.

He leaned back in the big chair and grinned. “Clandestine, let’s go for a joyride. Let’s test this Prism Drive out again.”

Clandestine smiled, using her magic to do just that.

The rainbow-overlaid drills whirred up. Harmonious energy shot out behind them, and they were gone – blasting through the boundaries between universes and galaxies in a Technicolor swirl…

~~~

Pinkie rubbed her hooves together. Over these last two months, she had managed to train her brain to actually register the sensation in her brain as a touch. It was no longer a painful ache in her brain with a flash of nonexistent light, but a warm sensation on her hooves. It was the only sensation she ever got, and it was a trick of her mind. She was thankful for it nonetheless.

She perked her ears up. “Ready!” she called.

“Your ears are your eyes,” Flair had said. “Point them at what you want to look at. You’re a pony – you’re able to do that.”

Pinkie swiveled her ears in the direction of Doctor Redheart, her primary rehabilitation counselor. “You sure you’re ready, Pinkie?” Pinkie’s ears were able to pick up subtle nuances in the sounds to pinpoint Redheart’s location. Right now it was just a fuzzy blur in Pinkie’s mind, but with time she would be able to form a complete image.

“As I’ll ever be!” Pinkie said, pulling her squeaky hammer out of her mane. “Bring it on.”

“If you insist…”

“Have a map of your surroundings,” Toph had suggested. “Always know where all the walls are, where the floors are, and where people are. Use every means you have at your disposal – hearing, taste, I don’t care what it is, use it!”

Pinkie got a general shape of the area by tapping her back hoof against the ground. Again, it was blurry, but she could make out the floor, walls, Redheart, and her opponent. She could tell her opponent was humanoid, but that was about it.

At least, that’s all her ears told her.

“Remember when we pretended to be the ‘Mysterious Mare-do-well’?” Renee had asked. “You used your Pinkie sense to do incredible things. I’ve seen you do it a few times since, on missions, but not all that often. You need to tap into that, Pinkie.”

Pinkie ducked under her opponent’s arm. She had no need to actually hear the arm’s movement, even though the general idea helped. She was able to twitch, maneuver, and jump based entirely on her natural Pinkie Sense. She just knew when something was about to attack her. She giggled, enthralled that it was working.

“You can increase the potency of your Awareness and other related abilities,” I had told her. “I know it’s hard sometimes to pay deep attention to what you see, but if you want to be effective in this state, it’s a requirement.”

Pinkie already knew the outcome of this encounter. It w-

“Hey, don’t tell them! That’ll ruin the suspense!” Pinkie said, flying over her opponent and hitting them with the squeaky hammer. “Gotcha!”

Seskii had given Pinkie a careful look. “If you’re successful in training your Awareness… Well, you’ll have to rely on it a lot more than you do now. You usually hold back, keep yourself from exploiting for the sake of others. Don’t do that anymore.”

Pinkie leaped back from a fist she could sense, but not hear. “Stand user? Sweet! And given the complete silence when I hit… It’s Jotaro. Of course, the only one of my friends who wouldn’t go easy on me.”

“HEY!” Vriska shouted from her vantage point in a room far away that should have been out of Pinkie’s earshot.

Pinkie grinned. “You’d pretend to lose to me just for my sake, Vriska. Don’t deny it.”

Vriska grunted. “She’s talking through the screen again.”

Pinkie jumped over Star Platinum’s flurry of fists, landing on Jotaro’s head. The sensation in the back of her hooves told her all she needed to know – no need to listen or adhere to the Pinkie Sense. She swung her squeaky hammer down and tossed Jotaro to the side. She bounced off the floor like a ping-pong ball and bowed.

“And you’re going to get back up and punch at me again…” Pinkie diverted to the side and drove a pie into Jotaro’s face. “Admit defeat yet?”

“Yare yare daze…” Jotaro muttered, wiping the pie from his face.

“I move well for a blind girl, huh huh?”

Jotaro punched again. Pinkie was suddenly behind him, a hoof placed to his back. “And I win.”

She put the bomb mask on her face and exploded, tossing Jotaro to the ground, defeated.

“I do think they should have let you use your other Stands. I would have still been able to kick some butt! Woo!” Pinkie threw her hooves into the air and dropped her squeaky hammer to the ground. “I’ve still got it!”

Doctor Redheart nodded. “Physically speaking, I can clear you for duty. The jury’s still out on your psychological state.”

Pinkie tapped her bouncy mane. “I think this is a pretty good indicator.”

“I am not taking physical signs to clear you mentally,” Doctor Redheart declared. “There’s a bit more to it. But we can talk about that later. You’ve completed your physical rehabilitation.”

“Yes!” Pinkie pulled out her party cannon and unleashed it. “HEY NOVA! You can teleport in here now!”

Nova teleported herself, Flutterfree, Vriska, Eve, and Renee into the room. “Go Pinkie!” Nova declared, waving a flag. Redheart decided to leave them to it.

Then they started hugging her. Pinkie was able to sense when it was coming and how to respond – but every time they pulled her closer, she felt nothing. She could tell her body was up in a hugging position, but there was no pressure, no comforting connection with another pony’s coat. Nothing.

Nothing besides the burning in her hooves that wasn't even real.

She probably would have started crying if she were able. She was, for once, glad she didn’t have eyes. They didn’t need to know that she wa-

Darnit.

Eve removed herself from Pinkie. “…Pinkie?”

“Uh… Yeah, so, I just realized that I’m probably not mentally okay with this yet. I… I really want to cry right now b-because I can’t feel your hugs…”

“…I don’t think that’s an unhealthy response.”

“Redheart might see it that way. She’ll at least think it means I need to be watched a bit more… And I probably do.”

“Pinkie, you’re amazing.” Flutterfree said. Pinkie knew she was stroking her with those rounded, marble tips on her wings. It was probably a very soothing feeling. “Y-”

“I’ll never get to know what your wingtips feel like,” Pinkie said. “I’ll never get to feel any hugs again. I won’t get to enjoy showers, I won’t even register pies unless they’re thrown really hard, I won’t get to feel the exhilaration of flying through the air out of a party cannon… I can’t touch anything! No muzzle booping, no nuzzling, no sensation down there, no vibration when the Tree of Harmony calls m-” Her train of thought stopped when she remembered that their Tree of Harmony wouldn’t be calling anypony anymore. The loss of Loyalty had been too much for it. The map was now lifeless.

Eve put a hoof on Pinkie – but quickly realized that wouldn’t mean anything anymore. So she did the next best thing – she put her mouth right next to Pinkie’s ear and spoke soothingly. “I think I can help you with some of those things?”

“Huh? Ho- Oooooh!” Pinkie smiled. “That’s cheating.”

“If it wasn’t you feeling it, it should work.” Eve channeled her magic and touched her horn to Pinkie’s forehead.

Pinkie suddenly remembered every single hug Eve had ever given her – including the ones given by the original Twilight Sparkle. Pinkie lived through a couple showers, a pie to the face, being thrown through the air by a party cannon, booping, being booped, nuzzling her sisters… And then she got a memory that wasn’t hers, but Eve’s. One of Flutterfree right after she’d had herself adjusted from a killing machine into a work of art.

Pinkie had never seen her before, not like that. She was stunning – the tips of her wings weren’t knives, but rounded, delicate marble tips that seemed like extensions of her feathers. They were engraved with the designs of leaves and vines, giving her an air of natural beauty. The pointed parts of her hooves had been rounded with a similar marble substance, featuring similar designs. She’d even bothered to get a new mane style, one with two locks of hair draping over the front of her face, while the rest trailed behind her blowing in the breeze.

Pinkie knew the marble covers could be taken off, if needed, but they sure looked fixed to her form.

The memory moved to Flutterfree hugging Eve – but Pinkie got to experience what Eve experienced. The rounded nubs running across her back, sending a tingling sensation up her spine. They were so soft for what they were… So beautiful…

The memory ended. Pinkie fixed Eve with a smile. “…Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Nova, you better learn that spell if I ever need to see something.”

“I’ll be sure to perfect it… Captain,” Nova said.

Pinkie let out a beautiful, joyous laugh – followed promptly by a sigh of relief. “Decided to put me back in charge, eh?”

Flutterfree spoke up. “You’re back, Pinkie. You know more than the rest of us, and we’ve known you in that way for so long. We’re not going to kick you down just because you changed. You’re still Pinkie. You’re still the Captain of Pinkie’s Party.”

Pinkie stretched her hooves and piled all of them into a hug she knew they could feel. “I love you all so much, you know that? You’re the best friends ever!

“Squeezing… Too hard…” Renee gagged.

Pinkie laughed, letting them all go. “…You know what, I think I can pass the psychological portion of the test. With a little footnote that says ‘insane, but not beyond safe Pinkie parameters’.”

Everyone had a nice laugh at that.

Pinkie was back. Different, yes – forever different. But a blindfold and a broken body wasn’t going to stop her from doing what she loved with her friends.

~~~

Lady Rarity walked into Renee’s office.

Renee smiled. “Ah, Lady Rarity, what can I do for you?”

“Well, I’m tired of sitting around,” Lady Rarity said. “Corona doesn’t appear to be coming back from the Shaping Mechanisms any time soon, and even working as Toph’s advisor leaves me a bit too much free time. So I’m asking to a transfer to one of your teams – almost anything will do.”

“You sure?”

Lady Rarity nodded. “Corona gave me the go-ahead. She’s too engrossed in what’s happening there.” She sighed.

“I’m sure she hasn’t forgotten about you.”

“Oh, of course not. She’s actually the one who suggested I do this.” She tossed her mane back. “So, do I need to refill my paperwork out again?”

“I already have everything about you on file, no need to be redundant, dear.” She pulled up a holographic display of her teams, going over it with her careful eye. “Hrm… As it turns out I may have an idea for you.”

“So quickly?”

“One of our… How do I put this, ‘Darker Operations’ teams has recently dropped in member number. One of them went off to join the Military Division, and the other just decided to stop working for me after the war. They’re currently only three strong, and I prefer larger numbers for a full team.”

“Darker Operations?” Lady Rarity mulled this over. “I’m not against charging into some brutal worlds.”

“I figured you wouldn’t,” Renee said with a curt nod. “Legally speaking, I have to warn you that you will see a lot of death, be asked to do some decidedly despicable things, and be subject to a lot more strain than the usual Expedition team member.”

“Renee, so long as it doesn’t conflict heavily with my Code, I have the strength.”

“I had forgotten you were a knight,” Renee said with a smile. “Should be no issue. Bring any moral concerns you have up with me or the other members of your team, assuming you have time to do so. I trust your judgment in that matter.”

Lady Rarity nodded. “You can count on me. Can I ask who my team will be?”

“I believe you know them. They used to be known as the Mean Six.”

Lady Rarity brightened visibly. “I do know them from the war. Fought Skarn together.”

“They’re actually waiting outside to see me right now,” Renee said. “You got in just before them. Ah, ka works in mysterious ways…”

“And convenient ones.”

Renee pushed her hoof onto her desk. “Come on in.”

Three ponies were teleported in – the blue Curaçao, the dark Insipid, and the dark pink Velvet. Curaçao and Insipid looked the same, though Velvet was currently wearing advanced ka-sensing glasses that highlighted several words in a book she was holding: The Republic of Plato.

“Philosophy?” Lady Rarity said, raising an eyebrow. “Forgive me, but you didn’t seem like the type.”

“I’m compensating,” Velvet said, closing the book and tucking her glasses in her mane. The lenses didn’t disappear, but they stayed in the hairs neatly. “Stretching the Awareness muscles apparently requires stretching the brain as well, so that’s what I’m doing.”

“You should have seen her try to literally stretch her brain!” Insipid blurted. “It was major trash.”

“It’s people like you that keep society stagnating,” Velvet retorted.

Insipid rolled her eyes. “See what I have to deal with? She’s becoming, like, an egghead or something.”

“That means I have at least a million more ways of brutally killing our enemies. I’m thinking striped punch...”

Curaçao cleared her throat. “Insipid, it is good zat Velvet is seeking to broaden ‘er ‘orizons. Books are not somezing to be frowned on, they are la vie du monde.”

“Uh… Right, fine, Velvet, you can like your dead trees. Just, like, don’t try to get me to read any, ‘kay? Cha.”

Velvet giggled. “Okie!”

Renee opened her mouth.

“Don’t tell me,” Velvet said, closing her eyes. “I’m going to try this one… Lady Rarity arrived in here asking to transfer to a team, and it’s our team that just happened to both have available slots and be right outside the door. And uh… there’s another surprise waiting…? …Is the surprise cake?”

“Close,” Renee said. “There’s no cake, I’m afraid, unless you’re suddenly able to produce it from nowhere.”

“Hmmm…” Velvet pulled a cake out of her mane that looked like it was made out of dirt, bones, maggots, and loose organs. She shrugged. “Technically a cake.”

“…Lovely,” Renee deadpanned. “You are right, Lady Rarity is being assigned to your team should you want her.”

Curaçao looked at Lady Rarity and smiled. “She’ll be a great addition.”

“Like, totally!” Insipid said with a dumb grin. “She’ll use her spider-senses!”

“That’s not a thing for spirids,” Velvet said. “They have magic silk.”

“Uh, yeah, whatever! That’s totally a spider-sense.”

Velvet facehooved.

“And as for the surprise…” Renee said, giving them all a careful look-over. “Your team could be a bit larger...”

“You ‘ave someone else in mind?” Curaçao asked.

“Yes. Though she’ll be more of a trial. I’m not sure if she’ll play all that nice.”

Lady Rarity blinked. “...Who is it?”

“It’s-”

“ME!” Jenny said, appearing in a puff of her own magic. “Behold, your newest billion-year-old world guardian! We shall travel the multiverse, squashing evil and unsavory types as we go!”

“Like, woah, you’ve got a presence,” Insipid observed.

Jenny gave her a thumbs up. “And you talk really annoyingly, but I like you anyway!”

“Curaçao, I don’t like this one,” Insipid said. “Can we throw her overboard?”

“Why stop at throwing her overboard?” Velvet asked. “There are much more creative things we can do to her. Did you know she has unlimited regeneration? There’d be no problem with, say, cutting off her hands and having a little ta-”

Everyone stared at Velvet in horror.

“Kidding. That was a joke. …I’m not returning to my cannibalistic roots, okay? Yeesh.”

Renee shook her head. “I’ve assigned Jenny to you because her usual… flair is probably best suited for some of the less peaceful missions we undertake.”

“I will feel free to use ‘er as a guinea pig for exotic weapons,” Curaçao said.

Jenny twitched. “Bu-”

“Curaçao is your Captain, Jenny,” Renee said. “You wouldn’t want to disobey one of her orders, would you?”

Jenny pointed a finger at Renee, ready to give her a mouthful. Then she let out a sigh and dropped her hand. “Fine, fine, fine. I’ll be the guinea pig.”

“That’s the spirit!” Renee said, winking. “Now the five of you should get acquainted, I’ll probably send you on a mission tomorrow if I can!”

Curaçao saluted. “Yes, Ma’am.” She turned to Lady Rarity. “…You can teleport, right?”

“Oh, yes, though I’m not particularly speedy about it. Give me a moment.”

“Thank god,” Insipid muttered. “I didn’t realize how much we depended on Shadow…”

Lady Rarity focused her spell, taking them to the crystal castle’s lobby. “What happened to Shadow and Grayscale, anyway?”

“Grayscale got tired of fighting and adventuring, to nobody’s surprise,” Velvet said.

“Shadow, like, joined the military!” Insipid said, face that of shock. “Like, wow, why? I dunno.”

Curaçao smiled. “Grayscale prefers a quiet life more than ze rest of us, and Shadow decided ze regimen of ze Military would be good for ‘er. I stay here because it is my calling to lead my sisters, Insipid will never leave my side, and Velvet…”

“I don’t do well with authority,” Velvet deadpanned.

“…zat is certainly one way of putting it.”

Jenny clasped her hands together. “You girls sound like you’re going to be delightful to work with!”

Curaçao’s calm, reasonable smile became decidedly menacing for just a moment. “And we’re going to ‘ave a lot of fun with you too, Jenny.”

Jenny tried to keep a straight, confident face. She failed.

~~~

Celestia City was eventually invited to TSAB space. The entire population was exceedingly nervous about being within another Class 2’s borders, but Nanoha was a bit of a hero to them, so her presence cooled things down significantly.

Much of the visit was symbolic – a strengthening of relations between the second-highest Class 2 and the ‘new kids’ on the block who had just shown signs they may not be kids anymore. The TSAB was definitely showing off with all their mages, impressive technology that spanned entire solar systems with superstructures, and planets outfitted with the TSAB’s special dimensional drives.

Celestia City wasn’t even in a standard universe right now, but a bubble universe created by a TSAB flagship. They were on a bit of a tour through the area of the E-Sphere the TSAB called home, visiting all the important locations along the way.

Many people were rather surprised Eve wasn’t along for the ride. Blumiere got to do most of the talking for Merodi Universalis, even though the Relations Division did have a diplomat in the city. So far, that diplomat had capitalized on Blumiere and not done a darn thing.

Nanoha was apparently using the Celestia City tour as a vacation. She and another mage of her caliber, the blonde Fate, had taken to wandering the sights of Celestia City together rather than being at every single event to showcase the power of the TSAB. Rumor had it they were becoming fast friends with Blumiere and Timpani.

Today, they were visiting the League of Sweetie Belles.

Allure was nervous. Even though she had met Nanoha a few times prior to this, they were now on her turf and yet, somehow, showing off their facilities. It felt like a paradox and it was making her sweat profusely.

“I could never sit with this many of myself,” Fate observed, examining the scrambling forms of the Sweetie Belles.

Nanoha smirked. “Fate-chan, what about Fatal?”

“That was one copy,” Fate countered. “Just one. She was… fine.”

Nanoha started listing off her fingers. “And then there was all those versions of me. Nano… Nina… Takaha… Niroha…”

“You were always more comfortable with yourself.”

“And these Sweeties are always comfortable being around themselves,” Nanoha said with a smile. “I think it’s great!”

“How am I supposed to tell them apart?” Fate asked.

Allure blinked. “Ah… Most of us have a defining feature of some kind. I have this metal horn, Thrackerzod has the red eyes, Squeaky’s voice is unmistakable, Bot makes mechanical noises when she moves, Suzie’s got the frizzy hair, Burger’s a Flat, Silver’s the stallion with the extra short mane, Servitude’s the angel, and…” Allure rubbed the back of her head nervously. “Honestly you just get used to it and learn to tell the difference. Even if you’re not part of the League since the rest of Celestia City generally knows who we are.”

“Their society had a lot more experience with doubles than ours did,” Nanoha said. “When we first set out to explore we had two alternates we knew about. Am I remembering right?”

Raising Heart beeped. “Yes, master.”

Nanoha nodded. “Yep. Just two. The evil one and little adorable Nano.”

“…How different was your rise to Class 2?” Allure asked.

Nanoha put a hand to her chin. “Hrm… all right, story time!” She fully activated Raising Heart and slammed the staff on the ground.

“Nanoha…” Fate said with a smile on her face and a shake of her head.

Nanoha ignored her. “The TSAB started as a loose coalition of worlds that were naturally connected to each other, allowing for the discovery of ‘interdimensional space’. We didn’t figure out we were creating entire universes when we moved until much later, but understanding didn’t matter. We tied worlds together with our ships and uncovered Lost Logia from ancient civilizations – civilizations that had destroyed their universes with their own power. I rose through the ranks as a prominent mage, and when I had hit my mid-thirties we made a discovery. The ability to make ships that could take larger journeys through the multiverse. After an encounter with a being from the Q-Sphere – a unicorn, believe it or not – and the realization the multiverse was much larger than we thought, I organized an expedition.

“I promised to bring the unicorn home and to learn everything I could about the multiverse. We traveled everywhere over the course of… For us, it was about thirty years. Far longer than we were expecting. For the TSAB it was longer. We returned with vast knowledge about the worlds beyond our own, and were able to use what we had discovered to quickly rise to Class 2. It wasn’t as instant as conquering, you understand – we didn’t return with a Shaping Mechanism. We just returned with knowledge that changed us over the course of several years.”

“We owe everything to her expedition,” Fate said, smiling. “That long, long expedition we thought she would never come back from.”

Allure looked at Fate with sad eyes. “…That must have been hard for you.”

“It was,” Fate admitted. “But she came back. And then we just… grew. And kept growing.”

Nanoha smiled. “I made a name for myself out on the Expedition. People knew about the TSAB, and when we made contact we were usually welcomed with open arms. We tended to make friends rather than enemies as we explored, so in that way we were a lot like you.”

“Did you have to fight any wars?” Allure asked.

Nanoha nodded. “Several. There were a few that took place before I even left. Several while I was gone. Several when I came back.” Nanoha sighed. “Humans… have a problem with that.”

Allure nodded slowly. “It does appear to be a recurring theme.”

“It’s a theme I’ve spent my entire life trying to break,” Nanoha said. “I’ve failed completely.”

Allure blinked. “…How can you say that last part with a smile?”

“Most people don’t even try,” Fate said.

Allure nodded. “…I think I see.”

Nanoha winked at her. “Good. Now, I’m in the mood for something fun.”

“What kind of fun?”

Nanoha twirled the staff that was Raising Heart. “A good friendly spar. Who here is the best fighter?”

Allure rolled her eyes. “HEY THRACKERZOD! YOU’RE NEEDED ON GROUND FLOOR!”

~~~

I had an office now. It was a neutral office, not devoted to any particular Division, but it was still an office. As much as I liked libraries there was something official and freeing about having a room all to myself in the Hub where I could write, read, and analyze everything.

It was a well-lit office with dark purple walls covered in star imprints. A pocket-dimension bookshelf lined the left wall and a computer with full security access sat on the Gem-constructed crystal desk. There was also a box filled with notebooks for my scribbling pleasure and another box filled with every color of pen imaginable.

The Merodi had been very accommodating. Some simply because they liked me. Others because they knew that the power and information I was offering them was priceless. Ava in particular – now there was a woman who did the right thing only because she felt she had to. Naturally speaking, she didn’t express much appreciation or empathy. She sure worked hard to show those traits to the people she thought it ‘mattered’ to, though.

She was fine where she was. Doing good work for now.

Regardless, I had other things to think about now. Mainly the visitor I was about to receive.

The door to my office swung open. Jotaro walked in, slamming Rohan into my desk, knocking over my empty coffee mug.

“What the-”

“Rohan, you need to be more responsible,” I said, shutting my computer down.

“How i-”

“Jotaro, you can leave us.”

Jotaro nodded, leaving me alone with Rohan.

I placed my hooves together. “You know who I am.”

Rohan nodded. “Perfect prophet princess Twilence.”

“I’m not perfect, merely more experienced. Significantly more experienced.” I summoned one of his manga manuscripts out of the aether.

“Where did you get that!?”

“I’m heavily Aware. I know shortcuts. Pinkie pulls stuff out of her mane, Scooter can read the script, Deadpool messes with panels, etcetera – this is just another expression of that.”

“It doesn’t seem right that you get to be both.”

“Life isn’t fair,” I said, flipping through the manga. “Which is tangentially related to why I brought you here today.”

“…Jotar-”

“I wrote the encounter where he discovered you wrote this,” I said, smiling innocently. “I am the reason you’re here.”

Rohan blinked.

“Not so nice when someone does it to you, is it?”

Rohan opened his mouth to object.

“Let’s see, all those excuses you make to yourself to defend what you do? They’re wrong. The biggest mistake you make is ‘because I have this power I can do whatever I want with it’.” I glared at him. “Just because you’re a Prophet doesn’t mean you suddenly have the right to do whatever you want or try whatever you want. There’s a reason most Prophets never know what they are. In order for it to be pure you’re generally not supposed to know about it.”

“Then what are we? Mistakes?”

“People who need to think a little more carefully about what we write. We, the Prophets who know what we are, have a power that cannot be trumped except in exceedingly esoteric situations.”

“Right. I’ve had my manga overturned numerous times.”

“That’s because you don’t know how to do it right,” I said. “Granted, I have a bit of a cheat installed in me to know if what I write will work or not, but there are still rules, guidelines, and ways to maximize effectiveness.” I leaned into him. “With the right words in the right place, almost anything can happen.”

He stared at me, unresponsive.

“I need you to understand something, Rohan.” I threw the Manga into his hands. “You can’t just write what you want to happen. You can’t just blow off steam. Those aren’t rules, you know, those are part of our responsibility with this power. We can alter just about anything we want. We can’t let our selfish desires and emotional vendettas control that.”

“But art comes from emotion!”

“I’m not saying cut emotion out, Rohan. I’m saying don’t let it control you.” I pointed at his manga. “Don’t give a person who annoyed you a comically bad day.”

Rohan had enough grace to look ashamed.

I pressed my front hooves together. “So, I’m going to offer you a deal, Rohan.”

“A dea-”

“You get to study under me. I’ll whip you into the proper shape for a Prophet. In return, I’ll teach you the nuances of influencing reality.” I smiled mischievously. “It’s as simple as that.”

“…So you get a ‘responsible Prophet’ and I get to sharpen my abilities?”

“It’s exactly what it sounds like.”

“I refuse.”

I smirked. “I figured you’d say that. Too much pride in you, after all.” I levitated a notebook to my face. “In that case, since I can’t have a self-absorbed impulsive Prophet like yourself just running around, it looks as though I’m going to have to fight a war of words with you until you give in.”

Rohan slammed his hands on the desk. “You won’t break me.”

I gave him an innocent smile. “You’re going to be back here before the day is done begging me to stop.”

“If I last longer than that will you leave me alone?”

“Yes! Pinkie Promise!” I extended a wing.

Rohan glared at it.

“You really should just stay. It’ll be a lot less embarrassing that way. And you won’t be going against what is effectively a guaranteed prophecy!”

Rohan turned and walked out without saying another word.

I sighed and started scribbling in my notebook.

He was back in my office two hours later. His clothing was in tatters, blood ran down over one of his eyes, and his face was that of a broken man. “Make it stop.”

I pressed my hooves together. “Why? This is nothing worse than what you did in your last manga. Just… condensed.”

“I’ll study under you, just make it stop!”

I smiled. “Good!” With my magic I healed him up and sat him back in the chair. “I knew you’d turn around.”

Rohan muttered something indecipherable under his breath.

“Anyway, we’ll start right away. Lesson one: what is ka? Ka is an esoteric force produced by the Dark Tower and inserted in varying quantities into every universe in existence…”

~~~

Renee and Eve were walking through the gardens of Canterlot Castle, discussing life in general.

“Jenny’s been behaving better than expected,” Renee said, adjusting her hat to keep the sun out of her eyes. “Lady Rarity has confided that she’s a very capable agent, if outrageously arrogant and a bit careless.”

“I imagine that happens when almost nothing can hurt you,” Eve observed. A smile came to her face. “Enemies that become friends. It’s nice to see that redemption isn’t a completely dead art.”

Renee nodded. “Makes you realize not all hope is lost, hrm?”

“We can still have some faith in existence, despite it all,” Eve said, looking up at the sun. “I’m never going to stop looking at my life and thinking ‘wow, everything’s changed so much’. It’s just going to be a fact of our existence. Things move by at the speed of a bullet train.”

“Faster,” Renee said with a smirk. “We need to stick a hyperspace drive on our minds just to keep up.”

Eve let out a laugh. “No, we need wormholes. Nothing less than infinite speed will do!”

“No – ludicrous speed!”

The laughs continued until they rounded a corner, coming to the palace doors again.

“Well, I must be off,” Renee said. “See you at the funeral.”

“…Funeral?”

Renee blinked. “…For Rainbow Dash? It’s been planned for months.”

“I… didn’t receive an invitation. Or I lost it.”

Renee gasped. “You sure? It was digital.” Renee pulled out her phone and showed Eve the message.

“Oh…” Eve said, drooping. “…Prism sent those out.”

“What would that have t-” Renee blinked. “Ah. That is unfortunate… Here, let me call her.”

“Renee you don’t have to.”

“A-shush,” Renee said, making a call, being sure to place it on speakerphone. Eve took this as an indication to turn on her ears. “Prism, dear! It’s Renee!”

“Oh. Hi!” Eve was relieved to hear that there was at least some joy to Prism’s voice. The alicorn hadn’t even seen Prism since the day everything had come crashing down. “What’s up?”

“Well, I wish I was calling with good news… It’s just Eve.”

“…Frick, she found out about the funeral.”

“Yes, she did,” Renee said. “What do you plan to do?”

“If she shows up I will personally kick her out. I have the legal right to decide who is and who isn’t welcome. Why don’t you tell her she can come? That way I can get her arrested without endangering the sanctity of Merodi Universalis.”

“Prism…” Renee said, concern in her voice.

“The great purple bonehead isn’t welcome here. I’m not going to let her in, Renee. Don’t push it.”

“…All right, all right,” Renee said. “See you then.”

“Yeah…”

Renee hung up, glancing at Eve. Eve wiped a few tears from her eyes and sighed, turning off her ears. “…Guess I won’t be going.”

“Dear, if anyone needs to go, it’s you. I’ll find some way to get you in. Maybe we could even change pl-”

Eve put a hoof on Renee’s mouth and shook her head. “Don’t. Just go yourself.”

“A-are you sure?”

“Not really?” Eve admitted. “But I know I can’t chance you. You knew Rainbow just as well as I did. Go. I might or might not find my own way in.”

Renee adjusted her hat. “If you say so…”

“I do,” Eve said, smiling. “See you around.”

The Overhead teleported into the royal halls of the palace, wiping her eyes.

“What is wrong, Evening?”

Eve didn’t hear what was said – but she sensed someone behind her. She turned to Luna. “Oh. Didn’t notice you there. …Sorry.”

“I asked what was wrong.”

“…Prism won’t let me attend Rainbow Dash’s funeral, and I can’t really blame her. It’d be like inviting that bear who killed her.”

Luna shook her head. “Her anger toward you shouldn’t keep you from gaining closure.”

“I’ll be fine, Luna. I got my cl-”

“You should go,” Luna said. “You can go as me.”

“…As you?”

Luna nodded. “You can go as me.”

“Wh-”

Luna smiled warmly. “I cannot claim to have known Rainbow Dash all that well – I expect I was invited as a formality more than anything. You can have my invitation.”

“And I’ll just have to look like you?”

“Evening, I am a master of dreams and minds. I can swap our minds for a few hours.”

“Oh.” Eve blinked. “…Are you cert-”

“It is the least I can do. You’ll get more out of the experience than I will.”

Eve beamed with tears in her eyes and pulled Luna into a hug. “Thank you.”

Luna smiled, saying nothing in response.

~~~

The service was both a small and a large one. Small in that the public had no idea it was happening – as far as they knew, the funeral for Rainbow Dash had occurred around the time the monument of those lost in the war was built in the Hub.

Prism had waited a little longer than that, wanting to separate her memories of the war from her memories of her mother. It was a few months, and she invited everyone she knew Rainbow had a close connection with.

Except Eve. She had specifically left Eve out.

There were a few dozen people there. The primary team, the last remaining Wonderbolt – Surprise, Rainbow’s parents, Scootaloo, most of the Apple Family including Corea and Applejack, Corona, O’Neill, Renee, Daniel, Princess Luna, and a few others.

Except it wasn’t Princess Luna. It was Eve walking around in Princess Luna’s body. Even though Eve had grown considerably as her time in an alicorn, she was still shorter than the regal glory of Luna. It had taken her a bit to get used to walking on the longer, thinner legs. Luckily nobody was looking at her with much suspicion, given the nature of the gathering.

The funeral’s actual service wasn’t the most memorable thing that happened that day – not for Eve, anyway. Prism, Scootaloo, Rainbow’s parents, Flutterfree, and Pinkie gave short speeches, each one bringing tears to everyone’s eyes. But they blurred together in Eve’s mind, strained through a layer of tears.

What she did remember was the people she talked to. How they remembered Rainbow Dash – a hero who was perhaps a bit arrogant, but also a truly Loyal individual. Eve was glad that her Loyalty wasn’t all she was remembered for; the trait was placed alongside her aloof attitude, confident demeanor, determined outlook on life…

It was good to hear that Rainbow Dash had left such a lasting impression.

The largest of which was her daughter, Prism. Known egghead-athlete, a seeming contradiction in terms. A white mare with the brilliant mane of her mother who was clearly ready to take on the world.

“So what are you doing these days?” Eve asked Prism.

“A bit of this, a bit of that,” Prism said. “Mostly research in my lab. There’s a lot of testing with the new physical understanding gained from the Shaping Mechanism. We may be able to create devices that could turn everyone into a full reality warper. A bit of a terrifying prospect, I know, but someone’s going to figure it out eventually, might as well be me.”

“And your racing?”

Prism smirked. “Surprised you know about that, Princess. Yes, still doing good on the track. I kick serious flank out there. You’d be surprised how much it helps to be able to run several different thought processes through your head at once. It’s all about minimizing air resistance. I think I’ve even improved upon the Sonic Rainboom a bit, though only with technological assistance.”

“I see she passed on the impossible gene.”

“I can’t pull it off as easily as she could,” Prism said with a sigh. “She could just whip out the Rainboom on a dime. I need to augment myself to do it that easily.”

“Prism, you are currently the only pegasus who can.”

“Besides other Rainbow Dashes,” Prism muttered.

Eve shook her head. “You don’t need to carry on the legacy of your mother by being your mother. You can be your own person. Why, I remember something Eve s-”

Prism’s hopeful expression soured when she heard Eve’s name. “Don’t tell me what she said.”

Eve stared at Prism in mild shock.

“…Look, just don’t bring her up. Ever. I’ll have fulfilled all my wildest dreams if I never see or hear about her again. Which is impossible.”

“Prism…”

“I don’t want to have anything to do with her, understand?” Prism asked. “If you’re going to interact with me, you can’t bring her up. Because I’m going to hate you for even giving her the time of day, for considering her a friend. And I really don’t want to alienate everyone I know.” She swallowed hard. “So just… don’t, okay?”

Eve stared at her with sad eyes. “…Okay.”

“I’m… I’m going to go grab some food,” Prism muttered, walking away. “…Nice to see you here, Princess.”

She walked away, head down.

Eve let out a deep sigh.

“Ah bet that cuts worse than anythin’, huh Eve?”

“Yeah, it does, Applejack,” Eve said. Then she blinked. “Wait, did you ju-”

Applejack nodded, taking a drink from her mug. “There are signs. Mainly how Flutterfree keeps checking on you like a stressed older sister.”

Eve looked around nervously. “I… I can go if y-”

“Don’t,” Applejack said, looking at a portrait of Rainbow Dash hanging from a nearby wall. “You need to be here just like the rest of us. Ah wish you didn’t have to be secretive about it, but lookin’ at Prism there’s clearly not gonna be another way.”

“T-thanks,” Eve said, tapping the ground.

“Ah’ve got somethin’ to say to you, too,” Applejack said, looking Eve in the eyes.

“Look, Applejack, I already know it’s ruined.”

Applejack nodded. “It is ruined. Ah won’t be invitin’ you out for time with the girls, and Ah won’t be able to look at you as a friend again, you were right about that in your letter. But that’s no excuse. Ah don’t have to treat you like an enemy.”

“…What do you mean?”

“We can still talk. Ah’ve told the rest of the family you can come by the farm, if you want. There’s no need to be cruel. You’ve been hurt just as much as the rest of us through all this. Ah’ll make an effort not to drive you away like some varmint.”

“Applejack…”

Applejack sighed. “It’s all Ah’ve got in me, Eve. You shouldn’t thank me. Ah should be stronger than this. But Ah’m not.”

“It’s okay. I knew it was going to happen.”

“How in the name of Celestia does that make it okay?” Applejack asked.

Eve blinked, then looked at the ground. “…It doesn’t.”

Applejack nodded slowly, looking into the distance. “It’s all Ah can do.”

“I’ll take it,” Eve said with a smile.

Applejack allowed the corners of her mouth to turn up. “Good. At least we’ve got somethin’, Ah guess.”

Eve nodded. “I’ll see you around, then.”

Applejack nodded curtly and the two went their separate ways. Flutterfree walked up to Eve immediately after.

“She knew?”

“Yep.”

“What happened?”

“Well, we’re not enemies anymore. I don’t think she hates me either.” Eve looked back. “I don’t think we’re rebuilding the bridge. I think we’re making something new.” She chuckled. “Friendship is complicated.”

Flutterfree giggled. “No kidding.”

~~~

Pinkie Pie stood on top of the now-mundane map of Equis Vitis in the Castle of Friendship. She pulled the knot on her pink blindfold, making sure it was on tight, but not too tight. She stood up on her hind hooves and pulled a dimensional device out of her mane. “All right, team!

Flutterfree, Nova, Vriska, and Jotaro gave her mock salutes. “Yes, Captain?”

“We’re going back out there!” she said, holding out the dimensional device. “We’re going to go out there to prove that nothing can stop us!” She glanced at each of her team members in turn, as if looking right at them. “Not loss! Not past mistakes! Not interpersonal drama! Not self-doubt!” She glanced down at herself. “Not physical disability! We’re going to go out there and do what we’ve always done!”

“Explore!” Nova blurted.

“Help!” Flutterfree added.

“Fight,” Jotaro said.

“Be a bunch of absolute badasses,” Vriska said with a smirk.

“What? No!” Pinkie waved her front hooves. “I mean go have fun!”

“That works too,” Vriska said dismissively.

Pinkie twirled the dimensional device in her hoof and pointed it forward, opening a portal. “TO UNKNOWN FRONTIERS!”

The five of them stepped out onto a large, grassy field. Pinkie stood on her hind hooves with a proud smile, Flutterfree and Nova to her sides, Vriska and Jotaro posing right behind that. The sun of the world rose behind them, casting them in a brilliant blue light.

Pinkie’s Party was ready to take on the multiverse once again.

~~~

I lifted my pen from the paper, wondering once again how much of Pinkie’s recovery was due to my work, or just due to the natural narrative of her story. She was paradoxically the weakest and the strongest of all the ponies – able to handle existential dread with relative ease, but breaking at signs of betrayal. Then there was her innate ability to bounce back from whatever depressed hole she had found herself in…

She was a curious character, to say the least. Sometimes I wonder how much my Pinkie was like her. But that’s not a question I’m able to answer. She was gone before I fully came into my own…

As much as I was teaching Rohan about what we could change and how we could do it, I was often just as confused as everyone else about why things happened. Did I do it, or was I part of some larger narrative? When will the larger narrative overrule me?

…How do I exert my power in a way that is good?

Questions I had answers for… but the answers changed depending on the day. In some ways, it made life interesting. But in others, it made life haunting.

I wasn’t going to let that bother me though. Not that much. I summoned a new pen from the aether and began writing in my notebook.

And then time seemed to flow into the depths… With Merodi Universalis’ newfound power, they found that the things they’d been doing for so long didn’t have the same charm. They had seen much – what many would consider too much.

They had risen to a high enough point that the fears of the past had been realized. They were able to, without thinking, destroy entire ways of life.

The long-discussed laws involving the limitation of aid and information had to be implemented. Primitive societies could no longer be taken into the fold. Aid had to be rendered without bestowing multiversal access. After the initial rush of new worlds, the requirements to become part of Merodi Universalis were raised. They could no longer guarantee the safety of a small world’s culture when being absorbed.

It became a new world. A new era.

An era that lasted a seeming eternity…

Years began to pass like leaves on a windy autumn day.