Stable 5- Sublevel 5
2 months ago
The Director did not need help walking. Well, she did, but Rice wasn't able to give it to her. As the Director's physical body decayed, along with her powers, she became more and more unstable. Her existence, like that of the previous versions of Equestria, was ethereal, a fragmented myth desperately clinging on to whatever it could in an effort to be real again. Her true body, the spirit of the planet itself, was bound by the web of fragments of the previous Equestrias, their magic sustaining a shattered physical form, like glue containing the pieces of a broken mirror in a frame.
But they could not hold together forever.
"What are... what are you keeping... hegghh... Michael... back for?"
Rice had let his mane grow out a bit. Changing himself frequently kept him off the radar of Equestria's periodic magical cleansings. He had to keep reminding himself he was walking with the Director or, because of her physical nature, he would completely forget what he was doing.
"When I'm finished with him and Barro, they'll be put in stasis. Like all the rest. Don't worry," he said, not looking at her. If he looked at her, that would force more of her physical form to adjust to the necessary perception and her voice would sound like it was echoing in the distance. Echoing inside of her, in the abyss.
She stopped to look up at Twilight Sparkle and her friends. All of them were encased in stasis save for Rarity who was on the moon with Celestia and Luna. She would be safe there, though, Cleo knew that.
"Feeling remorse?" He looked at her. She nodded, her head and cloak faded in and out of various forms of existence, what they called transharmonic reverberation, as she did so. Pinkie Pie possessed some ability with this, quantum transharmonic shifting. Basically, her physical particles 'danced' at the sub-atomic level, allowing her to access different dimensional states.
Yes, Rice had even unlocked Pinkie Pie's powers. The only thing he didn't understand was Dan. Well, not the only thing, but definitely the main one.
Rice sighed. "After all we've done, everything, just now you're having second thoughts?"
"It's our lot It's our lot It's our lot It's our lot It's our lot in life life. I don't suppose- you wouldn't understand, darling, babe." She was shifting rapidly, various forms of different possible versions of her personality were phasing through. Her own particles were struggling to keep up with each other and stay together, resulting in collisions.
Okay, basically, weird science stuff is happening, so pretend it's like Back to The Future when Marty was fading in and out of existence. If you haven't seen that movie, go watch it now. Now. NOW. Come back to this when you're done.
"It's happening to the narrator, too. Curious," Rice remarked. "Your very presence is causing the fourth wall to crack."
"It'll- yeah, that'll- it'll happena n. Nnn. Ha-ppen."
"Heh. It's like you're on dial-up or something."
"Shut. Up."
Rice nodded. "Right then. Well, as requested, this one is yours."
She stood up to the stasis platform. This was the only way to prevent Equestria from being destroyed, Equestria as they knew it. When the Director's body completely collapsed, her spirit, the Majora would be unleashed. The entire planet and everything on it would be wiped from existence, the pages of its history wiped clean. Everything that ever was would be wiped away, reset to zero so it could be reborn anew. She alone would have the burden of memory of all that came before, the screams of countless ponies and other creatures forever gone.
As if they had never been.
Without form, the Director, Cleo would not even have eyes with which to weep for them. But she would have the feeling, for all that feels would be rocked by such an impact. But not this time.
This time when Equestria would lyse, it would not be able to reach the ponies in stasis. Encased in magic from another world, they would be preserved. In their place, everything from the other universes that came here would be destroyed, including Dan, Captain America, any other random or goofy thing summoned. They would take the place of the ponies. A fitting sacrifice seeing as how they weren't meant to be there anyway.
The Director would emerge into a new Equestria and use the magic of the new world to make a new body. She would live a normal pony life with Twilight and the others. She would gain power, and the magic incorporated into the process by Rice's technology would pass to the new Equestria like an inherited gene. Cleo would be able to use a preservation spell next time, an entirely new form of magic that was about to be invented.
Rice held out a cassette player. It played the My Little Pony theme song, the first one.
The Director looked at him, smiled and nodded. "Thank you. Not just for that, but for everything."
Rice nodded silently. The song was able to stabilize her temporarily. Enough to put her into stasis.
"So this is it. Here's to Generation Five," Rice said. "Let's hope it works out better than this one, eh?"
"Rice... if there had been a way... if there had been any other way..."
He was quiet for a second. "The way it is, I suppose. The limits of magic."
She nodded again. "I'm sorry. If there had been more time," she said, looking at her own withered hand. Ancient, timeless, she was more of a little girl than an old woman or a deity, an entity, the essence of Equestria given form by its own over-abundance of magic. She was a little girl at heart... and Equestria had always been made for little girls first. Because it had been made by someone who was a little girl at heart.
"But this will make things right," Cleo said. "A fresh start. A second chance. For everyone. And finally... for me."
Rice was male. He'd always play second. Girls had it slightly easier in Equestria because of that initial bias. In the grand scheme of things, it mattered very little. It mattered nothing to him. His son, his world was dead. No amount of magic or technology could change that. No amount of...
"A second chance for all of Equestria," Rice said. "Because Equestria deserves it, right? The others, the other Equestrias, they're just like my son, aren't they?" he asked her. "Tragedies. If only we had more time... we could've done this a long time ago."
She nodded, her legs close together as she sat on the platform, bony and translucent.
Rice flipped the switch to activate the primer. The static-magic, shimmery and clear as water, was about to be released.
"Where will... you go?"
Rice shrugged. "I'll find my own place to start over. Put Equestria behind me."
"That's... that's good. You deserve a fresh start."
He looked up at her. "No. I really don't." He held up a gun. "And neither do you."
*Bam-bam-bam-bam-bam*
The Director's body melted quickly, dissolving into bluish, nightmarish smoke. Had to shoot that many times because half the bullets disappeared or turned into bubbles or gum. Before the smoke could escape, Rice activated the stasis projector. Magic poured onto the platform and caught a good portion of the smoke, the Director's essence, and froze it in place, creating a jagged, bluish crystal.
Suddenly, the world shook. The entire room, the entire stable, the entire planet shook rapidly, like a jolt that caused the world to jump. The lights flickered, some even changed color. Music, parts of songs played where they shouldn't have been, the floor partly turned to mud and sand, the smell of roasting marshmallows and mayonnaise, two things that have no right to be together, filled the air. And then like that, it was gone.
"My lord Rice, it's Ops, sir."
Rice activated his wrist apple watch. It had been built in earlier that day. The color of his gauntlets had changed and his mane was shorter again. Apart from that, he was unchanged.
"Go ahead."
"We're registering seismic anomalies all over the planet. Electromagnetic energy is fluctuating and the temperature is dropping rapidly."
"Good. Ready the transport to the lunar base with the rest of the supplies, I'll be following shortly." The moment he closed the comm channel, the base was rocked again, then again. "Ops, report. Ops!"
"Sir- the base! The Stable is under attack! We need you in-" Channel cut off again, not Rice this time. The base was slammed again and the lights flickered. One of them went out completely.
Rice rushed to the door. It opened before he got there.
"Oh! Uh, hey- the base is under fire!"
"Get out of my way, imbecile!"
"Hey!"
Rice shoved his way past Writhe N. Payne, the mustard-colored pony lawyer. The base was under attack, there was no time to deal with idiots. But Payne was a special kind of idiot.
"Hey- hey, our deal!" Payne called him. "What about our deal?"
"It's still in place, if you can get them out."
"So I can take all the ponies? Everypony?" he asked.
"Except the front row, yes. Take them, sell them, I don't care what you do," Rice said, and he bolted down the hall as the base shook again.
Payne turned back to the ponies frozen in stasis. "Sell them...?" His eyes turned into dollar signs.
Stable 5 had been moved inside Prosperity Base, Vice/Rice's fortress. Located far north of Canterlot, Mount Prosperity was originally a mining operation, abandoned before Equestria's unification. Rice had spent three years with his loyal dog army, building and transforming it into his base of operations. The Director had originally been sealed deep in the mine for some reason, and had convinced Rice not to nuke Equestria... at least, not right away.
Now, the massive facility was mostly being closed down. The metal hounds, the last of Rice's loyal forces and his most loyal, were preparing for their transition to the new lunar base that was recently built. With the ponies and Dan taken care of finally, Rice was ready to begin the final phase of his new plan.
And then the base was attacked.
"Go! Go! Go!"
"Keep firing on their right flank!!"
"Bravo Team, forty-five seconds! Push the gate!"
"Alpha-One is closing the gap!"
"SUPPRESSING FIRE!! NOW!!"
From the south part of the complex, the invaders had blown a hole in the fence. After that, they came pouring in. Prosperity's alarms kicked in but the attack was both sudden and massive. Rebel Alliance and Imperial Stormtroopers charged into the grounds and opened fire on Rice's troops before they had a chance to defend. And then the walkers moved in.
"Secure the hangars!! Move!!"
"Farelle, take Gorshun and hit their left flank!"
"On it."
"Bravo Team Leader, Alpha-One is imminent. Keep the lane clear, over."
"I copy- Bravo! Move it up!"
Rice's dogs were in the middle of loading a transport and had been completely unprepared. Although well-trained and augmented as soldiers, even trained for such scenarios, the metal hounds were completely overwhelmed. Pushed back to a corner of the complex near the entrance to the mines and the main base, they were still gathering their forces from the underground sublevels.
Rice reached the surface at last. A stream of red laser blasts scorched the overhead wall behind him.
"What in the hell is going on?!?!"
"Sir, there's a-" two laser blasts hit the lieutenant in the head. One would have been enough. His body slumped forward and Rice dipped low to catch it. The dog was dead before he hit Rice's arms.